The fine folks at TAC (“The Ant Commandos”) were good enough to send along one of their “Shredder” Guitar Hero controllers for us to review. As this guitar has been on the market for several months already we’ll give it a new rundown and see if we can confirm or deny what others have said about the guitar to date. Perhaps more importantly, we have both the current revision of the Shredder guitar and the introductory version from several months ago. What are the differences? You might be surprised!
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Have you ever found yourself shaking, tilting, and jumping up and down with your game controller in your hands as if this is going to make a slight difference on the way your game on screen will be affected? Wish that your acrobatic grace would help you win the game? Well wish no more, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy is here to tilt your world around.
Developed by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS systems Yoshi Topsy-Turvy is a true tilting adventure. I was skeptical at first that the game would really change depending on how you tilt the system while you play, but boy was I proven wrong! You cannot play this game the conventional way of just pushing buttons; Yoshi depends on you to tilt him around to accomplish the tasks that the spirits assign to him, as he tries to rescue Yoshi Island from the pop-up book world it’s been sucked into.
The graphics in the game are excellent; I really enjoyed the detail they put into making it look like Yoshi is inside a pop up book. As a texture artist who’s created textures for both 3D models and 2D animations I really enjoy looking at the detail that goes into a design, and this game’s artwork is really excellent. What I thought was an excellent design element is the cardboard-like edges on things. The art style flows with the whole concept of the game. The art style is very cartoon-like and the sound effects and music in the game are what one would expect from a Yoshi game.
This game really relies on your handling of the system. One small tilt will determine whether you get Yoshi up to the next level or you bring him to his doom and have to start the level over again. It’s really very enjoyable how they incorporated this type of mechanic into how you play the game. With each level you play, you’ll gain more experience that will help you reach the end and help Yoshi save his world. The game is not multiplayer by design and I doubt it would work well as a multiplayer title anyway. Unless the group you were playing with was really coordinated Yoshi would never get anywhere!
Personally I would enjoy working on designing a game such as this. The art style is to my liking and it really is an addictive game; I couldn’t put it down. It’s a lot of fun to play because it’s very different from most games on the market, where you just sit there and push a couple of buttons to get your character moving.
You actually have to move the entire system to get things rolling with this title, and that’s a cool and entertaining dynamic. The only thing I found to be annoying in this game is “The Spirit Who Loves Swiftness,” and believe me when I say this that this Spirit can be a pain. Check it out for yourself by picking
up a copy of Yoshi Topsy-Turvy.
Quality: 5/5
Sound: 5/5
Game Play: 5/5
Developers Perspective: 5/5
Over all score: 5/5
Well, I attended E3 2005 with the anticipation of joining the Anti-Booth Babes crowd. With the idea of acquiring my free pair of granny panties (and maybe a free shirt). Through out the entire time there I did not run into any Anti-Booth Babes people. The entire crowd there was wide eyed in taking it all in; I am not just
talking about the Booth Babes but all the cool games coming out soon. Personally I was mesmerized by Nintendo’s new Nintendogs; I just could not tear myself away from their booth. It is just an amazing game the puppies have all the real characteristics of a true life puppy; they are playful, stubborn, and just cutie. Depending on the way you treat them they will respond back to you. The nicer you are the cuter they get.
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