Chocolatier - Decadence by Design

My Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

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Chocolatier series has always been my favourite game for its unique simulation gameplay which stands out among downloadable games which have been overflown by countless Time Management game since Diner Dash. However the previous title The Great Chocolate Chase was a disappointment being a boring Time Management game. I was overjoyed therefore, to know that Chocolatier Decadence by Design returns to its roots as good old simulation game.

Gameplay:

In Chocolatier Decadence by Design player is given a chocolate factory at beginning of game where the player needs to play a minigame to decide the amount of chocolate automatically produced every week as long as the ingredients are sufficient. Ingredients can be bought from shops located around the world which player can travel by plane with an expense, while special ingredients can only be bought at certain places. Chocolates produced are store in player's hand and can be sold to chocolate shops at varies prices depending on the location.

As the game progress player will acquire new recipes, shops and factories that produce other product such as coffee. From time to time quests will be given to player to produce certain product at required amount and the reward is usually high than shop's offer.

The game's goal is to become CEO of Baumeister Confections by completing all recipes and obtaining consent from several members of the board by completing every quest assigned by them.

Graphic and Sound:

The graphic has evolved quite a bit since Chocolatier 2. On each map there are simple smooth animations eg. the cloud movement, raindrop, cars passing-by etc. Well drawn portraits give the each of the characters an unique personality. Simple but modernised layout fits well with the atmosphere in game which takes place after World War II. Newly added quest log allows player to track down imcomplete quests.

Each location on map has it own background music that fits well to the place while sound effects like bird chirping managed to live up the game.

Creativity and Innovation:

Chocolatier Decadence by Design offers unique gameplay that is rarely seen in other business simulation game. In this game player is allowed to create own invention, including selecting ingredients, designing the pattern and name of the invention, producing it in factory to be sold to shops. The ingredient can be anything that can be bought in the game and pricing will depend on the quality of ingredient used.

Upon buying ingredients and selling products, player has the option to haggle with shop owner for a better price. When success the price will turn green and become much lower(or higher when selling products)than before while failure may lead to opposite result if the player has angered the owner.

Overall not only this game does not disappoint me but also it has improved some much from previous titles that a 5/5 is not enough to rate it. In fact it even beats some retails DVD games that cost a lot more, in quality. I would strongly recommend it to those who love business simulation game and of course, chocolates.

Microsoft Xbox 360

My Rating: 4/5(Good)

Advantages:
Large game library, great online service
Disadvantages:
3ROD, expensive accessories


I bought a Xbox360 back in 2007 and I am glad that I've chosen Xbox360 over PS3 when a lot of great games came out in 2008 and famous publishers in Japan expressed their support to this console with their newest title eg. TOV, Infinite Undiscovery .

Besides, Xbox360 has the best and most stable online multiplayer service and a large library of Arcade games that can be downloaded from marketplace.

Microsoft is also the one that take care of Asian users most. A lot of games on Xbox360, especially those published by Microsoft itself, come with multi-language including Chinese which is rarely seen in video games.

However I would not consider this console to be perfect. Firstly Xbox360 has been well known for its 3ROD problem which is cause by overheat. While the chance to be hit by 3ROD has been greatly decreased by releasing new model and providing 3 years warranty, people in countries without Microsoft Xbox branch office, especially those who own the older model, is left behind.

Secondly Microsoft charge very high on the accessories such as hard disk, online kit etc. Furthermore Microsoft is aggresively banning people who modified the console to use pc hard disk even though the console does not play pirated games.

Overall I am happy with this console as it has a lot more choices of game as compared to PS3.

Nintendogs

My Rating: 4/5 (Good)

Advantages:
Cute puppies with interactions, highly addictive
Disadvantages:
May become repetitive after a while

I got this game as part of package when I bought a second hand NDS. It has always been a game I longed for because I wasn't allowed to have a dog at that time.

Nintendogs comes in various version that has same total breeds but different starters. After selecting a breed the player will be given a space and a few stuffs to keep the puppy. To keep the puppy happy, player need to get more items by buying with cash won from competition or by finding them during walk. As the game progress player can keep up to three puppies at same time.

