Review: PSP Game: Lumines

I haven't gotten time to go take some more photos - so you'll have to bear with my worded version of the Lumines review until I do get the time to take photos of my PSP and the other accesories I bought to use with it - I got word the Playgear Pocket is loose in 1 Utama again, so I might get that sometime soon... *grins evilly*. OK now, back to Lumines. Lumines is a simple game that most people will say came from the world of Tetris. It basically involves you making squares out of the same colour. There are only two colours on the screen at any one time. Sounds easy, right? Blocks of four, make squares of four... but in truth - it isn't quite that easy - it's very easy to learn since it has a very simple concept: make squares. My friends in college found the concept a little difficult to understand by just my simple description of make squares.

Well, I would have to admit - making squares is a lot more difficult than you might think - and two colours is enough to prove it. I'm gonna steal some screens of IGN.com for now - they've kindly put in watermarks in so I don't have to. :D The screens give you little to think about - since part of the game is actually also music. It's quite fun to hear that your subtle movements of pieces in the game actually add sounds into the music - and it sounds pretty good that sometimes, you don't notice that it is from you, responding to your every move in real time.

As with all simple concept games, it is addictive. It reminds me of the time something as simple as falling blocks captured my eye (Tetris) and reminded me that simplicity was always good. After all, I felt this game was better than lining up 3 or more shiny gems in a row (Bejeweled).

I've been only playing this within the past few days since I got it - and I love this game - if only they'd come out with a PC version of the game. ;) Screens coming as soon as I get my hands on the camera!

Life with a New Device

How much have I been using my new device? Not much. Why? I've realised a fundamental flaw - I lack the courage to use it. It's been here for quite a while - but I dare not use it as much as I think I would. It's with me all the time - I want to play it. There's nothing quite like killing stuff on the go, or racing at unrealistic speeds, and soon a little more than I would have expected. The device would change what I had thought it could do. Its battery life had become immaterial in face of all the things it could do. I had condemned the device before for its battery life, its lack of many things - but things change when you actually look at it.

I saw this device for real, in actual use - and I felt it was practical for all it was worth. I had seen all the things it could do - and I would believe for the most part that it would become a success not in the market most people thought it would be fighting for. The device is meant to hit more markets than just the gaming market. It was meant to hit the average consumer. The average person should walk around with one - not because this average reasonable person thought it would be nice, but because it has other more practical uses in store.

I highly doubt this device is outselling its competitor in certain regions because of the same reason its competitor is outselling it in Japan, but likely due to its other attractions.

Wait for my full review of this device soon. ;)

Game Review: Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose

I'm writing this at college while doing quantitative analysis homework, so don't complain about any incongruence or disjointedness in this review. :D And yes, I remember the title by heart - somehow fun phrases of German words are quite easy to remember.

OK, since we all know how lengthy and deep the storyline of Xenosaga goes, let's be simple, and come down to the just the gameplay, graphics and music, shall we?

For an RPG, Xenosaga II takes a very different approach for most of the game - it aims to be simpler to the casual gamer. As a result, you will find that there are very few items in the game - and somehow, weapons never come into play on your characters ever, unlike in Xenosaga Episode 1, where cryptic model numbers usually indicated which equipment was better and more advanced. *sweats*

The Abilities (stats boost, counters and so on) and Ether (something like magic) system has been combined with one another, but the special Tech Attacks have disappeared from view. Abilities and Ether have been placed into something like a hierarchy system, requiring you to complete unlock a class before being able to move on to a higher level and so on. Ethers and abilities have been combined into one complex system - and every character has an identical hierarchy - some slots are locked at the beginning, and cannot be unlocked the storyline has ended.

Most of the game is actually after the end of the storyline instead of during or before the final boss battle - in contrary to most typical RPGs. In this game, a massive portion of time has to be dedicated to the game after the storyline has ended.

The music composer has changed, and in my belief, Yuki Kajiura has done a great job of following up the great music we had in Xenosaga I from Yasunori Mitsuda. The music is great, although quite a lot of tracks are filled with chanting - the chanting is used to a great effect - and I foudn myself memorising some of the nonsense that I heard.

The graphics of Xenosaga 2 however, have changed focus. Xenosaga 1 had a lot of full motion video sequences which were pretty cool to look at, while Xenosaga 2 does use FMVs, they are made to blend in seamlessly with the in game graphics - this means while we no longer see any more impressive looking sequences, the entire game appears to never leave real time rendering - which I can't say is better, or worse.

The game on overall is an improvement over the first game, although many may argue that some of the factors that were nice in Xenosaga I (cuter, anime like characters) are gone in favour of more mature and realistic looking models now. In fact, when some of the initial screens of the new Shion showed up, I thought it was a new character they were going to introduce. XD