We live in a society obsessed with perfecting the human image. These shoes will make you run faster, this drink gives you more stamina and this surgery will irresistible to the opposite sex. The world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a futuristic look at where that society is headed, and it’s a grim one.  Competing biotech corporations are augmenting people with new limbs and new senses, but a secret war for these technologies is brewing and innocent lives are being put at risk for this war.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the latest chapter in the long running, critic and cult favorite series casts players in the middle of this war and gives them the freedom to decide just how it pans out. Your choices have a tremendous amount of weight and as such, the replay factor is through the roof. Deus Ex is not just a tremendous action game, it’s a gripping and satisfying tale that hits all (well, most) of the right notes to leave you on the edge of your seat.

Human Revolution casts you in the role of Adam Jensen, chief security officer for Sarif Industries, one of the leading Biotechnology companies on the planet. Sarif is on the verge of a major breakthrough, and could unlock the full potential of the human body, but they have their detractors. Not only are their rival companies attempting to steal their information and ideas by any means necessary, they also have a number of “purists” who believe that their work is wrong. On a routine mission, Jensen is attacked and left for dead, leading him to augmented with the company’s own technology.  What results is your quest  to unravel a global conspiracy and find your attackers.

Human Revolution is so gripping because it deals with issues that though they may be a ways off, are very possible in today’s society, but just how deep you dive into the mythos of the game is completely up to you – and that’s where the game truly begins to shine.   A lot of games can claim to give you choices, but very few give you the freedom that Deus Ex offers. Each mission gives you a few basic choices, for instance if you want a weapon to take out enemies from a distance or close-up, but you never feel like the game is guiding you in a certain direction. You’re merely dropped into a mission and asked to complete it in whichever way you prefer. Go through and take out

Deus Ex allows players to take on missions anyway they want.

I often found myself going the other route; sneaking around missions and avoiding enemy contact whenever possible. This is where Deus Ex is at its most gripping, enemy AI is astoundingly good, responding to everything from noise to suspicious activity and yes, even unconscious bodies if you don’t hide them well enough. You’ll genuinely have to plan a strategy and think about how you’re going to do things before leaping right in, as getting caught often leads to having to think on the fly, and adopt a new strategy.  The way you play not only has an effect on the game’s missions, but the way the game itself plays out, as certain actions will open up new interactions and side missions that further delve deep into the world of Deus Ex.

There is something to say though for how satisfying and remarkably realistic the game’s gunplay is. Throughout the game (especially if you choose to shoot first and ask questions later), you’ll gain access to a lot of different weapons, and each feels like its weighted right and fun to shoot. It’s incredibly rewarding to take out a room of baddies with a high powered weapon, and the game’s well done cover system adds to it by leaps and bounds.

As you play through Deus Ex, you’ll earn Praxis points, the game’s currency system that you’ll use to level up and earn new abilities. These too have a profound effect on just how you’ll experience the game. I found myself investing them in the blades on my arms, as I found it incredibly rewarding to sneak up on an enemy and take them out this way, but you’re able to distribute them to literally any aspect of your character in an effort to max out your play style of choice. A tip though – no matter how you choose to play, give a significant amount of your points to hacking, as it makes the entire game easier, and opens up a lot of new choices.

For all that it does right; Deus Ex has an unfortunate habit of stopping its own momentum. While the majority of the game is choice driven, there’s a few moments where the game feels remarkably linear, and you can’t help but feel like the game is pushing you in certain directions. A good example of these moments are the game’s boss fights. In a normal game, they’d be sufficient, but when a game is as well done as Deus Ex, they seem out of place and counterproductive to what the game truly wants to do.

Though it’s marred by dated facial animations, the majority of Deus Ex: Human Revolution looks like an art-school dystopia. Heavy on blacks and grays, the game plays the troubled future motif well, and not as predictable as some other games that explore the same theme.  There were multiple times I just found myself staring out a window at the wonderfully rendered cityscape. Human Revolution is one of most unique and cool looking games of this generation.

The Blast Factor: Barring a few missteps, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a gripping and unique thrill ride that everyone should play. It’s faith in its mechanics, and play style allows the player an ultimate sense of freedom and the result is a game that you’re not going to want to just experience, but play through again and again. It may not be perfect, but Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great action romp.

Square Enix, the publisher behind games like Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series has confirmed that they have been the victims of a hack — one that resulted in over 25,000 e-mail addresses and 350 resumes being compromised.

“Square Enix can confirm a group of hackers gained access to parts of our Eidosmontreal.com website as well as two of our product sites,” said a Square Enix representative. Reportedly the hack was focused on sites for fan favorite series Dues Ex.

“We immediately took the sites offline to assess how this had happened and what had been accessed, then took further measures to increase the security of these and all of our websites, before allowing the sites to go live again. We take the security of our websites extremely seriously and employ strict measures, which we test regularly, to guard against this sort of incident.”

The infamous Hacker group known as Anonymous has been linked to the attack.

Publisher Deep Silver announced today that Square Enix would be distributing its upcoming zombie shooter Dead Island.

“Square Enix’s impressive distribution and marketing capabilities, combined with their  proven success with launching top-notch AAA titles, makes them the absolute best partner for Dead Island,” said Deep Silver Chief Operating Officer Geoff Mulligan. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with their dedicated and talented team and look forward to collaborating with them in order to bring Dead Island to gamers.”

Dead Island is expected to release later this year for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

“Dead Island is a truly extraordinary title and we couldn’t be more excited about leveraging our unified Square Enix resources in bringing it to audiences in the Americas.” said Mike Fischer, president and chief executive officer, Square Enix, Inc.

Blast Magazine and Square Enix are teaming up to bring you one cool giveaway. One winner will walk away with this cool 3rd Birthday poster, signed by Yvonne Strahovski (otherwise known as the really hot girl from Chuck), who voices the game’s main character. We’ve also got five copies of The Tomb Raider HD Trilogy for PS3 to give away!

So just how do you win? Easy, answer these four trivia questions, and send them over to me at sinicki.j@blastmagazine.com. On Monday, we’ll take everyone who got all of them right, and randomly pick the winners. You can send me as many entries as you want, but that’s not going to increase your odds of winning.

Trivia Questions:

1) In what year was the first Tomb Raider released?

2) Before it was announced for the PSP, what platform was The 3rd Birthday originally announced for?

3) Name the four voice actresses who have portrayed Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft.

4) Who wrote the original Parasite Eve novel?

Good luck!

If there was ever any doubt that the next generation of consoles are coming, let it be forgotten. Square Enix, the studio behind franchises like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts have opened up a new studio to focus solely on the next generation of consoles from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

Planned to be opened in 2012 with around 100 employees in either Montreal, Quebec or Toronto, the studio will be dedicate to researching technology and getting the studio ready for the next generation.

While no one has been hired for the studio yet, the director of the Eidos Montreal Studio, who is currently working on the new Dues Ex game  commented on the announcement. “The new consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will require more attention and more staff. We want to prepare ourselves.”

While certain folks in the development community seem to think we’ll see new consoles within the next two years, PlayStation exec Kaz Hirai claims that the rumored PS4 isn’t even in development yet.

At the end of every year, we in the video game journalism world have a habit of making lists. We write about the bestgames, the best console, and yes – we also write about the worst games of the year. Mark my words, in December of this year we’ll be talking about Mindjack, the new futuristic third person shooter for worst game of the year.

It didn’t start that way though; in fact Mindjack started as an impressive idea. Built on the framework of modern day third person shooters, Mindjackallows players to leave the bodies of their character, and take control of an enemy. It’s not the most unique idea (last generation we saw it in Battlefield 2), but we don’t see it much in this genre so it still feels a bit fresh.

In the year 2031, government as we know it has all but dissolved, and in its place stands resource controlling corporations. Throughout most of the game you take control of Special Agent Jim (no, seriously. The dude’s name is just Jim) as he and his partner Rebecca as you try to infiltrate the compound of the NERKAS corporation for some reason. The whole thing plays out like a really bad Sy-Fy channel weekend movie. Plot points are introduced, but never wrapped up, characters come in, but are never seen again, and worst of all, the game never takes the time to fully explain just what’s going on. It’s like we’re just supposed to accept that the technology to jump into someone else’s mind is now possible.

Much like Vanquish before it, the gameplay of Mindjack could best be described as an eastern take on the Gears of War formula. Hell, if you’re playing on the Xbox 360, the controllers are mapped to the exact same buttons; you shoot with the right trigger, aim with the left and roadie run by holding down A. The only difference, while in Epic’s flagship shooter they worked – here, they’re unquestionably broken. The biggest problem is that even the most civilian actions like moving to cover, reloading and shooting, come off as cumbersome and incredibly slow. Even the “Mindjacking” itself comes off as slow. Combine that with the fact that your enemies seem to be on a permanent caffeine binge and jump around incredibly fast and you begin to get an idea of just how frustrating of an experienceMindjack can be.

One of, if not the most memorable aspects of Gears of War and its sequel is just how memorable and satisfying the action is, yet another feature this game is missing. Take for instance the seemingly simple act of snapping to cover and firing at an enemy. Somehow, even if you line up the reticule exactly on your target, more often than not you’re going to end up shooting slightly off where you wanted. It’s incredibly frustrating and defies the basic principles of shooters. What’s more, there’s pretty much no logic to any of Mindjack‘s action (seriously, if you just ignore a boss for long enough, it seemingly defeats itself).

There’s a decently enjoyable multiplayer suite that essentially turns the entire single player campaign into one large death match, but it too suffers from the same problems as the main game. To be honest, with games like Bulletstorm, Dead Space 2 and Killzone 3 on the horizon, there’s pretty much no reason to play Mindjack. Flawed in nearly every way, Mindjack is the definition of a frustrating gaming experience.

Hey remember that movie Highlander? You know the one where Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery cut off a bunch of dudes heads to the sounds of Queen? Did you know there was a game coming out based on it? Well forget it, it’s not coming out anymore.

After being in development for over five years, Square Enix gave the official cancellation notice today. No official reason was given for the game’s cancellation.

The scope of the video game industry has been evolving dramatically over the last few years. We now have sweepingepics, with storylines that will (well..mostly) resonate with gamers everywhere.  One thing hasn’t changed though – gamers love big friggin’ robots with machine guns.

