Score: 8

"Nice little puzzle game"

submission: Prism-Light the Way

date: January 14, 2009

Addicting game! The graphics are perfect for the gameplay, and the puzzles slowly get more difficult, but it builds up at a good pace, so that nothing seems too terribly frustrating, as when the puzzles get tougher, your skill level will have risen as well, thus making everything at least solveable, although not always easily. I don't really like that you have to play the timed mode in order to unlock the puzzle mode, but it's only a minor irritant. Overall, a good game, although not really anything too original in the puzzle world.

8 - Recommended

Score: 7

"The Seventh part - Disappointingly easy"

submission: Phantom Mansion- Violet

date: January 14, 2009

The Violet Vault, chapter 7 in the Phantom Mansion puzzle series, was probably my least favorite of the chapters so far. The ghosts were an interesting addition, but it seemed that too many of the puzzles were much easier than in the previous chapters, and some of them didn't even seem fully formed (they could be beaten very quickly, without using half of the boxes/keys given. Then, the last couple of levels have an enormous jump in difficulty, putting those two puzzles on par with the puzzles found at the end of the other chapters. Still fun, just a little too uneven, especially considering how well the other sections were made. Hopefully Chapter 8, the final chapter, will be able to make up for this slight misstep.

7 - Check it out if you have time

Score: 8

"The Sixth Part - Interesting"

submission: Phantom Mansion- Indigo

date: January 14, 2009

I thoroughly enjoyed the addition of "Hop-Frog," the impish key thief. He was definitely one of the more frustrating of the "installment specific puzzle enhancers," although the difficulty of this set as a whole seemed less than the Fifth installment (The Blue Ballroom).

That being said, it did seem to run slightly slower than the previous parts in the Phantom Mansion series, and there seemed to be a little bit more lag than usual. Not sure if this was the game itself or my computer, but it was annoying. It didn't affect gameplay too much (except in sections that required quick action), but it was something that detracted slightly from my enjoyment of this section.

The puzzles, however, were still top-notch, and the final puzzle, like in the past few parts, was a doozy to figure out. I can't wait to play the final two chapters of Phantom Mansion...I can only hope they are as entertaining as the first six!

8 - Recommended

Score: 5

"Kinda dig it, kinda don't"

submission: J-Kellz : Epidemic

date: January 6, 2009

I actually like the background beat (sounds like something from an NES game), I think the vocal flow is pretty good and natural, but the lyrics leave a little to be desired. It starts out pretty good, and the chorus is really sweet, but some of the lyrics actually seem very stereotypical to me (like talking a lot about how great your rap is), and a couple of the offensive similes weren't really necessary. I'm not a huge fan of homophobic lines in rap, so the line in your second verse knocked a couple points off from me.

I respect the beats (although it was a little uber-repetitive) and you definitely have a very nice flow, but I personally was turned off by a good deal of the lyrics, especially after the first verse.

5 - Worth a listen

Score: 2

"Sorry, but not very good"

submission: Rucklo - Fuck you dogowner

date: December 31, 2008

Very short, not the best singing in the world, and the lyrics felt stale and uninspired. The second verse in particular seemed very hastily formed, as it was simply a rearranging of words. In addition, the ending was distracting...it was too short (much like the song itself) to get the melody or beat in my head, and so it almost just seemed to go in one ear and then immediately out the other. I'm not always the biggest fan of "comedy songs," so that probably also influences my opinion here a little bit, but overall I just thought the song sounded hastily thrown together and without any melody or sound to grab my attention and making me want to come back and listen again.

2 - Very Bad

Score: 7

"Chocobos!"

submission: FFVII Fiddle De Chocobo Remake

date: December 31, 2008

This is one of my favorite tunes from the old Final Fantasy games, but I never really dug the fiddle version of the song...until now. I actually think this remix is better than the fiddle version found in FF VII. It has a fuller sound, and actually feels (to me at least) more like the original Chocobo theme (FF IV!) than the one found in VII. Still not completely my kind of thing (not a huge fan of fiddles), but this is definitely very well done!

7 - Check it out if you have time