PixlBit

I haven't watched Angry Joe in a while. The fact he lives in Austin. TX kind of ties this all together, though. lol

Well, leeradical42 has a point (http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/Americas-Drunkest-Cities/Austin-TX.php), although that's not the best of reasons to go there, I'd say the diversity of the place is a better reason to go, it is an awesome city. You can get drunk on most days in any U.S. city, especially ones with a nearby college, trust me. lol

Anyway, sounds like a fun game, now I'm going to check out this poorly textured rock review.

I guess they were talking about the 3D special stages, so never mind. It just wasn't clear because the bulk of Sonic CD is not in that perspective, while Sonic 3D is.

Normal Sonic CD stage

Special Sonic CD stage

Sonic 3D Blast stage

Anyway, that weed story is a bit tamer than what I thought they did, just cause weed is weed (and not cocaine),but I've never had a joint with a boss; the 70s sound awesome. lol

I think if being hardcore involves spending money on a disappointing piece of hardware when other legal alternatives exist, being hardcore is overrated.

They followed roughly the same formula, so I think you might feel similar about them, but they were a bit larger in scope in my mind, so I can't tell you that for sure.

I think a lot of those reviews are done in comparison to what else is available. Like maybe this game wasn't bad, but other games had similar gameplay AND were aesthetically pleasing, so what's the point, in their eyes?

I agree though, gameplay comes first, even if I do enjoy the spectacle of great graphics and such.

The time limits weren't so bad to me, it was the length of time spent waiting for events to happen that got really grating. But the dark story and masks kept me going.

Yeah, I had been past the last four dungeons for quite a long time, it was the mask hunt holding me up.

Yeah, I saw the AVGN episode for that one. It doesn't bother me with save file games when the hardest part is at the end, but those NES classics? I don't know if I could do it. Luckily, at the time we still had those in the house, I sucked enough I never had to get that frustrated. Yup; "aim low, stay happy," that's my motto.

The time mechanic actually has a cool development story behind it, it's basically a really creative way to deal with time constraints on the developers themselves, but its execution can be iffy to say the least, I agree. But at the same time I think it's really creative, and if they would just get rid of the parts where you have to wait ten minutes DOING NOTHING I think it might shoot up to being one of my favorites, but alas that's not the case.

I will fully admit, it is the most original of the Zelda games. If they added an option to skip certain sections where you have no choice but to make Link wait for too many minutes at a time, I might even have it as my favorite 3D Zelda. Only that's not the case, but I definitely appreciate what they were going for.