April 2006 Issue

[rsstites]

The writers of the Gaming Chronicle will add their video game impressions, reviews, previews, and general opinion columns below this post.

(If you are interested in writing for the Chronicle, then click on the groups link in the header. Then chose the Chronicle usergroup, and then click join.)

[danny12]

My favourite Final Fantasy game

PS2 Review: Final Fantasy X (10)





My review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score



Story: Our story begins with the main charecter and playable throughout the game Tidus, who opens the story before a championship Blitzball game in his home city of Zanarkand. Just as he is about to score the winning goal for his team his city is suddenly attacked by a monster known as Sin. Tidus manages to make his way out of the Stadium as everyone is being killed and everything is being destoryed around him. Eventually he runs into his friend and tutor Aauron who hands him a sword which his supposedly dead father wanted him to have. Eventually after fighting a certain distance away from Sin he is pulled into Sin and for some strange reason ends up in a new land called Spira. Tidus is now in a distant land, on his own, in the freezing cold with no food.............


Gameplay: When the rest of the charecters join the plot it is clearly noticed that they all have diffrent strengths and weaknesses. One person for example relies on magic for attack whilst this mean they have weak physical attack and defence whilst Tidus himself has high speed and attack but low magic attack and defence. This means that all the charecters will have to be used at least once so that you don't over level someone else and find out later in an important battle that they are totally useless. This is an exciting prospect as it means we have to be careful as who we use at the beginning and who we progress with throughout the game. During the battle only 3 charecters can appear on the screen at once but with a simple press of L1 or R1 you can switch charecters. The game uses a Turn Battle system where one person attacks then someone else then someone else and then the monster or it could be a person attack then a person attacks then monster then the last person. Everyone has a special powerup move called the Overdrive bar which can be filled in numerous ways the default being how much damage you recieve. These overdrives are very powerful and should be saved for important boss battles. The charecters level up using a new system called the sphere gird. Basically this is a grid of circles laid out on a board. All the charecters start at a certain point and as they win battles gain AP which allows them to move after collecting a certain amount and Spheres which are used to activate them. For example a Strength +4 would use a Power Sphere. This is an excellently used system and makes you feel in control of how and what your charecter is learning. Diffrent weapons and armours can be purchased as usual however a surprising new twist means these weapons can be customised with abilites such as Darkness to blind enemies, Posion to reduce HP and more.


Graphics: As we have come to expect from a Square game this game has equally beautiful graphics if not the best in the series. Each new one in the series has only grown more and more beautiful, and this tenth installment is absolutely amazing visually. The world crafted through the graphics is so brilliant sometimes you just have to stop to have a look around. Al the cutscenses, charcter designs, weapons, spells, enemies and more make this FF with some of the best graphics in the series maybe even on the PS2 itself. Though at times there are a few graphical flaws, they are so few and far between that there's a really good chance you wont even notice them.


Replayability: Final Fantasy X is very deep, and many of its best points are hidden and best left untold until you discover them yourself. There are too many side quests and hidden secrets to list, but many of them are varied and quite fun. The main diversion from the game is Blitzball. You can actually play the sport as a very fun minigame. With some improvements, Blitzball could easily stand as its own game. And while it’s still far from perfect, it’s the best Final Fantasy minigame in the series.


Faults: I can honestly say that for such an awesome game the only faults i notice arn't even worth writing but as a reviewer it is my job to list everything. At one point in the game you may feel a bit linear however this dissapears quickly. That is mainly it.


My Opinion: Square really made some effort with this game and it shows in this truly enjoyable game. I have never had so much enjoyablitly from a Square other than Kingdom Hearts. With outstanding quality in all areas this game truly stands out.


Final Score: With only one noticeable fault and everything else outstanding i would give everyone a big reccomendation to buy this game.
10/10

[danny12]

PSP News

Tekken: Dark Ressurrection

Based on the Tekken 5 coin-op this handheld scrapper from Namco features 30 charecters from throughout the series including Jin Kazama, King, Heihachi, Nina, Bryan and loads. This game will also include 19 fully destructable arenas, wireless multi-play action and some minigames thrown in.








Konami Comics


An exciting new prospect from Konami. These unique "media experience" UMDs give you an animated comic book, offering an in-depth backstory of the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill games. In the Silent Hill experiecne as well as viewing the comic you can listen to music from the series and watch video clips like interviews from the directer about the new film. In the Metal Gear Solid comic you can actually alter the story chaning its outcome by selecting plot branches.

[danny12]

PS2 Review : The Godfather


My review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score

Story: The Godfather game is based on the trilogy of films that have been made into classics over the years. Now you don't actually play any of the main charecters from the film but you create your own charecter from scratch. As this game is based on a film this may have been a bad idea but EA have done a good job of keeping it flowing. The guy's father (that you created) is killed by the Tattaglia family, a rival gang of the Corleone family. Corleone or as the game and films are called "The Godfather" then promises you revenge when you get older. When you are finally old enough you get accepted into the America's most famous criminal organization, the Corleone family. Then throughout the game is about you building up your rank to become a high member in the gang.

