Section: Reviews, Exclusives, Originals, Consoles, Wii, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Genres, Fighting

Title: Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2
Price: $29.99
System(s): Wii
Release Date: October 21, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Tomy (Eighting)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Cartoon Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
Pros: Simple control scheme, lots of characters, interesting story mode and lots of arcade mode options.
Cons: Lots of unlocking and some challenges may be too difficult for younger players. No Wi-Fi multiplayer.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 90, A-, * * * * out of 5

When an anime is successful, video game publishers waste no time in localizing Japanese games for a worldwide market. Since Naruto is unquestionably one of the most successful series at the moment, this means plenty of Naruto video games.

Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2 is one of the latest Wii Naruto games, and one of the best. While it is a straightforward fighting game, it also offers an interesting story mode, a large cast of fighters and interesting “missions” for players to accomplish.

A strange jutsu is turning ninja against ninja.

Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2‘s story mode begins with two Anbu members investigating some suspicious looking rogue ninjas. After a battle, the rogues disappear, and the two Anbu come across a village where it appears everyone killed one another for no apparent reason.

It then shifts to Naruto, Kakashi and Gaara. Unknown ninja have found their way into the Hidden Leaf Village, and they’re casting a powerful jutsu on residents. Those affected come under a sort of spell that makes them attack friends. It’s up to the three of them to try and find the rogues while freeing brainwashed friends along the way. Players, as their favorite Naruto characters, have to help the ninjas find out who’s behind this horrible jutsu.

Ninjas have a very active lifestyle.

The control system is very easy to learn and master, and reminds me a bit of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There’s a normal attack and a strong attack, and those can be combined to lead into additional moves. Special jutsu attacks are typically unleashed by pressing one button. Plus, it’s easy to counter or evade moves. I found the remote and nunchuk control scheme most comfortable, but the Gamecube and classic controllers also worked quite well.

Another plus is the large character roster of over 30 ninja. There are multiple ways to unlock characters in Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2, but they can be tedious. Usually it’s an either/or situation. Either win this mission, or play some-hundred battles. I can see frustrated players turning to the internet (like I did) for a completed save file rather than jumping through all the unlocking hoops.

The game also offers quite a bit of variety. There are single or tag matches in the arcade mode portion, as well as four player multiplayer. In arcade mode you can face off against the computer, engage in endless fights or try to accomplish missions. It keeps things from getting boring.

The story mode also stands out from standard fighting games. Two new Anbu characters (think of them as masked spies) are introduced, and the player gets to control many Naruto characters in a quest to protect the Hidden Leaf Village. What stands out here is the point of each match isn’t always to just beat your opponent. Sometimes you have to unleash a certain jutsu or protect another fighter.

A fun, and fairly affordable, Wii fighter.

While Super Smash Bros. Brawl has ingrained itself in the minds of Wii owners as the fighting game, people who’ve beaten that game, enjoy the Naruto animated series or are simply looking for a cheaper fighting game should keep Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2 in mind. It’s a solid game with lots of single and multiplayer options. In fact, if it did have Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection multiplayer, it would probably be the best Naruto game released so far.

Site [Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2]

Full Story ? | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

Section: Reviews, Exclusives, Originals, Gear, Gear-Other

Product: Mana Energy Potion
Price: two for $6.90
Rating: Two thumbs sideways, 73/100, C, * * out of 5
Pros: 50mL of drink. Cute bottle. Portable. Contains Vitamin B1, B3, B6, B12 and C. Has a Enzyme Blend that includes Amylase, Lactase, Cellulase, Lipase and Protease. Initially is very sweet, but subsequent sips are mellow and have just a general citric fruit-esque flavor.
Cons: Like the Health Energy Potion, the protective plastic cover is in one piece so if you’re not careful, you can lose the intricate logo. Smells pungent. Has both an incredibly sweet taste and aftertaste reminiscent of an artificial sweetener and the sour taste of medicine. You’ll smell like the drink after you finish it. Looks like laundry detergent.
Overall: I preferred the Health Energy Potion, but the Mana Energy Potion did provide an energy boost, just like it promised.

Back in February, 2009, Gamertell had the opportunity to sample and test Harcos’ Health Energy Potion, an energy shot drink designed to appeal to gamers.

Today, Gamertell once again samples a Harcos product. This time I’m going to be taste testing and trying out the Mana Energy Potion, Harcos’ original energy shot. Like the Health Energy Potion, it’s a 50mL drink. You can find it alone in stores like Hot Topic, or online at the Harcos site or ThinkGeek.

The Look

The Mana Energy Potion looks a bit different in person than it does in that pretty promotional shot you see above. It seems to be an azure shade of blue. I’m thinking it’s because Harcos used some sort of backlighting, because I couldn’t recreate that shade when I was looking at it. In person, it has more of a cerulean or teal color to it. I think it would look more appetizing if it was the azure color.

Again, like the Health Energy Potion, the Mana Energy Potion bubbles when shaken. Little bubbles appear at the top, making it look soapy or like detergent. Unlike the Health Energy Potion, the Mana Energy Potion’s bubbles disappear within five minutes of being shaken.

