Play in Style - Gamer Style

Jack Black at the VGA 2008

On December 14, 2008, Spike TV held their annual Video Game Awards, hosted by comedic Jack Black. The video gamers of the world voted for their faves. Here are the results:

Game of the Year:

Grand Theft Auto IV

Studio of the Year:

Media Molecule

Best Shooter:

Gears of War 2

Best RPG:

Fallout 3

Best Individual Sports Game:

Shaun White Snowboarding

Best Handheld Game:

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Best Graphics:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show:

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Best Music Game:

Rockband 2

Best Driving Game:

Burnout Paradise

Best Action Adventure Game:

Grand Theft Auto IV

Best Soundtrack:

Rockband 2

Best Xbox 360 Game:

Gears of War 2

Best Wii Game:

Boom Blox

Best PS3 Game:

LittleBigPlanet

Best PC Game:

Left 4 Dead

Best Original Score:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Multiplayer Game:

Left 4 Dead

Best Independent Game:

World of Goo

Best Fighting Game:

Soul Calibur IV

Best Male Voice:

Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV

Best Female Voice:

Debi Mae West as Meryl Silverburg in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Big Name in Game Male:

Kiefer Sutherland as Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty: World at War

Big Name in Game Female:

Jenny McCarthy as Special Agent Tanya Adams in Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3

New details have emerged from Japan for this PSP title!

Some brief news from IGN that can be revealed is that Dissidrea looks to be a another fantastic Final Fantasy game for the PSP in the vein of Crisis Core with some appearances of some favourite characters from the game in previous episodes of the game. However, if you are expecting Cloud or Sephiroth you will be disappointed.

However, details have emerged that Final Fantasy’s XI Shantotto makes a large appearance plus Final Fantasy’s XII Tetsuya Nomura. It must be pointed out before the goes any further that no one from Final Fantasy XIII makes an appearance in this game at all. Anyway, according to IGN, ‘Square Enix appears to be trying to build up somewhat of a community with Dissidia, as evidenced by the new “artifact” system. Artifacts are items that have a special “artifact” icon next to them. You’ll occasionally get this when battling human opponents. You’re free to rename these particular items and can view the history detailing how they got into your hands. You’ll be able to see who inherited the item from who, and who changed its name along the way.

While this system was originally envisioned, like the rest of the game, for small groups of friends who get together for ad-hoc play sessions, main programmer Ryuji Ikeda said he’s looking forward to seeing what happens when players use the Ad-Hoc Party service to reach distant opponents through their PS3s.

Also likely to be big for those with friends is the game’s replay feature. Players can not only save their replay data, but they can use internal tools to edit the data. Arakawa suggested that some players may be able to recreate their favorite Final Fantasy scenes. Nomura said that Square Enix is considering having contests surrounding the replays.

When they’re not attempting to recreate the big Cloud versus Sephiroth battle scene from Advent Children, FF fanatics will likely be in Dissidia’s “Museum” mode. This mode lets you view all the movies from the game, see profiles of the characters, and view your play history. The character profiles are split into “main characters” and “summons” sections and offer details about when the character or beast appeared. Players can also access a 3D model viewer (presumably for Dissidia model data).

The Museum Mode also includes a chart showing all the icons that can be set on your friend cards — cards that you exchange when playing live opponents. The icons include classic FF sprites, which should make series fans get a bit nostalgic.

If all that isn’t enough to make you wonder how Square Enix is fitting Dissidia on one UMD, here’s something that should do the trick. Famitsu also reveals that Dissidia has a “Command Battle” mode of play. Here, the normal action-based battle system is replaced with a menu system, allowing players who aren’t so hot on action games to still engage in combat. The menu selections seem to match up with the main battle system, with “Fight” resulting in a Brave Attack, and “Super” (”Hissatsu” in Japanese) resulting in an HP Attack. When you select a command, your character continues to perform it. You can press L or R to flee when your opponent attacks.

It’s possible to clear the main story mode using command-based play, said Ikeda. He also revealed that players can engage in battles with one player using menus and the other using the standard action system.

So, it appears that Dissidrea is looking very promising indeed for the PSP in the vein of Crisis Core, with the added change of Combat systems to command based structure besides real time combat makes a nice addition to the game. Along with the memory stick install which I believe is the 1^st PSP title UMD title to use that feature it will certainly attract a lot gamers to the new game. Japanese release is slated for December 18^th 2008.

Article: Skidpro

Source: http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/935/935144p1.html?RSSwhen2008-12-03_071600&RSSid=935144

Pictures & Video Courtesy IGN.com

Patapon is a video game published for the PlayStation Portable handheld game console combining gameplay features of rhythm games, real-time tactics and God games. The game is presented in a cartoonish, silhouetted two-dimensional environment designed by Rolito, and features the player acting as a deity who commands an army of caricatured miniature tribal creatures by beating traditional talking drums. The game was developed by Pyramid and produced by Japan Studios, the same studio that developed and produced Loco Roco.

