Resistance was one of the first original launch games for the PS3. It sold well and very quickly became the first killer app for the system and since its release sequels and sidequels have been produced to further the success. It has since then become one of the established game franchises for the Playstation and has been perceived by many fans as rivaling to the critically acclaimed Halo. The series is now trying its hand on the newly released Vita with Resistance Burning Skies in an attempt to effectively construct an average console first person shooter make specifically for the typical handheld.

Story:

For those of you who are ignorant with the storyline here is an outline. The series takes place in an alternate history set in the 1950s as an alien race known as the Chimera has overran the Earth. Humans are fighting an overcoming war as the Chimera have already seized most of Asia and of Europe and are now coming towards America.

The game takes place between the first and second installments just right when the Chimera begin their invasion of America. You assume the role of firefighter Tom Riley in which the recent Chimeran invasion has separated him from his family and is now fighting the Chimera in an attempt to find them. While the story is somewhat weak compared to previous installments it is an overall decent story with likable characters and good writing.

Rating: 3/5

Gameplay:

Using the analog sticks of the Playstation Vita to move your character and aim your weapon feel somewhat nice but is awkward when compared to its console counterparts. Hitting your target can sometimes get very annoying but after playing with it for some time you will begin to slightly adapt to it. Another slight inconvenience is the fact that you can not customize the button layout which is unfortunate since the pervious console installments had this unique and useful feature. Using the touch screen for certain things like opening doors or melee attacking and projectiles like throwing grenades and secondary firing is pretty damn interesting and works very well with some minor adjusting. Of course the only real problem with the touch controls is that any slight tap of the screen will fire the weapons secondary function which can be irritating.

Rating: 3/5

Design:

Old weapons such as the Carbine the human assault rifle and Bullseye the chimeran assault rifle from previous games return. Of course new weapons the Mule the double barrel shotgun and Hunter the triple burst rifle help keeps things fresh. And just like with previous installments each weapon has their own unique secondary function that give versatile to each weapon.

The Chimera are not the as willfully intelligent as they were in previous games but none the less give an okay fight. Previous chimeran species such as the Hybrids and the Steelheads as well as newcomers including the Executioners and the Impalers gives you an appropriate variety of enemies to fight against. There are only two boss battles in the entire game and they are both very predictable and not fairly challenging.

The campaign only has six levels to complete and only takes around five hours to finish. The level design is decent but is falls short when compared to previous installments. Overall the singleplayer campaign is good and despite some shortcoming is still pretty fun.

Rating 3/5

Presentation:

When it comes to graphic the game looks pretty good for an early Vita game. The characters models look very good and the levels are nicely detailed. The voice acting is very worthy and the soundtrack is fits perfectly. The overall audio performance for this game is pretty nice

The framerate runs very well for the most part but tends to sizes up slightly when large numbers of enemies occupy the area. While the draw distance also is done sound. Although the load times between levels are pretty damn slow. Overall the presentation is really good especially considering the fact this is all running on an average handheld.

Rating: 4/5

Final Verdict:

Resistance Burning Skies is somewhat successful at bringing the franchise portable and also creating an effective first person shooter for the Vita. Although it has some flaws that keep it from greatness most of these flaws can be slightly overlooked because it is an early title in the life of the Vita. If you own the Playstation Vita and like the franchise or are looking for an enjoyable solid shooter you might want to check this game out.

Final Rating: 3/5

Call Of Duty Black Ops Declassified is an unsuccessful attempt at trying to use the dual analog sticks and touch screen abilities of the Playstation Vita in order to create an averagely successful shooter with console quality gameplay on the powerful handheld. With many factoring problems such as awkward controls that could lead you to frustration and senseless artificial intelligence that could make you feel stupid make this one shooter that is very difficult to really get behind.

Story:

I would start off this review by talking about the story the only problem is there is no story or at least anything that would count as the story. Instead what we get are series of totally random events that take place between both the first and second games with recurring characters from each installment. These random events have no character development or built up to them and have little connection to previous games in the series and are nothing more than
totality random excuses for you to go out and kill whoever.

Rating: THERE IS NO STORY

Gameplay:

Not only is there no story but there is no campaign either and what we get in its place is the significantly bland Operations. Each level in Operations will give to you some typical shooter objective to try and complete such as simple things like destroy coding device and collecting enemy intel to more complex things like rescuing captured informants and providing sniper support. Despite the familiar objectives there are only ten levels to be
completed also each one only takes about five minutes and despite the short length this mode quickly becomes tedious.

Operations of course is not the only singleplayer experience there are some extra modes to play with. Time
Trails which lets you run through an obstacle course as fast as you can while shooting targets and Hostiles gives you the opportunity to hold out against endless wave of enemies for long as possible. These extra modes would be nice
singleplayer additions if it was not for the already incredibly dumb artificial intelligence and weak level design of the gameplay.

Rating: 2/5

Design:

Moving your character and aiming your weapons is so awkward that it can make hitting your target even at close range very undoubtedly irritating to the point if you come within close proximity of an enemy and they are pointing their weapon at you and you are not already pointing your weapon at them could mean an instant death sentence. Also throwing grenades is incredibly frustrating as well they mostly never go where you aim them and good luck trying
to toss back an enemy grenade almost always it will find some way back to you no matter where you throw it and blow you into to smithereens. Despite the awkward controls using the touch screen for things like melee does feel pretty good sometimes though.

