Review #68: Warriors Orochi 3

 This game is what fanservice is when done right.

 I've played a lot of 'Warriors' games this year, but this is, by far, the best one.Warriors Orochi is a celebration of the Warriors franchise, it brings together every character from Dynasty Warriors(Up to 7), Samurai Warriors(Up to 3) and a variety of guest characters from other Koei franchises and new original characters based in both Japanese and Chinese stories, for a total of over 120 different characters.
 The story picks up from where Warriors Orochi 2 left off, regardless, it's not a necessity to have played any 'Warriors' game before, you may not get the whole scope on character relationships, but you don't really need to. Regardless, this game is much more story-heavy than other Warriors game, instead of following real history, it features a completely original story. The story itself is nothing special, what makes the game, however, are the character interactions. You get to see your favorite characters interact with each other, Dynasty characters that have Samurai counterparts, or characters that share certain traits. You get to see characters from their own universes that wouldn't have possibly met(Due to death or what have you) interact. This is what fanservice is all about, and it's quite the treat for series veterans.

 There's three modes: Story, Free and Battlegrounds. Battleground is a series first, where you can create stages and then share them online. Free Mode is basically useless, as the story mode allows you to pick any stage, at any time, however, Free Mode removes any and every cut-scene. Lastly, Story Mode is the main mode and has Sima Zhao, Ma Chao and Takenaka as the sole survivors of the attack of the Hydra. When all seems lost, a Mystic comes to their aid and grants them the ability to go back in time to certain moments, thus, they set out to save as many comrades as they can in order to amass a force large enough to face the hydra. There are a lot of stages, and even unlockable stages if you raise the bonds between certain characters. Sadly, many of these stages are recycled from Dynasty Warriors 7, Dynasty Warriors 6 and Samurai Warriors 3, however, they have some visual makeovers due to the Hydra's attack, and the mission objectives are completely different from their original incarnations.
 Gameplay compromises both Samurai and Dynasty universes. While basic Square and Triangle strings and Musou Attacks behave like they did in SW3 for SW characters, and like DW7 for DW characters, some changes had to be made. Dynasty characters lose their second Musou attack and Samurai characters lose their unique skill, however, every character has access to a unique special move that consume a bit of the Musou Gauge. For Samurai characters it's a completely new move, for Dynasty characters, most of the time it's a weakened version of their second Musou Attack. As for characters not coming from either saga, they either play as DW or SW depending on the character itself.

 Before each battle, you can equip your characters with different weapons and items. Items are found on the stages, while weapons are either dropped from enemy officers or bought at the shop. There's a very simple, but fun, weapon fusion system that allows you to take skills from one weapon into another, better weapon. You also get to make a team of three characters to take to battle. While only one of them is on the field at a time, you can switch between all three at will. If one of them dies it's game over though, and unlike other Warriors games, you don't charge the Musou gauge by hitting or getting hit, rather, by being "benched", so switching often is encouraged.
 The game suffers from little slowdown, while having dozens upon dozens of characters on-screen at the same time. Generals look very detailed, random enemies, however, do not. Sadly, Samurai Warriors enemies and Orochi enemies look noticeably worse than Dynasty enemies, probably due to the fact that they were taken from Wii and PS2 games, with a coat of HD applied on top. At least the SW generals look as awesome as the ones from DW. Music contains familiar pieces and a couple of remixes, plus some new tunes. Definitely the best soundtrack out of any Warriors game. While there is no goofy english voice acting, the Japanese VAs are really good, so not a major loss.

 Rounding the whole package up, there's a plethora of things to unlock. Many characters get unlockable costumes, heck, you start with a mere 3 characters out of 120, and while you earn most during Story Mode, there are many that require unlocking secret stages. And stages? There's plenty of them, and you'll want to go through them just to watch all the characters interact with each other, via cut-scene or just banter during the battle.
 If you are a hardcore fan, you probably already own it. If you ever were interested, even a tiniest bit, in the Warriors series, this is the game you want. While the recycled stages are a bit of a letdown, everything else makes up for it. This is Fanservice done right.
 9 out of 10

Now Playing: Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law

 This game is awful.

 A Phoenix Wright clone? Made by Capcom, the creators themselves of Phoenix Wright? Count me in! Or so I thought. this game tries so hard to be funny, but it's not, in the slightest. I might've chuckled a bit on some scenes, but most of the time I feel like facepalming. And sometimes, what you must present makes no sense at all. Yeah... I hate this game, good thing I only payed 9 bucks for it.

Now Playing: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

 It's time.

 Since I'm done with the awesome Warriors Orochi 3(review soon) and the alrightish Risen 2(Review coming even sooner), and the fact that my sister won't let me advance through Deadly Premonition without her, I needed something new to play, hence, Uncharted. I've been harassed by friends and ps3 users for not having played the PS3 must haves, like Uncharted, so now I'm going to marathon through them, peer pressure at it's finest.
 First Impressions? It's deceptively fun. I wasn't having all that much fun, yet I couldn't put the controller down, and now it's 9:30 in the morning and I should be waking up at 12:00. So much fun. Regardless, I like it, it's obviously a really good game, yet, it's not for me. I've been wanting a respite from so many fighters and rpgs, and I thought and shooter was what I wanted... no, not like this. I like them fast and furious, this one is a bit more methodical, having to hide while my health regenerates is not my idea of fun. The climbing sections are kinda cool, but I'm still not sure if I suck at it or the controls act a bit funky. It's like I'm holding right, but Nate thinks I'm holding against whatever thing he's got his grip on.
 Ah well, up to chapter 6, but time to hit the sack.

