The Nintendo DS was an underrated system. Cue backlash, but hear me out for a moment: in an era with flashy onscreen graphics and multiplayer gameplay, the DS stood alone with its often “basic” displays and “restricted” single-player campaigns. And, predictably, there were a great many games that flew under the radar of gamers. This is the tale of one of those games, which appeared and vanished quickly, while still gathering praise and helping add to the prestige of the series with which it was aligned.

This is the tale of Devil Survivor.

Devil Survivor arrived on scene at the perfect time: early Summer 2009, right after the release of Pokemon Platinum (and at the time when the casual Poke-players would be seeking something new), near the beginning of a season perfectly suited for portable gaming. Part of the prolific Shin Megami Tensei series, this game was a solid representation of the visual novel/tactical battle system pioneered by Atlus throughout the previous decade or so. Mixing elements of strategy, foresight and “common sense,” it brought players into a world on the brink and asked “what would you do to survive?”

Devil Survivor was an apocalypse story in the truest sense of the word. Rather than portraying the downfall of society at the hands of zombies/aliens/communists/etc, the game chose to “pull back the veil,” and reveal to a select few the “reality” behind out world: angels are calling the shots and maintaining a semblance of order, while demons seek to rebel and overtake the masses using mankind as a nexus point for their plots. Humanity, caught in between their eternal war, is given seven days to comply with the angel’s commands, or the city of Tokyo will be completely destroyed.

While borrowing heavily from Christian symbolism and storytelling, the game manages to frame the topic in a context that leaves religion out of the debate. Rather than bear witness to the coming doom, a select few of those humans choose to do something. Cults devoted to the idea of human liberation preach the transcendental power of humanity as a whole and warn against both domination and depravity. Certain demons, despite their “unholy” origins, choose to work alongside humans to spare the destruction, while angels appear petty at times, reveling in their “power” while the world around them slowly decays. Long before Supernatural decided to “humanize” the warring factions of good and evil and throw shades of gray into the cosmic struggle, Devil Survivor was portraying both sides strengths and weaknesses as part of an expansive “morality play” and forcing the player to call the shots on how the story ended.

The concept of survival was a central point to the entire experience, as players were forced to deal with mobs of panicking humans, discovering shelter for the night, acquiring food and even looking for a power source at one point, all while society crumbles around them. The daily “countdown” towards impending doom added to the tension of the story, facilitating the need for “smart” decisions, rather than just reacting to the situation at hand, a tactic which would more than likely lead to death or derailment of plans/plots/initiatives. While not as urgent as a survival horror game, there was a distinct emphasis on consequences and foresight built into the plot, which rewarded astute gamers, and added stress to impulsive choices.

This emphasis on storytelling is one of the hallmarks of the Shin Megami Tensei series as a whole, and Devil Survivor expanded upon narrative and character interaction throughout the “seven days” of gameplay. There were numerous story lines in play, rooted around the game’s central characters, and even more around some of the “supporting cast.” Deciding which path the game took often required quick thinking, time management, and attention to detail, for some of the alternate stories hinged on how certain interactions proceeded, how often specific characters were used, what time of day it was, and how well the Protagonist sympathized and related to the individual stories of his friends. One slip up could close off an entire story line from that play through (especially those which were time-sensitive), and often that deciding moment would not be noticed until hours later. Finally, unlike its sequel, which forced the player to choose which side he was on, Devil Survivor elected instead to keep the main plot of the game static: the alterations to the plot rarely changed the outcome, just the path the story took to get to the outcome.

Mechanically, Devil Survivor was fantastically executed. I often called this game series “Pokemon with demons,” and for good reason. Unlike Persona games, which rely on luck and savvy fusing skills, or previous SMT games which needed negotiations to win demons over to your side, Devil Survivor tackled the issue by instituting an auction system. Money accrued during gameplay was used to enter into a “demon auction” against computer controlled AI “characters,” who would bid for the rights to contract with demons offering their services online. Quick bidding and successful manipulation of the system would net powerful demons at a low cost. Failure would mean loss of a potentially powerful ally forever.

