Last week cmfl3x and I presented you with a list of games that we felt were good value from a standpoint of being enjoyable for pretty much every type of gamer. This week we’ll share more “niche” titles – games that you can enjoy – provided you’re into the genre. Again, we want to look at games that are good value – ones that either have a lengthy/replayable single player campaign or plenty of multiplayer hours to keep you coming back while at the same time being enjoyable while being inexpensive.

While many Western reviewers put down Japanese developed games that don’t have a lot of production quality, I tend to still enjoy them. I like Japanese fighting games, RPGs, action/adventure games, and beat’em ups. I appreciate the linearity with many of them, and personally don’t mind if the graphics tend to appear closer to last gen technology than current. Because at the deepest level, what’s most important to me is gameplay. Is it ultimately fun to play? Here are games that I feel are ultimately fun to play and are good value, if you like the genre:

Fighting

Dead or Alive 4
[360: $29.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Dead or Alive 4 was the very first fighting game released on the 360. While several others have come along since then, it’s still quite a casual friendly fighter while having a strong online mode that allows for four players sharing a room at once. If you want to get into a cheap, yet accessible online fighting game, consider this game.

Virtua Fighter 5
[360: $19.99, PS3: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
While Dead or Alive 4 prides itself on its online infrastructure, Virtua Fighter 5 has no competitors when it comes to single player. For the best single-player fighting game on current consoles, Virtua Fighter 5 is it. It takes about 40-50 hours to get through, as you create a player and travel through various arcades that have hundreds of different AI opponents – with some modeled after real life Virtua Fighter 5 pros. There is a ranking system, and the ability to earn money to buy accessories for your character as well. Note that while the 360 version has online, the PS3 version does not.

Realtime Strategy

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
[360: $27.99, PC: $27.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Red Alert 3 didn’t sell well enough upon released and quickly dropped to the under $30 value price only months after release. But it’s definitely worth a shot as it has a very lengthy single player campaign consisting of 27 missions (pretty much double Halo Wars), a skirmish mode, and online play. For the least expensive, yet enjoyable RTS games on the 360, Red Alert 3 is the game to get.

Multiplayer Shooter

Shadowrun
[360: $29.99, PC: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Shadowrun has a funny existence on the 360 and PC. It’s a niche RPG game with its own fan-following, but the most recent game was converted into a Counter-Strike style online only shooter that allowed players to earn money and buy weapons, tech abilities, and magical skills. It’s a great game that also supports matchmaking, but because it wasn’t the type of game that Shadowrun fans wanted to play, and it shipped at $60 with no multiplayer, reviews were scathing. But at its current bargain price, the game is a gem. Just keep in mind that the PC version requires Vista.

Japanese RPG

Blue Dragon
[360: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Blue Dragon is a Japanese RPG that comes from the creator of Final Fantasy and the artist behind Dragonball and Chrono Trigger. The game is an excellent (yet very standard) Japanese RPG, but the only thing really going against it is that it has children as protagonists. This makes it difficult for some people to really get into, but if you can look past that and are interested in a Japanese RPG, Blue Dragon is a great deal.

Lost Odyssey
[360: $29.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
It’s a little bit pricier than Blue Dragon, but Lost Odyssey is arguably the best Japanese RPG game on the 360. After Blue Dragon, Mistwalker decided to develop an RPG that was more mature and accessible to Western Audiences, and this game delivers. If you were a fan of Final Fantasy games growing up and didn’t exactly enjoy fighting the cutesy monsters of Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey is perhaps the better one to pick up.

Japanese Beat em up

Samurai Warriors 2
[360: $19.99 on Amazon]
Out of all of the Warriors series that Koei has spawned on the PS2 and 360, Samurai Warriors has always been my favorite. Playing as characters based on real-life samurais and ninjas with various missions, leveling up, finding gear, etc. has always made Samurai Warriors (as well as Warriors games in general) a good bang for the buck if you don’t mind the gameplay that is repetitive for some as well as the PS2 quality graphics.

Warriors Orochi
[360: $29.99 on Amazon]
Very similar to Samurai Warriors 2, but instead of following historical missions and levels, Warriors Orochi combines the world of Samurai Warriors with Dynasty Warriors, allowing you to create teams from both while confronting a new made-up enemy. While the storyline to the game isn’t as tight or appeal as that of Samurai Warriors 2, there is appeal to being able to choose from dozens of characters in both worlds. It also has PS2 style graphics.