One of the features that makes Nintendogs different than other pet simulation games is that it allows player to call his pet's name or giving instruction with mic, and pet or poke the puppy with stylus. Another feature is that this game follows real time which means player have to switch on the game to feed and bath the puppy or it will become hungry and dirty as time goes by. This keep player addictive at first, but may become boring when player is forced to replay competitions and walk the puppy.

The downside of the game also include the puppy never grow up, speech recognition (there are cases where some players couldn't even finished the naming part because the game has problem recognizing the name)

In short this game is a must buy to pet lovers who could not have a pet at home, or those who loves puppy but hates cleaning smelly poo.

Dynasty Warriors 6

My Rating: 2/5(Poor)

Advantages:
Excellent music
Disadvantages:
Unfinished, Absence of items, special weapons and certain characters, poor loading speed


I was so excited when KOEI release its news last year that I bought a Xbox360 for it, which I would regret later have Xbox360 not a lot other excellent title.

Dynasty Warriors 6 is a huge disappointment.

The game graphic is nice compared to last few DWs but is so-so as a next gen video game. The in-game lighting effect is pretty good though. Being a title originally planned to release exclusively on PS3, Xbox360 version blurry pre-recorded CG movies.

The gameplay system is a whole new experience makes the game a love-it-or-hate-it, but I missed the fun collecting special items, weapons and horses because DW6 has none of them. DW6 does not support Xbox Live multiplayer. It only allows players to upload highscores from Challange Mode.

DW6 has removed several popular characters including Da Qiao and Xing Cai. Of all remaining characters only about 1/3 has their own story mode while most of others are using recurring motions makes it being called unfinished game among DW fans.

In-game music are fantastic. The mix of hard, metal rock and Chinese instruments never fails in this series, but this is my most favourite of whole series.

In short this game would have been a lot better if it weren't so unfinished. Those who can't wait to experience a whole new Dynasty Warriors may want to grab it but sticking with Musou Orochi 2 while waiting for the next installment may have been a better idea.

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS

My Rating: 1/5(Very Poor)

Advantages:
Well drawn card portraits featuring characters from SNK and Capcom titles
Disadvantages:
Poor and repetitive gameplay, Dull story

I was overjoyed when SNK Playmore announced this as the previous titles on Neogeo Pocket Color back before SNK went bankrupt were classics.

However, SNK Playmore screwed up big on this one.

Gameplay is broken and repetitive, the first side to act is always on advantage. Furthermore AI is so poor that it's almost a guaranteed win if player acts first.

Story is dull, dialogue repeats in similar pattern. All you do is climbing the tower, fighting brainwashed opponents and bosses, buy cards with money won from duels, climbing the tower...

The only thing good in this game is that card portraits are well-drawn, not to mention rare cards are drawn by talented illustrators from SNK Playmore and Capcom.

SNK and Capcom fans may like this game for its illustrations, but don't expect it to be half as good as the one on NGPC. Stay away from this game if you are not a fan of SNK or Capcom.

Sony Ericsson W880i Walkman

My rating: 3/5 (Satisfactory)

Advantages:
Nice phone design, Reasonable pricing for 3G phone
Disadvantages:
2MP Camera without autofocus, Does not support radio, poor keypad design


Bought this phone last year when my mother wanted to have my previous phone W810. I was pretty happy with it at first but is now considering switching to a Nokia phone after I found out that the phone doesn't have a blacklist to block a crazy stranger's numerous sms and calls when I was preparing for exam.

As a walkman phone it has excellent quality when listening music with earphone. Its lack of radio function is not a big problem to me as I mainly use it to store mp3s.

For me the design is superb...except the keypad. The phone itself is slim, small and light but the keypad button is simply silly.

The 2 megapixel camera without auto focus makes it rather useless, or at least a lot worse than even W810i.

Apart from these it is a good choice for those who could not afford high end phone considering its reasonable pricing.