Not owning Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops when I picked up my new PSP with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, I instead spent my “honeymoon” phase with my new PSP playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy. I’ve spent several hours playing the game on my commute to and from work lately, but I think I’ve played enough at this point that I’m ready to move onto a new PSP game. Read on for my thoughts on what this game is all about and whether it’s good or not.

The Ultimate Final Fantasy Fan-Service
If you don’t even own a PSP, you probably have no idea what this game is so let me summarize the game in one sentence: the star hero and villain of Final Fantasy I through X are pitted together in a fighting game. With the universes of Final Fantasy I through X so large and the cast of characters in each so many, it’s kind of sad to see only one playable character from each side. Still, each game is represented very well known heroes and villains: Final Fantasy IV’s Cecil and Golbez, Final Fantasy VI’s Terra and Kefka, Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud and Sephiroth, Final Fantasy X’s Tidus and Jecht, etc.

The storyline pretty much has the 10 heroes and 10 villains teaming up on two sides going up against each other, but to be honest, the storyline isn’t too important nor does it make much sense. In the story mode, you are able to play each of the 10 heroes through their own “campaign” which consists of about 15 or so battles across 5 stages (more on that later). In between stages, the Final Fantasy character you pick will converse with the other Final Fantasy heroes he’s tagged along with (they split into smaller groups). The final battle is between the character you’ve chosen and his sworn arch-enemy.

Anyone in love with all the Final Fantasy games will definitely squeal with delight over so many little touches that are put in for the fans. While there are only 10 heroes you can choose from, the help menus (there’s a ton of help menus in this game) all are provided by various Final Fantasy characters as well, and they’re written in their way of conversation. Seeing Final Fantasy X’s Wakka give me advice in his own manner and Final Fantasy VII’s Yuffie also give me other help advice while also talking about stealing had me appreciating all of these little touches. There’s even a mail delivery system where moogles send you new mail every day!

One of my favorite aspects that also will appeal to Final Fantasy fans is the music – it changes depending on who you are playing as. I played through Cecil’s campaign, and so the main musical tracks were from Final Fantasy IV, but when playing through Cloud’s campaign and Tidus’s campaign, I heard memorable tracks from Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X. It really felt like this was heaven for a Final Fantasy fan that has stuck with the series for so long. The ONLY negative thing I might want to speak about is that with so many effiminately designed heroes and villains walking around, I felt like the entire game was some sort of yaoi or something and was a little uncomfortable at times. (I wonder if the Final Fantasy female players find this type of game droolworthy.)

A Fighting Game…
Ok let’s back up a step – did I say fighting game? Yeah – Dissidia is a fighting game, but not a fighting game in the traditional sense like Street Fighter or Tekken. It’s more of an arena based fighting game, where the two combatants can jump and float through the air, skate across ledges and run up walls, all while trying to do damage to each other. The damage system is confusing at first (it still kind of is, actually), but there’s really two meters you need to worry about and two attack types that affect each meter. The first meter to worry about is your health meter – which can be reduced if your opponent attacks you with an HP attack.

The major twist between Dissidia’s damage system and other fighting games is that the HP attack is not a constant value. It’s actually its own meter called the Bravery meter and there are Bravery attacks as well. By attacking an opponent with a Bravery attack, you will reduce his Bravery meter and increase your own if you successfully land it. Note from the screenshot above that Tidus has 229 – that’s his Bravery meter. If he does an HP attack, he will deal 229 damage to Jecht. But If Jecht attacks Tidus with an HP attack, he will only do 69 damage. There’s also something called a Break, which occurs when you can reduce your opponent’s Bravery meter to 0. By doing that, you will gain the Bravery that sits in the pot in the middle (818 in the screenshot above) and that will be added to your Bravery meter for your next attack. Once you attack with it though, your Bravery drops to 0 and you have to earn it back. The Bravery meter not only makes the combat system a bit more confusing, but in a way, it also seems to allow a matchup to go “back-and-forth” more.

…With RPG Features
On top of this fighting game, there’s an entire RPG like progression system. Each battle won awards Gil and Exp, your characters level up, can find new equipment to equip, can use the Gil they earned in battle to buy items and accessories from the store, etc. It’s basically like an RPG but with a real-time arena-based combat engine for the battles.

The way the storyline plays is that you move your character along a grid, engaging enemies, opening treasures, etc. And the more you play, the more you can unlock – you gain another “currency” called PP in this game that allows you to unlock all sorts of additional features such as being able to play as the villains, getting new items to use, and turning on faster experience and money gaining. In short, the game is a fusion of a RPG and a fighting game that actually works.

Is It PSP Friendly?
Dissidia is the first PSP game that I’ve played seriously on the PSP, and maybe because it’s one of the later releases that it has so many PSP friendly features. First of all, it has a Data Install feature, allowing you to install something like 500 some meg to your memory stick so the game loads faster. It also saves practically every time you exit a menu, and you can quicksave any time you are on the menu. One of the big concerns I with playing certain PSP games is that it’s not meant for quick play and quick stop – like if I was waiting for my wife to shop and she comes out of a store early what am I going to do with my PSP game? Dissidia passes this convenience test and is recommended as a game that you can easily play on the go.

Final Thoughts
Based on my review, it seems like everything I’ve been saying about the game is a compliment, but I’ll say my primary negative here: I still got bored of it after just playing through three of the ten characters’ campaigns. All of the Final Fantasy fan-service and RPG features seemed like they would really rope me in, but the combat and story just got boring to me. After fighting dozens of enemies throughout the campaign, I still felt like it was just a grind when in fact the combat is really the main gameplay! The game even encourages playing through the campaigns several times to unlock new items, but after playing through Cecil’s campaign 3 times, I called out Uncle. Let me off this grind train!