Archview 67: Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butoden

 Best Dragon Ball game since Burst Limit?

 By 2013 there's been dozens upon dozens of Dragon Ball fighting game, and they have ranged from the awful to the really good. Nintendo handhelds haven't fared much better, Taiketsu was terrible, Super Sonic Warriors was really good and Super Sonic Warriors 2 dropped the ball. Here we have the second fighter for the DS, and for reasons unknown, Namco-Bandai didn't see it fit to bring it over seas, shame, as it's really friggin' good.
 The game has 3 main modes: Story Mode, Challenge Mode and Versus(CPU, Player). Story Mode is fantastic, it covers the entire DBZ saga, without the fillers. There are are lot of chapters, plus a lot of what if scenarios(Some of which are hilarious, if you can understand what is happening). This mode is very extensive and can easily run over 10 hours if you watch all the cut-scenes. Speaking of the cut-scenes, they are really good... but only a few key-scenes are voiced. If you can't read japanese, like me, you are out of luck and these cut-scenes may seem a bit boring. If you know nothing about Dragon Ball, you might as well just skip them. Regardless, if you are a fan, you will know what is going on, and seeing classic DBZ moments recreated in 3D is really cool, cut-scenes would be on par with Budokai 1, if only they had more audio.

 After each story-fight, you are awarded with a grade, depending on the grade you will unlock extras. Extras like opening up Challenge Mode sections, hidden costumes, stat boosting customization quotes and  customization items. Yes! Customization, you can add accesories to each character, glasses, shades, caps, the Dragon Radar, Roshi's beard or turtle shell. There are lots of items, and every character can equip them. You also get three different customization slots per character! Besides the clothing items, each slot also allows you to equip stat boosting "quotes", but knowledge of Japanese(Or a FAQ) is needed to know just what you are raising. Most of the customization items require an S grade though, but you can get them on easy of it gets too hard. In Challenge Mode, the game tasks you with defeating a series of harder opponents using a team of characters of your choice, sometimes getting healed after a couple of fights. As for Versus mode, it'd be alright if only it hadn't been balanced after the show instead of trying to be, well, balanced. Weak characters in the show get reduced damage, less Ki levels and less HP than stronger ones.
 As for the gameplay, you get 5 basic functions: Weak hit, which can be comboed if you mash it, eventually leads into an air combo. Smash hit, a stronger attack that knocks the enemy away... or below. Ki blast, throws a little energy ball. Dodge, time it right and you can dodge attacks. And a Throw button. The L button is used in conjunction with Up or Down to raise your Ki Level. A higher Ki Level means stronger attacks and faster movement, at the cost of nor recharging your Ki. Lowe levels means less damage, but faster Ki recharge. Ki is used when you use any of your 3 Special Attacks or the Ultimate Attack. Special attacks can be done with motions, Street Fighter style, or by pressing a button on the touchscreen. As for the Ultimate Attack, it requires the most Ki, and initiates a minigame where you may have to time button presses, press certain button combinations or a few others, both you and your opponent get  to do it, so they made avoid damage entirely. Lastly, you also get Burst Mode by pressing all four face buttons together, it gives you unlimited Ki for a while, can only be done once in a fight and after it's gone, it leaves you with 0 Ki.

 This game has, probably, the best graphics I've seen on a DS. Models are very crisp and detailed, stages are colorful and have a lot going on in them. The audio... well, the music used in the Story mode quickly grows out it's welcome and becomes very boring, but the music during the fights is pretty alright. Voices are used sparingly, but the samples are quite clear, and it's neat to hear the original Japanese voice actors. There are over 50 characters(35 something if you don't count transformations), which is pretty impressive for a DS game. Less impressive is that many characters share basic moves, these being the Weak attack and Smash attacks, still, every ultimate get's it's own unique cutscene, and every special moveset is unique, although quite a few of them share the Kamehame ha, which is to be expected.
 When it comes down to it, this is a very meaty game. There is a lot of unlockables, a lot of story mode scenarios and a lot of characters. Plus, it's, probably, the only Dragon Ball game that lets you outfit existing characters with accessories! I can understand why Namco-Bandai wouldn't bring it over, as there is a lot of text needing to be translated, and they probably thought it wasn't worth the effort, it's a shame, as it's a great game for Dragon Ball Fans. Fighting game fans, however, may be a tad disappointed with characters being so samey between each other, or how unbalanced it gets. Regardless, not knowing Japanese isn't that big of a barrier, it's quite import-friendly.
 7 out of 10

First Archimpressions: Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butoden

 What Burst Limit should've been.

 Dragon Ball Butoden series started on the SNES, and frankly, I hate it. It hasn't aged well at all, animation is stiff, gameplay feels wonky and... I simply don't like them. But this? Oh man, oh man. Where do I start? How about... this are, probably, the best graphics I've seen on the DS. And the story mode is fantastic, it's almost as good as Budokai 1's. This one covers the entirety of Dragon Ball Z, with a load of extra "What if Scenarios", the only reason it's not as good as Budokai's is... there's almost no voices. Thing is, there is a lot of text and characters flapping their mouths, but only a sparse few scenes are voices. I understand there's a lot of stuff in the game(The roster is massive for a DS game, and oh so many cutscenes!), but since this is a Japan-exclusive, not knowing what characters are saying kinda takes some of it's charm away. Luckily I'm familiar with the series, so it's easy to follow along.
 As for the gameplay, it's... alright. Thing is, every character feels very sameish, a mashable X combo and you can spread Y(Strong Attack) around. Each character also has 3 specials and a ultimate. While specials and ultimates are different, their basic movesets are very familiar with each other, some characters are downright clones(Minus the specials/ultimate) like Kid Gohan and Gotenks. Still, once has to consider that this is a DS game and a licensced game, and a pretty good one at that. It's easy to pick up and play, even to non-fighting game fans, so it kinda works. I dunno, I like it.
 So yeah, I'm loving it.

