Review #87: Saint Seiya - Brave Soldiers

 I hate myself for liking it. I do.

 First things first: This game is a rip off. Most of the content on the disc comes from the previous game on the PS3(And according to some people, a lot of assets were from the PS2 version, but I can't really attest to that). Animations, camera angles and stages? Loads from the previous game. I dare say that it's the same models but with a shiny new coat of cell-shading. Special attacks, down to the same camera angles come from the previous game. Even better, the game boasts 50 characters, but most of them are clones with one or two different attacks(Two Sagas, Two Kanons, FIVE Seiyas, Four Shiryus, Four Hyogas, Three Shuns, Three Ikkis, Two Shuras, Two Camus(Camuae?)). To add insult to the injury, ALL of the DLC is already on the disc, and what's the DLC? Another Shion, Odin Seiya(Who was DLC on the previous game and, by all means, should've been on this game for free), Leo Ikki and Virgo Shun, kinda odd how all the other bronze Saints get their armors but them, huh?. Even better, only Seiya gets his God cloth(That's why there's Five Seiyas). Then there's costumes that range from alternate colorations to un-clothed versions which, by the way, WERE ALREADY ON THE PREVIOUS GAME. What's more, the gameplay is more-or-less taken straight from the older game, but adapted to make it more "fighty". This game was made on the cheap, but with the object of reaping as much money as possible.
 Luckily, that's the worst part of the game, and with it out of the way, let's go on. Saint Seiya - Brave Soldiers is a fighting game based on the popular franchise by the same name. The game's main attraction is the Story Mode which follows the story from the Sanctuary Arc to the Hades Arc, skipping the anime-only(filler) Asgard saga(Still, they will charge you for Odin Seiya). The story mode is told entirely through dialogue between character cut-outs, with the occasional frame from the anime every now and then, it's kind of lame but to be fair, it's fully voiced. Also, a little neat thingie, that only people who are familiar with the manga will notice, when characters deliver some of their important lines, a black bubbly text bubble with white text will appear, like on Kurumada's manga. The problem with this mode, is that it feels artificially lengthened by forcing you to fight an opponent twice or thrice. Many a times, it would go as follows: Dialogue, then fight two rounds against your opponent, more dialogue, two more rounds. Sometimes your opponent will gain some boost(Like 10% boost to their attack power), but it does little to make it feel different. Story Mode quickly becomes a drag because of this, it could've and should've  been streamlined a bit more, maybe making each fight last only one round?

 After you are done with the Story Mode, you have Battle Mode. Battle Mode has your usual Versus and Training modes, plus Galaxian Wars(Tournament) and Survival. Versus has a couple of "sub-modes", like "first strike wins" or whoever throws down the opponent three times first wins, they are not very fun, but they are there. Galaxian Wars gets a special mention due to their fidelity to the source material, you have an announcer(with individual quotes for each Saint, but shared between versions of each Saint) and after each combo, a "Power gauger" gauges the damage inflicted, just like on the show, nice little detail. Lastly, there's a Feature called Orb. By clearing challenges in the Story Mode, you unlock Orbs(That must be bought with points earned on every mode) that you can equip to customize your character, but they can only be used in one of the sub-modes in battle mode, so it feels very under-used, optional and like a bit of an after thought, or the developers trying to add some kind of depth?
 As for the fighting itself, there's not a whole lot to it. You get a weak and strong attack that can be linked together for 5-6 hit combos, a jump that doubles as dash if you press it twice and two special attacks. The game takes place on 3D arenas in which you can freely move about, this also means that blocking is done by pressing a button. There's three gauges involved, the life bars at the top, and the Cosmo and 7th Sense gauges. 7th Sense is charged by receiving and dealing damage, and activating it granst you a power boost for a short while. Cosmo is charged by damaging your opponent or charging it with a button, Cosmo is used to use your special attacks, home in towards your opponent, unleash one of two burst attacks(weak/strong attack+Cosmo button), teleport behind your opponent if you press R1 as soon as you are hit or unleash you Ultimate Big Bang Attack. It may sound a bit overwhelming, and there are more buttons involved than expected, it's easy to get the hang of it.