Bladestorm
[360: $29.95, PS3: varies on Amazon] [espionage's review]
This game is perhaps my favorite Koei game on the 360 (unless the studio finally decides to release a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game). While it’s a beat-em-up like Samurai Warriors 2 and Warriors of Orochi, it has a lot more gameplay depth as it chronicles your life as a mercenary in the 100 years war. The game features next-gen graphics and army management of over a dozen different unit types that you need to manage and utilize to capture castles and towns.

Earth Defense Force 2017
[360: $19.99 on Amazon]
Another hardcore beat-em-up (or shoot-em-up in this case) is Earth Defense Force 2017. While the graphics and gameplay may be a bit on the simple side, the concept of simply defending the Earth from giant ants, spiders, mechs, and space ships using whatever lasers and rocket launchers you can find has a lot of appeal. With over 50 levels and five different difficulties as well as co-op split-screen support, it’s a game you can play for dozens of hours.

Japanese Hardcore Action Adventure

Dead Rising
[360: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
While Dead Rising is somewhat of a shorter game due to it being time based, the concept of being stuck in a mall with zombies can be enjoyed forever. On top of that, there are straight out modes that have you simply trying to survive as long as possible. The game isn’t for everyone, as it adheres very closely to linear Japanese game design and Western gamers complain about the limited save system.

Devil May Cry 4
[360: $27.99, PS3: $27.99, PC: $39.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
I didn’t think Devil May Cry 4 was such an innovative jump over its predecessor (in fact, I enjoyed Devil May Cry 3 more), but I have to say that the game is lengthy. If you enjoy the combat engine of the Devil May Cry games (flashy combo-based fighting) you’ll probably get good mileage out of this one with its various difficulties and optional Bloody Palace mode.

Ninja Gaiden II
[360: $27.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Ninja Gaiden II has its fair share of detractors, but it’s my favorite action/adventure game this generation. I’ve sunk 100 hours into the game, and it doesn’t even have multiplayer. With several different weapons to learn and use as well as a lengthy campaign that has difficulty levels with differing enemies, if you want to conquer this super hard-core title you will be putting in 100 hours like I did.

The Rest

The Club
[360: $12.05, PS3: $14.97, PC: $12.69 on Amazon]
The Club is a radically different game from the normal shooter, as it combines the mechanics from racing games with shooting games. Think about how you would play a racing game – going along a track trying to get the best time on corners, etc. In The Club, you play a shooter like a racing game – running through a level, and shooting guys or killing them in a stylish enough way to give you score multipliers and extra time. The game’s longevity comes from wanting to compete for the best times/scores online, so if you’re playing it just to beat it, you probably won’t get as much out of it.

Viva Pinata & Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
[360: $19.99 on Amazon] [360: $27.99 on Amazon]
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is not a sequel as so much as the original game plus a bit more of an expansion to the original game. Both are great and it’s fine to just pick up the first title if you want to save a few bucks. The concept to the game revolves around managing a garden, where the various flowers, vegetables, fruit, etc. all attract different pinata animals and those in turn attract others so the concept of the game is managing your garden in such a way that you have a thriving ecosystem. You could play these games for dozens of hours if you’re trying to accomplish everything in them.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
[360: $27.99 on Amazon]
Unfortunately, this game is still sitting in shrinkwrap for me so I haven’t had a chance to really play it yet. But from what I hear, the game is a lengthy adventure and very open to choice in that it allows you to hunt for parts and to create what you’d like in order to tackle various challenges in the huge world of the game. Need to fly your vehicle and keep it in the air for several seconds? Add whatever parts necessary and embrace your LEGO childhood….

That’s quite a list espion4ge! It seems like you did a good job covering pretty much everything, but I want to include title that’s not on the 360, but PS3:

Flower
[PS3: $10 on PSN]
This is the only game on my budget list that I haven’t gotten to play but if I owned a PS3 I’d probably download this immediately. Flower is a very different type of “game”. It uses the PS3′s Sixaxis motion controls exclusively. You play as the wind, and basically “blow” around different environments. As you touch different flower petals they bloom, and you eventually populate the entire field with flowers. From everything I’ve heard, this game = amazing graphics + great use of music + interesting narrative. If I ever get a PS3 I’m definitely picking this one up.