The artificial intelligence is so stupid you would be much better off playing against young children. The levels are so poorly designed that they fell more like multiplayer maps then campaign levels. The weapon design is alright but the aim assist does not always function properly and mix that with awkward controls can really rank up the frustration of trying to properly shoot anything.

Rating: 2/5

Presentation:

The level detail is decent and character models look alright but the entire thing looks like something that is running directly on the PS2. The voice actors from previous installments return and do an excellent job while the entire music score is also from previous games. The sound effects are very good but the overall sound quality itself is kind of poor. Things like the frame rate and draw distance fell alright while the load times between the
menus and the gameplay are slow.

Rating 3/5

Final Verdict:

Call Of Duty Black Ops Declassified is an ineffective effort at attempting to bring the successful shooter franchise to the proficient handheld. Playstation Vita is more than capable at preforming this task if only the developers who implement the effort.  Not just only is this one of the weakest shooters in the entire genre but it is defiantly also one of the weakest installments in the entire franchise and is one call really not worth making.

Final Rating: 2/5

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to post an anime review lately. My teachers think that I have no holidays and they gave me 2 major papers to work on during the holidays until the 2nd week of January. It was such a pain!

Anyways, for the anime review today, I have for you a recently wrapped up anime - Kamisama Hajimemashita. This is a shoujo anime adapted from Julietta Suzuki's manga of the same name. The anime version was first released on October 1, 2012 and ended last December 24, 2012, with a total of 13 episodes. 

There is no news of whether a second season is in the works, but the manga is ongoing and the ending of the anime itself is hanging, so let's keep our fingers crossed!

The anime features Nanami, a high school girl who recently lost her home due to her dad's bad debts. 

She sits in the park and encounters a man stuck in the tree because of a dog chasing him. Nanami saves him and he promised to give her a home in the temple. Before he leaves, he gives Nanami a kiss on the forehead. 

When Nanami arrives in the rundown temple, she finds that the man is actually a the Earth Deity Mikage and the kiss on her forehead was an act of passing the deity seal. Now she must perform the duties of an Earth Deity!

The love interest in the anime is Tomoe, a fox who becomes Nanami's familiar (sorta like a servant). At first Tomoe refuses to become Nanami's familiar, saying that he will only serve Mikage, but by some circumstance, Nanami forces his service on him. In order to become one's familiar, the deity has to kiss the familiar. 

The succeeding episodes talks of Nanami's quest in becoming a good Earth Deity. She encounters several obstacles and discovers a complicated love for Tomoe.

There are a lot of interesting characters that Nanami encounters in the anime. 

[picture order]

Otohiko is the Wind Deity who is sort of Mikage's closest friend. He has a gender confusion. He is not convinced of Nanami's apprenticeship of the Earth Deity seal and so he tests her out regularly.

Mizuki is a snake familiar who lost her master. He tries to kidnap Nanami with the intention of marrying her, but in the end is apprehended by Tomoe. In the later episode though, he helps Nanami and becomes her familiar.

Kurama is a crow goblin in disguise of a rock star. His very popular status makes him an air-head, and because Nanami ignored him, he takes a liking to her. Once he realized she has the Earth Deity seal, she tries to steal it from her, but is tortured by Tomoe. Nanami saves Kurama from being dinner and eventually becomes a very close friend.

Sukuna is the dragon king who has deep feelings of hatred for Tomoe for stealing his eye. He creates an agreement with Nanami that if she can return his eye, he would released the captured Tomoe. In the end though, he was stopped by his wife, the Turtle Queen. 

HITS

One of the biggest hits for me is the graphics. It is extremely well-drawn and quite close to the original drawing of the manga (much better in fact!)

The story is also not that boring, as there are a lot of interesting things happening each episode. The characters are well-developed too, especially Tomoe, who has a very dark past behind him. 

The comedy of the anime is really funny too! I really like the cute moments such as the picture above. The love story is okay and the conflict that Nanami being a human and Tomoe an immortal fox is not original, but interesting.

MISSES

Like I said earlier, the story is quite interesting, but the romance line is nothing so unusual anymore. I am actually reminded of the Korean Drama My Girlfriend is a Nine-tailed Fox, except that a guy plays the fox in this anime. 

The story ended so soon too! The ending is not that exciting, but since there is an on-going manga, I am expecting to see a second season soon. There are a lot of unresolved questions in the anime that the 13 episodes were not able to cover. 

FINAL VERDICT

I recommend this anime to shoujo lovers. This honestly is just a feel-good anime, if you don't like the serious stuff (like the previous anime review Durarara!). If you're not too in touch with your shoujo, this is however, not a good place to start. First-time shoujo watchers might not like shoujo as much afterwards (the first shoujo I watched was Hana Yori Dango - that is good stuff). However, the fantasy element in this anime, plus the amazing graphics and animation is surely something to watch out for! 

What do you guys think? Any shoujo anime you'd like to recommend?

Don’t forget to follow Mission Start Podcast on Twitter @MissionStartP 
Also subscribe to the Youtube Channel: MissionStartPodcast1 

If you guys have any recommendations for an anime review, hit me a tweet @andyloveskawaii
By the way, I have a by episode review of this anime in my blog here. 

-Andy-chan :3

I have another not-so-old anime review for you. If you’re like me and you hate on-going anime (unless they have a really long story line with several arcs like Bleach or Fairy Tail), you probably seek out finished anime too. I recently came across a post on an anime Facebook page and I saw what probably was looked to me then as really attractive anime graphics.

