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This would be the sorry for me being slow, at least it's still the calm before the storm edition. Oh well, here's this week's BALLIN release list:
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Fracture
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA 2K9
•NBA Live 2009 | •Crash: Mind Over Mutant
•Guilty Gear 2: Overture
•Fracture
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA 2K9
•NBA Live 2009 | •Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune
•Crash: Mind Over Mutant
•Game Party II
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•NBA Live 2009 All Play
•Ten Pin Alley 2 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •My Spanish Coach
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA Live 2009
PC
•Baseball Mogul 2009
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also available in a limited edition)
•Can You See What I See
•Dark Horizon
•Etch A Sketch
•Exodus from the Earth
•The Guild 2: Venice
•Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Baseball Mogul 2009
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also available in a limited edition)
•Can You See What I See
•Dark Horizon
•Etch A Sketch
•Exodus from the Earth
•The Guild 2: Venice
•Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Crash: Mind Over Mutant
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA 2K9
•NBA Live 2009
•Onimusha: The Essentials |
 Anyways, the highlight this week is Fracture. In case you don't know, Fracture is a third person shooter like so many others. What sets this one apart from the rest is the ability to manipulate the terrain around you. Neat idea on paper, but the actual games falls victim to the disease affecting so many other games today: more of the same. The actual shooting portion of the game is just not that great. It feels like every other third person from the past two or three years. But that's not my biggest issue with the game. I truly have a problem with how it seems very linear and hand-holding in what you need to do. LucasArts really should have taken this game and made it more into a free roaming style experience with some clever puzzle solving aspects rather than a generic third person shooter that rips borrows something from every big name game over the past couple of years.
It may sound like I didn't like Fracture, but that's not the case at all. The game is pretty fun, but nowhere near $60 fun. Wait for this one to hit $20 or $30 before buying. Or if you're unsure, try out the demo on Playstation Network or Xbox Live.
Also out this week is the latest game based on the Bleach anime series. The only reason I mention it is because one of my favorite developers, Treasure, made it. I didn't highlight in the release list because I hate Bleach and it's wannabe Chuckie main character.
Another big release this week, and a possibly game of the year contender will be released this week: Etch-A-Sketch for the PC. In case you have not been following the massive hype surrounding this game, Etch-A-Sketch is the new prequel to the classic MS Paint which appears to feature a special guest appearance from a silver Pac-Man. Wonder why they decided to bring out a prequel over 20 years after the original, but maybe they can ride the cash wave of casual games. For me, I'll be sticking with Paint.
Finally this week, notice Ten Pin Alley 2 in the Wii's release list? This is the perfect example of how bad the shovelware situation on the Wii has become. Did you ever hear of the first game? It was a mediocre bowling game released in the US in 1996 for the PC and PS1. Yeah. We're digging up mediocre 12 year old franchise and shoehorning in Wiimote controls in hopes of a little money. Nice going Jack of All Games, whoever you are.
Come back next week when the REAL wallet raping begins. Now if you'll excuse me, I just got a LittleBigPlanet beta key in my email. 
 What would happen if we put many of Disney's famous characters, some random evil guys, a couple of Final Fantasy's greatest heroes and some new spike-haired kids all in one game? That must've been the question Squaresoft and Disney were asking themselves when they were creating the concept of Kingdom Hearts. What made them came up with such a crazy question? I have no idea. Does it make for an enjoyable RPG? It sure does.
No matter which way you look at it, Kingdom Hearts (2002) is a pretty unique game. It shares some common points with the Final Fantasy series, but it's profoundly different otherwise.
At the start of the game we meet Sora, Riku and Kairi. These three friends are simply enjoying the little tropical world they live in and spend their days playing, talking or staring at the ocean. One day changes everything when the Heartless, a purple army of toy-like bad guys, attack the island. Both Kari and Riku disappear and Sora decides to go and look for his friends, with the help of his magical Keyblade.
Before the main story takes off, you're placed in a church-like darkness, with only glass windows displaying sleeping princesses to walk on. This area serves as a tutorial for basic combat action as well as facing you with a choice that'll decide your "destiny". Destiny may be a big word, but it comes down to you having to choose a strength and weakness with "attack", "defense" and "magic" as your options. This will later influence the way your character (Sora) levels up, what abilities he'll get first and even how fast he'll level.
Soon after embarking on his quest, Sora will meet up with Donald and Goofy, who will accompany you throughout the rest of the game. You stumbled upon the hilarious duo because they are on a quest of themselves: to find King Mickey, who has given them instructions to assist the Keyblade wearer, which just happens to be Sora.
Although the plot may seem quite heavy, it is treated pretty lightly during most of the game, mainly because you'll be working to get all the sub-plots in the different Disney worlds settled out. There's more to say about the main plot but revealing any more story feels like spoiling to me, so I won't. I'll just say that even though the story has its depth, it's clear to see that Square wanted to make this a lighter digestible plot than the average Final Fantasy; a decision that's also reflected in Kingdom Heart's gameplay - but more about that in a minute.
You'll meet many famous Disney characters on your quest to find Riku and Kairi, all living in their specific world based upon their movie counterparts. Funny is how these Disney characters (except Donald and Goofy) don't know anything about the major story, but are preoccupied with their own little problems. Along the way you'll find yourself playing alongside characters like Alladin and Jack Skellington in worlds such as Wonderland, Agrabah, the Hundred Acre Wood, Halloween Town, etc... Next to that there are some new worlds designed specifically for this game such as Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion.
