Super Stardust HD (PSN) Review

I'm bored, so I figure I might as well come back for a review. Since we stopped blogging I've picked up all 3 of the new consoles, the PS3 just recently and the Wii back in February.

Here goes.

Super Stardust HD is the latest downloadable title to hit the Playstation Store and the third space shooter available. Unlike Blast Factor and Nucleus before it, SSHD does a lot to seperate itself from the pack. Instead of the normal flat, square grid that most shooters like this have, Stardust puts you on a spherical planet that your ship can fly around all 360 degrees of. You'll encounter gold, ice, and rock asteroids along with mechanized thingy-mabobbers [Yeah.. thingy-mabobbers, got a problem with my vocabulary? :-P] of all shapes and sizes that want to hurt you. To stop them, you get a Rock Crusher, a Gold Melter, and an Ice Splitter. Each weapon destroys the matching asteroid fastest, adding a level of strategy to the game. The asteroids have green power up rocks inside them that hold points, shields, or upgrades for your weapons. Also in your arsenal are bombs that clear the screen and a Dash, which shoots you across the screen, destroying everything in your path. The downside is it takes 10 seconds to recharge after you use it.

There are 5 planets that all have slightly different designs and enemies, along with different types of asteroids. Each planet is broken down into five phases, with more crap flying at you the further you go, and in the last phase of each there's a boss for you to ass-kick. There's both an Arcade mode and a Planet mode, but I haven't really figured out the difference between them. The official description is that Arcade allows you to unlock new planets and Planet mode is just for getting high scores, but I unlocked a planet in Planet mode too.. So I'm not sure if there's actually a difference between them or not.

The graphics remind me of Asteroids on steroids. Everything is hella shiny, from your weapons (the gold melter is especially pretty) to the enemies, to the planet. What I like most about it is how when you shoot the asteroids they break into bits very smoothly. It's just so incredible!

I'm not usually one to have much to say about sound, and that's the same this time around. I'll just say it's not bad music, but some of the sound effects are suuper annoying (one of the boss fights where rockets get fired comes to mind).

The most disappointing aspect of this game is the lack of online play. There's co-op, but it's only offline. It's not as good as the single player because your lives are shared and you have to stay on the same screen, but it still would've added longevity if it was online. There are still a lot of different leaderboards, which are a nice touch.

Overall for $10 this is a great deal, especially if you love games like this. I'm not going to say this is the PS3's Geometry Wars, because it's not that amazing, but it's the best bang for your buck on the PSN so far. 8/10

Now this doesn't mean we're coming back for sure, but I definitely had fun writing this and it didn't take too long, so don't be surprised if we do come back - Just like when we started out - Games only.

Keep an eye out.

Goodbye GM2, Media Monster Is Here!

After 1 yr, 2 months, 5 days, 11 hours, and 28 minutes, Gamer Mania 2 has officially ended, to make room for the new superblog, Media Monster. Although we're keeping this blog up for archive reasons, it probably won't have any posts. I hope all of you GM2 readers can't get used to the change, but it's going to be great. We're starting fresh. We're bringing over some of the great GM2 segments, but we're putting a lot of new ones too, like lists every week, and alot of other great stuff you're definitely going to enjoy. If you thought GM2 was good, wait til you read Media Monster. So, it's so hard to say, but goodbye Gamer Mania 2, there's been good times, there's been bad, but you will never be forgotten. Without you, Media Monster would be nothing. So here is the link to our new baby:

Media Monster

-All of us

The death of GM2 today?

You read that right, we are strongly considering letting GM2 go in favor of a new, redesigned blog. What we're going to do for now is start up this new blog with me, Zam, and Doug leading the way, and run it for a month or so to see how it works out. If we get a lot of hits and some comments we'll keep going with it and leave GM2 here as an old archive.

The reason we're doing this is because this blog has gotten way off course and we need to redirect what we're trying to do. We also lost tons of readers when we went dry over the summer, which was a very bad move. With this new one I think we we're aiming for is mainly games, but with movies, TV, and music sprinkled in moreso then they are now. We'll also have the occasional hot women on when it fits in. So it's not going to be another Gamer Mania, but something new.

So for a week to two weeks we're going to be not doing any posting unless there's big news, because you have no idea how much work it takes to really plan out a blog if you want it to succeed. We're also going to bank some game and movie reviews to drop all at once in the first week so we can start out with a bang. Doug's going to stay with us and probably help out a lot since he's not only a reader, but he recently made a new blog from an old one and in two months he's getting 400 hits a day. We have also acquired a new member by the name of Cat, who is definitely going to bring some diversity to a staff of 3 guys. Not only is she a woman but she lives in Europe, so she'll be able to give some very different opinions than we do. And soon the inevitable "Do you really game?!!?!?" questions will come...