Enter Square Enix’s Front Mission Evolved, the latest installment in the long running, cult mech series. To boil the game down to its most simple form, you control and pimp out a giant killer robot and blast others doing the same to bits. Everything sounds great right? Not when you take into account that the bulk of the game feels much like its robot protagonists – empty, cold and soulless.

In the year 2171, the world is a different place. War has broken out between rival factions working out of airborne military bases (whatever, just go with it). As you may have guessed, these factions carry out the majority of their battles in giant robot mech suits. The mech suits (this isn’t Transformers, there’s actual people in there) are truly the coolest part of the game, and you’ll get an opportunity to pimp out your mech with a ton of different armor, mobility and weaponry options.

It’s this customization that adds a ton of depth and strategy to the mix. For instance, if you add a lot of guns and armor to your mech, you’re going to be moving slow and probably won’t last long. Sadly, Square Enix doesn’t seem to understand how big of a draw the game’s customization suite could be as too often in missions you’re forced  to load out with what the game wants you to use, and not what you have equipped your mech with. Why give us these customization options if you’re going to task me with doing something completely different.

Previous iterations of the Front Mission series have been turn based strategy fair, but Evolved takes the series in a different direction with an action heavy third person perspective. Most levels operate the same way, suit up, blast the level clear of bad guys, defeat a boss, repeat. Then there are the levels that take you out of the mech suit and have you running through the level defeating easy baddies and collecting money to use on your mech. On the surface, these levels should be a nice change of pace, but they come off as sub-par third person action sequences that you’re just going to want to get over with.

Presentation is an issue throughout Front Mission. The mechs themselves are detailed nicely, but the world around them is in total contrast. The levels are uninteresting and uninspired blurs of color and faint detail and the voice acting is some of the worst you’ve heard in quite some time. The biggest issue though is just how the game feeds you information. Throughout the game, blue boxes will appear on your screen with updated mission and story information – and these aren’t small boxes, they’re large and obtuse and do their best to block out the majority of the action. What results is a frustrating experience that sees you having to start an entire section over simply because your vision was obscured by the game itself.

As large as the entire game is, the whole thing feels like practice for the surprisingly fun multiplayer suite. The modes here are pretty standard, you’ve got your deathmatch, team deathmatch and domination modes, but it’s well the game handles some of the issues of the single player game that makes it so special. Gone are the limitations and worthless requests on just what you can use on your mech, in fact – giving your mech the coolest upgrades is the biggest and most rewarding experience in the game. The mode isn’t without its flaws though, chief among them is the fact that some games have some pretty incredibly high demands. Take the dominion mode for instance, you have to play to 1000 points. That’s a pretty high level, and I often found myself just waiting for the match to end.

The Blast Factor: Unless you’re the type of gamer that salivates at the thought of giant mechs; you’re not going to find much to like about the latest Front Mission. Evolved is much like its robot protagonists – a lot of cool ascetics but no real spark of imagination.

The legendary Tomb Raider franchise extends this summer with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, an Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Windows mini-title.

Crystal Dynamics, the team developing the action puzzler, released a trailer for it today, introducing Tomb Raider fans to a fresh take on the storied series.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light comes XBLA, PSN, and PC sometime this summer for $15.

Travel around the Internet long enough, and you will come to two opposing conclusions: Final Fantasy games are amongst the leaders in innovation and the growth of the Japanese RPG genre, or, conversely, Final Fantasy games are everything that is wrong with the stagnating Japanese RPG genre. We’ll tackle the former in a bit, but as for the latter, this thought generally comes from some of the linked items that are seen throughout much of the series, such as chocobos, the use of a Cid character, and the fact that Final Fantasy games have seen many a remake over the past decade as Square Enix introduces their classics to new fans (or repackages them for old ones looking for a fix). Of course, that thought can also come from those who dislike JRPGs in general, and, seeing Final Fantasy’s standing in that community, lash out at the most easily recognizable name.

That’s a bit unfair though, as Square has been very good about branching out with their flagship franchise. To kick off their popular Playstation 2 era, they released Final Fantasy X, which removed the world map and created a more linear adventure that was fueled by its story, the first voice acting in an FF title, and an excellent battle system that combined turned-based combat with some impressive summons, a new leveling system, and the ability to switch characters in and out of combat on the fly. Final Fantasy XI was an online MMORPG, which was clearly a step in a different direction, and FFXII combined elements of the two to create something completely different: a single-player game that felt like playing an MMO in many ways. While the opinions vary on just how successful XII was insofar as creating an excellent game, there is no doubt that it helped pave the way for XIII, which, in this reviewer’s opinion, is a far superior outing for the long-standing franchise.

The story in FFXIII is part of what will power you through the game–yes, this is a mostly linear adventure, but somewhere along the way people confused linearity for being bad. That’s not the case with this game, as the reason for its linear nature comes through as you play–it’s a story of escape and running for your life for about 15 hours, so it’s no wonder you don’t have the ability to go wherever you please. It’s not like the game doesn’t present you with plenty to do, even if it isn’t giving you much of an option to do it. If you skip out on this game due to its being more linear than you would expect from an FF game, then it’s your loss.

The main character is Lightning, though as far as a “main” goes, XIII has more in common with VI than any of the other games in the series, as each character will take the lead at some point in the adventure as you focus on their story and character development. I don’t want to delve too much into the story and give anything away, but Lightning is a former member of the military who is trying to save her sister, who happens to be the fiance of another character, Snow. Serah, the fiance and sister, is in danger for reasons you will learn, and both characters are separately out to save her. There are other people in the mix for various reasons, and everyone eventually comes together until tragedy befalls them and they have their own problems to escape from, starting you on your adventure. Apologies for being vague, but it’s the kind of adventure that’s best experienced for yourself so you can see how everything develops and turns out, from both a plot and character development standpoint.

In fact, as far as character development goes, this is the most successful Final Fantasy in a long while. There may be a few characters who rub you the wrong way long enough that you feel there is no hope for them, but everyone has their chance at redemption, and by the game’s conclusion you will like the character that has grown before your eyes over 60 hours. Hope starts out like the cliche whiny teenager, but if you think about it, he has a lot of reasons to complain, and will have his chance to move on. Vanille starts off as a goofy, fun-loving teenager that rubs some people the wrong way, but she also has her moment of transformation, and you learn why she acts the way she does. Lightning is the gruff, militaristic type, but even she has her moments of tenderness, and because of the way she acted all the time before, they mean something to you when they happen. It also helps that the voice acting for each character is superb–Vanille’s voice seems out of place on occasion, but otherwise, your ears won’t mind the loss of the Japanese voice actors.

In spite of some vocal outcry from the traditional fan-base over too much linearity and noticeable mainstreaming of the new installment, FF XIII has managed to sell 1 million copies in North America in just 5 days. This figure, along with amazing sales in Japan where 1 million units moved in just 1 day, have prompted Square-Enix to label the FF XIII  March 9th launch the most successful in franchise history.

The game has reviewed very well, with some even claiming to have fallen madly in love with its visual majesty.  More impressive figures for FF XIII sales will likely be made known in the coming weeks. We will be sure to keep you abreast.

Via: Gamespot

Square characters always have the most amazing strength in their wrists.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/gaming/gaming-news/final-fantasy-xiii-sells-1-million-in-north-america-in-just-5-days/feed/ 1 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/gaming/gaming-news/2010-nba-all-star-celebrity-game-sponsored-by-final-fantasy-xiii/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/gaming/gaming-news/2010-nba-all-star-celebrity-game-sponsored-by-final-fantasy-xiii/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:59:18 +0000 Eddie Makuch http://blastmagazine.com/?p=39221

Sports fans, this one’s for you. Square Enix is the sponsor for the 2010 NBA Celebrity All-Star game on ESPN and it’ll be pimping Final Fantasy XIII at this year’s event in Dallas.

Like this.

“The 2010 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game Presented by Final Fantasy XIII” is the tagline for the event and an assembly of words you’ll hear commentators stumble over again and again in the days leading up to the event and likely during it.

Square Enix issued a press release today announcing the sponsorship and something to the effect of showing off Final Fantasy XIII at the event makes sense, based on the demographics of who watches NBA and who plays Squenix video games.

The 2010 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game happens this Friday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Some say Earth was created in seven days…

…How many will it take to save it?

The folks at Square Enix aim to creatively answer that question with their new release 0 Day Attack On Earth.  In this un-railed Raiden-esque title, players must defeat a horde of aliens in 3 different major cities around the globe before everything is left in rubble.  At your disposal: a large variety of customizable aircrafts including jets, planes and helicopters; each complete with their own unique strengths, weaknesses and power-ups.

Each level in 0 Day Attack On Earth is represented by a day in which the squid-like, seemingly half-organic half-machine aliens are attempting to take over one of the cities.  In these levels, players will not only have to take out the massive hostiles, but they will have to halt the destruction within a certain amount of time.  Along with the most dangerous of the enemies, which are complete with fire-fuel ammunition and uber-quick tentacles, are slightly small and slightly less hazardous foes.  While these enemies are considerably less treacherous, the loot they drop (in the form of translucent green cubes and balls) can help you regenerate health or gain powerful upgrades for your ship (including shields, heat-seeking missiles and multiple-stream blasts).  Players will have to decide how much time they will dedicate to upgrading their ship and how much they will spend actually trying to clear the level.

Visually, 0 Day Attack On Earth looks pretty dang good.  Similar to Raiden, which this game seems to draw a lot of inspiration, 0 Day Attack On Earth features both 2-demensional backdrops with 3-demensional character models.  However, unlike Raiden, 0 Day Attack On Earth is unrailed and contains fairly large maps (a detail that I loved).  Background settings are vast, but lackluster in aesthetics.  While indeed the background images are 2D, it seems that there was no major effort to make the buildings and parks pop out or look interesting.  Sure, they had a few buildings enter the 3D realm, but it was mostly a miss for me.  Conversely, the enemies look very good in the game with their accompanying tentacle motion, flame-based weaponry and postmortem explosions.   Furthermore, the gameplay in 0 Day Attack On Earth is pleasantly intense at peak moments of chaos.

Another thing that separates 0 Day Attack On Earth from Raiden is the level of camaraderie players will experience.  Instead of a simple two player co-op, 0 Day Attack On Earth players will be able to enjoy a 4 player co-op experience or even two different 8 person versus modes, which include Capture the Flag and Control Point.  Unfortunately, 0 Day Attack On Earth doesn’t have many players, so actually joining a "quick match" is pretty much impossible.  However, if you and a group of friends purchase the game together, getting one of these multiplayer matches started should be no problem.

