Playstation 3 Highlights - April 2007 (Month #6)
Half a year into the release of PS3 in North America, and we've gotten some great games that still stand up today, as well as some that could've maybe used some more time in development. With this month, we only get two games but neither are throwaway sports titles. Enchanted Arms brings us to a fantasy world filled with magic, set at a school where an ancient evil gets reawakened, and F.E.A.R., a first person survival-horror experience that promises to keep you on the edge of your seat. Can these two titles win their way into our libraries? Let's see.
Enchanted Arms - $5
The city of Yokohama City is home to five thriving districts. One of them contains the Enchanter's University, a bustling academy that teaches the best and brightest the world of magic and enchantments. You play as Atsuma, who along with his two friends Toya and Makoto, are studying to become enchanters at the school. One day they skip classes to attend a local festival when a massive earthquake erupts around the city completely changing all the man-made golems. The trio heads back to the school to check on everybody's safety, only to find the sealed ward at the school has been opened. Inside, they learn that an ancient Devil Golem has been reawoken. After attempting to stop her then and there, but fail and must instead go out to become stronger : strong enough to take down the Devil Golem and save all their loved ones.
The gameplay of this one isn't fantastic, but it's so far from being horrible. All battles are randomly entered into from the "overworld" as is usual in typical JRPG fashion, and take place on a 4 x 6 grid. The grid is divided in half, giving each team a total of 12 spaces to occupy in the fight. All moves have a specific area they attack, which is designated by hovering over it in the battle menu before you select it, so you can see if your position on the grid allows for you to attack and hit someone on the opposite side. Special moves can also be used which allow a particular fighter to attack the entire opposing side of the grid. The characters in your party can learn new moves, purchase new abilities and weapons, and be interchanged to give you the best combination possible.
Overworld gameplay in Enchanted Arms is all exploration and conversations. The backgrounds and scenery are pre-rendered, with you running over top of them to get where you need to go. Completing quests is mostly a matter of reaching a certain location, but there are others such as finding a certain number of objects, or finding a specific person to talk to. You'll come across crates that can be destroyed, some of which contain items, and while most people will just give you a single line of randomized generic dialogue, some offer key information for you, relative to either a specific quest or the world as a whole.
Lastly, what you don't experience during gameplay for story plays out through cutscenes. From where I'm at in the game (roughly halfway) the majority of cutscenes aren't even FMV. They are just an image of the characters talking pasted on the screen, with their mouths barely moving in motion to the words they're saying. The cutscenes that are actually FMV are spectacular to look at. Some of the voice acting itself could have been done a little better (a number of characters just sound ridiculous sometimes), but for a ten year old game, it's not the worst out there.
Hit or Miss?
Enchanted Arms is definitely more hit than miss. For me, as a person who isn't typically a fan of JRPG style games, I was definitely intrigued by this title. Considering again the fact that this game is a decade old, it holds up very well. The controls don't feel clunky at all, and while there are more fluid combat system's nowadays, this one is quick and easy to master. Literally the only real upsetting part about this game is the character-pasted cutscenes. It's inconsistent between having some of these cutscenes be just the text, and others having the characters actually speaking their lines, and it makes some elements of the story a little harder to get invested in. Still, this game is a lot of fun. As I said, this genre isn't one of my favorites, but I still enjoyed what I've played of this game and I most assuredly plan to continue. I say Enchanted Arms definitely belongs in your library, and at such a low price you'll definitely get your money's worth from it.
F.E.A.R. : First Encounter Assault Recon - $7
F.E.A.R. is the result of combining survival horror gameplay with first-person shooter. In response to an uprising in "unexplainable encounters" occurring around the country, the government has created a response team to handle these situations. You, the player, are the new point man for the team as you are all sent out on a mission to locate and eliminate Paxton Fettel, a man who takes control of a group of telepathic supersoldiers. F.E.A.R. tracks Fettel down via satellite, but consistently evades capture, meanwhile you begin to experience psychic visions of a little girl dressed in red. It's through these visions that you learn you are in possession of the ability to (seemingly) slow down time, giving you super focus. WIth the help of the information you have, and the use of your ability, you must track down Fettel and either take him down, or learn who is really behind everything.
The blending of these two styles of gameplay isn't a first, but it's still different enough to feel unique. Putting you in the eyes of the main character literally gives you the front row seat to the story playing out. And the minimal effort being pulled from the game with it just being a simple FPS means the story gets to have a lot of focus. It's a lot deeper than the war-time missions you play out in Call of Duty or Battlefield games. There are some cutscenes giving you the story experience, as well as character dialogue, and laptops you encounter in the levels that can be hacked and reveal further details on the story background.
