DSi Ware: Soul of Darkness Review

As a result of only being able to add £10 at a time into the 3DS shop I had some spare money to buy games with. This game caught my eye as I had previously enjoyed Castlevania games which Soul of Darkness is very similar to,  I had also read a review online which was positive.

Firstly, the good points about the game. Whilst it is a copy of the Castlevania style it is at least a good one, with decent gameplay. The graphics are nice with good style but are nothing special. The game also contains an interesting weapon skill system where weapons can be upgraded using collected 'soul shards'.
The reason the 'positives' paragraph is so short is not because of my own laziness, it is unfortunately just a poor game.
There is just no depth to the game. Whilst the weapons system is interesting there are only two weapons in the entire game that can only be upgraded to three levels. There was a great opportunity to give options to the player in regards to the weapons they use, but to offer just two is really lazy. There is also no real difficulty in the game. If you die, you start at the beginning of the section you were at which is not much of a bother given how small the levels are. Hard mode might as well not exist as it is identical to the normal game but with about two extra enemies a level.
To top it all off what is basically a game that a cheap mobile phone could run costs roughly £4, I wish I did not buy it.

White Chocolate and Hazelnut Cheesecake Recipe

Here's the recipe again from a cookbook.

Preparation Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 1.5 hours
Cooling Time: 3 hours

Ingredients- Base: 150g Rich Tea biscuits, 1 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp unsalted butter                                   (melted)
                   Filling: 75g hazelnuts, 75g sugar, 1kg cream cheese, 4 large eggs, 1 large egg yolk,  1 tsp vanilla extract, pinch of ground nutmeg, 300g white chocolate, icing sugar.

To make the base: Grind the biscuits to a fine texture in a food processor. In a bowl combine the biscuits with the sugar and the melted butter. Press the mixture on to the base of the springform tin (23cm tin).

To make the filling: Roast the hazelnuts on a dry baking tray in the oven for about 10-15 minutes (on gas mark 6), then rub off their skins. Put the sugar with two tablespoons of water in a pan and heat gently to dissolve, then boil until it is a rich caramel colour. Place hazelnuts on an oiled tray and pour the caramel on top. Leave to harden, then break into pieces and pulse in a food processor until coarsely ground. Set aside.

Pulse the cream cheese in a food processor until smooth, then work in the eggs and egg yolk, vanilla extract and nutmeg. Process until smooth. Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over saucepan of barely simmering water, ensuring that the water does not touch the base of the bowl. Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and, finally the ground hazelnut.

Pour the mixture on to the base and bake for about 1.5 hours (on gas mark 2) until lightly set. Turn off the oven and leave to go cold and set. Remove from the oven and dust with the icing sugar.

Cheescake

It's the summer holidays and I've got a lot of free time now so I made this awesome cheesecake.

 It's a white chocolate and hazelnut cheesecake, I'm currently searching around for the recipe which I will post up some time later. For now you can enjoy the picture.

Ocarina of Time 3DS + Virtual Console

I bought Ocarina of Time last week and have to say it really is  as good a game as everyone says it is. I never played the original on the N64 so I had to buy this as It's the first 'proper' game I wanted for the 3DS. The game follows the typical Zelda storyline which whilst  is repetitive, I had played Twilight Princess on the Wii which was very similar, does provide a great platform for the great game play to be experienced. The main changes to the 3DS version are the much improved graphics which look great in 3D. As you can see from the video the game looks better, however it looks at its best in full motion compared to photos.

If you haven't played the original then this is absolutely a game worth getting, and is by far the best game available for the 3DS.

Also, just a cool little thing to do with the 3DS virtual console. I downloaded Alleyway just to check this out. Holding start and select then pressing on the Game Boy game you want to play brings up the game in it's original resolution with a cool Game Boy border that works in 3D.