Monday, January 31, 2011

Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft - 360
(This review was written for RPGamer in an attempt to apply for their open reviewer position. This is the reason for the odd format that is clearly different than the rest of this blog.)

Title of Review: Assassin’s Creed
By: Peter XXXXXX

REVIEW
Intro:
Assassin’s Creed (AC) is one of those games that when you first pick up and play it, you know you’ve got yourself a piece of history in your hands. When it comes to originality in the gaming world, it’s very hard to find something that is so completely new and refreshing, that it simply knocks your socks off and puts a brand new pair back on. AC does just that. You are Desmond Miles, a seemingly captive individual inside a facility by the name of Abstergo. Inside, Warren Vidic and Lucy are standing next to a large table, beckoning you to lie down inside the machine. The machine extracts memory glitches from your DNA of a past life you once were. Basically, it allows the individual to relive memories of one’s earlier descendents. Enter the game’s main protagonist, and who you will be playing as 95% of the time, Altiar, a used-to-be high ranked assassin within the Hashshashin living in Masyaf. His master, Al Mualim, has stripped Altiar of all of his high ranked privileges, and it is up to you to earn them back. This is done by assassinating a few powerful officials amongst the land whose motives in life can be questioned greatly. With the ground rules set, and your objective in mind, you pick up your blade, and off you go, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, blending in with the crowd to perform your duties as promised.

Battle System:
While nothing to be completely ‘wowed’ about, AC takes a decent system and implements it well. Breaking the system down into two modes is probably the easiest way to go about it: stealth and open conflict.

While stealthy, controls are fluid. You have complete control over where Altiar’s blade goes, and with good reason. You can assassinate anyone moving and quickly move away without ever being detected. The assassinations can be done in a number of ways, from various angles and distances. The choice is yours. While fun to do, there’s not too much that can be said in the way of excitement. You’ll come to find that while the real challenge lies in trying to remain undetected, you may end up having an easier time just beating your enemies to death with swords. You’ll tend to find the main set of missions (and even some of the side missions) get really repetitive as time goes on.

In open conflict, the camera conveniently moves up to a ¾ view and gives you a very good look at what is going on. Nine times out of ten, you will be out numbered, and in the beginning of the game, this can be tedious and frustrating until you learn a specific move later in the game. You can easily switch your target simply by moving your controller stick towards the opponent you wish to fight. It’s simple, but it works really well for what you’re doing

Music and Visuals:
One of the things I noticed right off the bat was how awesome your locale looked. You felt like you were in the Middle East. I played this game on a 32” (1080p) with HDMI and the visuals were breathtaking. From every building to the people roaming around, each tree and face was taken into consideration. To put short, the location is believable.

The music was something that when you first start playing, you don’t notice it right away. In fact, it rarely plays a part in the game. However, if you listen closely you’ll notice that all of the music does fit in well with the rest of the game. The snake-charming flutes and the drums go well with the bustling town that you’re walking through. The only time I ever noticed the music getting loud was when there was absolutely nothing going on, and you were roaming the city.

Difficulty and Completion Time:
The game has its own variable difficulty, starting off relatively easy, and gradually getting harder as you progress through the game and unlock more ways to assassinate your targets. I never felt so overwhelmed while playing that I wanted to quit. On my first play through, while achievement hunting and the like, I got through the game in about 25 to 30 hours of game play. That isn’t bad, considering how many achievements I got. The game does get tedious at points, especially if you’re looking to complete all of the memory strands, and you can feel yourself grow weary of the formula. Taking it for what it is (the first entry in a continuing series), you can find it’s enough to push through. Give me this game before the sequels were out, however, and I may have become a bit bored with it.

Interface and Localization:
The interface is very clean, and fitting for the setting of the game. Your health bar is located neatly in the top left of the screen, your current weapon selection in the bottom left (this vanishes away when you aren’t utilizing it), and a mini-radar in the lower right, showing you all of your destinations and such. At any point you may hit the back button to bring up the large map and set ‘waypoints’ for yourself, which will appear on the mini-map as well. Overall, the integration of the interface is well done, providing you with the information you need, when you need it, without interference to your playability.

