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Red Steel 2 Review:

Let’s just get this out of the way up front; Red Steel 2 does everything that you expected out of the first title gameplay-wise. It’s truly a shame that this wasn’t the game released alongside the Wii console back in 2006. Easily one of the most solid Wii MotionPlus efforts yet, the title does a masterful job at showcasing just how much the accessory can do wonders for how a game can feel and play, as it gives way to some of the most visceral, realistic, and downright fun gameplay mechanics that Nintendo’s little white box has ever seen. And while not everything else is up to par, what Red Steel 2 does correctly showcases the Wii’s strengths in ways that will leave any action-thirsty gamer begging for more.

 

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Batman: Arkham Asylum Review:

 

In the classic debate of Superman versus Batman I have always found myself on the side of the Dark Knight. Sure, Superman could easily beat him to a pulp when you think about it realistically, but what’s fun about a super hero who is invincible except for a single weakness? Well when it comes to video games I think a clear winner has been decided. Batman: Arkham Asylum might be the best super hero game ever, while the horror of Superman 64 has forever marred the reputation of the man of steel.

 

Batman: Arkham Asylum lets you play as the caped crusader during what the developers call “the worst night of his life”. Joker is in custody and you are taking him to Arkham Asylum but things seem off. Batman is worried that something is wrong since Joker was caught too easily; it's almost as if he wanted to be caught. With that glaring foreshadow out of the way Joker soon escapes with the help of Harley Quinn and has taken over all of Arkham Asylum’s security systems. He lets loose the residents of Arkham and suddenly Batman is faced with the likes of Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow. You have to battle all of the released super villains in one way or another, as well as the many minions that Joker has brought along with him from Blackgate Prison, in order to get Arkham back under control.

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White Knight Chronicles Review:

White Knight Chronicles is one of those long awaited games for the Playstation 3 that we have seen footage of at every E3 for years. The wait certainly wasn’t helped by an exceedingly long wait for the game to be localized for Western release. Combining an MMO-like online component with a single player JRPG sounds like a perfect way to increase playtime and allow people to continue exploring a game’s world, but have Level 5 bitten off more than they can chew with this challenge?

The story is a variant of one of the most basic video game plots in existence. A princess is in trouble and it’s your job to go save her. Leonard is the hero of the story who was delivering wine to Princess Cisna’s coming-of-age party when a mysterious group known as the Magi crash the party and kidnap Cisna after killing her father and the foreign dignitary that he had hoped to foster peace with. During this raid Leonard attempts to escape with Cisna through underground passages beneath the palace and ends up randomly coming upon and gaining the power of a Knight, a long dormant weapon from ancient times. So now you have a kingdom with no ruler, an impending war with a neighboring kingdom, a princess to save and the power to fix any one of these problems. Leonard is a typical adolescent boy, so he decides to think with his lower brain and you go running off after the princess.

 

 

None of this dooms the story to being bad, sure it is rather a cliché to be a young boy fighting to save a princess, but it’s how the story is told that makes it bad. It seems like every fifth or sixth time someone in this game opens their mouth they’re saying something stupid that makes me cringe. If you're a fan of JRPGs you will be more prepared for these moments than most, but even I was not fully ready for it. I think the inclusion of voice acting has been a detriment to low quality JRPGs with a lot of clichés in their stories because it makes them that much more obvious. There just aren't enough positives in this game’s story to make up for all the times when I wanted to turn the TV off, or at least mute it. Sappy romance scenes even make an entrance when Leonard dances with the projected image of the princess across a lake. Why exactly Leonard could walk on water at that point is beyond me.

The gameplay mechanics in White Knight Chronicles seem like an inexplicable decision on the part of the developers, until you remember that this game is not just a JRPG but also an MMORPG. The battle system plays out in real time as you take control of one of the three members of your party. Every 5-6 seconds a ring in the bottom right corner will fill up and then you can use one of your character abilities. Most abilities cost action chips which you replenish by either taking damage or dealing damage, while a few cost MP. You don’t get a massive amount of action chips, so most of your moves will be taken up performing the cost-free basic attack again and again. It is an extremely slow battle system that is for the most part boring. Most fights take absolutely no strategy to win and you find yourself cursing the slowly filling ring as you wait to press the button for your next basic attack. Characters that are in battle that you don’t directly control can have their general tactics set, but these are very limited, so if you want someone to tank you are going to have to do that yourself and trust the computer to complete the relatively simple jobs of dealing damage and healing.

 

 

Leveling the characters gives you skill points that you can use to customize each character’s job. The skill choices are based around the weapon that you want that person to use or whether you want them to heal or cast black magic. Weapons range from a bow, 2-handed sword, and axe for damage dealers, to a wand for casters, and a one-handed sword or one-handed spear for tanks. Skills you obtain when putting points into each of these weapons are designed well enough to allow for different playstyles while still giving you the tools you need to do the specific job it is designed for. However, using these skills brings forward one of White Knight Chronicles’ biggest annoyances.

You have 3 menus of 7 possible skills that you can assign each character, and they can only use these 21 skills that you assign them. This leads to a massive amount of largely boring menu work as you assign skills to each character that the AI will probably never make them use anyway, but you have to assign them for it to even be a possibility. Characters also have a limited number of items they can carry and use during battle, which is expected and fine, but their equipment is included in these items. This means that whenever you want to switch around equipment you either have to do it from the item screen (which doesn’t let you see how the new equipment affects the character’s stats but does let you switch items from character to character), or change equipment in the equipment screen, go back to the item screen to pass the equipment from one character to another and then back to the equipment screen in order to equip the character that received the items. Both of these are poor choices for a single player JRPG that were a consequence of the inclusion of the MMORPG multiplayer.

 

 

The big draw of the battle system is the ability to turn into the massive knights. For 7 or more action chips certain characters have the ability to turn into ~20 foot tall knights which do massive damage. Every action you do in knight form costs MP and your MP slowly depletes just from being in the form. If your MP depletes completely then you are forced back into human form. The actions you have available to you are based on how many action chips you use to go into knight form but they are all just single target melee abilities or larger area of effect abilities of varying types and cost. Sadly the knights come down to being an “I win” button for any fight that might have otherwise been challenging. Just make sure you save up enough action chips and you can massacre every boss or otherwise tough enemy without much worry. The only time using the knights requires any form of strategy is when they are fighting alone and can’t heal since you have to balance doing greater damage with not depleting your MP. If you have a healer even this becomes a non-issue and you can just slowly bash away with basic attacks without worrying about running out of MP or dying.

Once you finish the single player you still aren’t quite done with all the game has to offer. As I’ve mentioned before there are also some MMORPG aspects to the title that help give it longevity. When you start up the single player you are asked to customize and name your own character that adventures alongside the main characters in the storyline. This is largely meaningless as your character is mute and does nothing meaningful in the story, but it transitions nicely into the multiplayer since you will already be acquainted with your avatar for the online portion of the game.