Gameplay: The Godfather takes a leaf out of GTA books and uses it system of stealing cars, beating people up and using a radar in the bottom right hand corner. Whilst this isn't a bad system its been used too many times before but for newcomers it is a welcome system. Also you can talk to civilians, bribe bent cops to leave you alone, beat up business men to take their money etc......... Also like GTA2 there are meters showing what gangs like you and dislike you. This is the Vendetta level, peaceful means they leave you alone and high means your in for some trouble. Surprisingly the game lets you upgrade diffrent charecteristics of your made charecter. Whilst this is a great thing for RPGs its not good for these type of games as if your charecter needs high speed for one level and you only increase strength then you are screwed. If i was to sum up the gameplay in a sentence then it would be "A GTA copy cat".


Graphics: The main charecters in the game look outstanding and you will recognise them immediatley. Also the simple choice of customisastion options for your charecter at the start makes this a great aspect of the game. Also seeing as this is a GTA basic copy you would expect low res graphics but you would be very wrong. The graphics are so great you can actually see into the distance buildings which GTA does quite badly.

Replayability: None really. Other than playing the game over again there is no replayabilty. As a GTA clone this was expected to be high but we are let down severley.

Faults: A lot of the stores look exactly the same which is quite boring. The cars don't play any music when you drive them so a long drive will be quite boring. Also when a car catches fire in GTA you can jump straight out but The Godfather forces you to stop to a complete halt and then get out and by the time it is done BOOM you have died.

My Opinion: As an avid GTA fan i was expecting very high hopes from this game. I am very dissapointed at the way its turned out. However it does what it is supposed to do perfectly and that is to recreate the films in style.

Final Score: If they had taken more time during the development a lot of easily fixed mistakes would not be around. This brings the game down and ultimatley disapoints the player. Avoid at all costs.

5/10

[danny12]

PC Review: Deus Ex


My Review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score



Story: Our story begins with New York. A ravaging plague has swept acrcoss USA called "The Black Plague". The vaccine is in short supply and with the lower class citizens in society getting desperate riots are breaking out everywhere. A terrorist group called NSF try to take the vacinne and give it to the people instead of the rich people. Another group called UNATCO is formed to combat this group AND give cures to people. To help with this they make two new soliders who never have to sleep,eat or rest and they are called JC Denton and Paul Denton. However not all is as it seems in UNATCO.................

Gameplay: We play throughout the story as JC Denton. I am very happy to say this is a long game with a gripping story and an exciting new system. This new system works amazingly well with the game. During the game when you are presented with an objective to say take over a building there is always of course the option of blasting your way through the building but this wastes precious ammo and health. But this new system allows many diffrent ways to do things. Instead of the front door you can go in the back door and use stealth to use little or no ammo. Or you can go to a high building far away and use a sniper rifle to pick enemies off from a distance. Or an even better idea is to find the buildings defence terminals and take them over to use the building turret guns to your advantage. The sheer amount of options available makes substancial replay values. There are also diffrent skills that you will need to master for your preffered route through the game. For example stealth masters would upgrade Medical and Pistol skills for silence whilst people who like to hack computers would increase their Computer and Multitool skills. This significantly cuts the time needed to hack a computer. Gameplay wise this game pulls it off brilliantly. You can talk to almost anyone in the game and maybe even get weapons, grenades or important info if you say the right things. Sub missions can also be taken on like rescuing a member of someone family to get a speical key of another member. The amount of diffrent locations in this game is excellent with Hong Kong, Liberty Island, New York and many more locations putting in an appearance in the game. Also many un needed things like background info in the game or current events have been put in. Read newspapers, book or info terminals to read the current days news. This gives the player a more realisitic feeling to the game. Also depening on the way you complete objective or how the objective ends you may get paid more or less. For example catch a terrorist leader alive and get 100 credits or kill him and only get 50. Also certain charecters in the game will be seen regularly so if you tick them off at the start they don't forget it and may affect your game later.


Graphics: Considering the age of the game the graphics arn't as bad as you would expect. Every charecter will have a moving face and lips with special features like some will have beards, others mustaches and so on. The locations look stunning and could take your breath away if your not careful. The draw distance is also good too with the charecter able to look miles away and see the same good quality as something right beside him.
However after that the graphics start to falter. The weapons look basic, locations are samey and charecters look iffy enough at times.

Replayability: Once you complete this the first time you will only have seen around 15% of the games total play time. For instance there are 4 diffrent endings able to obtain, one of which are secret. Also the diffrent ways that objectives can be completed, the diffrent areas to explore, side missions and sheer size of area the game will not be fully complete for a long time. The multiplayer mode also is nearly more fun that the actual game itself.

Faults: Only the graphics seem to bring this game down.

My Opinion: I had a lot of fun throughout this game. The story is so deep and involving that i done very little side missions or exploring the first time or second time through. And then i had to explore and do side missions and get the other endings so my enjoyability was extremley high with the game.

Final Score: With the only fault being graphic capibilitys the game exceeds on all levels.

9/10