Temple Run 2: A comparison to Temple Run 1

So Temple Run was released a week ago in the App Store, and almost a week ago at the Google Play Store.

I liked the first TR. I wasn't aware that there was TR2 until last Tuesday. But since I'm not using an iPhone I had to wait it was out on the Play Store to get it.

There are some things that I like about it and some that I don't. While it improved on some aspects from the previous games, it did move a few steps back.

So here's my opinion on what they did right:

1. The graphics and the running path.
I already expected that TR2 would have superior graphics to TR. The background doesn't look so dark and dull. The path of which the runners run is also improved upon to give it a natural feel to it. In TR, most turns were 90 degrees turn. Here, there's some small turns here and there that does not require you to slide the screen. While it took a while to get used to it, I eventually got the hang of it. Also, it has a bumpier path of stairs and hills, which makes going up or down a level seem more natural.

2. Powerups are balanced.
Back in TR, the key strategy to get high scores was to disable every powerup but the magnet. A maxed out magnet in TR enabled a player to not only collect coins without doing any work, but coins collected were triple in value. It's no longer that powerful in TR2. I find the shield powerup in TR2 to be more fair and useful than the invisibility powerup in TR (or whatever it's called) mostly because I can't find much use for it. Also, the items that revives a player is very balanced. Instead of buying wings and activating them before you die, gems have to be collected when you run. The more you want to resurrect yourself in the same run, the more gems you need. I like this because this time you can't buy your way to reviving yourself. You have to earn it this time.

Now, for what they did that I had mixed opinions:

3. Side bar meter can be used for different powerups
In TR, when you hit 100 coins, you get a score bonus as shown on the meter on the top left. In TR2, you still get the score bonus, but it's not shown directly. The meter on the top left fills up when you collect coins (doesn't matter what value they are), and when it's filled, you tap the screen twice for your powerup. You start with the shield, but you can unlock the magnet, boost and others. While I like the idea of it, the main problem is that these powerups cannot stack with the same powerup that you collect as you run.
Let me give an example:
Let's say I have magnet for my side powerup, and it's full, so I use it. It's gonna run out soon, but I saw a magnet powerup on my way, so I picked it up. But when my side powerup ends, the magnet powerup I collected was also gone. Why is that?

4. Plenty of Powerups
You can buy a whole lot of stuff this time with your coins. Like increasing the frequency of items appearing, reduce the number of gems needed to resurrect yourself, and reduce the number of coins needed to use a speed boost adding to the standard upgrade to the standard powerups. Problem is, a lot of these upgrades requires bucketloads of coins to use. And now that magnets are no longer the coin collecting wizard that it used to be, fully upgrading everything is a chore.

And finally, what they did wrong:

5. Missions
You are now restricted to only getting at most three achievements in a single run. This sucks balls. In TR, when I got 1 million while I had not unlock the achievement for scoring 500 thousand and 1 million, I get both achievements at the same time in that run. In TR2, I score 1 million, but my current mission is scoring above 500 thousand, so I have to run again to get that achievement. What I'm trying to say is that in TR, I could get like about 5 or more achievements on my first few runs, but in TR2 I'm really restricted to what missions I can do since these missions are fixed and I can't change them in any way unless I completed one of them. And when I do, a new mission appears, and this mission is selected by the game, so I can't decide what mission I want to complete first. As I repeat an earlier quote, this sucks balls.

6. Glitches
Well this is a minor thing since it can get patched out, but at this moment it annoys me a lot. My TR2 game crashes sometimes when I decide to use a gem to revive myself, and the high score I got and the coins I collected, all gone! Not to mention, I'm trying to get an annoying mission done (collecting 5 gems in one run) and with my game crashing when I got 4 gems, I can't.

Conclusion:
TR2 is not bad, I did enjoy the game. It took a few steps forward but also a few steps back from its predecessor. I do recommend getting it since it's free. I just hope the developers do patch some flaws in the game up.

Got a 3DS XL

In exactly 3 months after I posted on my blog about wanting to get a 3DS, I finally got one today!!

Now this is just a quick post.

I have not gotten myself any new 3DS games yet. I plan to get Fire Emblem: Awakening when it's out, and my friend is giving me his Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. So I'm just gonna play my DS games for now.

Also, my journey of getting every single Pokemon begins now.

With Pokemon X and Y announced for an international release this October, I decided that I need to get as many Pokemon as I can transferred to my Black 2 game. Then, when Pokemon X and Y do come out (I'm gonna get Y, by the way), with the help of my best friend (who's gonna get X), we're gonna transfer all those Pokemon into the Sixth Generation.

I know, it's a pretty ambitious project that might take a long while since Pokemons like Mew and Celebi are event only Pokemon, but I'm still gonna try. And when I do, I'll show you the results!

Still no 3DS yet.

It's been almost 3 months since my post on getting a 3DS, and I still have not go out and get one yet, even if I should.

I mean, there are some really cool games coming out.

