Shawn Vermette

Final Fantasy XIII

May 16, 2010

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Final Fantasy XIII is possibly the most anticipated game in the entire celebrated series, so it should come as little surprise that, while it is a great and entertaining game, it just isn’t as good as all the hype made it out to be. Honestly though, it would have to have been one of the best games of all time to live up to the hype. It is still a must play for any fan of the series or the genre, there are just a couple of minor issues that prevent it from rising to the top.

The story is one of the highlights of Final Fantasy XIII, and it draws you into the world of Cocoon right from the start. Right from the opening scene to the end game cinematics, you’ll be drawn into the worlds of Cocoon and Pulse until the game is won. Perhaps the only downside to this is that Final Fantasy XIII is an extremely linear game. As you move forward from chapter to chapter, you’ll rarely revisit previous locations, and there is little room to go off the beaten path, even at the end of the game. 

As usual, Square Enix has changed the battle and leveling system for Final Fantasy XIII, though they are both reminiscent of previous entries in the series.  The battle system is very autonomous, and it appears to expand and improve upon the Gambit system of Final Fantasy XII. Called the Paradigm system, each character is given a role to play, and automatically chooses an action to do from a list of abilities for the specified role. Throughout the battle, you can switch out paradigms, or sets of roles, at will. This allows you to quickly heal your party when needed, or quickly switch everyone to an offensive role to do more damage. The only problem with this system is that battles are more about strategically choosing and switching between paradigms than it is about actually controlling any of your characters. Another aspect of this system is that if your lead character is killed, you lose. Any other character can be revived if they fall in battle, but not the lead. Additionally, your entire party is healed between battles. You might think this would make the game easier, but you’d be mistaken. Square Enix uses this as a way to increase the difficulty of every fight in the game. After the tutorial is over, which does take awhile, nearly every fight will be a high tension affair with death hanging in the balance if you are not smart with your paradigms.

The leveling system is called the Crystarium and is extremely similar to the Sphere Grid system of Final Fantasy X. Each character has their own Crystarium, rather than sharing a large grid as in Final Fantasy X. Instead each role shares a place in the Crystarium. As you collect Crystarium Points(CP) during battles, you can use them to upgrade your characters in various predetermined courses. You can upgrade any role you wish for a character, with upgrades for HP, strength, and magic along the way to learning new abilities for each role. Any abilities learned are only able to be used when assigned that role in battle, though the HP, magic, and strength upgrades are always present.

Graphically, Final Fantasy XIII is beautiful and impressively detailed. It is easily the most graphically impressive game I’ve played yet on any system. Oddly enough though, the cinematics look better on the 360 version while the actual game play looks better on the PS3.

The soundtrack of Final Fantasy XIII is great work as usual. It doesn’t have the instant classic feel of most previous Final Fantasy soundtracks, but it is definitely top quality work. The only disappointment I had with the soundtrack was the lack of the classic victory song. A variation of it has been in every Final Fantasy game until this one, so it’s sad to see it go. As far as the voice acting, it is definitely the best cast of voice actors Square Enix has used so far, although Vanille’s voice is irritating and annoying.

One other side note is that the loading times for the 360 version of the game are shorter than the loading times for the PS3 version.

Overall, Final Fantasy XIII is a great game, with much to recommend it. Unfortunately, the linearity and the somewhat self-controlled battles keep it from being among the elite of the Final Fantasy series. If you love Final Fantasy, be prepared for yet another epic fantasy. If, however, you aren’t a fan of JRPGs or linearity in games, there is little here that will change your mind.

Plays Like: Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy X

Pros: Story is intriguing; Graphics are impressive; Soundtrack and voice work are great; Battles are epic affairs; Characters are great

Cons: Vanille is annoying; combat system sometimes feels like it is playing itself

 

Final Fantasy XIII

May 16, 2010

PS3 / Reviews / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Final Fantasy XIII is possibly the most anticipated game in the entire celebrated series, so it should come as little surprise that, while it is a great and entertaining game, it just isn’t as good as all the hype made it out to be. Honestly though, it would have to have been one of the best games of all time to live up to the hype. It is still a must play for any fan of the series or the genre, there are just a couple of minor issues that prevent it from rising to the top.

The story is one of the highlights of Final Fantasy XIII, and it draws you into the world of Cocoon right from the start. Right from the opening scene to the end game cinematics, you’ll be drawn into the worlds of Cocoon and Pulse until the game is won. Perhaps the only downside to this is that Final Fantasy XIII is an extremely linear game. As you move forward from chapter to chapter, you’ll rarely revisit previous locations, and there is little room to go off the beaten path, even at the end of the game. 

