The story is relatively simple, and awfully typical of a Pokémon game. Dark forces are engaging in thievery, and it is up to you to hunt them down and retrieve their ill-gotten gains. Unlike the main series antagonists, Team Rocket and its various clones, it is not Pokémon themselves that the villains are looting this time but Glowdrops, which represents the game’s health-restoring elixir. Its not a particularly compelling story in fairness, which is exacerbated by the fact these glowdrop thefts seem to have no ingame impact. Whenever I go to one of the towns’ various fountains to regain my health there are always enough glowdrops left, regardless on whether there’s just been a big loot or not. The game gives you some cock-and-ball story about how the grateful Pokémon have reserved some especially for me, which might actually be plausible if the glowdrops were finite, but seeing as they’re not just feels like a cop-out.

The gameplay, however, is pretty damn fun it must be said. You move a single Pokémon around using the analogue stick, and fight other critters in real-time using one of two moves. Some of the Pokémon you defeat will lie in a glowing circle, indicating that you can pick them up and add them to your roster, which is how Pokémon are collected in this title. The game’s real-time game play introduces some surprisingly satisfying elements. A good example would be earlier when I used my Darumaka (power : 898. In English : alot!) to poison a much lower level Blitzle, and just stood back and watched as it annihilated its HP.

If you so wish you may switch between Pokémon in your roster at almost any time (except when in the absolute heat of battle) and, as long as you don’t let your Pokémon die you can use as many as you wish. The pace is fast and frantic, and plays like a brilliant cross between Chrono Trigger and Bangai-O. Delightfully all of the current 649 Pokémon feature, so you’ll never tire of having to continually run into the same old monsters while playing this. Its particularly a pleasure when you run into an old favourite among all the frenzy (I must admit I did squee when I came across a Meowth!).

Other fun little inclusions are a 2-player battle and Co-op mode (both of which I have yet to try) and an additional, rather different use of the Streetpass feature. When you achieve a certain amount in game one of your stored Streetpass/Mii Plaza buddies (regardless of whether they’ve played this title of not) will make a visit to your ‘Toy Shop’ and spend a considerable amount of money! Which is a nice addition and comes in pretty useful. There are a few special Pokémon that can also be unlocked in this way…

Boss battles are fun, but do get repetitive. Regardless of which Pokémon is in use (and they vary by size/type/power, you name it) they always always have the same tactic, pivoting around in a circle before unleashing their attack. Its true that the balance between the boss’ power and your own will change each time, which will obviously make your strategy slightly different to each boss. But that doesn’t stop me thinking the developers were slightly lazy…

The graphics look to belong more to a high-end DS game than a 3DS title, but thats actually not a problem. Infact it suits the frantic gameplay to a T. When in play, the Pokécritters themselves all have a neat black border around them, which almost makes the game look like a cartoon. Its presentation is in the 2.5 style found in titles such as Pokémon Black/White. The colours are very vivid and bright, as with virtually every Pokémon title. While these things are all fine there are times when this title really lets itself down graphically, however. One big example is the text used to announce battles, another the cutscenes you come across as you traverse though the game. They both look like they were put together as part of a coursework project by a student learning to use 3D Studio Max. Not really what you’d expect from a full price retail title, especially one from Nintendo.
I really can’t complain too much however. The special effects look good, and great care has clearly been taken to make sure each and every move looks good when executed. Aside from that, and most importantly, the dear Pokémon themselves, all 649 of them, have been reproduced faithfully. As a fan of the franchise this is perhaps the main thing that encouraged me to purchase the game in the first place, and something I must give it praise for.

Upbeat is what you’ll find when it comes to the music. This is what you might expect from the Pokémon series, and it is wholly pleasant, even if its fair to say its nothing special. It has a very electronic 1980s feel to it that goes well with the pace.
Interestingly there’s more variation in the actual battle music then there is when actually travelling through the levels unprovoked, which is in stark contrast to the main series games in the franchise. The variance in battle music is much welcomed, ofcourse, but its a shame that the same tunes are played over and over while in the normal areas of the game, because it really makes things feel quite samey at times. Certainly I would contribute this as a reason why this is a title best played in short bursts, given a rest, then returned to. There’s this one track, used on ‘Silent Forest’, ‘Windy Prarie’ and ‘Bright Beach’ among others… and honestly if I never have to hear it again I will be chuffed. Not that its a bad tune whatsoever, its just been used to death in this title.
The sound effects are great, they really made me smile. From the satisfying ‘smash’ sound made when a Pokémon you’ve just defeated submits to you, to the calming swishy noise made when you’re Audino performs ‘Secret Power’, the sound effects are well done here. I must make those Pokéfans among you aware that, as you may have guessed, the Pokémon still use their Gameboy cries. But it really takes nothing away from the experience at all, and, anyway, for many of us, these bleeps have become as synonymous with the Poképals they represent as any voice acting snippets could hope to.

So in conclusion, I think this review may have portrayed this title in a more negative light than it deserves. Its just that it has some glaring flaws that really needed to be addressed for this to be a fair review. But, overall, they don’t take away from this title’s solidity as much as I feel I may have portrayed them to have done, so allow me to redress that balance here.
I decided to buy Super Pokémon Rumble because I was so impressed by its gameplay at Eurogamer. I have honestly not regretted that decision for a second. Thus far I only have 3 games for my 3DS : Street Fighter 4, Mario Kart 7 and Super Pokémon Rumble. And I love them all equally. That sentence alone should make a fair few of you (especially 3DS owners) appreciate just what a special title this is.

Despite appearances this is no rehash (although it is clearly rushed in places). Its the most complete Pokémon Rumble title to date, and hopefully the second in what proves to be a long and prosperous series, because, let me tell those Pokéfans out there among you, playing Pokémon in realtime is AMAZING. Super Pokémon Rumble will send an army of Pokémon flying at you, and you -will- defeat them, either one by one or multiple at a time with the right moves. And it just feels amazing.
Yes there are a multitude of improvements that could be made. But that doesn’t distract from that fact that this is one of the finest Pokémon titles out there at the moment. I’d even go so far as to say its my joint favourite Pokémon spin-off game ever, the other being the legendary N64 romp Pokémon Snap. I really hope those 3DS-owning Pokéfans among you are not planning on letting this title pass you by. For any of you that have it : I’d be happy to exchange Friend Codes for a 2 player co-op game =]

PROS

+ Top-notch gameplay. Chrono Trigger meets Bangai-O
+ All 649 Pokémon that have currently appeared at some point pop up here
+ The graphics don’t push the envelope, but still generally work very well!
+ Music and sound effects are generally pleasant

CONS

-Crap Story
-Boss Battles are repetitive
-Few major graphical niggles

6/10 – Don’t regret purchasing this title for a second, an absolute joy for Pokémaniacs. But the amount of flaws and lack of originality sadly mean I cannot, of a sound mind, rate it any higher (despite wanting to!).

~HelenBaby

Skyrim is a tough game to review, mostly due to the sheer amount of much deserved praise heaped on it by critics and fans alike. What else can I say to gamers out there to recommend or pick apart from a game this seemingly perfect? Then I thought sod it, I’ll review it anyway, because when Bethesda is bad its very bad (See brink)  but when they are good, they’re really damn good! Skyrim is the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series, not counting all the DLC and expansion packs. What elevates it far, far above other games in the genre and especially Oblivion is the culmination of experience and work that Bethesda has done over the past twenty odd years drawing especially from their Fallout games.

