Game Review: Final Fantasy X

Welcome to the booming Metropolis of Zanarkand! Home of the Zanarkand Abes Blitzball team, and their all star player Tidus, son of the former superstar blitzer Ject. For Squares 10th game (X) in the Final Fantasy series they really veered off in a completely different direction from your traditional RPG. In fact you can pretty much set any preconcieved notions for Final Fantasy to the side, in FFX there are no kingdoms in far far away lands, brave knights, magic crystals, princesses being kidnapped, time warping Sorceresses, or spikey haired guys w/ amnesia blowing up reactors, or crazy clowns killing summons and stuff. This game is much more personal with a likeable cast of characters that are (finally) well fleshed out.This game flows very much like Star Wars A New Hope. We start out with Tidus, a bright eyed adolescent boy who is suddenly whisked off on an adventure by a mysterious older man, Auron, who's been watching over him since he was a boy.Tidus awakens in an unfamiliar land, after being abuducted by a group that he can't understand on a salvage ship and escaping he washes up on the shore of a tropical paradise quite different from the city's of Zanarkand. This is where Tidus meets up with Yuna, daughter of High Summoner Braska who defeated Sin 10 years earlier with his guardians Auron and.....Ject, "the circle is now complete" This is where the story begins, Yuna is about to set out on her pilgrimage to become a summoner, accompanying her is Lulu who acts as Yuna's older sister, Kamahri Yuna's version of Chewbacca, and Wakka a Blitzball player who is the first to find Tidus. Thru Yuna's pilgrimage you learn about the religion of Yu Yevon, and the relationship between Yuna and Tidus blooms. Unlike FFVIII the romance between Yuna and Tidus seemed more genuine, perhaps because Tidus, aside from his choice in clothes, seemed more......normal.Right from the start you realize this isn't your traditional Final Fantasy, aside from the brighter pallet seen throughout the game and the rock music that fully utilizes your home theater's surround sound system. Other significant alterations to the FF engine are the good ol level system which is is enhanced by the sphere grid. The sphere grid resembles a constellation map, each of the party members starts in a different location on the map, after defeating creatures each member who participated in the fight gains Sphere points which can be used to advance thru the sphere grid (connect the dots). When plotting your course on the grid it is important to plan ahead, do you want the MP bonus or the new ability? Because you may find a fork in the grid and you don't have enough sphere points to get one then double back for the other. The idea is a nice way of making the leveling process more in your control in a more interactive way than watching numbers tally up. With more focus on individual leveling and sphere grid advancement per participating party members FFX allows manual swapping of active members during battle. That way each member can attain GP (grid points).In order to keep your party balanced it is important to ensure each member advances on the grid at an even pace, to do this FFX allows you to do something you could never do in any previous FF's, swap out party memebers mid fight, so in theory each member can contribute to the fight and recieve grid points. Final Fantasy X is a much more linear title than previous versions and much more personal. Instead of saving the whole planet from utter annihilation Tidus, LuLu, Wakka and Kamahri band together and set out on Yuna's pilgrimage, along the way they each must overcome their own personal challenges. Square delivers another gorgeous game, the most obvious change is the color pallet used throughout the game, the colors are vibrant and a nice change from the earth tones we're used to seeing in RPG's. The music is a far cry from the traditional Final Fantasy soundtrack, the hard rock theme of Zanarkand from the games begining screams "THIS AIN'T YOUR OLDER BROTHERS FF!"The sphere grid is a nice change from the traditional "reach a level and gain a new ability automatically. Now you have to make the choice of either going for that next spell/ability or grabbing the HP/MP boost instead. And one of the boldest changes to the series FFX is the first in the series to have total voice acting throughout the game. No text boxs with poorly localized translations here.The only aspect I was pretty let down about was the mini game, Blitzball. For Final Fantasy Fans a sports mini game in an RPG is like oil and water. I really enjoyed the card games of FFVIII and FFIX. Try as I did I just couldn't get into the game.FFX is another chocobo feather in Squares pointy hat! A quality story with drama, that touchs on topics of faith and religion, love, the relationship between a father and son, pride and prejudice, and multi culturism. WOW all that in a game and it's still enjoyable!