Now for one of the most irritating aspects of the game: travelling between all these worlds. Rather than just having your party "teleport" to a world, you'll have to play a minigame each time you'll travel to a new world. Your ship, called a Gummi ship, travels along a determined path until you reach the next world. While flying around you'll have to shoot (often unidentifiable) enemies. This is clearly a Star Fox rip-off, and a bad one at that. By defeating enemies you'll receive "Gummi blocks" which you can use to upgrade your ship. Instead of making this easy, Square decided to put in an awkward ship editor in the game that allows you to make your ship stronger by adding parts or even create a new one. This sounds better than it actually is because there isn't any point in doing so. The Gummi levels are so easy, you'll just want to get them over with quickly to advance to the next world; so what's the point of upgrading the basic ship? The whole feature could have been left out of the game for me, but I guess Square found it necessary to let players "experience" how the party travels between worlds.
Luckily, the game is a whole lot better when inside one of the worlds. Unlike the (until then) Final Fantasy series, Kingdom hearts is an Action RPG. This means all combat happens directly in the main environments, without "going" into a turn-based combat area. Your main weapon is Sora's Keyblade, with which you can use to hit the enemies one time or in combo's (depending on the abilities you have). You can also cast traditional FF-style magic such as fire, blizzard, thunder, slow, etc... These can be selected in the "Command menu" in the lower left corner of the screen with either the D-pad or the right analog stick. You can also assign up to three magics to the cross, triangle and square buttons that allow for easy-casting in combination with L1. Lastly, you can summon Disney characters that'll temporarily help Sora out, giving Donald and Goofy a break. The camera can be moved only to the left and right by holding down either L2 or R2, which feels quite restricted. In fact, it's the main thing that bothered me while playing Kingdom Hearts; I find the camera much too close to Sora's back to give a overall perspective of your environment. Oftentimes you won't even see the enemies you're fighting, with the camera struggling to get them into view. If it wasn't for the lock-on function (activated with R1), Kingdom Hearts would be almost unplayable.
Combat happens frequently, with enemies spawning almost everywhere on the map. Sadly enough the limited tactical options will make fighting the hordes of Heartless a rather boring venture, and feels like "something you have to do" instead of being a source of fun. It isn't so irritating that it'll make you stop playing, but it could've been done a lot better. As I said earlier, Donald and Goofy will accompany you on your quest, so they're also with you during combat; helping out by attacking enemies, using magic or throwing a potion your way when your health is low. You can also opt to temporarily exchange one of the two by an optional character, depending on the world you're in. On a positive note I can say that the boss fights are much more fun than the random battles and can be quite challenging, too. (if you haven't leveled up your characters too much, that is)
Besides the fighting, there's the traditional RPG action to be done such as talking to characters, buying items and weapons in stores and saving your game at save points. There's also a bit of platforming included, which is a nice distraction from the combat but suffers from the same camera problems as well as the not-so-fluid jumping animation. Kingdom Hearts clearly is an RPG with some platform elements rather than a platform game with RPG elements.
In the main menu there are the traditional "item", "equipment", "status" and "abilities" menus as well as a "customize" and "journal" menu. In the customize menu you can set the quick-access magics for Sora and determine Donald and Goofy's combat behavior by selecting if they have to do certain things "constantly", "frequently" or "occasionally". The journal menu serves as a log in which a summary of the story is kept, next to character and world descriptions.
Graphically, Kingdom Hearts is a feast for the eyes, especially if you're a Disney fan. Both the worlds and characters accurately resemble their traditional animation counterparts, something Square can be proud of. You can also enjoy the colorful scenery in first-person view when pressing the select button. Once again, the restricted camera is the only thing that keeps this game from being a sightseers' dream.
Vocally, Square has done their best with much of the dialog being voiced over by an excellent cast of voice actors. Most of the actual Disney voice actors have lent their voices to their respective characters and Haley Joel "I see dead people" Osment gave his voice to Sora. Sound effects are average but just like in most of Square's RPG's, music is excellent. Each world is accompanied by its own theme (often a variation or adaptation of the famous Disney themes) that either sets a happy tone (in the Disney worlds) or a more serious tone (in the non-Disney worlds).
Despite its flaws, Kingdom Hearts is a unique game that successfully merges the worlds of Disney and Square into a unique experience. Whether you're an RPG fan, Square fan, Disney fan or action fan; there's a little for everybody in Kingdom Hearts. 8.4/10
So, I had this written earlier today and wanted to make a few corrections, but then I closed the web browser on accident. Looks like I'mma have to do the commentary section from memory.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •Silent Hill Homecoming | •Mobile Ops: The One Year War
•Silent Hill Homecoming | •Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
•We Cheer | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Cake Mania
•Pipe Mania
•Valhalla Knights 2
PC
•Baseball Mogul 2009
•Dark Horizon
•Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft
•Mount & Blade
•Pipe Mania
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Animal Paradise
•Margot's Word Brain
•Pipe Mania
•Pop Cutie: Street Fashion Simulation
•Princess Debut
•Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
•Unsolved Crimes | •Mortal Kombat Kollection
•Onimusha: The Essentials
•Pipe Mania |
 Looks like the game companies decided to give us a break before completely slaughtering our wallets in October.
First featured game this week is Silent Hill Homecoming for the PS360, the newest installment in the popular survival horror franchise. I must confess that I've never played a Silent Hill game in my life, but I do know that Pyramid Head is badass. Since I've never played Silent Hill, I pose this question to my readers. Is it worth getting into the series? If so, where should I start?
Next up is Sonic Chronicles for the DS. Expecting a fast platformer like Sonic Rush? You're definitely not getting that. Sega decided to take Sonic in a totally different direction with this new game, and hand off development to Bioware, creators of Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Yup, this is an RPG in the Sonic universe. Quite an interesting concept if I must say so. And get this: it's getting strong reviews. Let that sink in. A new game starring Sonic that's actually GOOD. For reals.
