PLAYSTATION GAMES:
1: XENOGEARS: One of Squaresoft's unique RPG titles. It has a VERY odd yet very indepth and good plotline. The characters are also very unique and interesting, especially the Hero, Fei Fong Wong, and the Heroine, Elhaym Van Houten. This game is definetly a Teen game, mainly due to some Religious issues. The Combat System is very unique, since you can actually attack more then once per turn, and do special Deathblow combinations. The funner fighting of the game involves fighting in large war machines known as 'Gears'. Most of the Gears look sweet, and the animations of the attacks are very very well done. The music to this game is magnificant to say the least, as is the VERY KICK ASS Anime FMVs that show up. Now for the bad: The Character graphics are HORRIBLE. I believe it was Squaresofts bad attempt at trying to make the characters anime style, which failed miserably. Overall, Xenogears is probably one of Squaresofts masterpieces, with the only bad thing being the character graphics, unless you want to notice the fact the speech in the FMVs doesn't match with the peoples lip movements ( never knew it took 3 different lip movements and 2 seconds to say "Damn), oh, and 60 hours of playtime and endless text drives some to the brink of insanity, but... eh. RATING: 9 out of 10.
2: FINAL FANTASY VIII: The 8th installment in the ever successful Final Fantasy series of Squaresofts. The game focuses around a young military cadet named Squall Leonhart (aka Mr. Stonewall Personality) and the challenges he faces as a member of an elite military organization, the problems his rival, Seifer Almasly give him, his encounter with the beautiful Riona Heartilly, and his destiny to eventually save the world. Storyline was, it's pretty decent, if not somewhat... different. Character development was very well done as well. The Graphics are up to Squaresoft standards, as are the CG FMVs they show every once in awhile. The Combat System is traditional, with the action timer, except for the edition of the Junction System, which you use to customize your characters. You can junction magic to a characters stats to boost them (and trust me, by the end of the game you will have to junction ALOT!). I've heard mixed feelings on the Junction System, and I myself find it decent, but annoying sometimes. The music... well, if I rated music, I would give it a 12 out of 10, it's that good! Especially "Eyes on Me". Theres not many complaints about this game, other then the fact you can summon GFs (Guardian Forces) infinate times and just do it over and over to kill a guy, which makes the game way too easy, not to mention some Limit Breaks like Squall's Renzokuken (not to mention Lionheart...) But other then that, there really isn't any complaints. Still, the game really isn't groundbreaking, but it is very well done, and worth being called a Final Fantasy Game. RATING: 8 out of 10.
3: RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS: Another one of Capcoms famous horror games in the ever popular Resident Evil series. Jill Valentine, the heroine from the original RE, stars in this one, as you basically have to survive flesh eating zombies, hideous mutants, disgruntled employees of a super cooperation, and a huge ass, invincible, ugly, strong, rocket launcher toting hunter that wants to kick your ass and use you for a chew toy. There is very little music, which is probably for the better lest you want to die because you didn't hear some Brain Sucker crawling above you and pouncing on you so it could chew the hell outta ya. The Graphics are of decent quality, up to the bloody scenes of shooting a zombie with a Shotgun (Not quite as good as they did in RE2, but hey, good enough). Character development and Plot Development aren't very good, however, but this is a horror game, and you probably have surviving more on your brain then decent character development. Capcom does do a nice job of scaring the living shiznit out of you though, by setting a very haunting and tense mood that'll get you jumping everytime Nemesis suddenly dives in. Too bad the controls are quirky and take some time to get used to. Obviously with the blood content in this game, this is for Mature Audiences only. RATING: 8 out of 10.
4: PARASITE EVE: "The True Horror Lies Within Oneself". This is another one of Sqaresofts Science Fiction games, and a very interesting one. The game stars Aya Brea, a 25 Year old cop of the NYPD's 17th Precidict (however you spell that). On Christmas Eve 1997, Aya is at Carnegie Hall when she meets face to face with an evil controller of Mitochondria (the energy creator in ones cell) named Eve, and Aya is the only one who can stop it (as she is the only one that doesn't get torched on fire when she's close to Eve). Storyline wise, this game tops the cake! It gets you thinking if something like this could really happen. Musicwise it's only average. Character development is unusally good, as you find out alot about Eve and Aya, and several other characters. The Combat System is unusual, because it's in semi real time. You can actually get Aya to physically dodge by controlling her movements in a small confined little "Battle zone". Instead of Magic, Aya relies on "Parasite Energy", or the energy she releases from her own Mitochondria, sort of like magic. There are several FMVs in the game, which usally gross me out everytime I watch them. There was a few flaws I found though, 1: Aya always WALKS SLOW! She never runs, which makes it kind of hard to dodge and all. 2: Everytime you run away from a battle, you have to leave the room because once you walk back into the middle of the room, theres a battle again! Other then that, it's a well made game. RATING: 8 out of 10.
