Game Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition

Hello and welcome to another adventure from a galaxy far far away, this time taking place much closer to home! This is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a sort of God Of War style beat-em-up Star Wars game released for all consoles in 2008. The Ultimate Sith Edition, which included all the DLC, was released a year later exclusively for PC and Mac. A few years before the events of A New Hope, the galaxy is on the brink of civil war! The evil galactic empire is ruling over the galaxy with an iron fist while very small rebellions happen on a few planets. Darth Vader takes on a secret apprentice, Galen Marek, AKA Deak Starkiller, to kill any remaining Jedi, stop the small rebellions, and to help him overthrow The Emperor! At first, things are going great! Starkiller kills (or at least badly wounds) a few Jedi and the small rebellions are making no progress! However, The Emperor soon finds out about Vader's apprentice and orders Vader to kill him, which he tries to do, but Starkiller survives. Vader orders him to start up a larger rebellion, one to rival the empire, to distract The Emperor so Vader could make a more elaborate plan to kill him. Can Starkiller, PROXY, Juno Eclipse, General Kota, Bail Organa, Princess Leia, and many more succeed in this rebellion, or is it all a trap? Play Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to find out.

This game got positive reviews when it came out, and all the critics and gamers alike praised this game for its story, which is now non-canon and replaced with the Star Wars Rebels animated series and possibly the upcoming Rogue One movie. However, despite the good critical and audience reception, I just don't get it. In my opinion, this game is okay at best. It's not bad! It's just okay! Let me start with the positives. This game has some great voice acting, coming from the original characters anyway. The characters that are actually from the movies sound almost NOTHING like themselves that it's almost hilarious. I had the same problem with the The Clone Wars animated series. Great show, but by God, what happened with the voice acting?? Anyway, I'm getting off topic. This game has a great soundtrack, but maybe that's because it just reuses John Williams pieces from the movies. I used to get really mad about that, but then I played Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, and those games reuse movie songs too. Most Star Wars games do, with a couple of original tracks mixed in to keep things fresh, so I really can't get that mad anymore. This game also has some very creative level design. There is a part of the game where you go INSIDE a Sarlacc, and the finale of the game is set INSIDE one of the Death Star's turbolaser shafts! Awesome! The graphics look pretty good too. Other than that though, there isn't much good I can say about this game. The gameplay is really repetitive, and every attack propels you forward so that results in a lot of cheap deaths if you fall down a hole, or something. The controls work really well and the combat is really satisfying most of the time, if not a little bit clunky, but during boss battles the controls get all weird and really clunky! I don't really know how to describe it, but it sucks! The camera stops following you and zooms out to a fixed position, and that just really throws you off! The quicktime events during the boss battles can also go &$@?! right off! The story I thought was not good, it was really predictable and uninteresting (And pretty disrespectful to the original trilogy!). And speaking of uninteresting, I couldn't care LESS about the characters! Starkiller is a really punchable character! He's trying to be all "cool" and "#2edgy", but then during the cutscenes he constantly has these big puppy dog eyes and you want to give him a nice smack! And if you get the bad ending, he gets even more "cool" and "edgy" and that is not a good thing. I also refuse to believe that it was THIS GUY who started the REBEL ALLIANCE!!!!!!!! The other characters aren't any better. Juno is just a generic love interest, absolutely nothing more, Kota I barely remember at all, and I completely don't remember any of the other characters! Even the characters from the movies aren't interesting! The only character in this game that I sorta liked was Starkiller's droid, PROXY, but even then, his mere existence and primary functions raise more questions than they answer! He can create these perfectly realistic holograms of people, but at this time, holograms were still all blue and crackly! Holograms wouldn't get that good until the time of The Force Awakens! How is it possible for this droid to exist?? I know it's nitpicking, and irrelevant in the big picture since this is non-canon, but still! It makes no sense! This game is also really short, only about 8 hours. It's about 10-11 hours if you include the DLC, but that's it. I got this game dirt-cheap during a May The Fouth sale last year, so I don't feel ripped off or anything, but the regular price for this game is $23! For $12, you could get Knights Of The Old Republic, and that game lasts 22+ hours! You aren't really getting your money's worth if you pay full price. Overall, despite all that I didn't like about this game, I still had a lot of fun with it. Do I recommend it? Yes, but ONLY if you get it during a sale. Then you won't feel ripped off! I'd recommend it for ages 11 and up. The game is pretty much the most violent that Star Wars gets and some female characters don't wear much. I'd give this game a good old 3 out of 5 stars. Just take it for what it's worth.

