Blueflower's Gaming Blog and Reviews

[blueflower999]

And, Blue, when will you be finishing your AA case list?

Very soon, I'll be adding in the rest of the cases to the old post either tonight or tomorrow, and then will post further in the list as part of the Christmas marathon. ^_^

For the love of God though, only read the entries for Dual Destinies until you've finished some other games. Spoiling Ace Attorney is the worst thing you can do for yourself.

So yep, that's an accurate score, but from the few hours I've spent on the Wii U version so far, it's basically a perfect 10/10.

I don't know if I'd call it a 10/10 personally, but yeah as far as fighting games go it's pretty perfect. Lots of great features that polish very well what the 3DS already had to offer.

[blueflower999]

I'm sorry it took so long to finish up this series!! I don't know why I forgot to do this, but I'll try my best to remember the game for this review. XD

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy:

Gameplay: 9/10 I'll be honest, I don't think Azran Legacy's gameplay is objectively worse than Miracle Mask's. In fact, it's probably better, as Layton games always seem to get progressively smoother in the puzzle solving as the series goes along. There was just something about how Miracle Mask presented the puzzles that was so new and original and presented in such a revolutionary way that I actually went around and solved some for fun. In Azran Legacy, the puzzles are presented in essentially the same way, and they're definitely better than the other four games, but they didn't hook me. The best part about them, though, is their lack of puzzles that require putting in a numerical value as an answer. I much prefer slider puzzles or logical puzzles or brainteasers to math-y stuff, so that's good.

Addictiveness: 8/10 A lot of what I might say here I'll talk about in "Story", but Azran Legacy has moments where you're on the edge of your seat and moments where it's boring and slow. The game starts out with a really gripping cutscene right from the get-go, but it quickly looses steam and starts showing lots of good but less engaging content. It then proceeds to stay at a low intensity for six long sub-episodes before rising dramatically at the end in a very fast manor. The beginning part was good enough for me to not put the game down until the breathe-taking conclusion, so I don't have any complaints. It's just difficult trudging through some of the more boring chapters.

Story: 9/10 While not what I would call the best story in the series, Azran Legacy has to be in the top 3. However, its biggest flaw is what I discussed above. Despite having a nearly perfect opening and conclusion, with lots of great plot twists that no one will see coming in the later, the middle is among the slowest in the entire series. I've heard complaints that Unwound Future's middle is slow, and that has some merit, but that didn't bother me so much because the efforts were pretty much always focused on understandable objectives. In Azran Legacy, there's a sequence where our main protagonists have to travel to six different locations around the world to collect an object in each (I'm trying to keep this intentionally vague so as to not ruin anything). The problem with this is not the environments themselves: they're all very colorful and lively and the subplots in them range from mediocre and pointless to excellent, with the last two being my personal favorites in Hoogland and Mosinnia. The issue arises from the fact that each location has its own subplot and objective that must be completed before receiving the object that's being searched for, which takes a lot of the focus off from the main goal of the game. This being said, it's not a *bad* sequence, it just drags on a little long and feels like filler a lot of the time. If the areas had any sort of connection to the overall plot of the game, it would flow a lot better. Unfortunately, they had to be very episodic because the player can choose which order to do them in. It's nice to have this freedom, but I just did them in the order they were presented. Meh, you guys get the idea. Anyway, the conclusion of the game is perhaps the most intense in the series (it's about Unwound Future level) with probably the most surprising plot twists to fans who have played the other games. It wraps up the prequel trilogy nicely and doesn't really disappoint in anyway. 

Music: 9/10 Azran Legacy has a great soundtrack. Again, I don't know if I'd call it Miracle Mask worthy, but it's close. Really close. There are lots of great songs, especially some of the town themes and some of the songs that it remixes from the previous games. I won't be posting remixes or song's that we've had before, but remember that Layton's Theme and the main antagonist's theme still rank among my favorites.

Kodh

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Mosinnia

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Puzzles Abroad

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Froenborg

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Targent's Theme

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Targent's theme was in Miracle Mask too, I believe, but I'm putting it here because it doesn't really become important until this game. There are also some pretty sad songs that play near the end, but I won't be putting those here either.