Also, the camaraderie theme continues within the gameplay.  Certain enemies will attach to your ship during parts of the campaign that one will not be able to save themselves from.  Instead, players will need to rely on their friends shoot off these attached foes and continue the purging of the aliens.  In fact, the camaraderie is pushed so persistently that, when you save a teammate, two voice bubbles pop up from the ships that fall victim and perform the rescue that say "Welcome!" and "Thanks!"

The controls in 0 Day Attack On Earth are heavily focused on the two joysticks on the Xbox 360 controller.  The left stick is used primarily for steering and forward motion while the left stick, when pointed in an outward position, is used a firing control, replacing both of the triggers on the controller which would be the most intuitive for that function.  Needless to say, for those who are not well versed in these controls will have a bit of learning to do.  Luckily, even the most challenge gamers (myself included) will not take much time to adapt to these odd controls.

Blast Factor: Overall, 0 Day Attack On Earth is a solid game.  For the relatively low bar many XBLA titles have set, 0 Day Attack On Earth is one of the good ones.  This Square Enix title brings a classic style back for a reboot and it is quite exciting.  While the multiplayer is ambitious, I was a little disappointed with the inability to actually join a game and try them out.  Given a good enough following, I can see 0 Day Attack On Earth becoming a very good overall game.  However, until we can actually try out some of the multiplayer, were just going to have to be patient.

0 Day Attack on Earth is available on 0 Day Attack on Earth is available on XBox Live Arcade for 1,200 points ($15). A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

The year is coming to a close, but Square Enix has one potential hit left up its sleeve in the form of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Now, we are suckers for anything Crystal Chronicles related around here, from the original GameCube offering that gave players a chance to link up their Game Boy Advance to their GameCube to the wireless multiplayer of the DS titles to the distinctive WiiWare games that put new twists on old genres, all while utilizing a now familiar universe.

The Crystal Bearers aims to be even more of an experiment for Square Enix than the previous games in the Crystal Chronicles series, as it doesn’t rest on familiar concepts and play styles, but does so within the confines of a full retail game rather than a downloadable release. We had the opportunity to speak to Akitoshi Kazawu, who worked on The Crystal Bearers, about the series itself and what we can expect from the last big game of 2009.

BLAST: The whole Crystal Chronicles series is different from the more traditional Final Fantasy games, though they both use a similar universe. How did the series come about in the last console generation? What prompted making the series a Nintendo exclusive?

Akitoshi Kawazu: Over the years, FINAL FANTASY has transitioned from SNES to PlayStation platforms, and the top quality visuals best represented in the in-game movies have become a staple feature of the series. While this quality has been embraced by core gamers, it seems to have distanced beginners and younger players from the FINAL FANTASY brand.  In the earlier days, Nintendo’s then president, Mr. Yamauchi, had asked us to create a FINAL FANTASY game that could be enjoyed by any player, no matter what age or gender; the resulting project was the first FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES game for GameCube. We have followed up since with several titles for Nintendo platforms, but feel that we haven’t been able to develop a game that fulfills Mr. Yamauchi’s request 100 percent. We’re going to stick with Nintendo platforms until we have achieved this. I think it’s a really "Japanese way" of thought, so hopefully this explanation makes sense.

BLAST: While the first few games were all similar, in that they were multiplayer offerings that focused on exploration and item collection, the series has taken a different turn on the Wii. First there was My Life As A King, and then this year’s My Life As A Darklord—each of which is one of our favorite WiiWare titles for different reasons. Where did these ideas come from, and how did they develop into games? Do you see this same sort of genre-bending experimentation in the future of the Crystal Chronicles series, either on WiiWare or as full retail games?

AK: In my mind, WiiWare is a platform of its own, different from packaged software both in terms of technology and business-model. In the beginning, the idea was to make an RTS game for WiiWare utilizing the graphic resources of the GameCube version, to shorten the length of development.  We were successfully able to incorporate the FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES world into the resulting game system, and FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King turned out to be a great game. FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord was a sequel that was always part of the plan. At first we had planned for the two games to have the same systems, but wanted to change things up a bit, and transitioned to a tower defense oriented system instead. Moving forward, I would like to create more games for WiiWare with systems that would be difficult to realize with a packaged title.

BLAST: The Crystal Bearers takes that evolving genres cue a step further, as it’s a single-player game with a deeper story and a focus on adventure. What prompted the switch to more of an epic quest, rather than a Wii-exclusive multiplayer offering?

AK: Development for this title began around the same time as FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Ring of Fates for DS.  The DS title got the multiplayer focus, as we felt the platform was more suitable for multiplayer action, and for FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS, we put more emphasis on the single player experience that Wii is known for.  With the GameCube version, we faced challenges in revolving a multiplayer action game around a single screen, so that was also one of the reasons why we chose this direction.

BLAST: Tell us a bit about the background of the game’s story, and what kind of adventure we are in store for this December.

AK: Annihilated in the Great War that took place ages ago, the Yuke tribe had completely disappeared, even from people’s memories. However, members of this supposedly extinct tribe appear and attack the passenger airship Alexis. Layle, the main character of this game, is hired as an escort to defend this airship. In this adventure you will play as Layle, discovering why the Yuke tribe is back, and what exactly it is that they want.

BLAST: The protagonist is very different from the create-a-hero setup in the other Crystal Chronicles titles, but he even comes off as more experienced than many heroes in the flagship Final Fantasy series. In a genre dominated by teenagers, children and inexperienced heroes, how did Layle come to be?

AK: FINAL FANTASY stories have always been about growth. The main character’s problems, struggles, joys, sense of accomplishment or sense of loss are all expressed throughout the course of the game. However, if the plot is set up with the same formula every time, we won’t be able to expand the breadth of storytelling. With this game, we wanted players to enjoy an entirely different type of story and main character. This hero is extremely "hero-like" in his actions. Layle is a hero that is constantly one step ahead of his enemies, and offers players an exhilarating experience.

BLAST: Gameplay wise, what’s different in the Crystal Bearers from past Crystal Chronicles titles? What stands out in The Crystal Bearers as your favorite addition to the series?

AK: The element that differs most from past titles is that players can interact with the game’s environment. Objects, people and creatures, among other things, are all part of this "touchable" environment. Everything will come back at you with a variety of reactions when you come into contact with them.

AK: Link with Force powers! That’s actually not too off-base. However, Layle is far more confident than Link, and is not as polite. Layle uses his powers instead of swords or bows and arrows, essentially to show off that he doesn’t need to rely on weapons. Layle’s powers bring about a huge variety of reactions. This is because you can use his powers on anyone, ranging from town’s people to guardsmen. These are things that Link couldn’t do, right?

BLAST: Did you run into any problems developing for a system with the Wii’s control system? Was there anything you wanted to work into the game that did not make it in due to these difficulties?

AK: There are certain aspects that we cut intentionally, but nothing that we were unable to achieve because of technical difficulties. For example, in the early stages of development Layle used to wield a sword, but because we were able to integrate Wii controls so well in the game, we decided not to include that feature. This way, Layle’s powers could be emphasized.

BLAST: Is there a possibility that The Crystal Bearers will develop into its own side series, as it differs so much from the traditional Crystal Chronicles and takes place so far ahead in the universe’s timeline? Is this something you would like to see happen?

AK: FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES is known for its multiplayer function and miniature character designs, and even though FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS shares the same world, it is a completely different gaming experience. We would like to continue with expanding the CRYSTAL CHRONICLES series, while also looking into a sequel specific to FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS.

BLAST: Lastly, tell our readers the one thing about The Crystal Bearers that they may not know to convince them to pick it up the day after Christmas.

AK: Step into the shoes of a daring hero, use his ability to control gravity at will, and interact with everything within the game world, from objects and people to creatures. That sums up FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS. Don’t miss out on this experience!

Hold your breath, you’re about to see something strange, unknown, and highly crazy. No, it’s not Halo 4, rather it’s a Final Fantasy game on the Xbox 360.

FF XIII is still four months away, but Square Enix graced us with the European box art for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions today, and my oh my do they look pretty.

Source: Kotaku

Square Enix of Europe today laid speculation to rest today and officially announced Kane & Lynch: Dog Days, a sequel to the original, with an interestingly different visual approach.

After the wild and bizarre viral teaser video that surfaced last week, we kind of almost saw this coming, and now that it’s official, our assumptions are validated and we’re about as ancy as you are to get our hands on it.

The game will release under the Eidos brand and will feature “a new visual experience … inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era.”

Look for Dog Days on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 sometime in 2010.

Source: Joystiq and Kotaku

The video game industry is full of some pretty baffling premises. When the original Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002, the marriage of Final Fantasy and Disney seemed fated to be a confusing and unholy commercial alliance. But I, like many, was pleasantly surprised by the result. Beating the source of my childhood nightmares into submission with a blunted sword proved to be quite cathartic, and doing so side-by-side with Yuffie and Squall only sweetened the deal. The story was nostalgic and sweet, the worlds jaw-droppingly well actualized, and the combat unimaginative but nonetheless enjoyable.

By the time a formal sequel was released four years later, the KH franchise had–like its main voice actor–gone through an uncomfortable voice change.‚  The combat became faster, flashier, and more enjoyable, true–but the story began to distance itself from Ma Disney and Pa Square with the inclusion of strange new characters and baffling retcons.‚  The newest installment of the series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for Nintendo DS, continues this journey into strange territory in a format that fans of the series can’t help but recognize.

What immediately caught my attention with this game are the graphics.‚  Unlike Chain of Memories, Square declined to downgrade to 2-D graphics and attempted to produce a PS2 experience in a DS game.‚  The results are surprisingly good: the 3D worlds look and feel very much the same as they did in KH1 and KH2.‚  Although camera controls can be a bit slippery, the game makes the best of the DS’s button capabilities.‚  Overall, this is one of the best designed DS games I’ve played, and it earns even more points for minimal use of microphone/stylus gimmicks.

Like in Chain of Memories, where your character’s progression was based off their card deck, 358/2 Days has a unique leveling control system.‚  You are given control of a tetris-like grid and given the option to fill it with a limited number of spells, items, and effects that will guide how your character behaves in battle.‚  It’s a little limiting but it’s an interesting approach, and I fully support supplemental games such as these experimenting with established mechanics.