Have you played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Classic Game Review: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Welcome to anther game review! This is an adventure from a galaxy far far away, this is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was a game released in 2003 for the PC and Xbox. It was developed by Bioware, the same company that went on to develop games like the Dragon Age series and the Mass Effect trilogy. The game got a sequel called Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, and an MMORPG set 500 years later, Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is being remade from the ground up in 2016. 4 thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy is in a time of war! (Really, when is it not?) The Sith fleets are taking over the galaxy all thanks to their leader and Dark Lord Of The Sith, Darth Malak. A small band of Republic soldiers led by the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan has managed to strike down Malak's former master, Darth Revan. But then the Sith fleet attacked the Republic ship, The Endar Spire! Bastila, Carth Onasi, and You were the only 3 to escape. Meanwhile, Malak and the Sith have an evil plan unknown by the Republic, an ancient weapon only known as The Star Forge. What is The Star Forge? Will our heroes stop the Sith and bring peace to the galaxy? Play Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic to find out!

This game is fantastic! Like Batman, Star Wars is another one of those franchises that I've loved pretty much all my life and still love today. I even love the prequels to a certain extent! This game brought me right back to watching A New Hope as a little kid, going into a story I knew nothing about and being totally blown away by the story and characters! The story of this game is great with some of the greatest plot twists I've ever seen in a video game! The gameplay is simple and it works, and the game features multiple stories and endings depending on which class you choose (Soldier, Scout, or Scoundrel. Not Upper, Middle, and Lower!), whether you choose to be a man or a woman (I know that sounds incredibly sexist, but it only changes up some dialogue.), and whether you go down the path of the Light Side or the Dark Side. There are also side quests off the beaten path of the main story that has extra story and character development. You can also planet hop at any time. Because of this, there is lots of replay value to go back and experience all the story that this game has to offer. The musical score to this game is great. John Williams didn't compose it, so it has a different sound and feel than his work, but that's okay! This entire game is supposed to be different, but still keep the Star Wars feel to it, and the score does that wonderfully! The score also features the classic main Star Wars theme, so it's nice that it's there. The graphics of this game are okay. Like Sonic Adventure, the character animation doesn't hold up so well. Maybe since the game is so big, they needed to downgrade the graphics. However, the environments and cutscenes look great! For the time, that is, but they hold up pretty well. The voice acting is also really good in this game! There are 11 playable characters in this game all with their own strengths, abilities, and story significance. This is a nice feature so the game forces you to use characters that you normally wouldn't use to advance the story and learn how to use all their strengths and abilities to get the most out of that character. There are lots of fun optional mini games in this game, like Pazaak, a card game, and Swoop Racing, a beat-the-clock racing game. These mini games are fun and relaxing if you ever need a break from the main story. This game is quite long, I beat it in about 22 hours, plus there's all the replay value that I already talked about, so you won't experience absolutely everything this game has to offer for quite a long time! If there is something not so great about this game, it would be the combat system is a little bit too simple and repetitive, and not all the characters are likeable. This game can also be pretty hard. There are also some weird bugs and glitches, but nothing game breaking. My favourite thing about this game is how it connects to and foreshadows events in the 6 movies. I don't want to spoil anything, but these references are really cool! This game may or may not still be canon in the Star Wars Universe, the Star Wars writers aren't quite sure what to do with the KOTOR series yet, but it's still nice to have these references. In conclusion, this is a fantastic game for fans of RPGs and Star Wars alike! Even if you know nothing about Star Wars you can still play, since it takes place in the distant past. It's not perfect, and it hasn't aged perfectly, but it is still a excellent classic of a game! I would reccomend it for ages 12 and up. The game is quite complicated and complex and there is some mild language and sexual content. I'd give this game a 4.4 stars out of 5! The Force is strong with this one!