While there was a buyout system which circumvented the bidding wars, it was often more cost-effective to analyze strategies and find ways to outbid the computer, thereby winning powerful new demons to your collection, which could then be fielded or fused within the Cathedral of Shadows to create more powerful fare. Players were encouraged to keep checking the auctions after each battle, since new demons would appear frequently, as older ones would eventually “experience out” of viability. This mix of fusion and “negotiation” proved to be as addictive to players as wandering the tall grass, because battles were often challenging and required a steady stream of “the best” demons to ensure victory.

Battles were both simple and complicated affairs. Borrowing from the tactical RPGs which Atlus is known for, combat removed the player from the interactive world and placed him on a massive grid system, facing off against wild demons or opposing summoners. Strategy took the form of choosing not only the appropriate demon, but also having a working knowledge of the demons skills and “specialties.” Certain demons had the ability to move quickly, or multiple times. Others could attach twice. Others could attack from long range. Some could heal, or fly, or teleport. It was very easy to lose sight of these special skills in the heat of combat, and thereby discover your party has been maneuvered into a tight spot from which escape was unlikely. There were many-a-battle where enemies with huge hit boxes could wipe out an unprepared party before they could move within range to strike.

Devil Survivor was a frustrating experience for the unprepared. While the learning curve was hardly an issue, the difficulty would abruptly ratchet up several levels in between encounters. Time-sensitive events would vanish swiftly, and frequently never pop up again in the “daily log,” thereby restricting (or even breaking) carefully planned course of action. Certain bosses were quirky and had merciless AI and “random number generators,” which could spell doom for even the best-prepared party. Even grinding was unpredictable and relentless in its encounters. And yet, it is a testament to the game’s appeal that one would not wish to stop playing. Even after losing a hard-fought, twenty-plus minute boss fight in the final moments due to an unanticipated sequence of strikes, the player would simply reload a save and go right back, taking what they learned and hopefully avoiding it the second (or third, or fourth) time around. Maybe a tweak to character abilities, or a swapping of demons/party members, and it was back into battle. It made the eventual victory both sweeter and more satisfying, knowing it was attained through strategy and effort, and not just overpowered steamrolling.

It might be a testament to the success of the game that you rarely see copies for sale. It sold fairly well, maybe not a hit in most people’s opinions, but certainly enough to warrant both a “fancy” 3DS upgrade, and “cult classic” status. It vanished from store shelves a few months after release, and even the used game sections rarely-if ever- see copies in them. Like many of the other SMT titles, this one served to satisfy the fan-base, but also made fans of many newcomers, myself included. While it’s a radical departure from the wildly popular Persona series that many casual gamers recognize, it was also familiar enough to have solid appeal. The replay value was extremely high: New Game + mode carried over demons and money, which made the followup game sessions ridiculously easy; the existence of multiple endings, “exclusive” fusions, and optional bosses prompted repeat plays just to see how strong one could become.

There was a sequel released in February of last year, also for the DS, which carried over many of the aspects that made this game such a success. And on it’s own, Devil Survivor 2 is as much a “Game You Slept On” as it’s precursor. But for this gamer, the first title will always be the special one. It opened the wide world of Shin Megami Tensei on a platform that seemed perfectly suited for casual play, while not losing any of the addictive nature that other SMT games hold. It was because of this game that I sampled Persona, which has become its own monster in my gaming life. And while I haven’t played it since those three hundred or so hours back in 2009, I can still recall vividly how much enjoyment the game carried with it. That’s a rarity these days.

One of the biggest genres this generation has been the Western-style RPG, typified by games like Skyrim, the Souls games, and The Witcher series. with their gritty Game of Thrones aesthetics and more open-world structure. With Eastern-styled RPGs struggling this generation, Capcom chose a different approach and decided to create its own entry to the Western-style fantasy RPG, while still keeping Capcom’s sensibilities regarding action and combat. The result of this is Dragon’s Dogma, an open-world action-RPG from a team of designers whose members have worked on the PS2 Devil May Cry games, Monster Hunter, and the Eastern-RPG-styled Breath of Fire series.

