My First Impression of Killzone: Mercenary

Killzone: Mercenary is a First-Person Shooter for the Playstation Vita that just came out yesterday in the U.S. There is a campaign mode with 9 unique missions that you must complete to finish the game. There is also the multiplayer which allows up to 8-players to face each other or work in teams. The modes in the game are Mercenary Warfare mode, Guerrilla Warfare, and Warzone--you can tell how much effort they put into naming these different online modes. The first one is a free-for-all style mode. You basically are tasked with killing everyone. The second mode is team a death match mode. The last one is an objective based game with 5 phases. Both single and multiplayer share a common element, the weapon shop. Here, you can purchase new guns, armors, grenades, and special items. With these purchased items, you can customize your loadouts. You gain more loadouts by gaining new levels during your playthrough. This game shares the same basic elements of most FPS games.

My first impression of this game has been positive. If there was one thing that truly stuck out at me, it's the detail and overall graphics in this game. No lie, they are really good. This game demonstrates the capabilities of the Playstation Vita amazingly. There's not one game that I can think of that looks this good right now--I do think it looks better than Rayman and the Ateleir games. Once you see the game yourself, you will understand why I say this is what sticks out in the game. Not the great gameplay, but the graphics.

The selection of weapons is pretty grand for a portable game too. I wasn't expecting so many customizable weapons, armor, grenades, or vault items. It's too bad that you only get a few loadouts, because the amount of customization begs for more. The guns in this game are really fun to use. Right now, I am experimenting the preorder weapon, and man, do I love raining hell on opponents with it. Also, The sniper--which uses the back controller to zoom in and out--is tough to use. The machine guns are as expected and so is everything else.

So far, the multiplayer has been running amazing. It might be due to the limited amount of players allowed in a game, but it's noticeable the difference in quality. I have not once seen slow down in the game. The connection is running well for me too. I haven't been booted from a game yet! And lastly, getting into a game doesn't take a year. It's a few seconds and you are in.

This game is easy to control. One thing I worried about in this game was the controls and how they would respond. I am not disappointed. Once I adjusted my x-axis, I had no problems playing the game. Killzone also makes use of the touchscreen and the back controller pad. I typically select my secondary weapon and grenades with the screen. The back controller pad is used for zooming with the rifles as far as I know. really, the controls in this game are fantastic and easy to use. 

Basically, I have a favorable first impression of this game. If you have a Playstation Vita, I would recommend picking this game up as soon as you can.

Tales of Xillia: My Thoughts

Well I finally beat Tales of Xillia for the Playstation 3. It took me over 40 hours and some mindless grinding, but I did it. The worst part is, I missed some quest and did not defeat the weapon monsters during my adventure. I definitely will have to do that on my second playthrough in the future. I also need to finish collecting all the skits and defeating all the monsters too. There really was and still is a lot to do in this game.

I really enjoyed the combat in this game. I can't say the battle system is as complex as former Tales of games, but it was still a lot of fun. I have always enjoyed the real-time fighting in these games, and this installment did not disappoint me at all. You still have the ability to run around and pummel your enemies with the added benefit of linking with other characters to add new strategies like linked artes. That's one thing I did really enjoy, the linked artes. Basically, when you link up with another character and fill up a bar in the overlimit meter, you can both perform a single arte together. It's pretty cool and effective, especially when you exploit an enemies weakness with it. If I had one qualm with the overall battles, it was the enemies weaknesses. The majority of them seemed to be weak to wind. If I wanted a quick victory, all I really had to do was link Jude and Millia and use linked wind artes. Besides that one thing, I thought the battles were fun...even if most of them weren't challenging like past Tales of games.

I am going to make this short on the graphics. I know it's one big flaw this games has, but I did not find them to be terrible. It's apparent the game has aged--it came out in 2011 in Japan--, but the harping on something that's not so bad is stupid. I honestly thought the overall graphics were fine. It didn't hurt the gameplay one bit and that's what really matters. For a game that came out two years, they still work fine. Not the best pictures, but again, doesn't hurt the overall game.


For the most part, I enjoyed the story despite feeling like it was dumbed down like Graces f. It was your typical save the world with the added twist of it not being against evil. That's right, for once, it was not fighting against evil but against beliefs. I felt like the morale of the story is that one person's justice isn't the same as another, but that does not mean you should stop fighting for what you believe is the lesser of evils. The end kind of ticked me off though. I felt like it was rushed. That really killed the game for me. Still, a good stereotypical rpg story.

The music in Tales of game is always stellar and this was no different. I enjoyed all of it. The voice acting for the English translation wasn't terrible either. I actually enjoyed it. I thought Rowen's voice was perfect for him. I think people expect too much out of voice acting or are too stiff on excepting that English voice acting can be done just as fantastic as the Japanese audio.


I think the overall score for this game would be an 8/10. It wasn't my favorite Tales of game, but it still was fun and I still enjoyed it. There were a lot of things that needed to be worked on, but it was still worth the money and a good game to pick up and play.


Score: 8/10

Monday Update

So my lack of post this summer has been terrible, but I have had a lot going on so I apologize. It's not easy to balance blogging, actually playing video games, working, looking for good jobs, and having a summer of death. I will try to make more of an effort though, I promise.

