From The Vault: Rocket Power Beach Bandits Review

Subject: Rocket Power Beach Bandits Review   Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:48 am
When I was younger (I'm turning 17 this year mind you so I'm already pretty young) I LOVED Nickelodeon. I loved sitting down in front of my TV and watching episodes of older Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, The Rugrats, and Jimmy Neutron. But wait, this review is about Rocket Power, so you're probably (maybe not) wondering what I thought of the show and to be honest, I really don't remember too much of it. I mean yeah, I remembered what the characters looked like, and yeah I know the premise, but I really don't remember a single episode of that show. For some reason though, someone bought me this game, and I remember sitting in front of my game shelf wondering what this game would be, assuming it'd probably be as bad as the Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius game I had just finished playing, but nevertheless I was curious as a probably around 8 year old could be. And I really enjoyed it, like REALLY REALLY enjoyed it. I recently started playing all these old games, and because I hadn't played this game in years, I popped it into the ole ps2 and began my journey to find out if 8 year old me was a nutcase that had no taste in games or was right in finding a gem... The first thing you'll notice that may give you some reason to consider turning the game off is the character models which, I mean resemble the characters from the show ok, but the way they move and the way their mouths move when they talk is really awkward. Not to say it's too bad, but sometimes its really kind've distracting. But beyond the first bad thing you'll notice, lets get to the premise of the game shall we? So the Rocket gang er whatever you want to call them are on summer break and are like totally stoked for some surfing some gnarly waves bro! But then they like look at the beach and the sands gone for no reason, so they go up to some politician conveniently having some speech about the sand issue and afterwards, they do what any good American would do...SUSPECT THE POLITICIAN! Anyways, after that they kinda go around and try and find clues to where the sand went and try and save their summer vacation from some major suckage. It seems like a really juvenile plot, and it is, its a kids game, but honestly it goes together quite nicely and I have no really big complaints outside of some nitpicking. A good aspect that really helps the story is the script for each character when you talk to them, or even for what your character says when they pull of some tricks or wipeout. It gets repetitive at times, but overall it gets some laughs, and despite the weird models and how they move, it gives some much needed personality. If you're a fan of the show, all the characters are pretty much here, and it even takes some real environments from Ocean Shores on the show. Despite being decent, the story isn't what shapes the game, it of course, is the gameplay. The gameplay consists of doing all sorts of extreme stuff, whether it be skating, rollerskating, jet skiing, even bumper cars and some other pretty fun mini games that all play well. The skating is what really excels, and despite an awkward button setup, its really easy to learn, and is very fun to use. During the open world story mode, skating is the best way to get around, and there's really just not many problems with it other than a few minor nitpicks. Rollerblading is pretty sloppy honestly, as its really hard to control and you end up bumping into walls a whole lot. Jet skiing is only used a few times, but is overall a fun method, and is transported well into a boss fight. There's other things like a hoverboard, and one of those sandboard things if I remember correctly, but they mainly are just like the skateboard. If you play the minigame mode, you and your friends could have some fun with some of these things, and the skating element itself can make this experience an enjoyable one. Overall, I'd say if you find it out there somewhere for cheap, get it. It's pretty good honestly, even if you don't know about the show in the slightest. The mini games are fun, the story mode and the whole use of hockey pucks to kill robots (forgot to mention you have a hockey stick as your main weapon in the story) is fun, each level is fun, the multiplayer is fun, this game itself is fun. I mean, I suggest the person who plays it be a little younger, since that's who is going to get most of the enjoyment out of this, but even if you're an adult, give this one a try.