In Dragon’s Dogma, you play a blank-slate main character of your own design who is attacked by a dragon during the intro sequence and has his/her heart torn out, informed by the dragon that they are now the Chosen One. Known thereafter as the Arisen, you then travel the world fighting the monsters that have suddenly plagued the countryside. The plot is paper-thin pulp fantasy that mainly serves as a backdrop for some great hack-and-slash action. In this way, Dragon’s Dogma is very much like Capcom’s hugely popular Monster Hunter series, only with an eye more towards international audiences.

One of the main features of Dragon’s Dogma is the pawn system. Pawns are player-created servants/battle companions of the main character. They are created using the same classes available to create the main character and are always at the side of the main character. However, in addition to creating your pawn, you can also download pawns created by other players via PSN or Xbox Live, and you can make your own pawn available for download by other players. The pawn system is a community feature. When you draft another player’s pawn into your party, you can rate his/her appearance and abilities as well as send the pawn with a gift for his/her original creator, and likewise other players can do the same with your pawn. You can also share your pawn via Facebook if your Facebook account is connected to your PSN/XBL account. Your companions are controlled by AI, although you do have the standard commands to change your companions’ behaviors as you see fit. The AI is reasonably competent. You generally won’t be frustrated as your pawns throw themselves headlong into an unwinnable situation or draw hordes of enemies upon you before you’re ready to take them on. The pawns will also constantly give you advice and/or warnings about enemies or other hazards in your party’s vicinity, which is helpful at times but can become an annoyance.

The combat is where Dragon’s Dogma really shines and reminds you of its Japanese heritage at Capcom. This is some of the best action RPG combat I’ve ever seen. Unlike so many other RPGs where it feels like you’re fighting paper dolls, the hits in Dragon’s Dogma feel rock solid, both on the giving end and the receiving end. Furthermore, Dragon’s Dogma allows you attacking options like climbing on the backs or heads of large enemies to deal damage, although you’ll have to do your best to hang on. These same large enemies are more than capable of crushing you underneath their feet.  While the combat isn’t as fast as a dedicated hack-and-slash brawler, it’s still among the best in the RPG genre. More than a few long-time Capcom fans have compared the combat in Dragon’s Dogma to that of Capcom’s 90s Dungeons and Dragons arcade brawlers (Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara), and with Dragon’s Dogma’s huge array of melee attacks and magic, this is a fitting comparison.

You’ll be fighting plenty of huge monsters like this as you journey throughout the huge open world of Dragon’s Dogma.

In terms of visuals and sounds, Dragon’s Dogma is solid, if not spectacular. The world is suitably huge and panoramic, with sprawling cityscapes and endless mountains, valleys, and rivers. The character-creation modes are a cut above those of other games and allow you to customize your characters beyond the standard crew-cut males or helmet-haired females. The animations are done well enough, although slowdown rears its ugly head during crowded scenes.  The sound features stock Western-style RPG background motifs and sound effects. As previously noted, your pawns will constantly chatter to you, which may annoy some players, although you do have the option of turning the game’s voices down or off.

All in all, if you like intense, frenetic combat and a huge world to explore and can overlook the paper-thin plot, Dragon’s Dogma is highly recommended. While it isn’t likely to give From Software any cause to worry, Capcom has made a good first foray into the world of gritty console action RPGs, and hopefully we will see more in the future from this promising franchise.

Hello everyone its @GovPancakes from the @RealOtakuGamer and I am going to review  Konami’s Zone Of The Enders HD Collection. I have to put this out here, this review is going to be a ton of fun for me. I LOVE THIS SERIES AND FOR KONAMI TO PUT BOTH GAMES ON ONE DISK REMADE IN HD BLOWS MY MIND! When people say mecha games this is the first thing on my mind. This is is one of the most slept on Mech/RPG/Action games ever in my opinion.

