Monday, December 8, 2008
Hello. Like I said yesterday, I'm going to be talking about my vacation today. I'll also be doing some other stuff. Let us begin.Day 1
I woke up, took my shower, and left my house. My father went to top up his cash card, and he also went to top up petrol. We then went to the temple and we met my uncle, auntie and cousins. We left for Woodlands and then we went to Johor Bahru.
We ate some Indian food, then my cousins went to buy some pirated DVDs. Paying for stuff that you can download for free. I also tried to buy bubblegum for you people, but it was way over my budget so I didn't buy any. We stopped at Machap rest area to eat and slack.
I helped my father navigate to the hotel once we entered the Meleka town area. Soon we reached Holiday Inn hotel and we got our rooms. The rooms were nice. They had LCD TVs. The only problem was that the bathrooms have glass windows that are covered by binds and anyone in the room can look inside the bathroom. I guess the designers have never heard of the word "privacy".
We slacked for a while, then we went to this nearby mall called "Dataran Pahlawan" to eat dinner. We went to buy some food at the supermarket, then we went back to the hotel and I played Xbox with my brother and cousins. End of day one.
Johor Barhu town.
Eh shit, cannot skateboard sia la.
Hotel room.
Thanks to this, I didn't die of boredom.
Santa and his reindeer crashing into some trees.
My brother and cousin playing Fifa Street 3.
You can see everyone outside from the inside of the toilet, but it works the other way around as well.Day 2
I woke up early and immediately started playing Naruto: The Broken Bond. We ate breakfast at the hotel, then we swam for a while. At about 12pm, we left for A.Famosa resort. It's a huge resort with many different theme parks in it.
Once we reached our destination, we went to Safari World, which is something like a zoo. We ate our lunch, then we watched a cowboy stunt show. After that we sat on the safari ride. Basically you sit in a caged truck and the truck goes into the animal enclosures. After the ride we went to Monkey Island, which is a small island in the middle of the theme park. The island is full of--you guessed it--monkeys.
Then I went with my brother on a go-kart. This isn't a little kiddie one, it's the real deal. I have never drove a go-kart before, so I didn't know what to expect, but the thing can go up to 60 km/h. I was driving, and my brother was sitting in the passenger seat.
We crashed once, and the entire vehicle nearly toppled over, and we got mud splattered all over us, but it was a great experience. I think para-sailing is better, but riding in a go-kart is still pretty damn fun.
We left the place and we went to a Portuguese settlement along the Straits of Meleka to eat seafood for dinner. For less than S$150, we got food that tastes better than anything served in Singapore seafood restaurants.
It was getting late, so we went back to the hotel, then I played and completed Naruto: The Broken Bond.
My brother wrestling with my cousin in the pool.
The elephant's trunk moves really fast. My brother hasn't even realised that the food he was holding is gone.
Click the picture to enlarge and you'll notice that the tapir is taking a leak.
I took this just as the ostrich was snapping its beak at me.
Camel drinking some shit water that is on the ground.
Raccoons are cool. 
Cowboy stunt show.
My brother and me in the go-kart.
Day 3
I took this just as the ostrich was snapping its beak at me.
Camel drinking some shit water that is on the ground.
Raccoons are cool. 
Cowboy stunt show.
My brother and me in the go-kart.We ate breakfast at the hotel, swam for a bit, the we took a shuttle bus to the Little India area. We ate Indian food. There was also a flea market area and we walked around there for a while. I drank a coconut drink there and it was freaking refreshing.
After that we went back to the mall, and we ate some food, then my auntie, brother cousins and myself returned to the hotel while my parents, sister and uncle continued shopping. We played a whole lot of Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty: World at War.
At 6pm, we went to met the others back at the mall, and we ate at Pizza Hut for dinner. My father bought me a new headset for my handphone because the old one was screwed. We walked around and I bought a new T-shirt, and I also bought Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone album at S$15. What a bargain.
We went back to the hotel and I watched Fight Quest on Discovery channel, then I slept.
This is the flea market.
