DLC: Fantastic Four Table (for use with Pinball FX 2 platform)
Platform: 360, PS3
MSRP: 240 Microsoft Points ($2.50)
Release Date: May 18th for 360, TBA for PS3

It truly pained me to toy with your emotions with such a gripping cliffhanger, but rest assured; Fantastic Four is a, wait for it…fantastic addition to Pinball FX 2’s existing selection.

I, um…I’m sorry.

Let’s get this out of the way first; with faint memories of the ’90s cartoon serving as my only knowledge of the franchise, I expected the license to do very little for me as I launched the ball into its first arch within the table’s stratosphere. Everything is exactly as I remembered it, at least; Mr. Fantastic’s attempt to be a leader is typical, the Human Torch’s voice and presence is grating until he bursts into flames, the Invisible Women continues her legacy as being a genetically designated pacifist, and the Thing remains my favorite due to his preference for violence (and recently, multiball bonuses) over dialog.

With my perception of this “team” in mind, my inability to quit mashing “Continue” after losing my third ball to the gutter should speak volumes. Whether you’re a fan of the franchise or not is likely irrelevant; the table’s missions, implementation of the characters, and variation within the table design itself stand as highlights among any of Pinball FX 2’s available offerings. Veterans will be the only ones capable of seeing everything the table has to offer within the first several plays, because this table feels packed with targets and nods to the involved franchise. Despite attending solely for the pinball, I’ve come to better appreciate the team because of the table’s quirks. The Thing’s inclination to stomp after breaking down the wall before him has already lost me many lives, but it stands as my only gripe towards the table’s design.

The mission difficulty remains consistent with previous offerings, but it feels more enjoyable this time around. Situations that infuriated me in previous tables, such as being unable to hit a ramp only when I’m asked to do so during a mission, felt instead like disregarded inconveniences. Rather than verbally arguing with the inanimate game for having “black holes” in the gutters, I immediately set up to restart the missions as soon as I had failed them, simply because I was looking forward to trying again.

It’s not a clear cut victory over the Spiderman or Blade tables, but Fantastic Four certainly stands as one of my favored offerings within Pinball FX 2’s selection. Carrying the extra advantage of being a separate, small purchase, there is no reason for a Pinball FX 2 fan to pass this table up, short of carrying an irrational hatred towards the franchise itself. And even then, I’m not so sure you’d be able to suppress a smirk of enjoyment while doing your damnedest to ruin Dr. Doom’s day.

The first question that many Playstation followers want answered is how the hell something like could ever happen? Well obviously they could have used a much better security system and some sort of encryption. (They say credit card information was encrypted but it is possible that it has been compromised? Lolwut?) It would be unfair to say that Sony did a complete flop in the security department. The truth is their security system was probably pretty good, it just ran into a dedicated hacker or group of hackers. Yet the lack of communication on Sony’s part is quite disheartening and completely unacceptable. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut, spoke about the subject. “I am troubled by the failure of Sony to immediately notify affected customers of the breach [of the PSN] and to extend adequate financial data security protections.” I completely agree with the Senator on this matter. Aside from checking some of the more popular gaming websites and the very easy to miss Playstation Network blog, this information wasn’t out in the open. Some of you may have even been putzing around with the Ethernet cord or resetting your wireless routers for the first day or two of the outage. The Sony faithful shouldn’t be too angry with the fact that the Playstation network got hacked, but rather with the lack of motivation to tell their consumers. Sony first stated on April 20 that the network was going down for maintenance and nothing more. After a day or two of being down, they admitted to a security breach and that personal information could have been compromised. On April 26, they stated…well pretty much the same thing. Identity theft isn’t something you can really sit on your hands about waiting to make sure that’s what really happened. Consumers would be a lot happier to hear the day of a possible breach, even if it didn’t turn out to be the case. Sure, a bunch of consumers would be freaked out the first day, but it would offer a lot more time to protect the consumers. Cancelling credit cards may be the last thing you want to do, but finding out about something like this a day or two late could prove to be financially fatal for both consumers and Sony.