Have you played Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Game Review: Super Smash Flash AND Super Smash Flash 2

Welcome to another SMAAAAAAAAASH Bros-like review!!!! New Challengers Approaching! Super Smash Flash and Super Smash Flash 2! Set the rules to stock, no items, Final Destination! Ready? FIGHT!

Super Smash Flash was a Flash game released in 2006 by McLeod Gaming, an independent developer. It was followed a few years later by Super Smash Flash 2, which is still in development but you can still play it. They are, you guessed it, fan-made Smash Bros styled games starring a VERY unlikely cast of characters! Sure, you have Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Sonic, and all your official Smash Bros favourites, but then you have characters like Goku, Mr Incredible, Sora, Bomberman, Cloud, Naruto, and more!!! The first SSF was mainly based on SSB Melee while SSF 2 is mainly based on SSB Brawl and 4. There really isn't anything else to say! It is a perfect recreation of the official Smash Bros games! That's pretty much it and all you need to know!

First, I would like to review the original SSF. While it did get positive reception when it first came out, it has aged terribly. Some of the problems include awful controls, with only 1 attack button and no blocking (and why does it feel like I'm always sliding on ice?), only having a small handful of stages, lame items, lame graphics, lame music, annoying glitches, and how the creator got REALLY carried away with including all his dream roster picks. Seriously, there are more Sonic characters in the game than Mario, INCLUDING not 1, but 2 Sonic OCs!!!!!!!! If you don't know what an OC is, it stands for Original Character, and the Sonic fandom has some of the worst OCs out there. That's just my opinion, but I'm right. Anyway, while the original SSF does have lots to do in it, with a full Adventure Mode and all sorts of other game modes to play in, the game is such a pain to play that I really can't recommend it. It might be worth checking out just to see all the bizarre roster choices, but other than that, this game sucks. It's appropriate for all ages, but if you let your little kid play this game, you're probably a bad parent. I'm only kidding, of course, there are much worse games out there, but this game still sucks. I'd give it 2 stars out of 5. Worth checking out for novelty's sake, but other than that, skip this game. No Contest! While the first SSF may be bad, there is still hope! The creator made SSF 2, and that game is... well..... it's awesome!!!! This game is Smash Bros perfection all the way! The controls are MUCH more solid with more attacks, more stages, more items, MUCH better graphics, better music, no noticeable glitches, online multiplayer, and much less crazy roster picks! This game is a PERFECT recreation of the gameplay of Super Smash Bros Brawl and on, and while it doesn't have as many modes as the original SSF, the basic VS Mode in this game is so fun, you don't care! There really isn't anything to say! It's perfection! Play it NOW!!!!!!!! It's a FREE DOWNLOAD!!!!!!!!! I'll put a link here so you can experience it's greatness!: http://www.mcleodgaming.com/games.php You can also play it in-browser on the website, and you can download and play the original SSF, if you wanted to for some reason. SSF 2 is so much better than SSF 1 that it's unbelievable! Play it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! This game is suitable for all ages. I'd give this game 4.8 out of 5 stars! GAME!!!!! And the winner is, Super Smash Flash 2!

Have you played Super Smash Flash and/or Super Smash Flash 2? What did you think of them? Tell me in the comments!

Still waiting on that Digimon All-Star Rumble sale... Maybe I'll try one of the earlier games on the Playstation instead...

Game Review: Mirror's Edge (iOS)

Hello! This is another game review! This is Mirror's Edge!

Mirror's Edge is a first-person parkour game for the PS3, X-Box 360, and PC. However, that is not the game I am here to talk about today. This is the iOS port of Mirror's Edge! Mirror's Edge for iOS is a side scrolling runner game, like Bit.Trip Runner. In the game, you play as Faith, a young girl in a dystopian futuristic society. She is a Runner, or an illegal courier, making deliveries around the city. Faith must run and jump across the rooftops of the city to get to the end of each level, while taking down police officers along the way. Faith must make every delivery on time, before it's too late!

