PS2 - Winning Eleven Soccer 7 International review

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t review these games separately? My answer to you’re question is there hasn’t been much anything that changed from WE6 to WE7 besides some minor graphical improvements. Let me explain my reason.

From a popularity stand point Winning Eleven 6 was the most popular soccer simulation in Europe and Japan and Australia. While it may of not looked state-of-the-art and let me explain what that means in my view. If you take sport games, you may realize that EA Sports has made graphics improvements in Madden 2004. Madden 2004 is the prettiest game on Playstation. It has the most polygons in any sports game. The game used Renderware, which is middle ware for game developers, and worked with Komani’s two Winning Eleven Soccer International soccer games prior to W11S7. Okay to keep this short the crowds look really good. You can tell apart their faces (they aren’t blobs like in early PS2 sport games) The frame-rate is smooth. The announcers are nice editions, they have athenaeum in their voices. Love the athenaeum! In my opinion they sound better because they don’t repeat 2 phrases for each action like in EA Sports FIFA 2002. It is understandable that no sports games have commentary guest speakers and if they did, they would have one paragraph of something about the team that repeats itself over and over at the beginning of each game. We have DVDs now. I don’t understand why Konami couldn’t have real videos of the previous season. Yet that is understandable because in exchange you have a 99% accurate roister to play by. Unlike Madden Football 2002, Winning Eleven Soccer 6 and 7 have the ability to instantly change your player’s stats. Such as if you want you’re whole team to have 99% balance, or 99% style points. Your pick. I like it. You have a choice, either up your team stats or lower the difficulty.

The Difficulty

The difficulty in Winning Eleven 7 is very similar to Winning Eleven 6. So much so that you can just pick up and play with no new learning curve! This is a good thing. One problem I found (this could just be because 7 is harder than 6) is when I want to score a goal and press Y on the duel shock 2 controller, sometimes the game will pass to the closest teammate instead of scoring the GOAL! Now I got really pissed off on that. I learned that the easiest way to score a goal is by pressing down on the right joystick. I don’t know. You have to be really close to the goal to use Y button. And with 11 guys around you, it’s not likely to get in. But let’s look at the game of soccer…if a team is lucky, they will score 3 goals in a whole game. So naturally if you score 5 or more goals in a game, I think your difficulty isn’t high enough. Okay, lets set the difficulty to maxium setting. What you get? A lot of red cards. (if you don’t know soccer to well, that means your player is out of the game) A lot of interceptions, a lot of injuries, a lot intense action. Okay something is wrong hear. Computer’s aren’t suppose to think for themselves, but this game is kicking the crap out of my guys. Okay there is 11 guys on each team in the game of soccer. 21 of them are computer controlled. You control one of them. The game switches teammates by the use of the L2 and R2 buttons.

If you even had a chance to play Winning Eleven Soccer 6 than you’ll realize that in 7 players make a lot of mistakes. This isn’t the games fault, this was done intestinally to give the game a more realistic feel. Minor details such as when the other team steals the ball from you, your player tries to catch himself. Real life soccer players do some real mistakes in a room and they’re hitched up with computer equipment so their actions become the same reactions in the game. Game’s got it down pretty good. More noticeably in Winning Eleven 7 than as Winning Eleven 6 do players look very life like (I’m talking about moving).

If you are having difficulty, both games are good at giving a precise tutorial complete with sample movies and a narrator to talk it over with you as you play. The tutorial couldn’t possibly get any better in 6 because it was already top notch. The tutorial also will teach you the rules of soccer, not just how to control your character. Every soccer game does that now-a-days.

Controls:

The controls in Winning Eleven Soccer 7 are exactly the same as they were in 6. What changed are a few enhancements in the character’s movements. The game is quite smoothly, though it seems that game is too fast for your reflexes. I could just be me though because when I first play a game I usually suck at it until a few playing sessions.

Learning curve is about 30 to 60 minutes. Faster if you upgraded from Winning Eleven 6. They feel about the same.

Navagational System:

Good news. I find that Konami kept the same console style menu they used in Winning Eleven 6. No complaints here! When you start the game with no modifications, you can just wiz past 3 menus to the loading screen. After the loading screen you get the tiny intro of the opening game and a television type HUD. When the game starts, you get a score board in the top left corner. Some circles that represent the character you control and that radar system that shows all the players on the field and their locations. Your team is the blue dots, the other team is the red dots. I don’t use the radar at all so I just turn it off in game options.

On feature I like about Winning Eleven 6 and 7 is the camera angle use in replays. It’s gotten very professional like. The game doesn’t stop there either because you can control how the camera moves in replay mode. A feature not in EA Sport’s FIFA 2002 which I am very disappointed in. Until I owned Winning Eleven 6, relatively short time ago, I skipped the replays. They didn’t excite me much. Sometimes I like replays because when I compete against Bob or Randy, it shows how stupid the AI was, and that the ball somehow got in the net. Most of my goals are from accident. They are normally caused by the other person cut off guard or day dreaming until one of us just so happens to score. Of course, I am a casual gamer, and my friends who don’t play the game at all, usually beat me because I’ve only played the game for a total of 8 hours.

Sound:

The sound is very European like. Some mellow trance tracks in the game. Though it sounds cool. Unlike EA Sport’s version of Soccer, you don’t get vocal music. But the intro was very cool. The intro’s in very cool. Remember Final Fantasy, The Spirit’s Within. I swear, there hasn’t been any different between the Opening FMV and that. Both Winning Eleven 6 and 7 use the same style cell-shaded FMV as the intro.

Drum role please…..my conclusion

Winning Eleven Soccer is very rewarding. When my friends and I get sick of Winning Eleven 6, we will switch to FIFA 2002 or Winning Eleven 7. I have to say FIFA 2002 is much less demanding than Winning Eleven 6 or 7. I’ll repeat, if you want a less of a challenge go with EA Sports brand, if you want more challenge, go with Winning Eleven Soccer. I don’t even touch 989 Sport’s soccer game, or Sega Sport’s soccer game, I know SEGA make one heck of a NFL videogame. Sega now is using ESPN’s logo and announcers. If I had a pick of favorite soccer game, I’d go with the latest Winning Eleven Soccer videogame from Konami. There you got it. No wonder it is topping everyone’s list this summer as a must have PS2 game. Take your pick, both are excellent games. Winning Eleven 7 is only 40 dollars at Target, get it while the game is hot! Winning Eleven 6 is only 20 bucks.



Good luck on your decision!

PS2 - Grand Theft Auto Vice City Review

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Rockstar Games
A.) 10 maps which are huge to drive in.	Publisher :Rockstar Games
B.) Everything that makes GTA popular (guns, cars, motorcycles, and blowing up things) What ever you can ride, you can steal and destroy. And this is the fun part.	Released sometime in 2002
C.) A very long list of cheats
D.) The comments that people make on the street and various radio stations are hilarious! This game is full of mature jokes and crack downs from the main character	Type : Action

I want to say this game rocks! Well I was either getting Grand Thief Auto 3 or Vice City. RockStar did a fabulous job on this game. Vice City is not Grand Thief Auto 4. I read on CNN.com that GTA Vice City was a big improvement over GTA 3. I got it because a guy at GameStop told me that he'd recommend this game to any PS2 first time owner. Some games just have two much to do. The Playstation 2 in the past had a problem with anti-glare and jaggedness in it's game like early in the systems life. Since I got a Playstation 2 yesterday, I haven't had much time to see why it's the best. The PS2 controller has the best feel of any controller I've experience. (although I found out that the duel shock for the PSone works with this game as well) One reason this game is the best is somehow Rockstar Games managed to put 10 tracks for over 15 radio stations. This game dates back in 1986 in Vice City (a crime infested Miami.) So you get everything from gang warfare to grand thief auto. In fact my favorite part of this game is using a golf club to whack certain people out or just kill them. Just don't knock their head off, it's nasty! Kidding you can do what ever you want. Have fun, it's a fun game and you should you things like that, just not in real life.

