The game play in this installment of the series seems gimmicky with a few basic RPG elements, a turn base battle system; and instead of leveling up your characters through the crystrarium to enhance them similar to Final Fantasy X, and you can also upgrade weapons and equipment similar to Final Fantasy VIII. The battles are no longer random enemy encounters happen when you come into the view of the enemy.Summonings are still in the game and can be commanded to attack similar to Final Fantasy VIII but now can transform into vehicles and assist in battle.  After playing 20 plus hours of beautiful movie quality cut scenes the game does start to get interesting, but starts to lose its shine due to  linear progressing before breaking to watch a beautiful story sequence.

The story takes place in Cocoon a utopian sky city that has had a long period of peace and prosperity due to its benevolent protectors the fal’Ce. With the discovery of a hostile fal’Ce from Pulse the lower world is awaken from it’s slumber, peace on Cocoon comes to an end. The fal’Ce curses humans making them l’Ce giving them magical abilities but forced to carry out their focus or be turned into crystals, a fate far worse than death. Players control a misfit group of I’Ce out to save a world that fears them and out to change their destiny. Unlike previous games this Final Fantasy focuses more on the character’s humanity than the esoteric creating a story you can grow feelings for the characters.

Battles in Final Fantasy XIII are about picking actions from the menu like previous versions but in this installment you only have control of one character while the computer controls the rest of your party. The new features do slightly raise the complexity, reducing an enemy’s hit points isn’t enough to defeat them; you have to fill up a separate gauge to “stagger” your enemy making them vulnerable to stronger attacks. Your also able to assign certain roles to characters, medic lets you heal, ravager lets you use attack based magic, and synergist lets you strengthen your party with support based magic, your also able to switch roles in battle using the paradigm shift to change your strategy during battles

While the new changes made to the series are always expected I was kind of disappointed in the execution with the linear game play, aside from the compelling story, beautiful CG movies , and entrapping story it feels like this experiment in the  series was a failure in delivering the ground breaking game play we have come to expect of the series.

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Like most action games combat is a key factor and if you ever played God of War you will do fine in Dante’s Inferno, your primary weapon is a scythe you also wield a cross for your ranged attacks to keep a good distance from you and your foes. Many elements similar to God of War are found throughout the game like the timed attacks and collection of souls, also your finishing moves give you the option of judging enemies by either punishing them or absolving their sins. Collecting souls gives you the opportunity to customize Dante and relics let you receive additional boost as well give bonuses such as increased damage, regenerative health and magic.

This game is targeted towards a mature audience with the levels based around the sins in the divine comedy. Dante’s Inferno pushes the mature rating to the envelope with plenty of nudity and shock value. All of the nine circle of hell are very nicely textured and graphic mixed in with beautiful CG movies for dramatic plot points and animated sequences. As well as pretty solid down loadable content with the dark forest and the trails of St.Lucia with new enemies and online co-op online play .

Overall the story and level designs are impressive me and the game play is very easy to get use to, it’s a great game once you get past over the God of war similarities Dante’s Inferno is a good game and the down loadable content  gives the game a very high replay value. And with the down loadable content with the prequel level the dark forest you get new relics , enemies , and puzzles, while the trails of St. Lucia offers co-op playing letting you play with a friend and create and edit levels you can play or let others play and rate. While not all that much original in game play Dante’s Inferno does stand on it’s own with the down loadable content and replay value.

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This game was developed by Quantic Dream, who developed ‘Indigo Prophecy’ (or ‘Fahrenheit’ in other regions). It follows four characters, than seemingly unrelated, converge into one story. Without spoiling the story, the game centers on ‘The Origami Killer’, a psychopath who has a penchant for drowning 10 year old boys in rain water and leaving their bodies posed with an origami figure. Each character is seeking this deranged maniac for different reasons, but it is clear from the get go that it will take great personal sacrifice. Normally in a game like this, it would not bother me to take any path to see what the outcome will be, but Heavy adds a level of intensity by clearly stating that any of the main characters can make a decision that will affect the outcome, but there are no do-overs. If you die or make the wrong decision, that’s it but the game will continue.

This is probably of the focal points that makes this game a must for adventure fans. The story is completely streamlined, and very engrossing. It takes elements from mystery and horror films like Saw, Seven (these being the most obvious of inspirations), the Cell, and even Blade Runner. Then it blends them into a interactive hard boiled thriller with a hint of science fiction, introduced with the ARI glasses that one of the characters uses. This is definitely the strong point of the game, which is rare for a videogame. Each main character is determined to seek their answers, but also damaged; The father who isn’t sure of his mental health, the reporter with insomnia, the FBI agent with a drug addiction, or a private investigator desperately trying to patch it all together. Each story is engrossing in it’s own way and ultimately no two players will reach the same outcome or experience the same unless they do every thing identical to the other. That’s how much time and effort were put into the story.