Originality and Story:
Hands down, the game is unique in every sense of the word. I’ve never played a game quite like it, and you’ll not find a game much like it. The story is well done, giving you a well etched timeline of Altiar’s life from the assassin’s side of things, while leaving you confounded throughout most of the game as to what role Lucy and Warren play in the story. This unfolds as you progress further into what becomes one of the most engrossing games you’ve ever played. The worst part about it all is that you don’t even get the entire story when you beat it! You’re left dazed and confused, trying to sort through the puzzle you’ve just opened up for yourself. To me, that’s what makes it all the more wonderful. A game that can leave off with such an awesome cliffhanger, and still be good, is truly an amazing feat, and one you don’t see often anymore, if much at all. Best of all, is that it isn’t a cookie cutter story of hero saves the day, or rescue the princess, but a true-blue once told story.

Conclusion:
While you may find that the game can get repetitive after the third or fourth memory glitch, that doesn’t stop Assassin’s Creed from being a great addition to your game library. Little peeves like not being able to swim, and not having much variety in your assassination missions are just small under sights to the big picture. This game ultimately sets up the story for one of the most epic story’s I’ve seen in a game since the last solid Final Fantasy game. Assassin’s Creed opened up a can of worms, and finished them all. For the first go around in the series, you cannot put Ubisoft Montreal’s efforts down the drain just yet. This game is definitely worth borrowing from a friend, if not owning your own copy.

FAST FACTS
Platform: X-Box 360
Battlesystem: 4/5
Interaction: 3.5/5
Originality:5/5
Story: 3.5/5
Music and Sound: 5/5
Visuals: 5/5
Challenge: Moderate to Hard
Completion Time: Roughly 25 to 30 hours

Overall
3.5 / 5

Highlights and Lowlights
+Original and refreshing storyline.
+Life the live of an assassin? Yes please!
+Fluid movement and battle mechanics.
-Lots of collecting little things.
-Repetitive after the fourth mission.
-You can’t swim… really?

(Rating: 7.0 / 10.0)
Comments (0) | Permalink

Monday, January 10, 2011

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Nintendo - Nintendo Wii
When E3 aired online last year, I know Nintendo fanboys like myself went nuts over some of the titles that were being previewed. This excitement only got stronger when we saw that a lot of the titles were coming out before the year's end (Zelda didn't though... boo.) This was one of those games. My first impression of it just watching the video: awesome. After beating it, I feel no less.

The game stars our wonderful pink pile of puff in yet another adventure where he is helping out his friends from impending doom. This time, however, it is not King Dedede that is terrorizing Dream Land, but a new threat by the name of Yin-Yarn, an evil sorcerer of sorts from the world of Patch Land. Frustrated with Kirby's attempt to eat his Max Tomato, Yin Yarn sucks Kirby up into a sock... and turns him to yarn!

I know, epic right? The storyline is absolutely adorable though. It is narrated like a children's storybook, and you cannot help but grin every time the narrator tries to get angry. He uses his own voice to make the voices of all the characters while telling the story, and it brings you back to the days when your teachers read the books for you. The story does not lack though. It has, albeit a simple, beginning, middle and end as it should, and it is not broken in the least.

With Kirby's new look comes so many opportunities for Nintendo to make Kirby look adorable, and boy, did they nail it on the head. From turning into a mini-submarine while swimming, to changing into a parachute while gliding, each and every form that Kirby possesses is absolutely squee-worthy. But enough with the aesthetics. Onward to the nitty gritty!

The game itself is solid. I couldn't find a single fault in how it is laid out and played whatsoever. The objective of each stage is simple: run through the stage, collecting as many beads as possible, find two hidden patches, and a music CD in each stage (assuming you're looking to get 100%). You don't ever die in the game. Jumping off a cliff, however will force a fairy to come pick you up out of the hole, dropping all of your hard earned beads back into it. Receiving 'damage' will also make your beads explode all over the place. You can pick them back up for a limited time, but they fade away rather quickly. Kirby cannot fly in this game, but it adds a new level of difficulty to the game. Gone are the days when you can simply coast in the sky from beginning to end and complete a stage. Besides, you'll be too busy collecting beads on the ground, swinging your yarn around like a whip to worry about flying.