When you remove the black, plastic cap, there’s a white protective seal to keep the drink from being tampered with. Always a nice feature. It is a bit difficult to get a hold on it and rip it off, since it’s so tiny.

The Taste

After I opened the Mana Energy Potion, I smelled the drink. It smelled incredibly strong and sweet, but it’s hard to pin down what exactly it smells like. I know this will sound weird, but I think I smelled something flowery. It’s as though there’s this initial strong scent, which smells somewhat spicy and perhaps a little fruity, that hits you right away. Then you smell the faint flowery-perfume scent.

I then took a tiny sip. I don’t know how it happened, but it tasted both incredibly sweet and bitter at the same time. It started out somewhat bitter, perhaps with an acidic taste, then followed with a saccharine sweet taste. It didn’t taste like a product flavored with real sugar. There was also a bit of an aftertaste left behind in the back of my throat. I felt as though I had taken some kind of tea, tossed in five packets of Sweet and Low or Splenda, then drank it.

As I took more substantial sips, I found that I didn’t notice the sweetness as much. I also noticed that there wasn’t really a defined flavor to the drink. If pressed, I’d say it tasted like a citrus fruit drink simply because of the acidic flavor. This was somewhat surprising, because I’d have thought a blue-green colored drink would have a blue raspberry taste to it. It tasted like I was drinking some sort of sweet, artificial drink as opposed to some sort of fruit drink.

The Effects

I woke up at 6:30am on the morning the day I drank the Mana Energy Potion. Usually I start yawning and feeling sleepy around 5pm. I drank the Mana Energy Potion at around 12pm, after I finished my lunch.

I didn’t start yawning until around 10pm. While the Health Energy Potion I sampled had kept me up until 1am, the Mana Energy Potion provided just enough energy to get me through the day but still allow me to fall asleep at my normal time of 11~11:30pm. I’m thinking it’s because this time I drank the energy drink at noon, as opposed to later in the evening.

There’s one other thing, which I almost was going to include in the taste section but decided would fit better here. The weird pungent/spicy/flowery scent of the Mana Energy Potion stuck with me. My breath ended up smelling exactly like the energy drink.

An interesting alternative to the Health Energy Potion

Depending on what you want in your energy drink, you’ll want either the Health or Mana Energy Potions. The Health Energy Potion seems to focus on both energy and the extra folic acid, biotin, ginseng and elderberry added in, while the Mana Energy Potion focuses on the energy and the dietary enzyme blend included in the drink. Both provided a substantial energy boost when needed, so I’d have to say a purchase would be dependent on what flavor a person prefers. I personally preferred the Health Energy Potion’s apple cinnamon flavor to the Mana Energy Potion’s undefined, possibly citrus blend. Plus the Health Energy Potion looked much more appetizing.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Harcos’ Energy Potions]

Full Story ? | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

Section:

Today’s a groovy day to celebrate our nation’s independence with your family.

Go eat some grilled food products, consume a age-appropriate chilled beverage, ignite a state-approved firework or two and, of course, get in some extra time with your favorite, neglected videogame.

If you are hell bent on being at your computer, then head on over to our Gamertell Exclusive Explosive Mashup post from 2007.

Otherwise, go away.

It’s a friggin’ national holiday.

- Gamertell

Full Story ? | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

While we still dig the idea of what Disqus does, it is about time for us to reevaluate the necessity of it.  To be honest, it was installed in an attempt to gain conversation.  When conversation did not happen, it didn’t bother me that no one was talking, but it felt like we put this big honking new engine in a car that nobody wanted to drive too fast.

This was the case until Disqus added a new feature, social media reactions. I saw it as a chance to ditch the plugin we were using to import Friendfeed comments and the like, but the update has not quite made it to our humble little home.  On another blog which I felt needed a different approach, Backtype Connect is installed.  Since that does function correctly, it is possible we will be using it in the future.

Also, lately I have been on a kick to seriously clean the code up on every WordPress blog I can get my mitts on. In each instance Disqus is installed,  validation is more difficult. This might not be an issue if I knew Javascript, but I don’t yet so there is another compelling reason to let the platform go. Maybe it is time to pare down a bit.

Section: Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Nostalgia

Danielle mentioned that Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker is among the more unique collectibles from theKing of Pop’s career and now speculators are moving the game on eBay.

Bids on a non-working copy of the Sega Genesis game are up to $61 at the time of this article and working copies complete with instruction manuals have fetched as much as $1,000.

Before Jackson’s untimely death, you would have been hard pressed to get $5 for this cartridge even in excellent condition. Some sellers have set pretty lofty goals and set a Buy It Now price of $1,999.99. Good luck with that, guys. For whatever reason, there isn’t as much action on his appearances in Space Channel 5 and Ready 2 Rumble Round 2.

That could be because Moonwalker is sort of a pixelated love letter to Jackson’s classic Smooth Criminal video. Or because of the pure awesomeness of the old Sega Genesis system. With collectibles, you never know what’s going to happen.

Opinions on the game’s actual quality vary. Danielle loved it, while a reviewer at Game Freaks had a completely different take. You can hit eBay and judge for yourself, just don’t buy the $60 non-working copy.

Read [Gamertell]? Also Read [PlayStation Lifestyle]

Full Story ? | Written by Brian Allen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?