October 2008

It is hard to believe that Final Fantasy XI has been around as long as it has. Originally released on the PS2 in 2002 and eventually migrating to the PC and Xbox, this groundbreaking multiplatform MMO has seen its share of highs and lows. Its lasting fan base has lead it through an incredible 4 expansion packs of new material that have added a multitude of areas. Following in the footsteps of last years’ Vana’diel Collection 2007, the 2008 edition includes all four expansions to date, in one inexpensive package.

In the world of Vana’diel, five races of beings spread across two continents and four major cities work together to fight the forces of the Shadow Lord. Whether you fight the Zilart Princes, Bahamut, the evils of the Empress Court, or travel back in time before the Crystal Wars to fight the injustices of the era, you must band together with your fellow travelers to overcome great odds and save the future of Vana’diel.

You begin your adventure by choosing a race to play as, each with their own defining characteristics and then choose a Job to focus on. There a total of 20 Jobs that you could peruse, only a subset of which are available at the beginning. Once you reach level 30 and are able to complete some questing prerequisites the entire spectrum is open to you. One of the best features of the game is how it implements the Job system. Similar to Final Fantasy III, you can train in one Job and then change Jobs mid-way through to completely change your playing style. In addition to this, at level 18 you can complete a quest to learn a Support-Job which can help supplement your main Job with a different one that will always be half the skill level you currently are. For example, my Thief had level 20 thief skills and level 10 White Mage skills so that I had a better survivability within the world. And since you pay by the player, having characters who could re-train in a different Job helped lighten the feeling you were stuck with what you initially rolled.

This is essentially the only thing the game has going for it though. Details other than the Job System make the game fall apart, especially considering how much fine tuning MMORPGs have experienced in the same amount of time this game has existed. First off, the game is not very friendly to the new user. The interface is clunky and inaccurate, with the Final Fantasy menu options being the main way you interact and fight through the world. The system was designed for fighting, turn-based fighting, and while it mostly succeeds in getting the job done it doesn’t flow as well for real-time combat, causing me more deaths than I cared for because I couldn’t navigate the windows to my healing spells fast enough. In town the menus only amplify my frustration as seemingly menial tasks such as buying and selling loot were more complicated than they needed to be.

Gameplay is similarly hindered with a bad system. Quests are very scarce, and grinding seems the best way of leveling for the solo player such as myself. Group players should rejoice though as the most effective way to progress through the world is with a party. Players are nice enough and mostly available, but I still had a hard time justifying grouping with others just to progress myself at an even pace. And forget about leveling solo if you are a white mage; certain Jobs are just more uneven than others, showing a blatant disregard for Job balancing.

Graphically the game is okay, but it is showing some serious age. This may have been ahead of its time back in 2002, but now the designs are blocky, bland and generally unappealing. This may have been a product of going more for realism in the graphics than a cartoony feel that some other MMOs maintain, causing that realism to fade fast. An update needs to be made here, one that needs to ignore the system requirements up to this point and start afresh for the next generation of gamers.

This is a game with a lot of potential that has just lived past its shelf-life. A plethora of content and a fascinating Job System just don’t make up for the numerous short-falls this game presents. What is desperately needed is a reboot of the series; maybe the next Final Fantasy online can strike a better balance between casual and hardcore online, building a better house on an already solid foundation. Just, please, please don’t release another expansion.

ESRB: T for Teen, with online interactions varying

Plays Like: Watered down MMORPG

PROS: Expansive world, hours of entertainment

CONS: Clunky interface, outdated, needs to be retired

 

 

 

Kung Fu Panda

October 29, 2008

Kung Fu Panda is the newest movie from Dreamworks Animation Studios and follows the adventure of Po the Panda as he transforms from one of the laziest animals in the Valley of Peace into the Dragon Warrior. The game released with the same name is published by Activision and is based on the movie, but doesn’t exactly follow the storyline of the movie.