Character Design: 9/10 The biggest thing that hurts the characters in this game, in my opinion, is also the biggest thing that hurts the game. Layton, Luke, and Emmy are all the same as you'd expect: Layton is still the perfect gentleman, Luke is still the awesome, adorable, and clumsy apprentice, and Emmy is still the boss and sassy side... kick. (Ouch, that was lame.) Two new main characters, Professor Desmond Sycamore, and Aurora are introduced, and without ruining either of their role, I like both of them. Aurora is a little flat, but I don't mind that so much in a series with nothing but super standout main characters. The main villains (and hey, there are kind of two this time!) are also excellent, but they're not really introduced formally until the very end of the game. Now, what was that I was saying about the characters being hurt? Well, in the Layton games that I feel have the strongest cast of NPCs (Curious Village and Miracle Mask), the entire game takes place in one town (Miracle Mask is arguable, but just go with me on this). Azran Legacy is the opposite, because you visit like eight or nine locations in the game. It's a lot of variety and all the scenery is wonderful, but none of the NPCs stick with me because they're all here and gone in five seconds with very little impact on the plot. Six areas that are visited for brief side-quests with lots of NPCs in each, but they're all there and gone in a flash. They're not *bad*, as I don't think the series is capable of doing anything *bad*, and I suppose I might remember them and like them if I went out of my way to talk to them, but I don't really feel like doing that so much because I'm focused on advancing the plot. Still a great cast of mains, though, as always.

Humor: 9/10 Lots of great jokes in this game. Raymond, the pilot of the ship that you use to tour the world, makes some awesome puns whenever you return from a location. Emmy has some great sass and in-jokes that only fans of the series would get. Lots of other nods to previous titles make the game a lot of fun for veterans. It's been too long to remember any more specifics, but the game did have a sense of humor. Oh yeah, there were two Targent grunts named Robin and Macaw that reminded me of Team Rocket: two goofballs who always managed to screw up their goals in a humorous way.

Difficulty: 6/10 I don't recall the game being all that difficult. The minigames sound hard, but I didn't really have the time to try them out, so I didn't get much experience. Generally the puzzles that give me the most trouble are the ones where you need to input numbers, and because the series gives you less and less of those in each game, the puzzles, as a whole, seem to get easier, yet more fun.

Other Memorable Features: The minigames and StreetPass features are great, I'm sure, but I didn't really get a chance to use them. None of my friends in real life bought the game, I don't think. 

Overall: 9.8/10 I'd put it tied with Unwound Future. Unwound Future had a more engaging middle, but I'd call Azran Legacy's beginning and end to be slightly better, plus it had much more tolerable gameplay and better music.

Final ranking of the games:

Miracle Mask > Azran Legacy = Unwound Future > Diabolical Box > Last Specter > Curious Village

REQUEST (if you want): Any Professor Layton game...some of them are quite cheap as they've been out for a while

Consider this request fulfilled. Two and a half years later and I've reviewed every game in the series. It was fun, and I loved every minute of it.

[SlowPokemon]

OH MY GOD

CHRISTMAS KEEPS COMING EARLY

I LOVE THIS REVIEW ITS SO WELL THOUGHT OUT AND WRITTEN.


Seriously though, that's a really good point about the NPCs. If you don't make it a point to return to locations like San Grio and Hoogland, you'll likely see and speak to those characters once or twice and never see them again.

It's worth noting the daily puzzles though, even though you don't use them--I finished all of the puzzles and minigames in about 30 hours of play, and thanks to the daily puzzles, my play time for that file has doubled.

Im so glad you ended up liking the games.

[blueflower999]

Let's say one final goodbye to 2014 with a review of my favorite game that I played this past year!

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor's Path

And yes, yes, I know. Prosecutor's Path is the fan translation title, but screw that. I'm treating the fan translation as if it's official, and I'll also be using all the English names for the characters. Why? Because I like the fan translation and I did the same thing for Mother 3. And yes, I realize that I haven't reviewed the five other Ace Attorney games. I'll be getting to that, I just really wanted to get this one out of the way because it's such a doozy. Alright, let's dive into this.