Speaking of experimentation: you’ll notice I said that the worlds look and feel the same as they did in previous games.‚  This leads me to the most disappointing aspect of the game: repetition.‚  Yep, you’ll be going to Agrahbah again, just like you did in the last three games.‚  The music and sound design are the same you’ve heard in the last three games.‚  The menu and battle systems are identical as well.‚  Now, of course I believe in not-fixing that which is not-broke, but this is getting a little ridiculous.‚  The game has a very narrow scope–you won’t (or shouldn’t) play it if you haven’t played all the previous games and enjoyed them, so odds are high that you’ll be experiencing some serious deja vu.‚  Matters are only made worse by almost two hours of hand-holding tutorials that even this game’s youngest players would have to roll their eyes at.‚  After all the tutorials and expositional cutscenes, it feels like an eternity before you begin playing the game, and it makes the disappointment of traveling the same levels all the more acute.

There are some fun new elements, such as being able to play as any Organization XIII member.‚  I love playing as villains, and Square seems to know it; Sephiroth, Edea, Beatrix, and Seymour in all their overpowered glory have all been brief party members, as if to rub it in your face how strong and awesome they are before snatching them away.‚  I wholeheartedly admit that it’s just as fun in 358/2 Days.‚  It allows you to experiment with different styles of combat and helps you get through the repetitiveness of the environments.‚  I played this game on vacation and had no opportunity to try out the multiplayer option, but based on the game’s party mechanics I bet it’s a successful new addition.

But I confess that Organization XIII as a whole leaves me bemused and confused.‚  Like the characters of KH1 they are given a very finite amount of introduction and development, but those were beloved childhood figures; Ariel and Tarzan didn’t need excessive explaining.‚  Organization XIII and its goals seem aimless and unexplained.‚  As 99.9% of them are allegedly attractive males, I can’t help but feel the franchise is indulging its fantastic character designer (spokesman for the belt and zipper industry Tetsuya Nomura) while simultaneously pandering to its uncharacteristically sizable female audience.‚  This female gamer finds herself less moved by spiky bishonen than by good character evolution; what was so wrong with Maleficent that she needed to be supplanted by some jerk with too many x’s in his name?

Plot twists and turns include body cloning, memory cloning, and cloning in general.‚  The game as it stands is like a PSA against natural procreation.‚  While it makes great character drama to consider the duality of the human condition and the nature of individuality, I’m wary of the series devolving into a confusing mess of a soap opera for created characters and their existential angst.‚  The game wasn’t without some charming details and dialogue, but it just felt like a distraction.

Clearly I feel trepidation about the future of this franchise.‚  KH1 was the smiling five year-old girl: good-natured and charming in her simplicity.‚  Now she’s a surly fourteen year-old and I’m left to worry that the black lipstick is more than just a phase.‚  Perhaps I’m jaded by the distance we’ve traveled from that bizarrely successful premise.‚  The central mysteries of the original game have never been answered, and we seem to have abandoned them in favor of newer, sexier ones.‚  I caught myself reminiscing about the good old days when the point of the game was to travel to Disney worlds, lock them up tighter than a drum, and whistle while you worked.‚  And Final Fantasy characters? ‚ Forget them–they have vanished entirely, leaving only unsatisfying moogle shopkeepers to fill the void.

Blast Factor: That said, this game is exceptionally well executed, and if you’re still invested in the story, you’ll probably enjoy traversing the same worlds to get the same story from a different perspective.‚  But if you’re like me and feeling a little anxious, you can probably skip this title; you’ll likely further confuse your understanding of the story, and speed the process of disenchantment before the next true sequel is released.‚  I think the litmus test is to ask yourself how you feel about the title itself.‚  It’s pronounced “Kingdom Hearts Three-Fifty-Eight Days Over Two.”‚  Does this represent something pleasantly intriguing or obnoxiously hard to understand?

For my money, I think there’s a marketing executive somewhere who needs to reevaluate his or her calling.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS, and retails for $34.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Square Enix updated the Final Fantasy XIV website today with a mass listing and imaging of all the critters you’ll encounter in the game.

Ranging from the odd to the total what the f*ck, this bestiary catalog is great. I know I need more living cactus in my life. What about you?

Final Fantasy XIV Online is due out sometime in 2010 on PS3 and PC.

Along with these new images, the FFXIV website was also updated today with more information on new chores and tasks in the game.

Source: Kotaku

Order of War is one of the first steps for Square Enix to appeal to a broader audience”"it’s published by them, but developed by Wargaming.net, and is quite unlike the kind of title you expect from the RPG behemoth.

Order of War is set during World War II and has the player playing through famous historical battles as either Americans against Germans in France or German forces versus Soviets in Poland. You control almost all the aspects of the battles including airstrikes, ground troops, paratroopers, tanks, artillery and even managing reinforcements.

Each level in the game starts out with some black and white video footage of actual battles that have lead up to the scenario about to be played, which I found gives the game much more depth, as opposed to just dropping you into a battle. The game then zooms in on all the units, tanks and vehicles and begins to display many statistics on the screen at once: everything from number of troops to the firepower of missiles to almost blueprint like schematics of certain vehicles. You are then briefed on your objectives as parts of the map are revealed to you. The objectives range from protecting allied convoys, capturing occupied villages and holding positions.

The onscreen HUD displays the number of platoons you control and each of their conditions, a mini map and your resource points. Resource points increase at a steady rate over time and can be used for a variety of things, including paratroops and airstrikes. Each option may cost you a different amount of support, further adding depth to the game play. Many factors can affect success such as varying geography/topography. Tanks and artillery having longer range when on top of a hill and vice versa when firing from downhill; infantry have better cover when in a wooded area. Infantry can hide in trenches or houses for added cover which can give you a great advantage.

The enemy forces have pretty much the same abilities and resources as you do and it is especially challenging to get through a location when the opposing forces are in the houses all around you. Infantry can also load into trucks to faster get to a map location faster, though loading and reloading the trucks can use up valuable time which you don’t always have. There are other disadvantages to using trucks as it puts an entire platoon in one place which makes an easy target for the enemy, and when a truck full of troops is destroyed the whole platoon dies. There are also trucks for artillery that carry anti-tank cannons that take some time to set up but once set up they can become a key to victory in any battle.

Statistics are displayed after each mission is completed and, based on your performance, you are awarded medals, such as purple hearts, and points to upgrade your units in future missions. The upgrades are broken down into Infantry, Artillery and Tanks, and include increases in accuracy, speed, etc. For example you can upgrade your infantry’s accuracy with firearms to level 1 and, if you have enough points left, increase to level 2 and so on. These changes permanently effect the performance of your units through the whole game.

The graphics looked nice at an aerial view, but can zoom in so close that you get a great feel of how it would seem to forces on the ground, though the troops can seem a bit blocky zoomed in. There is also a cinematic function where the screen goes into a letter box view and weaves through the battlefield at different angles and speeds to give you the feel of watching a war movie. Though this function is well done I never found many times to use it as there was so much going on.

In the first level I found there was so much going on I wondered how I could ever command so many units in real time. But after some practice and finding out just how useful and important the pause function was to the game, I started to really enjoy myself. I soon felt rather engrossed in the whole experience. Though the game has some problems, the minimap did not rotate with the camera so it was hard to navigate at times. I also felt the game assumes you know WWII lingo like what a Howitzer or Nebelwerfer is. The strength of the infantry felt weak and I found them more useful as distractions then actual fighters, as the game seems to rely heavily on tanks. The infantry AI seemed lacking as at times, and became rather annoying when they wanted to crawl on their stomach all of a sudden. The distance you could zoom out also felt rather small.

Blast Factor: Order of War is a solid game despite some balance issues. The game really shines the most in the heat of battle and the way it sets up the scenario for you. From someone who was never really interested in WWII based games, I surprisingly found myself enjoying Order of War.

Order of War is a PC exclusive, available at retail for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Dissidia is the culmination of the first ten Final Fantasy main series games. Rather than in a straight up RPG, like the Tales series has done with its universe-blending titles, Square Enix united its main characters and villains from the Final Fantasy series in one RPG/fighting game. Cosmos, goddess of harmony, and Chaos, god of discord, are waging a war for control of the universe. The balance tips in Chaos’s favor when he summons villains from throughout the Final Fantasy universes to aid him in his quest to defeat Cosmos. In retaliation, Cosmos summons the heroes to defend her and help her vanquish Chaos. As many heroes are killed, the warriors are brought to the brink and Chaos his final assault. ‚ It’s up to the heroes to band together and defeat Chaos.

Story mode focuses on the ten heroes fighting for Cosmos. Each player has their own unique storyline which plays out as you progress through the game. Each character’s arc is a piece of the larger story, so the game requires you to play through the battles with each character. It can get a bit tedious, but the antagonist section “Shadow Impulse” definitely makes the Story mode worth playing. These chapters let the story of the war between Chaos and Cosmos unfold naturally, without cramming too much into a few cut scenes. ‚ Story mode not your thing? That’s fine. If you’re just looking for a quick fight, the Arcade and Quick Battle modes allow for quick one on one battles with the computer. Communications mode allows you to fight friends using the PSP’s Ad Hoc wireless system. Additional levels can be unlocked for an expanded game play experience.

The fighting system of the game is fantastically designed. The 3D arena allows fighters to go head to head while using the arena itself to enhance the experience. During the fights, timing is everything. You need to be able to block and evade the attacks while launching counter attacks as quickly as possible to get the upper hand. During the battle, you rely on your HP and Bravery Points. Using Bravery attacks allows you to steal your opponent’s Bravery and then use a Limit Break to launch an attack that will decimate your opponent using the accumulated Bravery Points. This brings a level of balance to the fight which is reminiscent of the fighting systems of the original games. The coolest aspect? When you fight, you can glide across walls and fly across the arena in order clash against your opponent with very cool special effects.

Which brings us to graphics. Graphics wise, Dissidia is on par with Crisis Core and in some ways exceeds it. The special attacks are presented in a fantastically colorful and creative manner. When your character slides across mako energy streams, the graphics sleekly show the character glide through the air as if it was natural. Sometimes when executing special moves, the graphics can lag a little, but this isn’t a major detractor from the game. When the graphics are coupled with the RPG element, you are given a truly fantastic experience.

