Two for oneIt's been while my little minions (still don't think anyone reads these but one can dream).
Today were looking at arcade titles two in fact All Zombies Must Die and Droplets.
AZMD for short is a top down 360-degree shooter and to be honest not that great we'll start with the good stuff and then I'll start my rant.
It's a tough game, which I quite like but for the average gamer they are going to struggle a bit and can be unclear with a few side missions. The whole thing is a mind numbing blast fest and that can be a good thing at times and that's all I have got to say about it except for the rant so here we go.
First off the characters are naff they try to be funny but fall flat yes there is a chuckle or two in there but more often than not its just makes you sigh and pay no attention to the story which really does not inspire anything in me (losing the will to write this just thinking about it). The worst thing though is there is no where near enough weapons, I think there were 7 not to sure, yes you can upgrade them but it still lacks everything interesting.
That will do for this before the will to live is sucked out of me.
Moving on to Droplets yes it's pretty old by now but it's all right it,s a very chilled game the music gives you a very peaceful sensation and that is very rare in any game.
Gameplay is very simple make paths for droplets to reach the bottom and that's it but it is a lot harder than it sounds (I am struggling with it, but I don't mind. it's a pleasure to veg out to). There are a few different modes but there all very similar so wont really go into them.
To rap up it's a very hard game but you don't feel any frustration when you lose and the music makes you feel like a marshmallow after a while, I think its great but hardcore gamers will probably hate it. Ill give this 7 an a half out of 10 and AZMD 4/10

Two for oneIt's been while my little minions (still don't think anyone reads these but one can dream).
Today were looking at arcade titles two in fact All Zombies Must Die and Droplets.
AZMD for short is a top down 360-degree shooter and to be honest not that great we'll start with the good stuff and then I'll start my rant.
It's a tough game, which I quite like but for the average gamer they are going to struggle a bit and can be unclear with a few side missions. The whole thing is a mind numbing blast fest and that can be a good thing at times and that's all I have got to say about it except for the rant so here we go.
First off the characters are naff they try to be funny but fall flat yes there is a chuckle or two in there but more often than not its just makes you sigh and pay no attention to the story which really does not inspire anything in me (losing the will to write this just thinking about it). The worst thing though is there is no where near enough weapons, I think there were 7 not to sure, yes you can upgrade them but it still lacks everything interesting.
That will do for this before the will to live is sucked out of me.
Moving on to Droplets yes it's pretty old by now but it's all right it,s a very chilled game the music gives you a very peaceful sensation and that is very rare in any game.
Gameplay is very simple make paths for droplets to reach the bottom and that's it but it is a lot harder than it sounds (I am struggling with it, but I don't mind. it's a pleasure to veg out to). There are a few different modes but there all very similar so wont really go into them.
To rap up it's a very hard game but you don't feel any frustration when you lose and the music makes you feel like a marshmallow after a while, I think its great but hardcore gamers will probably hate it. Ill give this 7 an a half out of 10 and AZMD 4/10

Tales of Vesperia Review Booyah boys, girls and hyper intelligent shades of purple. It’s me again with another glorious review (finally found some time to bang this one out) today’s item under my ever-keen watchful eye is dum dum dah Tales of Vesperia.
This has taken me a while to get done trying to think of the wording and what I actually think about this game is very difficult to put into words, but here goes.
We shall start with the story like usual, and ill cover the first hour or so of it just so you get the picture without spoiling the whole game.
The whole story revolves around items called “Blastia” (yes a “Blastia” I’m not to fond of the name either), Which in essence are spheres that control Aer (magic basically).
Yuri Lowell is the protagonists name. A former knight gone vigilante for the poor people of the city Zaphias. Really quick overview, a Blastia gets stolen Yuri chases the culprit gets thrown in prison escapes meets a young girl named Estelle and gets chased out of the city. First hour done after that the story explodes with you meeting new characters, travelling the world, getting betrayed you know all that RPG goodness.