 

 

Quests take place as instances within previously visited areas of the single player. You and 3 of your friends, or newly met strangers, can work through quests with varying objectives that usually end in some form of boss battle. Once you complete the quest you are given guild points which work towards increasing your guild ranking, which in turn gives you access to new quests. The only annoying part to this system is that the quests are designed for certain levels, so if you start playing multiplayer after completing the single player you are in for a whole lot of low level quest grinding before you can host quests that are appropriate for your level. Luckily you can join any quest regardless of your guild ranking, so you aren’t totally limited to low level questing, you just can’t host those same quests until you increase your guild ranking.

Probably the best part of the online is the ability to make your own town using the georama system, similar to that in Dark Cloud. You purchase buildings to place in your hometown and throughout the cities. In the single player you can find residents with different jobs that you can recruit to inhabit your town. Once you have spruced up the place you can upload it to Geonet, which allows anyone to visit and see what you have to offer. It makes for a great space to hang out with your friends and from here you can host and join quests with people you know instead of allowing the game to find random people for you. Geonet also has a forum that you can access directly from the game, but it's annoying that it forces you to agree to a terms of service every time you sign in.

 

 

Graphically White Knight Chronicles is pretty average from a technical standpoint. There are some nice large areas that you can explore, as well as large towns, and everything looks fairly pretty from a distance, but the closer you get the sloppier it looks. This also applies to the characters themselves, as White Knight Chronicles is home to some of the most obviously bad lip synching I have seen in a long time. One wonders if they even knew it was a problem since they never fail to do a close up whenever someone talks during a cutscene. Most of these cutscenes are done using the in-game engine, which is nice because it means that the characters will actually change appearance when you change their equipment, but this does result in some hair clipping into armor. Other cutscenes are pre-rendered and look markedly better, though still not amazing.

Sound design doesn’t come off any better sadly. Voice acting ranges from decent to downright terrible, and I’m still trying to figure out why that one rabbit had an Indian accent. It’s hard to tell if I was cringing because of the lines they were saying or how they said it sometimes, but regardless the combination was hard to listen to. Music is muted and doesn’t stand out very much but when you listen it does fit the mood nicely enough.

Value is easily White Knight Chronicles’ best feature, but even that isn’t amazing. The single player only lasted me 23 hours with a good amount of exploring on the way, which is pretty abysmal for a JRPG. That is made up for with the multiplayer that I mentioned before, but there aren't that many unique quests to complete before you start merely repeating the same quests with higher level enemies, so it isn’t endless or anywhere near as compelling as a typical MMORPG. There is a new game+ feature but it seems pointless since all the enemies stay the same level and the story is unchanging.

 

 

White Knight Chronicles seems like a really cool idea. Combining MMORPG style gameplay with a JRPG could help to keep people engaged in a game that would otherwise be a one-shot deal. Sadly, this focus seems to have a detrimental effect on the game in general and has made the gameplay go at a snail’s pace. The single player is too short, and the item management is annoying. It isn’t without its good sides, since the online questing aspects and the ability to visit other people’s hometowns can be a lot of fun, and I love having large areas that I’m free to explore in the singleplayer campaign, but overall this is a decidedly below average JRPG.

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No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle Review:

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is an ambitious sequel to the one of the Wii’s premier games of 2008 and one that fans of Travis’ quest to become the number one ranked assassin have been waiting for with bated breath for a long time. Well the wait is over, Travis Touchdown is back in a big way and with him comes more carnage, more mayhem, more awkward sexiness and of course more crazy moments from everyone’s favourite anime loving, wrestling fanatic assassin. Does Desperate Struggle slice up the rankings or is this just another bloody corpse set to litter the streets of Santa Destroy?

 

The second game in the No More Heroes series takes place roughly three years after the original, where we saw Travis climb the ranks to become the number one assassin in Santa Destroy, a city that has changed drastically thanks to the corporations taking over and pushing small businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. Travis has since retired from the world of professional assassinations but the murder of a close friend forces him pick up the Beam Katana once again and set off on a blood soaked mission of revenge. This time around Travis is ranked 51st (one of many in game references to series creator Suda 51) and must eliminate all who stand in his way to reach the top and get his vengeance. If you have never experienced the original No More Heroes don’t worry, as the story is completely independent and doesn’t rely on the events of the original to move along. There are even several allusions to this with 4th wall breaking moments such as a conversation between Travis and Sylvia where they mention that the ‘player would not be interested in knowing what happened three years ago.’ The story while presenting a very mature narrative never takes itself too seriously and is easily one of the most unique games in terms of story telling with many over the top and zany moments that will leave you scratching your head but also laughing out loud.

 

 

For those who have played the original No More Heroes the control scheme for Desperate Struggle will come off as second nature. For the uninitiated, you move Travis with the joystick on the Nunchuck, ‘Z’ targets an enemy and ‘C’ switches between multiple targets. On the Wii Remote the ‘A’ button is used to slice at your enemies with the Beam Katana while ‘B’ controls your punches and kicks that can be used to confuse enemies, while the left and right directions on the D-pad are used for quick evasive rolls. The game is also very light with the motion controls but the ones present are used very intelligently. When an enemy’s health bar reaches zero an arrow on screen will flash and a quick flick in the direction will eliminate the enemy with all kinds of gushing bloody goodness. The angle at which you’re holding the Wii Remote dictates how Travis holds the Katana, allowing him to block incoming attacks. This is the only real motion control related issue with the game, as it’s hard to gauge the needed height and movement needed to change Travis’ stance; sometimes it’s a subtle gesture other times you need to really move the remote vigorously. Finally to recharge your Beam Katana’s batteries you must hold the ‘2’ button while making movements that I’m sure most teenage boys are familiar with. (IE: holding the Wii Remote vertically and frantically moving it up and down.) The game also uses quick time events in the form of quick on screen flashes to indicate how to break a parry with an enemy or performing a wrestling move as a finisher. All in all the controls are very well executed. My only gripes being the exclusion of Wii Motion Plus support, which would have made the gesture based combat more responsive and also solve the issues with holding the Wii Remote at the proper height and the terrible camera, which always seems to throw itself into a corner just as the action is getting intense or you are staring down a boss. It should also be noted that the game allows you to use a Classic Controller for a more traditional experience, when using this option the motion gestures are simply replaced with a button based control scheme.

 

Several changes were made to the gameplay from the original No More Heroes. Once Travis is assigned a target for assassination, you can then move from your hotel room to the area where you are to meet your opponent. However the overworld navigation has changed dramatically, as now you simply choose the place you want to visit instead of riding there manually via motorcycle like in the original game. From the overworld map you can choose to either return to Travis’ hotel room at hotel No More Heroes, to either play with your cat Jeane, who has gained some serious weight since the last game and needs help dropping it, read through the latest issue of Weekly Backdrops to learn a new wrestling move or simply visit the bathroom to ‘drop a save’. You can then move to a variety of different locations throughout Santa Destroy, including the clothing shop Airport 51 to buy some new cloth and accessories, visit Naomi’s shop to buy new Beam Katanas or visit Ryan’s gym to upgrade your vital stats.