Durarara! features the story of the city of Ikebukuro and the people residing in it. It does not focus with one character but starts off with Ryugamine  Mikado, a guy who moves to Ikebukuro at the invitation of his best friend Kida Masaomi. Kida tells Mikado of characters to watch out for in the city.

Let me give you guys a quick tour of the characters you expect to encounter. 

Ryugamine Mikado (online Taro Tanaka)

A sort of scared boy who comes to Ikebukuro to study. He was invited by Kida, his best friend. Later in the series, it is revealed that he is actually the founder of the group Dollars, a group of good-deed doers who brand themselves as “colorless”.

Kida Masaomi (online Bakyura)

Mikado’s best friend. He is portrayed as an avid girl-chaser and although he looks potentially handsome, is usually rejected. Although he is a portrayed as a happy-go-lucky character, the later episodes in the anime portrayed him as serious and loyal. His past made him afraid of not being able to protect his friends.

Anri Sonohara (online Saika)

Anri is a megane-character (one who wears glasses) with big breasts. She is extremely timid. She is befriended by Kida and Mikado. Both characters love her, but Kida’s love for her is more like protecting a sister. In the later episodes, it is revealed that Anri possesses control over Saika, a cursed blade after a traumatic experience of her mother killing her father with Saika when she was young. Instead of being controlled by the blade, Anri controls it and uses it to safeguard the city.

Celty Sturlson (online Setton)

Celty is a dullahan, an Irish Death Fairy, who is in search of her lost head. She is known as the “headless rider” in the city. She is extremely battle-fit and accepts delivery jobs. For some weird reason though, Celty’s fear is that of extra-terrestrials.

Shizuo Heiwajima

Shizuo is my one of my favorite characters in the series. He is extremely well-drawn and is just plain weird. He wears a bartender suit (although he is not one) and he possesses super strength (he is stronger than Celty). He gets irritated very easily and usually throws vending machines around. He considers Izaya Orihara his ultimate rival and whenever he sees him, he throws towards him a vending machine or something in similar. The last episode showed that Shizuo has a good relationship with Orihara’s twin sisters. He has a younger brother who is a top idol in Japan.

Izaya Orihara (online Nakura)

Izaya is probably on top of my list for most cunning villain ever. His character is dementedly twisted, but he is the core of the story. His cunning manipulation of human beings is really surprising. Izaya is an information broker who is as skilled as Shizuo in battle. He pretends to be nice to people but he actually likes manipulating their moves until they are beaten down.

Shinra Kishitani

Shinra is Celty’s “guardian”. He is an (insane or genius, not sure which is which) underground doctor. He is madly in love with Celty and does not want her to get her head back in fear that she wouldn’t be the same anymore. 

Simon Brehznev

A Russian sushi man. He has a very gentle and passive nature, but his strength is at par with that of Shizuo and at one of the episodes, he actually beat up Izaya.

There are still a lot of other interesting characters in the series. Although there are a lot, it seems like the story is so well-written that each character gets the exposure they need. On to the HITS and MISSES for this anime. 

HITS

In terms of character development, Durarara has one of the best I have ever seen in the entire anime world. Each character was well-developed and thought of. It's not just a character randomly placed but a character that is fitting for each scene. There are quite a lot of characters and I can distinctly remember each of them and what their life is about. 

What I really liked about character development is the way they designed each character's mind. It is very interesting to see what each character was thinking about. I also liked that the characters had well-developed dark sides. It makes the characters much closer to reality since it is rare to see a "pure" character in Durarara.

I also extremely liked the graphics. The long arms and legs (of Shizuo whom I have an unrequited love for). The unique eye shape of each character. The weapons and effects. The sharpness of all the graphics made it pleasing to watch. I got an HD quality video and watched it on an LED TV. It is such a pleasure to watch a beautifully designed anime. 

Besides a well-developed character line, the story line is also great. The twists in the plot are not all predictable and even if you know Izaya Orihara is the main villain in the story, it still gets exciting. The story is also does not follow an ordinary problem solving plot. The ending is quite a shock and where the story goes, you can only keep guessing. 

MISSES

This is an almost-prefect anime for me! I really loved this anime to death! I wouldn't mind watching it again. The only blunder I can find is that the story had to be cut short after 25 (26 if you count episode 12.5) episodes, which is okay since things had been resolved, but it's sort of a hanging ending. 

At the moment, the light novel is on-going so I am still hoping that there would be a Season 2. The story's going to get exciting if it happens!


FINAL VERDICT

I highly recommend this anime to you guys. The story's very interesting and if you like nice graphics like me, I'm sure you would enjoy this. And oh, did I mention the guy characters are hot?

What do you guys think? Any other nicely-drawn anime you can recommend? 

Don’t forget to follow Mission Start Podcast on Twitter @MissionStartP 
Also subscribe to the Youtube Channel: MissionStartPodcast1 

If you guys have any recommendations for an anime review, hit me a tweet @andyloveskawaii

-Andy-chan :3

Looking to learn more about the Japanese hobby and gaming culture? You shouldn’t miss this anime then! Chihayafuru is an anime about karuta, one of the oldest played sports in Japan.

Karuta

To help you guys understand the anime, let us first discuss what Karuta is. Karuta is a traditional game in Japan that makes use of the 100 poets’ poems. The game uses two sets of cards. The first card set is called Yomifuda or the reading card, which has the first part of the poem. The second set is called Torifuda or playing card, which has the other half of the game. Basically, the aim of the game is to identify the Torifuda card once the Yomifuda card is read.