One of the best aspects of the game is customization options. Armor, weapons and accessories help customize the characters and boost your fighting stats. One of the highlights for me was being able to unlock Squall’s Cadet uniform and Cloud’s Advent Children costume. The customization is optimized by Dissidia’s character play styles. Each character has their own fighting style which makes playing each fighter a unique experience. Each fighter is forced to face off against their nemesis in a final epic showdown which will help guide their story arc. While most fans will recognize that the pairings make sense, some will obviously point out the Jecht wasn’t Tidus’ main villain (but then again Tidus was about as real as the spoon in the Matrix, so we can disregard that small issue).

As a Final Fantasy fanboy, this game delivers on all fronts. As a fighting game fanatic, this game holds up to some of my toughest criticisms. The game is an experience, with a lot of unlockable content and beautiful graphics. The story comes together in a good way that can satisfy the diehard fans but could leaves something more to be desired. There is a secondary card battle system which players may want to explore for additional fun, but multiplayer is definitely where the game shines. Points accumulated throughout the game (fighting and card game) allow you to unlock the numerous bonus features (including two hidden characters that fans will be happy to unlock). When you go head to head with your friends, it’s a fun way to see who is better at coordinating themselves within the arena. My advice is to train on the highest difficulty level in order to train your reflexes during the harsh battles. Playing on difficult is incredibly brutal, but rewarding when you fight on normal and can easily block and counter your opponent’s moves.

While this game is fantastic, there are some points where it disappoints. Like most Japanese to English games, sometimes it is very apparent where the lip moves are not in sync with the voice track. This is no big deal, but it’s a little issue that can take away from the experience. While the roster is strong, the new story doesn’t give the characters the depth their original games did. In this respect, new comers may not appreciate the full scope of the characters and think that they are not as fully developed. The scheduling system for the game could be a bit of a turn off from casual players, but it isn’t a major feature if you’re just looking to fight.

Blast Factor: This game helps unite all the Final Fantasy games in one spectacular game.‚  The pinnacle is definitely the head to head fighting between each game’s hero and villain. Those battles alone are the realization of the final battles from each and every Final Fantasy game and beautifully remind diehards why they fell in love with the games in the first place (and continuously email Square Enix to remake certain chapters for the new consoles – *cough* Final Fantasy VII *cough*). This is a fantastic game and definitely one PSP owners should have. For a compelling story and an excellent fighting experience, check out Final Fantasy Dissidia. You’ll spend hours exploring this game fully and won’t want it to end. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go play some more.

When you think of Dragon Quest, you think turn-based battles and a very traditional but polished JRPG experience. The last few years has seen the franchise branch out a bit more, both in its native Japan and overseas, with Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for the Nintendo DS, as well as Dragon Quest Swords on the Wii. It’s becoming a Nintendo staple, much like brand new, main series Final Fantasy titles are to Sony and Microsoft, so it’s no surprise that we’ve got another new genre featuring Dragon Quest properties, this time on an exclusive for the Nintendo DSi via its DSiWare service.

Dragon Quest Wars is half tactical RPG, half board game. Think of your characters as pieces with their own distinctive moves, weaknesses and strengths, much like chess pieces. You’re on a grid, and you get four characters to choose out of the six available. In a nutshell, you have attacks, offensive and defensive boosts, and healing spells.You set your team’s moves, one member at a time, and then select their attack, spell or boost, or choose to do nothing. It’s entirely stylus-based, and though you may hit a snag early learning just how the game wants you to place characters and cancel attacks you’ve entered–you don’t ever have to cancel, just select the character again and choose again–overall the controls work well. A little more information on the how-to portion of things would have been nice, but you can figure it out easy enough.

Each character has their own set of these, and you have to mix and match them from the character select screen in order to create the time that’s perfect for your play style.

The Slime is a balanced character, with a basic attack and a spell, along with two hearts worth of health (health ranges from one to three hearts, depending on the character). A solid unit, but there’s nothing particularly special about them, except that they can get through defenses meant to impede physical attacks with their spells.

The Dracky has only one heart, but their attack is capable of knocking enemies backward. They can also use magic, but just to attack enemies on their diagonal sides. They’re faster characters since they are airborne and small, but again, low health means you need to be careful with them–you will want them though, because they can also increase the damage of your other characters, making them a great support piece.

The Golem is your tank, with his three hearts. He can do two hearts worth of damage per hit–enough to defeat everyone except for another Golem–but loses a heart by doing so. Hammerhoods can counter attacks and avoid damage, and can also swing at three enemies in a line. They have two hearts of health, and can use an spell to heal themselves before the beginning of the next round.

Chimera’s can cast their magic from a distance and attack two enemies at once, and have two hearts. This will prove more useful than you know until you get your hands on the game. Last, we have the Heal Slimes; you can probably figure out what their main feature is, but they can also setup magic and attack barriers to prevent casting or damage to an area or character. They have no attack of their own though.

Assembling the right team is important, because you are either going to be going up against another person, or you’ll be outnumbered by computer units. Besides the 10 level tutorial, which teaches you the basics and a few tricks to get you started, the game is essentially all multiplayer. You can play matches single player, choosing from six different maps of different grid sizes, but the meat of the experience is going to come from battling friends and strangers using the DSi’s wireless features and the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. You can play against one other person or computer, or go all out in a four-on-four match for ultimate Dragon Quest Wars supremacy.

You can win by defeating all of the enemies or entering your opponent’s safe zone before they can invade yours. When more than two players are involved, scores matter a bit more, as they are used to rank you. You get points for defeating enemies, so don’t by shy in the corner in a four-way deathmatch. You’ll also be happy to know that you have a 60-second time limit to plan your moves online, which will keep matches from taking forever. The best part may be that online play is worldwide though–even if everyone else in North America is snoozing, you can rely on those DQ loving folks on the other side of the Pacific to match up with you.

Blast Factor: It may seem odd to get a tactical RPG from Intelligent Systems and Square Enix–two companies known for making strategy games–and end up with something that’s more like a board game, but that’s just what happened, and the result is a surprisingly deep and engaging experience. For $5, you can forgive the lack of a true single-player mode, and embrace the fact you can play online against anyone else in the world anytime you would like.

Dragon Quest Wars is available exclusively on the Nintendo DSi through its DSiWare service, and is priced at 500 Nintendo Points.

Legendary puzzle-game makers PopCap and famed RPG studio Square Enix teamed up today and announced “Gyromancer,” an RPG Puzzle game that’ll likely steal hours and hours away from our busy lives.

Thrusting together PopCap’s Bejeweled Twist and Square Enix’s mastery of the RPG genre comes the new project due out on XBLA and Steam sometime in the unnamed future.

“We’ve always enjoyed a strong partnership with PopCap Games and Gyromancer represents our goal of developing unique gaming experiences, ” said John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix, Inc. “We believe that Gyromancer will appeal not only to core gamers, but will further introduce the RPG genre to casual gamers as well.”

Want more? Here’s the official announcement trailer shown at the Tokyo Game Show today.

The Wii has been a runaway hit for Nintendo. It’s sold millions upon millions, sparked a motion-control movement in gaming, and continues to outsell its heftier competitors.

However, Square Enix CEO Toichi Wada thinks the Wii 2 will arrive soon with more power under the hood.

How soon? According to a report in the Financial Times, Wada said 2011, and that when it does arrive it’ll debut with “functionality more like that of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or Sony’s PlayStation 3, and possibly a different controller.”

It’s no secret Nintendo plans on going high-definition with their next hunk of hardware. Nintendo pres. Satoru Iwata openly stated in a June 2009 interview with Venture Beat that “If we have an opportunity to make a new console, it will probably support HD because it is now common throughout the world.”

How farfetched is all of this? Possibly not very. Nintendo released the Wii in 2006, and if the traditional Nintendo 5 year hardware cycle is followed, 2011 fits in nicely on the timeline.

Square Enix Head Says Wii 2 in 2011 @ IGN

Awesome news for RPG fans. Star Ocean The Last Hope: International is being released on the PS3 (About time Square Enix)! This game will be a prequel to the Star ocean series and will serve as a good jumping point for players who have never played the original game. Here’s a breakdown of the plot:

World War III ravaged the world. The countries which were not destroyed joined together to form the Greater Unified Nations and began to pool their resources to go into space. Edge Maverick and Reimi Saionji are chosen as pioneer members for the Space Reconnaissance Force to seek out new worlds. Their ship, the Calnus, is one of four ships in the first reconnaissance fleet. Humanity’s last hope sails into an awaiting wormhole and leads to the vast star ocean.

The game was released on Xbox 360. The suggested retail price is $59.99. For more information, check out the official website. Comment below with your thoughts and feelings!

Everyone knows the basics of a tower defense game.‚  A team of bad guys attempt to invade your base, and you, the savior of the people, must stop at nothing to keep them out. Intuitiveness, approachability, and replayability buffed by an addicting nature are the three major tenets of a great tower defense game, and Crystal Defenders for the PlayStation 3 has them all, and then some.

Admittedly, my knowledge and skill for that matter, concerning tower-defense type games begins and ends with “Tower Defense” the Flash game for PC, where I have logged away what feels like hundreds of hours of my life. So I came into “Defenders” with an invigorated excitement for the genre.

The download-only title, built by Square Enix, and available for $10 on both Xbox 360 and PS3, felt eerily familiar, given the “never-forget” style of gameplay the genre so ingrains in the minds of its followers.

In “Crystal Defenders” the goal is simple; prevent the baddies from trouncing through your camp and never let them escape unharmed. You want to kill every last one.

The game contains a total of 12 environments spanning from the beginner’s field, to the expert’s ice-frozen hell-hole. Specifically speaking, level W1 teaches you the basics; enemy types, currency management, and classes, while W2 introduces Power Crystals (placed near troops to up their skill) and finally the arduous W3, where heinously difficult bosses and environments await.

Your first task in every instance is to survey the battlefield and strategically determine where to place your troops based on your idea of perceived success. The beginning levels offer simple, welcoming environments perfectly suited to learn the ropes, but as you progress, maps with multiple entrances and obstructions become a finicky task.

Next you’ll select your fighters. Square Enix did a damn fine job migrating characters from “Final Fantasy: Tactics” to “Defenders” and, as an MMO fan myself, am pleased to learn every class is covered here. You’ve got your fighters, ranged attackers, magik users, and two all-powerful and costly summoning agents. ‚ An interesting character, the “Thief” is a sneaky little bastard. He doesn’t deal damage, but when a creature is slain beside him, you earn 2X the loot. Nice!

The enemies you square off against range from the mundane to the extreme. One creature, “Ahriman” is a sky-traveling bat-like creature resistant to magik attacks. So when considering attack options for this particular beast you’ll have to rule out the Soldier, who can only attack ground targets, and your magik wielders.