Crazy cab drivers I tell you. They run over pedestrians for no reason. Cab drivers just pull in front of you like you weren't there. Did I mention that stealing a police car is fun, but you get arrested if attempt to steal it with a copper inside it. I just had to try even though it was dumb thing to do. The best way to pull this off is to open the passenger-side door and come in on the opposite side so if you lucky, the copper can't open neither door and you make a clean get-a-way. The police still know it's up inside the police car. But you can say that you've done it.

Now how about those high speed chases on the street? Everything is easy until the police send in S.W.A.T. then you better have a machine gun / shotgun or your good as dead. That's what Grand Thief Auto Vice City is all about, stealing the right gun to do the right job (without cheating) OK so R2 + L2 on the duel shock isn't cheating (quick reload) The hardest thing to do in this game is to steal a tank (your invisible as long as you are moving)

All your fast cars in GTA auto like the rare supped up bangie in GTA3 is in this game, but here it's common. Most of the time you can find it has night. One thing that is an awesome ideal vehicle in high speed chases to seek out in the game is the bangie (a supped up all terrian vechile rarely seen in the last game) that they are stable and you can drive moderately fast with it. If you want to go really fast get a Cheechta, because they are ;)

I'm not a good driver sometimes, and I do run over people. Of course it's going to be a hit and run from my point of view. When this happens your police record gets high and you have to get into another car without getting caught. Duh! Right? This part is fairly easy. But I have a problem of being reckless on the road when I park.

When you drive, there isn't any gradual acceleration, so you have to push the X button on the PS2 controller many times to go speed limit. The game has tons of street lights. One thing, that often makes the game violent is that you can crash into other cars, have junk car rallies in parking lots, pick up a gun and shoot.

[What did my friends think of this Game]

I brought my PS2 over to a friends house, and we had a blast. I wasn't to great at stealing cars. The point of the game is to steal a car and shoot cops. Now that Justice mentions it, there are a lot of pimps in the game. Walking around with speedos and their fat. This game is based on real gang life in the 1980s. Some places the gangs have no weapons and are wimps, while others have guns. Most of the time, you have a fist fight to the death. Now that was funny scene! This game is great.

Summing up Grand Thief Auto : Vice City.
Graphics	9.0	Grand Thief Auto Vice City looks very good. There is a blur that I'm not use too. It doesn't matter. All the cars are photo realistic although it GTA may not be the prettiest game on PS2. CNN calls it "live in the fast lane" I call it "Drive fast, don't get caught" The game was also made for the PC, but that takes a lot of power just to run the stupid game. A Pentium III 1.1 GHz with a 64 MB videocard to even play it decently. At night you get all the nights of Miami compete with neon lights, traffic lights, city lights, and the dreaded police cars. Not as frame rate and as high resolution as Gamecube or Xbox, but we have a 3 year old console running this game. To simply put, this game is smoothed out and has a terrible frame rate. It's good that everything else makes up for the games only flaw.
Control	9.9	The control is very smooth. Even if the PS2 controller is loose. A a lot of times you find your self getting away from the police fairly easily with the exception of getting chased with the helicopter. If you have a helicopter chasing you, there is no escape. But then you can start on foot and shoot everything in site. The control is very good. Plus Rockstar added scopes and fire cross to all the weapons so you know exactly who your shooting at. Everything adds up. If you hear from people that this game is one of the best available, the control is better then many games could hope to be. I would like to speak out this one last comment, "The control rocks!!!"
Orginalism	8.5	GTA created the cop car against gangster car game. GTA 3 took a gigantic leap in the franchise, and Vice City is the latest and greatest. I can't begin to tell you that the game is successful in places where other games are not.
Sound Effects	10.0	The radio stations are awesome!
Replayibly	9.5	A lot of replays. I highly recommend you go out and get this game.

PS2 - Final Fantasy X review

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Squaresoft
A.) Detailed graphics. Better looking then any RPG that came before it.	Publisher : Squaresoft / Electronic Arts.
B.) You play a movie, it's not a movie, it's always got a cut screen with spoken dialog. And cinimatic videos aren't uncommon.	Mine was an updated version released in 2002. The game orginally was released December of 2001.
C.) A very convensing story
D.) It's really over rated. People say the game is perfect. The game is awesome, but it's not perfect.	Type : Character Turned Based Role Playing Game

[ Prelude ]

Final Fantasy X (FFX) is getting old, although it still has a repudiation of being good. Final Fantasy is the first game on the PS2 to be recognized as the best RPGs of all time. This, of course, DOES NOT mean it’s will be the greatest, it only means in someone’s opinion it is. You can, however, argue FFX is the best Final Fantasy game ever. I went to Gamefaqs.com to get my game faq so that I can play this game without hesitation. I see Final Fantasy 10 at the top of the charts for the most popular faqs. Well I'm not alone because there's about 4 million other people who are playing this game. Squaresoft was known on the NES for making a great game, a game called Final Fantasy. It was the first RPG in America in 1987, and it sold like a new car. All Final Fantasy games had a good plot surrounding a black mage, white mage, melee fighter type of character that goes on a journey to save the world. All Final Fantasy games followed the same formula except for FF10. Aside the fact that Final Fantasy 10 is 21st century; it does have a more technical achievement to it then any other PlayStation 2 RPG before it. If you haven’t seen the PlayStation 2’s enormous library of games, then you have seen a lot of RPGs that came after Final Fantasy X. What is quite interesting is earlier in the timeline; the Espers were the only species whom could learn magic. Humans could only borrow the magic in form of eggs. These Mana Eggs could then be leveled up so that the mage could do a spell. A more powerful egg could do more damage with a leveled up egg then it would with a stronger skill at it's first level. Now games abandoned the idea of the mana egg, and now replaced it with real time leveling up which appears after the battle sequence. I guess it was a bad idea to carry magic spells with you, much like you carry spell scrolls in PC games. The first game and it’s chapters had random battles and most of the time you have to save the earth from a dangerous object that will conquer kingdoms. Up until Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy all had a live action, time battle system. Nearly 14 years after Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy VII had a unique battle system where you slash enemies in real time, but you can not defend the normal way. Legend of Dragoon is much like Final Fantasy VII because you there is no option for multiple attacks, you have to time yourself and defeat the enemy in that way. Square changed Final Fantasy VIII again, having it mostly traditional, meaning it was a turned based system with random battles. And a new card game that has been in Final Fantasy games since then. It really doesn’t have a name but it’s kind of like Dungeons and Dragons. Final Fantasy IX was another Final Fantasy game that came around in 2000. Originally Final Fantasy IX was going to feature the same battle system that Final Fantasy XIII had (a turned based battle system used in most console RPGs like Breath of Fire series and Grandia), but it was going to be for the PS2. Well the game was already in development for being a PSone game with low resolution graphics so it was never upgraded. All effort was going towards the online RPG, Final Fantasy X. At first the online system did not work at all, so the online part of Final Fantasy X was dropped due to server issues and development time. Final Fantasy X was really overrated when it came out because it was suppose to have better graphics then it really did, I mean ground braking graphics for the PS2. But that did in no way say that it wasn’t ground braking else where. By this time Squaresoft fans expected to have a 40 – 50 hour gameplay wise RPG every year to two years.

