Final Fantasy XIII International Trailer

As I watched the latest trailer for Final Fantasy XIII something inside me seemed to click with the game, and I became interested in it unlike I was in the past. I think it was during the night action sequence where I saw the party member with an afro driving through a battle with a Chocobo chick fluttering about in comical fear that I knew this game is going to be one of the best Final Fantasy titles.

In another scene you see the party holding on atop some flying creature. You see the team in motion together screaming, and laughing at their situation. Square Enix has built a chemistry into the party members in XIII, and that excites me.

Obviously the game is beautiful. I downloaded the trailer from the Zune Marketplace on my Xbox 360 and watched it all in glorious high definition. The cinematics are incredible, and the in-game graphics are equally impressive. Final Fantasy XIII will definitely be the best looking Square Enix game to date.

I recommend watching the trailer. View it in high definition if possible. Don’t try to understand the conflict in this game, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Instead watch the party, and their interactions, unique features, and get ready to enjoy a masterpiece on March 9th, 2009.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

There is just something about humanity that draws us to the stories and the lore surrounding the super powered citizens that we can only dream about experiencing. Movies and television have allowed individuals to be a part of the action for years now, and the latest generation of consoles has produced some exceptional super hero experiences.

Vicarious Visions’ Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a quality super hero experience, providing a massive crossover of over twenty-four playable Marvel creations. Watching Iceman, Storm, The Human Torch, and Daredevil bash into wave after wave of enemies is not only a unique team-up, but is one of many combination of heroes you can use to rid the world of its latest enemy.

On the surface this sequel does not have any significant differences from its predecessor. The basic gameplay mechanic is still the same. You want to smash, kick, punch, burn, freeze, electrify, web, blow away, obliterate, shield throw, HULK SMASH, crush, cut, bomb, and decimate all of your enemies over and over again.

In a traditional hack and slash role playing game the simple fighting mechanics might become stale after a time, but Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 mixes it up in a few key areas that really, in my mind, make a difference.

One of those key areas is in the twenty-four unique playable characters provided in the game. You could potentially play as a new person in every mission and still never experience all that is available. There are classic characters from the original Ultimate Alliance, along with some newcomers that lend their powers quite nicely to the team gameplay experience.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Playable Roster on all Platforms

Captain America Daredevil Deadpool Gambit Green Goblin Hulk Human Torch Iceman

Invisible Woman Iron Man Jean Grey Luke Cage Mister Fantastic Ms. Marvel Nick Fury Penance

Songbird Spider-Man Storm Thing Thor Venom Wolverine

To go into detail on each of the twenty-four playable characters would take quite some time, but they are all have some slight similarities that allow for easy adaptability between various heroes. There are heavy hitters such as The Ting, Hulk, and Venom. These men are large and in charge, able to deal out a lesser amount of damage unless they have activated a special ability that only lasts awhile. The beneficial thing about the big guys is that they are able to take a lot more damage.

As a fan of hack ‘n slash role playing games I generally choose more well-rounded characters that are able to move quickly, and deal a lot of damage at once. Agile, close combatants such as Deadpool, Wolverine, Mr. Fantastic, Captain America, and so many more are generally going to be the preferred players in the game. It is almost as if Vicarious Visions knew this, and spent the most time focusing on the combat for them. In Comparison to The Thing, Mr. Fantastic is much easier to control and has an extreme sense of polish about him. The Thing feels unnecessarily clunky, and at times make you think your controller is not working correctly. I assure you, it is.

If you find yourself preferring to attack from a distance, you’re covered. Flinging flames with The Human Torch, repulsor fire with Iron Man, or Ice with Iceman works well once you figure out how to aim properly. You’ll also put characters such as Spider-Man into this category because he’ll swing his web anywhere in order to gum up the enemies diabolical plans. Finally there are a few oddities, such as Storm. She is all about the special attacks. A good Storm controller will be blowing enemy clusters away from you, allowing you to keep what little health you have.

Each of the different character types allow you to play in styles of your choosing, with a variety of powers and special abilities that make you really feel super.

In the previous title, you were always in need of a more devastating attack to help rid yourself of an overwhelming number of enemies or a particularly annoying villain. Fusion allows any two characters to join up to crush enemies in various ways. If you combine The Thing and Storm, Ben will toss rocks and boulders into Storms tornadic winds and round up all of the lesser enemies on the map and pummel them. Iron Man will shoot a devastating beam at Captain America’s shield, and it will reflect off causing a deathtrap for anyone caught inbetween Stark’s hands and Rodger’s shield. The combinations seem almost infinite, with every character able to join with another for some style of super-powered attack.

The RPG elements have been significantly stripped down from the previous Ultimate Alliance. You can play the entire game without even knowing this is an action role playing game. What few decisions you can make regarding your character can all be done automatically if you choose. For purist, like myself, this was somewhat disappointing. Did it really take away from the overall experience? That’s debatable. Still, removing it entirely really is frustrating considering how leveling worked in the previous game.

On the other hand, you’ll spend a fair amount of time collecting medals that offer various upgrades to your individual heroes. You can assign three to each hero, and there is an endless variety. Want more resistance to cold? Care to gain more XP? 10% Regen every minute? The choice is yours. Need resistance to stunning? Is your stamina low? Just make your choice and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

In every level there are medals, dossiers, audio logs, simulator disks, and very special artifacts for you to locate and collect. This significantly adds to the replayability. You can go back and complete any mission as many times as you want, gaining more experience and unlocking more power ups and content. Another significant factor for a certain second play through is the Civil War storyline.

