As I mention fairly frequently, I am an RPG guy. I spent most of my life playing almost exclusively RPG games, FPS games were the furthest from my spectrum. Of course these days I am much more open minded, there is far more that defines a game than what genre it is classified as. In fact I would almost say that action/RPG hybrid games like the Star Ocean series, the Tales series or even Diablo can be even better than straight up RPGs. The marriage of the RPG character building elements and the action combat can make for some real good times. One of the less common forms this takes however is a shooter. When I first heard about Borderlands, it was described to me as what World of Warcraft would look like as an FPS, and I was intrigued. Top it all off with the fact that the game is cel shaded, and I knew I had to have this game. I just love cel shading, what can I say. My one line review of this game: “While there are parts of Borderlands that are as dry and empty as the desert world it takes place on, Borderlands does a superb job of hitting both the RPG and the FPS nerve simultaneously”.
As of the writing of this post, the wait for Final Fantasy XIII has been whittled down to a mere 2 weeks. 14 days from now, the one game I have been looking forward to the most for almost 4 years now will finally grace my television screen. Needless to say I’m quite excited about that, but it also reminds me of a somewhat regrettable fact. See, I never actually beat Final Fantasy XII. I played the heck out of it (60+ hours), but I never beat it. I think back to when Final Fantasy XII was released, and I was quite excited about it, too. I bought the collector’s edition of the game, which came in a nifty metal case and included a bonus disc with interviews and whatnot, as well as a strategy guide and art book. I remember it came out on Halloween, and I was so excited to get playing yet had to hand out candy at the same time. I must have watched the opening cinematic half a dozen times before I saw the whole thing. I got into the game big time and played it constantly for a good while, but in the end I became rather disenchanted with it and ultimately put it up on the shelf where my save file still remains in the final dungeon. Like so many other games, Final Fantasy XII did a lot of things really well, but just couldn’t overcome what were in my mind fatal flaws. With the next game in the series so close to fruition, I thought I would take some time and examine what I think of Final Fantasy XII when I look back on it.
Friday Night and I don’t know what to post about… Hmm… Well it just so happens that the PTR for World of Warcraft patch 3.3.3 was just activated, too! I haven’t gotten on the PTR yet myself, but I’m furiously downloading and got my characters copied over already. So in lieu of real content, here is a whole whack of information on patch 3.3.3, as well as some things coming even further down the line. Also, yes I did ninja most of this off of MMO Champion. It was a lot of work fixing up all the formatting though! There may well be more information released after this is posted as well, so keep an eye on MMO Champion if you want the most up to date news on this kind of stuff.
The Legend of Zelda series is one of the oldest and most recognized video game series in existence, and for a good reason. While Zelda has always been among Nintendo’s strongest console titles, there have been a whole lot of handheld Zelda games as well. Starting 17 years ago, with “Link’s Awakening” on the original gameboy, Zelda has had a strong handheld presence to supplement it’s monolithic console titles through the years. In 2007 the series made it onto the outrageously popular Nintendo DS with “Phantom Hourglass”, sporting a fully stylus controlled world bearing a striking similarity to the cel shaded world of the Wind Waker. It was a very enjoyable game, but one couldn’t help but notice that the world felt rather small, even compared to previous handheld Zeldas. Turn the clock ahead a few years, and now we have the DS’ encore performance in the form of “Spirit Tracks”. My one line review of this game: Take Phantom Hourglass, switch the boat for a train and add the occasional controllable sidekick, and Spirit Tracks is what you have.
Heavy Rain is a game that has received a whole lot of buzz over the last few months. While it isn’t a traditional game by any means, it’s one of those games that are one in a million. It isn’t a game everyone is going to be excited about, and indeed it certainly won’t be a game everyone likes. I mentioned it briefly a little while ago when I discussed the merits of story vs. gameplay, but the abridged version is that Heavy Rain tries to be something of a cross between an interactive movie and a choose your own adventure book. It’s unique in that, this PS3 exclusive title puts the vast majority of it’s efforts into building a cast of characters with unparalleled emotions, as well as a deep, compelling story which unfolds differently based on your actions. The question is, does this make for an enjoyable video game? Well this Thursday just past saw the release of the Heavy Rain demo on the Playstation Network, and here is what I thought:
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