This game is pretty good! I haven't played the console version yet, so I can't say if it is better or not yet. The graphics are pretty nice, as far as graphics on iOS go. The settings are beautiful, but not as nice looking as the console version. The gameplay is very fun, but it is a little lame compared to the console version. The console version made you feel like you were actually up there on the rooftops, doing those jumps. Here, the gameplay is nowhere near as immersive, but it stands on it's own pretty well. The music is fantastic in this game, especially the theme song! I swear, it's almost as good as Still Alive from Portal! Which is ironic, because the Mirror's Edge theme song is called Still Alive too! I need to get the soundtrack! The story isn't very important in this version, which is a shame because I love the stories of dystopian societies. I friggin LOVE The Hunger Games (The first one, anyway.)! It's always so fascinating, and this is no exception! The console version is much more story-heavy. The story is here in this version, but it is not as important. There are clues on billboards and graffiti, and there is text on the loading screens that you can read if you want to understand the story better. I haven't read them yet, I just watched the LORE episode about Mirror's Edge on YouTube and I was all set! The story is my favorite part of any video game, so it is a shame the story isn't very prominent here. This version of the game comes with wallpapers that you unlock throughout the game that you can use for your iPad or iOS device! Okay, that is pretty fun! I'm working hard to unlock them all! This is something the console version sure doesn't have! I'm not going to change my iOS wallpapers to Mirror's Edge yet though, I'm still having fun with my Playstation All Stars wallpapers I got from the IGN Playstation All Stars app! Finally, this game is very short. I beat it in a couple of play sessions. I don't know if the console version is any longer, but I bet it is. The console version is much more difficult as well. This game is easy peasy! However, there are time trials and secret areas to beat and access so this game has lots of replay value. In conclusion, this is a very enjoyable game. It isn't better than the console version, but it is still very fun! This game is good for beginners, if you want to try the console version, play this, see if you like it, then get the real game! I'm going to ask for the real game for Christmas! If you want to try it out, it is a buck on the App Store. I would recommend this game for ages 10 and up because there are some blood splatter effects and there's a tiny bit of swearing. I would give this game a 4 out of 5 stars! Simple, but good!

Have you played Mirror's Edge? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

UPDATE: This game has been taken off the App Store. I have no idea why. Since then, whenever I boot up the game, it says that there is not enough space left on my device, so I can't save the game. This makes no sense! My device has the exact same amount of space on it since the last time I played the game! The game is pretty much unplayable now because, while the game runs just fine, since you can't save, you can only really play the first few levels, making it impossible to finish the game and unlock everything. Why is it doing this??? EA, you truly are one of the worst companies in gaming. Maybe support for the app will continue after Mirror's Edge 2 is out on consoles, but I seriously doubt it. Now I can't complete all the challenges to unlock more wallpapers. This sucks. This was one of my favourite games on iOS. This game now gets a 1 out of 5 stars rating. EA, I hate you with a passion.

Game Review: Batman: Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition

Hello and welcome to another BATMAN REVIEW!!!!!!!!! This is Batman: Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition!

2 years after the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady and the Batman: The Animated Series writers were back with a brand new game! This new game was, Batman: Arkham City! Taking place directly after the first game, Hugo Strange has organized a new facility for the inmates of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison, Arkham City. This new district of Gotham gives the inmates freedom while they're locked up. It's essentially a big sandbox for the criminals to play in, with giant walls. Bruce Wayne is completely opposed to Strange's new prison, but anyone who disagrees with Hugo Strange gets locked up in Arkham City with all the criminals! Meanwhile, The Joker is dying. He has a deadly disease in his blood from the after-effects of the TITAN syrum he injected himself with. (Oh, yeah. Spoiler Alert from the last game.) He injects some of his blood into Batman. Batman must find the cure, or die with The Joker! Meanwhile, Hugo Strange has given all the inmates guns and other weapons just so he can commence Protocol 10. What is Protocol 10? Will Protocol 10 commence? Will Batman find the cure in time? Will Catwoman collect all her jewels? Will Ben Affleck be a good Batman??? Will Jarod Leto be a good Joker??? (Spoiler Alert: The answer to both is no.) Play Batman: Arkham City to find out!

