Guitar Hero 5 // Review


Guitar Hero 5 is the latest installment in the ever popular Guitar Hero series. The gameplay follows the same pattern as previous Guitar Hero titles, but this doesn't mean it's the same as the other games. Guitar Hero 5 is available as a bundle or as a standalone game, compatible with the instruments you already own. This new game comes packed full of new features including new play modes and Career mode challenges.


The first change I noticed with the game is option to jump straght into the game and play. This means you don't have to sit through the annoying series of menus and option choices it gives you, unless you want to of course. Its quite helpful if you just wanna get in and play, without worrying about choosing an avatar or any of that other stuff. Another of these new modes is the 'Party-Play' mode. This is a multiplayer mode that is launched as soon as the game is started. It randomly cycles through the tracklist. Players can jump-in at anytime with any of the instruments, once difficulty has been selected. Players can also adjust the difficulty level mid-song. 

There's been a few changes to Career mode as well. Similar to GH: Metallica, Career mode now features a combined single and mulitplayer challenges to unlock content including venues and avatars. The challenges have 3 different levels, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. The challenges differ depending on the song and intrument. When playing as a band, if one player completes the challenge, all players are awarded. This takes away a little of the point of the Challenge mode. For me it's all about completing the challenges yourself, it's not fun if someone else completes the challenge for you. There are a load of unlockable characters including Matt Bellamy of Muse, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Johnny Cash. These are all achieved by completing challenges within Career Mode. 

There is a standard character creator with all console versions, but only the XBOX 360 version allows you to import your avatar. The avatar has one expression all the way through and doesn't open its mouth to sing. It actually makes it kinda creepy. There are increased levels of customization available. You can customize your character's clothes, hairstyle and even design the tattoos they have. You can customize their instruments, and can even create your own band logo and have it on the instruments. I could spend hours doing this. I really could. There are so many different options to choose from meaning there is truly something for everyone.

In my opinion the main let down in this game is the tracklist. What were they thinking? Not only were all the tracks available from the beginning, but the variety in the list is just too broad. I think what they were trying to do is to include something for everyone, but it didn't really work. There are only a small selection of songs that I would play, and the rest I've never heard of or plainly don't like. They've also included songs that have more synth than guitar. For example the try to pass off the flutes in 'A-Punk' by Vampire Weekend, as a guitar. No. They're flutes. They will always be flutes. And the fact that all the songs are available from the beginning was a ridiculous idea. It takes away a big part of the game for me. The Career mode is so short that it needs the ability to unlock songs to make the game that bit more challenging. If you're not bothered about unlocking the avatars and venues, there's not really much point playing the Career mode at all.


The game isn't bad at all. The levels of customization and the challenges in Career mode really add something to the overal gameplay and the new drop in/out play modes make it that much easier to get straight into playing  but I think the tracklist really does let it down, lets hope the next one is better!

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Jewel Quest 3 // Review

If you're a fan of puzzle games you'll love this! It has to be the most addictive series of games I think I've ever played. The third in the series, Jewel Quest 3 is set across a globe map with puzzles in Mexico, Iceland, Europe, Africa, South America, Australia, China, Alaska and East Asia. You can select which region you want to play and each of these regions has several puzzles you can chose from with varying difficulty.




If you've not played any of the Jewel Quest series before, you have to swap jewels to create a lines of 3 to clear the board. You can earn things called specials, which allow you to clear one jewel per special, by matching 3 gold coins. The story continues from the previous games, following Rupert and Emma, archeologsits searching for a cure for their daughters blindness and is executed through journal entries written by the characters. It's a simple idea but it's executed brilliantly. The story isn't very involving, but that doesn't bother me because I tend to skip it anyway.



The art is medicore, it's nothing special but it's still pretty, they've taken time to design different backgrounds for each continent. The overall design matches the story which was inspired by Indiana Jones, with the main menu being set in an interactive museum lobby. Jewel Quest 3 is cheap, fun and addictive. Once you've played one, you'll want to play more. Trust me. I even downloaded the second one onto my mobile phone... I just can't get enough!
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Star Ocean: The Last Hope // Review

The Last Hope is the fifth episode in the Star Ocean series. The story goes like this. You are Edge Maverick a young space recruit setting off on his first Space Reconnaissance mission, along with childhood friend and fellow recruit Reimi Saionji. After an extra long first cutscene you enter the battle simulator. You can spend ages going through the tutorials, or you can skip it. I'd go through it if I were you, especially if this is your first time playing a Star Ocean game. The battle system can be... tricky, but i'll talk about that more later. After you're done in the battle simulator you wander around the ship aimlessly. Maybe this is just a sign of my utter stupidity but it took me forever to find where I was meant to be going, which is finding Reimi on the flight deck. And with this comes another cutscene, this time involving the ship launching... and crashing. You then get to walk over to Reimi and guess what... there's ANOTHER cutscene! You're now roughly 20 minutes into the game and all you've done is walk around a ship.



It does have its saving grace though. The graphics are stunningly beautiful. The amount of detail that’s gone into the game is astounding. After the crash you are assigned to explore the surroundings, you get a few items and can speak to various members of the crew and once you talk to Reimi again you enter yet another cutscene, leading to your first fight... HOORAY! Finally some action! But this excitement is short lived, with the battle lasting only a minute or two. And low and behold... another damn cutscene. Things get more interesting on your next mission though, when you finally venture out into the surrounding forest, where the enemies are bountiful and the map is confusing. There's no indication of where you should be heading and you occasionally end up walking around in circles. But these a minor difficulties compared to the problem with the camera! The camera angles in Star Ocean are horrendously bad. It changes between third person and first person without warning! This makes gameplay incredibly awkward, especially when trying to avoid battles.



The only real problem I have with the battle system is the fact that when I escape from a battle, the enemy will run back into me, entering me back into the same battle I've just escaped from! Maybe this is the games way of saying I shouldn't be lazy but still, other than this little factor I really enjoy them. The number of enemies and the speed at which you enter battles can be a little overwhelming, but I enjoy a challenge. The targeting function can be a little tempermental sometimes, switching between enemies when you are surrounded, but this can easily ,be resovled by switching the focus back to enemy you want. I'd also make sure you lock the camera above the battle area, otherwise it will all get a little confusing.



The overall gameplay is good, the story is interesting and the characters are likeable, well, most of them. Welch is the most annoying thing on the planet, but I can live with that as I don't use the item creation too often. The cutscenes and landscapes are beautiful. What more could I ask for in a game? If you're looking for an RPG with a good story I'd suggest you go and buy Star Ocean, as long as you can look past it's dodgey camera angles and extra long cutscenes.
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