tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82879449994769569022024-02-20T06:01:49.465+13:00Silent Pyramid ReviewsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-85627384289102595222010-06-20T16:06:00.002+12:002010-06-20T18:59:57.882+12:00Post-E3: Thoughts and Opinions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/E3-Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/E3-Logo.png" width="270" /></a></div><br />
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E3 is a big event for gamers. E3 is as important to gamers, as the FIFA World Cup is to Soccer fans. While I obviously didn't attend E3, though I would definitely love to in the future, I thought I'd do a write-up on this years E3 event from the perspective of a fan, an onlooker from home excitedly watching the live streams. I know it's not a review, but I wanted to voice my opinions and thoughts on how E3 went and how the future of video-gaming looks for a gamer like myself.<br />
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Microsoft's conference was first-up at E3. They formally announced the new name of Natal: Kinect. I wasn't sure what to think of that. For a start, I'm certain Kinect isn't even a real word. That being said, Kinect did initially impress me. The menu navigation is off-the-charts impressive, like something out of <span style="font-style: italic;">Minority Report</span>. They had different people come up on stage, showing off what it can do. Navigating menus, controlling videos and music with your voice and hands looked really neat. I hate to be cynical but I can see some problems popping with voice commands, as anyone who has dealt with voice recognition software might expect.<br />
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Where Kinect lost me was when the family-friendly games popped up. I'm really not the type of guy to jump up and down like a loon in my living room, or dance with no game-mat in front of my television. I already have several dogs so I just can't see the need to look after a virtual animal, which you'd never be able to really interact with anyway. You can't feel the warmth, or fur, or true personality of a virtual animal, it just isn't the same as a real one. It's like the cold, cruel mockery of dating-sim games. On top of that, Kinect is meant to rack up to $200 or so NZD on release. For someone like me who'd only purchase it for the sake of having a cool menu gimmick -- until a Kinect game that interests me appears -- I'll have to pass.<br />
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Microsoft also revealed that they would be partnering up with ESPN and streaming sports games, with Kinect compatibility. Too bad I have no interest in sports, but I guess 360 does target the "frat-boy" sort of audience, so it makes sense. Somehow I have a feeling it won't even hit New Zealand shores either. In any case, more new features are fantastic to see, even if they don't interest me personally.<br />
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Along with Kinect, Microsoft revealed the 360 Slim. Strangely enough, it looks like what you'd get if you combined Alienware and a Wii. It's small, quiet and packs built in wi-fi and more USB ports along with a 250 GB HDD and a dedicated Kinect port. It took long enough to get built in wi-fi, but it's a bit of a middle finger to people like me who bought the over-priced wi-fi adapter awhile back. What really irks me about the Slim is the fact that it STILL has a disk tray. Disk trays, in my opinion, are old tech and will still cause your disks to suffer if the console falls over, moves or is turned horizontal from vertical and vice-versa. PS3s and Wiis still benefit from slot-loading. Either way, it's a fantastic price and it's definitely worth getting if you don't have a 360 yet. Let's just hope it doesn't suffer from RROD, though you'd expect by now for that problem to be long gone.<br />
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Of course, for those who weren't interested in motion control games, they typically had a few sequels revealed. I'm personally psyched for <span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War 3</span>, seeing as I've finished the first two and the 2nd game felt like it ended in the middle of the game. <span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War 3</span> has four-player co-op (finally) and the ability to switch weapons with co-op partners, along with new, slightly more evil -- and explosive -- enemies. It looks good.<span style="font-style: italic;"> Halo: Reach</span> was shown off, but to be honest it looks like more of the same really. With jet-packs and space combat. <span style="font-style: italic;">Fable III</span> was shown too, I didn't think too much of <span style="font-style: italic;">Fable II</span>, though I didn't dislike it. <span style="font-style: italic;">Fable III</span> has world domination which personally sounds like an awesome concept to me. What blew my mind was the game-play on-stage of <span style="font-style: italic;">Metal Gear Solid: Rising</span>. It basically had Raiden dancing around slicing up humans and robots alike. It revolves around the concept of Zan-Datsu, which means to cut and take. You can go into slow-motion and precisely cut. you can dismember enemies in any way you want and even slice buildings apart with your high-frequency blade. In the video, Raiden slices a mech in half and removes its glowing spine before absorbing it for what I assume is health. Rising is set to take place between <span style="font-style: italic;">MGS2</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">MGS4</span>.<br />
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The Sony conference was probably the weakest of the "Big Three" though. Playstation Move is an odd case. Yeah, it looks really, really stupid. As though someone at Sony decided they'd rip off the black Wiimote set-up but strap a silly ball to the top to make it look different enough that they wouldn't be sued. <span style="font-style: italic;">Killzone 3</span> was revealed, and that it would be 3D compatible. I never actually got 'round to playing <span style="font-style: italic;">Killzone </span>but I really enjoyed the first one on PS2 back in the day so the second and third games will go on my to-buy list eventually.<br />
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What bothers me, is the concept of 3D on a home video-game console. For a start, it requires special glasses (WHICH AREN'T CHEAP) and a 3D HD TV which isn't cheap either. The problem is that the technology is too premature, a lot of us are only just starting to get into the age of HD and a lot of us aren't willing to buy into 3D after just spending $3000 on home entertainment, especially when 3D gaming and films in your living room aren't common yet. Give it another five years or so and we might see it becoming mainstream but at the moment it seems like a fad that will pass. Second problem is that you need to wear glasses, as I mentioned are expensive, which is problematic when you already have glasses. I don't want to feel like a dork wearing two pairs of glasses just to play a game.<br />
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Sony unveiled a few other surprises too, <span style="font-style: italic;">Twisted Metal</span> was announced, <span style="font-style: italic;">Infamous 2</span> looks… different -- I'm not liking his new, less angry style, and why does he have a weapon? -- though the first game was actually very fun and now he has ice powers too. <span style="font-style: italic;">Patapon 3</span> was shown which is down-right fantastic. The first two games are masterpieces of PSP gaming. <span style="font-style: italic;">Dead Space 2</span> is something I am eagerly awaiting, the first game is probably the best 3rd-person horror this generation in my books. As a delicious surprise, <span style="font-style: italic;">Dead Space 2</span> will be packed in with <span style="font-style: italic;">Dead Space Extraction</span>, a once Wii-exclusive that was met with lots of praise yet poor sales. It will have full Move support, co-op and trophies. <span style="font-style: italic;">LittleBigPlanet 2</span> has got me really excited seeing as you can make racing games and more. It also has Move support. I can't wait for <span style="font-style: italic;">Portal 2</span> either which is -- surprisingly -- coming to PS3.<br />
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Sony's premium network was finally announced, being named Playstation Plus. It will come with a copy of <span style="font-style: italic;">WipEout HD</span>, beta access and early demoes of games, free avatars, themes, PSN games and party chat which was a long time coming. It's meant to cost $50 USD a year, or $18 USD for three months, similar pricing to that of the 360. Sony was pretty vague on more details though, I'll probably subscribe just for party chat but I wish they'd explained more about the service.<br />
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Lastly, Kevin Butler made an appearance. I don't know what you guys think of him, but personally I think the man is hilarious! For all the business-side of E3, Kevin butler treated the stage like his own stand-up comedy show. He promoted the Playstation Move along with gaming in general. He was really witty and his appearance was really hilarious. "We can all box with game characters that have important features... like arms... and a neck." was one of my favourite quotes, as he bashed WiiSports. Sure, the Playstation Move is a rip-off of the Wiimote. But it does it well -- the Move is everything the Wii should have been.<br />
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Nintendo's conference was summed up by the fact that two of the announced titles had "epic" in their title. Yes, Nintendo's conference was epic and probably my favourite conference of this years E3 by far. The conference opened up with the new <span style="font-style: italic;">Zelda</span> Wii game trailer, <span style="font-style: italic;">Zelda: Skyward Sword</span>, which looks excellent, REQUIRES WiiMotion+ and will have a 2011 release. To be honest, while it does look good, I was a little… disappointed in it's execution. I was expecting something more original but it looks like they've just re-skinned <span style="font-style: italic;">Twilight Princess</span>, with cell-shaded graphics reminding me a bit of <span style="font-style: italic;">Wind Waker</span>. Not like that's a bad thing, but when Nintendo hints at "there will be no master sword this time around…" I didn't think they'd just give you a different sword. Booo. I guess the formula works though, don't fix what isn't broken and so on.<br />
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A new <span style="font-style: italic;">Kirby</span> game was announced for Wii too,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Kirby's Epic Yarn</span>, which only took four years to be announced… It looks like a good platformer but the style is very unusual -- Rather than being the typical <span style="font-style: italic;">Kirby</span> game, it's a weird style where everything is… knitted. You don't absorb enemies though, which was my favourite feature of <span style="font-style: italic;">Kirby</span>. It looks original though.<br />
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Another big announcement was <span style="font-style: italic;">GoldenEye 007</span> as a remake for the Wii (and DS). Oddly enough, they've re-skinned Bond so that he bears Daniel Craig's face instead of Pierce Brosnan. It will also have online multiplayer and more features. Everyone who knows anything about the gaming industry knows that <span style="font-style: italic;">GoldenEye</span> on N64 was a masterpiece.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Golden Sun: Dark Dawn</span> was given a gameplay trailer for DS too, which a lot of us have been waiting for since the 2nd one on GBA. It actually looks a bit like <span style="font-style: italic;">Phantom Hourglass</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">Spirit Tracks</span>, which is to be expected seeing as the original two were completely 2D top-down on GBA. Needless to say, I'm definitely psyched for it.<br />
