Tactics Ogre - Let Us Cling Together Review

It’s been a long time since I seriously played a tactical-based game because of its lengthy gameplay and you would tend to spend more time in it considering that some of them would force you to grind. But these games always have been a charm for me. I never got to play many tactical games that much. One that I won’t forget was Final Fantasy Tactics. Then there are other unique tactical games like Valkyria Chronicles II. Then recently, I finally got to play Tactics Ogre – Let’s Us Cling Together for the PSP.

Released on February 2011, this game was already a classic game that was released way back the Super Famicom days and re-released on Playstation, Sega Saturn and recently to Playstation Portable. I never played the older ones so I can’t really tell how it was improved but personally, the PSP version was very good on its own.

The story of the game start off with 3 characters, Denam, Catitua and Vyce who want to take revenge against a Dark Knight named Lancelot for destroying their hometown. The 3 tries to ambush 5 travelers they mistakenly think to be the Dark Knight Lancelot and realize that he isn’t and that one only shares the same name as the Holy Knight Lancelot.

The travelers namely Warren, Gildas, Mirdyn, Canopus and the Holy Knight Lancelot decide to help Denam to take arms against the Galgastians. They take the first step by saving the leader of the Walister Resistance, Duke Ronwey. The Duke accepted them and join his cause to battle against the Galgastians and from there the fate of Denam and his companions will make a big turn.

The game’s story has several branching paths to take depending on the choices you make, some small pieces in the story or even the major ones will have a significant effect in the story-telling, like whether you decide to help someone or not, or whether you have able to save somebody in battle or not. At certain situations, if you fail to save a character and dies, they are permanently dead. There are several unique characters in the game but not all of them can be recruited. Depending on your actions and decisions, some of them can be your ally, some of them will not or some will just perish.

There are no absolute right and wrong in every choice (some parts perhaps), it’s all depend on how you look at it as far as story goes so you would probably feel torn in the choices. But then again, if you’ve felt you don’t like the outcome of your choice, just make sure you have backed-up your save data beforehand.

Like any other turn-based tactical games, the strength of your army relies on how you manage the equipments, skills and classes of every unit in it. The good thing here is that, building-up units is more convenient. Instead of leveling-up per unit, they are level-up per class and the level is shared, so if you have a level 20 Knight, all other of your Knights are also scale to level 20. Although class level is shared, skills must still learn individually but you have the option to transfer it to other characters. If your unit dies in the process, you can transfer his skills to another. This way no skills would go to waste entirely.

There are several features in the game that makes it more interesting and enjoyable to play in my opinion, like the Tarot system where you can freely replay your turns in battle just in case you don’t like the turns you’ve made. Chaos frame system which basically works with the loyalty level of your units where If your unit’s loyalty drop, they will leave your army and will never return. The game has lots of information to read regarding in-game stories and character references that constantly updates depending on how the story is mold for every character. I personally got fond of reading the information that I actually spent longer in reading than playing.

Replayability of the game is very good. After finishing the game, you will unlock few extra post-game scenarios and you will be given an option to replay scenarios from any points of the game and get a chance to choose different choices, try different paths and even able to recruit other characters that you didn’t get in your first play.

Overall, Tactics Ogre – Let Us Cling Together is a very good game for me. I personally like the story and more contents that will keep you on playing even after completing the game and most especially the classic feel of the game. If you’re looking for a good classic tactical game that would keep you busy for a couple of months or 2, you definitely should try Tactics Ogre – Let Us Cling Together.

Until then!

READ MORE!

Konami finally announces Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

After it was teased more than a year ago, Konami finally shown updates regarding Metal Gear Solid: Rising from the recent Spike Video Game Awards. But this time, the title is change to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It totally drops “Solid” replacing “Rising” instead, and added a new subtitle, which is a combination of “Revenge” and “Vengeance”. It sounds ridiculous but heck, who knows what they're thinking about the name. XD

Not only that, it is also revealed that Platinum Games (studio who developed Vanquish and Bayonetta) was actually involved in the development of the game. We didn't seem to notice it but it was revealed that the game had its difficulties and it almost quietly canceled according to Hideo Kojima himself. But it was able to regain grounds when the development is now pass to Platinum Games. A video has been posted on Konami's official YouTube channel where they talks about “The Truth Behind RISING”. It's basically an interview of people from Kojima productions also with guys from Platinum games and tells their piece of story behind the development of their Rising project.

As usual, some fans make some fuss about it. Ever since it was tease back on 2010, some fans already rumbling like, “this isn't MGS”, “it's not MGS at all”, rant this, rant that. And now, adding to the negative reaction is “why Platinum Games?”.