Like Pokemon X and Y.
Project X Zone, a crossover of characters from Namco, Sega and Capcom, which has confirmed for localization.
Oh, and Fire Emblem Awakening is about to be released early February this year.

Hopefully I can get a 3DS this Thursday.

Just a quick little post

Street Fighter X Mega Man was released a few days ago, fixing some bugs, making the final boss harder, and adding a new secret character with its own requirements to fight him.

I played it. And while I know that character is Sagat, I've yet to fight him.

I'll play again tonight to try to fight him.

Currently playing a variant of a Nuzlocke challenge in Pokemon

After playing Pokemon for a while, some people consider the Pokemon games as rather easy. So, they impose some challenges into their on playthrough of the game and by doing so, make the game more challenging.

One of the most common self imposed challenge in a Pokemon game is called the Nuzlocke challenge. It has three simple rules:

1. If a Pokemon is fainted, it is considered dead and must be released. Alternatively, you could just place it in a box in the PC with the name 'Graveyard' on it if you refuse to release your Pokemon.
2. You can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter in a new area. If you knock out that Pokemon, there's no second chance. Some people do invoke 'Dupes Clause', where they catch the first Pokemon they encounter in a new area that has not been caught before, to increase variety. Some may debate whether a gifted Pokemon is considered an encounter in a city or area, but I don't wanna go too deep into that discussion.
3. Finally, you must nickname your Pokemon. This is serves as a way to be close to your Pokemon, and when they die, it's more emotional or something.

After hearing it from my friend, I tried it on Pokemon Emerald. And I beaten the game.

Then one day, a Youtube user I subscribed to called Marriland (known for his Pokemon website PokemonMarriland.com) decided to do a Nuzlocke on Pokemon Emerald. Upon completing the challenge, he unveiled in the credit scene of the last episode, that he's going to do something called a 'Wedlocke' in Pokemon Heart Gold.

Me being curious on what it is, decided to check his video out. It's actually another variation of the Nuzlocke challenge to make playing the game even harder. It's a bit hard for me to explain the rules of the challenge, so I'll just post his video here.

It made me interested. So I decided to try this new challenge on Pokemon Heart Gold, the same game he was playing.

So far I'm doing fine, or that's what I think. I've gotten four out of the eight badges and I have two deaths so far. My first death was my male Ratata who died from a critical hit while training. My second death was a rather sad one. A Pokemon whom I thought will be a Pokemon that will stick in the team till the very end - a Flaffy - got hit by a critical hit from a Sudowoodo blocking the way to our journey to the next city.

I've got to say, this challenge, while tougher, is really fun. I had to think through who to use whenever I face my rival or face a gym battle. This is because in this challenge, your team must consist of equal amount of male and female Pokemon, in which a male and a female are paired together. These pairings are permanent and you can't just switch partners with other pairings in your team.

Why does this make the challenge tough? Because in a battle the only Pokemon that the Pokemon that is currently out can switch to is his/her partner. And when a partner dies, the other one must be sent out to either win, or die, only then you can send out a new pairing. This means that I have to send my two best Pokemon in that situation to fight the battle to avoid any deaths.

So yeah, I've just finished a really intense battle between the forth gym leader and my team. I hope that my pairing will survive till the end.

Finally watched the Death Note anime

After about six months of deciding that I wanted to watch the Death Note anime, I finally watched it.

Why did I take so long to watch it? I was probably procrastinating.

But after watching the Ace Attorney movie, I have decided to watch the anime, and I did. I started watching it exactly a week ago and I finish watching the whole show yesterday.

It was not bad. It had some really good mind games, rivalries and some really good plans that were well thought out and made sense (in the Death Note universe of course).

This show brings up the question 'What would happen if one of the brightest young minds in the world with a sense of justice is given a notebook that can kill just by writing the name of the person and having his/her face in mind?'

In this case, that young mind is 17 year old Light Yagami. After testing out the notebook and realise that the killing power is real, he starts killing criminals one by one, until the Interpol realised that the heart attacks received by the criminals are too coincidental. They asked L, one of the three greatest detectives in the world to solve this case. From there, the rivalries, mind games, and tactics begin.

While I could review this anime, I think that this review of the anime from Youtube should suffice.

The problem (not too big problem though) with the show is as said in the review - they try to make some scenes in the anime unnecessarily over the top/epic, which backfires as it's actually hilarious as hell to watch.

I mean, I would never thought that writing something would look epic, and this show proved otherwise. But, I don't see the point of writing it in that manner, and if I do see a person writes like this I would most likely laugh at how unnecessary it is even though his/her writing ends up to be good or neat.

Another scene which was suppose to be epic and end up being hilarious is the infamous moment where Light takes a potato chip, and eat it. The emphasis of the eating of that one piece of potato chip was really unnecessary. But hey, at least it turned out to be one rather funny moment.

I guess that's all I have to say about the show. As for the next anime I plan to watch, it'll most likely be Fate/Zero. When will I actually watch it I dunno.

By the way, Near has some really awesome toys.