Animal Crossing: Part 4 - Welcome To New Leaf City!

Hi All!
This week's entry I'm going to be talking about Animal Crossing: New Leaf City.

Now as you already know I am a big fan of this series! This is the latest game in the series and in my opinion the best. It has all sorts of new features and visually new things so let's get into it!

The beginning of this game is just like any other. You are asked a bunch of questions, arrive in town, but wait- you're the mayor! A cool and interesting new way to play is you control the fate of your town. You character is given duties that involve keeping the town beautiful, adding new buildings and decorations to your town (which...I mean... thank god), and hosting major holidays. The whole town is your oyster!

Another great aspect that I love is the dream suite. The Dream Suite allows you to venture to another persons town in your dreams - therefore you can't muck up anything. This feature is useful because if your friend wants you to see something of there's (ie: the way their house is set up, a new project, or a special flower/fruit) you can go view it while they aren't playing. The Dream Suite is also useful in that you can get ideas, see strangers towns without having to be their friend (the Dream Suite uses a "Dream Code" that is still specific to a town but makes the player anonymous).

Something interesting that's come out of the Dream Suite are these "Horror Towns". I started reading about them a couple of weeks ago and it's really interesting. It started in Japan as just a way to set up your town so that it's spooky. Usually the bulletin board will have some message or story about what happened and then you get to explore the town and see scenes from whatever horrible story it is. I ventured into a couple (I'm very prone to being spooked..) thinking, oh how scary could they really be? TURNS OUT PRETTY SCARY! I mean, I never jumped or anything, but I definitely on more than one occasion walked into a room in one of the houses and went, NOPE. Also, you can make your character have a greeting and I ran into a lot that were something like, "I was just so lonely..." and in the Dream Suite the voices of people kind of echo and sound very eery. Overall this is a really really cool idea that people have adopted in their towns and I urge you to check it out. 

The animation in this game does change a tiny bit. Your character's body is a little longer now, which doesn't seem very important but after being so short and squat for all these years it's definitely refreshing. Nintendo is very much of the mindset that if it's not broken don't fix it, well Animal Crossing is definitely one of those titles where you see that. Minor changes are expected and the look of the game is so great that there's no reason for them to have to change much. I think that mentality hurts and helps Nintendo.. but I digress. 

This game is great because it's suitable for all ages (as were the last 3) and I wouldn't say it improves the series necessarily but it's definitely the best game out of them. The game has morphed little by little through each game and I love how it turned out. I play this game religiously and definitely addicting. 

If you haven't tried this game yet- do it. It's totally worth your money and has given me just about a year of enjoyment. 

Look out for next week's post where I talk about WOMEN IN VIDEO GAMES!

And don't forget to subscribe and leave comments below. 

Animal Crossing: Part 3 - Time to meet the City Folk!

Hello everyone!
Welcome to Part 3 of my Animal Crossing segment!
ONLY ONE MORE GAME TO TALK ABOUT AFTER THIS!

This week we'll cover the 3rd game in the series - City Folk for the Wii!

This game was - in my opinion - not as great. I didn't stick with this one for long but that isn't to say it wasn't worth playing. On the contrary there were many changes that improved the gameplay and a lot of users liked. For instance, there were new shops in the City. Players could take a bus to the city and visit the Happy Room Academy, get your shoes shined, and get a haircut or a makeover! Another cool new feature to this game was being able to rotate through tools with the D-pad on the wiimote. This is super convenient!! It was a pain in the butt opening the menu to try and catch a bug quickly.

The bundles of new animals and shops is really what made this game great. But as I said, it was missing something for me. Mainly I think it was that I was so hooked to my portable device that it was hard for me to sit in front of the TV to play again. Not to mention fighting over it with my sisters when they wanted to watch a movie or something.

Give this game a chance for sure. Just because I didn't latch onto it doesn't mean you won't. It's a fun time for sure if you liked the first two of this series.

Keep an eye out for the 4th and final portion of the Animal Crossing series segment. I will be posting soon since I missed a week.

Thank you for stopping by and be sure to comment or subscribe!

This week - MINECRAFT!

Hello friends!
This week I wanted to cover Minecraft because I believe it to be one of the best games of all time. While I wouldn't say Minecraft is one my favorite games, I think that the idea of it is something worth noting. My first exposure to this game was on the Xbox 360 because I attempted to get it on my PC but my computer's graphic card wasn't good enough. When it came out on Xbox 360 I immediately got it - hearing only good things about it online.

This game is magnificant for all types of gamers. Whether you like to play hard survival mode, peaceful, or be creative - it's perfect. My friend and I always play hard survival mode. The perks of playing survival mode is that the game stays interesting. You're constantly fighting for your life and scavenging to survive. Sperlunking in survival mode is definitely an adventure as well. From fighting off zombies, avoiding creepers, and getting lost in strongholds - this type of play is not for the easily scared. Although - if you listen to my friend and I play all you would hear is me/him screaming "CREEEEEEEPEEEEER!!!!"