This game...... This game...... This game is.... It's...... It's really........ It's FREAKING INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! This game is fantastic! It's one of my favorite games of all time! In my top 10, easily! This game fixed many problems from the first game. It is clear where you need to go next, it's a lot less repetitive, since a lot of thug battles and vent passages aren't mandatory, there are much less TITAN thug battles, the soundtrack is much cooler and a lot more memorable, and the bosses are MUCH better! ESPECIALLY the final boss, it's awesome! The voice acting is great in this game, just like the last game! Mark Hamill is fantastic as always as The Joker, Tara Strong is great as the new voice actor for Harley Quinn, and Nolan North is fantastic as The Penguin! You can't even tell its him! If you don't know who Nolan North is, he is a very talented voice actor that has been in countless video games! He plays Nathan Drake in Uncharted, and he did lots of voices in Portal 2, just to name a couple! What makes Nolan North so great is that, most of the time, you can't tell it's him in a role unless if you read his name in the credits! He's that good! This game has 4 playable characters. In the main story, you play as Batman and Catwoman. Catwoman's story would be DLC, but the Game of the Year Edition comes with all the DLC pre-loaded for free. There is a DLC epilogue to the main story where you play as Robin, and there are challenge maps where you can play as Nightwing! Nightwing is also DLC. All the characters play differently and they all have their own abilities. This game takes a bit more of an open-world sandbox approach to the hub world, Arkham City. There are lots of secrets, Easter eggs, and sidequests to take on in Arkham City. I like this a lot! It makes the world seem a lot bigger and grander! It's easy to get distracted from the main story! The game is quite long, with the main story plus the DLC and secrets and sidequests. The graphics are, once again, beautiful! Detective Mode also works a lot better in this game! All the RPG elements from the last game are still there, but much better! There are much more things to upgrade and many new abilities. If there is something bad about this game, it would be that the gadgets don't have as much use as in the first game. I didn't use most of them, I forgot I even had them! This is disappointing. However, you don't even care about that. This game distracts you from that one flaw with, of course, everything else that is good, but what REALLY makes you forget about the lack of gadget uses is a truly engaging and epic story! The story is much more epic than in the first game, and the ending is incredibly somber and tragic. I'm not going to give it away, but let's just say I was close to tears. Again, there are lots of Riddler Trophies to collect, but they got rid of the interview tapes. However, the Riddler Trophies now have a purpose outside of unlocking stuff. They are all part of a big sidequest trying to stop The Riddler's evil plans! This gives you even more incentive to collect them all than in the first game! Overall, this is a FANTASTIC game! Go and play it NOW!!!!!!!! I would give this game a 4.9 out of 5 stars! I would recommend this game to ages 12 and up. The game is violent, there are revealing costumes, the game can be grotesque and disturbing, and there is a sign advertising a strip club in Arkham City. Don't worry, you can't go in and there is no nudity, only neon outlines. It wouldn't be open, anyway. So, yeah. Go play it! Now!!!!!!!

Have you played Batman: Arkham City? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Now I'm going to go cry in a corner because Batman: Arkham Knight is going to be next-gen exclusive AND it's going to be rated M! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Game Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Welcome everybody to another game review! This is a game about Batman! Nananananananana Batman! This is Batman: Arkham Asylum!

