Return of the blog!

I'm back after a long time again! It's been a while since I wrote on my blog.



Today I want to talk about the newest offering in the Final Fantasy saga: Final Fantasy XIII. The main story revolves around a woman named Lightning who's a soldier in the city of Cocoon. The city is ruled by deities called Fal'Cies that roll out their rule through the government of the Sanctum. As the story unfolds, we find out that the Sanctum and its leaders aren't exactly for the people's wellbeing as they wage war against the lower world of Pulse with no regard as to who gets caught in the crossfire. Another character named Snow is the leader of a rebel faction called NORA. Other characters eventually join in the story that intertwines each of them in a way that only the storytellers of the Final Fantasy series can do. No spoilers here, you just have to play the game yourself.

They put back the old turn-based battle system with a new twist. You only get to control one character at a time in a party of 2 or 3. But the real meat of the system is that you can change the role/function of your lead character and the other characters in your party on the fly. This system is called the Paradigm Shift. Each character can be leveled up to specific roles such as Commando (physical attacker), Ravager (mage), Medic (cleric), Saboteur (casts status ailments), Synergist (casts status bonuses for party) and Sentinel (provokes and takes damage for the party). This leveling up is done via the Crystarium, a system similar to the Sphere grid in FFX. Weapons can be broken down or upgraded as needed. There is a lot of depht especially in the battle system where you can gain 2 or more ATB (Active Time Battle) gauges.

One thing that disapoints especially die hard fans of the series is the linearity of exploration. I have only been 16 hours into the game as I write this and I really don't mind. The story is pretty engrosing that moving seemingly "on rails" doesn't hurt the experience. This is out on both the XBox 360 and PS3 but from what I've heard the PS3 looks better while the XBox 360 version is spread across three DVDs as compared to Sony's single bluray disc (I smell fanboyism!)

All in all, FF XIII is an outstanding game and a real showpiece that only SquareEnix can deliver. This is a must buy!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Motorstorm Arctic Edge Review

The original Motorstorm on the PS3 was considered one of the console's great launch titles.  With stunning visuals and real-time track deformation, Motorstorm was a showpiece for any PS3 owner.  After one sequel on the Playstation 3 (Motorstorm Pacific Rift), another version makes it to Sony's handheld in the form of Motorstorm Arctic Edge.  This time it takes us to snow-covered terrains while retaining the original game's premise of any vehicle versus any other vehicle and multiple paths to the finish line.  You have the usual line up of ATV's, big rigs, bikes, rally cars with additional vehicles to suit the environment like the snow mobiles and snow pluggers.  Depending on your vehicle, you need to run on the right path to help you get to the finish line the quickest.  Taking your snow mobile through a river is not the best way to go.

To speed your vehicle up, you have a boost meter that eventually overheats with use.  If you continue to boost, you blow up.  You can help cool your boost meter by running through thick ice or water.  By winning events, you can earn new selections of vehicles to satisfy your craving for offroad mayhem.  The graphics department may not live up to its console brothers (give it a break dude, it is a PSP and not a PS3, duh) but the diverse tracks are an accomplishment worth noting on a portable device.

One thing I noticed about the dificulty though is that during the opening events, the AI opponents don't seem to put up much of a fight once you gain 1st place.  You get past to 1st place and you never get to see the guy in 2nd until the end of the race.  The difficulty seems to escalate around the 3rd level events.  This is still a good thing for me because it does allow casual racers to enjoy the rest of the game without frustrating you to death (the original Motorstorm on the PS3 was tough as nails and winning at 1st was the only way to advance in the game, blink too long and you'll be left behind).

Motorstorm Arctic Edge is a great addition for every Motorstorm fan.  The wide selection of vehicles and the adrenaline rush that this game provides goes to show other PSP racers what a racing game should be.

Prince of Persia Rocks!