Karuta is taught even to young children because the 100 poets’ poems are part of the history and culture of Japan. It is usually played in special occasions too.

Chihayafuru

Chihayafuru is an anime that made competitive karuta more popular in Japan. Chihayafuru portrayed karuta as a sport that is very intense. A karuta player needs to have not only metal strength, but physical strength as well, as the game is very exhausting especially if you’re playing for hours and hours long.

The anime centers on Chihaya Ayase and her two friends, Arata Wataya and Taichi Mashima. When they were young, Taichi and Chihaya always hanged out together. A new boy in school, Arata Wataya, is always bullied by his classmates because he never speaks and looks really poor. The kind Chihaya decided to befriend him. In the process, she discovers Arata’s talent for karuta and his drive to someday be named as Master. Taichi, burning with jealousy, challenges Arata in a game of karuta. Taichi kept Arata’s glasses and Chihaya is forced to defeat Taichi in the game. She manages to do so and they all become very close friends. They went as far as forming a team to play competitive karuta.

The twist comes when Arata is forced to leave school to go back to his hometown to attend to his sick grandfather. Fast-forward to when they are sixteen, Chihaya and Taichi learns that Arata no longer plays karuta after his grandfather died. In order to convince him to love karuta again, Chihaya and Taichi decides to form a competitive karuta club and participate in competitions.

HITS

The biggest hit for me is the graphics. It is extremely engaging and the difference between the manga version and the anime version is little. Nonetheless, the anime really took time to improve the graphics of the anime.

The story line is also very interesting. I don’t like sports-related anime except Prince of Tennis and Slam Dunk but I had no trouble liking Chihayafuru. In fact, I finished this in one day! The story is very exciting and it is unpredictable. For instance, you’d think the characters would always win, but there are so many instances when they lose. This makes the characters close to reality. Each character also has a lot of depth into them because their backgrounds are well-developed.

I also want to point out that I enjoyed the dubbing of the anime, especially Arata. Since he’s from Fukui, he speaks Japanese with a different accent and even has different word usage.

MISSES

Although I really like the story line, I think it could be improved. The story is a bit slow-paced and the ending is really bad. Good thing I researched the anime and found out that Season 2 is to set off on the second week of January 2013.

The love triangle between Arata, Chihaya and Taichi also lacks focus. I’m hoping it gets attention in the second season.

Final Verdict

I highly recommend this anime to everyone, especially if you like learning about the Japanese culture like I do. There’s something about this anime that’s really charming.

What do you guys think? Any other sports-related anime you can recommend?

Don’t forget to follow Mission Start Podcast on Twitter @MissionStartP
Also subscribe to the Youtube Channel: MissionStartPodcast1

If you guys have any recommendations for an anime review, hit me a tweet @andyloveskawaii

-Andy-chan :3

  

Live in a different world – a world of fantasy and wonder. Sword Art Online (also known as SAO) is one of the most hyped anime this 2012. Originally a light novel by Reki Kawahara, the story features a virtual reality game.

The story starts off with the virtual reality game called Sword Art Online. On November 6, 2022, all the players logged into the game using the NerveGear, a sort of helmet that transports the consciousness into the game world. Kirito, the main character, was a beta tester, so he knew a bit about the game. The twist comes when the creator of SAO, Kayaba Akihiko, announces that nobody would be able to log out of the game unless they have cleared all 100 floors of the game by defeating each floor’s boss. The big catch is that if they die in the game, they die in the real world. Kirito decides to be a solo player (he did join a guild once) and met Asuna who became his partner and lover.

In each episode, new characters are featured. As of press time, there are 21 episodes. According to anime data from the producers, there would be 25 episodes plus one OVA. At the moment, the novel is still on –going and there are 4 arcs – Sword Art Online, Alfheim Online, Gun Gale Online, and UnderWorld.

Now onto the hits and misses.

HITS

I must say, the plot is pretty darn amazing. When I first saw it, I thought of Ragnarok Online the Animation, which was shown years ago. SAO offers something different though. It kind of makes it closer to our own reality by making the characters live in the “real” world and bringing them to a world of virtual fantasy. SAO also promoted the idea of “practical humanity” – which means that wherever they are, real world or not, humans create bonds and societies for survival. 

The biggest hit for me is the graphics. With advanced technology, I quite expected that one of the reasons many liked SAO is because of its incredibly great drawing. It did not disappoint in this aspect. Even the monsters and bosses of floors have incredible design. The biggest props are the details in clothing and weaponry. I really liked Kirito’s swords.

One hit I find interesting is the arc segmentation. Although some anime fans might complain that the arcs are irritating (I mean, they change looks in each arc), they actually keep the story interesting. The 15 episode arc for Sword Art Online was greatly designed and the new arc for Alfheim Online made the story more interesting by providing variety. Game fans would surely love this. The SAO arc started off with just weapons and a level-up system. Alfheim online allowed using magic and did not adhere to a level-up system  which now complicates things a little bit. This expands the genre of the story by a lot.

MISSES

Although the story is quite nice, the characters are not that good. I feel that each character was not as developed as they should be. I am saying this not only as a reviewer, but as a writer as well (I had so many classes about characterization during college). For instance, Kirito’s character is quite confusing. SAO does not justify why Kirito does this or that. Same thing with Asuna. There are some well developed characters like Suguha though. 