Personally, I think MGR: Revengeance will turn out just fine. I believe Kojima productions had already pointed this out that Rising is a totally different game that focuses more in action rather than the traditional stealth/espionage action of the old MGS. That is why in my opinion, changing the title to “Metal Gear Rising” is a good thing, although I'm not sure about that “Revengeance” subtitle-thing but heck, just get along with it XD. And I think Platinum games can do this just fine. Like what some of my buddies said - “Platinum games' elements fits to cyborg ninja Raiden afterall, so why not?”

So in the nutshell... It's NOT Metal Gear Solid. It's Metal Gear RISING! Get it?

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance trailer

INTERVIEW: The Truth Behind RISING

READ MORE!

Dissidia, In a Nutshell

As everyone who's played Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy's Story Mode can tell you, the story itself isn't clearly revealed even after you've played to the end of it. Therefore, allow me to clear things up and shed some light on the subject.

This information was compiled after carefully studying the events of the game, along with some additional research done through the Web.

(SPOILER ALERT!!! Don't read past the marker if you want to figure things out on your own.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you may already know from the reports, the cycles began in World A, when Chaos, a sentient Manikin created by Onrac researchers with help from Cid, a brilliant Lufenian scientist responsible for the invention of airships in their world, was taken away to be used as a weapon of war from his guardians, Cid and his wife. To force Chaos into obeying, they created another sentient Manikin resembling Cid's wife to take charge of him. This Manikin would be known later on as Cosmos.

Through the wars he was put through, Chaos eventually becomes hateful. When Cid and his wife attempt to rescue Chaos from Onrac, Cid's wife is killed, causing Chaos to finally snap, his power causing an opening in the Interdimensional Rift that sucks him, Cid, and Cosmos into World B.

Stuck there with no idea how to get home, the three are offered a way out by Shinryu, a dragon with a lust for power, who lived in the Rift and happened to observe their arrival. The dragon had sensed Chaos' immense powers and wanted them for his own. Shinryu promised them a way to get back home if they made a pact with him.

The pact made, Chaos and Cosmos gained the ability to summon warriors from other worlds to battle each other until one side loses. Cid, being human unlike the other two and thus may not live through all the cycles, was turned immortal to act as an observer, at the cost of losing his physical body. The powers of all the fallen warriors would in turn be absorbed by Shinryu as payment for the pact, while Shinryu would imbue some of this same power to Chaos. The cycle would then repeat, with the warriors' memories of the last cycle wiped clean. This process would gradually give Chaos the power to finally open a portal back to World A.

At first, Cid was content in observing the cycles, whilst continuing his research on Manikins, trying to create a perfect being by transplanting his own memories into it, thus giving it sentience and will. In the end, the best he could create was one who was a perfect likeness of him, but had no will of its own, which Cid had attributed to a failed transfer of his memories. He left this Manikin amidst the conflict to see what would become of it. This Manikin would, in the future, be known simply as the Warrior of Light. The rest of his creations, imperfect Manikins that were crystalline, held no human memories, and desired nothing but conflict, were discarded into the Rift.

Chaos, reluctant to fight with someone he pictures as his mother, allowed his warriors freedom to do as they pleased, thus causing some of them to have their own hidden agendas. Some of them wished to rule World B, some wished to destroy it. As the cycles continued, he slowly lost his memories of his time at World A, but still remembered his relationship with Cosmos through vague dreams.

Cosmos, on the other hand, willingly complied with the cycles at first, but slowly despaired as she observed her warriors fighting for their hopes and dreams despite not having any memories of how many cycles they've been fighting, not knowing how much they've gone through.

By the time of Cycle 012, Cid had realized the same thing as Cosmos. Breaking his pact with Shinryu, he stopped being a mere observer and sided with Cosmos, helping her by formulating a plan to end the conflict using crystals formed with both Cosmos' and the warriors' powers.

The plan was supposed to proceed during that cycle, but the imperfect Manikins complicated matters, released from the Rift by one of Chaos' warriors, Exdeath, who wished to sink the world into the Void. In the end, the Warrior and another from Cosmos' side, Kain Highwind, hid the other warriors from the Manikins. 5 other warriors of Cosmos joined Kain after that, abandoning the conflict to close the tear in the Rift the Manikins were coming from, thus greatly limiting the Manikins' numbers, at the cost of their lives. As a result of their deaths outside of the conditions Shinryu set for all in the conflict, they lost the chance to be revived in future cycles.

With the Warrior the only one remaining unhidden, defending Cosmos from the remaining Manikins who by now had reached Cosmos' fortress, Cosmos sacrificed herself to destroy the Manikins, saving the Warrior in the process, and ending Cycle 012.

