N is an indie computer game developed by Metanet Software. It’s 100% free, and for a free game, it packs a hell of a lot of content. The levels are each unique and challenging and what I truley love about this title is that it’s just pure platforming. No storyline, no background story, no cutscenes, no bullshit. Just pure running and jumping.

So you play a ninja, or ninja shaped man-person, and your goal is to get to the exit door. Sounds easy enough right? Well now throw in some switches and buttons and some frustrating enemies, and hey, you have N. The enemies are very well designed, and well suited for each level, and the challenge each enemy offers is unique and often times frustrating. You have: Automated Robots, Lock-on Robots, Lock-on Missiles, Targeting Lasers, Snipers, Steel Thwomps, and Sliding Rocks. All of these can kill you, and you can’t do a damn thing about it except dodge and run. That’s what makes N unique from other platforming games, in most games you have the option to eliminate enemies, in N you must run to survive. Oh yeah, don’t forget the landmines, sit there waiting for you to fall or jump into them.

The levels range from a piece of pie, to a walk through the bowels of hell, and I wish I was kidding, some of the levels are so timed that it may take you 100 or more times to beat that single stage. Despite the complexity of some parts, each level is well designed in the way that it’s completely beatable, and it’s open to be beaten as you like. You wanna be that risky mofo that runs toward danger? That’s fine, you’ll still find a way to beat the level. You wanna be the cautious kid that takes it slow and logically? That’s fine too, you’ll probably do better than the risky mofo.

Top off all this platforming with some user-based content, and you’ve got yourself an A+ game. That’s right, you can access other people’s levels and play extra levels just for sheer fun. There is a huge range of levels to play, and level types range from ridiculously difficult, to do nothing to win, to even art created with blocks.

If you want to take N a bit farther, or you want more platforming goodness, there is also N+, available for the PSP, DS, and the XBL marketplace. With N+ you get portability to platform in the game, while you platform in real life, and more original content. Though N+ is not free, the game completely deserves it’s price. Either way, if you enjoy platforming, N or N+ should definitely be one of the titles you check out.

Not much is known about the game at this time, except for it obviously being based on the movie, which is loosely based on the anime (and I mean very loosely, if you’ve seen the trailers). The game is slated to be released on April 9, around the same time the movie itself opens in theaters. Namco is set to publish it, and it will be on the PSP only.

Judging from screenshots, it seems more like another Tekken copycat (and a poor looking one at that) instead of the high flying, beam tossing action in the anime games. Then again, Namco is responsible for the Tekken series itself, plus the Soul Calibur line of games, so they may have better chances at making the game seem more attractive at least.

Is anyone else getting flashbacks of the Street Fighter live action movie?

That’s essentially the rallying cry of the watchdog group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, or CCFC. The name may ring a bell to those who follow the gaming news; those who don’t, well, really didn’t miss much. 

Once again the CCFC’s antics don’t fail to deliver on the entertainment value, and this time the object of their (pointless) ire is Lego Batman: The Videogame. Why, you ask? I don’t know either. 

Let’s try to rationalize the two basic components of Lego Batman: The Videogame:

• Lego = good, educational, mindless fun.
• Batman = awesome story revolving around the concept of justice and about how crime doesn’t pay. 

I certainly don’t see any problem with it; it looks like a winning formula when looked at from any angle. But of course, CCFC being a watchdog group that dedicates itself to the unneeded, unwanted, and unnecessary cause of taking commercialism away from childhood, they condemned Lego Batman as a virtual spawn of commercial Satan, including it in their list of Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young Children. Check out their write-up:

How do you turn the ultimate creative toy into a symbol of commercialized childhood?  Begin by partnering with media companies to sell that toy in branded kits designed for recreating movies like Star Wars, rather than creative construction.  Then, dispense with hands-on building altogether by turning your toy into a video game so that instead of deciding what to build next, children choose which cyber weapons to use to beat up their opponent.  Finally, ignore the fact it was rated suitable for ages 10 & up and partner with McDonald’s for a Happy Meal toy giveaway to simultaneously promote the video game, junk food, and the violent Dark Knight movie series to preschoolers.

