Friday, December 21, 2007

Knight-Nui Awards 2008

VOTE AWAY!

OK, here we are, our second annual Knight-Nui Awards. Here we are, and it's time for you to Vote. We'll clarifie all catagorys, and you can get voting! Got that? Good! Then let's go!

GAMING AWARDS

Charcter of the year

Was it Mario's been impressing you most? Or was it Ms. Croft who's been running rings around you? Or perhaps Master Cheif gets you're vote? Well tell us here!

Publisher of the year

OK, here we are. Who's been realising the most great games over the last 12 months? Was it Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft in their First-Party glory, or did a Third Party developer such as SEGA or Ubisoft, or even the mega-evil corporation that is EA impress you more? Get voting!

Game of the Year

Super Mario Galaxy has landed. Halo 3's made it's presence known. Metroid Prime's been finished off, and we've also got the odd PS3 Highlight, such as Rachet & Clank. What gets you're vote?

DOCTOR WHO AWARDS

Best Actor

David Tennant, Freema Ageymun or John barrowman? Or is it a guest star who's taken you're vote, such as Carry Mulligan's sally Sparrow or Son of Mine's awsome portrail by Harry Lyoid? You decide!

Best Series 4 News?

Does Rose's Return just pip Kylie starring in an episode for you, or is it that we'll be seeing the Sontarians again next year, or just that there is another series? Get voting!

Episode of the Year

When you've got the Weeping Angels, the Family of Blood and the Master all together in one absolutly amazing 6-Episode block, you'll have a tough time, but remebering that you've got the rest of the series to choose from is even harder. Choose wisely...

LEGO AWARDS

Mini-Fig of the Year

OK, we've lost exact names pretty much now, but you can still nominate a genneral "Spaceman" or "Knight" to represent how much you've loved a certain charctar...

Theme of the Year

Mission Mars? Or do Underwater adventures just pip that? Perhaps you where most impressed by Classic Castle theme's rebirth? Or does Bioicnle win again? Use or LEGO sets to decide who wins! (Oh, and we will include Licenses)

Set of the Year

So then, bereing in mind what we've said above about the incredible choice of Themes on offer, each one must feature some great sets to stand a chance of winning. So then, out of all of them: Pick ONE set to win! it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it...

COMMUNITY AWARDS

Best Forum

What Forum on Knight-Nui has provided you with the most entertainment, discussion or whatever you crave? Decide!

Favorate Member?

Which member has been nicest to you, have you grown most fond of, or have you laughed with most this year? Oh, and this includes our Co-Mods, Gorrila-Master and Sniperwhere as well, so you've got many to pick from!

Best Moderator?

Which mod has been best at there job, nicest to you, or is just your favorate? Choose here! Pick from 'proper' mdos only, so that's Axle417, Knightghost or K9390.

Best Administrator?

OK. Choose from the Three KN Admins, Gibbon-Master, grancko or Toaroni. Who gets you're vote? (Well it's obvious realy -Gibbon)

Best Topic?

OK. This on'es tough. What's the best Topci on Knight-Nui? What's you're favorate of all 2695 (Yes, we've counted) at the time of writing? or is it somthing else that's not posted yet? Tell us!

'Other'

Anything else you want to nominate as somthing great from the forum? Anything or anyone you want to get reconitsion? Tell us! *OPTIONAL

HOW TO VOTE

To vote, send a Personal Message to Mr. Vote to vote. remeber, don't be shy to say the actual Member, Admin or Mod, or whoever, as they won't know, as results of who voted what are stricktly confidential, only Admins will check, (And if they get worked about it, there out of the job -Toaroni) so don't worry.

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT SOMTHING...

Don't worry, if you don't know about, say, Doctor Who, you may miss that ctargory all together. The only optional one if you're ding the catagory though is 'Other'. oh, but You must get try and get the Community ones done, even if you skip the others.

NOW GET VOTING!

Party!

OK, come on! Join in with our Party! See the forum for more!

Advent Calnder!

Well we're a bit late. But the Advent Calnder is in full swing. Check it out on the Forum.

-Gibbon-Master

Reviews Ready!

OK, there you go: Plenty of reviews for you to read, and the most posts we've ahd in one month, too. Yipee!

Wii Sports Review

WII SPORTS
Now, with the Wii Nintendo want us all to be included, so, as far as we’ve got, they’ve managed it. They sold the console for far less then the PS3, they gave it the best controller ever, and then, they give away a game Free with the console, but how good is it?

Well, it is actually broken up. You can’t say it Brilliant because we have one great game, nor can we say it’s rubbish because it’s got one rubbish game. So, first up, we have Tennis, which will probably be the first one you fire up. It’s great fun, as you swing the remote to hit the ball, but some may be frustrated at first that you can’t move you player. But when you get use to it, Your’ll be having such a good time hitting the ball, you won’t notice.

