Wow, it's been a while... again! Maintaining a blog sure is hard!
I've been on holiday the past month and only arrived back home a week ago before being drawn into the inescapable abyss which is work! Now I find myself bed-ridden and in a lot of pain from a combination of post-belated staff Christmas parties and 18 hour shifts/30 hour weekends. This, I thought, was an opportune time to get the creative juices flowing and explore a little the world which is video games.
Ironically, I wrote my last post in a blazing heat wave reaching 43 degrees at its worst and I write this one in a maelstrom of torrential rain and hail attacks. Indeed, the next time I write, it could be the apocalypse!
Before I headed up north to Queensland to bask in the sun and take some time off work, I had started writing a list of the games I was most excited for in 2010. Since then, the list has become somewhat of a 'games I have played in 2010'. In the first two and a half months of 2010 alone, we have seen a great number of blockbusters hit our respective gaming consoles. Thankfully, I have played almost all of the best ones (or at least own them for later review).
Your wait has not been in vain! Harbouring guesses that I had abandoned de Blog were unfounded! Today, I bring you a section adequately named...
GAMES THAT I WAS EXCITED FOR WHICH NOW I HAVE PLAYED FOR YOUR BENEFIT (Part 1)
Darksiders
PS3, 360
When I say "Zelda," do your ears perk up? Do you slide to the edge of your seat and ready yourself for a deep conversation about Sabrina the Teenage Witch? Do you perhaps search your brain for everything you remember about Zelda D'Aprano, the women's rights activist from the 60's who chained herself to an Australian bank advocating equal pay for females? In either case, I'd be forced to slap you for being so outrageous - this is a gaming blog; of course I'm talking about The Legend of Zelda, you incessant arsenic sniffer.
Moving on...
Darksiders - if you didn't already gather from the prelude above - is a Zelda love-affair with similarities so striking that you could call the game, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Apocalypse. It begins with the targeting system which looks and acts so much like Zelda that you'll be calling shenanigans! Then there's the gameplay progression which has you visiting new locales and discovering crafty items which affect both combat and objects in the world around you. Even the dungeons play the same! There are small keys, boss keys, minibosses, puzzles, treasure chests. You even collect (the equivalent of) heart pieces! And a horse. You get a horse. Enough said.
All that aside though, you can tell that the developers have a genuine love interest with the Nintendo cult classic, and this game doesn't so much offend as it does ignite the same sense of love and devotion that we all experienced in Ocarina of Time. However, as little as an hour into the game, you begin to realise that Darksiders is much more a mish-mash of other favourites too such as God of War, in that the combat, right down to the button combos remind one of the anti-heroic Spartan. For those familiar with the Legacy of Kain series, you might also see some resemblance in the atmosphere and overall feel of the game's world. It is dark and lurking and at times even uses similar colour schemes to the original Soul Reaver. As an aside, you also get a power-up which lets you float across chasms and the like which can at times trick you into thinking you're actually playing as Raziel...
But before you go casting judgement, you should first remember how brilliant the games that Darksiders has drawn inspiration from are. These are some of the best games of all time so even if Darksiders isn't the most original title to date, it certainly moulds the best of each of these games into a very intriguing franchise, certainly worth a look. With a unique storyline which casts War, one of the four horseman of the Apocalypse against the legions of heaven and hell, you will definitely find yourself liking Darksiders from the get-go.
It's not often that female characters get a starring role in videogames, but when they do, the result is often... big boobies. Yes, that's right, massive jubblies. We've seen it before in what was coined in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, "Sexaxis," a play on the PS3 motion sensor, Sixaxis. Jiggle physics has been around in games since the first move to 3D gaming! Now, Bayonetta comes to our screens just screaming sexual charm and Japanese quirkiness. But at the crux of the game, do the boobies really get in the way of the beat 'em up gameplay? Not at all (except for their size, in which case they do)!
