Portal 2 review

Portal 2 is the sequel to Portal and features much of the same gameplay with some great new additions such as tractor beams lasers, and other things that add to gameplay. Although some parts of the game still have the level like feel others are more open and the game strikes a nice balance between the two styles. The story is that after being put in stasis after the first game for hundreds of years the main character Chell is waken up by a robot named Wheatly who asks for her help in escaping the now crumbling Enrichment Center, but in the process they accidentally wake up GLaDOS.There is also a 2 player mode where you play as GLaDOS' test taking robots Atlas and P-body as well as a mode where you make your own levels and download others from the internet. So in theory you will never run out of levels! This game is also way more humorous then the last one and all the jokes are pretty funny. Although you can play this game if you didn't play the first one, I suggest you play that one first because it is a awesome game and it will help you better understand the story. I give 5 out of 5 stars      By Nick Starceski          review for Mac

Portal review

Portal is a game where you shoot portal to progress through out the levels get to the goal. The way it works is that you shoot a blue portal somewhere then a orange one and the blue will lead to the orange or vice versa. You can use this to jump from one portal into another increasing your velocity and launching you at great speeds. You also have to place blocks on buttons and get past deadly turrets to proceed. The story is the computer GLaDOS sends the player character Chell through a series of tests in exchange for cake but Chell discovers things may not be as they seem with GLaDOS. This is a very fun and well made game but it is a bit short.I give this 4.75 out 5 stars
By Nick Starceski                                                         reviewed for Mac

Top 10 Flying Type Pokemon

Note: There are TONS of flying type Pokemon so I chose the ones that best represent Flying types as a whole not their secondary type.
 10. Skarmory is Steel/Flying type Pokemon with Great Defense and decent attack. This Pokemon looks like a metal bird but it is slow for a flying pokemon and it's special attack isn't to good. On the other hand it has good abilities so you can't go wrong there.

9. Swellow is  Normal/Flying type pokemon with good speed and decent attack. This pokemon has the ability Guts which raises attack by 1.5 when this pokemon has a special condition, it also can learn Facade( a move that doubles in power when affected by a special condition) by TM. These two things together make this a powerful pokemon when affected by a special condition. You may want to give yours a burn orb or black sludge item to get Guts and Facade going early.

8. Hawlucha is a Flying/Fighting pokemon that looks like a bird luchador. This pokemon has good speed and attack stats making it great for physical moves.

7. Braviary is a eagle-like Flying/Normal type with a good health stat and a great attack stat. This pokemon can deal tons of damage with it's physical moves and i suggest you make yours have the Sheer Force ability to make them even stronger.

6. Crobat is a Poison/Flying type Pokemon with great speed and overall decent stats. Crobat can learn lots of moves to poison the enemy make this pokemon dangerous. It is also a poison type one of the only types to be strong against fairy types/

5. Togekiss is a Flying/Fairy type Pokemon with excellent special stats. However this pokemon has poor attack and should only learn special moves in general. You should have yours get Serene Grace ability to double secondary effects.

4. Tornadus is a Pure Flying Pokemon(the only one asides from arceus) that has two form one focused on attack and the other on defense and speed. The incarnate form has the Prankster ability which makes moves that inflict status conditions go first. The therian form has Regenerator which heal this pokemon by 33% when you switch.

3. Mega-Pidgeot is Flying/Normal pokemon which has great special attack and speed stats. This pokemon has no-guard ability which boosts' the accuracy of moves coming from and targeting it to 100%, this may be risky but you get the move Hurricane at 100% accuracy!

2. Staraptor is a Normal/Flying type pokemon with a great attack stat and good speed. This pokemon learns a lot of physical moves like Brave Bird and Close Combat making this pokemon all the better.

1. Talonflame is a Fire/Flying type pokemon. This pokemon has a great speed stat and learns a lot of high damage moves like Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. This pokemon has the ability Flamebody which means when physical attacks hit there is 30% chance of burning them. If you find the devolved form of this pokemon in the XY friend safari it will have Gale Wings which make Flying moves go first.
That's Right priority Brave Bird

Powerful Mention Mega-Rayquaza as if the normal form wasn't enough they made this pokemon a mega form. It has Epic attack stats and greats stats all around. The reason this pokemon isn't on the main list it that it wouldn't be fair. It could beat everything asides from a really well trained Gale Wings Talonflame. Even then it'd be pretty close.