STORY 6/10
I’ll give it the “mercy mark” because it’s kinda original…but not much different than other games out there, “you start at a low point and you gotta build your army up and beat the bad guy that took you out”

The Patapon were a flourishing people until they were defeated by the evil Zigoton tribe. The player takes the role of their god and uses sacred war drums to direct the Patapon tribe to take back their land. As the story progresses, the Patapon also embark on a journey to Earthend to look upon “IT,” a sacred object whose appearance and purpose is unknown to the tribe.

The enemy of the Patapon tribe is the evil Zigoton Empire, a powerful tribe of circular creatures with red irises (as opposed to the white-irised Patapon) that have oppressed the Patapon since their fall from power.

GRAPHICS 6/10
They’re very simple. But smooth!

An example is try to play CALL OF DUTY on a console, then try the MOBILE vertion (it’s just not the same thing)

They are very cartoony (which I’m not into). But they have a variety of colours and I don’t think anyone can deny this is pretty much the only game of its kind (like loco roco)

SOUND 7.5/10
The sounds are kinda cute “papa - papa - papa ton”

The audio is the perhaps most important part of the game (next to the game play). They obviously put more emphasis on the audio than the visuals. The audio is pretty catchy, and has the potential to stick in your head like an annoying sesame street song, or a song from the 80’s.

“this is the song that never ends…”

while playing, it’s cute to listen to, it made me giggle…but that’s pretty much all the game’s got going for it.

GAME PLAY 8/10
Giving another mercy mark here. The premise of the game is you gotta press the Square Triangle Circle X buttons in a very specific order. One set of button order will command the papatons to run. Another will cause them to attack etc.

It’s almost like LEMINGS for modern times…almost…

I play drums (i’ve been in a couple ‘garage’/'basement’ bands so my interest perks up when I hear something about drumming.

It WAS a lil fun to play “drums” in this game. The PAPATONS “sing” a very specific tune “PAPA - PAPA - PAPA - TON”. There are a variety of these lil tunes each with a unique button combination. BUT I did find the button combination a lil tricky to work with. At times when I thought it was RIGHT ON…I was wrong. It took several attempts at times to get it working.

I didn’t play this game a LOT…(someone on another forum said the game could not be played on 3.71m33…so I said it COULD…and they said it COULDN’T…so I did it and took screen shots etc). I didn’t really have any interest in playing it…but I’m sure in time when I feel in the mood to bang on some “drums” i’m sure I’ll find it fun.

It seems different from most games where you control pretty much everything your character does. Where in this game you drum to a specific tune/button combination to order the PAPATONS.

Kinda fun. But the button combo’s didn’t seem to work all the time (VERY annoying!). I’m sure if I gave it a fair try, it’d be som’n I could enjoy.

Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: EA Chicago
Release Date: February 20, 2006
ESRB Rating: T for Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Genre: Sports
Also Available On: PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox, Wireless
Release Date: February 20, 2006
MSRP: $39.99

IGN SAYS
EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 brings the most intense boxing videogame experience to the virtual ring. On the way to becoming boxing’s greatest legend, train to fight like the best including Muhammad Ali and Oscar De La Hoya or create a boxing style unique only to your boxer. Go toe-to-toe with greats such as Ali, De La Hoya, Joe Frazier, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. Outside of the ring, gamers can establish intense rivalries through pre-fight events putting purpose and passion behind every hit.

STORY: 5/10
You’re a boxer…who makes it from fighting in “ghetto” rings to the top (how original)

GRAPHICS 7/10
I played F.N.R.3. for the first time on xbox 360 (WOW!)

I then bought it for PS2 (not quite as good)

then I played it on psp (not as good as PS2)

OVERALL…graphics are as good as you can expect for PSP. They’re realistic enough. You can slowly see the ouchiness on your opponent and yourself. See their face go from “ok” to “bad-ouchiness”

See sweat, see the crowd, moves well. I had no choppiness, it was pretty good.

SOUND 8/10
Crowd is loud. Hits are loud, (menu music isn’t my style…but what do you expect?)
The crowd reacts well (good and loud). Whether you’re playing or watching, it’s pretty realistic.

GAME PLAY 7/10
Controls are pretty easy, (though not at first).

Once you get used to them, you’ll find yourself obliterating your opponent.

I personally found it extremely easy to win! I’ll show you a screen shot if you want, but I have literally never lost a match. After the first 12 wins I thought, ‘this is pretty fun…’ but there’s no real challenge to it. I’ve got a character first in all divisions, fighting for about $1,000,000 + per fight.
Winning is extremely easy (maybe I missed “difficulty level” or something. I can usually get a guy down in the first round and have the fight over before the 3rd round ends.

It’s fun if you’re just in the mood to punch a guy. But there’s not much challenge to it.

PLAYER CUSTOMIZATION

EXTREMELY cool feature! You can spend a long time making a scary, deformed, normal, whatever kind of fighter you want!

Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developed by: thatgamecompany (TGC)
Release Date: February 22, 2007
Genre: Action

IGN says
A casual-interest game for players to download over SCE’s online network.
In this free-floating, free-flowing game, you dive deep into the space, eating and evolving, collecting up tiny morsels to help your creature become bigger and more complex. With an embedded design of DDA (dynamic difficulty adjustment), players with differing skill levels can intuitively customize their game experience and enjoy the game at their own pace. Players can also customize the appearance of their organisms based on gameplay.