As usual, Square Enix has changed the battle and leveling system for Final Fantasy XIII, though they are both reminiscent of previous entries in the series.  The battle system is very autonomous, and it appears to expand and improve upon the Gambit system of Final Fantasy XII. Called the Paradigm system, each character is given a role to play, and automatically chooses an action to do from a list of abilities for the specified role. Throughout the battle, you can switch out paradigms, or sets of roles, at will. This allows you to quickly heal your party when needed, or quickly switch everyone to an offensive role to do more damage. The only problem with this system is that battles are more about strategically choosing and switching between paradigms than it is about actually controlling any of your characters. Another aspect of this system is that if your lead character is killed, you lose. Any other character can be revived if they fall in battle, but not the lead. Additionally, your entire party is healed between battles. You might think this would make the game easier, but you’d be mistaken. Square Enix uses this as a way to increase the difficulty of every fight in the game. After the tutorial is over, which does take awhile, nearly every fight will be a high tension affair with death hanging in the balance if you are not smart with your paradigms.

The leveling system is called the Crystarium and is extremely similar to the Sphere Grid system of Final Fantasy X. Each character has their own Crystarium, rather than sharing a large grid as in Final Fantasy X. Instead each role shares a place in the Crystarium. As you collect Crystarium Points(CP) during battles, you can use them to upgrade your characters in various predetermined courses. You can upgrade any role you wish for a character, with upgrades for HP, strength, and magic along the way to learning new abilities for each role. Any abilities learned are only able to be used when assigned that role in battle, though the HP, magic, and strength upgrades are always present.

Graphically, Final Fantasy XIII is beautiful and impressively detailed. It is easily the most graphically impressive game I’ve played yet on any system. Oddly enough though, the cinematics look better on the 360 version while the actual game play looks better on the PS3.

The soundtrack of Final Fantasy XIII is great work as usual. It doesn’t have the instant classic feel of most previous Final Fantasy soundtracks, but it is definitely top quality work. The only disappointment I had with the soundtrack was the lack of the classic victory song. A variation of it has been in every Final Fantasy game until this one, so it’s sad to see it go. As far as the voice acting, it is definitely the best cast of voice actors Square Enix has used so far, although Vanille’s voice is irritating and annoying.

One other side note is that the loading times for the 360 version of the game are shorter than the loading times for the PS3 version.

Overall, Final Fantasy XIII is a great game, with much to recommend it. Unfortunately, the linearity and the somewhat self-controlled battles keep it from being among the elite of the Final Fantasy series. If you love Final Fantasy, be prepared for yet another epic fantasy. If, however, you aren’t a fan of JRPGs or linearity in games, there is little here that will change your mind.

Plays Like: Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy X

Pros: Story is intriguing; Graphics are impressive; Soundtrack and voice work are great; Battles are epic affairs; Characters are great

Cons: Vanille is annoying; combat system sometimes feels like it is playing itself

Snackbar Speculator: One, 2, E3, 4

May 9, 2010

Features / Speculator / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Starting this week, Eric Schabel is joining us as a recurring panelist, and we cover more E3 game rumors. But first, our most recent results.

Current score

Andrew Passafiume: +125

Graham Russell: +45

Eric Schabel: 0

Shawn Vermette: +135


Results

LittleBigPlanet 2 to be announced at E3

Well, we didn’t have to wait until E3 to get confirmation of this rumor. Friday, GameInformer teased a huge reveal they’ll have on LittleBigPlanet 2 in their June issue, and Media Molecule confirmed it on Twitter.

Andrew 90% = +40

Graham 90% = +40

Shawn 85% = +35

 

Bungie-Activision game to be an action RPG

Following in the wake of the huge Bungie-Activision deal announced the other day, very few details have been released regarding exactly what kind of game Bungie is planning to make. Bungie is, obviously, best known for its shooters- most notably the Halo series. However, recent job postings on the Bungie website seem to point toward an action RPG style of game rather than a shooter. Nothing is explicitly noted in the job descriptions, but they make one wonder if they are leaving behind the shooter genre they know so well.

Andrew: It’s clear that whatever Bungie has planned, it will be big. It’s clear that they never once referred to as a specific “game” they were working on during any interviews, rather they only discussed a “universe” or a game series that will last a good ten years. I can see them developing more shooters in this universe, but I can also see an action RPG in the works as well, since it’s clear they have a lot of big ideas. Whether their NEXT game will be an action RPG is something that is hard to determine. 60%

Graham: Bungie severed ties with Microsoft because they were tired of making Halo, so did anyone expect them to go make a game almost exactly like Halo? Of course they’re trying something different. I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep the FPS elements and go the route of Mass Effect, Fallout and Borderlands, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they went in a different direction. That said, I bet it’ll fit the definition of “action RPG.”   85%