9/10

Game Review: Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium

If you're a fan of 2D fighting games CVS2 is a gift from the gods! More over if you're from the Street Fighter or King of Fighters fandome now you can put some muscle behind your claims of superiority over the other. CVS2 has an impressive collection of fighters, 44 in total! 21 Capcom characters from Street Fighter, Rival Schools and Dark Stalkers. Most of the Street Fighter cast are ported sprites from the Alpha series, Yun/Yang is from Street Fighter III and M. Bison gets a much needed face lift from his "cubby" alpha series sprite to look more like the original SFII M. Bison. CVS2 also brings back Eagle from SFI.

Before playing this game I never played any KoF games but the SNK roster had some unique characters, Hibiki is clearly inspired by the anime Blood. Haohmaru is a curious fighter as her pet hawk also attacks and acts as an arial projectile. Mai is SNK's equivalent to Chun Li and she was more than just eye candy. Athena was from a NES title I had back in the day and Ultra Rugal has to be as cheap/difficult as Shin Akuma from SFA2.

CVS2 has as many features as characters. Arcade mode has 3 options, your traditional 1p vs comp, 3 vs 3, and ratio where you distribute a set amount of points towards a team of 3 or less.

Survival Mode has: traditional survival and infinity survival. Training Mode. Replay Mode...see my fight below against CJ (Ken). Color Edit Mode...want to give Chun Li that orange outfit? now you can. Groove Edit Mode to tweak the different grooves (more on that later) and Versus Mode.

Grooves replace SFA3's ISMs C-groove is your basic alpha super meter with 3 levels, A-groove is the equivalent of SFA's custom combo P-groove is the equivalent of SSFIIT super meter.

The graphics seem a bit rough around the edges and could use some serious anti-alizing. The controls feel right, if a bit forgiving compared to the controls for SFIII.

The character map selection is lacking considering there are 44 characters I'd be happy with 22 different locations, CVS2 has about 12. I wanted to choke the in game announcer, his voice was as annoying as a hokey radio DJ's, but I guess it fits the whole World Warrior Network WWN.

Other little issues of mine are Sagat's Tiger shot is identical to Ryu & Kens Hadoken, that's just lazy programming.

Overall there's enough variety to keep fighting game enthusiasts occupied for a long time.

8/10

Game Review: Gran Turismo 3 A-spec

Polyphony Digital is going to take you on "The ride of your life" with Gran Turismo 3 A spec, and what a beautiful ride it is!

Unlike GT2, GT3 has both the arcade and simulation mode on one disk (DVD vs CD). The arcade mode offers the usual asortment of features such as Single race, Time Trial, Free Run, and 2 player battle. New to the series is i-link battle where you can connect up to 6 PS2's and set up a LAN, you just need 6 copies of GT3 and 6 TV's....

Now lets look under the hood of what makes the Gran Turismo series so fantastic, the Simulation Mode! All racing enthuisasts begin at home with 18k credits to buy their first car, sorry there's no way to transfer any of your save data from GT2. Your garage can hold 200 cars, but that's ok since there's only about 190 cars in GT3. Game Status can be checked in Home as well.

The GT3 map is a bit cleaner looking than GT2, besides Home, Go Race, License Center, and Machine Test GT3 expands on GT2's Car Wash. GT Auto is where you bring your ride to get cleaned and new to the series is oil changes. Yes you have to keep an eye on your oil, like in real life once 3k miles goes by it's time to bring that ride in for an oil change. If you ignore your oil your car will lose HP and torque and could cost you a race by tenths of a second, so change your oil! The Wheel Shop in GT2 is now incorporated in GT Auto so go get those chrone rims there. Another change on the map is the Car Dealership, all the manufacturers are in the one location instead of North (N. Euro), South(America), East(Asia) and West(S. Euro) Cities. GT3 takes the Tune Shop out of Home and makes it's own location on the map.

Lets go to the dealership and buy a car!