Musically, the game impresses me on every level. Each stage has it's own track (that can be collected, as mentioned above) to listen to at any time in the game, and it is one of the most beautiful OSTs I've heard in such a long time. Each song is perfect for the stage your playing, completely setting the mood for how the stage is supposed to feel. Music is very important to me in a game, for an annoying soundtrack can cause you to lose your patience quickly. I can assure you that the only time you notice the music is when you realise just how awesome it is, and continue to sing the songs well after you stop playing. It feels like old SNES music in terms of likability, but with today's technology, if that makes sense.

Graphically, the game looks exactly how it should. The colors are vibrant, and the stage interaction with the whole 'yarn' feel is awesome. Some of the points in the game (like when you unzip the background) just leave you with your mouth open at how cool it looks. Moments like that make you have to think of things on a new level.

The multi player feature is actually a step above what it has been in the previous games. Multi player does consist of you playing as Prince Fluff, the Prince of Patch Land as you would with any other Kirby game. The Prince has all the same moves and abilities as Kirby does, and functions exactly the same. Where they took the step above is when you obtain the patches to transform Kirby into the super transformations. For example, in single player, Tank Kirby can move his head up and down, and shoot missiles from his mouth. With a second player, you can now swing the tank arm around, allowing for extra damage at melee range. There are nine total transformations all together (if I remember correctly) and each one has a little quirk like that between single and multi player.

The re-playability of the game is sort of non-existent if you received 100%. I haven't really found a reason to pick it back up other than to show people the cuteness, or if they were interested in seeing it. I don't know if it will live up to Kirby Superstar in that aspect, at least in my own opinion. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't pick it up though.

Overall, the game is a great game, and they took the old formula, added a little jazz to it, and reinvented the wheel with a bigger, stronger tire. This is how these games should be done, honestly: preserving the old style by adding new-age game play twists with it. If you're a fan at all of Nintendo, or even own a Wii, I would highly recommend adding this game to anyone's collection.

Rating:
9.5 / 10.0
Comments (0) | Permalink

Friday, January 7, 2011

   2011
Well, a new year has started, and this has brought me to the revelation that I simply do not write enough reviews. I looked back on my sparse entries, and I feel like if I'm going to be serious about this, I need to start updating more often. It was either that, or shut this down completely. I must admit, and this could be due to my infrequent posts, but I'm sad that I still have absolutely no followers. Either people are not interested in games, reviews, or both.

In March, this journal would be open for four years. I hope to double the count of reviews by December of this year (currently, there are 22 reviews). In other words, at a minimum, I would like to do two posts a month. Hopefully with this spur of activity will come more followers. I don't need them to run the site, but I do like to see the conversations and feedback.

Over Christmas, I received many great games and discovered many great games to talk about for this year, so really, there is no excuse. There should be no reason for me not to write (or beat them, for that matter).

I rarely post in this as a normal journal, seeing as how I keep one on a different site. To be frank, I probably have about four or five different blogs floating about, but only one chronicles my life. This one, keeps track of the games I've played, and I feel this one is equally important.

Here's to a wonderful 2011 for everyone.
Comments (0) | Permalink

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Metroid: Other M - Nintendo/Team Ninja - Nintendo Wii
Seeing previews for this game brought along a lot of mixed reactions. I was happy and scared at the same time. Here they were making a game that was side scrolling again, just as I have always loved them, but I saw elements of FPS and the only thing I could think was "Oh God, I hope they don't screw this up." The franchise isn't bad anymore, but it certainly isn't what it used to be. I guess for the kind of gamer I am, this could be said about a lot of different game franchises. This game didn't completely disappoint, but it certainly was no Super Metroid like I was hoping it was to be. As a matter of fact, when I first beat the game I was 100% satisfied, but in retrospect, I realise the more I think about it, the more disappointed I was.

The game takes place directly after Super Metroid. There are a lot of references in the story from Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, so if you haven't played one or both, please jump off a brid- .. that is get yourself copies of each and play them. They'll be worth your time alone. Unfortunately, after you have played them I'm afraid that this game will simply not live up to them at all.