Angered by Cid's betrayal, Shinryu revives Cosmos and the fallen warriors on both sides (except the ones who died closing the Rift), and sides with Chaos in Cycle 013 to thwart Cid's plan. Cosmos, having been revived with no memories of her plan to end the cycles, was about ready to resign herself into continuing until a traitor to Chaos' side, Golbez, reminds Cosmos of her plan, as the warlock also desired an end to the cycles, both for himself and also his brother, who happened to be a warrior of Cosmos.

The combination of Cosmos sacrificing her life once more, this time to imbue power to her warriors through their crystals, and the resolve of her warriors, led to Chaos finally being defeated, ending the cycles at last and transporting the warriors back to World A, and later on to their respective worlds. The Warrior, having no world of his own, remained at World A, making it his home.

Further angered by this loss, as ending the conflict would mean no more power from fallen warriors for it to consume, Shinryu traps Cid in a nightmarish realm resembling World B, where events happened differently and Chaos survived Cycle 013, but kept on suffering losses on each subsequent cycle. By Cycle 018 in this realm, Chaos had been driven insane by the losses and entered the conflict himself, destroying both Cosmos' warriors and his own, turning into what is now known as Feral Chaos.

By Cycle 020, Cosmos had already weakened to the point that she could no longer summon warriors to her aid. With Chaos on the way to destroy her, Cid sealed Cosmos in World B's Cavern of Earth. Being denied his target, Chaos instead turned on Shinryu, challenging the dragon. Cid, in turn, sealed off the entire northern continent of World B to restrict the conflict to that part of the world. He then sealed himself as well.

Eventually, the fighting died down, and Chaos himself went dormant.

Some time after that, 5 warriors were summoned by an unknown force into World B. By this time, only Moogles and Manikins roamed the land. The warriors eventually found Cid, now residing in the body of a Moogle with almost no memories of events prior. Using what little he remembered, he led the warriors to the northern continent, his memories slowly returning as the journey continued.

By the time they arrived at World B's version of Onrac, where Chaos was, Cid had finally recalled everything, and asked the warriors to destroy Chaos and finally free him from this realm. The warriors complied and, after an intense battle, finally managed to defeat Chaos.

As Chaos perished, he regained his senses, and thanked everyone for freeing his "father" from the nightmare. The warriors returned to their own worlds, and Shinryu, defeated, flew back into the Rift, thus ending the cycles for this nightmarish alternate reality.

As the alternate World B began to crumble, Cid asked Cosmos, now unsealed, if she wanted to come back with him to World A. The goddess of Harmony declined, stating that she would prefer to stay in that realm until it ended. Cid, respecting her decision, left her and returned home.

READ MORE!

ClaDun X2 First Impression Review

Cladun is a hack-and-slash, dungeon crawling and retro-style RPG brought by Nippon Ichi, the same guys who brought us the Disgaea series. The first game, namely Cladun: This is an RPG! was released on September 2010 and now they bringing it back with the sequel, Cladun X2. The feel of the second game is basically the same as the first, but as what they imply on its trailer, all the stuffs in it is X2.

The main plot of Cladun X2 is basically not connected to the first (or as far as I could see). You are stumbled upon a mysterious world known as Arcanus Cella, a miniature world on which accordingly whoever sets foot on it never gets out and the only door connecting to it leads to dungeons that constantly changes. You are introduce to few characters living in the world. As you progresses, you are able to learn about them little by little and along with secrets behind the small world that you're trap into.

One thing to know about Cladun X2 is that it has tons of varieties in terms of customization. If you're familiar on how most Nippon Ichi's game were made then you have a basic idea on what to expect at Cladun X2. I guess most of the elements of the original game are still intact at X2. I never played the first Cladun that much but as far as I could tell, everything are basically the same only with few additions and improvements. So if you played the first one, you're already knew what you're getting at X2.

For starters, the most notable feature here is that the game allows you to fully customize your character going from its name-your-character-thing, choosing gender, and up to managing and building-up characters. Everything will be basic from the start-- choose your job class, equip your weapon of choice and armor and build-up your character using the Magic Circle feature. After a few minutes of progress, the game will give more customization options for you mess around like changing job class, managing equipment's Job Titles and and tons of weapons/armors at your disposal. More of it, as your character's levels up, you gain various skills and Magic Circles depending on your job class. If you're starting to change job class more often then you will get a LOT.

