Well, I've beaten the first six of the seven levels in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and I can tell you this much: this is the most ridiculously hard game I have ever played. I mean good lord. I'm using a guide, I know where to go to get to the last dungeon, and I can't even get there because I die before I can! Grr! There are these lava pits that kill you if you fall in them (no losing one heart nonsense, no, this is the real deal), and I keep getting knocked into them by enemies that I don't see coming because they're off-screen. Not okay!

In terms of controls and stuff it's a good game, even though it doesn't feel like Zelda, but this is hard to the point of being unfair (or maybe impossible). That said, you level up Link in this game bygetting experience points(weird, huh?), and I'm not completely leveled up- my sword, life, and magic power are around level 7, when the max is 8, but come on... I think I'm going to start over and play it some other time, and level up Link better early on so I get all leveled up by the end. You see, if I tried to level up nowI'd have to get 5000 exp. for one level, and you get around 50-100 per enemy. Good controls, interesting gameplay system, just really, REALLY hard.

I'm just moving on to Link's Awakening.

In other news, I posted a review of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Check it out!

Now about all of these awards... I talked about the Special Achievements in my last blog, so now onto the Dubious Honors.

In-game advertising is always a fun one, they make a good case for their Bionic Commando choice. Guitar Hero (ever since the third one) has abused this idea for a long time, but indestructable Pepsi machines would be quite the nuisance.

I guess FEAR 2 sucked the big one, huh? It didn't look particularly interesting to me anyway. Kind of like a The Ring rip-off. Whatever. And okay let's be honest: are we expecting a game called Stalin vs. Martians to be any good. Everyone played Star Wars? I'm sure it sold well, but... Whatever. That Clone Wars TV show looked dumb. Godfather II didn't look special either- I think it's a bit late to be making Godfather games anyway. Just by virtue of being an Xbox Live-exclusive game, I got the feeling Star Trek the game would be butchered. The movie was so great, too...

Dead Space did look decent on Wii, I guess I'm kind of turned off by on-rails shooters though. Umbrella Chronicles didn't do it for me. My dad likes mindless shooting though, so we might get House of the Dead. At least I'd get a laugh out of it.

Now the worst box art thing... There I have to disagree. I mean you don't have to actually play the games to vote on this one, and while The Conduit's cover isn't the best in the world, just wow... Clearly the most half-assed cover this year was GH5's. I mean look at it! The moment I saw it I seriously thought Guitar Hero has hit rock bottom. Apparently the game was an improvement over World Tour anyway, but man that box is ugly. They've really been ripping on Conduit on here, huh? I'm unsurprised that it's linear, coming from a company that generally does crap movie tie-ins, but you don't have to rip on its cover...

Now the Steroid Award... This one I like. I thought the same thing as Gamespot when I saw Chris's brand new muscles that would clearly weigh more than I do in reality. Yeah, I'm glad Chris is a beast, I think you kind of need to be to survive a Resident Evil game, but that's a bit overboard. I guess they really wanted you to know that they think Chris is more manly than Leon, huh?

Now as for the Genre Awards... Most of these are unsurprising to me. Action/adventure going to Uncharted, check, shocker there... Driving, Forza, also unsurprising, but I don't care... Fighter, Street Fighter, also unsurprising, I don't care... Music/rhythm is Beatles: Rock Band, shocker there, sports FIFA, I don't care, strategy Sims 3, unsurprising, don't care...

They really liked Ratchet and Clank though, huh? I wouldn't be surprised if it's more original than Mario Bros., but it's better, too? Whatever. Puzzle, Trials HD. What? I thought Scribblenauts was a dead lock, not that I've played them. I don't think it's so much that Scribblenauts is a Nintendo game as that Trials HD was surprisingly good to them.

Now onto the serious upsets. I was sure Dragon Age would beat Demon's Souls (and judging by the comments, everyone else did, too), but Demon's Souls is really cleaning up, isn't it? Just one of those surprise contenders Gamespot comes out with. Those surprises tend to be good though, from what I know. I'll have to look into it (even though I'm sure it'll just tick me off if it was hard for the reviewer, but it can't be as bad as Zelda II).

