Infection Mutation Outbreak Quarantine

Kingdom Hearts
.DOT HACK//SIGN
Inu-Yasha ( A Feudal Fairy Tale)

Game: Kingdom Hearts
Platform: Playstation 2
Rating: 9 out of 10

Lately, Kingdom Hearts has been the only game that I haven't been able to put down.
Thus far, I've restarted this game at least five times since Christmas 2002 and have been
playing it since I obtained it on Christmas Day. More so, some reviewers have claimed Kingdom Hearts to be a kiddy game, which isn't necessarily so. Sure the Disney characters and some turns and twist in the plot are Disney, but trust me. It's all Square in there. However, I do agree with most reviews and dub Disney and Square the odd couple.

The first thing that caught my eye about Kingdom Hearts, was the artwork. It blew me away. Especially during the cinematic scenes that play a major part in the storyline. Being an avid gamer of Square Soft games I have never seen  cinematic scenes like this in all my nineteen years. And let's just say that this pair did a hell of a job with creating 3D environments that are easy to mill through and explore. Every time I replay the game I find something new that I've never seen before from when the game was first started.

Game Control - Unlike its Final Fantasy predecessors, Kingdom Hearts offers a new wave of mobility and game play. Instead of waiting to run into a battle, your already in one as soon as the characters enter and exit a building. Leveling up is easy to since there are so many Heartless running about you have no choice but to fight and advance you experience points. The only problem I had with Game Control, was the camera. It does well on occasion but it drove me batty in Halloween Town during the fight with Oogie Boogie.   I had a tough time seeing where he was and the angle was awful, but in other levels the camera worked just fine. And suited the angles of the different environments.

Music - One thing that I love about Kingdom Hearts, is the music. Some reviewers had complaints about the opening being Japanese Rock, but I love the opening theme 'Hikari' by Utada Hikaru. The good thing about the song is, that Hikaru did it in both English and Japanese so the translators didn't have to find some poor English sap to do a horrible job voice over of her beautiful  song. The only complaint I can see about the translation, is the voiceovers themselves. Riku had a good sexy voice that matched his character perfectly, and Sora matched perfectly as well. The only one I didn't like was Kairi whenever she spoke, I felt like strangling her. Although, when she spoke normally she was fine but her giggle made me cringe. Makes me feel bad for David G. who did the voice of Riku since he had to work with underage kids

Expressions and Character Emotions- The emotions of the characters, were carried out well. The only problem I had which I didn't really notice until a friend pointed it out to me the other day, was that the lips didn't match up to what the characters were saying. For example you notice more when Sora speaks to Yuffie and Leon in the Inn at Traverse Town
his lips don't match up at all when he speaks  Although, My personal favorite expressions belong to Riku especially when he shows anger and or jealousy. They gave me chills and made the spin itself tingle. Overall the expressions are very very impressive.

Overall Kingdom Hearts is an awesome game. If you haven't tried it yet, I recommended that you try it, whether it means buying it or running to your nearest blockbuster to get it. Don't be a zealot with a plight about it being a kiddy game. Believe me once you play the game itself. The hardness of the levels, characters, 3D Environments, music, and Game Play will make you eat every bad word you say about. So don't blow it until you try it. ^^. 

Game: .Dot HACK//SIGN
Platform: Playstation 2
Rating: 8 out of 10

.Dot HACK//SIGN the video game based upon the newly hit Anime Series. Haven't played very much of this game yet, so more to this review will be updated as I advance more into the game itself.

From being in various RPG's online. Dot HACK//SIGN Infection blows Yahoo Group RPG's away. When the game starts its as though your actually gazing at your own desktop menu.
Even though the game itself, is tedious and easy to get adjusted too. .Dot HACK//SIGN, is a highly interactive 3D Anime adventure. If you worried that you haven't seen the series, and wouldn't know what the heck is going with this, don't worry Square has given .Dot HACK//SIGN Game buyers a special gift with each Infection game sold. Within each case you obtain a free copy of the 1st two episodes of the TV Series itself on a bonus DVD as your prize for purchasing the first of four games.