From the Vault: PK Out of The Shadows Review

Subject: PK: Out of The Shadows Review   Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:42 pm
So, I have had this game in my collection for quite a long time and it practically just sat on my shelf for the longest time with me just scratching my head at the concept and the universal panning of the game. Now, I realized it'd be a kiddy title, but you know, I had some fun with other Donald Duck titles, and the fact that this one had a unique concept to me you know? I figured, "Hey, this looks interesting, Disney's take on a dark comic book game with the humor of Donald Duck, this could be fun!" As you guessed by reading the score I've given, I was most certainly wrong. The first majorly notable problem is the game's camera, which basically works in a way to utterly make you extremely furious. Every time you want to do anything it just over corrects itself to an uncomfortable position and does so every time you move from place to place. It not only makes you angry combined with some unresponsive platforming, but really makes the game really hard to enjoy. Aside from just the camera, the main game play is essentially extremely boring. What I could classify this as is a basic third person shooter with awkward platforming and forced humor. Your main weapon is a laser gun that shoots pretty fast and makes short work of most enemies as long as you keep targeted. The problem that lies here is the fact the lock-on sequence isn't smooth like something out of Legend of Zelda, its ultra frustrating, and will likely get off what you want to aim at if you try any simple jump to the side to try and dodge their attacks. This makes combat really frustrating, and frankly, the bland shooting really isn't greatly improved by the minuscule amount of power-ups you get.  The platforming, again is really tedious, as the camera in the game is your biggest enemy. Still, jumping and maneuvering still finds a way to be completely tedious seemingly on accident. I only died a few times from the actual enemies, but the falling damage (that's right FALLING DAMAGE IN A GAME THAT UTILIZES PLATFROMING A LOT) and the clumsiness of jumps just make falling into pits of whatever easier than anything, and when you're first starting its hard to get really. This purple goo stuff throughout the game hurts you, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out but it kills you on touch. So, you could just be jumping around, and because of the clumsy mechanics, hit the goo and die again, and again, and again. I mean the saving grace here is that there are checkpoints. You essentially go around collecting coins that are always in plain sight and use them to purchase checkpoints. I don't like that, but my main nitpick is the checkpoints being so far apart especially in a game specifically designed for kids. Thanks to your terrible game, these kids are going to fall and fall and fall and start awhile back from where they were... beautiful.  Other than rescuing some annoying sounding scientists, the simplicity of jumping, shooting, and collecting coins remains the same and remains in all its horrendous beauty, and never gets any better, and to only make matters worse the story is practically non-existent. So, basically, you're Donald Duck who is some security guard at some building that's never explained, who falls asleep on the job and dreams about his loved ones teasing him. So, out of nowhere he decides he wishes he was a superhero, and then some green hologram guy is just like "okay, there's a bunch of aliens trying to invade, stop them." And that's a good majority of the "story" there. Oh and guess what? In addition to changing Donald's costume to look more like a hero (I have no problem with that), the green hologram guy also changes Donald's voice as well. His VOICE! You know, that thing that makes Donald, Donald?! And the voice they choose isn't even heroic, so the point of that is unknown to me, especially some of the humor that could have been drug out using his real voice. There's some humor in the minuscule amounts of cutscenes there are in this game, but 99 percent of it is extremely unfunny, and to make things worse, the voices don't even match up with the lips half the time. The graphics are okay, and the game can resemble a decent game at times, but every time you think for a second the game "isn't bad" the tedious and boring enemies, the bland backgrounds, and everything else I mentioned earlier make it impossible to recommend to anyone other than collectors and Disney freaks. It could appeal to children around the age of 10 or a little younger, but there are certainly much better options.