Next we have Baseball. And after playing this, you won’t believe your self when you say that you actually managed to play a Baseball Video game before this, whether it was Sony’s EyeToy (The second closest you can get) or Nintendo’s Mario SuperStar Baseball. (But the NES Baseball mainly! Why did anyone actually download it on Virtual Console?) because this works so well. You will never believe that pressing a button could actually send the ball flying… See, this is so realistic. You just hold the bat (The Remote) and swing it. It hit’s the ball. Then again, if you look at it, you will probably send the ball hurtling beyond earth, and have the Wii scream ‘It’s Outta the park!’ at you in your first go, then you won’t hit another for ages. It’s complex like that. It’s hard like that. But it’s simple like that…

Now, there is Bowling. This is good fun, as you throw the ball, but it’s the one that uses buttons more then all the others put together. It’s still good, and brilliant when your competing with a friend, but doesn’t work as simply as the others do.

The next one is Golf, and it works really well. Swinging the remote to swing the Golf Club is great, and it also ahs a lot of Depth. Well, Nothing to challenge Red Steel or Twilight Princess, but compared to the other Wii Sports games. As well as being able to swing it, you can aim, using the Left and Right on the D-Pad, while you can change Clubs by pressing Up or Down on the D-Pad. Each Club as a different ability, and is better for certain things, like in real life, and Nintendo have captured this better then Electronic Arts (EA), Sega or Anyone who has ever made a Golf game. It works really, really well. But also, we have what anyone would expect from most sport games -And especially a Golf game- A power bar, but you really can use it like in real life now, with small hits (Or small swishes of the Remote) being like doing the same thing in real life, say, to hit a ball into a hole, would you really press a button? Would you really watch a power meter before taking your shot? See, Nintendo have done Golf well, starting with the DS’ Touch Golf, (Which we scored 89%, and said was the best sports game on a Handheld at the time) and then this. See, Nintendo are the masters of Golf…

Finally, we have Boxing. To cut to the point straight away, it is very tiring. It is also very fun. Now, does randomly swinging your wrists around in order K.O a Virtual Opponent sound like fun to you? Well, prepare to be surprised. It is. It’s brilliant. If you find a game that does Boxing in a more realistic way, then we won’t believe you. Or at least up to this point, we won’t. No longer do you need to hit a button to swing a punch, no, you need to use the Remote or Nunchuck (This is the only game in Wii Sports that uses the pair of Incredible Motion-Sensing Gaming Controllers. The others just use the Remote.) as your Boxing Gloves, and then launch it out. It’s brilliant. Multi-Player is great, as you launch punches and try to do your best to knock your enemies (well, Enemy, as it is one of the few games on Wii Sports which is only Two Player, not Four) to the ground. Before long Your’ll be yelling things like we’re about to print. “Phroaw!” “Ouch!” “Pow!” “Mwhahahahahaha-
hahhahahahaha!!!!!” “Take That!” “Take That Too!” “Mission Complete!” and “Oh, Wait! I’m turning into Fox McCloud…”

But Genneraly, it’s good. We would say, ‘Buy it Now!’ but you’d have to have it first, so let’s just say, you are right to own it…

90%

Wii Play Review

WII PLAY

Now, we all know the Wii is for Fun, That is it’s only purpose, to make you have fun, so does this title do so? Your’ll find out later… Now, the best thing in the package is the Extra Wii Remote, Meaning for Less then a normal Wii game, you get a Remote AND a game… but is the game good? Or is the remote the only reason to buy it? To find out, read on…

…Yes, it’s good. But we’ll go up in the ‘Stages’ it gives you, so that starts with Shooting, It works well, and is good fun, epsichaly in 2 player, as you blast your way through drinks cans, The Ducks from Duck Hunt on the NES, UFO’s, Frisbee-Things, Balloons and then try to shoot each others faces on targets… Then, we get Find Mii, as you try your best to do things such as ‘Find the odd mii out’ (which is facing the wrong way) ‘Which is the fastest Mii’ (which is swimming/Running at the best speed) or The most Common, ‘Find 2/3 Look-alikes’ (where several Mii’s have the same face and you need to find the two with the same face) then, there is Table Tennis, Good, but totally different in multi-player, on single-player, you have to get the longest possible rally, but when you reach 100, it stops and says ‘WELL DONE!’ so it’s a bit strange and ,when you get good, a bit short. After that, you unlock Pose Mii, Probably the hardest of these Mini-Games, as you must go through several Weirdly-Back grounded Stages, changing poses at the right time and moving and twisting your wrists to the max to pop some bubbles, and if a single one falls, it’s GAME OVER! Ok, after that comes Laser Hockey (We only wish it was spelt ‘Lazer’) The most fun in multi-player. Almost, anyway. It’s good fun, but the computer is too hard of an opponunt at first and You’ll always be scoring own-Goals. Then we have the most detailed, billiards, or pool, it can be hard in places and is the longest of the Wii-Play mini-Games. (unless you never continue in Table Tennis) Then comes the worst, Fishing. It’s one of the worst things on the wii. It’s semi-Decent, but not that good. Then, a great fun one, CHARGE! Or as we like to call it, Cow Racing, Where you put the remote on it’s side an well, charge! Then, this reviewer’s personal Favourite, Tanks! Is where you need to move the remote to aim, and shoot, Drop mines and move your tanks, on 2-player you have two options. The one your meant to do, Co-Op, where you need to blow up as many tanks as you can with out you both dieing and the winner is the one who destroys the most tanks. It can use the the Nunchuck, and that makes it a lot easier, but you can use the D-pad and that makes it harder, having to move the remote, press on the D-pad an use A & B at the same time. Over-All this a good collection, that you realy should get!


