Open World Action-Adventure DLC Review: Sea of Thieves - The Legend of Monkey Island: The Journey to Mêlée Island

The Journey to Mêlée Island, the first chapter of the free Legend of Monkey Island Tall Tale expansion for Sea of Thieves, is available now. It aims to blend the open-world action-adventure pirate swashbuckler with the inventory-based adventure mechanics of the Monkey Island series.

The story fits snugly in between Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island. The Pirate Lord invited Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley Threepwood to honeymoon in the Sea of Thieves. However, there is a curse that makes Guybrush, and presumably Elaine in future chapters, relive memories of past adventures that create a skewed version of whatever island is being remembered.

This makes it possible for pirates from the Sea of Thieves to physically travel to Mêlée Island. Because of this, Kate Capsize and the Pirate Lord want to hire a pirate to free the honeymooners from their curse. The Pirate Lord wants to rescue them, while Kate wants revenge on Guybrush because he switched his face for hers on a wanted poster which caused her to be imprisoned on Phatt Island.

Most of the people on the island appear to be from Guybrush's memories because the SCUMM Bar patrons the chef, the lookout, the shady merchant, the shopkeeper, the ghost pirates, Otis the prisoner, and the three loitering pirates all appeared in Guybrush's first adventure. The presence of Murray could be from the skewed memories due to the curse. I'm glad the latter was included as I really loved Murray in this chapter, especially after he gets what he wants. The animators deserve a raise for Murray's animations.

One character that doesn't belong is a cursed skull from A Pirate's Life Tall Tale who is known as the Cursed Captain. He appears to have actually made it to Mêlée Island but got stuck up on the wall of the SCUMM Bar by the three important pirates. There's a lot of potential for story there and I hope Rare doesn't squander it in future chapters.

I thought the puzzles were fun. I liked how they integrated the Sea of Thieves mechanics into the puzzles too. The sword, tankard, and lantern all were used fantastically. The crane puzzle, especially, was great. It was a head-scratcher, especially when the crane wouldn't lift it. I was stuck for a while before I jumped into the water to see what was going on and saw the solution. That puzzle was something that felt like it could have been in the series proper.

The voices used the voice actors from The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition or Terrible Toybox's Return to Monkey Island for those that weren't in the LucasArts joint. They were just as excellent here as they were in the preceding games. The music was also used well, with the Monkey Island theme popping up as you approached Melee, the familiar SCUMM Bar music that faded out in volume as you got further away from the bar, and Walt the skeleton pirate playing the skeleton ship theme on his violin. Bonus points for the name Walt, too.

There were some aspects that didn't work as well, however. Hunting for pieces of eight was tedious and not fun at all. At the end of the chapter, I couldn't find all of the money needed for the optional content, so I just gave up and ended the chapter four pieces of eight short. The walk up and down the hill to get to the lookout and back also wasn't fun, and he didn't have enough pieces of eight for the trouble. I kept jumping off early on the path down and losing health. Getting hurt was worth it though, because it cut down on all the tedious walking.

The Journey to Mêlée Island was a good start to the Sea of Thieves Legend of Monkey Island expansion. The story, voice acting, music, and puzzles were great. I really hope the next chapter ditches the money collecting and long walks because it felt like artificially extending the time required to finish the chapter. If the issues with this chapter are sorted in future chapters, we could potentially be in for a great time.

Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5

Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island - The Journey to Mêlée Island Is Available

Rare's open-world online multiplayer pirate action-adventure swashbuckler, Sea of Thieves, now has more pirate goodness with the addition of a Monkey Island campaign. All of the voice actors from the Monkey Island series have returned as well.

There will be three episodes. The first episode is The Journey to Mêlée Island, which is available right now!

Motion-Sensing Multi-Sports Game Compilation Review: Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection

In 2012, Microsoft played up the popularity of Rare's Kinect Sports series with the Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection.

This collection was a compilation of the two Kinect Sports titles which were available at the time, Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports: Season Two. Thus, it contained all of the sports available in each collection, including bowling, boxing, soccer, table tennis, track-and-field, and volleyball in Kinect Sports and gridiron football, skiing, darts, tennis, golf, and baseball in Season Two.

It simply contained the two discs from the respective games in a case with a Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection cover. It would have been nice to see an additional sport or two, or even extras such as the making of the game, but both games are here complete with all of the included sports, so it is exactly what it says on the tin.

Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection was a completely no-frills compilation of Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports: Season Two for Xbox 360. It contained no extras at all, simply the game discs in an Ultimate Collection case. However, as it was a bundle of two formerly regular-priced games, it was ultimately a good value worth picking up if you hadn't owned it already. If you are interested in the Kinect Sports games, this is easy to find for a good price, so it could still be worth getting this rather than purchasing the two games separately.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Body-Tracking Multi-Sports Video Game Review: Kinect Sports: Season Two

Kinect Sports brought the Xbox 360 its own take on the popular Wii Sports title for its competitor, the Wii. However, with a lack of the most popular games from that title, it didn't shine quite as brightly.