Because of the weak characterization, the story sometimes becomes hard to imagine. I could not understand why Kirito would fall in love with Asuna (if it’s based on looks, I totally would go for her though). I’m also disappointed at how Kirito and Asuna fell in love. It seems they realized their feelings too early in the series, but I guess it all makes sense when Kirito decides to rescue Asuna in the Alfheim arc.

A good point about the weak characterization though is that the interpretation of the anime might have not given justice to the light novels. Many anime fans and critics have pointed out that there is depth in character in the light novels that the anime was not able to bring out.

Although I mentioned earlier in the hits that the plot is really good, there are many points in the story line that are predictable (like who’s going to die, who’s going to go for revenge, who’s willing to sacrifice their guts so others may live, why Kirito never wanted to join a guild again, etc). For me, a predictable anime can make you bored.

Final Verdict

Do I recommend it? Sure, I do. I think it’s interesting, but do not expect too much or you might be disappointed like me. For hardcore shoujo fans with a love for deep, well-thought feelings for a significant other, the KiritoxAsuna love plot would not satisfy you. I think people who like games would probably enjoy watching this though. I don’t do gaming as much as I can, but after the first two episodes, I wished I had a NerveGear.

Few Notes

The 25-episode plan would cover only Volumes 1-2 of the light novel, which means it would only finish the Alfheim arc. I’m sure there’s bound to be a second season.

What are your thoughts on SAO? Is it worth the hype? Leave a comment below!

Don’t forget to follow Mission Start Podcast on Twitter @MissionStartP
Also subscribe to the Youtube Channel: MissionStartPodcast1

If you guys have any recommendations for an anime review, hit me a tweet @andyloveskawaii

-Andy-chan :3

Back when this game came out in March, I was absolutely ecstatic to see that Pokémon, arguably Nintendo’s greatest company asset, had tied itself to a popular JRPG series: Nobunaga’s Ambition.  To give a quick history lesson, Nobunaga’s Ambition was a game originally created in 1983 by game developer Koei Games in which as the name implies; the player is tasked with trying to complete Oda Nobunaga’s ambitions for the conquest and unification of the Japan, effectively closing the book on the Warring States chapter of Japan’s Sengoku period.  While the player didn't have to exclusively pick Nobunaga, it can be presumed that of the various character choices, the late emperor was easily one of the most popular. (Note, this game does don't follow true to chronically documented facts and should be treated as a work of fiction.  Then again, anything Pokémon related is going to be more "child friendly," so I'm taking this with a grain of salt.)

As time passes however, viewpoints of characters gradually change.  Over the years, Nobunaga’s character design has changed (interestingly enough in all media) from a man with a mission common for most adventurers -to inevitably rise to the top and become king- to where his appearances have made him look evil, power-hungry and controlling.  As of late, his character design has placed a good deal of emphasis around making him visually appear to be like some kind of dark knight while projecting an aura of control, power and authority.  It must be the goatee.

This aside, our player character (whom we name whatever we desire) is first introduced to the general battle mechanics of the game by childhood friend Oichi who leads the player through their first fights and gives some tips when fighting, up through your first “kingdom” fight sequence. From then on, the player is walked through various other aspects of the game such as taking over other kingdoms, training Pokémon, capturing Pokémon and recruiting other people to join your army.

The game itself felt innovative for someone like myself who’s ignorant on other tile based strategy games, like what Conquest tries to provide, but at some points, the game did feel somewhat lacking.  While thankfully some rules as in the Final Fantasy Tactics game series don’t apply to Conquest (think of a Jaghd area from Tactics Advance, where death means death), there was no way to make any use of the fallen members of your team, and in a bind, revives wouldn’t be able to provide any sort of help.  This deiscrepancy aside, I felt as though Conquest had -tried- to be great by taking a brand new approach in their gaming, but the design of the characters, ambiguous “level” designing and evolving process, the capture process and the fact that attacks could not be varied all made the game feel rushed and sadly a bit on the primitive end.  Don’t get me wrong, the game is still a lot of fun, but it could have used some work.  Let me elaborate.

I’ll start with the design of the characters and their movesets first.  The notion of the game and by extension bringing several pokemon to life in this manner was refreshing and definitely a different take on the franchise, which if played well would have worked out great for Nintendo.  Unfortunately, the design seemed almost as though the creators  of the game wanted to cut down on a Pokémon’s full potential by giving each one a single move which could not be changed throughout the course of gameplay.  While that works in some situations, it also leaves the player to think that they’re being gipped of a full sense of gameplay.  Heck, a Charmander that knows Iron Tail would certainly fare better against an Onix than if it only knew Ember.  Needless to say, there was something lacking in that department, which was made up for slightly by trainer commands.  The commands (as well as items which had to be equipped in order to be used) themselves varied from each vassal you had under your command, but were limited to a once per battle usage.

With good thinking, which is what I pegged the creators had in mind, one could easily overlook any potential inconvenience caused by the lack of action.  Seeing as how the player could see who their opponents are ahead of time, an available roster made by linked (note: not captured) Pokémon helps set the stage to allow the player to play with an army that works entirely to their advantage with no consequences.  Furthermore, by limiting the actions a player can use when handling their team also requires the player to think with strategy and to predict what possibilities might arise in both defending and attacking against their opponent.  Think with strategy and plan for uncertainties; only then one may see a spark of genius.