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Personally, what stole the entire show for me was the 3DS. We had already heard of the 3DS a little while before E3, but now we get to see it in action. The 3DS is actually a whole new platform and not a reiteration of previous DS handhelds, it's fully backwards compatible with DS games too. The interesting thing about it, is that it's 3D without having to wear silly (and expensive) glasses. The problem for viewers at home like me, is that we can't see the 3D over the internet so instead it's a case of "trust us, it looks cool!" The 3D isn't what grabs my attention about the 3DS though, it's the graphics and impressive line-up of 3rd-party games. The trailer revealed for the 3DS was <span style="font-style: italic;">Kid Icarus: Uprising</span>, and it looks… amazing. Until the PSP2 comes out, 3DS will obviously have the best graphics for a gaming handheld. While not many specs were revealed, 3DS games will have a 2 GB max as opposed to the 1.8 GB max of PSP UMD. The best thing about 3DS? 3rd-party games. On the line-up were such games as<span style="font-style: italic;"> DJ Hero, Saints Row, Resident Evil 5</span> and -- what got the crowd going insane -- <span style="font-style: italic;">Metal Gear Solid 3</span>. On top of that, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ocarina of Time </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">Super Paper Mario</span> are getting a handheld treatment. Excellent.<br />
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From the Konami conference, a new <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span> was revealed! As a <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span> fan (in case you didn't already gather by the title of my page) I was EXTREMELY excited by the revealed trailer of a new <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span>. I know, <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span> hasn't been the same since Team Silent disbanded and now without Akira Yamaoka, series composer, the series will never be the same. Despite my fanboy urge to tell Konami to stop it before the series is well and truly murdered, I actually loved the look of the new game. You play as a convict, the style is back to gory and nightmarish and it actually takes place in <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span>! The music didn't sound too bad either, check it out yourself.<br />
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So E3 was a pretty exciting show this year. Thanks for reading!<br />
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CURRENTLY PLAYING AND REVIEWING: <i>Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker</i>! Expect to see it up sometime next week!<br />
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(note: Click YouTube videos to see the whole thing, seems to be cut off a bit in my blog :<)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-88281843782520241102010-06-17T23:42:00.001+12:002010-06-17T23:59:32.544+12:00Red Dead Redemption Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rebel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rebel.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><br />
The Western genre for video games is an interesting one. It was never really well expanded on and games based on it weren't rated very highly. I thoroughly enjoyed <i>Gun</i>, the only other open-world Wild Western game I've played. Yet it was too short -- 100% accomplished in under a week. <i>Red Dead Revolver</i> is another Western game that was initially being developed by Capcom, but then Rockstar grabbed ahold of it. It gained average to positive reviews but it wasn't anything special. Now, from Rockstar San Diego, comes Red Dead Redemption. Built on the same engine as <i>Grand Theft Auto IV</i>, <i>Red Dead Redemption</i> boasts a vast open world, an exciting story-line and definitely plenty to do.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/RDR1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/RDR1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> You can choose to shoot up towns, or be their guardian</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><br />
<i>Red Dead Redemption</i> introduces us to a new protagonist. Rockstar really have incorporated all the most badass stereotypical cowboy traits into one character: John Marston, a reformed ex-gang member, is sent to the wild west in order to hunt down his old gang and put an end to them for the government in order to redeem himself and live in peace with his family. He's tough, battle-scarred, smooth talking and while he has an exterior of violence, he has a heart of an angel. Unlike <i>GTA</i> characters, Marston is a lot more of a hero: sure, you can do bad things -- tying someone up, leaving them on the train tracks and watching them explode when a train hits them is worth a laugh -- yet you'll benefit so much more from being the nice guy. Shops give you discounts, even townspeople will treat you better the more honor you have. Marston is a pretty cool guy and his personality grows on you.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Showdowns at noon are fantastic, like something straight out of a Spaghetti Western</b></span></div><br />
Unlike <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> games, I found the combat, story-line pacing and world a more enjoyable experience overall. Combat still uses a cover system and weapons are obviously old-tech so you won't expect any machine guns there, but instead I found the combat was a more skill-based experience unlike the "slaughter everyone" style of <i>GTA </i>-- weapons fire and reload relatively slowly and you die so easily that you'll have to be careful on how you play it. Run into a gun fight and you'll be taken down pretty quickly. Fortunately, you do have a very nifty mechanic called "Dead Eye," which is effectively the game's bullet-time. Activating Dead Eye puts everything except your aiming reticule into slow-mo, so it gives you the freedom to precisely aim and target multiple targets then release and watch Marston quick-draw and unload upon his opponents. Dead Eye is limited and slowly regenerates, but it's a pretty funky mechanic that emulates the feeling of being "the quickest in the west" nicely.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Hog-tying enemies is a non-lethal way of subduing enemies </b></span></div><br />
The equivalent of cars in <i>Red Dead Redemption</i> are, of course, horses. They're a bit tricky to handle at first but once you get it, you'll be sprinting around the frontier in no time. Horses sprint when X is tapped and holding X maintains their speed or keeps your horse up with other riders. Horses have stamina and wearing it out completely tosses you off your horse, and can even kill your horse if abused. The great thing about horse riding is that you have a full 360 view from your horse and can fight accordingly. Drive-by shootings? Try gallop-by shootings! Other vehicles include stagecoaches and horse-and-carts. Just don't expect much variation in transport, although I can't see how you would.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>You can obtain new horses by capturing them in the wild, or simply buying them </b></span></div><br />
The story-line is fairly straight-forward. As previously mentioned, it revolves around Marston hunting down his old gang. The story is fairly short, it'll take you a good 15 hours or so to run it through and it consists of doing odd jobs for a zany cast of stereotypically Western characters who may or may not lead you in the right direction to taking down your ex-gang. The story is fairly thin, but you shouldn't really be playing this game for the story -- the West is full of fun distractions.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/rdr3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Sniping enemies is just one way of taking out the competition</b></span></div><br />
It's amazing how much there is to do in <i>Red Dead Redemption</i>. Mini-games are aplenty: You can play horse-shoes, tame wild horses, go hunting in the wilderness, help out strangers, race horses, play various types of card-games including Texas Hold 'Em, herd cattle, get a drink in the saloon and complete different outfits to change your appearance and give you different special effects. You can even watch old-fashioned black-and-white films! The world is beautiful, yet big and barren as you'd expect from the Wild West. Rockstar have done well in actually giving the world mini-events, events that happen at random and seemingly make the world come to life. Riding across the desert you can find a treasure hunter being attacked by bandits, folk sitting around the campfire telling stories that you can join in on, or the ability to duel people stupid enough to challenge you. These give the game a great amount of flow that helps keep the player drawn in. On top of that, <i>Red Dead Redemption</i> has multiplayer, which has to be one of the best features.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/RDR2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/RDR2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Fire bombs can make quick work of enemies</b></span></div><br />
Taking the game online, the whole world is open for you and friends (or strangers) to venture and take up missions or simply fight it out. You can create posses, or "teams" in modern-day terms, that can take on gang hideouts together or even take on over posses. Up to 16 people can be in one game, which is easily enough for a good ol' fashioned shoot-out. Modes include Mexican Stand-Off, where players start right beside each other and start shooting, a capture-the-flag and naturally typical death-match modes. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/73.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/73.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Being mauled to death by a mountain lion was not on Marston's to-do list</b></span></div><br />
If you want a good sandbox game, you can't really go wrong with <i>Red Dead Redemption</i>. The main character is definitely likable, the gameplay and the amount to do is staggering (though not to the extent of a sandbox such as…<i> Just Cause 2</i>) and the gun-play is most satisfying. If you can, gather some mates and form a posse and take out some bandit camps too. It's hard to play <i>Red Dead Redemption</i> and not feel the need to lean back on a wooden fence with your thumbs on your belt and your eyes squinting at anyone foolish enough to get near you. Draw 'em cowboy! Yeehaw!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-29163948548434958092010-06-10T01:12:00.005+12:002010-06-10T11:42:02.302+12:00Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/prinnyboxart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/prinnyboxart.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><i>Disgaea</i> is a fantastic series. The original, <i>Disgaea: Hour of Darkness</i>, was released six years ago and brought a colorful and hilarious world to gamers across the world. With lots of grinding (up to level 9999 per character!) and a gigantic amount of weapons and dungeons to trawl through,<i> Disgaea</i> provided a ton of replayability and fun. While the main character of the original was Prince Laharl, NIS have released a PSP-exclusive 2D side-scroller action game which instead stars the lovable and explosive side characters of the series: the Prinnies.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap014.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Prinnies get all the ladies, dood!</b></span></div><br />
