Top Spin 4 is the fourth installment of the Top Spin series and came out a couple of months ago in March. Having never played a top spin game before I was rather hesitant on whether to buy it or not. Previously when it comes to tennis games I’ve played Virtua Tennis. Virtua Tennis 2009 however was the end of the series for me. Although the game itself was rather good it didn’t have much realism to it. With you being able to constantly sprint around the court for hours on end without slowing down, or just hitting the ball with lightning reflexes – it’s an arcade tennis game. And if that’s the kind of game you want to play then great, go and buy Virtua Tennis because, as an arcade game, it is brilliant.
However this time I wanted to play a more realistic tennis game so I thought I’d try my luck with Top Spin 4. The Top Spin series has always advertised that it is a much more realistic game experience so I wanted to test this out. And the answer? It most definitely is. Sure it has its flaws as every game has, but it is far far more realistic than the Virtua Tennis series.
To start with there’s no more running about like crazy all match! There’s a stamina system which will gradually limit your movements about the court. There’s also a slight sprint button so you can make a quick dash if you need to across the court. The system works pretty much how you expect. If you run the stamina metre depletes. If you hit the ball it depletes. If you hit it harder then it depletes more. Also the movement is more accurate and realistic. In Virtua Tennis you could be running as fast as you could in one direction and if you suddenly switched direction it would switch straight away. In Top Spin 4 if you’re running really fast and switch direction then it stops for a moment, as to stay in balance, and then goes, which is much more realistic.
Another great thing about the game is the timing. Depending on when you hit the ball will determine how well you hit it. If you hit it too early then you won’t get the best amount of power behind it, hit it too late and you’ll probably send it in the wrong direction. The game can also tell you at each hit whether you’re hitting it too early, too late or just right. Also each type of hit (topspin, slice, lob etc.) has a different timing preference. So topspin might best be hit when the ball is right next to you while a slice might be better if it is further away.
The game has a couple of modes: With the career mode being perhaps the most extensive. You have to create your own person and then you play a maximum of two events per month. The first part of the month is split into either a sparring match or a special event; these could be special matches or things like autograph signings. Your second part of the month is then doing a tournament, with only certain tournaments being available depending on your level. You start off as a rookie and then by completely certain challenges (getting 10000 fans perhaps) etc. you unlock more matches like master tournaments and grand slams to play. There are two things you need to get throughout career mode: Experience Points and Fans. As you gain more xp you can level your character up and choose whether you want them to have more stats for like power or speed or reflexes etc.
The game also has online capability where you can play tournaments and direct matches with fellow players all around the world. So far however this has been rather lacking with extreme waiting times when trying to find players to play with. This may be due to the shortage of players playing the game online however.
Overall this is a rather excellent realistic tennis game. It’s really fun to play and should be considered by all sporting or tennis lovers. 89/100
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is the third full game in the Lego Star Wars series, but can it match up to the previous versions? Although loads of new features have been added I actually believe the previous two games are overall slightly better than this new one. Although the game has been improved in several areas some of the poor features of the game bring the score right down.
Now one element of Lego Star Wars games, and to have a broader picture, all Lego Games, that never fails to disappoint is the cut scenes. The developers always seem to be able to bring out a humorous action in every single cut scene in the game no matter what it’s about. This is what I’ve began to associate Lego Games with and they certainly do it very well. This game is no exception, you’ll be laughing from the beginning until the end, and in some missions you need to be because they get so frustrating! 10/10 for the comedy involved with the game, they couldn’t have done a better job.
Now one of the new features to this game, and in my opinion the biggest let down, is the Ground Assaults. These large scale ground battles are mission will play out in real time. The battlefield is littered with both republic clones and droid, and you must defeat the other teams’ structures to win. Now in writing it doesn’t seem to bad, but personally I dislike these battles very much. A funny thing is that although these are supposed to be “special missions” they actually occur very regularly – especially at the beginning. Unless you love wide open spaces you will get bored of these missions very quickly, and unfortunately that nearly ruins the rest of the game. Certain parts of the battle can offer no challenge at all – where you can have platoons of droids simply walking past ignoring you, or they can be really challenging where it seems every single droid is trying to kill you! This is a new feature so there is bound to be a few problems but I really think the developers need to redesign this feature if they were to use it in other Lego Games.
