I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to get one of these when they hit stores later this year. I’m just hoping that the PS3 game library doesn’t become overloaded with shovel-ware crap like the Wii’s has.
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Game on.
“What you’re seeing here is almost entirely in-game action from the PC version of the game [Modern Warfare 2]. What Barnes has done is record it from different camera angles than the game’s standard first-person perspective, then cut it together to look like a movie or TV show.” (From: kotaku.com)
The result is an extremely smooth and polished video that could easily pass for a war movie or television show.
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - Review
It’s been roughly four years since the latest Final Fantasy was announced at E3 2006 and at long last the game is set for release here in North America. The big question running through the heads of many is “Will it be good?”
Well, I’m here to say that it will… probably.
I say probably because there’s a lot of things in this game that will make some people very happy and others not so much. The core fans might be disappointed with the complete lack of freedom and inability to grind or complete side quests but trust me when I say that there’s plenty here to enjoy. Let’s get into the details, shall we?
The Pros:
- The graphics look fantastic. Final Fantasy XIII is a very pretty looking game. The characters and environments are completely on par with what you’d expect to see in this series and the vibrant colors or bleak underworlds really set the mood.
- The characters are interesting enough. I found the characters in Final Fantasy XII to be about as interesting as a sack of potatoes. It’s personal opinion, I know but I actually found myself interested in the backgrounds and relationships that this game’s characters had with each other… despite how ridiculous some of the voice acting was. Vanille, I’m talking about you.
- The story is pretty well put together and, at it’s core, is classic Final Fantasy.
- The battle system, while very basic at first, becomes pretty complex and engaging. You start out with pretty simple commands in the beginning but after a couple chapters, you realize that there’s tons of different options and tactics available to you during battle including abilities, summons as well as the game’s job-style role and Paradigm systems.
The Cons:
- I have the feeling that the game doesn’t look quite as nice as it could had the Xbox 360 not been a factor in the development.
- Some of the voice acting is somewhat questionable. Characters Vanille and Hope come to mind as two of the worst cases of this but there’s a couple rough spots from all the characters in your party at various points in the game. This is by no means the worst voices in a Final Fantasy game but they can be a little tough to swallow at times.
- As I mentioned earlier, the game is extremely linear and doesn’t allow for much flexibility regarding plot progression, character building (grinding) or doing side quests. While I didn’t necessarily find this to be a bad thing, I can see this bugging some of the more hardcore Final Fantasy fans a little bit.
Overall, this is a great RPG. It’s a little bit less demanding than some of the previous games but there’s a little bit of something here for new fans, old fans and people who may have just skipped out on a couple of the more recent games and are looking to make a comeback. If you own a PS3, are a fan of some of the previous games in the series and are somewhat accepting to a few changes, give Final Fantasy XIII a play through. You won’t be disappointed that you did.
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - 4/5
Dante’s Inferno (PS3) - Review
I’m going to keep this review nice and short since I feel like I’ve already wasted more than enough time on this game. Trust me when I say that this week of me whining about how bad this game is will finally come to an end after this one.
It’s all about closure, right?
The Pros:
- The game’s dark and depressing look and feel is pretty interesting. It’s not overly original or anything but there’s some pretty disturbing imagery in the game.
- If you’re a fan of violence, this one’s right up your alley. There’s tons of blood and gore that should satisfy any blood lust that the rabid action game fans have.
The Cons:
- The game is extremely similar to God of War. The controls, the quicktime events, and even the basic plot elements of the game are just a couple of things that Inferno has copied from the God of War series.
- The graphics aren’t very impressive. The FMVs aren’t too bad but the in-game character and level designs look pretty bad.
- The story isn’t overly deep. Dante’s chasing after Beatrice, who’s been taken to hell. There’s a couple little details that you learn about along the way but really there’s not much more to it than that. You’ll be reminded of this when you start pretty much every level leading up to the final boss which becomes extremely tiresome after the first couple of chapters.
- Levels and puzzles are poorly designed and executed. There’s not much explanation or foresight when you encounter a timed puzzle, are falling down an elevator shaft, having the ground give out from under you or something equally as deadly. It’s almost expected that you’ll die, learn from your mistake, reload and hopefully not make the same mistake.
- There’s tons of bugs and glitches scattered throughout the game. I’d need two hands to count the times I beat a batch of enemies and then, as the game was cutting to an FMV or video, I just died for no reason. I also had a number of issues grabbing on to some of the climbable areas and wound up falling to my death because of it.
I knew that I probably wasn’t going to be a huge fan of this game simply because I never really cared for the God of War series but I never imaged that I’d have such a terrible time with this game as I did. As much as I’d like to recommend this to fans of the God of War series, I’d probably just annoy them to play a game that’s so shamelessly similar and nowhere near as well made.
Hold off on Dante’s Inferno. Save your money and pick up God of War III when it comes out on March 16th.
Dante’s Inferno (PS3) - 1/5
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