Gameplay: 9/10 Most Ace Attorney fans prefer the court scenes in the main five games over the investigation scenes. The court is fast paced, intense, and full of plenty of wacky moments that the investigations don't always have. And, in the five main games, I would agree with them. However, I personally like the gameplay of the Investigations spinoffs a tad bit more than main series. I know, I know, that's blasphemy. But this is coming from the guy that likes Apollo Justice more than the original trilogy, so what do you expect? From the way I see it, the main series has investigations and it has cross examinations, and those essentially sum up the variety of the game (ignoring text-reading and the occasional scientific investigation). Investigations 1 and 2, however, have both of those, plus some new features. You can use Logic to connect facts learned about the case and can Deduce a contradiction from a crime scene using the evidence on hand. There's also the fact that I enjoy the sideways sprites of Investigations much more than the front-facing sprites of the main series. Now, everything I've said so far has referred to both Investigations games, and not specifically the sequel. Prosecutor's Path introduces another new gameplay feature called Logic Chess, in which Edgeworth plays a metaphorical game of "chess" against another character to reveal whatever they're hiding. It's kind of like Phoenix's Magatama and Apollo's Bracelet, but it's a lot more involved and intense. There's a constant dialogue going back and forth between Edgey and the witness, and rather than using evidence to talk to them, Edgeworth just uses pure concrete language and deductive reasoning. It's really a lot of fun, and it's never overused, only coming into play once or twice each case. In addition, each bout of Logic Chess becomes progressively more difficult, and by the last match (which is by far the best and one of my favorite moments in the series) it gets crazy intense. However, other than Logic Chess, the game is largely similar to the first Investigations, which is largely similar to the Ace Attorney series as a whole, just minus a lot of the courtroom. There's still shoving evidence in witnesses' faces during arguments (essentially cross-examinations) and there's still a lot of great writing and animations. In short, I'd say it's the most diverse game in the series and also the most fun to play.

Addictiveness: 9/10 This game really grabbed my attention for some reason, and I can't exactly explain why. Each case gets progressively more intense until the grand buildup to the finale, and it all feels like one giant roller-coaster ride to get there. Right from the very beginning the game leaves some questions unanswered in the back of the player's mind, and these continue to build up over the course of the game. It's really very well done.

Story: 10/10 My gosh, I would give this game a 100 out of ten if I could. The story is absolutely unbelievable, and that's coming from a guy who's played all six Laytons, all six other Ace Attorneys, and both Zero Escape games. As for a comparison, I would put this game as a tie with 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors and Virtue's Last Reward, and it easily tops everything else. The game has five cases: Turnabout Target (E2-1), The Imprisoned Turnabout (E2-2), The Inherited Turnabout (E2-3), The Forgotten Turnabout (E2-4), and The Grand Turnabout (E2-5). After playing Trials and Tribulations, I concluded that it was the first game to have "no bad cases". However, after playing the rest of the series and this game, I conclude that Investigations 2 is the only game to have "all freaking good cases". Not only are all the cases acceptable, but they're all interwoven like no other game in the series tried to do. Without playing the first four cases and understanding them, no one could understand anything in The Grand Turnabout. Every case is involved with every other case and they all flow logically from one to the next. The story itself is masterful even regarding these facts. It pulls in more characters than any other game (the finale has about twice as many characters as Bridge To The Turnabout did, and that was the current record holder) and has an awesomely intricate plot that manages to involve pretty much everyone in one way or another. Even most of the minor characters seem to find themselves involved in the overarching story of the game. I would go through the cases in individual detail, but I'll be doing that shortly in my Top 34 Cases thingy anyway, so there's not much point. However, I can say that the finale of the game is easily tied for my favorite case in the series, and nothing can really beat this game's plot.

Music: 10/10 This game's OST is a candidate for my favorite in video game history, and by far my favorite from the series. I could post all 49 songs here, but I'll try to restrain myself and post only the absolute best ones.

Turnabout Target

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Logic Chess

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Confrontation ~ Moderate

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Confess The Truth

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Objection!

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Raymond Shields ~ Joking Motive

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Sebastian Debeste's Reasoning

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Justine Courtney ~ Goddess of Law

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Blaise Debeste ~ Rigorous Justice

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Patricia Roland ~ Hugs and Kisses

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Confrontation ~ Presto

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Gregory Edgeworth ~ A Defense Attorney's Knowledge

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Jeff Master ~ Sweet Happiness

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Katherine Hall ~ Sweet Dance

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Dane Gustavia ~ Brandished Flavor

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Zheng Fa ~ Land of the Phoenix

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My favorite song in the series

Wow, that was still a lot. I apologize, even there I had to begrudgingly drop some songs.