 Game Control- .Dot HACK//SIGN runs in the same matter as Kingdom Hearts, the only downside is you can only run and attack when necessary. Jumping isn't an option. And if they ever develop a dodge roll tactic in this game, it would come in very useful when your scrounging around The World and other levels within it. Over all the game play pulls out well, but there only two complaints about Game Control that bug me. First of all, The camera angles are a pain in the neck to get adjusted too. If you can't see your enemies let's just say your screwed on the battle field if you jiggle the joystick the wrong way and zoom in a position to where you can't see your own hand in front of face your as good as dead. Secondly, A major disadvantage to this game, are Save Points. Since we get a lot of rain and thunder storms where I am, you better make sure your loaded with Sprite Ocarina's in order to leave a Dungeon to return to town, cause if you don't and the power shuts down, your a gamer without a saved game. And will have to start your adventure all over again. Sucks doesn't it? 

Artwork and Characters - Unlike Final Fantasy game environmental settings. The scenery of .Dot HACK//SIGN are well detailed. Especially Desert Lands, Towns, Ghost Like atmosphere the works. And some of the Dungeons down right gave me the creeps. The only thing though, expressions for the characters are good, but seem to look stiff during cinema tics from time to time. Although the battle action is good with swift quick moves that can take down even the toughest fiend are astounding. Yet, the good thing about this game is that you can switch back and forth between the Japanese Subtitles and English Dialogue so if you hate English versions of Japanese games and shows you'll love that little feature. Especially when it comes down to Mistral >shiver<. Her voice is awful.

( More to Come Soon as I finish the game)


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Game: Inu-Yasha A Feudal Fairy Tale
Platform: Playstation
Rating: 7out of 10

Finally managed to get my paws on this game ^^. Its one of those games you have to look all over for, and or winding up finding the last one of it, like I did. Besides its been a while since any Playstation 1 games caught my eye. However, this game had eyes set on it since they've seen it in a video game magazine a few months ago.

Graphics- Like most Anime PS1 based games, you have the glorified mix of 2D and 3D graphics to blend the environment and characters together. In comparison if you ever played Gundam Battle Assault on the same console, than that is what the graphics here look like say for the backgrounds are sharper and characters are more digitized.  However, the Chibi version of the Inu-Yasha cast that you get when you play in Feudal Fairy Tale mode during the choose adventure select screen,  are down right adorable. Especially Shippo and Inu-Yasha who seem to definitely take the cake.

Fighting- Hmm. This is the only part of the game that I'm iffy about. The attacks and skills given to the characters are cool and fast, although, the jumping and sword swipes seem slow and burdened in comparison to the attacks and slashes. Unlike Mortal Kombat, the enemies you approach seem to go easy on you, but than again its only been played on easy mode thus far. So it may get harder as the game advances. Also, unlike many fighting games, you have quite a few options in the main menu to choose from. Especially for versus matching. However, if you play in Dream Fairy Tale mode, You choose two characters and can easily interchange them between battle with a simple press of the L2 button. Which helps cause while the other character is in play it helps the other member of your team to replenish themselves. 

Voices/Music and Sound - ^^ One thing I like about this game, is that all the voices are in their original Japanese format ^^, although I do enjoy most of the English version voices from the series, however, it adds a neat little treat to Inu-Yasha fans who are true to the subtitled version ^_^.  Music wise its good, especially on a dark field, where  its eerie in tune and the good ole Japanese Flute comes into play ^^.  The Sound is fair, however, its really hard to understand the characters at the beginning of the battle over the music. The girls are easy to understand since they have higher voices, but I wish the guys would speak up just a tad bit more ^_~.

Over all, this game is fun for multiplayer action, and covers quite a bit of ground. If you ever come across this game, I recommend you try out, even it doesn't abide to your standers its still fun for a refreshing one on one and or two on two battle ^^.