Batman is one of the most recognizable superheroes ever created, he's up there with heroes like Spiderman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, ask anyone on the street who Batman is and chances are, they'll know. (But don't actually go out and do that if you haven't already. If you have gone out and done that already, you might be an aspie!) As well as comic books, Batman has been in TV shows, movies, and, of course, video games! Batman has had a (mostly) great career in video games, even way back in the NES era! Batman: Arkham Asylum was released in 2009 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and the PC.  It was a standalone title, rare for a superhero game, with no relation to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight films. It was developed by newcomer game developer Rocksteady and the writers of the '90s Batman Animated Series, and they blew everyone away! The game was so successful that it spawned 3 sequels, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, and the soon-to-be-released Batman: Arkham Knight. In the game, The Joker has been captured and brought to Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Joker just kinda, gave up. OR DID HE??? Joker has an evil plan! Doctors at Arkham have been experimenting with a new drug called TITAN, developed from Bane's Venom drug. This new drug can make people grow to gargantuan size and completely lose there minds to become a mindless killing machine. Joker has control of the drug, and is about to release it into Gotham City! Can the Dark Knight stop Joker's evil plans? Play Batman: Arkham Asylum to find out!

I'm going to say this right away, I am a MASSIVE Batman fan! I always have been, from the campy Adam West '60s show to the Tim Burton and Schumacher films, to the LEGO games, I love it all! As a Batman fan, this game blew my mind! This game is great! It actually feels like you are Batman! The story is great, the voice acting is fantastic, ESPECIALLY coming from Mark Hamill as The Joker! That's right, The Joker is played by Luke Skywalker! And you can't even tell it's him! He just gets so into the role and you can tell he's having a blast with it! The gameplay is very good and it really captures the feeling of being Batman! The graphics are beautiful. The modern-gothic architecture of Arkham Asylum is both beautiful and creepy! This game is VERY creepy, which is fitting for a Batman game. Grotesque character design, creepy and dark environments, and stealth and survival-horror elements make this game very threatening! This game also has RPG, sandbox, beat-em-up, and platforming elements! It's a mish-mash of pretty much all game genres, and it totally works! This game also has a mechanic called "Detective Mode" which allows you to see through walls and locate enemies and other stuff. This feature is very helpful! The game also has Riddler Trophies and Interview Tapes. Riddler Trophies are left all over the map by The Riddler and you collect them to unlock concept art, character models, challenge maps, and a whole lot of other little goodies! Interview Tapes reveal some backstory about a villain's history in Arkham Asylum. They are fun to listen to and some of them are very messed up! This makes the game feel like a good old fashioned collect-a-thon, and I actually quite like it! You have to explore every corner of Arkham Island and solve The Riddler's riddles to find them all, and this gives the game some replay value if you're into completing games 100%. The game is quite long, but the bosses are kinda lame, ESPECIALLY the final boss! It sucks! The bosses were greatly improved in the sequel. You get lots of gadgets in the game that all have their own practical uses, kinda like Ratchet and Clank. Some of them require you to think like a detective for the best uses. All of them are useful and none are overpowered! If I could say something negative about this game, it would be that the game is very unclear of where you need to go and what you have to do sometimes. I found myself just wandering around aimlessly until I found wherever I had to go sometimes. This is only a nitpick, though. I just suck at open-world games and map navigation in games. Another thing is the game can get quite repetitive at times. The segments with avoiding thugs with guns, the fights with thugs on the ground, TITAN-infected thug mini bosses, and kicking off vent covers got old pretty fast. The soundtrack is also quite forgettable. It's okay for what it is, it's dark and moody and sets the tone for the game, but nothing really stands out. It's just a bunch of generic dramatic orchestra pieces. I love game music, so it's a shame that the soundtrack isn't anything special. So, yeah. That's pretty much it. This is a great game! If you're a superhero fan or a fan of games like Assassin's Creed, Eternal Darkness, Sly Cooper, or Metal Gear Solid, give this game a try! It's freaking awesome! I would recommend it for ages 12 and up. The game is quite combat-heavy, and the combat is incredibly brutal and realistic. It really looks and feels like it hurts! There is also lots of very violent talk in this game. The game is quite dark, disturbing, and scary at times, and Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy's outfits are...revealing. I'd give this game a 4 out of 5 stars! Nananananananana, Batman!!

Have you played Batman: Arkham Asylum? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Now I'm off to play Batman: Arkham City! I'll review it soon, I promise!