Eric: Considering how successful recent action RPG games have been, and how much effort has put into the Halo storyline, I could definitely see Bungie going in this direction. After all, games like Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, and Bioshock have already showed us that shooters can have heavy RPG elements too. So this rumor makes sense theoretically, and the job listings on Bungie’s site definitely lead credence to it as well.  80%

Shawn: A shooter RPG a la Fallout 3 or Mass Effect wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, given Bungie’s experience and job listings. And considering my love of both genres, I would definitely be very interested in such a game. Add the fact that they want to distance themselves somewhat from being known as ‘the Halo studio’ and I would consider this rumor to be fairly likely. 80%


Infamous 2 to be shown at E3

Those who’ve beaten Infamous know that it needs a sequel. Those who’ve played Infamous know that they want a sequel. Well, rumor has it that Sony is going to give both groups what they want at E3 next month, when they show off Infamous 2 for the first time.

Andrew: This seems to be a no-brainer. Whether or not we’ll actually see gameplay or just a teaser trailer, it is clear that Infamous 2 is on its way.  100%

 


Graham: For the past few years, we’ve been talking about Nintendo needing to “throw hardcore gamers a bone” to keep them happy during the casual-fest that keeps the money flowing. With Natal and Move taking center stage this year, Microsoft and Sony will be in the same mindset. Well, this seems to be that bone. It’ll show up. (I won’t guarantee it’ll be playable.) 100%

Eric: All signs seem to point to this rumor being true, and I have little doubt it my mind that Infamous 2 will be making some sort of appearance at E3. From voice actor tweets to job listings and a domain name registration, it really feels like this one is almost a given. 95%


Shawn: At this point, I think I’d be surprised if Infamous 2 wasn’t shown at E3. Sony needs all the heavy hitting exclusives they have to be shown at E3, and Infamous certainly fits the bill. 95%

 


Red Faction 4 to be a prequel

We already know a new Red Faction game is in development, but we know nothing about it thus far. However, it is now being rumored that this new Red Faction game will actually be a prequel to the series. With the new Halo being a prequel, is THQ reaching into the same bag of tricks as Bungie? Or will this rumor prove to be false?

Andrew: I really have no idea about this one. Does anybody actually care about the story of Red Faction? From what I could tell, Guerrilla was a complete reboot for the series in terms of story and characters, so making a prequel that goes back to the first two games? It just seems a bit odd to me. I don’t really see this happening, unless it’s just a prequel to Guerrilla itself. 20%

Graham: First, I have to say that no one cares about the story of Red Faction. That out of the way, how are we defining “prequel?” If it happens earlier chronologically, is that a “prequel,” or does it have to be specifically about the story? As it is, I’m bunting, because I can’t say anything substantive about the situation. 50% 

Eric: I’m really not sure either way on this one; it’s certainly possible that the next Red Faction will be a prequel, but it could just as easily be a sequel. It’s true that THQ has been picking up some Red Faction related domain names, but I don’t think we can glean much about the next game’s story based on those alone. 50%

Shawn: While I loved Red Faction: Guerrilla, the story took a back seat to the mechanics. Having never played the previous Red Faction games, I have no idea if this was always the case. If so, then I doubt it would be a prequel. All I really know is I’m looking forward to it. 40% 

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

May 9, 2010

DS / Reviews / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth gets a lot of things right in its new take on the Ace Attorney formula. With a great cast of characters and an enjoyable story, you’d think it would represent the epitome of the series. Unfortunately, it falls short of Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations for that title due to the lack of tension and drama.

In AAI, as a prosecutor and crime scene investigator, you have the powers of Logic and Deduction at your disposal. This allows you to take seemingly disparate clues or discrepancies and unite them into a single deduction that becomes part of your evidence in finding the guilty party. This works very well in practice, except for those rare times that you have to pixel hunt for a clue or discrepancy to continue in the game.

The biggest difference between Ace Attorney Investigations and previous Ace Attorney games is that you can now walk around to explore the crime scenes. This does, for the most part, eliminate the sometimes tedious pixel hunting in crime scene investigations, along with providing for larger and more detailed crime scenes to investigate. Unfortunately, it also means less of those nice, detailed portraits of everyone you talk to that were present in previous games. They are still there during testimony and cross-examinations, but are otherwise absent from the game.

The story is great and on par with the wackiness of the previous games, with a number of returning characters that you’ve grown to love or hate already. The locations are more detailed than in previous games and the songs are high quality, but obviously remixed songs from the previous games.

Unfortunately the great story of Miles Edgeworth feels less compelling than the stories of the Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice games because of the way the game plays out. You will never find yourself on the prosecutor’s side of the courtroom. The entire game is based around questioning witnesses and investigating crime scenes. While this works great by itself, it loses some of the drama and tension that you were faced with in the Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice games. You will never feel like you are on the verge of losing the case, even when you are. At the same time, I don’t see any way to have worked such sequences into the game without destroying the flow of the rest of the game. 