87%

Zelda: Twilight Princess Review

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Want this game described in one word? Brilliant. Another word: Breathtaking. And not a sentence: It could be the best game ever. And We've played a lot if games, and that really means something...
...Playing as a young hero, Link, (But you can rename him) the Incredibly epic journey you take sees you having a hideous transformation, into a wolf, but you must use this as something helpful, for you couldn't do the game without it... As Nintendo Describes the game, it probably is the best Zelda game of All-Time. We must tell you now: BUY THIS GAME! We hope you own a Wii or GameCube, So you must own it.
It's story line is brilliant, as it comes into being the main part of the game. It revolves around the storyline. We won't spoil much as the best thing about the game is that you don't know what's going to happen next, or at all, unless you've died and started again. It Goes through what Nintendo's Online Banner-Ads say, it takes 'As Darkness falls, A hero must rise' as a basis and runs with it. And it runs far. Incredibly Far. Then it gets on a horse and goes further. Then traps it in a dungeon, gets it out and then forces it to face an incredible boss. Sound good to you? If it doesn't then your clearly mad...
The game play is better then anything on GameCube and the best on Wii. What do you do? A lot. There are so many sub-quests, when you reach a certain stage you could never continue on your quest again. Extra's Range from fishing, in which you can catch fish to fill up an Animal Crossing-Style Fish Journal you get at the beginning of the game when you feed the local shopkeepers cat. Then we have White Water Rafting, where you whiz down a river, shooting pots in order to gain points and win an item. Or you can go Balloon-Popping, on a giant Bird-Thing, in order to earn a prize. There's so many extras you could never do anything else. Oh, but we forgot the main thing! Exploring! Exploring is even better in Twilight Princess then it was in Ocarina Of Time. You can ride anywhere on horse back, with a ton of field and cities to explore, and then you have a desert to fling into that mix... And Link can now fight on horseback, and this includes some of the most brilliant Boss-Fights ever against the Moblin Leader, and there not even the proper Boss'... They range from Jousting to a brilliant chase, in which Link must rescue his friend Colin, who ahs been chained up onto a poll...
...The dungeons are marvels too. There are 9 of them, whoever you think that's impressive or not enough, some of them are massive and have loads of extra bits to them, like the first one, in which you need to get all the keys, all the monkeys then defeat the boss to get equipment before going onto rescue more monkeys and face another boss in order to escape it... Now you should be impressed... and sometime you enter a dungeon, not knowing it's a dungeon until you find something like Oocoo (A Chicken with Man's head -sort of- a Long Neck and warping ability. You find them wiggling in a pot, he's in every dungeon. Her Son, Oocoo Jar. is a head with wings.) then it strikes you Your’ll be picking up an other piece of equipment, solving problems and facing two Boss' Not too hard then.
Operations as a Wolf (or 'Beast Form' As the game calls it) work well, except fighting, that is the only problem. But we'll talk about that later. Holding down 'B' on the Remote now does an attack, which is a bit like the 'Shake the Nunchuck' Spin attack. Instead of reaching for an item, Link will create a Shadow Field, and trap enemies in it. He then quickly strikes them, this is used for taking out enemies like shadow beasts, who pull them self’s back up when you defeat most of them. And the creature on his back, Minda is able to give you some help in the way of attacks, and is able to help you leap around. But it's not as much fun being wolf link unless your in Castle Town... (You have Guards from Hyrule castle town chasing after you all the time! Everyone Runs away!)
Now, hers that bit on Combat we promised. This is where the Wii version really comes into it's own. Using the Remote to fight everything is brilliant, and you Swing it you slash your way through Moblin, and you can finally feel as if it's you owning that Boss, instead of some on-screen character... Now we're just describing the joys of the Wii, but honest, that's what it feels like, even if you are just using 'Z Targeting' All the tem (A way for you to be able to two more 'Traditional' fighting, Holding down 'Z' on the Nunchuk and the pressing 'A' to Jump & Strike) and in weapon combat it works just as well. You can put items onto the 'B' Button and D-Pad and then press the direction on the Pad (You can't have it up, mind, Minda goes on there) to use it, or tap 'B' most thinfs just set themself to 'B' mind. But this is it: Firing a Bow as Link, with the remote. You don't quite feel like your doing it, but you feel like your realy fireing at a Moblin on top of a cliff wth arrows (Well, it's the closest you can come) Just aiming and Hitting 'B' can send an arrow hurtling at it, and If your late, you'll ahve to Re-aim, as you leave the combat mode thing amd the remote with shake. Meaning you've got to be quick, and make that Moblin stumble off there...
...Now, we know we're sounding like we're saying the Wii version is awsome but the Cube version isn't but that's not true at all. In afct, the Cube verson is the 'true' verson as you can probaly rember in all that hype for this incredible game, it was orignally a GameCube game. So the Button-Pressing friendly verson is the true verson (Aparantly) but we'd still say go for the Wii verson and it's extras in the way of Controls.
But we can't say this enough. This game is AWSOME! We will tell you the review now, in two words, yes, summing up the game in two mere word... BUY IT! but it you realy want to know what we could of done if we got 3 letters, here it is: BEST GAME EVER!*