Of course, your mileage may vary on this one: how much you love the Final Fantasy games and how much can you enjoy playing a quasi-fighting game like this one by yourself without a real compelling storyline. There is multiplayer for the game, but I wasn’t interested enough to check it out. For a certain type of Final Fantasy fan, you may really end up loving this game. With me, I need a little more meat in terms of storytelling and gameplay for me want to play it further. In short, the game’s presentation is stellar but the actual gameplay itself can get quite repetitive so keep that in mind if you’re interested in checking it out!

Final Grade: B

After 3 days of voting, the first round of Leveling Down’s Video Game March Madness 2010 is over! There were some close matchups, some blowouts, and of course, some surprises. As a reminder for those of you who may feel that some of these games were unfairly seeded, we seeded all the games based on Metacritic scores. It’s all their fault!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for voting! The first 32 have now been cut down to the Sweet 16. After the jump, check out who I voted for, my thoughts on the results, and a preliminary look at the Sweet 16 matchups.

Tiebreaker note: I decided that casting a tiebreaking vote was too arbitrary and I felt uncomfortable with the power! So for tie polls, I tallied up the registered commenters who voted as the tiebreaker. It seemed like the fairest thing to do, so make sure you’re logged in to make your vote count the most!

Hollywood Region – Round 1 Results

(1) Bioshock raptures (8) Prince of Persia: Sands of Time [81-19]
This was an easy one, and the only 1 seed that won in a blowout. I voted along with the general consensus, Bioshock has a very engaging story coupled with an even more amazing setting, the unforgettable underwater city of Rapture. The Sands of Time features an epic Middle Eastern adventure/romance story, one that’s good enough for the real Hollywood to make a movie about (Jake Gyllenhaal stars), but it just wasn’t enough.

(4) God of War assassinates (5) Portal [56-44]
This result made me sad. God of War is an excellent game, featuring a great revenge story pitting Kratos against the gods who wronged him. But Portal, PORTAL, has one of the slickest and best told narratives I’ve experienced in a video game. Perhaps part of it was the fact that I didn’t even think the game had a narrative when I started it. In the end, the subtleties of Portal weren’t enough to defeat the sheer strength of Kratos’ story. Too bad, but I have a feeling God of War isn’t finished yet.

(3) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic force chokes (6) Beyond Good and Evil [75-25]
Beyond Good and Evil is another small title whose narrative was surprisingly excellent. Unfortunately, it’s not a story that many gamers are acquainted with, because it’s old and also because very few people bought it. It made the field of 32 though on account of its powerful storyline. Who doesn’t like taking down evil empires? Of course, millions of people have fallen in love with Star Wars, and thus Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic took this matchup in a walk (I voted for it as well). Not only is the game based on the Star Wars license, but it features a great story with an awesome plot twist. The force is strong with this one.

(2) Metal Gear Solid sneaks past (7) Final Fantasy IV [50-50, tiebreak]
This was one of the toughest decisions for me, as it was for the readers as well. We had to end up going with a tiebreaker, registered commenters, and MGS prevailed. I ended up choosing MGS as well, but I could have gone either way – both these games have amazing storylines. Final Fantasy IV was the first game I remember having to face the deaths of characters I knew and loved, and I still consider it my favorite Final Fantasy ever. Metal Gear Solid introduced me to Solid Snake, one of my favorite video game protagonists ever. Hideo Kojima’s musings on the nature of war, friendship, and love made for a story that I never forgot. It’s a shame that one of these games’ tournament runs had to end so soon. Stupid Metacritic!

M16 Region – First Round Results

(8) Resident Evil 4 headshots Metroid Prime [63-37]
The M16 region features our first 8-1 upset, with Resident Evil 4 destroying Metroid Prime. I voted for Metroid Prime, just because I loved what Prime did to bring the franchise into a first person perspective. Unfortunately, Metroid Prime is a victim of Metacritic overseeding, but hey it makes things exciting! Resident Evil 4 is probably the best game from the last generation of consoles, so this is probably an upset in name only.

(4) Halo 3 energy swords (5) Modern Warfare 2 [52-48]
I expected this matchup to be close, and it did not disappoint. Even though I voted for Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 is a worthy winner in this matchup. There is a lot of debate about which game takes more skill, but what’s not up for debate is the steel grip these two franchise have on the gaming community. This week, Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3 placed 1 and 2 on Xbox Live respectively. Think of that, Halo 3 was released almost 3 years ago! This was an amazing matchup, and it was fun to see it come down to the wire. Like MGS and FFIV, it’s sad to see one of these games go, but thems the breaks.

(3) Goldeneye exercises its license to kill on (6) Doom II [86-14]
This matchup of two classics was a tough choice for me, but I went with Doom II in the end. I spent many nights using my modem to dial up my friends and play deathmatch. Then again, I spent many nights playing Goldeneye with my friends using the Solitaire control scheme. Both these games paved the way for first person shooters – Doom II for the genre in general, and Goldeneye for consoles. How I long for the good ole days.

(2) Uncharted 2 crashes (7) Gears of War 2′s train [71-29]
Uncharted 2 is one of the most cinematic shooters out there, and its strong gunplay coupled with an amazing storyline literally blew Gears of War 2 away. Gears of War 2 is a great game in its own right, but it’s probably hurt by its machismo. At least Marcus and Dom will be able to keep each other warm at night.

Sun-Tzu Region – Round 1 Results

(1) Civilization IV wins a cultural victory over (8) Command and Conquer [53-47]
Sid Meier is so famous that he can put his name in front of his games, and Sid Meier’s Civilization IV was no exception. Civilization is the most famous turn-based global conquest game out there and that earned my vote. Command and Conquer was one of the best RTS games out there, until Starcraft came along. In the end, having your creator’s name in the title equals a win. Civ IV gets one more turn in the next round.

