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Apr 20th, 2009 at 15:22:42 - Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360) |
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a role playing game developed by tri-Ace and
published by Square-Enix. It was released in February 2009 in the U.S. and
is an XBox 360 exclusive game. The theme of the game is sci-fi, but it
also includes some fantasy elements. There have been 4 other games in the
series, not including 2 remakes for the PSP.
-Story-
You begin the game as Edge Maverick. Since this is an RPG, you are tasked
with saving the people of earth who are faced with uninhabitable surface
conditions following the nuclear fallout of World War III. To complete
this objective, you have been sent out into uncharted space to find a new
Earth.
-Game Play-
There are two main game modes: exploration and battle. I will talk about
exploration first. In exploration mode, you are free to run, walk, or ride
to any accessible areas on a particular map. Maps are the basic components
that make up the entire game world. While exploring, you are free to
interact with objects and NPCs, use gathering/mining points, and engage
enemies. There is a mini-map available on-screen, and a larger map can be
viewed at any time. Cutscenes also occur during exploration mode and are
usually done using the in-game graphics engine.
If an enemy and your character collide during exploration, the game
switches to battle mode. During battle, there can be up to 4 characters in
your party on the screen. You control one character directly, and the
other characters follow preset tactics. Battles are real-time, and your
characters have 3-D range of movement. It is also possible to switch
control to another party member during battle at any time. Furthermore, a
battle menu can be pulled up. At this time, the action pauses, and a
selection can be made. Some choices are to use an item, use a symbol, use
a special art, and switch in a non-active character. Once all enemies have
been defeated or all party characters have been defeated, the battle ends.
If all party characters are defeated, the game ends.
-The Bonus Board-
During battle, you can acquire up to 14 bonuses that will take effect after
each battle. There are 4 different bonus tiles that take up one slot each
on the bonus board. A blue tile, gained by defeating an enemy with a
critical hit, provides 10% more experience after battle. A red tile,
gained by defeating an enemy using only special attacks, provides 1% HP and
MP regeneration after battle. A yellow tile, gained by defeating 2 enemies
at the same time, provides 10% more Fol(money) after battle. A green tile,
gained by triggering an ambush, gives you 1 more SP after battle. These
bonuses stack, but the number you can have maxes out at 14. However, your
bonus board will be broken if the character you are controlling is hit with
a critical attack or is knocked unconscious. When the board is broken, you
lose all tiles unless there was more than one of the same color adjacent to
each other. In this case, you only lose half of that group of tiles.
-Blind Sides-
Another interesting part of battle is the ability to blind side an enemy.
If an enemy is targeting your character and your character is targeting
that enemy, it is possible to execute a blind side. You charge a blind
side by hold down the B button. When the enemy attempts to attack, simply
tilt the left analog stick in any direction and your character will
maneuver behind the targeted enemy. These are not guaranteed. You can be
knocked out of your blind side animation by other enemy attacks and even
running into a wall. There is also the possibility that an enemy can
counter a blind side(indicated by a red targeting reticule). When you see
a red reticule, you have to wait until it begins to flash before you start
the blind side, or you will be countered. This is a great way to get blue
tiles.
-Special Abilities/Symbology-
These are your special attacks and magic in the game. They both use MP,
but symbols have a charge time. On the other hand, special abilities are
instantaneous. Both can have elemental properties, but symbols have an
almost unlimited range. Both types must be assigned to either the right or
left triggers in order for you to use them.
-Rush-
There is a special rush meter for each character in battle. This meter
fills as the character hits and is hit by enemies. When the meter is full,
that character can enter rush mode. This can be done by pushing the X
button. Once in rush mode, the character is not stunned by attacks, cannot
be knocked back/juggled, is faster, and has a higher critical hit chance.
A rush combo can also be performed instead of entering rush mode. To do
this, you must push X and immediately use a special ability or symbol. If
done correctly, the character will perform a special and you must push a
button displayed on screen. If the button is pushed, the closest character
to the player's with perform a special. This can be repeated up to 2 more
times.
-Item Creation-
This is one of the major parts of the game. Each character has a certain
type of item that he/she is good a making. For example, Edge is good with
smithery. These are represented as skills that the character possesses. 4
groups of up to 3 characters can be put together. Each group will make new
item recipes until they run out of ideas. The recipes created depend on
character stats and the characters in the group. Also, the process of
recipe creation consumes SP. Once a recipe is made, you can create the
item it refers to if you have the necessary materials.
-BEAT-
The BEAT system allows characters to focus more on defensive or offensive
play styles. BEAT:S promotes blind side attacks and offers bonuses for
this actions. BEAT:B promotes rush and offers bonuses for it. Each
character can level these up to level 20 to obtain all bonuses. There is
also a BEAT:N that provides the stat bonuses of BEAT:S and BEAT:B but none
of the additional bonuses.
-Private Actions-
Character relationships are a big part of the Star Ocean series. They are
used mainly to further story lines and gain additional ending scenes. Most
private actions occur on the ship during flights to new planets and
typically involve Edge and another character in the party. Some require a
response from a list of choices. This response determines the rise or drop
in affinity applied to one are all characters involved.