One thing that stands out about this game is the AI given to your enemies. They actually get a pretty decent one, and will not only be smart and prepared for themselves, but they'll work together amongst themselves to try and outsmart you, by distracting you so someone can sneak up on you, or pushing objects over to give themselves something to use as cover. These guys are really really smart, even on the low difficulty setting.
Yet there's one mechanic in this game that could use a good amount of work, and as is, it leaves you feeling like you're up against a wall (at least it felt that way to this gamer). The aiming sensitivity is really clunky. Super-fine movements you need to make to just tweak your aim the slightest bit don't register at all, and the bigger movements all feel like there's a delay in registering what you want it to do. With the enemy as quick and smart as they are, at first you'll feel like you can't do anything in this game.
Hit or Miss?
This game has spawned a spin-off, and some sequels, all receiving high-praise. When I first fired this game up a few years ago, I barely made it through the first area due to the clunky aiming system, and after that I just didn't want to continue. This time, I pushed myself to go further, so I can say that while it's different than other FPS games, this one isn't that bad. I'd have to say that this first title might be more enjoyable on a PC, because aiming with a mouse would be much more precise than trying to master the joystick sensitivity. (And the Steam download of this game is only $10 meaning you could probably swipe it for a lot less if it goes on a deal). I'm officially torn on this game. On the one hand, the story is really interesting and plays out so well in first person, especially with the hallucinations. But the shooting takes a while to get used to, or requires a good amount of manual tweaking to fix it. It's not the worst thing in the world, but trying to figure it out around the smarter-than-you AI can be pretty frustrating. Got the patience for it? Then by all means bring F.E.A.R. into your library, but if you would rather have a game that you can just throw in and play, either snag the PC version (if it's an option) or see if you can just read up on the story because that part is definitely enjoyable.
So that's going to wrap things up for this month's releases. Two games, neither of which is really perfect, but both can be a lot of fun and worth picking up. As always, these articles just represent my opinion on the game, and if yours differs from mine, there's nothing wrong at all with that. Stay tuned for the next PS3 highlights, as we prepare to go to the movies. On the menu we have Pirates of the Caribbean, Surf's Up, Spider-Man 3, and MLB The Show 07. So come back then and let's see how these games compare the their silver-screen counterparts.
HG
Enchanted Arms - $5
The city of Yokohama City is home to five thriving districts. One of them contains the Enchanter's University, a bustling academy that teaches the best and brightest the world of magic and enchantments. You play as Atsuma, who along with his two friends Toya and Makoto, are studying to become enchanters at the school. One day they skip classes to attend a local festival when a massive earthquake erupts around the city completely changing all the man-made golems. The trio heads back to the school to check on everybody's safety, only to find the sealed ward at the school has been opened. Inside, they learn that an ancient Devil Golem has been reawoken. After attempting to stop her then and there, but fail and must instead go out to become stronger : strong enough to take down the Devil Golem and save all their loved ones.
The gameplay of this one isn't fantastic, but it's so far from being horrible. All battles are randomly entered into from the "overworld" as is usual in typical JRPG fashion, and take place on a 4 x 6 grid. The grid is divided in half, giving each team a total of 12 spaces to occupy in the fight. All moves have a specific area they attack, which is designated by hovering over it in the battle menu before you select it, so you can see if your position on the grid allows for you to attack and hit someone on the opposite side. Special moves can also be used which allow a particular fighter to attack the entire opposing side of the grid. The characters in your party can learn new moves, purchase new abilities and weapons, and be interchanged to give you the best combination possible.
Overworld gameplay in Enchanted Arms is all exploration and conversations. The backgrounds and scenery are pre-rendered, with you running over top of them to get where you need to go. Completing quests is mostly a matter of reaching a certain location, but there are others such as finding a certain number of objects, or finding a specific person to talk to. You'll come across crates that can be destroyed, some of which contain items, and while most people will just give you a single line of randomized generic dialogue, some offer key information for you, relative to either a specific quest or the world as a whole.
Lastly, what you don't experience during gameplay for story plays out through cutscenes. From where I'm at in the game (roughly halfway) the majority of cutscenes aren't even FMV. They are just an image of the characters talking pasted on the screen, with their mouths barely moving in motion to the words they're saying. The cutscenes that are actually FMV are spectacular to look at. Some of the voice acting itself could have been done a little better (a number of characters just sound ridiculous sometimes), but for a ten year old game, it's not the worst out there.
