Video Games Are For Girls Too - Reviews

Click here for My Video Game Collection

See also: vid game shop, vid game trade list

My semi boring history with video games:

Video games have always been in the background of my life. My dad brought us home an Intellivision in the late 70s, we had AD&D, Tanks, Tron, Horse Racing, baseball, and about 8 or 10 more I think. D&D and horse racing were my faves. In the mid 80s I think my brother lent it to a friend and it never came back. We hadn't used it anyway for a while at that point (the games were in the basement for many years after that, of course they were gone by the time I realized I could actually buy a old used Intellivision). I think before the Intellivision we got this handheld mini space invader type thing, still have it! We also got a few small Star Wars electronic games here and there.
Around 1983 we got an Apple IIc (we didn't have the mouse though) as a bar mitzvah gift for my brother. We mostly played games on it, we had Tapper, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and our fave was Miner 49er. I used to rent some of the text rpgs from the library. We had some other semi educational games my dad got from some toy company as a promotion but the fun one was crappy and buggy. It was a game about how much pizza & alcohol you can drink before you die. Very primitive, of course we'd choose no pizza and 10 beers in an hour but the game froze and freaked out after a few rounds. I actually did some basic programming on it in 8th grade for my computer class. That would be the last computer related class I had until college.
In the early to mid 80s I had a friend who lived across the street who had an Atari 2600 and we played Indiana Jones a lot.
A long term boyfriend of my late teens to early 20s got his little brother's old SNES when he'd gotten a Sega. I still have that SNES. He traded in all the games one day to the comic book store for cash without asking me, believe me I was pissed! one of the 2 games I wanted to keep were Zelda and Super Mario 3. At that time we could also rent SNES games from Blockbuster and the library. I only liked cartoony games like beavis & butthead and ren & stimpy. I didn't know a thing about RPGs but I'd have liked them if I knew.
Then in the mid 90s computers went from something I despised to something I couldn't live without. When I got my very own Win 95 computer I began to pick up a few games here and there. I didn't even play them much, just liked to have a collection of ones I thought were really cool. Phantasmagoria 2, Neverhood, and Simpsons: Virtual Springfield I did actually complete with walkthroughs.
At 31, 2004, and I have at least 150 video games combined. You can see what systems I have based on the games I own listed below. What I'm playing at time of writing (Apr-May 04): Aninal Crossing GC, LOTR Two Towers GBA, Broken Sword GBA, Metroid Prime GC, DDR Max PS2, Kingdom Hearts PS2, Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance II XBOX, Return of the King PS2, and Champions of Norrath PS2. I'm working on this section slowly. I am going to do some reviews for a girl gamers unite website too. Thankfully I get the G4TV channel on digital cable where I live now. This station is a game geek dream come true, my favorite shows are Judgement Day, G4TV.com, Blister, Cheat!. All the shows are great, though I'm not so into Sweat (sports vid games) and Players (about celebs and what games they play). Icons is also a great show, sometimes it's about a mega influential person to gaming, sometimes it's about a whole gaming company or system. They even have a weekly news show and up to the minute new info on the whole industry. My only complaint is that it goes off air about 3 am till 9 am.
My dad worked in the toy industry for 40 years, he retired a few years ago but still does an online toy industry newsletter and thanks to that -- ATARI sends him press releases with video games!!! So far we've gotten everything but GameCube games and they haven't been sending them since the winter holiday season.
I have really bad RSI (repetitve stress injury / typing injury) in my hands & wrists from too much typing over years and games hurt too. I usually wear my typing gloves while gaming and an ergo controller is really important to me.
May 07: After 2 hardcore years of Everquest 2 I am taking an MMO break, in part to get my new house in order more. I will not upgrade to PS3 or the new XBOX or WII (or even PSP or DS) just yet, I just can't justify it having several hundred unfinished games for the great systems I have! I will be doing DDR more cause I'm feeling out of shape, and its fun. Gutair Hero 2 coming soon to my old school PS2.

I like RPGs and platformers the most. I'm trying to learn strategy though and there's a few FPSs I like.

Here are 2 good sites for girl games: games4women & games4girls.
GameFAQs is where you go when you need a walkthrough or any info on a game.

I have super Gamer PC, GC, PS2, GBA, Sega Genesis (Broken?), Sega CD, SNES.

The Reviews

GameCube
As for the GC itself as a console, I love how cute and small it is and the mini cds are also cute. The controls are comfy, buttons large and easy to get to, it has fewer buttons than the other 2 systems, the graphics can be as amazing as the other systems but for some reason at least a few games I've played on multi systems are rendered horribly on GC. The reasons to own this system are: Animal Crossing, Metroid, Zelda, Viewtiful Joe. For $99, it is totally worth it and the games will only go down in price.