You start the game as, unsurprisingly enough, a prisoner going to the chop for crimes unspecified. You are quickly acquainted with the current situation, there’s a rebellion going on and dragons have returned to Tamreial and so the shit has definitely hit the fan. However here comes the common hitch that always follows most RPGs and Bethesda ones especially, there is no urgency. While you may want to do the first five or six main quests of Skyrim to unlock your awesome dragon shouty powers and then toddle off dragon hunting, ore mining, dungeon crawling, sidequestin’ business the rest of the plots just sit and wait happily for you to decide to finish them. Now in fairness I’m being very nitpickky, the joy of the game is centred on exploring the gorgeous locals and smashing the brains in of anything that doesn’t greet you cheerfully or with mild disinterest. But where does that leave the main plot? You play an adventurer who has the ability to shout dragons out of the sky and smash their scaly hides in. That is so stupid it’s awesome. I loved knocking people out-of-the-way, making them flee and clearing the rainy skies so I could have a picnic with my wife (yes that is a real power). But as awesome as that draw was, and it was awesome, I always felt that it would be more fun to do…anything else but follow the plot. There is a difference between ignoring the plot and running from it. In Fallout and Oblivion I could ignore the plot, in Skyrim I was running from it. I only got pulled back into the main plot after accidentally raiding a cave for shiny objects and was surprised to find a plot related object which brought me back to the main quest.

Great now I sound like some old player moaning about what a RPG is supposed to be like, plot heavy. But that’s not Skyrim, that’s not what it sets out to be or should be. Heck the main quest and civil war are pretty interesting and well implemented even if you feel some of the characters are giving you the run around for no good reason. One of the best improvements in the game is the skills and levelling system. Like in Oblivion you level up by using your skills and when you get enough points you level up and choose a perk in line with the skills you have been using. So depending on how you want to play the game adapts to you. Pro tip, do NOT neglect your combat and armour skills if you’re playing a fighter/ anything else. Especially on the harder difficulties, everything will kick the snot out of you. Also, you only need three sorts of potion, two minimum, stamina health and maybe magic. You can generally do without anything else and before you get your own item storage area (read your house) you won’t need many of the others and they weigh a ton. Also do not underestimate the importance of smithing and enchanting. While you no longer need to carry around 20 hammers to repair all your equipment (thank the nine!) you need any and all edges you can get over every foe you can.

About 20 hours in I had a thought, maybe we could reduce inflation around the world by having people be buried with all their worldly goods to bring costs down, because in Skyrim that appears to be the plan and it’s worked out pretty well! However, it also means you’re carrying several years’ worth of pay and next to nothing to spend it on, except for the odd potion equipment and enchanted items. It’s just slightly irksome ya know?

There have been times when Skyrim really irritated me, unclear puzzles, going on hunts for healing potions, NPC’s who said the same line over and over until I seriously considered the negative ramifications of ending their stupid and pathetic lives. Having another fucking dragon spawn immediately after I killed one making it loose the awesomeness factor, seeing all the yarls sitting in the same campy nonchalant manner that made me want to slap their ass silly and scream SIT UP BLOODY STRAIGHT!
Awww heck Skyrim I can’t stay mad at you, you look gorgeous, you can do so many things, there’s always something interesting going on. So what if you’re a little unfocussed, unbalanced and buggy? That’s practically negligible next to what you can do.

Pros:
+Massivly open world
+Fantastic game play
+An RPG at its best
+Shouting at dragons is awesome  

Cons:
- Not a stunning main plot.

Score: 9/10

- That Bloke In The Beanie

The last game I got my hands on at this year’s Eurogamer was one of the many sequels I’m looking forward to next year – Mass Effect 3. While I found the original title took a little getting into, it was a fantastic experience in the end, and Mass Effect 2 was even more enjoyable, offering one of the best “space adventuring” style titles I’d ever seen, allowing you to captain your own crew in a galactic adventure in a brilliant mix of RPG and Third Person Shooter style gameplay. With Mass Effect 2 taking your own decisions from the first game into consideration - affecting the story and characters you meet depending on various events – and Mass Effect 3 promising to carry this on into its own story, it sounds like quite an undertaking and is said to be the conclusion of the saga.

The demo itself was presented as a ground based mission, and I was happy to see some familiar faces on my squad – Garrus, who has been by my side for a large portion of both ME1 and ME2, and Liara – who returns as a squad member from the original Mass Effect (while she did play a part in the second game). Also involved in the mission was Mordin (Mass Effect 2) whose goal was to evacuate a lone female Krogan, with my squad helping him through checkpoints and keeping the Krogan safe – from indoctrinated (Reaper-brainwashed) Cerberus members, who apparently wanted to stop him.

Before the actual level began, however, I was prompted to assign ability points – I assume to match me to the level of the mission I was about to tackle. I wasn’t given a choice of class, so I was stuck as a Soldier – not that I minded. The general system is very similar to that of the previous games – assigning points to level up various skills and abilities. However, when selecting a certain type of ability to level up, the game opens up a new screen specific to that ability tree, which is more aesthetic and informative than before. There seemed to be more options than the previous titles – with a decent selection of upgrades, and also branches in the ability trees that allow you to tailor your class even more to your liking. I personally upgraded my damage, grenades and Concussive shot skills, though there were options for different ammo types and such as well. Given the scenario, I didn’t delve into the influence/dialogue stuff. I really liked the look of the upgrade system – with more options than Mass Effect 2, yet more key skills than that of Mass Effect 1.

As the level began, I instantly noticed that the graphics had been given a definite overhaul – while nothing game-changing, the areas looked great, and Bioware are clearly keeping things up to date, the area looking vibrant, and character models looking that little bit more detailed. While I wouldn’t consider myself to be particularly shallow in the whole issue of the importance of good graphics, I must say that the improvement between Mass Effect 1 & 2 was one aspect that made ME2 better – it’s larger range of locations and appealing vistas making the various galaxies more exciting to explore – not just endless grey spaceship corridors. It seems Mass Effect 3 will be following in this trend – which I’m happy with, so long as the game’s size hasn’t been compromised in any way!

Now for the mission itself. Sadly, I was disappointed that the demo didn’t show off the new Omni-blade melee kills – while it’s one of the features I’m most excited to see, it didn’t seem to be available in that particular build – or if it were, the game didn’t tell me how to do it. However – that’s not to say that I was disappointed with the combat itself. Battling Cerberus troops has never been more fun – the general combat feels much like any other third-person shooter, although with all the usual Mass Effect RPG abilities we’re accustomed to. Shepard can now blind-fire – a favourite ability of mine – which makes all the difference in a shootout, and his abilities seem to tie into the action well. The concussive shot felt more useful than I remember, offering a high-impact round that can pack a punch when available, and the new conventional grenades are satisfying for some heavy damage.