Still, with the great story and character development aside, the game does have it faults. The controls are developed to try bind a physical connection to the visual, to draw the player in more. While sometimes controls are purposely awkward to convey the nature of the game, they are also very wonky when they are not supposed to be. Sometimes they are perfect though, so it’s very hit and miss. They game itself is mostly comprised of Quick Time Events, but definitely more involved than some other games on the market. Also, Heavy Rain can be a beautifully detailed game at times, then it can be downright ugly. The facial modeling and animating at times can be downright scarily realistic, but then the voice actors can be downright wooden and unconvincing. Still, with all these faults, it doesn’t detract too much from the overall experience.

That’s what this game is, an experience. It will draw emotions from you, some of them uncomfortable and tense. My own wife tried to play this game but, once the story took off, she found it unbearable to play. Well, that and the control scheme.

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One of the first things that had me kind of concerned about this game is how it looks. The environments, the people, and the enemies just were not nearly as good looking as you would think an Xbox 360 game would be. Based on gameplay videos from the PC version, the 360 one took a bit of a hit when it got ported over. On top of that, there seemed to be a very limited amount of character models used in the game. So, if you are someone who absolutely has to have the most advanced, crisp graphics out there all the time, this may not be for you.

Another aspect of the game that had me a little put off at first was the combat. Everything about it just seemed awkward in the beginning, especially when there were multiple enemies on screen, thanks to the sometimes too sensitive camera. But with some patience, eventually you’ll find that after some combat training, it’s not so bad. You can also pretty much pause the combat at any time by accessing your inventory. For some reason though, after you close the inventory screen, you are out of combat mode and have to quickly try and get back into it again, something that, on quite a few occasions, caused the potion that I drank to be pretty much wasted after losing the health I just gained back.

The storyline in Risen is actually pretty interesting. You play as a stowaway on a ship that ends up getting shipwrecked on the island of Faranga. As you explore the island, you discover there are two factions you can join up with (which also dictates which class you’ll play as), The Don’s bandits or the Inquisitor’s magic users/warrior monks. Both factions eventually end up working towards the same goal, saving the island from impending doom. The character that you play as is quite funny at times, poking fun at quest givers and just generally being a jerk, something I can definitely appreciate.

Questing in Risen was kind of a mixed bag for me. There are a ton of quests to do, especially during the first parts of the game. Even questing towards the option to buy the first bit of armor as a bandit (that I actually wanted to wear) took quite a while to do. The only thing about them that bothered me just a bit was the quest log. It seemed only a little useful at times, reminding you of what exactly was said in dialogue with the quest giver while placing a sometimes misleading dot on the map to show you where your objective might be.

Which brings me to to what I think is actually one of the more respectable things about this game: there’s not really a ton of hand-holding to be found here. Too many games nowadays seem to spoon feed everything to you and get rid of the need for an instruction booklet by making the first portion of the game a tutorial that tells you everything you need to know. Not to say that the build-up to choosing your faction/class is not a tutorial of sorts, but it definitely did not tell me everything. For instance, I was sent by The Don to invade a nearby Inquisitor owned camp with some NPC fighters. Things seemed to be going fine, but then I realized that the enemies were not dying like the wolves and boars that cease to exist once their health bars are empty. These guys were regaining their health and standing back up again, ready to continue beating on us. This eventually led to them killing off my NPC party members and capturing my character, forcing him into service of the Inquisitor. While it was interesting that I didn’t just have to reload an earlier save, it was a path I did not want to take. I ended up finding the ability to kill an NPC in the instruction booklet and decided to start over again from the beginning, since there were quite a few that I wanted to get rid of.

One way Risen does end up giving you direction is through the enemies you encounter throughout the world. Unlike other open-world games like Oblivion, creatures don’t scale to your level. If you’re going to an area you shouldn’t be in, a monster that will either kill you in one hit or take many of your hits without getting damaged lets you know you’re out of bounds. This added a bit of tension for me while exploring the island, unsure of when I’d run into something that would show me the reason why I save every 10 minutes.

All in all, Risen is a solid, old school style open-world RPG. Those that are too use to the modern, in-game walkthrough style of game design may be in for a bit of a shock, while those that crave the lack of direction that was found in older RPGs will thoroughly enjoy this.

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The story seems like a clear cut light versus dark, (at first). There are 2 clans: the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches, guardians of the stones known as The Eyes of the World. Bayonetta’s past is hazy and you spend most of the game figuring out why she was banished and what her ultimate goal is. All you know is, she’s a super sexy, overly confident, kick-ass fighter who hunts down angels. She’ll encounter Jeanne, a mysterious woman who appears to have the same set of skills, and is someone from her past. A man named Luka, who claims you killed his father and a little girl who calls you “Mummy” and looks extremely familiar.

