Red-Wing Reviews: Monster Lab

I found this game on PS2, However I have seen it on Wii. I seem to gravitate to these odd games. I'm not kidding, I gravitate toward games like: Aqua Aqua, Fairy Godmother Tycoon and 3d Dot Game. Today I bought six games, All odd. This is defiantly the oddest game I’ve played so far. Well here's my review of Monster Lab.

Game play:

The game play in this game feels a little stretched. There's building monsters, mini-games, and combat. All of which feel rushed. I gotta admit the idea is really cool. However I feel the execution could have been pulled off better. Don't get me wrong, The game play is good, but there is a lot of stretching of play quality. I feel like they didn't know if they wanted a racing game, a fighting game, an RPG or a spore-like game.

I give game play 3 stars out of 5

Graphics:

The graphics are about par for PlayStation 2 standards. The fact there's a bunch of different parts and mini-games, Makes the graphics excusable. Though I was rather impressed that the graphics didn't suffer a lot, based on the scope of the game. That is not to say that they're bad, but they're not good. I feel the game could have used a little finesse.

I give graphics 3 stars out of 5

Sound:

The music is good. The voice acting? Horrible. Over all, I didn't quite care for the music, I turned it down as soon as I heard the first person say anything. It's quite annoying to be honest. Also, I felt some of the ambiance was a bit off.

I give sound a 2 stars out of 5

Controls:

God... where to begin. The controls are OK. The part I didn't care for is that every time I did any mini-game, I was shown the same tutorial over and over again. The controls are often confusing. I think they should have put a little more work into making the controls tighter, and adding a off switch to the tutorials.

I give controls a 1 star out of 5

Game:

This game has a pretty cool concept. Though a bit on the AHH! Real Monsters style. I would have liked to have seen the game with better controls. Over all, this is a great play. Be prepared to be shown the controls for every mini game. I suggest picking it up if you can, though I wouldn't suggest paying a lot for it. I picked it up for pretty cheap, See if you can too.

I give this game 3 Stars out of 5.

Red-Wing Reviews: Fairy Godmother TYCOON

Over the last couple days, I've been browsing around trying to find some odd and rare games. I have been very successful in this endeavor. I found a bunch of odd things while arousing the shops in the city. This is one of those odd things, Enter Fairy Godmother Tycoon.

While I have to say, this struck me as odd when I saw it. Although I have to say, it is a neat little game. The game starts off, You're the nephew of the fairy godmother. After a quick explanation she reveals, that she is more concerned about making bank from potions. Wishes, Are simply a PR devise.

Game play:

This game has simple, but engaging game play. The objective is to increase your net worth, And to bankrupt the opposing business. While this seems simple enough, you have to considering the “curse” forecast including, but not limited to: random nude-ness, big headed-ness, heart broken, and even being on fire. Each of which requires you to stock up on ingredient to make the potions. Along with the forecast you have to adjust your prices to match. All in all, this game is easy to pick up and play, well done here.

I give the game play 4 wands out of 5.

Graphics:

The graphics in FGMT are pretty charming and cartoony. I was rather impressed with the graphics, even if they aren't next-gen by any means. They were defiantly working on fun game play over graphics. I don’t mind though, the execution was good. This game isn't about pretty graphics, but I defiantly like the graphics this game is pretty, and well executed here.

I give the graphics a 3 wands out of 5.

Sound:

The sound in this game really brings the atmosphere into the game. While it doesn't seem like much, It really brings this game together. The sound, is very appropriate from level to level, It really draws you in.

I give the sound 3 wands out of 5.

Controls:

… I give the controls 5 out of 5. the controls are tight, I never didn't know what to do.

Game:

Altogether, I enjoyed this game. I enjoyed reviewing it. This game is charming, though a little simple. I have to give props to Pogo for making this game. It's cutesie, It's charming, and it's 100% addictive. I recommend if you can get a copy, climb the corporate ladder of the potion world.

Over all, I give this game a 4 Wands out of 5!

World of Warcraft: Protection Paladin

Now once a month I want to go over a class and spec, not just for wow. I'll be splitting these into 2 parts. Since I play wow now, best to start with what I know. I play a Prot Paladin in PvP, so lets get started.

Races:

Now I'm going to go over races here. The only racials I’m going over is going to be those that I find useful to PvP.

Human:

Human's have the single most useful racial in the game, “every man for himself”. Now some of you may ask... why? It's a free PvP trinket that doesn't require a trinket slot. They also get 3 expertise points while wielding a sword or mace. This is the end all be all race for all those who are meta-players. The extra trinket really helps. Considering Paladins are the best defensive class, This really helps balance your damage out.

5/5 Skulls of usefulness

Dwarf:

Dwarves get “Stoneform”, which removes bleeds, diseases and poison effects, and increase armor by 10% for 8 seconds. Stoneform has a 2 minute cooldown. They also get mace specialization, which gives 3 expertise rating. Dwarves are the ultimate defensive race for a Prot paladin. Stoneform can be used as yet another defensive cooldown, however, paladins already have a good deal of them.

3/5 Skulls of usefulness

Draenei:

The Draenei get a raid wide 1% hit. They also get a heal-over-time racial. While I don't like the Draenei race, the heal can be useful when your low on mana, and can even augment your own survivability, plus the lowered need for hit can get you a little extra damage.

2/5 Skulls of usefulness

Tauren:

Taurens have the “Warstomp” skill which stuns up to five opponents in 8 yards around you for 2 seconds. They also have “Endurance” which gives 5% base health. Taurens are the new-comers to the paladin class. I think the stun is pretty useful.