The game plays very similar to Devil May Cry, but has a very in-depth combo system based on the kind of weapons Bayonetta has equipped. There are 10+ weapons that can be equipped to both hands and feet, and each combination of weapons gives way to new combos. As an Umbra Witch, Bayonetta can also harness the power of her own hair which provides her very own armour and summons hell's most fearsome demons who assist her in taking on various incarnations of angels from Heaven. Yes, this game is typically Japanese, but the game plays out in a serious manner and you will be drawn into the world which Platinum Games has created.
The graphics are, quite frankly, breath-taking. The combat is very cinematic and action-packed, leaving each new combo you discover leaving you in utmost awe. Seeing enemies absolutely decimated by Bayonetta, guns in hand and lollipop in mouth, you can't help but smile, look back at the destruction you've caused and think to yourself, "Yep, I did that."
Each level is split up into segments which are each individually scored based on time taken, damage given and taken, lives lost and style in battle. This gives you all the more reason to replay levels to aim for high scores and collect more halos, the in-game currency used to buy more weapons and moves.
My first impression when I played the game was that it was going to be just another typical beat 'em up, but I was very much mistaken. The story is very intriguing and constantly has you wanting to see what happens next. The combat alone is enough to get you hooked, but the story and Japanese quips keep you coming back for more. Definitely worth your time.
This game annoyed me for two reasons. The first is that its claim to fame is that it trumps the previous Army of Two with better gameplay but only now puts it on par with the other gajillion First Person Shooters out there already. The second reason is that the title makes no sense. What happened on the thirty-nine other days that makes the fortieth day so special?! Did the guys not have sex for forty days and forty nights, and so this game is the eventual love-fest between two beefed up men whose vocabulary surely wouldn't reach that far into the hundreds? For the love of god I hope not. The game has been described as "bromantic" and a "bromance"...
Luckily, from what I did play, there was no anal penetration to speak of. But the game did suck. I don't claim to be very good at FPS', but some of the mechanics in this game are so convoluted and poorly explained that when you fail a mission because you didn't kill a guard at exactly the right moment and have to do it all again, failing over and over, it takes the fun - in every sense of the word - out of the game. Even on normal difficulty in co-op mode, my mate and I struggled to beat the first boss who has armour heavier than War's and his single weak point the tiniest slit in his helmet. Give him a shotgun, fifty other enemies to deal with at the same time and a checkpoint further back than a man with hyper-sensitive sense of smell who just caught a whiff of fart and you have a very broken game.
"Play this game and we'll shoot!"
Oh, and the game has unskippable cutscenes. Yes, if you die or fail a mission (for the hundreth time), you have to watch the same cutscene all over again. Unskippable cutscenes are so archaic and unwanted in games nowadays that that's enough to warrant not purchasing a game. What is this, the 20th century?!
If you were reading my review of Army of Two and thinking that I'm clearly biased against First Person Shooters then my review about MAG will quickly overturn that notion. MAG, short for Massive Action Game, is a PS3 exclusive, online only (no bots to speak of), 256 multiplayer game. It takes place some time in the future when inter-PMC (Private Military Company) warfare has broken out and three major companies are trying to come out on top.
From the start, you align yourself with one of the Raven, Valor or SVER and begin training. As an FPS it has all the basics; guns, melee, grenades etc. It also features a deep level-up system which dictates your skills and progress. As you level, you gain skill points which can be added to one of many categories, allowing you to carry new weaponry, learn or upgrade combat skills or operate useful gadgetry like health kits for reviving fellow team mates or charges for demolishing key objectives. The level cap is at 60 which leaves for a lot skills to be learned and future planning to do. This adds an interesting element to gameplay itself which aside from being a massive online game is your fairly standard, run-of-the-mill FPS.
Massive AWESOME Game
The guns within each faction are just slightly different. It's really the maps where your choice of PMC comes into play. Depending on who you play as, you will start in different areas of the map, often times advantageous to one group and handicapping the other. For the advantaged, it's a matter of protecting the objective point with precise shooting and non-complacency. For the disadvantaged, it means communicating effectively with squad members to find weak points in the enemy's defences to take victory.
