Bio
Name: Daniel Robert Lance Big Plume
Nickname: Saturnyne
Birthday: May 3, 1980
Age: 26
Sun Sign: Taurus
Moon Sign: Sagittarius
Chinese Zodiac: Monkey (Born)
Height: 170 cm
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Status: Single
Favorites
Color: Blue
Food: Chicken
Animal: Cat
Anime: Sailormoon
Show: CSI
PJ's: Sweatpants/ T-shirt
Pokemon: Porygon
Website: NHB Radio
My Linux Desktop
Current Moods
Song: Dog's A Best Friend's Dog
Links
Official Sins Of Science Homepage
Space-Kitten.Org
Wing Commander CIC
Tears For Fears
Contact
Email: saturnyne1d@netscape.net
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Tuesday, February 03, 2004
3:52 PM It occurs to me that I haven't reviewed a game in quite a while. This is sad, considering the fact that I have purchased a veritable cornucopia of games since my last review. Let's get started. Sword Of Mana Gameboy Advance Sword of Mana is ostensibly based on the very first Seiken Densetsu game released in America, which is better known as Final Fantasy Adventure. It features some of the same music and characters (Vandole, Julius, etc.), but a more developed story and of course, prettier graphics. It also features some of the fun sidequest-type things you can do in Legend of Mana for the Playstation - that is forge and temper weapons and armor, and harvest your own produce. The battle system is just like all the other Mana games - Zelda style hacking and slashing, with the ability to call on the 8 Mana Elementals to deal damage or boost your party's stats. Also, just like in Legend of Mana, you can choose the gender of your main character. If you choose the male, you'll be a battle-hardened gladiator on a mission to avenge the death of your parents. If you choose the female, you'll be a spiritual woman of the Mana Clan, a group of people being executed as heretics by the Granz Realm. The game also features two available save files, so you can follow both characters' stories if you so desire. The only problem I have with the game is the battle system. Your character doesn't swing his or her weapon until after you've released the A button. This works for the super attacks, which you can execute after charging your attack meter by hitting enemies, but when you're trying to hack at a horde of enemies, it can take a while to get used to how it works. There are also combos that the character can execute with each weapon with well-timed presses of the A button. The timing is strict, so you might not execute the combos every time, and the battle system overall may seem kind of clunky, but it most certainly doesn't make the game any less fun. So basically, if you enjoyed any of the other Mana games, you'll enjoy Sword of Mana. What makes the game even more enjoyable is the ability to link up with other people's characters, and not only play alongside their character, but save their character for later so you can execute combos with them. If you're lucky enough to know a lot of people, you could end up with some devastating power. And yes, you can link up at level 5 and then come back later at level 10 and overwrite your character. Personally, I love this game. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Gameboy Advance Any gamer worth their salt knows what a classic Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation was. Tactics Advance has all the makings of a classic, and is not just a sequel to the first game, but is actually tied into Final Fantasy XII (That's 12 for those of you who haven't learned Roman numerals yet). The game tells the story of Marche and his friends who open a magical book and turn their hometown into a fantasy world filled with wizards, moogles and warriors. The game features a very similar interface to the original Tactics in almost all aspects, however the game still stands on its own, apart from the original. The graphics in the game are beautifully detailed and almost poetically colorful. The character sprites are also detailed and unique, so you can tell a bangaa from a human when you're looking at a battle map. You can no longer rotate the battle stages though, which is disappointing, however the isometric view rarely blocks out a character so you don't need to rotate the stage. The battles are also carried out somewhat differently. In each region, a set of laws banning certain actions or weapons is in place, and when a battle starts, an invincible mediator called the "Judge" oversees each fight to make sure the laws are being obeyed. If you quaff a potion in a region where items are forbidden, for example, the Judge will step in and issue a red card, which will then send the offender to prison. The red cards, for major offenses, and the yellow cards, for minor offenses, stay on your character's record sheet, making punishment for subsequent crimes a lot more severe. So