Well that about covers it for our two-part feature on gaming on the cheap – but you know what? Games constantly drop in price all the time so maybe in a couple weeks or months, we’ll continue to see the list of cheap, yet enjoyable games continue to increase. So my advice is, if you’re strapped for cash – just wait! It’s like deciding to save money by waiting for movies to go to video instead of going to the theatre every weekend. The savings definitely add up and based on how many games are out there today, if you’re watching your budget you can still be a gamer with plenty of games to tackle.

In Blue Dragon, the party members’ shadows perform the combat actions, not the little kids.

I haven’t completed Blue Dragon yet, but with almost 40 hours put into the game and being on the last of the three discs, I figured now was a good time to seriously evaluate the game. I’ve been enjoying the game for the most part – it has its share of annoyances but it plays well enough that I expect to easily be able to make my way through the game and get all the Achievements.

For those of you that enjoyed the classic role playing games (RPGs) that we grew up with on the SNES, you’ll find a similar charm here in Blue Dragon and I encourage you to read this review (and consequently get the game). But for those of you that don’t enjoy RPGs or started RPGs after they became more mainstream with Final Fantasy VII, Blue Dragon will most likely be a let down for you and I recommend skipping it.

Even though Nobuo Uematsu composed the music in this game, even he makes mistakes. The theme music whenever you fight a boss in this game is horrible – think Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but with vocals.

Intro
One of the main reasons that the original Xbox failed to thrive in Japan was due to its lack of Japanese RPGs. In a nation where camping out for the newest Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy is considered normal, Microsoft missed it when they had no unique Japanese RPGs of their own for the Xbox. Microsoft learned their lesson with the original Xbox, and has readied exclusive Japanese RPGs for the 360 console. Blue Dragon is the first.

Blue Dragon, developed by Artoon and Mistwalker and published by Microsoft, was a colossal team up of three of the most recognizable people in the Japanese RPG world: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akira Toriyama, and Nobuo Uematsu. Sakaguchi was the creator of Final Fantasy and the director of the first five Final Fantasy games. Akira Toriyama was the creator of Dragon Ball and the character designer of the beloved Chrono Trigger and the Dragon Quest franchise. Nobuo Uematsu is the composer of the game soundtracks for Chrono Trigger and every console Final Fantasy to date (1 through 12). This was a serious team-up to appeal to the Japanese audience.

How did the game do? Famitsu, the most well-known game review magazine in Japan, gave it 37/40, 3 9′s and a 10 (they also just gave Halo 3 the same score). Blue Dragon sold a little over 80,000 units in its first four days of release in Japan to an install base of about 230,000 owners. Including people that bought 360s with Blue Dragon, that averaged out to about 1 out of every three Japanese 360 owners buying Blue Dragon. Rarely does any game sell that much to a console install base.

A demo was released for the game in late July and it was poorly received by the majority of the public. I think this was due to the fact that the demo had the player playing a stage more than halfway through the game with characters that were very strong already. This not only made the public lost and confused when trying out the demo, but it probably lost potential sales. I did not enjoy the demo myself and was even considering canceling my pre-order after I played it. Fortunately, the game itself turned out quite well. It would have been a much smarter decision to allow for the demo to show how the game begins, so the player gets eased into the world, so they are left wanting more by the end of the demo instead of trying to figure out what is going on and deciding not to buy the game due to its complications.

The U.S. reviews for the game vary considerably, from Gamespot’s 6.0 to Game Informer’s 9.0. The average score comes out to a high 7, but it looks like reviewers that disliked it or enjoyed it had the same reason: old school Japanese RPG gameplay. The reviewers that gave the game good scores were most likely people that enjoyed classic, old school JRPG games, while the reviewers that disliked the game were annoyed that the game seemed archaic and childish – where was the innovation for next-gen? There is a general agreement that the presentation was well polished – great aesthetics, sound, dialogue, and music, but the game was too simple for some reviewers while perfect for others.

Get used to this party of five kids – this is your group for the game.

Storyline and Premise of the Game
The storyline to Blue Dragon centers around a boy named Shu and his friends Jiro and Kluke. Each year their small town is attacked by a land shark, and one day the three of them lay forth a plan to defeat it to save their village. They go on to discover that the person responsible for the land shark attacks on their village is a man named Nene. Aboard Nene’s warship, they find themselves trapped by enemy robots before discovering small spheres of light. A mysterious female voice instructs them to swallow the spheres, which they reluctantly do. Upon swallowing the spheres, each of their shadows grows until it becomes a monster: Shu’s shadow becomes a blue dragon, Jiro’s a blue minotaur, and Kluke a blue phoenix.

The main villain of the game, Nene, is often accompanied by the robot General Szabo at his side.