Some kid holding an iguana.Day 4
This is the final day. We ate breakfast at the hotel, then me, my brother and my cousins played Xbox while everyone else went to shop some more. We checked out at 12pm, but we left the cars in the hotel carpark and we returned to the shopping mall.
The headset my father had bought me was not working, and I got it exchanged for a good one. I bought 2 boxers and another T-shirt. The boxers are blue and light grey in colour, so if anyone wants to see my not wearing black clothes, you'll have to see me in my boxers. Gotta get my pants off first. Hehehe.
The shirt is pretty cool too. Black and gold one. After we were done with our shopping, we left the place and we reached Singapore at about 7pm. We went to y grandmother's house for dinner, then we came back home.
Took this picture of the Christmas tree in the lobby before we left.Today was a pretty normal day. I woke up and hooked my Xbox back to the TV, then I played Grand Theft Auto IV. I'm almost completing it, but why does the damn game drag on for so long. Just get to the point and let me kill who I have to kill damn it. What's with all this vehicle chasing and following bullshit?
I also played Naruto: The Broken Bond, even though I've already completed it. I was just running around Leaf Village and doing some side quests. I found two hidden locations in the game. Once is Orochimaru's secret lair, which is pretty creepy looking, and I also found Itachi's hideout, which is even creepier. Anyways, I got Achievements just for finding those places.
I watched Naruto anime with my brother in the afternoon. I'm finally past the damn filler episodes, and I'm now at the part where Asuma is about to fight Hidan. I'll continue watching tomorrow.
My cousins came over at about 8pm and we played Guitar Hero: World Tour. Damn, I need to find people who can actually play to play with. Whenever I play with my cousins, they keep making the band fail. I can hold up pretty damn well on the guitar, and my brother is alright with the drums, so some god-like bassist and singer please come and play with us.
I mentioned above that I completed Naruto: The Broken Bond, so now I got to talk about what I think about the game. Here it is:
The Good.
1) The story mode
Since the game really follows the sequence of events which take place in the manga/anime, the story is great. The story mode itself is 10 hours long, much longer than most games nowadays. The story takes place within and outside of the Leaf Village.
The game puts heavy focus on key events and it makes players take part in them. For example, when Naruto is training for the Resangan, you actually have to make the water balloon and rubber ball burst, just like in the anime. The story in this one is much deeper than that of the first game.
2) The fight system
This game is not a game for button mashers. You need to know how to pull off specific button combinations to pull off the more devastating moves. Also, this game does not allow you to pull off a special move by simply running into your opponent, like most other Naruto games. Instead, you have to input specific hand seals using the thumbsticks to use your character's jutsu.
The characters are also pretty balanced. Characters with heavy normal attacks have weaker special moves while character that have powerful special moves will usually suffer negative effects after using them, like a semi-drained health bar.
3) Online Versus/Tournament Mode
You don't have to play against the computer. You can play against the world. Enough said.
4) Audio
Japanese voices are included, and they are much better than the English ones, but for convenience sake, I played using English voices. The game is full of Naruto theme songs. Leaf Village itself seems bustling with life, since you can hear the villagers chatting, children laughing and even birds chirping. The sounds of specific jutsu, like the Resangan and Chidori, are perfectly nailed.
5) Graphics
The game is beautiful. The environment looks almost photo realistic [meaning they almost look like real life]. Character models are really nice and detailed, and the art style of the game is pretty good as well. When characters pull off more damaging moves, or when a jutsu is used, the results are visually impressive.
Little details are also included. For example, when Neji uses Byakugan, you can actually see the veins around his eyes. Also, when Naruto charges up Rasengan, a shadow clone will appear beside him and it will start forming the Rasengan.
6) Team system
This is probably the biggest game changing feature. Now, Naruto doesn't do his missions alone, instead he usually has two friends to help him out. These AI partners range from Gennin [noob ninja] like Choji and Kiba to Sannin [pwn-your-face-off ninja] like Jiraiya. You can switch between characters at any time, since some areas can only be accessed by character specific jutsu.
