PSP

As a surviving the semester gift to myself, I bought a PSP. So if you have PSP requests, feel free to send them.

Culdcept Saga (360)

Today boys and girls I have a review of Culdcept Saga for the 360.

Gameplay: The game plays like Yu-gi-oh meets Monopoly and that works well for it. Roll the dice move about the board taking land by placing monster you summon from cards to guard them and fight for them when your opponent attempts to take them. Along with monster you get some nifty item and spell cards to make the game a bit more interesting. The goal of each board is basically the same being collect X amount of gold total. Pretty fun in its simplicity. 4/5

Story: You take the role of a young boy sold into slavery who becomes a cepter by chance and ends up fighting in the arena while coached by a mysterios girl who spouts the typical your destiny garbage...the story for the most part is just a way of moving you from fight to fight...and thus isn't very good. 2/5

Graphics: Graphically the game is pretty nice. Not the best for a next gen or a 360 but still pretty good. The art for the cards is top notch but the animation for battles are a bit lacking. It seems to be caught in the middle. 3/5

Audio: Voice actors do a surprisingly good job of drawing you in...which for as sub-par as the story is really helps the whole point a to b-ness of it. Music is forgettable but the general sound effects are nice. 3/5

Replay: The multi-player is fun if you have like-minded friends who enjoy this kind of game or you can go online and find some. The story isn't all that great for playing through twice unless you are looking to unlock the little bonus items you can use to change your characters appearence.

Overall: A pretty good game if you like things like yu-gi-oh or monopoly but if you don't you should prolly try it anyway its pretty fun game in its self. Nothing like collecting a horde of treasure or screwing out your opponet early on and crippling them for the rest of your match...muwhahaha...just me? 3/5

Delay

hey, was gonna have a review up, but I'm in finals week, and I'm a horrible procrastinator. That said, I'll try to get Yuuki to post something. Either way, double review next week.

Lost Odyssey (360)

Well, my mind isn't functioning, so no preliminary stuff here.

Story: You are Kaim, an amnesiatic immortal soldier. You are only of the few survivors of a massive magical energy explosion in the middle of the battlefield. Because of this you have been thrown into the middle of political intrigue. With the help of another amnesiatic immortal and a wise-cracking mortal, you are sent to discover the cause of the magical energy. It soon becomes clear that there is a lot more going on than you ever realized. There is a lot going on the story from character development, to political intrigue, to the dreamlike memories of the immortals you can find. 5/5

Graphics: This is an amazingly beautiful game visually. The environments are detailed and vibrant. The characters are realistic no matter where you view them (well as realistic as characters can be with crazy hair and outfits). My favorite visual thing is accessories. When you equip certain accessories, you can see your character wearing them in battle. You can also see your character wearing them in cutscenes. I am always impressed when there is a continuity in how a character looks. 5/5

Audio: Like the graphics, there was a lot of effort put into the audio of this game. The voice acting is well done with well chosen actors. There is not a character whose voice does not suit. Besides the wonderful voice acting, the background music is also beautiful. It is well done and suits the environments well. 5/5

Gameplay: There are a lot of things to discuss in gameplay. First, let's discuss the difference between immortals and mortals. The immortals cannot die, so if they are knocked out in battle they will revive in a few turns. The mortals can and will die, but they come back after battle. The mortals learn skills as they level up. The immortals do not learn skills for themselves, they must learn skills by linking with a mortal in their party or equiping accessories. While the immortals can learn all the skills, they can only set a certain number to use at a time. So you have to change out these set skills to fit the situation. You can also equip everyone with rings which you make through monster drops. In battle when attacking the ring comes up and you must hold and release the R-trigger to align the rings. Doing so increases the bonus of the ring. Failing eliminates the ring bonus. Rings are very important for doing extra damage to enemies, and came be switched in battle to suit the monster. Battles are turned based, and you can look at the bottom of the screen to see who is next in line. Generally the flow will go: Item using, Melee, enemy, magic users. Some spells take more than one round to cast, so the caster will sit out concentrating until the spell is ready. There are two rows in battle, back and front. Damage to the back row is severely reduced as long as the front row is healthy. But as the front row takes damage the protection of the backrow decreases. This can be seen with a bar on the top right of the screen. There is no world map, just a picture of a map with a list of areas you can go to. You can however explore the map slightly on the boat. There are a number of mini-games such as unlocking all of Kaim's dreams or treasure hunting. The gameplay isn't difficult to pick up, but it isn't so simplistic to turn people off. 5/5