Zone of the Enders is set in the future sometime in the late 22nd Century where humans have colonized Mars and several space colonies are set up around Jupiter. The Humans from earth and the humans who went into outer space of course separated from the people who went into outer space and those people who left became to be as “Enders”. The people of Mars and colonists of Jupiter begin to rise and form factions and the most well known one is BAHRAM. To avoid spoiling the story I will only tell the plot to the first game. The game starts out as Leo Stenbuck (the main protagonist) Colony gets invaded by BAHRAM to find an Orbital Frame (The main mechs of the series) called Jehuty. Leo watches as his town gets destroyed and falls upon Jehuty. He climbs aboard and starts his journey. Later down the line he conflicts with the BAHRAM organization and learns that Jehuty has a sister craft called Anubis led by the leader of the BAHRAM organization called Colonel Nohman. The story is driven by the rivalry of these two Orbital Frames and stopping each other.

Now the game play was first of its kind. On the original box for Zone Of The Enders 1 the box said “High Speed Mech Action” and thats exactly what it is. I used to describe it as “the Gundam game i always wanted”. The controls for 1 aren’t as smooth as the controls for two but when you jump into 2 you are going to feel amazing, but the controls for one aren’t horrible so make sure you play that one first. The controls are pretty simple and there are PLENTY of in game tutorials completely show you everything you need to know. It has a simple level up system where every time you level up your health increases, which you will need. During the games when you defeat certain enemies or find certain items, you are able to gain weapons and moves to further your moves list and making you feel like your in a giant mech like you see in anime. Also the environments play a role in the combat from throwing enemies into electrical fields or picking up pillars and throwing them at enemies. You can even grab enemies to use on other enemies! Some of the best game play for any mech game ever.

Zone of the Enders HD music and animated cut scenes have been revamped for the HD collection. When i saw the intro movie I was just shocked. The in game movies look SO good and shows a lot more depth then the originals. The music in the HD version is just “remix” versions of some of the first music, but over all the music for the game is still astounding and makes you feel like your right there in the mech. I hear of some frame rate drops but i haven’t experienced them myself.

In conclusion if you haven’t ever played Z.O.E. 1 or 2 go buy it. Its $40 for 2 amazing games. You will not be disappointed.

What do you get when you take the makers of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja & Ultimate Ninja Storm, and most of the .hack games? You get a game that plays like an anime, with an very basic gameplay mechanic, and the over the topness of Dragonball Z, and you’ll get CyberConnect2’s Asura’s Wrath. An original story developed by CyberConnect2 and produced by Capcom. The story focuses on the titular character, Asura. The game melds together Hinduism and Buddhism, with a splash of Science Fiction, giving the game an interesting blend with the anime style of the game. Now all these elements turned into a game is rather great blend, but to me personally, it fell short on quite a few instances throughout the game.

I’ll start with the good. The good revolves around the amazing story crafted from the tales in both Buddhism and Hinduism, and allowing for such a colorful story to be created, and played out in Parts, each named after the level of achieving enlightenment. The story centers around an age old war of apparent evil against the righteous elected Eight Guardian Generals to defeat the evil on Gaea or Earth. The evil is called the Gohma, and they ravaged the world and destroy anything that isn’t a Gohma. But behind the scenes, the leader of the Eight Guardian Generals, Deus, sets into place his plan to gain complete power over Gaea and the Gohma as well as be sole ruler in everything. But his plan requires Asura be the scapegoat for the Emperor’s murder, having his wife, Durga, killed, while kidnapping his daughter, Mithra. After being killed by Dues, Asura is sent to Naraka. Now Asura is already an angry demi-god, but once all these events transpire, and his death over the 12,000 years causes memory loss, he begins to gain them back and what he must fight for in a blood fueled and revenge induced rage to defeat all Seven Deities for killing him and his wife and rescue Mithra.

