Monday, September 24, 2007

Mario Striker : Charged (Wii)

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Hey guys and girls let's see today I have Mario Strikers Charged the sequel to the GC version one of my most loved games. Let's go see how it did.

Gamepley: Kick the ball, pass the ball, and steal the ball. All in all the controls seem basic at first but as you go further in the game complicated methods and tactics become more necessary. The use of the Nunchunk is fun surprising tho it was rather useless in the grand scheme. The only glaring flaw to the gameplay is the tackling, there are to one which you tackle toward the ball no mtter what and it only serves to steal the ball. The other which requires you to throw your wii-mote arm in what ever direction you want to tackle which is exhausting and painful for little affect. 3/5

Story: Its a Mario sports game there really isn't one. Just beat your way through the tournies and unlock new people. 3/5

Graphics: The game looks nice all the characters even the supports have nice little details to them making the game feel a little more interactive. All the captains have awesome super kicks which are similar but all have a sort of unique twist on them. 5/5

Audio:
The screams of being slammed into the fence aren't as good as they used to be which is a bit depressing and the audio in general is kind of bland with little to be said about it. 2/5

Replay:
This will all depend on your thresh hold for annoyance. The computer characters are master of the tackling steal and exploiting all the games little tricks. You on the other hand will most likely give up the wii mote tackling as it difficult to both aim and time, not to mention it will quickly exhaust your wrists and arms. The recovering factor is the online play is mostly fun if you can find some good people or friends to play with. 3/5

Overall:
Okay so the computers with in minutes become way better than you and will do things with little effort that would take a human player and insane skill level to accomplish. The actual tournies are long and you'll often make it to the final only to have the computer score on you in some sneaky way you which you thought of. The super strikes are you best option but by the third tournament even if you time it perfectly they're going to block it and then laugh at you. The real saving Grace is playing with friends and only is really fun, rent it or even buy it just for that. 3/5

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Heroes of Mana (NDS)

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So today I have Heroes of Mana from the Mana series. The first RTS of the series let's see how is did.

Gameplay: Like any typical RTS the game requires you to go out collect resources and use them to fun your army. Build facilities and train troops. You also have hero characters which are well rounded and much more powerful then normal units but they usually require protecting as losing them will result in losing the battle. This aspect is fair at best. 2/5

Story:
A good base for a story evil, heroes, and a good progression of the story and characters the main problem is all these things seem a little lacking in the depth department. Most of your characters are dry and lazily written. 3/5

Audio:
Most of it I would simply call noise. There are some musics from the orginal games which add a nostalgia but even then its out of ear out of mind. 2/5

Graphics:
They did good here with nicely rendered areas allies and enemies. Getting to see your favorite little rabites and what not prettied up a bit is again nostalgic. 4/5

Replay:
The games battle are long and usually require you to simply wait around for the next wave of enemies to spawn and then run them over and wait for the next wave and this takes a serious tole on one's patience. 2/5

Overall:
This game was really half way done. Most battle just require you to but the right types of units in the right place so that when the enemies spawn you run them down. SO you either get a guide and know whats coming or you luck out. On most battle fields if you are unlucky and lose your advantage of unit types you don't have the resources to make up for it and you quickly get over run. All in all the slow gameplay and general theme being make as many units as you can, run the enemy over again and again just doesn't satisfy. 2/5

Two Worlds (360, PC)

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Ah the joys of blogger, a few issues here and there, and had to sign up for a new gmail account, but it's all good. Anything to put off school work. That said, let's get to reviewing. This will be a short one, and Yuuki should have something posted later today as well.