96%

*We hadn't played Super Mario Galaxy yet

Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:
OCARINA OF TIME

Many call this the ‘Best Game Ever’. Many call this game ‘Absolutly Brillaint’ and many call it ‘Ocarina of Time’ which, even if it is not the catchest of Titles, cuts pretty much to the chace and sound mysterious as well as descriptive. But of cause, titles can only prove so much, even one that say it’s better then everything from Halo 2 to the sequal, the Maroja’s Mask But does it realy live up to these names that give them so much glory over other games that could easly ‘wow’ an audience now, and does it still blow people away in these days of ‘Good’ graphics and ‘Gory’ Games? Well, I think it’s time that we used the Ocarina to see how good it was in the day…

…And, if you want this in short, it was exelent back then, fully deserving the ‘Best Game Ever’ status. With only titles such as Super Mario 64, Lyat Wars and Crash Banicoot being challengers of that period, and even fellow Zelda, Link to the Past, Sega Classic Sonic 2 and Miyamoto’s brillaint Platformer Super Mario Bros. 3 managing to Challenge it for for ‘Al Time’ title. And it still surpassed them. But, like all good games, the true test is that of time, and something like this, based around a Time-Traveling muscial insrument should be able to manage that, surely…?

…Right, we’ll answer this in short then: It does. Ocarina plays (Get it?) very well, even with the latest one in the Long-Running series, Twilight Princess, challenging it, this title can Still force back Wii’s adventure for Link to a Joint ‘Best Adventure game ever’ titles, even if Graphics and technology are a lnog way ahead for the most recent Game.

…But all this talk about how it is ‘as good as’ or ‘better then’ other games can only tell us so much, so then, what is it realy like? Well, frankly, I’m very surmised you had to ask that. ALL should have played this game. If you havn’t you must have something Majorly wrong. And we mean that. But, unfortunately, that’s not how we should work, so then, it’s basically a 3D- Adventure game, where you play as Link (But you may re-name him at the Start, although we recommend leaving him as ‘Link’ as that is his Real name.) and it starts off, you’re just a normaly boy, but oddly, you’re the only one in you’re village without a Fairy. The game starts when one morning, the great Duku Tree calls out for the last Fairy, Navi, to accompany ‘The Fairy-less Boy’ on a quest, a quest to defeat an Evil man of the Desert, who ahs curesed the Tree and is planing to launch a full strike on Hyrule. It could only be one person. Ganondorf. So, as you set of, you must go through many challenges, from dungeons to trails and hunts, plus the odd Stelth mission to help Princess Zelda and stop Ganon…


…And it covers TONES. It largely goes through Dungons, in which you must defeat enemys, solve puzzles and more, and they all end in one of the best Bosses’ you’ve ever seen, with only Twilight Princess’ slightly-More-Epic fights making you feel like you’re realy a hero. Because you are. And that realy is one thing that Zelda evolves around, Heroism. And how one boy can go from a NoBody that just works on a farm to a Hero who wears a Sock on his head, but still legendery. And this is no different. Sure, game such as Metroid and Halo let you blow everything you pieces then alow you to laugh evily. OK, maby Rampage and Hulk:Ultimate Destruction make you destroy a city, but frankly, is that the sort of thing that would earn you honor, and a good reason to be looked up to, or a good reason to go to jail? Exactly. Zelda will give you a real experience like no other. And we mean that. Not even games such as Okami on Playstation2 which pretty much is Zelda without Minda letting you transoform from Wolf State and replaced with a magic paintbrush manage it.

…So then, I think you should have got the picture on this game. It’s awosme. And the other thing? You should have got this. This game was the game that inspired all 3D Adventure games, from Twilight Princess to Oblivion. This game is 100% essiential for all, whether you like Zedla or not. Whether you Loath Nintendo or not. No mater what you’;re opinions on anything, if you’ve ever played a game, it should have been this. End of story.

96%

Super Monkey ball: Banana Blitz Review

SUPER MONKEY BALL: BANANA BLITZ

Back when the Gamecube was launched, we all thought that Super Monkey Ball was an absolutely Brillian idea, and an even better game. We mean, Monkeys. In Balls. In Piuzzles. In some of the best Puzzles ever that is, how much better can it get?

Well, we’ve just found out. Banana Blitz is the best Monkey Ball ever. It’s got everything- Fun Mini-Games, Great puzzling, funny moments, frustrating parts… OK, Perhaps that bit isn’t the best, but that’s what it is about Monkey Ball that keeps pullnig you back. How annoying it is. It strikes a fine balance between Mercury Meltdown Extermely Difficult and Koroinipa Ridiculusly Easy, showing SEGA Have what it takes to create the ultimate Puzzle Game.

The Main game it’s self is the best bit, with the great puzzle levels now with a Boss. In previous Monkey Ball’s a Boss wouldn’t work because the Monkey had no means of attack, but as of Banana Blitz, AiAi & Co. have the ability to Jump, which gives hem a Sonic-Stlye battle of “Find there Weak Spot and Jump on it”.