As I mentioned before, the game is played in parts, and each part is broken into a number of episodes, this is where the anime feel of the game comes in. Each episode starts with the naming the artist, producer, voice actors, and such. And at the end of each episode, it gives you a preview of the next in the form of the cinematics that will be played at some point during the episode. This nuance is quite cool, and makes you feel like you’re playing an anime, but after the 4th or 5th episode, its gets annoying and you just want to skip it, but you don’t want to miss anything. This and the way it’s played, its more on a level of a “interactive media” than video game. As you play, you’ll either love or hate the graphics of the game, which is a blend of anime, 3D CG graphics, and cel-shading, giving the game a gritty feeling, completely matching at times the mood and feeling of the characters. The level design, is limited since the arenas you fight in, are essentially set pieces, and no real exploration is given to you, the player, at any given time. You jump from one set piece, to the next, like an episode of any anime.

But as any high budget anime from any of the major anime production companies, the voice acting is top notch, and over the top as you would expect for a game like this. Each characters personality nailed down for the plot against the Emperor, to the self loathing of Yasha, the rage monster that is Asura, and the forgiving and imprisoned Mithra. The voice actors, be it in the original Japanese voices, or the English voices, they give their all to give you the player, the complete emotion of the scene present. As I’m not intimately familiar with Japanese voice acting, I’ll mention the outstanding voice action by Liam O’Brien (Asura), Robin Atkins Downes (Yasha), Kari Wahlgren (Mithra), and David Pizzuto (Deus), to name a few.

As the game, cannot stand alone on solely voice acting, high budget, and story, the gameplay is what brings people to the table to play, and the story is what makes them stay. And the gameplay for this game runs the gambit: Action, Beat ‘Em Up, Hack And Slash, Rail Shooter, Rhythm Game, Quick Time Events, and Third Person Shooter. At various points in the game, it turns into one of the many different game types. Each with a rather basic control scheme, nothing revolutionary, by no means. Much of the gameplay isn’t amazing; it’s rather pedestrian, and just to get you through an event that requires you to utterly destroy a Gohma, or one of the Deities. The game completely encompasses an over the top action, and consistently gives the player, the feeling, everything is certainly bigger and more angry from Asura, especially with the duel against Deus… but his anger is never abated.

The game comes down to, not in this exact order: cutscene, fight for a bit, cutscene, quick time, cutscene, button mash, and burst event which triggers more cutscenes. During some of these cutscenes, you’ll have to input a button that will appear on the screen for you to continue. This is where the gameplay is melded with the presentation of the game, allowing for the most over the top fights, and the badassery from Asura, and certain characters during their interactions with each other. For instance, the fight between Asura and Augus, you fight on the moon, and Augus, uses a Sword imbued with the mystic trait of extending no

matter the length, which ends with Asura and Augus plummeting towards Gaea with Asura being impaled back towards Gaea. But guess what, this all preceded by a hot springs quick time event involving a big busty servant.

Don’t get me wrong, Asura’s Wrath is an solid game, as long as you go into it, knowing full well, that you’re more so getting anime episodes in game form, where you slightly interact with the game and various quick time events, to spice up the ride during Asura’s anger induced revenge. The story with its roots in Buddhism and Hinduism, and sci-fi twist, allow for a fresh story, not done before. The game visually, isn’t stunning, but the gameplay melded with it, gives you a sensory overload, to a degree, allowing you to watch, somewhat at a distance, but still interact. At the end of the day, if you can get Asura’s Wrath for cheap, it’ll be worth the money, but when it was first released, I wouldn’t say the $60 price tag, was worth what was given at the end of the day.

When trophies were first introduced to Playstation I was intrigued and excited. This was Sony’s way of competing with Microsoft Xbox 360 Achievements. Super Star Dust HD was among one of the first games that started the trophy system. My goal? To obtain EVERY single trophy! This was also my first full 1080p game. So I decided to give this game another breath of fresh air and give it another go.

