Games: What games are you currently playing? [OT!]

[Cataferal]

Just gave Halo 2 a bash. After 3 games, i decided to stop. Its not the game thats bothering me, its the people who play it; the online experience is really tedious thanks to the way most of them play/talk. It seems the best tactics usually involve nabbing the best weapon on the map ASAP and exploiting some niche or glitch on the map to get to an otherwise unaccessable vantage point. Im hoping for a LAN fest sometime over the holidays, maybe then i'll get some enjoyment out of the multiplayer.

Ive also been playing Panzer Dragoon Orta, which im beginning to consider to be the best exclusive title on the Xbox, and the last great original Sega game. For a rail-shooter, there sure is a lot of story depth and extra features; they even threw the original Panzer Dragoon in for good measure. Im really hoping they release a sequel for X360, the series deserves elaboration.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ July 29, 2005 12:46 AM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[Nevan]

IRT Cat: Yep, that's why Halo is the better game. Of course Bungie could fix this. But they don't. According to the weekly update (7/29/5) they are working on their "next project." I hope it's Halo 3 for the 360 and they don't mess it up.

I played Battlefield 2: Modern Combat over LIVE today. Over all a good game with a really crappy messaging and menu system.

[Cataferal]

Just been playing FullMetal Alchemist 2. So far, this is better than Musashi:Samurai Legend, but worse than Kingdom Hearts. Unfortunately, not only does the story follow the animes exactly, making the plot more than a little predictable in the process, it actually diminishes the quality by using still frames and no lip-sync to tell it. The gameplay itself feels like Kingdom Hearts lite, in that you only have one ally all through the game helping you fight realtime battles, through use of a sluggish combo system. This is a disappointing effort that feels like yet another shameless cash-in on Square Enix's part, although by no means the worst of their produce in the last 5 years.

Im also hearing very bad reviews from people who are taking the Beta tests and previews of Square Enix's upcoming "Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII". Apparantly its got all the gameplay depth of The Bouncer, only with a Vincent and a gun this time. The controls are also meant to be extremely awkward, and the graphics are less than astounding. However, its recently been announced that online play is included, which could be quite interesting, and that the game is still in the middle of development. It could actually be good, but Square Enix's recent track record leaves me a little less confident than i'd like.

[Cataferal]

IRT N - Its been confirmed that Bungie are already developing Halo 3, although on their website they're keeping the focus on Halo 2 so they can squeeze as much activity out of it before the Xbox is phased out next year. Im definitely buying Halo 3, but i may wait for the online play to balance itself out, and for the necassary patches to be released for the levels before i make the purchase. I remember Halo 2 being a real mess to start because of these reasons, and i dont fancy repeating the disappointment; i'll wait until Halo 3's gameplay is in its prime.

Anyway, recently ive been playing the following games, here are my comments so far (not reviews!):

Sorairo no Fuukin Remix (PS2) - This is a japanese dating sim of sorts, although despite featuring an all-girl cast, theres very little "dating" going on. I cant make out very much of the story, but the music and art are beautiful, and justify playing through. The voice-acting is also incredibly cute, and there are a lot of humorously placed J-pop song sequences which made me laugh a lot. Unfortunately, i noticed that there are very few choices involved on your part; within just the first 4 chapters, each lasting roughly half an hour and featuring reams of text, i only got about 6 choices. In addition to this minimalist interaction, i was disappointed to find that real-voices are used only for occasional sentences, when they could have easily applied it to entire key scenes to highlight the drama. Regardless, this definitely is one of the more big budget titles of its genre, and deserves the chance to be played outside its native country, be it through official or unofficial translation.

Cataferal Smiles: 6/10

Advance Wars (GBA) - I love this game already, and i only started yesterday. As a strategy game, the rules are inevitably going to be varied and slightly complex, but because the tutorial was so perfectly structured and paced, it was extremely easy, and above all, enjoyable to learn. I found this to be the failing point of games like Final Fantasy Tactics, which provided a unexciting pure-text tutorial many left alone, consequently putting themselves at a disadvantage when starting the main game. The simplicity of the graphics and controls only add to the accessability of Advance Wars, which means you can start focusing on the strategy straight away instead of fumbling through a load of menus in order to execute commands. I just wish my GBA had a backlit screen, because its hard to see whats going on, and i think im going to be playing this for a long, long time.

