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My favorite game will be my first review :3




Tales of the Abyss
Playstation 2
October 2006
RPG

Multiplayer?
Yes

Co-op
Local 2-4 players


I first played Tales of the abyss 2007, one year after it's release. I wasn't really into RPGs at the time but this game is pretty good.



Story:
So the story is really like an average RPG story-line. Boy loses memory [Pretty original huh?] and embarks on a journey. Simple as that but what makes the story great is that its fresh even for a typical RPG story-line. Its about this douche prince a*****e boy named Luke Fon Fabre. He lost his memory of his childhood and is now living a sheltered life due to his kidnapping as a kid thus losing his memory in the process. He now reaches his teenage years. His only way of keeping himself from dying out of bordom is to well, train with his master and mess around with Guy [ the family servant] He then, midway in training encountered a mysterious lady who tried to kill his master. In attempt to protect him, he blocks her attack but caused a hyperressanace [two powerful energy colliding] and sends both of them flying out of the manor and the nation into enemy territory. So the story goes on, and it's the highest out of the other sections because it is always refreshing itself to more stories.



Point is: Great and fresh story line, explains each characters stories and the characters are likable enough to be attached to them. 9.5


Graphics:
For a PS2 game, you really can't complain. This is the first of the Tales of series games that the characters are in full 3-D body, not half sized like symphonia. They're two types of graphics, the Anime cut-scene graphics and the in-game graphics. The in game graphics are amazing, they have expressions and a 3-D body. The character designs look cool and original and instead of CGI graphics, they use full on anime cut-scenes which is pretty cool but doesn't happen often, only when it highly affects the story, but all in all, its pretty great. Nice to look at and the enemies look great too with your magic attacks making it look really colorful in the battlefield. The models move as it they are robots though. instead of turning their bodies, the whole body slowly moves to that direction. I hope I said it right >_> Also they have this box chat thing they use to talk in between games, sometimes after an event happened, hints or maybe even for fun :3 it's cute and the expressions are great but no voice over so you might be tempted to skip it u_u
Example of the in game talks
l
l
l
V




Point is: Great 3-D anime model, awesome anime cut-scenes,but annoying character movements. 9.0

Gameplay:
The beginning is the slowest intro in the history of gaming. It starts off really boring but after 30 minutes or so it kicks in so give it a chance before returning it to the game store xD.
Although the story is your typical RPG type, the gameplay isn't the obvious turn-base battle system. Instead it is a Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System (FR-LMBS) and is in real-time. You see all of your enemies on the screen so there is no random encounters. You touch them and they come at you in a group or alone. You can freely move around while pressing down the R2 button and repeatedly hitting X. It's not really a repetitive battle although sometimes it feels that way, the artes that you use make it more refreshing everytime. When gaining certain levels, a character gains new abilities and they learn from it. You combine two artes to make one that combines both. You have 6 characters to use and only allowed 4 to battle. You also have these super artes attack called mystic artes, which is their special. Each of your character has 1 but played a 2nd time and do the conditions right and you can get a new set of mystic artes. You aren't the only one able to use mystic artes though, these awesome specials could also be used against you, such as bosses and side mission enemies. The game features many skills and spells to unleash upon enemies. Characters can learn "AD Skills," which can be equipped and unequipped at will, to help them in battles. The game features a large number of these skills, acquired through the use of "Capacity Cores" — items that give stat bonuses when a character levels up. Once a certain statistic has a large enough bonus, the AD skill is learned automatically. A new addition to the system is the "Field of Fonons" (often abbreviated as FOF). Whenever a character uses a spell or battle technique that features an elemental alignment, a circle will appear on the ground, corresponding to that element. After being reinforced with more techniques of the same element, the circle will light up in that element's color to signify that an FOF change is available. Finally, if a character stands in the circle and performs a specific skill that corresponds with the FOF circle, the skill will that corresponds with the FOF circle, the skill will be upgraded into a more powerful version. Although all of this information is in this game, the manual and in game instructions don't give enough information on how things work and must be looked up online. Also, Co-op mode yes! local co-op , play with a sibling or friend locally, no online.