Replay: While the game is amazing, there's no reason for replay. 2/5

Overall: I think by the scores and my tone you can tell that I really loved this game. I highly recommend it for any RPG fan. It might be slow at parts, but it is worth it. 5/5

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)

Well, I could have churned this out later. It would have been on time if I hadn't remembered to do it at midnight on Sunday. Then I got distracted by various things. I'll try to give this game all the attention it is due though.

Story: Professor Layton, a lover of puzzles, and his Assitant Luke are called to the town of St. Mystere in order to find the location of the Golden Apple, the key to a vast inheritance. While they are there, a number of mysteries occur, such as murder, kidnappings, and a mysterious figure in black. The story of the game is really interesting. The dialogue is well-written as well, making the characters more believable. 5/5

Graphics: This is a visually appealing game. The scenery is detailed, the characters are realistic, in an exaggerated animated style Throughout the game there are animated cutscenes which are particularly beautiful. It was like watching a Miyazaki film. 4/5

Audio: The music is very atmospheric, and very lovely as well. There are scenes with voice acting, which is perfect. I loved everything about the audio in this game. 5/5

Gameplay: If there is a game that has utilized the DS touch screen well, this would be it. You tap the shoe icon to move to different areas. In each area you can click on random things. Sometimes you will find hidden puzzles. Sometimes you will find hint coins that can be used to purchase clues to puzzles. Everyone in the town has a puzzle, or a lot of puzzles for you to solve. There are even moments where the professor or Luke will question if it is necessary to solve said puzzle. This is definitely a game to use your brain on, not some action packed shooter. Besides the main puzzles, you can get bonus items which when you have them all will unlock bonus puzzles from the start screen. There are a large variety of puzzles which will challenge different people differently. It is always a thrill to do a puzzle successfully without too many hints. There are a number of puzzles that are extremely difficult; and I admit, I had to look up a few answers. It's all welldone though. 5/5

Replay: There is not real reason to replay. You can go back to unlock puzzles you might have missed. And the bonus section has a number of interesting things, such as music, profiles, and movies from the game. 3/5

Overall: This is an excellent game, and I highly recommend it to all owners of DS's. Be aware that this will make you think occasionally, so if you can't do that, don't bother picking it up. Otherwise enjoy. 5/5

Dragon Quest: the Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (wii)

Hey all. Late review, I know. No excuse. Oh well, suffer and read.

Story: So you're the son of a hero, and on your 16th birthday (apparently in DQ world 16 means time to save the world) you are sent on a trial to prove your manhood. Bad things happen, a great evil threatens the world. You and your band of friends go to save the world. Generic rpg plot. Nothing amazing about it. 3/5

Audio: The music has that standard DQ soundtrack, which is of course beautiful. Also certain characters are given vocalized lines. They all have European accents. The sound is good. 4/5

Graphics: They are well done cell-shaded graphics, that suit the atmosphere well. The environments are well-developed too. 5/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is based entirely on the wiimote. Not the wiimote and nunchuck, but the wiimote. This makes movement tedious, as you have to use the directional pad to move. Going forward isn't so bad, you can use the B button too, but you have to use the right and left buttons to turn around. Combat isn't too bad. You basically point and slash. You can set a point as the area you'll attack as well. Holding down the B button pulls out your shield, which can wear down eventually. The game focuses on one town where all your needs are met. You will go to the weapon shop and temper your weapons in order to make them better. Overall the gameplay isn't bad, but it's not great either. 3/5

Replay: There might be some benefit to replay, but I don't think enough to make it worthwhile. 2/5

Overall: The game isn't bad, but your arm will get tired with all the wiimote swinging, you will get irritated at the movement, and you will want more. Still, for some casual slashing fun, it's not too bad. 3/5