A Killer Sequel

Sequels tend to do one of two things: one, act as a method by which a developer can lean on past works and positive critical acclaim to drive quick, easy sales for fast cash, or two, allow developers a chance to soften up the rough edges of a title and see their initial vision through to a better, more polished end the second time around.

The former, much like in Hollywood, is abused far too often and really gives sequels as a whole a bad wrap, to the point that even talking about anticipation of an upcoming sequel draws snappy comments and glaring looks from those smug, thumb-your-nose types who like to ramble on about how sequels are cop-outs that ruin creative thinking and are instead developer cash-ins on an old idea gone stale because they couldn't do something new and exciting. Yeah, we both know the types. But in a world where developers like EA can crank out an entirely "new" sports game every 9 months, or a market that will actually accept (and gladly support) eleven different Mario Party games - not even copy cats, mind you - since 1999, can you blame them?

The answer is no, especially since for every Mario Party or Madden (well, maybe every 2-3) there is instead a fresh, new, interesting concept that just needs a few adjustments to really shine or perhaps has a new tale to tell outside of its original one. Can you imagine what gaming would be like if we didn't have sequels? We'd never have Half-Life 2. You would never know of the wonders of Hyrule in 3-D (or reimagined 2-D for that matter). There would be no Final Fantasy 7 to spark the JRPG craze, no Grand Theft Auto 3 to practically define 'sandbox' gaming as we know it. And of course, more recently, we wouldn't have an Assassin's Creed 2. And that would be a real shame.

Granted, I'm not one of those people that really had that big of a problem with the first game. Yes I could see some small flaws but as a whole - and especially for a new IP trying to broaden or even change the definition of an entire genre - it was a near masterpiece of technical execution and a driving force in defining this generation of console's interactive entertainment. Sure there were some glitches, yeah not everything was totally polished and if you really forced yourself to be a completionist but didn't like it you would easily get frustrated, but as far as first passes go it was really a tour de force. But at that point I'm really reaching for reasons to fault the game aside from just admiting that even the best things aren't perfect.

That is, of course, until now. Assassin's Creed 2 is so much more vast, detailed, immersive and open-ended that it makes the first game look like a tech demo by comparison. I will not lie when I say that this was easily my most anticipated game of the year and I went in expecting great things, only to be blown away by how much more improved and built up everything was. Does it still have flaws? Definitely. Is it better in every way than the original? Absolutely. Is it "Game of the Year"? Well I don't remember exactly everything that came out this year (I should probably do a retrospective and comment on that) but it is easily up there with the rest of them, and likely leading. If you liked the first one even a little bit - if some small bit got you pulled in but you got frustrated, or maybe you liked it but thought it was a bit bland, or were aggrivated with the glitchy PS3 version, or just never really got all that into it, just close this window right now and go get a copy because I can almost guarantee this game will convince you that Ubisoft knows what it is doing, and doing it well.

Story wise the premise is the same - you go back in time (kinda) to become an Assassin and learn more about his life and the ultimate part you (the 'present day' character) play in this story. Except that the sequel picks up almost immediately where the first one left off and does not lazily walk you through the tutorial. From the first second you power on the game you are thrown into a hostile situation and you must learn (or relearn) many of the basic moves by means of actively using, not passively learning and copying. It is, in my opinion, a much more captivating way to familiarize the player to the controls that keeps them interested and doesn't make them feel like they have to have their hands held the entire time. The way they explain the concept of the control method, "puppeteering" (where the 4 buttons each represent a part of the body at all times) is especially neat and I think conveys the system's intent much better than the first game.
 
The first thing you will notice, though, as things cool down is that this time the story is not so much about the 'Assassin' of the past as it is the person. You spend a fair amount of time living out Ezio Auditore's (our new Assassin) early adult life, meeting his family and setting the stage for his eventual transition into the role of the Assassin and how he gets involved in all this. In the first game, Altair was not exactly a mute but he often was merely a tool used by Ubisoft to tell the story or give it more of a central point. You never really learn much about him, he's not even really all that likeable (he gets demoted for basically being a self centered know-it-all) and he really never is that relatable for a few breif moments near the end of the game. It is clear that Ubisoft spent more of it's time developing and crafting a world around Ezio (who you play as 95% of the time anyway) instead of throwing the part away as a gameplay device and trying to focus as much on the present time, and it shows. It helps make the game feel like it can stand on it's own more because you at least complete Ezio's part in the game (save the soon-to-be-released DLC), making the now famous cliffhanger endings that much more bearable. With more time spent on characters in that world as well, it gives many more unique and powerful supporting roles that really helps bring Italy alive as you play and explore. The world feels bigger, yet less vacant. There are more people but they aren't just more empty faces in a crowd. And there's more story of the character you actually play and get invested in, not of the one you rarely see. Overall, the presentation is improved in nearly every way and it really shows.
 
Gameplay wise, again, nearly the same, but with noted improvements to fix what was seen as 'bad' with the first one or just to make things a bit more intriguing or fun. Your arsenal grows substantially, and while you still have your staples in the hidden blade, short sword and sword, you can now pick custom weapons that have different strengths and weaknesses (ability to deflect, damage dealt, etc) as well as a slew of new (and wicked deadly) methods to choose from. Try the poison, which you can use on an unsuspecting guard to send them flailing around in a beserk rage at those around him before he expires. Or the smoke bombs, to quickly get out of sticky situations without having to be constantly chased down and knocked over by guards. There are many more incredibly useful new toys to play with, but I'll do my best to save you the surprises for yourself in case you ever pick up the game. Suffice it to say that if you ever found yourself thinking that the fighting in the first game was too boring and repetitive, there are so many new weapons and gadgets to choose from that you'll be hard pressed to go even 10 minutes killing every guard the same way.
 
And, ironically enough, you hardly even have to fight if you don't want to. New gameplay options like blending and hiring helpers can get you much farther much faster than just brute force slayings ever could. Need some guards distracted? Hire some courtesans to flirt with them while you sneak past. How about need some guards moved so you can go for the kill on the guy they are guarding? Call over some theives and have them steal from one of the guards and they will give chase. Maybe you just want to get through a crowded, guarded area without being seen. Blend in with crowds and even walk with them undetected (and not just select people like the first game - pretty much any group of peope). Of course, if you prefer the brute force method, round up a few mercenary friends to fight by your side as you take down a large group of enemies. There are many ways to help keep the pressure off you so you don't have to fight 40 guards between you and your next true victim.
 
Speaking of victims, the story plays out much more like a story now and much less like a list of chores you need to accomplish before you are given your allowance. No more choosing from a list of side missions that are available and being forced to complete some number of them before you are allowed to proceed. Everything you do plays its part in the story and helps to set up the next kill in a very linear, easy to follow fashion. Side missions are still there - races make a still-aggrivating comeback, as well as do small-fry assassinations and new events like "beat ups" - but they are entirely optional and usually only give money and completion. Many of the hired, non-story assassinations end up being quite challening and fun, and there are so many that if you do every side mission between 'real' ones that you could easily go 3-5 hours between story bits just exploring and completing things that have recently opened up to you. Even more OCD things - like feather collecting - make an appearance, but even they are more well organized and better executed than the first.
 
The main storyline offers enough different gameplay to really show off the new system and keep you interested while not becoming too monotonous (with one notable exception being the 'fetch' quest at the end, but even then that's probably not too bad unless you just ignored every side item available to you ever), all the while improved and expanded on with a better story and characters to really help it along. At this point if you honestly think the game is still "repetitive" you either need to be doing something different every 5 seconds, in which case you need professional help for some supercharged ADHD, or you just have a vendetta against the game and like to use popular buzzwords to slap it down. Between your new toys, the new missions and the much better story and characters, there is really no reason for you to go around doing the same thing every time except your own laziness.
 
Graphically the game is a marvel of the raw power of this generation of devices (just like the last), but is even more pleasing because instead of harsh, bland desert to see for miles around you get things like green mountainsides, vast oceans or bustling cities. Somehow the facial animations and lip-synching seem to have taken a bizzare step in the backwards direction, often being difficult or awkward to look in close ups but otherwise fine at long distance, but otherwise animation is generally smooth and impressive. The new kills and counter kills are incredibly brutal (and an absolute joy to watch) although the occasional hiccup/glitch can sometimes leave you stealing money from out of the air or breaking the 'knee' of a wall but considering all the incredible things it tries to accomplish I can almost say that I'm amazed it doesn't happen more. All together it's significantly more polished than the first ever was, but it leaves me wondering if perhaps they are capping out the raw throughput of current-gen tech and are just having to find weird or different ways to hide it in the world as it grows and evolves.
 
When all is said and done, Assassin's Creed 2 is everything done right in a sequel: Improvements across the board in almost every possible way while really expanding the scope of the game and helping cement it's style in place. It is extremely difficult to think of a reason NOT to recommend this game as I believe even people who strongly disliked the first have a good reason to give this one a try, and people who loved the first have no excuse for not already owning it. A few minor flaws aside, Assassin's Creed 2 helps Ubisoft prove it has a winner in it's newest franchise that only left me wanting more, which I will get in the form of DLC in January and Feburary. After that, well, it's probably another 2 years of wondering exactly where the next game will take place and patiently waiting for even the smallest hints of news about it. After seeing how much they improved between #1 and #2, I can't wait to see what they can do with the third iteration.

It'll leave you wishing for an apocalypse...

A friend of mine recently reminded me (read: chided me) for not reviewing recently, and after looking here and realizing I haven't written anything since early September, I have to completely agree with him. I've been lazy and should really fix that. So, here we go, the completion of  something I started in September (although I don't feel bad because the game is over a year old at this point) and promise of attempting to be more diligent in the future (we're heard that one before though, right?).

