Import Worthy - Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!

Now that I've had enough play time with the game, it's about time I give this awesome title it's import worthy post. For those not familiar with Ouendan, it's a music and rythm type game made by InIs, of Gitaroo Man fame. You play as 3 male chearleaders helping people through their problems by doing what they do best... chearing them on! Okay, I admit this seems like a weird unattractive setting for the game, BUT everything about this game is worth every penny it'll cost you to import it.

The first thing you'll notice playing this game is that the songs are of very good quality, even sporting lyrics unlike DaiGasso! Band-Brothers. A lot of people have been disapointed by the music and sound quality in some DS games, but the music and sound quality in this game truly shine, even when using the DS speakers. But as with other games like ElektroPlankton, you'll get even better sound when using some good old headphones. The game features 15 japanese songs ranging from the fast pace Ready Steady Go (theme song of Full Metal Alchemist) to some slightly melow music like Over the Distance. For players of DaiGasso! Band-Brothers, two of the songs return with lyrics : Ready Steady Go from L'Arc~en~Ciel and Shangai Honey by Orange Range, the same band that did the first Bleach theme song Asterisk.

The game is a blast to play, the single player game will keep you playing for a while. You start out with an easy and normal difficulty, and then unlock the hard mode. I am currently on the last song of the hard mode, so I can't say for sure if there's an even thougher mode or not. I will say though that if you can complete Hard mode with A or S ranks everywhere, you've acomplished quite a feat. There is also a pretty cool multiplayer mode packed in here that I rarely see anyone talking about. The multiplayer mode features a co-op and versus modes of play for 2 to 4 players. In co-op, each player takes turn playing parts of the song, while in versus mode both players play for the better score, sending a quake like effect to the other player when you do well. The versus mode include new animations to the songs, so it's great to try out even if it's just to see the new animations. You will need a cart for every player to play in multiplayer, so try to get your friends to buy the game if you plan on buying it. There is a DS Download feature, but it will only send the training level... just enough to get others gasping for more.

The game plays entirely using the stylus, you won't use any other buttons on the DS for this one. The gameplay is pretty simple, but that doesn't mean this is easy. You'll get a little manga explanation of what troubles a particuliar character (ranging from trying to get a girl's heart over a dodgeball match to a salaryman turning into a giant to fight off a giant mouse that was trying to either crush or kidnap a schoolgirl), then the Ouendan team arrives and the stage starts. Circles appear on the screen and you have to tap them as another concentric circle overlaps it. Now add like 7-13 of these on screen and some very excellent music and cutscenes on the top screen and you have a very enjoyable game. There are also some sections that you have to drag across the screen and some spinners that will require you to spin your stylus across the screen as fast as you can. The cutscenes that populates the level are hilarious and not hard to understand even if you're not japanese. This is all hard to explain in text, so if you're interested in this game, you can check out some videos on a lot of sites online.

This game will be in my DS for quite a while. Like all games of this genre you can play these for a while since there's always a better score to achieve or it's just plain fun to play. The soundtrack was very well chosen, and you won't get bored with these songs. I recommend this game for anyone, and if you're not sure if you should buy it or not.... BUY IT! It's really worth the money, and if you don't beleive me, check out this little article I've found here. I have to say they're right on all those points. :P

Legend of Dragoon Review

Here's a somewhat old game (dated from 2000) from SCEA for the PSX. I'm holding on to this game for someone else, so I decided to play it sduring my free time. This is a fairly standard RPG, very similiar to FF VII, VIII and IX in style. It took me around 55 to 60 hours to beat the game having mastered all the additions.

Graphically, it comes out pretty good as a PSX title. Nothing too spectacular, with in-game graphics being at about FF IX level with good quality FMVs once in a while. This game plays out like you'd expect from an RPG, with a World map, a field map and the battle scenes. You can't free roam on the world map, you are restricted to the paths available to you. This is not a bad thing, as I did not need to level up too much and this keeps the game more centered on the story. The field maps are of the 3D characters on pre-rendered model variety. The fights are random on either map and uses an interesting battle system.

You set up Addition attacks on each of your characters which are pretty much like combos. The way this work is that when you attack, you'll see a blue square in the middle of the screen and another big one shrinking until it's small the the first one. When both squares are equal you have to press the x button to do you addition attack, causing more damage and gaining more SP. Some addition have up to 6 addition attack to perform, dealing a lot of damage but also requiring a bit of getting used to.

