Infinite Undiscovery.

Infinite Undiscovery is a odd one. This is a game said to contain 10 years worth of RPG concepts that could only be realized with the power of the Xbox 360. It's from Tri Ace a dev known for great games in the past however it just fell so so short of what it should have been and the reasons for this are many. 

We will start this review a bit different. Normally I would tell you about the good a game has to offer and then save the negatives for last however we are gonna reverse that this time around as there is a bit more to talk about on the negative side. Now don't get me wrong this doesn't mean that Infinite Undiscovery is a bad game and if you don't believe me please read to the end of this review.

Infinite Undiscovery is a game that needed alot more polish then it ended up getting in the end. That could really be the main problem with the game. The graphics show moments of being great particularly at the end of the game in the final area. However the vast majority of the time they are simply serviceable. Also the character models are hit and miss. Capell the lead of the game looks great as does Aya the Female lead. The rest are a bit hit and miss. Rico and Rucha look great however Eugene and Michelle look odd for some reason. Speaking of odd Infinite Undiscovery has some of the worst Lip syncing ever this generation. Now some of you out there will say that's because the game was originally Japanese and the mouths match that language. Not so. The Lip sync is so bad there is no way it was better even with the Japanese. In fact the movement of the mouths in general looks a bit like that of a dummy at certain points. This may have been less noticeable if you could play the game in Japanese but it would still be a problem. Oh and yes you read that correctly, you can not switch to the original Japanese voice track. Normally that wouldn't be that bad however the Voice acting in Infinite Undiscovery is horrible. There are some characters that sound OK but the vast majority are horrid. The cast does get better as the game goes on but it still isn't all that great. It's a good thing that the main 2 characters Capell and Aya have decent voice actors because they have alot of the better moments in the game.

One of the other sticking points for me was that the areas in the game were sometimes far to big. Now generally I would not complain about something like this however Infinite Undiscovery has one of the worst mapping systems ever. The maps only show exactly where you have been which is very annoying when the areas are so big and expansive. The game really needed prefilled maps. Some of the areas are so large that you can get lost for almost a hour without knowing where you are going. 

Whew that was a mouth full. Now with that out of the way we can get on to the good stuff. Infinite Undiscovery has a great combat system. It's somewhat like a MMO however it's all real time. You have a weak attack(A) and a strong attack(B) you can also hold down these buttons to use special moves as well.The game does a great job of giving you plenty of members to experiment with and gives inactive members experience as well so you are really encouraged to mess with your setup. There are also a great number of moves and spells to learn so combat never really feels all that boring. Leveling also comes fast so you will not spend much time grinding. You can generally get by just fighting what you come across and not have a problem with the game.

Now in my last review I mentioned that Motoi Sakuraba's Tales of Vesperia failed to deliver a soundtrack that could live up to his previous track record with games like Trusty Bell and Valkyrie Profile 2 however I am glad to report that his work in Infinite Undiscovery is a very good return to form. There are plenty of top notch songs worth listening to over and over and they relay what is happening on screen very well.

There is also a fairly deep creation system in the game in which you can make food, Armor,Weapons as well as enchanting Armor and Weapons in a similar fashion. There are plenty of items to make and the system is very simple and works very well. I found it very fun to mess around and make things as the game went on.

Infinite Undiscovery also has a great story line. Which I believe is worth experiencing despite all the problems I mentioned. The moon has been chained to the earth to allow people to gain it's power via what is known as Lunaglyphs however the chains are also causing horrible disasters all over the world. However there is one man who is fighting to free the moon from it's chains. This man named Sigmund is known world wide as The Liberator. However you do not take on the role of Sigmund. You play as a young man by the name of Capell who at the start of the game has been thrown in jail because he looks exactly like Sigmund. As the game begins the young woman known as Aya frees Capell under the assumption that he is indeed Sigmund. One thing leads to another and Capell is thrust into something he neither wanted nor asked for. The story is very well done and does not rely on cliches all that much. In fact during the last 5 or so hours of the game I had forgotten all the issues I have mentioned thus far. I was completely Engrossed by what was happening and could not put the game down until I saw the credits role. 

All in all Infinite Undiscovery is a game certainly worth giving a shot. You will find out pretty quickly if you will want to stick with the game to the end. Some will stay simply for the combat and some like me will be able to look past all the issues to see that great story that lies within. There is no denying that the game has issues and needed to remain in development for a while longer however most of those issues are superficial and do not prevent the game from being played. 

The Tales Of Brave Vesperia.