I actually had someone request two reviews of me: one was for World of Goo, which I was more than happy to do, and Fallout 3. While it looks like I'm merely doing these because I was requested to (more requests are certainly appreciated, hint hint), the fact that I just very recently finished it is equally as good of an excuse to write a review for it. So, while the game is not exactly new, my experience of definitely it is.

I will honestly say that, besides being aware of the Fallout franchise, I was otherwise completely oblivious to anything about it. I haven't played the first two games, nor any of the spinoffs associated with it, so I was completely oblivious of its history and roots. The first time I actually even saw a Fallout game was at PAX08, watching the Bethesda team show off their demos on the expo floor and going to the Fallout 3 panel to watch them more fully explain/show off what the game could do. The game looked impressive visually, but I had one small problem with it that I couldn't overcome that prevented me from getting hyped about it. Ironically, that problem is freedom.

You see, I am one of those people that still has nightmares about Morrowind. I can not even begin to tell you how many times I have started Morrowind, only to get so engrossed and so involved in the game that I completely forgot where I was, what I was doing or where I was attempting to go. The freedom offered by those games actually paralyzes me to the point that I no longer find interest in the game because I cannot keep focused on anything and get overwhelmed at what I've gotten myself into. Case in point: on one play though, I was playing through Morrowind and had gotten about as far as I'd ever gotten. I'd done my best to try and stay focused on ONLY the main story and to give it my best shot at "beating" the game, if it's even possible to call it that. I played off and on for several weeks, not devoting my full attention to it but simply attempting to continue to move through the game. I got to a quest in the game that required me to retrieve a special book of some kind, I don't exactly remember what, but I had (apparently) already gone and picked up this book... and promptly lost it. I looked around the town to see if I had sold it somewhere, or perhaps placed it down in one of my impromptu "houses" but it was completely lost. My freedom to steal, sell, and place absolutely anything anywhere had found a way to block my progress yet again, and to this day I've never gotten farther than that.

So when people talked about Fallout being "like Oblivion" (which I had never picked up for much the same reasons), and it was being created by pretty much the exact same team, I was instantly turned off. Another open world game that I'm going to get completely lost in? Yeah, no thanks. So I managed to survive the hype, watching as Bethesda released the game to huge critical and commercial success, pushed out a truckload of extra DLC goodies, and maintain a constant stream of coverage in gaming news and commentary articles everywhere. But eventually, as I tend to do, I caved. Too many people just said too many good things about this game for me to ignore it anymore. I just had to play the final copy for myself to see if it was actually something I can get into.

100 hours later, I think I can safely say that was a good decision (if not a really, really long one).

The game has a very interesting way of starting you off in a sort of glorified tutorial, letting you see your own birth, determining what you would look like in the future, using your baby years to determine your stats, and your teenage years to determine your skills or style of play. It does a pretty good job of catering to both newcomers and replayers alike, allowing you to skip the test parts to determine your own stats directly without requiring you to know the specific answers you need to choose. It is always nice when a developer takes the boring (yet often necessary) tutorial and spends time working it into their world. Certainly much more friendly, intuitive and fun to do than sitting through screen after screen of character creation options like I did in Morrowind.It really helps add to that sense of being involved in the story and a part of the world.

After your story really begins, well, you step out into one of the most expansive and marvelous spans of desolation and destruction I've seen in a while. Yes, it suffers from your standard "realistic graphics" problems - lots of greys and browns with nothing really stylized or colorful to speak of - and the post apocalyptic setting does absolutely nothing to help this. Most of what you'll see in the world is little more than an eerily empty wasteland, occasionally inhabited by wild creatures or bandits. But that doesn't mean the entire world suffers for it. It may be hard to have the drab, boring landscapes take you in, but that style really does capture the state of the world quite well and help make the few inhabited areas of the world feel a little bit more lively. Despite not being much to look at aesthetically, some areas really will catch your attention. Maybe it's the skyscraper that stands tall over the otherwise ruined buildings, the luscious trees clumped together in the middle of the barren world, or just the shock of seeing the more iconic monuments of Washington D.C. partially destroyed and overrun with mutants. It may be somewhat bland and dark, but the game presents itself quite well and uses what it has to full effect.

Unfortunately, that means both the good with the bad. People still look and 'feel' more like robots than they do humans, shuffling stiffly from area to area and never really looking 'normal' doing so. Dialogue and facial animations are even worse, never quite selling you on what is being said and the emotion being portrayed, which is sad because the voice acting in the game is rather top-notch. The radio personality "Three Dog" (or is it "dawg"?) has a very powerful and interesting personality over the radio, made even stronger by the fact he is often your last connection to humanity as you traverse the empty wastes in your quest, but in person the mystique and personality is just ruined by clunky animations and awful facial expressions. Maybe Valve has really spoiled us with the amazing work they did on Half Life 2, but it has been very hard of late to find games that can truly overcome the stiff, robotic feel of physical movement and speech.

Fortunately for you, very little of that matters because you will be so busy lapping up the detailed world and all of the things you can do in it that you'll hardly notice (or care) all that much about those things. While Fallout 3 is probably as expansive (if not more so) than Morrowind, it solves many of the problems I had with it through better gameplay decisions and UI choices. While there are many missions you may choose to go on at any time, they are all noted, collected and organized directly with your map in a way that leaves absolutely no question as to where you need to go or what you need to do. Even notes or speech that triggered the objective are kept around in case you would like to listen again or might need a specific piece of information to guide you in the right direction. This is especially true of the main story, where it is most needed, and really helps because often times you will spend 8-10 hours doing side tasks and completely forget what you were doing and where you needed to go.

There are still some small quests that have no formal means of tracking, but these are usually side quests that have no real bearing on the story (or your character) and are more for the rewards, back story, or just to add general flavor to the world. While it is easy to get lost or forget what you were doing on those, I'm personally OK with that because it did not hinder me from 'beating' the game and allows those who are interested in doing so they chance to really explore the world on their own. Despite being so adamant about wanting to make sure I always have a firm grasp of where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do next in a game, I still believe that there should be some reward and sense of accomplishment for just exploring, as that is something that many people still like to do.

Fast travel is an amazing addition, letting you quickly travel to any place you've been to before, from anywhere in the world, so long as you aren't near enemies or in an area where you shouldn't be able to do so. Some may argue that it ruins the size of the world by being able to do that, but very rarely do I want to spend 20-30 minutes trekking back to a town just to buy or sell something. I get a good enough idea of the size and scope of the world as I am uncovering new places and going new areas. I don't want to be reminded of how big it is when the game tells me I need to go halfway across the map for my next quest, I just want to get back to the action!

Like any good Bethesda RPG, you can customize your character in any number of ways - from hair to shape to stats and abilities - and can play the game multiple different ways and still succeed. I chose to play as a sneaky, small arms type but you could just as easily be a tough, big arms type or a quick, melee weapon fighter (or even a more dialogue and bartering type, although there are parts where combat is difficult if not impossible to avoid). How you interact with the populace and complete missions can effect your karma score, making you and angel or a devil in the eyes of the world and changing how they interact and deal with you in other ways. Maybe as an evil character, good NPCs might be more wary of you or unwilling to co-operate, or as a good player you are showered with gifts and adoration from the ones that you have saved from the harsh realities of the wasteland.

There is nothing terribly fancy that occurs based on your alignment (with a few notable exceptions), and typically it is just another "stat" that you can customize that affects what your character has access to, but the system is well implemented throughout and would make a second playthrough as the opposite type feel and play very different. Unfortunately it is extremely easy to become evil and very difficult and time consuming to go back to good, and occasionally you will perform actions that have consequences you did not expect or intend, but overall it does help make you feel like you are having a real impact on the world around you and the lives you are affecting (for good or ill).

The combat is generally fun and entertaining - especially as you crit and blow off limbs or the like - and the VATS system helps break it up a little bit by letting you aim for weak spots and take down enemies faster. Of course, there is so much to do in the world and so many different places to explore that eventually it can start to feel very repetitive and boring regardless of how fun or interesting it was, especially on enemies to whom you are not well equipped (or built) to handle. For instance, my small arms character had a very difficult time with many of the robotic enemies because few (if any) of my weapons did significant damage to them and they tend to have very large health pools to go with their very high damage resistance. The combat is just no longer very interesting when you have to dump 5-6 entire clips worth of ammunition into something and continuously heal hoping that you can kill it before it kills you. I suppose that, when playing as a character that focused on bigger, more powerful weapons, those types of mobs might not be very tedious, but then you couldn't sneak past many fights like I could, so it seems like every playstyle might have a few aggravating moments to it. Not that 'a few moments' are enough to ruin a 100 hour experience, but they are still worth noting.

Occasionally, combat bugs out and will shoot areas you did not intend or otherwise not perform as expected, but this is a rare (and unfortunate) occurrence that is just one part of a much larger problem the game suffers from: bugs. And I don't mean the radscorpions that hunt you down in game. I mean the "whoops my game froze and I haven't saved in a while", "I'm being attacked but can't see my enemy", " I'm looking for an NPC who hasn't spawned or is walking the wasteland for no apparent reason" kind. You would be hard pressed to play 2-3 hours of the game without running into some kind of bug, although most of them are small and not huge deal breakers. There are enough big ones to really give you a headache, and in fact I stopped playing after nearly 100 hours due to a bug that prevented me from collecting all of the bobble heads, so the game is far from perfect on that. I feel bad even mentioning it, considering what a monumental task it must be to expect someone to actually be able to test, find, and fix every single bug in a game as massive as Fallout 3, but just because I understand the amount of time it would take to find and fix it does not assuage me when I fall victim to one myself. If I had one *real* complaint about the game it would be the number of bugs that still exist, even after all of the patches.