The debacle continues to go on as the consumers wait out their fate in a panic. Do some research and learn how to protect your information before it is too late!

I don’t even know how to start this second part review. After a seething, angry fit of Dragon Age 2 playing I simply walked away and couldn’t bring myself to go back. It wasn’t until I was forced by my editor to finish the game for the review that I bitterly returned. So let me begin by saying I loved Dragon Age: Origins. I loved it so much that before I even finished my first play through I couldn’t wait to start another character. The plot was grand and the characters were so magnificently written and voiced. Dragon Age: Origins was a beautiful, shining piece of RPG treasure. DA 2 however…I think I would rather spoon my eyes out and steal a rabid bear’s honey. I just want to pretend it never happened. I want to think that DA2 was not, in fact, made by Bioware, but by EA simply pooping out a sequel in order to buy another yacht.

I miss a lot of things, people, and places from Origins. I miss the camp in which I could sort through everybody’s weapons and armor at once. I miss that feeling of having a cohesive team. I miss being able to talk to my teammates whenever instead of having to track back to their houses. I even miss constantly inviting Zevran into my tent for fun time. All romantic Anders can tell me is he is glad for my love. I don’t even have the option to kiss him. The most I get is an empty mansion where I can run around and have Hawke say Anders left his socks under the bed. Whoop-dee freakin’ doo. Hawke won’t even go into her dead mother’s bedroom. Is it too much to program a scene of Hawke coming to terms with her dead mother three years after the event?

I miss being able to switch out my party members in the open world rather than have to go to specific points on a map just to trade somebody out. I miss exploring. Heck, I miss a world. All I got was a town and surrounding areas complete with the same few dungeon layouts over and over and over. The game doesn’t even update the mini map. So while I see a door and the map shows there is a room behind the door, it is, in fact, just a wall. I miss being able to inspect items before I loot them. Instead I have to constantly go into my inventory to see what I just picked up. I miss the world changing. After six years you’d think Fenris would have cleaned up those dead bodies in his home, but apparently even that is too much character development for the most whiny, stubborn, uncompromising elf to ever exist. I also miss being able to change the world. DA2 is more a JRPG than a western RPG. I don’t have any say in what happens in Kirkwall no matter what. And yes, I made several saves and went back to drastically change my comments and decisions and yet, ultimately, the same outcome always occurred–minus the varying reputation points with my teammates. I wanted things in Act 1 to matter later, but the most I got was letters from the people I affected. I purposely killed a council member’s son just so it would cause me problems later in the game. However, nothing ever came of my actions.

Also, I miss being able to hear my party’s banter. More often than not, the banter would glitch so my teammates would start talking while fighting or while I am talking to somebody else. Oh, and Fenris decided it was a great time to bring up Anders’s whole possession while we were in the middle of the chantry. How does that even make sense? There was a sister right next to us! Not to mention I took Anders into the Templars’ Hall and Aveline on several missions that would surely have gotten her fired from Captain of the Guard.
My full wrath is with the “plot” though, and the fact that there isn’t one. My Blueberry Hawke deliberately left her sister in Kirkwall for the Deep Roads trip. I dared the game for the Templars to find her. After all, we had spent an entire act doing quests for the Templars. I failed to see how her sitting in the Lowtown home would attract any more attention. At least the Templars finally found her, but I was short a healer. However, my fellow Gamezombie writers explained that Hawke will lose his/her sibling at the end of Act 1 no matter what.

During Act 2, I spent…I don’t know. I don’t even know what the point of Act 2 was. The end of Act 2 felt like the end of the game. The feuding Templars and mages united under a common enemy, the Quanri, and things get settled. It was one of the few moments in the game where I felt compelled to play. Epic battles were happening, a plot was moving forward, and Isabella had run off with the artifact to solve it all. I got to beat up an Arishok and force the Templars and mages to show how amazingly they can work together. I expected more turmoil to happen, but then it just all wrapped up and more years passed. I felt like the developers had gotten to the end of Act 2 and realized they needed more game time, so they slapped on Act 3, complete with corrupt politics running wild, and poor Blueberry Hawke in the middle.