[ More of the story ]

Your main character is Tidus, a person who lived in a world with an extremely high-tech civilization, and then, he wakes up in a somewhat high-tech civilization 1000 years later except his city, Zanarkand, is beneath Although he’s 18, Tidus must be 1018 years now. Maybe he’s older or younger. However mankind has reached the stars by this time, 1000 years earlier. But Sin destroyed it. Sin is the Final Boss in this game. He happens to been who destroyed the old high tech world 1000 years earlier. Stone age compared to what man achieved 1000 years before. You’re talking about when the Flintstones meet the Jetsons in this game! I read a head and found out that Final Fantasy X has a sad story, see Tidus dies in the final moments of the game. I’m only a couple hours in the game. This game is sort of a story of choice, if you know what I mean? See this game is like Legend of Dragoon, the last RPG I got into. You talk to people and they give you choices which may or may not change the story. Either of the main characters, whether it is Dart or Tidus really love the hottest character in the game. In this game it’s Yuna, a super hot girl. But Tidus may love someone else if you don’t watch your words. The last Final Fantasy game I’ve tried was Final Fantasy 8. Final Fantasy 10 stays close to Final Fantasy 8 except it doesn’t have anyone from a high tech civilization. Why, because it looks great, except in the PSone, all the backgrounds were pre-rendered. I thought this game was great so far ….

The story line is a little unclear in the beginning. Everyone talks fine, but at first we only knew that the Final Boss would be Sin. But as things clear up, I realize how much effort really went into the voice acting. Not uncommon with many games of next generation consoles. This was a new feature in the long history of Final Fantasy, which goes back a long time.

As the story goes, your boy hero, Tidus, is going to this huge Blitzball tournament. He scores a few scores in the super high tech city of Zanderland. I wouldn’t know if this place is in fact apart of Sparta back then, or was just a new name for the country that exist 1000 years after the destruction. You have very short time in the pass in this game. Sin appears out of now where in the globe and levels Zanderland. When suddenly a time warp portal appears out of know were taking both heroes, Audron and Tidus forward in time. For a sort time Tidus is alone in Spara in the same city in Zanderland. The city is a ruin. Tidus soon finds Rikku and Al Bhed who rescue Tidus from death when he floats in the sea. The Al Bhed are bounty hunters in Spartia. They do service for someone. That’s when Sin again attacks the Al Bhed ship and after they temporally defeat Sin, Tidus is thrown over-board. He finds himself helped by Wakka, a tribe member who loves the game, Blizball. Wakka and Tidus go together to Wakka’s hometown where the both meet Yura, a recent summoner. A summoner is one who uses magic. Anyhow all three know each other and they go on a journey to defeat Sin once and for all.

Tidus, I think falls in love with the summoner, Yuna earlier in the game. Common with RPGs of this time. But about 11 hours in the game she kills the one that’s she’s suppose to marry. Which, changes part of the character’s direction entirely. To Mastur Seymour, who is evil. I knew he was evil because he had a crazy look on his face. Except he wasn’t crazy, he was just evil. Tidus figures out that he isn’t suppose to like Yuna. What happens then? It least I know that Tidus somehow disappears because in Final Fantasy X-2, Yuna tries to find Tidus. So we already know that Yuna is going to use magic to get rid of Sin. I know nothing about the upcoming Final Fantasy XII, but I wonder if there is going to be a third episode of Final Fantasy X. Then Final Fantasy X can already be a saga. Although there have been 10 chapters of Final Fantasy, all 8 of the ten are 10 completely different games. Two games in the series, Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV are remakes of Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy II.

[ Graphics ]

The graphics engine in Final fantasy X is mapped after the emotion engine, an engine that Sony created to show off speculations of its PS2 demos in 1999. Actually its graphics score in the top 85% of all PS2 games in August 2003. This game was a head in graphics area because Square already had PS2 figured out. In earlier times, developers had a hard time with anti-analyzing, which is what made PS2 graphics as smooth as silk in Grand Thief Auto 3, Metal Gear Solid 2 – Sons of Liberty and Summoner 2. FFX doesn’t have as much bump mapping as I would like. This game was developed for PS2 prior to 2001 to sometimes look as edgy as any Dreamcast game. Dreamcast ran slower then the PlayStation 2, but the graphics were at 640 by 480 resolution, so the Dreamcast could trick you in sometimes thinking it looked better then the PS2. This was before Sega turned 3^rd party, supporting all consoles. FFX may have had it's hay day a year ago, but it's still is popular for one way only. The gameplay still rocks in this game. The PlayStation 2 has improved; anti-analyzing surpassed graphics of Final Fantasy X and Summoner 2 very quickly after those games were released. But I remember, and this is also why I planned to spend 200 dollars on a PlayStation 2, was because the games where already out including the already strong selling Final Fantasy X. I looked at the local Wal-Mart and it is always out of stock. I found it at the nearest Game Stop though and boy was I lucky. Again this game needs no introduction. I believe that most PS2 owners already have this game stored on shelves and they said it was from good to extremely good when they played it for the first time. The game play improved over Final Fantasy VIII and IX. This game is more detailed then a lot of games today and there are a lot of PS2 games out in 2003.

I n the last paragraph I spoken how the gameplay rocks. Well I was into this game in 2001 when it came out. It reminds me about how at first I didn't like Legend of Zelda Orcania of Time. But then once I bought it sometime in 2000, I realized how it was superior to all the N64 games of the time. Link with his sword and sheild is just plan cool. I may of grown old, but I didn't stop realising that the best game for the console was Zelda 64. Now that I'm entirely off the subject, I like to say that I liked Wind Waker too. Nintendo did everything right when they created it. I have felt the same with Legend of Zelda as I did with this game.

[Changes in Final Fantasy X]

Many would call Final Fantasy, flawless. Everything has been upgraded. This game doesn't drive itself on 10 year old concepts that could only been done 10 years ago. There are a lot of changes to Final Fantasy X, they improved the battle system and made it faster, almost spontaneous the moment you hit the X button on the duel shock controller. Then the other member attacks. The average battle sequence takes around 15 to 25 seconds. It’s closer to many PC RPGs with no battle sequence then it has in common with its own franchise. They also changed the level up ratings your characters have, since you’re in control. The massive chart is known as the Sphere Grid, never used in any RPG before. It basically looks like a star chart. Your character has a system where he/her has to level up some skills to get the skill you’re looking for. Usually what I look for is vitality, but it is a little out of my reach from my current low level stats. Not uncommon to this franchise is the mana for special attacks. Mana is essential to leveling up any character. You do use magic in your game don’t you? I mean if I am talking to someone familiar with Final Fantasy 8. Assuming you have played that game, then you will already know what summoners do. I guess I’ll be talking about the original NES Final Fantasy. You see White and Black mages in this game like you did sometime 3000 years before. I’m guessing Final Fantasy came 3000 years before Final Fantasy 10 did. I wanna know how far down the timeline is between the games Final Fantasy 8 and Final Fantasy 10? Both games are hard to determine because both Squall and Tidus live in high technical civilizations. In real life we may be able to comprehend what 20 years down the road will bring us in graphics. But we may not have the slightest idea what’s in store for us in 60 years. This game gives us another vision of a high technical civilization. It’s like Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within. I think the high tech civilization in this game is believable because Squaresoft added a lot of technical art to make it so. I can’t decide whether or not Xenosaga Episode I is more believable then Final Fantasy X. I have yet to play that game to see for myself. You’re talking about a lot of power people had in the “old civilization.”