However they do say what goes wrong in one area can be redeemed in another. And another new feature certainly does this! Space Combat is completely new to the Lego Series and its rather great. It’s another large scale battle – but this time in space, you’ve got the freedom to fly anyway (within reason) and you often use landing pads to land at your target and follow out the rest of the mission. It reminds me a little bit of Star Wars Battlefront II actually – although obviously not as good. But the question is why? That was 6 years ago and yet the developers still can’t improve upon it. The space battles in this game are good but certainly not good enough to counteract the poor display for the ground assault battles.
Apart from that though the game scores well in other areas – the motion of the game runs really well. Weapon combat has been improved with a huge number of extras. You’ve got basic melee weapons, basic blasters, explosive weapons, rapid-fire weapons, sniper rifles and of course lightsabers. You know get more options with all of these weapons such as the ability to throw your lightsaber more easily and so forth.
Now the story of the game is split into three stages. When you complete the first mission you’ll have the option to pick which story to follow. Pretty much like the previous games this game is only partly linear. You have an option of which story to start from and you can interchange between stories at will, but you can only start a later section of a story by doing the previous mission beforehand. The three storylines are Count Dooku, General Grevious, and Asajj Ventress. And then of course once you’ve completed all three you’ll have a final special mission to complete before ending the game.
Like all Lego Star Wars games though, the game isn’t completely finished when you finish the story. You also have the option to play each mission in “Free Play” mode. Here you can select which characters to play as which let you find all of the minikits (there are 10 in each level). Most minikits can only be found with a special type of a person (such as a small character, or bounty hunter etc) a walkthrough for each level will be posted as soon as possible on this site.
So overall then, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is a welcome addition to the Lego Star Wars series but despite many new great features it gets let down by other bad areas of the game making it one of the worst in the series – however it is still a good game nonetheless with a rating of 78/100.
Dragon Age II is the second main feature game developed by BioWare in the Dragon Age series. Although it is a sequel part of the game actually takes place during the time frame of Dragon Age: Origins.
You play through the game as Hawke over a massive time frame of ten years! Of course these 10 years are not completely played through: rather you play some missions and then the game skips a year and so forth. The landscape of the game has also changed considerably. You only spend a fraction of the game in Ferelden (the area you played in during Dragon Age: Origins). However don’t expect the huge variety of different areas in this game as there was in its prequel.
The main focus of the game is built on the great city of Kirkwall, here you will spend most of your time in the game so it can’t get a little repetitive as the city does not change. This seems to be the best it gets however because aside from some unique places outside the city everywhere else is pretty much the same. Some caves for example that you will encounter are exactly the same. Although the enemy spawning points and treasures may be randomly generated the actual size of the cave, the layout of the cave, even the looks of the cave are the same. As you can imagine this gets a little repetitive after a while, it is a shame the developers didn’t create more randomised caves like we can see in The Elder Scrolls. Although it is fair to say that only a small minority of the game is spent in caves it would be nice not to have to repeat the same caves over and over again.
Now for some good news: The combat system has been completely upgraded! Whilst playing Dragon Age: Origins I often felt that the combat was a bit …. static – this is especially true if you were playing as a mage or as a rogue archer. You were often left standing on the outside of the battle firing arrows or spells from afar which, let’s be honest, isn’t very exciting. The mechanics in this game however put you into the heart of battle regardless of whether you’re a warrior, mage or rogue. Each battle is different and everyone is exciting which is what you really need in a great RPG.
The graphics of the game have also vastly improved. Although the facial features of each person can never match to the truly great graphics of Mass Effect 2 the scenery of the place surpasses this. It does take a while to get into the graphics of the game if you’ve come from playing a high end graphics game, I thought that the game itself was a little cartoony with the people (the scenery of course though was superb) but after a while you warm up to the graphics and realise they’re actually rather good. Don’t dismiss the game so quickly.