Despite this, the game maintains a very nice level of overall polish that really helps it stand out. The individual portions of the game might not be incredible on their own - the story is good but not exceptional, the voices are well done but the characters are poorly animated, etc - but the way that Bethesda has weaved them all together and just the sheer amount of love and detail that has gone into creating this world is more than enough reason to give this game a shot. Not only does the disc itself have enough content to last you 60+ hours, but there are 5 downloadable expansions that can easily extend the game into the 100 hour range (note: I only downloaded and played Broken Steel, which I thought was very good), and if that's not enough you could always play through again as a different combat style or alignment for an almost completely new experience. If you are the kind of person that hates buying games for a 6 hour campaign only to then shelf it for life, you do not need worry here. This game will be with you a long, long time.

So what are you waiting for? Post Apocalyptic America is calling your name.

Proof that Physics is Phun!

In the past few years I have slowly come to grips with the fact that the video game industry is producing more content than I am capable of actually partaking of. Despite having interest in dozens of new games each year, the physical limitations placed upon me by the flow of time cause me to purchase and really play about 6 or so. This problem is further compounded by used and older game prices falling drastically over time, allowing me to make impulse decisions and purchase games I might not otherwise have purchased simply for the sake of experimentation (I certainly would have not purchased something like The Simpsons at full price, although it ended up being slightly better than expected). What does this mean? Well, it means I'm staring a fall release schedule square in the face, 4 months away from the yearly gift giving extravaganza, a stack of almost 8 games either unbeaten or unplayed across multiple platforms sitting next to me, and many still sitting on store shelves currently tempting me with tales of intrigue and adventure. It's just not fair, I tell you.

But in reality, the person it's not fair for is not me - it's smaller developers. How does an independent developer compete with companies like Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Blizzard - not just in quality, but in marketing, visibility and promotion? It was often very hard trying to sell niche games in profitable quantities when the only thing on a gamer's mind was a mutli-million dollar budget, super huge mega-triple-AAA first party title that was coming out soon. It wasn't exactly impossible, but you had to make deals with devils - often getting bigger companies like Activision or Ubisoft to help publish and promote you, at the obvious cost of some independence and profit. Even with a promoter and critical acclaim, many unique titles fell by the wayside due to sheer glut of the market. You always hear stories about these types of games - like Pyschonauts, Okami or Beyond Good and Evil - that get rave reviews but still bomb in the marketplace. Breaking out in the industry is not easy.

Enter: digital distribution. Things like Steam, the Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and PSN have helped to dramatically improve and streamline distribution channels to the end consumer. The limited number of potential users (vs. Retail), restrictions on content (file size), and general scope of the game (usually smaller, cheaper titles; possibly episodic) for a time scared away big developers used to the tried and true method of "release to retail at $50/$60 and sell millions". It was a new frontier of delivery and many companies were afraid or just didn't know how to handle the changes to the norm. But it's time like these where little developers willing to take risks and innovate can really shine and become known. And, thus, World of Goo was born. Or Oozed. Or whatever.

Moving on.

It seems likely you've heard of World of Goo by now: the media was in a love affair over the game and it is often touted as the poster child for how digital distribution can be done properly. And, to be fair, rightly so. Like Braid, the story of it's development cycle seems to be something based on a work of fiction instead of real life. That 3 people could collaborate and create a game for as little as $100,000 (as a point of reference, Halo 3 is reported to have cost $30 million to develop, not including marketing/promotion) that could go on to win numerous awards and receive critical praise, wide industry awareness and strong sales is an absolutely astonishing feat. World of Goo has helped to show that Digital Distribution is the savior of unique, niche, or independent titles that otherwise could never make it in the original industry model. But you're not here for a history lesson, are you? You want to know if the game was actually worth the $15. The answer is, unequivocally, yes.

Graphically, do not approach this game thinking you will be partaking in high art, seeing super-realistic-looking environments, or being blown away by special effects. The game looks like it could have been drawn by a child and, by and large, makes no attempts to stun or wow you with effects and colors. But what it lacks in "traditional" graphics, it makes up in spades with atmosphere, simplicity and innovation. The first time you look at World of Goo, it seems very rudimentary. But the game builds upon this very simple base and transports you places and shows you things that will often surprising and intrigue you. Maybe it's the subtle animations of the "characters", the goo that you interact with as you play the game bursting to life. Maybe it is the bizarre and interactive environments, like the frog creature you build a bridge out of, or the green tinted, pixelated backdrops. Whatever it is, World of Goo has ways of grabbing and maintaining your attention in ways that are not standard in the industry, and that makes the final product that much more appealing. It is no where close to the best looking game I've ever played, but that hardly keeps it from being enjoyable to look at.

Where the game truly begins to shine is in it's deceivingly simple but additively challenging gameplay. At it's core, World of Goo is nothing more than your basic, run of the mill physics puzzle: build a structure spanning point A to point B and win. The first few levels hardly deviate from this base, but as you progress with the game new options and new challenges await. New goo balls are added as you progress that drastically alter what you can do in the world and how you go about achieving your goals. Balloon type goo balls help to hold your colossal structures aloft, but perhaps there are now hazards on the ground which must be avoided. Red goo balls are highly flamable, so you have to make sure that you don't get them near any sort of flame or your whole tower will come crumbling down in a ball of fire. There is also goo that detaches and can be reattached to make progressive, "moving" structures, slimey goo that merely hangs off wherever it is attached, goo balls that may be flung as projectiles to new locations... the list goes on and on. Just when you think you've mastered the current set of tools given to you, a new goo type is introduced and you are required to rethink all of your strategies to adapt to this new addition. It really helps to keep the game fresh and new over the course of the five chapters.

That fact alone is probably what sold me on World of Goo being so good. The amount of content available, the variety, and the way it is presented is done very well and keeps you engaged throughout the entire game. It doesn't throw it at you too fast, nor does it hold your hand the entire way (although it does give you hints and tips as you first meet different goo types). Nothing feels forced or awkward; each type is well fleshed out to provide unique challenges that keep gameplay fun. You hardly, if ever, play the same level twice, although it will sometimes ask you to peform similar tasks with new twists. Despite being essentially the same thing over and over again (build tower or bridge, get to pipe, win level), there is so much that changes and alters the world that it always feels different. In a sense, it is like Portal: a simple, unique gameplay element that is aways modified slightly to constantly evolve into newer and better things without feeling stale. But don't worry, World of Goo will give you more play time than Portal.

That's because, not only are there dozens of levels and tons of different goo types, but each level has a specific challenge (called OCD) that is specific to that level. Sometimes it is finishing the level with a large number of extra goo balls. Other times, it's completing the level in a specific amount of time. (Personally, those are the most annoying, because being both quick and accurate on the PC/Wiiware is more aggrivating than it is worth.) And these aren't throw away challenges, either. These are genuinely hard. Heck, many of the levels themselves are exceptionally difficult without going for challenges. OCD is a perfectly appropriate term for people who are dedicated and willing enough to try and earn all the flags. This is not, by any means, an easy task.

To top it off, the game also includes a completely optional sort of "sand box" mode, where you are tasked with taking all of the goo balls you save on each level and build it into as tall of a tower as you possibly can. This is then constantly updated into their online data base, which you can compare against your friends and against other people in the game. It will show you (in the background) people whose towers are just a little bit higher than yours, always taunting you to continue the climb and try to reach that next level of edificial fame. I'm pretty sure that's not a real word, but I like the sound of it so I'm going with it.

Perhaps it's just the engineer in me talking, but all of this together made for a very fun, extremely addictive game that I was able to complete over a span of a few weeks. It is nice to have games like World of Goo, that are very easy to pick up and put down for any length of time while still feeling like you are accomplishing something (that is, if you can drag yourself away from it long enough to put it down). While it does have it's share of frustrations, especially as you build a large tower only to have it topple 5 yards from the goal, there is a way to "go back" a few moves on most levels to prevent yourself from having to start all over. Don't waste them, though, because you eventually run out and do have to start from scratch.

All in all, World of Goo represents the coming of the digital, independent age. It is living proof that a good idea does not need thousands of developers and millions of dollars to be a critical and commercial success. Sure, it didn't make as much as Halo does and it may not sell as many copies as a Mario game, but proves that all it takes is a great idea and a few good people and you can make your way in the industry. The future of digital distriution has never looked so bright.... or gooey. If you have even the slightest interest in this genre, it comes highly recommended.

Judge not, lest ye be judged

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance had its flaws, but the game was enjoyable and gave Square Enix a great start to something that could turn into a viable series on portable systems. Since I do not own PSP, and as such have not played Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, I had been relegated to patiently waiting for Square-Enix to develop a sequel to FFTA. It took them almost 5 years and a completely different portable system to make one, but the real question is: had they used that time wisely to improve on the faults of the original? It's difficult to answer straight yes or no (but you've come to expect this from me).

Enter Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimore of the Rift. The game is almost identical in looks to the first title, which is more good than bad considering some of the great art and technical marvel Square-Enix puts into its games. Immediately appealing to those new to the game and pleasantly inviting to fans of the original, the environments, characters and monsters are beautifully stylized and really help show how the Nintendo DS can excel when given proper artistic direction. But by now we've all learned that looks aren't everything, right?

Storywise, FFTA2 is very similar to FFTA, which is definitely not a compliment. Not only is it extremely shallow and completely lacking in immersion, but for those returning from the original it is nothing more than a plot rehash with a slightly different "flavor". There is a certain level of fan service vis a vis some character cameos and the like, as well as a more fleshed out tie in to other "Ivalice Alliance" games (FFTA, FFXII, etc), but it feels very uninspired and is not even close to being original and unique. It doesn't turn me off from the game completely, since I'm mostly there to play the game like an excel spreadsheet on steroids, but when I'm not even the least bit bothered that the new 20 missions available to me are going to cause me to not see the story play out for at least another 2 weeks I begin to grow concerned, or at the very least disappointed. Perhaps I am just too spoiled by the huge, epic flair of normal Final Fantasy games, but even the original FFT (for all it's confusion) was bizarre, twisted and interesting. I don't think I should be at fault for hoping that a game's story will at least pique my interest, if not hold it.