Tales of Vesperia is the latest in the long running Tales series and it had alot to live up to being the first next-gen entry in the series and boy did it live up to it all. It's great to see a classic style J-RPG come around as we don't get many of them very often anymore. 

First off lets talk about the graphics in Vesperia. Vesperia uses a Cel Shaded style popular among anime themed games and for good reason as it's the closet thing to anime you can get without using full blown anime cut scenes 24/7. However don't expect to be blown away by Tales look. The game looks great but isn't even comparable to something like Trusty Bell (Eternal Sonata for those in the US). On the other hand the anime cut scenes will blow you away. The character design and anime cut scenes were handled by Production I.G. and any anime fan worth their merit will know that Production I.G. does incredible stuff. Many of these cut scenes are down right stunning in their beauty, It's a shame there aren't more of them here.

The combat is extremely fun. Think the Devil May Cry of RPG's only slower in pace. Everything is in real time and you will form combo's guard and use special moves and Magic to survive encounters. The great thing about the combat is that it is constantly evolving over the course of the game. Be it from new mechanics being added or the hundreds upon hundreds of moves you can learn the combat always feels fresh and fun to play.

The story is a bit off putting in that at first glace it seems to be nothing special. It simply starts with the main character Yuri Lowell investigating the theft of a Aqua blastia core from the Lower Quarter of Zapias. He soon gets arrested and breaks out of the Dungeon where he meets up with a young lady who joins him on his journey to find the stolen blastia. Now the story takes the first 6-7 hrs of game play to get you introduced to the various characters from the game but the story quickly becomes far more mature and deep then it first lets on. There are plenty of plot twists some of which come out of no where and you will never seen coming. It is certainly a story worth experiencing granted it takes a little to really take off. 

Now as for sound the game has a decent soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba but it's not close to the level of his other work in games like Trusty Bell and Valkryie Profile 2 Silmeria. The voice acting on the other hand is a grand slam. We are talking about a All star anime voice cast here with the likes of Liam O Brian, Sam Regal, Michelle Ruff and Wendee Lee just to name a few. There are no bad voice with the exception of one and that's done of purpose as he is a annoying character so they helped get that across  via his voice. Combat is constantly full of chatter be it story related chatter or simply spells being chanted and moves being called out. One of the great things I noticed from the game was the amount of victory dialog there was. There is at least 50 different things that the characters will say after a battle depending on who is in the party who killed the last monster who performed the best and so on and they are all very funny. The game also has this innovative feature they call Skits. Skits are little dialog sequences that can be activated when the game tells you to press the Back Button. These Skits are basically the characters talking to each other about various things and it really helps you learn about them and also gives a deeper understanding of whats going on in the storyline. A simple but very effective method of getting to know the characters. There are 100's of these skits and I don't even think I was able to see them all.

So as you can see the game really is a great entry in the series. There is little to bog down the experience. You vary rarely need to grind because of the nature of the combat system you can win battles even if you are very under leveled in fact one of the games achievements is about that fact. If you are a J-RPG fan or ever just a causal RPG fan there is no reason for Tales of Vesperia not to be in your collection. 

Will Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII outsell PS3?

So recently I have been seeing alot of debates and alot of articles talking about how it's a very real possibility that the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII will outsell the PS3 version. Now I am not here today to have yet another discussion about why it will outsell the PS3 but I am here to tell you why it wont.

Personally I think it's gonna sell better on PS3 because First and foremost PS3 is the only place to get the full Final Fantasy XIII experience by which I mean VS XIII is still exclusive and Nomura-san said it would stay so. You may not consider that a very valid reason but trust me for Final Fantasy and RPG fans in general it is a very big deal. Second is the PS3 version is going to be better quality.Be it better graphics, faster load times, better sound or simply the fact that it will be on a single Blu-ray disc the PS3 version is going to have something on the xbox version. Personally I think the Xbox version may suffer from slowdown. Any of those who have played Ninja Gaiden II know that there are many points in the game in which the game has a bit a slow down and one point in the game with MASSIVE slowdown. Lets be honest with ourselves Ninja Gaiden isn't even close to being in the same ball park graphically as FFXIII is. With that being the case it is reasonable to assume that the Xbox 360 version of the game is going to have some sort of technical flaw.

The way SE has been talking about the 360 version it seems as if they haven't even tested it yet. Meaning they don't know how well it will work. We have heard them many times say that the 360 port is not underway and it will not begin until after the PS3 version is complete. That being the case I wouldn't be shocked if they bit off more then they can chew and just aren't aware of it yet. Although this is SE we are talking about so they must have thought it through to some degree.