The dialogue of the game has been completely replaced with a dialogue wheel similar to that of the Mass Effect series. Although there are no paragon or renegade points for particular options each option has a specific icon telling you whether the player will lie, be flirty, be sarcastic, be aggressive etc. There will be a total of 6 options maximum for you to pick at any one time. It should also be noted that in this game all characters are fully voiced including you. This brings a great update to the previous game where you selected options and nothing was said.
Talents in the game have also progressed to allow greater flexibility to the user. A common problem with the previous game was that to get to the good talents that you wanted you often had to use valuable points to receive talents you will never use first – it was a very linear progression. However in this game think more like a web of talents. It’s slightly circular in appearance which means you don’t have to follow one set path to get to a talent; there is more than one way often so you can choose the best path that suits you.
Be prepared also for the wave of junk that will hit you in the game. Like in Oblivion a hefty proportion of the games items that you find in caves etc. are junk – they are completely worthless. However the game actually sorts these for you and automatically places them in your junk part of your inventory. Now this may please some people because they can all be sold without the fear that they may be needed, however it takes the fun out of the game really. The developers have taken away our choice to sort through this junk and decide ourselves whether or not it is worthless.
Overall this is a great improvement on Dragon Age: Origins and should be rated 92/100.
Some of you may be thinking why I’m reviewing a year old game. True, if you have an Xbox 360 or a PC then the game has indeed been out just over a year. However for all of us PlayStation 3 owners there is a different story. Originally Mass Effect 2 was exclusive to both the Xbox 360 and the PC: However this has no changed. Just over a month ago one of the best games of 2010 was appearing on the PS3.
Mass Effect 2 is an action shooter rpg game which revolves around you, Commander Shephard, and the decisions you make throughout the game. Want to play as the ultimate baddie? Or would you prefer to be a hero that everyone looks up to? Or maybe even a bit of both! The possibilities in this game are endless and even the smallest decisions you make can effect what will happen later in the game.
No I’m sure if you’re an rpg fan your already excited about what your hearing, but what if you’re not? Do you prefer just to go on a shooting rampage? Well fear not because this game also lets you do that! The words are in the genre “Action Shooter” if you want to play the game by just leaping into the enemies and gunning them all down then go for it! When you start the game there are 6 character types you can play as.
The first class is the Solider. Now if you want to spend the game shooting people down without worrying about using technical or biotic powers this is the class for you! You’re trained in all weapons and you start the game with more health than any of the other classes. This is a great class to play as if you’re new to the Mass Effect world. Next up is the Engineer. This class specialises in tech so you’ll be excellent at hacking into computers and even having your own combat drones to fight for you! Another class is the Adept. This is solely about biotic powers which mean you can hurt and destroy enemies without having to fire a shot. Then from these 3 base classes come e more mixed ones. The Infiltrator is a mix between the Engineer and Soldier; the Vanguard is a mix between the Solider and Adept; whilst the Sentinel is a mix between the Adept and the Engineer.
The plot of the game is brilliant. Without giving too much away it involves recruiting a team of the best specialists in the galaxy to help you take down a major enemy species known as the “Reapers” This has you travelling around to different planets searching for clues on how to find and beat them before it becomes too late. The more companions you find the higher your chance of victory becomes – so it’s pretty essential to get all of them if you can.
If you’ve played Mass Effect before then there are a number of improvements you will notice whilst playing the games. Ammo for example is much more valuable. In the previous game ammo was pretty much unlimited, the only problem was your weapon could overheat so you couldn’t fire continuously for a long period of time. In Mass Effect 2 this doesn’t happen but the ammo you can carry and collect is lowered dramatically. This means you need to be careful with your ammo, shoot only when you need to shoot, otherwise you might find yourself out of ammo when you need it the most! Some enemies drop ammo when they are killed and you can find ammo packs lying around on most areas.
Also in the previous game it didn’t matter where you shot them because it killed them regardless. This game is much more strategic. If you shoot there head you’ll inflict more damage than usual; whereas if you shoot them in the leg you may cripple them to make an easier target. The health system has also been modified, if you get shot but get out of the way of enemies for a while then your health and shields will regenerate over time.