Building up your character involves the use of the feature called Magic Circle. This is where you place all sorts of power ups called Artifacts to boost your character's stats and abilities. The feature involves using multiple characters (main and sub characters) that will be place in the circle. Depending on how strong the characters you're placing, how you place Artifacts and the Circle that you're using, you can build up your character in any preferred way you want. You will pretty much spend some of your playtime building up your characters considering the tons of stuffs you can do to improve your characters. Not to mention that do you will eventually have to create several characters to use for both sub and main character role.

yes folks. its a chicken sword... and its awesome!

Other than the varieties on building up characters, there are also some other varieties that somewhat doesn't really make up for your progress in the game rather it’s for all your amusements. One of the cool varieties in the game is editing character's sprite face and equipments. You can freely edit your character's face, armor and weapon all you want.  So if you want a character that looks like Squall from FF series with shades wearing Tidus' outfit and wielding a Buster sword, you go ahead. XD These optional varieties aren't really necessarily in your overall gameplay. You can play through even without messing with those but it’s actually hard to ignore it at first. It's time-consuming but addicting at the same time. You would find yourself editing faces and equipments the whole time than playing the main game.

the exit... so near yet so far (T_T)

The main gameplay is simple yet fun and challenging. You basically have to work your way to dungeon levels by finding the exit. Dungeons have different themes and each consist of 3 to 4 levels before going to the next dungeon theme. At first walkthrough, dungeons are simple and straight forward with some few handfuls of monsters in your way. As you progresses, dungeons became more and more complicated. There will be certain dungeon levels that require you to beat certain monsters before going any further. You can hack and slash your way or simply run pass through it, which you might try doing it anyway since there’s a reward for completing a dungeon if you beat its given fastest time record. But as you going further to dungeon levels, monsters will gradually improves. Once you starting to feel the difficultly, you might think of slowing down and try to play smart.

Unfortunately, Cladun X2 doesn't have any multiplayer mode at all. You can still do adhoc session with other players but it only does sharing of your pixel art of character's faces and equipments that you've created. I never played the first Cladun that much but I do knew there's a co-op mode there so it's too bad that they remove it at X2. Personally, it would have been fun to play Cladun with somebody else.

As I said, the game has tons of varieties you can mess around. Although some of these varieties are mainly for player's amusements and doesn't really add-up worth to the main gameplay, but these extra curriculums can be addicting at some point and that's actually how the fun works in Cladun. Building up characters might overwhelm you at first but it can still play the game casually. Surely there will be some grinding moments but they're not that as unforgiven as you may think and you can easily cope with it as long as you have the gist on the basics of the game. The retro feel of the game is a plus for guys (like me) who appreciate oldschool style of RPG gameplay. I would highly recommend this game for guys who appreciate classic RPG style and all.

And that's about it for my review. As always, I tend to make my review more general as possible so that I won't spoil the game that much for you. Everything I've talk about is just on the surface and it’s up you to know the rest. Hope this review is enjoyable and helpful.

Until then!

ClaDun X2 Trailer

READ MORE!

God Eater Burst Review

It's been a year since I tackle my First Impression review of God Eater, Namco Bandai's very own Action RPG that everybody thought of it is pretty much resembles Capcom's Monster Hunter in terms of its “monster slaying” kind-of style. GE never reached the light of day outside Japan but it was bound to be release for the US with an improved version. More than 8 months after the release of the first game, they release an updated version of it and titled God Eater Burst where they expand more of the story and improved some gameplay elements. It took another 5 months passing a new year before the game was finally hit the US. The game is renamed again to Gods Eater Burst (with an S) for the reason to be less chance heated by religious concerns (because of the use of the word God).

Now that I finally understand the game at full, It's time to re-analyze everything and see if my impression would still be the same. Is the fast-phase, slash-shooting and monster-devouring enough to make this game worth of a playtime? Or would it just forever be labeled as a second-rate Monster Hunter game?

God Eater Burst (Yeah I insist to call it without an S) sets on a post apocalyptic Earth that has caused by creatures known as Aragami. Mankind's only way of survival is from the hands of an anti-Aragami organization called Fenrir deploying super human beings who wields the only weapon that can fight off Aragami's called God Arcs. People who are using the power of the God Arcs are called - "God Eaters". In the story, you are a newly appointed “New-type” God Eater. The premise of the story is focused on 6 main characters (including you) as they protect mankind against Aragami and soon unfolds a conspiracy going on behind the organization they’re serving.

If you're familiar with Monster Hunter, the basic drill of the gameplay is kinda the same. You choose missions to engage, complete the mission by its given condition (which usually slaying specific Aragami's), collect materials from slain Aragami's and craft stronger weapons out from it as you progresses. Although the basic routines are similar but the overall gameplay experience is totally different. GE's battle system emphasize in much fast-phase action and versatile movements.