Story: Your sister got kidnapped and your trying to save her by fighting off baddies and donig missions. It's very opened ended, the main plot isn't what you'll probably be focusing on. 3/5

Audio: The voices were painful. Very very painful. And they tried to do accents but clearly had no idea how. The music was fine though. 3/5

Graphics: The most appealing part of the game. they looked good, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they wowed me. Still, it's better than nothing. 4/5

Gameplay: What do you do in this game? Well you run around flagging quests and killing things with the single attack button. In the 360 case, it's the trigger button...*trigger trigger trigger* Very exciting. Of course that's not all there is to the game, you also ride a glitchy horse, craft potions, and enhance weapons. And as one reviewer said, there's two views to the map, too far and two close. Dont' depend on that if you're trying to figure out where to go. The quest screen in the 360 version is also horrible to figure out. I think it told me what to do and where to go, but it was so small and scrunched to the side, all I could see was the horrible map. Also, if you're playing offline, you get to pick between a male human and a male human...so many choices. There is customization, but it's haphazard at best. You pick eye color, hair color, hair style (all of which has a whopping 3 or 4 choices) and then you can do some minor work in changing the shape of the face. 2/5

Replay: God no! I could barely play the first time. 1/5

Overall: It tries to be a open ended non linear rpg where you get to do whatever you want. It fails miserably. While I don't want to compare it to other games, I'm sure you can think of another such game on the 360/pc...that one is much better, play that instead. 1/5

Monday, September 10, 2007

Blue Dragon (360)

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Today we're reviewing on of the few RPGs on the 360. Let's see how it does.

Story:
You take the role of Shu, Jiro, and Kluke, three children who want to bring peace to their village. This source of problems in their home? A creature that arrives every year known as the land shark. It goes around and kills anyone it can find. This year, however, Jiro and Shu have a plan to catch the land shark and Kluke wants to help. Of course things don't happen as they should, the children end up in lost in some ruins. At some point they discover these spheres that allow them to use magic by giving their shadows power. With powerful shadows on hand, they set out to save their village and the world. The plot isn't the greatest. It is in fact rather generic for an RPG, but this game encourages the feel of an RPG, generic or otherwise. 3/5

Audio:
The music is amazingly beautiful. It is done by Nobuo Uemetsu, so you might recognize it as having a Final Fantasy sound at times. The voice actors are also decent, though they don't talk al that often and their script isn't the greatest. 4/5

Graphics:
At first glance you might notice how similar the characters look to something from Dragonball Z. This is because Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest) did the character designs. Of course this leads all the characters to be very stylized, but if you don't mind the style then it's all good. Background and environments are beautiful. I especially loved looking at the water visuals. Cutscenes and gameplay graphics are so similar they might as well be the same. 4/5

Gameplay:
There are a number of areas to touch on in this section. First is battle system. It's completely turned based. You have the option of charging a lot of attacks or spells to boost their power, but this can make you go later in the turn. There is a world map and a dungeon map, and besides the level of zoom there's no real difference. Monsters appear on the screen so you can dodge them or attack them. Attacking from behind gives you a surprise attack, same if they hit you from behind. Also, a nifty features is monster fights. If you get two types of monsters close enough you can pull up your attack ring and fight them both at once. If they are competeing monsters they will fight each other for you. Not all monsters will fight when you bring them together. If the two parties of monsters don't fight then you will fight one party then the other. Between these fights you will be given stat boosts. Another feature is the class system. You can designate what class your shadow is. After so many levels you will have the option to buy more class options for your shadow. The classes will level up and gain abilities. You can equip skills from other classes to customize your character. Gameplay is simple and easy to pick up. 4/5

Replay:
There's no real point to replaying. 2/5

Overall:
This is a traditional RPG that has made its way on the 360. If you like old school RPGs and have a 360 I highly recommend it. 4/5

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2)

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Hello again. Today we'll be reviewing this disturbingly dark RPG, Persona 3. Yes, there's a longer title, but Persona 3 is what we'll call it.