.Final Fantasy X hasn't changed that much from the pass on Playstation. The camera angles are still on track. The later Final Fantasy games are similar to Resident Evil. Resident Evil had all the angles that made it very long and very graphically well done all around. Although in Final Fantasy X, all the graphics are done not prerendered. The game runs at around 30 frames per second.

[ Gameplay Department ]

Gameplay in this game is faster then the previous episodes in Final Fantasy. If you like to hack the enemies to death all the time, then Squaresoft/Enix made it easy for you to do that. The first opinion, attacking, is always highlighted. And it takes 2 seconds for each turn to being and end. Unlike Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Final Fantasy X doesn’t really display the hit points or even mana points of each character. It’s not bad, it’s just different. Summoners in this game can summon a creature to do more damage to the enemy. You can gain new “Aeons” by completing mazes in temples. Mazes aren’t too terribly difficult. Of course, I’m not maze genius ether. It sometimes takes me 10 tries to get it right. When you want to do mazes you move pentacles and gems around in the temple to unlock or remove doors, obstacles that are in your way, fire, ice, elevators, stuff like that.

Since the Gameplay isn’t just the controlling the main character in the game, I will go over other key features. In towns you are safe most of the time. That is unless sometime attacks the town. So the town isn’t safe – no – there are no random battles in towns. In towns you don’t have just one merchant, but several to choose from. The price varies, so sometimes you get ripped off, sometimes you get a really good deal, but if you need the potions, I would buy any way. I need these on my journey. In the game you use a lot of potions. The key is trying to be immune and have a high hit point rating all through the game. If you don’t, it just makes the game harder. But if you keep your hp high, you’ll pass 90% of the time. It is usually recommended to keep several weapons at your disposable, but with water, lighting, fire and tornado attacks. Not all weapons are customizable in FFX. Most of the time, magic spells do damage. In the beginning your character has more damage, not in the spells, but in the straight attack. Onless you have overdrive. Overdrive is a command that can instantly wipe out a enemy, but can only be used for total 300 seconds thought out the whole game. All playable characters have overdrive.

[Sound Department]

The sound department is good too, something you except from a multimillion dollar project AKA the “Final Fantasy X project (1999 – 2002)” I heard that the music guys at Square hired the musicians that made music for Final Fantasy 8, made some tunes in this game. One familiar tune from Final Fantasy 8 turns up after the battle sequence in Final Fantasy X. Everything in the intro had heavy rock in it. But the real Final Fantasy game has the tradition Final Fantasy melody we known for years. The medially from Final Fantasy IX is in this game also. I have to comment that the PS2 sound chip is softer then the PSone since I have to turn the volume up to hear anything.

Well this is the first game that characters acted in the whole title. I've seen cut-scenes which characters fully voiced their opinions in Grand Thief Auto Vice City. But this game seems a little more down to earth. The voice acting is not annoying; sometimes I find that the main characters comments make him kind of GIMP.

[Characters in the game]

• Tidus - the main character from the pass. He's in the games focus all the time. His voice acting is a little strange because when he gets excited about something, his voice level goes up, and it is just a little odd for someone to talk his age. I find it amusing though that Squaresoft would have someone act the way he does.
• Yuna - a really down-to-earth girl. She has a soft voice. Her character rocks and looks very sexy. I had her wallpaper on my computer for 5 months now. She is a summoner, which means she can do magic.
• Rikku - I met her in the beginning of the game. She is the only one of the pirates that can speak English. She's at times more comical with her voice then Tidus. She hasn't shown up yet except in the beginning.
• Auron - The guy who teams up with Tidus 1000 years earlier in Zanderland. He is kind of a even speaking fellow. He's very wise and a lot of hands on experience with things. He seems to know when things are about to happen and knows what to do when this do start heating up. A good example of this would be in the first minutes of the game when Zanderland is destroyed by SIN.
• Wakka – loves blitzball, but hates macha (machines) He thinks the machines are what brought Sin to the world; it is Spara’s punishment for advancing so much.

My favorite character in Final Fantasy X is Sir Auron, the guy with shades and a trench coat. Auron has a faster attack then the other Final Fantasy characters. He also has a long sword like Tidus (shown on the USA cover) that does the most damage on average. Although I still liked Tidus’s attacks. I had him in all my battles since he rejoined the party. His overdrive attack is really cool. I tried to reserve enough for the final hit on Sin at the end of the game. Yeven wasn’t really hard because he only had like 60 HP. I had Tidus finish him though. I felt kind of bad that he is a ghost (in the end all of us found out he was the walking dead) So he more then likely won’t be back in the sequel set to release in 2004. I felt bad about that. Then I looked on a Final Fantasy site, and found out that he was the most liked character in the whole game. For some reason when Auron swings his samuri sword, he does it kind of like Samuri Jack, the cartoon character.

[ So what about Blizball ?]

Blizball is soccer underwater. Because there is little gravity in Blizball, characters can do certain moves that allow them to define gravity. This is the first Final Fantasy game to have a minigame sports game. When you win the first game against the __, well I forget what the teams called, but you can save your game and play Blitzball tournaments for the gold cup. You add your player talents in the game. If you were me, who barely knows Blitzball, will try to level up all the characters in order. Tidus is our main character in the game and a pretty good Blitz ball player. He does his secret move, the spiral move, and that is the most powerful move in the game. In Final Fantasy X there is only one stadium to play in, with 8 teams to play against. The rules are simple. Try to pass the blitzball to your team mates to score without it over taken. The goalie usually catches the ball. In the beginning your team is severely under talented. But that doesn’t mean the goalie can’t catch the ball. He can and he does it well. I find the best odds with me passing the ball to Tidus. I know, I have to pass the ball to other players too, because the HP is being used up when the guy with the blitzball is moving. Most of the time if you select to pass the blitzball to your teammates, you have a better chance of a teammate catching the ball. The most confusing aspect of this game is you don’t know which way you’re going. There is an arrow with two Goalie nets on opposite ends, but your character can turn the opposite direction in an instant, and that part confuses me. I can’t tell which way to go sometimes. This mini game needs work. It would be better if the camera wasn’t so close to the characters. Otherwise this game is awesome to play. I have an idea, we already know Square and Electronic Arts are merged, EA Sports should make a custom Blitzball game in Final Fantasy X-2. The chances of this happing are very slim. FIFA 2002 wasn’t so bad. Maybe this Blizball game will be in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. So I wish this Blizball will improve beyond what it is now. Although the concept is great, just needs a-bit touch-up. In the end I think this is a great game to play. It’s not as difficult as Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter or Grandia Xtreme.

[ The end of the game ]

Final Fantasy X’s ending wasn’t that great. In my opinion, FFX glorious ending wasn’t long enough. It's not the greatest FMV in the game. It sucks really. I was expecting more of a ending. Yuna praises the land as it enters Eternal Calm. The ending was great looking in Full Motion Video form. What can I say about it – Squaresoft, being an experience movie making company (After the computer generated characters in Squaresoft’s first movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. After the gamer watches the credits (which didn’t bother me, FFX has this love song playing at the end) Tidus swims up to the screen and then you have the closing screen. It was just a 10 second video after the credits. The game should have had more FMV on Tidus. Sure their was some FMV on his father through out the game, but not every FMV was on him. It will be interesting if the next RPG I plan to play, Xenosaga Episode 1 will exceed the FMV of Squaresofts FFX. The “Xenogears” franchise was originally from Squaresoft before Namco bought the franchise. Xenogears is another game that I own, but haven’t played yet.