 

 

 

Once you reach your objective, you jump into No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle’s basic gameplay, a straight up action brawler. You move from room to room facing off against various types of enemies armed with all sorts of different objects ranging from blunt instruments to swords and even guns. Once all the enemies in a room have been reduced to dismembered piles of human flesh you can move onto the next area and repeat. While it all sounds very repetitive, the game does a good job at keeping levels short, meaning you will run into the boss of a particular area long before you get bored. Boss battles are anything but your standard affair, one minute you will be ‘simply’ slashing away at a seemingly normal enemy and the next you will be in space fighting giant robots and no I am not kidding.

 

This variety in gameplay even carries over to the mini-games. In the prequel, you had to complete menial tasks to earn cash to spend on upgrades. The same is true for Desperate Struggle, however this time most (all but one) of the jobs are presented in a classic 8-bit style, complete with simple 2-3 button gameplay and even synthesised voices. In all, there are 8 jobs for Travis to find around Santa Destroy. These include Bug Out, which has Travis collecting insects and rodents. Lay The Pipe features Travis the plumber connecting pipes to make sure the water safely flows from one end to the other. Coconut Grabber, a re-imagining of the coconut collecting mini game from No More Heroes has an 8-bit Travis running from palm tree to palm tree knocking coconuts down and trying to catch them in a backpack. Pizza With A Vengeance puts Travis in the role of a pizza delivery boy who must reach his destination before time runs out, all while avoiding oncoming traffic and oil slicks. In Man The Meat you must take control of a grill station, making sure each customer’s ‘meat’ gets cooked perfectly. Tile In Style is a puzzle game where you must place blocks (that bare a striking resemblance to Tetris blocks) in a perfect rectangle. Getting Trashed takes us to outer space where Travis must collect floating pieces of garbage and ‘throw them in the ocean or something’. The last part-time job mini-game is Stings So Good and is the only one presented with the standard games graphics, this time around Travis is tasked with ridding Santa destroy of scorpions by slowly placing them in a bag and ‘disposing’ of them.

 

 

 

Apart from earning jobs the game features 3 more mini-games, two of which are located in Ryan’s Gym, and are training exercises used to build both Travis’ stamina (health) and strength (power), like the jobs before them, these are also presented in the 8-bit style. The final mini-game, Bizarre Jerry 5 is well… bizarre. On the surface it is a pretty basic vertical shooter in the same vein as a game from the Raiden series, the odd part is that you control flying anime style schoolgirls with abnormally large breasts and a penchant for wearing revealing clothing. If this wasn’t disturbing enough Bizarre Jerry 5’s intro cinematic (unlocked shortly into the game) is easily the last thing you want anyone walking in on. While all these mini-games both control and play very well, there are a few stand-outs. Both Pizza With A Vengeance and Man The Meat are extremely addictive and will easily have you putting hours into collecting cash. This hard-earned money can then be used to buy training time at the gym, weapon upgrades and clothing accessories.

 

The game also features multiple playable characters one of whom is Shinobu Jacobs, an assassin Travis defeated in the first game, but decided to spare her life. Well she is back, and this time she decides to help Travis along, even referring to him as her ‘master’. For the most part Shinobu plays the same as Travis with one major exception. Instead of having melee attacks, Shinobu has aerial attacks and the ability to jump. And that is the major disappointment in the gameplay department, as most of her levels feature extensive platforming sections that, coupled with the already sketchy camera result in a frustrating experience as Shinobu will constantly fall off platforms or jump back to the ground floor after you have climbed to the top of a high area. The other playable character is (as of the time of writing) still considered a secret. Sorry.

 

With all these different gameplay styles it’s easy to see that No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has a lot to offer in terms of variety. You will find yourself jumping from assassin missions, to 8-bit menial jobs to helping your cat lose weight, to the gym to build stamina, to back to your hotel room to watch the Bizarre Jerry 5 movie eleven times (or is that just me?) and finally back into another assassin mission, all of which will make sure you never get bored while playing the game. The only frustrations to be found are with a camera system that only works half the time and will leave you staring at the wall the other half and the terrible Shinobu platforming sections.

 

 

 

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is depicted in a unique grindhouse meets anime presentation, meshing elements from both to create a style that is unique to the series. Combine this with the amazing work that was done with the cel-shaded graphics and the amount of details that went into the environments and character designs and you are left with a game that is visually on par with the Wii’s best looking games. In fact, the only faults that can be attributed to the game's visual presentation lie within the technical aspects, as slowdowns in the framerate are common, especially when the action gets frantic and there is a lot happening on screen at the same time. Another technical nuisance are the short but common loading screens that constantly break up the action and often result in the game being broken up by 3-6 second loading screens for every 2-5 minutes of actual gameplay. Also the 8-bit mini-games are very faithful to that long gone era of gaming that they are emulating, complete with ‘blow in the cartridge’ introductions. The graphics are clean and sharp and switching from the ‘modern’ graphics of the main game to the classic style is never intrusive and flows very naturally.

 

Most of the music in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle consists of variations on the standard No More Heroes theme made to fit the level you are in. For example, a stage set in a creepy forest will have scary sound effects and distortion the track while another stage set in a machine factory will have a heavy metal atmosphere. While this does limit the amount of tracks found in the game, the main theme is catchy and one that you have stuck in your head long after you have turned off the game. The mini-games all have their own 8-bit soundtrack and sound effects, complete with synthesised voices, like those found on the Intellivision back in the mid-80s. These are particularly hilarious, mostly for the foul language used as there's nothing funnier then hearing ‘tastes like sh*t’ through highly digitized audio.

 

Speaking of expletives, Desperate Struggle definitely earns its ‘M’ rating. Most of the characters drop the f-bomb as they are being decapitated and Travis is clearly also a fan of the word. As for the rest of the voice acting, the characters all speak well, with their dialogue and emotions registering clearly with the player. However, it does seem that enemies will spurt the same lines repeatedly until you silence them with a swift katana slice. Finally, it’s obvious the same voice actress was used for most of the female characters in the game, and even uses the same accent for each. This is evident and can lead to some confusion as to who exactly is talking.

 

 

 

While the main story will take players on average between 7 and 11 hours to complete, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle does offer tons of replay value with loads of unlockables to find, like decorations for Travis’ room and different outfits and clothing accessories. The game even has a deathmatch mode (has to be unlocked) so even after you beat the main game you can still come back for more blood soaked good times. All of this without even mentioning the eleven mini-games that can rapidly get quit addicting and have you sinking even more hours into your save file. However it seems that the developers missed a golden opportunity to include a multiplayer mode, as deathmatches against friends and competitive 8-bit mini-games would have made this game a must own for mature multiplayer gamers on the Wii looking for a hilarious way to spend time with friends.