And the shooter... Nicely done Killzone 2! As with everyone else, Ipredicted Gamespot would favor Halo or CoD more, or even Left 4 Dead. But that's really interesting to know...

Also, I think I should bring to everyone's attention that IGN has picked their platform awards already. Wii was Super Mario Bros., DS was GTA: Chinatown Wars, PSP was Patapon 2, PS3 was Uncharted 2, and 360 was Assassin's Creed II.

Wii and DS are unsurprising, although I'm still up in the air about whether I'd pick GTA or Zelda. GTA is great, but it doesn't feel as deep as its console relative. I'd have been surprised if PS3 wasn't Uncharted. IGN really, really likes Patapon... They picked the first one as the best on PSP of its year, too, I'm pretty sure. I thought maybe Chinatown Wars would win on it, too. Now Assassin's Creed II... Ubi Montreal has really picked up the pace, haven't they? Someone calling it GTA, old-school style is surprising to me considering how shallow the last-gen Prince of Persia games were. I guess it could be a different developing company... If anyone's reading this that has played the AC games, should I play both? Just II? Fill me in here (assuming I get it).

I'm pretty pumped for the big gun awards the next couple days (although more interesting things are happening the 25th). Good luck to Uncharted, Chinatown Wars, and Mario Bros.!

I've gone through all of the awards Gamespot gave out today, so I have a couple new impressions that are surprising, unsurprising, or flat-out shocking.

First and foremost, Gamespot officially said they think Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS/PSP) is BETTER than Batman: Arkham Asylum, because it won best UK-developed game.. Partially because it's on a console and partially because of what I've played/heard, that's really surprising to me. I agree with them that GTA is a fantastic game, but wow.

I'd never heard of a couple of the games that have won the awards, too. Cryostasis? Best story? I was predicting a more well-known one, I guess. It's news to me that that PSP game that won Best boss fights exists, too. At least Gamespot doesn't go with the "popular" game (as seen by their lack of love for Modern Warfare 2). I'm still reeling from that, by the way. Not even a nomination? Gamespot says GTA: Chinatown Wars, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, Dragon Age: Origins,Forza Motorsport 3, andAssassin's Creed II are better than Modern Warfare 2. I'm predicting Assassin's Creed will by the 360 GotY, by the way, because they weren't big fans of the 360 version of Dragon Age, and that Dragon Age will be PC GotY... And I guess this all means that Killzone 2 was the best shooter this year? That's surprising too, judging by Gamespot's brutal review of the first game.

Speaking of which, I was unsurprised that Gamespot picked it as the MOST IMPROVED sequel this year. Everyone's voting Assassin's Creed, probably because they either liked it more, it's on more consoles, or both, not noting that at least the first Assassin's Creed was reasonably good by common consent.

I voted that I was surprised MadWorld got past the Aussie censors (I don't think there's enough blood in there), but I guess any GTA game getting past them is surprising, too. The drug thing is a good point, since violence is less brutal on handhelds.

House of the Dead won funniest game... Well, there's one award for you Wii. My poor Wii, it felt all lonely all year. Even though it's being put to use recently, oddly enough... I'll get to that later.

Best IP is a game that isn't a sequel and isn't based on a property, so best IP is presumably the most original one? Because Infamous won, and yet it's not nominated for GotY while Dragon Age is, so I assume that's the case. Fill me in if I've got that wrong.

Uncharted won best voice acting, unsurprising (if you've played the first one, you'll know that's coming), winning graphics, unsurpsising,best co-op is Left 4 Dead, also unsurprising... Best cooperative multiplayer being Killzone was where I started to see just how much Gamespot favors it over MW2. Strange thing is, everyone says Killzone is one of the least-original shooters ever. I'm guessing the multiplayer features are original?