Story: The story begins that you are a recently transferred student at a new high school. On your way to the dorm you see some disturbing things, but apparently the main character isn't that phased. IGN.com has a video of the intro movie. I highly recommend watching it if you want to see the tip of the iceburg on creepy. Anyway, a few days after you move into your dorm you discover something known as the dark hour. A space in time that only a select few are aware of. In this dark hour, creatures known as shadows come out and attack anyone who is aware. Joining a group known as SEES, you develop your persona to combat these shadows and discover the origins of the dark hour. The members of SEES use a tool known as an evoker (which looks like a gun) to summon their persona. Which means, you shoot yourself in the head to use your special abilities. There is no blood, and it isn't any sort of death, but it is dark. I just wanted to warn you. When you're not in the dark hour you are living life like a high school student: going to classes, joining clubs, making friends. These activities are all important for the growth of your personas. There is a lot going on in the story, but that is the general gist of it. It might not sound all that interesting, but trust me, it is. Like most of the Shin Megami Tensei games, the story more than anything will draw you in. 5/5

Audio:
The characters have voice acting for important cutscenes as well as when they are summoning their personas in battle. All of the voice actors are well chosen and suit their character very well. The music goes with an interesting choice. Outside of the dark hour, it is more modern than almost anything I've heard in an RPG. In the dark hour it becomes more subdued and fills the atmosphere well. A lot of tracks will just be background, doing its job of setting the mood. One particular track, heard in the Velvet Room (where you fuse personas), is particularly haunting and beautiful. Audio is well done. 5/5

Graphics:
It's hard to pinpoint how to describe the graphics. On one hand the in game visuals seem much less than the PS2 can do. On the other hand, you become so used to them so quickly that maybe less is more. Major cutscenes, usually when introducing characters, involve anime art styles. These are lovely to look at, but almost seem out of place for all that they are more beautiful than the actual style. Background graphics are well detailed. The Tartarus (huge tower of doom) is simply designed, but also the most memorable place. A creepy place outside of time and space. 4/5

Gameplay:
There are two aspects to the game, climbing the Tartarus or going to school. You can only climb the Tartarus at night. There you will combat monsters (which you can see on screen before fighting which makes avoiding easier). Every few levels you will be faced with boss monster. Usually on the floors with a boss is also a device which links to the first floor allowing you to return to that floor. As you get further into the game the devices become more and more spread apart. If you've ever played a SMT game then you'll remember the importance of finding and enemies weakness. In this game if you hit the enemy with its weak point, it will be knocked down. Knocking all enemies down allows you to use an all out attack (massive damage to all enemies by all allies). This is the strategy you'll need for defeating most enemies, and bosses if they have a weakness. Your party members work on AI, though you can set them to different tactics as you see fit. As the main character you have the unique ability to switch out your persona. Everyone else is stuck with one. All persona have strengths and weaknesses that can help or hinder. Also, having a weakness exploited will allow for a second turn. After battles you will sometimes have a card shuffle where you can earn money, items, healings, extra experience, or a new persona. Outside of the Tartarus you live like a regular person, and you have three stats that you can build: charm, courage, and athletics. These are needed to help you make friends. During the day you attend school which is not so difficult in itself. Sometimes you will have pop quizzes (answering correctly gives you a boost in your charm stat) or you will be offered the chance to stay awake through a lecture which boosts academics. After school you can make friends with people which will create a social link. Each social link is associated with a major arcana in a tarot deck. By boosting these, you can give more experience to any persona you create in the Velvet Room. There is a balancing act in the game. You need to build your outside stats and social links while also making your way up the Tartarus. If you spend too much time in the Tartarus you'll become tired and then sick. That said, the gameplay is easy to master and fascinating to make use of. 5/5

Replay:
There is no real reason for replay other than love of the game. You might change how you handle your days, but in the end it will all pretty much be the same. There is a plus game available after you defeat the game. 2/5

Overall:
It's an amazing game. I highly recommend it; however, it is a very dark and disturbing game, which means...if you like want light and fluffy, do not touch. Also, on my own little note, knowing a bit about the tarot deck, I find myself fascinated with the social links and how they line up with the meanings of the cards. 5/5