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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Game Review 2: The World Ends With You>
Game Title: The World Ends With You/ Subarashi Kono Sekai
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG
Developer: Square-Enix
Summary: The game starts of with taking you into the shoes of the main character, Neku Sakuraba. The setting revolves between Shibuya, Japan of the real world (Realground) and another dimension(Underground) . Neku is pulled into a game called the Reaper's Game. He has to survive for 7 days in this realm and become the winner of the game in order to return to reality.
However things are not as simple as it seems, there are enemies called Noise along the way to stop him and the only way he is able to fight them is to use pins and form a pact with a partner. And that's when one of the important quotes of the game comes in, "Trust you partner".
And so the player is pulled along the adventure to see what will happen to Neku and what changes and experices he goes through.
Graphics: The art for the game is done by Gen Kobayashi and Tetsuya Nomura, though some of the characters seem too slim to be real but that's their style and it's still apealing. From the character designs you can see the distinctive style of each character which also brings me to another point in the game. Each of the character is unique just like how the trends in Shibuya is. Each of them have their distinctive clothings and accessories and you won't really call them wierd as it's their fashion sense.
As for enemies design, they've did a good job as they have various types of enemies ranging from frogs, pigs, to even dragons, elephants and some bosses where it's a mixture of various creatures. However all of them have things in common like the distinctive lines and patterns that makes them what they are, Noise.
The background and environment design are done such that it would be similar to Shibuya in real lfe. They have landmarks such as the 104 Buildings and Outback Cafe, they are based on real locations in Shibuya but their names were changed due to copyright issues. This is done so that the players are able to fit into the environment better, in fact after the game became a hit, many people went to Shibuya just to compare and look at the landmarks which are present in the game.
Music: The songs used in the game featured various artists such as Sawa, Makiko Noda, Leah, Ayuko Tanaka, Mai Matsuda, Wakako, Hanaeryca, Cameron Strother, Andy Kinlay, Nulie Nurly, and Londell "Taz" Hicks, jus to name some of them. The songs are mainly divided into 2 kinds, one is for the background where it plays as you explore around and also through different parts in the story where it changes the moods of the player. The other would be featured in battles where it helps the player get into the flow of the game and catch up with the pace. Most of the songs featured during battles are upbeat and fast thus making the player's heart pund faster and making them more engrossed in the game.
Story: The story follows the main character Neku Sakubara as he tries to survive through the Reaper's Game in order to return back to the RG. It also tells how he transforms from a lonely quiet kid who wants to stay alone to opening up to others and even risking his life for them. As you play through the game, you would gradually find more twists and you also find more clues to Neku's memory which he found that he has lost at the start of the game.
Gameplay: The game is mainly played through the use of the stylus and the touch screen. During most parts of the game, you control where Neku walks, who he talks to and even accessing the menu through the touch screen. The use of the directional pad and the other buttons come in use during battles, where you control Neku on the lower screen through the stylus and your partner on the upper screen through the buttons.
The battle system of this game is unique as it's not mashing buttons to hit enemies of just choosing the "Attack" option on a menu. Instead it depends on what kind of pins you equip to Neku, different kind of pins will produce different effects as well as different ways to activate them. And also you would be controling both Neku and his partner at the same time thus making the battle even more exciting. His partner is controlled either through the directional pad or the X,Y,A,B buttons (Depends on whether you are left or right-handed). Each partner have various ways of earning stars which would then be used to perform a Team Attack.
Conclusion: This game is really a breakthrough as it introduces many new elements never seen before in other games. The storyline itself is also addictive as it makes you want to find out more on what happen to Neku and why did he end up in the UG. The excellent graphics and music makes it even more of a reason to get this game if you haven't done so. Throughout all the games I've ever played, this one is definatle in the Top 10 List. If you really like RPG games or you just want a good story, or a new gameplay style, then this is the game for you ^_^
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Game Review: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney>
Game Title: Apollo Justice
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Text Adventure
Summary: This is the 4th game in the series Ace Attorney, or better known in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban. The rough concept of the game relatively simple, you are a defense attorney where you have to find evidence and point out contradictions in order to prove your client innocent. However the characters are much more in depth and the storyline has much more twists to make things not that simple for players ^_^. Each of the character display differing characteristics and there are times where you can't make out who's on your side and who's not.
Graphics: Being a 2D text adventure game, of course there wouldn't be any/much action in it. However the characters of the game are unique in the sense that they defy logic and common sense XD. I mean who would keep feeler-like hair or drills? But that's one of the key points that make this series so appealing to the fans. The characters may seem out of place somewhat but they are still appealing to our eyes. The background art of the different locations in game are also well done, and there are times where there are hidden details(sometimes random funny stuff) where you have to search for.
Music: The music at different points of the game fits the feeling at that point very well. The music would change to intense music when you've caught on to a contradiction. It would also change to silent, scary musci when you are exploring when some unknown person jus pop up in front of you.
Story:Although it's not necesary to play the previous 3 games, but it is advisable as there are links in the storyline. Basically the story starts out with a rookie attorney, Apollo Justice. The case starts out with a friend of his mentor, Kristoph Gavin getting filed for murder. Thus Apollo has to take on the case to find out the truth and make sure justice prevails(bad pun I know XP).
Gameplay: There are mainly 2 phases, 1st is the Investigation Phase & 2nd is the Courtroom Phase. The investigation phase is where you have to move about different places to talk to people as well as explore the surroundings to get evidence and hints on what could actually be the truth in the case. You do that by simply tapping on your DS touchscreen, there's a cursor which you can move on the location to spot different items & you can also tap on different tabs to move about or talk to people.
The courtroom phase is similar to talking to people, but you have to listen to the witness's testimony and "Press" them in order to reveal contradictions. There are times where you have to present evidence to completely object the testimony, they offered an option for players to shout "Objection!" into the mic, or for the more shy ones, jus press the button XD.
Conclusion: The game has been well planned out and it's fun to play. My advice to people, even those who don't really play text games, give it a try, you'll find yourself hooked on to it XD
This game can get the player drawned into the story and you can really appreciate the twists very well. In fact most of my friends around me are all fans of this series, myself included XD
You can see us talking about it all the time XD