 Gameplay is pretty shallow, but it's not too bad. Personally, I found that basic attacks deal to little damage while special attacks deal too much damage. Fighting games based on anime rarely have balance as one of their priorities and it shows, some characters, like Shaka, have special attacks that are way too situational as to rely on them consistently, then you have someone like Ikki who's Phoenix Flight is good in every kind of situation and can hit airborne enemies with ease.
 The game's strongest suit are the graphics by far. The are shiny and look fantastic, armors are colorful and bright, they are a joy to look at, and the characters themselves are fairly faithful to their anime counterparts. The Cosmo beams and special FX for attacks look amazing as well, there's color EVERYWHERE. Stages are a bit blander, specially the ones that return from the older game, seems they didn't get the same updated treatment the models got. Music, on the other hand, is generic and bland, guess music from the show was too expensive to get, and we know just how little money Namco spent on this game. Voice acting is Japanese only and it's pretty decent, even if they use the new voice-cast, and while most of the cast is pretty alright, Seiya's voice doesn't really fit him).

 I've criticized this game plenty. I reckon it's a rip-off of epic proportions. But despite everything, it is a fun game. I had fun with it, heck, I am having fun with it still. So what's my veredict? If you are a Saint Seiya fan, get it but don't pay a dime to unlock stuff on your disc. For people that don't like the show, don't bother, it's a shallow game whose biggest strength is just how beautiful it looks.
 8.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Two Worlds 2

 Because I've been wanting to play a Western RPG for a change.

 So... I character creation is awful. It actually has a fair amount of options, but they are all so ugly. And the torso-to-arms proportions seem a bit off. Matters not, create a character I did, and then.... awful framerate, even if lips were correctly synced, the drops make them out of sync. Then came the introductory sequence in which you break out of the prison, it was a tad too long, too long without action, too long without earning experience even when you finally got to kill enemies... it lasted for a bit too long. Still, after the introduction was out of the way... the game was so clunky. Menus are bad. Animations are awful(The attacks look so hilariously bad). Voice acting, specially for the main character, is bad. Armors, on the other hand, look pretty neat. And despite it all, it's a bit fun.
 I just spent two hours questing and exploring(Until I defeated every enemy I could beat and only the so-strong-that-they-can-off-me-in-two-blows remained and finally started the first chapter. I'm not impressed, but I'm having a bit of fun.

Review #86: Castlevania - Lament of Innocence

 This is Castlevania in 3D done right.

 Castlevania doesn't have the best track record when it comes to going 3D. "3Dvanias" are often divisive, some people like them, some people hate them. Castlevania 64 is either a pretty decent attempt at bringing the series to the third dimension or a really bad game. Castlevania Lords of Shadows is either a great game or a God of Warrior clone that is Castlevania in name only. Good news, Castlevania Lament of Innocence(LoI) is not only a great game, but a great transition to 3D for the series.
 The game would take place at the start of the Castlevania timeline. Leon Belmont's beloved is taken away by Walter, an evil vampire count. Leon rushes to her aide and comes across Rinaldo, a man that lives on the outskirts of the castle and lends him the Alchemy Whip, a weapon capable of damaging vampires and related demons. The story is nothing special, but it gets the job done... the writing is really bad though. Dialogue falls under the "so bad it's good" category, so at least it's not a total train wreck.