(4) Warcraft III hero assassinates (5) Dune II [82-18]
This was an interesting matchup, new vs. old, modern vs. classic. Dune II was the first RTS game I ever played, and probably the game that put the genre on the map. Warcraft III is the last RTS that Blizzard released (though Starcraft 2 is coming soon!), and it kind of reinvented the genre with its use of heroes. I don’t think many people even know what Dune II is, so this wasn’t really a fair fight, and I ended up picking Warcraft III in this matchup. But Dune II should just be proud for being here!

(3) Starcraft zerg rushes (6) Halo Wars [61-39]
Halo Wars is the best console RTS in the business, and is probably a model that all future console RTSes should follow. There is a loyal fanbase for Halo Wars, which probably resulted in this matchup being closer than expected. In the end, though, Starcraft is a classic and the benchmark by which all real time strategy games are measured. The game is criminally underseeded, and I still can’t believe Metacritic only has it at 88. I expect great things from Starcraft in the rest of this tournament!

(7) Final Fantasy Tactics defeats (2) Advance Wars: Dual Strike [72-28]
Not everyone knows this, but the Nintendo DS has tons of amazing turn based strategy games, and Advance Wars: Dual Strike is probably the best of the lot. I loved it, but the fact of the matter is that Final Fantasy Tactics is probably the most beloved tactical role playing game out there. That turned this one into a rout.

Hodj Podj Region – Round 1 Results

(8) Rock Band 2 rocks (1) Super Mario 64 [52-48]
Super Mario 64 is one of my favorite games of all time, and it is the game that really ushered in the 3-D gaming generation. Unfortunately, the broad appeal of Rock Band 2 proved too much for this classic. Really, this is my fault, because I meant to put Rock Band 2 (or some music game) in the field but forgot at the last minute. For the record, Rock Band 2 probably would have been the 2 seed in this bracket. But now I’ll never find out how much people liked Super Mario 64! (Not that much I guess).

(5) NHL 94′ one times (4) Warioware Inc.: Mega Microgame$ [68-32]
This one wasn’t even close, which is kind of indicative of the fact that not many people play portable games. Even I couldn’t bring myself to vote for the lone Game Boy Advance game in the field. NHL 94′s addictive gameplay and multiplayer factor make it the superior product. If you haven’t played a Warioware game before though, check it out – it puts the mini into minigames.

(3) World of Warcraft completes (6) The Secret of Monkey Island quest [68-32]
11+ million people can’t be wrong. World of Warcraft is the most addictive MMORPG out there – it offers great gameplay, the ability to play with your friends, and even an interesting storyline. The Secret of Monkey Island, one in a long line of great adventure games, just can’t stand up to that. Sure, Guybrush Threepwood is funny, but if that pirate ever ran into a death knight he’d be toast.

(2) Street Fighter IV KOs (7) Animal Crossing [91-9]
I thought this one was going to be unanimous. How did I put Animal Crossing in there over Rock Band? Mario Kart? Ugh. Anyway, Animal Crossing was there to represent for “sim” type games, and Street Fighter to represent fighting games, but really, this matchup should never have happened. How could I forget Kart!?! I’ll never forgive myself…until next year.

Sweet 16 Quick Look

Hollywood Region
(1) Bioshock vs. (4) God of War – an interesting matchup pitting two strong stories with incredibly different gameplay backing them

(2) Metal Gear Solid vs. (3) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Light sabers vs. Solid Snake.

M16 Region
(4) Halo 3 vs. (8) Resident Evil 4 – Can Resident Evil pull off another upset, or is the Bungie juggernaut just too strong?

(2) Uncharted 2 vs. (3) Goldeneye – PS3 vs. N64. It doesn’t seem fair, but will nostalgia play a strong factor?

Sun-Tzu Region
(1) Civilization IV vs. (4) Warcraft III – Turn based vs. real time strategy, should be interesting.

(3) Starcraft vs. (7) Final Fantasy Tactics – After surviving a first round scare, can Starcraft show its true power against Tactics?

Hodj Podj Region
(5) NHL 94′ vs. (8) Rock Band 2 – What has bigger appeal, sports games or music games?

(2) Street Fighter IV vs. (3) World of Warcraft – Can Capcom’s finest stand up against Blizzard’s juggernaut?

Polls open tomorrow – happy voting!

Leveling Down’s 2010 Videogame Tourney Has Officially Started! The rounds will take place over the next couple of weeks, and will be heavily decided by you, our Leveling Down readers.

Voting for Round 1, which consists of all 32 games in the tourney, will close on Wednesday March 24, 2010 at 6PM EST. On Thursday, cmfl3x will announce the 16 games that will move onto Round 2 and we will open Round 2 voting Friday morning and end it Monday at 6PM EST.  Hit the jump to read more about our first tourney and to cast your votes!

Thanks to all of you that participated in voting for that 8th seed in each bracket. Unfortunately, 3 of those 4 8 seed votes were all ties: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Assassin’s Creed II for the Hollywood bracket, Resident Evil 4 and Counter-Strike for the M16 bracket, and Rock Band 2 and Shadow of the Colossus for the Hodj Podj bracket.

This weekend, cmfl3x and I discussed what to do with ties (in both the 8th seed voting and in the actual tourney itself). We originally considered allowing both games that tied to move forward into the next round, so instead of two games for that next matchup, it would be three: the winner of one half of that matchup and both games that tied from the other matchup. Ultimately, we decided against it because to see three games in a matchup may skew the voting too much (anyone remember Ross Perot?).

