Final Fantasy VII - Crisis Core - PSP Review

For me, the Final Fantasy series dating back from the original Playstation era (VII and VIII), were absolutely pivotal in terms of influence to this day on all other RPG’s. Everything about these two games was years ahead of all its closest rivals, and the RPG scene was utterly dominated by Square and Final Fantasy. Two films have since been made, as well as an online game (XI) and the latest release is FFVII: Crisis Core on the PSP.

The plot is set (ironically) 7 years before the events from the original FF7, following Zack, a 2nd Class SOLDIER who is training to become a First Class, originally under the guidance of Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal, the story develops at a rapid pace and there are plenty of plot twists quite early on. Almost too early, because you just get your head around something and then BANG; it’s all the opposite way around again.

Gameplay in battles is different to any other Final Fantasy game and does take some getting used too. Once you become accustomed to it however it works pretty fine. The reason it is tricky at first is that it is partly like FF12 in that the action is real-time and not the traditional turn-based action of old, but also, there is a random slot machine type generator, officially called the DMW, which grants you temporary abilities and upgrades and it also levels up Zack and his materia. This can be annoying at first because it is activated at random (only when numbers match up on the spinning dials). After a while though you do get used to it. However, I think it would have been better to have something more interactive rather than a random spinning dial determining when you level up. You cannot control where the dials stop, so it can be frustrating when you are one number away from a power up, especially in boss battles. The power ups (such as null magic/physical damage, no MP/AP cost etc) are extremely useful but it is still annoying not being fuly in control of them. Then again, this does make it more tense and exciting so it balances out. It does develop the story as well, because images from past cut scenes and encounters are used to activate the ‘power surge’. Whether this is to heighten Zack’s emotions in order to use the power surges I’m not sure, but it generally works quite well.

Controls are also different to past Final Fantasy outings. After a battle sequence is initiated, a bar of options appears in the bottom corner, and you press ‘X’ to select an option (such as attack, fire, thunder, spinning attack). One massive upside to this is that you can choose whether to have physical, or magic (or materia) attacks, as well as healing magic and potions etc. This makes Zack’s attacking style hugely customisable and you can pick and choose your favourite set up combinations. While you can do this to a degree in all Final Fantasy games, it has always been limited in some way, but now, you can have whatever options in whatever order you want. For example, you can have nothing but offensive magic to use in a battle, or any combination of physical and/or magical attacks. Armour can be equipped to give you a boost in HP, MP, AP etc, again, this gives you the option to play to your strengths and attack however you want too.

As I mentioned before, Graphics have always been something of a gaming benchmark with the Final Fantasy series, and the PSP version is no exception. In-game graphics are very good, with no lag whatsoever. It’s worth nothing that loading times are excellent considering the high detail that is being generated. While roaming, there are slightly jagged edges on the surroundings but this is being picky. Cut scenes look amazing, as do all the menu’s, characters, enemies, snapshot photo’s, animations and the pre-rendered cut-scenes are just sublime. At times, it’s easy to forget that all of this is on the PSP, on a 4.3inch screen. Colours are bright and distinctive, and everything just looks amazing. The only other game that has impressed me on PSP this much is Tekken: DR, which was seriously good. The opening video to Crisis Core is here, although I don’t think it does the actual game justice. Seeing it in for yourself in the full quality is preferable, but you can get a glimpse of the action and animation that I’m in love with. Sound effects and music are made to match the action perfectly. Voices on games can be very hit-and-miss, but they’ve been done well on Crisis Core.

Some niggling points remain but they are not so bad really. The game can be quite overwhelming at the start and there is a lot to take in. If you have completed or played the original FF7, things will fall into place quickly, but otherwise, you may need to read the supplied tutorials and info a few times before you become fully familiarised with what is going on. Similarly, about an hour into the game when you think you’ve got to grips with things you’re thrown out onto the street and told to do a few training exercises. Not a problem at first, but I got lost very quickly on the streets and it took quite a while to get back to where I was supposed to go. This happens in a few missions as well, and getting lost in an RPG is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to you. Most missions are relatively straight forward however, and unless you swing the camera around too much you won’t get too disorientated.