It certainly doesn't help that most of the characters are equally as shallow and uninviting. The main character is an almost exact copy from FFTA: lost, helpless and attempting to find his way home. The "love interest" starts out actually being a very curious character, but is later dragged along in normal cliche fashion, presumably for ease of plot integration. The cameos are awkwardly forced and especially bland (although perhaps this is because I've yet to give FFXII it's due diligence) and most of your squad mates are just randomly named, mindless drones that you have no real connection with. This is where Fire Emblem greatly outshines the FFT series - all characters you control are given a story, a life and a purpose and it really helps add in that extra layer of immersion and interest. When your characters are nameless zombies that just happen to be along for the ride, well, they are more like tools than people, and the onus is left on what few story "characters" there are to carry a load they are just simply unable to bear successfully. It is just really hard to build anything of meaning or substance around an entire world of battle fodder.

Design wise, the game comes with just as many improvements on the original as it does new problems. There are still many of the things here that made FFTA so good: an astonishing number of missions, a diversity of mission goals, a large number of available jobs and races, mastering abilities through equipped items, etc. All the basics necessary for a truly extraordinary strategy experience are here, but once again it gets dragged down by absurd design decisions.

First off you have laws. Yes, laws are back, but they have been changed so surely they fixed them, right? Perhaps in word, but not in fact. Maybe Square-Enix only heard people complain about how laws punish you, so instead they flipped the idea on its head and had laws only reward you. "Neat", you might think, "they solved the biggest problem with laws". And at first, I completely agreed. No more jails! No more cards! No more ridiculous fines! And, like before, the first few missions go OK; a few utterly worthless rewards (mostly items you have dozens of already) and a small damage bonus or the like. Nothing to really make you hesitate to break laws, but a huge boon from the "punishable by severe hindrance" that was FFTA.

But where FFTA swings the pendulum too far into punishment, FFTA2 swings too far toward reward. At first it seems like a very contradictory statement - that offering too much reward is somehow 'bad' - but at some point not obtaining the reward becomes the new "severe punishment". You can at one point early in the game earn the ability to increase the AP you earn after a battle substantially. Since AP is used to learn new skills through items, it can generally be considered as a (usually very powerful) form of character progression, like leveling. Unfortunately, the bonus gets so huge that you feel almost hindered by the 'usual' method of leveling, and since breaking a law will lose you this reward it is often times still "better" (from a time spent perspective) to restart a mission and try again than it would be to suffer the consequences.

That is, of course, if you actually CHOSE to break that law. Often times, you do not. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I either accidentally broke a law. For instance, sometimes the law is vague and I'm not quite sure what would qualify. Sometimes I would just completely forget what the law was. Sometimes even randomness or computer controlled characters break laws for me. Crit a mob when you weren't supposed to? Have a character do more than X amount of damage? Sorry, start over. The worst yet is laws that were literally impossible to follow - like preventing higher level characters from attacking lower level ones... in zones where I have completely outleveled the mobs. How is that fun when you don't even have an OPTION to follow the laws? This puts us right back in the same spot we were in FFTA: laws becoming more of an inconvenience than a gameplay enhancing device.

Again, I'd love to have something that causes me to change my strategies that are not "choices" to be determined in a risk vs. reward scenario, because tuning the rewards with the risks is almost impossible to do in a game of this scope. Either the risk is too great and not worth taking or the reward is too little and not worth bothering with. And some of the laws - like "don't use daggers" or other super specific nonsense - require painstaking upkeep of character inventory, which is not really something I like doing outside of the already crazy amount I actually like doing to maximize character stats and abilities. If a min-maxer like myself doesn't like the absurd tediousness of the system, how can your average player have any hope of not becoming absolutely frustrated?

A passive, slight tilt of power in a specific direction that changes from mission to mission would be a significantly better implementation then a "risk/reward" system because it removes the choice aspect (which is near impossible to balance) and instead requires you to rethink your strategy and plan around it. Maybe melee damage is reduced by 25% so you focus a bit more on magic damage, or healing is reduced by 50% so you are required to play more defensively. Don't remove options completely, but shift balances of power just enough that it helps to promote a more adaptive tactical strategy for each fight. Something like this would help remove the monotony of using the same characters with the same moves in the same manners every fight and could really challenge the player to learn and master aspects of the game they previously did not focus on. It could just as easily go to far (i.e. all characters have magic immunity) and become insanely restrictive, but the idea is to not take it that far and still leave some options available to those with strange or unbalanced team builds.

Of course, to achieve this, you would also need to make the game actually difficult. Even playing on "hard" difficulty, the only time I was even remotely challenged by missions were the ones where I was grossly outleveled, i.e. my characters are level 30 and my enemies are level 90+. Strategy games are supposed to be about being mentally challenged, planning new strategies to overcome difficult obstacles and facing new challenges. Instead, FFTA2 is almost entirely devoid of even a modicum of difficulty and proceeding through missions feels tedious because you could win even without really paying attention to what was going on around you. I understand it is possible that my completionist nature and frequent use of Bonus AP 3 caused me to quickly out pace the challenges presented to me in the area of the game I was in, but even if that is the case I would hope they could find some way to scale in difficulty as you progressed. A strategy/tactics game that requires neither to play loses your interest very quickly; it would be like playing an FPS with nothing to shoot or an adventure game with nowhere to go. It just doesn't work.

Some of the new side items and tidbits are interesting, but by and large they do not stand up well over the course of the game. The "Auction" system is a unique minigame that you can play over time to gain control over territories and even win some items, and the 'achievement' style progression is really fun to work towards completing. Eventually, though, you gain the ability to simply buy so many coins that other clans cannot hope to ever win and the winnings no longer hold any real value to you for various reasons, so it falls by the wayside. The restrictions on times available and travel limitations compound frustrations with the system, especially when trying to build up clan power, and likely only act as a way to prevent you from winning everything on your first go.

The bazaar is one of my favorite new inclusions to the game, actually, and helps to add variety and challenges to obtaining new weapons beside amassing large amounts of gold. It also helps to give you small, incremental goals to work on while churning through the hundreds of missions in the game and gives your characters a much smoother progression curve than normal, as you can exert some choice behind how and when you collect the items necessary to create specific items. That being said, an actual guide and/or list of items and where to find them would be nice to have in the game itself. Frustrations with finding specific ones simply lead players to look them up online, which could be solved by at least providing some general direction or guidance for finding items.

My tone thus far might come off as strongly negative, but this is not because the game is completely terrible. Instead, it is because this is twice that I've seen what could otherwise be an extremely fun and interesting concept being mutilated by improper direction. This is clearly the case of Square-Enix trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and it is not doing their otherwise stellar game justice. I have easily put 90+ hours into FFTA2 over the course of several months and completed over 200 missions, but at one point my interest in the game began to wane. It simply offered no real challenge, provided nothing of intrigue (story, characters or otherwise) and was beginning to feel almost more like a chore than a game. Was it still worth playing? I'd say so. May I go back and finish it one day? Possibly, if I run out of other portable games. Could it have been much better? Yes. Definitely yes.

If you've purchased neither, I would definitely recommend Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (I guess that means I have to review that at some point) over FFTA2, but for anyone who enjoyed the first looking for a game that contains a lifetime and a half of solid (but not stellar) gameplay, FFTA2 would definitely be worth looking into.

You be the Judge

The original plan was to try and review both FFTA and FFTA2, but I felt that I should go ahead and release what I've completed so far to make up for almost 3 months of absence. It's been a pretty busy summer, and it doesn't help I've been excessively lazy about writing reviews too. I'll try to pick it back up as best I can. Without further ado, my review of Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced.

Final Fantasy Tactics was by far and away one of the best games on the original PlayStation. It had a nice but complex story (made even more difficult to comprehend by a shoddy translation), incredible art, great characters and - the real kicker - absolutely amazing gameplay. The 20 some odd jobs, the job tree, the experience/job point systems, itemization and skills made for insanely addicting tactical gameplay that you could lose yourself in for hours at a time. It received a fair amount of critical acclaim - certainly not as much as the coat tails it attempts to ride on - and sales were healthy for a spinoff title, so it is somewhat surprising that it took Square 6 years to create a true successor to the series. Even more surprising was the news it would be on a Nintendo platform.

Enter Final Fantasty Tactics Advance, considered by some to be Square and Nintendo's attempt to make up for the bad blood that turned up during the N64 era. As the ray of hope that the glory days of the SNES were back, there could be no greater. In the end, it became a confusing but strong portable installment of a beloved series. It certainly had its problems, and was not nearly as well received as it's predecessor (which ALSO had its own set of problems), but I still feel it was a good first attempt at moving tactical games over to portable systems. Understanding the faults and strengths of the original is key to breaking down the operating procedures of the sequel, which I intend to do next.

FFTA's greatest flaw (and, in my opinion, strength) was based around the very convoluted "law" system that was implemented to make each battle play out differently. The idea was that laws would be used to restrict specific actions and reward others in order to make you adapt your playstyle. This was a pretty promising concept - essentially preventing the usual monotony of using the same characters, abilities and skills on every map - and was really something I was looking forward to. As a lover of tactical/strategy games, one of my most annoying pet peeves is when one weapon or one action is so powerful that it becomes 90%+ of your damage. Examples would be things like always just "attacking" in RPGs to do damage, having very simplistic 1-2 spell "dps rotations" in MMOs, or having armies that consist of 1 type of unit in an RTS. It is neither fun nor challenging to the player to include a "hold A to win!" kind of battle system in your game. Which is why this "law" system seemed to be so promising. When described, it sounds exactly like something that would force you to think, plan, and deploy differently each battle and really require you to know how to use your units and maximize their abilities.