You dual wield guns, not only with your hands but with your feet. Your enemies frequently drop melee weapons you can pick up, which have a short life span, but are very effective. Most of the combos are done with 2 buttons (Y and B if you’re playing Xbox) and you can experiment with them during the loading screens, where they list them for you.

Cash comes in the form of halos, dropped by your enemies or by destroying environmental props. You can buy upgrades for weapons and skills, or new accessories and items by visiting your supplier in Hell. Boss mobs also drop Angelic records, which unlock bonus items or are worth a lot of cash.

Bayonetta’s powers include Witch Time (slow motion, if you dodge at the last minute), Witch Walk (walk on walls when the moon comes out), The Beast Within (cat form for speed) and buyable upgrades that allow you to transform into a flock of bats or a crow. Her big finishing moves involve her hair/clothes coming off and forming a giant hair demon, which varies in form (dragon, spider, giant hands, millipede, parrot, etc).

Health and temporary bonuses come in the form of lollipops, which can be bought, crafted or won. Besides halos, you’ll also collect herbs to make your candy. There’s also an arcade-style game between levels called Angel Attack, where you can win more.

The settings vary from what look like a modernized Renaissance Italy, to present day cityscapes to celestial worlds. There’s a nice variety of enemies, that are a visual blend of horror and angelic. When you start to get bored of the usual way of fighting, the game throws you on a motorcycle, or on the back of torpedo. I thought Bayonetta’s cocky personality would get old quickly but whoever wrote her dialogue kept her sharp tongue entertaining. Her initial interaction with the little girl is priceless.

It took me a little while to get past the confusion on the screen. There’s so much happening and Bayonetta moves so fast it’s hard to figure out what’s going on. As long as you dodge in time and mash the 2 main buttons, she’ll always do something cool.

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The game defaults to tilt control, which is how I choose to play. You have the option of switching to touch control, but it feels like cheating. But after looking at some of the achievements, like “Stack a Burger to the Moon” I might have to rethink my strategy. The physics of the stack work nicely, so the higher it gets, the more it sways and the more difficult it becomes to control. The graphics are simple, clean and nicely designed. The only addition I would have liked to see would be some variety in the ingredients, or maybe bonus ingredients, but otherwise, no complaints here.

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A magical artifact known as the Trine intertwines the lives of 3 characters: Amadeus the Magnificent, (a barely competent mage), Zoya the thief and Pontius the Brave, our fearless knight. They must use their combined skills to solve and battle their way to the end to free themselves. The mage can move most objects with magic, as well as conjure platforms and boxes for areas which might be difficult to cross. The thief can shoot regular arrows and fire arrows, but more importantly has a grappling hook which enables her to swing across gaps or travel up to areas no one else can reach. I found myself using her the most because she was the best at traveling and also seemed to jump slightly higher than the other two. The knight uses a sword and shield, which enables him to effectively block attacks or falling objects. With upgrades he can also learn to throw heavy objects and smash things with a hammer.

Along the way you collect vials of experience, health and energy. Collect enough experience vials and you can upgrade your characters (multiple arrows, higher damage, multiple platforms etc.). You’ll also come across chests, which contain armor or various accessories for all 3 characters. There are frequent checkpoints, so if all 3 characters die, you won’t have to restart the level.

The fantasy environments are stunning. Beautifully lit, detailed and rendered. Animation is great and so is the occasional voice acting. The 2D artwork at the beginning and end are a little disappointing considering the caliber of artwork in the actual game. My main gripe is the lack of variety in mobs. Skeletons, and lots of them. Sure, some wear armor, some are archers and others breathe fire, but they’re still skeletons. There are occasional troll/orc looking guys, bats and spiders, but I wish there had been bad guys that matched whichever board you happened to be in.

Figuring out how to get from point A to point B isn’t difficult, but depending how you upgrade your characters, there are many ways to approach the same challenge. As I mentioned, I preferred using the thief to travel, but you could just as easily conjure platforms and boxes to get across. It definitely got a little more challenging as the game progressed, but I never hit a point where I was so frustrated I wanted to give up. It was enjoyable enough and short enough that I would gladly play it again and try different tactics. This definitely makes my list of favorite games.

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The game itself is lots of fun, even for the uninitiated, especially if you are playing it on the Nintendo Wii. You pick up your Bakugan balls and throw them onto the field. Using a series of special moves and techniques, you are able to launch your Bakugan into play and pick up huge bonuses while trying to land on your opponents gate card. While the Bakugan ball is rolling, your opponent can shoot at you trying to knock your trajectory off course. There is also a tug of war game, and a shooting gallery style game as well that makes full use of the Wii Remote features.
Battling is simple and easy, though it can get quite indepth. Once you deploy your Bakugan, you use various ability cards to boost its strength, or G Power, and in the end, whichever Bakugan has the most usually wins. The game is simple, yet quite advanced when you start using combos and real strategy. It’s even more fun in the 2v2 tag team battle mode where 4 of your friends can play together.