The game has many different play modes, such as arcade mode, planet mode, endless, survival, bomber and time attack and it also includes a 2 player co op mode. For the sake of this throwback we will go visit just plain and simple arcade mode. The player controls a space fighter craft that can move in any direction on a spherical shield surrounding a planet, while simultaneously firing in any direction independent of its movement. In arcade mode you are visiting planets and umm… destroying asteroids and alien enemies. Think of it as a very advanced Asteroids game. You get many different types of weapons for different types of asteroids. Rock Crusher for regular asteroids, Fire for gold asteroids and Ice for Ice asteroids. Along with those weapons you also get bombs which destroy everything with a certain radius. Weapons can also be upgrade by shooting the Kryptronite looking asteroid rocks that are found with in the bigger asteroids. Among the weapon power up you can also find points, shields and 1-ups.

After MANY frustrating attempts I was able to obtain every single trophy in the game. After doing so, I wondered… now what? I was able to get much play out of the game through the other modes in the game. The game was extremely easy to start and play for any novice player, but it does challenge even hardcore players. Very worth the $10.00 if you want to burn some time.

It’s a shame that one of if not the best kart racers to be released in recent memory isn’t getting the proper recognition that it deserves. This game won’t be getting a full review from me but I can sum up my opinion of this title. BUY IT!

First and foremost, the price tag is $39.99 in the US so it’s already cheaper than most new racing titles and it’s twice the fun. To be honest I personally hate kart racers. Mario Kart especially. It’s a fun game but the rubber band A.I. is so frustrating that I often had the urge to break my copies of the games at hand. Other generic kart racers don’t have this problem nearly as much but it can be just a tad too easy. This is the first kart racer I have played in recent memory where I am not mad at the A.I. There isn’t a “blue turtle shell” and I haven’t run into any rubber banding. The computer can just be relentless but not cheap. Once you gain the lead, you fight to keep it.

Did I mention that the visuals are outstanding a display so much by bringing nostalgia to the forefront with tracks and characters that my be obscure, Burning Rangers anyone, or just awesome memories like After Burner. Plus the stages change dramatically mid race so one lap you could be driving a kart, next lap you’ll be flying and the final lap will be in a boat. MIND BLOWN!!! There hasn’t been a racer that a done such feats…ever! And it’s seamless and awesome to look at.

The soundtrack is just right, with songs that fit the stages perfectly and accomdate for the intensity of the race. Plus the racer roster is huge and there is potential DLC for the game that was chosen by the fans! (I’m still pulling for Segata Sanshiro)

I just think this game is totally awesome and I know it was not on a ton of people’s radar but it deserving needs to be. I forgot to mention the feature that made me most happy as soon as I booted up the game. You can play any and all modes with up to 3 of your friends locally. That means online, career, battle, single, grand prix! And there are sweet unlockables that give that kart mods to make the race feel completely different! *sigh* just go buy the game now! BUY IT!

Hello everyone this is GovPancakes with Real Otaku Gamer here to bring you new anime to watch. This time its an anime called Blue Gender. Now you may not of heard of it because its a older anime. The Genre is Action/Mecha, now before i start a lot of people go “oh man it has mechs in it I don’t wanna watch that”. Stop it. This anime isn’t focused on the mechs its focused on the people.

The anime starts off with a Recovery team trying to recover these people called sleepers (humans that were put into a cryogenic stasis because of an unknown disease). The main character Yuji, just happens to be one. He gets forced awake into a time where humans (not all but a mass amount) have been pushed into space to live on a space port called Second Earth by these Bug-like Creatures called The Blue. The Blue are a special kind of bug that can eat organic and inorganic objects…so basically everything. They only have one weakness which is their “core”, which later in the anime becomes an issue.

Yuji joins the recovery team and their second in command Marlene, who’s job is to transport Yuji to Second Earth. Reality hits him that time has definitely changed since he was in stasis that all that he knows is gone. The humans of this time are a lot more heartless and act completely different from his time.

Now what makes this anime good is how realistic it is. Its really raunchy and gory, sex scenes, blood in about every episode, swearing, but its not over the top. The people are completely heartless just like The Blue are. Its an amazing story about survival. The action is amazing and realistic. If someone looks like they are about to die then they probably are. The relationship between characters is also a factor in the battles which adds to the story. The art style for its time was great and its still good now. The voices aren’t bad and the music is sub par at best.