Another noticeable difference in the game is that Shepard can now use ladders, and also drop down from upper levels where there is a ledge. While it doesn’t sound like much, it really makes the game feel less flat, and a bit more realistic – as they say, it’s all in the details. Once I had battled my way through a quite a few enemies, I eventually found myself face-to-face with a large Cerberus Mech that acted as a boss. It’s heavy attacks meant it was important to keep moving – staying in cover wouldn’t keep me safe. However, it didn’t take too long, and after plugging it with shots and a few grenades it went down without too much trouble.

One feature I almost forgot to mention was the inclusion of a weapon load out area that I discovered during the mission. While I didn’t have many options, it seems that you are now able to change weapons and upgrades mid-mission, which could come in handy. I am a little worried that this might suggest that there may be long periods where you don’t have access to the Normandy where you would usually do this – but hopefully my fears are wrong. Otherwise, it’s a nice addition for a few mid-level tweaks to your arsenal.

Overall, what I’ve seen of Mass Effect 3 is looking good. While the combat is only one aspect of the game, it does seem that Bioware have pulled out all the stops in perfecting Mass Effect’s RPG/Action combination – with plenty of upgrades and improved combat controls for the best of both worlds. If all the other aspects of the game have been improved equally, I think it’s easy to say that Mass Effect 3 will be the best in the series – and considering Bioware have stated that it’s been easier to produce than Mass Effect 2 (since it doesn’t have to link into a following title), I hope that they won’t disappoint! I just hope all my favourite characters return as recruitable squad members…

- Leon

The heroine of the adventure is Totori, a young girl – and student of Rorona - living in the small village of Alanya. Cared for by her protective older sister Ceci and their quiet father, it is believed that their mother – an Adventurer – is dead, having disappeared years ago. However, Totori refuses to believe this, and decides to set upon becoming an Adventurer herself in order to seek out her mother and find the truth of her fate. To do so she must master her skills as an Alchemist and learn to take care of herself.

The first thing I will say about Atelier Totori is that it is a very beautiful game in terms of visuals. Gust have done a very good job in this respect – the game almost has the look of a living painting – a mixture of anime style characters in vibrant and colourful locations, the fields looking inviting and a pleasure to explore. While dialogue is depicted using character portraits (as opposed to animating the character models), the art style is detailed and the portraits look great, with various poses and such for different expressions. While anime can often have very generic looking characters, each one is very unique and even the various NPC’s in shops and such have all been given their own character and design. The game’s music is equally vibrant, with some catchy tunes, although at times I did find it almost a little too cheerful for my personal taste.

While I would never say that a game is specifically for one gender, I would however say that Atelier Totori feels as though it is perhaps aimed at a more female audience. While it wouldn’t appeal to all girls, the game does have a very flowery feel that I can see would be very off-putting to many male gamers, and of course follows a female lead. Being fairly open-minded with games (and very tired of space marines), that didn’t stop me getting stuck into the game to see what it had to offer – but it is perhaps something to keep in mind.

The game mainly revolves around using Alchemy to synthesise new items and equipment to improve your Alchemist rank, and fulfilling quests to grow as an Adventurer, once you obtain your Adventurer’s License. Quests include hunting specific enemies, gathering materials and synthesising new items, granting you new items and Cole (currency) in return. The game uses a calendar system, so most quests have a deadline in which to fulfil them. Meeting the criteria quickly will get you better rewards - but you are also judged on the quality of the items you present, so handing over some old low quality products quickly won’t give you the best result.

Alchemy is quite a deep system within Atelier Totori - while I’m used to synthesis in other RPG games, it takes more than just following a recipe to create good items in this game. As with quests, the quality of your items used in synthesis affects the outcome of the items you create, and ingredients also carry various traits that are inherited by your concoctions. In this way you may systematically combine various ingredients to create new items with lots of bonuses, such as increased power for an item, or higher selling price. New traits (such as resistance to elements) can be fused into armour and weapons, meaning you can tailor your equipment to your current needs. Alchemy is quite daunting at first, but it’s easy to pick up. One flaw I did find, however, is that the items you need to create something are depicted by icons, rather than words (such as a picture of a nut), and multiple ingredients can fit this criteria – which can be something of a hassle when trying to work out exactly which ingredients fit that category.

The game uses a world map, with each town and location marked as destinations linked via roads on the map. By selecting your destination, Totori will travel the distance, and time will pass accordingly – as well as LP, which determine how long you can go before you need a rest. If your LP run out, your characters’ stats are weakened until you restore them – by using an item, or resting in one of the Alchemy workshops located in some of the towns. While everything in the game takes time, you don’t feel too pressured, as the game assures you that you will be fine as long as you don’t intentionally waste time.

The general progression of the game is generally accomplished by meeting objectives in your Licence to raise your Adventurer level. The objectives range from searching new locations, to defeating certain enemies or beating different types of quests. Each time you meet an objective you gain some points, until you gain enough to rank up. Doing so will then open up new locations on the map to which you can travel, and in turn open up new objectives to meet in order to increase your rank further.

Being a JRPG, Totori does not travel alone. To begin with, she is accompanied by her best friend Gino, a lively boy who reminds me of a younger Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. He joins her as an Adventurer, and they both obtain their Licences together – in fact, he is the one that pushes Totori to become one. As the game progresses you gain new companions, and can then choose to take two of them along with you on your travels, the others waiting in towns if you want to switch them into your party at any time. Depending on your chosen team, you will see a mixture of different scenes as they interact – a nice idea, and it helps to develop their characters and relationships well. A fair few of Atelier Rorona’s cast is still present within the world of Atelier Totori (being only five years later), and a couple of them are playable characters you can gain for your party later on – including Rorona herself.

Of course, there would be no purpose for all of the equipment, gold and teammates without some combat – something I feel Atelier Totori does quite well. Using a fairly solid and traditional RPG combat system, the fights revolve around a turn-based system with each character being able to use basic attacks, different skills and items to assist in battle. While RPG protagonists are often good damage-dealers, Totori is rather weak and serves more as a support unit, relying on her items to attack. However, many of the other characters, such as Gino and Mel are all good for the melee damage, so don’t worry if you like some good swordplay!

As an RPG player, I don’t really like to rely on items in battle. They’re exhaustible, and I usually like to have a good mage on my team to heal rather than using potions and such. So naturally, adjusting to Totori’s reliance on items was something I initially struggled to adapt to – using bombs and such being the best way to work with her. However, once I got used to this, it wasn’t too bad – and I soon found that you could pull off some cool moves. One feature I really liked was the assist function – in various situations in combat, it is possible to press L1 or R1 to call in one of Totori’s partners to assist her. When being attacked, this means they can dive in front of her to take the hit, and when she uses items, they can follow-up with an attack of their own. This doesn’t come for free however, and is governed by an assist gauge below each of the partners’ HP and MP readings. While a relatively simple system, the assist gauge works very well, and I found it to make combat a lot more exciting as it adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. The enemy designs are varied - some look cool, some look too cute to actually fight, and others look a bit bland. Generally I’d say they’re pretty average, and fit into the game’s visual style fine.