I’ve tried to be as fair, balanced and objective as possible (as always) so I don’t think i can give FF7:CC any less than 9/10. The life span of the game is vast considering replay value as well; I am coming up to 20% through the game and this is after several weeks of playing. Proving that the PSP can handle the big titles well is a big selling point. Now all I want is the original FF7 and FF8 to be made for PSP.

Overall: 9/10

Diablo 3 Officially Announced

The rumors have been in circulation for what seems an eternity. It has been confirmed, denied, spoken of openly, and whispered about it hushed tones. Anytime anyone invoked the name in forums or in general discussion, they were either ridiculed or backed up by a singing choir of die-hard fans who in their hearts wanted this just as much. All has not been in vain my friends. The years of speculation, denials, “we’ll see’s” and back and forth between “reliable sources” shrouded in mystery are over.

Diablo III is coming.

Who really doubted it though? Last year the frenzy that surrounded Blizzcon over the possibility of it was nothing compared to the one this year. In all honesty, it is just a continuation of what was already floating about, but from the exact date and time these rumors (hopes) were conceived - its purpose has finally come to fruition. Isn’t wonderful? Ok, now to the goods.

VG247 is at the Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Expo Centre in Paris, and they were there waiting with baited breath like the rest of the gaming industry when Blizzard announced Diablo III. I will be getting the majority of my information from them, since they are in the middle of the D3 press conference as of this sentence.

Here is what I have pulled from the Blizzard site so far this morning:

And the Heavens Shall Tremble……

Two decades have passed since the demonic denizens, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, wandered the world of Sanctuary in a vicious rampage to shackle humanity into unholy slavery. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils directly, the memory fades slowly and the wounds of the soul still burn.

When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram’s Cathedral seeking clues to new stirrings of evil, a comet from the heavens strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. The comet carries a dark omen in its fiery being and it calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells – and even the failing luminaries of the High Heavens itself.

Featuring:

* An all new world, a fully-realized Sanctuary – the living, breathing gothic fantasy world of Diablo III rendered in gorgeous 3D

* Battle the unholy forces of the Burning Hells with all-new character classes like the otherworldly Witch Doctor, or with re-imagined warriors from Diablo’s past: such as the fierce Barbarian.

* Rain Hell on your enemies wielding the interactive environment as a weapon: lay cunning traps, turn destructible objects against your foes, and use environmental obstacles to your advantage - all powered by the Havoc physics system.

* Experience the intensity of multiplayer Diablo III over an all-new, wickedly-enhanced Battle.net platform with numerous enhancements to make connecting with your friends easier – and cooperative gameplay more fun.

According to the lead designer on Diablo III, “[the game] is first and foremost a co-operative game,” he said. Not sure what to think about that - I hope it means that the single-player experience will be just as great.

Anyway, all your equipment is custom designed and will adapt to each class’ unique look along with more quests than ever before. Classes posted so far are the Barbarian and Witch Doctor, Beast include the Undead, Khazra, Gnarled Walkers, and Dark Cultists. The Diablo III site also included two environments, Deckard Cain’s journal, and details on one of the dungeons - The Cathedral.

Blizzard has released over twenty screens this morning, mainly artwork, but one thing we can gather from it is like previous versions, we will once again be looking down on the game - which I was a bit worried about to be honest - I was afraid they would change that, glad my fears were unjustified.

Source: http://news.filefront.com/diablo-iii-announced-at-blizzard-invitational-in-paris/

zomg Excitement is washing over me, can’t wait for more details

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19700
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19704
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19701

Akasa Twin Fan Notebook/Laptop Cooler - Tech Review

There are very few reviews or detailed descriptions of notebook/laptop coolers out there on the interweb, so in case anyone is searching for one, hopefully this will help you out a bit.

The main reason I got a cooler, the ‘Akasa Gemini cooler’ was because during intense gaming or prolonged sessions, my laptop would get too hot for my liking - not necessarily dangerous, but making it uncomfortable to use and also make it more likely to develop a fault through overheating, not to mention a drop in FPS in some games.

The model I got, the Akasa Gemini has two in-built fans, which are powered by one of your laptops USB ports (A USB-to-USB cable is supplied). This is both a good and bad idea. The good side is that the Akasa doesn’t require an independent power supply like a mains, and the USB-to-USB cable is very short which doesn’t take up too much space. The downside is that if your laptop is NOT plugged in to the mains it will use a significant amount of power and will drain your battery quicker than normal. I suppose if you need a cooler, then you will be gaming or photo/video editing so it will probably be on a desk and plugged in anyway, so this isn’t to big an issue. I can envisage any problems with using the cooler on your knee either.