Given the scope of these battles (from 64 players all the way to 256), each team is split up into squads and platoons with players able to take on leadership roles which carry more battle skills and privileges. Win or lose, the game rewards you for your actions in battle. If gunning isn't necessarily your thing, you can opt to specialise as a medic, reviving and healing your friends to increase your chances of victory. The reward is still great.
In either case, the game is very enthralling and will keep you wanting to play for a very long time.
One thing I miss about previous generations of consoles is local multiplayer. In fact, in previous generations it was only called multiplayer because no other forms of multiplayer existed! But back to the present, this generation is dominated by online multiplayer leaving people with real friends behind in the dust. Currently, I cannot think of any other decent racing game on PS3 that supports Local Multiplayer, so for this reason, Sonic Racing (I will call it for short) already stands out above the rest.
Sonic Racing is Sega's answer to Mario Kart. It features characters from many of Sega's franchises, including Sonic (obviously), Billy Hatcher, House of the Dead, Virtua Fighter and Space Channel 5. It also features some familiar Sega worlds and tunes which feels very nostalgic. But none of this means anything if the racing doesn't feel good. Fortunately, it feels like a cart racer should. The karts are weighty, drift physics work like you would expect them and there's a very nice sense of speed all the time, makes races feel intense.
The AI is pretty tough, even on Easy Mode (seasoned racers will win pretty much every race however). I dread to see what they're like on the hardest difficulty. The game also features 60 missions which include collecting rings, driving through gates and destroying targets in a set time. There is of course Time Trial Mode, and a large number of challenges which reward you with Sega Miles which you use to purchase new characters, tracks and songs.
This game is a great fan service to lovers of Sega
This game really shines with its multiplayer mode. It features both local and online and both play very well. There was no lag in any online races I participated in, and I wasn't actually coming first in every online race which was often the case on Mario Kart Wii. You will need some serious skills to beat some of the people online!
The 360 and Wii versions feature exclusive characters which is possibly the only incentive to get the game on these consoles. The game plays best on the PS3.
If you're after a racing game with good multiplayer, excellent graphics (everything is so bright and happy!) and just quality cart racing in general, look no further than Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing!
Look for my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock 2, Heavy Rain and White Knight Chronicles next week in Part 2!
In this section, I briefly describe the games I'm playing this week (hence the title) and rate them using a fairly basic scale which looks like the following:
Highly Recommend: This game is awesome. I love it and you should too
Recommend: It's a pretty good game but nowhere near perfect and will only appeal to certain people
Hardly Recommend: It's hard to find things to like about this game. Certain aspects are good but the game as a whole doesn't play very well
Don't Recommend: I wouldn't go near this game with a ten-foot stick. Nothing about this game is good
It's a shallow system, but I'll always note who each game will appeal to. I will not use the arbitrary system of number rating. Ever.
Note: A lot of the games I have listed above I have been playing this week, and all of them with the exception of one being very obvious I either Recommend or Highly Recommend. Being away however, I also got to take the time to play a lot of the games I hadn't beaten yet, so here they are...
1. Uncharted 2 (PS3)
No wonder this game won the esteemed Game of the Year 2009!! This game is absolutely brilliant! The graphics set it apart from every game out at the moment at the time of writing (FFXIII is out tomorrow though... ). The whole game is literally like playing a movie. It's like one big interactive cutscene.
So pretty...
The gameplay is much like the first but has been improved in some areas. Instead of the static 'adventure section, gun section, adventure section' ad nauseum, Uncharted 2 for the most part intertwines the two, so you can expect to see enemies at any time.
The environments differ a lot more from the first too, from oppressed cities to train yards to car chases to the freakin' Himalayas! It's totally awesome!!
I don't need to give an entire game review to express just how much I Highly Recommend this game! Get it if you haven't already played it!
2. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Valkyria Chronicles is quite possibly one of the most touching games I have ever played. The story takes place in an alternate Europe (Europa) where a small neutral country named Gallia is caught in a war between two major super powers (sound familiar?). It follows a small platoon in the Gallian army with a heavy focus on character development. The story is beautifully narrated with an amazing soundtrack to boot.
