User Reviews

All Reviews by AngelofChaos

Final Fantasy X - PS2

One of the best games of our gaming generation.

FFX is definately one of the best installments in the Final Fantasy series as well as RPG games in general. You control a young man named Tidus, but that is just the default name. You can name your hero anything you want as you progress through an unforgettable journey. The opening movie sequences will make your jaw drop, as well as all the movie sequences in the game. From the very beginning you are thrust 1000 years into the future, dazed and confused as to what is going on around you. But as you progress further into this new world, you'll soon realize that there is much going on than what meets the eye. As time passes by, you gain new allies and uncover new secrets. The plot twists are frequent, and shocking. The graphics are top-notch, although the "twitching" of the characters in the scenes is a bit of a turn-off if you look closely. All of the characters are full of life and unique in their own fighting styles.. Each has their own backstory, and finding them out is an incredibly enjoyable experience. As always, Nobue pulls it off again with the music in this Final Fantasy game. The soundtrack is every positive word you can imagine. Majestic, unforgettable, and very emotional. FFX is also the first in the series to incorporate voice-acting. For a first attempt, the work done is incredible. Each of the voices are unique and well done. Sometimes they're almost too well done, that it gets on peoples nerves *coughWAKKAcough*. The gameplay is fairly similar to its predecessors, but with some key differences. For one, the exploration is very linear and confined, unlike previous FF games. The battle system is also significantly different as well. It is now turn-based, making it a bit slower as well as easier. However, this new change is very welcome, and a nice twist to the series. Special moves called overdrives occur whenever one of you characters manages to fill their gauge. Each overdrive attack is powerful, and requires certain button presses and timing to initiate maximum power. They are a lot of fun to use as well as watch. Summon sequences are different as well. Now whenever you summon a creature, they stay on the battlefield and act as solo fighters. They're great for boss battles because they can dish out a ton of damage, but the aren't good at taking it in return, which is bad for regular encounters. The level up system is also very different from previous FF games. Leveling up requires the use of the Sphere Grid. As you character gains experience, he or she gain the ability to move across the grid and activate a node. By activating nodes your character gains in various stats, as well as special abilities and magic. It seems complicated at first, but after you play around with it for a while, it's a breeze to use. This allows you to see your character development very closely. As always there are a ton of side quests to accomplish, as well as minigames. One of the more intriguing minigames is blitzball, which can be a lot of fun if given patience. Of course, all of the usual Final Fantasy elements are here: Cactuars, moogles, chocobos, a guy named Cid, etc. As you progess through the game, the story unfolds at a constantly accelerated pace, and you'll be amazed as to what events will occur. FFX is an unforgettable journey that will be forever engraved in your memory. FFX delivers on all fronts, and even exceeds expectations. First time RPG goers should definately check this out. If you haven't played this game, you don't know what you're missing.

Robotech: Battlecry - PS2

OMG itz tym3 2 s@v0rz t3h w0r1d frum aleinz!!!11 (again)

Fans of the anime Robotech should check this title out, but don't expect a spectacular game. Gamers unfamiliar with the Robotech universe will find Robotech: Battlecry to be a decent action title that is good for a rental. You are Jack (The giant killer! :P), ace pilot of a robotech battlesuit that is able to transform into three different forms. Batteloid mode(Robot seen on the cover), a fighter mode(jet-fighter), and a guardian mode (basically the offspring of a robot and a jet-fighter if they were to get freaky). You can transform into any of these modes with the press of a button, which gives you a feeling that you are controlling a transformer. There are a variety of Robotech suits that become availible as you progress further into the game. The basically all look the same from the over the shoulder view, but they have differences in stats. Each of these modes have their own unique purpose in battle, and you will often find yourself transforming often (especially on the harder difficulties) just to stay alive. Battleloids are good in urban environments, fighters are good in air and space, and Guardians are good for all areas (but they're difficult to control). Missions are basically the same every time. There are basically three missions types, which are sometimes blended together. They're basically "destroy everything in sight" missions, as well as escort/protect missions, and sometimes transport missions which you will carry out by yourself. You can either fly by jet, or fight by robot/guardian and wreak havoc. It's your choice. The graphics in R:B are really solid, especially for an early PS2 game. The only gripe about it for me was the character animations walking around the city. The music isn't very memorable, except for the Robotech theme. The voice-acting is very solid, but not exceeding in expectations. The original cast returns as well, so all you Robotech fans can rejoice. The controls are definately one of the most difficult factors in the game. Moving around in your batteloid/guardian can be a real hassle at times. Sometimes I've found myself switching modes while in sniping mode, and sometimes vice-versa. After a while though, it isn't too hard to catch on if you're careful. As you progress further into the game, you will gain interviews from the cast of Robotech, which is a nice Bonus. Overall R:B, is a decent action title, but not great. If you like transforming robots and shoot-everything-you see gameplay, then check this one out.

