Thoughts on Final Fantasy 13 Demo

I'm really lazy and already wrote this on my 1up blog, but I'm gonna go ahead and post it here.

Yesterday I gave myself the priveledge of watching the 1up crew play the Japanese Final Fantasy XIII, and I have to say that it looks great so far. I do agree with the comments of the staff that the game play in the demo is pretty damn linear, but like they also said, most demos are used just to show off graphics and give you a little taste, and from what I say, this taste was good.

The battle system seems to be very similar to that of Chrono Trigger, which is to say that your attacks are turned based, but the enemies are attacking all the time. Also, another new thing about the FFXIII battle system is that you can only control one character, but will it only be limited to one during the whole battle like the 1up crew said? I think not! If you watch the video and look in the corner with all the health bars, you can see a flag next to the character that you are controlling. This may mean that you can switch between characters during battle, or maybe outside of battle,

The after battle screen is totally new. As far as I know, this is the first FF game with a ranking system, besides some of the Tactics series. Based on the speed of the battle and how you take out your enemies, you receive one to five stars. The 1up crew said that so far no type of EXP has been announced, but if you look under the stars you can see a line that says BONUS TP EARNED. Although the demo gives you 0 no matter how well you do, this may be the EXP you use to level your characters. My guess is that TP stands for Talent Points. Maybe another licence board-esque development thing?

Finally, the graphics are just top notch. This has to be one the greatest looking games I've seen on PS3. Unfortunately, this may cause problems for the port and delay the US release even more, like the newest RPG blog says. Just think, Square has repeated that the game utilizes all of the PS3 multiple times, and because the hardware is most likely different from the 360, this may cause huge technical problems.

Aside from the impending further delay of the game, I'm still very excited. I'm very glad that they went back to good ol' turn based battles, and the fact that they made it like Chrono Trigger is a very cool idea. Luckily I'm patient, and I shall wait for this game as long as it takes.

Street Fighter 4: Great, But Not Perfect

Hey readers (2 of em, hahaha, tell your friends damnit!) I'm back after quite a long hiatus of writing (I'm sorry I just didnt feel like it, but now i do!). This time around, as you read in the title, I'll review Street Fighter 5 made by Capcom. Capcom has made all the Street Fighters as well as Megaman, Resident Evil, and many more memorable titles. The same grading scale and categories apply to this game as it did in Gears, but since there really isn't much of a story, that category will not be included. Alright, onto the review!

So, as the title subtly hints, this is a fighting game. Like all fighting games, there are a myriad of characters to choose from. You start out with 16, but you can unlock more by completing the game with certain characters and by meeting certain criteria. All the fighters have unique moves, for the most part that is. Characters such as Ken, Ryu, Akuma, and Gouken all have similar move sets, but their power, health, and specials differ as well as their combos. Despite this, all fighters are fun to play as and the trial modes help you learn their moves, but unfortunately, this is where I run into to one of my problems with the game.

The trial mode is used to teach you how to pull off combos, special moves, and other related things by telling you what buttons to press and all that. However, certain characters moves require a charge and the game gives you no timer at all so you really just have to guess when to release. Luckily, in this installment it appears that you can't over charge, only under charge. The same problem goes for melee combos. I've found myself having to just try and try again until I miraciously nail a combo and it moves onto the next. Even with these flaws, the trials are still a great way to get you familiar with basic moves, which are enough to handle some of the easier difficulties. Speaking of difficulties, god damn is this game hard.

Ok, for pros it might be cake, but for a person like me who has only played Street Fighter for a small amount of time, I have to say this game is difficult beyond belief. The difficulty does not result from opponents massive AI, but actually the lack of it, and in the later modes, the abuse of it. In the easiest mode, which is what I used to unlock the first couple of characters, enemies such as Abel and Zangief seem to only have one move, run up, knock you down, and grab you, and then do it again until your dead. In medium, which is what I currently play on, they do the exact same thing, just faster. Problems also go on with characters like C. Viper and Rufus, both of 'em just spam fire kicks and earthquakes (C. Viper) and Messiah Kicks (Rufus). It's extremely annoying, and like all last bosses in fighting games, Seth (yes the last boss is named Seth) he shares all these annoyances. On easy, he ain't so bad, but oh my god, medium is a pain in the ass. All he does is spam his teleport and then shoryuken your ass with a 5 hit combo. To sum the difficulty up, it is only hard because all the computer does is abuse their moves and act like cheap-o's. Alright, sorry about that, moving on to the other aspects of the game.