You play the role of Po beginning with the celebration where Po is selected as the Dragon Warrior. The game takes you through the proper Kung Fu training to begin your journey. As you play through the 13 levels, you will collect coins that allow you to upgrade Po’s abilities. These upgrades span basic techniques as well as special moves that Po learns through his journey.

The game itself is a pretty standard 3rd-person action adventure game. It was entertaining enough that I kept coming back to play more and it was easy enough that my 4-year-old was able to play through a few levels on his own.

Combat is handled with face buttons as you would expect in a game of this type, but boss battles are very different. Boss fights mix one part real-time combat with one part rhythm game. A combination of buttons appear on the screen and you must press them in order. Failure to do so has you restarting that particular section of your battle with the boss beginning with the end of the last successfully completed section of the battle. I found these parts especially frustrating because each section of the boss battle was made up of 4 or more sequences of button pushes. This makes boss battles very cumbersome and annoying.

Graphically the game was very solid. Very beautiful and colorful environments were accompanied by Jack Black doing a great job of the voice work in the game. No artifacting or collision issues were present in my play through.

The game save system in Kung Fu Panda is a little clunky. When starting up a game it automatically finds your existing game if there is one and asks you to load it. The problem is that the prompt tells you it will overwrite your file if you don’t load it, leading to confusion. The auto-save feature keeps you from having to manually save. One upside is that you are able to change your auto-save slot while playing a level so you can easily duplicate your game save while playing.

One annoying issue I noticed is that when replaying a level, your original progress on that level is reset back to 0% and upon completion of the level, your game is auto-saved with the current level of completion on that level. In my case, I had 100% on all levels and my son played through and effectively wiped that progress out. I would have preferred to see your progress saved to allow you to eventually work your way up to 100% on some of the more difficult levels.

In the end, Kung Fu Panda is a decent game and worth the play through if you are looking to extend the theatrical experience. Unless you or your children are die hard fans of the movie, then this is probably a budget title or a week long rental.

Plays like: Most other 3rd person action/adventure titles

Pros: Fun, easy gameplay makes it suitable for the younger audience

Cons: Clunky save system, annoying boss battles

ESRB: E10+ for Fantasy Violence and some Mild Language

LEGO Batman

October 29, 2008

When it was announced that Batman would be the third franchise to get the LEGO treatment, I had concerns about how the title would come out. With the game now complete, I can safely say that those fears were unjust. recreate the adventures of those movies in the world of LEGO. 

The most noticeable difference between this title and the previous LEGO titles is that the game is played half from the perspective of the Heroes and half as the Villains. Instead of having missions divided up by movie, the game has 15 Hero story missions and 15 Villain story missions. Like previous LEGO iterations, once you’ve completed a mission in Story Mode, you can replay it in Free Mode with an expanded choice of characters at your disposal. Your choice of characters to select from for Free Mode missions expands as you beat missions in Story Mode. You will also be able to purchase additional characters from the store.

Some characters in LEGO Batman also have special abilities such as super-strength, hand-to-hand grapple, and mind control. These will be integral to completing certain parts of many levels in the game.

As you play through each mission you’ll be on the lookout for 10 Mini-Kit pieces per level and a red brick that unlocks an “extra” that may be purchased from the Batcave or Arkham Asylum, theVillain hideout. These extras range from stud multipliers to help you gather money faster to suit upgrades for your Heroes. Suit upgrades apply to all of your hero characters and don’t need to be turned on for use like other extras. Suit upgrades include Fast Grapple, More Batarang Targets, and much more.

The engine that powers LEGO Batman is the same one from previous titles in this series and it’s become very refined. I still have issues with the way the camera pans and zooms when playing with 2 players, but I’ve learned to work around its quirks.

Warner Bros. and Traveller’s Tales did a great job of building in a decent story for the missions and keeping the levels interesting enough to replay time and again to collect the remaining items necessary to get the game to 100%.

LEGO Batman also has a host of vehicle missions littered in with the regular missions. Vehicle missions include flying levels as well as water levels and are a nice change of pace. Additional vehicles can be purchased for use in Free Mode just like with characters.