In conclusion I say if you liked Starship Troopers give it a shot. It has almost the same focus but its not funny, and a lot more serious. Amazing anime that I give a 8/10

This is one of the most phenomenal games I’ve ever played ever. This is a diamond in the rough. To me this was one of SquareSoft’s best games ever.

The games story revolves around these mysterious items called Relics. Relics are magical items that all have different powers and properties. The two 2 protagonists, Rue trying to Resurrect a dead friend and Mint trying to rule the world. Both of their personalities are vastly different, which fit the game perfect for the other characters and antagonist they meet.

The gameplay is pretty solid and simple with a few flaws. Its a platform/hack-and-slash game, if you were to compare it to another game the best way to compare it is Kingdom Hearts 1. The menu in this game you never ever really need to go to. You buy items to increase your attack and defense but that’s about it. No potions or elixirs, but if you die you can use these coins you can buy or find to bring you back to life with a certain MP. Character skills vary for whoever you play with. Rue can transform into enemies he defeats and gain there abilities and attacks, while Mint gains magic throughout the story and finding scrolls. An interesting concept with the game is the Health/Magic system. The more you get hit the more your total HP increases, where as the more you use magic the more your total MP goes up. The A.I. isn’t really anything to worry about, pretty simple and bosses aren’t too hard or annoying.

The bad thing about the gameplay is the camera angle. Depending on your area you can be in a 2D, Streets of Rage like area, or full 3D, to a Crash Bandicoot like angles. With the camera switching it can make jumps harder then it needs to be. If you can get past that you will enjoy this game like no other if you cant…then you wont.

The visuals for a PSX game are pretty good. Every character and npc have the same physical attributes just scaled smaller or larger. No go into cutscene then cutscene graphics (all the same graphics) The special effects for the game are nice but not astounding. The explosion effects aren’t top notch either. The buildings and atmosphere aren’t too bad for a PSX game but nothing amazing.

Now the music, however, will grab you and fit every situation you tend to be in during the game. Every single area of the game has a different music or musics depending on the stage. Also the boss music changes and gets more epic to show the extremeness of the fight going on.

I went out of order but I have to rebring up the story. The plot twist and character development are amazing. How different every character in the game is, is just amazing. One of the bosses is a guy that reads books, and his power is to be able to learn whatever he reads and its characters like that that just compelled me to play the game even more. I love seeing actual legit character development in games instead of a powerup or another mode but actual progression. The game just makes you feel accomplished to play it.

The replay value is high for this game as well. After you beat it you can play the game again with the other character to get the true/final ending!. AND after THAT you can play the game again with your super powered up/powerful characters.

In conclusion. I definitely say if you like RPG/action/platformers this is for you without a doubt.
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Music: 9/10
Replay Value: 9/10
To be completely honest I am going to give this game 2 total grades. The first one is for the game as a whole. If you can get past the camera angle then it gets a 8/10 but, if you cant then it gets a 6.5/10.

Games are released in many different countries, but not all games are released in all of the countries, some are stopped due to language barriers, some are stopped due to low interest, and some are stopped due to lack of effort to find a publisher for said game.

In this game’s case, the barrier language is the obvious one, as it is a music game… With Japanese music… With weird as heck Japanese weirdness… And it is quirky as all out, let me just tell you that it is a music game from Japan, and as such, will have Japanese music and it is for the Nintendo DS.

The first game in the series Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, or rather, “Long Japanese title game” is a game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo, which is followed by a sequel of sorts, a more known game called Elite Beat Agents, developed exclusively for North American public, and THIS game is the sequel of sorts to EBA released only in Japan.

The story is simple and to the point: 2 groups of cheerleading squads are in odds against each other, and they are trying to find out which of the groups is the best, and they do it by helping people in need! Except they don’t wear awesome MIB outfits but some sort of Japanese school uniform.

The first thing you need to know is the gameplay, you use the Nintendo DS’ stylus to tap circles, move balls across sliders, and spin a circles as fast as possible.