Also this week: 360 owners can MUST download Mega Man 9 for 800 Space Bucks (that's $10 for us Earthlings).
Check back next week for a return to game companies raping your wallet.
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Yet another crowded week. It's especially bad for Wii and PS3 owners...
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Baja: Edge of Control
•Buzz Quiz TV
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also avaliable as a limited edition)
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•LEGO Batman | •Baja: Edge of Control
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also avaliable as a limited edition)
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•LEGO Batman
•Warriors Orochi 2 | •Brothers in Arms: Double Time
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•de Blob
•LEGO Batman
•Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
•Pitfall: The Big Adventure
•Rebel Raiders
•Samba De Amigo
•Sim City Creator
•Twin Strike: Operation Thunder
•Wario Land: Shake It
| | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Buzz Master Quiz
•LEGO Batman
•Pipe Mania
PC
•Battlelord: King’s Bounty
•Command & Conquer 3 Deluxe Edition
•Everlight
•Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition
•Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
•LEGO Batman
•Mount & Blade
•Nostradamus
•The Settlers VI Gold
•Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization | •Barbie Fashion Show: •Eye for Style
•Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4
•Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6
•Di-Gata Defenders
•Dinosaur King
•Disgaea DS
•Drop Cast
•Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge
•Kirby: Super Star Ultra
•LEGO Batman
•Margot's Word Brain
•My Japanese Coach
•My SAT Coach: Princeton Review
•My Little Pony Pinkie Pie's Party
•Nancy Drew: Hidden Staircase
•Pipe Mania
•Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
•Shaun the Sheep
•Sim City Creator
•Time Hollow | •Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
•LEGO Batman (Also available in a bundle with a PS2 system for all 2 people that don't own one yet)
•Onimusha: The Essentials
•Pipe Mania
•SingStar Pop Vol 2
•Warrior's Orochi 2 |
 Because I'm kinda busy, I will keep my rundown fairly short.
So, this week you have a Wiimake of Samba De Amigo (which apparently isn't that great), a Wii adaptation of student project that gathered a lot of attention at the Independent Games Festival, yet another WW2 FPS (but a good looking one), a new Lego game (which usually turn out good), a new Buzz! game (pretty good trivia/party game), Wario Land: Shake It (Nintendo hasn't hyped this game at all. Why?), Kirby Super Star Ultra (Same. Why no love Nintendo?), Disgaea DS (ugly art, but supposedly good game if you like that kind of thing), and of course Mega Man 9! If you own a 360, PS3, or Wii, I expect you to buy MM9. If you don't I seriously doubt your classic gamer cred.
Also out this week on the PSN is Wipeout HD, a steal at just $20.
Sorry for the abridged look at this week's games. Hopefully school doesn't totally screw me over again next week.
 Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (in the US: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) is Level-5's third RPG for the Playstation 2, and also the third game ever by the developer. After the good Dark Cloud (2000) and the great Dark Chronicle (2002), Level-5 decided to take on the massive task of making the next instalment of the long lasting Dragon Quest franchise. Not only that, Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (from now on called Dragon Quest 8 ) would become the first game of the series for the Playstation 2, as well as being the first Dragon Quest game with 3D graphics. Not an easy task, but Level-5 fulfilled all expectations.
The game starts when the evil mage Dhoulmagus tries to steal a legendary sceptre, locked away in a local castle. To reach his goal, Dhoulmagus cursed the castle and petrified everyone inside into plant-like beings except for three individuals. The King, Throde, gets transformed into a Yoda-like toad, while his daughter, princess Medea, gets turned into a horse. The last survivor of the curse is you, the hero of this tale, and the only one not affected by the curse in any way.
Despite the shallowness and classic feel of the story, there are some interesting plot twists that'll keep you entertained until the end. Along the way you'll meet three more characters that'll join you on your adventure: Yangus, Jessica and Angelo. Yangus is rough fellow that got his life saved by the hero and calls him "guv" out of respect. Another recurring line of Yangus is "Cor' Blimey!" whenever King Throde appears out of nowhere. Jessica is a hard headed aristocratic girl that wants to avenge the death of her brother, Alister, who got killed by Dhoulmagus some time before his attack on the castle. Angelo is a Templar Knight, devoted to Abbot Francisco, but lacking the will to follow the Templars' strict moral code.
This lively bunch sets out to find Dhoulmagus, and while doing so encounter countless other characters that need assitance of some sort to advance the main plot. The game offers alot of content and a whole world to discover. Rushing through the story without doing any sidequests will almost take up 50 hours. You can almost double that number when playing at a normal pace and getting involved in most of the sidequests.
Gameplay-wise, Dragon Quest 8 is an as classic RPG as it gets. Combat is turn-based and gets triggered by random encouters. Because there are only 4 playable characters, switching characters isn't an option, meaning all characters will level up at the same speed. When faced against a number of monsters, you'll have to assign tasks to all 4 of your characters first and then watch them get executed together with enemy attacks. Besides melee and ranged attacks, characters can cast offensive or healing spells, aswell as use weapon-specific abilities. Lastly, players can opt to raise the tension of a character to build up energy that can be released in a single, devastating blow; especially useful when doing a boss fight.
Characters differ concerning the spells they can cast, aswell as the attributes they can raise. When a characters levels up, you can assign points to any of 5 attributes of that character. 4 of those attributes are to increase damage done with specific weapons, 1 attribute is different for each character. Some tactics lie in the fact that not all characters can use all types of weapons. For example, Angelo is the only one that can wield bows. The maximum amount of points that can be assigned to an attribute is 100, which can be obtained at around level 40. This gives players some time to experiment with different weapon types first before having to stick to one type to get it as strong as possible. The different weapon types are swords, boomerangs, axes, clubs, knives, scythes, whips, staves, bows and fisticuffs (no weapon equiped).