One more thing that should be mentioned is the cover system which has been revamped. Cover I feel is one of the most important features of a shooter game, and this game has one of the best cover systems I’ve seen. You can only enter cover by manually running or moving it towards it and cover is your best friend in this game! Choose not to use it and you will die. The great thing is that the enemy also use cover which makes the game that much more realistic and difficult.
Well overall then this game Is quite brilliant. Whether you’re a fan of a shooter or rpg’s this game should be great for you! 9.3/10
Great news for RPG and Elder Scroll fans everywhere! The fifth main instalment of the Elder Scrolls series has been announced to be released later this year. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is set for release on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC appearing on the shelves on the 11th November 2011 (11/11/11 – What a date! ). So what can we expect from this new game?
Well let’s start with the levelling system. With recent games from Bethesda (Fallout etc) there seems to always be a level cap. This means when you reach a certain level (such as 30) you stop advancing your stats etc. This seems a bit unrealistic when you’ve been playing the game for so long to get this far only to stop getting stronger. But fear not! All has changed in Skyrim. Level 50 has been designated by the designers as being a sort of level cap – but in reality it isn’t. You see when you get to Level 50 … nothing happens, you can still advance and you can still level up. The only difference is you level up much slower. This is a great idea because it continues to bring the fun into the game and you can still improve your skills – mainly your health and a further attribute from either stamina or magicka.
It seems like the games AI have improved in every possible way. Like for example how in Oblivion all you needed to do when having a stolen item on your person was to drop it away from you and then you could go and pick it up once you’re released from jail – Quite unrealistic when you think about it. Now though if you drop an item many different possibilities could happen: the object could disappear, some NPC’s could fight over it or it could even be returned to you! Speech has also been made more realistic with the person you’re speaking to having the ability to move and speak at the same time.
One thing that seemed to be strangely missing from Oblivion was children. I for one thought it was a little strange that there were just adults everywhere in the game. However this game will feature people of all ages – well mainly adults and children but you get the idea.
The name of the game – Skyrim for those of you who don’t know is the northernmost province of Tamriel (you may have seen the mountains separating it from Cyrodil when you were up at the Blades Temple). It’s mainly occupied by the Nords but don’t worry, there are 10 races that have been confirmed for the game. And the game is set to take place two hundred years after the events of Oblivion.
Well Skyrim looks like a possible RPG of the decade; you can see a trailer of the game below:
Call of Duty: Black Ops is the latest instalment in the Call of Duty Series. Developed by the same team who made World at War, many discussions went on about whether the game could be better than Modern Warfare II. The answer is a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no, so lets break the game down into stages.
We’ll begin with the story, or single player mode as it is otherwise known. Having played through all seven of the main games in the series I have no trouble saying this is the best storyline to date, it is however also one of the darkest. Based around the Vietnam War, starting with the assassination of Fidel Castro, stealth is your greatest asset in this game. During the course of the campaign you are submitted to many unique features that have not been seen before in the series: Piloting an aircraft whilst maintaining control of the weapons for example is one rather enjoyable feature. New to the game are the Valkyrie Rockets. Think of them like a predator missile but in three dimensions. You can go up, down, left, right and even choose when to detonate.
Another new feature in the story mode is the Nova 6 Gas. The majority of the campaign is based around this deadly gas which can kill you in seconds. Therefore as you’d expect in one mission you are subjected to it. In a normal mission when you get hit by a bullet you can simply hide and wait for yourself to “regenerate” as it were. This however is not possible in a certain mission. You’re required to wear a full hazard suit complete with mask and so every time you get shot a little part of the your mask cracks: Get hit too much and its game over which encourages you to perform a much more stealth approach rather than the basic run and gun.
Next we move on to a game mode which in comparison is much better than Modern Warfare 2’s poor effort Spec Ops. Zombies, which was originally a fun unlockable in World at War, has become one of the most successful extras of the game. So much in fact that Treyarch have included it again in Black Ops, but this time with three new maps! If you thought that the first four maps were difficult then wait until you play these ones: The Zombie AI has been upgraded to make them much smarter. Remember how you could keep a zombie at a window by repairing the boards next to it? Not anymore! Now the zombies will reach out towards you from the other side even if you not directly in front of it. The new maps also include other unique zombie types as well as the odd zombie boss as well.