 

While the original No More Heroes set the bar high for action games on the Wii, Desperate Struggle absolutely surpasses it in every way imaginable. Refined gameplay, stellar presentation values and hours of extra content past the main campaign all come together wonderfully to make this a must own for Wii gamers with a slight taste for carnage. Despite some slight technical miscues, Suda 51 has delivered a game that is loaded with his unique personality and one that Wii owners should not look over.

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Killzone 2 PS3 Review:

It has been a long time coming, and some thought it may never actually make it to retail, but Killzone 2 is finally available for purchase. I wish I could say that this game was perfect and lived up to every expectation ever put forth for it, but that would be a lie. What I can say is that a lot of work has been put into this title, and it is one of the best FPS games to come out this generation.

The default controls map the fire button to R1, grenades to R2, and close combat to L1. You also have the ability to crouch using the L2 button, which will also put your character into cover if he is near a wall or other suitable structure to hide behind in the single player. The cover system works well most of the time, but it can be annoying when you are simply trying to walk around crouched and you unknowingly walk next to a wall and suddenly you are stuck using it for cover and cannot walk away from it unless you stop crouching. This takes some getting used to, but overall the cover system works well to allow for larger fire fights and more dangerous situations then would be possible without it.

Other notable controls are pressing L3 to sprint for a short amount of time, Triangle to switch between your main weapon and your pistol, pressing Square to reload, and pressing R3 to use the scope on your gun. These controls can all be switched between six different button mappings, which is a nice addition and allows for most people to find something to their liking. I wish that there was an ability to just map any action to any button you cared to, but having several different options is the next best thing, and I personally find Alternate 2 to be just about perfect for my own gaming needs and seeing as it is nearly identical to the latest Call of Duty control set ups it should please most FPS fans.

Killzone 2 is a science fiction shooter that is set in the middle of a war between two different factions: the Helghast and the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA). The story is set 2 years after the Helghast invaded a colony of the ISA called Vekta and broke the tenuous peace between the ISA and themselves. The ISA has decided that they must take the fight to the Helghast, and proceed to invade their home world of Helghan. You play as Sev, a member of the Alpha Team which is a kind of Special Forces for the ISA and consists of a four man squad. As the invasion fleets come into the Helghan atmosphere many are shot down by strange lightning bolts that devastate a large amount of the fleet. Once within the planet’s atmosphere they proceed to put troops onto drop ships to transport them behind enemy lines so that they can deal with these strange planetary defenses. This is where you and Alpha Team come in.

 

 

The story is pretty standard Science Fiction FPS stuff. There were some interesting moments mainly dealing with the Helghast leader (Scholar Visari), which get into the mindset of the Helghast as a whole, as well as their esteemed leader. These thought provoking moments are few and far between, so the story is mostly just a medium to get you between points of actions, which is probably what most want out of their FPS games. There were a few noteworthy moments in the story, but mostly it succeeded simply by not directly getting in the way of the gameplay itself.

Playing Killzone 2 is all about finding cover. You can die extremely quickly if you decide to just run around, so it is always a better idea to remain in cover while only peeking out to take pot-shots at the Helghast around you. The controls take some definite getting used to in the single player campaign because everything has a feel of weightiness to it. When you press the right analog stick to turn or look in another direction you’ll find that there’s a perceivable “lag” between when you start pressing the direction and when your character actually starts moving. This is actually because the developers programmed in acceleration into the character’s movements to try and make it more realistic. This is an interesting idea, but I personally feel they might have underestimated the acceleration with which a person will be moving during a fire fight. That said, the acceleration aspect takes some getting used to, but I quickly found no trouble with it after around 15 minutes or so. The effect is decreased significantly for the multiplayer aspect of the game, which plays much more like the run and gun that most people are used to.

 

 

The single player campaign is a fun experience with some epic moments, but the real meat of Killzone 2 and the thing that will eat up most of your time is its online multiplayer. As I previously mentioned, the acceleration that was programmed into the campaign mode is much less noticeable in multiplayer and the cover system is completely taken out so that Warzone plays much more like the squad based FPS many are used to in an online multiplayer. What differentiates Killzone 2 from most other squad based FPS games is the ability to earn and choose between differing classes, and the way that battles actually play out online.

Once you choose to play as either the Helghast or the ISA for any given match, you’ll then have a choice of which class you want to play as. The classes in Killzone 2 are similar to those in Team Fortress 2. You have a medic that can revive those who are mortally wounded, an engineer who can create turrets, an assault class that has heavy armour, a tactician who can set new spawn points for troops, a saboteur who can assume the disguise of enemy players, and a scout who is a cloaked sniper. There are seven classes in total, and each plays significantly differently, which helps to keep the gameplay fresh since you have the option of switching classes each time you spawn. You won’t start with all of these classes, however, and instead they must be earned by gaining points and increasing your rank.

With each rank you achieve you will unlock either a new weapon that you can use with the standard rifleman starting class, or a new badge that will allow you to use another class. Once you start using your new class, you’ll find that you are given a single special ability, but don’t have the secondary ability that all classes are meant to have. This is because you have to unlock the secondary ability by earning medals. Here is a simple example: I just unlocked the medic badge, and find that I now have the ability to revive people whenever they are mortally wounded (they’ll appear as a cross on the minimap), but to earn the ability to throw health packs I need to earn the Trauma Surgeon medal. To earn this medal you have to successfully revive 5 players in a single match, which will earn you a Revival Specialist Ribbon. Earn eight of these ribbons and you now have yourself the Trauma Surgeon medal and the ability to throw people health packs. This method of earning unlockables is used often and will give you everything from the ability to mix and match primary and secondary class abilities to receiving more ammo and grenades each time you spawn. It can be tough for those just starting the game, but it adds an extra incentive to keep playing the multiplayer beyond the simple fun that can be had.

 

 

The second thing that makes Warzone special is how online matches play out. Two sides are pitted against each other with a maximum of 16 players on each side. The goal of each match is not simply to kill the most people on the opposing side, but instead to succeed in missions that are given to you as the match progresses. There are five different missions that range from assassinating a computer chosen player from the opposing side to taking and holding positions on the map. After you succeed or fail each mission another one is assigned to your team and your team is awarded a match point. The team with the most match points at the end of the match is the winner. This means that you are constantly being given new goals that you must achieve as a team, and gives the gameplay of each multiplayer match a lot of variety as you switch from defense to offense, to just trying to survive as the assassination target.

Points for increasing your rank are earned by killing members on the opposing side, but you’ll get more points if you kill people while helping to achieve the current mission. This means that you’ll get a single point for killing someone in a random firefight, but you’ll get two points for killing someone while you defend a zone, or five points for taking out the assassination target. The points system helps to reward those who help the team as a whole, but does not force you to do so if you would rather just go around killing everyone you see. You can also gain points by fulfilling your primary class role, such as resurrecting someone who is mortally wounded as a medic.

