Quick PSP Impressions #3

Here is the last batch of impressions from the glut of PSP games that I got a chance to play somewhat recently.

Z. H. P.
This was a game I wanted to pick up after seeing the trailers for it, since I love NIS.  The plot is funny, but a little too much "let's make fun of this poor sap you play as" for my taste.  The writing is good, though.  The game is a dungeon crawler, similar to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.  The power up grid was big and I could see lots of potential min/maxing there, but it also seemed a bit more complicated that it should be.  It was kinda fun, but I never had enough money (especially for my Prinny wife), and the weapons ran out of durability too quickly for me.  I would pick it up if the download went on sale for $5 or so, but I was a little disappointed in it, to be honest.

Cladun x2
Like Z.H.P. above, this is a mystery dungeon style game.  I actually enjoyed it a bit more, though.  The movement is free roam (as opposed to Z.H.P.'s grid based) and feels more fluid.  The combat was faster, the player can dash and slide while running around.  An added plus was that you can customize your character when you start, and fully customize them later.  Party members and magic circles was almost too confusing, but I understood it pretty quick.  I was looking to pick this one up sooner rather than later, but I ended up picking up Legasista for PS3 instead.  It is basically the PS3 version of Cladun with high-res graphics.  I'll see how I feel after I beat that game before revisiting the idea of picking this up.  Also, I read that transferring the character creation data to the Vita is a pain in the rear.

Last and least is a game called Venus and Braves.  I really didn't like it, which is sad because the PS2 one looked great.  The PSP one was supposed to have Tales characters thrown in too, but I'm not going to get that far.  It took too long to get to a save point, the battle system seems needlessly complicated and...well, I just didn't have fun in the 30 mins I played.

If you would like more in-depth impressions of any of these titles, let me know in the comments and I can write them up, time permitting.  Thanks.

The Last Few PAX Impressions

A few weeks ago I was at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), and checked out a few of the upcoming offerings.  A few impressions will be written right here, a few will be with our friends at the XPound, and the rest will be podcasts on YouTube (mine and the XPound's).  Sorry to send people all over the place for this stuff, but I wanted to give some exclusive content to different places.  I have to spread the word, so here are a few impressions from some games at PAX.

Lord of the Rings:  Guardians of Middle Earth (PC)
Do you like League of Legends, but wish it had more Gollum?  Then this might be the game for you.  As far as I can tell, this is DotA with the Lord of the Rings IP.  If either is your thing, you probably already know more than I do about it, and if not, check it out.

Ragnarok Odyssey (Vita)
I actually like the 2 weeks I played of Ragnarok waaaaaay back in the day, so I was interested in checking this out.  It is a 3D action RPG set in the Ragnarok world.  I started in the middle, so I don't know yet if there are classes or player customization, but I hope so.  The game was pretty fun, as it played somewhat like Phantasy Star Online 2.  While the DS Ragnarok game seemed more faithful to the PC game, this was definitely fun.  If I had a Vita, I would pick it up.  Well, since I will eventually get a Vita, I will pick this up at some point.  I hope it has some multiplayer, but that it isn't necessary, since I doubt I know anyone that will play this.  (Get on that, DTJAAAAM!)

Street Fighter x Tekken (Vita)
I knew it would start off well when I kept trying to press the right analog nub as the X Button, haha.  Anyway, it played ok, but the sticks kept getting in the way while I was trying to play.  For some reason, it didn't feel as smooth as UMvC3 on the Vita.  Also having to use the shoulder buttons makes it more complicated that its console brethren, since you can't just plug in an arcade stick if you want.  Even though you have to buy the extra characters for those versions, there are better ways to get your SFxT on than the Vita version.  Heck, there are better ways to take a fighting game on the go (MK9, UMvC3, etc.) than this.

I also tried out Fruit Ninja for the first time, so I could get a code for the 8bit "expansion".  I have the Kinect version, but have never gotten around to playing it.  I tried the Ipad version, and it was kinda fun.  I see why people were all over that game...about 2 years ago, haha.  I'll have to start the XBLA version soon.  I also tried an indy game, that unfortunately I don't remember the name of.  It was a lot like the first Legend of Zelda, and it even had a survey in the demo so the guy could improve it.  I wish more demos actually had that in them, but only if the right people pay attention to them.

A Few Quick Notes

I finished playing the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning DLCs (Dead Kel and Teeth of Naros) and I really liked them.  Well worth the asking price if you do all the quests there, and even better if you can snag them on sale (which I did a few weeks ago).  At first I though Dead Kel was a bigger area than Naros with less quests, but more quests open up as you do the main story of it and several open up after the keep is completed (probably the coolest house in the game).  Naros was great as well, although a little predictable.  Of course, I do really like floating cities, so that could explain it.

Thankfully I might be getting a part time job for the Christmas season.  This will be great, since we might be able to go from losing $400+ a month to losing...well, hopefully nothing, but we will see.  Don't worry, I will still be a S@HD Gamer!