“Crystal Defenders” is, as you probably guessed, all about defending your crystals. You start each game with 20 shiny blue crystals and when that tally wanes to zero..game over. There are two ways to lose Crystals in “Defenders.” One is the result of a successful run-through by a creature, and the second is the result of calling upon one of two mighty summoning agents.‚  These guys are costly, (5 Crystals each) but can save your ass in a jam.

Use these guys sparingly

Additionally, Gil, or gold, is the game’s currency, and can be spent either on leveling up your troops (to grant more health and deal more damage) or to simply acquire more troops. Each creature you kill and successful stage-completion earns you Gil to apply during the next round.

“Crystal Defenders” will test not only your mind, but also your endurance and perseverance, as some of the puzzles, at higher difficulties are damn hard.

You don’t win per se in “Defenders” rather you prohibit the aggressors from advancing and attempt to advance through as many levels as possible before your Crystals run out.

Visually, “Crystal Defenders” certainly doesn’t push any aesthetic boundaries. In fact, the game mirrors GameBoy games from the 90′s, with its simple 2-D animation and basic character models, “Defenders” actually looks pretty pathetic, especially when considering your playing on a PS3. For that reason, if cutting-edge graphics make or break a gaming experience for you, “Defenders” might upset you, but if you can look past that facet and focus on the core-gameplay, you’ll be just fine.

Blast Factor:

At $9.99, “Crystal Defenders” is a very solid and affordable tower defense title for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The game is approachable enough for beginners to enjoy, and also deep enough for hardened defense fans to spend time in. The end-game challenges are hair-ripping, controller-throwing, curse-yielding puzzles, but are also alluring in that right. The bottom line is, if you truly enjoy tower defense games, “Defenders” is $10 well spent.

Crystal Defenders is available today on the PlayStation Network for $9.99.

Square Enix finally nailed down an almost solid Final Fantasy XIII release date for our North American market today declaring “Spring 2010″ as the season and year in question.

At the Final Fantasy XII event in Tokyo today, Square Enix boss Yoichi Iwada summed up the issue stating: “In the past, it’s taken a year or half a year to release our games abroad, but this time we are aiming for an international release this Spring”.

International you say? I like the sound of that, if it happens.

Furthermore, more precise details regarding the games’ release are only “upcoming,” so it looks like we’ll have to sit tight and weather the anticipation storm for a bit longer.

via Kotaku

Square Enix today announced that their World War 2 real-time-strategy game, ORDER OF WAR, is locked and loaded, and ready to storm the front to retail later this month, on September 22.

The release of “Order” marks Squenix’s first release of a western-developed game outside of Japan and is the first of three planned projects as a result of partnerships with Gas Powered Games (Supreme Commander 2) and Double Helix (Front Mission Evolved).

“Order of War” promises massively scaled battles and unprecedented cinematic intensity and offers players the ability to command armies in historically accurate locations.

Don’t believe us? Try out the free “Road to Paris” single player demo right over here.

Let’s give Square Enix credit where credit is due: they made a few Crystal Defenders tower defense games that were pretty basic, but skinned with characters from the Final Fantasy universe. While entertaining enough, they didn’t add anything new to what has become an oversaturated genre. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord (the pseudo sequel to the nifty WiiWare launch title, My Life as a King) changes that pattern up though, and not only proves to be a worthwhile addition to the tower defense genre, but also brings some new and fresh ideas to the table that help to make this one of the top games on the WiiWare service.

Rather than building towers along a path to slow monsters down and guide them away from your home base or an exit, you instead build inside of a tower. At the top is the dark crystal, which you have to keep the opposition away from. You do this by placing floors in the way that the adventurers will have to stop and fight on. You have multiple kinds of floors that you unlock through the game–some offensively oriented, some defensive, some support–and they each have their own positives and negatives. You then place monsters on each floor–again, each with their own strengths and weaknesses–in the hopes of defeating the waves of adventurers before they reach the dark crystal.

Damage is done in rock-paper-scissors form, with ranged attackers besting magic, magic beating melee, and melee hurting ranged. There are also generic monsters that do the same amount of damage to all classes, which is useful if you’re unsure of just what you will be facing when. Be warned though: the adventurers can destroy your monsters, but can also damage and take out your floors too, meaning they can move up through the tower quicker than you anticipate. You get some healing monsters to alleviate this later in the game, but you still need to be aware of it or it will make winning difficult. Thankfully you can retry at any point, and even keep some of the karma points–which is used to upgrade monsters and your tower–when you do so.

You build with Negative Points, which are accumulated by defeating adventurers. You can increase your starting amount by collecting items that you find after finishing levels, some on the main path and others from optional side missions. The game warns you when you are running low, which will happen often, given you need to build new floors, add monsters and then level them up over the course of a match.

The game is very difficult at times, but it’s also very rewarding. You can retry as many times as you would like, and since you gain karma even in your failed attempts, none of your efforts are wasted. You can also replay levels you have beaten in order to beef up your tower or units, though the karma output will be lower the second time around.

The title has the charm and polish we have come to expect from Square Enix and the Crystal Chronicles series. Graphically, it’s pretty good looking for a WiiWare title, though it is basic at times–units don’t change appearance when you upgrade them, and Mira, the Darklord, is strangely static in her facial expressions much like the King in the first of these spinoffs. The music is catchy and well done though, and even if there is a bit of slowdown at times when the on-screen action is chaotic, it’s nothing that affects the gameplay.

There’s a bunch of DLC planned for this title, in addition to the initial $10 price tag. While a lot of it is meant to be for costumes and items, new stages will be available at some point in the future. Not all of the DLC may be for you, but it is optional, and there is plenty of game here for $10 to begin with.

Blast Factor: My Life as a Darklord is a worthwhile entry in the tower defense genre, one that takes its namesake literally by placing you in control of a tower in a vertically-based game. It’s polished, charming, and both difficult and rewarding. You can’t ask for much more than that for $10, but if you insist, Square Enix also has DLC available and more–including new stages–on the way.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord is available exclusively on Nintendo’s WiiWare service for $10, or 1000 Nintendo Points

We’re busy rushing around as we prepare for our trip to San Diego to cover Comic-Con, but there’s always time to bring you the weekly Nintendo Download. There’s no Virtual Console love this week, but two series I love see new entries, which I’ll take as an apology.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord is a tower-defense style game that is also meant to continue the story begun in FFCC: My Life as a King, one of the debut WiiWare games. I love tower-defense, and I love Crystal Chronicles, so this one has my interest. Battle Poker is basically poker, but you fight to grab the cards first, meaning the best hands are made by those with the quickest hands. Last, we have 5 Spots Party, which sounds like one of those books you have as a child that lets you pick up on what’s wrong with a picture. This one seems suited towards the younger crowd, though I guess it would depend on what kind of things they are hiding in there.

DSiWare only gets one title, but it’s an Art Style game. You should know the drill by now, honestly. Chances are very good that the game is great and you’re missing out if you still have just a DS, etc. The full release for all four titles is after the jump, and we have screens for Art Style: ZENGAGE and FFCC: MLAAD (I’m not even sure that is shorter than the actual title) as well.

While I scored the initial chapter and first half of the main storyline of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years as a 7.5 (that’s comparable to “Very Good”), I also felt that the game had some potential to improve. The additional chapters Square Enix would release between the initial release and the conclusion of the main story could make or break the experience, since they focused on the established characters outside of Cecil, Rosa, and Kain, and what had gone on in their life both before this sequel and during the timeframe the game is set in.

Square has put out three new episodes out, at 300 points a piece, in addition to Rydia’s sidestory, which debuted along with the main game. Yang, Palom, and Edge are now all playable in their own sidestories, which, based on Rydia and my playtime withYang’s quest, appear to be about three hours a piece. Pretty good for $3, especially since the data and statistics are saved once you complete a chapter for use in other ones.

While Rydia’s story let you play as a fully-grown Luca, Yang’s story lets you play with not only his amazing facial hair, but also his daughter, Ursula. She’s trying to establish herself as a worthwhile monk, despite being a princess; this is part of the storyline, but it fits very well. You’ll visit some locations that fans of the original will recognize, but also some new ones, and you’ll also get to fight with some of Fabul’s fabled monks–they will last in battle for more than 3.5 seconds, for the first time in Fabul’s recorded history!

I haven’t played through Edge or Palom’s quest yet, but I plan on going through both of them soon. I think these sidequests are helping me to warm up to a game I already liked quite a bit, so by the time the complete story ends, maybe we’ll see a higher score to reflect that on the game as a whole. Let’s hope Square and Matrix Software keep putting out quality chapters for us to enjoy.

Dragon Quest VIII released on the Playstation 2, which ended up being the best-selling console of all-time. Dragon Quest IX was slated for the Nintendo DS, which has its own plans of blowing away any numbers that the Playstation 2 was proud of. Those numbers aren’t limited to total number of systems sold either, as these latest software numbers show. Dragon Quest VIII sold 2.23 million copies in its first week of release in Japan, which is pretty impressive–we’re talking about a series that is more popular than Final Fantasy in its native land. Dragon Quest IX though, outsold Dragon Quest VIII’s first week with 2.34 million sales. The difference being that Dragon Quest IX has been out for just two days.

The next installment, Dragon Quest X, is slated to be developed and released on the Nintendo Wii, putting the game back into living rooms and out of your pocket. At least Dragon Quest IX has shown that you can sell the game in the latter format, even with a sequel in the numbered part of the series.

Hat tip to Kotaku for this eye-opening bit of morning number-crunching.

Retro game revivals are nothing new, so it’s hardly surprising to see Square Enix milking Taito’s vast collection of 80′s-era arcade games. The latest is Arkanoid Live!, a downloadable revamp of the version that hit the DS a while back. For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, Arkanoid was a supped-up version of Break Out. Break Out, in turn, was basically a one-player cross between Pong and Space Invaders.

Essentially, you control a paddle at the bottom of the screen, and use it to reflect a bouncing ball back up to destroy a pattern of destructible blocks at the top of the screen. Arkanoid added a sci-fi motif and power-ups to the simple gameplay. It was never a complicated game, but offered a surprising amount of challenge. Playing Arkanoid today, however, it’s hard to image too many people taking it seriously. Even with the addition of lasers, aliens, rocket-propelled balls, and bizarre techno backdrops, the game is still incredibly primitive and, frankly, boring.