First Archimpressions: Risen 2: Dark Waters

 Wow. Not the good kind.

 This game is terrible. And maybe, sorta, kinda fun... ish. I mean, I did spend 3-4 hours in front of the TV playing this game, but I was wishing to turn it off the whole time. But I didn't. Here's the thing, this game is incredibly vexing. Frustrating as it gets. And not the good kind. If I wanted to play Dark Souls, I would. Worst part is, there is NOTHING you can do to enhance your odds of winning a battle, you just mash X and hope for the best, hope you don't get parried much, or countered much, hope you get the opponent stun-locked and what have you. I restarted a fight 3 times before I got it, and I changed NOTHING in between each approach, I just mashed X.
 Oh, and why don't I use skills? They are expensive. You know what else is expensive? Equipment. You can't buy both, money is just too damn hard to get. And the cherry on top? This early in the game, 3:10 hours in(More, since I had to restart countless times) they are giving me quests that require the use of skills I need to buy. With money I can't possibly get. These skills cost, on average, 1000 gold. I earn 200 gold, at most, with each quest. Selling loot is worthless, the most valuable items you can get are pearls, that sell at 50 gold. At least healing items are easy to come by.
 I spent 2:41 hours on Medium before deciding "Eff this" and lowering the difficulty to easy. I still can't get money, but at least I don't get mauled to death so easily. And the partner? They are useless, at least she can take damage for me when facing more than one enemy. And she usually gets lost, which means you need to go back to find her and see how she got stuck on the environment. I hope there's a way to "summon" partners, as if I didn't notice she was gone, I'd probably lose her for ever. Heck, now that I triggered Steelbeard's event, I'm on my own, hope the jungle fellas don't shred me to pieces as they gang up on me.
 And the graphics? There's lots of pop-in. And sometimes the game tries to look cool with Slomo... except that the main character's head looks a bit detached from the neck, resulting in hilarity. On the flip side, the dialogue is fantastic and the voice acting ain't half bad. But while a story can carry a low-budget film, it can't carry bad gameplay.
 This game sucks. But it's kinda fun. Maybe. Sorta? Perhaps? Mayhaps.

Archview #66: Journey Collector's Edition

 One of the finest games I've played this year.

 Who hasn't heard of Journey already? It won several Game of the Year awards in 2012 and recieved even more in accolades and other honors. While initially released as a downloadable game, Sony saw it fit to release a retail package, alongside other thatgamecompany's downloadable games. Presented in this package are Flow, Flower and Journey, alongside 3 minigames.
 The three minigames are just that, minigames. They are visually simple, and their mechanics are even simpler. First we have "Duke War!!!", a multiplayer game in which each player takes control a Duke, as they produce peasants, build towers and gather gold for the king. Everything is done with a single button, and it's actually really fun. "Gravediggers" has you play as a green pixel(Player one) and a blue pixel(Player 2), you have to kill zombies with your weapon(Gun, shotgun, explosives) and trade their skulls for points, if you die, you turn into a zombie and can instakill anything, but you can't carry skulls and must recover your own if you want to revive. Lastly, there's "Nostril Shot", the worst of the bunch, but easily the most visually appealing. Here you play as a very animeish girl, that can turn into a chubbier version of herself as she kills enemies in order to rack up points.

 Of the bigger games, first I'll deal with Flow. Honestly? I didn't like it, at all. It's very boring, although some may call it relaxing. You are a simple micro-organism that must eat other organisms in order to grow. Most of the fodder is harmless, but there are bigger organisms that actually try to eat you back. Eventually you can change into a different organism with a different attribute(The initial one, for example, can boost while pressing any button). The game also has different plains, you traverse "deeper" by eating red organisms, or go one plane "above" by eating a blue one. Still, my biggest beef with this game are the controls, the game uses the motion sensors of the Dual Shock 3, which means tilting and turning. Even after I learned the controls, it still felt annoying.
 Then comes Flower, which is pretty alright. Once again, this is played with motion controls, but this time they nailed it, as it feels pretty alright. In this game you guide the wind and must pass through flowers to collect their petals into your gust. As you go through flowers, you slowly bring back color to the world, plus, there are some surprises as you get to the end of the game. This one is very fun and relaxing, plus, it's nice to look at.

 Then comes the centerpiece of this package, Journey. Going to in-depth about it would spoil the otherwise fantastic... journey the game takes you through. You only have two different actions: Jumping and emiting sounds. Jumping is limited by the size of your scarf, which must be charged by coming into contact with special pieces of cloth. You can increase the size of your scarf by collecting hidden glyphs throughout the game. Sounds are used to interact with many different things throughout the game. There's also multiplayer, in which you are teamed up with a nameless random player(You appear nameless to them too) and the only way to interact is by making sounds. This game is beautiful and the soundtrack is phenomenal, both come together with the gameplay to make for a truly unique experience. This is everyone must play. And hey, it's only 2 hours long!
 Sadly, the package leaves a bit to bit desired. While there are a ton of extras, from trailers, the soundtrack to developer comentary, it has one major flaw... every game must be installed. And even after being installed, you still need the disc to play them. But at least you get Journey on a disc.
 Flow: 2 out of 10
 Flower: 6 out of 10
 Journey: 10 out of 10
 Journey's Collector Edition: 9 out of 10

Archview #65: Dungeon Siege III

  Not like previous sieges.