You are only equip with one weapon -- the God Arc, that can do both melee (sword form), range (gun form) attacks by switching them anytime in battle. You can also perform what they called the Predator form where it is use to “devour” Aragami's to be able to temporarily power-up (which they called Burst mode) and adapt the Aragami's power as consumable bullets. Predator is also use to collect materials from slain Aragami's. God Arcs are customizable. Each aspects of the weapon has its own different types and skills. Each types have its own pros and cons but all are basically useful to any kind of situation. It all comes down to player's preference.

At first, battles seems okay without any strategy applied. You can actually hack-and-slash (or shoot) your way at most missions. But as you progresses, things would be more frantic especially when facing multiple boss Aragami's in one mission. Dealing with multiple enemies at GE is actually hard. If you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, you would constantly be frustrated by it.

But the difficultly can be compromise by making use of NPC's in battle. You can bring up to 3 NPCs to aid you in battle. NPCs can help you either in attacking, healing or even reviving you whenever you're down. You can also able to use certain party commands to point them on what to do. This is actually useful for strategic purposes especially when dealing multiple Aragami's. For some, the use of NPC's is a cheap way to make the game easier. Its true that having companions (whether player or non-player) will make the gameplay a lot easier than solo effort but in actuality, even with NPC's, there's no sure-fire in the game for sometimes a number of or even large-size Aragami's can still get the best of you. In my opinion, GE is most likely meant to play as team-based action. Whether you're playing with your friends or rely on NPC, that's how the challenge works at GE.

"But now I reliaze that it's such an easy thing
to accomplish. I just have to become that haven
myself... and I'm ready to fight... to create it"

GE has an actual story to follow. The very story is actually interesting and pretty much decent. For players who love some story-telling drama or anything, then you might probably appreciate it though the voice dubbing is not that top-notch and you would constantly see some flaws like off sync of voice and lips of the character, and the delivered emotions might get way off sometimes. It's honestly bad if you would be blunt about it. You would probably wish that its better that they just retain the Japanese voices and just put on English subtitles. But if you are to able to past that, then its not half-bad if you think about it. For me, its pretty much tolerable in the sense.

Unfortunately, GE doesn't have much varieties to offer in terms of gameplay modes. You may try repeating missions to have a best rank recorded in your Player's card but it easily gets boring and it doesn't quite rewarding in the sense.

Other than customizing your weapon, there are few customizable features in the game that are somewhat unique and interesting enough to make a fun out of it. GE has a wide variety of outfits you can put on to your character for your cosplay galore since it doesn't affect your character's DEF status at all, you're freely to make fun of your character's looks.

And another customizable feature is the bullet customization where other than buying bullets, you can actually able to create your own. It's one of the neatest features in the game, in my opinion and I was kinda overwhelm by it at first. It's not easy to create a bullet especially if you're attempting to create a really fancy one. There's a wide array of options to use for custom bullets ranging from attributes, angles, types, and so on. The stronger the bullet you're creating, the higher OP (Oracle Points for gun form) is required to use it.

To wrap things up, God Eater Burst may not be the best Action RPG there is BUT its still something that is worth of experiencing it. There were few complains here and there but if you able to past those and understand how the game works (not to compare it with another game that we knew) then you will probably come to appreciate it. Let me say again: God Eater Burst may not be original, TRUE. BUT its still a good game, nonetheless!

For those players who loves an Action RPG kind-of gameplay in a much different phase then I would recommend trying God Eater Burst. 

READ MORE!

First Impression Review - Valkyria Chronicles II

SEGA’s Valkyria Chronicles (also known in Japan as Senjou no Valkyria) was a big success back when it was first launched for the Playstation 3. It introduced a very unique kind of turn-based strategy gameplay never before seen from other games in the same genre. It even got its own anime series, shown a year after the game was released, which boosted its popularity even more.

Now, VC returns for its sequel, Valkyria Chronicles II, though this time for the PSP. It’s now a question if the second installment of the game would work well in a handheld with much less hardware power, and if it’ll still be the same real-time tactical role-playing as its predecessor.

The story of VC II starts 2 years after the events of the original, where a civil war has emerged within the Principality of Gallia. Because of the recent war and its law issues, which prevents the forming of a proper army to fight against the rebels, the government resorts to deploying military academy cadets to the frontlines instead. The story focuses on a new student at the Lanseal Military Academy named Avan Hardins, along with his friends (also newly enrolled) Cossette and Zeri, as well as their classmates in Class G (the bottom feeders of the academy), as they fight to gain a good reputation with the other classes and fulfill their personal motives, and fight the war at the same time.

