Cheese on a metallic platter

The local review of Transformer 2 is dismal. I mean, half a star? That’s harsh. On a scale of 1 to 5 starry popcorns, Megan Fox alone warrants one star, one popcorn, and a good dose of cheese to go along with them.

One thing the movie did right is paying tribute to the law of chronological order. Transformer 2 is everything Transformer was, only doubled everything else. More comedic moments, more action, more explosions, and more Megan Fox. Michael Bay is extravagence manifested in human form, cleverly disguised as a self-proclaimed “Movie Director”.

The Transformer movies have successfully disenchanted me from my childhood favourites. I no longer care for the Bumblebee, not if the dialogues (“I rise, you fall”) continue to challenge the epitome of cringe-worthiness. Not even Shia LaBoeuf’s frentic disapproval can do anything about it. No not even close.

Greater satisfaction may be derived from watching the movie’s making of; for it will have all the same technical mastery Transformer 2 is justfiably praised for, with the bonus of knowing that everything in the movie is not real. [1.5]

Filed under: Review

Thinking about writing

I have been thinking of writing. Short fictional stories, specifically. There’s a man in my mind who lives a life he cannot die, and throughout his neverending journey, encounter events which gave him the meaning of life. The idea is stole from a game I played, and here’s an excerpt of the many short stories in it.

When I am creative enough to come up with it, I would probably give it a modern twist.

Filed under: Thoughts

Wild ARMs 4 Review

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Role Playing

When it comes to video game franchises, few are as collected as the Wild Arms series. One can be assured that a Wild Arms game will definitely take place in Filgaia, a decayed world that is often found tittering on destruction. Players will be damned not to expect ARMs (guns to the uninformed) taking central stage in this western-themed, anime-inspired series.  And when fans pop their discs into their consoles, there is always the consolation that should the game fall short of their expectations, there are always the devilishly addictive sound tracks to look forward to. Those are the few strings left that tie Wild Arms 4 to its predecessors.

Wild Arms, if indicated by the third game in its series, has grown stale, survived only by its niche group of fervid fans. Its persistence to keeping things strictly within Role Playing 101 makes it unable to keep up with the current generation of gamers, whose needs are readily served by the adrenaline action/graphical behemoths rivals such as Final Fantasy furiously introduces. It needed a cup of reinvigoration, and in Wild Arms 4 it saw what it needed. The cup, however, was left half-filled.

While in-game cut scenes are nice, the boundaries of the Playstation 2 hardware are hardly challenged.

Players follow the footsteps of Jude Maverick, a young boy whose definition of the world is the Ciel Village that envelops his 13 years of existence. A chain of unexpected events occurred, and Jude suddenly realised he possesses the power to control ARMs, a forsaken weapon sealed for its destructive power. The main tale of Wild Arms 4 did nothing to seek for the change the series desperately needed. Largely derivative of other Japanese Role Playing game, it carries with it an air of “seen it before” from start to finish. Whether it is the cast of stereotypical characters, their insipid dialogues, or the ill-conceived graphics, there is hardly anything to make this game any more memorable outside of the short 30 hours of game play.

Introducing cross-genre elements is never a bad first step to revitalising this stoic series. Exchanging dexterity for brains, Wild Arms 4 shifts its focus on Platforming instead of the Puzzle Solving elements featured heavily in prior games. In exploring the many excellent dungeon designs found in Filgaia, Jude will need to jump over barriers, slide under trenches, and occasionally rely on the ‘Accelerator’, a tool which temporally slows down time for these stunts to be performed. The occasional let down caused by the system’s overly demanding precision do not soil the overall Platforming experience, but it may be a source of frustration for some.

Brain work takes a back seat in many of these action-inclined puzzle challenges, a notable difference from previous Wild ARMs games.

The unique Hex system is perhaps the greatest reason to experience Wild Arms 4. All battles take place on a board with 7 grids, where characters and enemies are randomly positioned. Commands are issued upon grids, and all characters/enemies in the targeted grid will be affected by that decision. This provides a tactical twists to battles, as players would need to move the characters around to best make use of the territorial advantages. Certain grids are also imbued with elemental effects e.g. wind and fire, offering more room for strategic planning.

The result, however, is a mixed bag. Because characters/enemies positions are randomised, battles may range from incredibly easy (all enemies in the same grid makes for easy defeating) to impossibly difficult (characters surrounded right at the start may never recover from that disadvantage). The game reconciles this by allowing each battle to be replayed infinitely upon defeat, but that in itself eliminates any form of difficulty or urgency. Random encounters can be switched off in certain areas after an optional boss is defeated, which is another neat feature introduced by Wild Arms 4.

Signature to Wild ARMs 4, the Hex battle system is fun, although it could have helped with better polish.

