Final Fantasy XIII Review: Imported For Your Benefit

“Final Fantasy XIII” was released just before the Christmas holiday in Japan, and I was lucky enough to obtain a copy from The Land of the Rising Sun.  The new installment takes a modernistic approach on it’s story telling, focusing more on more and the main story, and less on multiple side quests.  Set between a small hovering moon pandemic with futuristic originality, and an abandoned planet, “Final Fantasy XIII” is stoked with drama and an underlying theme of fighting against your fate.  In this installment, the directors hope to move you through what could be one of the most action packed filled “Final Fantasy” games in a long time.  [Continue Reading]

I’ve Never Played a Final Fantasy; Shall We Give It a Go? Continued…

There are several hallmarks of truly a great game. I’m not planning on voicing them all now, but there is one that in particular that applies, even now, to “Final Fantasy 7″; any game that can anchor you to one spot for in excess of six hours has to be good, whether or not you can figure out exactly why. The only reason I can deduce, other than the hypnotic effect of the art design, is that its one of those “greater than the sum of its parts” scenarios.

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I’ve Never Played a Final Fantasy; Shall We Give It a Go?

Apparently the fact that Final Fantasy XIII is making its way to Xbox 360 as well as PS3 next spring has been  a subject of much controversy since the announcement at E3 last year. A few days ago I was talking about the Playstation steadily losing the strings to its bow, and if I’m to believe the hysteria, then the Final Fantasy series must represent some sort of coup. Despite growing up on Playstation, not to mention all of the above, I personally have never played a single game in this series, something I have been led to believe to be absolute sacrilege for the last few years. So f*ck it I thought; why spend time getting good and depressed about my dying hero when I can stuff my cheeks with cotton buds and drown myself in nostalgia. [Continue Reading]

Dissidia: Final Fantasy Review: A Massive Battle On A Tiny System

“Dissidia: Final Fantasy” is the gaming world’s ultimate amalgam. It not only takes characters from ten different entries within the “Final Fantasy” universe, but throws them into a game that’s a combination of both the RPG and fighting genres. While that mixture may seem a bit odd, “Dissidia” seems to have something for everyone, and the end result is a delicious “Final Fantasy” gumbo, that will have fans of either genre battling it out for months to come. [Continue Reading]

Crystal Defenders Review: A Frustrating Trip Down Memory Lane

I’ve never been one to get excited about tower defense games. I had a brief stint with “Pixeljunk Monsters,” and, for the most part, enjoyed it, but aside from that, my history with the genre is brief. Then along came “Crystal Defenders”; A tower defense game from Square Enix that borrows heavily from the “Final Fantasy” universe (most notably “Tactics”). Yet, while people will buy the game simply because of its association with the franchise, only serious tower defense enthusiasts need apply, as “Crystal Defenders” too often becomes a mundane and monotonous process of trail and error. [Continue Reading]

E3 ‘09: Post E3 Thoughts From DW

If you ever had the opportunity I would highly recommend that you go to E3. While the cost of attending can be steep, I think that it would well worth it for anyone who plays and loves video games.  If you go their to work though, I’m sure you may look at the experience a little differently.  For those of us who don’t have to work when we attend, it’s can be a great experience.

I really enjoyed God of War 3. Wasn’t that expected?  Well being the last game in the series, Sony needs to out do themselves in every wa yet again.  With the way things look, it looks like they may just accomplish a three-peat.  I don’t think the game will any one “specific” desire of a gamer but it may do a good job of satisfying you mostly.  It was easy to play and fun maintaining everything you know about the series and adding some new gameplay mechanics here and there.  It may not have the visual fidelity of Heavy Rain but it is still impressive looking; especially when you consider the camera work and other visual tones added to the game.  Sony seemed to have been in full force this year and they had way more titles to show off compared to the last two E3 Shows.  If you haven’t seen the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves live demo during the E3 press conference, I highly recommend that you do.  Naughty Dog will go down in history as being one the greatest developers for Sony of all time. [Continue Reading]

E3 ‘09: Final Fantasy XIII US Revealed

In this extended trailer you not only get to see the Summons Shiva and Odin, but for the non-Otaku fans out there, this is the complete English voice over; with the English menu system.  As you can see, from the summoning magic, it works a lot like Final Fantasy VII, per SquareEnix via a Charge-Gauge.  Though the comparable system to FFVII wasn’t intentional, expect an even faster battle system than the one used in the Final Fantasy VII.

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E3 ‘09: Sony Preps For Their Biggest Year Yet

Yikes, I have a lot to get to, here. Yesterday, Sony followed up Nintendo’s mediocre conference with their own press conference filled with huge announcements. While I still think Micorsoft stole the show with their Project Natal, Sony came in at a very close second, and it looks like the PS3 (and PSP) have their biggest year ahead of them yet. [Continue Reading]

E3 ‘09: Nintendo Dazzles and Wows… If You’re A Casual Gamer

OK, so this will be more of a live blog of sorts as I will be writing this while the press conference is showing. So bare with me, if there are a few mistakes or things I may have forgotten.

Nintendo executive Cammie Dunaway is introduced and gets right into it by firing off Nintendo’s biggest gun right out of the gate , unveiling “New Super Mario Bros 2″ for the Wii. The game will let four people take control of characters from the mushroom kingdom, introducing an new form of co-op not seen in a 2d Mario bros game before. “New Super Mario Bros 2″ is set for release this holiday season, and will be playable all week on the show floor. [Continue Reading]

Ten Minutes In Heaven … A.K.A. Final Fantasy XIII

Hey guys, whats going on? I have an exciting video for you all today. Check it out below and you will see that it is the first ten minutes of the Japanese demo of “Final Fantasy XIII.” The game, which is running on the PS3, looks phenomenal. Game producer Yoshinori Kitase says that the game will be using nearly 100% of the PS3’s power, and, from the looks of it, he’s telling the truth. Even though the video is a little dark, the visuals seem to be some of the best I’ve seen for the system.

I’m not the biggest RPG fan (the only “FF” I’ve spent a good amount of time with was VIII) but this one is definitely going in my library and I can’t wait to scope it out. [Continue Reading]

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