Thus, for ties, cmfl3x and I will use some sort of criteria to decide who moves onto the next round. With this being our first videogame tourney and all, this may not be the best approach, but we’re learning as we go. I’ve decided to use the metacritic game averages to determine which game in a tie move forward. Unfortunately for Assassin’s Creed II and Shadow of the Colossus, their competitors ranked 1 point higher on the average review score. Heartbreaking – just like when I nearly cried as Michigan State sunk that three pointer at the buzzer to send the Maryland Terps home yesterday afternoon but we had to narrow it down to one winner each round.

Having said that, let’s get on to the voting for Round 1:

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Please feel free to share your thoughts!

For the next few weeks, my Xbox is going to take a backseat to my favorite sporting event of the year: March Madness. What little time I have left for video games will probably be spent playing Dragon Age: Origins, and since we’ve covered that on the site, I figured I’d try something new: a video game bracket!

I’ve chosen 28 of my favorite games across 4 different categories (“regions”), and as the NCAA tournament plays itself out, so too will you get to watch this video game bracket play itself out. Why am I doing this? Well, I love brackets, first of all. Secondly, it’s a chance for me to take a trip down memory lane and narrow down some of my favorite games of all time. I recognize that a lot of times comparing games is like comparing apples to oranges, which is why I separated the games by genres (loosely).

Anyway, I’ve left the 8 seed open in all four regions, so I need YOU, the Leveling Down reader, to suggest games to finish out the bracket. Hit the jump to see the selection committee’s (aka, cmfl3x’s) criteria and some other notes about this totally awesome tournament.

You can access the entire bracket here:

March Madness – Video Game Style

Now, a couple of notes on how the games were chosen:

1. Video Games were split up into 4 Regions: The Hollywood Region (games with good stories – mainly RPGs), The M16 Region (shooters – any perspective), The Sun-Tzu Region (strategy games), and The Hodj Podj Region (miscellaneous games).

2. Games must have been sold for retail; thus Warcraft III is an option, but Defense of the Ancients (a mod), is not.

3. Games were seeded mostly according to critical acclaim. For recent games, I used metacritic, and for older games I did my best to guesstimate where they would fall. Probably not the best metric, but the best I could come up with for now.

4. I didn’t choose multiple games from any series, so you won’t see both Halo 2 and 3 in the field.

That’s it! I’ll be pitting these games against each other over the next few weeks, but be warned, I’ll mostly be arbitrarily choosing my favorites (but comments on why you feel a game should beat another will definitely have potential to sway my opinion). If there is a large outcry, maybe we could set up a poll, but you’ll have to let us know if you want that to happen – or we could do that next year.

Anyway, onto this year’s field! And remember, be sure to suggest games you think I’ve left out – there are 4 more spots to fill!

The Hollywood Region – Great Storylines

Matchups:
(1) BioShock vs. (8) TBD
(4) God of War vs. (5) Portal
(3) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic vs. (6) Beyond Good and Evil
(2) Metal Gear Solid vs. (7) Final Fantasy IV

(1) BioShock [360/PS3], metacritic = 96 – Although the story fizzled out at the end, Bioshock definitely has a story that sticks with you, and a plot twist that really gets in your head.

(2) Metal Gear Solid [PS1/GC], metacritic = 94 – Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece, this game helped to change video game storytelling and really put the scene into the cut scene. Narrowly edged out Metal Gear Solid 3, which is personally my favorite story.

(3) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [Xbox/PC], metacritic = 94 – Every Star Wars fanboy’s dream, this game also featured some excellent plot twists and introduced Bioware as a story-telling developer to be reckoned with.

(4) God of War [PS2], metacritic = 94 – Even though I’m not a huge fan of the gameplay, God of War has an amazing storyline. Kratos seeking his revenge on the Gods is one of the best premises for a videogame, and his backstory makes it even more rewarding.

(5) Portal [360/PS3/PC], metacritic = 90 – This “add-on” in the Orange Box has one of the most cleverly told narratives in a video game to date. It’s not a story, per se, but the way Valve sets the mood and brings the game to its amusing conclusion is worthy of…cake.

(6) Beyond Good and Evil [Xbox/PS2/GC], ,etacritic = 87 – This game was a huge hit with the gaming community, but never had good sales. The characters and innovative story are what make this game, but unfortunately, nobody ever played it.

(7) Final Fantasy IV [SNES, GBA, DS], metacritic = 85 – This game is underseeded since the metacritic score comes from the DS version. My favorite Final Fantasy story ever. Final Fantasy VI’s Kefka was memorable, but this was the first Final Fantasy game where I actually cared about the characters and what happened to them. STONE!

(8) TBD

The M16 Region – Shooters

Matchups:
(1) Metroid Prime vs. (8) TBD
(4) Halo 3 vs. (5) Modern Warfare 2
(3) Goldeneye vs. (6) Doom 2
(2) Uncharted 2 vs. (7) Gears of War 2

(1) Metroid Prime [GC/Wii], metacritic = 97 – That Metroid Prime is the #1 seed in this region seems like an upset in itself, but the numbers don’t lie. Metroid Prime kept the feel of the classic games while switching to a first person perspective and remains my favorite Gamecube game to this day.

(2) Uncharted 2 [PS3], metacritic = 96 – This game could probably have made it into the Hollywood Region as well, but here it is matched up with Gears of War 2, the other 3rd person shooter in this bracket. I think this one might be a walk.

(3) Goldeneye [N64] metacritic = 96 – There is a reason why people keep requesting that Goldeneye be re-released: it is one of the best games ever, period. Sure, FPS games have taken huge leaps since then, but Goldeneye helped pave the way, especially on consoles. Fitting that it be up against the other old school FPS game, Doom 2.