But what is the point of that you ask? Well, you have to do it in rhythm with the music, vocal tracks that were famous around the year the game was released, think of it as Japan’s version of Guitar Hero, only not quite as overdone, the good thing about the game is that you don’t even need Japanese knowledge to play it, but if you dislike not understanding what the heck the songs are saying, you will find no joy here, but if you are one of those who liked enjoyed Japanese music, you will find some fun here.

The graphics are mostly unnecessary but those exist, most are hand drawn manga style that work as cut-scenes in-game as well in “story driven“ scenes having to do with the characters you control, but not all is 2D it also combines 3D rendered characters that dance in the Touch Screen to the rhythm of your taps, and the World Map, where you are taken to choose the songs available to play at that moment.

3 more songs are unlocked longer you play, and after you beat the 2 initial difficulties, you unlock hard mode, and when you beat hard mode, you unlock the hardest difficulty which has you controlling female cheerleaders with an added difficulty by reducing the circles’s size.

If you are lost by this point, don’t fret, most would be, this video will show AND explain it better than I ever would.

Speaking of points, this game is all about the High Scores, your points multiply times the number of circles you haven’t missed at the moment of it happening, it is mostly for bragging rights, but you unlock the songs this way, as well as a new mode called “hidden mode” where the circles disappear early and any rhythm indicators are gone, and with this mode, the amount of points gained is increased.

So… As you can see, this game is difficult to explain, much less show, but hopefully the above video has helped you understand what the heck you are supposed to be doing, so, what is my recommendation?

It’s on Ebay for 20 bucks, I recommend this game to the Otaku fan base, Japanese music loving, and to the “Gangnam Style” groups, if only to get them to try this addicting game.

Nintendo hasn’t released a new sequel since then, but there exists an Ipod/Android/Computer fan based version of the game, where you can create your own songs and even download fan-made music with more known artists and an extensive amount to choose from.

In conclusion, this is a fun game to own if you are curious about Japan’s quirky games, and musical taste, just don’t break your stylus and/or DS when playing it.

The Game Boy Advance is home to many great games, from platformers, to RPGs, its library is full of hit after hit, but alas, such greatness can lead to overlooked titles, hidden from sight by more well known games, and such was the fate of this title, a puzzle/platformer that even as a series, was overlooked by most gamers.

Empire of Dreams begins with our main character, Klonoa, waking up in the Kingdom of Jillius and is promptly captured and taken to the king himself, and he is charged for the crime of dreaming, a crime caused by a law created by the King himself, because he couldn’t dream, and so, decided no one could, but instead of being punished, he is tasked to defeat four creatures causing mayhem in the kingdom, and if he succeeds, he’ll be allowed to go free.

The presentation in this game is good for the most part, the graphics are clear, and the sprites animations are well done, the background does a good job of making you feel as if you are in a dream, and while the music is certainly not memorable it fits the atmosphere of the game well.

The game is divided into 5 Worlds, that have 8 “Visions” each, and every 4 or so stages, the gameplay is given a slight twist, in the usual stages you solve puzzles by using your platforming skills, but in others, you have to move fast, because the screen keeps moving and if you fall behind, you die.

Another stage lets you ride an air board while dodging enemies as you move, and one more that it’s the boss stage, in which you defeat the boss to advance to the next world.

While this game is a platformer, most of it is done to solve puzzles in the stages, you can run, jump, flutter in the air using Klonoa’s rabbit like ears to gain distance, and use the Wind Bullet, which allows to grab enemies, objects, and use it as a grappling hook of sorts, the purpose of the moving stages and the air board stages is to reach the end, but in the usual stages, you have to find 3 Hexagram shaped stars in order to open the door to leave.

On the way to exit each level are diamonds, that have no immediate value, but, you need them in order to unlock extra visions, that are more difficult to beat, but really not by much, as the game will probably be easy for most players.

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams is a platformer like no other, it’s fun, innovative, and while the series is likely dead due to poor sales, it’s good to remember it, and with that in mind, I would recommend this to fans of the genre, and it’s also a good choice for younger gamers to get into, but in the end, if you are looking for a fun experience, this is one that you will enjoy.