Epinions Recent Reviews for arada392

Lo and Behold, The Glorious Return of the Carpenter ("Let the Sunshine In" Write-off)

Tue, 27 Aug 2002 22:56:56 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Warning: Very long review ahead!

Our coin-op engineers were really tough, arrogant guys. They didn’t believe anybody made a coin-op as well as they did.

One day they came in and they wanted to take the rights to...

Chu Chu Rocket for Game Boy Advance: A Dream Game Cast Upon the G.B.A.

Thu, 10 Jan 2002 22:15:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

I am addicted to Chu Chu Rocket!

There is no other way to explain why the game captures my attention in such a dominating fashion at the expense of my other Game Boy Advance games. Although I am aware of this condition, I am...

The Spirits Without

Fri, 7 Dec 2001 06:06:32 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - I do not understand Hollywood. I fail to see the wisdom in trying to ruthlessly manipulate works in other mediums –mainly novels– to versions that can be easily filmed. Why can Hollywood not come up with its own ideas for movies? Modern film historians...

"Emag Tresni"

Sat, 21 Jul 2001 22:52:41 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Warning! Long review ahead!

Deep into The First Quarter, Steven Kent presents us with a sublime moment in the creation of a video game. Curiously tucked away in a footnote, it happens almost at the end of the book, at about the...

On Immortality and Other Trivial Matters

Fri, 29 Jun 2001 21:30:01 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Mortality, in all its forms, has always been a major factor behind playing video games, especially with platform games. In fact, it can be argued that this feeling of finality, the feeling that, with one little mistake, you could be facing Game Over, is...

Camelot Achieves Grand Slam Glory

Tue, 5 Jun 2001 20:47:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Warning! Very long review ahead!

… Our previous RPG titles (Dragon Warrior, Shining Force series) have gained European users' favor even though most Japanese RPG games are not favorable in the U.S. and Europe. We hope you will...

A Noteworthy Example of the Pokémon Phenomenon

Fri, 11 May 2001 23:14:09 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Warning! Long review ahead!

For a videogame player my age, saying that you play Pokémon games "just for the gameplay" is like saying you read Playboy magazine "just for the articles"; nobody believes you, no matter if what...

Dancing Softly Beyond Expectations

Sat, 21 Apr 2001 22:06:09 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

Shall We Dance? could have easily been another one of those mindless off-color slapstick comedies that, according to many Western experts, are very popular in Japan. The plot, concerning a middle-aged salaryman taking dancing classes to woo...

"Psst! Wanna Try a 3.5-Gallon Canadian Toilet?"

Sat, 14 Apr 2001 20:12:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

I think the reason why the Mona Lisa is so famous is that she's just about the only artistic subject in the Louvre who's wearing clothes. On any given day, every tourist in Europe who is not on top of the Eiffel Tower is gathered in front...

Tempus Vernum, Carpe Canem

Mon, 26 Mar 2001 08:59:44 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

It might seem improbable, but I had never heard of Enya before 1998. Sure, I had heard some of her music before, most noticeably the ubiquitous "Orinoco Flow", when I was in waiting rooms, offices, and other environments where you are made to wait...

Nintendo Super NES: An Ode to the Greatest Console

Thu, 22 Feb 2001 07:37:38 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Warning! Long review ahead!

Throughout the course of my life as a videogame player, I have owned as much as six different game consoles. I started as early as six years old when I received an old Atari 2600, and my newest console is the...

Archived Web Services Reviews: Poets' Mag: ZDNet's Gamespot

Sun, 11 Feb 2001 02:51:34 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - The videogame industry, like so many industries in this Information Age, is changing very rapidly. To ignore these changes and not keep pace with the evolving technology is to risk being labeled "traditional," or more popularly, "stupid" by other gamers...

Another Fine Harvest from the Folks at Natsume

Mon, 5 Feb 2001 18:29:08 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - It is difficult to establish in exactly which game genre Harvest Moon 64 belongs. It is also very difficult for reviewers to try to explain it. ZDNet’s Gamespot took a stab at it when they said, "It’s as if the developer took every minigame that’s...

Fight on, Fernandez –er, I Mean, Goemon!

Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:56:58 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

"Gigantic robots…There’s a certain ring to those words that gets the adrenaline flowing!"

-A policeman in Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon.

It is hard to believe that Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon is only...

A Tribute to Mario

Fri, 5 Jan 2001 21:24:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

I have witnessed some radical changes in the presentation of a few books, but none as chameleon-like as the one of Game Over. The book has been graced, up to now, with no less than five different covers through the years.

The...

Gross Negligence or Actual Malice?

Sat, 30 Dec 2000 21:16:45 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

About an hour into the movie Double Jeopardy, we find the heroine, Libby Parsons, (played by Ashley Judd) on the edge of a tall building in central New Orleans. She peers over the edge, desperately seeking for any means of escape. Suddenly,...

A Magazine for the Next Generation?

Wed, 6 Dec 2000 21:04:01 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

Note: This review might be slightly out-of-date.

Finding a new magazine for the next generation of videogame systems has always been a hassle for me. Perhaps the problem is that I always choose magazines that focus on one...

Illuminating My Way in Dark Times...

Wed, 8 Nov 2000 18:49:39 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Throughout my life as a Game Boy owner, I have never really had the need to purchase a "Light Boy" or any of its numerous variations. They were rather impractical add-ons, because they made the portable chunky and required even more batteries. Besides,...

"Yo, Dave Barry, Loudly Make It Fly"!

Sat, 28 Oct 2000 18:24:57 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - When a book about Japan, comes out, it can be usually put in one of two categories: either as a "travelogue" or in the nihonjinron section. (Nihonjinron being the name given to the kinds of books or articles which focus deeply on...

Rare Delivers Another Metal Gear Solid... Almost

Mon, 16 Oct 2000 19:47:17 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Oddly, when I tried out Perfect Dark, I felt similarly to when I first tried out Metal Gear Solid, but for different reasons altogether. Much like Konami’s masterpiece, Perfect Dark has been hailed as an excellent game by the...

Pure Driving Excellence

Fri, 1 Sep 2000 08:05:01 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - When Ridge Racer 64 first appeared at E3, the game was clumsy, unwieldy, and almost unplayable. It cast doubt over not only on the game, but also on first-time developers NSTC. (Namco had nothing to do with the game’s development.) When the game...

No Zelda, But Still Very Good

Wed, 30 Aug 2000 01:42:41 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - Once hailed as "Zelda’s evil twin", ShadowMan brings to the Nintendo 64 a welcome adult element to the console. And it is not just the blood, or the sporadical swearing –the game is not gratuitous about the violence, (sorry to...

The Perfect CD to Complement the Movie

Sun, 25 Jun 2000 22:19:45 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

Roger Ebert named Being John Malkovich the Best Movie of 1999, and I agree with him completely. With its controlled offbeat nature and fantastic storytelling, it became one of my favorite films of all time. I liked it so much that I just...

An Old Friend Returns...

Sat, 24 Jun 2000 03:12:20 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 -

Gumpei Yokoi perhaps did not influence games as much as his protege, Shigeru Miyamoto, but he came up with some very original ideas and characters of his own.

One of his brilliant creations was Wario, first seen in Super Mario...

Re-mastering a classic.

Thu, 22 Jun 2000 00:33:26 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author arada392 - The thing that surprised me most about Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is the fact that it is not merely a conversion of the classic NES game. Like Super Mario Bros. All Stars on the SNES, (which contained Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3...