 

 

The visuals in Killzone 2 are quite stunning, and anyone who has played it will tell you, it has some of the most technically impressive graphics currently on consoles. Everything looks amazingly realistic and there was not a graphical hitch in sight other than when loading new sections of the campaign. My only real issue with the graphics is that there is not enough variety in the environments. The areas are different enough that you can easily tell them apart, and I understand that when you are invading a planet that is meant to be a desolate wasteland you probably aren’t going to go strolling through fields of daffodils, but I still would’ve liked to have seen some variety beyond urban and desert areas.

Killzone 2 is full of little graphical details that impress. Character models, for example, are nicely detailed and there are some superb lighting and shadow effects. One thing that particularly sets Killzone 2 apart from other shooters is the use of rag-doll animations. Enemies (in both the campaign and online) recoil with pain in the exact spot that the bullet that enters them, and blood splatters around every single bullet hole, it makes the experience truly engrossing because your enemy actually looks like he’s being hit by bullets. You also feel the effect of bullets yourself. There’s a red blood effect that comes up on the screen when you get hit, and as you approach death a strange blue-grey lighting effect takes over the screen.

 

 

Killzone 2’s audio is surprisingly well done. I wasn’t expecting much from the tracklist of the campaign, but there were actually some very fitting orchestral numbers that worked well with the action on screen. During multiplayer there is no music on default, but you can play any music that you happen to have on your Playstation 3 through the XMB. This feature is not allowed in the campaign however, presumably because the developers didn’t want you drowning out all the hard work they put their composer through. The voice-overs in Killzone 2 are well done from the aspect that they convey what they are meant to very well and the voices themselves were never cringe worthy. What is cringe worthy are the idiotic lines they had these poor guys spouting every hour or so. I understand that these guys are meant to be battle hardened veteran bad asses, but is there really a need for them to all sound like stereotypical fratboys? I got to the point where I wanted the other members of my squad to kick the bucket so I wouldn’t have to here another joke about Garza’s mother or Natko’s homosexual tendencies.

The gameplay in Killzone 2 varies from the incredibly fun and full of variety Warzone online multiplayer, with its mission based matches that constantly keep you on your toes, to the campaign which has some epic moments, but is also much more repetitive. The controls take some definite getting used to (especially in single player), but once you get beyond that 15-20 minute stretch you will find this to be an extremely fun experience. The campaign was probably my only real issue with the gameplay, as there wasn’t enough variety in most of the objectives I had to achieve for me to feel it was all that different from your standard “kill people and get here” missions. There are some fun vehicle sequences which I wish had been used more often, and the atmosphere of the campaign helps you feel like you are a part of a much larger and very real war. ISA members are almost always fighting and dying beside you. Unfortunately your squad members have the same tendency to die, but they are not necessary and can be easily revived if you see fit. The gameplay online is very balanced, to such an extent that 1v1 draws are quite common, which is highly unusual in FPS games. A lot of the time if you go up against someone 1v1 you will end up killing each other. Again, it’s something that makes Killzone 2 unique and fun to play.

Value in this title is hurt by the campaign, which is only a six hour play through. There are collectibles, as well as multiple difficulty levels to give this a bit of replay value, but it is still quite short. Luckily for Killzone 2, it also comes with an extremely well done multiplayer with unlockables that will keep people playing for a very long time. Everything about Killzone 2’s multiplayer seems to be designed to keep people coming back for more, and the easy clan implementation makes it simple for people to get a group of friends together and start facing off in epic battles for the honor of their clan and Valor points that you can bet with and determine your ranking as a clan. The website for Killzone 2 also functions well with the multiplayer, giving each clan their own dedicated forum and allowing you to watch tactical replays of any official match. There are also bots available for those who want to practice their multiplayer skills offline, or for online matches that need a few extra bodies to even things up. Bots would probably be more significant if there was splitscreen available in the game, but it is still a nice addition.

 

 

Killzone 2 has been the brunt of jokes and the hope of many Playstation fans for three and a half long years, and I’m happy to see that the game pulled through and brought us a great package that surpassed my previous expectations. The visuals are in the top class of console games from a technical standpoint, the multiplayer is a constantly shifting affair that borders between order and chaos that never gets boring, and the campaign contains some very memorable moments that were also a lot of fun, but the script was at times horrendously juvenile and the campaign was unfortunately short. Killzone 2 does not reinvent the first-person shooter by any means, but it is a fantastic example of the genre which no FPS fan should skip.

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Demon's Souls PS3 Review:

In recent years, it seems the idea of making deaths less detrimental to the player has gained popularity. Most games these days have checkpoints often and dying is only a slight inconvenience. Some games take this to an extreme and have checkpoints so often that death becomes meaningless and players have no qualms with jumping off ledges just to see what is down there. Demon’s Souls is a stark departure from this trend. Dying in Demon’s Souls is extremely meaningful, and extremely easy to the point that Demon’s Souls is probably the first game in a long time to legitimately make me feel afraid, which is quite impressive when you remember that it isn’t even considered a part of the Survival Horror genre.

Demon’s Souls has a surprisingly minimalist approach to storytelling, considering that it is commonly thought of as a JRPG. There's a backstory for your actions, but there's no story that's slowly told through cutscenes throughout the game. The Kingdom of Boletaria is led by King Allant XII who channeled the power of souls to bring Boletaria great prosperity and wealth. This was not without consequence though, and soon a deep black fog came over the kingdom and cut it off from the rest of the world. It seems that King Allant XII has awakened the Old One and demons took over his land. The fog slowly spread and it was evident that it would eventually creep across and envelop the entire world.

 

 

Many adventurers were drawn to the demon-ridden Boletaria, whether to prove their heroism or take the power of the demons’ souls contained within, including some of the most famous and powerful heroes from across the globe, but none had ever returned once they stepped foot into the fog. This is where you come in. You have been summoned by the Maiden in Black in order to find King Allant XII and lull the Old One back to its slumber to save Boletaria and presumably the rest of the world. The story is not explicitly told more than this, but the entire game works well with the backstory to create an oppressive atmosphere and you can talk to the other non-demon residents of Boletaria to find out more.

After hearing the backstory you are put into a character editor like those commonly seen in current WRPG’s. You can customize your face to a surprising degree, but this seems pointless once you get into the game and find out that not only is it so dark that you won’t be able to make out the details, but most likely you will soon start wearing a full helmet that completely covers your face anyway. Class is probably the most important choice in this editor, but there is so much customization allowed through the leveling system later that all you really need to decide is whether you want to cast magic or fight physically and then pick a class based around that general decision.