Star Ocean: Till The End of Time - PS2

Reach for the stars, and the nearest save point.

Another entry in the Star Ocean series has finally arrived, and luckily, it is a long and worthwhile journey that will keep you entertained for well over 100 hours. If you like Japanese RPGs and Star Trek, you will love this game. You are Fayt Leingod, whisked away into space after being attack by aliens while on vacation. It turns out that they are after you, and are willing to do anything to have you in their custody. It's up to you to flee the aliens and meet up with your father, and child-hood friend. Along the way you will encounter friends from other worlds, as well as interact with people on different planets. The graphics are solid, but the character models tend to lack emotion. The cinamatic cutscenes are incredible though. The music is very lively and upbeat. The tunes sound as though jazz, techno, and rock are moulded into one, and it's highly catchy too. The voice acting is excellent, but there are occasional bad voices that don't fit, and there are often pitiful yells and screams from characters *coughFAYTcough*. The battle system is done in real time. You run around and smack enemies with a variety of moves. However, your range of moves are limited in battle, and you'll probably only stick to a few. The magic system is horrible. If you want to cast a spell, you'll need go into the menu in mid battle and select the spell. It would be much more convienent if you had hot-keys are something. The battle system can be very clunky at times. Sometimes you'll pull off a special move as your enemy gets up, and you don't even damage him even though your attacks appear to connect. A character will be knocked out if you lose either all your HP OR MP. Personally, I think it is incredibly stupid to die of lack of MP, but it does offer a good deal of a challenge. The battle system can feel clunky and unbalanced at times too, and your characters tend to go berserk no matter what tactics you assign to them. Nevertheless, it's still a refreshing change to turn-based battles. There are also a huge variety of sidequests and treasures to collect. The inventing system allows you to compete all over the universe with your inventions. By participating in it, you can gain a great deal of money, as well as some notoriety. Dungeon crawling is a major aspect of this game, as well as survival. You see enemies on maps and battle them by touching. If they run into you form the side or from behind, you will get ambushed, or rear-attack. However, if you blind-side an enemy, you get no advantage. Battles have a Bonusese in them as well. By finishing the enemy quickly, or taking little damage, you can gain double or triple experience or money. The dungeons are incredibly long, and offer few save and healing points. Unless you reach that save point, you will probably die very quickly later on in the game. Even if you overlevel and buy super-powerful weapons, the enemies are still very strong, and give you one hell of a fight. Sometimes it seems no matter how much you power up, it doesn't help much at all. In short, SO:TtEoT is an incredibly addicting, long, and enjoyable adventure that will take you away from the world and thrust you into the universe.

kill.switch - PS2

Take Aim. Take Cover. Or die.