4/5 Skulls of usefulness

Blood Elf:

Blood Elves have “Arcane Torrent”, Which Silences opponents around them for 3 seconds. “Arcane Torrent” also restores 8% of your base mana. I personally play a blood elf, this racial is very useful.

4.5/5 Skulls of usefulness

Stats:

Stats are very important. I'm going to cover what's useful, and the ones that aren't and should be reforged or avoided if possible. I'm going to cover Str, Agi, Stam. Mastery, Crit, Haste, Resilience, Hit, Expertise

Str:

Strength: is the main damage stat for Prot Paladins. We get a lot, and I do me a lot of this stat with our gear. The current conversion is 2 attack power per strength. While this is your main damage stat you want to think about, don't gem for it.

Agi:

Agility: gives you crit, dodge, and armor. This is the second most useless stat for us, but this is why. Agility while giving some nice secondary stats, doesn't give as much as a pure stats, plus we don't get agility on any of our gear.

Stam:

Stamina: gives us Health, The current conversion is 1 stamina gives 100 hit points. We get all the stam we need from our gear. What makes prot paladins so formidable is our high damage and survivability. Suffice to say, Stamina is good.

Mastery:

Mastery: makes us block, this wont help us vs a caster. However this helps a lot against melee. I dump a lot of points into mastery.

Crit:

Critical Strike: is the end all be all stat for us. You might ask yourself why? Well this is because when we crit with Crusader Strike, you have a chance to refresh the cooldown of Avenger Shield. What makes this awesome is: Avenger Shield silences the target for 3 seconds.

Haste:

Haste: makes us attack and cast faster. While this can help you cast heals faster, you shouldn't be having to cast many heals. I've never found haste to be particularly useful, I even reforge out as much as I can.

Resilience:

Resilience: is quite honestly what I hold as the highest stat you should stack, all my gems are resilience. This plus your armor/resistance will give you arguably the strongest defense in the game. I haven't fought a prot Warrior/Druid/Death Knight I didn't beat.

Hit/Expertise:

Hit Rating / Expertise: These stats don’t do much other then help you hit more. I'd say cap hit at 5% and get enough Expertise to offset a tanker like you. Beyond you, these two stats aren't going to help you much.

Well that ends part 1 of my 2 part coverage of Prot Paladins. Tell me your take on protection as a viable PvP solution. Till next time, This has been a Red-Wing Review.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm PvP!

OK, I know like a lot of you I was excited to see what the Blizzard Santa clauses brought me for my blood soaked Christmas. For this article I'm going to split it up into 3 sections: BGs/honor and Conquest/Arenas and Rated BGs.

BGs/Honor

Now lets start with Tol Barad. As you all know, This is the new Wintergrasp-like world PvP battleground. The objective of Tol Barad is to either: on defense defend at least one base against the opposing faction. On offense the objective is to capture and hold all three bases at once. While this concept seems simple enough, the defense has advantage here. The entire team can turtle in one base while one or two go to recapture the lost bases. Also, there is two factions in Tol Barad: Baradin's Wardins(A), and Hellscream's Reach(H). Both quartermasters have a nice selection of blue and epic pieces of gear. Most of which, requiring revered or exalted reputation. You can gain rep by competing in Tol Barad and by doing the daily quests found within Tol Barad. Sorry Prot warriors and paladins, no one-handers for you.

Twin Peaks: 

This is one of the two new BGs release with cataclysm. Twin Peaks is set in Twilight Highlands. This is a Warsong Gulch Re-hash, however This match has its differences. For one, the map is huge, I mean huge. The bases are farther apart and there are many secret tunnels and entrances to keep the idea of Capture The Flag alive. Also you will notice, there is a lot of environment. This is good for hunters and healers, and sometimes good for flag carriers. The river in the middle, you can imagine all the fun, and annoyance it can be.

Battle for Gilneas:

This Battleground is similar to Arathi basin. A lot of the similarities include resources, control points, and winning by numbers. Although apposed to AB, B-f-G has only three control points: The Lighthouse, the Waterworks and, the ever popular, Mines. The match ends when either side obtains two thousand points. While this is AB v2.0, I like the change in scenery.

Arena/Conquest

Now, as you have seen, the Arena scoring and team window has changed. Instead of Arena Points, we now get Conquest points. The dispersion of Conquest points, is now given at the win of each match.The cap is 1343, Increasing at 1500, and 2200 ratings. This is actually a huge improvement on the old system. Considering to get a piece at > 1500 rating, took a few weeks if at all. A huge improvement to the PvP system in general is the ability to get Epic PvP weapons, and trinkets that rival PvE equivilants.

Rated BGs

Rated BGs are Blizzards answer to all of us old-school players who remember the old PvP system. The concept is simple, You get 10-15 depending on the requirement for the week and do a BG. Like Arenas, you gain a rating. As your rating increases, you are awarded titles like that of the olden days. While these are just for show, it lets us know that Blizzard is still thinking about us Grand Martials and High Warlords.

Over all I like the new system, a lot has been implemented. A lot has been changed. All in all it's a better system overall. Now all they have to do is balance the classes. I have a qustion for you guys, What do you guys think is the most over powered class currently?

Also you might want to look at these sites for more info considering in depth team strats and class stats:
http://www.arenajunkies.com/
http://elitistjerks.com/
And In case you don't play wow, here's their community site:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/