For example, Neji can use his Byakugan to see invisible traps and he can lead his team to a safe route, and only Choji can use his Human Tank jutsu to break through walls of mud that are blocking your path. These partners can also be tagged in during a fight, and by pressing certain buttons at the right time, you can perform a damaging tag team attack on your enemy.
7) Character roster
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja shipped with only 11 characters, and 4 more characters came in the form of downloadable content. In Naruto: The Broken Bond, you can select from 30 different characters. These range from main characters like Naruto and Sasuke, to less known characters like Kimimaro. Each characters controls in a unique way, and each one has their own strengths and weaknesses.
8) Cutscenes
In Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, cutscenes were basically standard definition clips from the anime series placed into the game. In The Broken Bond, cutscene are created from the powerful graphics engine, and as a result, we are treated with beautiful and stylish looking cutscenes.
9) Improved controls
The control is pretty much the same as Rise of a Ninja, but there are subtle differences here and there that really change the game. There is now a quick item menu, where you can select a item at any time with the tap of a button.
Controls to input jutsu now make more sense and are easier to remember. Walking on water and up walls can now be done without using a jutsu first, meaning you can leap off a building and immedaitely start running vertically up the opposite wall. This make moving through the world much more convenient.
10) New game world
In Rise of a Ninja, players could explore Leaf Village, and several random spots, but in this game, not only is Leaf Village fully explorable, there are even other towns like the hot spring resort and Tazunaka town. There are even little Easter eggs in the game world for fans of the series, like Orochimaru's lair, and the two water tanks which Sasuke and Naruto hit with Chidori and Resangan.
11) Animation
The animation is improved a lot. Characters now move more naturally, and their facial experessions change. Also, their mouths now move when they talk.
The Bad.
1) Not noob friendly
If you don't know anything about Naruto, don't play this game, because you will not know what is happening. The game makes little effort to recap the story, and to mention who is who.
2) Environmental hazards
Ninja can walk up trees, they can walk up walls, they can walk on water, they can leap incredible distances, but they cannot swim?! It's true, the characters in the game cannot swim at all. Drop in water, and not only will you get teleported to the nearest shore, you also get damaged. Water is dangerous. There are also exploding daggers and explosive barriers all over the place just waiting to kill you.
3) Repeated characters in roster
Although there are 30 playable characters in the game, 5 of them are actually different coustumed variations of characters. There's Fox Naruto, Curse Seal 2 Sasuke, Black Suit Sasuke, Green Suit Naruto, and ANBU Itachi. So in actual fact, there are only 25 characters. Why the hell couldn't they just let you select a character, then change his costume?
4) Difficulty
On the easiest difficulty, it is managable. On medium difficulty, things get challenging, but towards the end it gets really difficult. On the highest difficulty, it is pretyy impossible at times. The difficulty levels should not have that big a leap in challenge.
5) No dynamic day/night and weather cycle
Sure, the time of day does change, but only after cutscenes. Why couldn't there be an actual day and night cycle in the game world. Better still if they could have different weather. Why is it always so damn sunny in ninja land?
6) Rock Lee's hair
I have nothing wrong with his normal bowl shaped haircut, but why does his hair stay the same even after he opens the inner gates. Shouldn't they be floating upwards and stuff?
7) Lack of special moves
This the the most disappointing part. There are new moves like the Resangan, but many other key moves are left out. Kiba cannot combine with Akamaru to form that huge two headed dog, Garra cannot use his Imperial Burial, and Kakashi can only use Raikiri although his is the copy ninja who happens to have a ton of other moves.
Overall, it is a good game, definitely one of the best Naruto games. If you are a fan of Naruto, definitely get this game. If you aren't then it's up to you. Even if Naruto characters mean nothing to you, it is still a pretty decent fighting game.
Since I completed the game, I replayed the final stage and I made a video of it. I screwed up towards the end so I had to play the last fight twice. Anyways, it's a cool last level, so check it out:
Ok, I'm going to read One Piece now. Ending off, see you tomorrow.
posted @ 11:31 PM
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