*= In GT2 not in GT3 += New manufacturer

Japan Manufactuers:

Daihatsu

Honda

Mazda

Mitsubishi

Nissan

Subaru

Suzuki

Tommy Kaira

Toyota

U.S. Manufacturers:

Acura

Chevy

Chrysler

Dodge

Ford

+Panoz

Shelby

*Vector

*Plymouth

U.K. Manufacturers:

Aston Martin

Jaguar

Lister

Lotus

TVR

*MG

German Manufacturers:

Audi

BMW

Mercedes Benz

Opel

Ruf (Porsche)

Volkswagon

*Mini

+Belgium Manufacturers:

+Gillet

French Manufacturers:

Citroen

Peugeot

Renault

*Venturi

Italian Manufacturers:

Alpha Romeo

Fiat

Lancia

+Pagani

+Australian Manufacturers:

+Tickford

Now that you have a car lets GO RACE!

This section is set up similarly to GT2, there are three leagues,one Rally Event and Endurance Races. Many of the races, challenges, Cups and Championships are going to be familiar to those who played GT 1 and 2. But GT 3 adds in plenty of new to keep the experience fresh.

The Sunday Cup, Clubman Cup, FF/FR/MR/ 4WD challenges, K-Cup (formerly Compact Car World), Race of NA/Turbo Sports, Spider & Roadster (formerly Convertible Car World), 80's Sports Car Cup, Gran Turismo All Stars, and The Gran Turismo World Championship races all return from GT2 and show up in Beginner, Amatuer & Professional league.

Add to that car specific races such as, Tourist Trophy, Legend of the Silver Arrow, Altezza Race, Vitz Race, Type R meeting, Evolution Meeting, Beetle Cup, Race of the Red Emblem, Elise Trophy, Clio Trophy, and the TVR Challenge.

Then there's the Stars & Stripes Grand Championship (formerly US Nationals), Japanese/American/Euro Champion Races, German Touring Car Championship, All Japan GT Championship, Dream Car Championship, British GT Car Cup, Italian Avante Garde, Polyphony Digital Cup, Like the Wind and the Formula GT Championship.

Polyphony Digital has you kissing your social life goodbye, but we're not done yet! If you somehow complete all there is in the three leagues you can throw some dirt tires on your cars and take the challenge of Rally Events like, Tahiti Maze, Smokey Mountain, Alps, and the Super Special Route 5 wet which really showcases the power of the PS2.

The Endurance races await only the hardcore racing fans, but the rewards are worth it!

Grand Valley

Seattle 100 miles

Laguna Seca 200 endurance

Passage to Colosseo

Trial Montain Endurance

Special Stage Route 11

Roadster Endurance

Tokyo 246

Mistral 78 laps

Superspeedway 150 miles.

If you own a Playstation 2 weather you like racing games or not you should get GT3 it is without a doubt PS2's killer app! If this is a first generation PS2 title I can't imagine what's in store for our future. To compare the graphics of GT2 to GT3 is like comparing Billy's 6th grade art to Salvidor Dali's paintings. No other racing game on any console in gaming history comes close to the magnificense that is GT3 except maybe pole position....J/K!

Graphics are amazing, music is great, there's enough here to keep you behind the wheel for months!

10/10

Game Review: NBA Street

EA BIG is taking us from the powder to the blacktop with their own style basket ball game. This ain't the NBA, this is the Street, and if ain't got the skillz, ya gonna get schooled.

First thing you need to do is create yourself, the games player create mode is deep, choose a gender, pick you're nickname like "Main Event", "Queen B", "Predator" or "Terminator"...you know something that's gonna strike fear into the hearts of the other team lol.

From here on out you get 500 points to spread among height, weight, and the skills: 2 pt, 3 pt, dunks, power, blocks, steals, handle, and quicks. So you could have a 7'1" 265 lb player but you'll have 0 points to put towards the skillz. Then there's the look you want your baller to have, there's initially 6 different heads to choose from, 9 bodies and 8 different types of sneakers. As you progress thru the game more options will become available to help customize your player.