5: VAGRANT STORY: This game I just got today (June 8th, 2000) and I must say that after 3 hours of experimenting, it is a pretty unique game. The game follows Ashley Riot (what a girlish name!), a member of the Riskbreaker Militia of the VKP (Valendia Knights of the Peace) and his experience in the cursed city of Lea Monde, as he searches for Sydney Losstarot, the leader of the Mullenkamp cult, to capture him and clear his name (everyone thinks he's a suspect in the murder of a Duke). The story is very well done and rich, as is character development (Ashley has had worse luck in life then I have). The graphics are very decent, as is the music, which is kind of chilling at times. The combat system is cool too. Your in a normal mode most of the time, but when enemies are near, you can draw your weapon and go into a "Battle Mode", where you can attack enemies or just run away(Sort of in real time). Now the bad parts: You often have to jump around and dodges enemies, which can be one Hell of a hassle. Overall though, this game is very well done! RATING: 8 1/2 out of 10:
6: RESIDENT EVIL 2: The sequel to the original Resident Evil. This game covers the experience of Claire Redfield (sister of Chris, who was the hero of the first RE), and Leon Kennedy, a rookie cop, as they try and survive the horrors of a monster infested city. As always, the controls are quirky and take time to figure out. Graphics wise the game is decent, and pretty detailed, including the blood and the splatting body parts when you blow a zombie to bits with a Shotgun (much better then they do with RE3). Character development and plot development is highly lacking, but hey, it's just a survival game anyway, so I don't usally expect much background info. Music is somewhat scarce, but thats probably for the better since you need to keep an ear open for any monsters crawling around. This game has 2 CDs, one for each character, and in order to play the ENTIRE game, you have to play both characters on 2 highly different quests. While the game isn't groundbreaking, it is a very well made game. And for all those people to get this game and think they can just blow the hell outta a bunch of zombies with a Shotgun, remember a common law of survival: Shotguns need SHELLS, and when you need shells REALLY bad, you don't have them :-P. RATING: 8 1/2 out of 10.
6: METAL GEAR: SOLID: What can I say but... THIS GAME ABSOLUETLY KICKS TOTAL FACKING ASS! For those fools who don't know, Metal Gear was originally a NES game where blasting guys away with big guns WASN'T how you won, you needed STEALTH! This game takes that need for Stealth to a whole new level. You play the part of Solid Snake, a former member of the Special Unit Fox Hound, forced to infiltrate a Nuclear Weapons Disposal Faciilty at Shadow Moses Island on the Alaskan Coast and stop the 6 Members of the Current Unit Fox Hound, the leader by the name of Liquid Snake, from Launching a Nuke. This game has little music, which for once is VERY VERY good, you need to be able to hear soldiers walking around in order to hide, and hiding is a HUGE part of this game... unless you got a SOCOM with a Suppressor, which at that point you can kill whoever the Hell pisses you off in terms of soldiers... or if you have Stealth, at which time you can do WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT (cept bosses can still see you)! . Theres a huge arsenal of guns and equipment (including Cardboard Boxes and Ciggerettes), and alot of nice maneuvers you can do, including punching/kicking, neck breaking/choking, judo throwing, and knocking on walls to attract a guard, and the traditional sneaking up on an enemy and slapping C-4 on their backs, then running away and KABOOM! (NOTE: Do this on the guy taking a piss in the Restroom in the Nuke Warhead Storage Building, B1!) Careful when you use guns though, they tend to attract attention (Except for the Supressed SOCOM, thank god for Suppressors). Graphics are pretty damn good as well. Characters are very indepth and have unique personalities, from the kind and somewhat weird Dr. Hal Emmerich/Otacon (Otaku's kick ass, and if you have no idea what an Otaku is, then you suck!), to that mean and rather odd Bitch, Sniper Wolf, to Snakes own Stone Cold personality (My Palladium characters with an MA of 7 or less have more character then he does...), to Cheerful Mei Ling (like Minmei, but *gasp* SMARTER!). This game is as perfect as you can get! RATING: 10!