Animal Crossing - Nintendo / GC
See screenshots of my game
Peanut was my best friend tills she moved to another town someone made, now I hate that bitch. That's ok, I got this really cute new squirrel girl though she's a snob, and I got a bunny named Snake that I taught to say bunnypee and a black sheep. This game is about collecting and feng shui and taking to the animals that you live in a little town with. If you crave action and gunfights don't bother with this, but if you want a game that's relaxing, pretty, and has plenty of activities without bogging you down with too much, this game is so worth it's price, especially with dropping prices. If you don't cheat and time travel you have to play it for a full year to see all the seasons and get all the special dated items you are given on certain holidays (mothers day, earth day, halloween and a few that are original to the game I think, or perhaps Japanese). One part in the game is getting the fountain to tell you you have a perfect town (instead of need more trees in this acre, or too many weeds, or satisfactory but needs more effort). I found from faqs that you need 12-14 trees per acre to get perfect town. It's a pain to count some of the acres so I never bothered with this but I decided to do it today and damn I have 21 trees in some acres and 8 in others. I hadn't tried too hard because you get the golden axe for keeping a perfect town for 2 weeks and I already got it with a code.
These are my biggest gripes with the game:
I wish you could at least tag one animal that you can make sure they don't move away. My fave so far, Peanut the pink squirrel moved to my another town when I took the train and I hate that backstabbing bitch now. Though Snake the bunny moved in, he/she is pretty cool. I can't tell the gender of a LOT of the animals (Someone recently told me that when you talk to them it will be blue or pink for b/g). I have 3 cows right now (Stu, T-bone, Chuck).
The shop isn't open 24 hours. Some people like to play at night or even really early. I do. I know you can set the clock to run however you want, but I like it to go on real time.
Not enough room to carry much. I fill up with fish or shells in no time. I remedy this by keeping 3 old letters on me and storing my fishing rod, shovel, & net there (I used to carry the axe too but I rarely use it so I keep it in my basement now).
Letter writing. I hate it. I don't do it. I tried hooking up a keyboard with the GC hookup and it doesn't work with the game.
The dialogue every time you enter and leave the shop and the police station. (I have severe typing injury, my hands and wrists hurt a lot, I wear typing gloves to play games even, the more button presses the more pain for me)
They all say the same LONG boring stuff everytime Gracie or Wendell or Katrina or whoever are coming to town.
I think it's the midnight music that's really pretty when it starts, but I do find all the music repetitive for a game that can last you over a year!
Where are the paintings?? I only have gotten 3 so far in over 4 months of play. Though in the last 2 weeks I've cought like 6 new fish for the museum, including the one that's only in the waterfall and the one that's only in the ocean when it rains.
You can't paint your roof the color you want at any time. The color rotates daily you can get in the shop so you have to wait for the one you want and pay 900+ bells to have Nook paint it for you. For the 2nd time now one of my stupid animals has painted it black saying oops I thought you wanted me to!!! And JUST THE OTHER DAY I got it back to pink from the first repainting. This is annoying as hell.

(more game reviews to come)

GBA
I did not get the SP because it came out only a year after I got my clear pink GBA (as I complained it wasn't backlit) and I was pissed off they released it only 2 years after GBA. I was literally going to buy the afterburner kit last week so it would be backlit and like a month earlier they stopped selling it and I can't find one anywhere but overpriced on ebay, eventually I picked one up though. I like the shape of GBA better, more ergonomic. Plus, it's pink. I mean, black, silver, metallic red are cool, but pink... (I also have the clear purple GBC). Reasons to own it: Well, portability silly. The teeny game carts are sooo cute. Actually Pokemon is probably one of the few exclusive things to it so far, LOTR Two Towers and Return of the King are amazing on it, Metroid Fusion, Boktai (your sun gun charges only in the ACTUAL sun outside).

XBOX
Most games available on all 3 systems seem to be best on this one. I think in many ways it is the most superior. The controllers are very comfy for me, it lets you put your own music into the games, and probably best of all, you don't even need a memory card! It can store.. I don't know the # but a LOT of data. I highly reccomend at least 1 mem card though since my many hours of Voodoo Vince were erased "mysteriously" (yeah right, I know dickwad deleted it and blamed his friend). Plus, then you can take your saves to your buds house. I don't have one, used to play it at someone else's house. XBOX does crash occasionally. Reason to own it: Halo, D&D Heroes, Morrowind, Voodoo Vince.

PS2
Sony knows their shit (I used to work for them before they laid off my entire department and shut down the NJ offices a few years ago), but a lot of the PS2 games have very slow loading times and it is the system I've had odd freezes on. The controllers are the least comfortable for me, but that is not to say I hate them. Why to own it: Gallop Racer 2001 (and probably 2003), Champions of Norrath, Kingdom Hearts, Castlevania.

PSP
Playstation Portable. Looks cool, don't have one yet.

DS
Nintendo DS, I will get one someday.

Wii
Get off your but and play video games! On the list of get someday, but then there may be a few generations till I get another system.