When King Alistair appeared, I could hardly contain my excitement. And then I talked to him. And then he left. What was the point of that? When completely remodeled Zevran showed up and decided to sleep with Isabela without even mentioning the romance my warden had with him, I almost chucked the game out the window (not that I wouldn’t put this past him). After a quick trip to the Internet I learned importing saved Origins files was bugged. So pretty much any romance, besides Alistair’s, is glitched. Not to mention if you killed Leliana and/or Zevran in Origins, they show up any way. So you know, great quality testing there. I hate to say this, but there is no point importing your Warden anyway because the game hardly mentions the adventures of the Blight.

I miss not having to wait for infinite load screens to disappear. Although I’ve been told there is no loading on the PC, much of my 360 game time was spent waiting for the game to load. I would hope the game could at least save common textures or layouts, but everything seemed to get reloaded every time. My experience kept being shattered at the constant loading screen interruptions. And sometimes even all the loading in the world couldn’t fix the sea of spawning mobs from glitching out and remaining frozen while I wailed on them.

So, on top of this mountain of misery (which I could gladly make bigger), let me point out what I did like. I did like not having to collect endless crafting materials and just ordering resources from my home. I particularly loved three battles in the game; the Arishok, the giant Rock Wraith, and the high dragon had me at the edge of my couch with a fast-beating heart. The combat is quickly paced and playing an assassin rogue was extremely satisfying with all the dastardly technics given to you. Although, with endlessly spawning enemies, it got too tedious. I liked most of the companion quests, as those quests seemed more captivating than the actual “plot” itself. And despite Fenris’s endless brooding, my teammates were well written and unique. It’s just too bad that none of them developed further throughout the game.

Thedas is a big world and Kirkwall is just a tiny bit of that world to get stuck in for an entire game. I don’t disapprove of expanding Thedas’s lore and characters, nor do I disapprove of world building and corrupted politics for plots. I am glad to see Bioware refining the world of Thedas and part of me, however small that part is, is glad that I was allowed to be included in that intricate creation of this gorgeously sophisticated fantasy world. Bioware’s writers are the greatest of the gaming community and I respect their story telling skills, even when a lack of game story occurs. I don’t have to save the world from the greatest of evils, but I would have liked to do something important and been able to actually affect Thedas, not just witness an event. I fear the influence of EA on Bioware and DA2 reeks of simply not enough development time. I wonder if DA2 wouldn’t simply have been better as a book because brilliantly good games take time to make –a lot of time- and if DA2 needed another two years then I wished such time was granted. Nevertheless, if you haven’t yet played DA2 at least rent it to at least check out the incredible dialogue and characters. Otherwise, just hope for a much improved third installment of the Dragon Age series that can at least stand up to Origins grandeur.

What’s Good

The Script and Story:
The banter between characters is well-written and very funny to read. It’s written professionally, which is a relief from the typo-ridden RPGs available on the App Store. Not only that, but the story is very, very well done. The game begins with two mercenaries-for-hire stumbling upon a mysterious artifact along with an even more terrifying creature. It only gets better from there. The story has that wonderful effect where it leaves you with wanting more, which gets me every time.

The Interface
Moving is simple–tap the screen in the direction you want to go. Want to swing your sword? Tap your enemies! This game utilizes the touch screen functionality of the iPhone very well. It responds quickly, making it feel smooth and efficient. You can also change the interface to a more traditional D-pad and A button if you prefer (this only applies to the overworld).