Unfortunately, the execution is very awkward and it becomes more frustrating than liberating. The system is enforced by judges that will monitor your actions and assign cards, similar to soccer, where breaking a law (without killing another unit) is a yellow card and breaking a law that results in the death of a unit is an immediate red card. Yellow cards usually bring monetary penalties with them - loss of gil or items - and sometimes even worse outcomes, like permanent stat reduction or loss of equipped items. The benefit of doing "recommended" actions is merely JP which can be used to perform summons later in the game, something almost completely unnecessary considering how easy and/or powerful your characters will be by that time if guided and leveled correctly. This means that breaking the law usually carried with it grave penalties that were sometimes way too harsh without offering any sort of real reward.

And since FFTA is a portable game where you can stop and start at a moment's notice, either by saving mid battle or perhaps just pausing for a few minutes, it was very easy to forget which laws were in effect and accidentally do something that was forbidden. What's worse, you might have a character "accidentally" break the law, by perhaps being confused or berserked by enemy players, adding significant frustration to an otherwise well planned battle. As the game continued on, it could stack 2 or even 3 laws in the same battle and perhaps render half or more of your army completely useless. What good is a black mage that can't use magic, or a soldier that can't attack? It's OK to have this happen when there is only 1 law and you can try and adapt your team around it, but when your entire team consists of dragoons because you can't use anyone else without fear of breaking the law, it has gone from a challenge to a nuisance.

What's worse (or better, as some may see it), after a point you were given the ability to change the laws at will with "law cards". At first this makes the system a bit more bearable, because you can cancel out laws that are extremely annoying or detrimental to your strategy. However, after a while it ends up being nothing more than an extra amount of micromanagement and tediousness on top of an already aggravating system. At this point you lose the best part about the system (forcing you to change up your tactics) and instead gain an awkwardly cumbersome card collection mechanic that feels more frustrating than fun. You must now scour the world for new cards, trading and searching and salvaging for a collection of the right ones to nullify an increasingly unbearable system of law.

Once you figure out how to cheese the system it gets a little better, but takes what little difficulty the game once had and just completely throws it out the window. When you can take a difficult level, use a card that makes attacking illegal, throw berserk on all your enemies and watch them all get thrown in prison, you're really not playing a game so much as abusing a mechanic. It takes away the strategy and challenge and replaces it with a completely laughable gimmick. Granted, most "boss" characters are immune to laws, but I'd rather the laws have been fleshed out a little better than having to just make difficult fights artificially difficult by letting bosses do whatever they well please without consequence.

Certain areas of the game are "lawless" zones, where judges and laws don't reach, a nice reprieve from the oppressive restrictions. Of course, we can't have a good thing without a bad, which means that these areas also allow your characters to permanently die if not resurrected quickly. While I'm all for this kind of gameplay element in Fire Emblem, it feels strangely out of place in the FFTA world. Battles and strategies are different between the two games, and FFTA tends to be more high damage, high risk type playing because you (normally) have no fear of character death. While the game is not difficult enough to offer any sort of real threat to your characters, fear of permanence (and infrequency of necessity to go to these areas much) means you generally put up with the laws as a lesser of two evils and avoid the lawless areas as much as possible. You can always get your characters out of prison later for a few gil, but if they die permanently, well, that's not exactly something you can easily come back from.

In the end, the entire law system ends up as a joke, offering no real rewards and, occasionally, punishments of cosmic proportions. You will more than likely find yourself turning off the game and restarting a battle instead of accepting your cruel fate, unless perhaps you love to see your hard work and strategy go down in flames at the hands of a merciless, bumbling AI. I can see where they were trying to go, but frankly that doesn't help when you're seconds away from throwing your GBA across the room because the main character just got a red card and it's "Game Over". It presents you with this strange rollercoaster ride of gameplay that seems to only get worse as you move forward - what is first simple and exciting quickly becomes overbearing and punishing, and when you finally have the ability to "counter" the laws it simply becomes a really tedious chore.

It is sad that the law system manifests the way it does, because I'm convinced that it actually could solve one of the last remaining "great flaws" in the RPG/strategy genres. Needing to adapt your strategy and your team on a fight by fight basis would be a great improvement to an otherwise impossible to balance battle system. It's the reason that so many people like the more fluid character swaps in games like FFX or the Breath of Fire series, and implemented correctly it could do wonders for FFTA. It could really bring a new level of challenge and Tactics to the game and really push you to the limit. Unfortunately here, it does more harm than good.

If you can put up with the law system, FFTA has enough content to keep you busy for quite some time, especially as you go for 100% completion. The jobs, numerous missions, secret characters and system link options give the game really long legs, especially for a portable title. Just don't expect the story to get you through, considering how simplistic and dumbed down the plot is, presumably to help lower the target audience age to better line up with the GBA's demographic. The characters are largely forgettable, unlikely to become true standouts in the series like Cloud or Kefka, the plot is barely even worth paying attention to and none of the side stories stand out or grab you like they did in the original FFT. None of that stopped me from completing the game twice over, though. Being an addictive, portable, pick-up-and-playable game makes it very easy to play in small 10-15 minute intervals over the course of several months. That is, as long as you make sure to pay attention to laws as you come back into battles.

While it is certainly not the strongest product wielding the Final Fantasy name, FFTA still acted as proof of a repairing of relations between Square and Nintendo and set a fair amount of precedent for future titles and releases to come. The law and judge systems even ended up being used/referenced in other Final Fantasy titles, most notable FFXII. The basic system was there, they proved you could make an excellent tactical game work on a small, portable console. Square also showed that they were still willing to give players lots and lots of gameplay to chew on if they so chose. It's just difficult to out-and-out recommend this title. I'm capable of putting up with alot of frustrating nonsense in tactical games, in the same way that some people get a sense of accomplishment constantly dying in Super Ghouls and Ghosts, and I realize that not everyone will be willing to put up with the law system as I was.

Seeing how it was marginally well received by critics and also sold relatively well, it's no surprise that they moved on to create another entry to the series...

...which is why my next post (hopefully out sooner than this one, sorry) will be about the more recent sequel, FFTA2.

For Great Justice

I've already talked once about the 'Ace Attorney' series (see this post), so a summation of this review is quite simply "more of the same". If you liked any of the previous Ace Attorney games, this one is definitely worth investing in. If you didn't, if you've never played one, or if you're still interested in what I've got to say, please, continue reading.

Ace Attorney got its start on the GBA in Japan with the Phoenix Wright series (although they don't call it that) but was never brought over to North America, presumably due to the high cost of translation and waning interest of the point and click adventure genre. With the introduction of the DS and the wave of popularity it was riding, Capcom saw fit to port the game over to the system since the touch screen capabilities basically screamed for it. When they did so they gave the game a chance in the NA market and it was such a hit that it sold out in stores after almost every shipment. This helped to revive the series and bring all 3 current games to the DS as ports, but also paved the way to 'reboot' the series and give it a new protagonist: enter Apollo Justice.

While much of the game is set in new places and introduces new characters, you'll also find your fair share of familiar faces and scenarios as you work your way through each case. While the older games are not intimately tied together (i.e. you can play Apollo Justice as your first game without fear of being lost or confused) there's a strong enough connection that I would suggest that you go play through the Phoenix Wright series first. It's not enough of a reason to highly discourage someone from playing this first, though; you'll end up having just as much fun without spoiling *too* much from the earlier games should you decide to play them later.

In the opening paragraph I mention that the game is "more of the same", and by and large this is a true statement. However, while Apollo Justice does play in the same manner as the original, the focus and difficulty is shifted enough to give each game its own unique feel even though gameplay is generally the same. The Phoenix Wright games tended to focus a large amount of time and story into the more 'detective' portions of the game, using items and information to break "Pysche-locks" on different characters who were witholding information or lying. The overall story, general investigation and plot twists largely occured around these events and set up the game to present court cases that, while they might have also included a few twists, were mostly a check to see if you could piece together the information in a (mostly) straightforward manner. You rarely 'died' in court because by the time you got there if you even linked a few things together you could put the rest in place before it required any serious commitment.

Apollo Justice, however, takes this method and flips it almost completely on its head. Apollo's power isn't in seeing Psyche-Locks, but in "perceiving" nervousness or lying. Instead of having the story play out in the investigation phases, most will play out in the courtroom as you unravel the witness's lies and the reality of the situation starts to become more clear. This makes the investigation portions much less important, so they end up acting as a sort of exposition for the case or a plot device for finding new evidence that your characters wouldn't have thought to collect on the first pass. This makes the court room portions a bit more challenging and dangerous that the rest of the game is just a narrative for. Or it would be, anyway if the game were difficult enough.

Perhaps Apollo Justice's greatest flaw* is that the game plays more like an interactive novel than it does a true point and click adventure. Since the meat of the game occurs in the courtroom - where you know you have all the evidence and all the characters in place - a large number of the "challenges" pan out to be nothing more than fairly simple deductions or, at worst, determining the improbable by removing the impossible. The 'challenge' in the Phoenix Wright series occurred during the investigation portions, where you were never really sure if you had all the information and you could always be missing a key piece of evidence or have not talked to someone thoroughly. It is true that it did suffer from the occasional frustrating or seemingly illogical conclusion you had to draw, but it is not as though we are talking about Myst here.