While I’m generally happy with Atelier Totori‘s game system - especially its combat – it slowly began to dawn on me that the game’s story wasn’t to my taste. The thing about this game is that it’s not your traditional RPG which involves an unlikely group of people getting caught up in some grand plot to save the world from some evil force bent on taking over or destroying the world. Which is fine – and it’s nice to see games that don’t fit obvious moulds, trying something new – but unfortunately, it wasn’t what I was expecting. While Atelier Iris had been a much grander journey, Atelier Totori’s story is exactly what it seems from the very beginning. There’s no sudden twist that Totori’s mother had been killed defending the world from impending doom leaving her to mature and take on the responsibility (or anything of a similar vein) - just a simple tale that’s more of a personal journey. While that’s perfectly acceptable, I personally found that without a major purpose, I simply had little motivation to see Totori grow and wasn’t particularly invested in her personal story – much of the dialogue feeling somewhat like aimless banter with no real purpose. Sadly the voice acting was also sub-par which didn’t help, with Totori’s being the worst of all – a grating high-pitched tone that I didn’t enjoy listening to.

Overall, Atelier Totori is a relaxing RPG with an emphasis on item creation. If you enjoy side-quests and investing yourself in the characters, you might like this – it has a repetitive nature that could give you that addictive “one-more-go” buzz as you work on increasing your item library and opening up new locations. While I loved the game’s art-style and it’s combat system, the lack of any major goal left me feeling as though I was aimlessly fulfilling quests without a very rewarding outcome. If you’re looking for an epic quest I’d avoid this, but if you’re more in the mood for exploring and watching Totori become an Adventurer, it could be a nice break from the more serious games available out there.

Pros
+ Beautiful visuals
+ Lots of unique characters to meet
+ Solid combat system
+ Alchemy system is fairly deep

Cons
- Voice-acting isn’t great
- Lack of major plot could be offputting to RPG fans

Score: 6/10 – Not really a game for me, but I can see it being appealing to some people. Give it a rental if you’re on the fence about this one.

- Leon

The announcement of Final Fantasy XIII-2 gave me mixed feelings. Initially I was disappointed that they would be returning to one of my least favourite titles in the series, but then I realised it was an opportunity to fix the problems that XIII had – and could only improve upon the engine that had been put in place. Development time could now focus on the gameplay elements, and hopefully give me a more engaging experience. At Eurogamer, I at last got my hands on a demo of the title to see how it’s shaping up.

The demo began with little explanation of what was going on, although it did still seem to be early stages of the plot. New guy Noel was already teamed up with Lightning’s sister, Serah, as a they fought a titanic creature named Atlas that was tearing things up. The basics of combat were all too familiar – Noel sporting the regular commands of Attack, Ruin, Blitz etc, which was slightly disappointing but not unexpected. The Stagger bars have returned, and generally the combat flows in much the same way as it’s predecessor – no huge overhauls like that of Final Fantasy X-2′s combat engine.

Once some damage had been done, one of the game’s new features made itself apparent – an in-battle QTE input that prompted various button inputs as Noel ran onto Atlas’ body for a cinematic attack. The inputs were fairly easy (although I’ve got reasonably fast at reacting to them from other games), and I managed to get them all first time. This then staggered Atlas – seemingly instantly - which was a welcome thing to see considering how long many of XIII’s battles were. I quickly chained up a number of attacks, and before long emerged victorious.

The game then progressed to the next area – I believe it was New Bodhum, but I could be mistaken. Either way, it showcased another of XIII-2′s new features - towns and cities that can be explored. This was one of my (and many others’) biggest complaints with the first title, their admission leaving the game a linear experience and missing much of the magic of Final Fantasy. The town showcased was sadly a bit of a miserable one, dark and gloomy, but a town nonetheless – hopefully we’ll be seeing some nicer locations in the full game – visuals are one thing FFXIII generally did well last time. The game looked a bit fuzzy, which didn’t help - but I’ve a feeling that was more to do with the TV I was playing on than the game itself.Within this area I could explore and talk to people – one of which did ask me to retrieve an item as a side-quest, although I found myself a bit too lost to work out where to go at the time.

Now, the entire time throughout the demo, Noel and Serah were being followed. It didn’t matter what I did or where I went, the couple somehow managed to find themselves attached to a really annoying moogle. This moogle looks like it’s constantly puffing it’s cheeks, and talked through most of the cutscenes, in an incredibly irritating voice. Now, you know that really cute way that Moogles have always said “Kupo” in the older games - at least the way you imagined it in your head? Well, for the first time, a Moogle has been given a voice – and the way he says “Kupo” isn’t cute like I always imagined. It’s a cringe-worthy shriek that wound me up to no end. While I’m quite happy with Noel and Serah as new team members, the addition of Mog could easily spoil the game’s tone, it’s “darker and more mysterious” style spoiled by one horrible design choice. I only hope he takes a backseat as the story progresses.

I soon found myself wandering out of the town (albeit due to me having no idea where I was going), and the game’s next change became apparent. While enemies in XIII were visible at all times, XIII-2 returns to a more “random battle” style system. As you explore areas inhabited by monsters, they will appear in front of you, and the “Mog Clock” will appear. By pressing a button, you can strike the enemy to initiate a battle – but your timing affects how the battle begins. Hit the enemy when the clock is green, and you can gain a pre-emptive strike and extra bonuses, but if you fail you may suffer an ambush or negative status effects. While this change was worthy of note, I couldn’t say it really felt like an improvement, but perhaps it could make battles a little shorter if you get your timing right.

The battle commenced, and again it felt very familiar. Some new enemies have been added, such as the strange floating cat creature, Cait Sith, and many enemies return such as the Flandragora. Once defeated, there was a new scene, where Noel taught Serah a new ability – the ability to collect crystals formed by enemies at the end of battle, and then being able to summon them to fight alongside you during battles. This new feature was the one that perhaps interested me most, adding a new element to battle in order to spice things up a bit.

In the next battle, I was accompanied by a captured creature which acted like a third party member. By switching Paradigms, I could then swap between the usual 3-person combinations seen in the previous game (albeit with new names), although the monster that fights alongside the team varies depending on which setup you are using. While I couldn’t actually access the main menu, I would assume that monsters are equipped in the Paradigm menu, with more choices unlocked as you capture more creatures. While I played around with them, swapping between a Cait Sith and a Flandragora as teammates, my favourite was a team of three Commandos – purely because the creature associated with that setup was a chocobo, which felt far more familiar and friendly.

Sadly, I didn’t really feel that the creature system added much to the combat. The main difference is the addition of a “Feral Link” guage, which fills up as battle takes place. Once full, you can press a button to make your current creature do a special QTE attack for some extra hits. While it’s a nice little addition, it didn’t really make the battles much more interesting and I can’t help but feel that QTE’s have been thrown into the game rather than adding better controls and strategic commands for the team as a whole. I look forward to adding a Behemoth to my team, but I’ll need to see more before I can decide whether this new system is more than a gimmick.

Continuing, the demo then showed off some Live Action, which reminded me of something I saw in the Final Fantasy Versus XIII, where cinematic effects unfolded as I was running around – basically, Atlas was back and destroying things, as I was in the process of continuing my progression through the area, and soon enough I found myself standing before Atlas once more. Sadly, a poor choice (perhaps not clearly explained), led me to my death. Since I had defeated him once, I assumed I would be able to do so again – but it was not so; I was in too deep, and Atlas killed me quickly. I’m not sure exactly what I was meant to do, but I assume charging into the titan wasn’t the general idea.