Now we come to Multiplayer mode. All the other additions are good but let’s face it, when it comes to an online FPS the multiplayer mode is what makes or breaks the game, and this Is where it gets difficult to say how good the game is. All the blocks are there to make multiplayer a brilliant mode, but it’s not quite complete yet. Some of the new features online are absolutely brilliant. Customising your weapon has really been taken to the max with the opportunity to add your emblem, clan tag as well as other exciting additions.
One thing that has been drastically changed is a bit like Marmite. You’re either going to love it or hate it. This game features an in-game currency system where you receive cash based on how well you do in games. What can you spend this cash on you ask? Well just about anything and everything. Killstreaks, weapons, attachments, cameo, you name it, it cost’s money. This adds a new perspective to things in the multiplayer mode. Don’t think that this means everything is available at the start. You unlock certain guns at certain times like usual but basically this time you have to pay for it before you can use it.
This also brings about the new gameplay mode online known as … the Wager match. There are four types of wager matches and each of them involves 6 players. As you can expect from the name you “wager” your hard earned cash with the chance of making more money or losing it all. One of the games is known as “One in the Chamber”. In this game you get a pistol and one bullet to start off with. Every time you kill someone you get your bullet back. However miss and … well you get the idea. This is a rather amusing game because you often see two people running around trying to knife each other as they have both missed with their pistols!
Now for the bad news, the matchmaking sucks. It’s difficult to play a couple of games without the game ending due to a failed attempt of host migration. Sometimes the game runs perfectly sometimes every single game you play ends due to bad connection. Of course we have to remember that the game has only been out for a couple of weeks and this is quite a common issue with a new game (Modern Warfare 2 anyone?).
Overall a brilliant game, but with a couple of rather large problems with online mode at the moment. As soon as these are fixed possibly the best game in the series so far. 9.5/10
With just over a month to go before Black Ops hits the stores if you want it on the 9th November the chances are you’re probably going to have to pre-order it. But regardless of whether you do or you don’t which edition should you get: The standard edition, the hardened edition or the prestige edition?
Well let’s start with the basics. The standard edition comes with what you’d expect – just the game. If you not worried about fancy gadgets or getting certain additional material early then this is the probably the best (and cheapest!) edition to get. Usually this would also be the version I would get but perhaps this time a change is in order.
Treyarch are well known for listening to the community and not abandoning them when their game gets released. Call of Duty: World at War was a brilliant game with few flaws; many people still decide to play it over the more recent Modern Warfare 2. Why? Because Infinity Ward on the other hand don’t pay the slightest attention to us. A word to sum up the multiplayer action of MW2 at the moment is probably something like appalling. You probably often find yourself repeatedly run at by players using marathon, commando and lightweight whilst holding a pistol with a tactical knife. Or being blown up by people who think it’s strategic to use rocket launchers to kill everyone. Most of the weapons in the game are either very overpowered *cough* UMP, or underpowered. In short it’s an understatement to say that Modern Warfare II has a few flaws.
So why should Black Ops be any better. Well first of all there’s no Commando Perk so you can’t lunge 5 metres forward and stab someone in an instant. Next you’ve got special Wager Matches which determines the weapon(s) you use; at least you won’t have someone running around with a rocket launcher when no one else is.
So what does the hardened edition have over the standard edition then? Well it comes with a steelbook version of the game, a Black Ops Medallion and an avatar for your console (regardless of whether it’s the Xbox 360 or PS3). All of these things are nice, but they aren’t anything special that would even tempt me to pay an extra £20 to get the hardened edition. There is one more thing however that might get you to. Zombies.
In my opinion one of if not the best feature of World at War was the zombies. Well in the hardened and prestige edition you get the four updated versions of the maps. Obviously there will be some new maps as well but what you have to ask yourself is whether you want to pay to play four new updated maps which probably will be released a couple of months later at a more expensive price. The prestige edition comes with all of that as well as a remote controlled car, a replica of the one used in the game. For nearly double the price of the hardened edition it doesn’t seem a worthwhile buy but if you’re interested no-one’s stopping you.