 Dungeon Siege was, at the time of it's release, my favorite game of all time. Dungeon Siege 2 was excellent too, and worth upgrading my computer for. There was a PSP spin off that I didn't play, since I don't own a PSP. And now, here we are, at the third numerical entry in the series, sadly, not developed by it's creators, Gas-Powered Games, and it shows, as most has changed. While I could write about every difference with it's predecessors, I'd rather focus on the game itself.

 Gameplaywise, it's a Loot-based Dungeon Crawler, not unlike Diablo and it's ilk. DS 3 was built up with a console release in mind, so much has been worked around in order to make it work on a joystick. At the outset, you get to pick one out of four characters, each one being pretty different from each other, although the core of the story is the same for each character, and so are the sub quests. When engaging in battle, each character has two different stances, with different strengths and weaknesses, alongside 3 unique skills per stance, alongside another 3 defensive skills that are used when blocking.

 Mana is a set 100 points, and using skills depletes this gauge. The only way to recharge it is by hitting enemies. There's another "currency" in the form of orbs, restored in the same manner, that allows you to use your defensive skills and empower your other skills and normal attacks. Somewhat new to this kind of game is blocking. As the game was intended for a console release, potions have been done away with, instead, enemies randomly drop healing orbs that are used on pick up. Blocking and Rolling(Moving while blocking) soon become a must, as the game was made around these two features and enemies will rip you to pieces until you learn to defend properly.

 If you play alone, you can have a CPU ally by your side, and they are not too bad. There's offline co-op for two players, which is really cool and online for up to four players. A really small detail I liked, if your human partner is inactive for 10-20 seconds, the CPU takes over until the player presses a button, pretty handy.

 The story is decent, albeit nothing special. They tried adding choices, but they matter little, only changing a couple of scenes in the ending. While you can pick many different responses, everyone reacts to your character all the same, so it's just window dressing. There are a couple of sidequests per town, they are not too involved, but they add stuff to do, which is always fun.

 The presentation is so-so. Every cut-scene is told via still images and voice-overs, and the art isn't very good. Models look so-so, but having the armor show(Even if most are recolors) is a really neat touch, inherited from previous games. The world itself however, looks amazing. You'll traverse through many different areas, from swamps, caves, mines, snowy lands, forests and what have you, they are very colorful and detailed. On the plus side, the game loads very quickly, with very few loading screens, and them being very short. Voice acting is very unconvincing, with many characters having obviously faked accents for the sake of having accents. I didn't really care about the music, but on the last stretch, some somewhat familiar-sounding tunes played, and I smiled a bit.

 Sadly, the game is also very short, 8:30 hours long, and that includes doing everything, heck, the level cap is a mere 30. It leaves you want more, a lot more. This, coupled with the somewhat lame cut-scenes and plain character models, make it feel like a downloadable game. Clearly, the budget wasn't too large. I played the game on Normal, and the difficulty was just right, I lost a couple of times, but after learning what I did wrong and approaching the battle with a different strategy I cleared them without hassle. Basically, not a hard game, it's just right. Beating the game doesn't unlock anything, sadly, but there's a 10 dollar DLC that might be worth it.

 Lastly, and it has to be said, this is not your average Dungeon Siege game. The mechanics are very different from previous, numbered entries. Some enemies are made to resemble classic enemies(Like the gargoyles and their green energy-javelins), and some areas carry the names of towns from previous games, plus, allusions to characters from previous games. Heck, the type of areas you visit also borrow heavily from previous games, specially Dungeon Siege 1. But it doesn't feel like a numbered Dungeon Siege, the moment I stopped dwelling on it and considered it more like... a spin off, it didn't bother me as much.

 I ain't gonna lie, the game left me wanting more. I enjoyed it a lot, combat was fun, looting enemies was fun and seeing where the game would take me was always a plus, but it was just so short. The presentation felt a bit lackluster too, maybe somewhere along the line they decided to go from Downloadable to Retail. But despite everything, it was a blast, and that's all that matters really.

 8 out of 10.

Month Overview: Game of August

 Games completed in August:
 Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition                    9
 Tales of Xillia                                                    7
 Blazblue: Continuum Shift 2                               5
 Dead or Alive: Dimensions                                8
 Bakugan: Rise of the Resistance                        5
 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D                   5
 Dynasty Warriors 4                                          6
 Fragile Dreams: Farewell, Ruins of the Moon    7

 I finally played every 3DS fighting game, released in USA, yay! Know what? I think I actually prefer DoA to Tekken. I mean, I prefer Tekken when it comes to gameplay, but on the go? DoA provides a lot more entertainment, and it's almost as fun. BB is fun too, but the port is a bit shoddy. Regardless, Xillia finally arrived, yay times two, and I started it as soon as I got it, it was pretty good. But when it came to shockers, Fragile Dreams was phenomenal. It was so sad and depressing, but it left a lasting impression, how many games can claim that?

 Game of August:

 I admit I may have been a tad harsh on it, but only because I'm so invested in the Tales series and expected a tiny bit more. Regardless, it was pretty good and an easy recommendation. What makes it shine a bit more, is the lack of JRPGs during this generation, this kind of game is a dime a dozen, and it's actually a great game.