Overall, I think the demo confirmed my general beliefs on FFXIII-2. It’s combat still feels repetitive and dull in my eyes, and while the addition of QTE’s and Feral Link seem to add a few new concepts to the combat, neither of them felt particularly solid enough to turn the combat into something deeper than what the original game had to offer. I’m glad to see that towns and sidequests are now included, but I’m simultaneously unsure whether XIII-2 will give an experience that feels like a “true” Final Fantasy title. The game’s due out early next year, so it won’t be too long till we know the truth of the matter. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m feeling it can’t be much worse than XIII.

Unless that moogle doesn’t stop talking.

-Leon

11 years ago, Ion Storm brought to us something that forever changed the landscape of the medium of gaming. Deus Ex (usually pounced ‘day of sex’) was an ugly but profoundly deep cyberpunk RPG, not just in terms of plot but also the gameplay options and mechanics giving the player space to play the game as they so desired, although taking the stealthier option was generally much more viable. It was followed up in 2003 by the mediocre sequel invisible war which was barely a scratch on the original. So with that brief look back out of the way, I can focus on Human Revolution. Does it live up to the name that still evokes bleary eyed nostalgia? Or is it more akin to its other bastard child?

The good news is, as you have probably heard, that this is very much a Dues Ex game or rather it evokes the same key feelings of familiarity: A dystopian future, the perpetual night, a claustrophobic city etc. The plot and motivations of all the groups and characters involved is also suitably intertwined and complex.

You play Adam Jensen, The head of security for a augmentation company called Sarif Industries. However shortly after you introduction the facility is attacked by terrorists using augmented soliders and Adam is mortally wounded only to be saved by having his body augmented. Then the task begins to find out why the attack happened and what has developed in the moths since his surgery and recovery.

Human revolution explores the idea of an augmented society inspired in part from the recent expansions in the field of robotics and prosthetic limbs. Augmentation seems to be a natural progression from these advances and poses the question: Can a human loose its humanity by modifying itself? And in doing so do we sacrifice control? Transhumanism is a central theme in all of the Dues Ex series and its discussion in Human revolution is perhaps the most succinct in the series, if not as deep as in the original. It nicely compliments the main plot which basically boils down to finding out why Sarif industries was attack and what really happened to the key scientist working on new augmentations. The way in which the story unfurls, even granting that most players are able to deduce certain twists and turns, does so at a good pace and is generally well paced.

The developers split the gameplay into  four distinct areas: Combat, Stealth, Hacking and Exploration. The weakest of these is combat because although Jensen has been augment, he is still very much human and so a couple of shotgun blasts at close range will have him out for the count. Often stealth and hacking flow into combat depending on how the action pans out, setting off an alarm or an explosion for example. It is a little disappointing that combat is less viable and rewarding than the other paths you can take; but the other areas more than compensate for this. Also the venerability that Jensen has adds to the game play as you are not playing as some government super soldier or meat-head like in most FPS’s. Adam is fairly intelligent and has a clear motivation for his actions, making him easier to relate to as a character, despite his Batman voice.

However, there are other elements of the game which feel oddly out of place. The boss battle for example, in the first Deus ex you could find a way past certain foes without having to engage them, or take them down in a non-lethal manner. In HR, you’d better make sure you have some real firepower ready when they come on you’re going to be in a tough spot. It seems somewhat counterproductive when the majority of the game can be played in a sneaky non-confrontational manner to then force the player to fight someone who they would not have the tools to deal with. Also there is the problem that, while you may be able to buy more energy bars, only the first one recharges on use. I didn’t find this to be a major problem for gameplay as my playing style didn’t depend too much on using a lot of energy at once , but the fact that you could only recharge using energy bars and protein pills left it feeling somewhat disjointed to what these augmentations were supposed to be. Yes you would expect that a augmented human would have only a little power to be recharged after use but that you can only recharge all of the via this method is slightly exasperating to the central premise. Unless other augmented guys and soldiers are carrying around a massive pack of protein plus then their combat effectiveness should drop exponentially. Also, the amount of ammo that you find scattered around can be annoying sparse in some areas; especially if you are doing a non-lethal play through.

Despite these problems, Human revolution is a largely enjoyable cyberpunk RPG with plenty of areas to explore, interesting characters with a strong plot and philosophy behind it.

Pros:

+ Strong story

+ Solid action

+ An immersive environment

Cons:

- Some poor voice acting and character movements

- Combat can be very poor in places

- The battery use can feel frustrating and at times useless

8 Out Of 10

- That Bloke In The Beanie

Okamiden is a Capcom RPG for the Nintendo DS. It was released in America on the 15^th March, (and Europe two days later), and is a sequel to the critically acclaimed PS2/Wii title Okami. I won’t say too much about the story so as not to spoil things for those of you intending to play this, but I will say it is set 9 months after the events of the original. It is considered an indirect sequel and, hence, self-contained ; you won’t have needed to play the original at all to enjoy this.

Okamiden sees you controlling Chibiterasu, the adorable son of the original game’s protagonist, the similarly titled Amaterasu. I had Okami for the PS2 and managed to progress a couple of hours in. However during that time I never quite felt like I’d built any kind of bond with Amaterasu, as I may have done playing a Zelda game, the series to which the franchise is most often compared. In contrast, with Okamiden, no sooner than the opening group of cutscenes finished rolling that I was already beginning to feel utterly endeared with Chibiterasu ; his adorable appearance and childish, slightly naïve demeanour melted my heart. With that basis to build on I set off, and discovered that every time I learnt something new about him or his back story my attachment to him grew and grew, and its probably this, more than anything, that kept me coming back to this title.

In terms of depth Okamiden is often referred to as Okami-lite. I honestly haven’t played enough Okami to know whether thats a fair statement, but Okamiden is certainly a lot lighter than the likes of Zelda : Twilight Princess or Shenmué. But it would be wrong to call Okamiden shallow, its got some major revelations about the franchise in it, and there are a couple of big story elements which come together towards the end. By the time its over you’re going to be feeling pretty damn satisfied, if you’re anything like me. That said, one big criticism I have of the way the story is told is that, although it gets off to a great start, the middle section really lags. Its full of scene-setting and the introduction of characters you have yet to form a bond with. Of the handful of people I know who actually play this game I’m the only one who actually bothered to persevere past the game’s boring center. Which is a real shame, because the game’s final chapters are its best ones, and really taught me why this is such a well-loved series.

Through-out the game Chibiterasu is joined in his adventure by partners, of which there are several. These characters, who sit on Chibi’s back, each generate a different play dynamic, For example, when you travel around with the young girl Kagu you have, in addition to your regular moves, the ability to exorcise evil spirits and, later on, the power to warp. The dialogue of the non-playable characters also changes in response to who your current partner is at the time. In Kagu’s case, many of them complement and praise her, for she also happens to be a well-known actress in the Okami universe. The partner system is great because it allows you to view this RPG from a constantly changing perspective, while the endurance of Chibiterasu’s constant presence glues the whole thing together and provides continuity.

Other features of note include the ‘New Game Plus’ feature, a carry-over from the original which allows you to replay the story after finishing it, now enhanced with some of the things you managed to collect first time round, such as extra inkpots, solar energy units and trinkets. You can also unlock some pretty impressive extras if you manage to furfil certain objectives, such as finishing all of Issun’s Masterpieces, but, again, I won’t spoil things by saying what. The New Game Plus really extends the longevity of the game, and increases its value for money, in my opinion.