Character Design: 10/10 I know I've been saying this a lot, but this game is hands down the best cast of characters in the Ace Attorney series, and maybe in any video game I've ever played. This game got me to like Miles Edgeworth. I tolerated him after the second game or so, but I didn't like him as a character until this installment. I won't go listing every character for fear of spoiling the ones that return, but Gumshoe and Franny are still as excellent as they always are. All the new characters are wonderful too: Judge Justine Courtney starts out as an antagonistic figure and maybe a bit dry, but by the end of the game I really ended up liking her. Sebastian Debeste, a rookie prosecutor who thinks he's the smartest man on earth despite being ridiculously dim, is my favorite character in the series for reasons I can't go into here. Let's just say that he's the character that I can relate the most to. Raymond Shields is a hilarious hug-obsessed defense attorney that grew up under the leadership of Gregory Edgeworth. Speaking of Gregory, you play as him for much of the third case and he's easily my favorite playable character in the series. All these mains plus an absolute *ton* of lovely side characters (although nobody is really a side character in this game) makes this the best cast ever. It's also the only game in the series to include all five of my favorite characters (Sebastian Debeste, Detective Badd, Detective Gumshoe, Franziska Von Karma, and Blaise Debeste, in that order.) In fact, there are only about four or five characters in the Ace Attorney series that I'd say I dislike. There are a lot of "meh" and "okay" characters, but for the most part I like the majority of them. This game, however, is the only game where I like every single character. Even returning characters that I didn't really care much for somehow become likable in this game. I don't know what it is, but I love every character.

Humor: 9/10 This game's fan translation keeps the classic Ace Attorney witty lines intact. Whether it adds any new jokes or not I can't say, but the game is still very funny. Watching all the characters interact (especially Edgeworth and Kay) is always very amusing, and I got some good laughs out of the puns in characters' names too. There's one character in particular in The Forgotten Turnabout that makes the case so much better than it would be without him. What I might call the funniest scene in the series also occurs towards the very end.

Difficulty: 6/10 To be brief, Investigations 2 isn't any harder than your average Ace Attorney game. In fact, I'd make the argument that in general, both Investigations games are a tad easier than the main series, and from a difficulty standpoint, I'd also make the case that 2 is a bit easier than 1 (especially seeing that 1 has some insane logic towards the end of it). Will there be a few points where you have to guess and present randomly? Possibly, but not as much as before.

Other Memorable Features: Ace Attorney games aren't exactly known for their bonus features, and there's really not much more I can say. Playing the game on an emulator sucks crap, but it didn't diminish the experience of the game really that much for me. I did, however, have to watch all of E2-3 and parts of E2-5 on YouTube, though, because my emulator started glitching out, and that was no fun. I did go back and play them myself immediately afterward though. None of that is really the game's fault though, I just have a bad computer and emulators never really seem to work for me in general.

Overall: 10/10 Best game in the series, best game I've played all year, and easily in my Top 5 games that I've ever played. Honestly, you should play every other Ace Attorney before this one, and if you do that the series will really go out with a bang.

[SlowPokemon]

Goddam you make me want to play this right now! I do have a new laptop you know

After I finish the trilogy, what should I play next? Jump straight to Investigations 2 since I haven't played it yet? Or go in chronological order? Or order of release?

[blueflower999]

I honestly don't care what you do as long as you play it at some point in the future. I think chronological order would be the most interesting, though!

[SlowPokemon]

Chronological sounds good, and I've never played it that way :O also that means I only have Investigations between the trilogy and GK2

[blueflower999]

I can't believe I'm actually doing this, but here I go...

I Am An Air Traffic Controller Airport Hero Hawaii:

Yes, this is a real game. Yes, I paid fifteen dollars for it. And, yes, I thoroughly regret it. I bought it for the title alone, and I guess in that sense I got exactly what I paid for.