From that point on, the trio learn to harness the power of their monster shadows for combat. They discover that Nene, the arch villain in the game, is actually causing all sorts of trouble in towns all over the world, so they spend time moving from town to town, saving each town’s residents while pursuing Nene in order to stop him for good. Along the way they pick up a cute little guy named Marumaro (which reminds me of a moogle or Tarutaru character in Final Fantasy XI) and a female mercenary named Zola, who both also have monster shadows of their own.

The game is a very typical JRPG. The easiest way for me to describe this game is to say that it’s like any of the Final Fantasy games from 1-6 (NES-SNES ones) but presentation has been souped up for our current console. It has top notch voice acting (English or Japanese dialogue with subtitles, thankfully!), music, graphics, and plenty of cutscenes throughout (game is on 3 DVD-9s, after all). Unlike other more recent RPGs though, the gameplay remains simple like the classic NES/SNES RPGs – simple story, mostly linear plot, simple RPG elements, etc. You basically go from a dungeon of some sort to a town, buy all the spell/gear upgrades in that town, and go on to the next dungeon. Repeat for 40 hours while throwing in lots of storyline and cut scenes, and you got yourself a classic JRPG! I personally find the story cute and charming. It may seem childish for the more Western audience, but this type of storyline tends to appeal a lot more to anime fans and JRPG gamers alike. Plus, there’s a certain level of nostalgia I have for the character design, as Chrono Trigger is my favorite JRPG of all time.

Each party member has his own shadow. Marumaro’s shadow is a sabertooth tiger.

Game Mechanics
Combat
The most important aspect of an RPG is its combat system. It better be fun, because that’s where a majority of your game time is spent. Thankfully, Blue Dragon’s combat system is refined enough from the classic RPGs that it is quite fun to play. First of all, there are no random monster encounters. Every enemy you see on the screen you can either avoid or engage. Games like Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2 annoyed me with their random monster encounters since every few steps you took you had to fight a monster. With all enemies being visible on screen, there are no annoying combat surprises in Blue Dragon.

At the top of the combat screen is a fight order so you can see whose turn is next.

With all enemies being visible in Blue Dragon, the developers took it one step further and even added refinement to how a battle opened based on how you engaged the enemy. If you attack an enemy from the front and he sees you, it will open with a normal combat order. But if you attack an enemy from behind, you can often get a Back Attack or a Surprise Attack, meaning when the battle begins the enemy is facing the wrong direction, allowing you to get in a free round of hits. Consequently, the same rules apply to you – if you get attacked from behind by an enemy in the field, the combat screen will begin most likely with the enemy getting a free round due to a Surprise Attack or all of your characters may be facing the opposite direction due to a Back Attack.

The combat itself focuses on the use of the character’s shadows. If a character chooses to attack or cast a spell, the shadow performs the action. But if the character uses an item or gets attacked by an enemy, the character takes on these motions. It’s easiest to just treat the shadow and the character as one, as there really is only one life bar and magic bar for each of the five characters in your party.

Blue Dragon has limit break summons like Final Fantasy VII, where you charge a meter to pull off a super attack with your shadow, doing lots of damage.

Leveling and Classes
Upon defeating an enemy, you earn three things: experience, gold, and SP. Experience points go towards leveling up the character, while gold is used to purchase things in town and SP is used to raise the level of a shadow’s currently equipped class. In Blue Dragon, there are a total of nine different classes that can be equipped by each shadow. As a shadow levels up an equipped class, it learns the skills for that class and the character can assign any learned skills to the shadow even after the shadow changes to a different class. This allows for a large amount of customization, as you can have characters that can cast white magic and steal items at the same time, provided that the shadow has learned those skills.

The nine class types for the Shadows in Blue Dragon are as follows:

1. Swordsman
All around average fighting class – general skills learned include Life Leech and Magic Leech.

2. Guardian
All around defensive class – general skills learned include 50% More HP and being able to take damage for other party members.

3. Monk
Melee class – skills learned include counterattacking hits and raising critical attack %.

4. Assassin
Thief class – skills learned include steal, attack while stealing, and double attack.

5. Black Mage
Offensive magic class – skills learned include elemental spells.

6. White Mage
Healing magic class – skills learned include healing party members.

7. Support Mage
Buff magic class – skills learned include spells that buff party like speed up and attack up.

8. Barrier Mage
Debuff magic class – skills learned include spells that debuff enemies like elemental resist down, etc.

9. Generalist
Skill/accessory slot upgrade class – skills learned include allowing you to equip more skills from other classes as well as more accessories for your character.