That changed when Microsoft tasked Rare with making a sequel for the body-tracking Kinect camera, this time with help from developer BigPark.

Kinect Sports: Season Two contains more sports including gridiron football, skiing, and darts. This time around, it finally features some of the most popular games from Microsoft's competitor Nintendo, including tennis, golf, and baseball.

The sequel manages to get around one of the main problems of the Kinect, which makes it need a lot of room to get full-body tracking. Season Two's use of upper body sports has more going for it for people, like me, who only have enough room to get partial body tracking. 

This game, by far, gets the use out of the two games by my family. Darts is a favorite of my mother's. She often asks to play it because it is fun, intuitive, and easy to use with the Kinect camera. I, personally, enjoy the baseball minigame. Like darts, it works great with the Kinect camera. All of these work much better than season one as the camera isn't as finicky due to the fact the entire camera body tracking isn't needed. You can toss around the pigskin, throw darts, and hit baseballs and tennis balls with ease. Even golf and skiing work with just half a body detected, although these two can be more finicky than the others, especially in the case of skiing.

This game still contains the major drawback of the Kinect, however, as that's purely a hardware issue. The Kinect camera has trouble detecting dark colors, so make sure you don't have on a dark outfit so that the sensor has the best chance to detect your body. Unfortunately, this trouble with dark colors also is seen with hair and even skin color. I have natural jet-black hair, and I have played many Kinect games with my hair completely cut off. People with dark skin tones have reported even worse issues, with Kinect not detecting them or cutting off entire body parts.

Kinect Sports: Season Two is a drastic improvement over the predecessor. It solves some of the problems the Kinect has with a small living room space by having games that need only partial body detection. Gridiron football, darts, and baseball work great. Even skiing and golf work with just partial body detection, although these might need more adjustment than the others. The hardware issues with problems detecting dark colors are still a problem for people with jet-black hair and even worse for people with dark skin tones. However, Kinect Sports: Season Two managed to better play to Kinect's strengths with a game that is very satisfying to play.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

Body-Tracking Multi-Sports Video Game Review: Kinect Sports

With the surprise runaway success of the Wii, thanks in large part to its pack-in title Wii Sports, Sony and Microsoft rushed to make their own motion-sensing technology. Sony released the Move, essentially its version of the Wii Remote. Microsoft, meanwhile, released a body-tracking camera known as the Kinect.

Microsoft deemed that Kinect needed its own sports compilation, so it tasked one of its subsidiaries with the project. The company that worked on Kinect Sports was the famed English video game developer Rare.

Kinect Sports contains several sports including bowling, boxing, soccer, table tennis, track-and-field, and volleyball. Track-and-field actually constitutes five separate events including discus throwing, hurdle jumping, javelin throwing, and long jumping.

As long as you have a lot of room that allows the Kinect to detect your entire body, all of the sports work well. That's the main drawback of any Kinect game. A lot of room is needed. It will be a struggle to get the game to detect the entire body in a small room, especially with furniture in the way. 

In this game, volleyball is my favorite, as it seems to be the event that works best even with only partial body-tracking. If I'm lucky enough to get it to detect my entire 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall frame, the other games are fun as well. Another drawback of the Kinect is that it has trouble detecting dark colors, so make sure you don't have on a dark outfit so that the sensor has the best chance to detect your body. Unfortunately, this trouble with dark colors also is seen with hair and even skin color. I have natural jet-black hair, and I have played many Kinect games with my hair completely cut off. People with dark skin tones have reported even worse issues, with Kinect not detecting them or cutting off entire body parts.

Kinect Sports is a fantastic showcase for Kinect. However, it also showcases the issues with the Kinect sensor. If you are tall or have a small living room space like me, most of the games aren't fun to play. Volleyball still works well with partial body tracking, but the rest, especially soccer and track-and-field, are unplayable. The Kinect also has problems detecting dark colors, which has been an issue for people with jet-black hair like me and has been even worse for people with dark skin tones. Kinect Sports is great when it works, but it is brought down by the limitations of the Kinect.

Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5

Arcade Beat 'Em Up Review: Battletoads

Battletoads was tough as nails on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but by the time the toads came to arcades, their game became a lot more balanced and a lot more fun.

The game was developed by Rare, but it plays a lot like a Konami arcade beat 'em up such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. This is fitting considering Battletoads originated as a Ninja Turtles homage.

Battletoads has nice, large detailed sprites for both the toads and the enemies. It also has some fun with the format by having the enemies occasionally thrown toward the screen when defeated.

Like many beat 'em up games, to shake things up a bit from the usual walking and beating up of enemies, there is also an elevator level with the stage moving vertically as the enemies come in from the sides.

The game is not any more difficult than a Konami beat 'em up. It can be played through to the end easily since adding a credit continues right where the game left off. In the era of emulation that won't cost you a large chunk of quarters to do so.