 Runner-up:

 There's three reasons I buy games: A) I think I will enjoy them, B) Curiosity or C) It's dirt cheap. I bought this one cause of A, but despite it being the reason, I'm not too keen on survival... which is why it surprised me how much I enjoyed this game. Part of it is it's depressing story, I love tragedies, and it seemed Seto couldn't catch a break. Probably a bit of style over substance, but I think it's bizarre charm carried the game beyond it's combat. I loved this game, I just wish I could've scored it more than a 7, but the math wouldn't add up. Still, on a personal scale, it's an 8 and not a 7. Just sayin'

First Archimpressions: Dungeon Siege 3

  Just as I expected.

 Dungeon Siege is a franchise I love. Dungeon Siege 1 is one of my favorite games of all time, with Dungeon Siege 2 coming really close. They have slight differences, while DS 2 lost a bit of it's personality by turning into a bit of a Diablo 2 clone, it was a much better game. Regardless, I love the franchise, and I was incredibly excited once DS 3 was announced. And then I learned that Obsidian, rather than Gas Powered Games was developing it, and my bubble was burst. I played the demo, and my judgement since then still remains: It's a good game, but a Dungeon Siege game in name only.
 Party members have been brought down to two, but the pay off is that it has multiplayer, local at that, and that's very awesome. The game also tries adding conversations with multiple trees and outcomes, but it's a bit meh, Voice acting is hilarious. Potions are completely gone, probably in an effort to make it console-friendly, so it's... eh. Another change is that the game got more involved, insted of the "Your character develops according to how you play it" mechanics of the previous games, each character is now set in an archetype with two different styles. It works, it's fun, but it's no Dungeon Siege. And that completely sums up the game: It works, it's fun, it's not Dungeon Siege.

First Archimpressions: Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut

 A bit disappointing, really.

 Lemme put you in my shoes. I love Suda 51, my favorite videogame director, and this game's director has been frequently compared to him, he even has a number on his nick name! Jim Sterling gave the game a 10(The Xbox version), one of my favorite videogame critics. Add the fact that it was a X360 exclusive for so many years, I've wanted to play it since then. I knew the PS3 version had framerate issues, but, my god...
 The intro was phenomenal, equal times creepy, bizarre and interesting. But as soon as I was placed in the room with the twins, the frame rate dipped. Hard. And now, under the rain? Jesus.... Here's to hoping it won't get too much in the way, as the game seems wonderfully bizarre.

First Archimpressions: Warriors Orochi 3

 This game is amazing.

 So I've been playing these old Warriors games, and they haven't aged very well... and to go back to this one? Jesus, it's incredible. Take everything that made Dynasty Warriors 7 good, and make it better: You get Warriors Orochi 3. From the HUGE character roster, with NO clones to the tons of fanservice(the good one!) in the way of character interactions, both between universes and between characters from diferent kingdoms and time periods!

 And there are hundreds of enemies on-screen at the same time, way more than 7. While generals look just as good, the common enemies certainly took a hit in detail, but it pays off. There's no slowdown. At all. I'm calling it right now, this is gonna be my favorite Warriors game yet. Cao Pi/Ma Chao/Wang Yuanji, here we come!

Archview #64: Fragile Dreams: Farewell, Ruins of the Moon

 This is as depressing as it gets.

 Fragile Dreams is a bit hard to fit inside a definite genre, it has some survival horror elements and some RPG elements. Basically, you could call it a Silent Hill for teens. You have your clunky controls, clumsy combat, weapons that break, the need for a flashlight and creepy enemies from survival horror games and the leveling system from RPGs. It's also got one of the most depressing stories I've played in a videogame.
 The game pits you as Seto, a kid who has lived with his grandfather for as long as he could remember, and he recently passed away. For reasons unclear at the start, humanity was wiped out, and as he is now all alone he sets out on a journey to find other humans. Alongside the way, he will have to fight enemies that range from ghosts to beasts as he explores what's left of the world. Seto will also meet a small, but very unique cast of characters compromised of robots, ghosts and maybe even humans.

 The game is set from a third person perspective, and you use the Wiimote to move around your flashlight. Movement is a bit on the stiff side, what doesn't help is that you need to get used to moving the cursor. Unlike most Wii games that use a cursor, when the you point outside the screen, instead of the cursor locking on the last position, it defaults to the center. Another point of annoyance is that the flashlight points at objects, meaning that if you want to turn left at a corner, but as the cursor gets over the wall or a box on the way, it will point at it, making Seto look at the object instead of turning. On cramped spaces with loads of objects, it becomes annoing.  Getting used to it is a must, as most enemies remain invisible to the naked eye, requiring you to aim your flashlight at them.
 Combat also has its quirks. When attacking, sometimes it's hard to tell if the enemy is in Seto's range or not, getting you to hit thin air. There are two major types of weapons: Projectile and Melee. Melee has three subtypes: Sticks(Swords, Pipes), Rods(Poles, Spears) and Hammers(Axes and, well, hammers); Rods and Hammers behave similarly, you can charge the A button for stronger attacks, while Sticks require timing in order to produce a stronger combo; while Projectile weapons have the advantage of range, at the cost of not being able to use the flashlight. You need to keep in mind that weapons break, randomly, however the game usually waits until you are out of combat before breaking it.

