Final Fantasy or Finally Failed

Final Fantasy has been a very long running and successful series for Square Enix, but has it finally lost its spark with its newest installment of Final Fantasy 13?

One thing that Square Enix has always done well in its games is provide us with the most stunning and magical cut scenes, so one would think that with all the iterations thus far that we're bound for a major let down? But nope, that doesn't happen in this installment either. These cinematics completely draw you in to the game and help you feel like part of the universe, immersed in all the wonder and splendor that the developers have created. The end cinematic is especially powerful, bringing about the conclusion to the game with pure grace.



The amazing cinematics are supported by a gripping and intriguing storyline, which leaves you wondering what will come next, and where you will be taken! The characters themselves all have back stories, which information about is trickled slowly to you throughout the game, adding to the element of intrigue and making you feel closer to the characters, as you learn their sins.

Despite the great work that has been done on creating a gripping storyline the game has a very linear path and there is very little that you can do apart from follow the main story. The one exception to this is the Ci’eth stone missions, but once you have exhausted these numerous missions there is nothing more to do than progress further into the game until the end which some might find disappointing.



Another element of the game that is very limiting is the battle system. In FF13 they have tried to make the system more real-time by allowing you to only play as one character, although you can alternate which character you play as so you don’t have to play as the same person throughout the whole game. This system of controlling one character means that the battle is somewhat faster than before and if you don’t watch what’s going on or attack then your teammates and the enemies will continue, and not wait for you to make your move. Anyway back to the point at hand, the battle system is immensely repetitive and you will probably find that most of the time you are simply jamming auto-attack to sort out the more common battles, with a bit more thought needed to take out bosses. One thing that is great about the battle system is the Eidolons which are the summons that each player acquires throughout the game, which adds an exciting element to the battles and are a very helpful tool for turning the tide.

The leveling up system, the Crystarium, is also constrictive in the fact that you cannot change the classes that each player can be until about halfway through the game, by which point the characters are far too developed within the 3 classes that they have access to at the start, meaning that you always have to have the same characters in the same roles each play through.

Overall I loved Final Fantasy 13 game play, overlooking the linearity and repetitiveness of the game play and battle system that is, the story really drew me in completely and I played continuously for as long as I could each day. It gripped me, intrigued me and the ending cinematic blew me away, as I watched the characters I had come to know over the course of my 42 hours of game play finish the story for me in a heroic manner.

Nano's Game Rating – 8.5/10

Star Trek!

I saw this film yesterday and actually thought it was brilliant. The opening scene was amazingly executed and drew you into the story and that level of greatness continued through the whole film. The actors played their roles perfectly and there was no way they could improve them.

Can you tell I liked the film?!

Discuss the movie here!

Halo Wars Preview and Demo Review

Welcome to the war that destroyed the Spartan unit!

Halo Wars, the new upcoming release by Ensemble studios, is set 20 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and follows the beginning of the struggle between humanity and the alien covenant race who seek to eradicate humanity from the galaxy. In this prequel fight between humanity and the covenant, you'll start off the campaign by playing as the UCNS and lead the fight against the covenant advance on numerous planets that require your assistance.

There is opportunity to play as the covenant forces but it seems that this is only available in multiplayer mode and that there is no campaign for this team.

The number of units seems to be limited with all units stemming from the areas of infantry, vehicles and air units. This could be seen to be in-keeping with the traditional style of RTS games however there are very few units to be built in any of these areas making the unit selection somewhat limited.

The cut scenes in the game seem set to be visually stunning. This was proven to be fact in the demo recently released on XBL where there was a cut scene depicting a general aboard a spaceship gaining information on the situation below.

I personally found the demo to be slow paced with little continuous action or challenge, especially after maximizing my resource income. This meant that the game became stagnant quite quickly and I was able to complete it far too easily although this could just be because it is the demo and they are saving the fast paced action for those that buy the full game.

Final Thoughts:

Little else remains to be said apart from check out the demo and make your own opinions on the game, see the units and immerse yourself in the beginnings of the story to see if it will appeal to your taste and most importantly, Fight the fight and save humanity!

Resident Evil 5 Preview

The highly anticipated 5th game in the Resident Evil series is set to be released early next month on the March 13 in Europe and March 5 in the USA and Japan.

This time you take up arms as Chris Redford. A member of the Bio terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) who is sent to a disastrous region to investigate strange goings on. In this latest release of the long running series you are not alone and a half African female officer, Sheva, accompanies you in your investigation.

The addition of this second character has allowed for a new co-operative game play element, where friends can pop in and out playing as Sheva. This allows you to battle the infected in a whole new way and according to the developers; with a whole new range of weapons than the standard pistol and shotgun weapons.

You may have noticed that I said infected rather than zombies, this is because after playing the demo these people that you are killing seem to be more human like and smarter than simply blood lusting zombies such as those from the previous games, although this could be because the developers have mentioned that the AI has been programmed act more human like. This makes the game somewhat less "scary" and loses some of its "freaky" panic appeal that may have occurred in the other games as you were being swarmed by a group of zombies with your ammo running out.

The issue of ammo has been lessened in this newest installment with ammunition able to be found in various draws, crates, barrels and even pieces of food throughout the levels meaning that you are less likely to run out if you use it wisely. However because the second character has been added, this means that ammo must be shared and possibly that the extra ammo will be in serious need.

The developers have expressed that the game play will remain the same as that of Resident Evil 4 with you playing the game over the shoulder of the character and, yes, you are still unable to walk and shoot, maybe one of the games fundamental flaws.

Final Thoughts:

On a final note, this game has lost some of the aspects of the atmosphere from RE4 but in the addition of the co-op availability it has added some room for a new fun factor. It remains to be seen if this game has what it takes to deliver to the standard set by the other games in the Resident Evil series.

-Nano2000-

Gears Of War 2

I got Gears of War 2 the day it was released and haven't been able to stop playing it since.

This game truly lives up to the firs installment and has many great added extras.

The new guns are great and also some extras, such as the shield, offer another way of looking at how to play the game and are extremely helpful when on insane.

The stroy is very well thought out and complex and offers a interesting story to follow in your missions as Delta Squad to save the human race.

Insane is now much harder making the game more challenging which is a welcome addition after finding GOW1 easy after completing it on Insane.

Also the multiplayer is amazing with a good selection of maps and also game types. there is a points system which allows you to compare how well you are doing agains other players which helps to add a competetive element to the game to help push you to kill more.

Overall I would give this game a 9.5/10 because of the all round greatness but not a full 10 as I find the sniper (my favourite weapon) a little different from GOW1 in which I prefered it.