Alright dawg now grab two ballers from any of the 29 NBA teams and go forth and earn that nick name! As you advance through the City Circuit you will be able you add new players to your roster as well as drop ones to make room for more desirable players. STREET has 12 different venues, Beacon Hill, Pacific Blvd., South Beach, Broad St., Route 66, The Yard, The Cage, Venice Beach, The Loop, Yakatomi Plaza, Fort Point and Rucker Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucker_Park . As you play on these venues your skills will be put to the test against some of the local legends like Biggs, Bonafide, Drake, DJ, Takashi and Stretch. Each has a unique playing style and each comes with the attitude that a real street baller would have.

Whether you're playing solo against the CPU or against a friend in hold the court this game is so much fun and you don't need to be a super fan of basketball to appreciate this game! Street is brought to you by EA BIG the guys that brought us the snowboarding gem SSX! Street plays using similar controls, any combo of the four shoulder buttons + square will perform and advanced trick like "slip n slide" or the "down shift"...break some ankles yo! Or perform some sick aerial acrobatics with a super dunk like "Dinner's served" or hook it up with an alley oop to a super dunk to gain insane trick points and fill up the boost meter to unlock your "Game Breaker".

Street's controls are easy to get familiar with, especially if you've played SSX, the controls are are very responsive and the in-game physics are spot on...all things considered, the player models are BIG and expertly animated just like the SSX crew. The game is very well balanced in Hold the Court mode and a 3 on 3 game to 21 can be as exciting to play as watching the Knicks Vs. Bulls Finals from back in the day. Like SSX, Street has a quality soundtrack that fits perfectly with the atmosphere and isn't too heavy in one certain genre. And if you're good enuff you can even get Keily, Naturi and Adrienne from 3LW on your squad!

Other fun extras to find in Street is Moby Jones and Zoe Payne from SSX, Tracey Maretti from Sled Storm, NYC Legends Skip to my Lou, The Goods and Starbury.

Whether you're into sports games or not give NBA Street a try! You will have a ball :P

8/10

Game Review: SSX

SSX, my first game for the PS2, SSX isn't just another "extreme" snowboarding game. It is THE extreme snowboarding game that all others will try and follow. The game is from EA sports BIG and it lives up to that name, bigger characters, bigger venues, bigger air. SSX takes an extreme sport and injects it with enough adrenaline for a cow!

The intro alone got me psyched to play the game, it had a banging song from Mix Master Mike that set the mood of the game.

The soundtrack for the entire game is good enough to listen to without the game. Another aspect of SSX is the announcer, with some wise ass comments when you wipe hard is just another way the player is drawn into the the game.

The cast of characters are a refreshing jolt to the genre, each character has their own personality and are overflowing with enthusiasm. Like the cast of Street Fighter II the cast of SSX spanns the world, Mac and Zoe represent the US, Elise is the boisterous blond bombshell from Canada, Moby "Mr" Jones rides for her majesty, Kaori and Hiro have the honor of representing Japan, Jurgen carves the powder for Germany, and JP performs for France.

SSX offers up multiple events, Warmup, Freeride, Race, and Showoff. Choose a character and play as them with their preset stats or enter the World Circuit and compete against the other 7 around the world. By winning races you earn experience points that can be used to boost the stats of your character, the for stats are speed, stability, edging and tricks. As you boost these stats your rank rises from newbie to superstar.

SSX offers up the most extreme venues in a snowboard game, they're BIG! Each venue has it's own intro song and represents one of the 8 characters. The first venue SSX throws at you is Snow Dream which is located in Japan and is home to spunky Kaori. Next is Elysium Alps in Europe, then my favorite Merqury City Melt down on the west coat which has the player carving powder thru a metropolitan winter wonderland. From there we travel to the South West to Mesablanca where the race will have you flying thru a mine shaft ala Indiana Jones! Think that was extreme? Test your skills on the Aloha Ice Jam venue, you'll be racing on a giant iceberg being towed to a tropical port! Now that's EXTREME! Pipe Dream is the final stop in the competition and the name of the game here is rail slides, the whole venue is underground and offers up never ending rails to grind some even do loops! Your reward for winning the SSX competion is the hidden venue named Untracked. The name says it all, the course is simply amazing,a mountain that you can go where ever however you like...the ultimate freeride!