See, the root of the problem (and sadly, the existence) of CCFC lies with the misguided reasoning that commercialism is bad, bad, bad for children. Blame the people of older generations who wistfully say things beginning with “You know, in the old days we [insert nice but horribly outdated activity here].” This is not to say that old games rife with physical activities are passe; this is to say that things change as time passes. What’s interesting to kids now is decidedly different compared to what was awesome during the collective childhoods of the people who comprise the CCFC.

Let’s be open-minded here. Commercialism has become and now always will be a part of every childhood. There will always be the fictional heroes that children want to idolize, there will always be merchandise related to those “heroes” that children would want to have, to let them bring a piece of their beloved idol along wherever they go. Like the Lego Batman toys and their virtual counterpart, the videogame. 

We shouldn’t also forget about the people whose lives are sustained by this aspect of childhood, and included among them are those who work in the videogame industry, who are now sadly experiencing the brunt of the current economic crisis. But the CCFC doesn’t care, right? All they care about is thinking for the children, yes?

Which brings us to my next point: why bother thinking for the children when there’s a great, awesome invention already available for this very function? Yes, I am talking about the Parental Units, also known as Mum and Dad.

These self-professed watchdogs are the very reason why people nowadays don’t exercise their ability to think for themselves or to be accountable by their actions. At the risk of saying something that has been said ad nauseum, parents are responsible in looking out for their children. Watchdogs dedicating themselves to the noble cause of saving children are, in essence, good, but at the end of the day, the parents are the ones ultimately responsible for molding their children’s thinking, especially when some of the watchdogs in question are spouting inane statements such as:

Finally, ignore the fact it was rated suitable for ages 10 & up and partner with McDonald’s for a Happy Meal toy giveaway to simultaneously promote the video game, junk food, and the violent Dark Knight movie series to preschoolers.

Last time I heard, ESRB and ratings exist. Again, another horrible example of them assuming that parents don’t and can’t provide the much-needed guidance to their kids.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen?

In LocoRoco you take the roll of an incredibly happy go lucky…well blob, for lack of a better term. Via some very innovative controls, (using the L an R keys on your PSP you ’tilt’ the screen to enable yourself to roll around, across and over obstacles.) By chowing down on food scattered through the levels you grow in size and accumulate a form of points.

It’s puzzle platforming done right, though I use the term platforming loosely.

The screaming often accompanied by the actions in the game are all voiced by children too, it’s a sort of wacky notion but works well with the theme of the game, to really lead you into a frivolous care free sort of… childishness. Now as simple as those controls sound, you will find yourself shouting and yelling in frustration as you don’t properly time your maneuvers.

Certain times the game will have you attempting to tilt quickly to bounce yourself into the air, splitting apart into smaller versions of yourself to get through narrow spaces, or to float on a strong gust of wind; it’s all very clever. However as clever as this is; it is also very difficult in parts, especially in bonus areas when attempting to gather extra food.

There are other characters in the game that you will interact with though that’s the key phrase, interact. You need to figure out how to make use of the other things you find in the game, which may help progress the plot along, or open up secret areas for you to explore and collect more friends.

In the first game; there were 6 of our giant LocoRoco friends to play as; the sequel brings a big purple friend along for the party. A couple new areas also come our way with new themes and layouts from the previous game and some new mini-games as well that are incredibly adorable.

LocoRoco 2 debuted in December over in Japan, where I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of it from a friend of mine. However for those of us who don’t have a friend in the Navy, it will be coming to our shores February 10th. Though if you’re itching to play it now, word is at your local Gamestop you can pre-order to get your hands on a demo of it, made available through Sony’s Playstation Network.

I still can’t get enough of those kids singing and screaming though.

-The Reverend Lei

Let’s get down to content then shall we? Let’s start with what each can do briefly
(Not Included = Purchased Function)

So when someone looks at this they think “gee they seem similar”, well they are and they aren’t. The Nintendo DS is similar to the Wii in terms of games; there are good games there, most of which by Nintendo, but you have a library of kiddy shit. The Nintendo DS does feature some amazing titles such as Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Elite Beat Agents, etc, but much like the Wii you’ll find that the games are cartoon-y and sometimes childish, not that it’s a bad thing.