<i>Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?</i> starts off with the Prinnies -- no, not just one Prinny -- who are being punished by Master Etna who has somehow lost her special "Ultra Dessert." The Prinny squad is given the task of tracking down said dessert and an unwilling leader is assigned, given a red scarf (fans of the original game will recognize the scarf) and forced into fighting his way through countless enemies. When the Prinny you play as dies, another Prinny dons the scarf and takes the role of leader. You have 1000 "lives" to make it through the game, each time a Prinny dies -- after 4 hits -- you lose a life and after 1000 lives lost, it's a game over.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap013.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Now and then you get a vehicle, dood</b></span>!</div><br />
<i>Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?</i> is tough. Very tough. In some instances you'll actually question whether a level is even beatable. If you go into this game with the attitude that it'll be like any other of those easier games released nowadays, be prepared to pick your brain off the wall. Prinny is unforgiving in its execution -- Prinnies are fragile and even the slightest hit will take away health. This is frustrating when you only have four bits of health on Standard mode of difficulty. When your Prinny is hit by an enemy, it takes the control away from you, so in many instances I found myself being hit in midair and finding myself plummeting to my death with no way of correcting what has been done. Just getting over a simple ledge can take trial-and-error while it frustratingly whittles away at your lives. I lost count of the times I wanted to place my foot through the screen.<br />
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That being said, Prinny is meant to be a challenge. As a challenge, the game is unbelievably satisfying and gives you a fantastic sense of accomplishment as you finally manage to beat the unbeatable boss or get over that ledge that drained 60 of your lives. As you struggle through a level you can't help but feel proud to get over challenges that lie in wait. You could actually consider <i>Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?</i> as a homage to the old-school platformers that required hours of trial-and-error, or learning how a boss works and how you'll go about beating it/them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>These guys ain't so tough, dood...</b></span></div><br />
The games hub is the Prinny headquarters attached on to Etna's castle. The hub is pretty small but from there you can access the various stages, a few secret items and extra content. Finding orbs unlocks several characters who have different purposes, such as a monsterpedia and a battle data recorder. There are six stages to play on, each one is very different from the last, providing a great amount of variety. You can enter the stages in any order you choose, but each stage is more difficult going from easiest to hardest. Prinny himself is a tough little guy. His primary attack is to rapidly slash away with dual knives, but that isn't all he can do: Prinny can do a ground-pound attack to stun enemies -- extremely necessary on bosses -- and an Air Slash attack, a long range projectile barrage that tilts the world on a 3D angle. Prinny can of course run through levels, dash and also double-jump.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap017.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Dood! This is the Prinny HQ dood!</b></span></div><br />
Jumping is actually a massive pain in <i>Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?</i> It's frustrating enough when enemies and traps can so easily kill you, let alone having such a stiff, cumbersome and precise jump mechanic. You can jump, then jump again but you can't actually change direction in midair -- once you've made your jump you can't alter it, you'll have to watch as your Prinny falls to his death. Platforms can be pretty small with little room for error later on in the game sometimes hitting the jump button twice can throw you straight over the platform you were going for. It looks like this was done on purpose to add to the challenge, but it is a huge pain if you're used to games with a more fluid jumping system.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap000.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This didn't end well, dood...</b></span></div><br />
Frustrating difficulty aside, <i>Prinny</i> is a beautiful entry in the <i>Disgaea</i> series and while being a different genre, it really fits right in in terms of voice-acting, style and music. The music feels like it was taken straight from the games, and they probably were. The animations are cute, bright, colorful and a real pleasure to look at. Any Disgaea fan would feel right at home and any new fan couldn't help be love them. The voice acting for the Prinnies is hilarious, and while the story is very silly and the game clearly doesn't take itself seriously, it's fantastic to follow. While <i>Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?</i> is clearly meant to be a challenge, I can't help but feel let down that the game doesn't feature a easy setting for those who'd like it play it for the light-hearted and enjoyable story. It's definitely catered for hardcore platformers, which is odd considering the series roots as a Strategy RPG.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap015.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>That tiny gap took me 60 Prinnies to get over, dood... </b></span></div><br />
If you're looking for something brain-explodingly difficult, then give <i>Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?</i> Despite its tough difficulty, it is a fun, enjoyable and interesting game. It has lovable characters and plenty of unlockables to keep you hooked for hours, not even counting the hours you'll waste trying to get through certain levels. It's tough but rewarding, and every gamer should try it out it to test their limits. Watch out for those exploding penguins, dood!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-41370886197755781472010-06-08T14:33:00.003+12:002010-06-10T13:22:46.945+12:00Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/250px-Harvest_Moon_Hero_of_Leaf_Val.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/250px-Harvest_Moon_Hero_of_Leaf_Val.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br />
<i>Harvest Moon</i> is an addictive series, there's no doubt about it. The first <i>Harvest Moon</i> came out for SNES in 1996 and its been drawing people in ever since. The premise of <i>Harvest Moon</i> is simple: Manage time, make money, become friends with the villagers, harvest crops and make home improvements. It's compelling stuff and every <i>Harvest Moon</i> game has hundreds of hours of content to keep you hooked.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap003.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Leaf Valley is a very pretty place to stand around</b></span><i><br />
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<i>Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley</i> is the latest installment in the <i>Harvest Moon</i> franchise and a remake of <i>Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland</i>. <i>Hero of Leaf Valley</i> is a lot different compared to the rest of the main series due to its main character being proportionately more mature than the rest of the short, chibified characters of previous <i>Harvest Moon</i> games.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap005.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> That actually isn't my dog... yet</b></span></div><br />
The game starts off with your character making his way to Leaf Valley after receiving a letter from his deceased grandfather, you have a look around the farm and enter his house to collect his possessions to return home. Before you can depart, three Harvest Sprites -- whom you would remember if you had played previous titles -- approach you and request you stay and help them out. Right one cue, a fancy looking woman accompanied by two suited men tell you to clear your stuff out.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap004.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Your home is pretty cozy. You can even watch TV to see News, weather, etc</b></span></div><br />
As it turns out, they are from a group, "FunLand" and they want to level the town and put a FunLand amusement park where it stood. They tell you that if you want to fight to save the town, you have to come up with $50,000 in two years. Thankfully, you don't have to raise the $50,000 in 2 years to save your town, there are 16 other methods to do it. You can make friends with the locals by giving them gifts, follow the storyline by prompting it with interactions and event visits, and you can save the town in the way you want.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap007.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> This guy keeps calling me bro. I actually have no idea who he is</b></span></div><br />
The process of the game is very similar to the rest of the series: Hoe your field, sprinkle seeds, water crops, wait several days, harvest and repeat. If you're a fan of the series and you want something drastically different I'd probably look elsewhere, but the formula still remains tight. Strangely enough, your field actually remains clean throughout. In previous entries your field accumulated weeds, stones and wood which you had to clean up, but your field is always a clean slate. Besides farming, other ways to make cash include fishing, gathering materials, mining, doing part-time jobs and raising farm animals. It sounds tedious and really... it is. But it is actually quite fun, you'll become lost in the urge to progress how things move, raise animals and name them, and even eventually marry a girl from the valley once you have wooed her enough with gifts. You can even play an Ocarina to tame animals, put food out to rope in your own dog, and you can even raise a horse which you eventually get to ride.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap006.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Watering crops is part of the routine</b></span></div><br />
The layout for the HUD and menu system for <i>Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley</i> is great: It's simple and easy to get your head around. On top of that, the mini-map at the bottom-left is a welcome addition as it actually shows a blip of villagers on it. The map you can bring up on the select-screen is very detailed, Leaf Valley is enjoyable and easy to traverse. However, the camera is probably the most frustrating part to <i>Hero of Leaf Valley</i> and you'll be fighting with it the most. Due to having no second analogue stick, and the L and R buttons being reserved for tools, animal calling and items, you're forced to either center the camera with the triangle button or rotate it with the D-Pad, meaning you have to hook your index finger around to reach it. It doesn't help that the camera rotates so slowly too. On the positive side, it really is fantastic to have a <i>Harvest Moon</i> game without a set camera.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap008.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>It's hard to believe this girl is the CEO of the corporation trying to destroy your town</b></span><i> </i></div><br />