The Puzzles them self are great, and the last one especialy -Space Case- you’ll never see. Most levels are realy, realy difficult toward the later half of the game. We’re espechialy thinging of the Pirate level and the Lava one’s spirals, which are made even trickier by the Remote, but it’s still good fun.

Now, if you’re starting to get worried because we said that the controls make it harder, don’t fret. It’s a good thing. Most the time they work perfectly, but on occasions (Such as turning corners) it either responds too fast or too slow, which adds a tactical part, do you risk going fast and possibly falling out, but not loosing to the time limit, or going slow but probably running out of time, and risking anything that may be there around the side? That’s the choise you have to make.

Plus, as we mentioned, theres the strongest Party mode in a Monkey Ball to date. This one features 50 Games, which is a lot compared to the previous ones Sub-20, but even if it has more duds, theres more corkers, which is always a good thing.

Highlights include a Brilliant version of Monkey Target (Voted best Monkey Ball Moment ever) plus new ones that range from ridiclus (Paper Monkey Sumo anyone?) to the downright genius (Bowling Monkeys in Balls) even if some of the brillaint ideas don’t work that well with the Remote, theres not that many and overall the 50 Games come out fairing very well.

So then, how does it fair against some of the other early Wii Titles? Very well indeed. Ignoring Zelda (Which we have to say now, don’t we?) It’s the best Wii Launch Game, beating both Red Steel and Wii Sports to the place. Ten Bananas out of Ten.

90%

Super Mario Galaxy Review

SUPER MARIO GALAXY

Well here we are. At last, we’re holding the game of the year in our hands. If, like us, your daily routine was to wake up, eat the odd mushroom, check for a Mario-related Smash Bros. Update, then poor over screenshots of Mario’s Galactic quest all morning, you would know how special it is to be holding the box in your hands. And y’know what? It’s even more special to play…

See, even if we have starred at every single pixel on every single picture for hours on end, threes still stuff we missed. An awful lot. Blimey, how much did we not realise:? We missed nothing from what we saw. Just Nintendo rightly told us not to look.

So we’ll say this. We’ll go over the game at first, and try to avoid spoilers, but when we do say one, we recommend you avoid reading it. Mario galaxy relies on surprises, and while threes nothing like trying them out for yourself, it’s not as good as the overall feeling of not knowing what’s around the corner…

Anyway, think back to Super Mario 64’s Near-perfect platform glory. We say near-perfect. If you’re wondering why only “Near” Perfect, we’ll let you in on a little secret. Galaxy is way, way better. It takes 64’s formula and runs with it, and no one can keep up.

Galaxy is a light year ahead of the competition. Think Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction was the most amazing Platformer ever, PS3 Fanboys> You’re a long, long way from the truth. Blimey, comparing this’ score to R&C’s 85% isn’t good enough. Playing the two shows that a plumber’s better them a killer animals and a robot put together. And it doesn’t stop there with game’s it’s better then, Halo 3? Tiny. Assassin’s Creed? Booor-ing! Call of Duty 4? Looks like a single Starbit compared to the mighty Mario.

The actual game plays far better then anything else realised in the last 15 Years. In fact, the only Platformer that could ever hold it’s own against the perfected jumping skills on show here is Super Mario World, previously the highlight of Mario’s career.

The actual Space-rock hopping is solid enough as a Bloke in dunagres, but it gets even more fun as someone in a Bee suit, or being dead and reincarnated as a ghosty, or, even better, *SPOLIER! SPOILER! SPOILER!* becoming Ice Mario. (Since we’re in the Spoiler zone, we might as well go over it) When you’re ice Mario, you can freeze platforms to go over. It looks and plays so well that when the time limit finishes you’ll be deadly upset, but even more after that ‘?’ Coin. *SPOILER OVER* Theres also the return of Fire Mario, as you’ve problay heard. The Remote flings a fire ball, and while he’s nothing like he was before, he’s fun to play as, none the less.


One of the best things about the new suits is how there not overused. While it would have been nice for the Boo suit to appear outside of the one galaxy, we’re glad the Fire Flower’s aren’t poping up al the time like before, or that We’re not becoming *SPOILER* Mario ever other level.

But actualy that’s not even the thing that’s got us most excited when playing Galaxy. That honor goes to the refrences to previous Mario games (Plus previous trailer) from the time we saw a Goomba and yelled “YES!!!” to shouting “KAMEK’S BACK!” At the sighting of a Magikoopa. And it doesn’t stop with the enemys. We loved the Toads in particular, with the ‘Brigader Toads’ forming as a sort-of Toad rescue squad that explores the galaxy and turns up on various occasions to help you find the star.

*SPOILERS IN PARAGRAGH*: Plus, tucked away in the Hanuted Galaxy, is a certain Mario charctar who’s been evily left out of all previous 3D Mario games… Yes, Luigi is back! We can’t get enough of him popping up behind Mario when he’s doing the classic “You got a Star!” sequance…

Blimey, we could bang on all day about Galaxy. Theres that much to it. It’s plat forming at it’s highest form. Forget that Mario World, the galaxy is a whole lot bigger…

99%

Sonic Rush Adventure Review

SONIC RUSH ADVENTURE

Everyone loved Sonic Rush, as it was, Clearly, the best Sonic game in ages. It was 100% Loyal to the original Trillogy, just doubling the speed. So here, they’ve taken Sonic Rush and doubled it again. The length.