My favorite FMV in the whole game is the wedding FMV. Of course, the most popular cut scene was the opening fmv in the beginning showing Tidus with the Blizball team scoring goals just before Sin attacks the city. The special effects were spectacular. I could almost feel the rumble of the crowd. The laser light show was also amazing. The city depth was very vast. I see why every one likes it.

(article posted August 31, 2003 rev 1.1)

Please Check back when I've updated this portion of the page, Thankyou.

Summing up Final Fantasy X
Graphics	9.0	I like the graphics. Yura is a hotty. I like her. Yet all the characters are well shaded. You can see the muscle in all characters legs in the game. A concept unheard of in Playstation games. The background is pretty.
Control	9.3	The Sphere Grid is a good way of leveling up your character because it does use a like star system, like what astrolomy uses to map things in space. Your cursor can move locations when you loss points when you move, you gain them through out the game gaining experience. Since Final Fantasy changed from ATB (Active Time Battle Role Playing Game) to a Character Turned Based Role playing game and Square made it faster. The long battles of the pass only appear in major boss fights. The menu system is upgraded to not just a plain feel anymore, it's really colorful, but at same time very clean. The character option menu uses many solid colors. It does what you except from any RPG. The ability to change your weapons and armor. It allows you to keep up on all the key items you collected.
Orginalism	9.0	This game is probably the best and most realistic role playing game I've played for Playstation or Playstation 2. It though doesn't seem as long as Fnial Fantatsy VIII or IX for the PSone. Maybe that's because the RPG was filled with full motion video. I dunno.
Sound Effects	NA
Replayibly	NA

PS2 - Soul Calibur II review

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Namco
A.) Detailed graphics. Better looking then any RPG that came before it.	Publisher : Namco
B.) You play a movie, it's not a movie, it's always got a cut screen with spoken dialog. And cinimatic videos aren't uncommon.	Released August 26, 2003
C.) A very convensing story
D.) It's really over rated. People say the game is perfect. The game is awesome, but it's not perfect.	Type : Weapon Based fighting game.

[ Prelude ]

I went out the other day thinking that I would buy Virua Fighter 4 - Evolution for PS2. I changed my mind and got this game instead. I was fortunate to buy this game on PS2. I didn't know whether I should buy the PS2 version or Xbox version. The Xbox version has Spawn guess star I read on the Internet how this game kicks ass. It's practically in every message board on the Internet. Since all the 32 bit fighters were re-born on the PSone, the PS2 is no different, correct? Things have not changed since 1995 in terms of the controller you use. The GameCube and Xbox controllers are not so good with fighting games. The PS2 controller is much smaller and can better support fast paced action. In case you weren’t familiar with Soul Caliber, it was originally a damn cool arcade coin-op game. I’ve played it a couple times. I don’t see why I don’t see more of it. I mainly played the Soul Caliber for Sega Dreamcast. It is suppose to be the best fighting game for Dreamcast until its demesne. The coin-op machine is 7 years old by now. But the joystick hasn’t changed. This game would be stellar on a 2 player joystick pad.

Soul Caliber 2 was in development for 2 ½ years and Namco already had a basic idea of what it should be about. All of the same characters are playable on it. It’s not quite like the awesome graphics of Dead or Alive 3 for Xbox. All they had to do is make pretty graphics, high polygonal characters, and new arenas to play in. I picked the Soul Caliber 2 PlayStation 2 version because I knew that the controller would be better. Both GCN and Xbox have better graphics, but many people say, the PS2 duel shock is the best controller for 3D weapon driven fighting games. In Japan uses A, B G, and K while in the States, we use circle, triangle, square and ex. B = Y, G = B, K = X, Most of the time you can fight a few battles using only single style fights like blocking with X then hitting triangle to jab. You can do this with moving the right joystick or dpad. I grew up with using a joystick in 2D and 3D fighting games. So I never use the D-pad ever anymore.

Hmm, I may not be far on my review. Many would say that this game is a pretty fighter with a tenaticy to button mash through all the fighting arenas. But most of the time you don't get away with it. But the previous game was a game of chance. he music is wow! There isn't any difference between the Dreamcast and the PS2 in turns of sound. The game already sounds mega great. It sounds like the epic sequences in Lord of the Rings. Once I get Virua Fighter 4 Evolution, I will compare the two for all my friends.

[A little about the Dreamcast game]

The original was the first fighting game to go 128 bit. When the PS2 came out in August 2000, Soul Caliber vs. Tekken Tag Tournament was basically to measure the power of the Dreamcast against PS2. Some argue that the argument was unfair. Soul Caliber was on the top 50 games of all time posed by both IGN.com, Gamespot and Videogames.com. So naturally, the sequal should follow in th foot steps of the first. But everyone knew that Soul Caliber had more potential then Tekken Tag. Not just it’s graphics, it looked a generation a head of any Dreamcast game at the 9/09/99 launch. The game had a lot of stuff to do. Survival was where you fight against characters until you get defeated. Time attack was where you had so much time to complete a round before you Knock Out (K.O.) the opponent, or likewise he/she K.O. you. The Dreamcast game was a bit easier then the sequel, not much. Maybe in this game you an survive a extra round when you play Arcade. The coin op machine was based on score. The faster and extra attacks you’ve done you get a better score. I find one fault in this game that is pretty cool. You play Stephia (her character is the hot blond in the game) and you hit the Y button on the Dreamcast several times, and the opponent is defenseless most of the time. Jab. Jab. Jab. Until you feel that you jabbed your self to victory. The game had epic music during the game, in my opinion, even more so then Soul Caliber II. (posted August 31, 2003 rev 1.0)

Summing up Soul Caliber 2
Graphics	9.5	About as good as the first. The PS2 added some polygons. A lot of fan sites gave this game a 9.0 because it compares well to Virua Fighter 4. I don't know. Maybe it doesn't. Sometimes the web graphics can look better then what the resolution on your television could be. My televison is six years old, I use to play my old N64 games on it. It has good quality. Y ou can get nicer televisions then what I have for a few 100 dollars.
Control	9.0	Soul Caliber 2 is like the orginal except it's gone multiplatform. The PS2 has a bit better handle on this fighter though. I am disappointed that it's a button masher. The game is quicker then the first game.
Orginalism	NA
Sound Effects	9.0	Great Sound. This game, unlike the orginal has English translation. The game pretty much has the same taunts as the orignal. A lot of the quotes follow the anology "I'll kick your ass" but a lot of times that isn't the case.
Replayibly	NA	I don't know yet.

PS2 - Castlevania - Lament of Innocence review

Castlevania - Lament of Innocence

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Komami
A.)Updated graphics in the sequel of a brillant game.	Publisher : Komami
B.) A lot of objectives.	Released August 2003
C.) This game that makes you thumb happy all the time. Seriously I haven't seen a time when this game will ever let up.
D.) A lot of cutscenes.	Type : Action

I was looking at many games at GameStop today including Midnight Club 2, Clock Tower 3, Rayman 3, Jak 2 and then the latest Castlevania (©2003) I liked the Symphony of the Night so I thought hmm, this looks good, I going to play it. Castlevania is probably the longest running franchise in the horror genre starting it's debut on the NES more then a decade ago. Most remember Castlevania for the Playstation. The 32-bit recreation of Symphony of the Night originally out for the Super Nintendo. All Castlevania besides the Playstation ports, of course, used orchestrated midi as the background music, and it wasn't bad a-tall. The 2D games always featured a vampire slayer, sometimes half vampire at birth. Komami's ^1st 3D sequel of the Playstation port ofSymphony of the Night (Konami©1997). The game, reviewed by many, was thought to be the best flavor of Castlevania. The original game created the first horror action game. I believe the idea was created after Ghosts and Goblins (©1986 Capcom) for the NES was a must have. It had everything to make people scared, had simpified, but repeative gameplay. It was also hard when the hero wasn't well equipped or low on health. The game doesn't let up when your low on health. I read reviews on many Castlevania games, and none were forgiving. This game may be the most forgiving of any just how it was executed. I should know since I already own Sythomony of the Night. Some people may disagree with me, but I think it's great that Komani updated the franchise in full 3D in Dolby Digital Pro Logic II. Lament of Innocence isspecular in 3D with solid controls following the design of Capcom's Devil May Cry also for PS2. The game isn't so much hard as it is executing the commands. Your constantly hacking away at demons including zombies, ghosts, ghost dogs and all kinds of undead. My hands were getting tired after an hour of this.