GRAPHICS: 7/10
This may be left up to INTERPRETATION…

I can’t explain it without you actually seeing or playing it. There are few games left which you can say “THAT was original!” “THAT has never been done before” or “THAT was a first of its kind”

I feel FLOW is one of those games!

Graphics are very simple, yet VERY complex! Like trying to draw a picture with ONLY making dots on a page (yes dots…).

The graphics REALLY suit this game. But you’re gonna hafta play it to understand.

SOUND: 6/10

Now that I think of it…I can’t remember much sound to it. Mild special effects sounds…but nothing exciting or creative. HOWEVER, it does suit the game!

GAME PLAY: 7/10
You’ll have to play to understand.

Yer a lil creature with a fingernail clipping for a mouth. You float around and consume or eat other creatures to make yourself grow. And as you grow, you eat bigger creatures. You “flow” deeper and deeper into whatever it is you’re floating around in and get bigger and bigger…

It’s part calming…part questionable. It’s simple, yet it’s fun.

I wouldn’t buy this game. But it is kinda fun.

ENDING: …there’s an ending? That’s like saying TETRIS has an ending…

Published by: Majesco
Developed by: Planet Moon Studios
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Genre: Third-Person Action

ESRB Rating: M for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
Genre: Third-Person Action

Exclusively on PlayStation Portable
Release Date: November 15, 2005
MSRP: $29.99

IGN SAYS
It’s Christmas time in New York City and a strange virus has appeared turning seemingly normal citizens into the insane, violent Infected. Rookie Officer Stevens is one of the first victims … but unlike others, he is strangely immune. The mysterious Dr. Schaeffer discovers that Stevens’ blood can be used to destroy the otherwise invincible Infected, and creates a special “viral gun” filled with Stevens’ blood — blast straight into the Infected, and they will violently explode.
Featuring an engrossing single-player campaign with lavishly gory details, Infected unlocks the world of Wi-Fi (local and online) via exciting multiplayer modes. Those who are victorious in multiplayer combat can “infect” the loser’s PSP system with their avatar and gain ranking points as well as create a viral chain as your avatar is passed on to other systems.

I played RPG’s - some sports - puzzle games etc. I wanted to know if PSP had any good shooters (other than call of duty - metal of honor etc.

This one seemed decent, where it’d have “blood and guts”, ’cause sometimes yer just in the mood to vent on computer A.I. and “take no prisoners” and need to do it chaotically.

I first tried to play this game on 3.90m33 (my first time testing 3.90m33) and when you first start a new game, you gotta make a profile and save that profile. I couldn’t save! I tried several times, but I couldn’t save. Before long I found out other friends of mine who were on 3.90m33 also couldn’t save their games (not just INFECTED). Past save games wouldn’t load either. We used PANDORA to down ourselves to 3.71m33…suddenly it worked!

GRAPHICS: 6/10
It may even deserve a 5/10.

There’s a REALLY good intro movie! Creepy and morbid, but the animation is really great! As the game progresses, there are other in game movies which are pretty dern good too! HOWEVER…the game play…not so good.

I was let down quite a bit with the graphics of this game play. Let down a lot!

SOUND: 7/10 (being a little generous)
the MUSIC is pretty good. Slipknot and other such hardcore death metal I enjoy. But sometimes you’re so “wound up” in the game you forget about the music. But it plays well in the menu’s.

The guns make a lot of noise. The explosions are decent sounding. Voice acting is OK…but there are some kinda silly voice overs which are pointless and stupid. As if they THOUGHT they were being funny, “The player will laugh at this…” but it’s not funny. It’s just stupid.

GAME PLAY: 7.5/10

I don’t know why…but somehow it is strangely addicting! The graphics are pretty bad. The sound isn’t that great…but PLAYING the game is pretty fun! You shoot zombies with your weapons, then make them explode with a special “viral” weapon.

EVERY single mission is pretty much the same. You gotta kill a certain number of zombies in a certain time frame. There are 3 goals to meet to get a “BRONZE” “SILVER” or “GOLD”. OR you gotta save a certain # of civilians in a certain time frame. At the beginning it’s real easy to get gold gold gold gold…then it gets a lil harder. But over all, it’s not THAT hard to get gold in most or all levels.

It’s EXTREMELY repetitive! Some people may only last a few levels before getting sick of it. Some will play constantly. OR there’s people like me who’ll play for a few levels, and get sick of it, and pick it up a lil later and keep going a few levels.

ENDING:–

I haven’t finished it yet. However It IS pretty fun! Not really worth buying. It’s doubtful you’d rent it for a couple days and finish it (though I don’t know how big the game really is.

For a shooting good time, to blow off some steam, release aggressions, get something off your chest…INFECTED!

I bought KILLZONE for PS2 a long time ago. I remember seeing the amazing trailers for it.

I didn’t make it more than a few hours through KILL ZONE for PS2 (’cause I just couldn’t get into it).