The Sony PSP is a pirate ship. I kid you not, the PSP modding community has grown so widely and done so much that the PSP is now a pirate’s best friend, next to a PC of course. The fact is, while the PSP may have a smaller library of good games, and features some games that are PS2 ports; you can easily obtain games from other consoles to play.

The bottom line is: the PSP is a handheld made more for functionality; the Nintendo DS is a handheld made more for games. So if you’re looking for more a less expensive media center in your pocket, go for a PSP, if you’re looking more for portable gaming, go for a DS.

As a bonus, here’s a list of recommended games for each handheld.

DS Recommended Games

PSP Recommended Games

]]> http://giantenemyblog.com/handhelds-ds-and-psp/feed/ 0 http://giantenemyblog.com/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii/ http://giantenemyblog.com/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:00:42 +0000 Lord Fortengard http://gamerblag.com/?p=1702

”Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades”

Crisis Core : Final Fantasy VII is the first good FFVII spinoff. Instead of being a gigantic clusterfuck of fanservice that was Advent Children or plain old crap like the Dirge Of Cerberus game, this game is actually worth your time.

The game tells the story of Zack Fair, Soldier 2nd Class (later 1st Class) and follows his adventures until his eventual demise that leads (indirectly) in to the original Final Fantasy VII. The plot of the game is quite interesting with some new characters together with some old ones returning. I`m happy that the game only has two scenes of over exaggerated Advent Children action and both of which turn out to be virtual reality, the rest of the game is down to earth in terms of action by Final Fantasy standards.

Now, what`s really interesting is the game`s combat system. It reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 1 if you removed your character`s ability to jump. During battles you move around on a 3D map and control Zack like in an action RPG. you attack, use items and use materia you have equipped by pressing the X button and use the L/R shoulder buttons to switch commands. You use the Square button to dodge, Triangle button to guard and Circle button to reset the commands back to attack. Dodging plays a vital part in to gameplay. But here`s the interesting part.

The DMW. In the top left corner of the screen you see slots that spin as long as you have SP, these slots roll and provide bonus effects. If three numbers of the same kind are rolled, you gain a status effect such as ”Endure” or ”Null MP Cost” or ”Invincibility”, etc. Also at the same time, portraits bearing the images of characters from the game also spin and if three of the same kind are rolled, they make Zack do a special action such as the Omnislash or other limit breaks. These attacks are gained as relationships are built with these characters throughout the plot. Also the DMW sometimes will roll a summon, such as Bahamut or Odin or Ifrit or other series staples. These summons are gained by gaining the summon materia from bonus missions. The DMW mixes up battles quite a bit but it makes some battles too easy.

Now, the story portion of the game does demand some sitting for long times, but if you want to play the game in tiny bits then the game also has a wide variety of bonus missions, although they`re almost always the same ”Kill specific enemy” quests. Beating these missions always nets you some nice items and gear and if you beat all of them then the story part of the game will be too easy.

9/10

This game is worth getting and I advise you to do so.

Disgaea : Afternoon of Darkness is the enchanced port of the PS2 Strategy RPG Disgaea : Hour Of Darkness. The original game was developed by Japanese developer Nippon Ichi Software, published in America by Atlus but the PSP version was published by NiS America. The European version is published by Koei. Now, I am aware that there was a recent DS port but as far as I know the PSP version still remains the best version, therefore I will be reviewing the PSP version.

Gameplay

Now, the gameplay in the game is standard SRPG gameplay, you play on a isometric map divided in to a square grid resembling a checkerboard. Your objective (which sadly, never changes) is to dispose of all enemies on the map. You have the standard RPG commands such as attack, use skills unique to your character`s weapon or the character himself or herself. You also have the option to throw enemies, allies or Geo Cubes. For most of the time you will forget that you have the ability to throw things but if used effectively you can use the throw to a great advantage, such as throwing a weakening Geo Cube in to the Panel type that the enemies are standing on or throw an ally further than he can move by himself. If you throw an enemy of the same kind on top of an enemy, these two enemies will combine and level up. This works great for grinding but this might get you screwed over by creating an enemy too powerful to take on.