Like the previous Ace Attorney games, there is very little in the way of replay value in Ace Attorney Investigations. And by very little I mean zero. There is nothing to unlock, no alternate endings, not even a secret episode to unlock. 

In the end, Ace Attorney Investigations is a great new take on the Ace Attorney formula with a witty and wacky story to enjoy. If you enjoyed the previous games, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. If you’ve never played one though, I recommend waiting on Miles Edgeworth and picking up one of the Phoenix Wright games first.

Plays Like: Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice games

Pros: Walking around is a great new mechanic; Logic and Deduction are worthwhile replacements for previous Phoenix Wright abilities

Cons: No courtroom drama; No replay value

 

Snackbar Speculator: LittleBigPlans

April 26, 2010

Features / Speculator / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

This week we’re focusing on rumors for game announcements.

Current scores:

Andrew Passafiume: +85 

Graham Russell: +5

Shawn Vermette: +100

LittleBigPlanet 2 to be announced at E3

Yes, one of the developers of LittleBigPlanet has said that they have zero interest in making a sequel to LittleBigPlanet despite its huge sales numbers. However, recently a musician posted on his website that he had been hired to do the music for LittleBigPlanet 2. That post has since been removed, but it leads us now to this question: Was the musician in error about what game he was hired for? Or did Sony pressure Media Molecule into making a sequel to their breakout game?

Andrew: It’s been practically confirmed in several news stories and by Media Molecule (or people working with MM on the sequel), and E3 seems like the most logical place to announce it. Media Molecule originally stated that, aside from the PSP version, LittleBigPlanet would be its own thing and a sequel would never be required, but it seems like they do have plenty of new ideas in store for one. 90%

Graham: I feel like backwards compatibility is key here. All this created stuff should be compatible with the sequel, or there are going to be some unhappy people. That said, this is probably happening.  There’s just some stuff you can’t do with patches and updates, and LBP fans want more. (Personally, I’m hoping for another LBP-driven conference. The first one was fun.)  90%

Shawn: I think the fact that despite having a number of high profile exclusives lately, the PS3 still lagging in sales has convinced Sony that they need to make a sequel to LittleBigPlanet. They need as many strong titles as they can get in their fight with Microsoft. 85%


Dead Space: Extraction to be ported to the Xbox 360

Dead Space: Extraction was released to critical acclaim and poor sales. Now, rumor has it that to make up for the lack of sales on the Wii, EA is looking into porting it onto the Xbox 360. This is intriguing for a couple of reasons. First, EA is already at work on Dead Space 2. Second, while Dead Space sold well on the 360, I don’t know of any rail shooters that sold well on the 360.

Andrew: This is something else that seems to be almost confirmed by many sources at EA, but it’s not been made official yet. I’ve heard that it may even be getting an Xbox Live Arcade release as opposed to a full retail release, which seems a lot more likely to me. And considering the popularity of Dead Space with the 360 crowd, it would seem like a good thing to do to hype people up closer to Dead Space 2’s release. Although I can possibly see EA not wanting to even bother with this spin-off/prequel after how badly it did on the Wii and the fact that it is not exactly a “true” Dead Space game in terms of gameplay. 80%

Graham: Here’s the new formula: release a core game on Wii. Have critical praise but low sales numbers. Then release it on 360. This seems like it’s following the formula pretty well, and gamers will try it out. Unless, of course, it doesn’t happen, in which case they won’t be able to. 70%

Shawn: EA has been all about trying to grow their business with new and different games lately. Unfortunately, few of them have been commercial successes despite everyone agreeing they are great games. Because of this I definitely believe EA will take advantage of the popularity of Dead Space and rerelease Dead Space: Extraction on the 360. 75%


New James Bond game to be shown at E3

There’s been talk for a while about Activision working on a new James Bond game, but nothing else is known about it. Will we finally see it at this year’s E3?

Andrew: I remember hearing rumors about Bizarre Creations working on a new Bond title for Activision, but that never seemed to come to fruition. But I can see either that, or a new Bond title being revealed sometime soon. It’s been a while since the last Bond game, after all.  70% 


Graham: Activision has been surreptitiously picking up domains and trademarks for various Bond things over the past few months. Will we see the game released this year? I have my doubts. It’d be hard to avoid a game trailer or something this June.  75%


Shawn: Last I heard about a James Bond game, it was being built using the Modern Warfare engine. I have no idea if that rumored game is still being worked on, but I think it’s definitely time for Activision to finally release a James Bond game. 75%

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