 Lament of Innocence is an adventure game that borrows most of it's elements from the "Metroidvania" branch of Castlevania games. Your goal is clear from the very beginning, defeat the five monsters that guard the five orbs that are needed to open the path to Walter's throne. The Castle is divided in six major areas, and you can tackle the initial five in any order. As with any Metroidvania worth it's salt, there's a huge map to explore, and some areas are not readily open for Leon, so he might need to find items in other zones in order to open them up. Luckily, most backtracking is completely optional if you wanto 100% the map and get every item, still, the game could've used some sort of warp system to make it more palatable.
 Combat is very straight forward: Square performs a weak, but fast, swing of the whip, while triangle performs a stronger and slower attack. There's a fair amount of combos that you can perform, and as you defeat enemies you'll earn new ones, don't be mistaken though as there is no leveling up system, you just earn new moves every now and then. Leon also has access to all the classic sub-weapons, the Axe, the Knife, the Holy Water, the Cross and the Crystal, which consume hearts that are obtained from breakables. Each of the five orbs, plus two hidden ones, alter how sub weapons behave, so there's a huge amount of different sub-weapon attacks. Rounding up his arsenal, Leon's enchanted gauntlet can absorb MP by blocking enemies magic attacks, and can then use MP to activate Relics that bestow many different abilities. So far so good, but for some reason they decided to make menus work in real time. You can't pause and use items or equip items, instead, you have to use the right analog stick to navigate menus, using healing items during boss battles can be very annoying.

 

 Graphics are top notch, the game runs at a silky smooth 60 fps and looks beautiful. There's plenty of different enemies and they all look very nice, the castle itself is very dark, as it should be, but each area has it's own distinct theme. There are a couple of corridors that look very samey and seem to hold no purpose, but I guess that this being Metroidvania 'n all, it's expected for them to be in the game. Music is downright phenomenal, Castlevania is a series that never disappoints when it comes to music. Lastly, voice acting is... it's actually pretty decent considering the awful lines that they must deliver.
 Lament of Innocence lasts a solid 6 hours, and that's what it took me to 100% it, every item and hidden boss found and defeated, but, finishing the game unlocks plenty of extras: Crazy Mode(A harder game), All Skills(Get all skills from the start), Joachim(An alternate character that plays NOTHING like Leon), Pumpkin(A character that shares only the basic moveset with Leon, he gets his own exclusive sub weapons and playing as him actually feels different) and a couple of others. Suffice to say, what it lacks in length it makes up in extras.

 I never had a problem with Lords of Shadows, what's more, I actually loved it. But after playing Lament of Innocence I can understand why fans disliked Lords of Shadows, while in LoI you get to explore a giant castle, like most Metroidvanias, you get to fight classic enemies(Mermen, the floating Eyes, the Doppleganger, Golem, Succubus, Skeletons, Blood Skeletons, the zombies... I can go on),  LoS has NOTHING tying it to Castlevania besides the Belmonts and the name. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a game that I can recommend both to fans of Castlevania and people looking for a decent action-adventure game.
 8.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Bravely Default Demo

 Oldschool goodness.

 The demo just came out in North America, which meant that I could finally take a stab at this highly hyped game. So far? I like it. the beginning of the game was a tad annoying as I had to go back to the Inn after every fight, but eventually it got better. I got money, bought spells and items and it was swift sailing. Graphics are infinitely cute, even if some of the super-deformed characters are a bit oversexualized.
 Gameplay is very oldschool, in a good way, and you can speed up the combat which is arguably really useful. I just fought the first boss and it was a bit hard, I liked it.
 This game is very promising. Very.

Now Playing: Castlevania - Lament of Innocence

 This game is really good.

 I remember this game having received mediocre reviews, I also remember liking it quite a bit. I spent a little bit over an hour on it, got my first orb!, and so far I'm impressed. It's really good, people say that Castlevania can't go 3D, and they often cite 64vania and LoS(Which I actually liked). Castlevania: LoS is how you do Castlevania in 3D. All the classic enemies are here, all the classic weapons are here and it's moderately challenging. So not only is it a good Castlevania game, it's also a friggin' good game by itself.

 I heart this game so much, can't wait to play more of it.