Other than that you have the battle system, which was fun at times. It felt so good to let loose with the Celestial Brush, it was the only place I really felt I got the opportunity to really do that. That said I think the battle system could have been improved. Apart from on special occasions the arena in which you battle is always the same drab purple affair, which got old really quick. Aside from that I found that I was expected to fight the same enemies over and over, such as the elemental spinny things, which felt like a total drag.

The aforementioned ‘Celestial Brush’ feature is what really sets the Okami series apart, control-wise. For those of you who don’t know, this sees you ‘painting’ strokes or patterns onscreen using a virtual brush, producing a variety effects which can help you manipulate your environment. The Nintendo DS has been heralded as the perfect platform for this system, by The Escapist editor John Funk among others, and I have to say I agree. Trying to draw items using my PS2 controller felt as cumbersome and slow as it did back when I used to play ‘Art Alive’ with my Megadrive controller ; nothing beats the speed, accuracy or ease at which you can jot things down directly onto the screen using your DS stylus.

Okamiden’s graphics are in the same Sumi-e style as the original. Quirky art styles often work really well on the DS, as Hotel Dusk and Scribblenauts demonstrate perfectly, and the same is very much true of Okamiden. Most of the game is played out against very neutral colours, which really help create a homely, earthy feel, saving richer reds and purples for when it needs to make a statement, such as boss battles.

So much has been made of the fact this is graphically inferior to the original, especially by the fans. Its obviously the case that the resolution is a lot lower, with the special effects being much fewer and far between. This problem is compounded by the fact that it is largely only fans of the original that are drawn to Okamiden in the first place. And its really quite unfair. Because judged soley by DS standards Okamiden holds its head high with the very best looking games the format has to offer. Super Mario 64 is still the standard by which 3D DS games are judged, and it would not be stretching the truth by any means to proclaim that Okamiden surpasses it. Its gradients, textures and blends make Mario 64 look positively dated. In addition, I recently reviewed Pokémon Black/White, another DS game, and praised its graphical prowess. But Okamiden is just on another level entirely.

Lastly you have the game’s soundtrack. Like Okamiden’s graphics and story, its music is inspired by ancient Japan. Within the confines of remaining faithful to that traditional base you’ve got an impressive range, from the lovely, relaxing music played during menu screens, to the bouncy, inspiring Shinshu field tune. The music is at times really quite emotional, and  really helps bring the story to life. Great examples of this include the haunting, sweeping ‘Once Upon A Time’ and the bitter-sweet, Zelda-esque ‘Sorrow’

The music isn’t ground-breaking, although it would have been before the likes of Dragonquest 9. It is top-notch, however, and has a few truly memorial numbers that, I must admit, I’ve even considered transferring to my iPod.

In conclusion Okamiden does a brilliant job of taking everything that made the much-loved Okami special, and making it accessible to gamers such as myself. My lack of empathy with  Amaterasu was one significant reason I just never could get into Okami, but there was more to it than that. Games which require you to sit in your room, wired up to your home console and TV screen will always seem more needy to me than portable alternatives, which you can move about with and experience in a variety of environments to your leisure and heart’s content. I also digged the fact that Okamiden was a more basic experience ; I found Okami quite over-whelming, and just couldn’t be bothered with it.

Okamiden has a heart-warming story, eye-popping visuals and a great soundtrack. Its also tied together perfectly, propelled at every stage by its desire to recreate the feeling of Ancient Japan. The Nintendo DS has really surprised me in recent years by delivering some of the best RPGs I’ve ever played. And now I have a new one to add to the list.

Please don’t be put off this if you haven’t played the original, if my experience is anything to go by it’ll probably result in you enjoying it all the more. A brilliant game.

Pros:

+Captivating story

+Celestial Brush works like a charm on the DS

+Possibly the best looking game on the system

+More accessible than the original

+Pleasant soundtrack

+’New Story Plus’ really adds longevity, and has some mighty fine rewards

Cons:

-The story really lags in the middle

-Some of the partners could have been more interesting/likeable

-The battle arenas always look the same, and fighting the same enemies can get really repetitive

Score: 8.5/10 – An RPG I didn’t even think I’d like, but found I couldn’t put down for weeks. Engrossing and amazing.

- Helen Doherty

This past week or so I have decided to take a break from that norm and go down a different route, so I dug my PS2 out and started to re-play the classic Kingdom Hearts (KH). Ever since my partner in crime Leon did his KH DS review it got me remembering how great the previous PS2 games were. So I dove right in.

The first time I played this game I couldn’t stop, it is that addictive, I had to show my friends and pretty much everyone I knew about it. But what gets me is, some people on my gaming level back at home take one look at Kingdom Hearts and either laugh or run away. Why? well they assume that just because it features Disney character it is automatically dubbed a “kids game”.

Now I can fully understand this sudden ‘WTF’ moment. I mean gamers these days don’t think that a game that consists of characters from both Final Fantasy and Disney would make a good and successful game franchise such as this one. Well it has, This game is pretty damn far from a kids game for a fair few reasons which I will list now.

The Story Line

Lets face it – classic Disney story lines consist of either a man and a woman who find each other, notice they are in love, sing about it a bit then finally get married, or the usual Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse tale which is pretty slapstick and has five-year olds laughing at it for hours on end. The whole Kingdom Hearts series however, has such a deep story line which comprises of its own characters as well as Disney and Final Fantasy, I think kids would get lost just after the part where Hollow Bastion is mentioned; hell if they manage it through KH1, then KH2 would totally confuse them with the whole of Organisation XIII, because quite frankly I was still a bit confused with Roxas’ appearance at the start of KH2, even though I did read Chain of Memories inbetween the two games.

Gameplay

We all know, if you’re going to start any RPG you going to find things quite simple to start off with – I gave this game to a couple of my mates back home and they got totally bored after five seconds through the tutorial. (That, and I think they were totally bamboozled by the 14-year-old kid wielding a huge key around.) Anyway, as the story – and indeed the game – progresses, the controls inevitably get more complex, you have your spells which you have to assign, your equipment items you have to arrange, and your Potions and Ethers you have to give each character to use in battle. Hell, I am only talking about KH1 and 2 here on the PS2. If you happen to play KH: Chain of memories on the Game Boy Advance, then the gameplay takes another confusing turn. You have to attack using a card system which is damn complex in its own right, and takes the best of us gamers a while to grasp. To be frank kids will have more fun sticking Lego up their nose than playing this.

Nostalgia

I was talking with Leon about this whole KH issue, and he made a very valid point. True this game does use Disney characters, but you have to realise that these are Disney characters of our generation (2o’s-30′s). These are the characters we grew up with, Kids nowadays are growing up with CGI characters like Bolt and crazy singing dancing weirdos such as those guys from High School Musical. They are more likely to play this game and ask where the hell is Zack Effron more than say “Awesome, Hades from Hercules is here”.

It’s Not All About Disney

What a lot of people don’t realise when they play or hear about this game is that it’s not all about Disney. As I have mentioned a couple of times in this post, it also has Final Fantasy characters that the RPG fanatics will be raving over; you have all the fan favorites, like Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, Squall from VIII and Tidus and Wakka from X amongst a load of others.