Some fans of the original VC probably scratched their heads upon learning that game series’ theme mixed school life with the existing war theme. I admit that I prefer a more serious tone in the story than a light-hearted one, BUT that doesn’t mean that VC II’s story just goofs off. Personally, I still find the game’s story very good despite the mood. The idea of incorporating a school is odd but the way they did it is kinda clever. In my opinion, it’s pretty much acceptable.

The overall tactical gameplay is faithful to its predecessor. It still uses VC’s unique battle system called the BLiTZ (or Battle of Live Tactical Zone) system, where, from an overhead map view, selected units will switch to third-person view and can freely move around and take action with a limited number of steps. At first, you might feel confident at being able to breeze through missions with just a few units at hand without much of a strategy, but soon you will realize that the game tends to catch up with you and you’ll definitely end up needing to play strategically and put every unit you have to good use.

The game’s intermission is all found in the academy itself. The academy features various options for leveling-up your unit classes (as opposed to individual units), changing a unit’s class, buying/creating weapons and equipment, vehicle upgrading, and mission selection. You can also see events that drive the story of the game, or just various characters’ side stories. Character-related events can be triggered depending on how much you use the characters in missions. This opens up their back stories and furthers character development of that particular character. Clearing events involving certain characters will improve its relationship to the main character or even to other characters. This could greatly affect the overall performance of characters when used in combat missions.

Missions are broken into several parts and grouped by month. Certain key missions must be cleared to advance further in the game’s story. Even if you’re done, you can always go back and repeat the missions, in case you want to grind up some experience before going to the next objective, or get a chance to improve your unit ranks in certain missions. Same thing also applies to missions that are triggered through character-related events and free missions. 

There are tons of hidden stuff and achievements that you can unlock in the game. There are a number of hidden characters as well. Most of them are characters from the original VC. Certain tasks must be completed to obtain each one of them, or you can just input a password at the Extra menu option of the title screen. Do note that hidden characters are merely extra character sprites for the game and don’t have any relevance to the main story.

VC II greatly impressed me. I easily got hooked with the uniqueness of the battle system and its war-themed story. Although the story may have not been given a more serious tone compared to the original VC, overall it’s okay and personally, I have no major complaints with it. More importantly, it’s still Valkyria Chronicles. If you’re a fan of the original VC, then VC II is highly recommended for you. For gamers who love tactical role-playing games, then you should definitely try VC II as well.

And that’s my first impression of the game. The rest is up to you to find out.

Until then! 

READ MORE!

First Impression Review - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is a new KH title exclusively for the PSP. As Square-Enix has finally brought the franchise over to Sony’s handheld, let’s take a peek into the Kingdom’s door and see if the game is worthy to be the “awakening” title for KH.

Before anything else, let me give you few guidelines to my review: Since I’ve never played any of the past KH games and am not very familiar to the story of KH in general, I can’t tell how different KH:BBS is to previous KH titles or even how their plots are connected to each other.

KH:BBS is a prequel to the original KH series. The story revolves around 3 friends, Ventus, Terra, and Aqua, as they get involved in an incident that relates to the appearance of dark entities called the Unversed. These happenings lead them to a journey and eventually tear them apart.

The game is separated into 3 campaigns, one for each of the main characters. The three travel separately through different Disney worlds. Although they would all travel through the same worlds, their paths taken are mostly different. For example, in Snow White’s world, Ventus is with the dwarves while Terra is in the Evil Queen’s castle. Another is at Cinderella’s world, where Terra is assisting Cinderella to the castle while Aqua just came to follow his tracks. They would sometimes bump into each other at certain points of the game and even fight together at times.

KH:BBS’ Command Deck System allows you to customize things such as the Battle, Action and Shotlock commands for use in the fight. Battle commands consist of skills and magic commands that can be leveled-up to certain degree. Slots used to insert commands are limited but will eventually increase as you level-up. You can insert any commands or even items to be used and order them however you want, but if properly arranged, you’ll be able to connect combos out of it. Action commands are basic movements like Jump, Dash and Block. You will eventually obtain more movements like Air Dash and High Jump that will soon be useful not just in battles but also while traveling. Shotlock commands are basically just your regular long-range attacks that consume your Focus Meter, which may not be of much use most of the time, but still comes in handy at times.

You can create new Battle commands by “Melding”. Combining 2 mastered commands will create a new command. Meld it again with another mastered command and you might probably get a new one again. Also, if you add a Synthesis item while melding, new commands created can get bonus abilities that can be used to boost your stats, attacks, defenses, item drops, experience received, etc. Abilities such this will only activate if you use the command that goes with it, but once you’ve mastered that command, the ability is yours to keep and use even without the command (kinda like the learned abilities in Final Fantasy IX).