 

 

The Maiden in Black then summons you to the Nexus, which serves as the game's hub world. This is the only place in Boletaria where you can relax without the constant threat of death. From here, you can choose from 5 different worlds to explore with multiple levels in each world. Battles are in real time and control like a slower version of other Action RPGs, with the exception that dodging and mitigating damage is much more important in Demon's Souls. You have to be cautious against each foe and watch for the opportune time to attack, because most enemies will kill you in surprisingly few hits. There are almost no enemies that you can mindlessly swing your sword at without thinking as even a swarm of rats was enough to kill me when I was unprepared. Strategy is especially important when it comes to the boss fights that cap each level. Most of these bosses can kill you in two hits without breaking a sweat and take thorough planning and a quick reaction time to overcome. Beating these greater demons is one of the most satisfying experiences of Demon’s Souls.

If you succeed in killing your opponent, you will be rewarded with whatever items they decided to drop, as well as their souls. Souls are the currency as well as experience in the game and can be used to buy supplies, upgrade equipment, and level your character depending on what you feel is most necessary. Leveling your character is done at the Maiden in Black. For a certain number of souls, you can increase a single base stat which will then affect things like how much you can carry, how much health you have, or your resistance to various status ailments. Each level you increase will cost more and more, so while the first few levels may only cost one thousand or so souls, the last few I got before completing the game cost me closer to 27,000.

 

 

If, however, your foe gets the better of you, you'll come back at the beginning of the level as a soul with half health (early in the game you’ll find a ring that will increase this to ¾ health), and lose all of your unspent souls. Most of the game will be spent in soul form since you can only recover your body with a relatively rare item or by killing the boss at the end of a level. You can recover the souls you lost if you can reach the place you died, but if you die again on the way there then they will be completely lost. All of these make death in Demon's Souls the most punishing I’ve seen in a game in recent years. This, along with how easy it is to die, helps it earn the reputation it has received as one of the most difficult games ever. Saving is done automatically with one of the most frequent and unobtrusive autosave functions I have ever seen. It is constantly saving and yet you’ll never notice.

Going into a new area in Demon’s Souls is one of the most intense experiences you can have in gaming. You are extremely cautious with every step, slowly walking with your shield up and ready to counter the next unseen opponent’s swing. Shields cannot protect you from everything though, as there are also environmental traps that can destroy the unwary. This forces you to stay aware of your surroundings as you walk slowly through the level, listening for the crack of the floor underneath you giving way or watching out for a boulder rolling down the stairs you are climbing. Listening to your surroundings acutely also helps make the setting even creepier as you hear the wails of the enemies around you or the distant opera of a strange shopkeeper NPC.

 

 

The presentation of Demon’s Souls definitely helps to foster this oppressive atmosphere. Many of the levels are so dark that you can barely see what is coming, and others are filled with winding corridors with plenty of places for enemies to wait and ambush you. The technical aspect of the presentation kind of falls flat, though, with frequent framerate issues, especially when you are breaking a number of objects at once. The graphics also don’t look fantastic when you examine them closely, and there is no lip synching whatsoever when talking to NPCs. The soundtrack is subdued most of the time and picks up during the boss fights. It isn’t anything particularly great, but works well for ambiance. Voice-overs are amazing, considering they remain the same from the Asian release.All of the characters have voices that fit in well with the overall game, and only a few lines throughout the game really hit me as sounding flat.

Although it somewhat goes against the back story that sets you up as the lone savior of Boletaria, you do not actually play the game in a vacuum all by your lonesome. Whenever you play Demon’s Souls, you are online with the entire community of players who all work together to defeat this beast of a game (most of the time anyway). Every once in a while you will see the ghostly image of another player fighting through the same level that you are. Along the ground you will often notice blood splatters that you can walk up to and activate with the X button. These will replay the death of some other adventurer and are a great way to see traps or enemy ambushes before you are caught in them yourself. You can also write and read messages on the ground that act as hints for other adventurers. Hints can be rated which will help players know which ones are the most important and should definitely be heeded, as well as rewarding the message writer with souls whenever someone rates his message up. All of these make for a strange sense of community in a game where you can never actually talk to another person.

Not all of the online interactions are done from a distance though. When in soul mode you can actually enter the world of another player to help or hinder them. By using an item you can put down a Black or Blue soul symbol on the ground. If a player who has his body is in the same world you put your black soul symbol down in and they are an appropriately similar level to you then you can invade their world as a black soul. As a black soul you can attack the player you have invaded whenever you like, slowly stalking them and waiting for the opportune moment to kill them. If you succeed in killing them you get your body back, but if you fail you are unceremoniously kicked back into your own world.

On the other hand, putting down a blue soul sign allows any player with their body and a similar level to see that symbol and summon you to their world to help them. Usually most of the souls gotten on this joint venture are given to the person hosting, but if you can succeed in helping the player kill a boss you are rewarded with your body. The host also rates the helpers he had and this information is included with the blue soul symbol. As a warning, the fact that you are always online means that pausing the game doesn’t actually stop the action, so there really is no safety in Demon’s Souls when you are outside the Nexus.

 

 

All of these online options come together to make a fantastic value package for Demon’s Souls. My first play through of the general campaign took me 31 hours, but this can vary wildly dependent on how many times you get stuck throughout the game. Once you complete the storyline, you are immediately put directly back into a New Game+ feature with all of your levels, equipment, and items left intact, but the enemies have been ramped up in damage and health. Once you complete that new game+ you can move into new game++ and so forth and so on until you reach the maximum soul level of 712 (for reference, I was around level 68 when I beat the game). Your actions determine the tendency of the worlds around you, which opens up certain paths and makes the enemies easier or more difficult allowing you to change up the experience for your third or fourth playthrough. The online options help to keep the experience fresh and allow you to play the game with a few friends if you put your blue soul symbol in a predetermined place with little foot traffic. My only qualm with the value that keeps it from being perfect is that there is only so much unique gameplay and a lot of the value comes from the amazing replay value.

 

 

Demon’s Souls is a strange experiment of community based action RPG gaming which makes for an experience that everyone should try out for themselves. You may shout swear words after your third death in a specific area or lament your lot in life when you are invaded while just trying to beat a level, but it makes the sense of satisfaction upon success that much more sweet. It has surprising value, a unique atmosphere, and fun gameplay, all of which help to offset the lack of polish in the presentation. It won’t be for everyone, but if you are willing to put up with some heart rending moments of frustration, you can get a great gaming experience out of Demon's Souls.

 

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Heavy Rain PS3 Review:

The adventure genre is one of the oldest in gaming, and has a rich history of great games, but has died down in recent years. Developer Quantic Dream, creators of the interesting title Indigo Prophecy (or Farenheit for those in Europe), is aiming to take the genre into the modern era with Heavy Rain, which they have dubbed an “interactive drama.” Their intention is to make the line between movies and video games invisible.Heavy Rain may not succeed in changing the landscape of gaming entirely, but it is an incredible experience nonetheless.