See, SRA is MASSIVE. It’s bigger then any Sonic game that’s come before it, with as well as 7 Worlds (With 3 Acts each) it has the 100 Missions based around it, which is all well and good, but if there rubbish, it’s nothing, isn’t it?

Well, they aren’t. That’s the thing. There not quite as good or addictive as the ones in Sonic & The Secret Rings on Wii, but there great nonetheless. Then there 15 Hidden Islands, which you need to beat to unlock all of the Missions, and then the rest of the game.

Then theres the first main “Inovation” Of SRA, and that is the WateCraft levels. You can pilot Sonic over water in some Mini-Games involving you plotting a route and then setting off. It’s got a suprising amount of depth, how theres millions of Combinations, depending on the exact movment of your Stylus when drawing your route Nintendogs-Style over the Sea. These aren’t that good though, as the ones where you take control of the Guns (Battleship and Submarine) are absolutely rubbish, espechialy the iritating and pointless Submarine, which was only added to make the game longer.

Theres also the small task of collecting enough materials to build them. This is a little tedious, but a good way that SEGA Came up with to pad the game out a little more.

The other thing you need to collect is the various Emeralds- Both sets of 7, the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds. Blaze needs to get the Sol ones by Re-Defeating Bosses and beating hidden islands again, these are good fun, and better then Sonic’s races with New Enemy Whisker’s Right-hand-man, Johnny. There either way to easy or just frustratingly difficult.

But over-all, the only real problem with Sonic Rush Adventure is the new “Friends” Sonic makes- Marine the Racoon (What?) and a million and two Kollas, with only 4 of them being relevant at all.

Although this doesn’t ruin the game, it’s still one of both the DS’ and Sonic’s Finest games available.

VERDICT

Overall a brilliant game, with some of Sonic’s best Platforming action in ages. A Must-Buy.

94%

Sonic Rush review

SONIC RUSH


This is one of the best sonic games yet, it puts the two screens together for one big playing arena, in a way no DS game had done before, there are fantastic boss battles at the end of levels and there are some fantastic parts where it flips into 3D, and several 'mini games' where you do things such as gilding. Threes also a new character in the form of blaze the cat, she has new ablates, like being able to glide using her feet and all sorts of stuff. The two characters also mean that you get to play the (slightly different) levels again, but in a different order, its a fantastic game mind you!
It Lacks in Multiplayer though. You just run through a level, showing your opponent on the other screen. So you know where they are. And threes nothing in the way of interacting with them in the levels. And it doesn’t use the DS very well. Sure, it uses the ability it has two screens better then most games, but it stops there. No interaction after that. It only uses the touch screen for menus, and doesn't use the microphone at all. Disappointed? Then you discover the special stages. Brilliant, Brilliant Special Stages. Using the Touch Screen to control Sonic, you run through Half-Pipe Levels, trying to the Chaos Emerald. But you won't both about the emerald, just the fun your having...
90%

OK, sorry this is short, but it was one of the first review we did, and it's kinda just a "DSpace Filler" So don't blame us.

Sonic & The Secret Rings Review

SONIC & THE SECRET RINGS

Sonic Lands. 3... 2... 1... GO! Sonic blasts off, into a game that is pretty much make-or-break for SEGA’s Mascot in 3D. Can Sonic finaly prove he’s ready to take on the Third Dimension after his recent (disappointing) Sonic the Hedgehog on 360 & PS3...

…And so, Sonic abandons the Chaos Emeralds, his friends, enemys, and everything else that , and picks up some, erm, RPG Skills. Hope SEGA have thought about this then…

..Well, yes, they have. This is definatly the best 3D Sonic game to date, and could probably (For now, anyway) be named one of the best on Wii. Basicaly, Sonic dashes through incredibly well designed levels with you tilting side to side and jumping with the ‘2’ Button to clear them, plus the added bit of Remote Magic (Waggle) to help him along…

…But that’s the biggest problem. Sonic is on Rails. Theres no more freedom as in Sonic 2 or whatever, he’s trapped on a specific path to dash across. While you could argue that in previous games in 3D the choise has been so narrow it doesn’t make a diffrence. Most the time it works, and it makes thoughs sections where the camra goes wonky that plagued previous Sonic games, (Which are kept to a minimum in here, thankfully) aren’t that confusing and don’t kill you frequently (We’re lokoing at you, Sonic Heroes’ Giant Crocodile)

..Then, like other 3D Sonic games, a Story is tacked on. Unfortunaly this isn’t as straight forward as “Robotnic has gone and captured some Animals. Go ahead and save them by gathering some Emeralds” or “An Evil Hdgehog is created. Sonic must stop it going mental and blowing Earth up.” no, this is more along the lines of “Some Spirt tells Sonic to enter a book to save the Arabian Nights, so he does and then some evil thing that’s erasing storys in books places a curse upon Sonic so he has a Flame on his chest and must find the seven World rings (Hence the name) to get the Erazor Djinn to remove the curse, with lots of other twists along the way”. Told it was confusing.