<i>Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley</i> is really beautiful, the graphics look great on the PSP and the character models and art really shines. However, you do notice the odd seams on buildings and walls -- you can see where things have been put together, it's a bit off-putting. Music-wise, the game sounds pretty good. It's nothing special, but I never got sick of listening to it while running around town doing chores. The loading screens can be a massive pain, though. Just like <i>Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility</i>, <i>Hero of Leaf Valley</i> suffers loading screens every single time you move from area to area. If it were a quick transition it would have been fine, but instead you get a "now loading" and you have to wait 2-3 seconds. <i>Harvest Moon</i> as a series is all about patience but really it's pretty unnecessary to see so much loading in a game like this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/snap009.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Mining is a bit of a dull mini-game, but at least part-time jobs are interactive</b></span></div><br />
All-in-all, <i>Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley</i> is a fantastic gem of a PSP game. While it doesn't deviate a large amount from the rest of the series besides a few minor improvements, the winning formula is still there. It's ridiculously addictive, cutesy, fun, time-consuming and you'll have a hard time stopping once you get it started. Got time to kill? Go grab yourself a copy now and you won't be displeased.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-3382067594745074362010-06-04T10:26:00.001+12:002010-06-06T10:10:04.590+12:00Muramasa: The Demon Blade Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Muramasa_The_Demon_Blade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Muramasa_The_Demon_Blade.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I've never been that much for the "video games as art" argument. Beside games like <i>Shadow of the Colossus</i> and <i>Okami</i> which definitely took my breath away with their unique and attractive imagery, I've always thought of a game as being a form of entertainment and nothing more. <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> is a work of art and a fine one at that. If it were possible, you could hang up a screen in an art gallery, allow people to play <i>Muramasa</i> and it would blow their minds.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a name='more'></a><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/muramasa_the_demon_blade_screen004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/muramasa_the_demon_blade_screen004.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Everything in Muramasa: The Demon Blade looks crisp and extremely detailed</b></span></div><br />
<i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> features two playable characters: Kisuke, a young male Ninja being chased for crimes he cannot remember committing and Momohime, a princess of Narukami Han who runs away from her castle and becomes possessed by a foul swordsman named Jinkuro. While both characters don't have a large amount of variation in fighting style besides aesthetic details, their stories run in different directions. Kisuke heads from western Edo to western Kyo, while Momohime heads from western Kyo to western Edo. They both encounter different situations and both have their own unique eight bosses to encounter.<br />
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As I mentioned beforehand, <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> is a beautiful game. It's a side-scrolling fighting game with unique 2D hand-drawn, interesting and detailed graphics. Characters look very pretty and enemies are inspired by Japanese legends. There are a good variety of enemies but you do find they tend to be recolours. Not as though that is a problem when they look so great anyway. The music is of a true traditional Japanese style and the sound effects and voices are excellent and top-notch. Fortunately, the game has kept Japanese voices so the experience feels very authentic.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyJSF2KdMiqPavm-45xk3W9k4spgtSPh0I61fa9nyibVwljxa-fRGTZrH8h8WbzIU9X2J_ROPMWNqqf1G7lRjbGsuu9uuV26cv4WScI8Sv_KvvezzzFimWz1kzyjhVb7RooildMQXcyk/s1600/00598056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyJSF2KdMiqPavm-45xk3W9k4spgtSPh0I61fa9nyibVwljxa-fRGTZrH8h8WbzIU9X2J_ROPMWNqqf1G7lRjbGsuu9uuV26cv4WScI8Sv_KvvezzzFimWz1kzyjhVb7RooildMQXcyk/s400/00598056.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Everything in this game appears to have been hand-drawn</b></span></div><br />
It isn't all action though. What makes <i>Muramasa</i> so deep and enthralling are the RPG elements in it. Your characters level up the more you fight enemies and they each have their own set of stats. Along with character stats, you also find items to heal yourself and accessories to equip. You can buy items from merchants along the road too. If you can't beat a boss, you can go back and train up just as you would in an RPG. It's a nice touch like that which sets it apart from other frustrating "old school"-style side-scrollers.<br />
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That isn't to say that <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> isn't completely easy. You have two modes of difficulty to choose from at the start: (with a third being unlocked after you finish the game) Muso, and Shura. Muso is purely for the story and is the games "Easy Mode" and delivers a lot less action-orientated experience and focusses more on building your character up. Shura is effectively "Hard Mode," where you'll need to dodge, roll and be efficient in combos, as this mode is far more action-orientated. While Muso is definitely the easier mode, Shura stays much more true to those who have a taste for tough side-scrolling games, with bosses being as tough as nails.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/muramasa0206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/muramasa0206.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Sometimes you'll be able to chat to merchants on the road</b></span></div><br />
The key feature to <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> are of course, the blades themselves. There are eight primary swords in the game, with one sword being unlocked per boss defeated. Those swords are special because they unlock specific coloured gates to either progress the story or unlock special areas. What is impressive is that there are 100 different blades to forge from a tree. Basically, you can "buy" weapons from the Forge (from the pause menu) but only if you have the prior weapon on the tree and enough Souls. To equip a weapon you must also have the right stats, hence the inspiration to level up. Swords have their own different stats and a different Secret Art, a powerful move that has limited use and must recharge. Secret Arts look great and can vary from using simple elemental attacks such as fire and electricity or spinning around like a whirlwind, hitting multiple enemies in a flurry. Swords come in two forms, Long Blades and Blades. Blades are small, short ranged and very fast. Long Blades are slower, larger and hit more enemies. You can have three swords equipped at one time. Swords can break, using Secret Arts or blocking too often depletes the Soul Gauge, however they do regenerate over time when not being used.<br />
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One problem I found with <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> was the emptiness and similarity of the locations you travel through. The problem is that once you enter an area, it all looks the same for awhile. You run from one side of a level to another, sometimes being given the option to go down a different path, but I went through a city and it almost felt like my character was running on a treadmill with the scenery looping in the background. The entrances and exits between areas may vary, sometimes the exit can be high up but platforming is extremely simple and you will never find it difficult to traverse the simple locations you travel through. You can go into certain buildings and fight enemies or find items which is nice, but the actual locations themselves can feel a bit empty. Everything looks beautiful though: The art-style is fantastic to look at. Whether you're running through a field of tall grass, a city at night, or down a dirt road with rice-fields in the distance, it looks great. Regardless of how similar everything looks, you won't get sick of looking at it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/muramasa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/muramasa1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Combos look nice, you can even deflect projectiles with your weapon</b></span></div><br />
Enemies don't casually roam locations either. <i>Muramasa</i> takes a page from the RPG genre where baddies show up out of nowhere in random-battle-style. When you win you even get a box pop up showing how well you did, how much money you obtained, etc. It actually works quite well, it keeps the battles simple but because they show up out of nowhere, it just means that you can't swing your sword unless you're in a battle. The lack of enemies in real time mean that locations are a bit of a blank canvas until said enemies appear. The main problem with combat is that it is a bit simple. Don't get me wrong, it's not boring, but the combat consists of only two buttons: The attack button and the Secret Arts button. You'll be dashing around and dodging a lot, it all looks extremely fancy but don't expect a deep combat system. The closest thing to variation in fighting style are the two sword types.<br />
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Those points aside, it doesn't detract from just how much of a fantastic experience <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> is to play. After playing through it once I see no reason to play it through again and again to improve your characters, unlock every sword, discover bonus challenge areas and immerse yourself in the beauty of the Japanese scenery and artwork. If you have an urge to play a good arcade-style game with a hint of RPG, then this game is for you. If you were on the fence about video games as art then try out <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i>, I can assure you that you will be impressed.<br />
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<a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/Wii/muramasa_the_demon_blade/userreviews.html?reviewid=34305">Neoseeker <i>Muramasa: The Demon Blade</i> user-review</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-13270681222496084412010-05-30T22:15:00.005+12:002010-06-06T10:14:53.814+12:00JU-ON: The Grudge ReviewToday I thought I'd review JU-ON: The Grudge. I played it on my birthday with a group of friends and we had a great time! Really! It was a terribly average game, but the morning we played it was unforgettable. While not terribly scary, one moment that stood out was where we were eating birthday cake, my friend was on a second playthrough and he examined a door that I had yet nothing had happened. I think that I hadn't looked up high enough to trigger it because when I was playing, while I had the audio cue for an event, nothing happened. Needless to say, a hand grabbed him and we were so unexpecting of it, that we both leapt. And I dropped my cake. Thus the phrase, "it was so scary I dropped my cake" came into creation ohoho. Oh I'm ranting, sorry, I'll let you read my review. Thanks!<br />
~Dom<br />
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I've always been fond of <i>The Grudge</i> film series. Sure, each film got worse with each sequel, but they had this unique charm to them. A malicious force where people killed in a fit of rage come back as a violent spirit. It's a curse that grows more and more powerful and spreads like a disease. No one is safe, it cannot be killed, it doesn't stop. If a character becomes involved, they're going to die. As shown by the films, there isn't a protagonist in the series that survives. In honor of the 10th anniversary of the <i>JU-ON</i> series, a video-game was created exclusively for the Wii. So just how does it fare?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/153062-review-ju-on-the-grudge/GrudgeHours-620x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/153062-review-ju-on-the-grudge/GrudgeHours-620x.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>You'll explore a well-known location from the film</b></span></div><br />