(4) Halo 3 [360], metacritic = 94 – Why is Halo 3 #4 and Modern Warfare 2 #5? Simply put, Halo 3 has probably had more traffic over the course of Xbox Live’s history. Of course, it had a pretty big head start, but the fact that a million kids are still playing it as I type this gives it the slight edge.

(5) Modern Warfare 2 [360/PS3/PC], metacritic = 94 – What is there to write? The most complete multiplayer FPS game to date. It will battle it out with Halo 3, just like it does on the servers.

(6) Doom 2 [PC], metacritic = N/A – Back when you needed to use a modem to connect with other players, Doom 2 set the bar for first person shooters. It had no story whatsoever, but nobody cared – the secret tricks and traps, the deathmatch games, and the co-op deathmatch games were never forgotten by old school gamers.

(7) Gears of War 2 [360], metacritic = 93 – Gears of War 2 is here so I don’t get flamed by Xbox fans. It’s a great game, and probably could make the bracket solely on account of the assault rifle chainsaw alone.

The Sun-Tzu Region – Strategy Games

Matchups:
(1) Civilization IV vs. (8) TBD
(4) Warcraft III vs. (5) Dune 2
(3) Starcraft vs. (6) Halo Wars
(2) Advance Wars: Dual Strike vs. (7) Final Fantasy Tactics A2

(1) Civilization IV [PC], metacritic = 94 – One more turn. Players have been saying that to themselves for over a decade now with the Civ games, which task you with conquering the world in multiple different ways. This game features addictive gameplay that strategy gamers can’t get enough of.

(2) Advance Wars: Dual Strike [DS], metacritic = 90 – I’m shocked that this game is the 2 seed in this region, but that’s metacritic for you. An excellent turn based strategy game, it introduced battles on both screens (air on top, ground on bottom), which made for some pretty unique gameplay.

(3) Starcraft [PC/Mac], metacritic = 88 – 88? Seriously? Maybe game reviewers were just tougher back then. Starcraft is THE real time strategy game. It was so big it spawned super competitive, televised tournament circuits in Korea. It introduced the term actions per second. The landscape of video gaming was never the same again.

(4) Warcraft III [PC/Mac], Metacritic = 88 – Warcraft III, another Blizzard masterpiece, introduced hero units and greater micromanagement into real time strategy games. It also spawned the immensely popular Defense of the Ancients mod.

(5) Dune 2 [PC], metacritic = N/A – Dune 2 was the game that put RTS games on the map, both for gamers at large and for me personally. It can’t stand up to these heavyweights, but I thought it at least deserved some recognition. Watch out for sandworms.

(6) Halo Wars [360], metacritic = 82 – This is mainly here so certain readers of the site don’t lambaste me. In its defense, it is the best console RTS out there, hands down. All units!

(7) Final Fantasy Tactics A2 [DS], metacritic = 80 – The Final Fantasy Tactics games are an excellent series with very deep, strategic gameplay. You could literally spend 100 hours playing this game and not run out of things to do. Almost infinite bang for your buck!

The Hodj Podj Region – Other Games

Note: This is probably the most random region, I just tried to represent other genres as best as possible.

Matchups:
(1) Super Mario 64 vs. (8) TBD
(4) Warioware Inc., Mega Microgame$ vs. (5) NHL 94
(3) World of Warcraft vs. (6) Secret of Monkey Island
(2) Street Fighter IV vs. (7) Animal Crossing

(1) Super Mario 64 [N64],mMetacritic = 94 – Like Metroid Prime, Super Mario 64 took a beloved game and put a whole new twist on it. Unlike Metroid Prime, SM64 launched the 3-D era. Plus you could unlock Yoshi, which was awesome…

(2) Street Fighter IV [360/PS3/PC], metacritic = 94 – Street Fighter IV completely reinvigorated the entire fighting game genre, no small feat considering people had considered fighting games all but dead.

(3) World of Warcraft [PC/Mac],mMetacritic = 93 – Just like Starcraft, WoW is the pinnacle of its genre, the MMORPG. I think more hours have been sunk into WoW than it took to build America.

(4) Warioware Inc., Mega Microgame$ [GBA], metacritic = N/A – This was the first minigame collection I can remember that only gave you 5 seconds per minigame. A ridiculous premise, ridiculous games including picking a nose, and a ridiculous amount of fun.

(5) NHL 94 [SNES, Genesis], metacritic = N/A – My favorite sports game ever, and one of the last games before sports games got super complicated. I’m sure people would rather see some Maddens here but…oh well.

(6) Secret of Monkey Island [PC/360], metacritic = 88 – The token representative of the adventure game genre, this game featured great humor and great puzzles, a killer combination. I’ll never forget what to do with a rubber chicken attached to a pulley.

(7) Animal Crossing [GC, DS, Wii], metacritic = 87 – There are a multitude of games that task you with the mundane parts of our daily lives, but Animal Crossing was one of the first I found really memorable. How fun is it to catch fish and leave them in your friends’ mailboxes!?

Parting Thoughts
And that’s the almost complete Video Game Bracket! Post in the comments games you think I missed out and that I should include as the 8 seeds, or tell me I’m power crazy for even doing this! I’ll be watching 12 hours straight of basketball…

I started Final Fantasy XIII last week and have played a good 10 hours into it (after eight hours I’m already on disc 2 of 3?). To be honest, I’ve had a tough time trying to get myself to sit down and play through it, as I’ve been on a Modern Warfare 2 frenzy and have actually spent more time playing Modern Warfare 2 than Final Fantasy XIII over this past week. Still, 10 hours is a pretty good amount of time to spend on this game to share some initial impressions. When I think about it, this entry is practically long enough to be more of a review on it, but read on for my lengthy impressions of the game. A review may follow once I’ve completed it (and it’ll most likely be shorter than this entry).