Although this story actualy works well, and is shown in a lot of depth, there are only 2 or 3 “Proper” 3D CGI Cutscenes, which are very impressive, so while we see why SEGA Didn’t make more, it’s a real shame.

As for the RPG Skills we mentioned earlier, these are in the form of “Skill Sets” Which are added onto the Skill Ring. You get 4 different rings to customise, and theres 100 Skills for you to colect, all got Via. Completing more and more missions in the main game. These range from simple things such as a Boost, to more sophisticated skills such as affecting power and jumping abiltys.

There are also a range of Extra modes, from the Main Adventure and the Options screen, they reach out to probably the best, Secret Book, which covers alsorts of unlockables, from Concept art to Adverts, from Music to Videos, from the Storybook Cutscenes to a complete history of Sonic, with all the box art, info and so on about every Sonic game. Then theres Medals, Developer nots and a diary by Big the Cat, oddly.

Last and Certainly least is Mini-Game party, which features 120 unlockable Mini-Games, which seem like some ideas SEGA Had left over after they finished Monkey Ball’s Party Mode. While some of these are better, (Pullnig Carpets from under a Trampoling Genie is our Personal Favorate) and some out-do similar games in other Mini-Game Partys (The Baloon Game is an awfull lot beter then the one in Warioware) the majority are boring and uninspiring, and should just be ignored in favour of the Main Game.


Overall, this is the sort of game Wii could do with more of. Easy to pick up, Great fun to play, plus lots of Depth in the Gameplay, even if the Mini-Game Party is disappointing, the Controls, Level Design, Extras and pratcicaly everything else are absolutely Spot-On. Well done Sonic, looks like the good old Hedgehog is realy for the Third Dimension after all…

91%

MySims Wii Review

MySims Wii Review

So, With Animal Crossing Wii Miles off, what do we have to fill our need for Town sims on Wii for now? Well, introducing MySims, the brilliant new game from EA.How does it compare then?

Well, Cast yourself back to our Spectrobes Review, saying that it was incomparable to Pokemon, that it was “The same, only completely different” well, it’s the same story. You can’t realy compare it to Animal Crossing, as it isn’t the Same. Nothing like it. Yet exactly the same. Confused? Well, you shouldn’t be.

Once you play it, you’ll see, and you Will play it, otherwise you’ll clearly have somthing wrong. As it’s the best Game on Wii since Launch with Zelda. Yes, this Beats Resi 4, SSX, Warioware & Mario Strikers. Best game on Wii for almost a Year, Theres an award (Even if Metroid Prime is only a Month away)

But here at Knight-Nui, we’ve played it to death and you should too, as we said, it’s brilliant. Theres so much to do, even though it’s practicaly nothing, it still feels brilliant. You’re doing nothing, but doing Everything at the same time. Onfused again? You shouldn’t be. Basicaly, you’re Designing, Playing, and exploring all at your own pace, but with more advanced stuff for later on, and the ability to build & Cumstomise Everything, something that realy lacks in games such as Animal Crossing.

And the best part is that the Workshop actualy Works. You can build anything, and it’s so easy and so much fun you’ll want to build more so you can customsie your Home even more, even if you hardly spend anytime in it. But you’ll want to, as it’s just brilliant.

Theres also so many things that you build. You’ll have to see some of the Knight-Nui team’s creations, plus some of your won will have to be shown when you’ve bought it, as you will of, as it’s an essential Wii Game…

Yes, Definatly. Theres no stopping you buying this- Money should not be a problem. You surely can get some to buy this. And you must. Seriously, it’s absolutely essential for anyone who owns a Wii. Look out Tom Nook- MySims is going to be taking everyones Cash from the general Public…

VERDICT:

A Well-Rounded, Charming, Brillaint game, that’s better then anything on Wii So Far since Zelda.

95%

Super Monkey ball: Banana Blitz Review

SUPER MONKEY BALL: BANANA BLITZ

When SEGA Announced they where making a Wii Launch Game, we instantly drempt of Sonic speeding into Next-Gen with motion Control, and reliving the glory days of Sonic 2 (Which he did actualy do in the end) but then, they confirmed it. Oh. It’s only Monkey Ball. Never mind. Sonic was shown a week or so later, anyway.

But then, when we finaly saw more on it, we realised how wrong we where to have ever thought that. Oh, this is among the Wii’s best games, and Twilight Princess’ Closest Rival for Launch-Day Glory. Oh, How good it is…

If you don’t have a clue what we’re on about, basically SEGA have gone and trapped a load of Monkeys in Spheres, and used them to form some perfectly titly fun. And it’s majorly helped by the Monkeys, not only because they are Monkeys, but also because there expressions on there faces are so detailed when you go so fast, and how they look around in boredem when you go slow, and the fact that there all seprate charctars, not only because they have different abiltys, but that they have different personailtys, despite the only Cutscene being some bigger ape steal there Bananas. Now that’s Monkey Magic.

Anyway, the gameplay isn’t half bad either. The Monkeys are in balls and must roll through brilliantly designed levels, to collect more Bananas then where in Kong’s entire Banana Bunch in DK Country, (That should keep them topped up on Potassium for a while then) and genneraly through levels that are both so brilliant, yet so frustrating, down to how tedious they are at times, but it never becomes a chore to play, and always puts a smile on your face. Yet more Monkey Magic.