KH:BBS’ battle system plays quite similarly to the action-based, hack-and-slash style of previous KH games. Since the battles are fast-paced, it would probably take some button-mashing until the hordes of enemies are defeated. However, button-mashing isn’t everything here. When you face the cleverer and more powerful enemies, especially the bosses, you HAVE to fight strategically. Here, camera angles might pose a problem. Although your cursor automatically locks on to the nearest enemy, the camera angle won’t follow so you might find yourself viewing the fight from a wrong angle. This might become a problem, especially in boss fights. Anyway, you can still manually aim your attacks at a target if you desire.

Other than your Command Deck, you have other abilities to use in the battle. D-Link (or Dimension Link) allows you use other characters’ commands and allows you to fight at the same groove as that character. For example, if you’re Terra and you D-Link with Ventus, you can use the latter’s commands and you even move just as agilely. You also have this command gauge that fills up for every blow you throw at the enemy. Once it’s filled up, you become temporarily powered-up and can do a final attack move, but if you’re only able to fill it up partly using your Battle Commands instead of your regular attacks, you will sometimes change Command Styles. Your Command Style will depend on the Battle Commands you used. Once you change Command Style and are able to fill up your Command Gauge again, you can perform a much more powerful final attack.

There are other features in the game that would probably keep you busy other than the main missions. There’s this Mirage Arena which features several modes, mainly for multiplayer play. Although I haven’t explored much of the multiplayer aspects of the game (since I don’t have someone to play the game with), I could still say that the multiplayer feature here is probably something worth a try. There’s also a mini-game called Command Board that is more like a board game that plays using your Deck Commands.

Overall, KHBBS is a very good game. For a game that’s on a handheld, the graphics and cinematics are beautiful. Of course, since it’s Kingdom Hearts, the highlight of it all is the crossover between Disney and Square-Enix characters. Though I’m not much of a fan of Disney’s works in general, a crossover like this always amazes me. The voice-acting is okay (I guess), but there are parts that’s kinda off. Nonetheless, it’s very much tolerable, considering that most of the voice actors/actresses here I believe are popular in the field. The replay value here is high especially if you wanna go over each character’s campaign.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is an action/RPG game developed by Square-Enix for the Playstation Portable, released in September 2010. The game requires Official Firmware update 6.20. It has an optional Data Install option that requires 200-600+ Mb of data.

Until then!

READ MORE!

"Jima-san... Sanjou!"... Oh, and Some Super Robot Taisen too...

Hey there, minna-san! Jima-san here. Yeah, I know. I haven't been posting ANYTHING lately, even though I'M the guy who's supposed to be running The HobbyBox. Anyway, life can get in the way a times, but hey, it's still all good.

Anyway... I suppose I should just start a bit light, so here's a promo video of the upcoming Super Robot Taisen L, set to be released on the Nintendo DS. (Wai!) Yeah, it's probably not going to be released in English, but a guy can dream, ne?

READ MORE!

Old-School Review - Konami Wai Wai World

It’s always been to my amazement seeing gimmicks such as crossovers of any form. Recently, I’ve been seeing many crossover games. Of course it’s no longer surprising considering that Capcom has done almost every crossover they could come up with in their fighting games. But don’t you think it would be cool if they could do a crossover platformer, adventure, or RPG game? So far though, I haven’t seen any such thing happen… At least not yet on my end. The closest I’ve seen to that was the Metal Gear Solid/Monster Hunter crossover in Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, or Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts series. But from all the crossover games I saw so far, for me, nothing would still top my one and (I guess) my only favorite retro crossover game: Konami Wai Wai World.

Konami Wai Wai World (or as I usually call it, Konami World) is an old-school game by Konami where they feature various Konami characters banding together to save the world. The game starts with your two main characters: Konami Man (I used to refer him as Captain Konami…) and Konami Lady. They’re both summoned by Dr. Cinnamon (from the Twin Bee series) and sent to different worlds using some sort of teleportation machine operated by Pentarou (from Antarctic Adventure) to save other Konami characters, and then travel together to space using Vic Viper (from Gradius) and Twin Bee to stop aliens from conquering the world… or at least that’s how I understand the game story goes.

Wai Wai World is a part platformer, part shooter game, having six platform levels to get through, one shmup level and one final platform level. Players will most likely need to get through the six levels to get their comrades, items and sub-weapons. Each world has a different feel, replicating the six Konami games they feature in the crossover.