The fans themselves sadly aren’t that powerful, so although they are quiet and do not distract you while working (you can barely hear them most of the time) they will not cool your laptop enough during intense usage. If there was an extra fan, or even if the two were more powerful then it would make a big difference. Another point which I would have thought obvious to the makers, is why are the two fans positioned at the back of the cooler? Surely you want them blowing cool are onto the entire surface, or the middle of the laptop. I can only think they have done it this way because it might help the laptops own fan, but it’s not what I would have done. Why have two fans that aren’t strong enough to do their job, or even put them in the right place?

Apart from this, the design is very good. The cooler surface isn’t actually flat, and lies at an angle of about 20 degrees. This makes typing easier and also puts the screen at a better viewing angle. But, it does worry me slightly that if my laptop sticky feet ever get old it might cause the laptop to slide of one day, and crash onto the floor.

The surface of the cooler that the laptop lies on is brilliant; not only is it at an angle, but it also has deep grooves in it which I’m told ‘improves air circulation’. I’m guessing that the air blown onto the belly of the laptop is forced sideways by the grooves, because mine churns out the heat on the left side. Finally while on the design, even if you do not plug in the cooler and simply place your laptop onto it (as in, no fans going) I think the design does still keep it cool just for a little while. So even when not plugged in, it’s better than having it on your knee or desk, where there is no space for air to move around.

Sadly, the bottom line of the Akasa is that it doesn’t actually stop overheating, it just delays it a little. If you are gaming or photo/video editing or something similarly demanding, it won’t stop it from getting hot. The two on-board fans are just not powerful or big enough to provide the cooling needed for the highly powered jobs. If however, your laptop is overheating through overuse and/or a steady build up of heat over a couple of hours then this cooler will do the job required. Considering it only cost me £25 from Amazon, it’s still a good deal.

To summarise, I’m generally happy with the Akasa cooler, but the fact that it only works to a real degree on lower heat levels makes it slightly unnecessary. It does its job, just not very well. It’s good to have, and certainly better than having nothing at all. The two in-built fans while quiet, are not powerful enough, and the difference the cooler makes in gaming performance does not match the product description.

Overall - 6.5/10

My Chemical Romance Vs Daily Mail - Protest Follow Up

Following the hundreds of MCR fans that demonstrated outside of the Daily Mail offices in London, the Mail issued the following statement, (un-edited) highlighted in bold;

“The Daily Mail’s coverage of the ‘Emo’ movement has been balanced, restrained and above all, in the public interest. Genuine concerns were raised at the inquest earlier this month on 13 year old emo follower Hannah Bond who had been self-harming and then tragically killed herself.”

“In common with other newspapers we ran an accurate news story recording the Coroner’s remarks and the parents’ comments. We also published two other articles, one of which explained the background to the Hannah tragedy in calm and un-sensational language.

Wait a minute, you said “un-sensational language”? “balanced”, “accurate”, “restrained”? Seriously, do these reporters even read the shit that they themselves write? Let me remind you of the “un-sensational, balanced and accurate” language that was used in the articles. And I quote;

“No child is safe from the sinister emo cult”

“My Chemical Romance’s lyrics promote violence and self-harm”

“Emos like to wear studded belts, long black fringes over one eye, and cut their wrists as part of the emo initiation rite”

None of this is even remotely true, and the fact that the Mail thinks it is being fair and balanced is a joke. The exact opposite is true, and MCR have always spoken out against suicide and even at live shows they tell their fans to not give up and to keep on going. Link here. Many themes and lyrics by MCR are pro-life and encouraging, inspiring people to be strong and carry on with life. This of course, was not mentioned anywhere in any of the Mail’s articles.

Goading the parents into blaming Emo’s and MCR is just disgraceful as they are obviously still distraught, and bringing up new sources to blame, such as a music genre (not a cult by the way) isn’t going to help anyone.

“The other was a first person opinion piece by a well-known writer, written from the perspective of a mother concerned for her children. We have also run two prominent page lead letters from an emo music fan and from a fan of My Chemical Romance defending their point of view.