Before I modded my PSP early this year, I was desperate for a “new” game. A new kinda game. Something different. I went on line to PSP’s official website and found a few DEMO’s for download.

KILL ZONE LIBERATION was one of those demos.

It was a very short demo, but VERY fun!

After I modded my PSP and had fun with a few games, I eventually came across this lovely one.

I started playing it (I watched a lot of video reviews on it and it looked good). I made it through the first level and realized I didn’t have a clue what was going on. SO I looked up the in-game movies on youtube and spent about 45 minutes watching them all. I learned about the story and thought I’d be fine to move on to the second one.

GRAPHICS 8.5/10


Explosions are great. Gun fire is great. buildings, smoke, water, technology, environments.

SOUND 8/10
You kinda need headphones for this one (the PSP speakers just don’t give it justice). Gunfire sounds good. Explosions are great. Environment sounds great. Voice acting is very well done!

GAMEPLAY 8.5/10
Controls are quite easy. Though the game play is heavily designed on taking cover and not being an “open target”. So gamers like me who love to rush in and “take no prisoners” don’t last very long.
It was a constant challenge for me to “sit back” and wait for them to stop shooting before jumping up and shooting. I wanna be able to just rage in and take ‘em all out. This game doesn’t work that way. I died a LOT…and died FAST! On that perspective, I found it very challenging. But for those who love a great strategy shooter…this is definitely a good contender!

You find hidden money through each level + extra ammo and such. Money lets you upgrade your weapons (buy bigger weapons)

It’s usually just you against everyone…but from time to time you’ll find a useful AI ally.

I’ve been too busy to finish it…but I’ve come close. So far, it’s DEFINITELY a great game! Get your aggressions out, think hard with a good strategy.

GOOD length…good fun…Definitely worth at least looking at.

Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: EA UK
ESRB Rating: E10+ for Violence
Genre: Racing
Also Available On: Nintendo DS
Release Date: September 13, 2005
MSRP: $29.99

General Features

• 175 events to play through; nine game play modes; soundtrack includes hits by Finch, Junkie XL, Goldfinger, and OK Go; six-player multiplayer options.

IGN says
Burnout Legends offers on-the-go automotive anarchy, combining the series’ trademark speed, destruction and depth with new PSP-only features, gameplay refinements and connectivity. Gamers get eight gameplay modes, including crash, road rage and pursuit, with white-knuckle multiplayer via WiFi, and a GameShare option allowing players to wirelessly share a demo level of the game with friends.

GRAPHICS 8/10
You get a pretty good feeling of seed when you play

things blur around you at times and things crash around you.

Things break apart and and have a very realistic look to them.

SOUND 8/10
With the PSP speakers…it’s OK…but not great. With headphones or plugging the PSP into a stereo…you get a much better sound (duh). But the cars sound great, the crashes are great. Any car enthusiast would appreciate the gurgle or humm of the pretty cars.

GAME PLAY 8/10

Several versions of BURNOUT (burn out legends - burn out revenge etc)…but they pretty much play the same.

PSP version is pretty good. Anyone who’s played other versions PS2 - XBOX etc know what to expect. You play, and you crash. The point of this game is to crash. But it’s not a simple crash…it’s a detailed crash.

It’s not so simple as to just race and win. BURN OUT offers an extra detail to the competition. Where you have a choice to take out your opponent. The controls are easy. Drifting is fun. Sometimes you look forward to crashing because it’s awesome to watch in slow motion. When you’re in a real race, it’s excellent to see a car you just took out crash in slow motion.

You race fast and crash hard. Easy and fun to pick up.

MULTIPLAYER 9/10
I’ve only played two player so far, but MAN is it fun!!

Good racing game! Good muliplayer game!

neocorpse has redesigned his Oni CTF theme to make a GamerStyle exclusive theme.

This version has a skinned OSK, 4.05 visualizers, the busy icon from his Ghost in the Shell SAC theme as well as a fixed gameboot.

To use this CTF you’ll need a PSP running custom firmware 4.01 M33 as well as CXMB 3.2.

Read more | Download

IGN says

You win some and you lose some… and then you lose some more. That’s Activision’s Call of Duty: Roads to Victory in a nutshell. There’s just no other way to describe it.

STORY: 5/10
(you’re a solder, and you’re in a war…and you’re fighting other solders…who’re in the same war…)

GRAPHICS 8/10
For a PSP, I think they’re pretty good! FAR better than INFECTED. From ‘far away” things look authentic (like doors) but when you get close to them…they’re just panted walls (or look like such).

bombs are good, explosions are good.

There are air battles (you’re in a plane shootin’ stuff)


but it looks pretty good!

SOUND 8/10
IF you play with headphones, or plug your PSP into a good stereo which can do this game justice…it’ll be worth it. If you JUST use the PSP speakers…it’ll be ok..but not great.

If using headphones and you turn it UP you’ll get a great experience (or a stereo turned up real loud). Guns sound great, the explosions, and planes and constant gun fire…your solder buddies screaming stuff, your enemies screaming…it’s pretty exciting.

