Natalia discusses what’s new with Pharrell Williams and her thoughts on Karl Lagerfeld’s mean comments towards Adele’s weight. She also shows a roster of animals behaving like humans and, wait until you see the new size of coffee available at Starbucks!
Natalia dishes the latest news on the Juno Awards nominees, the upcoming Spiderman 3D film starring Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and is Katy Perry hooking up with Tim Tebow? Watch today’s episode to find out.
When The Kooks are in the studio they’re focused and most importantly, sober. Watch Hugh and Luke explain their reasoning below.
The Kooks released a new album called “Junk of the Heart,” and you would think Hugh and Luke would be very excited about it. Well, they seemed rather indifferent to be honest. We spoke about that and why they don’t care about critics.
Natalia dishes the latest in entertainment news on Joan Rivers, Lana Del Rey and a brand new trailer for the movie Hunger Games.
Natalia talks about how Snooki might be pregnant, Nicolas Cage’s Cage Rage, Elisabetta Canalis is dating Steve-O and more for Feb 1, 2012.
Natalia dishes the news on Miley Cyrus breaking her tailbone, a 100 year old woman who plays the Nintendo DS to stay young and Houston, Texas contemplating a statute of Beyonce.
David Beckham debuts a new line of underwear, the worst dressed celebrity – Shy’m and Matthew Broderick is back as Ferris Bueller with a brand new commercial airing during the Super Bowl on Feb 5th 2012.
Daniel Radcliffe is back with his new movie The Woman In Black. It’s a bone chilling remake of a film from the ’80s. Ironically, Daniel actually scares very easily but he’s not afraid of ghosts. In this interview he tells us what really gives him the creeps.
Next time you’re struggling to make conversation, try asking this question: “If you could invite anyone (living or dead) to the perfect house party, who would it be?”
Graffiti6 is starting to make their North American invasion, and they are hitting up the Tonight Show. Does this sound familiar? Well the Beatles made the exact same journey over 40 years ago. Naturally, @jordans_life had to make some comparisons.
Nick plays World of Warcraft. Not only that, he’s the head of his guild, demonstrating that it IS possible to juggle being a hardcore gamer with being a top-selling recording artist.
During a LIVE interview on andPOP.com Nick Carter gave out a number and took phone calls from his fans. These were real phone calls from real fans who we gave exclusive access to one of the biggest recording artists of our generation.
There were great questions about music, fitness, the backstreet boys but the most popular question, however, was about his underwear. In this clip Nick talks about his his ‘Haynes’ and covering his fans with glow in the dark paint.
When releasing new music today, half the battle is online promotion. However, contests, signed merch and giveaways aren’t always the best solutions. When working on their latest album, Hedley came up with a brilliant idea, they decided to make trailers.
It’s hard to prepare for an interview with Hedley. So in this interview, we threw caution to the wind, got a 24 of beer and broadcast the interview live on our USTREAM (andPOP.tv). Eventually Jacob, Dave and @jordans_life ended up talking about hairy legs, their newest music video and more.
Diamandis from Marina and The Diamonds talks to us about her very serious disease. It’s called synaesthetic. And we lied, it’s not a disease. More like a cool condition. Diamandis explains further.
Would you be embarrassed if someone scrolled through your iPod? We sit down with Spee and Brendan to talk about the diverse music on their playlist.
Marina and The Diamonds are working on some new music, but Marina is being very secretive about it. Although the release has been delayed, she let’s us in on some secrets about the new album, and how alcohol changed her life.
Once upon a time, long before the sold out stadiums and screaming fans, little Howie D was a self-proclaimed “Dough Boy.” Apparently, his first love wasn’t music, it was Twinkies. In all fairness, Howie went on to much better things, however, for this interview the guys reminisce about some of their more embarrassing moments.
Adam Sandler once sang in The Wedding Singer,”All I wanna do is grow old with you,” which for many, whether we intended to or not, happened in the case of Mario and friends . Till this day, we can still see small children getting introduced to the ever flourishing franchise.
Who are we talking about? We are talking about the short, confident, Italian plumber who wears a trade mark red hat and overalls. Throw in his taller, more socially awkward younger brother who sports an identical outfit only in green. Also in the mix would be the dragon like figure bent on kidnapping a certain princess of the mushroom Kingdom.
Now Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Peach and many other familiar faces are back for another game. So what’s happening in the world of Mario now? There are so many examples that could be used to explain the whole situation but the most simple is one quote:
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Like in WWII there was a common enemy that wanted to take over the world. As in the textbooks, two opposing forces will become one in order to overcome this greater evil. Whether they wanted to or not, they’re going to inadvertently work together.
Enemy: Fawful
Goal: Save the world so life can go back to normal.
Well at least they get the job done, unlike Aquaman
At the start of the game, we quickly debriefed about the situation of the Kingdom. It seems that the citizens have developed a sickness which occurs when the victim is exposed to a Mushroom called “Blob Shroom”. The victim inflates to a tremendous size and rolls around without control of what direction. With the situation getting dire and the cure not becoming apparent, a plan of action must be made in order to bring order and peace back.
So, a meeting is called, and in attendance is important figures like, Starlow a representative of the Star Sprites, Princess Peach and of course the Mario brothers. However, their meeting was cut short by non other than our favorite Villain King, Bowser, who ruins the meeting. Of course he’s not welcome in the meeting and is thus kicked out. Such a quick defeat for our friend Godzill…. Bowser.