Besides weapons, characters can also equip a piece of body armor, a helmet, a shield and an accessory. These aren't as many categories as in some other RPGs, but you'll still spend a great deal of time finding, buying or making better weapons and armour. That last option is available once aquiring an Alchemy Pot. You can throw in multiple items and see what new item pops out. This mini-game is similar to the "invention" system in Dark Chronicle or the weapon system in Rogue Galaxy. It's quite important to try out as much combinations as you can, because it's the best way to get a hold of some strong weapons/armour/items before being able to purchase them. That's needed, because the game can be pretty challenging, especially early on when it doesn't take much hits to get your party wiped out. After the game's ending you can load your saved game again to just before defeating the final boss and enter a complete new dungeon after which some of the hardest boss battles can be found. Sometimes you'll have to go through large stretches of land without really knowing what to look for. Although this might set off the less experienced RPGer, old-school gamers will love the classic approach to this RPG.
If I could say only one thing about Dragon Quest 8, it would be that it's a very polished, rich and complete games. Alot of thought went into the menu, which looks particulary nice. All your items can easily be sorted with an auto-sort option in the menu, where they are displayed with beautiful icons. Also nice is that, when pressing select, you get a "battle records" menu in which you can watch a full list of of monsters, collected items and Alchemy Pot recepies.
Coupled to the great gameplay are stunning visuals and sound. Graphics are some of the best on the PS2 and the best ever in the Dragon Quest series. The cel-shading suits the game perfectly, with characters and monsters looking like they've just escaped from an anime, yet staying faithful to the Dragon Quest franchise. Akira Toriyama did the character design of this game and is the man responsible for the Dragon Ball Z series.
Sound is just as nice with convincing voice acting (despite the sometimes over-the-top voice of King Throde), great sound effects and fantastic music. The songs are all classic orchestral tracks that really set the mood for the many areas that the game is rich. From the regal intro tune to the upbeat battle song or the creepy dungeon track; they all maintain the same high level and are never out of place.
I'll wrap it up by saying that Dragon Quest 8 is one of the best games in the series aswell as one of the best RPGs on the PS2. If you're looking for a good RPG, a game that will last a long time or just a good game in general, this is a must-buy. 9.3/10
 OK so after I had wrote my last entry on this game, a couple more hours of playing and I had beaten it. Apparently the 3rd chapter is a lot shorter than the previous two. That's fine because it wrapped up the story and allowed me to begin a new game for better grinding and yoinkage. So here's my review of it:
I've enjoyed this game enough now that I have beaten it, that immediately following the ending and credits, I began a new game using the same character under the "Elite" mode which makes all the enemies of the game 50 levels higher than they were previously. So I haven't stopped playing it yet and that doesn't happen often after I beat a game.
The fact that you can grind and that enemies respawn gives this game a deeper depth and more play value. I suppose on one hand it makes the game easy if you level up well past that of the enemies as you progress through the story. Or you can think of it as a bonus for all the time you spent grinding for new items and EXP points.
Compared to the PC versions of Dungeon Siege, this one has a more Dark Alliance/Champions of Norrath feel about it. A bit glitchy at times and not overly complicated, the game has a laid back quality that makes it an easy game to just pick up for a few minutes and do some “yoinking”. Just be patient with the load times, even the 2nd model PSP has a bit of a wait while loading levels.
Graphics and sound are surprisingly good. Even the voice acting is well done and the character animations are fluid. The levels themselves are a bit generic but they are varied and there is a keen level of attention to detail to them.
Leveling up is fun because not only is there level specific loot, but there are many choices for attributes and abilities to put your earned points into. That gives you some flexibility in customizing your character and later on you can augment that with subclasses.
There are also crossover codes used between this game and Dungeon Siege II: Broken World for the PC. These codes unlock bonus items such and armour and weapons.
If I had to wrap up an impression of this game in one sentence, it’d be: “Level grinding & looting without the burden of long story dialogs”.
Tan's score - 9.0/10 or an A-
I’ve been playing the hell out of this game lately. If I had to guess I’d say I’ve put in well over 15 hours by now, maybe more than 20. This is actually my wife’s game as she bought it new when it came out intending to dive into the PSP head first. I suppose in a way I’ve been using this game to ease my disappointment that the Two Worlds sequel wasn’t released in September and maybe not even in 2008 at all.
The fact that you can grind and that enemies respawn gives this game a deeper depth and more play value. I suppose on one hand it makes the game easy if you level up well past that of the enemies as you progress through the story. Or you can think of it as a bonus for all the time you spent grinding for new items and EXP points.
Compared to the PC versions of Dungeon Siege, this one has a more Dark Alliance/Champions of Norrath feel about it. A bit glitchy at times and not overly complicated, the game has a laid back quality that makes it an easy game to just pick up for a few minutes and do some “yoinking”. Just be patient with the load times, even the 2nd model PSP has a bit of a wait while loading levels.
I think I’m 2/3 of the way through at this point. Right now I’m messing around with the crossover codes used between this game and Dungeon Siege II: Broken World for the PC. These codes unlock bonus items such and armour and weapons. If I had to wrap up an impression of this game in one sentence, it’d be: “Level grinding & looting without the burden of long story dialogs”. Great game so far. As far as money value per PSP title, I’d say this one will more than justify the high price of the title ($49.99 when it was new).
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I've been hyping it up for a long time now, but this is going to be the trend for the next few months. A fuckton of games. Enjoy!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Armored Core: For Answer
•Pure
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | •Armored Core: For Answer
•Battle Fantasia
•Pure
•Rock Band 2 (360 Exclusive. GAME ONLY! The bundle comes out next month.)