My personal opinion on the story is it could have been done better with not making all the major plot twists so obvious and it does have a few gaps in the story at some points which do get on your nerves I am not gong to go into detail because there late into the game and will contain spoilers. But for a Japanese RPG it doesn’t get any better on the 360 in my opinion (fuck you square enix and the bullshit you call final fantasy 13 and 13x2).
Gameplay has three different settings; you have your city/dungeon mode, battle mode and world map mode.
City/dungeon mode is where most of the interactivity with people and items come in, battle mode (if you’ve played Tales of Symphonia its extremely similar with no major differences in that respect) you take control of a single character and have free range of movement, the battles are all real time no turn based mechanic but you have the ability to set the other 3 party members into different strategies and tell them to use certain skills and abilities at any time during combat which is always nice. And the world map run around fight enemies find places no teleportation or cursor bollocks (which seems to be a trend I have starting to notice and I really cant stand that) also you get your respective boat and airship at certain points and the map is quite large so there is plenty of exploration to do which is always nice, but there is not much in side dungeons which is a bit depressing because most places are integral to the story and to my knowledge only the ex dungeon which is only unlocked after completing the game.
Segway bitches to side missions, these are a twat and a half because about 75% of them can only be done at certain points in the story and if you carry on with said story you’ll miss them completely and you cannot go back to them (worst RPG mechanic ever) so you may want to rip out a guide after your first play through if you want to try and get all achievements in this game.
Booyah segwayed again these are a pain in the arse to get (achievement wise) you have your normal story based ones but then you have your monster book one (use a magic lens on every monster, boss) collect all items, also every boss fight has a secret condition to complete which also gets you a rare item and get all Titles (Titles are like extra costumes and that’s about it they don’t give you a boost unlike Tales of Symphonia). This is one of them games you really do need a guide for during your second play through because some of the side quests start from the beginning of the game to near the end which is about 40+ hours long.
Upon completion of the game you can either carry on playing or start a new game but with a difference, because you unlock ex new game which opens up a shop before the beginning cut scene where you use GRADE which is your battle rank points (this is based on how well you have fought throughout the whole game) which lets you buy 10xexp, 2xgald (money), 2x GRADE and more which does come in handy to speed through to certain points in the game.
Graphically its not astounding but it is very pretty like the spells and battle animations and it feels like your playing an anime and with full anime cut scenes it all works very well.
The bad stuff here is where it goes down hill Bohdi blastia, a kid named Karol and the big bad enemy you are trying to save the world from. First off Bohdi Blastia is cringingly terrible every time you here someone say it (Bohdi Blastia erghhhh).
Karol has the most annoying voice ever recorded (wouldn’t be surprised if the kid who played him is lying in ditch with a knife in his back from the person who had to cut all of his lines together), and the big bad creature you need to save the world from is a giant octopus which sort of makes you think “WHATTTT!?” Which makes you think the storywriters got a bit bored near the end. But this is all over shadowed by skits (little moments within the game which are optional where you press the back button and can listen to your party chat about random things), these are brilliant some are so funny and they give the characters more depth instead of everything being in properly scripted moments and fmvs.
Well I’ve taken up enough of your time I could give you more but ive wasted enough of your time already. My personal ranking of this game is 9/10 but for average gamers ill give 6.5/10.
Don’t know what game I’m getting next yet so the next review will be a bit of a surprise for you as well as me. Manley Musk (Raven is fantastic)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59nP0rghQ8] [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59nP0rghQ8]www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59nP0rghQ8

Tales of Vesperia Review Booyah boys, girls and hyper intelligent shades of purple. It’s me again with another glorious review (finally found some time to bang this one out) today’s item under my ever-keen watchful eye is dum dum dah Tales of Vesperia.
This has taken me a while to get done trying to think of the wording and what I actually think about this game is very difficult to put into words, but here goes.
We shall start with the story like usual, and ill cover the first hour or so of it just so you get the picture without spoiling the whole game.