7: THE LEGEND OF DRAGOON: Theres alot of people who talk shit about this game, but anyone who hates this game wouldn't know Good Games if they bit them in the ass! The storyline just plain kicks ass. You play the part (for the most part) of Dart, a mercenary with a big sword, red armor, and an axe (or should I say Sword) to grind with "The Black Monster", a mysterious being who destroyed his village 18 years ago. But on his quest, he gets sidetracked after his 2nd home village, Celes is destroyed and his childhood friend, Shana, is captured. Over time the story unfolds and it's obvious that theres more to the problems of the continent of Endliness then the Serdian War. Characters are extremely indepth, from Mysterious Rose, to cheerful (and semi ditzy) Meru, to the noble King Albert. The story and plot are simply excellent, with more plotwists then you can shake a crap covered stick at. Graphics are just plain great, the music is decent. The Combat System... some say it sucks, I LOVE IT! If your good at it, you'll love it. The ability to transform into Dragon Knights (more commonly as Dragoons) makes the battles easier, and the Dragoon magic rocks. This game isn't a perfect, but definetly on the higher end of the RPG scale as far as I'm concerned. RATING: 9 of 10.
8: MEGAMAN X4: I have to mention this game, since I spent about a month with it being the only PSX game I played. This game is your typical sidescrolling shooter (or in Zero's case, slasher). You play the part of either Megaman X (a blue robot from the past, who even after years of being in a time capsle, is still quite ahead of it's time, whose weapon is the X Buster (sweet ass Energy Cannon)), or Zero (A mysterious Red Maverick Hunter with a very nice Z Saber (Beam Sword)). Music is pretty average for the old fashioned side scroller. Graphics aren't nothing fancy, but it's not graphics that make the game afterll. In most MMX games, X (and now Zero) had to go through 8 levels and destroy renegade robots (Mavericks), and aqquired their weapons after defeating them. This game is no different, and X and Zero both have unique abilities (for example, X gets an upward Fireball after beating Magma Dragoon, but Zero get's a flaming sword uppercut). You have to play the game through with both X and Zero to have the most fun. Replay value is pretty decent as well, as I played through the game twice with Zero, once with X (I won't go into how mamy times I replayed stages).RATING: 7 of 10.
9: FINAL FANTASY IX: Since I can't really think up anything negative to say about this game, I'll just give you all the positive and hope by the end I have a negative thing to say about this game. This game starts with some cool FMVs, with the characters being back to original style characters done by the original artist. It starts with a nightmare scene, with a small little dingy (a boat, not something else ya pervs), being tossed around the waves with 2 people in it. Suddenly, the dreamer wakes up to reveal a Princess, who walks over to her window and watches the birds soar overhead. Cut to the Theater Airship Prima Vista with the hero Zidane (a guy with a... tail... you'll figure it out later), and other Members of the group Tantalus (Blank, Cinna, Marcus, and the leader, Baku), are plotting to kidnap one Princess Garnet Til Alexandros 17 (Hmm... do I see a connection here...). Anyways, The character selection is great. Theres Zidane (a Thief with a PERSONALITY (something Squall needed badly!)), who has the habit of flurting with beautiful women (but hey, he's a guy ^_^). You got Freya, the Burmecian Dragon Knight who rules (her Jump and Lancer attacks do alot of damage), and theres Vivi, the 9 year old Black Mage (powerful little bugger). Thats just naming a few. The graphics are of Squaresoft quality (aka Great). I absolutely LOVE the music. The Theme Song, Melodies of Life, is great. The character development is, again, just great (wait til you find out about Vivi's past!). The gameplay itself is pretty good, not TOO confusing either. You got your traditional Active Battle Timed battles and such. You learn abilities in this game by getting weapons, armor, helmets, or accessories (called "Add Ons") and earning enough AP (Ability Points) for each ability, and you can keep the ability. Some are those almost everyone can have (like the ones that prevent Blindness, Pretrification, Confusion, etc) and some are unique to a certain persons skills (the "Master Thief" skill for Zidane, and Freya's "High Jump" for example). The system definetly beats FFVIIIs Junction system. Instead of Limit Breaks, there is the "Trance" System. Similar to Final Fantasy VIIs Limit Break System. While in Trance, characters are stronger and often have new command options (For Zidane, it's Dyne, Try a Dyne Attack and see what you think!!!). Thats all I'm gonna say, figure out the rest on your own =). RATING: 10 of 10!
