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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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Game Title: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer:
Atlus
Summary: Yet another spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series, Atlus brings the series to the Nintendo DS. This is a stand alone game as the story holds no links to any of the other games in the series. This game allows the player to take control of a protoganist whom the players can name, they are then throwned into a situation where they are locked in Tokyo and everyone involved in the lockdown would perish after seven days.
Graphics: The human characters are generally interesting and the main character once again has headphones jus like most of the pther main characters in this series. Some of the demon's art are reused from previous games but there are some new ones too. Mos of the demons originated from some legends and myths such as Buddhisim and Norse Myths involving gods such as Odin.
Music: The music fits the environment and is nice though not very memorable. The more memorable ones are generally very dark and slow, during scenes such as the opening and closing of the game. Sound effects in the game are pretty okay, though sometimes they would get repeatative due to scenes such as multiple demons dying at a time or stuff like that.
Story: The player is trapped in Tokyo with 2 of his friends and many others. Demons are running loose and all forms of communication and eletricity are down. The hero and his friends are attempting to find their way out of this mess when before they knew it, they got involved with something much larger. The players decision could decide the fate of other characters as well as how the protoganist would react. Thus the ending of the game is entirely up to the player's will.
Gameplay: The game takes on a traditional SRPG game where characters move on a grid and most of the time they have to be adjacent to an enemy unit in order to attack them. However each character consists of a team of the human character as well as 2 other demons. This game involves more about fusing and buying new demons rather than training your old ones. As players play through different paths and routes, they would generally unlock new and stronger demons for fusing.
Conclusion: Even if players have not played the Shin Megami Tensei series before, I would still tell them to play this game as long as they are interested in the SRPG genre. Players do not need to have any pior knowledge of the series other than the fact that the games involves both angels and demons. As there are many different endings and also a new game+ function, this encourages players to play though multiple times to know all the endings as well as get better demonds. There's also a secret boss at the end of their second or thereafter runthough too, though players would have to be pretty well prepared and train in order to stand a chance against it.
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Game Title: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action RPG
Developer:
Square Enix & h.a.n.d
Summary: The story is from the point of the 13th member of Organisation XIII, Roxas. As the title states, the game goes through the one year that Roxas spend in the organisation. This game is sort of a side story of Kingdom Hearts 2, it is to allow players to understand the story more and the mysteries behind some of the events that takes place during Kingdom Hearts 2. Thus for peopl who have not played the Kingdom Hearts series before, I would not advise them to start on this game as they would very likely be confused on what is going on.
Graphics: The art of the Kingdom Hearts series has always been appealing and would draw people into them. The entire game is presented in 3D with the exception of the menu and dialog scenes. There's also character profile art for the menu which in some cases gives player a more close-uop view of the character. The normal gameplay will brings players who have played Kingdom Hearts before back to familiar places such as Twilight Town and Agrabah. I find that it has made quite full use of the DS capabilities, although the DS is not capable of high-end graphics compared to the PSP, but to me I find that it's already pretty well-done and without lags.
Music: Some of the music used is carried over from Kingdom Hearts 2 but there are some new tracks too. The music are generally enjoyable and fits the environment, it can change the players mood to fit the story and yet does not go overboard. There's some voice acting involved in the game and they fit the characters they belong to. I find that this game still carries on the Kingdom Hearts series of having good music.
Story: As I have mentioned above, people who have not played the previous games in the Kingdom Hearts series before would most likely not get the story. As the main character is an important character in Kingdom Hearts 2 and is involved in alot of mysteries. The game basically covers what happened during the year Roxas spent in the organisation and his relation to the other members such as Axel. The game also covers a mysterious 14th member Xion and how she is related to Roxas as well as the rest of the plot.
Gameplay: This game follows the Kingdom Hearts main serie's gameplay. Players are allowed to run and jump in a 3D environment and they are able to switch between attacks and magic based on another menu by the corner. This gameplay combines both action and strategy as they have to both move around and switch between different commands to use.
Conclusion: I would recomend this definately to Kingdom Hearts fans as this is a great game exceot that the story is somewhat complicated. I would recomend it to others too but I would suggest taht they start with the previous games first, so as not to get confused and also to enjoy the game more.
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Game Title: Megaman Star Force 3: Black Ace
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action RPG
Developer:
Capcom
Summary: This is the 3rd game in the series known as Megaman Star Force. Players take control of a student named Geo Stelar and play through events where him and his partner, Omega-Xis save the world from destruction. In this game a meteor is threatening to collide into earth wiping out all technology and nearly all of life on the planet. The game shows how Geo after the events of Star Force 2 evantually gets pulled into this event and how he saves the Earth and protects his family and friends.