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | •Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 (Simply because it has LCD Soundsystem  )
•Igor
•Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
•Littlest Pet Shop
•Rebel Raiders
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•TNA Impact!
•Zoo Hospital | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •B-Boy
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•Yggdra Union
PC
•Cooking Academy
•Crysis: Warhead
•Discovery
•Everlight
•Hell's Kitchen
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•The Price is Right
•Pure
•The Settlers VI: Gold Edition
•S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
•Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning | •Animal Paradise
•Di-Gata Defenders
•Dragon Quest IV
•Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition
•Happy Cooking
•Igor
•Imagine: Fashion Designer New York
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•My Secret World by Imagine
•Red Bull BC One
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•Unsolved Crimes | •Dance Dance Revolution: X (Game only and Bundle. However, the game has a craptacular song list, par for the course with DDR these days. Hey Konami, just release a game with the arcade soundtrack for once. You'll make so many people happy.)
•Namco Classic Fighter Collection (Includes Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, and Soul Calibur II)
•Naruto Ultimate Collection
•Pac-Man Power Pack
•Speed Racer
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed |
 So, yeah, this week has quite a few good games coming out. Where do we start?
How about the biggest game of the week, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? I've played the demo on PS3 and it's pretty damned good. Not $60 good, but a good pickup at $30 or $20. However, if you're a Star Wars fan, you might want to get it right away because it seems like the first great Star Wars game since Battlefront II. In case you don't already know, Force Unleashed is kind of like a God of War or Devil May Cry game set in the Star Wars world. But what makes this game so awesome is that you can play around with the force. For example, grab a Stormtrooper and throw him into other enemies or grab a TIE Fighter and throw it at enemies. There's so much you can do in this game due to the fact that it is running THREE physics engines on the PS3/360 versions. But don't you Wii owners feel left out, you'll get the opportunity of using waggle to throw things. I haven't researched the other versions as much, but I bet they'll be good.
Rock Band 2 comes out this week ONLY FOR XBOX 360. Harmonix has load of cash from Microsoft a contract with Microsoft to have Rock Band 2 on the 360 one month before the other systems. The thing is that the only way you can get the game at the minute is without any of the instruments. The bundle will arrive next month along with the release of Rock Band 2 on the other systems. So, I'll save talking about it until then. However I will say that if you buy RB2 and you already have the first one, you can transfer over all the songs from the frist game for only $5...and any songs you purchased on the first game will work with the new game free of charge. Nice job Harmonix!
Square Enix whores will be happy to know that yet another handheld port of one of their old games is coming out this week. That game is Dragon Quest IV for the DS. Since I don't like Square Enix besides the fact that they published Space Invaders Extreme and Einhander, I won't comment on how good this game is because I obviously hate it. 
Also out this week is Pure, Disney's surprisingly fun arcadey ATV racer; Crysis Warhead, the sequel to the biggest PC game no one bought because they're all cheapskates that would rather pirate games instead of putting food on the developer's tables; S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, a neat looking FPS; Warhammer Online, yet another MMO; and Line Rider 2, a new version of the popular web game.
In case you did not notice there, I started listing PC games. You're very welcome. Let me know what you think of the new format in the comments.
 Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) is a 2005 game released by Quantic Dream. With the studio's second release they wanted to create a truly cinematic game and let me tell you: they succeeded.
The game starts in a cold, snow-covered New York City where we find protagonist of the game, Lucas Kane, sitting on a toilet of a diner with a knife in his hands. Something's not right with Lucas because he used the knive to kill an innocent man and carved strange markings in his forearms. Seconds later, he regains control over himself and is stunned to find the man on the bathroom floor, realising he's a murderer.
From there on the player gets to control Lucas and has to make quick decisions in his place to get him away from the crimescene in one piece. I won't go into further detail about the story because that would spoil too much of the experience. All I'll add is that you also get to play as Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, two detectives working the case of Lucas' murder. This makes for some interesting moments because you're playing as two sides who are literally working against each other.
I'd like to stress how important the story in this game is, which is of a far superior level and suspense normally found in games. While advancing through the game you'll really start to care about alot of characters, which aren't stereotypical good or bad guys but rather undergo an evolution as the game progresses.
What makes Fahrenheit different from most games is not only its deep story but also the way you can influence that story. Depending on what decisions you make, the story changes. When talking to another character, different dialog options are shown. (Like in Mass Effect) A timer runs out so you have to make quick decisions as to what you want your character to say. Although the story isn't completely changeable (some decisions simply end up with Lucas in prison, forcing you to do things differently) there are entire scenes that can be unlocked when making the right decisions. (including two sex scenes cut from the US version)
All actions in the game are performed via the analog sticks. The left one controls Lucas' movement while the right one is context-sensitive. Depending where you are or what object you're facing, a small icon on the screen shows what movement you should make with the stick. (Much like Skate's way of performing tricks)
During the more intense action sequences you'll have to perform a sort of rhythm mini game with the analog sticks. Two 4-button icons will show up in the middle of the screen (like the memory game Simon) and depending on which color lights up, you'll have to press the corresponding analog stick in that direction. Although this seems stupid on paper it works rather well in this game and I never got the feeling I'm simply pressing random buttons because the rhythm game is made so it matches the actions on screen.
Another fun feature of Fahrenheit is you'll also do some everyday life actions like drink some water, play some guitar or take a shower. This supports the bond you have with the characters and shows they're no superheroes but regular people like you and me. They also have a mental health bar that goes up or down depending on your actions in the game. At maximum this shows as "Neutral" but will say things like "Stressed" or "Depressed" when worse.