My Final Fantasy Background
To know where I’m coming from, I do enjoy Japanese RPGs – especially Final Fantasy games. I remember playing Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the original NES, and while the Japanese prefer Dragon Warrior, I’ve always been more of a Final Fantasy type of guy. Since then, I’ve gone on to play basically every Final Fantasy that has been released in the United States, going from Final Fantasy 1 on the NES to Final Fantasy IV (which was released as Final Fantasy II on the SNES in the US), and Final Fantasy VI through XII. I think I did end up going back and playing through the original Final Fantasy II when it got released on the GBA, but the only Final Fantasy games I probably not really touched are Final Fantasy III on the NES and Final Fantasy V on the SNES. In any case, I’ve played through many of them, and like any Final Fantasy fan, I do have my favorite order. In a way, I think it’s worth sharing so you can better understand my thoughts/feelings behind Final Fantasy XIII:

Starting with My Favorite to Least Favorite
1. Final Fantasy IV (the story, characters, and gameplay made this game Final Fantasy perfection)
2. Final Fantasy VI (amazing game, but too many characters and the game was a bit overambitious in scope)
3. Final Fantasy VII (definite showpiece for the PS1)
4. Final Fantasy IX (odd character design, but a welcome return to classic Final Fantasy gameplay roots after the weird FFVIII)
5. Final Fantasy X (several changes to gameplay, but great characters and storyline for the PS2 system)
6. Final Fantasy I (the classic and original was quite enjoyable for its time)
7. Final Fantasy XII (interesting single player style MMORPG gameplay, but boring storyline and characters)
8. Final Fantasy VIII (I know there’s a heartwarming love story under it all, but I just couldn’t enjoy the gameplay)

I didn’t name all of the Final Fantasy games, but if I were to, they would all come behind Final Fantasy VIII, which is still currently among my least favorite Final Fantasy games. It was a very polarizing game when it was released, and I was among the camp that did not really enjoy the game. Final Fantasy VIII and XII are the only two Final Fantasy games that I started but could not keep enough interest to finish – although I did end up spending over 60 hours on Final Fantasy XII.

As you can see, my favorite Final Fantasy games were ones that combined an interesting storyline and characters with the “classic” Final Fantasy gameplay. What is this gameplay? I’ll get to it a little bit further down. The question now is whether I think Final Fantasy XIII is shaping up to be among the top of the Final Fantasy games on my list or the bottom. Let’s see!

Impressions for those new to Final Fantasy
If you haven’t played Final Fantasy games (not too surprising if your first console was a PS2 or even a 360/PS3), then you may not have any idea what you’re getting yourself into. Based on this console generation’s RPGs, Final Fantasy XIII does not quite stand up to their level of awesomeness. The big RPG players in this generation are Oblivion, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. Among the four games, Dragon Age is perhaps the most traditional RPG, but with RPG games the most popular game-type in Japan, Final Fantasy does have relevance. Of course, when compared in a vacuum to Dragon Age Origins, Fallout 3, Oblivion, and even both Mass Effect games, I don’t think Final Fantasy XIII is better than them. In fact, overall, I would recommend Dragon Age: Origins over Final Fantasy XIII for anyone that is interested in playing a traditional RPG game on the console. But that’s fine – I appreciate Final Fantasy XIIII for what it is as a JRPG fan.

Final Fantasy XIII is pulling an 83 so far on Metacritic, scoring lower than any of the other major RPG players I’ve mentioned. But what I’ve noticed is that an 83 for a J-RPG is ridiculously good from Western reviewers. In fact, I would even go so far as to argue that if you enjoy JRPGs, inflate the Metacritic scores for JRPGs by 5 to get a more indicative score. Final Fantasy XIII would jump up from an 83 to an 88, Tales of Vesperia would jump up from a 79 to an 84, Lost Odyssey would go from 78 to 83, and so on. (Lost Odyssey a 78? What were the reviewers thinking?!) Based on this, you can probably tell that unlike the harsher critics of Final Fantasy XIII, I’m actually pleased with the game. This will be discussed in the next section, as I tackle the reasons why I think it’s a good game so far.

Impressions for Final Fantasy/JRPG Vets
If I were to summarize why I am enjoying Final Fantasy XIII, it’s this: the game appears to adhere to traditional Final Fantasy gameplay elements, while taking it a step further to add more subtle innovations and conveniences. I’ve played several JRPGs on the 360, and I feel that Final Fantasy XIII should be played by both Final Fantasy and JRPG fans alike. In a way, Japanese RPGs these days are like indie films in movie theatres. They can’t compete with the million dollar blockbusters, but do have their audience and can be successful. If you are among this camp like I am, you will most likely enjoy Final Fantasy XIII. Here’s why.

The traditional Final Fantasy elements are in Final Fantasy XIII
1. Fighting enemies in a turn-based screen
To a degree, every single-player Final Fantasy game has had the turn-based screen except maybe Final Fantasy XII where you engaged monsters right then on the field as opposed to jumping into a new screen with them. It may feel like “grinding” to some, but this battle screen is what makes several JRPG fans feel like this is a JRPG game.

2. An Interesting Spherical Leveling System
The leveling systems tend to differ a bit from one Final Fantasy game to the next, but with Final Fantasy XIII, the system seems to be very similar to Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid. This isn’t the traditional RPG leveling up system, but it’s interesting in its own way since each character earns exp from every battle and you can use those exp points to move further along your character’s grid to unlock stat boosts and abilities. While it may seem out of control, Final Fantasy XIII’s sphere grid-like system is quite linear and thus easy to understand when upgrading.