The Battle System
Arguably the best part of any RPG, the battle system in Ash is simple and straightforward. Tap an enemy to attack it with your weapon, or use your turn to use an item or skill. Skills are very cool–your initial skills debuff your enemy and deal a good chunk of damage, too. It’s also easy to combo up skills. For example, early on in the game, you can use the skills ‘Expose’ and ‘Exploit’. Expose does a bit of damage and hits your opponent with the Expose status condition, lowering its AMR rating, while Exploit deals significantly more damage when the enemy is Exposed. Using the right skills can make or break a fight in Ash, so keep your SP up!

Portability
Ash is a game you can pick up, play for five minutes, then put away to play again, something that many popular RPGs don’t have. It’s nice to have a game you canplay for an hour, but at the same time it’s good to have a game you can play for a bit and then put it away.

What’s Bad

Navigation
Simply put: you can get lost a lot if you’re not careful. I accidentally went to a higher-level area and got mauled by a mountain lion before I realized that the next town was to the south. There is a map, but you can only access it online, and not in-game. You can’t talk to your party members, either, like you could in Dragon Quest VIII; after you hadn’t played in a while, your party could remind you where to go next. Sadly, this does not exist in Ash, but it would be a helpful addition to at least have a sentence or two telling me my next destination. However, I believe this problem may be an intentional part of the design, as the game wishes to have more traditional elements; many RPGs of that era did not have such helpful hints to help you on your way.

Overall, Ash is a gem of an RPG that you shouldn’t miss out on. Aside from a minor navigation problem, the game is well-thought out and plays very well.

Ash is available now on the iTunes Store for $4.99

Now, here’s the unique thing about Audiosuf. This game will take ANY audio file on your computer and use the tempo, rhythm, speed, everything about the song and create the racetrack based on that song. Your racer’s engines will sputter according to the drum beats, the colors of the track will change depending on the excitement or tempo of the song, the racer accelerates or decelerates depending on how fast the song is, and the track has hills and valleys based on the rhythm of the song. It’s really a unique gaming experience.

The player controls their racer with the mouse, moving it left and right to move the racer left and right. Depending on the character you select, the different mouse buttons will control different functionalities. The game modes are:

Mono: This character is the easiest to play. You score by collecting colored blocks and filling up slots beneath the racer, but avoid gray blocks. The gray blocks will fill up your slots but won’t give you any points and increase your risk of overfilling your slots, thus losing points.

Pointman: This character can pick up blocks and shuffle them around the slots. Unlike Mono, Pointman must match up blocks of similar color, not just simply collect colored blocks.

Double Vision: This character is actually two in one. One racer occupies the two left lanes and is controlled with the keyboard, and the other occupies the two right lanes and is controlled with the mouse.

Vegas: This character can shuffle the colors it has already collected by drifting into the shoulder lanes for a few seconds.

Eraser: This character does it exactly as its name implies – It can erase unwanted blocks from the slots.

Pusher: This character pushes blocks into either the lane directly to its left or directly to its right.

All the characters except Mono feature three or more different colors of blocks that must be matched up to earn points. By earning points, you increase your score by the end of the song. Get a high enough score, and your username will appear on the leaderboards for that song.

This is really all there is to Audiosurf. Yes it may seem simplistic, yes it actually is simplistic, but a boring time? Not on your life. If you’re a casual gamer, or a hard core gamer in between games and wanna kill some time, play Audiosurf. It will not disappoint. It’s also wonderful that it plays songs from YOUR library, not some pre-made library of music you may or may not want to listen to. So if you like rhythm games, sci-fi, or flashy visuals, download Audiosurf for a measly $10 off of the Steam Store, but if you’re not quite into a time-killing, easier game to play, then you may want to look elsewhere. I myself love the game, and have for some time. Audiosurf. Fun, innovative, and a just plain pretty darn cool.