And for all you GM2 fans don't worry, we're going to keep a lot of what we do here. We just want to add now that we've learned a lot from this blog. We'll keep you updated on how it's going with things like the name, what we're going to do in the first week, and when exactly we think it's going to start. And we'll give you a link once it's done.

Just stay with us guys, we promise it's about to get very good, very soon.

Fall of Liberty

In 1931, Winston Churchill was hit by a taxi in New York. In the real world, he survived, and went on to rally the British people to fight the Nazi threat. But what if he hadn't?

It'’s from this premise that Fall Of Liberty takes it's theme - without Churchill's leadership, Europe and the United Kingdom have fallen to Hitler's forces. By 1951, using crushing technical superiority, the United States is invaded and defeated by the Third Reich.

With this setting, Fall Of Liberty will be an FPS experience like no other; a game that'’s both a World War 2 FPS and something different. Fighting not as a soldier, but a resistance fighter in a United States of America that'’s under the rule of a foreign power.

Now that sounds like a cool game. I know they do WWII games ad nauseam, but at least this one has a new twist. I really like this idea, and often wonder about things like this. Seeing it on screen just sounds fun.

I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to what all this will be released for. In a couple different places, all I've seen is next-gen/PC. So who knows which next-gen systems they are talking about. I'd imagine the PS3 and 360.

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

Wow, Did You Know It;s Time For Marked Down Mondays?!?!?!

Yippee, it's time for Marked Down Mondays! This week we got a special. Great deals, plus all the shipping is FREE! Now the deals:



1. The first deal is a good one. It's a nice Logitech (very good and trusting company) Bluetooth headset. But its for the amazing price of........$19.99! This is a great deal, and you save about $30! Plus, the shipping is FREE! Now that's amazing. Go and buy this little baby HERE.


2. Secondly, this is an great, great deal. Nowadays, viruses and spyware and getting crazy. There are so many. And you need some good protection. But did you know you can get a pretty respected and popular virus protection software program for only $6.99?!?! I didn't either until I found this deal on the new Norton Antivirus 2007. Plus, the shipping is FREE! But, it has a $30 mail-in-rebate, which is pretty bad. But still, this is an incredible deal you can't pass up. Check it out HERE.


3. Finally, this is an awesome deal on a HUGE hard drive. And when I say big, I mean BIG. This thing is 500GB! Now when you hear this, you think, "Wow, that's gotta be at least $600." Well you'd be wrong. It's actually only $199.95! Plus, the shipping is FREE! Man, that's great. This hard drive usually goes for over $300. Go and get this for you computer, now, right HERE.

Hope you liked this FREE shipping marathon this week. Enjoy!

-Zam

This Week In Gm2!

Before we start TWIGM2, let's first talk about last week in GM2:


Ton deals us some deals in MDM
SmilesD disses 5 games in his 5 most overrated games
Ton gives you a carbinated, over-the-speed-limit preview of Need For Speed: Carbon
Musicology: Video of the band Augustana
I dished out 3 great websites in WW
Ton recaps this week in releases in Release Recap
360 News: 100GB Hard Drive!!!
Some PS3 News
No Halo Movie! (For Now anyway)
Videology: Watch as this guy proves he has sexual crisma
SmilesD asks the question: What was your first must have game?
Lucy Clarkson has a message for you (pictures of her ass, INCLUDED!!)
Finally, A review of the new Justice League Heroes for the Nintendo DS


This week, SmilesD is doing his usual news, random questions, all his usuals. Ton is bringing you a few previews for the 360 and possibly a review of something. I'm brining you a review of Robin Williams' new comedy "Man of the Year", and maybe a preview or two, and maybe another preview. And of course, the usuals, the Videology, the Marked Down Mondays, Release Recap, all that good stuff. So this is gonna be a good week in GM2!

Justice League Heroes (DS)

Normally I wouldn't get a game like this for the DS, but a few months ago when I was trading things in, they brought it to my attention I could save a few more bucks if I reserved a game. I scanned the sheet, nothing caught my eye, so for whatever reason this was the game I ended up with.

I haven't gotten all that far into the game, but here's what I've picked up on so far. Someone is controlling the minds of various villians and superheroes. It's your job to go around and get these mind control devices off the various individuals.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it's a button masher with a little technique mixed in. So far, 9 out of 10 villians has been a robot who shoots at you. Different characters have different fighting tecniques. I've only used Batman, Wonderwoman, and Flash so far, so here's an example of some of different fighting techniques.

Batman throws his batarang, punches, and does some explosion type attack. However, he's very slow so he's not a very good choice when fighting in areas with lots of robots.

