Mon. July. 12/10 Pace51
5 Amazing Console Games and a Review of their DS Equivalents
We all know that violence, graphics, achievements, and complexity is where its at with video games these days. If you don’t have any of those, your game may not be so great. Well, what happens when you take great games and stick them on a small portable piece of slightly rounded plastic? You lose graphics and complexity, and since Nintendo and Violence are like Britney and Kfed (They attempt to make something but it gets FUBAR) (PS Britney isn’t that hot Dauntless, I agree with Finray). Below is a review about if the Nintendo equivalents of these video game greats are worth playing.
My Sources: I played each of these games and their console equivalents many times.
Console Successes:
Super Mario N64
Lego Star Wars 2
Assassins Creed 2
Call of Duty 5 World at War
Age of Empires: The age of Kings
P.S. I would’ve included a review of the Mario Party franchise and the recent DS version, because I have played the DS version a lot. But, I only played the wii version (Mario party 5 or 6 or 8 or 10 or whatever it’s called) and the gamecube version (insert random # here) a little bit. I played the N64 mario party a lot, but it was too long ago for me to remember a lot, so, I will eventually write a review to Mario party for the DS, but It’ll be a while.
This is how the comparison will be made: Major and Minor changes refer to the changes undertaken in the DS version.
Rating: (ESRB Rating)
Game Type: (FPS, RTS, TBS, etc.)
Overview:
Minor changes:
Major Changes:
Super Mario N64
Rating: E (All ages)
Game Type: Adventure free Roam/Action/Easter Egg hunt
Overview: You play as Mario, in a free roam game with areas that can be unlocked. To unlock more areas and advance through the game, collect stars. Only a few stars need to be hunted like Easter eggs, the rest involve challenges and puzzles to unlock, each of which are very fun. There are even some challenges within the challenges.
Minor changes:
Rating: None
Game Type: None
Overview: You still play as Mario, and the game itself is the exact same as the console version. However, many changes have been made that make the game longer. There are added minigames you can unlock, although you have to find them like easter eggs, usually in the hands of rabbits, which you must catch. These added minigames are not important to the storyline of the game, and all are played by touch screen. More stars, a few more challenges, some of these boss challenges, and some hidden areas have been added.
Major Changes: None means no changes have been made.
Rating: None
Game Type: None
Overview: The only major gameplay change in the DS version is that now, instead of playing as only Mario, you may play as Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario as well which can be unlocked in their own respective minigames.
Lego Star Wars 2 (PS2)
Rating: E 10+
Game Type: Linear Adventure (Mission Style) TPS
Overview: Although one may consider this game “for kids”, it is quite hilarious to play. Every single mission was a part of the star wars movies, so instead of the designers making up new gay missions, you get to play longer versions of your favourite movie scenes. The environments are almost fully interactive, as you can use the “force” on many objects to inflict damage or collect coins. You access each mission through the Mos Eisley Cantina, a sort of “hub” in which you may buy items with the coins you collected. It acts like an “interactive menu” where you may walk to areas to select different modes or fun extras, and you may pick fights on the way! Vehicle and infantry Lego missions are available, in free and campaign modes. It is a very fun game, even if its E rating turns you off. There are a variety of characters and vehicles to choose from.
Minor changes:
Rating: E
Game Type: No changes
Overview: A few characters and missions have been tweaked or added, almost no changes.
Major Changes: None.
Assasins Creed 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Rating: M
Game Type: Nonlinear free roam adventure, TPS
Overview: In the sequel to the stunningly amazing Assassins creed 1, you play as Ezio Firenze, with an upgraded version of Altair’s blade and Altair’s armour. You can roam anywhere, and use your surrounding terrain to your advantage. You travel through Ancient Venice completing missions and even meet historical persona. You must assassinate figures with a large range of weaponry. There are many combos and retaliation moves.
Minor changes: The DS version (Assasin’s creed Discovery) is set in the same time period, however, between the murder of Ezio’s family which soon lead to him becoming an assassin, and when he began tracking down Rodrigo Borgia and seeking retribution. The game is based in Venice, where you fight Venetian style enemies, Spain, where you fight inquisitors, and the Moorish areas of Spain, where you fight Arabian guards. There are still combos, but they are slightly different from the console Assasins creed games.
Major Changes:
Rating: T
Game Type: Platformer, linear
Overview: Instead of a free roam area, you are given a menu of missions, and must beat each one to unlock the next. The better you do in each mission, the more points you gain which help to unlock fun alternate game modes, skins, cheats, and perks. The game is basically a platformer with battle animations, music and other small comforts.