Then we have a Mini-Game Party that’s absolutely fantastic. Theres so much in there, and they all have so much depth and so much Humor within them, it’s a surprise that they havn’t become games in there own. Some are also so bonkers (Take Paper Monkey Sumo -Monkey Sumos fighting Via. The power of tapping with the Remote- for example) that we grinned with glee when we saw them.

The game is also crammed to the brim with secrets, whether its finding all the Banas, only to find SEGA where sneaky enough to add another 10 in there, or discovering that theres a secret tactic in a Mini-Game, theres nothing to stop you inserting it into the Wii to hear the brilliant Menu Screen Start up Music.

But then among the Frustration and the Crying after a death so close to the edge, it’s still happyness that is Banana Blitz’ main point. Theres so many times we’ve smiled in there we’ve turned into the contently-Grinning AiAi, and with that, we leave you to climb into your Ball and buy this game.

90%

Mario Kart DS Review

MARIO KART DS

So, Mario Kart Has finally reached the Nintendo DS, and is it cracking, or well, rubbish? The answer: Cracking. A top class racer, and one of the finest games on the Nintendo DS. The action is all displayed on the top screen in lovely 3D, which also shows items and things, and on here you can see the teeniest details moving. It isn't used for anything else, mind you, no, it's just that, except in menu's, as all the game (excluding the menus) is the same old Kart-Racing, that isn't always racing. (Explained later) The bottom screen however, is used to show a Map, with which you can just tap (which can be quite hard, saying you have to stop steering for a moment in order to reach over and tap your figure on a screen-imagine doing that in real life!) but it's useful, not a way of the developer trying to get round using the touch screen. elsewhere it's used for selecting options and -best of all- Designing a logo for the front of your kart.
Now, Onto gameplay, the game plays and handles incredibly well, you can now easily pull off what seemed impossible in other games (OK, that's a bit of an over statement) and it's brilliant fun. This game also has a ton of things to do. You can do Missions, such as collecting coins and taking on Chief Chilly (in a kart) then, after you complete them, you can go back to try to master hem in order to get higher star ratings, and some are incredibly addictive... Next up is battles, with 2 modes, Shine Runners is first, and not as good as the other, that's for sure, but anyway, you can zoom around exclusive to Battle courses Like one that's a MASSIVE DS THAT'S FLOATING IN SPACE! in which you try to whack enemies off and collect there Shines (From Super Mario Sunshine) then, it's Balloon Battle. This is awesome. You go around, blasting people with items, trying to make 'em run out of Balloons, but you have some stock, you can blow up to 3 balloons up at once, and you have a few at the top of the screen to use when you loose one. The twist? YOU actually blow up the balloons. Not your character or the game, YOU. Just blow into the DS Microphone and it will blow them up. You can press a buttons but it's not as fun or affective
So, is there anything in this apart from designing Karts, a Ton of unlockables, Kart-based Missions, 2 Types of 'epic' Battles and a Single-Player Grand Prix? Because there is! In fact, this is the best bit of the whole game we're going to mention here! Wi-Fi Multi-Player. first game on DS (and a Nintendo Console) To work online. And it's a corker. just charging round corners... accelerating... Dodging that banana you left last lap them... then crossing the finish line in and beating some guy on the other side of the world. Awesome. Even if it doesn't always work like how we explained, but trust us, before this came along, it was impossible to get the sense of satisfaction you get for winning your first match...So, Best Racer on DS? Defiantly! Best Racer Ever? Could be...
94%

Reviews

OK. We'll post our Reviews on the blog.

Enjoy.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Super! Mario! Galaxy!

Are we the only ones who are playing Mario galaxy like a mad man? I mean, I'm left with only one star that I'm refusing to do, my brother (Gorrila) will be well past the 100 mark by now, with the rest of the team groaning whenever they need to switch there Wii's off. I mean, we where in somewhat disapointed when we our copy of Mario & Sonic turned up because we had to remove the game from our Wii to play it. Help.

-Gibbon

Zelda Fight

We're constantly being stuck in arguments over what the best Zelda game is. I'm thinknig it's Phantom Hourglass, while Gibbon's arguing Maraja's Mask's case, with Grancko still banging on about Twilight Princess being utterly awsome.

We all think there utterly awsome, but it's which is best that's what's got us in the fight. Help...

-TR

Mario & Sonic Madness

Wow. We knew it would be good, but not that good. We recently put Mario & Sonic in our Wii to discover how brillaint it was in multiplayer. The entire team had tornements, all finding a certain event we where good at.

For example, TR was best at Swimmnig and fencing, with me ruling the roosts on Running events and Tramploining. Grancko was best at jumping, with Gorrila, well, he's having a lot of fun.

Anyway, if anyone else is enjoying Mario & Sonic, discuss it with us on the KN board Right here

Move over, IGN!

Sorry if the New IGN Blog is getting mroe attention down to us trying to get all our reviews up on it. I'm gonig to continue helpnig this one along by posting all the other ones on here.

-Gibbon