 Throughout the game you will come across many items, but Seto has a limited amount of space in his bag, so you will have to think carefully about what to keep and what to leave. There are also plenty of items that require appraising, which can only be done at bonfires. Speaking of Bonfires, they are the only places where you can save your game, and they completely heal you. Randomly, when staying at bonfires a merchant will come by, allowing you to buy or sell weapons. Among the items Seto comes across, there are "Memory" items, these items come in many from hats, bells, bottles and what have you, and they tell the stories of their owners on their last days. This is a sad game, and these stories, while adding depth to the game and granting backstory, they also paint a very depressing picture.
 Visually it's a mixed bag. Enviroments look fantastic, they are very distinctive between each other and they are depressingly beautiful. Everything is abandoned and worn down, while not resorting to browns and greys and having a lot of color, the first time you come across sunlight is very memorable(Although it's almost completely undermined as soon as you have to backtrack and it get's dark as soon as you enter the forest). Characters on the other hand... Seto's clothes design is so intricate that it makes no sense, while Ren's as simple and dumb as it gets. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, look much better and their personalities make them quite engaging. The monsters are also very creepy, without needing to use blood or gore to get their point across. Still, animations are very simple and a bit dated, but nothing too bad.

 Music is used sparingly, but what few pieces there are, they are haunting and solemn. The sound effects are phenomenal, monster have their distinguishing groans, cries, childish laughter... They are fantastic. Voice acting was pretty good too, even if a few of the memory items were a bit weak, and if you don't like it, the Japanese voice track is included, but the english voice overs are fine. Still, the game manages to convey a feeling of loneliness with it's visuals, audio and story, it works and it's very, very immersive.
 The game lasts a good 10-12 hours, and beating the game unlocks art galleries. There is no game plus and no difficulty settings, so after you are done with the game, there's nothing else to do. The game is not too hard, yet not a total cakewalk, I had around 2-3 deaths, but mostly due to negligence on my part.  Despite everything, I think the game is totally worth it, just don't play it on a bad day, unless you want to cry. It's that depressing.
 7 out of 10.

Archview #63: Dynasty Warriors 4

 It's way better than 2, that's for sure.

 This is like the 5th Warriors game I've covered in this blog. In this year. Which means I will be a bit vaguer on it, sue me. What matters is that this game certainly takes after Dynasty Warriors 2, it's clearly the same engine but much more polished.
 At the outset, individual Musou modes have been taken out, instead, each Kingdom has it's own Musou Mode, and you can switch characters, as long as they are part of the kingdom, whenever you want. Other factions, like Dong Zhuo's or Yuan Shao's get shorter musou modes as well. Interestingly, each kingdom has about 4 different endings, and on Shu, Wu and Wei's Musou Modes you can actually take different routes, which lead to different chapters by fulfilling certain conditions.

 Gameplay is just like Dynasty Warriors 2, which means you get the usless bow weapon, if you so choose to use it. What's new, however, is that you can equip your character with multiple items, found when killing generals or secret bonuses, that grant bonus stats! While you increase your stats by enemy drops, you do level up your character(And his weapon), that grants access to 5 extra costumes, per character. Another new feature is dueling, every now and then, an enemy general will introduce him/herself, and you can challenge them to a duel, which boils down to a 1 on 1 in a cage. As for the rest of the gameplay, it's just like DW2, you kill generals and capture enemy gates. The minimap got enhanced, now you can spot important generals as bigger, shiny red dots.
 As for other modes, you get the Free Mode, in which you can play any stage as any general, Challenge mode that has multiple activities(Like killing 100 soldiers in a certain amount of time, breaking crates, etc) and, lastly, a character creator. The character creator is pretty basic, but it's a neat addition, although he can't be used in Musou Mode.

 Visually, it's pretty decent. The draw distance is on the short side, but stages now have a lot more detail and different structures that make them visually appealing. Generals themselves sport a bigger degree of detail, and even the enemy soldiers look a bit better. The voice acting is terrible for the most part, but it's a Dynasty Warriors game, what were you expecting?. Music is still one of DW's best aspects, although the new pieces from this game are not as good as DW 2's or latter games, the ending theme, however, is a winner. And also very cheesy.
 The game can get a bit challenging, specially if you try to take low level generals on higher difficulty stages, heck, the Nanman Campaign is hard even on Easy with a high level general! There are many endings to unlock, although many are very similar between each other, and a total of 42 generals with a few clones. My issue with the combos "locking in" a certain enemy still remain, but it feels "smarter" this time, usually locking onto the generals themselves. Generals no longer get special bonuses when they drop to their feet, which was my biggest annoyance with 2, truly a godsend that makes this game much less frustrating.
 Not my favorite Warriors game by a longshot, but if you want oldschool Warriors games, this is a good choice with few annoyances, although it can get a bit long in the tooth when you realize just how many stages are repeated on every Musou Mode.
 6 out of 10

First Archimpressions: Fragile Dreams: Farewell, Ruins of the Moon

 It's pretty... different.

 The setting reminds me of Shin Megami Tensei. I just had to get that out of the way, and by the by, it's a pretty neat thing. As for the game... it's certainly aced the presentation front, it's very depressing and I totally bought it. There's a certain scene where Seto buries an AI companion, and it'd be ridiculous until you put yourself in Seto's shoes, that AI was his only companion on his journey, his very own Wilson, it makes sense and makes the scene so much more touching. Enemies are also of the creepy variety, while the dogs feel a bit generic, the first time I came across the hands on the walls, I was completely creeped out. Very awesome.
 Then there's the gameplay, and... it's passable. Movement is a bit clunky, and something I didn't like is that when the Wiimote gets out of focus, Seto defaults to the center. Games usually "lock" the cursor to where the cursor was before the Wiimote got out of range, and initially it's very off putting, but I got used to it by now. Combat is even clunkier, you have to time it, but it's a bit hard predicting weather the enemy is in range or not. Fragile Dreams also makes heavy use of the speakers on the Wiimote, and while it adds ambience, the Hide and Seek scene was very, very annoying. I easily spent around 15 minutes on that damned scene.
 So far the game gets a pass, the setting is very depressing and very fun to explore. Enemies are creepy, and the enviroments look worn out and crumbling, I love it. Basically, the game as a whole makes up for it's clunkier gameplay.