Archile's End of the Year Awards 2013 Part 2

 Time to finish the fight.

 Without further ado, here are the last Archile Awards of 2013.

 Playstation 1 Game of the Year:
 2013 was a great year for my Playstation 1, I greatly expanded on my collection and played a whole lot of games that I loved as a kid. Narrowing this list down was tough.
 Nominees:

 Nominees:

Xenogears: One of the greatest RPGS that Squaresoft ever published, before turning into this shadow of what they once were. Also, the last great game Monolith Soft employees would release before cursing us with Xenosaga.  

 Rival Schools: A two-disc fighting game behemoth, the IP has so much untapped potential, Capcom really needs to go back to their roots: No DLC and no Outsourcing.

Bushido Blade 2: One of the most unique fighting games I played this year, just because it's different, it doesn't make it bad, on the contrary, this game was so good due to how different it was. It's a slower-paced game that most fighting game, where one mistake can cost you the entire match. 

The Legend of Dragoon: This game was incredible, the gameplay was pretty different from the norm, and turning into Dragoons was way more fun than it should have been. It would also get pretty challenging.

Strider 2: It might be a bit of style over substance, but Strider 2 is a fantastic action game. Infinite credits make it a bit easier than what you'd expect from a Capcom game, but then again, it's an Arcade game port, so it was never fair to begin with.

 Winner:

 Xenogears is a fantastic game that delves into subjects that few developers would delve into, religion being a a lie and god being evil, for example. As of now, Shin Megami Tensei became pretty mainstream thanks to the Persona series, but Xenogears was the first taste us non-japanese readers would get. And it's fantastic.

 Playstation 2 Game of the Year:
 I did not play as many great PS2 classics as I expected, but I did play a lot of games that I enjoyed during my childhood. It was an OK year for my PS2, even if now I know that Dynasty Warriors 2 has aged very poorly

 Nominees:

 Okage - Shadow King: Impossibly quirky, incredibly funny and surprisingly decent, one of those games that is destined to fade into obscurity despite it deserving much more attention than it ever got.

 Robotech - Battlecry: This game can get incredibly challenging. It also has some pretty nasty bugs, yet, non are gamebreaking. I don't know how faithful this game is to it's source material, but I do know that it's a fantastic game.

 War of the Monsters: This is the game every kid that loves monsters wants. Gameplay is solid, and the presentation is top-notch, filled with love to the whole giant-monster/kaijuu genre. And even if you are not a fan, the game is good enough as to stand on it's own.

 Dead or Alive 2 - Hardcore: Probably a better game than Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, the mechanics have aged pretty gracefully. It's also a faster game, and much more friendly to beginners, for fighting game fans, this is highly recommended.

Way of the Samurai: What the game lacks in length, it makes up in replayability. Y'see, there are tons of choices that change the outcome of many different events, some changer are veeeery large, while some can be pretty small. It's a great game and pretty unique too.

 Winner:

 Okage, you deserve better. While the gameplay is as generic as it gets, the setting and the plot is not. Very reminiscent of Earthbound, yet another cult classic that deserved better. Okage was, technically, far from the best game I played on the PS2, but the enjoyment I got out of it made it earn it's Archile Award.

 Nintendo DS Game of the Year:
 Whoa, it feels as if I had barely touched the DS this year. It's probably true, but I'm sure I played a couple of games in January, before I started the Of Swords and Joysticks project. Probably.
 Nominees:

 Megaman Star Force 3 Black Ace: Megaman Star Force 1 has aged somewhat OK, but Star Force 2 is just dreadful. Star Force 3 on the other hand remains the best one in the trilogy. Tons of different looks for Megaman, tons of ways to customize his abilities make it much more engaging than the others. And the story is the tightest of the bunch, shame the series was discontinued.

 All Kamen Rider Generations: A fantastic beat'em up, since it was never localized, it's hard to recommend it to people that are not fans of Kamen Rider. The game is very simple, but what it does, it does it very well.

 Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Survivor 2: Somehow, Atlus managed to top Devil Survivor 1. While the game starts off easier than the first, it quickly gets harder, much harder. This is a challenging SRPG in which you have to distribute skills and spells between your human characters, and make sure to fuse strong demon partners for them, and that's just half the battle, then you have to take your teams into the fields. Very fun game.

 Dragon Ball Kai - Ultimate Butoden: Why would Bandai choose not to localize this one is a mistery. Solid gameplay, a lot of content, from a story mode that follows Dragon Ball Z in it's entirety, to a very meaty character roster and dozens of items to customize each and every character with. Dragon Ball fans would do well to get this game.

Tetris DS: This is the best version of Tetris I have ever played, by far. This is not simply "Another Tetris port", there's plenty of different game modes for Tetris fans to experiment with.

 Winner:

 I'm gonna level with you. As good as the other four game were, none can even hold a candle to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2.  This game should be on every DS owner's library.

 Nintendo 3DS Game of the Year:
 I bought this console this year, so it was bound to get some use. Truth be told, every game I've played on the 3DS is far from a must-have. Hopefully next year I will get to play some.
 Nominees:

 Super Street Fighter IV -3D Edition: Back in my day, handheld ports used to be vastly different games from their console counterparts. SSFIV3DE is an almost exact port from the console version, which means to say that the most influential fighting game of the last generation can be on your hands by sacrificing some of the graphical flair. A fantastic deal I'd say.

 Dead or Alive - Dimensions: Everything Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore is but better. Better graphics, more stages, more characters and updated movesets. It has the least costumes among any other Dead or Alive game, but they chose most of the good-non-fanservicey ones, and that's pretty cool.

 Pokemon Y: The Pokemon you know and love(Or loath) now in full 3D. Seriously, that's this game in a nutshell. 

 Star Fox 64 3D: An upgraded port of the Nintendo 64 classic, made even better thanks to a couple of new extras. The core game was kept almost intact, and now it looks a thousand times better. Also, one of the few 3DS games I'd recommend playing in 3D.

Tekken 3D Prime Edition: A very lackluster port of Tekken 6, with a ton of features missing, they figured they'd make up for it by including that awful Blood Rebellion move. It didn't. Still, I am a Tekken fan, and I had way more fun than I should've with this game.

Winner:

 I almost went with Tekken, but then I realized that I spent much more time in Pokemon. Yes, it's the same game that we have been playing since Red, but is it such a bad thing? People despise CoD for being the same every year, but when you are that good, you don't need to change as much as to slowly perfect the formula. And while Nintendo actually took a couple of steps back, I've not much else to play on the 3DS!

 Nintendo Wii Game of the Year:
 Not a whole lot of Wii games, but everyone of them were incredibly memorable.
 Nominees:

 Fragile Dreams - Farewell Ruins of the Moon: Such a depressing game. Gameplay might've been a bit dull, but this is the kind of game that stays with you, it's so bleak, so sad... so engaging.

Trauma Team: This game is way better than it deserves to be. The game follows the point of view of six different doctors, each one with a different specialty. There's many ways to play the game, follow the time line as the story should go, focus on each doctor individually or play a little bit here and a little bit there... while it could've ended as a mess, Atlus somehow made it work. The gameplay is deceptively fun, the story is full of ham, while being entertaining... It's a good game, and one that makes the most of the Wiimote.

 The Legend of Zelda - Skyward Sword: Every Zelda game is more or less a reboot of sorts of the last one. For Skyward Sword, they tried something different. For the first time, there's a really strong group of supporting cast members who get plenty of screen time and character development. For the first time in the series, you'll care for the character, characters that are no longer thin as paper. The gameplay was very fun too, even if there's a somewhat steep learning curve.

