So a friend showed me this link to the new Final Fantasy 13 trailer and it looks pretty sick. Of course the cut scenes are over the top action insanity, but it seems like they’ve finally raised the bar during the actual gameplay combat where the camera work seems integrated and cinematic and the character animations are seamless and fluid. Not that past efforts had fallen short, but I knew it was only a matter of the technology catching up to the execution.
I think we’re almost there, folks.
Check out our girl, Lightning I believe she’s called, (a Squall/Cloud with breasts and a gunblade) in the visual extravaganza by clicking the pic.
Never really been a fan of super deluxe premium designer editions. But the state the gaming industry is in currently I suppose I can keep an open mind that they’ve gotta make some extra bucks somehow. And there isn’t a gun pointed to my head to buy the extra-special extra-priced Halo X-Box or this righteous Final Fantasy Advent Children PS3. The silver emblem looks right at home on top of this unit, it’s a 160 gigger and FF7:AC blu-ray is packed with it and it is a marvel of a CG masterpiece. OH yeah also comes with the demo of some JRPG called Final Fantasy 13 or something or other.
If I didn’t already have a PS3, or a copy of Advent Children…well…I’d consider it.
This bundle’s out April 16th in Japan so hold your breath.
First and foremost this is a product made for RE fans. Those that have played through a multitude of Resident Evil games are rewarded with this CG extravaganza tailor made for them. That said, it isn’t too inaccessible for those not exposed to the lore. Secondly, this is for horror/action/zombie fans. It’s also for animation fans. Wall.E, Shrek, The Lion King. This is a cartoon. And one of the best I’d ever had the pleasure to experience.
The story follows the events and characters of Resident Evil 2, where a tragic zombie incident in the town of Raccoon City tested the survival ability of Officer Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Like John Mclain from the Die Hard movies, these characters can’t seem to get away from the harrowing experiences that define them.
I’ve restrained from buying any Blu-Ray movies as I simply don’t plan on repurchasing my old collection save a few high effects films. This new release title is a perfect excuse to pick up a Blu-Ray for sure. For some reason, animation, especially CG, benefits the most from hi-def resolution entertainment in this viewer’s eyes. And Degeneration is a visual orgy in HD.
They don’t attempt to go hyper-realistic a la Beowulf. They opt for the characters to be a bit stylized, which I enjoy. But all the faces are different and unique. For instance the 2 main heroines, while both obviously rendered to be attractive, have their own distinct facial structures and features. The attention to detail is staggering.
I, for one, love Resident Evil games, horror, action, zombies and cartoons. So, well, you can imagine a positive review coming form me. All I can say is that if you’re a fan of any combination of these elements check it out! For what it is trying to achieve,
I believe it does it flawlessly.
Looks like PS3 is starting off with a bang with it’s ‘09 line up. Here’s a taste of what you can wet your whistle on the first quarter of of this year. No brainers for me are Capcom’s offerings of Street Fighter 4 and Resident Evil 5.
So the wait is finally over and players are logging onto PSHome in droves to wait in lines and perform acts of social desperatation. I briefly loaded it up to see the avatar creation and while impressed with the graphical quality, I just couldn’t get into it. I applaud the effort, especially considering it is a free service. But I couldn’t help but overhear the collective groan of PS Homies playing the waiting-in-line game. Apparently there’s bowling and game machines that are playable where you actually have to sit in line to play.
You might as well design a PS Home roller coaster that you actually have to wait 2 hours to get on. At the very least you can dry hump the female avatars you encounter.
The long-anticipated Ghostbusters game has a new video and boy does it aim to impress. The characters are lovingly rendered with a fun caricatured style that clearly represent their actor’s counterparts. Granted, I wouldn’t want to wait 20 years every time they made a video game based off a movie property, but this is the quality that can be achieved when studios aren’t forced to coincide their game launch along side the movie, official marshmallow cereal, lunchbox, bedspread, and action figure line with 24 points of articulation.
First off let me say that if you are either a Mortal Kombat fan or a superhero fan, this game is for you. That being said lets get to the nuts and bolts of what makes this game great and what keeps it from being perfect.
The Pros:
The graphics are beautiful and the models are excellently crafted. The background stages take you everywhere you’d expect to go from the Batcave, the Fortress of Solitude, Paradise Island and the Lantern universe headquarters planet of OA. The fighters have specularity maps that reflect real-time light sources that are just an awesome sight to behold.
The story mode takes you though both sides in animated cut scene narratives and breathes life to all of the characters. Everything is explained thoroughly by comic book authors that reconcile both universes coexisting though existing video game and comic book mythos.
In terms of gameplay, it’s the best one since MKII. Aside from the occasional sidestep the fights are held pretty much on a 2D axis. The essence of old 2D kombat is retained with current-gen 3D graphics. The mechanics have been simplified to combo/special move stringing of when and where to perform them.
The Cons:
After such a lavish production quality provided by the Story Mode, the single character Arcade endings only offer a single art rendering and brief voiceover ending. It’s still more than most current fighting games offer but after experiencing Story Mode, they are a bit of a let down.
As fun as the game is, there are still some poorly designed combo strings that snuck their way past testing. “Infinites”, as they’re called, are combos that that can be strung for an eternity by poor and lazy coding. The final boss AI is also very cheap but all of these are par for course for Mortal Kombat games. Something to consider though is that this is the first time an MK game can be patched though the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. As it seems it’s already received an update.
As everyone on the internet has already loudly vocalized, the teen rated diet fatalities simply leave you wanting more. They’re still worth doing since, again, they provide what most fighting games still lack: a “finisher” type of feature. Not a huge gripe but something to keep the game from being perfect.
Bottom Line:
A solid title for any fan of the comic book or fighting game genre.
A must-have for any fan of both.
Since we first saw MK vs DCU here at PS3Pub, there has been a lot of press coverage about the title involving roster announcements, game features and so on. Newly released is this video with many of the recently announced characters in full combat showing moves we’ve never seen before.
If you’ve never heard of Bayonetta, she’s going to be make her debut in this very Devil May Cry action title. Seems like she takes Dante’s formula and cranks it to 11. Possibly even a 12 or 13. This is fitting because the creator of DMC and Viewtiful Joe is the mad scientist behind this chick. She uses her hair as weapons and/or clothes apparently, and adorns some hottie Baroness spectacles.
But it’s her hyper-style Matrix-fu aerial acrobatic laser kick insanity that draws you in. I think at some point she actually blows someone’s head off with her shotgun boot. She’s really out there - Unappologetically over the top and I can totally dig that.
But don’t just take my word for it. Check her out in the vid here!
With the PlayStation Network becoming more and more user friendly, players are becoming more involved in the online capabilities of the PS3. Some games even have a bluetooth package available to gain access to voice chat and some simply use their choice of headset for communication on PSN. Well Sony has finally released an image of their long overdue brand of bluetooth headset. This may finally give me an excuse to stop putting that particular purchase off.