Even the presentation is remarkably spare. Although the game sports a plethora of overly busy and sometimes intrusive backgrounds, the game screen is just colored blocks and a simple ball. Even the aliens are basic geometric shapes. Some of them are balls that break up into more balls, thus confusing the action further. And adding confusion to the playing field is never a good thing here. The speed of the ball deflecting off blocks can be harrowing, and the game tends to add challenge by forcing you to try to navigate around unbreakable blocks.

The developers wisely included the option to turn off most of the extraneous elements. You can toggle aliens and the backgrounds off if you like, giving the game a purist feel. It also makes the action easier to follow since there’s not as much eye candy on the screen.

Since the game is entirely based on simple physics, some of these levels can be absolutely maddening, and it’s a bizarre design choice that the Arkanoid doesn’t have any save functionality. There are four “episodes” in the single player story mode, each with 31 levels, and you have to finish all 31 in one sitting. This might have been fine in olden times when you were plugging quarter after quarter into an arcade machine, but is a ridiculous oversight now.

The inclusion of multiplayer is the shining part of the game. Basically offering a competitive puzzle game feel, two-players try to either clear all the blocks off their respective screen first, or just certain colors of blocks. There are multiplayer specific power-ups meant to thwart the other player, and a huge array of levels to compete in. In terms of casual multiplayer gaming, Arkanoid Live! isn’t a bad choice.

Blast Factor: At 800 points, Arkanoid Live! seems over-priced for what it offers. For fans of the arcade classic, it’s certainly a solid revamp, but the game simply hasn’t aged well since the 80′s. The multiplayer adds a definite value boost, but overall this one is strictly for the retro crowd.

Arkanoid Live! is available exclusively on the Xbox 360′s Xbox Live Arcade service for 800 Microsoft Points

Countdowns seem to be more and more popular these days as a way to announce a game–well, popular with publishers anyways, as most fans cannot bear to sit there and wait for the timer to end–but at least we still have old media there to spoil the party. Eventually a copy of a magazine gets into the hands of someone with a scanner, and then the entire Internet knows what is planned before the countdown finishes. Things were no different for Square Enix’s latest teaser countdown, which first showed a sketch of a farm and bridge with the number “4″, then a dragon, then a boy riding a dragon, then a girl alongside him. As you can guess, this was pretty ambiguous, and there were plenty of opinions out there as to what it may be.

With the music sounding as old-school as it did, I figured it was going to be something retro in a way, maybe a new entry into the Final Fantasy Legend series, or at least some kind of spiritual successor. What we found out thanks to leaked scans of Shonen Jump was that Square Enix will be releasing Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden for the Nintendo DS in Japan. Based on the brand’s power, I think it’s safe to assume this will also hit North American shores. This indeed does sound like a return to roots for the Final Fantasy series, although there are some changes. There are no magic points apparently, and one of the menu options is “Charge”, but it is menu-based, and your goal is even something as simple as saving a princess. We’ll have more details as they come out, but for now, you can enjoy the tunes and neat looking sketches on the teaser site.

It’s funny, you know: many of those that grew up with Final Fantasy VII, or were first introduced to the series on the Playstation with Cloud and his partners from AVALANCHE, never understood why the 16-bit predecessor Final Fantasy VI was a big deal. After all, where were the computer graphic cut scenes, or the detailed 32-bit backgrounds, presented in a somewhat isometric style? The SNES didn’t have the same horsepower, and due to heavy marketing by Squaresoft that showed off the then-impressive cut scenes involving Cloud, Aeris and the villainous Sepiroth, the game was a hit “" the biggest Final Fantasy success at that point as well as the biggest since. It was hard to argue with that, even for the early adopters who knew that FFVI, on the strength of its wonderful narrative, fantastic characterization, its heavy flirting with more open-ended, western styled role-playing games combined with traditional Japanese elements and its steampunk aesthetic, was the superior title, 16-bits or not.

I say that it’s funny, because now that Final Fantasy VII has released on the Playstation Network store, available to play on either your PS3 or your PSP, a new generation of gamers that grew up in the 128-bit era and have already had a taste of HD gaming may wonder why it was such a big deal. Even with the cut scenes, it sports a much more cartoony, sprite-like look to it than the games that followed “" the kind of thing that many jaded gamers would refer to as “kiddie.” If you don’t believe me, check out some of the thoughts around the Internet every time a 3D DS RPG comes out sporting a chibi look. The innovations it brought are not as apparent all these years later for those who are unfamiliar with the game, but have played the titles that were heavily influenced by it.

This is a long-winded way of saying that Final Fantasy VII, for all of its wonderful moments, shows its age when you play it today. That doesn’t make it a bad game though “" it’s still one of the best Final Fantasy titles, even taken out of context, due to a few memorable characters, both good and bad, as well as a well-done, though occasionally convoluted, story. Don’t let its looks fool you, as it’s still one of the best RPG experiences money can buy, more than a decade later. It just may not have that same “wow” factor that it did when you first popped a CD into your PSX last decade, at least for new gamers.

The beautiful soundtrack is still there, as are all of those summons, Limit Breaks, and the Materia system that many fans love. Cloud, Tifa, and all the rest still have intriguing back stories, and unless you religiously play the game each year, going through the quest to experience everything again is worthwhile. There is plenty I have forgotten about in the game that returned to me along with loads of nostalgia, which is a good feeling to have. There’s certainly enough here that those new to the series can also enjoy the story, as long as they are willing to look past the cracks in the game’s once seemingly flawless armor.

But, just like 32-bit generation gamers should have given earlier Final Fantasy titles like IV and VI a chance (then titled II and III), those who never played FFVII should give this a spin, because there’s a fascinating piece of gaming history here for you to experience. No one is asking you to pay upwards of $80-100 on eBay for the game either, since you can now get it for just $10 on PSN.

I’m purposely avoiding a “proper” review for this gem, because I don’t think it needs it. Its history and legacy should sell the game on its own, and that’s coming from one of those crazy people that thinks Final Fantasy VI is the absolute pinnacle of the series. If you have played Final Fantasy VII before and loved it, download it for a nostalgic run through your past. If you have never played it, but enjoy RPGs, then download it, because it is certainly worth your time, especially for just $10. Go see what all the fuss is about, and take on Shinra and Sepiroth.

Final Fantasy IV is one of the most beloved classic role-playing games that graced the Super Nintendo back in the 16-bit era, and its 3D remake was one of the top games to release on the DS last year. Its strengths were its story and characters, as well as the way they were presented “" the game was very well paced, given the limitations of the cartridge era, and did much to evolve the nature of RPG storytelling, much like later, better known classics such as Chrono Trigger.

The classic design is not quite long-in-the-tooth thanks to the remake on the DS, but if you were to play the original SNES version “" which was Final Fantasy II here in the States “" or the Game Boy Advance update as a first timer now, you may think that it is a bit dated, with its non-orchestral soundtrack, level grinding, and simplicity in presentation. For those who are familiar with the game though, nostalgia helps keep you as amazed with the game in 2009 as you were when you first played it 10, 15 or nearly 20 years ago, when you were first introduced to something called the “Active Time Battle” system.

That’s why my feelings toward a sequel for Final Fantasy IV, retrofit like Capcom’s Mega Man 9, were so mixed prior to playing. You have an absolute classic that helped shape the role-playing genre on one hand, and you have a sequel released on WiiWare 18 years after the fact “" a sequel that was originally designed as a cell phone game. Two things gave me confidence about the quality of the product heading in, though: for one, Matrix Software, developers of the Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV remakes (as well as the ambitious and innovative Avalon Code) created the game, and two, it uses a game universe many other gamers and I adore, that of Final Fantasy IV. Do Matrix’s development chops and FF IV’s backstory create a new entry in the series worthy of its name?

The short answer is “yes.” Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a success, in that it replicates the FF IV universe well, knows its characters and mythology, and is able to implement new gameplay ideas that do not seem out of place in a very classically oriented design. With that being said, there are some flaws with it that bear mentioning, and we’ll get to those.

The After Years is not a one-shot game; instead, you pay $8 to download the main storyline that features Cecil and Rosa’s son Ceodore as he begins his quest to become a full-fledged knight “" a quest that turns towards the return of the second moon and the strange appearance of a powerful new Summoner bent on destruction and the collection of both the light and dark crystals. In addition to this, there are add-on quests (for $3, or 300 Nintendo Points a piece) that give you backstory and flesh out the supporting cast. At release, the first of these, “Rydia’s Tale: The Eidolons Shackled,” was already available. Square Enix has not given final pricing information, but it looks as if this will eventually cost as much as a budget title on Wii “" somewhere between $30 and $40, perhaps. That’s if you buy all of the add-ons, though, and the value per hour is solid; I played through the first quest, as well as the available add-on, and ended up with over seven hours of playtime for my 1100 points ($11).

Graphically, this game looks like an improvement over the original Final Fantasy IV, which was made very early in the SNES lifespan and therefore did not take full advantage of the console like later Square titles. The sprites are larger, and the colors are brighter “" these are both things you will notice during flashbacks, though the change is apparent enough that you will see it upon starting the game. It’s still a 16-bit title though, so if you’re not down with paying for classic design, you should know that in advance. The sound quality is worse than on the SNES though “" while the music sounds fine (though the bass is more pronounced in these versions of the songs than they were in the original) some of the loud sound effects for explosions, earthquakes and cannon fire sound like the kinds of things you would hear out of a standard cell phone.

Square Enix announced today that Final Fantasy XIII is currently on schedule for a spring 2010 release in North American on Xbox 360.

There, I said it.‚  If you want to guess at how many times Squenix will delay it before that date go right ahead, as you’re probably right, but for now, enjoy (possibly) enjoying the latest Final Fantasy next spring.

If one were to combine the sword and sorcery feel of a well-scripted D&D campaign, the strategic elements of a game of chess, and one super-dark game device prompts you to kill your best friends if you’re not doing well, the result would be developer tri-Ace’s Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume for the DS. The majority of the actual gameplay is dedicated to strategic combat elements, but there is also plenty of RPG style combat engagements and a very heavily developed (and incredibly mutable) story to keep any serious gamer engaged for hours.

