Strip away the sci-fi veneer of futuristic settings and you’ll often find traditional stories buried underneath. Ion Storm’s Anachronox is little different, building its planet-hopping adventure on the back of a washed-up detective story set in a weird, wild future. Burdened by buggy gameplay that had problems when it was released, it nonetheless stands out even amongst modern titles. With skilled story direction and a few unique twists on the formula, Anachronox boasts more character and ingenuity in the first hour than most entire games manage. It’s just a shame the game insists on getting in the way. Continue reading ‘Anachronox – Staff Retroview’ »
Following the port-heavy schedule for the PSP, Persona 3 Portable builds on what was already a great game, adding new features, more combat options, and a huge whack of new plot in the form of new Social Links. Unfortunately, not all the alterations really work, as there has been some excessive tinkering with the game’s balance, and the technical limitations of the handheld platform have resulted in an oversimplified interface that causes some serious issues with suspension of disbelief. The end result is a game which feels a bit overworked, but has the potential to provide an excellent experience. Continue reading ‘Persona 3 Portable – Staff Review’ »
Choice is a popular gaming buzzword, typically code for “you can save the village or burn it down.” Rare is the game that gets a handle on the important part of choice, that being consequences; your actions mattering in the long run. Enter Alpha Protocol, Obsidian’s espionage-themed action RPG that boldly declares choice to be your weapon in the murky depths of modern geopolitics. Let’s make one thing very clear at the onset: there is something genuinely compelling about how the story here unfolds, and in that Obsidian has definitely succeeded where so many others failed. However, the cost appears to be a sense of identity, as if the game got so wrapped up in varying sources of spy fiction that it never really decided what it wanted to be. Continue reading ‘Alpha Protocol – Staff Review’ »
When I was a young boy in kindergarten, my parents bought me a brand new Nintendo Entertainment System. I used to sit in bed thinking about what games would look like in the future. I imagined that games would take your picture, and instead of Mario’s head, you’d see your own. With games like the arcade version of Mario Kart, that became a reality. I also thought that games would be in 3D, but at the time, I couldn’t even imagine that today’s graphics would be such detailed models with hundreds or thousands of polygons. I envisioned pixels, stacked on top of one another building a world. As the years went by, I chalked that fantasy up to boyhood dreaming and to the silly thoughts of a five-year-old. Now with 3D Dot Game Heroes, I’ve found that I wasn’t the only one to have this idea.
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Far in the future, the world has decayed. Toxins have poisoned the air and water, and the Earth’s axis has warped. Unable to adapt to these changes, humans were slowly dying out as a species. Those lucky enough to survive created Basel, a giant machine beneath the earth designed to repair the environment, while also doubling as the only area able to sustain human life. It is here that Resonance of Fate takes place.
Continue reading ‘Resonance of Fate – Staff Review’ »
Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love exists in a strange realm of intersections. It lies between dating sim and tactical mecha combat sim, between long-established Japanese tradition and familiar New York iconography, between the storytelling constructs we know as “video games” and “anime.” Like the Zen master, or the pathetic fanboy trying to get the “harem” ending, it strives to achieve balance in all things.
No discipline is flawless. At one level or another, we are all human, defective, stained with the deepest seeds of doubt and regret, shame and anger. But we can try, dammit. We can try. And this game, despite some technical flaws, tries. Dammit.
Continue reading ‘Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii) – Staff Review’ »
What often separates a good adventure from a classic one is whether it leaves you immediately wanting more. So it is with last year’s Dragon Age: Origins, a game sometimes hampered by technical and balance problems but broadly acclaimed for its storytelling and depth of character. The first proper expansion for the game, Awakening is at once familiar territory and new ground, taking established lore and mechanics from Origins and making smart additions to both. Small but recurring issues keep Awakening from ever quite stepping out of Origins‘ shadow, but it takes a lot less time to do much of what Origins did right. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening – Staff Review’ »
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, the most recent addition to the rather scant roll of the series’ mainline continuity, is a game with significance for the series as a whole. As the central pillar of the Shin Megami Tensei series, the mainline entries have always been fairly old school dungeon crawling affairs, considerably darker than the numerous side stories that have spun off of them. It has been a major point of curiosity to see which direction Atlus would take the series: outward into the younger, more upbeat world of spinoffs such as Persona and Devil Survivor, or back inwards, towards the darker, more chaotic entries of the early series. Interestingly, Strange Journey seems content to pick its own path, taking to heart many of the upgrades the series has seen in interaction and depth of character, while maintaining the disturbing, often sharply critical edge the older Shin Megami Tensei games had. The end result doesn’t quite have the same bite as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, but Strange Journey‘s excellent story, solid character customization scheme, and exceptional dungeon design mark it as an excellent game in its own right. Continue reading ‘Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey – Staff Review’ »
Dragon Slayers, Dragons, and Dragon Knights are all key players in the battle for the world, with Damian as the vengeful antagonist. Divinity II: Ego Draconis‘s storyline follows a newly trained Dragon Slayer, though the process isn’t entirely complete and interrupted with the appearance of a Dragon Knight. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. There’s plenty of questing and exploration on the side as well, and the life of a Dragon Slayer is unlikely to be dull. Continue reading ‘Divinity II: Ego Draconis – Staff Review’ »
Since its announcement in 2006, fans of the series have eagerly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII. It was arguably one of the biggest stories to come out of E3 that year, and considering all of the announcements that year, that’s saying something. And then in 2008, Microsoft finally dropped the bombshell that people had been expecting for years; Final Fantasy XIII was coming to PS3 and 360. The net result has been four years of almost nonstop hype, which made the wait for the game all the longer. So now, the question remains; was it worth the wait? I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that it was. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy XIII – Staff Review’ »