So which one (if any) will you buy? The choice is up to you.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is the newest addition to the Assassin’s Creed series. The game carries on from Assassins Creed II with you controlling Ezio Auditore through the memory of Desmond Miles. This time however you will also be controlling Desmond more often in modern day sequences.
The battle with the Templars is coming to its climax and you are now given the option for the first time to command other assassin’s. Ezio can send other assassin’s off to places around Europe to earn experience which you then use to upgrade each assassin in weapons, armour etc. Why would you want to do this you ask? Have you ever found yourself in a tricky situation? Perhaps there’s a mission that you’re finding impossible? There’s no need to worry any more for in this game you can call on these assassin’s to assist you if you get in trouble. Therefore the more you upgrade them the more powerful weapons and armour they will use and so the more deadly and resistant they will become.
So far the only map, apart from a minor appearance from Monteriggioni, which has been confirmed, is the great city of Rome. Don’t think of this as a bad thing however, Rome is truly massive. At the start of the game however things are not looking too good. The Templars are focusing all of the wealth into a tiny part of the city while the rest suffers. Do you remember where in the previous game you spent money on rebuilding Monteriggioni? Well this fun feature returns but this time you have the whole of Rome to invest in which is no easy task! Doing this will improve the city and unlock some rewards which you should find very interesting.
The combat system has also been revamped in this game making it far more fast action packed. In the previous game the most powerful move was undisputedly the counter attack. Therefore fights were pretty slow and boring after a while as you kept waiting for your enemy to attack you. This time however the game is focusing more on striking first and often, you’ll find enemies also strike more often. It is also a relief to hear that more than one enemy can attack you at once. It was quite laughable in the previous game to be surrounded by 5 or more enemies with one attacking at a time while the rest of them just walked around you!
Possibly the most anticipated feature to this game is the new online multiplayer mode. Not much has been mentioned yet but one game type, which is called “Wanted”, is where between 6 and 8 assassin’s start on a large map. Each assassin gets a different objective in where they have to assassinate another assassin. So you constantly have to sneak up on your objective whilst avoiding being sneaked up on by another assassin!
Although not everything is known about this game yet it still looks excellent at this stage. If you’re in North America you can get the game on the 16th November whilst if you’re Europe you’ll have to wait another 3 days until the 19th November.
The next chapter is a very open ended map and so finding the white canisters may prove a bit difficult without some direction …
The following vehicle types are needed in Episode II Chapter 1: Bounty Hunter Pursuit
TIE Fighter:
Canister 1
The first canister is a little distance ahead of you. Keep going straight until you get to a bend, however instead of turning keep going straight forward towards the large building. You need a TIE Fighter to open the gate, inside is of course a white canister. Canister 1 can only be found in free play mode with the use of a TIE Fighter.
Canister 2
There are five turrets shooting at you in the first area of the map. Destroy all five to get your second canister. Canister 2 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 3
Canister 3 is pretty similar to canister 2. There are 6 large green lights in the first area which you have to destroy. However there are also 4 in the second area of the map. So destroy the first 6 and then get canisters 4 and 5 before moving into the second area. Canister 3 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 4
For this canister you need to pick up some purple bombs from passing vehicles. When you get to a place where you can go either left or right in the first area you come across a rooftop. On the rooftop are 5 antennas which you must destroy with your bombs to get the fourth canister. Canister 4 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 5
You also need some bombs for this canister. This time you’re going to use them on a large traffic light which you should pass just after you’ve gone past the rooftop. Destroy it to get the canister. Canister 5 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 6
Move into the next area and you become trapped between two sets of power couplers. Before you try escaping though destroy everything you can on this rooftop to get the sixth canister. Canister 6 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 7
Once you’ve escaped take an immediate right and fly towards another large building to your right. Just like canister 1 you need a TIE Fighter to get the gate open. Canister 7 can only be found in free play mode with the use of a TIE Fighter.