Hit or Miss?
Enchanted Arms is definitely more hit than miss. For me, as a person who isn't typically a fan of JRPG style games, I was definitely intrigued by this title. Considering again the fact that this game is a decade old, it holds up very well. The controls don't feel clunky at all, and while there are more fluid combat system's nowadays, this one is quick and easy to master. Literally the only real upsetting part about this game is the character-pasted cutscenes. It's inconsistent between having some of these cutscenes be just the text, and others having the characters actually speaking their lines, and it makes some elements of the story a little harder to get invested in. Still, this game is a lot of fun. As I said, this genre isn't one of my favorites, but I still enjoyed what I've played of this game and I most assuredly plan to continue. I say Enchanted Arms definitely belongs in your library, and at such a low price you'll definitely get your money's worth from it.
F.E.A.R. : First Encounter Assault Recon - $7
F.E.A.R. is the result of combining survival horror gameplay with first-person shooter. In response to an uprising in "unexplainable encounters" occurring around the country, the government has created a response team to handle these situations. You, the player, are the new point man for the team as you are all sent out on a mission to locate and eliminate Paxton Fettel, a man who takes control of a group of telepathic supersoldiers. F.E.A.R. tracks Fettel down via satellite, but consistently evades capture, meanwhile you begin to experience psychic visions of a little girl dressed in red. It's through these visions that you learn you are in possession of the ability to (seemingly) slow down time, giving you super focus. WIth the help of the information you have, and the use of your ability, you must track down Fettel and either take him down, or learn who is really behind everything.
The blending of these two styles of gameplay isn't a first, but it's still different enough to feel unique. Putting you in the eyes of the main character literally gives you the front row seat to the story playing out. And the minimal effort being pulled from the game with it just being a simple FPS means the story gets to have a lot of focus. It's a lot deeper than the war-time missions you play out in Call of Duty or Battlefield games. There are some cutscenes giving you the story experience, as well as character dialogue, and laptops you encounter in the levels that can be hacked and reveal further details on the story background.
One thing that stands out about this game is the AI given to your enemies. They actually get a pretty decent one, and will not only be smart and prepared for themselves, but they'll work together amongst themselves to try and outsmart you, by distracting you so someone can sneak up on you, or pushing objects over to give themselves something to use as cover. These guys are really really smart, even on the low difficulty setting.
Yet there's one mechanic in this game that could use a good amount of work, and as is, it leaves you feeling like you're up against a wall (at least it felt that way to this gamer). The aiming sensitivity is really clunky. Super-fine movements you need to make to just tweak your aim the slightest bit don't register at all, and the bigger movements all feel like there's a delay in registering what you want it to do. With the enemy as quick and smart as they are, at first you'll feel like you can't do anything in this game.
Hit or Miss?
This game has spawned a spin-off, and some sequels, all receiving high-praise. When I first fired this game up a few years ago, I barely made it through the first area due to the clunky aiming system, and after that I just didn't want to continue. This time, I pushed myself to go further, so I can say that while it's different than other FPS games, this one isn't that bad. I'd have to say that this first title might be more enjoyable on a PC, because aiming with a mouse would be much more precise than trying to master the joystick sensitivity. (And the Steam download of this game is only $10 meaning you could probably swipe it for a lot less if it goes on a deal). I'm officially torn on this game. On the one hand, the story is really interesting and plays out so well in first person, especially with the hallucinations. But the shooting takes a while to get used to, or requires a good amount of manual tweaking to fix it. It's not the worst thing in the world, but trying to figure it out around the smarter-than-you AI can be pretty frustrating. Got the patience for it? Then by all means bring F.E.A.R. into your library, but if you would rather have a game that you can just throw in and play, either snag the PC version (if it's an option) or see if you can just read up on the story because that part is definitely enjoyable.
So that's going to wrap things up for this month's releases. Two games, neither of which is really perfect, but both can be a lot of fun and worth picking up. As always, these articles just represent my opinion on the game, and if yours differs from mine, there's nothing wrong at all with that. Stay tuned for the next PS3 highlights, as we prepare to go to the movies. On the menu we have Pirates of the Caribbean, Surf's Up, Spider-Man 3, and MLB The Show 07. So come back then and let's see how these games compare the their silver-screen counterparts.
HG