GAME PLAY 8/10
The controls are a lil hard to get used to. You used the []OX^ buttons to look around and the analog stick to physically move. You can’t jump, just kneel and crawl. But you can sneek around a lot.

I’m the kind of player who likes to dive in to comat…I died a lot.

IF you’re smart and take your time, you’ll really make it far. The A.I. kinda sucks. But you’ll get over run real fast if you just dive in!

One of the dis-advantages of havin’ a modded PSP is there are SO many games to play, and so little time. I have not finished this game…and have not come all that close to finishing it…but it’s REALLY fun, the few hours I’ve put into it.

MULTIPLAYER: pretty fun. I’ve tested it with one other PSP (multiplayer) and it’s a blast to play against another person. I wanna play against like 6+ (however many it lets you)

GREAT game! Fun to play. Kinda simple, but if you do it right, you’ll do well. If you rush into battle (like I always do) you’ll die real fast…like i always do..

If you’ve played MANHUNT 1

I can’t remember if I rented it or bought it. BUT I do remember I only made it to like 2 or 3 hours into it the junk yard (not very far) and somehow I just couldn’t get into it.

warp to EARLY 2008 and like a kid in a candy store, started toying with everything I could fit on the 4 GIG memory stick.

I started playing it (don’t know why this one started to appeal to me). I watched a LOT of youtube videos on the story of MANHUNT 1 ’cause I didn’t feel like playing it all the way through. I ended up finding a website (which I was unable to find…but if I can find it, I’ll see if i can reference it) which gave a REALLY good detailed description of the story and walkthrough of MANHUNT 1.

So, satisfied with my findings, I went with MANHUNT 2.

SOMEHOW I couldn’t put it down for a couple weeks. I’m a very busy person and don’t get as much game time as I’d like…but I got a couple hours a week, or SOMEHOW find a couple hours in a day to work on it.

It plays pretty much the same as MANHUNT 1 (from what I can remember). GRAND THEFT AUTO 3 graphics. Even though the game is VERY repetitive (all you do is sneak up on people and take them out with pens - plastic bags - pieces of broken glass etc.) you have an added bonus to hold down a specific button as a “power up” so to speak which if you reach the max ‘power up’ you’ll execute a much more gruesome death.

I either had headphones on…or had my PSP plugged into my sorround sound

(something like this…but only AUDIO cables

SOUND QUALITY: 9/10 VERY crip and clean. Creepy - scary.
con: bad guys had very limited scripting.
pro: in game movies were well voice acted.

GRAPHICS: 7.5/10
they’re OK…but not great. Final Fantasy Crisis Core had AMAZING in game movies (cinematics). Manhunt 2 remained pretty much the exact same graphics the whole time (much like grand theft auto 3).
I liked the way they involved “TV STATIC” during some cut scenes or JUST as you’re about to execute an enemy.

GAME PLAY: 7.5/10
Though quite fun to play through. Your job is to NOT be seen (like splinter cell or Metal Gear Solid) and take out your enemy. HOWEVER, there are aspects of the game where you can sneak past your enemy without killing him. Though some levels require you execute all enemies before you can move on.
You pretty much do the same things all the time. You’re ALWAYS sneaking around. Your weapon list slowly improves, but somehow it’s always satisfying to take a pen or something and take someone out.
There are not much in the area of puzzles or anything. One level, you’re on a roof top and you don’t know how to enter a building. You somehow figure out you gotta break a window (which the game never really let you do in the previous few missions…giving you the impression you can’t break windows).
You don’t get lost often…and the A.I. aren’t that bright. You can fairly easily INTENTIONALLY be seen, then run around a corner and find a quick shadow and you’re suddenly invisible.

DIFFICULTY: 7.5/10
For the most part, it’s pretty easy. But you’ll have that ONE LEVEL which is nearly impossible (especially the FINAL level). BUT after trying and trying and trying, you can finally get past it, and feel a great sense of accomplishment.


STORY: 8/10
Without spoiling it for you, the game tickles your interest as you escape an insane asylum at the beginning. As the game slowly teases you with clues (which got me hooked). Going through morbid levels make it worth it so you can find out what’ll happen next. The story was well laid out. (perhaps better than MANHUNT 1 in some ways). They fed it to you at the right times and just when you thought you were gonna learn som’n really cool…som’n happens and you’re almost left guessing even more and you just GOTTA get past the next level hopin’ to get more answers.

ENDING: 8/10
I was hopin’ for a better quality movie at the end. But the graphics remain the same throughout (as mentioned). It’s a great ending considering the entire game play. It’s mostly just highly gratifying to get closure for your character you fought to keep alive the whole game. You get to sit back and feel satisfied!

Overall: I’m not usually into games like these…but I was interested in knowing the STORY line after the curiosity of MANHUNT 1. I wasn’t disappointed

I’ve always been more into RPG’s than other style games.

I was deciding between BRAVE STORY and JEAN D’ark

I saw REVIEWS ON THE RUN one day

and they were comparing BRAVE STORY and JEAN D’ark.