LEGO Batman is an amazing game that has definitely lived up to previous titles in this “franchise.” The expansive number of collectible items coupled with the solid gameplay create a high replay value in this title. The puzzles may be a little complex for some younger gamers, but it will be a hit with those that are familiar with the style of puzzles that appear.

Plays Like: LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones

Pros: Fun, high replay value

Cons: None

ESRB: This title is rated E10+ for Cartoon Violence

It’s important to keep multiple saves. The final area of Fallout 3 will lock you in and after the game ends, you’ll get booted back to the title screen. No new game+, no adventuring in the wastes after the game is completed. So in addition to the games autosave, it would behoove you to keep at least 2 active saves. That way you can finish the story and keep exploring anyway.

Fable 2

October 28, 2008

Where will your morals lead you? Will you be the savior of Albion or its harbinger of doom? Fable II is all about player choice. Even the story takes a back seat to the early and often hyped morality system. The choices you make will affect every aspect of the Fable II experience, but nowhere is the affect greater than the opening and closing acts. Your first choice will determine whether Bowerstone is a den of thieves or a bustling marketplace surrounded by upscale homes.

Smaller choices will affect your day-to-day interactions as well. Brandish your weapon in town or set off an accidental Force Push spell and the townsfolk will grow to fear and hate you, but if you cater to their needs and work the right expressions they will love you and ask for your autograph. So far the interaction system sounds an awful lot like that of the original Fable, and it is. If you played the original then there won’t be any surprises waiting for you in Albion in terms of personal interaction, and that’s a bit of a letdown. The system certainly works, but the game world should be immersive, and it just doesn’t feel right to woo your first wife by doing a funny dance, giving her a single bouquet of flowers, dancing once more, and then moving into pick up line three times. At this point you’ll notice that the object of your desires’ love bar is in the marriage zone and present her with a ring. A silent protagonist – save for the occasional belch or fart – who interacts with people day in and day out serves to break immersion and showcase the mechanics that really ought to remain behind the scenes. When the magician’s strings are exposed throughout the trick it kills any feeling of wonder and highlights that you’re moving sliders on a bar instead of courting a young woman.

Where Fable II does improve upon its predecessor is the addition of your canine companion. Just like a real dog he will love you unconditionally and accompany you on all of your travels. You can name him, train him to do tricks, train him to search for treasure – buried and otherwise, and turn him into a valuable combat asset. My personal favorite is knocking bandits down with Force Push and letting Fido finish them off while they lay on the ground in pain. What really sets the dog apart from other game characters though is that he acts naturally He’s excited to see you, apologetic when you scold him, and eager to please when taught a new trick. He looks like a dog, sounds like a dog, and if it weren’t for the fact that he only ever shows up on the television set I’d swear he was a real dog.

What the dog doesn’t do, however, is guide you from point A to point B. And it’s a shame because it would have been a great way to nudge the player in the right direction without laying out a trail of video game breadcrumbs to follow. The trail can and should be turned off, at least when exploring. It’s impossible to get lost in Albion when a golden trail is always pointing toward the next plot point. Navigation is a constant stumbling block for Fable II. In an effort to reduce on-screen clutter Lionhead chose to exclude a mini-map. This wouldn’t be a big deal if there were a decent map available in the pause menu, but the only maps available are small, undetailed, and impossible to use for any real navigation or course plotting.

If you take the time explore you’ll discover that Albion is a large and varied world with distinct locales and denizens. Moving through the game at a leisurely pace will allow you to really connect with Albion and its inhabitants. Forging a meaningful relationship really pads the game length without feeling forced and lending emotion to the game’s final act. If you rush through and follow the golden trail for quest to quest Fable II can be completed in around eight hours, but you’ll be robbing yourself of the experience.