On to capturing, leveling and evolution.  As I had mentioned before, the players have to establish links with the Pokémon that they wish to follow them.  The design mechanic is relatively sound, but I think the presentation could have used some work.  With several Pokémon, the player will be able to see with various vassals different medals (gold, silver and bronze) and each one dictates the overall level of difficulty involved in acquiring the Pokémon they come across.  On a counterintuitive note though, the higher up in the medal grade a Pokémon is, the EASIER it is to get them to follow you.  No Pokéballs, no status ailments to make things easier (not to say that one can’t inflict status ailments), no buffer room… and if one fails to successfully gain an alliance, then every vassal under your command is denied the chance to attain them, so think wisely.  “Leveling” as best I could describe is set up in a way that with more exposure, the link percentage between the trainer and their Pokémon grows ever steadily and upon a leveling up, the only thing that rises is a basic attack value and a defense value in proportion to attack.  In other words, not terribly expansive.

Evolving was never explained in the game and in my several hours of playing, I honestly only had it happen once. A fairly accurate assumption would be that at certain points on one’s synchronization ratio, the Pokémon would evolve at predetermined points, much like at certain levels in the original Pokémon game series, although I have not actually seen where these are decided.  Thankfully, to help simplify matters, several Pokémon do not make an appearance in the game and much to my chagrin, tradables such as Gengar and Alakazam are not present.

Knowing that this game takes after the Pokémon franchise and incorporates elements from the grid based strategy games like Final Fantasy Tactics, one would think that the game could be made much more expansive than its predecessor, right?  Unfortunately no.  Through the aforementioned ability limiting, lack of an item system and limited commands, it felt like the game was stopped early in production.  From what IS there though, the game is fun, but at the same time, many fans like myself might have expected more from Game Freak, but at the same time, Conquest really isn’t that bad.  It could use a bit of tweaking, but the game itself is pretty alright.  I think I’m willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to the studios that put everything together.  An entertaining plot was provided, it offered the player to strategically think with their Pokémon and tackle challenges accordingly.  It hearkened back to the days of old where players were just supposed to have fun with their Pokémon, but for those who have gotten so wrapped up in various things like EV training, Nuzlocke Challenges and breeding programs to make pedigree Pokémon, playing Conquest would be a culture shock in gaming.

Pessimistic Rating: 3/5
Optimistic Rating: 4.25/5
Reviewer Rating: 4/5
Reviewed by: Kaz

Zero no Tsukaima is based of the novels of the same name written by Noboru Yamaguchi. They detail the adventures of Saito Hiraga in a land ruled by magic called Halkeginia after being summoned there by the mage Louise. Louise, a student at a prestigious Tristain Academy of Magic, who causes devastation whenever she tries to perform which earns her the nickname "Zero." In her attempt to summon a familiar she summons the normal 14 year old boy named Saito and he must deal with being away from earth while adjusting to becoming the hot-headed Louise's familiar.

Zero no Tsukaima establishes a great plot which, unfortunately, degrades over the course of the series for harem antics. The plot establishes itself as we deal with the problems with the magic academy which give it a Harry Potter vibe. However it eventually branches out to include other countries and eventually the threat of war. The series really shines when it establishes the world around it which is similar to medieval earth. The hierarchy system in which people who cannot use magic are put at the bottom and those who can are given titles and leadership is a realistic view on the bias that would probably be seen in such a society. Saito as the familiar gandalfr has an awesome power: he instantly knows how to use any weapon upon touching it. He also gets strength and speed buffs.

So how does such a good plot setup fail so hard? It starts delving into cliches and focusing on the harem aspect while practically ignoring the plot. the characters, while being cliche' at first delve further and further into cliche'. Louise stays in the 'tsun' part of 'tsundere' so long it gets extremely tiring. Most of the characters share this fault: they don't grow on you, they actually get more annoying as the series goes on. Siesta the maid is simply there for fanservice and Guiche and Montmorency are there to foil the relationship between Louise and Saito. The overarching plot gets all but forgotten in the last few episodes exchanged for how pretty much all the girls want Saito. I understand that this has something to do with self gratification, but there are dating sims and other shows for that, why abandon a decent plot set up?

In the end I really wouldn't recommend this series for those who want plot to go with their fanservice because it really just degrades into fanservice with little mention of the plot and by the time it is mentioned again it gets rather hard to follow and that's due to the bad adaption of the series. The novels, while also having fanservice moments, have a far better established plot. I will admit that the series was doomed from the start since they cover 3-4 novels in the first season, but the have at least one episode which is completely original for an underwhelming joke a waste of 25 minutes. I have no choice to give this series 2/5 because the series discards a rather intriguing plot and without that the characters show how dull they are.

-K. Wolfe

Having been the first game I’ve purchased for the 3DS since the Ocarina of Time remake, I figured it’d be best if I saw what the big deal was about Kid Icarus: Uprising.  Much to my surprise, I have to say the commentary I’ve seen online for it has not been misplaced.  Pit makes a stellar return in this latest adventure of his in this 25th anniversary (where have I heard THAT one before?) of his original adventure and his fight against the forces of Medusa and her unholy army.

For those who are new to the Kid Icarus series (Kid Icarus was followed up by a relatively unknown and definitely unpraised Game Boy release titled Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters), Uprising helps refresh players’ memories or fill them in on events past through allusions made to the NES title, classic sprite images and all.  In fact, speaking of alluding to the original NES release, as soon as the payer pops the cartridge into the 3DS, the little jingle that plays gives off the feel of the original 8-bit gameplay before we’re immersed into a completely different aspect of handheld gaming.