By gaining SP you will fill up an SP gauge for that character enabling him to go into dragoon mode. In dragoon mode you only have two options, Dragoon attack and Dragoon Magic. Both are very powerful, but the Magic uses MP points. You also gain bonuses to most stats while in dragoon form, so use this to your advantage in tight situations.

The story follows Dart as he tries to avenge the murder of his parents by the Black monsters, while trying to protect Shana, his childhood friend. Along the way, Dart will acquire the power of the dragoon which will greatly help him along the way. He will also be joined by a wide array of characters including Haschel, a martial arts expert and Rose, a mysterious dragoon who seems to know a lot about the world and it's history. Expect some plot twists and some interesting scenes as the groups makes their way from their personal goals to saving the world from destruction.

I had some fun playing this game and would recommend this game to people who likes the PSX FF games and are still looking for others to play. I wouldn't recommend people to go out of their way to play it though, as there are many other RPGs they can experience on the newer consoles.

Two week "Vacation"

Well, I've been slacking off back home for the past two weeks and I think it's been the most productive two weeks of the summer gaming wise. Got around to finishing Xenosaga II, Splinter Cell and Legend of Dragoon. Hehe, yeah the two last ones are a bit old but I wanted to play them eventually. I played Splinter Cell mostly to eventually play Chaos Theory, it looks pretty nice. I'll have reviews of both of those games up here as well soon, I'm trying to keep tabs of games I've finished this way, as well as develop some good writing skills. I also got an "old" Power Mac 8600 Series that someone gave to us, I'm gonna play with that a while. That's about it from now, should be back in Moncton within this week.

Xenosaga II Review

Here's a review of another game I finished this week, I'm going to try and write a review for every game I complete from now on. I'm on the last CD of Legend of Dragoon, so I should have a review of that game shortly as well. I've had this game for quite a while, but didn't get around to finishing it until recently, so with that said, here's my review of Xenosaga II.

This game picks up right after the original Xenosaga, starting with a small chapter introducing a new character (Jin) and showing the events of what happened in old millitia some years before. After that you're thrown back with the returning characters of the first game as you approach Second Miltia. I won't say more than this on the story, except that it focuses more on Jr. and his past for this chapter. Expect a lot of cutscenes and a lot of development like the first one. The pace for this game is a bit faster, but you'll reach the end still wanting to see the rest of the series. For fans of Xenogears, this game is even more packed with references to it, even if Namco and Monolith still says there are no ties between the two games. For those who doesn't know, Xenogears was supposed to be the 5th chapter of a 5 game saga, but they never did the other games.

The graphics engine has been upgraded since the first Xenosaga. The environment are even more detailed and even bigger. The characters did receive a bit of a change in character design, making them look a bit more mature. This change was a good move from the designers as this chapter is a bit more serious and the series will be taking a much more serious path in the later chapters. The cutscenes in this game still are in real time (except for 1 or two exceptions), complete with voice acting and the ability to pause. Pausing during the cutscenes in this series is vital as some cutscenes can be as long as 30 minutes to about an hour. The voice acting in the game isn't the best ever, but it will get you throught the game. The Music in the game is also great, never bothering what's happening on the screen and well suited for the scene being played out.

The game plays a bit differently in this chapter of the series. You still walk around the map and are able to destroy obstacles and see the enemies, but the fighting has been a bit redesigned. The skills you learn are now "bought" for each character using Skill points. As the character finish fights, he accumulates these skill points and can then use them to buy the skill they want from the skill tree. The tree is composed of levels and classes. You need class point to unlock the classes and you need a complete class of a level to unlock the next level. You gain class points as you complete classes and there are also some items that gives you class points. Some skill are used in battle as ether skills, while some are always on and others are to be equipped.

There have been a few changes to the actual flow of battle as well. The boost system is still present, as well as the special attributes of the turn. You can now achieve Arial and Ground combos to deal some extra damage. Each enemy has a break sequence where if you hit him with the right combination of A, B and C attacks his guard will break and then you can send him flying, or send him to the ground. This is achieved by using two characters and boosting to finish the break and then boosting while the enemy is in the air/on the ground to deal the extra attacks. This is an important strategy of the game and will save your life in some really hard boss battles. You can't switch to the AWGs during battle in this game. The AWGs have been replaced by the E.S. which are more like the gears in Xenogears. You will only fight in gears when you are walking around on the map using the gears. The gears also have their own levels, so they need to be leveled seperately as you play with them.