Taking on the Enderdragon in The End was awesome! We took a couple hours and prepped and then secured the stronghold so that if we died we could easily come back and still be prepared to fight. Our strategy to take down the dragon was simple. I would destroy the crystals while my friend distracted the dragon. In the end - what is really difficult about all of it is the Endermen lurking around. I can't tell you how many of them swarmed me when we first entered because I was stupid enough to look around.

Creative mode is also great because it gives you the freedom to build anything you can imagine. I have seen a ton of amazing builds online and wish I had the patience to do something like that (or the time).

Minecraft is definitely a great game for all ages. It's easy to play and doesn't have the violence that some parents would find abhorrant in video games.

Also, if you're maybe a little older (this recommendation is definitely not suited for young children) Rooster Teeth has a hilarious series of videos made by their group of guys called Achievement Hunters called "Let's Play Minecraft". They release videos every Friday of the 6 of them playing Minecraft Xbox (sometimes on the PC as well) and each time have different mission for the episode. I watch this series every week because they have a lot of great ideas on how to make the game fun and keep it interesting. They create simulation arcade games, have competitions, and races to build things. I will say though, the reason it isn't suitable for children is because, if you know Rooster Teeth, it is not family-friendly. These guys cuss and make dirty jokes constantly through these videos. It's funny to those who don't mind it and get the humor. To people like - my mom - it's disgusting and obscene.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and I will see you next week!
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Also, if you want to follow me on Twitter my account is @katieishh
Feel free to tweet me or comment below. <3

Looking Back: The Legend of Zelda

Hello all!
This week I wanted to talk about one of my all time favorite games in existence.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
Now. You are probably wondering. Which one?
My answer is all of them.

Just kidding. I hate Adventures of Link.

I have a subscription to Game Informer and before Skyward Sword came out they released an issue featuring the series and had an article about each game. As I read I got really excited about the new game coming out and also realized how many of them I hadn't played. I thought - I have a month to get through all the games. I began with the original Legend of Zelda which I had borrowed from a friend for the gameboy advanced.

This game was pretty hard for me because I was not used to that sort of gameplay. Obviously this game is heavily puzzle-based rather than combat which the newer games have a little bit more of. But after probably 2 hours in the last dungeon walking around in the darkness I found my way to the final room and beat the game.

Adventure of Link really held me up. I didn't like it at all and it took me some time to figure it out. I finally gave up... I know... I'm a failure.

I got through A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening pretty easily. Then I replayed Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

I found that I was running out of time so I skipped the Oracles games and have yet to come back to them but I have them on my 3DS so I intend to play them someday. I played Four Swords with my friends, and replayed Windwaker.

I got Minish Cap on an emulator that would not save for some reason and decided to come back to it. I had missed Twilight Princess when it originally came out because I had to decide between that and Pokemon. My decision was Pokemon. When I played this -- I was taken aback by the amazing plot and features of the game. I regret picking Pokemon over this. Definitely a great game.

I got halfway through Phantom Hourglass when Skyward sword came out and I still have not touched Spirit Tracks. Skyward sword was an awesome game but I am upset that I have not finished it yet. When I was really busy with school I let a friend borrow it and haven't gotten it back. I know that it's not gone forever because the person who has it is my best friend. But I don't have a Wii anymore so playing it would be impossible anyways. I'll eventually get a Wii U once I move out and after I get the PS4 but for now I will just be sad.

Ocarina of Time quite literally changed my life. Without this game I think I would have given up on gaming a long time ago. It makes me so happy and helps me forget the adult things that people struggle with. I get to be a kid again when I play it and that's my favorite thing about it.


Well, that's it for me! Have a great weekend! If you like my blog subscribe or add to your reading list or favorite.. Whatever! Leave your love below! Or hate. I'm totally open to hate. Whatever....

Introduction

Welp! Here I am!
Katie (Katherine), 22-years-old, California resident, and lover of everything cute and video games.

I am not going to say that I'm a hardcore gamer because realistically I am not. I just LOVE video games and love talking about them and going a little crazy everytime a new game comes out.
I am also a big-time reader. Literature is my major in college.
I also am a huge fan of cosplay! I am currently in the process of sewing a suit for the animated series Catwoman while my two best friends make their Harleyquinn and Ivy. We're preparing our Gotham City Sirens costumes for Comikaze coming up in a couple of weeks! Yikes!

Anyways, I will get to the point. I am going to begin blogging about video game news, opinions, reviews, and other junk going on.

So I think that as I am beginning this blog I am going to set weekly goals
1) Update on what I am playing!
2) Mention any news I heard via articles or podcasts that I find exciting.
3) Talk about games I like.

Every week I will feature a new game that I have played and loved or hated.

So! Look out for this weeks post!