The graphics in Street Fighter 4 are amazing. The little brush strokes of ink you get with a full charged force attack, and the animations of the ultra combos are top notch. Also, the characters show off some seriously funny expressions with knock out punches and just regular hits as well. It's safe to say that this is definitely one of the best looking fighting games around, so be glab Capcom made the switch from 2d sprites to full 3d figures. Ok, back to the gameplay aspects of versus modes and the like.

So, the fighting mechanics are great in Street Fighter, but the online mode, eh, not so much. You have the ability to set preferences such as find opponents with the same skill level as you. This is what I always try to search under (keyword being try) but it never works. I have 0, count em, 0 battle points, and when I search for a match, I get paired with somebody who has 500, or one time even 900. It's safe to assume that I got my ass handed to me, which I did. So yeah, the matchmaking is flawed to say the least, but luckily, when you have a friend next to you, versus is loads of fun. Alright, lets do the summarizing of the whole review in the categories. Ok? Ok.

Gameplay: A great example of what a fighting game should be, but I could really, really, REALLY do without the cheap AI. 8.5

Graphics: Excellent hand drawn, 3d figures along with great little details make this one of the most beautiful fighting games to look at while you're kicking ass or getting your ass kicked. 10

Concept: Fighters from around the world enter a competition to be the best. Hey, it's a fighting game, do you expect a professional writer? No, you don't. Luckily, it works. 10

Execution: Take a prestigious fighting game, and rework it. It worked, despite flaws in the CPU opponents and matchmaking. 8.5

Final Word: Street Fighter 4, for having revived the series after 10 years, did an amazing job. Although the game can be extremely frustrating, you'll always want to keep on playing. Street Fighter 4 gets a 9 out of 10.

(The review may be a bit incoherent, but what ever, I'm out of the swing of things, so deal with it :P)

Gears of War 2 Review

Alright, since this is my first review, lets establish as to how I will rate the games. I'm gonna' rate in 5 categories, Story, Gameplay, Graphics, Concept, and Execution. I use a scale of 1-10, 1 being ultimate suck and 10 being beyond excellent. So, let's begin!

Gears of War 2 is one of the most anticipated sequels to one of the most amazing 3rd person shooters ever, Gears of War. Released in early November, Gears of War 2 hit the top of the best sellers list on Gamestop.com and become instantly loved by almost all game critics. It received positive reviews across the board, but will I give it one? Lets see.

Gears of War 2 takes place almost exactly where Gears of War ended. The Light Mass Bomb did not work as the COG Army expected it would, and the Locust are still as strong as ever. With Jacinto being the only remaining strong hold for the humans, its time to bring the fight to the Locust's doorstep.

The player still follows the action of Delta Squad with our two favorite BFG carrying badasses Marcus and Dom, and don't forget the Cole Train and Baird! This time around, however, we are treated to some new characters that have their own little loveable quirks. First off, we meet Tai, a mysterious Hawaiin(?) who seems to believe heavily in fate and destiny. Next, there's Dizzy, a southerner that has some hilarious dialogue. New and old faces alike, all characters are enjoyable. Also, these new allies add some more meat to the story.

The story as a whole is an improvement over the first, but even so I could've written it, and I'm 15 years old! However, with what it is, it fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the game, but don't be expecting any mind blowing twists. Also, the story is perfectly timed, clocking in at about 10-13 hours, depending on your abilities, the game ends just as you are getting fed up with blowing up wave after wave of aliens and the like. This is also plenty of time to admire the graphics of the game.

I'm sure we all remember how gray the first Gears was, but nobody cared, because the detail was incredible! Luckily, we are treated to the same level of detail, but with even more colors this time around. The sights in Gears of War 2 are simply breathe taking, and as far as I'm concerned, I've never seen a more satisfying head shot animation than the one in this game. Speaking of head shots, how 'bout that online play?