I can never got to war- Halo has ruined me for war (sorry Uncle Sam). Seriously, I’ve never been, but if it’s anything like Call of Duty says it is, then I would be screwed. I’d mainly consider myself a Halo player when it comes to first-person shooters, so you’ll probably believe me when I tell you that my main strategy for a gun fight is to charge straight at my opponent while unloading my entire clip into his face and then hitting him with my elbow. This strategy has eliminated my chances of being good at paintball, so I’m pretty sure that we can count military off of the list of things that I have a future in (they fight with guns for realsies). Not to mention that I’m always the one guy playing CoD who has no idea what gun I’m using (it’s a fucking assault rifle, I’m still racking up as many kills as everyone else, what do I care what the acronym is?).

I could totally survive being homeless- Fallout 3 has taught us much about the world (like that the 1950’s version of the future kind of sucked), but the one lesson that I think I’ll take with me in the future is how to survive the mean streets of Homeless City. Sure I’d miss all my stuff (God how I’d miss all my stuff), but I think that as long as I had a lead pipe and plenty of dumpsters to dive in I’d make it. I mean, think about it, all that you had to become a freaking rich man in Fallout 3 was look for crap everywhere and sell it to everyone. I’d say that in our modern world a dumpster could easily get me some swag to hock for a cap or two here or there.

I cannot be left to my own devices with a long-term task- I don’t know if I needed video games to tell me this, but they certainly demonstrated the fact. Fallout 3 is another great example of this: I never beat the game, I love the game, it’s probably one of my favorites, but after about 40 hours of wandering around beating super-mutants to death with a crowbar, the game loses some of its excitement and I get bored. Hell, I didn’t even do the story part of the game on purpose; I stumbled across it when I was looking for a kid’s aunt in Rivet City. When I finally had enough bullets to actually complete missions without dying instantly, I just walked around with a shotgun until someone messed with me, and then I shot them in the head. Same thing goes for Red Dead Redemption; I just messed around until I got bored killing innocent people with a train.

No crime-fighting at night- This was an especially hard lesson for me to learn as it killed my lifelong dream of being Batman, but I can’t do shit at nighttime. I think it’s probably the TVs my parents buy, but every game that I’ve ever played that’s had any part at night is the part I have sucked at. People just creep up on me and I can’t see what’s going on; it’s a freaking mess is what it is. Yup, doesn’t matter when the sun goes down. Once it’s dark out it’s time to fast track it back to the house for a little R&R.

I am willing to accept a lot of crap- I’ve taken a couple of creative writing classes throughout the years and the one thing that always strikes me is when one of the other nerds in class writes some sci-fi fantasy tale that I think of as generic and standard while everyone else in the class just stares at the kid like their brains just exploded from the strangeness of what he just read (okay so I’m usually the nerdy kid). Just look at video games here. A 1950’s futureish society saw nuclear war and now I’m roaming the wasteland, sure (wow Fallout 3’s getting a lot of press in this article); super soldier in shiny green armor has to fight off against an invading alien alliance of religious zealots, that’s so basic; a plumber is dating a hot princess, why wouldn’t he? Hell, I play games made in Japan; I play games full of androgynous badasses who carry swords large enough to compensate for the entire NRA and it never really occurs to me that the game is a bit odd.

-Quinn Anderson

So what do you think? What lessons have videogames taught you about life? Some third question? Post below.

If it seems that there is a lack of Nintendo titles is my list, that’s because (my family’s Wii excluded) the only Nintendo systems I’ve ever owned have been a Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance. Most of my list is Playstation titles. Sorry Nintendo fans!

10. Front Mission 4 for the Playstation 2
Using equipment mechanics similar to the Armored Core series mixed with a battle system comparable to the Final Fantasy: Tactics types of games, Front Mission 4 brought me a unique fusion of mecha and strategy that I loved. You could outfit your squad in a variety of different styles, ensuring the battles one player engaged in would be fairly different than the experience of another, even in the same mission. For a turn-based game the graphics were pretty impressive, especially for its time.

