Dreamgear's Classic Controller Pro

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I was looking for prices on the Classic Controller Pro when I came across this article on sale (there were only two left).

Even though the Play Station joystick shape's not my favourite, the fact that the analog sticks are placed like in the Gamecube joystick caught my eye. Being at a very low cost I supposed it wouldn't hurt to buy them and try them, so I bought two and I tested them as soon as I got home.

The analog sticks are very similar to those on the PS2 joysticks, they're pretty stiff and even though they have a long lifespan, they're not good for sensitive controls. It's comfortable to handle, although I prefer the Gamecube joystick, the control distribution isn't that bad, but again, I prefer the Gamecube one. The ZR and LR buttons are in trigger shape, that's an advance.
I've never held a PS3 joystick, but judging for the photos, this joystick is just like it but with the left stick and the D-Pad switched.

It's a good joystick but not for every game, I personally don't recommend it for games that require the sensibility of the analog stick. On the other hand, it's good for fighting games such as Tatsunoko vs Capcom (except for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as it runs all the time it gets difficult to grab items), I also recommend it for games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade and other action games.
It's the same thing with the virtual console, it can be a good joystick for some N64 games, but it's a pain in the ass to aim with Link's bow with this stick, and the conventional classic controller is perfect for SNES games.
In conclusion, Dreamgear's Classic Controller Pro only wins in price and the fact that the left stick is switched with the D-Pad, it doesn't win in the quality of the stick. My recommendation is to buy the original Classic Controller Pro for personal use, and have a couple of these for public use.

Mario Strikers Charged

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Mario Strikers Charged (in Europe and Japan Mario Strikers Charged Football) is Mario world's vision of football (soccer). In this game we play football while we throw items, tackle other players and use special moves to score up to 6 goals of one shot.

A simple football match is turned into an epic encounter between well known characters of the Mario world. Items, special moves and no rules turn the field into a battlefield. When you play realistic football games, you always end up with the urge to tackle other players, make special moves and even throw bombs at other players or leave banana peals laying around; Mario Strikers Charged allows us to do that and more. When a player makes a charged shot, he can make up to 6 shots and the opponent will have to intercept them with the Wiimote pointer.

A remarkable feature is the amount of available fields since the beginning and all the fields have some characteristic elements such as not having borders, which allows players to fall down, or having a giant block that will smash those who pass under it. You also have the classic inactive field in case you don't like when the field itself is an important factor in the game.
Each character has a special ability that's activated the same way the other items do, for example Luigi and Mario will grow giant and Donkey Kong will smash the ground.
Unlike the previous game (for Gamecube), in this case we can choose each of the secondary players, each one with different abilities. And as in the previous one, we can unlock different modes and special elements for the game as we advance in the game.
Design in the game is well done, it's a little bit mor grunge than the previous game and the soundtrack is pretty good, although I must say I prefer the previous game's.
To sum up, this is another Party Game you should have around to play with friends. It's recommended for the social player, but it also has the online feature. There are no restrictions, this game is just fun.

Super Mario Galaxy

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Super Mario Galaxy is a platformer that brought something new. This has some negative and positive aspects, but specially positive.

This game takes the classic Super Mario platformer to space. Gravity takes a big part in it, each world is a galaxy with mini-planets, and there are two types of planet, the ones that have their own gravity which have different forms, the problem with this planets is the camera, it's a little uncomfortable and you end up going over the same places several times, it takes a while to get used to it; the other ones are the ones with a black hole, this ones are more similar to the classic Mario worlds.

Gravity play is fun, but it takes a while to get used to. When you get used to it, the game is pretty fun, it reminds us about Super Mario 64 but with a big enhancement in quality. It has 42 galaxies, each of them with its amount of stars which range from 1 to 6. Besides there are some comets that will let you re-play a galaxy with some extra difficulty such as a limit time, accelerated movements in the world or having to defeat a boss with only one life point.

The story of the game is very Mario-classic. The game starts in a festival in which Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, but in this case he takes her in a spaceship. What's new with this game is the observatory and its story, we have a new character called Rosalina and the Lumas that take her as their mother, it's a very interesting story that will be told as chapters in a book.
Besides the classic elements of Super Mario, this game adds the starbits, some colored little stars that have multiple uses. Every 50 starbits you get a new life; you can shoot enemies with starbits to get them stunned, and you can use them to feed the hungry Lumas that will grow to become planets. Starbits can be collected with the pointer during the game, and player 2 can help with a bigger range to collect them easily.
An aspect of the game that didn't get to convince me is that the life is just 3, it makes you be looking for coins all the time to get your life back. Anyway, this is evened out with the fact that it is very easy to find new lives. Besides that, the game is very funny. Design in the game is great, worlds are very amusing and besides loosing some times, you always want to try again.
The soundtrack in the game is amazing. The new suits are awesome, some suits such as the bee which will let you fly and crawl on some walls and the boo wich will let you go through walls enrich the game grandiosely.
I recommend this game to everybody, there are no preferences, it's fun in every aspect and suitable for all ages.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

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I don't usually play games like Call of Duty, but I must admit that this one is kind of funny.

I can't avoid to compare this game with Black Ops, and even if the game mechanics is the same, there are some favorable changes. Graphics are pretty good for a port, you can see the difference with Black Ops. Being this game set in a world war, the combats are set in important cities such as New York and Paris, they are well designed and it's entertaining to play in famous places as Wall Street or the Eifel Tower.