The story is difficult to nail down (for reasons I will discuss in a minute), but the single consistent element is the protagonist, Wylfred, is deeply distraught by his father’s death in battle, and has vowed vengeance against the Valkyrie Lenneth, the goddess of fallen soldiers who marks which men are to die in battle and live in glory in Valhalla. Wylfred takes very little solace in the fact that his father is in heaven partying with history’s greatest warriors, particularly when his little sister dies because the family is steeped in poverty since his father can no longer bring in money. Wyl, like most angst-ridden teenagers, decides the best thing for it is to run away from home, earn money as a mercenary, and, at some point down the road, track down and wreak vengeance upon the goddess of death. And this is just the back story you get during the training level; things get even more depressing after this.

The game opens as Wylfred and his best friend Ancel, who insists upon accompanying Wyl on his adventures, gear up for their first big battle as mercenaries. One of the monsters defeated in the battle isn’t quite dead, and mortally wounds Wyl, who, as he lays dying, prays that any power at all be made available to him so that he might not die before fulfilling his quest to destroy the valkyrie. His prayer is answered by Hel, the ruler of the underworld, who also has it out for the valkyrie, and who gives Wyl command of one of the most innovative (and kind of messed up) narrative gameplay tools I’ve ever seen: the Destiny Plume.

The Destiny Plume is a magical feather that saves Wyl from the brink of death, and can “unlock the potential” of any ally, basically turning them into an uber-powered, unstoppable, one-hit-kill machine, who will tear through any and all enemies remaining on the battlefield. There’s a hell of a catch though: once an ally’s potential has been unlocked and they’ve ripped through everything around them, when the battle round is up, they die. And to make this very clear, they do not die the way a Pokemon dies, where you just get it healed up and you can use it again. They do not die the way Mario dies, where he just gets another green mushroom and tries again. No, they die the way Aeris died in FF VII: you can never use them again, there is a little death scene, the other allies cry, the voice actor sighs out a death rattle, and Hel congratulates you for being evil enough to sacrifice your friends for the purpose of your revenge quest. Oh, and you find all this out at the end of the first level when you have to use the plume on Wyl’s childhood friend Ancel. That’s right, you kill your best friend in the first ten minutes of the game.

As engaging as Valkyrie Profile’s story is, the strategic battle system will undoubtedly dominate gameplay. Each battle is between Wyl and his allies and several enemies spread out across a grid-based map. Turns are divided into ally phases and enemy phases, during which each combatant can move around the grid, attack enemies in range, use provisions on themselves or allies, employ tactical measures that will affect enemy units behavior, or, in Wyl’s case, turn an ally into a raging hulk for the rest of the round.

Allies’ position on the grid is as important, if not more, to RPG elements like spells, weapons and stats. Each unit has a specific range of attack determining which enemies they can attack, which enemies can attack them, and which allies they can help. Attacking an enemy from behind can stun them, making it impossible for them to retaliate, getting inside an archer’s range means that their bow and arrow is rendered completely ineffective, and attacking with an ally in range means both units get to launch attacks against the single enemy target. There are also offensive and defensive bonuses to be gained for surrounding an enemy in a particular way (e.g. if you position an ally on either side of an enemy, their attacks to 30% more damage), and you can position a weak unit behind a stronger one, and as long as the units remain in line with the enemy, attacks targeting the weaker unit will hit the one in front of it instead.

There is a separate screen for an actual attack against an enemy, where the grid falls away and only the units attacking each other are visible. This stage is also turn based, but reaction time is still important to an extent. I found out the hard way that if an ally’s magic attack launches an enemy into the air, it’s no just for show and any physical attacks triggered before the enemy hits the ground will be completely useless. You also get a chance to trigger over-the-top but very satisfying finishing moves if you react fast enough (good for racking up Sin).

The graphics are pretty good: while the environments, dialogue scenes and finishing moves all look nice, the little avatars for the units on the battlefield can be a little goofy looking, especially when they get a triumphant close up at the end of a successful fight. I know DS graphics are capable of that last extra step, and while it’s refreshing to see a game privilege story over graphics, I’m still going to keep pushing for games that achieve both in equal measure.

All in all, Valkyrie Profile is a very technically sound game. The story and gameplay are strong, and while using the Destiny Plume may have triggered some slight psychological trauma over the course of gameplay, I definitely count that in its favor, and cannot advocate strongly enough that games follow Valkyrie Profile’s lead and make story innovation an active part of gameplay. For fans of the strategy genre, it is definitely worth the full forty dollar purchasing price.

Square Enix today announced a partnership with strategy game aficionado Wargaming.net to bring a brand new World War 2 title to the front by the name Order of War.

The single player campaign has two distinct options; either take part in historically based events as American vs. German troops on the western front, or German vs. Russia on the eastern.

Order of War plans to separate itself from others in the genre by featuring the most large-scale, brutal, and intensive war scenarios ever created.‚  Except for, you know, the actual war.‚  Gamers will be able to control ground troops, artillery, tanks, and aircraft, altogether generating the greatest “cinematic intensity” as Squenix puts it, the genre has ever seen.

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix seems uber excited about the new game when he says:

“ORDER OF WAR offers Square Enix an exciting opportunity to enter this hugely popular genre, and is a strong proposition for our first western-developed release. With its cinematic intensity, hugely realistic battles and historical accuracy, the game looks set to whet the appetite of any war-gaming fan.”

Yes, Nintendo fans, you missed out on Final Fantasy’s VII through XII once Square and Square Enix began to release their famed numbered series on Playstation consoles, but beginning last generation, the developer and publisher began a spinoff series exclusive to Nintendo consoles. This series, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, was a surprise, as it was an action RPG that, rather than be focused on story and a single-player campaign, invited you to bring a few friends along. The series has done well enough since its inception that this spinoff now has its own quality spinoffs!

While the original utilized a complicated (but worthwhile) combination of the GameCube along with Game Boy Advances as controllers and a place for the game’s menus and maps to show up during multiplayer, the second entry in the series came on the Nintendo DS in the form of Ring of Fates. While impressive in the sense that you had a multiplayer, Diablo/Gauntlet style action RPG on the DS, it seemed a bit unfocused at times. The game was not sure of whether it should be a single player adventure or a multiplayer one, and this hampered the experience of both. The fact that online play was a no-go and multiplayer was limited to local play was also a huge disappointment, given the DS can handle that sort of thing.

Enter Echoes of Time, the latest entry in the Crystal Chronicles series. This game brings with it online play as well as local multiplayer, once again boasts four player multiplayer, a brand new story, and tons of replay value in the forms of quests, loot collecting, item and gear creation, and the ability to jump in and out of single and multiplayer through the use of save points at any time. Rather than just release the game on the DS alone though, Square Enix also ported the game over to Wii in a way that attempts to replicate the DS experience. In this review, we will take a look at how successful each iteration of the game was, and which one you should pick up (if not both).

Let’s start with the DS version of Echoes of Time. For a DS game, this looks good, with detailed (and varied) environments, loads of enemies, impressive looking spell casting, and customizable characters that reflect your changes in gear on screen. The art style is basically what Final Fantasy Tactics A2 would look like, were it in 3D and an action RPG rather than a strategy based one. There is some voice acting, cutscenes that help to tell the story, and a long quest that can be replayed multiple times thanks to the four different classes of characters, all with their own strengths, weaknesses, and exclusive equipment. Square often charges more for their DS games than other publishers, even Nintendo, but it’s tough to argue with the practice given the level of quality and production they put into the cartridge titles. Echoes of Time is an example of that, as it’s worth the $40 price tag given everything it includes as well as the care Square Enix put into developing the game world.

Fighting is basic, as you attack with the press of a button, or hold that button and release it to use a special attack. Magic is used by selecting one of your available elemental (or healing spells) on the touch screen, and then moving a circle underneath the enemy or area you want to cast it. Rather than learn new spells, you gain the ability to stack magic; move one ring of Fire onto an enemy, then lock it there and move a second ring. Cast, and you’ve now performed Fira rather than the simple Fire. You can also combine your spells with the spells of those you are playing with, which can help to make quick work of enemies and even some bosses when done right. Square Enix thankfully did away with the tiresome magic orb system, and has instead given you access to all of the spells immediately, and for use as often as you want assuming you have magic points.

In order to upgrade your spells attack or healing power, you need to collect tokens from defeated enemies. These appear with a small avatar in the center that represent certain spells or attacks, and they boost the power of that spell when you collect enough of them. You can also earn these by completing quests, and it’s a great way to make your attacks more powerful in addition to leveling.

There are plenty of weapons and items to buy outright, but you pick up tons of material that can be used to create those same things for a cheaper price, and there are also some weapons and armors that you may be able to create before you can buy them. You need a scroll to create an item, but you can find these in chests, by defeating enemies, or by purchasing them. If you’re playing with friends, you can also drop items, materials and money for your friends to use, if you happen to have need of each other’s inventory in order to create things.

You can also upgrade equipment you buy or create before you wear it by infusing it with jewels. These jewels can be found or created, and increase the power of your equipment. You create jewels by trading in your leveled up equipment for them-equipment has its own leveling system and level cap, and when it’s full it’s best to turn them into jewels and find something new. This keeps your inventory fresh and also gives you customizable equipment and various play styles, as jewels can do something as simple as cause healing items to give you back more HP, or they can make you impervious to certain elements or attacks.

The DS version of the game is a must own title, and even at $40 it’s easy to be amazed at just how much there is for you to do in this game. The addition of online multiplayer is a huge boost to the series, as you no longer need to get a bunch of friends together in one place in order to play multiplayer; the ability to drop in and out of single player at save points is also much better than the two separate save files you needed in Ring of Fates.

Square Enix, creators of the famed Final Fantasy franchise, playing off of their exciting GDC announcements, kept the train rolling today as the Japanese video game company launched a teaser website for their long sought after title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

If you somehow got your hands on the Japanese version of Echoes of Time, you’ve already seen this trailer, but for everyone else the video is brand new and may replenish any hope you had lost for the title.

In addition to the trailer, the website houses the wallpaper you see in our gallery, as well as two unclickable sections phrased as “It’s Gonna Be a Long Night,” and “Public Spectacle,” with “More Visits, More Movies” flashing in the background.

There you have it Final Fantasy fans, visit the page often and tell your friends, and soon enough Square Enix will unload some new and hopefully game-play rich videos.

The Crystal Bearers was first announced in 2005 at E3 and Square Enix has denied rumors of a quiet cancellation, and while there is no definitive release schedule, the advent of the website bodes well for Wii owners hoping to finally play this title.

Head on over to the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers website to start the frenzy.