overall, the game is fun and a definite classic in its own right. The sounds are clear, the music is pleasant, and of course the linking option makes the game much more fun. Any owner of a Gameboy Advance that has not purchased this game will not regret buying it. Resident Evil Dead Aim Playstation 2 At first, one might think that Dead Aim is another first person shooter like the previous Gun Survivor games. First person elements are present, but it's not the center of the game's design. The game tells the story of Bruce McGivern, an agent in 2002 who is charged with stopping Umbrella Inc.'s horrific experiments aboard a cruise ship, the Spencer Rain. Bruce is pursuing Morpheus D. Duvall, a former Umbrella employee turned renegade. Bruce very quickly meets up with an agent from China named Fong Ling, who is also chasing Morpheus. The thing I've found most scary about the Gun Survivor games are the fully 3D environments. Dead Aim features a fully 3D environment that feels cavernous at times, and claustrophobic at others. Bruce and Fong Ling are equipped with chest mounted flashlights that don't seem to be bright enough to cover more than a few feet ahead of them, and most of the locales on the ship are very dark and brooding. Also, the shock scares that Resident Evil is famous for are present in their full glory. There isn't a lot of music in the game, other than cut scenes, credits, title screen and save rooms. What's more, you no longer need ribbons to save your game. Just find a typewriter and you're set. And of course, the growls, moans, roars and shuffles of the monsters in the game are crystal clear without being too abrasive. When you want to waste some baddies, your view switches from an outside third person perspective to a first person perspective. Then, you point your reticle and have a party. When a monster is approaching you from outside your field of vision, an alert will appear on the screen. With just a quick tap of the control in that direction, Bruce spins around to meet his foe. This might be cumbersome to people who want to aim using the left analog stick, which is supposed to move you around, since you might want to turn a little bit and end up spinning around to an entirely different target. As such, it's best if you aim with the right analog stick, since it can move the reticle in any direction you need without accidentally spinning you around. I'm a Resident Evil fan, so I personally enjoy this game. If survival horror isn't your cup of tea, then this game might not impress you. If you pick up this game though, turn on the movie subtitles option. Matching them up with the in-game speech is absolutely hilarious. I love it, but you might want to rent it before you buy. Beyond Good & Evil Game Cube (Also on X-Box and Playstation 2) This last Christmas, Ubisoft really proved itself with it's excellent release, Prince of Persia: Sands Of Time. An excellent, fun, beautiful, yet sadly underrated and overlooked game, Beyond Good & Evil was PoP's sister release. The game chronicles the story of Jade on the planet Hillys. Jade owns and operates a lighthouse as a shelter for orphans and homeless children. Hillys is under the oppression of a race of aliens called the DomZ, and the Hillyan government's countermeasure, the Alpha Sections, seem questionable at best. When the DomZ attack Jade and the children one day, Jade is forced to protect them alongside her uncle Pey'j. Pey'j, however, is no regular uncle. He's an inventor, mechanic, chemist and a humanoid pig. After Jade and Pey'j fight off the DomZ attackers, they get a strange message asking for Jade's help to uncover a government conspiracy. The characters are wonderfully detailed, the environments are beautiful and lush, the framerate is solid, and the monsters are original and unique. The game features many different kinds of gameplay, such as stealth and infiltration, outright racing, Zelda-style fighting, and even taking pictures of the local fauna. As Jade takes pictures of different creatures, including enemies and some boss characters, she sends them to a museum, who pay her handsome amounts for the pics. You might also be asked to take pictures for a magazine, and the exact pictures you take will be published for all on Hillys to see. I cannot say enough about this game. Go out and get it, seriously. It's not only beautiful and well-acted, but a lot of fun, the AI of your supporting characters is superb, and the music is so catchy, you might find yourself humming it well after you've turned off the console. This game definitely comes with my own personal recommendation. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the reviews. They took a bitch of a long time to write. I'm going to go lay down now and uh... sleep. Yeah, that's it. Sleep.
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