Graphics: From my point of view I find the game's art would appeal more to teens and children rather than adults. The story is also more targeted towards them as it depicts that age does not really matter as long as you have the ability to do things. The game makes use of 2D sprites on a 3D background during normal play and on the field, however during battles. The art changes to full 3D where both Megaman and the enemies are rendered in 3D. It can be quite a sudden change as the art style for the 2D and 3D are somewhat different.
Music: The music gives players a somewhat futuristic feel as there's quite a number of beeps and whatnots. The music for each loaction is somewhat suitable, players are able to get a brief idea on what the place would probably be like from just hearing the music. The battle music give players some mental preperation as the music takes on a more upbeat feel. There's also some voice acting involved, although it's not fantastic but I still find it acceptable.
Story: The story this time involves a new substance called "Noise". In their world, noise is produced whenever there is technology, however large amounts would cause bugs and even viruses to be generated. There's a giant meteor of Noise that's heading towards Earth, if it ends up colliding with Earth, all technology and almost all life would be wiped out. There's an organisation called Dealer who is causing Wizards, people's AI Avatar, to go haywire and they are also trying to take control of the meteor, also knowned as Meteor G. Players go through how how Geo goes through different events and how he will deal with the events that are happening around him.
Gameplay: This game when compared to the previous Star Force makes more use of the stylus. There are different points in the story where players have to use different options on the touch screen in order to get past the obstacles. The menu and other options also make use of the touch screen. During battles, players are allowed to move only left and right, they also have to select battle-cards from the touchscreen in order to use them in battle.+
Conclusion: I find that this game would appeal more to people who have played the previous Star Force before as they would understand the story more. For people who want to start on the Star Force series, I would suggest that they start on the 1st game as they would be able to understand the story better and be more familiar with the gameplay system.
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Game Title: Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer: tri-Ace
Summary: The Valkyrie Profile series have always been based around the norse mythology of Gods such as Odin, Freya and other beings such as Valkyries which the series title is named after. The main character of this game is Wylfred whose father's soul has been claimed by a valkyrie after being slained on the battle field. This resulted in his mother losing her sainity and the death of her sister. Thus Wylfred has held a grudge against the valkyrie and has set out on a journey to get his vengence.
Graphics: As expected from both tri-Ace and Square Enix, the graphics were well done and stunning. Although compared to the other Valkyrie Profile games this may lose out in terms of graphics, but from my point of view I felt that this game has made pretty good use of the DS's capabilities and it is one of the games with good graphics for a SRPG on the DS. The effects shown during battles gives player a more enjoyable time as there are able to "feel" what their characters are going through when they attack or when they get damaged.
Music: Throughout all the games I've played, the Valkyrie Profile series is one of the many whoses music I would tend to remember. Although it's not as memorable to be compared to games such as Final Fantasy VIII and Xenogears, but I am still able to remember it to some extent. This game is no exception, the music that's played during battles allows me to focus more on the battle and when out of battles, the transition of music allows me to understand the characters more, on what their situation is and why are they reacting in their manner.
Story: The game starts with players stepping into the shoes of Wylfred who has become a mercenary in order to become stronger and thus being able to meet the valkyrie who claimed his father's life. Later on, Wylfred is recruited by the mistress of Niflheim, Hel, to join the Convenant of the Plume, where he has to gather Sin in order to engluf the Destiny Plume with Sin. Once the Destiny Plume has been fully engulfed, Wylfred would be able to recieve powers strong enough to defeat the valkyrie and even rebel against Odin.
Gameplay: The base gameplay is similar to other SRPGs out there such as Final Fantasy Tactics but this game has some additional features. One of the major additions is the Destiny Plume and the Sin guage. Players are encouraged to overkill enemies in order to rack up Sin points, which they have to offer to Hel at the end of the battle. If they harvested more than enough Sin, they would be rewarded with much better equipments and items as compared to racking not enough Sin. If players do not meet the Sin quota for too many battles, evantually Hel would summon monsters to come after the players.
Another feature that seperates this game from other SRPGs is the traditional Valkyrie Profile battle system. Each character is mapped onto the buttons on the DS(A,B,Y,X), each character is given a certain number of attacks based on their equipment and they player have to try to chain as many combo on the enenmy in order to raise their battle guage and perform Soul Crush attacks.
Conclusion: For people who are fans of the Valkyrie Profile series I would strongly reccomend this game as it makes a fine addition to the already popular series.It would also appeal to people who likes strategy games and yets wants a twist from the common SRPGs out there in the market. This game requires players to think and time their commands in order to do more damage and get more Sin points. There's also some replay value to it as it has multiple endings and players, myself included would play through multiple times just to see all of the endings.