As the game is a 3DS only release, the option to turn the 3D visual effects have full use in the game and while it doesn’t do -too- much as I had made mention to in my Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake review, it surprisingly sharpened up gaming to the point that it felt like a smoother gameplay experience.  In addition to smoothing out gameplay, new copies of Uprising also came with a 3DS stand which I honestly thought was the stupidest thing I had ever seen… until I started playing.  Cursed with left-handedness, the stand helped me keep a stable gaming platform up and made it possible for me to actually play for a good deal of time so once again, I have to thank Nintendo for their innovation.  In addition to this innovative effort, the game also includes a pack of limited edition cards, guaranteeing at least Pit, Palutena and Medusa as idols that can be scanned using the 3D camera and even used to fight each other in a fun little battle sequence for nothing other than watching from a distance a couple characters fighting.

When it comes down to breaking down the actual gameplay, as stated before, I found the whole concept quite innovative, incorporating aspects of both a third person shooter (utilizing the touch pad to control movement while the touch pad is used for aiming) and as an immersive adventure styled game once Pit finds his way to the second half of the level, entirely based on running through maps (where the touch pad now focuses on being both an aiming tool and as a means to move the camera around).  In fact, the actual game guide which comes with the game is nothing more than a fold out that explains all of the controls.  Only three things are actually used; the touch pad, the analog stick and the left button (or if the player has access to the dual analog attachment, lefties like myself can swap the controls). That’s it.

While gameplay is simple, the follows through the traditional hero’s journey dynamic while also occasionally breaking the fourth wall where Pit, under the guidance of the Goddess of Light Palutena, learns to grow as an angel and as a warrior in hopes to take down the evil forces of Medusa and the Underworld Army, in hopes that one day he will be able to fly on his own without fear of his wings burning off of his body.  Going through the course of the story, we’re reintroduced to a stock of characters that have reemerged from Pit’s past including Twinbellows, Hewdraw (NES sprites and sounds included) and Pandora, and introducing other (albeit minor) characters including Magnus -an otherworldly powerful human and general d-bag-, Dark Lord Gaol as a new antagonist and the focus of Magnus’ hostility and Dark Pit (aka Pittoo) who was created as a manifestation from the Mirror of Truth (his origins actually starting as a colour swap in Super Smash Bros: Brawl) and aptly enough, both of them have quite the mouth on them.

Multiplayer was another innovative segment added along to the overall design of the game and can be noted as one of the better successes to come from the game’s development.  The game designs its multiplayer element to include both a free for all and a team based combat system which has failed to disappoint. Somewhat akin to fighting Dark Pit during the game’s story mode, multiplayer pits (haha) various people against each other in online combat as they bring together the best of their own weaponry to battle and fight to the death, trying to see which team, or which person will come out on top at the end of the match.  In ‘Light vs Dark’ combat mode, teams fight against each other to see who can take out as many enemy combatants as they can, and upon doing so effectively summon the opponent’s angel; a much stronger foe than what the team provides and upon their defeat, that team is crowned victor.  In the free-for-all setting, each combatant must try to find their own ways to come out on top in the competition to see just which person should be hailed as the grand champion.  

It’s an altogether simple concept to help establish supremacy amongst gamers… unfortunately, the one setback that this does provide is that those with lesser graded weaponry are at a severe disadvantage in comparison to those better armed, as the amount of damage each arm can deal, their firing speeds, the effects they carry; every factor imaginable comes into play in establishing dominance.  If there is one balancing factor that can come into play, it would have to be that after entering a round and upon exiting, the player is given a stock of weapons that they can keep and most likely use to bring themselves one step higher against their competition.  And even if something happens to not be as great as desired, the player is at full liberty to convert any item they receive into a small sum of hearts, whereupon they can craft or purchase their own weaponry.

Ah yes, before I forget, that last line reminded me that from the beginning of the game, the player can buy or craft their own weapons in exchange for the hearts they pick up in their adventures.  I’ll be blunt, buying weapons in the game requires an exorbitant amount of hearts in sums unattainable without the aid of grinding through missions and progressively ramping up the difficulty to earn more and more hearts, as well as unlock secret areas that can only be accessed by playing at a certain difficulty. 

Crafting on the other hand is an entirely different animal; in the sense that the player can take typically any two weapons they have and create an entirely different weapon in their place.  These new weapons are displayed with having higher stats of a generally wide variety from weapon speed or power or even the addition of effect such as poison to wreak further havoc on the army of Hades.  Sounds simple enough and with the right items, a player can craft the ideal weapon that best suits their gameplay… at the cost of a lesser, but still exorbitant amount of hearts.  Bear in mind though, that with a majority of the item combinations available to the player, the cost is still outweighed by the fact that the player can get a considerably better weapon in its place.  

Overall, I have to say that for the 3DS, Kid Icarus: Uprising stands above and beyond what I initially expected and has set itself up as possibly one of the better investments I’ve made on a new console and I was able to wring out several enjoyable hours out of it. Other than the fact that I wasn’t particularly wowed by the voice acting, it was still quite the great game; even if I felt discriminated by it for being left-handed (haha). It’s a solid game and I’d say definitely worth the investment.