You play the game about 90% in a third person view. This way, the controls are fluid, and simple. There's really nothing you can say bad about them, because they are as easy as the NES. Running, jumping and shooting all done on the D-pad and two buttons (the wiimote is held sideways). Where things get a little fishy is the FPS part of the game. To access it, you must turn the wiimote and point it at the screen. This usually causes issues, because you point it and Samus immediately starts looking up, or to the side, or whichever way she feels like it while your wiimote figures out where it is on the screen. You'll find that you have to get into this mode to shoot missiles too, because you can't do it any other way. A bit of a downer, but what can you do?

Throughout the game, you gain access to your abilities not by finding them, but by being given permission to use them by a certain character in the game. Really? Samus is supposed to be this extremely awesome bounty hunter who works on her own will, doing as she pleases, and in this game she has to ask permission to use her weapons? Kinda weak if you ask me. At least you still have to find energy tanks and missile upgrades. Speaking of, each missile upgrade only gives you one extra missile, but in return, you practically get infinite missiles. They added a feature called 'focus' where if you hold your wiimote in the air and press A, you regain all of your missiles. You can do this too when your health is red to regain a small chunk of health. It sounds cheap, but it's a lot harder to do than you think.

The exploration is relatively linear, and you follow a guided path almost the entire time. This takes away from the Super Metroid feel of it, and shortens play time immensely. Add this in with the fact that everything you are ordered to do is almost identical, and you'll find yourself getting slightly bored with it.

The one strong suit of the game is the visuals. Team Ninja did a wonderful job rendering the CG animations, and even owners of PS3's and 360's have to stop and 'wow' at what they made the Wii put out. They gave a new twist on the way the different beams look as well, so that was a nice surprise. Visually, the game is quite appealing to look at, and never once was I disappointed.

Aside from one small element in the story, the overall scope of the story was excellent. They gave Samus a full fledged personality, which for most of it, I can definitely see her having. There were one or two things that I would have changed personally, or to be quite frank, not put in at all, but I was able to overlook those flaws until the end of the game.

Overall, the game was fun to play, and I was glad to see it move out of the FPS era. However, I think the programmers forgot how to make a decent third person game, and half heartedly put this together. I'm afraid to say this, but had I known what this game was going to produce, I would have just rented it and beat it then. I definitely believe it's worth playing, but if a friend has a copy, just borrow theirs.

I'm starting to lose faith in the Metroid franchise. It truly is a shame that the games from the 80's and 90's are still worth replaying, while the others will probably sit on my shelf for the rest of time to come (until my kids play them, anyways).

Rating:
6.75 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink

Monday, April 12, 2010

White Knight Chronicles - Level 5 - PS3
It's been a while since I've done a review on a game that I've beaten, let alone a review period. My apologies for that.

This game was sort of a fluke buy. I watched the trailers, and I was really all for it, but as the reviews started coming out, I started becoming more and more skeptical. This is not like me, because I'm the last person who will base my purchase of a game on a review (does that make me a hypocrite for reviewing games for others?).

Anyways, WKC is your typical 'save the princess' storyline. You've got your heroes, allies, enemies, etc. If you're a gamer, you're familiar with all of these aspects, so I'm not going to delve into them too much. There are a few things that stand out in this game, both positively and negatively, which I will emphasize on.

First, your senses. This game is auditorially (made up word?) a very appealing game. All of the music is very fitting, and really gives you a good feel of where you're at, what's going on, and so on. I didn't really pay attention to who composed the music, but they definitely deserve some credit for coming up with an epic track. There are many different instruments used in each song, and if this game had an OST, I would recommend all game music listeners to purchase it. It definitely completes the project, that's for sure. One thing I noticed about it too is that none of it seems repetitive. In fact, you almost don't notice it's there unless you try hard enough to listen. That's just how good it is.

Also, the graphics in this game are beyond breathtaking. Granted, I played the majority of this game on my 19" 1080i Asus monitor, but still. Sometimes it really blows me away just how much the PS3 can do. The environments are expansive, the towns seem alive (similar to FFXII), and you really have to sometimes just drop the camera low to suck in all of the surroundings. I feel if you don't take in some of the sights (and use the Crystal Camera) then you are not truly experiencing this game.