Red Power Brick
Make you way back to the direction you came from but before you get there notice some green lights on the top of a building to the left of the screen. Shoot all of these quickly and then sit tight. A red balloon will slowly rise up from the ground and you need to shoot it with a purple bomb to get the red brick. The Red Power Brick can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 8
Fly back to where you started this area from and move straight ahead. You should notice 3 black signs on the right side of the path. Shoot all 3 of them in quick succession and you should get canister number eight. Canister 8 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 9
Just like canister 2 there are 5 turrets in this area shooting at you as well. Shoot all 5 to get the ninth canister. Canister 9 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Canister 10
Canister 10 requires you to blast all of the equipment on the second and final rooftop you come across when you exit the previous area you were in. Do this to get the last canister. Canister 10 can be found in either story or free play mode.
Final Fantasy XIII is the latest installment of the ever growing Final Fantasy series. If you’re a fan of the role playing category of video games the chances are you’ve played a final fantasy game at some point in your gaming career. Final Fantasy XIII is regrettably the first game of the series I’ve played. With all series of games you usually get some games in the series which are better than others. Final Fantasy XI was rated quite poorly compared to others in the series while Final Fantasy XII had a much better reception. So the question was will Final Fantasy XIII be as good as or better than the previous game. This game joins the vast list of PS3 games and is also available on the Xbox 360 Console.
As I’ve never played Final Fantasy XII I can’t say but what I can say is that it’s one of the better RPG’s available at the moment. First of all Final Fantasy is not an open sandbox game. There are sometimes multiple directions to get to a checkpoint but this is nothing like Oblivion. If you like wide open places like Fallout 3 then don’t expect to see any here. Don’t take this as a negative however. Although it isn’t a sandbox style game there is still a large area to explore in each chapter of the game. There are pickups scattered around the game which encourages you to divert from the main path to find them.
The game has many new features and updates compared to the previous titles such as the fast paced action combat machine. Whenever you find an enemy combat will be initiated and you can choose to either select which moves to use to attack your enemy or use the very handy “Auto-Battle” button. What this does is chooses the best possible move(s) to use on the enemy. Although you may think using this decreases the fun of the game you’d be far from wrong, especially when during the early stages of the game you only have one type of move to use … either press the same button 3 times or press Auto-Battle, I sure know which one I’d choose. It’s important to also note that although you can have up to two other combatants join you in battle you cannot control their actions directly. More on how you can indirectly later. You also finish with full health after the battle has ended.
New to this series is the Crystarium. In previous titles in the series you levelled up after you got a set number of experience points from defeating enemies. In this game however you could go as far to say there is no levelling up. Basically you spend your hard earned experience points in the Crystarium. In this you gain new abilities for certain roles. For example an ability in the Commando Role is Blitz which lets you attack more than one enemy at once. There are 6 different types of roles: Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Medic, Synergist and Saboteur. Each of your playable characters can advance in some of these roles and you using the Crystarium will decide will role(s) to advance in.
This brings us on to another new feature Paradigms. This is where you can indirectly affect how your fellow combatants attack the enemy. You see with each role there are different abilities. The Medic role focuses on healing party members whereas the Saboteur will focus on attacking the enemy. So if you control which role your party members are you can get them to use only certain abilities. Your paradigm deck is a list of created (and sometimes default) paradigms that are available to you, and the great thing is you can switch between paradigms in battle! Perhaps you need to heal a member of your party but you don’t want to waste an item healing them. Simply switch paradigms to one where one of your party members is a healer and watch as they heal your team. Paradigms are the key in this game to defeating those tougher enemies. Some enemies are much stronger and healthier then you’d believe so patience is the key switching between a paradigm which directs team mates to attack the enemy and then switching to a defensive paradigm which heals your team when your health gets a bit low.
Another feature of the game is the huge list of equipment which you can find in the game. To start off with each character gets one weapons slot and one equip-able item slot. However as the game progresses you can unlock abilities in the Crystarium which allow characters to have more than one equip-able item. There are hundreds of different items, some raise your health, some your magic, some give you protection against certain elements etc. A nice feature in the game is that you can use items to upgrade current weapons and other accessories. You might pick up some Murky Ooze and think it’s a complete waste when actually you could find out it could be very useful.
To sum up the graphics on this game are absolutely stunning, just take a look at the picture above and whether you’re a regular to the Final Fantasy Series or you haven’t played a single game Final Fantasy XII is a good place to start. I would give it a rating of 9.2/10
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