Now with Fawful as the antagonist in this game he has two problems to deal with.
1. Mario and Luigi
2. Bowser
How does he deal with them? Well kill the head of the beast and the rest will fall? His kooky plan: Make Bowser eat everyone that could possibly put a fight against him. His assumption, the oaf can be defeated easily with him and his infinite knowledge. As in the traditional stories, the saying never give up, never surrender comes into play. That is exactly what we see because they need to find the cure and save the princess by kicking Fawful butt. Everyone is of course is safe in the belly of Bowser and so Mario and Luigi do their part by helping Bowser out from the inside when the going gets tough.
How does this story play out you ask? Well give it a try and see if it’s your cup of tea. For now, shall we get into the nitty gritty of this title? Hear, hear! That’s why we’re all here!
Gameplay
It can look nice and all that jazz but does it work well? Beauty and no brains can still equal to an enormous flop with the people. Being the bearer of news, this game has an excellent grasp of where it needs to be and how it should play out.
Burn baby burn
As you play the game you are given control over Bowser, Mario, and Luigi. Playing as either Bowser or the brothers really is an experience. The battle format remains the same as you enter into battle as one or the other party. It is all simply choosing the attacking and pressing the button at the exact moment to make the damage larger against opponents. For special attacks it varies from the different choices. Memorizing game where you must remember which barrel each brother is hiding within to have a greater damage. While some other attacks are more on controlling the character to catch certain items.
To help out in the heat of battle are badges, certain combination can really get you out of tough situations. The gauge meter for it depends on how well you perform an attack, the more excellent hits you get the gauge goes up. When the gauge is filled and when the time is right you can activate it and either receive more health, or more power with each hit. It all really depends on which badges you combine.
When playing are the brothers you control their actions with the A and B button. For example pressing both buttons simultaneously will make both brothers jump. Or pressing them one at a time will make one brother act first. As you get further into the game more actions such as going underground and gliding will be added to the list of actions available. The triggers at the top allow you to choose which action to use.
For most part though a lot of the game is played as our favorite baddie. All his actions like Mario and Luigi are on the X and Y buttons, changing his actions are controlled via the triggers. When playing as him there are few little perks that have been added.
Like mentioned earlier this game is about co-operation between the three. On several occasion Bowser will need help from the brothers whether he knows it or not. Having earned the ability to eat enemies which will be dealt with swiftly by the brothers.
This gives the "keep your enemies closer" quote a whole new meaning
Aside from switching fights from time to time between them. For Bowser there is a special Giant Battle mode, when playing there will be a few battles where you face the enemy as a giant. The controls are at its best really. Unlike the regular battles where you press buttons in correct time in order to have a greater attack. You are given the opportunity to have a more interactive battle. Throwing a punch would require sliding the stylus across the screen as quickly as possible. And my personal favorite breathing fire has you breathing into the mic. Although I did run into a few problems with the response with some of the touchscreen games which made it difficult for me.
The battle system explained, we can take a look at just how everything really does work in the game. Everything being a whole point A to point B, the whole story progresses with getting past certain obstacles of course. Getting past them is always a unique experience, aside from the typical boss battles there are many mini-games that will greet you along the way. For example to make Bowser boost up in order to further the story, as Mario and Luigi you must find a way to stimulate his muscle. The mini-game encounter is one that depends on you to hit the energy orbs into the muscle in correct order which also requires timing. At times though the sheer amount of mini-games really can leave a person weary. There were just too many of them for my own liking.
Graphics
What is there really to say? The graphics look great. At first glance you would assume that it’s the same ol’ thing. But second glances are well worth it as you see that the movements of the characters are smooth. The designs of the characters are well done and look superb really. My only problems with the graphics were during the giant battle mode, with the characters looking slightly pixilated. Aside from that there are really no big complaints about how it looks. I really loved the victory poses they struck every time they leveled up.
Sound
Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. They most certainly didn’t do anything drastic to throw off long time followers of this game. Mario and Luigi are still speaking gibberish in the game although it is really entertaining to listen to them as other characters really tell us what the two are saying. Each character making their own specific sound to simulate them actually speaking as the speech bubble appears above them. Although I’m not really fond of Peaches voice in this one, something about it is unpleasant and annoying to my ears. Sound effects from jumping from one point to another, using the hammers and other actions still haven’t changed.
When it comes to the music itself in the game, you won’t mind listening to these tunes throughout. They don’t ever become boring; they become tunes that simply get stuck in your head. The music has also been carefully selected to fit the mood or the moment. Music was perfect in my ears.
Replay
In terms of going over and replaying the game again and again and again. There are many extra things that you could go back to try and find such as beans and scattered puzzle pieces. There’s even a challenge area which consists many of the challenges from earlier in the game. Although there are many things to go back for, at moments during the game you could turn back and look for these items and do these challenges. It never is too late to go back and find those items. There really isn’t much to go back for and one would only do so out of the sheer love of the story.
Verdict
This has got to be one of the best Mario games out there. The script is amazing and even I was surprised when a few giggles escaped from me when playing. Controls are easy to get hang off and despite being a new Mario game it takes a lot from the older games and improves upon it. Although there are a few minor problems and an awful lot of mini-games, it is something that can be overlooked because this game is just that great. With the gaming taking out a good 20+ hours of your time, Mario enthusiast will positively love his.
Gameplay 4.5 /5
Graphics 4.5/5
Sound 5/5
Replay 3.5/5