To be totally honest, it doesn't fare too well. Although as a budget title, you could probably pick it up at the cost of a DVD or less, so if you're a fan of the series you might get a kick out of it if you consider it an expansion to the series, but as a game it definitely falls short.<i> JU-ON: The Grudge</i> is made up of four episodes with an unlockable fifth episode once you find every item throughout the first four. It has to be by far one of the shortest games I have ever played, with it being finished within two hours.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/images/1212/ju-on_the_grudge/screenshot_wii_ju-on_the_grudge020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://www.hookedgamers.com/images/1212/ju-on_the_grudge/screenshot_wii_ju-on_the_grudge020.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Don't underestimate how creepy this part is</b></span></div><br />
<i>JU-ON: The Grudge</i> tells the story of four different members of the same family as they encounter Kayako. In case you hadn't noticed the trend of the previous films, every character you play as inevitably dies. As a part of <i>The Grudge</i> series it makes sense, but as a game it feels a bit cheap and it's a bit confusing when you get a game-over by dying early on in an episode, only to die at the end anyway. The story barely there either. Most of it is via a short explanatory blurb and through the eyes of the character you're playing. There are no cutscenes or anything of the sort, so it's all very simple. The game is linear though, you'll be spending most of your time chasing clues down a straight path, with the odd backtrack, and running after the violent ghosts like a typically stupid film character. Where <i>JU-ON: The Grudge </i>truly excels in is the overall creepy atmosphere of the locations you visit. The odd scuttling of feet, bloody hand prints appearing along walls and shadows and objects creeping in the distance can make your hair stand on edge.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2009/274/959942_20091002_screen010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2009/274/959942_20091002_screen010.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This is what happens when you don't clean your house</b></span></div><br />
As creepy as the environments are, the game generally tends to resort to cheap scares. The odd hand grabbing you when you reach for a door handle gets a bit old when it happens at every second door. Not to mention that the scares aren't randomized so if you want to go back through to collect items you missed, you'll know when and where scares are about to happen.<i> JU-ON: The Grudge</i> also has a multiplayer function. It's actually barely worth mentioning, but if a friend grabs a 2nd remote and hits a button on it, it triggers a scare on the screen. Seems kind of funny in theory but it's actually pretty annoying, not scary in the slightest and sometimes nonsensical. There are around four or so "scares" that trigger randomly, the lamest one probably being where blood envelops the screen. It does have a cool-down but it's never that long, so there's nothing stopping your mate from being a pain.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/files/imagecache/feature_img/juongame5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/files/imagecache/feature_img/juongame5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Chase scenes like this require precise flailing</b></span></div><br />
Speaking of pain, the characters you control move so slowly and the controls are so cumbersome that it's almost as if the protagonists are hobbling their way through environments. You move the torch with the wiimote sensor, and oddly enough you hold B to walk forward. It's pretty unusual, considering the nunchuck isn't required whatsoever. You don't actually fight the ghosts, instead you run away. It's mostly a hassle because you have to follow on screen cues with your wiimote, if you get it wrong it's a game-over. Another problem I found was when you ran out of batteries, your flashlight went out and you got a game-over. Usually this wasn't a problem, but it meant if you stalled for too long without carrying on, you'd fail. When you get a game-over, you go back to the start of the level. It's unforgiving, and the controls aren't very sensitive. Moving around is so slow, that on more than a few occasions I actually missed scares because I turned too slowly to see them. I still knew there was a scare due to the audio cue. The sound is pretty good though. Just like the atmosphere, it's pretty creepy. Everything was recorded in real-time to feel authentic.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://nsider2.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/screenshot_wii_ju-on_the_grudge019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://nsider2.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/screenshot_wii_ju-on_the_grudge019.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Yes, lets examine the bloody hand-prints up close, that's smart...</b></span></div><br />
All-in-all, it's a pretty poor game. As an experience, my friends and I had a great time playing it for the time it lasted. Not because it was scary, but because it was so cheesy and so comedic that it's actually worth dishing out the cash for a laugh with some friends. Whether you're a fan of <i>The Grudge</i> series, or you have some cash to blow on something amusing, grab yourself a copy of <i>JU-ON: The Grudge</i> now.<br />
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<a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/Wii/ju_on_the_grudge/userreviews.html?reviewid=34301">Neoseeker <i>JU-ON: The Grudge</i> user-review</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-74715051979286113302010-05-29T23:51:00.004+12:002010-06-06T10:11:49.571+12:00Alan Wake Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mygaming.co.za/news/files.php?file=alan_wake_368954457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a><a href="http://forum.alanwake.com/files/alan-wake-logo-hq.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://forum.alanwake.com/files/alan-wake-logo-hq.png" width="282" /></a></div>Remedy Studios are most well known for their <i>Max Payne</i> games. It got a film deal and they sold the rights on, so what exactly have they done since? The answer being <i>Alan Wake</i>, an interesting title that was actually announced five years ago in 2005 as a PC and Xbox 360 game. Recently, they announced it would be an Xbox 360 exclusive. Now that it is out, the question on everyones mind is, was it worth the wait?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/i/tim/2010/03/08/aw_440x330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://reviews.cnet.com/i/tim/2010/03/08/aw_440x330.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alan Wake has been waiting on the barge to get to Bright Falls for 5 years...</b></span></div><br />
Yes and no. Remedy Studios made a few changes over the course of five years that while it may suit the games psychological thriller action theme, it just isn't what I was looking forward to all those years ago. <i>Alan Wake</i> was originally announced as a free-roam game along the lines of <i>Grand Theft Auto</i>, with the town of Bright Falls and the surrounding countryside being your sandbox. The game was to incorporate a day and night system where obviously enemies would be out and about during the night and investigation would take place during the day. It could have been intriguing stuff. Sure, not every game needs to be a sandbox to give it replayability but with this generations games becoming shorter, and without multiplayer or a place to explore, you're likely to play it through and let it gather dust until the next downloadable content is released. Unfortunately, the design was changed so that the game was linear. The paths are relatively wide, but don't expect to do much exploring.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mygaming.co.za/news/files.php?file=alan_wake_368954457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://www.mygaming.co.za/news/files.php?file=alan_wake_368954457.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Light is your most powerful weapon in <i>Alan Wake</i></b></span></div><br />
<i>Alan Wake</i> is the story about a writer aptly named Alan Wake who comes to the town of Bright Falls for a holiday with his wife Alice. Naturally, bad things happen, you start finding pages of a book you didn't write that starts coming true before your eyes and your wife goes missing. The story plays out like a television show, it's episode based and at the end of each episode is a cliffhanger. After the episode you get a "last time, on <i>Alan Wake</i>..." recap of the previous episode. It's a nice touch, and future DLC and sequels to <i>Alan Wake</i> will continue the episodes. The game has six episodes, with a free download token to Episode Seven, "The Signal" if you purchase the game new. The code can't be used until July 27th however. Graphics-wise, the game is visually stunning. The effects in the game are really fantastic and cinematic. Explosions, light, tornadoes, and the environment morphing and shifting all make the game look very nice to play. Some of the face animations do let the game down though, on the odd occasion the voices don't quite sync up with the lips. Despite that, the game looks nice.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/alan-wake-2-is-wait-and-see-big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/alan-wake-2-is-wait-and-see-big.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The locations you visit are indeed creepy</b></span></div><br />
The length of<i> Alan Wakes</i> story is short. With about eight hours playtime, you'll probably breeze through it in a weekend. That being said, it is a fun and interesting experience while it lasts. The combat system is fantastic and terrifying. The enemies, called The Taken, are immune to your bullets while they are surrounded in darkness, so you use your torch to burn it off until you can gun them down. It can get pretty hectic when you have a group of enemies attacking you and you have to flick between them, burning off the darkness. Along with your torch you have a flare, which holds enemies off while burning away their shields, and flashbangs which instant kill enemies, or if they're too far away it burns off their shields. Collectables do give the game some replayability though. Besides collecting coffee thermoses, watching in-game <i>Twilight Zone</i> reference television shows "Night Springs," and listening to Radio Shows, you'll be collecting the manuscript pages of the book you don't remember writing. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/alan-wake-building-a-thriller-screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/alan-wake-building-a-thriller-screenshot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>You'll have to burn away the darkness before taking a shot</b></span></div><br />