As I have stated on an earlier blog, I was working on finishing Prince of Persia on the PS3, one of Ubisoft's monster games so far.  I was able to finish it a few days ago and it so totally rocks!  Here's why.

Forget your other ideas of earlier PoP games.  Forget the mild-mannered Prince we got to know on Sands of Time and of the other succeeding titles that were really not that good (they're Two Thrones and Warrior Within I think).  The unamed Prince comes back this time as a grave-robbing, tomb-raiding, smart-mouthed thief, that's right, a thief.  But he's not alone because he joins a runaway princess named Elika for the ride.  The objective: to ride the kingdom of the corruption that covers the entire land.  Hmm.. sounds like the government to me.

As expected from a PoP game, there is a lot of platforming and crazy acrobatics/gymnastics when moving from one point to another in this open world game.  The controls are spot on and wall running and other off-the-wall stunts (literally!) are easy to accomplish.  Battles with the creatures of corruption (this really sounds like the government) is one-on-one with a little help from Elika and her magic attacks.  For completists out there, you can spend a lot of time collecting each light seed from every nook and cranny in the kingdom.  Light seeds, by the way, are used to unlock more areas for you to heal of the corruption.

The game tends to be gentle on the player though as it tells you when to block or what technique to use (sword, gauntlet, or Elika's magic).  Elika's compass acts as your GPS when you tend to get spun around.  In this game, you can never die as Elika always catches you when you miss a jump and saves you when you get your back end kicked by the corruption.  The penalty though is that the enemy's life bar goes up when you were supposed to "die" and Elika saves you.

Over all, this is one game I highly recommend for fans of the PoP franchise or adventure games in particular.  This surely makes up for the other episodes in the franchise that felt empty and mediocre.  This new Prince of Persia will definitely be on the throne of your Playstation 3 adventure game list for a while.

I'm Back (again)!

Hey guys! I'm back again after another very long time to give my latest blog. My site has undergone another image (and topic) change but this time I feel like I have finally found my purpose to do a continuous blog. So to begin this new start, I am going to write what I think about one of the games that has me hooked to the Nintendo DS Lite - Geometry Wars: Galaxies.

The reason why I got to like this game is because earlier I was able to download a demo of Super Stardust HD from the Playstation Network. It got me hooked.  Although the demo would only allow you to play for five minutes then halt and tell you to buy it if you like it, I would have another go, and another, and another.  It was so addictive that I wondered if they had this on other platforms. Hmm...

Sure enough there was a similar game on the Nintendo DS called Geometry Wars: Galaxies. Hey, it's no HD game in terms of visuals but it presented loads of shooting fun just the same.

The concept is simple: you pilot a ship equiped with a drone and you shoot everything that stands in your way. Almost everything on screen is presented with lines and shapes of different colors. I even makes you feel like you're playing one of those old PC games on a green screen. Enemies are made to look like pin wheels, diamonds, circles and other kinds of shapes. As the game progresses, the screen tends to get really poplulated and razor sharp reflexes are necessary not to bump into any of those shapes flying towards your ship. The aforementioned drone has different modes to choose from before starting a level. The drone can help you shoot down baddies, act as a shield spinning around you or help you collect geoms from downed enemies. These geoms are later used to unlock drone abilities and other planets for you to blow up.

Controls are spot on although a bit awkward. You control your ship with the directional buttons and your firing direction with the stylus on the touch screen at the bottom. Your DS will tend to slowly slip from your hands as you play though so it is hard to maintain stability especially if you have sweaty palms like me. When things get too crowded onscreen with gazillions of enemies and you need a way out, just press the left or right shoulder buttons to release a bomb that wipes out every enemy ship across the entire area. Nifty.

Unless you own a PS3 and have Super Stardust HD, Geometry Wars: Galaxies  is the best portable alternative and will satisfy any gamer's space shoot-em-up craving. I just wish I knew what those different shapes are called.. I shouldn't have fallen asleep too often during geometry class..

Dude rating: 4 of 5