neo14789's Site

Other aliases: NeoDude, Return of Neo

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Neo14789's NeoHome

Welcome to my new and improved NeoHome!  It was crap before, but now I'm doing a service to the Neo community: hardware and game reviews, and other hot info that I can't (or can't be bothered to) post in individual forums.

How Neo Rates

This isn't going to be ALL mindless ranting... you'll see ratings at the end of each review.  Now, I rate something like the dudes on G4's "Judgment Day".  If it's a game or system, I'll use a number rating, and give pros and cons.  If it's a service or accessory, I'll give it a yay or nay.  Sound good?  Kewl.

Review Index

1. Bungie's Online Scoreboards for Halo 2 (Xbox)
2. Nintendo DS
3. Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits (DS)
4. EvilLyrics (PC)

1 - Online Scoreboards for Halo 2

Release Date: November 2004                                    System: Xbox

ESRB Rating: Mature (Blood and Gore, Violence, Language)

    I already know that you all have read far too many reviews for Halo 2, so I'm not going to review it.  Instead, let me tell you about the online scoreboards at www.bungie.net.  Using the Player Finder, you can search for a player (by Gamertag) or a clan (by its name).  This gives you immense amounts of data - you can view data on any match, any time.  Data is saved for an unknown amount of time, but for the time being, every game you play is detailed in your Games page, which lists when it happened, what mode it was, what playlist you were in (if any), and what place you came in.  (Thankfully, you'll need to dig a little to find the total number of players.)  My only complaint on this is that the site can't tell clan Overlords from Peons, and thus doesn't allow you to send Clan Invites online, even if your Gamertag is linked.  But that's only a small problem: just write down the Gamertag, and invite them on your Xbox.  Overall, this is an excellent service.  Bungie has just raised the bar for the other game developers in regards to Xbox Live scoreboards.  Kudos to them.

Rating: Get it

2 - Nintendo DS, PictoChat, and MP Hunters: First Hunt

Release Date: November 2004

    The DS has a lot going for it in the way of software, as well.  Many popular games from the NES, SNES, and GCN are coming over to the DS.  Among them, and a launch title to boot, is Super Mario 64 DS (alias Super Mario 64x4), in which you start as Yoshi because Mario, Luigi, and Wario all went inside the castle and haven't come back out yet.  You also get sequels of GBA and GCN classics, like Advance Wars DS and Animal Crossing DS.  But the games that are looking the best right now are the DS originals.  These games are unique because they're designed with two screens in mind.  For example, one of the upcoming games is an RPG, in which you move around on the bottom screen, and watch story sequences on the top.  And, of course, some of your favorite franchises are coming to DS with touch interaction in mind.  Among these is Pokémon Dash, in which you make your Pokémon run faster by moving the stylus across the touch screen.  (WarioWare is also coming back for a "touching" sequel.)

    The DS does have a few negatives, however.  First, it can't play anything older than GBA in Slot-B, and it won't take an E-Reader, a GBA-GCN cable, or any multiplayer device.  That's right - you'll have to save your GBA(SP) in order to play multiplayer.  In addition, due to the twin screens, the battery life comes in just over half that of the SP with the light on: 6 hours. Inside sources say that hardware-intensive games may shorten that number a bit, and after about 500 charges, your max battery life will be about 70% of that six hours, or about 4:15.  Finally, the Touch Screen is not a user-servicable part - if it gets too scratched, you'll have to send it in for repair (which you may want to track from the website).

        Nintendo is making the DS one of the sweetest deals around right now by including two programs in the box.  One is PictoChat, built into the DS itself and available from the Main Menu.  Up to 16 people (with a DS each) can chat at once in a single room, and there are four rooms available.  Also in the box is Metroid Prime: Hunters - First Hunt.  It's a demo of the upcoming game, which features three single-player training minigames, and one multiplayer battle map (up to four players, DSDP available).

    The DS is one of the most versatile and unique game systems to grace us in a long time.  Nintendo has really outdone itself with its latest system.

Rating: 8.5/10

3 - Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits (DS)

Release Date: December 2004                                    System: DS

ESRB Rating: Everyone (no content descriptors)

   One of the strangest, and yet most addicting, puzzle franchises out today is Mr. Driller, in which you must dig through multi-colored ground in order to reach the bottom and get bonus points.  The latest iteration, Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits (which also spells out Mr. Driller DS), tasks you to tunnel though many different worlds (starting as Susumu, the original pink football head) in order to save your friends, who all have different characteristics... but the catch is, you have an air meter, and you can be killed by falling blocks from above you.  But that's not the only mode!  You also can play Pressure Driller, in which a huge drilling machine is bent on digging hundreds - or even thousands! - of meters just to ensure that you never return to the surface.  Your job is to get POW capsules, then use that power to shoot fireballs that damage the Destroyer Drill.  Blow it up to win.  You can also play a multiplayer mode, in which your job is simply to get to the goal first at all costs.  The only problem: no DSDP.  But Mr. Driller DS is still one of the best puzzle games out there, and surely the most fun.

Rating: 7.5/10

4 - EvilLyrics (PC)

System Requirements: Some form of Windows (preferably XP, obviously), WMP 9 or higher, Internet connection

   Ever get a song you really like (say, off Napster 2.0), but when it starts playing you space on the lyrics?  Fear no more, my friend.  EvilLyrics (http://www.evillabs.sk/evillyrics/) is here to save the day.  It detects the song you're playing, Googles it, and brings back the first lyrics it found in the result - and the amazing thing is, it usually does a good job.  Sure, sometimes it also brings back site comments ("Thanks to Dude for correcting this for us."), but it still is a reliable way to find the lyrics with zero work on your part. It's designed to work with Winamp, but the latest developmental build also has support for WMP 9+ and iTunes 4.6+, among others.  One of the other big features here is "karaoke", known in WMP as Synchronized Lyrics.  In short, it highlights the line that's being sung now, or displays it in the Karaoke Bar.  The catch is, you'll have to download it first, and the track has to be playing in your music player of choice.  I should note here that you can also record your own Karaoke and submit it to the site, but it's harder than you'd think - you'll have to ensure that EvilLyrics' timer is in sync with that of your player, which can be hard to do.  One other thing: EL tends to have a hard time with the tags that Napster 2.0 appends to the end of song names, so they'll have to go.  In short, EvilLyrics is a small download with big functions, and little hassle.

And more to come!