lostprophets - the Betrayed [review]

Yes okay, it was roughly three reviews since the last lostprophets review I did. But whatever, new lostprophets albums are like gold dust (except considerably less expensive :p ) and as such, it's my duty to review it. Except no-one will read this review. So it doesn't matter. Kinda like talking to myself, really. Oddly therapeutic :D

^Sexy box art is sexy. 'Nuff said.

This rather awesome album opens with the track "If it wasn't for hate...". Nice punchy intro, not really a song though, so you'll be forgiven for skipping over it onto the next track (if you must), DSTRYR/DSTRYR. Cool name, heavy song- this is what lostprophets is all about, not the rather whiny and annoying emo music they later produced (*cough* Liberation Transmission *cough*). This track is epic. Move on to track three "It's Not The End of The World But I Can See It From Here" (snappy!) this is a song that'll appeal to all the NOOBS who WORSHIP Radio One. It's not that great a song compared to the rest of the album, but still a damn sight better than most of the drivel you hear these days.

Track four, Where We Belong, goes for epic and ends up being slightly cheesy but somewhat pleasing :) I like it a lot, to be completely honest, but nowhere near as much as "Next Stop Atro City" (see what they did there?) Shouty. Very shouty, and somewhat unpolished, but thats partly why I like it so much. Watkins once again proves his great vocal range. A track to dance to (whilst being shoved around a mosh pit, natch.)

Track Six, "For he's a Jolly Good Felon", is somewhat Arctic Monkeys-ish. That's a good thing by the way. No idea what genre it is, but hey, it's an amazing song, so I'm not complaining. Track Seven, "A Better Nothing" is another slightly cheesy song, with an amazing chorus and...ah....it's wonderful....as is the next song "Streets of Nowhere", and "Dirty Little Heart", and "Darkest Blue" and...well....you know the rest. It's all amazing. The final track, somewhat reminiscent of Sway (off their second album) rounds the whole thing of beautifully. Wonderful.

Damn, my reviews are getting short. Never mind. They're still as good, yeah guys? Guys..? Oh right yeah, I forgot, they all ran away. May as well write a conclusion anyway. Basically, this album is easily up their with my favourite albums of all time. It lacks a little polish (annoying, since they've had four years to work on it. Silly Welsh people.) but I guess that's all part of what makes this album so great :)

A

FACT - In The Blink Of An Eye [review]

Okay, FACT are a Japanese band who make most (all?) their music in English. Some of it's alright, so I was looking forward to this album, even though it was kind of lost for me amongst the hype of the new lostpropehts album (review soon. Maybe.) Right, and now i have finally had a good and thorough listen, I can say it's pure unadulterated crap. Shame.

^Blurry faces, all in various states of hilarity. Laugh loudly, move on.

Track one and three, in the Blink of an Eye and Slip of the Lip are okay-ish. His voice (dunno who he is. Don't care.) grates horribly, but some awesome riffs make up for it. Annoying high pitched ones, but okay nonetheless. The rest of the album, though, is awful. Look, I really don't need to keep reviewing this crap. Just don't buy it okay? Simply put, I think what we have here is the single WORST album in the history of the entire universe. Thanks, FACT. Thanks a lot. Now get out and never darken my doorstep with your god-awful music ever again. Morons.

(This one doesn't even get a grade at the end. Our alphabet isn't long enough)

DS - The World Ends With You [review]

Happy New Year everyone :)

Right, with that generic opening out of the way, let's jump straight into a review, shall we?

THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (or "It's a Wonderful World" if you're into importing stuff that's just as easily available in your own country). (On a side note, if I use lots of capitals its because this game DEMANDS it by being so AMAZING.)


^sexay box art ;)

From the box art (and believe me, it's one helluva good one) alone, you can tell this game is going to be amazing. Not only is there the comforting "Square Enix" (who make the best RPG games ever, by the way) logo emblazoned on the front, there's a cool emo type person in an awesome outfit. Seriously, he's WEARING PURPLE HEADPHONES and has SPIKY ORANGE HAIR. What's not to like?
This though, is not your standard RPG. It's a beat-em-up-adventure-action-RPG. Snappy!

The plot? As usual, it's an amazing one, with some really likable characters. Essentially, there are some bad guys and they take people and make them play the Reaper's Game, which lasts a week, and every day new challenges are set and...it's good, okay? And the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you occupied during the more than ample playing time.

The gameplay in this game is REALLY QUITE MESSED UP and yet, somehow, AWESOME AT THE SAME TIME. Outside of battle, you'll wander around a gritty urban landscape, interrupted by anime-style cutscenes, and of course, battles. And there are no immensely irritating random battles that occur every thirty seconds.
I wouldn't mind if there were, to be completely honest, because the fighting system is fantastic. On the bottom screen, you control our spiky-haired friend Neku with your plastic pen of death (er...that's the stylus, by the way), unleashing hell on the incredible variety of monsters (or 'Noise'). On the top screen, you control one of Neku's partners (you'll go through three in the course of the game) with the buttons. I'm doing a really bad job of explaining this. Dammit! Never mind, all you need to know is that this game has a crazy amount of crazy ideas. Truly mindblowing.

As for the games graphics and sound...well, they're fantastic. Style overflows from every frame and the soundtrack really helps to emphasise that. All the characters, no matter how small a role they have to play, Noise, all the Pins and their respective attacks are beautifully drawn in a graphical style which I think more games should have.


^Woo, more low-quality screenshots casually stolen from other websites! :D yes, it's as crazy as it looks. And then some.

All of this wouldnt matter though, if the game was a walk in the park. Thankfully though, it is a real challenge, especially on hard difficulty (well duh). So while that is not an issue, there is one small problem with this game, it may be a little too styled for some.
If you have a hatred of anime (silly you), or are against innovation then a) what did you buy a DS for?! and b) go and sit on a cactus. Underwater. Suspended over an undersea volcano. With some sharks. hungry sharks. (weirdly, there's a shark boss in this game :D ). But that doesn't matter, because I, personally, absolutely love it, and well, it's my blog, so I have no problem in awarding this with not just an A*, but also the title of my favourite game ever :) :)

A*