BRAVE STORY: is your simple RPG. Final fantasy like (random battles etc) where as Jean D’ark fell in with Final fantasy Tactics (which I tried a couple times…just couldn’t get into it)

REVIEWS ON THE RUN gave the vote to Jean D’ark ’cause BRAVE STORY was a “been there done that” rpg (where as the “new” style RPG is what you get with TACTICS kinda games).

An eleven-year-old Wataru (you can change his name) is told he can change the ‘fate’ of his friend (saving her life) by entering a magic gateway into another world, he jumps at the chance. He learns about the Tower of Fortune and be granted any wish, he must conjure up all his bravery to battle a world of demons, his own friends and ultimately himself.

GAME PLAY: 7/10
It plays just fine. I had no lagging or freezing. The buttons were easy to control. Puzzles were not too hard, dungeons were fine too. The BIG thing that made me cringe was the “3 number” HP/MP

Breath Of Fire (1, 2 & 3 for one example) have character stats as 3 digits. And you can’t do more than 999 damage. Games like FINAL FANTASY and Dragoneer’s Aria allow 4 digits (which appeals to me more.)

It was pretty rare if you do much more than 500 HP damage (unless you got a CRITICAL hit). The monsters don’t really do that much damage. Though I wasn’t a super high level. I wasn’t concentrating on makin’ levels, so much as just enjoyin’ a fun game.

Once I completed the game, I stumbled upon a save game someone posted which had everyone maxed out and had all the best stuff etc. I tried it out expecting to do some crazy awesome damage etc…but I didn’t notice a significant change in the damage/hit points.

I was disappointed in the HP/MP they gave + the damage you are able to do.

It IS a very simple-like game. Easy to follow, easy to understand. When you meet a new character, introducing them was kinda weak, and their reason for joining you was kinda weak too.

It was referred to as an RPG FOR BEGINNERS by REVIEWS ON THE RUN, and I must agree! For those looking for a simple RPG…it’s definitely a good choice.

When you HIT an enemy in battle, there’s this mega cheezy “K-THWAAAK” or “THUD” - or “KAATTCHING”

I thought that was super weak.

SOUND: 5/10
Nothing special about it. Much like BREATH OF FIRE…it’s just there for effect. No real voice acting in the ‘in game movies’ (just text like in Final fantasy 7,8, 9), save for a war cry when using your weapon in battle. (REALLY disappointed with that)

GRAPHICS: 6.5/10
Decent. But nothing impressive.

They don’t give you any high quality in game movies. When you think the are gonna do it…it’s just the same graphics that are used throughout the game (like in Grand Theft Auto 3)

Graphics are not horrible. But I was expecting/hoping for something a little better.

STORY: 7/10

…the ENTIRE game, you are led to believe you are after the Tower of Fortune to get a wish and save your friend. You’re “gunnin’” it through the game trying to save your friend. When you get there, there’s an amazing twist (which you don’t expect…but for me was kinda a let down)

You get all the same things you’d expect from the RPG, lots of environments, characters, special moves etc.

HOWEVER, conisdering PSP sorta lacks in the area of RPG’s, this is a decent one to “get your fix”

It was satisfying to play and finish. I didn’t feel it had the best “re-play-ability” but others may find themselves wanting to go through it a couple more times.

Perhaps in the distant future, I’ll wanna run through it again.

OVER ALL:

GOOD game. Wasn’t he best I’ve played. But it was satisfying to play a good NEW RPG.

It’s VERY simple, and has all the expected/traditional RPG elements + hidden stuff.

GAME PLAY

A lot of reviews I hear these days, it would seem not a lot of people are into the “turn based” battles anymore that made Final fantasy what it is. We’ve seen it in every single one (I have not played Final Fantasy 11 at all) save those “unofficial” Final fantasy’s such as FINAL FANTASY LEGEND for Game boy which plays much like Zelda

For anyone who did NOT like Final fantasy 12’s battle system, I agree, it was a little tricky to get used to at first…but once you’re well into the game, I found it pretty decent and a decent change. GAMETRAILERS dot com has something called the FINAL FANTASY RETROSPECTIVE which is an absolute BRILLIANT look at all the Final Fantasy’s over the past 20 years. And as much as Square has put out a lot of highly successful Final fantasy’s over the years…how do you make them better each time. Graphics? Story? Gameplay? Controlls? Music? It’s extremely rare that a Final fantasy comes out that does not deliver something exceptional in at least one or all of these areas. Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core so far seems to REALLY deliver in a lot of these areas!

POTENTIAL SPOILERS TO FOLLOW. IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED THE GAME YET…YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ ON.

THE BEGINNING:

The opening movie was phenomonal…and MUCH easier to understand than the japanese version. It makes me wonder do they render the videos in full THEN convert them for MP4? ’cause I would love to see a “full screen” version of these movies rather than just a Psp screen.