There are eight playable Konami characters in the game. Each comes from other Konami games. (Well, almost.) I’ll try to share a little info on each character to the best of my knowledge…

Goemon: From the game Ganbare Goemon. His character is that of a ninja. I’m not really familiar with this character or any of his games. All I know is that he’s one of those old-school Konami characters. Goemon’s basic attack strikes upwards, giving you an advantage when hitting enemies from below. He’s also the only character that can open treasure chests for items. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it has something to do with his character.

Simon Belmont: From the Castlevania series. He’s a vampire hunter equipped with the legendary whip, Vampire Killer. Well, everybody who knows Castlevania should know about this guy. No need for further explanation. >=) Simon’s major advantage is his basic attack that can reach enemies mid-screen, However, it’s slow so you can’t always rely on it, especially since most enemies move at a quick pace. His sub-weapon (Cross Boomerang) is great… like always. >=)

Getsu Fuma: From the game Getsu Fuma Den, which I was fortunate to be able to play back then. Fuma is a swordsman possessing the legendary wave swords, called Hadouken, which he uses to fight off demons. Though he really looks cool in his game, I don’t see anything special about him in WWW. Strangely, he can break walls with his sword. Also, according to other reviews, with Fuma, items drop more often from enemies. I’m not sure though since I’ve never paid attention to the drop rate.

Mikey: From the game The Goonies, which was adapted from an old film carrying the same title. Mikey is a kid, making him the smallest among the characters. Because of this, his basic attack is also short-ranged and weak, but he can easily avoid projectiles especially when he ducks. Just be careful because he takes more damage than the others… because he’s a kid. >=)

Moai: This big-headed stone character was based on the enemies from the Gradius series and didn’t have its own game until they released a game some time after WWW, called Moai-kun (also one of the rarest games I’ve played back then) that featured it in SD form. Moai in WWW is big and is the strongest among the characters. He can break rocks and has tougher defense than the others… because he’s a rock, I guess. XP

Kong: From the game King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch. This game was based on a King Kong film. Like Moai, Kong is big and also one of the strongest characters available. He can jump higher than others because… he’s King Kong. (Why else? XP) His sub-weapon is also much stronger than others, but has very short range and the direction of the attack is downward, so it’s only effective when hitting enemies below.

Konami Man/Konami Girl: They’re the main heroes you start with in the game. The two are pretty much basic with decent attacks and sub-weapons, but later in the game, once you acquire a certain special item, they would have the ability to fly around, which is pretty helpful especially when using sub-weapons. Don’t think you can breeze through the game with this ability though. Its not going to work that way… >=)

Each character has their own theme music and plays whenever you’re using them, like Simon Belmont’s all-time favorite Vampire Killer theme. They also have their own death sequences. If any one of your characters dies, you have to revive them with the help of Dr. Spice (Dr. Cinnamon’s brother. They’re pretty much alike except that Dr. Spice wears black =/), and pay 100 bullets per character (yeah, paying bullets to revive a person doesn’t make any sense also =/). If all of them die, KM and KL are only ones that will be revived.

Twin Bee, Vic Viper.. launching! >=D

Once you’ve gathered all the characters, you’ll able to ride either the Vic Viper or Twin Bee for the shmup stage. The two ships have their own distinctive characteristics in terms of power-ups, like VV has its usual laser and missiles while TB has its knuckle missiles and ring beam. But they also share some common power-ups like the barrier shield and options. (which we all know belongs to the VV, but here, TB can also receive it. Now that’s crossover!) >=) After the shmup stage, you’ll reach the final stage of the game. I guess I should leave that part for you to see for yourself. ;)

Konami's old-school powerhouse characters >=D

Konami Wai Wai World was a very good platformer/shmup game. I believe its one of the best games Konami made for the NES/FamiCom, though I wouldn’t be surprised if only a few people have had the experience of playing it. After all, it was only released in Japan. The difficulty of the game was okay, as it depended on the stages themselves. Personally, Kong, Fuma and Moai’s stage were the hardest. Navigating through the options would be something that might need some getting used to since it’s all in Japanese, but it shouldn’t take too long to figure it out. ;) If you’re a Konami fan of any sorts especially of their old-school games, then you have to try this. It would be much appreciated if you would also play the games that were featured here.

You know, for many years I actually had this wish. I wished Konami would get the idea of creating a new WWW game and feature today’s Konami games: Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden, Castlevania… uhm… and Yu-Gi-Oh! Now THAT would be a great crossover, don’t you think? >=D Well, anyway, its just a wish. That’s about it for now.

Until then!

READ MORE!