9. Medabots AX for the Gameboy Advance
I spent many car rides to my grandparent’s house up north playing my Rokusho version of Medabots AX. It’s a fairly simple 2D fighting game were you fight other robots using you’re a primary Medabot and a supporting, computer-controlled Medabot. There’s a progressive story-mode, much like the Pokémon series in that you must defeat the bosses of each area to move on, while fighting lesser enemies along the way. It also borrows the collection aspect of games, where defeating enemies wields another part you can use to customize your Medabots. These different pieces wielded different effects and fighting moves. All in all, I spent many hours trying to collect all the pieces.

8. Armored Core 3 for the Playstation 2
This was my favorite installment in the Armored Core series of games. It’s not drastically different from its predecessors, but it included all of the features I liked of the past installments all in one game. For the most part, I enjoyed customizing my giant robot and kicking ass. That’s the main part of this series anyways. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

7. Age of Empires II for the PC
One of my all time favorite real-time strategy games, Age of Empires II holds a special place in my heart. I’ve spent countless hours in this game, and that’s just the skirmish mode. AoE II had one of the best campaign modes of any RTS game I’ve played. With a variety of different factions, a multitude of units, and fairly well-balanced gameplay, this game did what a lot of other RTS games couldn’t do for me. It kept my attention.

6. War of the Monsters for the Playstation 2
This was my hangout game of choice for more than a year or two of my childhood. While other groups of friends might have gotten together to play Super Smash Bros., me and a friend of mine would sit around and smash each other in War of the Monsters. Picture any Godzilla movie you’ve ever seen, and that’s what this was. It blended destroyable environments, fighting games, giant monsters, and unlockable content all into one explosive game of fun.

5. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance for Playstation 2
This is my favorite co-op game of all time. In Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance you play as one of three characters and progress through a linear, yet fun storyline, which is fully playable with two people. At the time, there weren’t many great games that allowed co-op gameplay without giving up some other aspect of gameplay. This game begged for you to have a friend to play with. I’ve beaten it twice on my own and five times with friends. It may be time for me to play through for an eighth time.

4. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy for PC
Jedi Academy came to me at a time where I had just begun to get into competitive, deathmatch-oriented PC games. While the story was certainly a strong point, with its player-driven choices and character customization, the real draw for me was lightsaber dueling some noob over the internet. There are few things in gaming as satisfying as chopping some jerk’s body in half with a lightsaber while pretending to be a Sith Lord.

3. Monster Hunter for the Playstation 2
One of the few great online games on the Playstation 2, Monster Hunter was my favorite game on the console. Banding together with 3 friends online and hunting down a giant dragon or two was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had as a gamer. I drooled over creating new gear from the remains of a freshly slain beast. I’m proud to say I was a pro player in the online realm of Monster Hunter, and the day the servers shut down was a truly sad day for me. I recommend everyone to give the single-player mode a try, but the best part of this game is lost in time.

2. Command and Conquer: Renegade for the PC
Few games have made a successful leap from RTS to FPS, but Renegade is one of those few. With one of the most strategic multiplayer modes I’ve ever played, this was a truly kickass game. Vehicular combat was fast-paced and intense, while sneaking into the enemy’s base to plant a nuclear strike beacon was incredibly rewarding. At one point I was in the 8th ranked clan over the whole game, so you can imagine how religiously I played this game. Few things were more hilarious and fun than slapping ten or twenty proximity mines on a teammate’s Mammoth Tank and watching him fly into the enemy infantry.

1. Xenogears for the Playstation
The final game on my list is my favorite game of all time. It has my favorite story, my favorite characters, and my favorite gameplay of any game I’ve ever played, and I mean that. It merges a fighting system similar to the Final Fantasy series with fighting game combos and giant robots. It even has platforming puzzles and a memorable soundtrack! I even have that soundtrack on my iPod Touch. Square Enix has produced many great RPG games over their time, but none have grabbed a hold of me as much as Xenogears. I will always argue that it has one of the most complex and confusing storylines of any game out there. Square Enix fuses a multitude of confusing subjects, such as Freudian psychology, religious stories, and scientific theories, all into one melting pot. The result is baffling, but understanding and completing the story is the most rewarding feeling I’ve ever had as a gamer.

