Hey gang, Tom is back with some more video gaming reviewy-ness, thanks to a new issue of Game Informer and a month of procrastination and video games. Woo! Alright, so, what do we have this month?
Well, I'll be honest, I haven'th read the Game Informer episode in depth that much, so I really can't say much about what's coming out, coming up, etc. I did pick up a couple things though. Some previews of things to come, looks like Square-Enix has been very, very busy as of late. First we've got Final Fantasy - Crisis Core, the prequel to Final Fantasy 7, which seems to be avoiding it's RPG background is looking to be more of a good 'ol hack and slash adventure. Then there's the new Final Fantasy fighting game being developed Dissidia. Besides being a standard fighting game, it looks like it'll have a story/campaign mode as well, and with the enourmous Final Fantasy history to draw from, it looks like we're going to have some very interesting things coming from there. So far, the following fighters have been shown - Zidane and Kuja of Final Fantasy 9, The Warrior of Light and Garland of the original Final Fantasy, and Sephiroth of Final Fantasy 7. Both games are scheduled for release on the PSP, with Crisis Core coming out sometime in 2008. No releaase date for Dissidia though.
Kingdom Hearts fans rejoice, Square is also working on two, that's two brand new Kingdom Hearts games. Fans may not be so happy to hear that their being released on handheld platforms only, though, and what's more the two games are being produced on two completely different platforms. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is scheduled to release on the Nintendo DS, while Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep will be released on the PSP. Not much information on those two games from me, all I know is that 358/2 Days focuses on Roxas and his time with Organization XIII, whereas Birth by Sleep focuses on some trio of Keyblade wielders who appear at the end of the second game (haven't beaten it myself, so I can only tell ya what I've read).
But these four games being developed just isn't enough for Square Enix. They have yet ANOTHER game being produced, and reading this made me absolutely giddy. The original Star Ocean is being remade for the PSP, with all new content and cutscenes. More importantly though, is the fact that it's being brought over at all, as the original Star Ocean was never brought to the States. This will be our first shot at the game. But even more important to me was the tiny announcement that took place in a little black box. Second Evolution. Yes, Square Enix also has plans to remake the second Star Ocean game, which I consider the greatest RPG of all time. Promised material includes new dialogue, cutscenes, and even playable characters! These two games are the ones to look out for, keep an eye on Star Ocean, ladies and gentlemen.
So, Square Enix is working on six games. Crazy. Let's not forget that they're also doing work on Final Fantasy 13, so I suppose that's 7 at once? Oh, bravo, Square-Enix, bravo.
Other interesting stuff, new information on Devil May Cry 4, it's been revealed that Dante will be a playable character halfway through the story mode to replace up and comer Neo. Also revealed are two new weapons, something called Lucifer, which lets you throw darts around the environment and then call on them to attack the enemy, as well as the introduction of Pandora's Box, a suitcase that can transform into some heavy weaponry, including a chain gun.
Lots and lots of really interesting stuff. I'll go over it more later, kinda in a hurry at the mo'. Tom's been doing more than reading about videogames, he's also been playing them, of course. I left off in my last post that I'd gotten Disgaea and I've since played through the new storyline focusing around Etna, very cool stuff, although it's not as large or as far reaching as the original story. It's mostly just a fun romp through a world dominated by a conniving demon girl... Kinda scary. You get one new character out of Etna's storymode that you can't get normally, but she's just a Named Succubus. A named Succubus with incredible stats and every succubus ability at level 25 and with 99 resistance to every bad status effect, but still just a buffed up monster clone. Etna mode is a lot f fun, play through it, haven't gotten a shot at multiplayer yet, but I'd like to. Hmm... I'd say that's it there.
The only other new videogame I've gotten a crack at since my last post is something I picked up yesterday, and my, my, my, what an adventure that has been. Rock Band, the 4 player rock out party, is a freakin' blast. The game is kind of weird first starting off though, or I guess I should say before starting off. First, you have to put the game together, which takes a little time, not too much if you have some help. Just don't lose any pieces. You get a four slot usb port, you plug all the instruments in there, as well as a power pack that you need to connect with a wall to give the port power. Then just nab another guitar controller, get an Xbox 360 controller so the guy on Vocals can operate the menus and then you've got a 4 player rock spree ready to go.
I immediately called all of my friends over who were on hand and was rewarded by four dudes showing up at my door half an hour later. We took turns at things, but for the most part it was like so... RX at the Guitar, my fellow Guitar Hero brother took up the mighty axe to rock out for us, hardcore, Cracker took up the Base and layed down some heavy stuff, Q took up the drums and beat 'em like a madman and Tom took up the mike and...
Oh jeez, guys, are you serious? I haven't sung since... yeah... 12 years ago, I'd say. The resulting cacophany frightened animals and small children, or so I'm told. Oh, it was terrible. But after an hour or two of my crooning that sounded so very much like an animal in its death throes, I started to sound ok, and by hour four I started to sound... good. It was weird, as we just kept playing and playing, the band really kind of developed a band unity, y'know? My voice couldn't hold out forever, and the band showed concern that made me just kind of shake my head and laugh.
We had a lot of fun. We tried everything out, the drums are really quite interesting and the new solo stuff for the guitar is pretty nasty stuff. But I gotta say, I really do like doing the vocals. But I'll tell you this, doing vocals for 6+ hours straight starts to hurt, ahah. I might have done some damage to myself, I do believe. So, on reccomendation of the band, I'm to take good care of my voice. How the heck else are we going to pass all these damn songs?
We haven't finished it all up yet, still a lot of songs to unlock, and like I said, want to make this quick. In closing, Rock Band is probably the best 170 dollars I've spent in a while, it's an incredible party game, multiplayer co-op tour band mode is freakin' awesome.... Yeah, I'd say that's it.
Rock on, RERN.