Killswitch is a game that may make you believe that it is you stereotypical run and gun game. Well it isn't, and neither is the story. The story itself is very enticing, and something that you may not have expected from a game like this. You are in control of a soldier named Bishop who is not as he seems. Judging from what occurs at the beginning of the game, he is not in control of his own actions. Rather, he is being controlled by someone else. The reason for this is slowly unfolded as the game progresses, and it does a damn good job of keeping you strapped in to figure out what the hell is going on. The graphics are very good. There are rain effects, and dust blowing everywhere in some levels. The character models aren't too shabby either. The tunes and the voice actor are very well done. The gameplay itself is very simplistic: Take Aim, Take Cover, Take Over. If you try to run and gun, you'll get mowed down faster than you can read this sentence. You must heavily rely on cover, which is thankfully aplently, and blindfire as well as pop and shoot tactics. If you try to shoot without popping out, you'll perform blindfire, which is very inaccurate, but a good scare tactic nonetheless. You can progress through the game easily without having to resort to this, and instead just pop out and shoot. The control scheme makes this very easy to do, thankfully. The enemies are very intelligent, though somewhat weaker than they should be. They'll hide behind cover, always; they're not stupid. You'll have to patiently wait for each and every one of them to pop out one by one, and then knock them out with a bullet or two. While they are quite smart, they're pretty damn weak. If you give them two shots in the arm, they'll die. However, their duck and cover tactics make up for this. The gameplay itself gets really repetitive after a while. After the game is finished, you may not want to play it again. Kill.Switch is a definate, solid rental, but not quite a good buy. Great for killing a weekend though. The duck and cover type of play should be refreshing to many fans of third person shooters.

Kingdom Hearts II - PS2

It totally owns you lamers.

After a long three and a half year wait, the sequel to one of Square's most popular new franchises has finally arrived in North America, but was it worth the wait? Hells yes. The story takes place after the events in the GBA game, Chain of Memories, after Sora is placed into a deep-sleep. The beginning FMV does a decent job of reflecting on what happened in CoM, for those who didn't have a GBA in order to play it. You start the game off with a mysterious character named "Roxas", who is on summer vacation in Twilight Town. The beginning of the game is very beginner friendly, so just about anyone can get the hang of it. Throughout Roxas' adventure, flashbacks of the previous game occur, so even newcomers to the series will understand a little bit about what happened in the first game. The beginning is a little slow, but it picks up after a few hours. Guaranteed. The graphics and characters look much like they did in the first game, with little improvement. Where the graphics truly shine though, is in Port Royal. The character models look incredible for something that was pumped out of the PS2. The Final Fantasy VII characters are in their Advent Children clothing, getting you into the mood to watch the movie (unless you already have that is). The soundtrack and voiceovers are top-notch. The actors who played Sora, Kairi, and Riku in the previous game return. Sora's voice has changed a lot, but fits because he is growing up. The Final Fantasy characters also sound great, with the exception of Aerith, whose voice makes me cringe each time I hear it. The music in each level captures the spirit of the movie perfectly. Some of the reenactments don't quite capture the original spirit of the movies though. In particular, the Lion King one isn't quite as intense as it was in the movie. Nonetheless, it does a damn good job. As usually, Nobue is a friggin' genious. The controls for the game have been vastly improved. The camera is much move movable and free that in was in the previous game. Instead of a low view, the camera is much further so you'll have an easier time avoiding ambushes from enemies. You can perform various combos and techniques with the square and triangle buttons as well. By pressing square at certain points in combos, you can extend the combo and dish out even more damage. Like in God of War, there are moments when you'll have to press triangle very precisly in order to pull of special techniques. Both of these things add a lot of flavor to the gameplay instead of the old mash-X-all-the-time routine. Sora can also go perfom drives, in which he merges with another character in order to gain special powers. For example, in Valor form, Sora merges with Goofy, and so, he can wield two keyblades to give enemies the beat-down even harder. Special combos and finishing moves can be used in these forms. They can make the gameplay much easier, or harder, if you become Anti-Sora. You'll find out when you play it. In Kingdom Hearts 2, a mysterious band of characters, called Organization XIII is out for Sora and his powers. Very little is known about them at first, but you'll gradually learn about them as the game goes on. The accursed Gummi-Ship has been returned, but is much faster and intense than it was in the previous game. Instead of a slow, boring, standard rail-shooter, the game throws enemies in at all angles and keeps you on your toes. There is also a mission structure for those of you who like the Gummi Ship system. It's a great improvement over the first Gummi Ship system. Kingdom Hearts 2 is a great improvement over it's first game, and is sure to please all KH fans. And of course, it totally owns you lamers, so play it now.