Online Journey

SUIKODEN V

Suikoden games having coming out left and right, but a lot of fans of the series have been miffed that their cool factor’s been dropping lately.

Apart from some cut scenes, you could mistake this for a PS1 title. The Camera is fixed at a third-person angle that looks down on the characters. This would fine, except there’s no way to rotate it, creating a lot of “blind spots”. Some rune effects and co-op attacks look great, but you know they could’ve done a lot better.

The story line has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster! The battle system is the same as in the first two games in the series, but with the new twist: formations. The key to winning fight is to find the right set of people to fight together , using form skills well, and changing formations depending on the situation. the real time duel and war battles add some spice to the mix. Each of the 108 stars of destiny has also been fleshed out as well, making each one interesting.

The character voices in this game are tops! The music, a tribute to Suikoden 1’s theme, is kay at first but hearing the same loop being repeated over and over again could get pretty tiresome.

Recruiting all 108 characters could be pretty tough the first play through, so the game has a new game+ function that allows you to keep items, money and skills from your final save. Playing the game again can be pretty boring, though, since there’s no way to skip cutscenes.

One of the deepest and immersive RPGs we’ve seen in a long time. If it weren’t for the humdrum graphics and the slow loading timeduring battles, this game would have gotten a perfect dcore. Even with its drawbacks, though, this game should be played be anyone and evryone who loves a good RPG.

FANTASTIC 4~ PLAY STATION 2

Almost all of the scene in the movie are in the game, from our heroes getting their powers in outer spce to confronting the tunnel-dwelling Mole Man and their arch-nemesis, Doctor Doom.The Film’s actors even have digital counterparts in the game, and they’re wonderful to watch in the cut scenes between missions. The in-game action though, is’nt as amazing, and the repeated use of the team’s powers in beating up hundreds of bad guys can get boring pretty fast.

It more fun to play Fantastic 4 with a friend since the game supports cooperative play, but if you prefer going solo, you can switch control of team members while the rest fight along side you as backup, controlled by the computer. While there are some mini puzzles and quite a number of power upgrades to look forward to, the game’s focus on non-stop, repetitive action can easily wear you out.

The Film sound track is used in the game and all the actors do the character voices. Most of the cut scenes sound good, but in the actual game, hearing our heroes repeating the same lines over and over is more irritating than enduring.

The game takes over six hours to finish and you can unlock a whole bunch of goodies like movie trailers, actor interviews, comic book covers, concept art and more. The Arena Fight mode also lets you test your skills against computer or fellow players.

While Fantastic 4 is okay for a quick game with a friend, it probably won’t keep you interested long enough to finish the game. While it’s cool to play as the “Thing” not being able to bash down walls or throw trucks around can be very frustrating- and not able to fly more than a high foot as the “Human Torch” is just as bad.