But the great thing here is, the game doesn’t just run on characters from Final Fantasy and Disney alone. It has its own characters which are pretty much as awesome as the others, like Sora, Riku and Roxas. They are the driving force of this game, whereas the Disney and FF lot are just there to back them up and put some big smiles on gamers faces.

So to sum up: To begin with, I was very confused that a game with Disney characters could appeal to a lot of gamers out there. But when you actually play it, this game is in a totally different league to kids games. Just because it is about kids, doesn’t mean it’s for them. So for those of you out there who are a little confused and put off by the concept, don’t be. This game is a must play and a joy to behold, I am sure when you do play it, you will get a good sence of nostalgia and a great gaming experience.

Garv!

Sooo Garvaos kindly agreed to let me take a detour from my usual custom of reviewing iPhone apps so that I could bring you this review of what is to perhaps be the last big Nintendo DS release: Pokémon Black/White. For those of you who’ve been living under a rock for the past 10 years: Pokémon is a long-running RPG series, which has inspired everything from movies to ice-pops (and a whole host of other crazy merchandise for that matter). Pokémon Black/White represent the first fifth generation Pokémon games and, as with previous generations, this means they bring to the table a whole gaggle of new Pokémon (156 in fact) plus a brand new region to explore: Unova.

Many Pokémon fans were (and are), perhaps understandably, quite sceptical about this release. Many feel worn down by the vast amount of Pokémon games released on the Nintendo DS console; and it is a truism that this is the first time two generations of the series were released on the same console (well, if you consider the Gameboy and Gameboy Colour as two distinctive formats, as I do). So far on the DS we’ve had Pokémon Pearl, Diamond, Platinum, Heart Gold, Soul Silver, and that’s before you even bring games like the Rangers and Pokémon Dash into the equation. These new Pokémon RPGs have to be something seriously outstanding to set it apart from the well-received Heart Gold/Soul Silver games (which had the added bonus of coming bundled with an awesome pedometer accessory: the Pokéwalker). The question is do they live up to that? Are they truly the next generation in Pokémon games, or simply generation 4.5? This review will attempt to answer this question, using my usual format of examining the games’ story/background, graphics and music.

The developers have really stepped up the attention they invest in the games’ plots, something I first noticed during Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Thankfully this trend has very much continued: what you have with Black/White’s story is something that, while still not as deep as the likes of Dragonquest 9, is certainly on its way. The story, which is the darkest yet, sees the new protagonists (who are older than in previous games) pit against a new villain: Team Plasma. Ok, so Team Plasma aren’t exactly a universe away from the Team Rocket of the original games, but they do have distinguishing features, such as their Knights Templar-inspired uniforms. Interestingly, their standpoint, that all Pokémon should be freed from their exploitative trainers, is a great deal more morally ambiguous than Team Rocket’s simple policy of theft for the sake of becoming powerful. At first I was almost tempted to side with them, but I suspected there was more to it than meets the eye, which is a great thing about this game’s plot; it gets you thinking and keeps you guessing.

The choice of Team Plasma leader marks a significant departure in the traditional story-telling of Pokémon games, for the head is no scheming Giovanni nor manipulative Mars, Jupiter or Saturn. No, this time the villainous group is led by a wholly likeable young man called N, a good boy led astray by his evil father. Other elements in the story sphere include the seven sages (of which N’s father is a member) plus much detail of how the new region was created (like in Diamond/Pearl this involved the games’ respective signature legendary Pokémon).

Gameplay is, as expected, very familiar, particularly to players of the earlier DS Pokémon titles. The action is largely controlled using the D-pad and buttons, Gameboy-style, although there is sometimes the option of using the touchscreen (and in some mini-games this is obligatory). There are, however, a host of new features, and these include Seasons (the game cycles through the four seasons, but not in accordance with real life. They change on a monthly basis). Seasonal change is represented in many ways: how the environment is presented, the likelihood of catching certain Pokémon, and, in some areas, even the music. It also slightly affects accessibility, for example on Serebii.net it tells how in winter a snowfall in Iccirus City makes it possible to access a cliffside otherwise off-limits. Other new elements include, but are not limited to, Triple and Rotation Battles, the Dream world (where you sync your game with the Pokémon Global Link website and access a range of features) and the Entralink, which lets you visit a friend’s game. Players playing the game on a DSi or 3DS also have the additional benefit of being able to take part in video calls through the Xtransceiver function. So lots of new things for players to get stuck into!

As for the graphics, its true they fall far short of the full 3D players have been crying out for since the Advance generation, and in my opinion that’s a shame. I think it’s a step the developers really need to take to convince old fans that these newer games are not just money-spinners, but the good news is that they are certainly a marked improvement on the earlier DS outings. While the Pokémon and characters themselves are still 2D sprites, they are now presented in a setting in a kind of 3D reminiscent of such DS games as Animal Crossing and GTA : Chinatown Wars. The landscape in some parts of the game is truly beautiful; trees, rivers and bridges scattered across what feels like endless verdant plains. The more rustic towns, too, share this quaint beauty, but the more modern metropolises like Castelia City somehow don’t look quite as good. I’m not sure why, perhaps it’s because they were a little over-ambitious in their inception?

The battle arenas too now have a higher res 3D look to them, and the Pokémon, despite still being sprites have many more frames of animation to them than previous games which I feel allows their individual characters to be expressed in greater depth than ever before. For example, Shelmet will taunt your character with a kissy gesture a couple of times before retreating into his helmet shell and bouncing a few times. And when my Zekrom is in battle he moves slightly back and forth as if breathing, but will sometimes lunge forward further, which really creates the impression of my Pokémon being an organic (and random) organism. If you don’t enter a command the camera will pan across the arena, changing the angles of the bases the Pokémon stand on, which also looks pretty damn cool. Other than that, it’s the little things, like the slick animation of a 3D bird picking you up when you use Fly (as opposed to Heart Gold’s static, low res sprite) that really do leave me with a very good impression of this game’s visuals.

Now I’m not much of a fan of cut scenes myself as in-game graphics always take precedence in my heart, but it really does need to be said that this game really uses cut scenes well. When you boot up you are treated to a beautifully painted set of animé stills, depicting N’s coronation and featuring a Darmanitan, one of the new Pokémon. Aside from that there are many mini cut scenes which have functions in game, for example there is a short movie when you ride the ferris wheel that shows your character and a partner travelling high over endless trees. And when you take part in the Musical an adorable little cut scene is generated demonstrating your Pokémon, dressed up in a set of clothes you choose, doing a dance with a group of others.