Archview #62: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

 The ultimate cashgrab?

 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is based on the Mercenaries minigame that can be found on REvil 4 and 5. Actually, it's not "based off", it's more of a remix of said unlockables. In the Mercenaries, any and all survival horror elements are forgone, Mercenaries is an action game through and through.
 First of all, there's no story nor anything, this is as arcadey as it gets. The initial missions are more of a tutorial than anything, but as soon as you get to the third "chapter", the real game starts. You must pick from one of eight characters, each one with his own unique weapon load out, and try to survive as long as possible while scoring the highest amount of points possible. Each stage has a couple of healing items, time extenders and items that grant you points as you score combo kills, ammo for your weapons is randomly dropped from enemies.

 The game plays like most modern Resident Evil games, with an over-the-shoulder point of view. Hitting the enemies on certain spots(Arms, head, knees) let's you score free, and powerful, melee blows. Melee blows have a lot of advantages, invulnerability, extra time on kill and most of them hit a wide area, plus, you conserve ammo, so using and abusing them quickly becomes the name of the game. Time is limited, so finding every time extender becomes a must, as scoring kills in quick succession as it grants bonus points. The whole point of the game is obtaining the highest amount of points possible.

 The controls work well for the most part. The touchscreen is only used to change your weapons(If you don't fancy the digital pad), but it's also used to look around your surroundings. Honestly, looking around with the touchpad doesn't work too well, so you'd better get used to the over the shoulder camera. A new feature to the resident evil games, is moving while shooting, which is done by holding L and R at the same time. It's not too handy, but it's there, just keep in mind the aim is locked.

 There are lots of unlockables, from costumes, to skills. Yes, skills, there are dozens of them, and you can equip three of them at a time. They offer passive abilities, from better healing to higher critical chances. Beating all 5 chapters unlocks the EX missions, which are way harder than the rest of the game, usually having to deal with two or more monsters with instakill attacks at the same time. Still, unless you like beating your own high scores and what not, the game won't last you that long. Disappointingly so, every stage comes from Resident Evil 4 or 5 mercenaries mode, there's not a single new stage. Also, there are no new monsters. Time extenders and Combo items are in the same places as it's console counterpart. However, stages do have different monster set ups, usually a mix of REvil 4's Ganados and REvil 5's Manjini. The only new thing found in this game is Clair Redfield, who has been missing since Code Veronica.
 Graphically, it looks fantastic, with the added bonus that even with the 3D at it's max it still looks great. The music is all recycled from the console games, and so are the sound effects. As a whole? The music is nothing special, but it fits. Besides the voice overs before each mission, there is no voice acting, at all. My biggest issue with the presentation are the menus, they are very cumbersome. For example, in order to set up skills, you have to go back to the character select screen. Picking missions are also a different screen all together, with the big "Start Mission" button being on the default menu screen. A lot of times I found myself re-starting the mission I had played, having to wait for it to load, just to get back to the menu and then go to the stage select menu, then back to the default menu to start it, pretty annoying.

 Back when it was released, one of it's selling points was the REvil: Revelation demo... and it only lasts 3-5 minutes at most, it feels pretty pointless. I also ran across a bug were an enemy would go through a wall. He got out of it by himself, but it was still bothersome. There's also an online multiplayer mode, but I didn't get to try it.
 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a game made out of a minigame, and that should tell you all you need to know. It's functional, but a time waster at most, and it doesn't help knowing that every asset but Claire is recycled. Skills are a nice addition, but hardly make it the definitive version of any mercenaries minigame.
 5 out of 10.

Archview #61: Bakugan: Rise of the Resistance

 This game has no right being as good as it is.

 I've no idea how the battles pan out in the Bakugan series, but what I'm sure of, is that it's not in a Tower Defense-like manner. Yes, this game is a Tower Defense game with a layer of Bakugan paint, towers are Bakugan, enemies are Bakugan and your avatar is a Bakugan, except when you explore, were you play as a human.
 The story is about some robot-like entities invading the earth, and it's up to Dan and his friends to stop them. The story is very plain, very straightforward and things work out in the most convenient way. Yes, it is a kid's game, it'd be wrong to expect otherwise, but this also means that the story will not engage an older player. Not in the slightest. Luckily, the gameplay makes up for it.

 At the outset, you will play as Dan or any of the five other characters, there's not a whole lot to do while exploring. You can only interact with story-related objects, although there are coins littered about that grant you money. There are also various obstacles that need a specific character to clear, most involve just pressing the A button, so they are little more than barriers. There are also a very few amount of puzzles, but they are very easy to solve. There's also no way to get lost, as the bottom screen always tells you where to go and what you need to do.
 There are no random battles, instead, battles are initiated when the story calls for them. Before each battle you get to pick a Card, which can be found or bought with money, that grants you passive abilities(Like reducing damage to your replicator) and choose your avatar Bakugan. Each playable Bakugan has a different Trap(A special attack of sorts that requires charging a gauge before being able to use it), a different attack and a different passive ability, which range from slowing down nearby enemies to increasing the attack speed of nearby Turret Bakugan. Battles play out like normal Tower Defense games, you have to survive a certain amount of enemy waves, and to do that, you place Towers(Bakugans) alongside the roads that enemies will take to your base. There are six different Tower-Bakugan, each one with different range, Attack power and attack speed. These "towers" cost DNA, which is acquired by killing enemies, and sometimes they drop chunks of DNA which grants you even more of the currency. Each Tower-Bakugan is associated to a different character, and leveling each character up allows you to upgrade the said Tower-Bakugan during each battle. Leveling up each character also enhances their playable Bakugan, granting it more strength.