The whole story revolves around items called “Blastia” (yes a “Blastia” I’m not to fond of the name either), Which in essence are spheres that control Aer (magic basically).
Yuri Lowell is the protagonists name. A former knight gone vigilante for the poor people of the city Zaphias. Really quick overview, a Blastia gets stolen Yuri chases the culprit gets thrown in prison escapes meets a young girl named Estelle and gets chased out of the city. First hour done after that the story explodes with you meeting new characters, travelling the world, getting betrayed you know all that RPG goodness.
My personal opinion on the story is it could have been done better with not making all the major plot twists so obvious and it does have a few gaps in the story at some points which do get on your nerves I am not gong to go into detail because there late into the game and will contain spoilers. But for a Japanese RPG it doesn’t get any better on the 360 in my opinion (fuck you square enix and the bullshit you call final fantasy 13 and 13x2).
Gameplay has three different settings; you have your city/dungeon mode, battle mode and world map mode.
City/dungeon mode is where most of the interactivity with people and items come in, battle mode (if you’ve played Tales of Symphonia its extremely similar with no major differences in that respect) you take control of a single character and have free range of movement, the battles are all real time no turn based mechanic but you have the ability to set the other 3 party members into different strategies and tell them to use certain skills and abilities at any time during combat which is always nice. And the world map run around fight enemies find places no teleportation or cursor bollocks (which seems to be a trend I have starting to notice and I really cant stand that) also you get your respective boat and airship at certain points and the map is quite large so there is plenty of exploration to do which is always nice, but there is not much in side dungeons which is a bit depressing because most places are integral to the story and to my knowledge only the ex dungeon which is only unlocked after completing the game.
Segway bitches to side missions, these are a twat and a half because about 75% of them can only be done at certain points in the story and if you carry on with said story you’ll miss them completely and you cannot go back to them (worst RPG mechanic ever) so you may want to rip out a guide after your first play through if you want to try and get all achievements in this game.
Booyah segwayed again these are a pain in the arse to get (achievement wise) you have your normal story based ones but then you have your monster book one (use a magic lens on every monster, boss) collect all items, also every boss fight has a secret condition to complete which also gets you a rare item and get all Titles (Titles are like extra costumes and that’s about it they don’t give you a boost unlike Tales of Symphonia). This is one of them games you really do need a guide for during your second play through because some of the side quests start from the beginning of the game to near the end which is about 40+ hours long.
Upon completion of the game you can either carry on playing or start a new game but with a difference, because you unlock ex new game which opens up a shop before the beginning cut scene where you use GRADE which is your battle rank points (this is based on how well you have fought throughout the whole game) which lets you buy 10xexp, 2xgald (money), 2x GRADE and more which does come in handy to speed through to certain points in the game.
Graphically its not astounding but it is very pretty like the spells and battle animations and it feels like your playing an anime and with full anime cut scenes it all works very well.
The bad stuff here is where it goes down hill Bohdi blastia, a kid named Karol and the big bad enemy you are trying to save the world from. First off Bohdi Blastia is cringingly terrible every time you here someone say it (Bohdi Blastia erghhhh).
Karol has the most annoying voice ever recorded (wouldn’t be surprised if the kid who played him is lying in ditch with a knife in his back from the person who had to cut all of his lines together), and the big bad creature you need to save the world from is a giant octopus which sort of makes you think “WHATTTT!?” Which makes you think the storywriters got a bit bored near the end. But this is all over shadowed by skits (little moments within the game which are optional where you press the back button and can listen to your party chat about random things), these are brilliant some are so funny and they give the characters more depth instead of everything being in properly scripted moments and fmvs.
Well I’ve taken up enough of your time I could give you more but ive wasted enough of your time already. My personal ranking of this game is 9/10 but for average gamers ill give 6.5/10.
Don’t know what game I’m getting next yet so the next review will be a bit of a surprise for you as well as me. Manley Musk (Raven is fantastic)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59nP0rghQ8] [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59nP0rghQ8]www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59nP0rghQ8

Red Faction Armaggedon'tRight then it’s been a while because Tales of Vesperia took longer than expected and I also picked up Red Faction: Armageddon. Which is where I shall start.