From The Vault: Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 Review

Subject: Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2   Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:40 pm
Hey you guys? Remember Ready 2 Rumble boxing? Wuzzat? No? well thats actually a shame, because frankly for a game that came out so early in the lifespan of the PS2, it has to be one of the best boxing games I have played on the console. It has a wide variety of characters, and enough modes and ummm interesting choices on unlockable characters to keep you playing and entertained for quite awhile. Now from those sentences, you guessed right in this being a positive review, but I'd just like to go over some of the minor flaws I noticed with the game. Now, if you don't have a buddy to play with, or are playing through the arcade mode, you'll notice something once you start getting better at the game. THE A.I. IS HORRIBLE! Ok, calm down, look at the release date, its an older title and it takes some time to notice this fact. Some of the horrible things about the AI are just how cheap you can get as a few tricks can get you through the arcade mode time and time again, and frankly, most of the attack patterns are fairly predictable after you've played for awhile. Now, not to say this drags the game down too far really to me, frankly it really doesn't ruin anything, and I can't rate the bad A.I as more than a minor problem. Now, another flaw is of course, the absence in a story to the overall game, but I mean really, its a trippy boxing game, if you want a good narrative go play Mass Effect or something XD But nah really, I know I dragged Street Fighter 4 down for a lackluster and a mostly absent story but come on! This game came out in 2000 and is really just a parody of sorts anyways, not too big of a flaw really, and it doesn't cut into the experience of the game at all. The last complaint I have is the bad writing, which, I mean yeah its pretty bad, but thats one of the reasons why this game is so hilarious. Some of the stuff these guys say is absolutely hilarious, and again, doesn't really do anything harmful to the player playing the game other than occasionally annoy them or get like an eye roll reaction of some sort. The biggest flaw is obviously the bad A.I, and of course I'm going to mark it down for that and the fact it makes the single player experience boring after you unlock everything or maybe even before. Single player is the only really standout flaw here  And its a fighting game from the turn of the millennium so really, what did you expect? The pros of this title are easy to talk about as there really was a lot right they did here, take it from me, an avid PlayStation 2 collector, that this is probably my favorite boxing game on the entire console. Simply because it works, rarely any glitches, punches feel nice and smooth, and the combos with each fighter come off as fresh, unique, and fun to pull off to me. Each character is pretty damn funny and peculiar, as even the cover gives you some hippie black guy named Afro Thunder (yes that's his name) punching the crap outta the fat italian Joey T who is pretty angry that some girl named Lulu Valentine beat him in a boxing match XD. Yeah, pretty entertaining, and I learned that just from reading the game manual itself. Some other characters include some cocky Hollywood guy named J.R Flurry, A Brazilian hottie named Selene Strike (I know girls boxing guys right? odd), Mama Tua, another girl but she's like an obese Hawaiian lady. Then there's a robot punching bag, Shaquille O'Neal (yes the basketball player), Michael freaking Jackson (im not joking), and some Russian guy that kinda reminds me of that guy from Rocky 4, and Im pretty sure he says "I must break you" a few times. Every character just seriously makes me crack up, and the sheer concept from half of these appear to have come from a cocaine addict or something because no one with a clear mind would put Michael Jackson in a video game . Naw but they all work well, I mean, yeah you have your uninteresting and cheap characters like in any fighting game, but its pretty subtle here, even for an over the top boxing game. Besides the characters, theres a few modes you can enter, like the arcade mode which is basically self explanatory and only a one player thing. There are some two player modes, and even a tournament mode if you wanna get a bunch of people together and play an 11 year old game. There's a sort of career mode as well where you basically level up your boxer's stats using like workouts and earning money by fighting in bouts, and that to me is probably the best single player feature. The characters, the modes, and the sheer fun of the gameplay comes together to make a simply enjoyable experience, and overall, if you by some rare chance encounter this game, BUY IT! You probably won't be disappointed having this very entertaining boxing game in your collection. LADYS AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS.....LLLLLETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From The Vault: Red Dead Revolver Review

"From the Vault" is what I'm going to be using to categorize me re-posting old reviews and such I had written for the original site, and putting them on here for a newer audience to read and enjoy.