Anyway, the games I have been playing are Tales of Xillia and Dragon's Crown. I would be lying if I said both games were not amazing. They may not be 10/10, but they are worth the money and a lot of fun to play. If you asked me which of the two I preferred, I would have to say Tales just because it offers more in terms of everything.

September looks to be a stellar month for Playstation. The new releases consist of Killzone: Mercenary, Valhalla Knights 3, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX, and so on. Yeah, that's an incredible amount of games to come out in a month. I am sure a lot more indie games will be coming out on multiple systems too.

There's more going on in the gaming world, but I don't have enough research to really say anything on it.

Anyway, till later.

Impression of Tales of Xillia's First Half

I can't believe how much of this game I already have completed. Sure, I missed a few event quest because I either missed them or forgot, but I have done a lot overall. I am enjoying this game a lot, despite the very linear gameplay for an RPG. There are some stuff I am not a fan of as well. I figured I would post a list of what I like and don't like.

Things I am liking:

+ The fighting system. It's no Graces f, but it's still awesome. I really enjoy Jude's fighting style and artes.

+ The different areas. I feel that every town and city you explore is unique in their own respect. So far, my favorite city has been Sharilton.

+ The skits. They seem to be more mature but still light hearted enough to enjoy.

+ The music. Tales of music is usually stellar so this is no surprise.

Things I am not liking so much:

- The difficulty. I have this game on hard and I am breeding through it.

- Rowen is a little weak in this game. For a former head of the military and one they call, "The Conductor", he kind of stinks in battle.

- The events. It's nice they put them in there, but many of them can be easily missed. There also isn't a whole lot of variety. I feel like I'm doing the same quest in different settings.

That's all I have so far. I am still enjoying the game and will hopefully complete it this week.

Political Correctness and Video Games

Video games have been around for a decent amount of time as a form of entertainment. They have their share of success, failures and of course, controversies. Yet, as of late, I feel like those simple controversies are starting to permeate into other outlets for people to plug in and complain. What do I mean by all of this? Well for starters, all I hear about is a segment of the gaming population "discussing" women and video games. Most arguments have come down to cliche personalities and objectification. I can understand that feminist and some other female gamers would not be okay with that, it makes sense. Who wants to be objectified in any entertainment medium like movies, internet videos, or rap videos? What I don't understand is how a game gets such a low review because of it, like Dragon's Crown. I can see taking a few points off for the obvious over objectification and how overboard it can be, but if that game is great, why devalue the whole game because of what the developers saw as the perfect art for it?

This whole political correctness is becoming ridiculous in the video game world. I know that right now, this entertainment juggernaut is at the top of its game and that millions of children and adults are partaking in this, but come on. It's getting annoying. When I read a review or search for new games, I don't want to hear this bullshit. I want to hear about the actual game and if it will be worth my time. I want to know if I am going to be engaged with the protagonist or if I am going to be regretting my purchase. I don't want to hear someone make a page rant because a character's breast are hanging out. You can sum that up in a paragraph, so do it. Stop trying to push your agenda. This brings me to my next point on this stuff.

Video games should not be used as grounds for political battles amongst special interest groups. They should be the medium that brings us together and instead, these people are tearing us apart. The biggest arguments as far as I can recall have always been about brand loyalty and intense violence. Now, feminist are coming along since female gamers are becoming more vocal about their hobby--which I think is fantastic and about time--and now are using it to empower themselves. Shut up. Just, shut up. It's one thing to not be pleased with the art, it's another thing to use it to ruin the whole experience for everyone. You people are ruining my hobby as a whole. Get over yourselves. If anything, your pissing people off by your constant moaning. You see a few characters and assume that majority are like that.

Actually, if you are anything of a video gamer, you know many characters are not objectified. The problem is, you only play a select few titles and bam, assume it works for all of them. I could name a hell of a list of female characters that are not sexualized in video games, but no one would care.

I am done for today. Try and enjoy gaming for once, and stop looking for reasons to empower you politically. 

P.S. If anyone should be complaining, it's minorities. I rarely see them as the main protagonist, and sometimes I don't see them in a game at all.

P.S.S. I am not actually a fan of over sexual looking characters in games, but I also understand how the body is a work of art and should not be shamed by these asshats.

Tales of Xillia: I Finally got my Copy

Hey fellow gamers, it's been awhile but I am back. I thought I would tell you how ecstatic I am to finally have the opportunity to play Tales Of Xillia for the PS3. This game was one of my most highly anticipated releases for 2013 and I finally got my hands on it. As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of the Tales of series. They are colorful, quirky, and overall fantastical games. Even better is the battle system and it's constant evolution through the series. I expect nothing different from this game.

Anyway, I will write a review for this game when I complete it. I will try to update this blog and let you know my progress. 

Update

This month has been incredibly inconsistent with my post and I apologize. It's been a very busy July and I have not had access to the internet this whole time. That being said, I do my best to get a few more post in this week.

Tales of Xillia with be hitting the U.S. shelves in two weeks and I could not be more excited. I have been waiting to play this game since I first read about it two years ago. Speaking of the Tales series, it seems that we are seeing more and more being localized and the popularity growing. This is outstanding if you asked me. This means we will possibly see more and more games being localized for all platforms. Really, the Tales games have a great chance of becoming the Final Fantasy's of the West since Square-Enix has essentially fallen from grace with their recent games and public plunders.

There are still a few games I need to play that recently came out. It's tough when games cost so much and you make little money. Anyway, I will try to post more before the end of the month!