Video games

Recently, I bought the latest in the Mario & Luigi RPG series: Bowser's Inside Story. And I absolutely loved it. Clever dialogue, slapstick, fun gameplay and characters, etc. It was all really great stuff. I was checking out the message boards for it and the internet people were saying that, yes it was a great game, but the first one, Superstar Saga, was just as good, if not better. They also said that the middle installment, Partners in Time, was absolute ass. Since I loved the newest one so much, I decided I wanted to play the other two as well, even if the second one wasn't so good.

I went to the local Gamestop for a used copy (new copies run over $30) and I hated it. I didn't even finish it. Unresponsive controls, timed mini-games that require luck rather than skill (I played the one game 40 times before I could even finish it), horrible dialogue (I was told the game was "hilarious"), terrible graphics and sound which should have been better even though it was only a Gameboy Advance game (GBA was capable of so much more), amongst other things. I don't think I even made it a third of the way into the game before I took it out and got my money back. I was kinda upset that I didn't like it at all, but I COULDN'T. It was a damn shame.

At the same time, I ordered a used copy of Partners in Time off of eBay, and I'm enjoying it a lot more. Better controls, humor, etc. There's no exploration factor to it; the main story gets forced on you and there's nothing extra to do, so that's a minus, but Suprstar Saga was so goddamn boring. Seriously, everyone who said the first one was good need to not be living any longer.