Game Review: Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative

Hello (subject name here)! Welcome to another series of tests at Aperture Science! I briefly talked about this new testing initiative in my Thinking With Time Machine review, but now that I have performed the tests, I will have to talk about this new series of tests. This is Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative!

Aperture Tag is a fan-made mod for Portal 2 released about a week ago. This game is based on Tag! The Power of Paint, the indie game that inspired Portal 2's gel mechanics. In the game, you play as a new unnamed female test subject. You are woken up from your cryo chamber by a little robot named Nigel. Nigel tells you that he is in charge of a brand new series of tests, The Paint Gun Testing Initiative. In this new series of tests, you use a paint gun which sprays Repulsion Gel, which is bouncy, and Propulsion Gel, which is speedy, to solve tests. Everything is going great! The test guide isn't evil and the tests are fun! However, later on, you learn that Nigel, perhaps, isn't such a nice guy after all...

This game is pretty good. Is it better than Thinking With Time Machine? Well, some things Aperture Tag did better and some things Thinking With Time Machine did better. I'll start with the better. The game is much longer than Thinking With Time Machine! It is still pretty short compared to Portal 1 and 2, but this game should last you longer. This game has brand new full voice acting, which is nice. Nigel is a pretty good character! However, the voice acting isn't great. Definitely not on the level of quality of Portal 1 and 2, but it stands on it's own pretty well. The voice acting isn't bad, and it is better than no voice acting, making this game feel more like a Portal game. The writing and humour is pretty good, almost on the level of Portal 1 and 2! This game has an original soundtrack by the one and only Harry101UK! If you don't know who he is, he makes great Portal songs and videos on YouTube that look and sound like they were actually made by VALVE! This is probably his masterpiece! However, I was disappointed that there was no vocalized song during the credits, like Still Alive and Want You Gone in the other Portal games. Harry101UK makes great vocalized Portal songs! Why didn't he make one for this? Oh, well. I'm still gonna buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp! This game has all the Portal game mechanics and more, making the game feel much more complete. The story actually ends this time! There are no Easter Eggs, but there is developer's commentary and Community Test Chamber support! I feel this game has a long lifetime ahead of it! Now on with the things Thinking With Time Machine did better. It barely feels like a Portal sequel. Thinking With Time Machine was an obvious continuation of Portal 2, but in Aperture Tag, it is extremely unclear about where this is supposed to fit in with the Portal timeline. Where is GLaDOS? Who is this lady you play as? It isn't Chell, but Chell was the last one alive in Portal 2! Is this taking place during Portal 2? After? Before? I don't know! I guess this game is trying to be more it's own thing and less of a Portal sequel, but when you set your game in the Portal universe, you actually have to fit it into the Portal universe! Another thing that bothers me is that you don't really get to see anywhere new in Aperture Science. Sure, there are the fake outdoor environments, but those are at the end of the game and there aren't a lot of those. The only other places you see are ruined Aperture test chambers from the first game, and run-down old Aperture, where most of the game is set. Old Aperture was my least favorite part of Portal 2 visually, so you can see why I'm a little disappointed. In Thinking With Time Machine, you had all new environments that complimented the Portal test chamber design, but turned it into something that was completely different from anything in the other Portal games and it looked great! Most of the environments in Aperture Tag are pretty boring. The game is not as finely polished as Thinking With Time Machine or Portal 1 and 2. There is a lot of trial and error, which can be frustrating. Some of the tests are supposed to be solved in really weird ways that you would never think of because it doesn't look like it is the correct way, but it is. This makes the game needlessly difficult sometimes. The game can also get quite repetitive sometimes. In conclusion, this is still a good game! It is fun and fresh. This game isn't perfect, definitely not as good as Portal 1 and 2, but you should still get a lot of enjoyment out of it. If you want to try it out, it is 7 bucks on Steam AND you must own a Steam copy of Portal 2 to play. I would recommend this game for ages 9 and up because the game can be very difficult and frustrating. I'd give this game a 4 out of 5 stars! This was a triumph. I'm making a note here, huge success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction! Next mod: Conversion! Summer 2015! I can't wait!

Have you played Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!