Amiibo toy review

Amiibo's are Nintendo's Skylander like toy that you can put into the game. The the only game where they are currently usable is Super Smash Bros for Wii U but Nintendo has said they will be usable in other games down the line and you can currently scan them on other games like mario kart 8 for various goodies. You don't actually play as the Amiibo in Smash bros either, rather they are opponents for you to fight, allies to help you out and comrades for you to train. The amiibo level up as they fight and you can feed them power ups found in the many modes of smash to make them stronger, in addition you can customize their move-sets as well. I find it particularly fun to team up with my Amiibo and fight together. In-fact my Link Amiibo(From The Legend of Zelda) is now better than me at Smash, although this may be a reflection of me and not him. The craftsmanship on my was great and everything was painted nicely but this may change based on who you buy from.
Another added bonus is that they are completely optional and don't need a base unlike Skylanders and Disney Infinity. To put them in the game you just plop them on the NFC scanner to scan them and then plop them back on to update your toy with it's new won strength. I can't wait to see what Nintendo has in store for Amiibo in the future and I give them 4.75 out of 5 stars both as product and something in the game.     By Nick Starceski

Broken Age review

Broken Age is a point and click adventure where you Interact with the game environment in various ways. This game has two stories: Vella's story and Shay's story. Vella is a girl who is going to be sacrificed to giant monster but want's to kill it instead. Shay is a boy trapped on a spaceship treating him like a 3 year old when he would rather explore the universe. The game has an emphasis on  interacting with the things and people in the game and it is fun and relaxing. The stories and characters are well-done and there is some good humor too. This game has two acts but only the first is available right now with the next part coming out sometime in the future.
I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars                         By Nick Starceski   reviewed for Mac, iPhone/iPad

Skullduggery! Review

Skullduggery is a game where you fling a skull to collect money and take out skeletons. The story is that these skeletons don't pay their underworld taxes and you here to collect. The game play is incredibly fun as you fling you your skull to collect money and perform head shots. You can collect other things in the levels as well money, like special treasures called assets and stamps to unlock more skulls to play as. My only complaint is that there are levels where you have to move fast before a giant wall can crush you, which is stressful. It is also worth mentioning that there are no in app purchases so the 5$ is totally worth it. I give this game 4.5 out of 5 stars   By  Nick Starceski
For iPhone/iPad

Top 10 ghost type Pokemon

10. Gourgeist is a Ghost/Grass type pumpkin-like Pokemon That come in 4 different sizes ; small, medium, large and super-sized. The small you go the faster this Pokemon is, but the bigger you go the more heath and attack power this Pokemon has! One other thing is that Gourgeist can learn a few fire type moves so be prepared.

9. Jellicent is a Ghost/Water type Pokemon that looks like a frilly jellyfish. Jellicent has good health and special defense so it can take a lot of damage. This Pokemon also has some moves that inflict your Pokemon with conditions like burn which makes this Pokemon VERY ANNOYING but powerful.

8. Trevenant is Ghost/Grass type that is the ghost of a tree. This Pokemon has a great attack stat but it is very slow. I suggest you teach this Pokemon Trick Room a move that makes slow Pokemon go first and fast Pokemon go last. Trevenant also has a variety of move that heal the Pokemon using them so that is nice.

7. Chandelure is a Ghost/Fire type Pokemon that looks like an chandelier. This Pokemon has great special attack but a low health stat so it is kind of a glass cannon.

6. Cofagrigus is a Ghost type Pokemon that looks like a sarcophagus. This Pokemon's ability, Mummy, turns any Pokemon who hits Cofagrigus with an physical attack ability into Mummy as well which can be useful for negating opponents' abilities. But be careful that one of their Pokemon that you infect with Mummy doesn't infect yours.

5. Golurk is an Ghost/Ground type Pokemon with very powerful attack and can learn lots of physical move make this Pokemon that much more dangerous. On the downside this Pokemon is pretty slow so defeat it fast!

4. Dusknoir is a Ghost type Pokemon with great defensive stats as well as good attack. This Pokemon can learn Ice, Fire and Thunder punch so you never know what to expect. This Pokemon has pressure for an ability which makes it so that the energy for moves used on it deplete twice as fast, this combined with Dusknoir's defenses make this Pokemon very dangerous.

3. Giritina is an legendary Ghost/Dragon with good defenses and the pressure ability. If you give Giritina it's special item The Griseous Orb(an item that powers up Giritina's Ghost and Dragon moves by 20%) It changes to it's Origin for which has less defense stats but higher attack stats and the levitate ability which gives and immunity to ground moves.

2. Aegislash is an Ghost/Steel Pokemon that looks like a sword with a shield. This Pokemon has an special ability Stance Change that change it stats so that when it uses attack move it's attack stats are strong and it's defense stats are weak but when it uses defensive moves it's attack stats are weak and it's defense stats are strong. This makes it so that Aegislash is either defensive of offense and always very versatile! Aegislash is also a steel type one of the few counters to the very popular Fairy type pokemon.

1. Mega-Gengar is a Ghost/Poison type Mega-Pokemon. Mega-Gengar is a Mega-Pokemon with INCREDIBLE speed and special attack stat so it can destroy almost anything that it fights. Mega-Gengar's ability changes from levitate to shadow tag upon mega-evolving which makes it so that your opponent can't switch Pokemon. Mega-Gengar also has better defensive stats than it's normal form.
This Pokemon is also a poison type another counter to Fairy types.

HONORABLE MENTION Spiritomb is a Ghost/Dark type Pokemon. This Pokemon has good defenses and decent attack stats but it's heath and speed are lacking. The main feature of this Pokemon used to be no type weakness but when Fairy type Pokemon were introduced it gained one very popular weakness. I suggest you teach this Pokemon Hypnosis and Dream eater to send opponent Pokemon to sleep then drain a big chunk of their health.

