Let's do this!
Don't get me wrong, this game did relatively well. I just don't think it gets the appreciation it deserves. The story is fantastically well put together, with arches within arches of plot intertwining and weaving into a cohesive whole. It also happens to have a very special style of horror that you don't see in most survival-horror games to begin with. Add to this the fact that it had the innovative insanity effect and a spectacularly made spell creation system, and you have what is quite possibly one of the best survival-horror games of all time. It's a shame Silicon Knights is allergic to money, because if they weren't, this game would already have either a sequel or some sort of remake.
This game got overwhelmingly good reviews, but didn't sell as much as it should have. The fact of the matter is that Tim Schafer is by far one of the best game designers of all time. His ideas are ingenious and fresh, and always, always exciting. This game has it all: brilliant level design, amazing art direction, fantastic music, hilarious dialogue, an interesting story, a unique concept, etc. It's one of those rare gems that doesn't get the sales or attention it deserves. Psychonauts is more original than Mario has been in the past 10 or so years, and quite possibly the single best platformer this side of Banjo-Kazooie. Entering a Risk-like game to battle against Napoleon, landing in a Black Velvet-like world, crushing through towns and cities as if you were Godzilla, running through the twisted streets of the Milk Man Conspiracy...it's all magical. Sure it has its flaws, but it's so amazing otherwise that those flaws can easily be forgiven.
This game got decent reviews and sold only decent amounts, neither of which is becoming of its brilliance. The game is absolute digital crack, right on the level of something like the Sims, except much more interesting in concept and design. Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is absolutely flawless in every way, with extremely well developed gameplay mechanics, ingenious humor, interesting artistic design, and not a single loose end left visible to the player. Not only is this the best game Rare has made post-Nintendo, but I would go as far as to argue that this game is one of their absolute best, being rivaled only by the likes of Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie. That's a testament to how good this game really is...and yet, very few people even played it. While I enjoy the Gears of Wars, and the Halos, and Call of Duties (*Giggle!* I said "doodies!"), a game like this comes along and shows me just how incredible and deep video games can be without resorting to needless violence. In a sea of same-y cash-cows this generation, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is like a gleaming diamond that washed onto shore...and then was covered with the sand, so that nobody ever saw it.
If you haven't gone out and bought this game yet (it's very, very cheap right now), I point the finger of shame at you!
*SHAME! SHAAAAAAAAAAAAME!*
A game that has gotten undeserved low scores. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, seeing as how the story has some serious loop-holes and the voice acting is laughable at best. But those things aside, Other M is a spectacular game, one that is more focused and driven than any of the Metroid Prime games. The battle system is spectacular, fast, furious, and beautifully smooth. There is not a hitch in the gameplay, and even switching between third and first person mode is instantaneous and flowing. Most of the reviews against this game like to toss bullshit complaints against it like a monkey slinging poo because it's out of debate points. Samus is over-sexualized! No, she's not. She's not more sexualized than she was in Smash Bros. and Zero Mission with her Zero Suit. She also has a personality that is feminine because...you know, she happens to be a woman? When did we as a society make a wrong turn and believe that being "equal" between sexes meant that women had to become men? Sorry, but no. Feminine qualities do not automatically make a character anti-feminist. The story is bad! Well yeah...it's not the best story ever told, but it's not like the Metroid Prime games did any better. At least this game tries to create some sense of a world, a history, and of characters. Samus can't move while aiming in first person mode! She couldn't in Metroid Prime either, but I don't remember anyone besides me complaining. The greatest difference here though is that if you want to, you can easily get out of first person mode and move around the level at lightning speed until you position yourself safely. The game is too linear! Yeah, I agree, it's linear. But being linear doesn't automatically mean it's bad, and frankly, it's not that different from the very well received Metroid Fusion.
So can someone explain to me why this game got scores as low as sixes? Because I can't figure it out. On top of everything, the game had amazing boss battles, of which not one in the original Metroid Prime could compare to; and considering the MP had excellent boss battles, that's a hell of an achievement. Mark my words: people will eventually grow to love this game with time, just as they did with Final Fantasy X-2.
What can I say about this one? Most people haven't even played it, but it's actually a wonderful game. The review scores and the sales were all inexplicably poor, and to this day I can't find a single legitimate complaint against this game. Reviewers usually like to point out the simplicity of the battle system, which requires you to basically just point the second analog stick toward an enemy and hold it as Cooper fights. While it's true that the battle system is simple, they completely miss the point: the challenge in Grabbed by the Ghoulies doesn't come from the battles, it comes from, well...the challenges. Sure, throwing punches is easy...trying to kill a mummy without fire by luring Death near it so it touches the monster and dies? Not so much. The game also had the classic Rareware humor we've all come to love and adore, and the art style is very unique. The game is obviously based off of old Hannah-Barbera cartoons: specifically, it's obvious that the game was influenced by the likes of Scooby Doo. It's lighthearted, it's fun, it's challenging, and it's well made. So why did this game score so poorly? There really isn't an explicitly stated reason. My theory? It scored so poorly because it was the first game Rareware had released for the Xbox, and the expectations of it were astronomical. Basically, it didn't score well because it wasn't Perfect Dark. Ironically, Perfect Dark Zero manages to carry higher scores and better sales than Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and PDZ is by far the single worst game to ever come from Rare. It's mind boggling how something as botched, terribly put together, and horribly outdated as Perfect Dark Zero can be considered a "solid game" while Grabbed by the Ghoulies got lambasted by gaming critics and gamers alike.
- Kharlo -
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