Call of Duty 5 World at War
Rating: M
Game Type: FPS
Overview: Call of Duty 5 kept many of the successful cod4 aspects, but it had a pure ww2 feel. It had very authentic weaponry, ww2 era equipment and vehicles. It included even tanks, and as cheap as they were, they could be turned off. Lots of perks, and even some new ones, were added. It was a really great ww2 shooter. However, it required someone to have a feel for the sort of weaponry in the game. There were bolt action rifles with optional scopes, MG’s with bipods, and grenade launchers weren’t on automatic weapons. In other words, it had a different feel then cod 4.
Minor changes:
Rating: T
Game Type: FPS/With minigames
Overview: COD5 for the DS added many things like minigames, similar campaigns, and some new abilities for the weaponry. Since this was a DS game, the multiplayer lacks the perks and achievements.
Major Changes:
Rating: T
Game Type: FPS with minigames
Overview: All of the achievements and special weapon attachments have been moved to single player. Also, the single player is very large and you can tell extensive work has been put into it. The graphics are not very awesome, and there is a lot of aliasing, but the game play is pretty good. You can play as the USMC, British Army Paratroopers, and the Red Army. Each faction gets a variety of weapons, and gameplay is quite realistic. Also, there are a large variety of missions available for you to play, everything from flying a bomber to shooting down A6M Zeroes and Stuka’s to disarming mines to shooting artillery. It may lack graphics, but it is a fun little game.
Age of Empires 2
Rating: T
Game Type: RTS
Overview: The second instalment of the age of empires series brought in a huge variety of armies having unique heroes and indigenous structures and some shared units. It was a groundbreaking success, and was the second successful AOE game. It introduced heroes to strategy games, who could turn the tide of battles. There were many different land and sea units and a variety of maps and missions.
Minor changes:
Rating: None
Game Type: TBS
Overview: There were some changes in main characters, heroes, and units available. Almost all armies costumes and units slightly different from the PC version, but only slightly.
Major Changes: The game and armies and units themselves were basically the same. The only two huge changes were that since it was a DS TBS, terrain was incorporated much more than the PC version. Also, the fact the DS version was a TBS, and not an RTS, was also a huge change.
Of course, there were other changes done to these games. However, all of them were great time-passers, and excellent DS games.
5 Amazing Console Games and a Review of their DS Equivalents
We all know that violence, graphics, achievements, and complexity is where its at with video games these days. If you don’t have any of those, your game may not be so great. Well, what happens when you take great games and stick them on a small portable piece of slightly rounded plastic? You lose graphics and complexity, and since Nintendo and Violence are like Britney and Kfed (They attempt to make something but it gets FUBAR) (PS Britney isn’t that hot Dauntless, I agree with Finray). Below is a review about if the Nintendo equivalents of these video game greats are worth playing.
My Sources: I played each of these games and their console equivalents many times.
Console Successes:
Super Mario N64
Lego Star Wars 2
Assassins Creed 2
Call of Duty 5 World at War
Age of Empires: The age of Kings
P.S. I would’ve included a review of the Mario Party franchise and the recent DS version, because I have played the DS version a lot. But, I only played the wii version (Mario party 5 or 6 or 8 or 10 or whatever it’s called) and the gamecube version (insert random # here) a little bit. I played the N64 mario party a lot, but it was too long ago for me to remember a lot, so, I will eventually write a review to Mario party for the DS, but It’ll be a while.
This is how the comparison will be made: Major and Minor changes refer to the changes undertaken in the DS version.
Rating: (ESRB Rating)
Game Type: (FPS, RTS, TBS, etc.)
Overview:
Minor changes:
Major Changes:
Super Mario N64
Rating: E (All ages)
Game Type: Adventure free Roam/Action/Easter Egg hunt
Overview: You play as Mario, in a free roam game with areas that can be unlocked. To unlock more areas and advance through the game, collect stars. Only a few stars need to be hunted like Easter eggs, the rest involve challenges and puzzles to unlock, each of which are very fun. There are even some challenges within the challenges.
Minor changes:
Rating: None
Game Type: None
Overview: You still play as Mario, and the game itself is the exact same as the console version. However, many changes have been made that make the game longer. There are added minigames you can unlock, although you have to find them like easter eggs, usually in the hands of rabbits, which you must catch. These added minigames are not important to the storyline of the game, and all are played by touch screen. More stars, a few more challenges, some of these boss challenges, and some hidden areas have been added.
Major Changes: None means no changes have been made.