I really wonder if Crystal Dynamics, who develops & markets Legacy of Kain (Soul Reaver ©1996 – Present), copied Castlevania's gameplay.

The game focused on Leon Belmont, a knight who comes to save a princess stolen from her castle by a vampire. I know, one of those, but as princesses are concerned, you don't go on this epic journey holding her handneither, like in the game ICO. Leon starts out walking in the forest and he walks in a paralleldimension

The graphics are beautiful despite the hardware limitations. Lament of Innocence is very clean, and looks the way a game should look on a 3 year old console. I think it's amongst the best looking PS2 games available. Once the LoI loads at the beginning, you'll never see another loadingscreen. The visuals are already above average on a aging platform such as Playstation 2. Best of all, Konami made it run at 30 frames per second all the time, no slow downs. Not that the PS2 can't handle 60 frames (the best you can get – silky smooth animation), just that any graphics acceleration doing 300 MHz is limited for anything better then 30. PS2 is less powerful, when comparing to Xbox clocking at 733 Mhz, doing 60 fps easily, 95% of the time. Lament has a lot of gothic detail, but it's also very lunar game. You'll play in a well designed castle dating back in the 11^th century. The game was developed by Komani like the other Castlevanias so I really wished they used the Metal Gear Solid 2 engine. Maybe they did, I dunno, but MGS2 seemed to out class anything before it simply because no game can visually come that close. Gamecube and Xbox may have better looking games, but this game is exclusive to that of Sony. The game had it's two year developing cycle which should be enough time for any developer to make a decent game. Playstation 2 is known for it's games and in-game cutscenes. Leon stars in a lot ofcutscenes which add flavor and a solid storyline to the game. This game is a pussy cat compared to Resident Evil and Silent Hill, you'll see much less gore, just blood mostly. A lot of blood. This is the age of videogames where every game, to be ahead, needs decent voice acting with well donecinematics. Lament of Innocence does this, and is fairly good at it. The voice acting follows the footsteps of Final Fantasy X. Cutscenes with voice overs are abundant. Komani already makes cutting edge CGI video seen in Metal Gear Solid 2.

In my opinion, gameplay is solid. Komani knows how to execute gameplay, and they (the designers, coders, debuggers, and musicians) knew what is important in the game – the balance between the strength of good and evil. The result is second to none. I mean what is the main focus. Is it to do a lot of exploring? Is Leon going to be this guy who guards or will he put up a fight all the time? Will he be weak or strong in the gameplay? Some games like Metal Gear Solid will allow you to be stealthy, very difficult at times. This is why I think this game closely resembles a platform game. Leon performs a lot of moves including special attacks which he learns. When the time comes to execute one, they will be notice that makes a statement in the middle of the game. It also will feather advance in the game. I like this setup. I makes this game much less complicated in learning curve so I can focus killing demons. If I had a favorite action game, this game would be a difficult one to placeamongst my favorites. It has many exploring options, also in platform games, and your constantly picking a fight. Blood is cool. Unfortunately for my hands, action can not, and will not ever slow down. I stop because I get dizzy after 1.5 hours of going all out all the time. This is what the game is about, you'll be on the edge of your seat all the time.

The background music is repetitive, but it's worth listening too. Especially when it's music is enhanced with Dolby Digital Pro Logic II. This is a slight, but noticeable difference between Stereo, and DDPLII Stereo Surround. I know for a fact that one guitar solo in Castlevania 3 (©1992 Sega Genesis) called “The Devil's Lullaby” was one of the best game music ever. Evidence of the original tune is present in Lament. It has the right amount of movie quality dark orchestrated music. The game doesn't have one kind of soundtrack, which is good, and I think that most reviewers over look this. A game like this is a good example of how variety in the game's music makes a difference! Every boss in this game has their own theme, which is awesome! The music doesn't disappoint.

Conclusion is this game is mainly a serious hack and slash title. If you are a big fan of Diablo, you might prefer this game over others. The music is great. There are a lot of cutscenes. The graphics are above average for PS2 and you'll get plenty to do. I can't really tell you how long it is. It's truly modeled after Legacy of Kain ( Soul Reaver.)

Posted by Ian on November 26, 2003 6:20PM CST

Summing up Castlevania : Lament of Innoeence
Graphics	9.5	Great
Control	9.0	Good.
Orginalism	8.5	We seen this in Castlevania before. What the hell, the game's still fun.
Sound Effects	10	Awe-inspiring
Replayibly	NA	I don't know yet.

PS2 - Xenosaga Episode I

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Namco
A.) Great Voice Acitng	Publisher : Monthsoft
B.) A really questionable battle system	Released August 26, 2003
C.) Confusing misson objectives
D.) Power ups and resistances.	Type : not your typical Role Playing Game

This game is the prequel of Xenosaga for the PSone from Squaresoft. I haven’t played the original, but from the reviewer ratings, the game sounds really good buy. This game is a little dated now released on a dated system we know as PS2. But what they hell they said, Playstation 2 is Playstation 2, the only console that a developer can score big on now-a-days. This game, with a development cycle of over 2 years, didn’t come to a surprise to Square fans. The graphics were above average to begin with, the cinema is really good for a game of this type. The game is essentially one big movie with all the full motion video in it.

The Story

The game begins in 2022 when people discover an alien artifact in the ocean. They examine it, and human kind haven’t scratched its technology. This makes us feel really good. Four hundred years later we are already in deep space with advanced technology so advanced that it’s really been programmed in artificial life that is made to look human. Other Mech-Warrior type machines help protect the space ships of alien races. This race is highly evolved and their ships are composed of living organisms. A person Sharon creates an prototype artificial life form called KOS-MOS, which really protects Sharon where ever she goes. All the alien race wants, who can easy make humans look primitive, with their much more advance technology, want the ancient artifact humans had for centuries. Aliens, who outnumber the ships crew, eventually steal an emulator of the real thing. This emulator is not as powerful as the real thing, but the ship relies on it. We automatically realize that human-kind is on the losing end of the battle.

Graphics

I love the graphics, but their not like Xbox graphics which are razor sharp. With a talented staff, which Namco has plenty of, they can do something high profile. This looks like a clean atmosphere and a huge laboratory. The creatures need a little work though. I’m going to take a couple points off because I like Grandia monsters better then this one. Final Fantasy X even had better monsters then this game. The game offers a high polygon count put suffers prepared to many graphically updated franchises like Soul Caliber 2, Jak and Dexter, and Metal Gear Solid 2.

Aren’t Battle Systems odd?