A final word on the graphics front has to be said about the new Pokémon’s designs. This is always something that comes under fire with each successive generation, with the usual criticisms of the designers being lazy and using old designs twice, and of some of the Pokémon just looking plain stupid. Apart from an assortment of gems (and there are a fair few gems!), on a personal level I don’t rate the Unova Pokédex (a way to collectively describe the new Pokémon) as I would Kanto or Sinnoh’s. Although I haven’t agreed when this charge was made about previous Pokémons, I have to say that some of the Pokémon here do just look plain crap, with the worst offenders including: Litwick (a daft looking candle that’s supposed to be the new Ghastly, but really isn’t), Cofagrigus (an extremely tacky Pharaoh coffin with eyes and arms) and the aforementioned Shelmet. Then you have the unoriginal: Ferroseed looks like a bad Forrestress clone (like the first one wasn’t bad enough) and Watchog, who’s basically a creepy looking Floatzel, except Normal type instead of Water. While not one of my favourite generations in terms of Pokémon, I must admit I still immensely enjoyed roaming around Unova discovering them. There were, as always, plenty of “ohh, ahh” moments and it did have its fair share of lovely surprises, from the seriously cute, like as the mystical pink pig-like Audino, to the badass, like the polar bear Beartic.

Gamefreak really pulled out all the stops music-wise, indeed I’d go so far as to say Pokémon White/Black has the best soundtrack of any of the games; Old tunes have been given brilliant remixes, from the subtle to the markedly different. My favourite example is the track played when your health falls into a critical condition, your HP in the red, they’ve taken that oh-too familiar beeping noise, and given it a housey mix that just sounds so good I almost feel like I’m being rewarded when battle goes badly!

Aside from that you have a lot of variety, and there are heart breaking orchestral pieces in the mix too, such as that heard in N’s castle and a fair share of the cutesy and the quaint tunes, like that heard on Village Bridge. Then you have upbeat numbers with the Oriental-sounding Driftveil City tune which sounds like something out of a Goemon game, and the jubilant new bicycle theme.
Sound effects are largely unchanged from recent outings. To bring up yet another bone of contention I can confirm that the Pokémon’s calls are still merely sound effects, the critters still can’t say their own names like they can in the animé, something else fans have been crying out for for umpteen years. But given the DS’ relatively low memory capacity this was largely to be expected and in my opinion is forgivable.

To conclude, I’ll go back to the question I posed in the introduction: is this game truly worthy of being classed a whole generation beyond Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/Heart Gold and Soul Silver? In terms of the way the Pokémon generations appear to be classified; with each generation representing a new region and new batch of Pokémon, it would be impossible to argue that it did not, but that’s not what this review was concerning itself with. Graphically, plot-wise and in terms of development in general this game is definitely an evolution on that what’s gone before. Pokémon’s looking better, sounding better and heck, playing better than it ever did before. However, I don’t think there’s a big enough jump here for it to be considered a whole new generation when you look back and look at the amount of differences that occurred between the other generations. Take the first generation and second for example, I found it near impossible to go back and play Pokémon Red after playing Gold because it just added so much sophistication, customisation and novelty to the game, with its introduction of genders, eggs, shinnies, night/day difference and so on. I wish I felt that way about the 4th gen having played White/Black but there just isn’t that level of difference, and my original suggestion of 4.5 seems to me to be a fair assessment.

Having said that, does it honestly matter that Pokémon White/Black isn’t completely revolutionary? Sure it’s the same old formula, but it really is so refined now it literally oozes shine! Pokémon Pokémon Pearl/Diamond and Heart Gold/Soul Silver were damn good games on a damn good console, what’s wrong with revisiting that road now it’s had a clean? We Pokémon fans spend so much time talking about what the Pokémon games aren’t doing right that half the time we’re not even paying attention of what they are. I tell you I honestly had so much fun playing Black/White, a darn sight more than I expected (and this is from someone who rinsed the earlier DS Pokémon games and really didn’t think I could stomach another). Give your DS one last epic adventure; you won’t regret picking this game up.

Pros:
+Best looking Pokémon game to date
+Awesome soundtrack
+Well thought-out/intriguing plot
+Heaps of new functions greatly extend the game’s longevity

Cons:
-Still falls short of the full 3D experience/critters still don’t say their own names
-The new Pokémon don’t look as good or as original as some past generations

Score: 9/10 – Brilliant little RPG that sees the DS end its life on a dazzling high. Essential purchase.

As a Gamer, I can…sometimes find myself a bit too engrossed in my work. We’ve all been there; a quick play turns into a couple of hours and then more and more and more. You don’t want to leave the gaming zone you’ve created for yourself. There’s always an excuse: “Just to the next save point” “I just have to finish this quest” “Just a few more levels, then I can face the boss”. And if you’re particularly unlucky, the game tricks you into playing it more and more by exploiting the most likely excuses you’re making to yourself to keep going. That happened to me when I started playing Jagged Alliance 2.

Released back in 1999, the game is set in the fictional country of Alruco, which is suffering under the tyrannical rule of Queen Deidranna who took power in a coup in 1988. Since then she has monopolised the country’s wealth and suppressed all dissent. But that’s about to change. The former King, Enrico Chivaldori has hired you to get his country back for him by whatever means necessary. The game is split between the tactical map and the 2D isometric real-time zones where combat takes place. You start with a fistful of dollars with which to hire some accompanying mercenaries and to create on yourself by answering a multiple choice personality test and assigning skill points to particular areas.

With that done you’re dropped into Alruco and sent to meet what remains of the rebel movement. In order to take on the Queens forces you need more cash, which can be acquired by taking back towns and the mines that produce precious metals. You will spend the majority of the game fighting Deidranna’s soldiers in the real-time zones, which can be both deeply frustrating and satisfying. Sneaking one of your mercs around a building or cover to take pot shots, or dash in with a knife or fists to finish them off quickly. But if the enemy sees a group huddled together, pray your body armour can resist a grenade coming your way or that gas masks are ready to deal with any gas attacks. The tactile map shows where your mercs are, what condition they are in and where you want to move them, including the locations of mines, cities and SAM sites that might shoot down the chopper you can quire to move around more quickly.

Once you take a town you need to hold it to ensure that you have a steady income so that you can pay your mercs, hire new ones and buy better equipment for them to use. So you have to hire and train militia units to hold the towns. You do not have direct control of the militia and they will only help you if you are in the same square when enemy forces invade.

But why does this game endear itself to me so much? The graphics are VERY dated; it’s still buggy and you’ll find yourself re-loading saves quite often.  Well, JA2 works because it’s able to endear itself to you. Like an old bloke down the pub that’s a bit rough around the edges, a bit insane, but always has something interesting to say. For example, the mercs you hire have their own little foibles, likes and dislikes. Of course, if you’re working with someone who has to kill for a living they’re likely to be pretty unhinged…and funny! As you walk along or situations arise, you get to hear gems like: “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m psychotic. I’m not psychotic! I just have a passion for my job!” and “I’m here, I ate every bug on the way, they were many.” The turn based combat, while a bit choppy is still very much enjoyable, even if the A.I can be a bit daft sometimes.

Also the plot is straight out of a bad 80’s action movie with cheesey 2D yet funny character archetypes. This is particularly prevalent with the Queen herself, who pops up from time to time, usually when you’ve just taken a town. Her hapless minion Elliot comes into the Palace related the news and..well…lets just say Deidranna hasn’t heard of the phrase don’t soot the messenger. It usually ends with her slapping him about and screeching “ELLLIOTTT YOU EEEEDIIIOT!” All she’s missing is a skull castle and a better haircut.

JA2 is a nostalgia trip, you know if you’re going to enjoy it in the first half hour of playtime. It is currently available on steam.

- That Bloke In The Beanie