I didn't like the fact that it doesn't explain what happened before, so if you didn't play the other Modern Warfare games you are going to feel lost. This kind of games should work as stand alone and not depend on previous games.

The campaign mode is too short, I finished it in 3 days playing a couple of hours a day.

During the hole game you are following instructions, at any moment you are in charge of an operation, you don't have to make any decision, you don't even have to think. My favorite part was the first, it was all down hill from there.

Multiplayer mode didn't make big changes from Black Ops, they didn't bothered in adding split screen again and all the features are basically the same, they changed a bit on how you get them and the added an advantage for when you die too often, but it's still the same.


I was hoping they would come up with something completely new, specially because of the competition with Battlefield 3, but the game is the same with some minor changes. Having finished the singleplayer mode, I'm just going to play multiplayer ocassionaly, I don't feel like finishing it 100%.


In my opinion, this game should work only as a closure to the modern warfare series to those who played the previous games and want to know how it ends, if you don't care about it, then don't even bother in buying it. If you don't have a Call of Duty game and you want to buy one, I would recommend Back Ops as it's basically the same and it has a better story.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

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The moment this game is in your Wii an epic adventure begins. Amazing battles, plot points that will give you goose bumps and landscapes that will take you to a fantastic world.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has some classic characteristics of The Legend of Zelda saga, there is a princess that gets captured and a ordinary boy is chosen to be the hero who goes in an adventure to rescue her, it's a story we haven't grown tired of, specially because it's never the same, even if it has the same essence. Anyway, this game takes an effort in being unique and it accomplishes it's goal, it's not just about the motion controls which achieve excellent  game mechanics and an incomparable immersion, but the story, the maps, the temples, it all adds up to result in what, in my opinion, is the best game I've played for the Wii.

In the saga's time line, this is the first game, even before Hyrule. In this time, humans live in the sky in a floating island called Skylof, and each individual has it's own companion bird called Wingloft which they can mount to travel across the sky between the small islands. The main character (Link) is a trainee knight and Zelda is his childhood friend and the mayor's daughter. The game starts with Link having to participate in a competition to be able to ascend and to be a step closer to knighthood, after wining he must carry a ceremony with Zelda during which they are interrupted by a typhoon that takes Zelda away, there's when the adventure starts and Link has to go to the surface to find an enormous world and rescue Zelda.
As in other Zelda games, the story is pretty deep and develops until the last minute of the game, but I must say that this games stands out given that it not only has a deep and extense story, but it also has meaningful secondary stories that are well placed so the player will want to play them right away and not wait until the end of the game (as I usually do).
In the 40 to 50 hours of game you're going to feel the adventure run through yout veins and you're going to enjoy it till the last minute.

This game aims for the immersion of the player, and the motion controls are a big help. Handling all the items as if you actually had them makes you want to play standing to feel deeper into the game. All the controls in the game feel intuitive, swimming, flying and handling the different items is natural. You even can decide how to use some items like the bow or the slingshot which you can use as the real ones or aiming with the wiimote as in Twilight Princess. The stamina bar was a good addition, being able to run is something we players have wanted for a long time in a Zelda game, and the fact that some activities consume stamina make the game more interesting.
Battles aren't simple, you can't defeat enemies just swinging the wiimote randomly, enemies see our movements and predict attacks, you have to think your moves in order to beat them, it ends up being really entertaining and wining has a good feel.

I've read some negative comments about the graphics in this game, I personally love them. I've always preferred colorful games, I grew up playing Super Mario and Zelda, and while I respect a good dark game, they are not my favorites. Graphics in Skyward Sword are excellent, colors enhance the life of the game and achieve unforgettable landscapes.
Music in this game is something that will stay in your memory, every melody fits each situation and each landscape. All the music is orchestrated and it sounds amazing.

Temples are perfectly created, from the different puzzles to the enemies you'll find, they are long enough to be entertaining but not too long to be boring. Even though I didn't get stuck in any temple, I spent a long time solving puzzles and discovering secrets around, I've even come back to find stuff I didn't see the first time.

Something different to the other Zelda games is the RPG elements that Zelda didn't use to have, added in an unconventional way that fits the game perfectly. The amount of items you can carry is limited (except for the main items) and there is a place where you can store them, besides some of the items can be upgraded using different materials and the potions can be upgraded using bugs. The item selection menu is in real time, so the action doesn't stop when you choose an item, it's an amazing addition and I hope they keep it in the next games.
Even though it's not something regular in the game, you can make some decisions that change some aspects of the game, a lot of dialogues have options to answer in different ways, and there are some choices you can make through the game, in the end the game evolves in a different way for different players, added to the fact that you can select which items you carry with you, it makes every Link a signature Link of the player.

There are some elements I personally liked and are different to other Zelda games. The new items are awesome, my favorite is the whip, but the most characteristic is the beetle, which has multiple uses and is very useful. Another element is the display, you can change between three different configurations, one of them (the one I use) only shows a couple of things on screen, what I'm grateful for. Finally something I found characteristic is the lack of a map displayed on screen, I loved it, it's something that enhances the difficulty a bit but it doesn't get annoying.


To sum up The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an excellent game and I recommend it to everybody, it's a perfect title that you will enjoy from beginning to end.