The story found in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 takes its cues from the super hero civil war led by Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. forces, who support the Superhuman Registration Act. Captain America, in complete disagreement, chooses the side of Anti-Registration and leads a team of “rogue” heroes to take down Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. Towards the height of the conflict, the story branches off in a different direction than the comics, most likely in order to bring forth a more “happy” ending for those who are only fans of the video games, or the various characters as they have appeared in the more recent Hollywood films.

The story and characters are further improved by the addition of fairly decent voice-acting for all of the major characters in the game. Unlike the previous Ultimate Alliance, the quality in which all twenty-four playable characters are presented is much higher, which in turn makes the game far more enjoyable.

The game comes across as a fairly solid title, but there are some problems that need addressing. For the first time ever, I am encountering in-game bugs and glitches on my Xbox 360 that are rendering the game frustrating at different points. Due to the very destructible items in the environment I often find myself getting stuck in various locations on my map. I’m basically an open target until I am blasted out of that position, or can perform a fusion that removes my character from that particular location on the map. Another issue I have had is with the game freezing while enabling a fusion, or trying to access the menu when there are a lot of onscreen characters and powers going off. This is truly inexcusable, and disappointing. Thankfully the game auto-saves often.

Recommendation for this game comes down to two basic premises. If you are a fan of these characters, and the Marvel Universe in general I recommend buying it. You’ll play through it multiple times and try to collect everything. If you’re not a big fan, but like the style of game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 presents you’ll find yourself with about 12-15 hours of quality gameplay if you play through both story lines on the Heroic difficulty, Legendary Hero being the most difficult will take you much, much longer.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 deserves an 8 out of 10 stars.

Reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Bionic Commando Review

When the original Bionic Commando was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, I would have been too young to do well at it, even though I owned a NES. Now, almost twenty years later…how does the world of Nathan Spencer and his bionic arm hold up?

Capcom did it. In my opinion there is no debating on whether or not the swinging mechanic with the bionic arm works well or not. They nailed it on the head, and it is one of the coolest gameplay mechanics I have experienced in quite a while. Obviously Nathan Spencer isn’t doing anything that any of the games in the Spider-Man series haven’t, but what it does mean is that I think he may have done it just as well, or even better.

Fallout 3: Broken Steel Review

Let’s face it. The ending that Bethesda had originally intended for Fallout 3 was incredibly anticlimactic. You’re left with a decision, and you get a cutscene based upon it and then its over. Broken Steel makes a valiant attempt at rectify this problem, allowing you to play beyond the original intended ending of the game. Is it worth it? Let’s figure that out. Oh, and by the way?

**Spoiler Warning for anyone who hasn’t finished the original ending for Fallout 3.**

Velvet Assassin Review

Throughout the history of video games, World War II has been fought, and won a seemingly countless number of times. Each of the perspectives of war have been that of a soldier scrounging for life in the trenches, or storming Normandy on D-Day, or trying to survive the attacks on Russian soil. Velvet Assassin is a polar opposite of the first-person shooter experience that is World War II. Hiding from, and sneaking up on the enemy has never been so difficult.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 Review

From feudal Japan to the distant future, my experience with the Dynasty Warrior franchise has been a limited, but generally, quality. I cannot go without saying that Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 has changed that experience.

Several questions came to my mind as I began to play through Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2. Most of them began with one word, “Why?”. For example: “Why would they start us out with the slowest Gundam with the most annoying weapon in the game?” That alone almost left me with more frustration than desire to continue on. Thankfully, I decided to soldier through the beginning portion of the game, and onto greener pastures.

Burnout Paradise Review

I want to take you down to Paradise City, where the cars are fast and the girls are pretty. Playing Burnout will confirm all of the things mentioned inside of that song, and it will forever change how you feel about racing games. Well, minus the fact that there are no girls in Burnout Paradise. The cars? They’re very, very pretty…and they go fast.

As we begin our tour through Paradise City there are some things that I want to be certain to point out to you in hopes that you’ll decide to pack up and move from whatever you are playing now, and enjoy the high speed world of Paradise City. It has a lot to offer, in fact it almost has too much to even thoroughly discuss.

Call of Duty World at War Map Pack One Review

Downloadable content tends to be a mixed bag of major reception and praise, to no one caring to buy it at all. It is difficult to determine if the value placed upon the content is worth the points you spent on it.

This newest offering from Treyarch is without a doubt of a high caliber of quality, but is it worth it? Let’s try to figure out if Map Pack 1 for Call of Duty: World at War is worth the 800 Microsoft Points.

Godfather II Review

Electronic Arts has been in the business for a long, long time. So long that they have as many enemies as they do friends. The partnerships they have made with various movie licenses have been successful.

Why? Perhaps because of the time that was taken to nurture every partnership, perhaps it was because Electronic Arts knew how to push the buttons…or maybe it was because they made an offer that no one could refuse. The Godfather II was that offer, and I gladly accepted it.

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust Review

In today’s society dirty jokes are a dime a dozen, and if I told you one now you will have likely already heard it. Leisure Suit Larry is the ultimate dirty joke. Yes, the writing is incredibly dirty and the gameplay is a joke in itself, but the game isn’t completely without merit. (This game is perverted, and the review shall reflect that. Read with caution.)