What's most irritating about Fahrenheit are character and camera movement. Character movement is slow and feels stiff. Maybe this has been done to add to the realistic feel of the game, I'm not really sure. Although the camera does a decent job, it tends to get stuck behind objects in small rooms making it hard to regain a good perspective. Graphics aren't fantastic either (comparable to those of GTA: Vice City and San Andreas) with some animations looking a bit unnatural, despite the use of motion capture. This never bothered me though, because it's easy to forgive a game for its lesser graphics when it has such an intense storyline.
Much better than the visuals is the audio and a place where Fahrenheit really shines. Luckily for its storyline, voice acting is performed excellent for all characters. The way you can hear them think in their heads is especially convincing, together with the voice of main character Lucas. Musically, Fahrenheit uses both licensed songs and an original score. Licensed songs are usually found when a radio is playing in-game while the original score accompanies alot of dialog and action scenes. I think both are used very well and give Fahrenheit that memorable feel that you'll remember even after finishing the game.
Although only an 8-hour game, Fahrenheit is the kind of of game you'll still think about weeks after completing it. It gets under your skin like few other games do and has a story even fewer can compare with. Definately worth your attention despite the flaws I've mentioned. 8.3/10
A little bit lighter week this time around, but it sees the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •NHL 2K9
•NHL 2009
•TNA Impact! | •NHL 2K9
•NHL 2009
•TNA Impact!
•Zoids Assault | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures
•Hell's Kitchen
•NHL 2K9
•The Price is Right (One of my original ideas for the Wii. Read my comments later.) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures | •Hell's Kitchen
•Lock's Quest
•Mazes of Fate
•Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (It's a game with no hype from Nintendo. It's gotta be good.)
•The Price is Right
•Spore Creatures
•Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures
•Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
•NHL 2K9
•TNA Impact!
•Yakuza 2 |
 This week is one full of possibly great games that are flying under the radar...along with a game that is going to be freaking huge. First up is the new game from Will Wright, the mastermind behind The Sims and SimCity. That game is Spore for Windows and Mac. What is Spore? It's a life simulation game like The Sims, but with a much larger scope. In the game, you design a species and oversee their evolution from single cell organisms to intelligent creatures. During this time you will guide the species through many phases including Tribal, Civilization, and Space. Once you reach the Space Age, you will be able to travel to the planets of other players and interact with their civilzation by trying to make peace or attacking them. I am so very interested in this game due to the fact that it could be the deepest game ever conceived. I just hope my PC is able to run it. Hopefully PC gamers actually buy this game and support EA instead of pirating it and contributing to the downfall of PC gaming.
Anyways, next game I'd like to highlight this week is The Price Is Right for the Wii. Why the hell would I mention this? Back in 2005 or so when the Wii's "innovative" controller scheme was announced, one of the first games I thought would be pretty awesome on the Wii was The Price Is Right. Imagine spinning the big wheel in the Showcase Showdown, punching out holes in Punch a Bunch, or putting in Hole in One (OR TWO!),or dropping a virtual chip in Plinko. I didn't think much about my idea after that, but it was in the back of my head. Imagine my surprise a few months ago when I found out that UbiSoft was making a game based on The Price is Right. My hopes aren't very high for the game, but I still hope it turns out decently (and has a Barker's Beauties sex minigame).
Other games coming out this week include Yakuza 2 for the PS2, the long-overdue sequel to the original game on the PS2. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for the Nintendo DS, a new point and click mystery game from Nitnendo that hasn't gotten a lot of hype, so it's gotta at least be decent considering all the other games they've done like this have been good. Finally is the American debut of Masaya's truly fucked up PC Engine shooter Cho Aniki on the Wii Virtual Console. This game is unlike anything you've ever seen. It's the first in a series of shmups with weird homoerotic overtones and a strange sense of humor going throughout the whole thing. I can't even begin to describe the screwed up goodness that is Cho Aniki, so check out Hardcore Gaming 101's look at the series and prepare to be amazed.
The fall release season marches on this week...if you're a PS3/360 owner. The rest of you get nothing much at all. Here's the lineup:
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •FaceBreaker
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species
| •FaceBreaker
•Infinite Undiscovery
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
•Warhammer: Battle March | •Rapala Fishing Frenzy ($10 more than the PS3/360 version?!) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Picto Image | •Mercenaries 2: World in Flames |
 This is actually a pretty good week considering how early it is in the season. Mercenaries 2 is the sequel to the 2005 PS2/XBox original, and expands on its sandbox style of gameplay. This new installment features enhanced physics (powered by the ever-popular Havok engine), the ability to light things on fire, swimming (along with boats as an added vehicle type), air support, a grappling hook, and more. I haven't played the first game, but the new installment looks pretty neat.
Next up is a game that I have tried, Facebreaker. This is the first game to be published under EA's new label: EA Sports Freestyle. Freestyle, as explained by EA Sports head, Peter Moore, provides "a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA Sports." Enough with the businessy talk, the game is pretty damned fun based on the demo. It's a simplified version of EA's own Fight Night series but with cartoony characters and a humorous tone, much like Ready 2 Rumble for the Dreamcast. FaceBreaker is nothing outstanding, but it certainly should be worth getting when the price drops to around $20 or $30. If you're interested in the game, give the demo on PSN or Xbox Live a shot.
Next up: Infinite Undiscovery, the much anticipated ( ) Xbox 360 exclusive RPG from Square-Enix (that's something you don't see every day). I honestly don't care about this game, I only highlighted it for Square fanboys (the most annoying variety) so that they don't totally deride me and rip me to shreds.
Finally, the true follow-up to possibly the greatest game on the 360 comes out this week. That's right, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. The new game includes 30 new species, new areas, and an Eye of Judgment rip-off like feature which allows you to scan cards using a Live Vision camera and get new Piñatas that way. But unlike Eye of Judgment, Rare is actually going to be making these cards free on their website and maybe bundled with promotional partner products.
