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Want to Play a Game? Saw Videogame to Release Next Year

Shiva Stella — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:18:08 -0600

Great news for horror fans this afternoon, as Brash Entertainment has announced that it's developing a title based on the popular Saw films and should release said gory gaming bundle of fun in 2009, alongside Saw V's film launch.

Brash has also confirmed that it's utilizing the Unreal Engine 3 technology for the title and is "working closely" with franchise creators, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as Lions Gate and Twisted Pictures. Apparently the game is being designed with the intention of filling in those annoying plot gaps that moviegoers might have noticed.

If you're up for giving the title's official site a glance, you can view it here.

GB Review: Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

Shiva Stella — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:27:20 -0600

War of the Lions: The PlayStation classic in a whole new light.

It's the same fantastic game you played in 1998 with some positive adjustments, including more mature dialogue and some lovely animated cutscenes. While a few other elements - character names, job ability names, etc - were changed for unknown reasons, the whole package comes together just as nicely as the original, though a few might have qualms with the cutscene voiceacting or missing infrastructure battles. All in all, the same Square masterpiece you've played before, only on the PlayStation Portable with a storyline that'll make more sense to newcomers than the original's.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

I might as well admit to a bias on Square Enix's updated Final Fantasy Tactics, as the original game is quite possibly my most favorite title, topping the likes of Super Mario Brothers 3, Mario Kart, Sunset Riders, Knights of the Old Republic I/II, the Elder Scrolls series, The Lion King (SNES - don't hate) and even Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Final Fantasy Tactics remains the king of all strategy RPGs, the title to which they all inevitably compare themselves as they struggle to balance pure strategy based gameplay with leveling up, magical spells, pretty graphics, and an enchanting plot - a feat that most in its genre fail to accomplish.

The same crew you know and love.

As you can imagine, when I first heard that Square was re-releasing FFT for its 20th Anniversary celebration I was both thrilled at the prospect and concerned that Square would butcher it by adjusting the gameplay mechanics, thereby making it "easier" for those accustomed to a simpleton's handheld games. This has always been a point of contention for me and hot handheld titles that tend to amount to nothing more than a whimsical collection of mini-games - such things are nice if they interest you and/or you're fresh out of entertainment options on-the-go, but for "real games" I've always preferred a console or a PC. Interestingly this is one of FFT: War of the Lions's primary criticisms: that it boasts a high learning curve and is more involving than the average handheld gamer would like. I say "interestingly" because critics appear to be lamenting the fact that War of the Lions is a real game as opposed to a 15 minute mini-game.

Those of us who enjoyed the original (or prefer to spend more than 15 minutes on a game here or there), however, will be pleased with most of what Square has done for War of the Lions, beginning with some much-needed dialogue adjustments. Gone are the childish, sometimes nonsensical comments poorly translated from the Japanese script; the dialogue is now much more mature and befitting of the game's setting. Compare three samples I took at random from both the original and PSP version:

"Take care of Ramza. He may be your half brother but he is my own flesh."
"Though he be not the issue of the womb that bore you, my sons, still my blood courses his veins. Watch after him."

"He will be killed if we don't act fast! I don't know what I would do if..."
"We must act quickly if he is to remain so. Should he be killed, I will lose everything..."

"Highness. Please let me have 100 soldiers!"
"I beg of you, Lord Beoulve! Lend me a hundred men that I might hunt the whoresons down!"

Some might complain that the dialogue loses its directness and childlike charm in the update, but Square scores points from me for taking the time to modify the script line by line, making the game's plot significantly easier to follow. This polishing was also applied to the game's tutorial/chronicle, which now sounds less like thrown-together biographies and a brief note on the zodiac role and more like elements meant to help the player follow the narrative and understand the strategic aspects of the gameplay. Gamers unfamiliar with the battle system's charge time (CT) gauge, how the zodiac compatibility feature operates, the party roster's organization, or how characters acquire abilities for use in battle will find the cleaner tutorial much simpler to understand in comparison to the original's. The game does, however, still operate on the notion that nothing quite teaches like experience, and so introduces gameplay elements by tossing the player into the fray with his party and letting him take charge of his unit step by step, but this is one of the game's perks unless you'd rather read through instructions before you're allowed to play.

A black mage can save the world.

