Monday 31 May 2010

Update: News on My Soul Calibur 2 Review and a New Feature!

Aloha. This marks my first update post since I started up my blog again. This post is basically just to talk about what's coming up as well as a few minor updates. Let's get started...

Where's this Soul Calibur 2 Review then?
Well, I've been playing it. Trying so desperately to keep myself away from Brawl (which is kind of hard because I need to practise for a tourney) and TvC. As of this moment I haven't actually started writing, but I've been jotting some ideas down. I'm trying to improve on my reviews, structure wise. Hopefully, I will succeed. Expect this to be my best review yet!

And what's After That?
Well, I've ditched the Infinite Space review for several reasons. One, It's actually so boring to play through. two, I'm selling it to get money for Galaxy 2 and three, I don't really have any time to play it; Most of my gaming sessions have been ruled by Disgaea, Tatsunoko VS Capcom, Brawl and of course, Soul Calibur 2. Speaking of Disgaea, I have indeed started playing that again and am planning a Re-Review. Before that though, a requested review (vote here!) will follow Soul Calibur 2. Currently, I only have one vote. Get on the Reviews List page and vote! Please...

Anything Before All That?
Good question. Well, E3 is coming up (June 14th to be precise) so I've decided to do two features based around the massive gaming event. The first of these features will be my predictions, and the second will be on the actual conference itself, after it's all happened. I'm currently working on the first of these features so look out for that before June 14th.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

An Old Review: Final Fantasy IV DS

What you guys are about to read certainly ain't pretty. The text below was the first review I ever wrote, and looking back on it now, I can safely say I have improved. A lot. Still, I dug this up today from ONM and decided to post it here. I've gone through it a bit to sort out capital letters and things, but you'll still notice countless grammar issues here and there. Fact fans: I wrote and posted this back in 2008 (1st November to be precise.)

Final Fantasy IV DS
The final fantasy series, we've had it 17 years and it is still a must for both RPG fanatics and newcomers to the genre. 

The second final fantasy game ever to be released in English was final fantasy iv in America (named ff 2 since America never got the real two and three, until recent GBA and DS remakes) and this was one of the hardest and most loved RPGs of its time, and now, we finally have it. Yes, another remake. 

OK, so we've been getting a lot of Final Fantasy remakes since the GBA was released, and we really want something new from square, but this is still great. 

The story goes, the main character is a dark knight named Cecil, who soon suspects there is something wrong with his king, and decides to try and ask the king of why he has to steal crystals from hopeless citizens on other kingdoms. Only to find he is stripped of his knight brigade and told that he must steal another crystal. 
After seeing too much death and despair, Cecil sets out with his best mate Kain, to stop a new evil that has risen. That's all i can say for now, but the story gets very deep and interesting, so maybe you should go out and buy yourself a copy too see for yourself. 

I never expected so many new features to be packed into a remake, one of these new features is a new Whyt system, made simply for something to do on Nintendo Wi-Fi. The Why is an Eidolon that belongs to Rydia, a summoner, but i mustn't reveal too much spoilers, so I'll just leave the characters for now. Anyway, the Whyt can be trained up by playing some actually really fun mini-games, which consist of a goblin slashing game, a mathematics game, and many more that can be unlocked as your party grows. You can also give your Whyt a name, a custom make-over with the stylus, and use him in battle, even though he's quite useless. 

Overall, Final Fantasy IV DS is incredibly deep and involving and will attract both RPG fanatics and casual gamers. But alas, it's time square made us something new, and I mean new, not another gimmick like renevant wings. This is still definately worth your 25 quid though. 


+ Incredibly deep and involving
+ Awesome 3d cutscenes 
+ Great characters in your party 
+ Worth it for your money, but... 
- ...it's really time for something new


91% 
Great work Square, but it's time you gave us a brand new game.




I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of my past. It's awful, I know, but a nice little insight I suppose.

Saturday 22 May 2010

Feature: 5 Things I Want In the Next Smash Bros Game

Smash Bros. It's a series that has gained so much popularity from both the casual and hardcore crowd despite only having 3 iterations. It's common sense for HAL Labs to make another game, whether It'll be on a home console or a handheld. Today, to celebrate the return of my blog and the incredible Smash Bros games, I've decided to do a feature on this series based around what I want done with the next iteration; 5 ideas I've come up with that could be used to make Smash Bros more exciting (as if it wasn't hectic enough already!)

For this feature I've set three rules, the first one being that these ideas would be based on a home console game, not a handheld one. The next rule is no obvious ideas. For example, it's kind of obvious HAL would make the next game include flashier graphics or that they'll enhance move sets again. I've made exceptions for characters, stages and music though, as there I can make suggestions of what I want in that category. The final rule is that similar ideas will be in the same sub-heading, take New/Returning Characters below for example. And that's it. Anyway, let's begin...

New/Returning Characters
Let's start with something obvious and expand on it. We all know that each Smash Bros game has included new characters, but what if they did something a little different? What if they brought back some of the lost characters? Sure, it's not that exciting, but I liked Mewtwo (not sarcasm) and for those who hate Toon Link (can't think of anyone) why not bring back Young Link from Ocarina of Time? Still, there are some characters I wouldn't care for if they returned, such as Dr Mario and Pichu. Roy also deserves a mention, I'm sure some people preferred him over Ike. Now that I've dealt with returning characters, let's go onto new characters I'd like to see in the next Smash Bros. Some may work, some might not, I just want them in the game.

When Nintendo announced 3rd party characters for Brawl Smash Bros fans where shell shocked, and with that in mind, you instantly want more. Sure, the ability to play as Mario's main rival from the old days was pretty awesome, and it was astonishing to see good old Solid Snake get stuck into some Nintendo action, but 2 characters? Compared to the other 33 1st and 2nd party fighters, that's nothing. I would love to see more MGS characters in the next game, especially Raiden. Others that spring to mind are EVA, as well as Liquid Snake, Ocelot from MGS3 and possibly Old Snake and Big Boss. More Sonic characters is obvious too. I'd like to see Shadow, Tails, Knux and Dr Robotnik fit under this category. Now onto new fighters on the 1st party side of things. I'd quite like to see guys from Golden Sun get into the action as actual playable characters this time, as well as more dudes from the Zelda series. Wouldn't it be great to play as every one's favourite princess (Midna) or Zant? How about Vaati too? everyone loved him! To end this subject, I might as well say that I don't want any more Mario characters (except maybe Geno from Super Mario RPG) since there's already too many. That would count for levels too...

New and More Balanced Stages
If you ask me, Brawl has far too many Mario stages; this is why I'd like it for the next game to have a more balanced selection of arenas to fight on. I'm not saying HAL should scrap any of the stages, but to balance it out so there are an about even selection of cool areas to fight in. They ought to treat us to more locations from the Zelda series, as Brawl only contained 2 brand new levels from that series, despite being one of Nintendo's flagship series' next to Mario. Really, this problem needs sorting out.

Now onto all new stages. Brawl featured a brilliant stage based on Warioware, which had you playing microgames while brawling; these ranged from not staying completely still to popping balloons by attacking them. I'd love them to do more stages like this, with new in-game microgames. More Starfox and F-Zero levels need a shout too, as they've been some of the more hectic battlefields of late. How about bringing back more Melee stages too? I loved Termina Bay and Mushroom Kingdom 2 and was sad to find they didn't make a comeback in Brawl. Also, they need to keep all the levels from Brawl for the next game, they were all awesome.