That experience can be found in the everyday life of the citizens of Albion. The blacksmith needs help forging swords and laments his loss of business to the gun maker across the square. The farmer needs wood split for the fireplace, and the barman needs help serving drinks to thirsty crowds. And after you’ve earned enough money you can live the Albion dream by purchasing your favorite watering hole and watching the profits roll in. You can also purchase the tailor’s stall, the blacksmith’s shop, and every other building in every town of the game. Even the majestic Castle Fairfax can be purchased by a hero with an especially heavy coin purse. If mini-game bartending doesn’t appeal to you, the pure of heart can take up bounty hunting and the corrupt can take up slaving. A third option is available to anybody that can spot the game master at the local pub: gambling. Just like in Fable II Pub Games the three offerings are Keystone, a hybrid of craps and roulette; Spinnerbox, a medieval and magic slot machine; and Fortune’s Tower, solitaire for money. Fortune’s Tower is the easiest of the bunch, but just like in real life there’s no feeling quite like hitting the jackpot on a slot machine.

So now you can make money and impress your friends, but no RPG is complete without combat, and Fable II delivers on that front. It’s important to understand that Fable II isn’t played for the challenge. It is played for the chance to feel like a badass hero proficient in all three combat disciplines: melee, ranged, and magic. Unlike other games, Fable II encourages you to spread your experience around. It pushes you toward it further by doling out four types of experience points – strength (melee), skill (ranged), will (magic), and general. There is less choice between specializing in ranged or melee combat and more choice of what type of multi-faceted warrior you’ll be.

Combat is simple to facilitate victory and ease of use. X is used for melee attacks, Y is used for ranged attacks, and B is used for magic attacks. You’re rewarded for using all three with more experience orbs dropping for the hero willing to swing his axe to take out the vanguard, charge up a Force Blast to knock three bandits down, and finish off the whole group from afar with well-aimed pistol shots. It’s possible to complete encounters using only one combat discipline, but the system really shines when you spread the love around each of the three combat buttons. One place Fable II’s combat falls a bit short, however, is punishment. It is literally impossible for the player character to die. If you lose all of your health you fall over and right back up. Your only penalty is the uncollected experience and a new scar to call your very own. Defeat ought to be temporary. After all, you’re the hero of Albion. There should be a real penalty for failure, though, and Fable II does not ever adequately punish the player for his failures.

What does every hero want? To show off. Or maybe to save the world with a friend. Don’t get me wrong. The dog is great, but there’s something to be said for being able to play through a game with a friend. Fable II delivers both offline and online cooperative play, but neither is especially compelling. What is the point of buying clothes and weapons if I can’t take any of it with me when I play coop? More importantly, who could possible think it is a good idea to allow to bring experience and skills but not my weapons? Unless your character is heavily favored towards Will abilities you’ll be playing at a disadvantage every time you buddy up and act as a henchman for a friend. You might think I’m only describing online coop, but I’m not. For some strange reason Fable II can’t display both my and my buddy’s characters and weapons when all of our save data resides on the same hard drive. When so much time goes in to character creation, fancy hat buying, and weapon augmentation it just doesn’t make any sense to deny the guest player any individuality.

Fable II does a lot. Some of it is infuriating (why are there no cartographers in Albion from whom I can buy a decent map?), and some of it is exceptionally rewarding (pistol sniping bandits from across a field). Thankfully, Fable II does more good than bad, and I’ve yet to come away from a play session disappointed. I grumble about the interaction system and the lack of decent maps, but the exceedingly fun combat and narrative that becomes more relevant with each moment I spend in the game world more than make up for them. Albion is worth visiting, and it’s certainly worth saving. Fable II should not be missed by anybody who enjoys getting caught up in a populated and diverse fantasy world.

Plays like: Nothing else, but is clearly related to the first Fable though drastically different
Pros:
Extremely fun combat, lots to do, engrossing narrative
Cons:
lackluster coop, no good map
ESRB:
M for Blood, Language, Sexual Content, Use of Alcohol, and Violence – Fable is a Dickensian cartoon, and the M rating is appropriate, 17+ only