This game is a giant grinding fest that demands you to donate tens to hundreds of your life to the game. Nippon Ichi is particulary famous for creating SRPGs that demand you to grind a lot. Sure, you can breeze past the first few chapters without that much grinding but not grinding will come back later and bite you in the ass. Somehow I have currently made it to chapter 12 but I constantly have my ass kicked, therefore that leaves me only one choice : grind some more. Grinding actually replaces strategy in this game, as no problem can`t be solved by grinding and you don`t really have to use your head that much, but hey, that`s a thing most SRPGs suffer from, Disgaea just suffers from it more than a regular SRPG.

To mix things up a bit, the game also sports a mechanic called ”Geo Panels”. The squares on the map that glow in different colors are Geo Panels and if Geo Cubes are put on them, all panels of that color gain effects such as Invincibility or Bonus EXP or stat boosts. At the beginning these panels will mostly be to your advantage but later you will be cursing them for screwing you over so.

Anyway, by killing enemies you gain Mana which can be spent in the Dark Assembly to create more characters. The characters come in two types, Human Characters and Monsters. Human characters come in various classes such as Warrior, Mage, Monk, etc. and can use various weapon types, altough you should probably just stick with a weapon that is made for the specific class as Weapon Mastery rises faster with that type of weapon. For regular characters, their special moves are decided by their weapon type and mastery. As the mastery gets higher, the character learns new weapon-type specific special moves, which are the only moves regular characters learn and there is a wide variety of weapon types to chose from, such as swords, staffs, fists, guns, etc..  By defeating certain enemies for the first time, these enemy types become available in the Dark Assembly for creation. Monsters learn new, monster-specific special moves by leveling up.

There are also special characters such as Laharl, Etna, Flonne, etc. who join your party at certain plot points, usialy at the end of the chapter or by completing a bonus mission. Special characters learn both weapon-specific special moves and character specific moves by leveling up.

Plot, music, bonus content.

The plot of the game tells you the story of Laharl, the son of the deceased Overlord of the Netherworld and his servants as he goes on his quest to become the new Overlord and some other misadventures. The game is split in to seperate episodic chapters, most of the game`s chapters act as seperate scenarios but the final chapters of the game pulls everything together and connects everything. The game is humorous and charming. Most of the story is told trough portraits and dialouge boxes but there are some in-game cutscenes. There are multiple endings.

The soundtrack is solid but there are no truly memorable tracks. The English voicework is pretty bad but luckly you can change to the Japanese voice track which isn`t that bad. The PSP version has omitted the game`s themesong since Atlus holds the copyright to it.

The PSP version also has an extra story mode called Etna mode where Etna accedentaly kills Laharl and replaces him as the main character. Also the PSP version has multiplayer which comes in three modes, ”Defeat The Leader”, ”Battle” and ”Capture The Flag”. Also the PSP version is the only version to support widescreen.

Get this game if you like strategy RPGs, you won`t regret it.

9/10

Square Enix have done quite a pretty admirable job of milking the Final Fantasy series for all its worth – and while their efforts have been nothing short of rage-inducing, it’s nice to know that they’re not above tossing us a fanservice-laced bone once in a while. This bone is the latest Final Fantasy title for the PlayStation Portable, namely Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a fighting title that lets us pit the protagonists and villains of the series in awesome-looking battles. The what-if possibilities, as well as the epic rematches made conceivable with Dissidia are enormous, and we see one of the latter being played out in a fresh gameplay trailer. Yes, you guessed it, it’s Sephiroth versus Cloud, fighting in the lifestream. Definitely something to watch.

The graphics are amazing, the action fluid, and the sound nothing short of intense. Make no mistake, we’re still a bit iffy about the 3D movement – this often leads to a cat-and-mouse chasing sequence that makes play not only annoying but frustrating – but from th e looks of things, you’ll be able to continuously dash and jump towards your opponent, making combat the fast-and-furious affair it should be. And the limit breaks are pretty awesome to watch, too.

You can view the trailer here.