The third was the battle system, and the primary reason this game lost a lot of points with me. You are able to free roam the environment, and pick and choose your battles as you see fit. This was great, because nowadays, I don't have time to wait as I get into a battle of a traditional RPG anymore, go through the battle, then item and experience distribution, then back to the field, only to get into another battle three steps later. Action RPG's have slowly grown on me over the years, and I have a feeling it'll be like that for a while. However, the way the system is set up feels clunky. Original, but clunky.

You set your attacks up based on the weapon you are carrying. For example, the basic attack of a shortsword is slash. If you change your weapon, and forget to change your attack tray, then you are stuck with no attacks. When you engage an enemy, a ring pops up with the name of the attack you're currently ready to use. When the ring fills, you can press X to initiate the attack, and the ring empties for it to be filled again. This ring fill speed is based on the equipment you have on your player. If you wear clunky, heavy armor, the ring fills anywhere from 6-8 seconds. If you wear light knit armor (or roll nude, which I needed to do a few times), the ring can fill as fast as 1.5 to 2 seconds. So in a sense, you still feel like you're trapped within a traditional RPG waiting for your ATB gauge to fill or something, and it's ugly on the screen. I understand their concern for making a button masher, but I can think of a few different ways this could have been handled. Then again, I'm not a game programmer, so who am I to say?

One of the biggest complaints that I saw in most reviews was the lip syncing and yes I agree, it is really badly done. The storyline is pretty cheesy as well, so it only adds to it. The one saving grace that it does have is that come midway through the story, it stops being cheesy and becomes much more drama filled, giving you much information about the characters you're with, their backgrounds, and why they are where they are. It does get good if you can bear with it, even to the point you almost forget how bad the voice acting is.

The game is relatively simple, and if you didn't horse around like I did, you can get through it in a few short hours. There is a few things to do outside of the main game, such as going on line and playing with peers (which is a lot of fun) or messing around with your Georama, but the game is pretty cut and dry. All of the trophies are hidden though, so be prepared to do a lot of playing to figure out what they are.

Overall, I don't regret buying the game, I just think there were some issues they could have (and should have) worked on before a release. I am just hoping WKC2 will address these issues. Oh, and the ending is totally worth playing through the game, if nothing more.

Rating:
7.5 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Flower - thatgamecompany - PS3
Another download only game, this game deserves much mention, especially after winning best indie game, courtesy of the VGA's.

Flower is more of an experience than it is a game. You are a single petal, plucked from the first flower at the start of any stage, by using the Six-Axis motion control and a single button to blow the wind, you fly through the air, blooming other flowers and collecting the petals from them. The objective is to bloom all the flowers of a given stage (with three secret flowers within each stage) and get to the end of a stage, which is signified by a giant swirling whirlwind of sorts that sucks you up.

The gameplay is simple and sweet, easy enough for anyone to pick up and play, and yet difficult enough to pose as a small challenge to even seasoned gamers, such as myself. What makes it the hardest is collecting the trophies though, not so much the game itself. The concept is easy to grasp, and it is memorable.

The music is something anyone who knows me as a gamer knows that I criticize the hardest. This game though, the audio adds to the experience that is Flower. The soothing melodies, plucked along as you fly, and the additional added notes as you touch other flowers create one of the most audio-heavy games I have heard in a while. Every second of it is an auditory abundance of musical esctacy. Not to mention faster tunes during fast sweeps, and slower, more dreary tunes when there are thunderstorms and darkness.

The game truly does connect with your emotions, making your mood alter based on what's going on around you. This is something I've never witnessed in a game from beginning to end and it makes the experience that much more amazing. Flower was the first and only game so far that I was able to sit down and work towards 100% completion.

This game is a must have for any PS3 owner, let alone anyone who wants to see what games should be like: a work of art.

Rating:
10 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink

Monday, November 9, 2009

Zombie Apocalypse - Konami - PSN
I'm pretty sure this is the first download only game I've reviewed, and for good reason. Not saying the others aren't worth reviewing, but this one is definitely worth being mentioned.