Wonderwoman throws her lasso, punches, and does a flying twist type attack. She also flys around which is good when trying to avoid enemies.

Lastly, and probably my favorite character to use so far is Flash. Obviously, the guy is fast, and his attacks are super fast which makes me extremely affective in highly populated enemy areas.

Back to the game. You pretty much go to different areas, kill all enemies, save a civilian or two, and when you're done you move on to the next area and do the same thing. It's basically the same thing over and over again with an occasional boss battle here and there. As you go through the game and fight with certain characters, they gain additional attacks, and the attacks they already possess become more powerful.

The only true problem(s) I have with the game is lighting. If the room's not extremely bright, from time to time it becomes very hard to see the screen. There are also parts of the game that are near impossible to get through with certain characters. If it weren't for Flash, I'd still be way back at the beginning sequence or two. Other then that and the reptitive objectives, the game is kind of fun.

Like I said, I'm only 10% into the game so there might be a lot I'm missing. If there is, I'll be sure to let you guys know, but the way things look right now, this is your typical button masher.

Would I recommend this game? Probably not. It's not boring or bad, there are just a lot better games out there for the DS. If you want a Justice League game, you're probably better served to get it on a home console.

--Smiles That Kill
Writer at Smiles That Kill
Today's feature, Adult Model Ariel X

Lucy Clarkson sends you a message

Jodie Jordan, if you are out there Lucky Clarkson apparently wants you to kiss her ass. If you don't think you can make it, I'll glady go on your behalf.

Anyways, if you're sitting there wondering what in in the hell this has to do with gaming, I'll tell you, very little. Lucy Clarkson was the girl Lara Croft was modeled after, and well, I thought this was a great time to pass on that little piece of trivia. Now you know who she was modeled after, and because of these awesome pictures, you know some of the finer details of Lara Crofts body. Enjoy!

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

What was your first "must have" game?

I can remember mine like it was yesterday, except it was like 15 years ago. I can't remember if I was in kindergarden or first grade when I got my Nintendo, but either way, I can remember the first game I begged for. You wanna know which one? Sure you do. I begged for an entire weekend to get Double Dribble. Remember that one? If you don't, you're no gamer at all.

I can remember playing that game on my beat down TV, a TV that had no Cable, no remote, and you had to change it with a dial type thing. I remember my dad beating my by about 50 points at halftime, and some how I'd come back and win before the game was over. I don't know if it had anything to do with my crying about the beat down, but something tells me it was.

That game was the shit. It had the most annoying sound effects ever. The dribbling sound was loud as hell, the "swish" sound was loud and as hell, and it was impossible to shoot a layup. As far as I can remember, every shot was a jumpshot.

So what was your first "must have" game?

No Halo Movie For Now, But There's Videology!

Here is a little comedy video about a guy named Gabe Sunday who tried out for a J. Lo movie, but was told he didn't have enough sexual crisma. So he tries to prove it. Here's My Sex With J. Lo:

Game Over On The Halo Movie :-(

Both Universal and Fox Studios have pulled out of the Halo movie adaptation, citing rising movie costs and concern over the inexperience of first time director Neil Blomkamp. As the budget was rumored to be edging closer to $200 million, and Microsoft getting a lion's share of the profits, the studio execs decided it was time to pull the plug.

Shocking news. We were all sure they were gonna make one. With all that Denzel playing Master Chief and everything. I'm a little upset, I was kinda looking forward to this film. Well, I agree with the budget thing, and with the director inexperience. I just hope they bring out a Splinter Cell movie, now that would rule. What do you guys think?

-Zam

Random new news about the PSTree

Today Sony had a convention called Gamer's Day, and they announced a bunch of announcements (or.. whatever).

First of all, they announced that most of the EA sports games will use the tilt controls, as will Tony Hawk 8. Much better then the originally announced one. Thumbs up there.

Sony also confirmed that certain PSP, PS2, and PS1 games will be up for download on the PS3. That's sort of awesome but I really think they could have skipped the PS2 ones since most people will still own the games. It is good news though for PSP-less people, since you'll now get around to the few good games the PSP's had.

Also announced were the prices of many things. The HDMI cable will be $50 (pretty expensive), the PS2 memory card adapter will be $15, the Sixaxis controllers will be $50 (same as the 360 ones), and the Blu-Ray remotes will be $30.

Also, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby will be packaged in the first 500,000 consoles in Blu-Ray format. No one really knows why they picked that movie..

Last but not least is the announcement of their 37% cut estimate of profits this year, from 1.1 million to 670 million. I can't say I'm surprised, if they're going to get it back it's going to be 07', no way they were going to make that much this year.