Gameplay: 5/10 This game is among the most boring I've played, and the only reason I'm going to high as to give it a five is that it's a bit of an acquired taste. The tutorials in the game suck. They don't explain what you're supposed to do, I tried both of them and couldn't figure anything out, so I had to figure out everything through trial and error in the main game. There's a lot I need to say here, so here I go. The essential core gameplay element of the game is that you sit back and watch planes go around. You get to tell departing planes what runway to take and what taxi route to take, and that's it. You get to tell arriving planes what runway to land on and what spot to taxi to, and that's it. Spots, taxi routes, and runways are the only choices you make in the entire game, and it's boring as crap. There are only 12 levels in the game, which is ridiculously few for a game costing fifteen freaking dollars. The game can generate new levels based on pictures you take with the camera, but that doesn't really cover it. The graphics look like garbage. As the title might suggest, the entire game takes place in a (surprisingly accurate) representation of Hawaii's Honolulu International Airport. The airport looks fine, but all the island area around it looks like a wasteland. Either the game takes place in post apocalyptic Hawaii with awful textures and puke-green colors, or the designers weren't using the full graphics capabilities of the 3DS. Seriously, you have one location for the entire freaking game to take place in and you can't make it look nice. Anyway, back to the gameplay. It's frustrating, it's confusing, and it takes way more time to learn than anyone would bother to put in. Everything I'm about to say is just what I've surmised because there's essentially no tutorial. There are five "Controls" that control the different actions that planes can take. Approach Control (blue) gives arrivals the runway to land on, and that's about it. Departure Control (green) and Delivery Control (pink) don't do much of anything. And then there's the two that are always doing something, Ground Control (yellow), which controls taxiing, and Tower Control (red), which controls takeoffs and landings. The biggest problem that I've found in the gameplay is this: you'll have five or more planes at a time all under the jurisdiction of Ground Control (if they're all taxiing) or Tower Control (if they're all landing and taking off, which is a very common situation). The problem arises from the fact that only one man works at Tower Control, so he can only talk to one plane at a time. This means that I need to wait for their unnecessarily-long instructions to finish to move on to the another plane. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it becomes a huge pain when you get penalized points (yes, the game has a points-to-win system) for delays or not making the plane land in time. The absolute worst is when you screw up by accidentally telling a plane to go to a parking spot that already has a plane in it because there's no way to undo a choice. It's also a pain when you have two planes on the same runway and they're about to crash, but to get one to stop you have to wait for Ground Control to shut up, issue an order, wait for the plane to say "okay", and then finally they begin to slow do-- oh wait it's too late. They crashed, game over, and you start the level over again. Did I mention that these levels are about forty five minutes long and essentially involve just WATCHING PLANES??? I'm going to end this section on a quote I found in another review of the game that sums up my thoughts perfectly:

Spoiler

The board on the touch screen for managing flight information has room for five arrivals and five departures, and the main game will steadily fill these up as you progress through the stages. As traffic builds at and above the airport, concentration and timing become ever more important. You may soon find yourself frantically tapping between all the flights on your board, making sure you didn't just give one plane a route to its parking spot that will run over the ground crew trying to tow another plane to another spot, all while praying the wind speed will change so you can get another plane off the ground to clear that strip for the arriving plane you promised it to, except you can't reach either at the moment because the channels are currently occupied with orders to other planes and NO, SHUT UP FLIGHT OAL013 YOU DO NOT HAVE CLEARANCE TO CROSS THE RUNWAY ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR BIG BROTHER CURRENTLY CAREENING DOWN IT IN YOUR DIRECTION CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?!?!

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Addictiveness: 4/10 There's really nothing here to keep you playing at all. Every level is more or less the same thing, new mechanics are never really introduced (save for occasionally getting to take off a plane in the water, which isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds), and the game overall just lacks any kind of appeal. So, you might ask, why do I have ten hours on it? Well, because I like the title. And because I went insane a long time ago.

Story: 0/10 There is no story and no attempt at one whatsoever.

Music: 3/10 The music in the game sucks. I can't even post any of it here because I couldn't find the soundtrack on YouTube, and I don't feel like looking for it somewhere else. One thing I can commend is that each stage gets its own unique song, but none of it is fitting. When you think of Hawaii, do you think of awful techno dubstep music? No, of course not. Go listen to the soundtrack from Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask or Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies and then this game and tell me that the 3DS wasn't capable of at least producing melodies. There's only one song I've heard in the game that's halfway decent, and it plays on Stage 9. It wasn't spectacular, but it at least had a nice little tune to it. So that's why the game gets a 3 instead of a 1 or 2.