Manuscript pages are one of the more interesting parts to <i>Alan Wake</i>, I've never actually played a game that spoils what's about to happen before. It's quite subtle and it's never anything plot-breaking, but you'll generally read manuscripts and have a hint of what is about to happen. I recommend playing it on Nightmare Mode for the full experience though, any other difficulty and you'll be missing out on manuscripts that can only be found in that particular mode. Along with reading what's happening or about to happen, Alan actually narrates the game. It's a neat feature and makes it really feel like you're watching a television show where you're controlling the main character. It's not necessarily that scary, though I wouldn't have expected it to be classing itself as a psychological thriller. It does have a few jumpy moments but I won't spoil them. The enemies are pretty creepy, but they're very same-y. Most of the enemies looked the same and spouted the same creepy comments, but the amount of enemies you'll fight makes me wonder just how over populated Bright Falls is. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/12/alan_wake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/12/alan_wake.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Old generators can be found along the path to start up street lights</b></span></div><br />
After five years of waiting for <i>Alan Wake</i>, I wouldn't say it's lived up to what it could have been. With more content and episodes coming, hopefully <i>Alan Wake </i>will be a decent franchise. In fact, if it pulls it off, it could become the next <i>Silent Hill</i>. With initial promises of a free-roam horror turning into a linear eight hour adventure with a head-scratching cliffhanger ending, it's a bit of a let-down. If that doesn't sway you and you want to get into a series with a ton of promise and intrigue then go grab yourself a copy.<br />
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<a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/XBOX360/alan_wake/userreviews.html?reviewid=34299">Neoseeker <i>Alan Wake</i> user-review</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-73390370825080403402010-05-27T18:15:00.003+12:002010-06-06T10:12:50.673+12:00Yakuza 3 ReviewI stayed under 1000 words! I think I'll keep it that way from now on. TEXT WALL K GO. Oh sorry, please read. Ty :3<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><i>Yakuza</i> is an odd series. You would think that it's an all out brawler by looking at the back of the case, but it really is so much more. At first glance you could compare it to the <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> series due to it's free-roam nature, but that would be wrong too. If anything, it's like a more action orientated version of <i>Shenmue</i>. While the two games were made by SEGA, don't get the two mixed up.<i> Yakuza 1</i> and 2 were both PS2 games and received a good amount of attention in the West, while it definitely shined the most in Japan. Approximately a year after <i>Yakuza 3</i> was released in Japan (with <i>Yakuza 4</i> being released at the same time we get <i>Yakuza 3</i>) gamers in the West have a chance to step into the shoes of Kazuma Kiryu, the dragon of Dojima, as he once again takes on the Japanese underworld.<br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/bowling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/bowling.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>And you thought bowling alleys were just for bowling</b></span></div><br />
<i>Yakuza 3</i>, as I mentioned previously, is an odd style of game. You do run around an open world beating people up, but it has a strange RPG-element to it where you level up, learn new moves, and become stronger and faster. What makes the game strange is that the storyline is probably the smallest part of the game. <i>Yakuza 3</i> is chock full of side-quests that are blended into the over-world. Helping an old man hunt down treasure, rescuing a cat, or even helping a man carefully cross the road with ice-cream to get to his family. It's fun little things like that which makes the game a gem. There are a LOT of side-quests too. Besides the "random battles" where Mafia members or street thugs start fights with you if you get too close, you'll tend to run into side-quests like I mentioned just while exploring the Japanese cities.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Tropical.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Tropical.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Real men wear tropical shirts</b></span></div><br />
The locations aren't huge but considering you never enter any vehicles short of a taxi, it's not necessarily a bad thing. While you start off in Ryukyugai, a fictional location in Okinawa, you eventually move on to Kamurocho, a fictional location in Tokyo. Most of the game resides in Kamurocho, but you can go between Ryukyugai and Kamurocho via taxi any time you wish after a certain point in the story. The sights of Ryukyugai and Kamurocho are very authentic and the game is filled with Japanese product placements and restaurant chains. You can eat at restaurants, buy things from a convenience store, go to karaoke, go bowling, go fishing, hit baseballs in a batting cage, and participate in a fighting ring. You can also play darts and billiards in pubs and arcade games in a SEGA arcade. You can even play a full game of golf as excellent as any golf game you'll find on PS3.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Authentic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Authentic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Locations are authentic and well detailed </b></span></div><br />
The amount of things to do is vast and you won't get bored for awhile. In fact, on several occasions I actually stopped progressing the story because I was too distracted by all the small activities spread out across the world. It's compelling stuff, and great fun. Unfortunately, SEGA erred on the game and decided to cut content from it's Western version. The Hostess Club, a Japanese History Quiz, Shogi and Majong were all cut from the game because SEGA felt it wouldn't "resonate with western culture." It's a bit disappointing when content is cut like that, personally it would have made more sense to cut it and then sell it back as DLC for those who it DID resonate well with. You can still go on dates with girls but you can no longer run a club and design how the girls look.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Punchface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Punchface.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Kazuma really didn't like his face </b></span></div><br />
Combat is great fun, if not a little repetitive. When it comes to fighting people it's generally the same thing over and over. Run into some punks who think they can take you, beat the living daylight out of them, rinse and repeat. There is a good amount of variety in combat but only if you take the time to discover and learn new moves for Kazuma and there are a good amount of moves to learn, and weapons to master, construct and find. The most fun part of combat are Heat Moves which can be used once enough Heat has been accumulated. Think mana really. It unleashed a devastating finisher depending on a variety of things. For example, I unlocked an ability where you could light up a cigarette and when an opponent got close, you spat your cigarette into their face, leapt up and beat them down. Badass. There's heaps of different Heat moves depending on what weapon your holding, where you're standing, what you're doing and who you're fighting. It does get tedious seeing the same one after awhile however.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Smash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Smash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>You can pick up objects from your environment and use them as weapons</b></span></div><br />
The storyline isn't anything too special and it's quite short. Several <i>Yakuza </i>families try to interrupt your peaceful life and you somehow get dragged back into what you do best: beat on peoples faces. One problem with <i>Yakuza 3</i> is the amount of text walls. The game is in Japanese with English subtitles so expect to be doing a lot of reading. Not only that, but outside of cutscenes, everyone speaks in text boxes. There's a lot of dialogue to chew through and you probably won't get any of it unless you know anything about the previous titles. Fortunately, <i>Yakuza 3</i> has an option where you can watch the previous two games as if watching a movie. I'd recommend you watch them both first if you want to get into the story.<br />
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<i>Yakuza 3</i> is a good bit of fun. The graphics are quite nice to look at and variety of things to do make it quite enjoyable to play. It even has multiplayer for things like bowling, darts, etc. Despite having a relatively short story that requires previous knowledge to enjoy, the mind-blowing amount of side-quests and things to do will keep you hooked until we get <i>Yakuza 4</i> in the west.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>NEXT:</b> Alan Wake </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/PS3/yakuza_3/userreviews.html?reviewid=34293">Neoseeker <i>Yakuza 3</i> user-review</a></span> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-59164543871801924962010-05-26T23:02:00.003+12:002010-06-06T10:17:22.058+12:00Monster Hunter Tri Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/MHTBoxArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/MHTBoxArt.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"> Monster Hunter</span> has been a relatively unknown series to us in the West up until recently. A hugely popular game in Japan, it was originally released on Playstation 2 and while the rest of the world did get the game, it received little-to-no advertising, no media attention, relatively bad reviews and once it was sold it was never seen again. Because of its failure in the West, we never got a chance to play <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter 2</span>. It never left Japan. Around that time however, we got <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Freedom</span> on PSP. The game was a straight port of <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter G</span>, a Japanese-exclusive expansion to the original. The game didn't do too well but Capcom wasn't swayed. Later on, <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Freedom 2</span> was released on PSP in the West. It was a straight port of <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter 2</span> and received a larger amount of fans. Last year, wereceived <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Freedom Unite</span>, an expansion of <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Freedom 2</span> with additional features, levels, weapons and armor. It received television and internet advertising and gained a huge amount of fans outside of Japan.<br />
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Now, <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Tri </span>has been released exclusively on the Nintendo Wii. While it was released in Japan last August, it was released in Europe and North America late April this year. The wait was well worth it, not only are the American and European versions free to play, but it has been upgraded to support Wii Speak. <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Tri</span> is also the first Wii game to not require Nintendo's Friendcode system, a system which would have failed greatly with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter</span> series. However, these fantastic additions don't come without faults. For example, North America and Europe have their own servers, so if you have a PAL copy then don't expect to be playing with anyone from America. Not only that, but because of the addition of Wii Speak, rooms online (called cities) can only hold four people as opposed to ten in the Japanese game. This is a huge problem because you cannot lock cities and parties for quests are four max. I found several times while attempting to meet up with three friends in a city, two of my friends would join, then a stranger would jump into slot four while my fourth friend sends me a message asking why the city is full. It becomes increasingly frustrating when they refuse to leave, forcing you and your other two friends to set up a new city. The server occassionally gives you errors that stop you and your friends from meeting up. If you're lucky, this error happens outside of a quest, we have experience a server error mid-quest, splitting us all up and sometimes dropping us straight out a quest we had spent half an hour working on. Hopefully Capcom sorts this issue out, as online play is the biggest part of the game.<br />