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Game Title: Knights in the Nightmare
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer:Sting Entertainment
Summary: The player takes control of a wisp, who was set free by an unknown Valkyrie. The game takes the player through both the present and the past. Players go through the game events in present time, getting to know the events happening around them but they would not understand much of it. After battles, the wisp would generally recover his memories and through that, the players would slowly get a general idea of who the wisp and the Valkyrie are, and also why the events happening around them are occurring.
Graphics: The game makes use of 2D character sprites both during cut scenes and during battles. The character art gives players a medieval yet supernatural feel. It fits the game as the units the players can control are mainly knights, magicians or others along this line, while they are fighting against monsters such as werewolves, spirits and other such spiritual beings.
Music: The music allows the player to feel the transition between different environments such as from a eerie location into a battle scene. It allows the player to feel tense and thus allows the player to get more involved with the story. There's also some voice acting included and it's all pretty well done as you can hear the variations between the normal chars and when they are injured or in a hurry.
Story: The story is pretty much confusing at first till about halfway into the game when you start getting some faint idea about what the story really is about. This is one of the few games I played where you do not know anything about the character from the start, and there ain't many people who are able to tell you more about yourself. It's a different experience, and it seems pretty well planned out. However for players who play games mainly for the story, they may get bored quickly and put this game down as you'll have to put quite a few hours into this game before you understand most of the events and happenings.
Gameplay: Battles, like many other SRPGs, takes place on a grid board. This game utilizes 2D sprites on a 3D environment. However what defines it from other rpgs is that you can only use the stylus. The sylus would control the wisp, who would then influence the other units. Other SRPGs have individual hp guages for each character, however in this game, there is none. The only game over condition the player has is to run out of time.
Players are given a fixed number of turns in which they have to meet their victory conditions. Each turn, players are given a time bar, which would deplete as players use their units to attack or if the wisp gets hit by the enemies attack.
This is a pretty new and individual battle system and it could be hard to grasp at first. The game provides a fairly long optional tutorial which players can go through to get a hang of the game.
Conclusion: I would recomend this game to pretty much everyone who likes SRPG and those who are out looking for a new game experience. Basically this game require players to think on their feet and react quickly as they have to plan their moves while avoiding enemy fire. For myself personally, this is one of the more memorable games out of all the ones I've played recently firstly due to the unique gameplay system and secondly due to the art and music.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
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Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Rhythmic
Developer: Software Planning & Development Group No.1
Summary: There are 50+ mini games where each one has a different tune & rhythm. You have to tap, stroke and press your stylus to the touch screen for different games.Unlike other games such as rpgs, you do not have to grind your character levels to make the game easier, it all depends on how well your music sense is. In some game you have to tap along to certain beats of the song while in others you have to hold ur stylus on the screen and let go at the correct timing.
Graphics: The graphics are cartoonish art where it's cute on some things and funny on others. For example you would see frogs dancing together as a group or a dog ninja. Although sometimes the scenes happening during the game are so random or funny that you could get distracted & thus lose your rhythm during the song.
Music: Rhythm Heaven uses original music created by Tsunku and other musicians including Canary Club and The Possible. Since this is a rhythm game, the music used is the main focus of the game. The music you hear are mostly catchy though there are some that are just wierd noises. There are music which are used for the basic stages where they will be extended versions used fo later stages which are harder. And there are also remixes where different songs are used to compile into one song used for the remix stages.
Story: The game itself is made up of many other mini-games so there isn't a general story but rather, a different short story for each mini-game. The ending for each of the story would depend on how well you fare, raning from bad to just ok to great. The stories that occurs are usually light-hearted and humurous though sometimes they do not make much sense, such as, "You surfed like you were born on a surfboard.".
Gameplay: As I've stated before, there are 3 main controls to this game, they are, tap, scratch and hold. Different mini games would use different controls though there are some that makes use of a combination of them, especially in the remixes.How well you are at this game is based on how well you can listen. Even if you are not very good at this game at first, after playing for a duration of time, you would be able to slowly catch the beat of the songs and gradually get better at the game. The game also has bonuses for completing the songs with a "Perfect" rating which comes around rarely. Players would then be able to unlock new things to read to unstand some of the humour behind the games or unlock other hidden games.
Conclusion: This is more of a casual game that would really pull players in once they get started. You do not have to think alot in order to play, in fact all you need is patience and keen hearing. It's a game you can play anywhere as it's on the Nintendo DS and I'll advice you to play with a headset as s it'll be much easier to concentrate that way. All in all, this is a fun game that could really take your mind of things if you were to give it a try.
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 ^_^