The first battle against a small group of guys was a little confusing at first. I expected something like Final fanatasy 2 - 3 (snes) 7 - 8 - 9 (PS1) - 10 (ps2) turnbased. As I said before, it seems a LOT of reviews I’ve been hearing, no one seems to like these turn based RPG’s anymore. I’ve heard a lot of people are into the FINAL FANTASY TACTICS style of game (brave story for PSP V.S. Jean D’ARC on REVIEWS ON THE RUN…the vote went to JEAN D’ARC ’cause it was part of the “new” RPG style…where as Brave story was “been there done that” style RPG). I DO agree…there are well over a dozen Final fantasy’s…let alone ANY RPG that deal in turn based play. I can’t speak for anyone but myself…but I REALLY didn’t like the Final fantasy tactics play style. I don’t mind the turnbased stuff. CRISIS CORE kinda did something a little unique.

Anyone who has watched the FINAL FANTSY 13 stuff would have seen chicky face beatin’ up some guys in a train or something and she’s “opening up a can” doing lots of damage to multiple people at once. Given turn based games Final Fantasy is known for…I didn’t see how that was going to work. Even Final Fantasy 12 where you can have different people fight different enemy’s…still you’re only hitting one enemy at a time. Final Fantasy Crisis Core allows you to hit multiple enemies at a time if they’re close enough to you and depending on the attack you use can do pretty decent damage.

I ALSO like the “roll away” option with the SQUARE button. If timed right, you can roll away from an enemies attack and get beside or behind him and smack him again. You can also block with the Triangle…which I didn’t find overly useful…just reduces amount of damage taken…I’d rather dodge/roll away.

Without spoiling the story at all, I DO like how they show a different side of sephiroth from what we’re used to. Trying to connect the dots pre-maturely doesn’t help much…just gotta keep playing and enjoy the ride. As you talk to people and watch the story unfold…I’m wondering when CLOUD will come in and when we start to see the events of Final Fantasy 7 (ps1) start to connect.

You’re able to visit the places where Final fantasy 7 showed only in cinematics. For example, the alley where Aerith walks out by LOVELESS sign with the the busy street. Unless I’ve mapped the area incorrectly, you’re able to go down that alley (does anyone know what the heck she was doing in that alley by the way? what was sparking ont he wall?)

PLUS that part of town where Cloud buys a flower from Aerith which has that circular fountain. He escapes the guards by jumping on the train. Again, unless I’ve mapped it incorrectly, you get to re-visit those sites and you can even get to the opening where Cloud jumped to + the fountain etc.

You’re able to browse through the Shinra building and see the bike Cloud road through the window and the truck Tifa and Barret drove out too. (not too off topic) I didn’t think Final Fantasy 7 dirge of cerberus was a very good game. I rented it and beat it in a week. I wouldn’t buy it unless I had some extra cash on hand. Not going to go “out of my way” to get it. But I’ll get it for collectors sake. What I DO like about dirge of cerberus and Crisis Core is how you’re able to check out in much finer detail some things you couldn’t in Final Fantasy 7 (ps1). It puts a “birds eye” view that Final fantasy 7 was most of the time, to a 3rd person view.

OVERALL the first 5.5 (5 1/2) hours I’ve played have been very enjoyable!

MUSIC: For the most part…the music is ok. I’m not a huge fan of high pitched guitar (like in 80’s rock, no offense to anyone who does). I don’t now how many would agree that the change from Final fantasy 10 to Final Fantasy 10-2 wasn’t the greatest. Final Fantasy 10 is one of my favorites…but MAN was 10-2 terrible. The music was just terrible…but I’m not here to tear that game apart. The music for most of FFCC is “OK” but not great. They re-visit some original stuff and help it out some. From MIDI to “music”; full band/orchestra. Sounds pretty good.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY don’t understand the “CONFLICT RESOLVED” and “battle mode begins” (can’t rememeber the exact wording off the top of my head). EVERY SINGLE TIME you enter a battle, whether it be a random battle or a battle you know is coming…it always has this digital/robotic voice “Activatng battle mode” And again, maybe I missed the point in small details regarding battles, but there are these three “vegas slots” going on in the top LEFT corner

I havn’t got a clue what they’re there for.

and the moduling phase (whatever it’s called) that hits randomly in battle

Again with the vegas slots, it randomly does something. Either a special attack of some sort OR gains you a level. Don’t understand how that works…

And it took me 4 hours to realize these little “mini missions” you can access in the main menu. They’re kinda fun, I’ll give it that…but by the time I found out what they were about…I had like 4 dozen to get through. And all they were for were to visit a very small map with only a couple treasure chests with (mostly) unimportant items inside and really easy battles (which as you slowly progress in these missions can get VERY challenging). But they seemed rather pointless…just a way to get a semi-important item in some and fight some badguys. They always start with MISSION BEGIN or something like that and end with MISSION SUCCESSFUL. Kinda weak “capin obvious”

ONE PLAYER:
Other than Dirge Of Cerberus, FFCC seems to ONLY play ZACK. All other’s have a coloUrful (yes I’m canadian) collection of characters. There are times when you’re closely associating with another character; Sephiroth , One of the TURKS etc. but it seems to remain you can only control one character.