3.Summons
I’ve already come across Odin, so I’m wondering if I’ll see Bahamut later. The more recent Final Fantasy games have all included summons, with lengthy cutscenes involving the summon process as you marvel over them – or hit a button to skip the process. Final Fantasy XIII continues this hallmark of the series.

4. Item Management & Upgrading
While I consider Dragon Age: Origins to be the better RPG overall with what I’m seeing in Final Fantasy XIII so far, one thing that Final Fantasy XIII completely destroys Dragon Age: Origins in is item management. There’s simply one weapon type for each character, and  accessory slots for all characters. Easy to figure out what is an upgrade, easy to change accessories, and best of all, seemingly endless inventory space – all of this has been pretty traditional Final Fantasy. I do miss the Final Fantasy VII and IX gameplay elements of equipping items on your weapons to inherently learn spells/abilities for good, but at least Final Fantasy XIII has a weapon upgrade system based on finding random component items throughout the game.

5. Cutscenes & Character Development
And of course, Final Fantasy XIII continues the Final Fantasy trend of having lots of cutscenes and character development. I’m not a huge fan of the storyline so far, but one thing I will admit is that at least with Final Fantasy XIII, it’s gone back to a more traditional storyline and character development unlike what happened in Final Fantasy XII where I couldn’t care less about the characters or why I was even playing.

Final Fantasy XIII Also Sports Some New Conveniences
1. Seeing Enemies (no random battles)
It’s been a while since I played Final Fantasy X, but from what I recall, there were still random encounters in that game. Final Fantasy XII did show enemies, but since it was MMORPG style where you actually fought the enemies right there on the field instead of going to a battle screen, it was a little different. In any case, Final Fantasy XIII goes back to the classic Final Fantasy battle screen encounters, but this time you can actually see the enemies before engaging (and thus, setting yourself up for pre-emptive strikes).

2. Health Refills at End of Battle
Back in the old Final Fantasy days, we had to worry about tents and cabins and staying at inns, etc. “What happens if I get too far into a dungeon and I don’t have any tents left?!” Gone now in Final Fantasy XIII. At the end of every battle, all your characters’ health bars are full, so they always begin full at the end of every battle. Genius. I’m glad they cut that out, as it’s not the most enjoyable gameplay to worry about the health of your characters between battles.

3. No Magic Bar
Similar to the health refills at the end of battle, there is no actual MP bar for the characters now. Nearly all of their spells/abilities simply take up “turns”. I will get to this further when I describe the combat system further on.

4. No Towns or World Map – All Dungeon All The Time
For some this is bad, and others it is good. For me, it’s good. I think some people enjoy being able to take a break between dungeons but I don’t really enjoy my time running around new towns for hours talking to people and looking for treasure chests in their bedrooms. In Final Fantasy XIII, the stores are accessible at every Save point, allowing you to save or buy/sell equipment. You are also informed when new things are for sale, so it streamlines the whole process.

5. Not Worrying About Achievements
Unlike other Japanese RPG games, Final Fantasy XIII is the first one in a long time that I can actually play from the comfort of my couch without worrying I’ll miss an Achievement/Trophy. There are no missable Achievements – crazy stuff like making sure you open every single chest in the entire game, or even crazier stuff, like not opening certain chests as in Final Fantasy X. I can just sit back and play this game, enjoying it from start to finish, and then all the optional stuff I want to tackle is where the Achievements lie. A super convenience!

Final Fantasy XIII’s Primary “Innovation”: The Combat System
Final Fantasy XIII sports a turn-based combat system that seems to have some similarities to older Final Fantasy games, but it has enough major differences that I want to discuss it in further detail. The Active Time Gauge returns in Final Fantasy XIII, which basically means every character can attack once their real-time action gauge fills up. New to Final Fantasy XIII’s battle system is the ability to input in a chain of commands at once. In past Final Fantasy games, when a character’s bar was full, you’d choose for him to attack, cast a spell, use an item, etc.

FFXIII utilizes a multibar gauge for characters throughout the game. Currently, most of my characters have 3-4 bar slots, and the way it works is if you choose attack or a low level spell, it’ll take up one bar slot, but higher level abilities like area effect spells and attacks will take up 2 bar slots. You can queue up your actions in any order you want to perform them in, and there’s even an “Auto pick” abilities option that allows the system to automatically queue up the most optimal actions for that character’s class at the current situation. You don’t have to wait for all of your slots to fill; you can perform your action as soon as the bar for that particular action is full. So for example, if I were a mage with 3 bar slots and I chose to cast Fire, Water, Lightning when my entire bar was full, the mage would cast all three spells in succession. However, as the bar is filling up, once the first of the three sections of the bar is full, I can hit a button to immediately cast Fire and then go back to the menu screen.

Staggering Enemies
Enemies in this game have ridiculous defense (or, your characters are just weak). Several enemies I’ve encountered so far take a very lengthy amount of time to kill, because practically everything in this game is strong due to the new combo and staggering mechanics. In this game, you’re expected to attack enemies in succession several times, raising a combo bar on the enemy. Once you attack the enemy enough times, it finally hits a point where it is in a “Staggered” state, and all of your attacks do enhanced damage. The “Staggered” state is only a limited amount of time, so if you do not kill the enemy in that time, you will have to attack the enemy at reduced damage for several more turns before getting it into a “Staggered” state again.

Paradigm Shifts
Another major change to the combat system is that you only can only control the Leader of your party – meaning one character. The AI controls the other two characters. In Final Fantasy XIII, each character has several classes, called Paradigms, in this game. There are Paradigms that correspond to a warrior class, a mage class, a healer class, and more. Between battles, you can set up your different Paradigm groups because in this game, you’re expected to perform Paradigm Shifts throughout a combat situation to change your characters’ classes. This is because of the relation of the combo meter of an enemy and how different Paradigms affect that meter.