Battletoads is a fun, colorful beat 'em up arcade game. The game isn't punishing like the console game of the same name, as it plays a lot like a Konami arcade beat 'em up. It's a shame that this one isn't as remembered as the console Battletoads, but its inclusion in the Rare Replay compilation at least makes it easily available to players new and old.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Creature Collecting Gardening Game Review: Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata was a creature collecting gardening video game by Rare, featuring animals represented by colorful piñatas, that was published by Microsoft Game Studios.

It was originally developed as a gardening game for mobile devices but shifted to a console game after the Microsoft acquisition of Rare.

The game uses that gardening simulation as a base, as the player has to plow the garden, plant seeds, and create ponds. The main draw of the game is what happens when the garden grows. If conditions are met, a silhouette of a creature will visit the garden. If more conditions are met, that creature will become a colorful piñata creature that will join your garden.

Thus, the goal is not just to grow a garden with ponds and plants, but to collect piñatas as well. It takes a while to collect them all, but it is a very calming and peaceful game with cute designs for the piñatas. 

It is a unique game so, like games such as Nights into Dreams, it might take a few plays until you discover whether this game is your cup of tea. It took me two consoles to discover I really enjoy it. I first played it on the Xbox 360 but stopped playing it after a while. After I played it on Xbox One due to its inclusion in Rare Replay, I discovered that I actually enjoy it quite a lot.

Viva Piñata is a hard game to judge, as it is one of those unique games that you either hate or you love. It has a relaxing game design and the piñatas are adorable. It also does what it says on the tin. You grow plants in a garden and attract various piñatas. However, it is a slow-moving game that doesn't involve much beyond farming. If that's your cup of tea, it is a fantastic game since it takes the usual farming mechanic and adds a creature collection aspect on top of it. However, if you aren't into farming games, it's a game that likely isn't going to be for you.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Platform Game Mega Review: Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country, a platform game by Rare based on the Nintendo character Donkey Kong, was so popular that it created a series that still continues to this day.

The plot of the game is simple in that it is just a quest to get Donkey Kong's stolen banana stash back from King K. Rool. It stars a gorilla named Donkey Kong, the son of Donkey Kong Jr., and the grandson of the original Donkey Kong who now goes by Cranky Kong. He is joined by a monkey named Diddy Kong, who is an original character created for this game. Rare's original intention was to use Donkey Kong Jr., but when Nintendo didn't accept their redesign of Junior, they created their own original character instead.

Donkey Kong is a slow brute that can kill enemies that Diddy cannot as well as find secrets by slam jumping on the floor. On the other hand, Diddy Kong can move faster as well as jump higher, allowing him to get to areas that Donkey Kong can not. One character is played at a time and can be swapped at will as long as the current Kong's partner is present. If a partner is present when hit by an enemy, that Kong will run away and will be replaced as the player Kong. There are DK barrels that contain the partner Kong if he is not with the player Kong.

The game world is populated with crocodile-like creatures known as Kremlings, which were originally intended for a point-and-click adventure that was cancelled by Rare prior to this game's release. One of the things that makes this game unique is that the Kongs can ride an animal companion. These range from the quick ostrich, to the rhino that can defeat enemies and find hidden passages with his horn, to the swordfish that makes swimming underwater easier and also acts much like the rhino in that he can defeat enemies with his sword-like snout.

Another unique thing about this game is the many barrels that are dotted along the path, especially in later levels. This is a clever take on the original Donkey Kong arcade game that had DK toss out barrels to try to trip up Mario. Here, the Kongs jump from barrel to barrel. There are barrels that go up and down and barrels that spin. These require the right timing in order to shoot to the next barrel rather than falling to your doom. There are also barrels with stars. These shoot the Kongs out as soon as they land in them. These sometimes shoot to other barrels and sometimes shoot up to hidden areas.

The early computer-generated imagery that was converted to sprites still looks good. The backgrounds, especially, are eye-catching and gorgeous. Because of the low resolution of the SNES, the characters look a lot like pixelated versions of clay models, which works in the game's favor. 

The music is great as well. I remember getting a promo VHS for this game and being impressed with both the graphics and the music. The underwater music is particularly memorable for its calm quality yet with a bit of a bubbly feel that works perfectly for the water levels. 

This game led to two more Super Nintendo Entertainment System games, three Game Boy games, two modern game revivals, and many spin-offs. It also had a Game Boy Advance remake that played just like the SNES version yet had brighter colors to compensate for the lack of a backlight in the original GBA model. The easiest way to play the game today is with an emulated version. The Wii, New Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U Virtual Console versions are no longer available, and neither is the version in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition. However, as of this writing, the game is available in the emulator for the Nintendo Switch Online service for the Nintendo Switch console. 

Donkey Kong Country is a fantastic game that has stood the test of time. The graphics and music are top-notch. The gameplay is excellent as well, leading to many sequels as well as inspiring other games that came after it. Because of the game's popularity, it has been ported and emulated on many of Nintendo's consoles. No matter how you choose to play the game though, it is a game that is well worth playing.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5