I gotta tell you that this battle system is no easy one. For one it’s harder then hell to upgrade your weapons and mech weapons. There are no escape options in the battle menu itself, instead you use a “Run-Away Spell” The game relies heavy on your Ether Points (essentially your mana), and use then for special attacks and spells like the Run-Away Spell. Guarding during battles will reduce damage to your character and it’ll put ether points on your character. I feel that this game is a lot of one character healing another character a lot while the attacking character gets all the damage. It’s a lot of damage on some occasions it’s frightening to know that your mech, which only Shanon can summon early in the game, does not REGAIN health points during battle, after battle.

I don’t get this EMAIL THING. It’s suppose to help me upgrade my mechs, but it doesn’t help at all. Where do I upgrade my mechs? I don’t have the adequate parts to upgrade my weapons. This game reminds me of Metroid Prime because throughout the game, one of your objectives is to find missing machine gun, plasma gun parts so that your character can upgrade, and without any upgrade, ouch! You might as well start the game over. It Sucks, Luckily it’s is only horrid when you really need the hit points.

Game’s Strength

This game is already a cult classic because it’s going to be the longest running franchise in videogames. A highly original franchise with true sequels unlike Final Fantasy. Okay I take that back, Resident Evil may have been the longest. Or could it be the Street Fighter franchise?

Xenosaga: The Interactive Movie

Namco made this game so that you’ll be watching cut scenes more then you play the game. It seems like with Namco really going to make 5 more sequels of Xenosaga across three Playstations, than this is a long-ass movie!

Music? What Music?

I have to admit, music doesn’t make a game rock like this one. This game made it on the “Top 100 Games of this Generation” by Game Informer Magazine (The November 2003 issue) Music isn’t one the main attributes of Xenosaga Episode 1. But voice acting in this game really, really stands out since all the characters have multiple speech patterns. Even the little guy has his/her place in this game performed by 100s of voice talents. And you thought that only sport franchises had 1000s of key fraises

Xenosaga Episode 1 Uncut

Namco is re-releasing Xenosaga when Xenosaga Episode 2 comes out in 2004. The new final build of the first game has English voiceovers and new costumes, as well as a couple mini-quest Unlike Final Fantasy X International (which was only released in Europe) Xenosaga Episode 1 Uncut will come to North America.

Conclusions

This is not your Final Fantasy. It’ll be a challenge from middle to finish. I like the game because I enjoy watching the cinematics. Not all people agree with me. The battle system is okay, somewhat playable, but confusing when your enemy is immune to some of your attacks and spells. Why does the enemy have an advantage over your party? Why do you get your ass kicked so easily? Why must I beat this game to see the ending … or teaser for Part 2? I love the mech and graphics of Xenosaga. I love the character design too. There’s a lot that I love about this game, and too many things that I hate about it. (posted on October 30, 2003 1:38 PM)

Summing up XenoSaga Eposode 1
Graphics	9.0	The game has a high polygon rate. With no popups.
Control	7.5	SThe battle itself is really good. There are aspects of the menu that get congusing quickly. How do I upgrade my weapons again?
Orginalism	NA
Sound Effects	9.5	Voice acting is on par with Final Fantany X
Replayibly	NA	I don't know yet.

PS2 - Devil May Cry review

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Capcom
A.) Upgraded Resident Evil franchise that shares adtributes of Genma Onimusha .	Publisher : Capcom
B.) The game's focus is to challege you, but with the guns you can have fun doing so.	Released August 26, 2003
C.) Mission based objectives.
D.) Power ups and resistances.	Type : 3rd Person Action

Game fact: Devil May Cry is a Resident Evil clone made by the same developer. If you like Resident Evil, then you will like this game better (^-^)

Devil May Cry assumes the role of Dante, a half man / half demon bounty hunter with a missing pass. This guy has been pierced with too many swords. That must be his darker half of his body. Chuckle. Dante starts off with a pair of guns and a long sword. Dante can use the sword very fast against his enemies. In the beginning of the game he encounters evil dolls. Now think of Resident Evil when you enter this castle. It’s basically a trademarked idea. Look for items to unlock new areas by defeating a group of enemies or finding keys. When destroying statues to open gain access to boss sequences for the most part, have to first know where it is. It’s pretty ironic. I lot of times you spend a lot of your time searching for a key item and you run into the same enemies over and over again. Just like in Resident Evil when zombies come a live. They become stronger the second time around. I did say this game is a upgrade of Resident Evil. It reminds me of the dark police station in RE2. The game uses still, fixed camera. The very beginning or Mission 1 of the game isn’t hard. Dante can easily over power any enemy with his sword. In Mission 2, Dante gets a brand new sword. This is after he puts a magical staff on a statue. This sword is twice as good as the first. The mission 3 is kind of hard with the scorpion to start the level off. Beware his fireball. But of course you can shoot the fireball with a shotgun and take hit points off the beast.

Dante’s control scheme is much like Resident Evils. Unlike Resident Evil you’re not under equipped. Dante is very athletic. He has many guns to play with along the way of this adventure. He can jump off walls to get to new areas. He can be shielded with energy (L1 on duel shock 2 to toggle) Dante has special moves when he is using guns or different ones when he’s using a kick ass sword.

At the end of each mission, you get mission results. These results are timed based. If you aren’t totally lost ( I use a faq when ever possible ) Dante will finish within a 30 minutes from the beginning of the mission to the end of the mission. If Dante can zip through the mission when he is replaying a mission, then it’s likely he’ll spend 10 – 15 minutes on the mission. It’s really not any bother how much time you spend on the game. It just makes your score go higher. I try jumping around. I try not staying in the same place all the time. I know I’ll press the right button at the right time that something will happen. I just will have to fight more enemies who will regenerate each time I go pass a certain area. Having a shotgun equipped is fun though, and keeps the game interesting.

(article posted on September 10, 2003)

Summing up Devil May Cry
Graphics	9.0	The game is gothic.Dante's character model is good. His trench coat moves with the wind when you control him. His a But it's a good kind of gothic. Your in a run down castle with many devilish characters including pocessed doors.
Control	10.0	Soul Caliber 2 is like the orginal except it's gone multiplatform. The PS2 has a bit better handle on this fighter though. I am disappointed that it's a button masher. The game is quicker then the first game.
Orginalism	NA
Sound Effects	NA
Replayibly	NA	I don't know yet.

The Australian brainfuck

I hate high school. I am the only right-wing guy in the whole academy. These classmates always had a car full of students with an Australian who is Labour (socialist). These students don't say the pledge. I was on my Gameboy Advance during lunch break. These kids were learning socialist politics from the fucking Australian. I was left to roam the streets. The "Whitest black person anyone ever knew" called me racist. I drew something awful and it was both a hammer and sickle and swastika and ran away from school a few times, because I couldn't make up my mind about Jake ( African-American)! They brainwashed me out of politics. I knew one thing, they definitely wanted me to talk at the academy over staying completely mute.

I pretty much hang around Chuck Peskar and Shawn Worm, who were definitely liberal, but definitely weren't Australian Labour Party members. He was fun, because we walked to gether sometimes, and played Unreal Tournament 99 at his house online. He let me us it. He has an obsolete PC with Windows 2000 with a load of Mp3s on it like 2PAC. His Brother has a PC with Debian Linux on it. Montez was a Labour party person herself, because politics didn't matter as far as she was concerned. Carol Motez rule with a stick so it was weird combo (her/Australian). I graduated with a B+ GPA diploma; however, the dogs class really sucked. I knew the Australian family was getting away from the VAT tax in Australia. I didn't pass the Navy test so I'm not exactly going to try again. It was really hard to do that math. I learned a lot more at the private school called Calvin Academy in Moundsview, Minnesota where I was a stray A student. It was a one-on-one education. I thought bullshit, it had everything to do with socialist politics and that the Afghanistan War is going to last for 5 years or more. The students were doing countries, and one did the Russia and he drew the hammer and sickle on his picture that one day. Another picked Germany and drew a Swastika on his. I think I can explain the hammer and sickle.