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The single player mode in <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Tri</span> is the weakest single player experience I have played in a while. I would go so far as to say that it's barely worth picking this game up if you don't plan on playing online. <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter</span> on the PSP, which still has four-player local ad-hoc multiplayer, was much more suited for single-player experience for those that didn't have buddies to hunt with. The village quests were definitely a lot easier because you could only do them alone, but the Guild (the multiplayer room) quests were clearly toned down for those that didn't have people to play with, thus it wasn't impossible to solo your way through the entire game. The Guild quests were also playable offline. <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Tri</span> has an easily completed single player experience with an online mode that <span style="font-weight: bold;">requires</span> an internet connection to access. The online play is actually pretty challenging, which is understandable seeing as it takes only a few minutes to set up a four-player game with complete strangers, then you're jumping straight into a quest. Online play is by far the most enjoyable, co-operatively hunting with other people is enjoyable for sure, unless you get in a party of people who purposely try to ruin your experience, although every online game has that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/monster-hunter-tri-game.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/monster-hunter-tri-game.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monsters are generally quite big and sizes actually vary</span></span></div><span style="font-size: 85%;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Tri </span>would have succeeded a lot better if it was the first game of the series rather than a continuation. After <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Freedom Unite</span>, it's hard to play <span style="font-style: italic;">Tri</span> without feeling a little let down by the removal of monsters (besides three monsters which carried over) and weapons. It's a case of two steps forward, three steps back. The addition of the Switch Axe is fantastic, the ability to switch between a quick wide weapon like a Long Sword and a fast Great Sword with no block is fantastic, it's easily my favourite weapon in the series. However, the removal of the Bow, Dual Swords, Hunting Horn, and Gunlance seemed unnecessary in retrospect. Although, the Bow wouldn't have worked underwater and the Hunting Horn could have been a bit iffy too, it's a game and it hardly has to be realistic. In addition to things being removed, the Guild Card from previous games has been removed completely. You still obtain Awards but because you can't show them off on your personalized and upgradeable Guild Card, you won't be showing off your Awards thus rendering them somewhat useless. You still have unlockable titles which other people see along with your own personal comment, but it's simple.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/37586_normal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/37586_normal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">These monsters clearly don't like each other</span></span></div><span style="font-size: 85%;"> </span><br />
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All problems aside, it really is a great game. The graphics do shine on the Wii although I'd never compare them to a PS3 or 360 game. When purchasing <span style="font-style: italic;">Tri</span> you'll be able to buy it in a bundle with a Classic Controller Pro, or by itself. I highly recommend buying the Classic Controller Pro bundle seeing as it's laid out VERY similar to that of PS2 controls and you can even choose between PS2 or PSP controls which is a nice addition. I can't imagine anyone professionally playing this game with a Wiimote and nunchuck. As a <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter</span> fan, I don't see myself playing this game for much longer unlike <span style="font-style: italic;">Unite</span> which I put 500+ hours. The lack of content compared to the previous games on PSP just can't hold my attention for as long. If you've never played a <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter</span> game before, now is the time to grab yourself a copy of <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter Tri</span> for your Wii, the game was obviously designed to hook in newcomers. If you're a long-time veteran looking for something new to hunt, or a newcomer who has never touched a <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Hunter</span> game before, you're bound to get a kick out of this.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">NEXT:</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Yakuza 3 (PS3)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/Wii/monster_hunter_3/userreviews.html?reviewid=34289"><span style="font-size: small;">Neoseeker <i>Monster Hunter Tri </i>user-review</span></a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-18325174084792977512010-05-26T21:44:00.003+12:002010-06-06T10:18:20.812+12:00Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/BoxArt-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/BoxArt-1.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill: Shattered Memories</span> is not a sequel to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill </span>series, nor is it a prequel. In fact the only thing you could associate this Silent Hill with any of the other games in the series are the character names from the first game released in 1999. <span style="font-style: italic;">Shattered Memories</span> is a re-imagining developed by Climax Studios, the same company that created <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill Origins</span> for PSP and PS2. Now don't confuse this with a re-make, the game is not a re-make. Not associating this game with any of it's predecessors the first step to enjoying it.<br />
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It's snowing heavily outside, a well dressed man tosses a few ice-cubes into a glass and pours himself a whiskey. The intercom buzzes. "The new patient is here. They're early." The man accepts the person in, saying they can start. Straight afterwards, a car veers through the snowstorm and off the road, through and fence and into a ditch. A man with glasses unbuckles his seatbelt, and falls into the snow. It's dark. It's quiet. It's cold. "Cheryl!" the man cries out. Your daughter is missing, and you're in <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span>. Not a good start.<br />
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Back in the initial room, you're now face to face with the now revealed to be psychiatrist in first-person. You take a test, which reveals your personality. "Do you enjoy role-play during sex?" and "Do you make friends easily?" being a few examples of the questions. These questions are important, as it defines you, it develops your character, it makes your character... you. Your name is Harry Mason, and how your Harry reacts to the world of Silent Hill around him and how he treats other characters he meets depends on how you play and and how you answer the psychiatrists questions at important intervals in the game. Be truthful, and you might now like how your character becomes...<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Shattered Memories'</span> first noticeable feature is how it's more of an interactive film than anything. There's no beating up monsters with a pipe, there's no ducking behind cover to shoot enemies, and no revving up chainsaws. In fact, you don't get a single weapon in this game. If you expect to be doing any sort of combat, you've picked the wrong game. You trudge through the town looking for your daughter Cheryl and you run into a cast of different characters along the way. If you're a fan of the original, you'll recognize the names for sure. The psychiatrists questions and how you play come into effect here too, characters you meet actually look different depending on your Harry. For instance, my character was sleazy at the start, causing Cybil the policewoman to be... "skanky," and wearing a low-cut top.<br />
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You can observe things like posters by zooming in with the B-Button and by hovering your reticule over them. Harry makes verbal comments on things you look at, which is a nice touch. For example, look at a poster of a "sexy" lady in a garage, and Harry will say, "mmm..." On top of that, the things you do look at influences the game. Look at more sex-orientated things, and you'll find yourself becoming a more sleazy Harry. There are two main parts that Shattered Memories is split up into: exploration and chase segments, and both parts are important to character development.<br />
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Exploration is the biggest part of the game. You make your way through abandoned buildings, and through the snowy, quiet town of Silent Hill. Investigating the environment and doing puzzles is the biggest part of the game, and the most enjoyable part by far. The graphics look very impressive, possibly stretching the Nintendo Wii to it's very limits, thought it's hard to see this through screenshots. The snow looks beautiful, and it's very well animated. Accompanying that, the lighting effects look fantastic, and your flashlight really helps you traverse the dark terrain of the town. It's almost 1:1 movement as your wiimote acts as your flashlight. As another feature of the game, Harry Mason now has a cellphone, which looks suspiciously similar to an iPhone. Your phone has a variety of functions: a map, contacts list, camera, the ability to save your game, and of course a phone to dial numbers. Dialling numbers is entertaining, but mostly useless since in the snowstorm, no one seems to be able to hear you or the reception is too poor. Trying to dial numbers you come across on billboards/signs etc are only for the fun of it, and rarely help. Dialling 911 rewards you with having to listen to a woman get frustrated because she thinks someone is playing a prank on her. The camera is a very important tool, which you'll be using to take photos of "echo" images. The very first one you take in the game is of a seemingly deserted swing-set, however when you take the photo, it appears that Cheryl was sitting there, as she appears in the photo. Spooky stuff indeed.<br />
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The other part of the game are the chase segments. Chase segments usually occur at important parts in the plot, stopping Harry from learning something important. Similar to the other <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span> games, the world transforms into a "nightmare" world. Though the other games were a lot more blood and rust style,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Shattered Memories </span>takes on a new approach with a frosty iced over world. It's a lot less disturbing than blood and rust for sure, but the chilly, cold and alone feeling is atmospheric enough and fits the theme of the game. Again, the animation is top-notch here. You can see each breath coming from Harry's mouth, and you really feel quite cold just playing the game. However, chase segments are easily the most tedious part of the game. As said earlier, there's no combat. You just... run away. It's pulse-pounding, hectic, and pretty scary actually.<br />
