To The Moon Review

Sometimes in gaming, you come across something that sets it apart from the rest.

To The Moon is an independent game by Freebird Games that was released back in November 2011 becoming avalible on Steam almost a year later. It still has been still remarked as a wounderful jewel of a game, so I decided to final pay for the game and see what I was getting into.

To The Moon is about two scientists, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts that work for a special agency that goes into people's memories. The sole purpose for the machine is for those who are dying to relive their lives in a different way than they wanted. The two are called on assignment to a man on his deathbed by the name of Johnny. His request is simple: He wants to go to the moon.

What first may catch some people's attention is this game looks like it came from a Super Nintendo cartridge as everything is sixteen-bit sprite based. It gives a slight nostalgic feel because everything is pixel detailed, and it's a new way of getting into the environment. And it's nice to see such a professional release of someone using the RPG Maker program.

However the game is not so much of a game, but more of a visual novel with some aspects of an adventure game. Most of the game the player will find themselves guiding the doctors clicking on objects and interacting with them or other people. There are also some puzzles as the unlock mementos in Johnny's memory so they can go further into his past to plant the idea of wanting to go to the moon. So if one is primarily concerned with gameplay, this is not something for them for the game is heavily based on story.

That being said, how good is the story? It's pretty good actually. Granted I often find one of the most amazing aspects of gaming is that it is like an interactive story, so I was easily hooked onto the premise. It starts off with lots of explanation, setting up the story, but once it gets going, it gets going. There are also good moments of comedy to lighten up certain situations, and other parts that are just plain enjoyable. It is without a doubt the creator of the game, Kan Gao, highly enjoyed writing the story.

The characters start off very simple and I wasn't interested in them so much until the story progressed. At the beginning I didn't know what to think of Neil has was arrogant and seemed rude, but then made all kind of nerd culture references that I began to like him and laugh at his jokes. However near the end his true character began to shine in situations that I really favored him to originally favoring Eva.

However controls at time were frustrating. In order to move characters around, the player has to use the arrow keys to move, and the enter space to interact and continue text. Or use the mouse clicking where to move the character next, which they could move in the direction you didn't want or interact with something you didn't want to. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it got annoying from time to time.

In the end, To The Moon is a very short game, but it is worth the experience.  I found myself glued to the screen, not wanting to stop as I wanted to find out what happened next. I was worried about what was going to happen to Johnny in the end, and the game did that very well. So if you've ever wanted a good story focused video game with some fun humor and won't take up all your time, you owe to yourself to pick this game up.

Score: 5/5

Fire Emblem: Awakening Review

Review was originally written in Early March 2013

It’s very rare to find a game where you can’t stop playing just because you want more and more.

The Fire Emblem series is a strategy RPG that has been around since the original Nintendo system in Japan and still continues to date in its latest installment. However out of the 13 games of the series, only 6 have been released internationally. Over time the series has been growing popular internationally. With the release of Awakening, Nintendo actually had problems shipping the first day of release in the States due to the overwhelming amount of pre-orders to be filled. This caused most copies of the game to be delayed for a few days before owners could play the new title.

You begin the game by creating your own character who wakes up in field with amnesia. You are taken in by Chrom, the prince of the fictional Halidom Ylisse and leader of the Shepherds. He lets you join the Shepherds, a group of fighters sworn to protect the innocent after you prove to be a skilled tactician. The plot follows Chrom, yourself, and the Shepherds as they go through many battle against invading kingdoms and mysterious creatures that have risen from the ground known as Risen. Every battle will bring the characters in your army closer as you can recruit certain units on and off the battlefield, making your numbers grow. The plot goes over 30+ chapters as characters go through war, betrayal, love, time travel, and ancient dragons rising to power.

Gameplay happens on a number of different maps, divided into a grid structure, each unit taking one space. On a player’s turn, the player can tell each individual unit on where to move and if to attack enemy units or to support fellow soldiers. When a player moves all their units or decide to do nothing more, the enemy takes its turn and follows suit. Characters wield swords, axes, bows, lances, magic, staffs, dragons, and many other forms of combat. Certain weapons have an advantage over one another. Sword beats ax, ax beats lance, and lance beats sword like rock, paper, scissors. Each unit has different advantages and disadvantages. This puts the strategy in the game as the player must decide who will go into battle and where they will move. 

One of the big assets of combat is having two characters positioned next to each other, as they can boost each others attacks and defenses in battle. Doing so repetitively will increase the chance of them helping as well as the characters growing relationships with one another. If two characters really work together well, they can even become married. And through a plot device involving time travel, that couple’s child can also join forces and fight besides them.

Fire Emblem Awakening has only one flaw and that the difficulty curve goes up very fast. The first five chapters may seem easy but the enemies get stronger and stronger. And if you lose a unit in battle, they are dead for the rest of the game and can never return. Unless you choose to play on the new Casual setting which lets units come back after said battle. 

Overall Fire Emblem: Awakening is possibly the best RPG the 3DS has ever had at the time. Players will find themselves one moment planning attacks, to buying new upgrades and weapons, and then playing match maker. The player feels for all the characters, cheering them on in victory to mourning the loss of a friend. And then if players want more they can purchases additional maps to play through Nintendo’s eShop. Fire Emblem: Awakening is a must for any 3DS owner.

5/5 Stars

Additional Notes Since Original Review:

The game is definitely still fun and something I often keep going back to on my 3DS. I finally got to try out the multiplayer aspect, which is playing with one friend with the game locally and taking your units together to pair up to fight a series of enemies. While it is disappointing not to play on maps against each other (but you could say that's what the Street Pass of others teams). However just like the game, the difficulty curve ramps up very quickly in the challenges. On a side note, the difficulty settings in Fire Emblem get VERY ridiculous hard, and are there for those who are dedicated to the game. Still a must buy in my opinion.

Starting on blogger and an explination of the blog!

Hello there everyone, how is your day. You may call me Evad.

I'm a guy who likes to have fun in life, and lately I have been writing reviews of different forms of entertainment, mostly on video games and movies. I hope that with this blog you can all see me content and enjoy. Anything is up for grabs in these reviews (old or new), and I hope to have some video reviews further down the line.

Now a number of the first reviews being put up are older reviews that I used to do for the college paper and I am putting up here as records. So there will be several older reviews that I will include original date of review at the top of the page.

Welcome to the blog, and I hope you enjoy my content.

Sincerly,

Evad