As you advance through the game, you climb in the ranks of Battle Brawlers. You also collect more and more Bakugans, and get more powerful ability and gate cards. Players get to meet their favorite Bakugan characters and even battle characters and Bakugan from the cartoon. The game centers around your avatar that you build and your special Bakugan that comes to you through the doom dimension named Leonidas. He is mysterious, and nobody knows for sure what his real purpose is on Earth. As you progress through the game, you get tips from the Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and you slowly unlock the story which leads to an epic battle to save Earth and New Vestroia!
The battles are really a lot of fun. Each battle field has different advantages and disadvantages, and you get a home field advantage for your Bakugan attribute types. There are six different attributes, Pyrus or fire, Aquos or water, Subterra or earth, Ventus or plants, Darkus or darkness, and Haos or light. Each attribute also has a special shot that lets you control how you throw your Bakugan in special ways. There is a lot of depth to this game, both from a gameplay perspective and a plot perspective.

Overall, this game doesn’t take very long to beat and unlock all the secrets, but there is a decent amount of replay value in the multiplayer levels, and it will be a huge hit for any kids who are already fans of the toys. It also comes with some exclusive Bakugan balls like the limited edition white Naga that has some pretty cool special abilities. For both the initiated and the uninitiated, the new Bakugan Battle Brawlers video game is fun and exciting.

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Dissidia is the combination of an RPG and a fighting game, pitting both heroes and villains from the first 10 games in the Final Fantasy series against one another in an eternal conflict between the gods Cosmos and Chaos. The fighting portion of the game isn’t exactly in the same vein as Street Fighter or SoulCalibur. Rather than using directional inputs and button combos like in the aforementioned titles, you use much simpler button presses to deplete one of the two different stats your opponent has, Bravery and Hit Points. The amount of Bravery a character has is equal to how much damage they inflict upon the opponent’s HP meter. Combining this with the EX attacks (special attacks from the actual games, like Cloud’s Omnislash) and summons that use their powers when certain conditions are met (Bravery reaches zero, etc.), you have quite a unique system that may take some a few matches to get use to.

Role-playing elements are also a large part of the game. Characters can level up to the usual Final Fantasy max of 99, tons of different weapons and armor appear in shops, skills become available as your character progresses, and even an accessory creation system makes an appearance. Just like in the other FF games, you can level grind if a particular enemy is too tough. Instead of running around in a circle to load up random encounters to do so, you just keep doing quick battles. However, if you are in the midst of a character’s story and get to a boss you can’t seem to beat, the only way to get to the quick battle mode is to lose whatever progress was made and start over again after some levels are gained.

Speaking of the story mode, unlike other Final Fantasy titles, the tales told in Dissidia did not really interest me. While it was intriguing seeing some of my favorite characters interact with one another in the games cut scenes, each of the 10 beginning stories told seemed pretty similar and became something I stopped bothering to pay attention to after the first five were completed. Each of the chapters has a few cutscenes using the gorgeous in-game graphics and horrible voice acting.  After you complete one of the character’s stories, a new branch called Shade Impulse becomes available. This four chapter ending of the game’s main mode was more interesting than the rest of the narrative that came before it, but concludes with one of the most irritating boss fights you could ever conceive of. Not only is this one of the cheapest opponents you’ll come across, the stage it takes place on is not even remotely close to the size of any of the other 11 available.

Though Dissidia’s stages are mostly huge, wide open areas, a few of them have enclosed portions that don’t seem to do well with the camera. There were more than a few times where my view was obstructed by a wall or the ceiling, effectively keeping me from dodging the computer opponent’s attacks. Additionally, when combined with the lock-on targeting system, having an opponent on the other side of the wall or ceiling left me awkwardly struggling to get out of the corner.

Even though the stages and camera were a bit disappointing, the amount of stuff Square managed to pack into the game more than made up for it. There’s a calendar system that rewards you for playing on certain days of the week, moogles send you random letters every day with prizes attached, a museum that holds all the things you’ve collected, and a second shop to buy more characters, costumes, and in game bonuses. You also have the option to save and edit replays of your matches with a pretty decent editor. Along with these things, there’s everything you could imagine a Final Fantasy fan would spread a nostalgic smile at to be found somewhere in this UMD, from 8-bit sprites to music from each of the series titles.

All in all, Dissidia: Final Fantasy was one of the best games I have played on the PSP since Crisis Core. With amazing graphics, a ton of nostalgic content, and a fairly unique battle system, it’s no wonder why my battery has finally been dying from use, rather than from being in sleep mode for weeks. Any fan of Final Fantasy would be doing themselves a huge disservice by not at least checking out this game.

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