Zombie Apocalypse is a game where four dysfunctional individuals have gotten together to try and survive a zombie outbreak in their city. Sounds typical, right? Well, I assure you, it's not. From the character descriptions to the zombies you encounter, this game is refreshing in every sense of the word.

Gameplay is relatively simple, your left joystick moves you around in the direction you wish to go (duh), and your right joystick shoots your weapon in the direction it's being held. The objective is to survive each wave of zombies (separated by days) until you find the source of the problem.

High scores are recorded on their leaderboards, but they will only be counted if you don't use a continue, and start from day 1. There are multiple different game modes that offer a variety of ways to play, and there is also on and offline multiplayer with up to four people. I believe there are 12 achievements, and they aren't too difficult to attain.

Strategy is key in this game, because running around shooting like a madman will get you eaten. You have an infinite supply of rifle ammo, and one stuffed doll, filled with C4. The doll pulls the zombies away from you, allowing you time to have a breather. There are eight other weapon pickups that are dropped in the stages, including a shotgun, a hunter's rifle, and a grenade launcher. Each weapon has pros and cons for each situation.

Occasionally, there will be civilians who need rescued. If you can successfully do so, you can net yourself extra points, and a new doll. You can only carry around one doll at a time, so if you touch it while already carrying one, it will give you an extra 100,000 points. Be warned: should you not save a civilian and she gets eaten, she becomes a very fast moving zombie that can kill you much quicker than you'd like.

There are a variety of different zombies in the game. There are basic and dodging zombies to start, but as the game progresses you will encounter Big Boys, knife throwing grandmas, shotgun weilding sheriffs, pregnant larva producing moms, and even suicide zombies. With all of this going on at once, it's easy to see how this game can get overwhelming.

I haven't personally been able to beat it without using a continue. The game is just too hard, but I am working on it. It's definitely worth exploring the demo, but I have no doubt you'll purchase it after playing. Afterall, it's only $9.99 USD, and for the amount of value you receive from the game, that's definitely worth it.

Rating:
8.0 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink

Friday, November 6, 2009

Katamari Forever - NamcoBandai - PS3
This is the third Katamari game I've played out of the five they have out, and let me tell you, each one is just as fun as the last. This one might be my favorite though.

The objective of the game, for those of you who may not be familiar with the series, is to take your katamari and roll up objects around an environment, in an attempt to make your katamari as big as the goal. You can only roll up objects that are smaller than your current katamari size, so it's similar to the snowball effect.

Now I know this sounds boring and simple, and in theory it is, but something about this game is so compelling that you want to play so much more of it. The control scheme is simple, you can play through the entire game with just your joysticks. They've added in other features, such as jumping and what have you, but we're just going to disregard that, because it doesn't play too much of a role. But yes, two joysticks is how you move through each level, sucking up as much stuff as you can.

There is lots of stuff to collect, as each item picked up is added into your library. Perfectionists like myself will have a good time getting all the items, finding all the cousins, collecting the presents, and making the biggest stars. So while the gameplay itself is simple, there is some depth.

I have yet to figure out what the storyline of the videos have to do with anything that's going on in the game. It's so insanely random it blows even my mind. I do enjoy the eccentric humor though, and find myself chuckling at the way things unfold. The actual story of the game (and why you're rolling katamari) is pretty straightforward.

The one thing that blows this game above the rest of the games is the OST. Katamari Damacy has always had really great music, but this soundtrack is full of remixes that just make your ears sing. I can't get enough of it, and I wish that Namco would release an OST with all their games like Atlus has been doing.

Overall, if you've never played the series, I reccomend at least giving the demo a wholehearted shot. Fans of the series will want to certainly get this game for the sake of having yet another amazing game in their collection.

Rating:
7.5 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink

Friday, September 11, 2009

Fantasy Golf: PangYa - Ntreev/TOMY - PSP
I had been eyeballing this game for a good while before I decided what the heck, I'll pick it up and see what it was about. I was nervous. There have been several games that had very pretty anime style art on the front that have drawn me in only to be crappy. Not to mention this one had "golf" in the title, and anyone that knows me knows I do not take to sports games lightly. However, I ended up being suckered into the artwork, and purchased it. Overall? It makes me happy that I own a PSP.