By Nick Starceski    

Skylanders and Villain Review: Wallop and Broccoli Guy

Wallop is an earth trap master with two big hammers that he can swing to do damage. He can also toss  them into the air from a distance and spin throw them into the battle field. When you hold down his swing hammer button he enters tantrum mode where he pound his hammers not stop. wallop is a great skylander for handling groups of enemies or one big enemy. I give this skylander 4 out of 5 stars.

Broccoli Guy is a life villain who is made out of broccoli. He has two attacks, one where he hurts enemies and another where he places down a healing sigil for your skylanders. I can't stress enough how awesome broccoli guy is, he's gotten me out of a lot of tough situations by healing my skylanders. The way he works is you place a healing sigil and switch into your skylanders to heal them. The sigil also has food in it once you upgrade. I give Broccoli Guy 5 out of 5 stars.
 Go Broccoli Guy!!!

Skylanders Trap Team Game review

Skylanders Trap Team is the 4th Skylanders game has you putting toys onto the traptanium portal to fight villains. The new thing this time around is trapping villains in traptanium traps and playing as them. Villains have a time limit for you to play as them, although they recharge when not in use, and but if they take damage their timer goes down. You can switch between them and your skylander with a push of a button and all of the experience and money they collect gets sent to your skylander. So when you are in bad situation just switch to your villain! The story is that in effort to take over skylands Kaos breaks into Cloudcraker prison and frees the most evil villains ever, The Doom raiders and it is up to you to trap them. To play as all the villains you need one trap of every element plus the Kaos trap, there are also villains of unknown elements that we can't play as yet. In addition to this there are the brand new trap masters who can break traptanium, open traptanium gates of their element, and have an easier time beating villains. My only complaint with this game is that you can no longer fight skylanders with a friend in the arena mode.   I give this game 4.5 out of 5 stars.
By Nick Starceski                                    Reviewed for Wii U

Skylander Swap Force game review

This is a Skylanders game where you mix and match tops and bottoms of Swap Force skylanders toys. The story is that Kaos is back and is trying to "Evilize" the magic volcano on cloudbreak islands, the source of all of skylands magic. In this game the main feature is mixing and matching the tops and bottoms of Swap Force skylanders to make hundreds of different combinations. There are plenty of new features in the game as well like the ability to jump, which is actually quite fun. There are also new dual elemental zones which require either two Skylanders of matching elements or a Swap Force with both. The other new feature is the new Swap Force Zones which require a Swap Force whose bottom symbol that matches. This is the best Skylanders game yet. 4.5 out of 5 stars. By Nick Starceski

Kirby Triple Deluxe game review

Kirby Triple Deluxe is a Kirby game for the Nintendo 3DS. The main feature of this game is the new hypernova ability which appears at certain places in certain levels and allow Kirby to suck up almost everything. The hypernova is extremely fun and makes you feel very powerful. Next up are the 4 new copy abilities Archer, Circus, Beatle, and Bell. Archer allows you to become a sharp shooter, Bell is great for taking on enemies as you go through the level, With Beatle you grab enemies with your horn, and Circus is a nice way to perform acrobatic feats. There are two collectibles in this game : sunstones and keychains. While keychains are nice little trinkets to remind you of past Kirby games, sunstones are crucial to moving forward. Toward the last two worlds the difficulty increases which provides a nice step up from past Kirby games. The story is that while Kirby was sleeping a beanstalk grew into the clouds and took dreamland with it. And on the stalk were evil bug villains who kidnapped King Dedede! Along with the main game there is a fighting mode where you fight other Kirby's and one where press buttons to the rhythm of the music with King Dedede. After you beat the game you unlock two new modes where you take on all the bosses one after another and  one where you replay the game as King Dedede. This is a great Kirby game. 4.5 out of 5 stars. By Nick Starceski.
                                                                                                                    For the Nintendo 3DS

Pokemon X and Y Game review

Pokemon X and Y are Pokemon Games for the Nintendo 3DS. They feature brand new Pokemon and a whole new type as well as a new way to evolve. The new Pokemon have some of the best designs yet even if there aren't as many. Mega evolution is a brand new way to temporarily evolve your Pokemon in the middle of a battle. To mega evolve your Pokemon must first be holding their corresponding mega stone and then you can mega evolve them and make them stronger. However each trainer can only mega evolve once per battle, so you can only have one mega Pokemon during a battle.
The new fairy type is a great addition to the Pokemon series. They are immune to dragon moves and resistant against fighting, dark, and bug. They are do more damage against fighting, dark, and dragon.  However they are weak to poison and steel, as well as not doing much damage against fire, poison, and steel. In these regards they seem a bit overpowered. The game it's self is great with a beautiful region and nice story. The experience share now not only gives experience to one of your other Pokemon, but all of them! This makes the game a little easier to say in the least. My one complaint is that there is little to do after you beat the game. These are great Pokemon games and there has never been a better time to start. 4.5 out of 5 stars. By Nick Starceski                                                                                                                                                                                          for Nintendo 3DS