These subtle presentation enhancements were also applied to the game's spell/ability naming scheme as well as character names and titles. The infamous Algus has been upgraded to Argath; Rad, that coward NPC from the very first battle, has been switched to Ladd (though he's just as useless); the Death Corps has been renamed the Corpse Brigade; and Ramza's home at Igros is now Eagrose. The spell naming system, which had healing spells listed as cure, cure 2, cure 3, etc., has been modified to fit into the familiar Final Fantasy realm of cures, curas, curagas, and so on. The auto-attack option is now aptly displayed as "AI" while priests have become white mages and wizards, black mages.

Fans of the original will find that most of the content in the PSP version is the same, a plus considering its predecessor's high quality. The music, one of the game's greatest features, contains the same powerful songs looped during battles and menu navigation and supported by cute ambient sounds (the drawing of swords, the cries of the dying, the blowing of wind, and so on) during cutscenes and gameplay; most of the cutscenes are still presented with in-game graphics, though "important" scenes have been updated with more visually appealing animations that combine the title's sprite character graphics with its new maturity. The cutscene voiceacting could use a bit of work - I'm still of the mind that voicework should have been eliminated altogether here as subtitles would have carried the animation along just as well, if not better - and the UMD will freeze for half a second during cutscene play (usually once or twice a scene), but it is a treat to see Square breathe fresh life into Ramza and Delita after a decade since the original.

To commemorate the title's re-release Square also added two new gameplay features for fans, these being ad-hoc battles and jobs (now labeled as "errands") available in every tavern. If you'd rather fight against a human opponent or enlist job aid from a person with a more experienced squad, you can finally do so, and Square has even modified some of the gameplay rules for these ad-hoc options. Now if your favorite black mage dies in a battle against a friend and also crystallizes after his counter reaches zero (which would normally mean that this black mage is gone forever), you can get him back after the battle. Any equipment you lose is also returned after ad-hoc carnage, while bonus gil and equipment rewards are kept. The ad-hoc feature is of tremendous value to gamers with access to multiple PSPs and at least two copies of the game, but it means zilch to the rest of us. An infrastructure (online) mode that pitted players from across the globe against each other would have made War of the Lions the RPG for the PSP (and would have kept me too busy to write another review, ever), but sadly the feature is sorely lacking.

Always the perfectionist.

The Lions War does port very well over to the PSP, though the color palette is toned down somewhat, giving the game a more realistic look, and the handheld isn't capable of producing the same quality of sound that your HDTV paired with its surround sound routinely emits, however the title still looks, sounds, and plays almost exactly the same as its predecessor. The only other quirk I noticed in the PSP version is that some spells (like protect, shell, etc) have slightly slower animations than the PlayStation original's, though this is hardly noticeable unless you (like me) have both your PSP and PlayStation 3 simultaneously running the same game.

While some fans are going to be annoyed at the new cutscenes and the lack of online (infrastructure) play, most - as well as those who missed out on a true gaming experience in the late 90's - will find that Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is not to be skipped.

Also available on: PlayStation (if you can find it)
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release: Oct 9, 2007
MSRP: $39.99
Teen | Ad-hoc play | News
Won runner up for GameBump's Best Portable Game of 2007

[GOTY] Best Portable Game of 07: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:16:00 -0600

Why It Won: Zelda games come around more frequently than Mario games and so aren't held to the same absurd scrutiny. In fact, after a lifetime of mostly-identical storylines (the princess is kidnapped, oh noes!) it wouldn't be altogether ridiculous to wonder when something new would come along for Link to do besides spend all day fishing, blowing into an ocarina, and looking for pieces of the much-elusive Tri-force. I'd all but discounted the series as an ad-tedium retread of the same concepts when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came along and I, feeling sorry for my oft-neglected DS, decided to give it a whirl.