The gameplay does not suffer as a result of this. Valkyria Chronicles is a third-person strategy RPG with elements from shooter, strategy and role-playing genres. Each battle takes place within a confined area, and you are given a certain amount of moves per turn based on how many generals you have in your platoon. Prior to battle you can equip different guns and armour to each class of unit for that added advantage. At the start of each move, you are taken to a birds-eye view of the battle map where you select any character from tank commander, scout, heavy gunner, grenadier, sniper or engineer. Once selected, the game switches to over-the-shoulder view where you move to either take out foes, conceal yourself from enemy view or move to a more strategic location. Once all your moves are done, it switches to the enemy's turn and the process repeats.
Fear her big, phallic-shaped object
It all works very well, as the battle is as much a battle of wits as it is one of skill with a gun. Often, a lot of the battle is thinking how your moves will affect the enemy's moves and vice versa. It is not simply enough to gather all your forces in one fell-swoop and shoot at everything; the game in fact does not allow for this. Often enemies are hidden and thoughtless moves will result in death. Because you can only move one unit at a time, you must consider everything. In some missions, you must protect a specific location or not allow certain characters to die.
The graphics top off this amazing game. It is all hand-drawn in watercolour in Japanese anime style. This may cause some to avoid the game, but I find it very endearing. The graphics give the game a very unique touch which cannot be said for a lot of the games of this generation.
I Highly Recommend this to fans of any of these genres.
Darksiders
PS3, 360
When I say "Zelda," do your ears perk up? Do you slide to the edge of your seat and ready yourself for a deep conversation about Sabrina the Teenage Witch? Do you perhaps search your brain for everything you remember about Zelda D'Aprano, the women's rights activist from the 60's who chained herself to an Australian bank advocating equal pay for females? In either case, I'd be forced to slap you for being so outrageous - this is a gaming blog; of course I'm talking about The Legend of Zelda, you incessant arsenic sniffer.
Moving on...
Darksiders - if you didn't already gather from the prelude above - is a Zelda love-affair with similarities so striking that you could call the game, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Apocalypse. It begins with the targeting system which looks and acts so much like Zelda that you'll be calling shenanigans! Then there's the gameplay progression which has you visiting new locales and discovering crafty items which affect both combat and objects in the world around you. Even the dungeons play the same! There are small keys, boss keys, minibosses, puzzles, treasure chests. You even collect (the equivalent of) heart pieces! And a horse. You get a horse. Enough said.
All that aside though, you can tell that the developers have a genuine love interest with the Nintendo cult classic, and this game doesn't so much offend as it does ignite the same sense of love and devotion that we all experienced in Ocarina of Time. However, as little as an hour into the game, you begin to realise that Darksiders is much more a mish-mash of other favourites too such as God of War, in that the combat, right down to the button combos remind one of the anti-heroic Spartan. For those familiar with the Legacy of Kain series, you might also see some resemblance in the atmosphere and overall feel of the game's world. It is dark and lurking and at times even uses similar colour schemes to the original Soul Reaver. As an aside, you also get a power-up which lets you float across chasms and the like which can at times trick you into thinking you're actually playing as Raziel...
War contemplates investing in some lighter - yet equally
badass - armour
badass - armour
But before you go casting judgement, you should first remember how brilliant the games that Darksiders has drawn inspiration from are. These are some of the best games of all time so even if Darksiders isn't the most original title to date, it certainly moulds the best of each of these games into a very intriguing franchise, certainly worth a look. With a unique storyline which casts War, one of the four horseman of the Apocalypse against the legions of heaven and hell, you will definitely find yourself liking Darksiders from the get-go.
Bayonetta
PS3, 360
PS3, 360
It's not often that female characters get a starring role in videogames, but when they do, the result is often... big boobies. Yes, that's right, massive jubblies. We've seen it before in what was coined in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, "Sexaxis," a play on the PS3 motion sensor, Sixaxis. Jiggle physics has been around in games since the first move to 3D gaming! Now, Bayonetta comes to our screens just screaming sexual charm and Japanese quirkiness. But at the crux of the game, do the boobies really get in the way of the beat 'em up gameplay? Not at all (except for their size, in which case they do)!