This game is abosolutely beautiful and really showcases what the PS2 is capable of! For a first generation title SSX shines BIGGER and brighter with amazing lighting and snow effects, the movements is smooth and the controls are intuitive and become second nature after a few rides. The sound is great, cool music, fun announcer, and the voice acting for each character gives them individuality.

9/10

Game Review: Vagrant Story

From the creator of Final Fantasy Tactics comes a new adventure in the world of Valendia called Vagrant Story!
The thing that grabbed my attention first was the art style the game used, I liked the comic style text bubbles and the character design was unique. I loved FFT so when I found out this game was developed by Yasumi Matsuno, the same person responsible for FFT I didn't hesitate in buying it.
The story of Vagrant Story has a very similar feel as FFT with the political intrigue and shadowy characters with hidden agenda's.
The game has a heavy focus on Weapon creation and the battle system is one I've never experienced before, when you are moving thru an area you don't randomly encounter enemies ala Final Fantasy they are all on screen and you can try and avoid them or attack. If you attack a wire frame sphere appears around Ashley (the protagonist) and depending on the weapon type determines the size of the sphere, ie Pole, Sword, Ax, Crossbow.
When an enemy is within the target radius you choose a particular body part to attack Head, body, arms, legs, then you attack and try to chain attacks by timing them based on on screen prompts (not easy), defending works similarly by pressing either triangle, circle, square or X at just the right moment(!) Ashley will either block the attack or counter it depending on what action you have mapped to the corresponding button (again not easy).
I love the atmosphere and lore of Vagrant Story, but make no mistake this IS NOT Final Fantasy and if you are not skilled at map reading, sense of direction and inventory management you might find Vagrant Story too much of a challenge, as I suspect was intentional when it was being developed. Hell I've hit a brick wall in the LimeStone Quarry, I have plenty of powerful weapons to deal with everything from humans, dragons, undead and evil things but these creatures are too damn powerful looks like some serious grinding is needed!




8/10

Retro Review: Street Fighter Collection 2

Better late than never I suppose, I played the shit out of my copies of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II Turbo on the SNES back in the day.
Right now I'm totally enjoying Street Fighter Alpha 2, but if you get the urge to play the classics this collection is for you!
Street Fighter Collection 2 includes Street Fighter II The World Warrior, Street Fighter II Champion Edition and Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting.
As far as I can tell this is a pixel perfect port of the arcade games, each tittle comes with Art Collections, Tips (like we need them at this point), Secrets and Cast info such as Chun Li's D.O.B etc.
Oddly enough the game doesn't offer an auto save function.
I really don't see anyone other than Street Fighter enthusiasts picking this collection up five years to the month after Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting was in arcades.
9/10

Game Review: Gran Turismo 2

It's time to race on a higher level....

Polyphony Digital brings the Real Driving Simulator back for a second lap with Gran Turismo 2. With over 500 cars, more than doubling GT1's 160, 38 manufacturers tripling GT1's 11, and 6 licenses vs GT1's 3 buckle in it's gonna be a long ride.

GT1 showed you how to drive like a pro, GT2 is gonna see if you were paying attention!

Drivers education 2.0...

Lets go get our license to drive. First thing you'll notice is there are six licenses to acquire now B, A, IC, IB, IA & S. The tests are much the same as GT1, braking, cornering, S-turns, handling variances between FF/FR/4WD etc.

Lets go buy a car, GT2 Has four districts representing the four corners of the world and their respective manufacturers.

+=New Manufacturer

North City:

Aston Martin

+Audi

+BMW

+Jaguar

+Lister

+Lotus

+Mercedes Benz

+MG

+Mini

TVR

+Opel

+RUF

+Volkswagon

South City:

Acura

+Chrysler

Chevrolet

Dodge

+Ford

+Mercury

+Plymouth

+Shelby

+Vector

East City:

+Daihatsu

Honda

Mazda

Mitsubishi

Nissan

Subaru

+Suzuki

+Tommy Kaira

Toyota

West City:

+Alpha Romeo

+Citroen

+FIAT

+Lancia

+Peugeot

+Renault

+Venturi

Gran Turismo 2 adds 11 new race tracks to more than double the amount GT1 had!