Yep, I was alienated due to being right-wing.

PS2 - Final Fantasy X-2 review

Final Fantasy X-2

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Squaresoft
A.)Take this game as a Final Fantasy X sequel.	Publisher :Square-Enix
B.) A lot of objectives. This game will keep you accupide for hours.	Released Novemeber 11, 2003
C.) Comes with some of the best FMV ever created
D.) A lot of cutscenes.	Type : Role Playing Game

Here is my review of the first sequel to a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy is notorious for being a solid, and well-liked game on any platform. The story takes 2 years after Yuna defeats Sin and turned Sphira into Eternal Calm. The developer, Squaresoft, took the original code of the first game and put it in X-2. Everything that was familiar in the first game is here in this game including all the characters. Squaresoft managed to improve the physics engine since their last title. This is not Squaresoft’s first project since Final Fantasy X. The first game to be developed was Kingdom Hearts, released last year, which combined Square’s most detailed engine.

The game opens up with Yuna a Summoner turned pop star. The game soon after reveals the plot on the Gillwing Airship. Yuna, Rikku and Paine as the three main characters are now Sphere Hunters. The Sphere hunters where created by the Youth Group and the Al Bhed to locate all the former technology that was created 1000 years later. Yuna is using it to find a look a like of the main character in FFX, Tidus. The game is already set 2 years after he started looking for him. Like the first game, Yuna finds Spheres which recorded the past. That’s the plot of the story. And later, Yuna meets a group apart of the Youth Group called the Leblanc Syndicate. Leblanc, the leader, can change herself to look like Yuna with a special sphere. However in the beginning of the game, Yuna gets that sphere back. This sphere might have something to do with the ending of the game, although the story is really foggy. Yuna is part of the Gillwings now. The Gillwings are neutral to New Yevon, a democratic country that owns most of Sphera and the Youth League and New Yevan are against each other in their ideas on how to rule Sphira. Later in the game, Yuna will have to make the overwhelming decision of befriending once side. Final Fantasy X-2 has three ending movies depending on the way you make the game end. This adds more replay value, because you can play the game over to see two alternate endings.

The plot does take part in the story. But most of the RPG is about completing missions that are acquired by jobs. There are small jobs and large jobs. Such examples are the Marriage Mission that spans all the game. One thing positive about Final Fantasy X-2 is that no mission is required to be done immediately. With the use of the Gillwing Airship you “fly” to any location that you want to, and back track to locations on the globe that you’ve already been too.

Final Fantasy X-2 is not better then Final Fantasy X - although it is a sequel with similar characters and locations. Instead of keeping the Sphere Grid, Square changed the battle system to a Garment Grid. This grid allows any main character to change abilities or as the game calls it….jobs. This selection screen can be accessed in REAL MODE, formally called Action Time Battle, in enemy or boss battles. Campaign Mode will always allow character to interact with their surroundings. The Garment Grid totals 10 garments in the game. There is a gun mage, black mage, white mage, thief, warrior, paladin, sorceress type job too. There are more, but I forgot what they are called. Each Job has 6 skills that can be mastered as easily as just using the skill often. You also level up automatically as long as you use the same skill. Some skills are better to use in different areas. Although the default jobs for the top main characters, Yuna, Paine and Rikku are most likely the best overall skills to use. The game tells you how much further until the game are completed. I’m about 18% through with FFX-2, and I seen no reason to switch garments unless there was some enemy in the game that was resistant to physical attacks, which you will see sometimes. It may frustrate a novice gamer because everything is so fast paced. Which is a definitely a good thing according me and most other RPG fans. Squaresoft has one prime purpose, and that is to create a fun, addicting game that RPGS fans around the globe enjoy. I don’t think they ever had a game that failed to sell well.

The most obvious reason that people got this game was that the battle sequences where in full 3D. That part hasn’t changed. In FFX and FFX-2 there was always a limit of 3 characters that could be on screen at once. However, since the sequel uses the same buttons as the original on the Duel Shock II controller, FFX fans will know which buttons do what. X is attack. Square is always find locations for activation codes for Macha and/or find spheres. Triangle can access is the menus screen only during both real mode and campaign mode. Circle is always cancel used to cancel any commands in the game or highlight the cancel. In fact during some long cut-scenes, circle can stop them by pressing the START button during one of them.

The graphics are better then that they were in Final Fantasy X. Remember FFX had FMV, 3D graphics and a solid REAL MODE. The game can push out a lot of polygons to make it look well close to, well Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts and FFX-2 could use the same physics engine.

My final comments in the game are ….

I have some personal favorites about this game too. I really bought this game to see if it stood up to it’s predecessor. FFX was ground braking in the FMV department, the REAL Mode department and the experience department. It did have some catchy tunes. So far this game is pretty good. I’m really one of those people who played RPGs, and all Squaresoft games are essential. They started games including Parasite Eve, Xenogears, and Breath of Fire for other developers to continue. Just because they have so much experience backing them, doesn’t mean that no one can create a game that outperforms games from Square. Namco and Capcom have come very close to creating large scale games that meet the magnitude of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. Square develops the highest percentage of Role Playing Games on current consoles. Although Squaresoft tried entering the Racing Genre (with Emotion Type S Racing) 1 Action Fighting Genre (The Bouncer), even the Baseball Genre (Japanese Baseball) they’ve came out average to below average on their attempts. Although Parasite Eve recieved good online reviews. They’ve managed to develop over 20 RPGs for PC, NES, SNES, Gameboy, Playstation, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and Wonderspan spanning 17 years of their existence. Perhaps down the road, with so many gigabytes available on DVDs, gamers might see re-releases of old games on future platforms. Squaresoft released all their old school Final Fantasy games on Playstation. Something that Nintendo is also notorious for doing on Gamecube – if you know what I’m leading too? If not, I’ll fill in the details. Nintendo re-released the popular N64 game. Legend of Zelda Orcania of Time and Master Quest expansion pack on Gamecube. They also included Metroid with Metroid Prime. Super Mario Bros, and Legend of Zelda included with Animal Kingdom. Nintendo is also bragging about the release of all Legend of Zelda games re-released called simply dubbed “The Zelda Collection” that’ll will definably be a must buy for any RPG lover owning a Gamecube. Rumors say that a popular Final Fantasy game from the NES or SNES days is going to be re-released on Gamecube with a bonus disk or unlockable game in FF: Crystal Chronicles. This has nothing to do with Final Fantasy X-2. But it may mean in 5 to 10 years we might see a re-release of Final Fantasy in the future. Latest Rumors on the Internet say that Final Fantasy 7 will be updated onto PS2, but there are no details to it except for the new Final Fantasy movie coming out next year based after the events of Final Fantasy 7. If you never played Final Fantasy 7 before or any other Final Fantasy game, I wouldn’t worry about it. Final Fantasy X-2 is a worthy title to own. I like it almost as I like the prequel.

"Posted on Decmeber 20, 2003 4:10 AM"

Summing up Final Fantasy X-2
Graphics	9.5	Great
Control	9.0	Good.
Orginalism	8.0	OK
Sound Effects	8.3	Good but not jaw-dropping
Replayibly	NA	I don't know yet.