Rating: None
Game Type: None
Overview: The only major gameplay change in the DS version is that now, instead of playing as only Mario, you may play as Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario as well which can be unlocked in their own respective minigames.
Lego Star Wars 2 (PS2)
Rating: E 10+
Game Type: Linear Adventure (Mission Style) TPS
Overview: Although one may consider this game “for kids”, it is quite hilarious to play. Every single mission was a part of the star wars movies, so instead of the designers making up new gay missions, you get to play longer versions of your favourite movie scenes. The environments are almost fully interactive, as you can use the “force” on many objects to inflict damage or collect coins. You access each mission through the Mos Eisley Cantina, a sort of “hub” in which you may buy items with the coins you collected. It acts like an “interactive menu” where you may walk to areas to select different modes or fun extras, and you may pick fights on the way! Vehicle and infantry Lego missions are available, in free and campaign modes. It is a very fun game, even if its E rating turns you off. There are a variety of characters and vehicles to choose from.
Minor changes:
Rating: E
Game Type: No changes
Overview: A few characters and missions have been tweaked or added, almost no changes.
Major Changes: None.
Assasins Creed 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Rating: M
Game Type: Nonlinear free roam adventure, TPS
Overview: In the sequel to the stunningly amazing Assassins creed 1, you play as Ezio Firenze, with an upgraded version of Altair’s blade and Altair’s armour. You can roam anywhere, and use your surrounding terrain to your advantage. You travel through Ancient Venice completing missions and even meet historical persona. You must assassinate figures with a large range of weaponry. There are many combos and retaliation moves.
Minor changes: The DS version (Assasin’s creed Discovery) is set in the same time period, however, between the murder of Ezio’s family which soon lead to him becoming an assassin, and when he began tracking down Rodrigo Borgia and seeking retribution. The game is based in Venice, where you fight Venetian style enemies, Spain, where you fight inquisitors, and the Moorish areas of Spain, where you fight Arabian guards. There are still combos, but they are slightly different from the console Assasins creed games.
Major Changes:
Rating: T
Game Type: Platformer, linear
Overview: Instead of a free roam area, you are given a menu of missions, and must beat each one to unlock the next. The better you do in each mission, the more points you gain which help to unlock fun alternate game modes, skins, cheats, and perks. The game is basically a platformer with battle animations, music and other small comforts.
Call of Duty 5 World at War
Rating: M
Game Type: FPS
Overview: Call of Duty 5 kept many of the successful cod4 aspects, but it had a pure ww2 feel. It had very authentic weaponry, ww2 era equipment and vehicles. It included even tanks, and as cheap as they were, they could be turned off. Lots of perks, and even some new ones, were added. It was a really great ww2 shooter. However, it required someone to have a feel for the sort of weaponry in the game. There were bolt action rifles with optional scopes, MG’s with bipods, and grenade launchers weren’t on automatic weapons. In other words, it had a different feel then cod 4.
Minor changes:
Rating: T
Game Type: FPS/With minigames
Overview: COD5 for the DS added many things like minigames, similar campaigns, and some new abilities for the weaponry. Since this was a DS game, the multiplayer lacks the perks and achievements.
Major Changes:
Rating: T
Game Type: FPS with minigames
Overview: All of the achievements and special weapon attachments have been moved to single player. Also, the single player is very large and you can tell extensive work has been put into it. The graphics are not very awesome, and there is a lot of aliasing, but the game play is pretty good. You can play as the USMC, British Army Paratroopers, and the Red Army. Each faction gets a variety of weapons, and gameplay is quite realistic. Also, there are a large variety of missions available for you to play, everything from flying a bomber to shooting down A6M Zeroes and Stuka’s to disarming mines to shooting artillery. It may lack graphics, but it is a fun little game.
Age of Empires 2
Rating: T
Game Type: RTS
Overview: The second instalment of the age of empires series brought in a huge variety of armies having unique heroes and indigenous structures and some shared units. It was a groundbreaking success, and was the second successful AOE game. It introduced heroes to strategy games, who could turn the tide of battles. There were many different land and sea units and a variety of maps and missions.
Minor changes:
Rating: None
Game Type: TBS
Overview: There were some changes in main characters, heroes, and units available. Almost all armies costumes and units slightly different from the PC version, but only slightly.
Major Changes: The game and armies and units themselves were basically the same. The only two huge changes were that since it was a DS TBS, terrain was incorporated much more than the PC version. Also, the fact the DS version was a TBS, and not an RTS, was also a huge change.
Of course, there were other changes done to these games. However, all of them were great time-passers, and excellent DS games.