That's all for this week. Be sure to check back next time!
 Maximo: Ghosts To Glory (2002) is Capcom's effort in trying to create a modern platform game with the classic Ghosts 'N Goblins feel to it. The game was originally planned for release on the Nintendo 64, but after being delayed a couple of years it found itself on the PS2 instead.
When starting a new game you'll see Maximo returning home after war in a nice CGI cutscene. Things aren't exactly as he had hoped because Achille has taken over his kingdom and opened the door to the underworld. To make matters worse, Achille has captured four princesses aswell as Maximo's wife, Sophia. With a devastation spell, Achille sends Maximo to the underworld where he's given a chance by the Grim Reaper to resque the princesses and regain control over his kingdom.
Despite being a difficult game, the gameplay of Maximo isn't complicated at all. Maximo is restricted to four moves: a basic swing of his sword, a power strike, a downward strike after double-jumping and throwing his shield. When venturing through the five worlds of the game you'll encounter different enemies that each require a unique combination of moves to defeat.
Knowing how to defeat each enemy is critical for your success, because just like in games of the past, Maximo dies after only a couple of hits. Furthermore, you need 100 coins each time you want to save; which is only possible in the central hub-level of each world. If Maximo happens to loose all his lives he'll return to the underworld where the Grim Reaper will ask for a Death Coin to revive the fallen hero. A Death Coins is obtained by collecting 50 Blue Spirits. If you die without any Death Coins, it's game over for good. All of this results in a game that's far more difficult than other platform games on the PS2, or even modern games in general.
Needless to say, Maximo will require a lot of trial & error, figuring out how to defeat certain enemies or remembering where the next armor chest is located.
To make things less repetitive, Maximo will find abilities along the way aswell as power-ups for his sword and shield. Some abilities are almost vital to survive (like the double swing or throw shield abilities) while others aren't of much use throughout most of the game (like Thunderbolt) The sword power-ups however always come in handy, as they make Maximo's sword stronger and are needed for certain abilities. To get the most out of these abilities it's best not to die, because Maximo looses all but a few "locked" ones when faced with death.
Each world features five levels that are to be completed to gain access to the world's boss and the next world eventually. Each level has its own difficult moments but luckily a couple of checkpoints can be activated, so death doesn't necessarily mean starting all the way from the beginning of the level. After clearing a level you'll get a great feeling of success that is hardly present anymore in most modern games.
Maximo's graphics match its old-school gameplay in a sense that everything (except the character models) looks a bit blocked and flat. Often, walls or floors aren't more than a single huge polygon with a texture slapped onto it, clearly showing Maximo's history on the N64. This never bothers me because Maximo is intended to feel like a 16-bit era game. On the other hand, character models are detailed and animations are fast and smooth.
The sound of the game does the job well, with nice sound effects and good voice-acting for the (scarce) CGI cutscenes. I especially like the the game's music that enhances its classic mood aswell as each world at the same time. A couple more songs would have been nice though.
Overall, Maximo is a double-edged sword. Novice gamers will be frustrated with the game's trial & error gameplay and cumbersome save system while old-school gamers will love the game's nostalgic feel. If you're up for a challenge, like platform games or like 16-bit games, be sure to check out Maximo: Ghosts To Glory. 8.6/10
Hope you've braced yourself because the onslaught of new games starts to ramp up this week! RPG fans have two great "next-gen" games to look forward to this week, and golf fans get the latest installment of EA's Tiger Wood series. Nintendo fans also get in on the action this week with a new Mario sports game...and a shit ton of shovelware. Think this week is loaded? HA! It's only gonna get worse as we approach the holiday season.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
•Ferrari Challenge
•Tiger Woods 09
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species | •Tales of Vesperia
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Ferrari Challenge
•Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery
•Mario Super Sluggers
•Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark
•Rebel Raiders
•Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
•Tiger Woods 09 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive)
•N+
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Commando Steel Disaster
•Digimon World Championship
•Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•From the Abyss
•Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
•My Chinese Coach
•N+
•Picto Image
•The Quest Trio
•The Sims 2 Apartment Pets | •Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•Tiger Woods 09 |
 So, highlights this week include Tales of Vesperia, Disgaea 3, Tiger Woods 09, Mario Super Sluggers, and N+. I'm not going to spend a lot of time detailing each title, but I'll give you a brief rundown of them all. Tales of Vesperia, fun JRPG (holy shit, an RPG I like...at least based on the demo), latest in the Tales series, fans start screaming kawaii now. Disgaea 3: latest in the JSRPG (that's Japanese Strategy RPG for short) series, weeaboos rejoice and have a seat, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. Tiger Woods 09: You know what this is about, more golf and jesus shots. Mario Super Sluggers: more casual games from Nintendo, thanks Cammie! N+: It's like the original PC/Mac/Linux or Xbox Live Arcade game on the go, you can't go wrong.
The strength of last week carries over into this week as well with the launch of a game that's been in development for 10 years, the first true sequel to Galaga, and a bite-sized follow up to one of the greatest PS3 games.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | ... | •Smash Court Tennis 3
•Too Human | ... | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive) | •Commando Steel Disaster | ... |
 Not a big list, but there's a lot of great stuff coming out. First is Too Human, the long in development Action RPG from Silicon Knights and The Canadian Loudmouth, Denis Dyack. In case you don't know, Too Human is an third person action/Dungeon Crawler RPG. I played the demo last week, and my impressions were that it was pretty fun, but chances are that the game could get very boring if it's stretched out to (supposedly) 10 or more hours. Not to mention replaying the game with all the various classes. So, I'd check out some footage or the demo if you're unsure about it. The buzz so far has been very mixed.