 The graphics are very minimalist, there's not a whole lot of animations and the sprites themselves are very mediocre. I suppose they look like the anime-portraits, but I wouldn't know. Environments are also very plain, not a whole lot to them. The music is nothing special, I didn't really care for it, and the sound effects are passable. There's a couple of voice clips, but very few and far in-between, makes you wonder why even add them at all(There's less than 10, probably). The game is very short, 5 hours or less, and very easy. I only lost a battle once, the last fight, but I cleared it on my second try. Finishing the game unlocks nothing, but you can replay every battle either from the main menu(Quick Battle) or going to the training Module on the ship.
 All in all, it's not a bad game. The story is really dumb and so is the exploration, but the Tower-Defense portions are actually, really fun. While hardly recommendable to older players, it's not a bad buy at 10 bucks or less.
 5 outta 10.

First Archimpressions: Bakugan: Rise of the Resistance

 Not as bad as it should.

 I don't like Bakugan. Let me rephrase that, I've no idea what Bakugan is, besides the fact that it's obviously a marketing ploy devised to get parents to buy toys for children, who need to collect them all. Basically, this game should've been bad. But it's not. Also, it was 10 bucks, so I just had to buy it. I had to.
 This is a, surprisingly, a tower defense game, and it's not half bad. The game is fan, visually it's very unimpressive and I didn't care at all for the music, but the gameplay is solid, if predictable. So, yeah, caught me by surprise, not bad.

First Archimpressions: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

 It's alright.

 I just finished the first two missions(1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3), and.... it's alright. Really, I don't know what else to say, it's really nothing special. Stages seem to be ripped out almost entirely from REvil 5, and as someone that played that game, this feels a bit lazy. I'm not liking the character selection either, I've been a fan of Leon since REvil 2(And I didn't even like Revil 2), why Barry or Wesker got chosen over him baffles me.
 I also don't know how I feel about this game, it's like they ripped out the Mercenaries minigame, added some bells and whistles and called it a full game. Capcom even wanted to charge 50 bucks for it and you can't erase your savefile, which sucks. What surprises me most, is that I love arcadey games, and this one fits the bill perfectly... Ah well, maybe I'm just too tired to enjoy it.

Archview #60: Dead or Alive Dimensions

 Officially done with all 3DS fighting games, the ones that reached America anyways.

 Dead or Alive, one of the most sexually gratuitous fighting game series returns, for the first time, on a Nintendo Console. It's biggest draw is that it's basically a compilation of sorts, as it tells the story from DoA 1 to 4, without having a story of it's own. It also has every character and boss from previous entries, as well as stages that come from previous games.
 Usually I like to talk about a game's story or setting on the second paragraph, thing is... the story is really bad. The game's story mode is named Chronicle and it consists on 5 different chapters. Chapters 1 to 4 deal with each DoA game, while the 5th one is focused on Helena, who knows why. It's not like her chapter deepens the story or anything, it's just... there. While the game is touted as chronicling the stories of the games, it's only half right. It does follow the story, but from the point of view of the ninjas. You'll basically play as Kasumi, Ryu, Hayate and Ayane. Even weirder, there are some cutscenes featuring the other characters every now and then, but they seem a bit randomish and out of place, specially if you are new to the series. Even funnier, sometimes you'll have to fight various characters, with no explanation as to why or how they even got there. The story is really stupid, it makes sense though, but it's just really, really dumb. The cutscenes are also a mixed bag, every now and then, the cutscenes will stop animating, and just feature audio over the motionless characters, they don't even move their mouths!. This quickly becomes jarring and annoying, as a cutscene may go from animated to still from scene to scene.

 Besides the awful story mode, you also get Arcade Mode, in which you select from 6 courses trying to get the best time, Tag Challenge that tasks you and a CPU partner with defeating buffed up characters, Survival mode, Wireless mode and Free Versus. There's also a gallery in which you can take pictures of various "figures" that you randomly collect as you play. There are plenty of unlockables, characters, stages and costumes which is really nice.
 Gameplay is the usual DoA triangle of counters: Strikes beat throws, throws beat hold and holds beat strikes. As with most 3D fighters, instead of special moves, you have attack strings. Every attack string is displayed on the bottom screen, and by touching it you can execute it on the spot. The dynamic camera is really satisfying, it gradually zooms in as your combo gets longer, or when you execute powerful moves, it adds a lot of flavor to the game, whithout getting in the way of the player. While the game runs very smoothly, turning on the 3D has a heavy impact on the FPS, so be warned.

 This, being a Dead or Alive game, has fantastic graphics. Animation is smooth, characters are detailed and backgrounds are very pretty. Music is made up from familiar tunes, and honestly, I still like them. Sound effects are satisfying, but the voice acting is awful. I gave up on the english dub midway through chronicle mode, and while the Japanese audio isn't all that good, at least it's more tolerable. All in all, a very appealing package.
 While Tekken is still my jam, Dead or Alive Dimensions is one of the better 3DS fighting games, it's very intuitive and looks really good, instantly lowering the entry barrier from fighters like Tekken or Blazblue, and there's also plenty of stuff to unlock and do, definitely a solid choice, if you don't mind the excessive fanservice and pandering the game provides.
8 out of 10.