Heavy Rain tells the story of four seemingly unrelated characters as they attempt to solve the case of a serial murderer known as the Origami Killer, before he claims his latest victim. There is a lot more to it than that, but telling you much more would constitute spoilers, in a game that depends heavily on its plot. There are numerous moments of high tension, and you’ll find yourself constantly wanting to know what’s going to happen next, but certain parts of the story can be missed entirely if you make certain decisions during the game, so be careful how you play.

As great as the story of Heavy Rain is, it’s not perfect. The plot twist at the end is probably one you can predict, but it’s handled well anyway. There are a handful of minor plot holes that show up, including a completely unexplained plot point for one of the main characters. The story also can move a little fast at times, but you can usually catch up pretty quickly. These are pretty minor issues for a story as detailed and well-presented as Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain has one of the few game narratives good enough to make it hard to put down on merits of plot alone.

 

Of course, a great story is supported by great characters, and Heavy Rain certainly has that covered. The main cast consists of a father desperately trying to save his missing son; a journalist looking for an interesting story; an FBI agent with a drug addiction; and a seasoned old private investigator trying to solve the mystery himself. Each character is well-developed and has a strong motivation.The game does a great job of connecting you to all of them, and you feel devastated if you screw up in the game and get one of them killed.

The gameplay of Heavy Rain is interesting, but it’s not as revolutionary as you may have been led to believe. Most of the game is spent walking around and examining things or talking to people. This is a staple of the adventure genre Heavy Rain is derived from. Unlike traditional adventure games, however, you will not be gathering objects and solving puzzles. The plot progresses whether or not you succeed in your actions, and your success in the game determines how your character advances within that plot, instead of whether or not the plot itself continues. Characters can die, and the world moves on. The ending can be pretty different depending on who you have left alive and who solved the mystery, but you as the player are rarely required to make deductions about the case.

When interacting with objects, Heavy Rain requires you to use contextual controller actions, such as turning the joystick in the way you would a handle to open a door. These are easily understandable and always clearly shown on screen. In addition you’ll often be required to tap a button rapidly, hold a button down, hold down multiple buttons at once, shake the controller in some particular way, or rotate the joystick slowly and carefully. Outside of life-threatening situations, there is no penalty for failing these actions most of the time, and you can attempt them as much as necessary in order to complete them. You can also hear the thoughts of your character by holding down the L2 button, which sometimes offers clues as to what to do next if you’re stuck. Walking, in a sort of odd decision, is done by holding down the R2 button while choosing the direction of your character with the joystick. This isn't usually bad, but can occasionally result in some pathing issues. The decision was made to allow you to turn the character's head with the left stick to focus on objects.

 

In conversation Heavy Rain gives you multiple options, which you see floating around the head of whatever character you are using at the time. These responses often change the way your character is developed and what relationships they develop with other characters. However, at times the plot will progress the same regardless of what options you select. You will also notice the conversation options becoming jumbled and harder to read when your character is tense or upset, adding a connection to their mood for the player. In addition to conversation options, other character actions can have large affects on the game as well, such as choosing whether or not to shoot someone, take a drug to suppress symptoms of withdrawal, or kiss someone. All of these situations can pop up during seemingly ordinary moments in the game, and your reaction to them can change a lot about the character you’re playing.

The most controversial aspect of the game is the action. During scenes of intense action you must complete lengthy quick-time events (or QTEs) in order to progress unharmed, similar to Quantic Dream’s previous game, Indigo Prophecy. The QTEs in Heavy Rain are a large improvement over the crazy joystick movements in their predecessor, however. These QTEs require the same contextual actions as the rest of the game, but must be completed within a short amount of time, and if you fail to complete them your character can be injured or killed. You may also be forced to choose between saving and killing other characters in a split second through these actions.

These function very well most of the time. The action scenes give a great sense of urgency and panic. The only problem is that some of them last a bit too long, but it’s not a constant issue and is forgivable. The final chapter is also pretty brutal with its execution of QTEs, and missing even a couple can get major characters killed. That said, even if you dislike QTEs as a system, you may enjoy them in Heavy Rain. They aren’t sprung on you because you constantly expect them and the entire fight uses them. You also don’t restart the fight when you mess up a QTE; you just take damage.

 

 

Heavy Rain is visually impressive, but not without issues. The character and face models are among the best in the industry, but movements of the characters themselves can be overly stiff at times. More impressive are the amount of incidental NPCs with different character models and actions. Heavy Rain’s world truly feels alive. There is an impressive variety in the environments and settings in the game, but some of them are visually sub-par. Indoor environments are often the most impressive, with great detail, lighting, and textures, whereas the outdoor environments often seem a little drab and simplistic. Overall, though, the game looks great.

Similarly, audio is great with just a couple issues. The soundtrack to the game is incredible, and the music is used for great effect to provide atmosphere and intensity. The game does seem like it could use a couple more songs so that the ones that are present would repeat a little less, but it’s not a major issue. Voice acting would be near the top of the industry if it wasn’t for one notable exception. Norman Jaden, the FBI agent, sounds ridiculous whenever he’s upset or expressing any sort of emotion. Seeing as he’s a major character with a large role in the game, this is a pretty big miss. Otherwise the main cast is excellent most of the time. There are a couple stumbled lines, and some awkward phrasing, but it’s a rare occurrence.

For an adventure game Heavy Rain is a pretty good value. The main campaign will last most people 8-10 hours on a first run. This isn’t incredibly long, but the experience has almost no filler. Things are constantly moving. There is also good replay value, as the game encourages you to experiment with different options in each chapter to see how you can change the outcome or approach the situation differently. There are different endings, to some extent, but it’s pretty much just the difference between the “perfect” ending where everyone lives and gets over their problems and the “bad” endings where someone dies or doesn’t solve their issues. Most of the replay value instead comes from seeing how you can approach problems differently. Thankfully once you complete a chapter you can select it at anytime, so you can experiment freely with any part of the game without having to replay everything.

 

Heavy Rain has not redefined the way games are played, or started a revolution for the industry which all developers will now follow. It has, however, successfully blurred the lines between games and movies a little by offering an extremely cinematic experience that doesn’t leave the player watching endless cutscenes. More importantly, Heavy Rain is fun to play. It gives the player a thrilling rush, and an intriguing and interesting story that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the beginning to the end. This is the kind of game that you may sit down and play all at once, not because it’s incredibly short, but because it’s just too hard to put down.

 

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Final Fantasy XIII PS3 Review:

 

Twelve numbered iterations, innumerable spin-off games, two movies, and four years in development have finally brought us the first Final Fantasy for the HD generation: Final Fantasy XIII. At long last, the wait is over and Square Enix has not disappointed. This is why HD TVs were created.