Also you must consider that alot of the Final Fantasy diehards like myself bought a PS3 long before they announced the Xbox version and they are not going to sell off their PS3's or anything. At least the majority won't as I have heard of people that say they will be boycotting the game because they feel betrayed by Square. Let me say this now Square did not betray anyone. They have always done what is best for the company. Back in the days of the PS1 and N64 they knew that the N64 would not be able to deliver on their vision for FFVII and because of this they changed over from Nintendo to Sony. Just think Final Fantasy simply would not be what it is today had it stayed on the Nintendo consoles. This generation is notorious for insanely high production costs in some cases exceeding those in Hollywood. Developers need to find ways to help recoup these losses and that is exactly what Square did. Sony was not betrayed in fact I would say they have it pretty good as far as Square goes. Square recently announced PSP versions of both Parasite Eve The 3rd Birthday and Final Fantasy Agito XIII not to mention the already in development Dissidia and Kingdom Heats Birth By Sleep as well as Final Fantasy VS XIII. Sony has plenty of Square exclusives so it is clear the relationship between the two companies is well and good.

So fear not it is a strong possibility that Final Fantasy XIII will sell better on PS3 and not only that but it just may be a better game on PS3.

A Tale of Souls Eternally Retold.

Soul Calibur 4 is finally upon us. It's a exciting thing considering we don't get much quality fighters anymore. Soul Calibur 4 is probably one of the best fighters this generation and easily the best in the series. However that doesn't mean its perfect in fact it is far from such.

First off the game is gorgeous easily one of the best looking fighters out there. Environments are indeed destructible however you may not really notice as you wont see it all that often. Armor and equipment can be destroyed this time around which is nice. Some Environments are beautiful and really show off what the engine can do however the vast majority of the areas are dark dank cave or castle like areas that don't really show off much. The fighting animation is also top notch.

Now when it comes to balance well.... Soul Calibur has never been a series to concerned with balance. Yoda on the Xbox 360 version of the game proves this. Yoda is straight up broken. Far to many attacks miss him because of his height and he seems to be immune to throws. Vader is better balanced however if someone can learn how to use his force powers well enough he too is broken. Many of the characters have a few attacks that can be spammed over and over to win with very few chances to stop the chain and mount a counter attack. However the AI in the game doesn't do this and you will only have to worry about friends and people online doing this.

Which brings me to the online mode. Soul Calibur online is a very mixed bag. Often there are mass amounts of lag that will screw with your timing preventing you from playing properly. When the lag isn't there you will most likely be facing off against one of the aforementioned spammers which will quickly become annoying. However when these problems don't appear playing online is incredibly fun. It's great fun to show off characters you have made against others online and it's always entertaining to see what others have made and their reactions to your creations. Which brings me to the best thing about Soul Calibur 4.

Create a Soul mode. This is a mode that allows you to create a character which considering how many characters are already in the game is impressive. You start off with a decent amount of gear and will gain more by unlocking Honors(PS3) or Achievements(360) or by earning the gear piece by piece in the tower of souls. The sad thing is that the Create a soul mode could be alot deeper and I'm sure it will be as more and more DLC becomes available but it's sad it wasn't there from the very start. Also something to note that I found a little odd is that Male characters are far more customizable then female characters. Male characters have more gear to choose from as well as more faces which I found a bit odd. That being said Create a soul mode is still the best thing Soul Calibur 4 has going for it.

I'll Also give a quick mention of the guest characters. You all already know about Vader and Yoda. However there are a few characters designed by famous manga artists in the game as well. They look great and each of them has a good back story. What is sad though is that they are all just pallet swaps of other characters already in the game for example Shura = Cervantes. It's sad because when Namco made their own character they made a new fighting style I'm of course speaking of Hilde who is the only new character that has her own new style of fighting. It's disappointing yet they are still welcome additions to the game.

So all in all Soul Calibur 4 is either a love it or hate it affair. I would suggest giving the game a rent to see how you like it and if you do buy all means buy it. I'm sure the game will receive plenty of DLC in the future. The question of if that content will be worth paying for is debatable.

E3 Thoughts.

Well E3 has come and gone and while there were some great announcements I would argue that most gamers will feel that it wasn't the best of shows this year.

Nintendo's presser was to me a big slap in the face of the core gamers. Nothing they showed proved that they cared about the core gamer. Sure they briefly let out that the teams behind Zelda and Mario are working on new projects but they never told us what they were or when to expect them. A new Animal Crossing game was announced but that's more of a casual game then a Core gamers game. Everything else was casual fair such as Wii Sports Resort and Wii music. Wii Sports Resort is the title that will be used to show of the new Wii Motion Plus attachment that tracks the Wii motes movement far more accurately supposedly a 1:1 ratio. The Nintendo conference was definitely the bore of the Big 3 conferences.