This one was written on December 28th 2012
The game is Red Dead Revolver

Subject: Red Dead Revolver Review   Fri Dec 28, 2012 1:08 am
The old west? Man, on the PlayStation 2 that sounded like a damn good idea, and when our favorite developer Rockstar was on the case, we expected then what Red Dead Redemption gave us now! So did the previous title, Red Dead Revolver give us what we were waiting for??? The answer is both yes, and no. Story: 6.5/10: Without giving too much away to the plot, you play as Red, a Clint Eastwood kinda guy who is trying to avenge the murder of his family by his father's backstabbing best friend. The plot sounds good on paper, and it is alright I suppose, but it lacks depth. Red is a stereotypical bandit with not many identifiable qualities other than being ummm cold? And umm... a umm decent person? See, I can't even tell half the time where they are going with this character and what they were planning to do in the first place. See, I see Red as a prototype version of John Marston because Red's shortcomings are really fixed as Rockstar identified that problem. I think its hard to really care about Red succeeding in his goal because of his lack of personality and his cookie cutter bandit antics. Now, I mean, thats not necessarily a terrible thing because every other character seems to have Rockstar's unique touch to their characters. See, most of the side characters ARE in fact really interesting because of their oddness and just how memorable they are. Naming just the enemies, theres a fat guy obsessed with dynamite, an army man with a cannon for an arm, a guy obsessed with dead people, and a girl that looks and fights like a man. See? Now because of these odd villains, and even the interesting allies like the British showman Jack Swift, Red's bland personality really doesn't make a difference in the overall scheme of things. Around these characters, the story really remains bland and really does not develop the characters at all despite them being strange and fascinating. While I do think the end is satisfying, overall, even with uniqueness, it all seems forced. its still decent, but everything is in desperate need of some fine tuning. Gameplay: 8/10: Good stuff here, I like the way it was setup to a stylized gameplay that truly conveys the west and how a game should simulate such a time period. Using varieties of weapons such as revolvers (of course), rifles, shotguns, and dynamite. It feels like a different style than any of Rockstar's other games, and that gives me both a pro and a con. While I like the differentiation towards what I would have expected, I do not like the fact there was essentially no overworld and nowhere to explore. We will get more into that later, but the fact that there are no side missions can really be touched on here. Why, oh why, in a game like this would there be no side missions??? I think that would have definitely helped in a game like this, and made the relatively short game a bit longer. There are definitely some flaws in the gameplay here (riding the horse is pretty unsatisfying), and there are some pieces missing that would have helped the final product, but overall the game plays satisfying and how you would expect. Atmosphere:6/10: Why is there no sandbox? It would only make sense really considering it is a western game and you would think exploring would be one of the main priorities of the final product. The ONE city you're in does feel like a classic western town, but there really isn't anything to do, or much of a point to the town itself. All of the story missions take place in great Western environments, and are really convincing, I'm actually pretty impressed with them and considering you spend 97 percent of the time in those, I will overlook most of the flaws because of the main feeling accomplishing the western theme of the game, and the places of the story mode missions being pretty cool looking. The characters fit in here too, and as ive said, allies and enemies are all memorable and pretty cool.  Multiplayer: 10/10: I think this is one of the games surprising strong points with its showdown mode. During the story, you buy many obscure items in the shops that appear before each level such as an open for business sign. These seemingly useless items turn out to unlock characters in a battle mode known as Showdown Mode. I like this actually, I find it unique, and if you want to unlock all of the characters, you have to make an effort to do so in the story. When you get to the mode it is pretty much a general deathmatch mode, but the personality of the characters and the style of the weapons make it an oddly really enjoyable experience that maybe I bias, but hey, I find the whole thing fun as long as you have a couple buddies around to play with. Even without friends, it can be a good timekiller, and I found this mode to be the perfect thing they could have possibly added. Pros: Memorable Characters, Good level design, Great Gameplay, Stylized Guns, Great Multiplayer. Cons: NO SANDBOX, Can get boring, Red is a piece of cardboard, Story lacks some depth, Too short, Good concept but executed in a mediocre fashion. 30.5/40 Grade: C 76th Percentile

Welcome to Dreams Awakened Studios

So, as you may see, I have renamed "DreamBreakerStudios", "Dreams Awakened Studios." Why is that? One excuse I give might stand out as obvious to some of your readers at home, in that "Dream Breaker" doesn't really make a lot of sense in context to what I actually do, and "Dreams Awakened" is much more fitting. The whole idea for this site in the first place started back in 9th grade for me and two friends, who wanted to deliver real game journalism, great game video content, and great news. My first main thing should be E3 this year, and I will finally have awakened the dreams me and friends used to have when starting up the original site back in 2009. Welcome aboard to Dreams Awakened Studios! A new, and way improved Dream Breaker Studios. I do hope you enjoy your stay!

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