+=new track

Autumn Ring

+Apricot Hill

Clubman Stage R5

Deep Forest

+Grindelwald

Grand Valley East

High Speed Ring

+Laguna Seca

+Midfield Raceway

+Red Rock Valley

+Rome Cicuit

+Rome ShortSpecial Stage R5

+Seattle Cicuit

+Seattle Short

Super Speedway

+Tahiti Road

Trial Mountain

+Test Course

GT2 offers four separate events, the GT league, Special Events, Endurance Races and Rally Events. GT2 takes the Races and Championships from GT1 and adds a plethora of new races, cups and challenges like the K-Cup, Luxury Sedan Cup, Convertible Car World, Compact Car World Muscle Car Cup, Historic Car Cup, Station Wagon Cup, Grand Touring Car Trophy

80's Car Cup, Gran Turismo All Stars, GT300 & 500 Championship.

Gran Turismo2 expands the Endurance Races from GT1 with the return of the Grand Valley 300km (60 laps), Apricot Hill 200 km, Seattle Circuit 100 miles, Laguna Seca 200 miles, Rome Circuit 2 hours, Trial Mountain 30 laps, and SS Route All Night.

Polyphony Digital added Rally Racing to GT2 and was toying with drag racing but opted not to include Drag Racing at the last minute. The Rally Events include Smokey Mountain North/South/reverse, Green Forest Roadway, Tahiti Maze, Tahiti Dirt R3/reverse, Pikes Peak Uphill/Down hill Challenge.

Grand Turismo improves on the original in every way, the graphics show improvement, the sheer number of new manufacturers and cars is astounding, the handling is vastly improved which says alot considering the first was revolutionary, the addition of Rally races expands the franchises influence but needs a bit of work on the way the cars handle off road....they handle too similarly to when they're on a track in my opinion. The inclusion of muscle cars of the 60's and 70's is a great addition and is cool pitting A Dodge Viper GTS against a 71' Dodge Charger!

GT2 is a fun ride!

9/10

Retro Review: Street Fighter Collection

Street Fighter Collection is a must own for fans of Street Fighter, the collection comes on two disks. Disk 1 has Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
Super & Super Turbo offer Arcade Mode, Versus Mode,
Disk 2 has Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold.
Alpha 2 Gold comes with Arcade, Versus, Training, Survival, and Akuma modes. Additionally SFA2 Gold includes Evil Ryu and  Killer Bee Cammy.
I actually traded in my copy of Street Fighter Alpha 2 for this....common sense! I got a better version of SFA2 and Super Street Fighter II and SSF2T.


For the price any fan of Street Fighter should get this collection!
9/10

Retro Game Reviews: Bust a Move'99 & Bust A Move 4

My Friend Krogenar got this game for my girlfriend after discovering her dark secret addiction to puzzle games. Funny....Bust a Move 99 actually was originally  released in the arcades in 1996, then in 1997 on the Dreamcast and finally on the Playstation and N64 in 1999.
Basically players control Bub...some super deformed dinosaur that operates a "bubble cannon" and the objective is to shoot the colored bubble up to a corresponding colored bubble above before they drop down to the bottom of the screen. Similar concept to Tetris but kinda reversed, there is strategy to the game which lends itself to the games multi player mode where players can choose from eight different characters to play.

5/10

BAM4 hit arcades and PlayStation in 1998!
BAM 4 has updated graphics and many additional modes to keep players popping bubbles till they're blue in the face.
Puzzle Mode Stages A-Z After beating stage A choose stage B or C, beat stage B and choose either stage D or E, beat stage C and choose stage F or G.....
Story Puzzle Mode
Story Vs.Mode play the game and learn the fascinating story behind the game...
Survival Mode self explanitory...you can unlock hidden characters like Woolen, Monsta, Packy and Maita
PvP self explanatory
Edit Mode create stages for others to play!

6/10