It's pretty awesome that Dead Space won that most surprising moment thing. Yeah, I figure someone cutting their own arm off isn't something you see coming. Didn't see that best writing going to Ratchet and Clank coming. I could've seen it going to Uncharted or Dragon Age. I figured from the reviews that Tiger Woods must win the control scheme thing, also unsurprising. Tiger Wood has gotten his share of publicity this year though... That Demon's Souls mechanic sounds really cool... I didn't know it'd be winning and getting nominated for all of this stuff. I tend to just get ticked off by frustrating games though, not get encouraged to try again.

That's my take on things. This is really helpful for me because it helps me avoid the lame crap that's just hyped up. Gamespot is (mostly) pretty objective with their awards, so I'm glad that there are some surprises here.

Now back to the topic of frustrating games. I replayed the original Zelda and am now working through Zelda II for the first time because I am undertaking the challenge of beating every Zelda game! I'm planning to play through them in terms of graphical power, and if the graphics look the same then in order of release date. Meaning: Zelda, Zelda II, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Link to the Past, Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures, Minish Cap, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess. I can't exactly play the first Four Swords because I have no one to play with though, and I might skip Four Swords Adventures since it's kinda dumb single player, but otherwise you get it.

The only games of the above that I haven't beaten at least once are Zelda II and Spirit Tracks. Otherwise, I'd have quit attempting Zelda II long ago, because this game is RIDICULOUS! Like even harder than the first Zelda! Four levels down, three to go... Wish me luck!

First, as the title says, I got The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for DS yesterday! I am now on my way to the second level, so here are my immediate impressions:

Like pretty much everyone else, I was very turned off by the train idea when I first heard about it. Trains? Zelda? Isn't that a bit... high-tech? But now I think about it, it makes sense on the whole. There were steam engine boats in Phantom Hourglass, and 100 years later steam engine trains could be done. That, and as it turns out the tracks weren't built by humans- long story.

Speaking of story, it's actually very intriguing and original. Admittedly, Link's a bit of a failure in this one (since Zelda dies under an hour into the game)- that was a joke, Link's awesome- but I've seen pretty much none of this before. You have a helper, of course (ala Navi, King of Red Lions, Midna, etc.), but it's... Zelda?! That's awesome! The whole set-up controlling phantoms is really intuitive, the use of the microphone is better than has ever been done before (by a mile), the panpipes (new instrument, ala ocarina, Wind Waker, just better)... Wow.

Of course, there are a lot of things that are reminiscent of Phantom Hourglass though, since they're both on the same console. It feels like the relationship between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, or Oracle of Seasons and Ages. That's probably why the (idiot of a) Gamespot reviewer gave it an 8.5. The controls are otherwise mainly the same andthe graphics are the same style, if a bit better. However, the roll system is better (hit the screen twice, not make a circle), thus far the items are more original, like the whirlwind and panpipes, and the music... Wow. There's not only more of it, but there's more variety and it's more original. You only realize you're missing it in Phantom Hourglass when you've played Spirit Tracks.

The Tower of Spirits is reminiscent of the Temple of the Ocean King in terms of function, but the set-up that allows you to skip the parts you've done already makes it a massive improvement. There's also the bit that there's no time limit. I like challenge, but being timed in a game kind of annoys me, because I like being able to go at my own pace. I never had difficulty with the time limit in Phantom Hourglass, but I'm glad to hear this is challenging in other ways.

I've essentially done two levels of the tower, the stuff in between, and the first level. That level was fun, but pretty short, like a Phantom Hourglass level. That's a shame, because I'm such a big fan of dungeon crawling, espeically in Zelda. I hope for more in future. I should also point out though that for some reason, riding around on the train is really fun. It's a lot like plotting a course on the boat in Phantom Hourglass, but there's something fresh and new about it... Probably that this is the first Zelda game with a train. Or maybe it's the music.

Overall: great, improved graphics, much improved music, great, original story, first level's pretty short. no Temple of the Ocean King!, awesome controls... This is one amazing game. It's a must-have, and if it keeps this up it will certainly earn DS Game of the Year in my book.