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The main problem with the chase segments is that they're not linear. As much fun as free-roam is, being chased by monsters that are faster than you just isn't much fun when you find yourself running around in circles over and over. Sure you have a map, but it's mostly inaccurate, and you can't actually run with your phone out, so most of the time you're desperately sprinting through, hoping to get out as soon as possible. Which I suppose is the idea, but fun it does not make. On top of that, you're forced to use the motion-controls to climb, and shake them off. It immerses you in the game nicely, but when the controls don't quite work, you find yourself flailing your arms like an idiot and getting overwhelmed only to go back to the start again. It's frustrating and unnecessary. There's no penalty to death though, except for being irritated. The monsters are called "Raw Shocks," a play-on-words of "Rorschach" test, a psychological test involving inkblots based on your perception. This is fitting, as the monsters change and appear different as your characters personality develops. As an example, Raw Shocks take feminine shape the more sleazy and perverse Harry is. The creatures are invincible, and cannot be killed. The only way to even slow them down is by throwing obstacles behind you so that they get stalled, but it's usually not very effective, and it slows you down just pulling objects down. You can completely halt them, with a flare but it only lasts 20 seconds or so, then you're back to being chased. Another problem here is that all the nightmare segments feel the same. There's really no variety, and you'll find yourself dreading a chase scene while you're exploring, and hoping that it's over soon so you can get back to exploring while you're in a chase scene.<br />
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Annoying chase segments aside, the game is really quite fun. Fans of the series will be pleased to know that Akira Yamaoka is still doing the soundtrack, with a more frosty theme. It really suits the theme of the game, and it just wouldn't be a good <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill </span>game if he wasn't the composer. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, the series vocalist, also features singing "Always on my Mind," the excellent cover song of Shattered Memories.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Manniken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/DarkDom/Manniken.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Re-playability isn't the strong point of <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill: Shattered Memories</span>. There are "mementos" to collect throughout the game, but the only reason for that is to unlock a small scene at the end of the game. Besides that, you can't view them at all, and they're lost when you start a new game, which made me feel that they're quite redundant. However, the main reason you'd be playing through again is to see the different choices, the different outcomes, and the different characters you meet. In fact, you can even go to different places at some points. On my first play-through, I went to the Diner and met the police-officer, yet on my second play-through I went across the road and into the sport's bar, and met the barmaid. These choices don't appear very often though, but it's a neat touch.<br />
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To truly enjoy the experience of this game, you really need to either be new to the series or just forget what you know about the rest. It's not a remake, it's a re-imagining. It's a different company's take on the series, and they've pulled it off very well for taking the series in a different direction from where it was going. <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill: Homecoming</span> was a good example of where you don't take the series, fighting monsters with machine guns and assault rifles doesn't make a good <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Hill</span> game, psychological horror does however fit the profile. It's not very scary and it's a bit too short, but the deep emotional and psychological story will have you thrilled until the end.<br />
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<a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/Wii/silent_hill_shattered_memories/userreviews.html?reviewid=34106">Neoseeker <i>Silent Hill: Shattered Memories</i> user-review </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287944999476956902.post-43610968170590146092010-05-26T20:34:00.002+12:002010-06-04T10:36:53.021+12:00Fatal Frame IV Review<div id="intellitxt" name="intelliTxt"><div id="article_body">This was a pro review I did for Neoseeker.com. The review can be found here: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/fatal_frame_4/<br />
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If anyone was still wondering whatever happened to the Fatal Frame series after the third game on the PlayStation 2, then you're sure to be disappointed. <i>Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen</i> -- aka <i>Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse</i> -- was never released outside of Japan. While it was hinted at multiple times of having an overseas release, Nintendo eventually decided against it.<br />
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But have no fear: a group of hardcore Fatal Frame fans have <a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/news/12871-fatal-frame-iv-fan-translation-patch-released/">released an unofficial patch</a> which allows owners of the actual disk to play the game with full English subs, simultaneously circumventing the Wii's pesky region lock. Patch in hand, we got to work.<br />
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Although it's been quite a few years since the release of <i>Fatal Frame III</i>, not a large amount has changed really. You still play as a variety of different characters with most of the cast consisting of dainty female teenagers, though a manly journalist is thrown in the mix, so it's not all female eye candy. The mechanics are still the same as in previous games: you find the Camera Obscura -- a magical camera with the power to exorcise ghosts -- and you make your way through creepy environments snapping shots of ghosts to vanquish them.<br />
Not all ghosts are hostile. Here and there you spot spirits who drift past or slam their face on the window to scare the living bejesus out of you; if you take a photo, the ghost is added to your ghost list and you can read up on what their story is.<br />
Just like Pokemon, trying to catch 'em all is something that adds a lot of re-playability to the game, since if you miss one you generally don't have a lot of chances to snap him or her again -- those spirits can glide ridiculously fast.<br />
In addition to the ghost list, there are 79 Hozuki Dolls in red kimonos scattered throughout the game. As with the spirits, if you miss one you'll usually have to wait through a second playthrough to snap one again. Collecting dolls and completing your ghost list gives you additional costumes and lenses and yes, the costumes do include sexy nurse and maid costumes.<br />
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Just like the previous games, <i>Fatal Frame IV</i> still retains its cold, creepy atmosphere and dark tone the series is so well known for. The game takes place ten years after various obscene rituals occurred on Rougetsu Island (meaning "Hazy Moon Island") revolving around several girls. Three of them make their way back to the island and you control them one by one, exploring a few locations throughout. At times you'll explore the same place several times with different characters, or you'll explore places you couldn't access before. In any case, there's quite a bit to explore and a lot to see.<br />
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The game really does look fantastic and the art style is old-fashioned and fitting to the Fatal Frame theme; it's easily one of the best looking Wii games out there. The locations are dark and the flashlight lights up every creepy corner; wind breezes down empty hallways, blowing curtains back and forth eerily; the sound effects and lack of music create a true feeling of loneliness.<br />
The controls take things a few steps back. After playing a game like <i>Silent Hill: Shattered Memories</i>, <i>Fatal Frame IV's</i> controls feel cumbersome. For starters, you don't look around by pointing the Wiimote, rather, you tilt it to look up and down; movement is controlled by the analog stick; if you want to do a 180 degree turn, you shake the controller or nunchuck. Unfortunately, you turn and run ridiculously slowly, so most of the time it feels like you're controlling a tank and not a high school student. You'll find yourself running around and getting lost a lot, or you'll find a door which needs a key which happens to be on the other side of the mansion -- not much fun when you move so slowly.<br />
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To find items, you now have an Item Filament meter at the bottom right of your screen. What it does is light up when you get closer and closer to an item of interest, though you have to be directly in line with that item and it won't glow until your flashlight beam hits it. Picking up items is as suspenseful as it gets: rather than hit A on an item and see it pop up in your inventory, you have to hold the button and watch your character slowly crouch down and reach out to it. Most of the time it's nothing, but the odd item will be a trap and a ghost will pop out and grab your arm suddenly, forcing you to shake your Wiimote to get it off. You know a shiny on the ground at the bottom of a bed just equals trouble, yet it's still fun slowly reaching out for it only to find a ghost child sitting next to you.<br />
The Camera Obscura is the main weapon on hand, and with it combat is easily one of the most satisfying aspects of <i>Fatal Frame IV</i>. The mechanics sound simple, but you actually have to wait until the ghost gets right in your face before taking a shot or else you won't be doing much damage. Experience you get from battles goes towards upgrades for your camera. For example, later on when you play as the manly detective, you drop the camera for a magical flashlight which allows you go into first person mode and fire laser beams from it. The flashlight draws power from the moon; how much is present is indicated by a meter.<br />
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Despite a few flaws with the controls, the game is thoroughly enjoyable and most survival-horror fans will feel right at home. It's scary, and there's definitely something enjoyable about jogging down windy, quiet hallways as the floorboards beneath your feet creak. The odd ghost will pop out and most likely cause you to leap out of your seat or cuss loudly in terror. The enemy design is impressive; the ghosts genuinely look creepy and you can often tell from first glance what profession they undertook in their previous life, such as maidservantry or nursing.<br />
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</center> Fans of the series will settle in once they get their head around the new control scheme; the horror and general creepiness of the series is definitely still there. Newcomers will still enjoy themselves, although it may be a bit hard to get into at first, as the plot is thick with flashbacks, conspiracies and a crazy amount of journals to collect. It really is a shame <i>Fatal Frame IV</i> was never released outside of Japan, especially given its large cult following from the fantastic previous three games. If you can get your hands on a Japanese copy of the game, download the free English patch and be prepared to get scared. </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0