Donkey Kong 3 Review - By Kiet Ho

During the initial release of Donkey Kong 3, fans had deemed the game as being the scariest thing people had ever seen since "The Exorcist". What made the game so terrifying wasn't its concept of a giant monkey, over 6 times the size of your body slowly decending upon you, with human sized bugs trying to kill you, but rather it was its graphical representation which gave it the title, and use of suspenseful music. The use of graphics on Donkey Kong's expression when he fell on top of stanely and killed him was the catalyst which drove this game to be considered what true fear was. When loading the title, the music that plays gave people the impression of "wild, jungle, forestry, fear, lost in the human psyche and insanity." The image of donkey kong super imposed and thumping his chest only enhances the emotion behind the impressions of the games title. Although the game design was very simplistic, the battle music which plays when you begin the game gives the emotion of "chaos, uneasiness, pandemonium, fear" and as the other music plays whenever an insect captures the plants enhances these feelings. But what truly gave the game its title of "scariest thing since the exorcist" was the moment before donkey kong falls on top of stanely, as the music shifts from chaotic, high paced fear to confusion, questions the players about what exactly is going on....until donkey kong falls, killing your character (no matter where he is) and violently thumping his chest at roughly 180bpm with such a loud and almost sounding like thunder. The cry your character gives off as you die was also very nerve racking to the player, as the concept of death in this game felt so real.

My Bad!

Ok yeah. I've been pretty lazy. Back at uni now. But I'll try to do some new reviews and stuff seeing as I have 2 days off each week, which is awesome.

Also if you're interested in retro gaming, check out my thread on Whirlpool!

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=991678

And here's a picture of all my games!

Collection Pic

Hello. Instead of studying, I took a picture.
Hope you like it!

Microsoft Xbox: A Retrospective Review

Here we go. Below is some footage of my Xbox for you to watch!
Also please note I included some video of my collection at the start so definitely watch that!



The Xbox. Where do I start?! Microsoft's first attempt at trying to rule the console gaming world. Did they annihilate everyone? Not exactly. But they gave it an awesome shot and left a lasting impression. They have continued in the console business with the Xbox 360.

The Xbox arrived on our shores in March of 2002, a year and a bit after the PlayStation 2. The Xbox had some pretty cool launch titles, one in particular being Halo, which has sold well over 8 million freaking copies! If you're a gamer and you haven't played Halo, there is something seriously wrong with you.

It's funny because I never actually bought an Xbox. I won a PS2 in a competition so I was happy to have that for my gaming fix. (I've never bought a PS2 either, the one that I have at the moment, I got for free.) So it wasn't until last year that I actually managed to get one of a mate for a decent price. I had another mate perform the modifying for the Xbox, and I can tell you, it was an epic idea. Watch the video above for more details.

Anyways back on track. The Xbox debuted with a monstrous controller named the Duke. This thing was a BEAST! I have fairly big hands, and even I have trouble holding it. So bundled with the Xbox, you got all your leads, a controller and I assume a demo disc as well. And one interested thing that the Xbox came built-in with was not only a HDD, but a 100Mb Ethernet input. Sure, the Dreamcast had a Dial-up modem, but I'm pretty sure this was the first console to offer full broadband gaming and system-link options. Innovations such as these help to shape the console gaming world.

In terms of hardware, think of the Xbox as a pretty shitty PC, but fully optimized for some kick ass gaming. It included a 733Mhz processor, 64MB DDR Ram and a 233Mhz GPU made by our good friends at Nvidia. The Xbox managed to produced some incredible graphics, and sure, I was a PS2 fanboy at the time, but I was very impressed with Halo. I didn't tell anyone I thought that though.

So what happened to the Xbox? Well all good consoles have to come to an end, so the 6th generation ended and the Xbox 360 took its place. It came 2nd to the PS2 (which has sold so many units it makes my head asplode). However news wasn't good at the Microsoft HQ, as they had lost over 4 billion dollars due to the Xbox...But you know what? It was worth it :D

I'd like to finish with reminiscing of some of my favorite Xbox titles, such as; Halo, Deathrow, Psychonauts, Amped, Ninja Gaiden Black, Project Gotham, Outrun 2, Dead or Alive 3, Jet Set Radio Future, Flatout, Rallisport Challenge, Panzer Dragoon, Blinx, Burnout 3, Crimson Skies, Fable, Forza Motorsport and many more quality titles.

Thanks for reading!

Consoles Done!

After I pick up my Dreamcast tomorrow and then get my Gamecube in the mail, I will have collected all the consoles on my list! Now it's just a matter of finding obscurities and collecting lots and lots of games!

I've had to push the Xbox review back a bit seeing as I have an exam on Tuesday, but you can expect the review to be up on Wednesday with a video as well!

Just a quick update anyway.

Coming Soon: Xbox Review

Evening!

In the next few days I'll be doing a review of the Microsoft Xbox. I'll also do a follow up and review a game of my choice.I wanted to stray away from the really vintage stuff just so we can have a look at a console that I still use every day. I love my Xbox :)

Stay tuned!

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Watch the video below first to get a taste of the game and then go ahead and read my wall of text below. Sorry about the quality though, I'll find a better way to do game play movies next time.



Ok Diddy's Kong Quest. First off. Great game. Basically DKQ takes off from where the first Donkey Kong Country game finished. DK has been captured by that big annoying reptile, no other than King K. Rool.

Donkey Kong was chilling out on the beach when out of nowhere, he vanishes overnight. Diddy and Dixie roll up and find a ton of Kremling footprints around and a note from K. Rool demanding the banana hoard (a shitload of bananas?). So from there Diddy and Dixie head off on a quest in order to take down K. Rool and get good ol' DK back.

Stories in games never really bother me that much, but I thought I'd include my own interpretation anyway. Moving on to the gameplay. What can I say? It's fluent. The controls are pretty much perfect and game is a lot of fun. I've always been a big fan of platformers and DKC2 does not disappoint. Lot's of levels, interesting enemies and boss fights, great graphics and sound.

The game isn't exactly easy, and that's a good thing. I've always liked a challenge, and a few of the bosses definitely fucked me over a few or more times. Another noteworthy inclusion is the amount of secrets and easter eggs in the game. I mentioned in the video that I don't even think I've found half of them.

So in conclusion DKC2 is awesome, and if you can get it, PLAY IT!