Phantom Hourglass is refreshing on many counts. Rather than trying to transpose some pre-fab Zelda tale onto the DS and throwing in a few inane mini-games for the sake of utilizing the hardware's features (like nearly every Wii game being made still), Phantom Hourglass is built from the ground up for the DS and the dual-screen, touch-screen, and microphoney features are etched into the very fabric of the game. Though it may sound off-putting, the only way to control our cel-shaded Link is by dragging the stylus around the screen (no D-pad), the only way to skip through conversations is by tapping the screen (no face buttons), and except to activate them, every weapon and tool is exclusively controlled by the touchscreen. Need to extinguish a fire to continue through one of the countless labyrinthine temples, caves, and dungeons? Just it out? Need to send your boomerang on a serpentine course across the map to defeat baddies, break open some vases, and return their contents to you? Stay back where it's safe and draw a wiry course for the boomerang to follow. Need to remember the key to a puzzle, the best route through a maze, or the positions of hidden treasure chests? Just draw them on your map.

No element of this game feels shoe-horned in. The story is actually a bit engaging and not a repeat of the same thing we've been doing for 20 years now. There's no Ganondorf or Tri-Force or Epona or, hell, not even a Zelda. This straight-sequel to Wind Waker manages to be unique, fun, and simple at the same time. I was starting to think that there would never be a portable game that could hold my attention when I'm surrounded by high-definition consoles and crazy-huge gaming PCs, but here's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass proving me wrong.

Why You May Disagree: The most common complaint I read from naysayers is that the lack of D-pad controls is a "slap in the face" to longtime Zelda fans. Others find the constant ocean-faring tedious. Others are afraid that playing a game with a cel-shaded protagonist will damage the delicate fabric holding their heterosexuality intact.

But We Say: Is the reason you liked previous Zelda games because of the immersive story and addictive gameplay, or because you move the character around by sliding your thumb around a plastic cross? The touchscreen control might look awkward at first, but it feels perfectly comfortable. Also, since every tool and weapon is controlled via the touchscreen it would become too confusing to constantly switch back and forth from the D-pad to the stylus. if you want to control a character with a D-pad, try playing any other video game ever made. The sea-travel can seem a bit monotonous, but there's usually something to do on the way, and there are ways around it.

Runner Up:

Contra 4: This was the first game in a long time to "feel" like a Contra game. The fast-paced shooter is one of the best portables released this year and deserves recognition, but the joy it takes in its difficulty makes it a game not for everyone, and besides taking advantage of both screens the only real reason for this game to be on the DS is because it would look ridiculous on any other platform. What the game needs is a boomerang you control by drawing its path with the stylus.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions: The PSP release of the nine-year-old PlayStation classic, FFT: War of the Lions is possibly the best RPG available on Sony's handheld and is an absolute requisite purchase if you owned and loved the original. However, this fresh version does feature some subtle changes that tend to annoy fans, including slower spell animations, adjusted dialogue (though we find this a plus), and the lack of online multiplayer. Considering the huge potential for online battles as opposed to just ad hoc (which requires two PSPs and two copies of the game), this is a significant drawback.

Square Enix Announces Four Titles for NA Market

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Mon, 14 May 2007 12:42:00 -0500

Square Enix has announced the development of and tentative release dates for four of its impending titles as well as game details and system specifics.

For the Nintendo DS, Square is planning to launch Dragon Quest Monsters - Joker, an "addictive handheld monster collection RPG" that enables players to "capture, train, and breed a powerful army from more than 200 classic Dragon Quest creatures in order to become the world's greatest monster trainer." Sound familiar? The game is set to release in Q4 2007 (all dates given are for North America and, of course, subject to change at a moment's whim).

Square is developing another Dragon Quest title for the Nintendo Wii, entitled Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. The game is being billed as suitable for both the hardcore and casual gaming audiences and makes extensive use of the Wii remote, enabling players to "slash, parry, and slice their way through a land filled with trademark Dragon Quest foes." The release date is currently TBA.

Square is also planning to release Ivalice Alliance Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, a portable update of the original 1997 PlayStation classic (Final Fantasy Tactics), for the PlayStation Portable. The game features new CG cutscenes, new jobs, a 16:9 widescreen presentation, multiplayer, and "new storyline elements" that all "refine the genesis of the Ivalice Alliance." The game will launch simultaneously in both the European and North American regions this October and is already being enjoyed by gamers in Japan.

And finally, the company is also intending to launch Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, which continues the story of Final Fantasy XI, exclusively for the Nintendo DS. The game is a "sophisticated experience that commands full use of the Nintendo DS," featuring touch screen functionality via the stylus. The game is expected to release this winter. Originally written by Shiva Stella