What they haven’t mentioned is that in addition to two letters from fans, they also printed dozens of letters from people (probably someone who has never even listened to MCR and only read the sensationalised story) agreeing how ‘dangerous’ being an emo is.

“Our music critic admires the music of the band and publicised the band’s UK tour last year. Since this protest was announced a great deal of misinformation has appeared on the internet, much of which confuses what the Daily Mail has actually published with the comments of website readers and ‘blogs’ over which we have no control and which have stirred up emotions.

People copying articles and phrases from the official Daily Mail website and articles is not misinformation. Trying to cover your ass from being sued has never been so hilarious, trying to blame ‘bloggers’ for exaggeration when their own articles are written to provoke people.

“We note it has been pointed out by others that all this provides wonderful publicity for Warners and their impending release of My Chemical Romance’s latest album.

It was the Mail that published the articles, not Warner or MCR, so how on earth can you insinuate that it is some sort of publicity stunt?

“The Daily Mail is a broad church and is always ready to listen to the views of readers. We do, however, suggest those who want to protest or comment read everything we have published and act on fact not rumour.”

Broad church? Emo cults? Why is the Mail so bound by religious language? Anyway, how insulting for the Mail to tell people to read facts before commenting, when the writers themselves make things up about MCR fans like self harm, initiation rite’s, and calling the Emo music genre a cult, and finally; exploiting the pain and suffering of the Bond family for their own agenda is completely and irrefutably despicable. They saw a potential shock story and started digging and stirring up emotions from the family, until they said what they wanted to hear, and could quote them for specific topics.

Photo’s from the day can be found on the Kerrang! website here.

Iron Man - Film Review

Iron Man is another in the trail of the Marvel Comic to film conversions, and could just be the best yet. Generally speaking, the comic books turned films have been very good - Spiderman, Batman, X-Men, all to me were very enjoyable. I have to admit, Iron Man to me is one that I can’t remember at all from childhood, and even the trailers couldn’t fully entice me but I went along to see it anyway.

Iron Man follows the script that you would expect, with lots of CGI, one central ‘hero’ character, and an outlandish plot to wrap it all together. Even though they all have similar themes, what makes each one unique and different is the hero. Apart from X-Men, all the others focus on one character, the hero, and it’s this that makes each film enjoyable in its own way.

This also means that the actor playing the hero role has to be perfect. If the casting of the main character is off, the film is absolutely doomed. Fortunately, Iron Man is played by Robert Downey Jr who completely makes the film what it is. His character Tony Stark starts as an extravagant billionaire, living the playboy lifestyle in casino’s and living day-to-day. Stark then goes through a major emotional journey, going through various attitudes towards his work and colleagues, before ultimately deciding what to do with his money and his engineering talents. It’s done in a likeable way though - one thing (maybe the only thing) about one of the Spiderman films that annoyed me was that Toby McGuire turned into a goody two shoes overnight, and dumped (before getting back with) Kirsten Dunst in order to save as many people as possible. I know its noble and a hero is supposed to be like that, but its still annoying. Iron Man is a good guy, but he does the right thing for his own good and for his own revenge against the people who originally kidnapped him - not because the villain is a threat to society or anything sad like that. So even though he should be a bit of an asshole, he’s actually very cool and likeable, and crucially, not annoying or frustrating to watch. Just the opposite in fact.

CGI effects are very good throughout the film, and are done in a similar way to the Transformer film. It looks realistic and tangible even though it is obviously done on computers. The Iron Man Suit effects are shiny and eye-catching, even more so than Spidey’s undies, and the mechanical components that pop in and out shooting missiles and what not, are sublime.

The storyline is a bit silly, even for me, but I’ll forget about that. You know its not going to be based on real life events or anything serious so who cares. The ending is a bit OTT but satisfying nonetheless (and wide open for a sequel).

Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, has the somewhat typically role of the obedient, under-appreciated, plain yet secretly glamorous assistant to Tony Stark. Although everyone else thinks she was great, I think the role could have been better cast. This is being a bit picky because she does do the role OK, but for such a good film you would expect slightly more from her.

Iron Man is a great film to watch - thrilling, fast paced, frequently comical and absolutely owned by Robert Downey Jr who makes the film what it is almost single handedly, without him, the film would have been only a 5/10 and you can’t imagine the role going to anyone else after seeing him in it.

Overall - 8.5/10