The game plays very similar to Devil May Cry, but has a very in-depth combo system based on the kind of weapons Bayonetta has equipped. There are 10+ weapons that can be equipped to both hands and feet, and each combination of weapons gives way to new combos. As an Umbra Witch, Bayonetta can also harness the power of her own hair which provides her very own armour and summons hell's most fearsome demons who assist her in taking on various incarnations of angels from Heaven. Yes, this game is typically Japanese, but the game plays out in a serious manner and you will be drawn into the world which Platinum Games has created.
The graphics are, quite frankly, breath-taking. The combat is very cinematic and action-packed, leaving each new combo you discover leaving you in utmost awe. Seeing enemies absolutely decimated by Bayonetta, guns in hand and lollipop in mouth, you can't help but smile, look back at the destruction you've caused and think to yourself, "Yep, I did that."
A moment's silence for the guy on the receiving end
Each level is split up into segments which are each individually scored based on time taken, damage given and taken, lives lost and style in battle. This gives you all the more reason to replay levels to aim for high scores and collect more halos, the in-game currency used to buy more weapons and moves.
My first impression when I played the game was that it was going to be just another typical beat 'em up, but I was very much mistaken. The story is very intriguing and constantly has you wanting to see what happens next. The combat alone is enough to get you hooked, but the story and Japanese quips keep you coming back for more. Definitely worth your time.
Army of Two: The 40th Day
PS3, 360
PS3, 360
This game annoyed me for two reasons. The first is that its claim to fame is that it trumps the previous Army of Two with better gameplay but only now puts it on par with the other gajillion First Person Shooters out there already. The second reason is that the title makes no sense. What happened on the thirty-nine other days that makes the fortieth day so special?! Did the guys not have sex for forty days and forty nights, and so this game is the eventual love-fest between two beefed up men whose vocabulary surely wouldn't reach that far into the hundreds? For the love of god I hope not. The game has been described as "bromantic" and a "bromance"...
Luckily, from what I did play, there was no anal penetration to speak of. But the game did suck. I don't claim to be very good at FPS', but some of the mechanics in this game are so convoluted and poorly explained that when you fail a mission because you didn't kill a guard at exactly the right moment and have to do it all again, failing over and over, it takes the fun - in every sense of the word - out of the game. Even on normal difficulty in co-op mode, my mate and I struggled to beat the first boss who has armour heavier than War's and his single weak point the tiniest slit in his helmet. Give him a shotgun, fifty other enemies to deal with at the same time and a checkpoint further back than a man with hyper-sensitive sense of smell who just caught a whiff of fart and you have a very broken game.
"Play this game and we'll shoot!"
Oh, and the game has unskippable cutscenes. Yes, if you die or fail a mission (for the hundreth time), you have to watch the same cutscene all over again. Unskippable cutscenes are so archaic and unwanted in games nowadays that that's enough to warrant not purchasing a game. What is this, the 20th century?!
MAG
PS3
PS3
If you were reading my review of Army of Two and thinking that I'm clearly biased against First Person Shooters then my review about MAG will quickly overturn that notion. MAG, short for Massive Action Game, is a PS3 exclusive, online only (no bots to speak of), 256 multiplayer game. It takes place some time in the future when inter-PMC (Private Military Company) warfare has broken out and three major companies are trying to come out on top.
From the start, you align yourself with one of the Raven, Valor or SVER and begin training. As an FPS it has all the basics; guns, melee, grenades etc. It also features a deep level-up system which dictates your skills and progress. As you level, you gain skill points which can be added to one of many categories, allowing you to carry new weaponry, learn or upgrade combat skills or operate useful gadgetry like health kits for reviving fellow team mates or charges for demolishing key objectives. The level cap is at 60 which leaves for a lot skills to be learned and future planning to do. This adds an interesting element to gameplay itself which aside from being a massive online game is your fairly standard, run-of-the-mill FPS.
