Hype Muffin
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a direct sequel to the hit game Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. With its massive, intricate plot and real time battle system, ToS won the hearts of RPG fans world wide. A sequel to such an acclaimed title has some large shoes to fill, and Dawn of the New World, unfortunately, does not rise to the challenge.
Dawn of the New World follows the adventures of Emil, a shy and melancholy youth whose parents were recently murdered by the legendary Lloyd Irving (of ToS fame). When he meets up with Marta, a strange and spunky girl with a monster lord's insignia on her forehead, Emil takes on the task of protecting her as a knight of Ratatosk while she hatches Centurion cores in an effort to restore the balance of mana in the world. It is a fairly convoluted and cumbersome plot, unassisted by the awkward pacing and slow beginning. It lacks the engrossing nature of ToS's story, faltering in large part because of annoying characters--Emil is a whining...
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Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - Review
03 Mar 2009, 11:00
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins - Review
21 Feb 2009, 10:08
Tenchu has a rich history of sneaky ninja action on other consoles, and the latest entry in the series, Shadow Assassins, brings all the neck breaking, shuiken throwing, and sword fighting gameplay to Wii, utilizing motion controls for more interactive kills. Though weighed down by a few problems and annoyances, SA provides plenty of addicting stealth gameplay for the ninja in training.
The story--presented through several cutscenes--has a grand, cinematic feeling, from loyalty and betrayal to castles enveloped in flames. The plot follows Rikimaru and Ayame, two ninjas in the service of Lord Gohda, who sends them on missions ranging from investigating corrupt merchants to rescuing his kidnapped daughter, Kiku (with whom Ayame has a close relationship). A few twists obscure the true villains from the capable ninjas, leading to a climactic battle and puzzling finale. Fans of the series will derive more enjoyment from seeing returning faces, but newcomers may be less inclined to connect with...
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The story--presented through several cutscenes--has a grand, cinematic feeling, from loyalty and betrayal to castles enveloped in flames. The plot follows Rikimaru and Ayame, two ninjas in the service of Lord Gohda, who sends them on missions ranging from investigating corrupt merchants to rescuing his kidnapped daughter, Kiku (with whom Ayame has a close relationship). A few twists obscure the true villains from the capable ninjas, leading to a climactic battle and puzzling finale. Fans of the series will derive more enjoyment from seeing returning faces, but newcomers may be less inclined to connect with...
[ Continued ]
Viewed 95 times3 Comments
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii) - review
24 Dec 2008, 09:46
Star Wars is a pop culture force to be reckoned with, spawning movies, toys, games, and TV shows since its inception over thirty years ago. The Force Unleashed continues the tradition with more raw force power than ever seen previously, but is the hokey religion and ancient weapon truly superior to a good blaster at your side?
Set between the events of Episodes III and IV in the Star Wars movie canon, The Force Unleashed follows the actions of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller. Vader uses him to dispatch the few remaining Jedi knights in the galaxy, but half way through the game the plot takes a sharp twist. The only problem is that the twist isn't believable or interesting. The potential established in the first half of the story quickly fizzles out, and the plot loses sight of itself as poorly constructed character development is jammed awkwardly into the game. The game ends by setting up the events of Episode IV, but it feels contrived and unnecessary, revealing no new or...
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Set between the events of Episodes III and IV in the Star Wars movie canon, The Force Unleashed follows the actions of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller. Vader uses him to dispatch the few remaining Jedi knights in the galaxy, but half way through the game the plot takes a sharp twist. The only problem is that the twist isn't believable or interesting. The potential established in the first half of the story quickly fizzles out, and the plot loses sight of itself as poorly constructed character development is jammed awkwardly into the game. The game ends by setting up the events of Episode IV, but it feels contrived and unnecessary, revealing no new or...
[ Continued ]
Viewed 74 times1 Comment
Dragon Quest IV - review
22 Dec 2008, 07:48
Square Enix continues their trend of remaking classic RPGs on handheld systems with Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. With source material nearly twenty years old, can Dragon Quest maintain its appeal on the DS?
A variety of characters provides a lot of plot elements that create the overall story, but in essence the story is flat, basic, and straight-forward. Twist and intrigue opportunities are there, but the characters are not developed so that the player will care about them--certainly an element of older style video game story-telling.
It's hard to get more classic RPG than this: explore towns, accept quests from kings, battle monsters in caves and dungeons, all while constructing a rag tag party to save the world from an ultimate evil. That's not the end of the checklist: combat is in standard DQ first-person perspective, level grinding is a must, side characters will join the party to help occasionally. As an early entry in the series that helped standardize RPG elements,...
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A variety of characters provides a lot of plot elements that create the overall story, but in essence the story is flat, basic, and straight-forward. Twist and intrigue opportunities are there, but the characters are not developed so that the player will care about them--certainly an element of older style video game story-telling.
It's hard to get more classic RPG than this: explore towns, accept quests from kings, battle monsters in caves and dungeons, all while constructing a rag tag party to save the world from an ultimate evil. That's not the end of the checklist: combat is in standard DQ first-person perspective, level grinding is a must, side characters will join the party to help occasionally. As an early entry in the series that helped standardize RPG elements,...
[ Continued ]
Viewed 152 times1 Comment
Geist (Gamecube) - Review
08 Dec 2008, 03:04
Developer n-Space delivers an original concept with Geist on the GameCube. Control John Raimi, a scientist in a counter-terrorist team who soon finds himself ripped from his corporeal body and struggling to escape the twisted plots of the Volks corporation. Incorporating puzzle exploration as a ghost with first person shooting, Geist is one ghost that should move on to the afterlife.
When Raimi and the rest of the counter-terrorist team take on Volks corporation, they get more than they bargained for, leading to Raimi being used for the company's ghost creation experiments. The story dives head first into science fiction waters and remains there, leading to a climactic battle with a demon from another plane of being. The pacing can be a little choppy; the overarching plot is slow to develop and immediate goals often boil down to reaching the end of the stage, and Raimi's connection with the only other surviving member of his team, Bryson, feels weak. The plot is decent but suffers from...
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When Raimi and the rest of the counter-terrorist team take on Volks corporation, they get more than they bargained for, leading to Raimi being used for the company's ghost creation experiments. The story dives head first into science fiction waters and remains there, leading to a climactic battle with a demon from another plane of being. The pacing can be a little choppy; the overarching plot is slow to develop and immediate goals often boil down to reaching the end of the stage, and Raimi's connection with the only other surviving member of his team, Bryson, feels weak. The plot is decent but suffers from...
[ Continued ]
Viewed 129 times1 Comment