Zola is a little older than the rest of the group and starts out as an Assassin class. Of course, this can be changed if you wish.

For example, if I raised my Assassin class for one of my characters to level 30 and got the Mug ability, I could switch to a White Mage and begin learning healing spells but still equip the Mug ability on my character.

This amount of customization is both a blessing and a curse. I’ve always enjoyed Final Fantasy IV more so than VI because the characters were all distinct and played specific roles. One was a tank, one was a white mage, one was a black mage, etc. But in FFVI, there were no predefined classes for the characters – everyone could learn every skill so by the end of the game I had all my characters casting Ultima for 9999 everyone on the screen.

One can successfully create interesting hybrids with the five characters in Blue Dragon (i.e. Protector/White mage = Paladin, etc.) but what’s happening is that I’m finding a skill combination that is so effective that I’m subconsciously raising my characters to all be like that. I’m guessing by the end of the game I’ll have a whole party of the same type of character, much like my endgame party of ninjas in Final Fantasy Tactics. Still, it’s fun since I’m making my own character classes but it feels a little cheap that I can make them all the same way (i.e. have everyone learn life/magic leech, counterattack, mug, and double strike for every character and they just all become a bunch of hardcore bloodthirsty melee dudes).

The shooting mini-game is no Ace Combat, so when will RPG developers stop including these poorly done non-RPG mini-games into their games?

Minigames
There are also several different mini-games in the game. I’m not a fan of these mini-games, as many of them are either button mashing ones or shooting ones in a low class game engine that isn’t the best suited for it. Maybe some people enjoy them since they are a nice little break from the cycle of town, dungeon, cut scene, town, and so on, but I found them annoying. If I wanted to play a button mashing game or a shooter I would have bought one! Why force me to play those in this game?

Achievement System
I’ll just come right out and say it – Blue Dragon has the best Achievements of any RPG I’ve ever played on the 360. It may even contain the most well-thought out Achievements on the 360, but I also really like the Dead Rising ones so I am not going to nitpick there. The reason why the Blue Dragon Achievements are so good in this game is that they really are Achievements. There are no Achievements associated with simply going through the storyline like the other two RPGs on the system (Enchanted Arms and Oblivion). It’s possible to complete the first two discs and only have 2 Achievements completed (10 points total)! You can even go on and beat the entire game and still have only those 2 Achievements totaling 10 points.

The developers of Blue Dragon have really done a superb job in pushing the player to play more of the game. I seldom enjoy Achievements in a game that are simply handed to me as I play through it. I like when the Achievements encourage one to play more, or to try aspects of the game that are optional. Thus, a normal 40 hour game can suddenly become a fun 100+ hour game. That is value right there.

With Achievements based on defeating the hardest optional bosses in the game, finding the rarest items in the game, and maxing out all the characters and classes, this is a long game if you enjoy getting Achievements. I tend to play through games based on how the Achievements are awarded, as I believe that is how the developers want you to experience the game. Looks like the developers want me to totally conquer Blue Dragon instead of just half-assing my way through it. I am not complaining at all and am glad that they are rewarding me for my efforts. I just wish there weren’t any Achievements based on the mini-games as I had to button mash in agony on some of those for much longer than I wanted to. But then again, I wish there were no mini-games in general so I guess my beef is more with the inclusion of mini-games than the Achievements related to them.

My wife asked me if Marumaro ever opens his eyes. Nope. That’s why he’s so cute!

Final Thoughts
I’m a fan of classic JRPGs. When I go on trips, I tend to break out an older Final Fantasy to go through, as the gameplay is still fun and easy to comprehend for me unlike more traditional JRPGs (FFX’s Sphere grid anyone?). Thus, with Blue Dragon containing the simple JRPG game play that I love along with the removal of the one JRPG element I hate (random battles), how could I not like this game? The presentation is top notch and the Achievements are well thought out. However, the storyline is a little cliche and childish while the minigames were sometimes just plain frustrating.

I give this game a B. This is more of a “niche” titles that non-fans would most likely not enjoy. At the end of the day, the score for such a game will differ from person to person based on how much they enjoy classic JRPGs, but if you enjoy them, your expectations will be met. If you’re a completionist, this game will last you for a very long time without necessarily causing much frustration. It doesn’t have the epic feel or magnitude of Final Fantasy games, but it is charming in its own way.