Next we have Sony. Sony's conference was pretty good in that they showed the games and they kept the numbers game to a minimum. However considering they used a very creative Little Big Planet level to show the numbers in a very fun way that showed off what Little Big Planet can really do I guess we could have done with more numbers in this case. It was a great way of getting more people to realize how great Little Big Planet will be once it finally ships. They showed a incredible demo of Resistance 2 that showcased a battle with the MASSIVE levitation. The demo was certainly impressive as the monster is immense. The player was picked up a few times and needed to fire a rocket into the monsters mouth before being thrown down. While the demo was brief it did show that Resistance 2 is certainly stepping up the intensity the second time around. Also of interest was a new game called M.A.G or Massive Action Game. This shooter is said to allow up to 256 players into a single game. They showed a CG trailer show casing the concept of the game but it really will be hard to tell just exactly the game will function with that many players until we see more. They showed a concept of squads of players but that doesn't help explain enough. Oh and lets not forget the God of War III teaser trailer. Yes the game is now official however the teaser trailer was very short and little was revealed about the plot. However there is already rumors spreading that the game is close in terms of graphics to the CG teaser that was shown off.

Now Last but certainly not least we have Microsoft. Plenty of rumors were proven to be true for Microsoft as they announced a complete overhaul of the Xbox Dashboard that will implement Avatars. Avatars seem to be alot like Mii's except far more customizable if the video shown was anything to go by. Also announced was Lips. A very Singstar esque game however the video shown shows being able to use a Zune or a Ipod to import music into the game possibly allowing you to use your own music in the game. However it is still somewhat unclear exactly how that will work. In addition to many proven rumors Microsoft also showed off what we want, The games. We were shown Demo's of Resident Evil 5 which showed for the first time that the game will be Co-op playable. Also shown was a very impressive Gears of War 2 demo. The demo showcased just how far the game has come since the first. There is always alot more going on on screen as well as the fact that the areas seem to be far more expansive then the first. The biggest moment came when Microsoft dropped the biggest Bombshell of the show and that is that Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to Xbox 360 in America. I say America at the end of that because it will only be coming to Xbox 360 in the US and Europe it will stay a PS3 exclusive in Japan. This news was certainly a shock to everyone in attendance. It was a shock to me that news this big didn't leak before the show.

Other games at the Show that impressed me were Mirror's Edge. This First Person Action game is very different then a FPS so you shouldn't call it one. You play a runner named Faith who is out to get revenge on the government for framing her sister for a murder she didn't commit. What is so great about this game is how the immersion really makes you feel for Faith. When Faith runs you she her arms pumping when you roll you see your torso it's as if you are seeing things through Faith's eyes and not just drone as in most First Person games. Think Breakdown except far more fluid and polished. Combat is not the focus of Mirror's Edge in fact it will be the running and platforming that is. There will even be a achievement for getting through the entire game without killing a single person.

Another impressive game was inFAMOUS. This game is by the guys at Sucker Punch which you may remember from the Sly Cooper series. Infamous is a open world game in which you play a guy who gains powers that you must choose to use for good or bad. The short demo shown was quite impressive. However alot more needs to be seen to show off the true potential of this game.

While there are certainly alot more games to talk about these are just the great ones that caught my eye. Also keep an eye out for. Little Big Planet, Mercenaries 2, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Halo Wars and the many more incredible games that will be coming soon. This will certainly be a very full holiday season.

But wait. Didn't I say that I didn't feel this show was really all that great? Why yes I did. My reasoning behind this is that in the past E3 always had many HUGE bombshell announcements and new game reveals. While we certainly had alot of incredible games at this years show we really didn't see that much new announced. We basically just got more info on the games we already knew about. While that is great there is just something fun about being shown newer, bigger and better games. I read a interesting interview where a dev said that the mid July timing of the new E3 may be to blame as most of the devs are simply trying to get their games ready for the Holiday Season and they really can't focus on revealing the next big game they have on the way. I tend to agree with this thinking. What we need to see is E3 moved back to the old May timing and maybe things will start to get better but its really hard to say at this point if that will ever really happen.

Expect alot more news in the coming months as we will be hearing from Square Enix at their own private party where they have revealed some major announcement about Final Fantasy VII will be unveiled. We also have Leipzig to look forward to as well as PAX and TGS.