Also coming this week is the stunning sequel to Galaga, Galaga Legions. Galaga Legions is like the original game, but with several new features that change up the gameplay. What those features are, nobody really knows outside of a greater emphasis on combos, multidirectional attacks, and some serious bullet hell patterns. The game was made by the same team at Namco-Bandai that did last year's Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is an incredible game. So considering the team and the INCREDIBLE footage released so far, this game should be a winner.
 The final highlight this week is Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty for the Playstation 3. This pirate themed downloadable follow-up to last year's installment is a 3-4 hour experience with a heavier emphasis on platforming and puzzle solving than seen in the most recent games in the series. Insomniac has also introduced several new gameplay elements into the game including the ability for Ratchet to pick up and manipulate objects with his wrench, puzzles involving shadows, and more. What's awesome about this game is that it has all the polish and graphics of a $60 game, but as a 2GB download for only $15! I'm sure a lot of you would bitch about the $15 price, but I'm willing to pay that price in order to support Insomnaic and what they are doing. Hopefully this sells well enough to warrant future downloadable episodes.
Have a great week everyone.
 Gran Turismo. One of the names most associated with the Playstation-brand whose popularity is met by only a couple other franchises out there. In 1998, with the release of the original Gran Turismo came the DualShock, probably the most recognizable modern-day game pad there is and something that shows how big an impact this series has had.
Gran Turismo 3: A-spec (2001) was the first racer Polyphony Digital released to the world to show what the Playstation 2 was capable of. With Gran Turismo 4 (2005), Polyphony Digital tried to realise what they couldn't with part 3.
Let's start out with what is new. Immediate eyecatcher is the highly needed, slick new menu layout. Every screen in the game feels like it's part of a bigger whole and the same fonts, colors and icons are used throughout. This gives GT4 a much more streamlined feel, aswell as provide easier mobility while navigating through the game's massive options.
As usual, there's an Arcade Mode where you can do single races, time trials or go up against others in a 2-player splitscreen or LAN. The not-so-interesting Replay Theatre is back aswell, but most important still is the Gran Turismo mode, the place where you'll spend 98% of your time.
Here, you'll immediately notice the difference in layout, with much more icons than in the past. In the classic home screen, the garage has become much more flexible for searching through your collection of cars with listing categories like country, power-to-weight ratio and so on. You'll also notice your "diary" which is nothing more than a log of your purchases and race results.
In GT4, races are devided into much more categories than before. The beginner, professional and expert races make a return, but new are the country- and manufacturer-specific races. There are, for example, Japanese, American and European events, while you have to go to the manufacturers to see if there are model-specific races available.
One thing in which GT4 excels is content: There's over 700 cars and 50 tracks in the game, making it a much bigger game than GT3. The same however was true for GT2 compared to GT1, probably because the developer has more time for their second release on each console. New this time are all the classic cars from the 50ies and beyond, aswell as some crazy concept cars and some of the first cars ever made. To make things easier in the beginning of the game, you can buy used cars of all ages. However, there's so many races to do and cars to collect in this game, it'll take you weeks (or even months) to finish it.
Also new are the B-spec and Photo mode. In B-spec mode you don't drive yourself but assist an AI driver by giving him/her directions (accelerate, break, etc...) for what to do next. Photo mode is (as the name indicates) a mode in which you can take pictures of your favorite cars, put them on a USB stick and print them out if you want.
Now for the actual driving. (This is where opinions will clash the most concerning GT4) Depending from what you, the gamer, expect from a racing-game, you'll either love GT4 or you won't. If you're looking for adrenaline-pumping, faster-than-lightning races with brutal competition, chances are big you won't like GT4. If, however, you're looking for a realistic (and therefor sometimes a bit boring) driving simulator, you'll find GT4 (almost) everything you're longing for.
When it comes to simply simulating driving, GT4 is fan-tas-tic. Especially when turning off electronic aids you'll be able to really show what you're made of. Couple this with the rich content and you can already justify buying GT4. However, there's some bad sides to the game aswell, quite a few actually...
For starters, there's no online play. This'll surely dissapoint alot of people wanting to test their skills against others online, who don't have a racing friend nearby.
Secondly, the AI is as dumb as ever. The other cars (still only 5) always drive in the perfect racing line, almost never miss a turn and stay together as a group unless there are major differences in the cars' performances. A third complaint is the fact that you can still use cars ahead of you as airbags for taking sharp corners aswell as ride off-track on several courses. (Apricot Hill, anyone?)
A penalty system has been introduced in the Dirt & Snow events, making you drive 50km/h for 5 seconds if you hit the other car, however, sometimes you get a penalty for the other car hitting you! These Dirt & Snow events are another thing that bothers me in GT4. Instead of them being realistic (like, say: Colin Mcrae) you feel like you're trying to manoeuvre a bar of soap on a wet plastic surface, constantly sliding towards the sides unless you break like mad. Although the B-spec mode sounds like a nice new feature at first, it's boring as hell and I really don't see the fun of not driving yourself.
Lastly, there's still no damage model, but it depends on what you expect from a driving simulator if that's a bad thing or not.
On the bright side, both graphics and sound are perfect in GT4, with beautiful cars and circuits aswell as realistic engine sounds. The soundtrack is elaborate although I'm not sure it'll appeal to all with mostly rock songs. Luckily, you can customize it in the "jukebox" so you only have to listen to the songs you like. Especially graphically, you can see the improvements made since GT3 with nicer cars, reflections and lighting. Especially the clouds seem to have been improved, showing much more detail than before. The addition of a new over-the-hood view of your car is very welcome, bring the best of the other 2 views together.
Scoring GT4 is difficult because it really depends on what you expect from it. I'd personally give it a 8.8 or maybe even a 9.0 out of 10 but considering the many faults this game has I'll give it a more diplomatic 8.2/10.
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