Last and certainly not least, I'm happy that a European RPG called "Of Orcs and Men" will be coming out in the US.  The trailers look really cool, and the game looks fun.  Also note that I loved Two Worlds 2, Divinity II, Risen and Arcania, and it looks like it will fit right in.  As much as I'd love an Xbox 360 physical disk version, US seems to only be getting PC digital and PSN releases.  I'm ok with that, and we'll see if I can get a review copy of that!  Wouldn't that be sweet?  Trick question, of course it would.

Realms of Ancient War Review

As an avid RPG and Action-RPG player, I'm always on the lookout for new games in the genre.  So when I heard about about Realms of Ancient War, I knew I wanted to check it out.  I dragged along my "Player 2" for all the hacking, slashing and dungeons we could handle.

Let's start with the graphics, since you will likely see the game first.  The graphics are good.  The style is a little more dark and gritty (think Sacred 2), as opposed to the more cartoon-y style of Torchlight and Arkadian Warriors.  And I do mean dark.  I had to turn up the brightness a few clicks so I could see everything.  The environments are very detailed and unique.  They aren't randomly generated, and that shows with how nice they look.  There's lots of little details that I like, too.  For example, in the desert there are scorpions that roam the sands (sometimes too many, though) and flies buzzing around corpses.  Lastly, the armor that you can wear in the game looks cool, but several pieces look the same on all three characters.

The best way I can describe the sound is average.  The music fits, but isn't memorable.  Voice acting in the game is average as well.  While it isn't the greatest you have ever heard, it gets the job done and the voices fit.  One problem, however, is that there isn't a noise when your weapon hits the enemy.  This can lead to confusion on whether or not you hit an enemy.  It also lessens the impact of an attack, making the combat less visceral.

Now we get to what I think is the best part of the game.  Each skill/attack is custom mapped to a face button on the controller, and a flick of the right stick shifts the palette to another 4 skills.  The part that really stands out to me is the "Focus" skills.  Once purchased, these will be linked to the prerequisite skill and activated by holding down the corresponding button.  This will not affect the cool down of the the prerequisite skill, so you effectively get more attacks attached to the limited face buttons.  I really like this idea!  Plus, I got to annoy my wife by always yelling "Hadoken!" when using the Focus skill for the Mage's fireball attack.

You might be wondering why I said "cool down" earlier.  All skills in the game require mana and have a cool down.  I understand your hesitation, since I had it too when I learned about it, but it is actually pulled off really well in this game.  While melee and ranged attacks take mana and have a cooldown, they take very little and are ready instantly so it's not an issue.  Mana regeneration is also really high because all skills take it, meaning I actually use my skills instead of hoarding my MP.  And with the hordes of enemies you have to fight, you will need to use all the skills you can.

Of course, not all is perfect in this realm either.  A mini map would have been really useful, as would a dodge or block maneuver.  With how quickly you can get trapped and/or die, this would have literally been a life saver.  Since the skill palette swap is mapped to the right analog stick, there is no camera control.  This wasn't as bad as I thought, since I would've only liked to rotate the camera in a few instances.  Also, the experience gain seems very random.  You cut through hordes of enemies for seemingly little experience, only to level up when you least expect it.  Last but not least, I would like the skill descriptions to have actual numbers instead of vague wording.  What can I say?  After playing RPGs for years, I like my numbers.

Each stage takes about 30 minutes your first time through, if you are looking for all chests and whatnot.  Length-wise, the game is good.  It doesn't drag out and it's not over in an hour, leaving me feeling that the length was about right.  If you are interested in the achievements, your time will triple since you have to beat the game with all 3 heroes for one of them.  The rest of them aren't very hard or lengthy, which can be good news if you are a gamerscore hunter.

Lastly I'll talk about the co-op.  I had lots of fun with it.  This style of game is always more fun with another player, and this is no exception.  If you have a buddy to play with, I would say it's worth the $15.  With two people to battle the hordes of monsters, the game is made easier.  Death isn't as strict, since if the other player can survive for five seconds, the dead player will resurrect instead of just paying a lifestone and heading to the checkpoint.  Unfortunately in that situation, the camera will keep the dead player in view, so you can get trapped while trying to live those precious few seconds.

While a lot more fun, the co-op is not perfect.  For whatever reason, there is no online play, so if you don't have a buddy nearby, that may be a deal breaker.  If you can only play this game solo, definitely check out the demo first or wait for a sale.  Also, the second player isn't saved, so they lose any loot/money that they carried when you end the game.  There is a workaround, but it would have been better to just have another save of that character, or to just use any other character's save.  So while online co-op would have been nice, at least there is couch co-op, which unfortunately most companies forget about.  Some of us actually have someone in our house to play with!

To end here I'll leave you with a story.  To try out the co-op, I enlisted the help of my wife.  We've gone through lots of two player games over the years, so I knew she would want to try it out with me.  When we started out, she lamented the camera controls, the only saving after a level, and that it didn't save the second player.  The longer we played, the less she mentioned them.  The next day when she came home from work, she had a big smile on her face while asking, "So, are we going to play again?"  I wasn't the only one who really liked the co-op it seems.