Reviewed by: Kris “Kaz” Sturm
Reviewer Rating: 4.5/5

To be honest, I’ve been playing Sonic for years and have always liked the gameplay, both as a side scroller and in its more recent incarnations with 3D gaming.  Over the past five years or so, my time with the fastest thing alive has been sorely limited and it’s only been in part by working in a library that has rekindled my interest in our favourite blue hedgehog.  Sonic: Generations presents players with one solitary goal in mind: bring together gamers old and new to enjoy playing as our favorite blue blur and keep things fun but with a little challenge, nothing more and nothing less.

The plot (not to be confused with the level design) for Generations was surprisingly less complex than previous installments such as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Sonic: Unleashed or Sonic: DX (Director’s Cut) as it quite literally broke down into being that a giant shadow being comes in to disrupt the natural balance of the world and Sonic (teamed up with himself) must undo the chaos wrought onto his world(s) in order to bring things into balance and bring back his friends from a state of whitewashed, statuesque frozenness.  An even simpler explanation: clear through the acts and save your friends, take down Eggman and gather the Seven Chaos Emeralds to take down the big bad.

When the player is first brought into the actual playable aspect of the game, Sonic and Sonic go through the first three levels in their own acts before meeting at a hallway of glass mirrors whereupon they start mimicking each other, not knowing that each hedgehog that stands at each end is a different version of themselves.  It’s only with Eggman’s intervention that the two speed off and Modern Sonic sees his younger incarnation in the flesh as he goes to take on one of Eggman’s machines.  After a quick battle which should be presumed with a very obvious outcome, Classic and Modern versions of Miles “Tails” Prower come out and explain that there’s been a rip in the fabric of time and space, causing the two worlds to collide. 

The actual gameplay was rather… simplistic I could say.  Braking down into two components, the first of which involves playing as Classic Sonic for the older generation to tap back into their childhood and the second offers gameplay as Modern Sonic; blasting through baddies as fast as we can and making our way through challenges while generally being a badass. Gameplay was only set for two different modes, but to compensate, particular spin-off challenges were set up in order to prepare the player to fight against a boss in the sense that they were only set up to extend gameplay in an -alright- way to try and extend the life of a seemingly limited (and restricted) game.  I mean, the challenges aren’t bad and hell, I’d say that they’re a lot of fun… but I felt as though the inclusion of them were almost a way for the game developers to make some cop-out additions allowing some buffer time available to the player.  Whether it’s racing against Tails and his plane, fighting against Metal Sonic or using Knuckles to find coins buried in the ground (just a few examples of challenges available), they’re fun, but can be argued as somewhat unnecessary as more focus COULD have been brought to the story-telling aspect of the game, but it can be taken with a grain of salt. 

On the topic of challenges, from the main menu, one can access the Xbox Live (or Playstation Network) and engage in one of two challenges: a 30 Second Trial and Time Attack.  The former of which is an addition made for people worldwide to test their mettle and show just how far they can get within a measly thirty seconds.  To date, I have yet to see anyone clear through an act in thirty seconds (with one individual close to completing Green Hill Zone Act 1 at an astounding 33 seconds) but with each step made, the player can rack up points to try and bring themselves higher and higher up on the leaderboards.  The Time Attack function is merely a “get through the act as fast as you can” option where the player can basically fight other players for their spots on the leaderboards; each one-one hundredth of a second shifting a player anywhere between one to a good hundred or so places up on the board.

Thankfully, Generations does give some consideration to players wishing to try and improve their own version of Sonic and as a result, made a skill shop available to the players to where they can buy perks to attach to either Sonic of their choosing.  Whether it’s adding a shield to prevent damage from one attack or to give your rings some time before they vanish or to give the player that extra edge and allow them to stop on a dime, regardless of how fast they were going, the shop caters to nearly all players.  In addition to skills, the player can also purchase a Sega Genesis controller in the shop which -after purchase- allowed the player to play the original Sonic. 

If I could make a point of criticism to the game, it would be that the voice acting felt… subpar to say in the least.  Sure, I can get that for the Classic versions of the characters would sound more child-like and embraced that, but if there was one thing that had made me cringe somewhat, it would have to be that the acting felt entirely stale.  From the dialogue that I came across in the game actually spoken by the characters, there were delays in the lines being said (like slowing down speech for younger audiences to grasp what’s said much easier), mostly composed of simpler sentences and the acting seems a little under the full talents of the voice actors’ capabilities (such as Roger Craig Smith as seen at SacAnime).  I mean no disrespect to the voice actors involved with the game, however I feel as though the actual dialogue in the game could have been spliced together in a less… awkward fashion and maybe if there were more moments of spoken dialogue, it might have made the overall presentation of the game stand out even more.

Sadly, I felt as though Generations was a bit short overall.  The gameplay was great and the challenges were fun and hell, even trying my luck on the online leaderboards was a welcome challenge, but did stand just short of fantastic.  The game itself was a good deal of fun and was definitely a welcome change of pace for me and if there was anything I could seriously take away from this, it would have to be that the guys with Sega, the Sonic Team and Havok did a fantastic job at presenting a Sonic game.  They’ve rekindled my childhood and reminded me of days past when I played the original on the Sega Dreamcast (thanks again for including the option to relive my childhood by making the original an available purchase in-game!) and as I got older and started playing on the newer consoles.  It stood out as a great, fun game and an easy recommendation to payers of all ages.

Reviewed by: Kris “Kaz” Sturm
Reviewer Rating: 4.5