Just a little disclaimer right here, this review is in NO WAY meant to insult the intelligence of the gamers that read this. It is meant to introduce the newer generations to the control scheme of the Nintendo 64.

Grab an ocarina and belt out a few tunes, because this time we’re breaking down The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. OoT, as it is often referred to, is an old Nintendo 64 title released in North America in 1998. The player controls the series’ staple character, Link, as he learns of a sinister plot to destroy the land of Hyrule. You begin as a child in the Kokiri Forest, a small settlement of children-like people, the Kokiri. Every Kokiri has a fairy partner that helps them throughout their lives, but Link does not have a fairy. Makes you wonder, huh? Anyway, the guardian spirit of the forest, the Deku Tree, is laid waste to by a sinister man from the desert. He places a curse on the Deku Tree, slowly killing him from the inside out. So, the Deku Tree decrees that it is time for the “boy without a fairy” to well… get a fairy. He sends Navi, a little blue fairy, to Link’s house. She wakes him from his slumber and explains that the Deku Tree has sent for him.

This brings the player into the beginning of the game. At first you have to complete a couple of fetch quests. A mean Kokiri named Mido is blocking the entrance to the Deku Tree’s clearing and says Link must first equip at least a sword and shield before he can see the Deku Tree. So the player has to locate the Kokiri Sword (which looks more like a dagger) and save up forty rupees for a Deku Shield. After collecting those items, you go see Mido, who promply storms off grumbling about the Deku Tree and Saria. You then proceed to the Deku Tree, talk to him, and he tells you about the curse and the man from the desert. He then opens his mouth and instructs you to proceed inside.

I won’t reveal any more of the story, so let’s move on to gameplay. If you are familiar with the old Nintendo 64 controller, then you know that it has three protruding grips for your hand, one connected to the D-Pad, one connected to the joystick, and one connected to the A, B, and four C buttons. The player won’t use the D-Pad for anything, so all you need to worry about is the joystick and the A, B, C, L, R, and Z buttons. The player moves Link with the joystick, uses B to attack with the sword, A to interact, roll, dodge, and lunge attack, the lower three C buttons to use equipped items, and the upper C button to talk to Navi or enter first person view. The Z button locks on and centers the camera, and R raises the shield. L triggers the mini map, but if you enable cheats with a GameShark, it makes Link levitate. Combat consists of locking on to your opponent and defeating them with different sword strokes or equipped items. Dodge the enemies attack by combining a direction on the joystick with A, and attack with the sword with B. When locked on to an enemy, you can use ^ C to have Navi tell you about your foe. Oh, did I forget to mention the Start button? It brings up the pause menu, which consists of several screens, the item screen which consists of items that can be set to the C buttons, the equipment screen which allows you to select tunics, shields, swords, and boots, the world map screen, and the Quest Item screen, which displays quest items, how many pieces of heart you have, and how many ocarina songs you know.

OoT is a classic game from the 90s that continues to be amazing. There have been several remakes and a re-release, including Ocarina of Time – Master Quest, which is a version in which all the dungeons are revamped to be harder. The original OoT was re-released as a digital download for the Wii, and a re-release is scheduled for this summer for the 3DS. So if you don’t have a 3DS yet and want a reason to buy one, this would be it. If you love swords, dungeon diving, and high adventure, OoT is for you, but if you’re more used to non-stop fighting and intense action, it may not be your cup of Lon Lon Milk. Chances are, you can pick up a copy of the original OoT off Ebay, or if you’re a Bloomingtonion, GameWorld. Other than that, you can get the re-release off of the Wii Shop Channel for a measly $10 to $15 bucks. Just grab some Wii points, and hit the shop.