-Graphics-
This is an XBox 360 game, so the graphics are very flashy. There are a lot
of highlights and glow effects. This is especially nice when you run
around in the desert and the glow from the sand is almost blinding. The
lighting adds a nice feel to the game overall.
-Sound-
The sound in the game is nice. It mostly consists of background music for
different areas that is meant to set the mood. Towns usually have an
upbeat tune while dungeons have a more mellow feel. You can also hear
enemies sneaking up on you which is very nice.
-Conclusion-
I really like this game, but there is a lot of stuff to do. I can
definitely understand someone not wanting to play it because of this.
There are records for everything in the game and even a dictionary. This
game really likes information and tries to provide as much as possible. On
the plus side, I spend most of my time in battle, so the game consists of a
lot of action. However, the quests and need to obtain certain item drops
can become very tedious.
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Mar 6th, 2009 at 21:00:54 - Hyperspace Destroyer (PC) |
Hyper Space Destroyer is a vertically scrolling shooter. It resembles games like Galaga and Ikaruga but to a simpler degree.
-Game Play-
On my first playthrough, I won the game. It is fairly simple to win if you continually fire your gun. There are also plenty of enemies to shoot and powerups to obtain. I found it fairly simple to power up my guns and blast trough the enemy waves. This was basically the same for my second playthrough. It is fairly simple to win the game, but the fun lies in the strange enemies and bosses you fight.
-Controls-
You control the movement of your ship with the directional keys on the keyboard and fire your guns with spacebar. There is also a special missile weapon, but I never had a need to use it. The ship is responsive, and the controls are very intuative.
-Enemies-
The first stage enemies consist of "petris" blocks and the boss Dr. Petris. The petris blocks simply fly down the screen at your ship. Dr. Petris basically moves around and shoots petris blocks at you.
The second stage enemies were small ships and the moonians. The small ships behaved like the petris blocks. The moonians flew around in their ship and would fire a giant block at you that moved very slowly.
The new enemies for the final stage were tie fighters and the dead star. The tie fighters could lock onto your ship. The dead star basically flew around and shot at you while more tie fighters attacked.
-Conclusions-
This game was fairly simple, but there was a three week time limit. This serioulsy limited the options for game designs. Even with this restriction, I believe that the game turned out well. If for no other reason, it was fun to play just because of the funny parody enemies that attacked your ship in the each level.
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Jan 20th, 2009 at 19:36:23 - Fact or Crap (Other) |
Fact or Crap is a trivia game. The objective is to determine if statements are "fact" or "crap". Correct answers result in tokens. Incorrect answers result in a loss of tokens. Anyone can play this game because you always have a 50/50 shot at getting the answer right even if you have no knowledge of the subject.
--Set Up--
All players are given 1 "fact" card and 1 "crap" card. They are also given 8 tokens to start with. All other tokens go into a center pile. The cards are also shuffled.
--Rules--
To begin with, the youngest player starts. The current reader with draw a card from the large deck and read the three questions present on the card. After each question is read, the other players will decide if the statement is "fact" or "crap". Once the decision is made, each player will place the corresponding card face down on the table. Once all players (excluding the reader) have laid down their card, the cards are flipped, and the reader announces the correct answer. At this point, the first player to lay down a card (determined by the reader) can win or lose two token. Others can only win or lose one token. A correct answer wins tokens, and an incorrect answer loses tokens. All tokens lost go to the token pile. After all three questions have been asked, the reader places the card at the bottom of the pile and the other player become the reader in a counterclockwise order.
--Rush Hour--
The rush hour mode is entered when a reader draws a rush hour card. During this phase, the reader selects another player. The reader will then ask the selected player five questions found on the back of the card. This portion of the game is timed using a provided timer. The reader will ask the questions as quickly as possible while the player answers "fact" or "crap". If the
answer is correct, the player receives a token from the pile. For an incorrect answer, the reader gets a token from the pile. When the timer runs out, no more tokens can be awarded.
--Winning--
The game can be won in two ways. First, the game ends when all of the tokens from the center pile are gone. In this case, the player with the most tokens is the winner. Second, the game ends if all players but one lose their tokens. The last player with tokens is the winner.
--Thoughts--
The deck of cards is truly huge, ensuring there is no end to the strange questions presented during game play. On the other hand, the pile of tokens is also huge, ensuring that if the other players don't lose all their tokens, you will be playing for a long time.
Playing with a large group seems to be the best way to go. I found that the interaction among the players is the most interesting part of the game, but this isn't really enough to redeem it. I can't even imagine being so bored that someone would play this with only one other person.
Finally, this game is in the same vein as trivial pursuit type games. The statements on the cards are varied and actual knowledge of the particular subject in question is usually rare. Unlike trivial pursuit, this game has only two possible answers, "fact" or "crap". This dumbes down the game play to the point where everyone ends up guessing. There is no real challenge to the game aside from trying to be the first to lay down a card.
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