Character Design: 1/10 The only characters in the game are the people who voice all the "Controls", and they have no personality whatsoever. The Departure Control guy always says "Good day" when a plane leaves the airport, so that's kind of cool I guess?? I don't know, I'm really grasping for things to say here.

Humor: 2/10 The title alone gets the game two points.

Difficulty: 8/10 Honestly, this game is difficult for every wrong reason possible. A horrendous "tutorial", no forgiveness in undoing decisions, and lots of other technical things that I talk about in the above sections. Most sane people wouldn't play past the first level, if that. The stages labeled "Hard" aren't even hard, I had the most difficulty with a stage leveled "Normal".

Other Memorable Features: If you tap a plane that's pulling out of its gate before taking off, you can faintly hear the crew telling the passengers to "fasten their seat-belts" and that "smoking is prohibited" and all that great stuff. Yeah, that's about it.

Overall: 4/10 This game isn't worth your time or your money. If you can see it on sale for 5 dollars or less, it might be worth getting, but only to experience how ridiculous it all is. I've never played a game like it before, but I don't really intend on it ever again.

[Sebastian]

I'll remember not to get it

[Yugi]

Overall: 4/10 This game isn't worth your time or your money. If you can see it on sale for 5 dollars or less, it might be worth getting, but only to experience how ridiculous it all is.

Alternatively, you can save up and spend your money on better and other unappreciated 3DS games, such as

•   Metal Gear Solid 3D
•   Bravely Default
•   Gunman Clive
•   Any  Retro Game
•   Monster Hunter
•   Phoenix Wright Collection
•   Shovel Knight
•   Other mainstream games that I'm not going to put attention on

[SlowPokemon]

Oh my god this review

I laughed

I cried

I will not buy i am an air traffic controller airport hero hawaii

[FireArrow]

but bloo
i know you secretly rave about this game
such plot twists
much strategy

[blueflower999]

but bloo
i know you secretly rave about this game
such plot twists
much strategy

The only twist involved with this game is the knot that my penis was twisted into while playing it.

[FireArrow]

Sounds hot.

[blueflower999]

Shovel Knight:

Heyyy, here's a rather mainstream Indie title that I totally missed out on last summer (I went with 1001 Spikes instead) but ended up getting last month, and it's definitely worth talking about here.

Gameplay: 8/10 If you've ever played a Mega Man game, then you already have a pretty basic idea of how the gameplay in Shovel Knight works. There's an intro stage and a few challenging bonus stages and bonus boss battles scatted here and there, but for the most part the formula is the same. (And don't expect the similarities to stop here, we're going to be referencing Mega Man a lot in this review because in my opinion it was probably the single biggest inspiration for how the game plays.) There are 8 bosses similar to the Mega Man series' trademark "8 Robot Master" setups, only in this game the 8 bosses are members of the Order of No Quarter, an evil gang of characters who have taken over various locations in the world the game takes place. You know how in Mega Man all the Robot Masters always end in "Man," like Cut Man, Fire Man, Shadow Man, and Slash Man just like Mega Man himself? Well in this game, all of their names end in "Knight," just like Shovel Knight. We'll talk more about the specific characters later on down, but the similarities in the formula are quite apparent. There are two major differences though. First of all, there's an overworld map that's very similar to the map of Super Mario Brothers 3, and also similarly to that game, enemies that you can encounter occasionally spawn on the map and walk around. Two towns and a few other areas are also present on the map, and more becomes unlocked the more bosses you beat, kind of like finishing the castles in Mario 3. Secondly, you can't fight the bosses in whatever order you want. You first have a choice of two, then three, and then three more, and then finally two final stages whose equivalents would be the Dr. Wily/Dr. Cossack/Proto Man/Mr. X stages from the classic Mega Man games.
But that's all talking about the game's setup, how does the game actually play when you pick a level? Well, again, very similarly to Mega Man, only instead of having a ranged weapon you use a shovel. You also get a weapon from finishing a level, but you either have to find it hidden in the level or purchase them back in the town after clearing it. The weapons are all useful at some point or another, but most especially a fire wand allows you to shoot projectiles across the screen, and that's the one I find myself using the most. The weapons aren't really used by the bosses of the stage, but they generally capture the theme of the level pretty well. They can also be easily switched by using the touch screen on the 3DS (which is the console I'm playing on, by the way) so you don't even have to pause the game. The weapons cost magic points and enemies sometimes drop potions to refill these points. Both your maximum health and maximum magic points can be upgraded in the town for gold that you find hidden all over every level. There are various checkpoints along the way in each stage, and instead of dying in a level and losing a life, you just drop a certain percentage of the money you were carrying and have a chance to go and retrieve it again. It basically means that you can try a section of the level over and over as many times as you want without worrying about having to start the stage over again. The stages are very, very lengthy too, so that's definitely a plus. The bosses at the end of the stages tend to be fun, fast paced, and enjoyable. All in all, the game feels a lot like how a modern retro-style platformer should feel, and that's a good thing. It's not quite as easy to pick up and play as Mega Man is, but it's still a ton of fun.