Cataferal Smiles: 9/10

Twinkle Star Spirits: La Petite Princesse (PS2) - Yet another quirky japanese game, although i had no idea what to expect from this when i obtained it. Judging by the name, i thought it could be some cute party game aimed at children/girls, but i was surprised to find myself mistaken, aside from the cute part. It is in fact a very colourful scrolling shooter. The game involves a split screen, dividing you and your opponant as you soar across a variety of terrains (from peaceful cottages to the depths of hell). The aim of the game is to be the last one standing, achieved by dodging the oncoming level-specific enemies, and rebounding they're attacks towards your opponant on the other side of the screen. Along the way you receive power ups to give you an advantage, such as healing your health (of which you have 3 bars), or granting invincibilty.

Generally, i thought this was fun, but not nearly as deep as some other scrolling shooters, such as Ikaruga, or even rail-shooters like Panzer Dragoon Orta. Sadly, the game lacks more than one basic shooting command, whereas the latter provided a more involving control setup, featuring a variety of moves for you to apply in your own style. This, however, is still an interesting find considering its so underhyped.

Cataferal Smiles: 6/10

Makai Kingdom (PS2) - Another brilliant sRPG from Nippon Ichi. I played this wanting to establish whether or not it was worth buying when it comes out here in October, and i think ive made my decision. Straight away, its noticable that the presentation is beyond that of Disgaea's, in showcasing much greater detail in character design and terrains for the many cut-scenes. The main games 3d terrains and 2D sprites, however, are just as simple as they have ever been, which is to be expected considering how busy the screen can get when you unleash all your characters. Also noticable was the quality of the american voice-acting, which surprisingly turned out to be more amusing than that of the japanese setting (which, regardless, was a welcome option). This is certainly a rare preference for me, but im glad to make this exception; the japanese voice-acting sounded so unenthusiastic and humourless in this.

The gameplay is essentially a mix of Nippon Ichi's previous titles, allowing you to create fighters from a variety of job classes like in Disgaea's Dark Assembly, as well as fight with them on a non-gridded terrains through use of spherical attack/movement areas, like in last years Phantom Brave. This mix works well, and it apparantly irons out the flaws in Phantom Brave's battle system, although i'd need to play more to confirm this.

Also, so far i consider the story to be the most compelling since that of Disgaea's, and perhaps offers a better balance of humour and drama. The narrative follows Zetta, the strongest overlord in the cosmos, who in a bid to save his Netherworld, sacrifices his body and confines his soul to a Sacred Tome. From here, you take control of him and use his powers to create your own team of warriors, with the ultimate goal of regaining his body, as well as the allegiance of the other Overlords.

From what ive played so far, this is one of the best sRPG's Nippon Ichi have produced, surpassing that of La Pucelle and Phantom Brave in both style and gameplay. However, im not convinced that this'll be the battle system to surpass Disgaea's, but then, thats something i'll have to confirm for myself when i buy it. This will be a worthwhile purchase.

Cataferal Smiles: 8/10

Ive also started replaying Final Fantasy VII, as hinted by my new sig. I need to refresh my memory of the story before the release of the Advent Children movie, which is due for release on DVD on the 14th of September in Japan, and in the US a few days after. Fortunately, the running time has now been extended to 90 minutes, the standard length of an animation movie, and also includes a 30 minute anime episode called "Last order", which covers various past scenes of the game. This extended length gives the feature an oppurtunity to actually live up to the high expectations of the fans, which i doubt the originally planned 50 minute length could ever have achieved.

[justwildbeat]

Well I've just rented Halo 2, never played the game before but my lil bro has so I figure he can tell me where to shoot heheh ^_^;; What I really wanted to get was Forza Motorsports, ya I love cars and racing ^_^;; some random custom kept on telling me how good it was but yea I already know that. I just want to rent now gosh blast it!

[Cataferal]

Ive heard a lot of brave claims regarding Forza Motorsport: "Gran Turismo beater" being one of them. I need to play it myself, it'd be nice if it was ^_^.

[Hell Knight]

Yea, read a few articles about that game, you should try it out [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[blahguy729]

Playing on Sonic Mega Collection cuz i consider myself a crazy sonic fan [img]tongue.gif[/img] waiting for the release of sonic gems cuz that will have knuckles chaotix, sonic cd, and as a bonus vectorman [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[Dreamer7000]

Finally finished all 4 storylines of Resident Evil 2!
After 3 years I managed to open all storylines. Guess I was stupid back then!

[One Classy Bloke]

IRT Blahguy: Ha, owned. There is no Knuckles Chaotix.