Massive AWESOME Game
Being online-only, there is very little, if any, lag to speak of. The graphics do their job well and the framerate constantly remains very high.
The guns within each faction are just slightly different. It's really the maps where your choice of PMC comes into play. Depending on who you play as, you will start in different areas of the map, often times advantageous to one group and handicapping the other. For the advantaged, it's a matter of protecting the objective point with precise shooting and non-complacency. For the disadvantaged, it means communicating effectively with squad members to find weak points in the enemy's defences to take victory.
Given the scope of these battles (from 64 players all the way to 256), each team is split up into squads and platoons with players able to take on leadership roles which carry more battle skills and privileges. Win or lose, the game rewards you for your actions in battle. If gunning isn't necessarily your thing, you can opt to specialise as a medic, reviving and healing your friends to increase your chances of victory. The reward is still great.
In either case, the game is very enthralling and will keep you wanting to play for a very long time.
Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing
PS3, 360, Wii, NDS
PS3, 360, Wii, NDS
One thing I miss about previous generations of consoles is local multiplayer. In fact, in previous generations it was only called multiplayer because no other forms of multiplayer existed! But back to the present, this generation is dominated by online multiplayer leaving people with real friends behind in the dust. Currently, I cannot think of any other decent racing game on PS3 that supports Local Multiplayer, so for this reason, Sonic Racing (I will call it for short) already stands out above the rest.
Sonic Racing is Sega's answer to Mario Kart. It features characters from many of Sega's franchises, including Sonic (obviously), Billy Hatcher, House of the Dead, Virtua Fighter and Space Channel 5. It also features some familiar Sega worlds and tunes which feels very nostalgic. But none of this means anything if the racing doesn't feel good. Fortunately, it feels like a cart racer should. The karts are weighty, drift physics work like you would expect them and there's a very nice sense of speed all the time, makes races feel intense.
The AI is pretty tough, even on Easy Mode (seasoned racers will win pretty much every race however). I dread to see what they're like on the hardest difficulty. The game also features 60 missions which include collecting rings, driving through gates and destroying targets in a set time. There is of course Time Trial Mode, and a large number of challenges which reward you with Sega Miles which you use to purchase new characters, tracks and songs.
This game is a great fan service to lovers of Sega
This game really shines with its multiplayer mode. It features both local and online and both play very well. There was no lag in any online races I participated in, and I wasn't actually coming first in every online race which was often the case on Mario Kart Wii. You will need some serious skills to beat some of the people online!
The 360 and Wii versions feature exclusive characters which is possibly the only incentive to get the game on these consoles. The game plays best on the PS3.
If you're after a racing game with good multiplayer, excellent graphics (everything is so bright and happy!) and just quality cart racing in general, look no further than Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing!
Look for my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock 2, Heavy Rain and White Knight Chronicles next week in Part 2!
GAMES I'M PLAYING THIS WEEK
In this section, I briefly describe the games I'm playing this week (hence the title) and rate them using a fairly basic scale which looks like the following:
Highly Recommend: This game is awesome. I love it and you should too
Recommend: It's a pretty good game but nowhere near perfect and will only appeal to certain people
Hardly Recommend: It's hard to find things to like about this game. Certain aspects are good but the game as a whole doesn't play very well
Don't Recommend: I wouldn't go near this game with a ten-foot stick. Nothing about this game is good
It's a shallow system, but I'll always note who each game will appeal to. I will not use the arbitrary system of number rating. Ever.
Note: A lot of the games I have listed above I have been playing this week, and all of them with the exception of one being very obvious I either Recommend or Highly Recommend. Being away however, I also got to take the time to play a lot of the games I hadn't beaten yet, so here they are...
1. Uncharted 2 (PS3)
No wonder this game won the esteemed Game of the Year 2009!! This game is absolutely brilliant! The graphics set it apart from every game out at the moment at the time of writing (FFXIII is out tomorrow though... ). The whole game is literally like playing a movie. It's like one big interactive cutscene.
So pretty...