Point is:
Fun refreshing battle system, unique gameplay, local co-op, only problem is the manual and in game instructions don't usually tell you everything and have to look it up online. 9.8

Enjoyment:
Oh god, Did I not enjoy this game? This game is badass, has your sad moments, your Funny moments. What do I have to say, its great, its as if they made it especially for me [my opinion] and you could finish it in little over 40 hours. Plus they have tons of side missions and they actually force you to go have a 2nd playthrough, that way you'll get in more depth in the story. I recommend this a must buy for JRPG lovers or a rent if your not into RPGs.



Point is: Tons of things to do, enjoyed the story and battles, what more does an RPG fan want? Highly recommend it. You won't be disappointed. 10.0

Story: 9.5
Graphics: 9.0
Gameplay: 9.8
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 9.6 Buy & Rent

...

Or should I say my Top 3. mrgreen

Pokemon Blue Version
Gameboy Color - DS Lite
1999
RPG

Multiplayer?
Connectivity with other devices




Ahh we're going old school kiddies! Pokemon bursted out of the 1990's out of no where and took America by storm, consuming every living boy into its abyss of randomly disfigured creatures thus creating a massive empire of pokemon. And who doesn't want to get the game that was released in fall 1999, two versions Pokemon Rd and Blue and later Yellow version. I'll be reviewing the Blue version, slightly different from the other two but I played both games. So heres my review....




Story:
It's a pretty straight-foward story, It'll start off first by introducing the pokemon universe and yourself. You have total control so you get to name yourself. Anyway, it starts by having to wake up in your home then trying to look for old man Oak [professor Oak] So you go by his laboratory then gives you the choice of picking 3 pokemons. It's either Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle. Once you pick your pokemon and embark on your journey, his granchild [Gary-look a-like] and the a** that he is, picks the pokemon thats YOUR pokemons weakness in element. So if I picked charmander, he'll pick squirtle. So he is your rival and its cool how you get to name your own rival and live this life however you want it and not as Ash. In the yellow version you leave your village and not go into the lab cuz Oak isn't there. So you find and keep that pikachu. The thing is, the pikachu doesn't like to stay in the pokeball so he walk and follows you around which is pretty cool. The story is basically trying to be the pokemon champion that you are, not much about yourself, more on the characters around you so its ok.

Point is: Story really isn't about yourself but more about the gym leaders and side quests but is interesting anywayz. 8.5


Graphics:
When pokemon came out with Blue version, they weren't kidding. The whole environment is blue, or blue themed. It didn't really bother me, i thought it fit well with the game. The people, environment and pokemon however looked great. The detail they put into the pokemons and people looked great, although you'll see the same faces in battle when challenging them in battle such as "Pokemon breeder" they'll all look the same. The pokemons however have their unique look and everything, I thought it looked amazing even for a handheld. These are some of the best graphics on a handheld I've seen in my life. As for the yellow version, little color is added so its cool to see that. The small version of pokemons are confusing sometimes cuz they sometimes look the same.

Point is: some of the best graphics in hand held games I've ever seen, it fits, the pokemon, people and environment, small poket versions of the pokemons are confusing. 9.5


Gameplay:
It is a turn-based RPG style gameplay. in battle, you'll fight another pokemon and you have 4 different moves from your pokemon. You choose attacks and whoever lives in the end of the battle wins, simple RPG concept, but this time when your out in the wild, you get to catch these pokemons and set up strategies. Your pokemons level up and learn various moves or you teach them the moves by finding TMs. They are useful for either the hell of it or crossing oceans and cutting bushes. However, the ultimate goal of the games is to complete all of the entries in the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and trading to obtain all 151 creatures. They're also cheats/glitches in the game that are pretty fun, like cloning pokemon or items [mostly rare candies] The gameplay is easy to learn and addicting. They also have mini games such as fishing and safari's, so I doubt you'll ever get bored ^_^ in the yellow version, you even get to see pikachu's expressisions and I love it ^^

Point is: Very fun and addicting gameplay, easy to learn. 10


Enjoyment:
The enjoyability in the game is high, I loved it. I spent most of my 10 year old life playing this game. The gameplay was so fun for me and with all the minigames and secret pokemons to collect, who didn't want to collect them all,sadly, some pokemons you need to get by trading, which I never had the chance to crying but that didn't stop me.