Like all games, the online does have a learning curve, because it is much more fast paced than the campaign, but once you get used to it, online is blast. With Deathmatches, Horde, King of The Hill, Capture the Flag, and everything else, the online can keep you busy for hours.

With so much good, how can there be any bad within in this game? Well, nothing is perfect, and GoW2 is no exception. Although problems are scarce within this game, the one that bugs me the most is the slow loading of pixels in online matches, and sometimes even in the game. What I mean by this is that sometimes, your characters have absolutely no texture for anywhere between 5 seconds to 30 seconds. This might not bother some people, but the perfectionists might get a lil' annoyed with it. Also, the gameplay to me doesn't seem nearly as fierce as the first Gears. There were only a couple times in the new installement where my adrenaline was pumping beyond belief, while in the first it was going almost all the time. But as one can see, none of these flaws are major and they won't take away from your gameplay experience by much.

All in all, Gears of War 2 is amazing, and deserves all the attention its gotten. Even with the small flaws it has, it still provides a blast to any shooter/action genre fan. With 4 difficulty modes and online play, Gears of War 2 will keep you busy well through the holiday season.

Story: Humanity is getting desperate, and with only one outpost left, it's time to go on the offensive. Even though it's a simple plot line, it fits perfectly within the contexts of the game 8.5/10

Gameplay: The controls in Gears of War 2 are almost exactly like it's predecessor's, but even more rock solid. Actions almost never lag, and the button layout is perfect. 10/10

Graphics: In Gears, the amount of detail is insane. From characters to textures, to the high amounts of gore, everything looks amazing. 10/10

Concept: Take giant guys with biceps as big as their heads, and give em some guns with chainsaws attached, and then give em some alien hordes to fight and you have GoW2. It's a tried and true formula and it's still as fun as ever. 9/10

Execution: Gears of War delivered everything it promised. From visceral thrills to even more action, the game just works. 10/10

Final Word: Gears Of War 2 is a down right amazing shooter, even though it doesn't have the most original story, it still works out perfectly

Overall Score: 9.5/10

Getting The Most Mileage Out of Your Game

As we all know, game's main stories are getting shorter and shorter, and unfortunately, most of us don't have the power to change it. However, you know those little side quests in game text is always mentioning, or the sweet hidden treasure your friend was talkin' about? These are things that really give you the most bang for your buck.

As most of you know Fable for the XBOX was an insanely good game, a perfect mixture of action and strategy, creating one of the best rpgs I've ever played. Unfortunately, it's story was beatable in about 10 hours. It's successor, Fable II for the 360 is no different. The story is still only about 10-15 hours long, depending on your skill level. But wait! Did you ever notice that little exclamation point that keeps popping up every 5 minutes? Those are side quests my friend! I did almost all of them, and it turned a 10 hour game into a 40 hour game for me. These side quests, fluff if you will, are the key to getting the most mileage out of your game.

Wanna know another secret to getting more mileage? Explore! Most gaming worlds are free to explore and usually contain hidden treasures that range from useless to 1337. Like in the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, you can spend hours upon hours just traveling, finding hidden dungeons and treasures, without even paying attention to the main story. There is one drawback to these diversions though, if executed poorly, you will have no idea what you are supposed to be doing! So don't get too carried away!

If you are one of those gamers who really wanted a game like Fable II to be as epic as Oblivion, but was dissapointed with the short length of the story, do some sidequests! Find those ultimate weapons (Final Fantasy=Perfect Example!). If you do this, a 10 hour game could become 40 hours, hell, I turned Final Fantasy 7 into a 100+ hour game! Before you know it, you'll be able to make any "gas-guzzler" game into a "fuel-efficient" game.

Hello Everybody!

Hi peoples! I'd just like to introduce myself, this being my first blog and all. Might as well start with some info. Ok, so, this blog is gonna be kinda like my own "gaming magazine" cept its a blog, cool huh? I'll do the reviews of games I play, and don't worry, I will try to be unbiased. Also, I'll write articles every now and then over some interesting stuff. So, I hope you enjoy, whenever I put up my first post, until then, sayonara!