As for the Gamespot reviewer: Yeah yeah, I'm being mean. Yeah yeah, it's his opinion. But the guy doesn't know how to spell Navi. He didn't explain whether the game was consistently easy, saying instead that it's just easy, period, while everyone else says it's easy at first then gets harder. He clearly didn't play the whole game, and if this game isn't innovation, I don't know what is. (Outside of some console Zeldas out there...)

Fail.

Now for my PSP Gift Guide! First off... There just aren't that many games that I'd be interested in getting on the PSP, so I'm not going to make a bigass list like I did on the last ones. As for the system, get the 3000's. They look cooler, the screen's bigger, and they're cheaper. What's the downside? They're still $180 or so, way overpriced (like DSi's) at nearly the price of a Wii, and have pretty bad battery life. That said, the graphics are great, they play movies (if not with a massive library) and they have some great exclusives. However, I'd pick a PS3 first if you like Sony. Do NOT get a PSP Go. $250? $50 more than a Wii, $50 less than a freakin 360 or PS3? And for that tiny little thing? Maybe if it was $100...

Anyway, here are my suggestions:

Must-haves:
1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
3. LittleBigPlanet
4. God of War: Chains of Olympus
5. Daxter
6. Resistance: Retribution

Others you may be interested in:
1. Killzone: Liberation
2. Dissidia: Final Fantasy
3. Apparently these Lumines and Patapon games...

Games to keep track of:
1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

That's all I've got, really.

Now as for my Game of the Year thoughts... You saw what I had to say about Zelda. It's shaping up to be my vote for DSGotY. However, GTA: Chinatown Wars is a great game, so whatever.

To be completely honest, this was a very, very bad year for Wii. I got The Beatles: Rock Band and... that's about it. It's a great game, and I guess it's sort of console GotY worthy, but... Let's see... I've heard Tiger Woods and Mario Bros. Wii is really fun, but I'm not particularly interested in either. I guess it's just me. I suppose I'll agree that Mario Bros. Wii deserves the win.

Well, we all know that on 360, readers will pick COD 6, and it sure looks like Uncharted 2 will be their PS3 pick. I guess Dragon Age: Origins is pretty awesome too, for PC (and for the other systems, of course). And yet Gamespot didn't even NOMINATE COD 6 for overall GotY? I know they said it's not as original as they'd have hoped, but seriously? I'm not a huge COD fan, but I've played it and liked it (although I've also played MW1 and can tell they are indeed really similar). I at least would've expected a nomination.

Here are my editor's pick predictions: I am fairly certain that Gamespot will pick PS3 and overall Game of the Year as Uncharted 2. A 9.5, the nominations it got... And just everything I've heard. For 360... I really can't figure it out. I thought COD was a dead lock. The other overall GotY nominated games that are on 360 are: Dragon Age: Origins, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Assassin's Creed II. But Dragon Age isn't even nominated for the 360 version. So... Batman or Assassin's Creed, if they're going to be consistent (and Gamespot usually is, at least in the awards; IGN isn't). I've demoed Batman and know it's great, but I couldn't say. So it's one of those two. 360 players (or just Batman and Assassin's Creed players), sound off on your vote!

That's all I've got. Finally... I wasn't expecting the Zelda bit to take up that much room, sorry. Night!

Hi again everyone! One more day of school, woot! Unless I bomb my English final, I got a 3.8 this semester.

Things I forgot to say last time: I beat the (very short) LBP career and thanks to whoever thumbs up-ed my reviews of FFVII and MGS! I'm going to do MGS2 pretty soon here.

Now without further ado, the Xbox 360 Gift Guide! (Now if only I had one... )

The 360 has a lot of great things behind it and a lot of not-so-great things. One good thing is that it has a massive library, since it came out a year prior to the Wii and PS3. There's also the fact that, for the most part, it can play Xbox games, while recent PS3 models can't play PS2 games. In America, there's also the benefit that a ton of people have its (excellent) online features, so you'll have a lot of friends to play Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War with. The bad bits are that it has a high fail rate, you have to pay for online, and it's the same price as the PS3, which has free online and plays Blu Ray discs. That said, now is the best time yet to invest in a system. The fail rate has gone down a bit, and the 360 Elite is at a great price. With 120 GB of memory, it's only $300. The Arcade version is $200, but it comes with a wired controller and a dinky memory stick that holds like half a gig. Get the Elite. As gamers, you'll need memory for at least a couple games anyway, wireless controllers are cool, and... yeah. It's worth the investment. Here are some game suggestions:

Must-haves:
1. Gears of War
2. Gears of War 2
3. Grand Theft Auto IV
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
5. Left 4 Dead
6. Left 4 Dead 2
7. Resident Evil 5
8. BioShock
9. Mass Effect
10. Dragon Age: Origins

Others you may be interested in:
1. Assassin's Creed
2. Assassin's Creed II
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Fallout 3
6. Halo 3
7. Halo 3: ODST
8. Dead Space
9. Ninja Gaiden II
10. Tekken 6
11. Prototype
12. The Darkness
13. Borderlands
14. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
15. Fable II
16. Dead Rising

Games to watch:
1. Final Fantasy XIII
2. BioShock 2
3. Dante's Inferno
4. Dark Void
5. Singularity
6. Mass Effect 2
7. Crackdown 2
8. Alan Wake
9. Halo Reach
10. Mafia II
11. Splinter Cell: Conviction
12. Metal Gear Solid: Rising (omg did I put this on the PS3 one?!)

There you have it.

First things first: I haven't blogged recently because my mom's been on the comp a lot, and I love my PS3, but now I'm home alone for the weekend! Also, I beat Metal Gear Solid 4- definitely one of the best games I have ever played, ranking up there with Zelda and Mario.

In other news... Finals next week. Gulp. But I can do it! It's only my Pre-Calculus final that really scares me... Also, I got Harry Potter 6 on DVD! That preview of the Deathly Hallows movie was cool, just too short. That said, it is a year away, so I can't complain that much.

Now, let's get back to my Holiday Gift Guide!

It is now a very good time to get a PS3. The original versions could play PS2 games, but only had 20 and 60 GB hard drives, and were $500 and $600 respectively. While the recently released PS3 Slims don't play PS2 games (if you want to play those, get a PS2, they're only $100), they have 120 and 250 GB hard drives, are smaller (obviously), and a mere $300 and $350. I can say from experience that the interface is wonderful. The online is great, you don't have to pay for it, and there are no friend codes. Plus, unlike with Wiimotes, you can plug the normally-wireless controllers into the system and just charge them that way- no AA buying. I would recommend the $300 120 GB model, because I have it, it's cheaper, and I doubt you'll need 250 GB of memory. That's like getting a 360, except that it's less likely to break on you, the online's free, and it plays Blu-Ray... Yeah.It's also worth mentioning that the discs are Blu-Ray, so it's nearly impossible to scratch them. And I like the library better. So... Here's a list of some greats to get on it. I've either demoed or played most of these, but otherwise they're what I'm interested in.

Must-haves:
1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
2. Grand Theft Auto IV
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
6. LittleBigPlanet
7. Resident Evil 5
8. Killzone 2
9. inFamous
10. BioShock
11. Valkyria Chronicles
12. Dragon Age: Origins
Kind of in order, but not really. I can't say where to put a lot of them.

Others you may be interested in:
1. Assassin's Creed
2. Assassin's Creed II
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Fallout 3
6. Demon's Souls
7. Resistance: Fall of Man
8. Resistance 2
9. Dead Space
10. Ninja Gaiden Sigma
11. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
12. Tekken 6
13. Prototype
14. Warhawk
15. The Darkness
16. Borderlands
17. Heavenly Sword

Games to watch:
1. God of War III
2. MAG
3. Final Fantasy XIII
4. Final Fantasy Versus XIII
5. Heavy Rain
6. Dante's Inferno
7. BioShock 2
8. Dark Void
9. The Last Guardian
10. Singularity

And I keep hearing this system has a small library?

Coming soon: the 360 and PSP lists!

EDIT: Forgot to add Mafia II and Metal Gear Solid: Rising (I'm ashamed).