* I feel somewhat ill-at-ease for pointing out that it is "too easy" because this is something that is largely open to personal interpretation. Adventure games are notoriously difficult to "tune" because you either give the puzzle away in an attempt to placate a frustrated customer or you create an entire section of bald gamers who have pulled their hair out trying to solve your impossible-to-interpret-without-a-PHD riddle (i.e. the aforementioned Myst). How many hints do you give? When do you give them? Are they so big that they trivialize the puzzle or do they help them think about the problem in a different way? Different players will approach the game from different angles; some may never stumble and others might not make it past the first case. While other genres have concrete values that can be tweaked to adjust difficulty - health, damage, speed, ammo, etc - adventure games do not. What was "an interactive novel" to me might be "an interactive Sherlock Holmes novel" to someone else. Others may have been turned off by the frustrations of the first games but love the pacing and challenge level in this one. Let personal experience - and not my own - determine how difficult the game is, I'm merely noting that the game is noticeably easier than its predecessors.

Despite the change in difficulty, the game still delivers beautifully in most areas. The characters are all great and very fleshed out; even older familiar characters are given new roles or have changed significantly since the last installment. Each case is intriguing, and by the end they are all tied together in a very interesting way. The art is great and the 3d CG movies, while not amazing, are a nice touch. The writing is humorous and spot on for each character, only rarely feeling forced or uninspired. Even the gameplay itself is solid and offers a nice change of pace from the last 3 iterations. Actual use of the DS's functionality - mic, touch screen, etc - are especially welcome additions after being teased with the extra case from the first port. Of course, the game "suffers" from being one of the least replayable genres available, but it more than makes up for it by being a very solid, enjoyable first time experience.

While the game is worth playing overall, it is important to note that unless the series starts to introducing some new life into the gameplay, it might not remain fresh enough to allow for 2 more Apollo Justice games. The ending promises some interesting changes in the future, so let's hope that they can take those ideas and run with them while maintaining the high level of story quality and humor we've come to expect. The "Perfect Prosecutor" spinoff that's coming up should also help add some much needed variety to this otherwise stagnant series. That being said, Apollo Justice is a fine addition to the series and comes highly recommended for fans of the Phoenix Wright series, or fans of detective point and click adventures as a whole.

Dualing Banjos

Despite single handedly bringing the video game industry back from the verge of death and helping to firmly entrench the 'console' into the world of gaming in the same space as the all mighty PC, Nintendo hasn't exactly always been on top. Beginning with the introduction of the N64 in the late 90's, a series of miscalculations on Nintendo's part left the company in a downward spiral that continued into the Gamecube days and saw the once mighty giant knocked down to 3rd place behind two new contenders, Sony and Microsoft.

When you look at the N64's lifetime sales numbers and compare them to the Playstation 1, Nintendo sold only a third as many units as a company who had just released their first console. How does something like this happen? Was it the choice to stick with the more expensive and smaller storage cartridges over CDs? (Go read the wikipedia articles on the history of the CDi and the Playstation, by the way. Very interesting stuff) Lack of third party support? Poorly timed first party releases? The eventual explosion of the Final Fantasy series? It's hard to know for certian, but one thing we can be sure of is that people seemed to prefer the PS1 to the N64 almost 3:1.

That's not to say, however, that the N64 was a total loss. While Nintendo may only have itself to blame for it's spectacular failures, it has equal right in taking the credit for their monumental successes. The N64 brought us several classics that will surely stand the test of time, many if not all of which were first or second party choices. Ocarina of Time is constantly tagged as one of, if not the, the greatest game(s) of all time. Super Mario 64 gave the platformer life in 3D and developers today are still trying to surpass its greatness. Games like Star Fox 64 and F-Zero X each took on new life in their 64 bit days and received quite the cult followings even if they were not spectacular critical or commercial successes like Zelda and Mario.

The N64 era was also unique, though, because it was perhaps the first (and only) era where 2nd party developer Rare really showed what it could do. While Rare did have several 'cult' hits during the NES days (my personal favorites being Snake Rattle 'n' Roll and Battletoads) and some bigger hits on the SNES (Donkey Kong Country series, Killer Instinct), their N64 games are probably what they are most remembered for. Who doesn't remember the first time they played Goldeneye multiplayer, racing a pig in Diddy Kong Racing, playing counter-operative in Perfect Dark or blowing up buildings in Blast Corps? Even their more 'average' games - Donkey Kong 64 - were fun and enjoyable despite their weaknesses.

By now, of course, you've probably noticed the missing link to this puzzle (P.s. if you don't, read the post's title again for a hint). It is certainly a difficult call to make, but I believe if anything has been able to capture the magic and fun that is locked away deep inside Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie was it. Both are experiences in their own way and should not be missed, but while Mario 64 is simply the application of a known 2D formula in a 3D world, Banjo Kazooie represents something completely new altogether. New characters, a new world, a variety of moves and abilities, unique locations and a large helping of cartoon humor really helps Banjo Kazooie not only stand out from Mario 64, but excel in its own way.

---Banjo Kazooie---

Banjo Kazooie starts out like any other Mario game does - a female character has been kidnapped and it's up to our protagonist to save them! - but the stories couldn't possibly be any more different. Tooty, Banjo's sister, is taken by the evil witch Gruntilda (who only speaks in rhymes, mind you) because she is the 'fairest' and it is Gruntilda's wish to have Tooty's beauty as her own. As you start out you know the basics of platforming (jumping) but hidden within many of the worlds that you visit are new abilities that you can learn to increase your arsenal and tackle new challenges. Things like flight, invulnerability, shooting eggs, double jumping and walking up steep ramps help to break the usual tediousness associated with platforming (jump to win!) and adds quite a bit of variety to the gameplay.

At its core is your standard Mario 64 inspired platformer, complete with multiple worlds featuring various exotic locales (Gobi's Desert, Freezeasy Peak, Mad Monster Mansion, etc and so forth), tons upon tons of items to collect, plenty of pesky platforming perils (plus puzzles!), and endless supply of unique and entertaining enemies, health and lives and bears, oh my! Worlds are generally static levels that you explore all at once (in Mario 64, the level could change substantially depending upon which star you were seeking), allowing you freedom to work on multiple goals simultaneously without having to exit/re-enter after each mission. +1 for convenience.

Notes are the 'common currency' and 100 are strewn about in each level, but instead of being used for health and extra lives (or a 100 coin star) they are used to unlock deeper areas of Gruntilda's lair. Jiggies, aka Jigsaw Pieces, allow you to open new worlds, which means that you require both jigsaw pieces and notes to make it to the final showdown with Gruntilda. This may seem a little strange or even perhaps annoying, but I think it is a clever idea to require both a bit of exploration and a bit of platforming before you're allowed to move on to the next area. Since you will trip over notes left and right on your quest for each world's many jiggies, it is highly unlikely you will even need to go out of your way to collect enough to advance. Each world also has 5 Jinjo's for you to find, and while their inclusion in the banjo universe might seem strange or even bizarre at first - then again, what isn't - I assure you that they rightfully earn their place by story's end. Rare has taken collection to a whole new level and has completely gone all out to make each nook and cranny of the levels filled to the brim with items. It is even an inside joke in their future games that all platformers must involve "pointless collection mechanics". For those of you who are born completionists and love collecting, exploring and achieving, you just struck gold. Or maybe oil. Actually, you struck goldoil.

I've already touched on Banjo and Kazooie's vast array of useful abilities, but something that deserves its own special mention is that in many levels you can visit Mumbo Jumbo (resident Shaman) and have him transform you into something. Each level has it's own transformation, most of which are both necessary for completion of the level and hilarious. Examples would be the termite (climb up really steep walls), bumble bee (fly, and mingle with the honey bees who are otherwise aggressive towards bears), and even a pumpkin (who is small, bouncy... and probably delicious). You don't get a whole lot of use out of them and having to go back and forth to Mumbo's hut is sometimes aggravating (see: Mad Monster Mansion) but overall it adds just another layer of diversity to and already impressive list of gameplay features. Every now and then, Mumbo will accidentally turn you into a more 'novelty' form and is always willing to offer up humorous one-liners after he has completed his magic. Just one of the many area's that Rare's humor really adds to the atmosphere of the game.

If you have the game memorized backwards and forwards it might not take you long to beat it - 6 hours maybe, assuming you picked up just enough to unlock Gruntilda - but like Mario 64 the real length of the game is in being as OCD as possible and running around collecting everything. Notes, Jinjos, Jiggies, honeycomb pieces. A good 20 hours or more for those in unfamiliar territory, maybe 10-12 if you're doggedly determined and wielding a gamefaq's sheet. Completing the game at 100% Jiggies (and notes, maybe? I always did it anyway) will give you a sneak peek at some of the secrets that lay hidden deep within the game, tucked away for over 10 years under the joke that we all know as 'Stop 'n' Swop'. Oh, sure, now it actually does something and has meaning but to those of us who grew up not knowing, it was perhaps one of the more cruel failings of the series, especially considering how much coverage it received. They finally added it in with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, but 10 years of hype and anticipation means that the only thing they could possibly do with it was disappoint (which it certainly did, by and large). Maybe when they finally finish the port of Banjo-Tooie, we'll see what Stop 'n' Swap was really supposed to do.

Overall, Banjo Kazooie is one of those games that made the N64 almost impossible to live without, despite the system's misgivings and general lack of third party support. If you were willing to accept original ideas and didn't need your platformer's main character to be an overweight red plumber to enjoy it, the game offered more in terms of innovation and design than perhaps even Mario 64 did. It gave Rare yet another successful franchise and paved the way for sequels (Banjo-Tooie), character crossovers (Diddy Kong Racing), GBA releases (Banjo Kazooie GBA and Banjo Pilot), ports (Banjo Kazooie on XBLA) and last but not least... reboots (Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts). The game was incredible and certainly worth the $15 price tag on the XBLA, assuming you don't have an N64 somewhere you could dust off. The new high res textures and actually implemented Stop 'n' Swop feature are enough reason to purchase it again anyway. I'm not one to try and reward companies for taking older games and attempting to make money off of them again simply by repackaging them and placing them back onto the market in a newer format, but with a game as good as Banjo Kazooie - with new features and textures to boot - I'm willing to make an exception.

--- Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts ---

So when Rare announced a new Banjo Kazooie for the Xbox 360, I was both excited and worried. Since its split with Nintendo and purchase by Microsoft, Rare has not been capable of creating the same caliber of product that it is known and loved for (some say this started during the Star Fox Adventures development, too, as it wasn't exactly received well). Which is sad, because Rare seems to have been punished unfairly for attempting new things and creating new IPs (Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo, Viva Pinata), although their poor attempts at ports (Conker: Live and Reloaded) and buggy launch titles that are prequels of their beloved classics (Perfect Dark Zero) didn't help their reputation at all. Could the company overcome its recent missteps and create something worthy of the Banjo-Kazooie name, or would it turn into another disappointing continuation of another one of their once beloved franchise? While the former may not have happened as much as one would like, I would not call the game a failure by any means.

While essentially a 'platformer' at heart, Nuts and Bolts is unique in that most tasks are performed not through jumping, but through the use of vehicles. If you limit the term 'platformer' to being a game entirely dedicated to jumping and the timing thereof, then no, this is not a platformer... but neither is, say, Mario 64. Mario 64 also included new elements like swimming, flying and boss battles to provide their own unique challenges different from - yet still similar to - jumping. Basic platforming is still in Nuts and Bolts, but the usefulness of this is mostly limited to note collection within the hub world 'Showdown Town' as most challenges require the use of some type of vehicle. You may not be solving challenges exclusively with jumping, but performing tasks with a certain degree of precision and timing is the foundation of the game and is the most obvious reason you can call it a 'platformer'.

It makes more sense with an explanation of gameplay. The essence of Nuts and Bolts is that you create and use vehicles to perform a variety of different tasks with a number of constraints. This can include things like time limits, following a certain path, racing other characters or vehicle choice restrictions. Overall the game is a very large mixture of different playstyles and environments, ranging from on-rail shooters, flying planes, racing boats or item collection and transportation. The real beauty is that many (if not all) challenges have more than one unique solution so instead of being forced to perform a given task in a specific way you can instead find clever ways to solve the problem using creative or 'out of the box' solutions. Do you need to heat up an egg to make an omelet? You can create a vehicle that carries the egg to a nearby volcano or you come back later and use the flamethrower to whip something up on the spot. Trying to throw basketballs into a hoop? You may find it easier to bring the hoop to the ball.

The nicest thing about the vehicle creation system, however, is that each part you use has an actual impact on performance and is not merely a cosmetic difference. My biggest disappointment with Spore was actually how neutered the creature creator felt once you understood how it worked. 'Stacking' items onto a creature would not increase that item's power, so there was no reason to add more than 1 of anything because the only difference was the aesthetic look. Having six level 1 claws actually made your creature less dangerous than having one level 5 claw because you would be limited to a level 1 attack. This was very foolish for several reasons:

1) Adding extra units still ate up 'DNA' units, so you were essentially paying a hefty price for cosmetic features.
2) This also meant that a creature could be level 5 in every category if you were willing to create it in such a way that it only needed 1 of any item (1 foot, 1 claw, 1 mouth, etc). This meant that creativity and uniqueness was punished by being inferior to ones that were built solely to exploit the DNA available to them.
3) Creatures had hard caps that could not be exceeded, going against the basic premise of the system. You couldn't create a vicious killing machine that would fight his way through all problems and have no social skills or speed whatsoever, because there was no point. It offered no benefits because you couldn't stack items to gain additional benefits at the cost of others.

Nuts and Bolts solves this problem by allowing additive stacking to actually confer a benefit. Using 2 small fuel tanks will give you more fuel than just 1. Using 5 small engines will go faster than using 1 medium engine. If you have a large engine but just want a bit more power you can add a small one. You can add as many weapons and ammo boxes as you prefer to make it look like something out of the Twisted Metal series and it will definitely kick the pants off of someone with just a puny egg shooter. Basically, every change you make will have some affect on the vehicle's performance and when you are spending time customizing and fine tuning your own creations, that means a lot. It not only gives your work a greater sense of purpose but also encourages you to finely tweak everything to get the best performance, making the creator a much more integral part of the game than just 'eh, let's throw something together real quick and be doe with it".

Which is good, because each task you complete is given a sort of 'grading' based on the limits given. You can fail (obviously), do OK and receive notes (currency in the game to buy new parts and blueprints), do well and receive a jiggy (unlock new worlds and ultimately the boss) or do very well and receive a trophy (4 trophies = another jiggy, not very creative I know). As an example, timed events tend to reward you for doing more of something in the given time, like collecting more items or killing more enemies. Another example would be that if your goal is to perform a specific task, you will be rewarded for completing it in a faster time. Since you do not need the maximum number of jiggies to beat the last boss (in fact you need just over half), you are free to skip tasks that are aggravating or prove to be more difficult. This gives you plenty of choices on how to move forward, allows you to play challenges you prefer or ones that you've already built vehicles for and even come back later to do something when you've gotten better vehicle parts or newer items to use. The only exception to this rule is Grunty battles, which you need to get specific parts to open new areas in Showdown town. Overall, this non-linearity actually helps to prevent you from feeling bogged down or stuck while rewarding creativity, ingenuity and platforming.

Unfortunately, you must approach Nuts and Bolts with a very accepting attitude for the first hour or so because the beginning of the game is very tedious and limited. You start out with a tiny number of parts to work with and most early challenges (beyond simple "tutorial" ones) will be frustrating to complete, especially if you are going for Trophies. Early vehicles are about as sturdy as an egg, handle about as poorly as wet soap and go as fast as a sloth but, over time, you can really start making some nice contraptions. As you earn money, collect your first few jiggies and open up new areas you will slowly unlock new parts and blueprints that beef up the vehicle editor. If you can push yourself past the initial 'it's impossible to drive these vehicles' phase and start to customize your own, the fun will really start to kick in and the rest of the game will be great. Unfortunately for Rare, demos are short and attention spans are even shorter, but make sure you give this game just a bit more time than normal before throwing it to the dogs.

While achievements normally do an excellent job of extending the life of a game you enjoy, I found this especially true for Nuts and Bolts. They are very well spaced out over the course of the game, meaning that usually when you sit down to play you can earn an achievement or two before you're finished for the night. This is good because it gives you small goals to aim for outside of the 'real' game and also rewards you for going above and beyond (earning trophies), being a completionist (collect every jiggy) or doing some of the other unique things available in the game like Klungo's Arcade. Speaking of which, try not to let Rare's terrible sense of humor get in the way of enjoying the otherwise delicious 2d platformer minigame tucked away there. Sorry guys, but the "oh sorry I thought I fixed that bug here let me restart the whole level for you" isn't funny with you're constantly dying and were doing well for once.

While the singleplayer is nice, the multiplayer could use a bit of work. Online matchmaking generally takes forever, often times just outright fails and even if you do get into a game teams will be unevenly split, occasionally punishingly so (i.e. 5v2). Custom vehicle matches would be fun except there is not a way to determine the 'class' of a vehicle (i.e. is it using early game parts or is it decked out in all the super items?) so unless you've 100%'d the game and really focused on building the perfect vehicle for a specific course you can almost be assured to lose to someone half as good as you rocketing around the arena with 4 super jets. "Log's choice", where everyone uses the same pre-built machines, is better but they aren't tuned to handle as well as you'd like and cannot be customized... which is a large selling point for the game. If the audience was large enough they could do interesting things like have vehicle 'classes', where you could race against vehicles with similar sizes or part quality, but I think if you fractured the online community any more than it already is you'd never get into a game. Local multiplayer shows more promise, but that would require finding 3 other people like yourself willing to take the time to make custom vehicles and race them against you. Pretty heavy setup cost for a multiplayer game.

Despite my initial dissatisfaction with Nuts and Bolts not being a traditional platformer, the vehicle customization and gameplay eventually won me over (even though the inside jokes about losing their moves stung a little). I went on to complete the game as much as possible, leaving only multiplayer achievements undone due it being almost impossible to get into a game, let alone win it. As long as you are willing to give the game a chance, it will provide you with dozens of hours of vehicle buildin', witch shootin', jiggy collectin' fun that is as unique and entertaining as you are willing to invest your time and creativity into each vehicle. It may not be the instant-classic that it's predecessor was, but at $40 or less Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is quite the deal.

Bring on the Apocolypse

Better known in Japan as "It's a Wonderful World", The World Ends With You (from now on abbreviated at TWEWY) is, to me, hands down the biggest and best surprise game that came out of the 2008 calendar year. In a market super saturated with sequels, prequels, spin-offs and 'rubber-stamp' genre copying, TWEWY stands tall above the rest as a unique and thoroughly refreshing experience that is prime for... well, creating sequels, prequels and spinoffs.

For those not 'in the know', TWEWY is a Japanese Role Playing Game (aka JRPG) that is absolutely anything but a JRPG. It remains true to the essence of the genre while taking it to new and exciting places. How? Here's a small list of general requirements to be listed as a JRPG:

- Fantasy setting (small minority go "sci-fi"-esque or at least show off technology of some kind, see FFVII/FFVIII, Star Ocean, Xenogears, etc)
- Linear gameplay/story
- 1 man/team bent on saving the entire world
- Turn based combat
- Random battles
- Level Grinding
- Stats are generally HP/Mana
- Has the words "Final Fantasy" or "Dragon Quest" in the title, followed by a number

Think back to all the JRPGs you've played recently, assuming you have at all. While it may not fit all of these descriptions, it is very likely that most of them still apply. While the genre has taken it's fair share of advances and strides in recent years (Eternal Sonata's uqinue battle system, FFXII's 'mmo-lite' feel, Kingdom Heart's emphasis on action instead of turns), many people still clamor and call for 'old school' RPGs and many companies still do well making them (Mistwalker and Square-Enix).