 Xenoblade Chronicles: The whole Operation Rainfall Ordeal was worth it. We got at least two(And one that holds a deadly bug) fantastic games, Xenoblade being the better of the three. It's a huge game made by the people that worked on Xenogears, and it shows

Donkey Kong Country Returns: Gotta hand it to Retro Studios, they brought Donkey Kong back. They did it so well that it feels as if the old Rare had developed it. A challenging 2D platformer, the kind we used to have by the dozen on the SNES, powered by 3D graphics and the masterful hands of Retro Studios.

 Winner: 

 I wanted to pick Skyward Sword. I really did. But those awful, tacked on motion controls were just too annoying. It doesn't matter though, Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the best RPGs made last gen, and it's a Wii exclusive. The sense of scale never ceases to amaze, the story gets progressively darker and better as you go on, and there's over 100 hours of gameplay if you are willing to do every side quest. This game has become a bit of a rarity, but it's worth every penny.

 Playstation 3 Game of the Year:
 As much as I hated last gen, PS3 was the console I spent the most time on. Many games were played, mostly good games, but there were a couple of not so fun games. I decided not to include HD ports, as they felt more like PS2 games than PS3.
 Nominees:

 Tekken Tag Tournament 2: The best Tekken game ever made. Ever.

 Killer is Dead: Another masterpiece by Suda 51, this game is as unique as they get on the PS3. The story is as off-the-wall-insane as usual, while still making sense if you are willing to find it, a unique graphical style that's as surreal as the game itself and gameplay, that while simple, is fun.

 Anarchy Reigns: It's hard to explain why I consider this game so good despite having such a crippling lack of couch-multiplayer. Basically, it feels good to play it.

 Journey: I hate to use those stock phrases that journalists love to use, but Journey really is an experience that everyone should play.

Uncharted 3 - Drake's Deception: It's a bit unbelievable just how much Naughty Dog got our of the PS3. A visual treat, not just thanks to how it looks, but were the game takes you. It has some of the most incredible setpieces I've ever played in video games.

 Winner:

 I'm a huge Tekken fanboy, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the culmination of all that is Tekken. Namco will have a hard time outdoing themselves.

 Worst Game of the Year:
 Thank god that I didn't get a whole lot of bad games this year. Mind you, the winner of the category is, probably, one of the worst games I've ever played, but as a whole, the bad games here are mostly just not very good and not downright awful.
 Nominees:

 State of Emergency: This game is not half as bad as people would lead you to believe. It's not good either, but you could do much worse...

 Cardinal Syn: My first impressions? "Hey, it ain't that bad". Then I spent time with it 'till I finally gave up in frustration. This game is really bad. REALLY Bad. There's so many great PS1 fighting games, why even consider this one?

 Dynasty Warriors 2: I loved this game so much, and when it was released, it probably deserved all the love I gave it. But now? You just can't play a new Warriors game and then go back, the amount of enhancements make this one look like garbage.

 

 Harvey Birdman - Attorney at Law: How... how could you mess this up? Phoenix Wright is fantastic, you simply had to reskin it and release it. That's all you had to do.

Metroid - Other M: The game that kickstarted the Of Swords and Joysticks project, Metroid Other M was, at times, pretty good... and then a fews seconds later you'll be feeling vexed again. The game did a lot of things that conflicted with each other, which made it have an identity crisis of sorts. And the story was just awful, you can give Samus feelings without turning her into an stereotypcal anime girl. Nintendo, don't ever try this again.

 Loser:

 Didn't even have to think about it. Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is an awfully unfunny game, and when your selling point is humor, you've got a problem. At least it's pathetically short, so the torture ends swiftly.

 And the Archile Game of the Year Award goes to....

 Nominees:

 Xenogears

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger 

Pokemon Y 

Xenoblade Chronicles

 Winner:

 Was the any doubt? Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is among my top 10 favorite games EVER. This is what I look for in every fighting game, this is my standard of excellency. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was my favorite game of the year, and thus, my Game of 2013.