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 Final Fantasy X
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Role-Playing
Ratings: 9.5/10
Comments:
It's a wonderful game - everything from the graphics, music,
sound effects and storyline are superb. Gameplay wise is typical that
of the usual Final Fantasy series with twisting plots and a lot of
cool cutscenes. A nice feature in FFX that distincts it from
other games is the use of voiceovers in addition to the normal text
conversations. You may wonder why I did not give 10/10 rating if every
aspect of FFX is as excellent as I mentioned. Well, the 0.5 deduction
is for the lame boss fights in the game - even the final few bosses
are total pushovers. On the whole, FFX is a must-have for the Playstation
2, unless you are looking for real tough action of course.
Final Fantasy X-2
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Role-Playing
Ratings: 8.8/10
Comments:
The first sequel to a Final Fantasy series game and also the only chance
for gamers to get the good ending that is missing from FFX. The game
by itself looks almost the same as FFX, with the exception of combats
which are now in real-time. The storyline is not as solid as FFX - the
story now proceeds in missions and chapters, and some of the missions
seem to have totally nothing to do with the main plot. Some missions
are also very frustrating and time-consuming, as in the 100-levels
dungeon and the sphere-viewings in chapter 4. If you look beyond all
these, you will find a game with graphics and sound effects similar
to that of FFX. And oh, the most important part is the perfect ending
after completion of the game - it really is worth the time and effort...
provided you can get 100% completion.
Onimusha 3: Demon Seige
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Action Adventure
Ratings: 6.5/10
Comments:
The starting cinematic movie is very impressive, with great graphics
and the main character of the game - Samanosuke played by Takeshi
Kaneshiro looks very life-like. However, that is also the only good
CG in the entire game. The rest of the cutscenes are merely blown-ups
from normal gameplay. The storyline is quite interesting, with the
player controlling two different main characters from different timelines
. Gameplay is similar to the Resident Evil series, the puzzles in the
game are pretty easy and the fighting is neither very stylish nor
difficult. After a while, you will get tired of seeing the same moves
over and over again. It would be a much better game if there were
more CGs and more fighting styles to choose from.
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Role-Playing
Ratings: 7.5/10
Comments:
There are two separate story elements for most part of the game -
one that of the human race led by Kharg and the Deimos led by Darg. The
storyline is very linear, with hardly any secrets or decisions to make,
so those looking for replay values will be disappointed. The graphics
and music are well-done, but lacks facinating cinematic cutscenes.
Battles are fought in Final Fantasy Tactics style but minus the grid
this time. Another disappointment is that the battles are again too
easily won. Except for the last battle, there were hardly any cause to
load the game for a second attempt.
Shadow Hearts
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Role-Playing
Ratings: 7.8/10
Comments:
Shadow Hearts is a pretty good game, with fresh storyline, decent graphics
and music. The story revolves around your main character who has the
ability to capture fusion monsters in a graveyard hidden within his mind
and then transform into those monsters during combat. Combat is turn-based,
but there is an additional feature called the 'judgement ring' where for
every action you choose, you have to hit all areas within the ring to
successfully complete the move. It may get frustrating at times, especially
during later stages when it gets really hard to perform actions successfully
while your characters' lives are getting dangerously low. Some of the
conversations are quite humorous, it would be even better if vocal speech
is added to the normal texts.
Suikoden III
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Role-Playing
Ratings: 8.5/10
Comments:
Being a fan of the Suikoden series, Suikoden III has not disappointed me.
The story revolves around three main characters - Chris, Geddoe and Hugo.
Although the game begins with three different stories, the three stories
were linked beautifully towards the upper-quartile of the game. The plot
is good, and there are many different characters to bring to battle.
If you can find all 108 characters, there will be a bonus chapter to
play as the evil doers in the game. This greatly enhance the storyline,
since you are able to see the story in the evil guys' point of view.
However, I guess too much effort went into the story? as to ignore the
sound effects of the game. Music is average, but the sound effects are
pretty hopeless. The cutscenes are blown-ups from normal gameplay -
they look quite nice but would be better if they made it more movie-
like.
Mechassault
Platform: Xbox
Genre: Action
Ratings: 9.2/10
Comments:
I have long been a fan of the mechwarrior series on the PC, Mechassault
on the Xbox proves to be as good. Gameplay is simple - you control a
huge robot called a mech and you blast your way through missions. As
the game progress, you will be able to control powerful mechs and wield
weapons of mass destruction such as the PPC and Gauss Rifle. The level
of difficulty is quite high for some of the missions, especially those
that you control a lousy mech and forced to run for your life, and
certain missions that have a lot of powerful mechs to challenge you.
The only drawback is the rather short campaign - it takes only about
10+ hours to complete the game, too short a time to contain all the
excitment.
Van Helsing
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Action
Ratings: 8/10
Comments:
An action game based on the movie Van Helsing, the game itself also
follows the movie very closely. The graphics and sound effects are
good, and the CGs are animated. As in most action games, the story
is not very precise, so it is best to have watched the movie before
hand to truely enjoy the whole game. Combat is quite stylish, with
Van Helsing wielding a gun in one hand and a melee weapon with the
other. The bosses are of moderate difficulty, it should be a smooth
ride if you are an experienced action game player.
Kingdom Hearts
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Ratings: 8.2/10
Comments:
Kingdom Hearts feels more like an action game imbued with some role-
playing elements. Fans of the Final Fantasy Series and especially
Disney World will be intrigued by this game. Players will definitely
find many familiar faces while playing, such as Squall, Cloud from the
FF series and Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck etc.
Players will roam different worlds accompanied mainly by the magician
Donald Duck and the warrior Goofy, occasionally by other NPCs such as
Peter Pan, Tarzan, Little Mermaid etc. On the whole, this game is rather
cute, with real time combat styles as in most action games. An interesting
game, especially since it also bring back childhood memories of some
favourite cartoon characters. There's not much of an ending though, with
most mysteries left to be solved in part 2 of the series.
Star Ocean: Till The End of Time
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Role-Playing
Ratings: 6.8/10
Comments:
With Square Enix as one of the game's producer, one would expect a lot
from Star Ocean 3. At least, it was quite fun during the first half of
the game. With real time combat similar to that in Star Ocean 2 of the PS1
and a nice storyline, what really spoils the gameplay is the really
atrocious voice acting and boring conversations during the later part of
the game. The voices are very poorly done, with tones that sound like
lullabies. The main characters also seem to run out of conversational
topics, with "Let's go" and "Yeah.." as the main source of speech towards
the end. While the plot should be rather compelling to some, it reminds me
too much of programming and thus 'forced' me to deduct a few more points
from the ratings. Better voice acting and more cinematics would make
Star Ocean 3 more worthwhile to play.
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