This shouldn’t take long. It’s terrible.
Done.
Just kidding. It is bad though, but before that I will start with the very few good points.
Graphically it’s a very pretty game the character designs are done well and the textures look pretty as well. There the only and I mean only redeeming features to this piece of wank.
The bad stuff; here comes the rant, the characters are shallow and you feel nothing for them what so ever, the weapons look like they’ve been dipped in a used toilet and not been cleaned afterwards and for fuck sake its Red Faction in tunnels yet you cant destroy the walls. WHATS WITH THAT?! (Take a breath). The game play is so linear you feel like you’re on a slow bus ride to know where and why aliens there’s never been aliens before so why now it makes no sense what so ever and with the implements of RF cannon mentioned in the story just ruins everything.
Levelling system is so slow and tedious and you really never use and abilities during the game unless your going for the achievements. It’s all god awful.
The multiplayer is co-op only which is really disappointing with a horde type mode and a destruction mode (get points by destroying buildings and stuff in a set time limit) and there just boring nothing interesting about them. The whole game is a chore and nothing more. 1/10
I was hoping for like the original RF in third person type of game but I was so sorely mistaken. Do not play this game under any circumstance I would rather be hanging by my ball sack for the 8-10 hours I put into this “game”.
Ok with that over with and i never have to think or play it again i can move onto Tales of Vesperia Which will be in the next journal post because there is a lot to go through with that one so stay tuned and im still looking for people to join my reviewers group I need someone for sports, racing and other games genres, just send me a message and all that jazz with one review. Thanks people. OHHH yeah and might start doing movies, tv shows if I get a few people together.

Red Faction Armaggedon'tRight then it’s been a while because Tales of Vesperia took longer than expected and I also picked up Red Faction: Armageddon. Which is where I shall start.
This shouldn’t take long. It’s terrible.
Done.
Just kidding. It is bad though, but before that I will start with the very few good points.
Graphically it’s a very pretty game the character designs are done well and the textures look pretty as well. There the only and I mean only redeeming features to this piece of wank.
The bad stuff; here comes the rant, the characters are shallow and you feel nothing for them what so ever, the weapons look like they’ve been dipped in a used toilet and not been cleaned afterwards and for fuck sake its Red Faction in tunnels yet you cant destroy the walls. WHATS WITH THAT?! (Take a breath). The game play is so linear you feel like you’re on a slow bus ride to know where and why aliens there’s never been aliens before so why now it makes no sense what so ever and with the implements of RF cannon mentioned in the story just ruins everything.
Levelling system is so slow and tedious and you really never use and abilities during the game unless your going for the achievements. It’s all god awful.
The multiplayer is co-op only which is really disappointing with a horde type mode and a destruction mode (get points by destroying buildings and stuff in a set time limit) and there just boring nothing interesting about them. The whole game is a chore and nothing more. 1/10
I was hoping for like the original RF in third person type of game but I was so sorely mistaken. Do not play this game under any circumstance I would rather be hanging by my ball sack for the 8-10 hours I put into this “game”.
Ok with that over with and i never have to think or play it again i can move onto Tales of Vesperia Which will be in the next journal post because there is a lot to go through with that one so stay tuned and im still looking for people to join my reviewers group I need someone for sports, racing and other games genres, just send me a message and all that jazz with one review. Thanks people. OHHH yeah and might start doing movies, tv shows if I get a few people together.

Resonance of fate review part 1Okie doke guys heres the review on Resonance of Fate.
This one has taken me a while to think of what to write so we will start with my first impressions.
The fmv at the beginning before you even begin a new game is awesome (and skipleble, and heres the important part its crucial to the story but you can watch it every time you load it up). It is like watching the matrix at full speed is the best way to describe it.