Even for the 'kings of JRPG', Square-Enix, creating a new RPG that is not a Final Fantasy or a Dragon Quest is something that is very risky. Customer loyalty and awareness of these brands are very high, and the customers who buy these products are very strict on what they like in their games and how they like it presented. For many people, they last JRPG they played or even cared about was Final Fantasy XII, and many did not like how much it differed from traditional turn based battles. And despite 3 whole years of game releases since, nothing has garnered more media and attention than it's direct sequel, FFXIII. What have you heard more about, and which are you generally more excited for? Star Ocean IV, Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, or FFXIII? They are all Square-Enix properties, but I'm pretty sure the numbers would stack decidely in the favore of FFXIII.

When you can't get even your own game to sell without the 'Final Fantasy' title, you start doing clever things like making quick sequels (FFX-2), re-releases (FFI-VI), or even remakes (FFIII/FFIV). If worse comes to worse, you take a new idea and just try to associate it in some way with your 'hot' product and go for sales-by-association through spin-offs (FFXII: Revenant Wings, FFVII: Crisis Core). This allows you the freedom to explore other genres, types, and stories but still leaves you tethered to specific characters, an already-created world, and publicly known (and often discussed to the finest detail) cannon.

This is part industry, part consumer and just part normal business. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are more than likely the best staffed, receive the most talented development and are given a chance to be truly polished and shine with gameplay that people are familiar with and willing to accept that are hyped over time. As such, there is more coverage, people are aware of what they are getting into and are already in a specific state of mind when they play the game. This also, of course, means that many consumers (and some journalists) will give the game a 'pass' or think it is better simply because of the name.

Meanwhile, great games like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata and others may stick to the formula or have equally high production values but struggle to sell well or reach critical acclaim because, knowingly or not, they are constantly being compared verses FF and DQ. Just as an example, the IGN review for Lost Odyssey mentions 'Final Fantasy' 4 times within the context of the review - twice because of the people associated with creating the games, once comparing the music, and again comparing gameplay elements. Even my own personal reviews of games make mention of these for comparison, although I try to judge each game on it's own merits. Unfortunately, these behemoths are no longer just games, they have become almost de facto standards in the genre to which all other entries are compared regardless of their differences. I am convinced that many good games fail to meet their potential sales purely because of their title and , inversely, many underperforming titles are given large boosts to sales simply because of their name. Why?

Because most people probably haven't even heard of these 'other' games, don't care about them, and never bother to research or try them. There's no hype or huge build up surrounding them, so reviews are not skewed in positive directions by overzealous reviewers trying to make a point (looking at you, GTAIV and MGS4) which only makes comparisons to the titans seem worse. And while people always complain about sequels and how they wish there were more 'new IPs' and all sorts of other "I'm hip and going against the man and against popular opinion because I'm an individual and not a sheep" beliefs, the fact that sequels sell so well 1) tells us that most people want sequels, 2) tells developers 'hey, just make more sequels', and 3) often times results from the fact that people are unwilling to take risks on new IPs that have not been 'proven franchises'. In other words, they will talk the talk but will not walk the walk. I find it even more hilarious that these same journalists and gamers who actively complain about the lack of new IPs are usually the ones immediately asking the "when can we expect the sequel?" question when a new IP does do well. Inconsistent much?

Of course this is not unique to games. The same is true of most entertainment media - movies, books, television, music and games all share similar fates to some extent.

While I harp on them quite alot for their constant repackaging their old games and spinning out of control with sequels and spinoffs, Square-Enix does often try to do new things it couldn't normally do otherwise. It doesn't always work (see: critical and sales bombs Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant, although I hope to give those two a fair shake at some point in the future, as this could just be more 'it's not Final Fantasy' mentality), but every now and then you'll get a diamond in the rough that actually outshines even the best that FF's and DQ's have to offer. For a company that could easily rest on its laurels and still make a pretty good living, it's nice to see Square-Enix takes chances like this and create great games in the process. It is not only good for the consumer and the industry to have a little variety, but it helps to flex the power of the genre and really push it forward into new and different places. Just think: if Square wasn't willing to take any risks, we wouldn't have ever been graced with the presense of Chrono Trigger, arguably one of the best RPGs of all time.

This is one of the main things that makes TWEWY so good; being so unique and different from anything else the JRPG genre has had to offer in some time. Of the JRPG 'usual' suspects (see list above), quite possibly the only one you can attribute to this game is being linear, but other than that the game really takes it's own direction and blazes a trail that is new and different from just about any other RPGs I've played. Let's analzye, shall we?

- Fantasy setting (small minority go "sci-fi"-esque or at least show off technology of some kind, see FFVII/FFVIII, Star Ocean, Xenogears, etc)

TWEWY draws heavily from modern day japan - the completely real Shibuya district in Tokyo - and it shows in culture, fashion, music and presentation. Sure, the game's graphics aren't 'realistic' and are instead highly stylized but it is not your usual JRPG setting by any means. As someone who has spent most of his life equipping his characters with guns and swords, though, moving on to pins and 'normal' clothes was a breath of fresh air. Getting a highly stylized anime world that actively reflects a specific district in Japan? That's just icing on the cake.

- 1 man/team bent on saving the entire world

It's still one man and his team, but it's not 'the world' and it focuses much more on small character parts and character interaction and development. It doesn't break this mold completely (you still end up saving stuff) but it's a unique twist on a tired plot device. Some RPG's try to have weird stories and absurd plot twists just for the sake of having them, but TWEWY creates one that is unique and interesting without being over ridiculous.

- Turn based combat

Hardly. You play the game in real time, and it's none of this 'psuedo' real time either. It's full throttle, always under fire with a dozen different things to pay attention to. The battle system does have one major drawback; in order to perfect it you have to be INCREDIBLY good and dedicated. The learning curve for the game's battle system is so steep that it even gives you computer AI to help you manage 1/2 of the entire battle system so you can focus on the other half. As you play more and get used to your bottom screen's pins, you can always give your try and managing both screens at once - although I might suggest you keep some advil handy as you work on stressing your brain to the limit keeping track of everything that's going on.

Despite it's learning difficulty, it helps that the gameplay revolves around more than just mashing the 'a' button most of the time. You have to - simultaneously, mind you - manage blowing/talking into the mic, pressing the screen, dragging the screen, tapping the screen, pushing buttons in specific combinations that constantly change, all while dodging enemy fire and watching your abilities' cooldowns and trying to keep your group combo going. The game is also unique in that you can swap out your abilities to cater to things that you prefer or that you seem to be better at. Don't like blowing into the mic? Don't use that pin. Getting hit too much? Throw up a heal pin. Want to just burn your enemies down as fast as possible? Stack your deck with pain. You can even keep several 'premade' decks so if you want one to level, one for boss fights and one to complete your pin collection, you don't have to be constantly swapping pins in and out. For many, the battle system's high level of involvement may be a turn off, but for those who complain about their RPG's being 'easy' and just mash 'A' until they've won, this game is for you. I must warn you though, after your first few battles you may want to go cry.

- Random battles

Aside from a few scripted events (bosses, tutorials, blocks, etc) the game is yours to control. Want to move the story forward? Sure. Explore a little? No problem. Level up? Grab groups of enemies and increase your chain for better results. Test out new pins? Pick out the weaklings. You can even scale your level down to increase the challenge and reward yourself with more PP (for your pins) if you so desire. It's all about choice. How great is that?

- Level Grinding

As long as you take some level of interest in the battles and fight a few times outside of what's forced in the story, you shouldn't have much of a problem staying ahead of the level curve. If you don't like the battle system so much you're skipping as much of it as possible, well, why are you even still playing the game? Harder battles can be made easier with proper pin selection, and taking some time out to level your really good pins goes a long way in making you more powerful.

- Stats are generally HP/Mana

You still have HP, but it's shared between both characters so if you're really good with one screen, you have some more breathing room on the other. No 'mana' to speak of, but some stronger pins only have a certian number of uses per battle or have a set amount of time to recover after you've used them all, so watching what pins you are using and making sure you are optimizing your battle order, while not imperative, can be deadly in the right hands.

- Has the words "Final Fantasy" or "Dragon Quest" in the title

It may have 'Square-Enix' on the box, but as you've seen, this is anything BUT you're standard RPG. From the wacky beginning to the epic ending, the game will keep you jamming, running, slamming and fighting for your life. The game may take you upwards of 40 hours just for the 'main course', but after the second or third night of being so caught up in it that you forget what time it is, the ending may seem like it comes all too soon. Bonus side items like Tin Pin Slammer, wifi connectivity, delivng deeper in the story and the 'gotta collect them all!' mentality behind pin collection are sure to keep you playing for weeks and weeks after you tear through the story. It is the game that keeps on giving, one that is easy to pick up and exceptionally difficult to master, that rewards you for challenging yourself and gives you a reason to go back and play through the game again. For those of us who are more 'goal' oriented, the extras at the end will be especially tempting as they will challenge you to defeat newer, harder bosses or accomplish goals in different ways to unlock more about the game and the world in it.

TWEWY has shown us that Square Enix still has what it takes to be an innovator, to grab us hook line and sinker and not let go. And this was from a game no one had ever heard much of, and that many people thought they couldn't care less about. If you whine about an industry that relies too much on sequels and not enough on new and creative IP's, it is your duty to purchase this game. If you're still waiting for FFXIII and it's half dozen different different releases there is still plenty for you to enjoy here. If you are an RPG veteran and are looking for something new to play and are willing to give something unique and different and try, what are you waiting for? Trust me, whatever is the case, you'll be all the better for it, and I'm sure you'll thank me later. Just hurry, I won't stand for anyone being too zeta slow!