The gameplay is much like the first but has been improved in some areas. Instead of the static 'adventure section, gun section, adventure section' ad nauseum, Uncharted 2 for the most part intertwines the two, so you can expect to see enemies at any time.
The environments differ a lot more from the first too, from oppressed cities to train yards to car chases to the freakin' Himalayas! It's totally awesome!!
I don't need to give an entire game review to express just how much I Highly Recommend this game! Get it if you haven't already played it!
2. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Valkyria Chronicles is quite possibly one of the most touching games I have ever played. The story takes place in an alternate Europe (Europa) where a small neutral country named Gallia is caught in a war between two major super powers (sound familiar?). It follows a small platoon in the Gallian army with a heavy focus on character development. The story is beautifully narrated with an amazing soundtrack to boot.
The gameplay does not suffer as a result of this. Valkyria Chronicles is a third-person strategy RPG with elements from shooter, strategy and role-playing genres. Each battle takes place within a confined area, and you are given a certain amount of moves per turn based on how many generals you have in your platoon. Prior to battle you can equip different guns and armour to each class of unit for that added advantage. At the start of each move, you are taken to a birds-eye view of the battle map where you select any character from tank commander, scout, heavy gunner, grenadier, sniper or engineer. Once selected, the game switches to over-the-shoulder view where you move to either take out foes, conceal yourself from enemy view or move to a more strategic location. Once all your moves are done, it switches to the enemy's turn and the process repeats.
Fear her big, phallic-shaped object
It all works very well, as the battle is as much a battle of wits as it is one of skill with a gun. Often, a lot of the battle is thinking how your moves will affect the enemy's moves and vice versa. It is not simply enough to gather all your forces in one fell-swoop and shoot at everything; the game in fact does not allow for this. Often enemies are hidden and thoughtless moves will result in death. Because you can only move one unit at a time, you must consider everything. In some missions, you must protect a specific location or not allow certain characters to die.
The graphics top off this amazing game. It is all hand-drawn in watercolour in Japanese anime style. This may cause some to avoid the game, but I find it very endearing. The graphics give the game a very unique touch which cannot be said for a lot of the games of this generation.
I Highly Recommend this to fans of any of these genres.
In Other News...
I've recently come into conflict with myself as to where I would like to take my life. I'm currently looking for roommates to move out with - to no avail, mind you. With regards to my education, I no longer want to do the degree I'm enrolled. I'm thinking I would very much like to do some kind of course in writing, whether it be Media & Communications or Journalism or some kind of Professional Writing certificate. I ought to start looking into that.
In the gaming world, most notably Final Fantasy XIII arrives on shelves tomorrow. Though most would find this very exciting, I'm very doubtful as to how good it will be. I've read a number of reviews and there's a lot to talk down about it. I'll have my review up next week.
Indeed...
God of War III also comes out in the next fortnight which will have the knickers of Playstation 3 fans in their own respective twists. I can't wait!
Megaman 10 is out this Thursday on PSN and Xbox Live, so people looking for some difficult retro action ought to get themselves a (digital) copy!
If you have anything to email me about, feel free to do so at:
jonosasson@hotmail.com
Anything is appreciated from comments, feedback, praise, food, abuse, links (which I'll post up in the next post if it's notable for all to see); anything you like.
Until next time, have an awesome week!
Jono
In the gaming world, most notably Final Fantasy XIII arrives on shelves tomorrow. Though most would find this very exciting, I'm very doubtful as to how good it will be. I've read a number of reviews and there's a lot to talk down about it. I'll have my review up next week.
Indeed...
God of War III also comes out in the next fortnight which will have the knickers of Playstation 3 fans in their own respective twists. I can't wait!
Megaman 10 is out this Thursday on PSN and Xbox Live, so people looking for some difficult retro action ought to get themselves a (digital) copy!
If you have anything to email me about, feel free to do so at:
jonosasson@hotmail.com
Anything is appreciated from comments, feedback, praise, food, abuse, links (which I'll post up in the next post if it's notable for all to see); anything you like.
Until next time, have an awesome week!
Jono
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