Right then the story from what ive gathered is very minimal, because for the first 10 chapters or 30+ hours of game play bareley nothing happens, you just get an fmv at the beginning and ending of each chapter that explains nothing really and only gives you the tiniest inkling of what is going on, so for them for them 10 chapters all your doing is playing as a hunter (that is what they are called but to you and me there just mercenary's). Going out to do jobs (monster hunting, collecting items etc, etc. You know the old RPG drill).
It may seem like I'm putting it down but here's the thing, the characters are so well done, the combat is a bit simple but engaging and its hilarious in places, not often you play a game that the characters themselves are comical but it also has some very dark undertones (and by dark I mean one of your characters goes and slaughters a seminary).
The primary weapon system is strange because you don't get many so all damage is exactly the same through out the game, but as you increase in levels you add an extra charge to your shot and they come in different varieties (increase damage, increase knock back chance, increase bullet penetration all sorts of different things.) which adds some elements of strategy for instance you could have just knocked an enemy into the air, then you could just fire with one charge to do minimal damage but keep them up there or charge your shot to do more damage but let them land and get ready to attack you.

Resonance of fate review part 1Okie doke guys heres the review on Resonance of Fate.
This one has taken me a while to think of what to write so we will start with my first impressions.
The fmv at the beginning before you even begin a new game is awesome (and skipleble, and heres the important part its crucial to the story but you can watch it every time you load it up). It is like watching the matrix at full speed is the best way to describe it.
Right then the story from what ive gathered is very minimal, because for the first 10 chapters or 30+ hours of game play bareley nothing happens, you just get an fmv at the beginning and ending of each chapter that explains nothing really and only gives you the tiniest inkling of what is going on, so for them for them 10 chapters all your doing is playing as a hunter (that is what they are called but to you and me there just mercenary's). Going out to do jobs (monster hunting, collecting items etc, etc. You know the old RPG drill).
It may seem like I'm putting it down but here's the thing, the characters are so well done, the combat is a bit simple but engaging and its hilarious in places, not often you play a game that the characters themselves are comical but it also has some very dark undertones (and by dark I mean one of your characters goes and slaughters a seminary).
The primary weapon system is strange because you don't get many so all damage is exactly the same through out the game, but as you increase in levels you add an extra charge to your shot and they come in different varieties (increase damage, increase knock back chance, increase bullet penetration all sorts of different things.) which adds some elements of strategy for instance you could have just knocked an enemy into the air, then you could just fire with one charge to do minimal damage but keep them up there or charge your shot to do more damage but let them land and get ready to attack you.

Infinite UndiscoveryRight then, I decided to choose Infinite Undiscovery, but it’s been like 6 months since ive played it so im reading its wiki (which does contain lots of spoilers so if you want to spoil the whole game for yourself feel free to read it), the main thing I do remember is terrible voice acting, (I suppose that’s to be expected with a Japanese dubbed game).
That gripe dealt with, we’ll start at the beginning. The story revolves around (in typical Japanese style) a young man named Capell. A travelling musician who gets dragged into a civil war which leads to trying to save the world, not going to go into much detail because it’ll take about a day to write about, and for any who pick it up I don’t want to put any spoilers into this review. I’ll just say it is extremely intriguing and is a very emotional story.
The gameplay is your typical third person RPG style but you only ever play as one person you cant really change characters. The party system allows up to four characters per party.
The graphics are a little dated now but they are fine, no poking out your eyes or WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT moments.
All battles are real time so you can engage or avoid monsters if you wish to choose so, and the menu system is all in real time as well so when you are fighting and need health it can be a bit panic stricken especially if your against a tough enemy and you need to heal, the game gives you a strange ability called ‘connect’ which lets you use a party members ability, (this is demonstrated early on when Capell with another character named Aya who’s weapon is a bow are in a prison with exploding barrels, and by utilizing the connect ability you can use one of Ayas abilities to shoot the barrels dealing major damage to all enemies near them,) At certain points during the game you are forced to make either 2 or 3 parties compiled of all your characters but here,s the kicker the parties can be K.O’ed and if that happens game over so you need to equally balance them all with range attackers, healers and close quarter fighters so there is quite a bit of strategy involved.