CONTROL LIMITATIONS: In a lot of the videos, these characters are doin’ some CRAZY air acrobatics…even in Dirge Of Cerberus, Vincent is doin’ some CRAZY moves in the movies…but when you get your hands on him…dude can’t jump, do flips or run really fast like they do in the movies. Wish I could move the camera around a lil more too. can’t seem to make it look up Just rotates like you’re a 20 - 30 foot tall person a few car lengths away from Zack.

____________________________

From my 5 and a half hours of game play, it is DEFNIATELY put a lot of projects on hold for the time being…and THANK YOU to everyone out there working hard to make these opportunities available. There have been monies put into games that sucked. And There have been downloaded games that have sucked…which the easy cure was to delete. Thank you to the ones who help make the PSP that much more fun!

FINAL FANTASY CRISIS CORE is a VERY good change from the “norm”. It has a LOT of the typical Final Fantasy tastes and a few new goodies. I DO recommend (even if you have downloaded it) buying it (I plan to)

1. to support the publishers (yes…downloading doesn’t take that much out of their pockets…no more than you losing money in the couch)
2. It’ll make a GREAT addition to any Final Fantasy Fan’s collection.

I’m looking forward to how it opens up as the game moves on.
thank you for reading my review.

Over at JJ Games they’ve posted up the pictures below of video gaming pumpkins/Jack-o-Lanterns and just in time for Halloween!

There are some crazy pumpkin designs here and I still have my pumpkin to carve so I’m getting some good ideas too:

8 Bit Mario

(more…)

Over the weekend pre-orders for the 4GB Sony PSP 3000 pack were cancelled.

John Koller, director of hardware marketing has said that due to a significant interest in the Ratchet & Clank Size Matters PSP 3000 pack, SCEA will continue with that line. The Ratchet & Clank PSP is currently available in Mystic Silver and will be available in Piano Black in December.

Because of this, the PSP 3000 4GB pack is no longer being offered. Koller added that those looking for a larger memory stick, will be able to pick up a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for $44.99 from fall. Hasn’t anyone told him 8GB
one’s are cheaper online
already?

Playstation is steadily adding more content to their games with this update. With this latest release, lots of new content was released for many different games including Soul Calibur IV, Mega Man 9, and Guitar Hero World Tour. Most of the newest additions will cost you $0.99, but there are some free downloads available for the different games. There is also a 10 song, 1 pack update for Rock Band from Mötley Crüe and Nirvana. With this update there are also several full game downloads available for purchase, including the classic Prince of Persia.

(more…)

mutevict1m has converted his 4.01 M33 theme Invisaclear for use with 5.00 M33 and CXMB 3.3.

This theme and CXMB will work with all 5.00 M33 firmwares.

Via: Forums

Download: [RELEASE] Invisaclear 5.00 CTF

Rockstar have confirmed that there will be trophies added to the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto 4 and that there are indeed zombies running around Liberty City and the infection is spreading!

(more…)

Looks like the new 3000’s screen isn’t quite as amazing as we were hoping it would be for the PSP. It may be brighter but, scan lines ruin the display it seems:

Ruh roh. Seems that swanky new LCD on Sony’s PSP-3000 could be garnering more complaints than anything else. If you’ll recall, the aforesaid system was touted as having a brighter, better screen than the PSP-2000, but now the PlayStation forums are filling up with irate PSP-3000 buyers who are experiencing unexplained scanlines and totally peculiar interlacing problems. As you can see above, the 3000’s screen looks noticeably worse than that of the 2000, and while we always hope that these issues are contained, we have at least one Engadget staffer and a Joystiq comrade who can attest to this being real. SCEA has been contacted and is currently “looking into” the matter — we won’t dare say that r-word just yet, but this doesn’t look particularly good on the surface. We’ll keep you posted.

source

Thanks for the news tip Momma Bear!!

Popsloader for 5.00 M33-2 and above has been released. Here are the details:

Requirements:

5.00 M33-2, it won’t work in 5.00 M33-1

New Features:

- Works on 5.00.
- Added 3.80, 3.90 and 4.01.

Upgrade from older version of popsloader:

* Copy seplugins to memstick root folder replacing files.
* Dump 4.01 (choose decrypt all option in psardumper) and copy the file impose.prx in /seplugins/popsloader/ with that name (impose.prx, without numbers)

Install from scratch:

* Copy seplugins to memstick root folder replacing files.
* Dump the desired firmware to extract the files needed (choose decrypt all option in psardumper).

These are the files needed for each firmware:

3.02-3.03: /kd/pops.prx, /kd/popsman.prx, /kd/meaudio.prx, /vsh/module/pafmini.prx
3.10-3.30: /kd/pops.prx, /kd/popsman.prx, /vsh/module/pafmini.prx
3.40-4.01: /kd/pops.prx, /kd/popsman.prx, /vsh/module/pafmini.prx, /vsh/module/libpspvmc.prx

* Copy the files to /seplugins/popsloader with firmware version as suffix (e.g. popsman.prx -> popsman380.prx)
* Additionally, no matter which pops you want to run, you have to get impose.prx from 4.01and
copy it to /seplugins/popsloader/ with the name impose.prx (no suffix).

You can download the popsloader for 5.00 M33-2 here.