Over the years there have been signs and portents of a remake of Pokemon Gold and Silver, fan favorites in the series due to its sheer size and the fact that it was the first game to expand the Pokemon universe beyond the confines of the Kanto region. The final result, Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, is every bit as fully featured and chock-full of Pokemon goodness as the originals, but unfortunately, they also carry over some of the less desireable quirks of Gold and Silver. Most serious of these are bothersome balance issues, and a plot which is flat even by Pokemon standards. On the whole, HG/SS isn’t a bad game, and makes some definite strides in the areas of sound and visuals, but it probably won’t be of much interest to anyone but fans of the series. Continue reading ‘Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver – Staff Review’ »
The Zone is a harsh mistress, as all who’ve followed the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games can attest. GSC Game World’s adventure-heavy shooters borrowed from both the real Exclusion Zone and works of related science fiction to present a unique, beautiful, and deadly environment. The games featured their own hazards to the player: technical instability, a steep difficulty curve, and unforgiving gunplay. With Call of Pripyat, however, GSC has pulled off the impossible and delivered a stable, well balanced, and surprisingly complete entry into the series. Though still far short of perfection, Pripyat‘s take on the Zone is fascinating and rewarding in ways that few other games are. Continue reading ‘Blurring the Line: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Call of Pripyat – Staff Review’ »
Borderlands presents an interesting mash up of First-Person Shooter and RPG elements, which eventually come together to produce a unique sort of combat system with a lot to offer. Unfortunately, a clunky interface, flatlined plot, and a certain monotony when it comes to environments drag the game down significantly, becoming glaring issues towards the end of the game. On the whole, Borderlands is a solidly built game, and it works well for gamers looking for something a little bit different, but it’s not a particularly compelling or amazing title. Continue reading ‘Borderlands – Staff Review’ »
It’s the early 21st century, and Atlus has finally deemed the time right to roll out a sequel to their cult classic RPG Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne– Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. Is it worth the six year wait? Short answer: yes. Long answer: read on…
Continue reading ‘Staff Import Review – Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey’ »
Final Fantasy XIII has been a long time coming, and there’s little doubt that some people are going in with certain expectations. The fact that it’s also the first main series Final Fantasy game for the current generation likely only adds to this. To the extent that it’s possible, one has to put that aside and focus on the game for what it is rather than thinking about the rest of the series. Final Fantasy XIII is rather unlike anything else in the series anyway. Of course, it certainly has its fair share of staples such as chocobos, cactuars, and tonberries in the game, but the gameplay emphasis is very different. Exploration is all but ignored for the most part, and dungeons are the game’s clear focus. Towns are almost non-existent and functionally replaced by shops that can be accessed from save points while inns are rendered obsolete by auto-healing. Bits of story are delivered at very specific intervals, and the pace is carefully controlled to a large degree by a number of design decisions such as most dungeons being purposely linear. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy XIII – Staff Import Review’ »
Over the course of the last decade or so, North America has seen a remarkable influx of games and series which, in the past, had been exclusive to the east. From Shin Megami Tensei to Fire Emblem, the widening acceptance of gaming in general has allowed for a much broader cross-section of Japanese gaming to be seen on our shores. However, there still remain a number of long running series which have yet to make the jump across the pond. Glory of Heracles, whose first game was released in 1987, is one of these, and although the game contains many elements that are carried over from earlier entries in the series, the fact that this is the series’s first international release works strongly in its favor. Continue reading ‘Glory of Heracles – Staff Review’ »
Say what you will about Bioware, but they take no task lightly. By any measure Mass Effect was an epic affair, and topping that in a believable fashion – while integrating the characters and choices that made the first game meaningful – must have posed nearly countless problems for the team. To say they pulled it off is a gross understatement; Mass Effect 2 is a vast improvement over its predecessor in nearly every respect and a superb middle chapter in the series. Continue reading ‘Mass Effect 2 (PC) – Staff Review’ »
The main features of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World are an engaging and solidly balanced combat system, and a somewhat overbearing and at times saccharine story. In this, it is a fairly typical Tales game. That isn’t to say ToS:DotNW is a bad game — on the contrary, the game is quite well constructed — merely that it comes off as a bit derivative, particularly where the story is concerned. ToS:DotNW does try a number of new things with the series with varying levels of success, but overall, it’s unlikely that anyone who already has an opinion about the Tales series will find their position swayed one way or the other due to this game. Continue reading ‘Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World – Staff Review’ »
The Legend of Zelda franchise is one of the oldest action RPG series out there, and it is unique in that it has consistently offered a similar experience, whether it is played on a console or a handheld. Zelda is and always will be all about exploring dungeons, finding hidden items, and then using them to solve the puzzles within. It is this core experience that brings players back again and again, some in spite of the similarities from game to game and some because of them. When the franchise made the move to the DS, many questioned whether it could work with its all-stylus control scheme. Phantom Hourglass silenced many a naysayer, but sadly, Spirit Tracks does not have the same punch that its predecessor had. Continue reading ‘The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – Staff Review’ »
Half Baldur’s Gate, half Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins hits too many of the right notes for fans of either to ignore. It’s big, it’s epic, it has tight production values, and it does a superb job of creating a unique set of mythos for its world, staple fantasy elements notwithstanding. Unfortunately, a score of small issues drag down much of the game’s interaction and controls, and some aspects of the story aren’t as clever as they think they are. Still, if you can get into the complex, well-written story, Dragon Age will grab you and not let go. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins – Staff Review’ »
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