Side quests are plenty throughout the game but there not just your usual kill this monster or get that item some of them are races across the world and by completing them within certain parameters you gain extra experience, items and or abilities.
The one gripe I have with this game is the synthesis abilities, they took to long and you couldn’t do anything else while you are creating items coupled with the fact the could fail creating the items means you are there for a very long time and reloading a lot especially with later items because the components you need are so rare there teeth grindingly difficult to get a hold of.
I personally love this game one of the best RPG’s I have played to the 360 to date if there was an option to change the voice acting to Japanese with English subtitles (I couldn’t find it if it was there) I reckon this game could have had as much hype as final fantasy 13 (piece of shit that was) but sadly that was not to be so it was swept under the rug and forgotten about, but if you enjoy RPG,s I suggest you pick this up you should be able to find it really cheap by now and its well worth it. 20+ hours just for the story and 40+ if you want to get everything this game has to offer. My Rating 9/10
Once again thanks for reading and will answer any friend requests, queries and will start taking requests now so if you want a spoiler free review give me a shout (no sports or racing games please) EDIT: oh yeah no trpile A titles either.

Infinite UndiscoveryRight then, I decided to choose Infinite Undiscovery, but it’s been like 6 months since ive played it so im reading its wiki (which does contain lots of spoilers so if you want to spoil the whole game for yourself feel free to read it), the main thing I do remember is terrible voice acting, (I suppose that’s to be expected with a Japanese dubbed game).
That gripe dealt with, we’ll start at the beginning. The story revolves around (in typical Japanese style) a young man named Capell. A travelling musician who gets dragged into a civil war which leads to trying to save the world, not going to go into much detail because it’ll take about a day to write about, and for any who pick it up I don’t want to put any spoilers into this review. I’ll just say it is extremely intriguing and is a very emotional story.
The gameplay is your typical third person RPG style but you only ever play as one person you cant really change characters. The party system allows up to four characters per party.
The graphics are a little dated now but they are fine, no poking out your eyes or WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT moments.
All battles are real time so you can engage or avoid monsters if you wish to choose so, and the menu system is all in real time as well so when you are fighting and need health it can be a bit panic stricken especially if your against a tough enemy and you need to heal, the game gives you a strange ability called ‘connect’ which lets you use a party members ability, (this is demonstrated early on when Capell with another character named Aya who’s weapon is a bow are in a prison with exploding barrels, and by utilizing the connect ability you can use one of Ayas abilities to shoot the barrels dealing major damage to all enemies near them,) At certain points during the game you are forced to make either 2 or 3 parties compiled of all your characters but here,s the kicker the parties can be K.O’ed and if that happens game over so you need to equally balance them all with range attackers, healers and close quarter fighters so there is quite a bit of strategy involved.
Side quests are plenty throughout the game but there not just your usual kill this monster or get that item some of them are races across the world and by completing them within certain parameters you gain extra experience, items and or abilities.
The one gripe I have with this game is the synthesis abilities, they took to long and you couldn’t do anything else while you are creating items coupled with the fact the could fail creating the items means you are there for a very long time and reloading a lot especially with later items because the components you need are so rare there teeth grindingly difficult to get a hold of.
I personally love this game one of the best RPG’s I have played to the 360 to date if there was an option to change the voice acting to Japanese with English subtitles (I couldn’t find it if it was there) I reckon this game could have had as much hype as final fantasy 13 (piece of shit that was) but sadly that was not to be so it was swept under the rug and forgotten about, but if you enjoy RPG,s I suggest you pick this up you should be able to find it really cheap by now and its well worth it. 20+ hours just for the story and 40+ if you want to get everything this game has to offer. My Rating 9/10
Once again thanks for reading and will answer any friend requests, queries and will start taking requests now so if you want a spoiler free review give me a shout (no sports or racing games please) EDIT: oh yeah no trpile A titles either.