This is a game that I would easily recommend to any RPG fans. There are still other chapters to come, I've heard of there being 5 to 7 chapters in total once it's all done. If you haven't picked up the first chapter yet, go ahead and do so. If you like it, you will undoubtedly pick up the second chapter immediately afterwards as this game has a pretty good storyline and will keep you wanting more. As a little bonus, there is an endgame part in the second game. Once you finish it, you still have like 2 extra dungeons and some added quests to keep you playing the game, as well as some extra items and skills.

Killer7 Review

The game's been out for a while and I did say I'd do a post about this a couple of days ago, so here goes. This game has received mixed reviews because of the amount of people that were expecting another type of game. Even though the game has been announced as being a rail shooter, a lot of people bought it thinking it was a first person shooter(FPS). And an FPS this is not.

First of all, Killer7 is all about style. The soundtrack, the art direction, the characters themselves, everything in the game was created with a lot of style. The game itself looks like a pretty animated comic book. The cell shading in this game complements the twisted story and fits the game quite well. Instead of using a lot of detailed textures like some other cell shaded games, this one uses very simple textures, which helps in keeping the comic book style. The death animations of the Heaven Smiles are pretty neat as well, making them disperse pile of blood spheres that streams accross the screen to your character. Everything is followed by some pretty good Sound FX and a very good soundtrack. Also don't forget the nice anime videos made by J.C. Staff that you will see during some levels.

The gameplay is what you'd expect of a rail shooter. Except you also have a 3rd person mode to run along the different paths of the levels where you'll solve the puzzles and find more Heaven Smiles. The 3rd person mode is pretty straight forward, hold A and you'll go forward, press B and you'll turn around. When you do know Heaven Smiles are nearby, you need to hold the R trigger to go in first person mode and that's when the fun begins. You have to press the L trigger to scan the area and be able to see the heaven smiles. Once that's done, you have to kill them before they reach you, and the easiest way to do so is to shoot their weak point. The weak point is visible as a yellow spot in one of the enemy's limbs. If you shoot the weak spot, it's dead. Every character has different weapon, and the ammo is unlimited. You will have to reload the clips though.

You collect two types of blood from the enemies, thin blood and thick blood. Thin blood is used to heal yourself during the level and to use charged up shots. Thick blood is used to create serum to upgrade your characters. Upgrading your characters makes them shoot faster, more accurately and also makes it easier to hit the critical parts of the enemies. Some characters have different upgrades than others, but the basics are power, speed, waver and criticals. When you level up those, you sometimes unlock abilities to help you kill hollows like counters and down attacks. Each character has a special skill that makes him invaluable for the different puzzles. In fact, some puzzles can only be completed when using certain characters.

Now to talk a bit about the story. I'm not gonna spoil anything, as it would make the game much less fun to play. The Killer7 are contract killers that are lead by Harman Smith. His right hand man Harman is the only one who speaks to him, and he is also the one receiving the different assignments from Mills. On assignments, Gracian can change to any of the other personalities at any time. The individual personalities each has their story, and you will learn about them through the game. You will also meet other characters that will show up regularly, like Travis who will help you along the way and the annoying Izawaru who will give you hints as you progress through the level. The story is hard to follow at first, but once you reach the final chapter, it starts falling in together and you will learn what you need to know about the story.

All in all, this is a good game. It has it's challenges, and the puzzles aren't too hard. I would definetely recommend this game, at least as a rental. This game is not for everyone though, so I'd say to only buy it if you enjoy these rail shooter type games or if you like collecting cool looking things.

Relaxing... also looking for another source of income.

I finally quit from Client Logic after 3 weeks of work. I left the job last Thursday after my shift, at least I can pay rent with what I made there. I'm relaxing a bit again, but I'll try to find another job, or at least a way to make some money to pay back some things. I've finished Killer7, was planning to do a review of the game in this post, but I'm heading home for the week-end in about an hour and a half, so I'll write the review while I'm back home.

Wish I had more free time.

I finally got around to start playing some games again. I started playing Shining Tear before work monday and now I'm taking my before work time as game playing time. I'm thinking of finally finishing xenosaga II after I am done with shining tear, which shouldn't be too long. I started taking calls Tuesday, and I have to say it's not too fun. I was supposed to start monday, but since they couldn't put me in the queue all I had to do was shadow calls. I had Dial training today, it was rather boring, but also easy and didn't involve taking calls.

I'm not sure how long I'll stay at this job, but I will stay at least till the end of next week so I can make some more money, working even longer than that would be a real plus though. Now it's time to go get some sleep before another day of work.