 

Final Fantasy XIII takes place on a small moon-like world called Cocoon. It is a world that appears peaceful and beautiful on the surface, but this veneer is thin. Beneath is a society ready to burst forth into chaos at the slightest fright. One such fright has occurred, and it's up to your intrepid band of misfit warriors to do what intrepid bands of misfit warriors always do: save the world.
The narrative of Final Fantasy XIII really is its bread and butter, so I won't get too much into the story for fear of spoiling. Needless to say, it's a great one. All of Joseph Campbell's elements of a hero's quest are present. Brash youth, wise-cracking elder, cheeky girl, and brooding warrior all claim their stake of your time and your heart. The Final Fantasy themes of old are all here too: crystals, summons, Cid, airships, and a slightly convoluted story remind us this is a Final Fantasy, lord and sovereign of the RPG genre for more than 20 years. The question is; does it still hold claim to the crown?

Like many Final Fantasy games, to begin with, FFXIII is linear. You always know where you're supposed to be going in order to advance your characters and the story. However, Final Fantasy XIII takes linearity to a new level, almost like God of War. There are no towns. There is no world map. Ever. The maps rarely branch at all and when they do, it's only for a short hike to an optional treasure sphere or a little grinding. Shopping and upgrading of your weapons occur at save points, which are placed roughly every six feet. And since dying in a battle gives you a retry option that resurrects you just before said battle, forgetting to save isn't even an issue.

 

 

The no-towns choice combined with a level of linearity unheard of even for a Final Fantasy creates a very different - though not entirely bad - feel to this thirteenth installment. I make the comparison to God of War because that's the feeling I got from it rather often. Here you are, traipsing around in these massive, breathing environments filled with enemies and wonders. If that doesn't sound much like Final Fantasy, it isn't. But it's not a bad thing. Personally, I still like towns in my RPG's. A nice, quiet place to upgrade my stuff, talks to the locals, and rest my head for a night is just a part of the experience. However, Final Fantasy XIII takes the focus away from surviving long stretches between towns and focuses on intense gameplay and upgrade-right-now mechanics to take the place of those familiar old collections of homes and shops.
The game finally opens up in Chapter 11, but your party is too weak to effectively pursue any side-quests at that time. Most of the side-quests are leveled for post-game party levels rather than pre-final boss party levels. This is a decision I don't understand. In traditional Final Fantasy games, you head off to finish up those side quests before Sephiroth or Kefka in order to get the final rare weapons and max out your characters before the final confrontation. In Final Fantasy XIII, you won't be powerful enough to take on those side quests until you've completed the main story. The positive side of this is that you can continue to play after defeating the final boss, and even take on the final boss again to improve your battle rating from the first go-around.

 

Final Fantasy XIII sees the return of Active Time Battle (ATB). This is a unique system developed by Square several years ago which uses menu-based combat in a real-time environment. It allows players to queue up commands while characters and enemies execute them according to in-game speed ratings. The combat system for FFXIII mixes this with a job-switching mechanic similar to Final Fantasy X-2 (except significantly more streamlined): paradigms. Each character has roles (similar to jobs from previous Final Fantasies) that can be developed and it's the knowledge of how these roles interact and when to change paradigms that grants you success or failure in battle.

 

 

The key to success in all combat is to stagger your opponents. Each enemy has a stagger point - shown as a percentage - which you try to fill by chaining together attacks. Once they stagger, damage against the enemy is significantly increased, and special attacks are opened up. Since timing is so critical in building chains, you'll often use Auto-commands rather than picking them yourself. You only control the party leader and each role has its own Auto- command to use. The computer generally does a good job of selecting the best option for the battle, taking advantage of elemental weaknesses, or healing the party members in most dire need. It's not perfect, though, and moments do arise that you might just manually select a command.
What all this adds up to is combat that is very fast-paced and intense (unless you choose slow combat in the options, in which case it drags on). Despite the menu-based combat, Final Fantasy XIII has a more action-RPG feel to it because of the speed, intensity, and fluid animations used in combat. Since there are no magic points, and you heal after every battle, enemies are tougher, and their AI can sometimes be downright mean. Each chapter of the game also has what seems like an even difficulty (not including bosses) which can make the beginning of chapters seem much harder than the end after you've powered up.
Notice how I said "powered up" rather than "leveled up?" That's because Final Fantasy XIII has no levels. Successful combat rewards you with Crystarium Points (CP) which are used to buy power-ups for your various roles. These can be magic, hit point, or strength increases. They also include new abilities, ATB gauge segments, and accessory slots. Best of all, you can access the Crystarium anytime from your menu, so you can upgrade after every battle if you so choose.

 

Upgrading weapons is a different story altogether. This requires the use of components (which can be found or bought) in particular combinations. This process is very costly and largely a guessing game without the official guide. Most of the components you'll need will have to be bought. That's a challenge since Gil (Final Fantasy money) comes at a premium. What's worse is the futility of finding new weapons. When you find one, you've already upgraded your current weapon to such and extent that the new weapon isn't as good without loads of costly upgrades. Then you've just wasted all those components on the previous weapon. I found myself just selling off new weapons and trying to focus on upgrading what I had, since every weapon can become the ultimate weapon for its character.

The presentation for Final Fantasy XIII is absolutely out of this world. The graphics set a new benchmark for console gaming. I have never played nor seen a game on a console that looks this breathtaking. Four years in development were very kind on the eyes. It's obvious that attention was paid to every detail. Character design, textures, lighting, animations, and even the menus are all beautiful. The music is among the best ever for a video game, hitting poignant moments with tenderness and intense moments with driving melodies. The voice acting falls just short of the best in the business. The often too-cheeky demeanor of Vanille, laughable extras, and stilted villains keep it from sharing that top spot.

 

The main story takes around 50+ hours to complete, and the side-quests and trophy/achievement hunting could take you another 50 hours. Those last 50 hours are spent completing tedious hunts, upgrading items you'll never use, and teaching your characters roles they should never take on. That said, the first 50 hours are driven by a great narrative, challenging fights (final boss of Chapter 11), and beautiful action (the opening video to Chapter 12 alone is nearly worth the price of admission). This game is not a rent unless you plan on paying heavy late fees.

The sovereign crown of RPG's is not for me to bestow, but lies in the hand of every gamer. You won't find a wide open world like you would in Fallout 3 or a BioWare RPG, but you'll find a fantastic, timeless story with more intense combat than most RPGs can dream of. If you favor exploration and choices over narrative, look elsewhere. For JRPG fans: Final Fantasy XIII is epic in scale, filled with vibrant characters, and challenging from start to finish. A surefire game of the year contender.

 

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, PS3, Review, News, Videos, Sales, Screenshots, Forums, User Reviews, Cheats, FAQs, Trophies, Achievements, Walkthroughs

Labels: Achievements, Cheats, FAQs, Final Fantasy XIII, Forums, News, PS3, Review, Sales, Screenshots, Trophies, User Reviews, Videos, Walkthroughs