Addictiveness: 7/10 Because the story of the game isn't terrible but isn't particularly gripping, most of the game's charm comes from waiting for what lies ahead. Fog clouds the map where you can't go, so waiting to see what new knights and challengers are ahead is quite fun. Saving up money to buy new weapons and armor to help on the quest is also quite enjoyable, and it's rather challenging to see everything in one playthrough, making the replay value decently high.

Story: 7/10 The game has an interesting little twist at the end of the last stage that's foreshadowed to the point of becoming obvious, but it's still nice regardless. Other players might be able to guess it but I did not, personally. It's nothing like you'd see at the end of a Layton game or anything like that, but it's certainly more surprising than "oh wow Dr. Wily's the villain again."

Music: 10/10 Perhaps the best way the game shines is through its soundtrack. All of the Knights with the exception of Polar Knight and to a certain degree Specter Knight have absolutely amazing themes on their stages, and they're much more lengthy and complex than any song that you'd hear on the NES while still retaining much of the soundfont and appeal. In addition, the intro stage and the final stages have excellent themes as well. When I heard the music on the first stage (Plains of Passage) for the first time, I instantly knew that the 15$ was well spent.

Intro Stage

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King Knight's Theme

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Mole Knight's Theme

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Plague Knight's Theme

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Treasure Knight's Theme

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Tinker Knight's Theme

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Propeller Knight's Theme

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Tower of Fate

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Something else about this game that I thought was really interesting musically were the boss themes. All of the Order of No Quarter have their own boss theme, and most of them remix the music on the stage, which is really interesting and helps to distinguish all the different battles from each other. Speaking of the Order of No Quarter...

Character Design: 9/10 ...they're all excellent. The Order of No Quarter is really a fine cast of characters. King Knight is arrogant and interesting, Specter Knight, while not as cool as Shade Man, still gives off the same ominous and creepy vibes, Mole Knight is sort of silly looking, Treasure Knight is a clever idea, Plague Knight is just insane and a bit terrifying, Polar Knight is a bit sad and has a connection to Shovel Knight, and Propeller Knight is a fencing French guy. Tinker Knight, though, is really my favorite. His stage and boss battle are quite possibly the best I've ever seen in a video game, and I can't say why without ruining it. The main characters are good too, but most of their exposition comes near the end of the game, so I won't really talk about it. Suffice to say, the game's cast is pretty great.

Humor: 6/10 Most of the game's humor is pretty subtle. Tinker Knight's... surprise had me laughing quite a bit at how in your face it was, and the dance of the Troupple King is incredibly amusing to watch, but most of the other jokes are hidden away in NPC lines and the like.

Difficulty: 7/10 On the first playthough, the game isn't too hard. Not having lives makes each checkpoint pretty final unless you turn off the game. I only died about 100 or so times (I died more in a single stage in 1001 Spikes sometimes, by comparison), so the difficulty isn't anywhere near as severe. There are some tricky parts, especially towards the end of the game, but nothing that dedication and a bit of practice can't overcome. (Hard Mode, on the other hand, is another story)

Other Memorable Features: In the stages, you can find hidden scrolls that contain the game's music. You can then take them to a Bard in one of the towns and get some gold, as well as the option to listen to the song you found whenever you want. The Bard even comments on the songs, which could serve as the composer's thoughts on his own pieces, a really clever idea.

Overall: 9.5/10 Shovel Knight is an excellent platformer and is currently in a tie with Cave Story and Mega Man 9 for my favorite retro style platformers. Everything about it is really excellent, and although I'd probably recommend the former two above it because of the cheaper prices, Shovel Knight is definitely a game worth playing.