From the opening video to the gameplay itself, the visuals and sound ensnare you. The movie is very well rendered, and all of the menus are bright and cute to match the game. The music is extremely fitting, especially at the courses themselves. Being that the visuals and audio were above and beyond what I was expecting, I was drawn in further.

The minute you look at the main menu, you can immediately see there is a lot to do in this game. Replayability = plus in my book, so needless to say I was content in that field. There are two characters open from the start: Scout and Hana, and I believe 10 spaces for more characters. Seems like there will be someone for everyone.

There are two main modes: story mode, which you unlock characters and get background stories as to why they've been invited to play PangYa, and tournament mode, where you earn the brunt of your currency (called Pang) as well as items and such. The storyline is filled with cheezy goodness, but honestly, it isn't horrible. I even find myself chuckling at some of the statements.

The game has may different settings to increase or decrease difficulty. You can even double the size of the hole if you want or need to. I play this game like I play any game: on the hardest difficulty setting. So far, I've run into a few challenges, but nothing that's been frustrating. This is exactly how a game should be on hard.

As with any game of golf, your objective is to get your ball (called an Aztec in this game) into the hole. The story goes on to tell you this is how the world was saved a long time ago. Anyways, the concept is easy: check for wind and obstacles in your way, adjust your aim, x to start the power slider, and x to stop it with the right accuracy. That's it. Anyone can pick this game up and understand how to play it within 10 minutes.

The hardest part is trying to get the accuracy properly. There are three things that can happen. If you wait too long, or press too early, you'll miss/hit the ball for five or so yards. If you get it in the pink, you'll hit it, but it might curve to the left or right, respectively. Hitting the ball in the white area causes you to get a PangYa shot. This is the most accurate and strongest hit. This is hard in the beginning of the game, because all these good areas are small. You can also get items to affect your shot for one turn, such as add more strength for one shot, etc.

The character customization is also a bit of fun. Although you only dress the characters up with clothing and equipment, all of it affects your stats. Then finally, there is also a multiplayer, but I don't have anyone to play with. Unfortunately there is no wifi. I'm sure it would be a ton of fun.

If you have a PSP, and don't mind giving golf a go, you won't be disappointed.

Rating; 8.5 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

   Dokapon Kingdom - Atlus - Nintendo Wii
So, I was extremely skeptical about this game, even if it was an Atlus game. I shouldn't have been though. Within the first ten minutes I was drawn in, and I didn't want to put the game down.

Dokapon's plot is that you must save the kingdom from the evils that are now roaming the land, and as a reward, you get the hand of Princess Penny to marry (even if you're a female character). Sounds simple enough, right? Hah. If only. Allow me first to explain the game mechanics.

The game is played similar to a Mario Party style board game. Players are to spin a dial, and move that many spaces across the board accordingly. Players may move in any direction they wish, but must continue on a forward pattern (in other words, no moving back and forth between only two spaces). Landing on certain spaces do certain things, and so on. The twist to the game is that it's also an RPG, in that you battle, gain experience for your character and level up. It's really wild the way they incorporate it. Using these mechanics, you liberate towns and try your best to become the wealthiest character by the end of the game.

However, your friends or the AI will always be trying to foil you, by stealing your gold/towns, changing your character name and hair style, or even drawing graffiti on your character. The game is very vengeful, and creates much animosity between the players that are competing. It's quite hilarious, to be honest. You can be downright brutal to the players in the game.

You may also fight any character you wish at any given time, provided you land on their space. When building a character, you get to choose a class, giving you a multitude of skills to work with. You can only carry two skills at a time though, which could get a little irritating at time, but not enough to destroy the novelty of the game.

The only real downfall is the lack of the single player excitement. Playing a four player game with three AI seems to deplete the novelty of it all. Other than that, I really don't see much being wrong.

Overall, it seemed like it was a great party game. I can't really say that it was the best Atlus ever made, but they truly surprised me. It makes me further believe I should never doubt their purchases.

Rating:
7.0 / 10
Comments (0) | Permalink