Wild Arms 4 feels like a lightweight role playing game that is unpolished in certain parts and is thus best played as such. While many of the new features pave the way to the right direction, it just didn’t go far enough to break the shackles of being “yet another JRPG”. Despite its merits, it is therefore difficult to recommend the game- it didn’t do enough to charm the crowd outside of the series fans, and having made so many changes to the recipe, it might have distant itself from those people who would have otherwise considered it [7.0].

Filed under: Games, Review

de magnifiques

It must have been difficult being a guy like Roger Federer.

The empty slot in his brimming trophy cabinet is hindered only by a certain Rafael Nadal, his bulging biceps, and some speck of red clay from Paris. The each year he fails to claim the last of the 4 Grand Slam Titles only makes the subsequent tougher. But all the torment he suffered at Roland Garros has not been in vain, for it is in no such mood this year.

For years we have been looking at the best tennis player in history, the records now serve only to prove it.

Filed under: People, Sports

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth Review

Platform: Playstation Portable

Genre: Role Playing

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is an exemplary example of why a game should be remade. The original, which first graced the psone 9 years ago, immediately became a cIassic, a bell weather sign that would soon make the game both rare and exorbitant to acquire. The reason is obvious. With its premise based loosely on the Norse Mythology, this role playing game rewrote the rules of the genre by borrowing elements atypical of it, furnished by a uniquely driven story and an intuitive battle system. Valkyrie Profile was thus different, perhaps unashamedly, and this PSP port has done the best favour in retaining such unique appeal with its minimal tempering of the original formula. Notwithstanding the colon and the inclusion of the lead character’s name in this revamped title, Lenneth is essentially the same game, peppered with some re-orchestrated cut-scenes. This is a tale that simply needs to be retold, whether you are a first time listener, and whether or not it is on a smaller screen.

Some of the most beautifully crafted cut-scenes to grace the PSP yet

A Valkyrie’s existence is important- to gather heroic souls from the Human world and prepare the deemed useful to fight along the Gods for the imminent battle known as the Ragnarok. As Lenneth, that is the basic premise players will be ushered to do. Through a ritual known as the Spiritual Concentration, Lenneth is able answer to the cries of the dying ones, each with his/her telling stories. It would then be in the players’ discretion whether these collected souls, otherwise known as the Einherjars, would be sent to the Gods.

Lenneth’s empty facade as a mere tool for the Gods makes her a character difficult to relate to, and therein lies the greatest pity with Valkyrie Profile. The game offers 3 endings, the best of which, and the only one of which that provides a cohesive back story for the lead character can be attained only by unlocking and doing specific stuffs that is simply impossible to ‘just stumble across’. For something that is so well-crafted and thought-out, the barricades Tri-Ace places in the way is just incomprehensible.

Listen to the cries of the dying souls

The urgency of the Valkyrie’s duties is well articulated by the time progression system. No matter the process, curtains are drawn strictly in 8 Chapters, each chunked into 24 Time Periods which would be slowly chipped away at anything Lenneth does, such as in battling or rescuing the Einherjars. This clever blend of freedom and inhibition is a key characteristic of Valkyrie Profile- while players have the discretion to do whatever they want, but with the clock ticking, decisions have to be made on how best to utilise the time. It is thus ironic how time then rears its ugly head. In later chapters, things may become increasingly formulaic and tedious, losing the lustre of that initial shine.

In its battle system developer Tri-Ace attempts another quirk. Turn-based at its most basic, each character (4 in total) on the battle field is mapped to each of the 4 face buttons on the PSP, and the pressing of which would issue an attack command for that particular character. By issuing these commands in the right order, a combo-meter can be built up to make way for powerful special attacks, a necessity for tearing down the toughest defences. The action-oriented and menu-less interface is extremely intuitive, and with more than 20 characters acquirable, each which his/her personal fighting techniques, plenty of time would be spent in experimenting the best fighting styIe the player desires.

Battles are fun, intuitive, and extremely addictive

The excellent presentation harmonises all these different elements into a cohesive package. The beautiful 2D graphics is worthy enough of this epic tale, while character portraits are sufficiently detailed as make-believes. The Platforming elements (Lenneth would need to jump and fire crystals to navigate across the dungeons) blend surprisingly well in a role playing game, although controls can be a little clunky for the PSP interface at times. Like many of Square-Enix titles, music selection is impeccable, shining most brightly in the many sorrowful moments the Valkyrie inevitably comes across. Of the impressive voice acting, Lenneth’s deserves applause, capturing the cold hard demeanour her thankless job requires in the best possible fashion.

Valkyrie Profile’s commercial and critical success is well justified, and is definitely a title deserving to be seen as one of Tri-Ace/Square-Enix’s finest. While the serious premise and the unusual game play may not exactly be what fans of the genre would expect, Valkyrie Profile nonetheless delivers a satisfying story unlike others, albeit one that can be attained only (probably) with the use of a trusty strategy guide. [8.5]

Filed under: Games, Review