[bad soda]

I know I promised you some Final Fantasy backgrounds but lately I have been playing a lot of Halo 3 and have decided to make a few more Halo 3 PSP backgrounds. I just took some screen shots from Bungie.net and formated them to fit nicely on the PSP. I do however have one Final Fantasy VII background that Rook helped me make, and when I say helped me make I mean he made it. I think it looks nice and will post it up here today also.

Halo 3

Final Fantasy VII

If you were lucky enough to own or play Dragon Quest IV, (I know it is “Dragon Warrior” in the US, but it is really Dragon Quest,) on the NES, then you know what an awesome game it is. I am happy that Square-Enix is giving it the remake treatment. I am also happy that they are putting it on the DS, because I am running out of games to play on that system. The video shows a lot of the gameplay. It looks like they have done a lot to stay true to the original game. The graphics are tons better and even the turn based fighting seems like it has been improved a lot. It is scheduled for release this year in Japan, and hopefully soon after in the US.

Check out the video:

[NES] Xexyz – SCORE: 7.25
Highest Level Achieved: I was having fun all the way up to area 5-1; I had just conquered the second “mechanic castle” and made my way to the next area before I had to go to work. When I got back I wasn’t interested in making any more progress.
Description: Easily fitting in the same genre as Demon Sword and Rygar, it’s an action game with random doorways that lead to possible weapon upgrades or strange minibosses. This one is more sci-fi and you shoot a wussy gun instead of swinging a tiny sword or kickass shield-attack thing, but it feels similar.

The third time I tried to force myself to take some time and give Xexyz a fair shot ended much like the first two: I quit because it sucked. I was right, but I hadn’t played enough of it to give a proper review. So I was willing to give it one more chance. So after three strikes I gave the game another final pitch. Wait, that doesn’t work. Maybe the first three were balls and it still had a few strikes left, but one more ball and it would walk. No—here’s a better one: Xexyz was at three fouls, and only had one more chance. Unless it fouled again. Damn sports analogies. It was more like tenth down and the coach was calling for the statue of liberty play. I knew I had to make this kick count or we’d be stuck in overtime with too many players in the penalty box.

I played Xexyz once more and actually liked it. It helped that I got into a solid groove with my first life and took advantage of my prior experience to always go into the right doors in the right order. I made it to the final castle of the first area and rocked its face. Partway through the castle I boarded some kind of super mecha-suit and flew around in a Gradius-esque shooting level, which soon was a regular occurrence in the game.

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[NES] Magmax – SCORE:  6.75
Highest Level Achieved:  Well I beat the game but it just started to loop back to the first level (there are really only about two and a half levels anyway) and I ended up beating it again and dying at 169,200 points.
Description:  Dated “space shooter” type game that sports more of a hovercraft-like ship than a space ship.  Oh, and power-ups include legs and a head and a breast laser.  There is also the same pointless trade-off 2-player mode that was thrown on too many games.

I really shouldn’t give Magmax a score even this high.  The game is barely two levels long.  The sound is atrocious.  It plays like so many terrible arcade port types, with a worthless 2-player option and the only accomplishment being a high score.  The power-ups make your ship one huge-ass target with arms, legs and a head, and are bound to get blown apart before they get cool.  There’s some kind of attempted variety with various gray splotches that serve as gateways underground, but underground just tends to be slightly harder than above ground and doesn’t offer any worthwhile benefits.  Throw in Magmax and you’ll probably pull it out in under a minute and play something good instead.

But this game is so purely a shooter that for any veteran of the genre it will be like a suitable warm-up that can be played at any time for no commitment.  Sure it has a few original elements, but more than anything its strength lies in feeling like every shooter I’ve ever played.  After five minutes of dying to get into the groove I ended up playing flawlessly for almost a half-hour while simultaneously having a meaningful conversation about the definition of art with a good friend.  I couldn’t do that with Gradius.

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I have added quite a few new PSP backgrounds to the site. Some Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Killzone: Liberation, and even a new Shadow of the Colossus background.

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[NES] Rescue: The Embassy Mission – SCORE: 8.25
Highest Level Achieved: I beat all the missions on medium difficulty and half so far on hard mode, but I probably burned myself out with too much of the same.
Description: A strange, original game based around a counter-terrorist operation. There are three modes of play (four if you count rappelling) that are all vital to the completion of the mission. There are three difficulties and 5 or 6 “missions” that are all based on the same map with a few differences.

Lately I’ve been dropping by my local used game shop that still sells NES games and buying all rock-bottom priced games. I figured it would be fun to try out stuff I’ve never heard of and see if I could stumble across a buried treasure. I thought I had found the diamond in the rough with Hydlide, but it was Rescue that finally made me grateful for my $20 spent. This game is about as close to Rainbow Six as games could get in 1989, and I mean that in the best way.

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I have made a few PSP backgrounds for my first official post. I will try and add at least one new background a week. If there are any backgrounds that you want me to make leave a comment, and I will see what I can do. I hope you enjoy the Final Fantasy backgrounds and the background for God of War Chains of Olympus. (click on the thumbnail to download the full size image.)

I don’t know about you, but I for one think the new, “Wii Zapper,” is a really stupid looking item. I think that Nintendo could have put a lot more thought into this product before they put it on the market. Not only does it make some bad design choices, but it also makes some stupid price choices.

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