Point is: It's pokemon, I enjoyed every minute I had with this game, its a must buy for all poke lovers and RPG-fanatics. 10

Story: 8.5
Graphics: 9.5
Gameplay: 10
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 9.5 Buy, Rent & Steal big_smile

Guitar hero III: Legends of rock
Wii/ Xbox 360/ PS3/ PS2
2007
Music

Multiplayer?
yes

Online?
Yes


So What I noticed in reviews is that no one doesn't have music genre games to review and its ok, cause my next review is one ^^ Guitar hero III: legends of rock. but is it any good? You'll jsut have to read the rest of the review.




Story:
Oh the story. The story isn't really bad, and it isn't really that good either. They show little animated cut-scenes of you and your band mates which by the way don't talk, and try and making it to the top. Although the little animation is worth looking at the story most of the time really doesn't make sense. They get their first gig and they progress as they play gigs. In Co-op its basically the same story, but this time its the two of you bassist and guitar, so not much emphasis on the story. And dince they don't talk, you really can't tell what they are trying to say sometimes, all you hear is mumbling. The band even turned down a bigger gig to play for a prisonmate cause his is one of their fans. Doesn't make sense to me.

Point is: Story could've been better, needs to be more specific, Can't really follow up. 5.0



Graphics:
Compared to guitar hero, it really has improved. The in game graphics aer amazing and your band mates actually play the correct beats and lips the right words, my only problem is how the drummer looks, its as if he looks a bit like this {: P The letter P is his hat, and he is forever smiling even though e're going agaisnt the devil. The character models look great lsuch as Veterans Axel steel and Casey Lynch, and new characters Midori. The models for Tom Morello and Slash look amazing, from the hair to feet, the visuals look original and its pretty eye catching. The venues improved and they added small details to every venue like a backyard bash or prison to hell, it looks great.

Point is: Venues and character models are really nice to look at, and characters Slash and Morello look amazing. The guitars you get look cool too. 8.7



Gameplay:
The Gameplay for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is similar to previous titles in the series. The player hits notes as they scroll towards the bottom of the screen in time with music to maintain their performance and earn points. To hit notes using the guitar controller, the player hits the strum bar while holding down the correct fret buttons. Easy right? Well not quite, since Activison took over guitar hero they decided, why don't we make this game stupid hard? And they did. They put in 70 songs in the game which any song could fit to anyones tastes, heavy metal, county, funk, you name it. I love the variety it holds. The muscic selection was probably the best selection in guitar hero ever. From The killers to Metallica, its really a whole different feel. The X box 360 and PS3 versions allows you to download more songs and the wii, Ps3 and Xbox 360 versions all could go online. A new feature in the gameplay is the battle mode. You go against someone and instead of starpower you get little weapons and try and mess the other one up. When you progress in the story, you'll eventually face of Tom Morello and Slash and battle them. In the Wii and PS2 versions, you are given two exclusive characters Metalhead and Elroy Budhead? And the PS3 and 360 get The god of rock which is pretty cool. The note charts annoy me the most. They have added notes which doesn't really belong to a song or making the song stupid hard. But all in all they made the difficulties even, if you go on easy, its hella easy using only the first 3 notes. On Expert you use all five frets but they emphasize on the three note hold the most on expert which makes it either challenging or frustrating. All in all the gameplay is way fun, and the modes are fine.

Point is: Fun gameplay, actual feeling of playing a guitar, online modes make it way more fun. 9.0



Enjoyment:
I actually enjoyed this game, even though the story was crap. I played over 200 hours with this game and still playing it today. I liked the songs selections in this game more than any other guitar hero games. The solos and DLC they offer really makes it worth every penny. The graphics are stunning and the online modes are fun. For me, I really like this game and joining the Guitar hero Wagon.

Point is: Really fun for all ages, challenging and takes most of my time, i just love it. 9.5




Story: 5.0
Graphics: 8.7
Gameplay: 9.0
Enjoyment: 9.5
Overall: 8.5 Rent it! Buy for no more than 20 dollars if you own a 360 or ps3 and no more than 15 dollars for wii and ps2.