The mage Paradigm is the primary “increaser” of an enemy’s combo meter. The combo meter shoots up when the mage attacks, but unfortunately, it also drops down quickly right after. The warrior Paradigm reduces the “bleed out” of the combo meter from the mage attack, so ideally how you want to quickly put an enemy into a staggered state is to have mages pounding the enemy followed by a warrior attacking the same enemy to keep the combo meter on the enemy as high as possible. But the problem with this situation is, there are no medics. What happens when your mages and warrior are pounding the enemy but they take a ton of damage? That’s when the real-time Paradigm Shift comes into play – you hit the LB button and quickly pick the grouping with classes that you want your characters to change into – most likely one with a healer of some sort. Then once your party is back to full health, you can switch back to the “relentless assault” to raise that combo meter on the enemy.

Time & Rewards
While the combat can be pretty passive due to the “auto-ability” command, it is limited because most of the time, each of your characters will not stay the same class throughout a combat encounter. The innovation behind this combat engine is that the developers want us to juggle our characters among different classes as necessary in order to defeat an enemy so we are playing a more active role in the encounter. In a way, you’re thinking on your toes, because there is an optimal approach to every encounter.

This is further beaten into your head because at the end of every combat encounter, you are graded out of five stars based on how much time you spent in that particular encounter. If you take too long, you’ll get basically no stars, but if you kill enemies quickly enough and score 4-5 stars in that encounter, the possibility of rare drops from the enemies increases.

Things That Didn’t Quite Sit Too Well With Me
1. Vanille’s Voice
One of the characters you control in the game is a young girl, but her voicework is just terrible. What kind of accent is that?!

2. Serah & Snow
You’ll learn early on that there is a romance between two characters in the game. Except that the male looks like he’s 30 and the female looks like she’s 15. I guess their love is supposed to be heartwarming or something, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy at this “illegal” couple.

3. Music is Forgetable
One of the hallmarks of Final Fantasy games has almost always been memorable music tracks. Even Final Fantasy X had some good tracks (“Return to Zanarkand” was among my favorites). But so far in Final Fantasy XIII, it seems bland and repetitive. Maybe they’re just running out of ideas?

4. The First Part of the Game (Maybe 20 hours?!) is Poorly Designed
This is my major issue right now from my first 10 hours. I’ve read in a couple reviews how the game opens in a very linear fashion and forces you to play through it for 20 hours or so before “the world” opens up to you. I haven’t gotten that far yet, but from what I’ve experienced so far, this is true. You’re basically in dungeon after dungeon, but walking along a linear path and encountering enemies as you go. In a way, it reminded me of Bayonetta’s linearity, but at least in that game, the enemy encounters were exhilirating and plentiful. I’m actually OK with the linearity of FFXIII so far (what non-sandbox game isn’t linear?), but it’s the next point that makes the first part of the game so slow.

The new combat system is interesting, but the major drawback to it is the limited number of party members you can have on the field. I remember the good old days of Final Fantasy when you could put 4 or even 5 characters on the battlefield at once. Now it’s down to 3, and while that is certainly playable, these first 10 hours I’ve been forced to play maybe 9 of those hours with only 2 characters in a party at a time. 3 character battles move quickly and I finish encounters at the pace I like, but 2 character battles…ugh. You sit there watching the bars to fill so you can attack and do minor damage enough times to stagger an opponent before you can actually do real damage. I’ve practically fallen asleep in a couple of these battles. I think one of the battles I was in took 11 minutes or so, and felt like it would never end. I can only ask the developers if they really thought the game was enjoyable forcing us to play with two characters at a time for the first 10 hours of the game. It’s made everything so slow going. Terrible design decision there and it can potentially turn off all but the more serious Final Fantasy/JRPG fans.

Parting Thoughts
As I’ve mentioned earlier in this entry, Final Fantasy XIII doesn’t seem to quite stack up so far to contemporary Western RPGs, but it still has enough going for it to perhaps be the best Japanese RPG this console generation so far. If you are a fan of previous Final Fantasy games, you’ll still most likely enjoy this one. Just be aware that it doesn’t sit among the top Final Fantasy games due to some hits and misses in the design of this game. FFXIII so far seems to place between FFX and FFI on my list, which is actually towards the bottom of my FF rank order. This is not to say that FFXIII is a bad game, but as of now it seems to lack the memorable storyline and enjoyable gameplay that the other ones provided. Maybe Final Fantasy has already reached its peak? Once I put in the next 90 or so hours needed to complete the game, I’ll see if my opinion changes.

The Wii and DS operate in a completely different stratosphere when compared to the 360 and PS3. Yes, the PS3 price drop has helped a lot, especially in Japan, but Nintendo’s consoles just appeal to such a wide variety of gamers (young and old, casual and hardcore, male and female) that it’s tough to break down what really sells systems. But hey, I’ll give it a shot.

Nintendo Wii

System Seller: Wii anything
I was tempted to put the Wii itself as its own system seller, because that’s pretty much true. The Wii moves so many units because of all they hype generated around it. People gravitate to all the “Wii” games, Wii Fit sells a lot of systems, but many people are just content getting the Wii for Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. Even Wii Play sells tons of units, although that isn’t really a system seller as much as it is something that people pick up when they get a Wii (for the extra controller or whatever). The Wii, unlike any other gaming system, sells to the average consumer with its accessibility, which is why it is destroying the competition.

Must Haves: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, Wii Sports: Resort (or equivalent)
The sad thing about this list is that two of the games came out around launch (Trilogy is all the Metroid Prime games with the new Wii controls though, so I guess it’s technically new) and Galaxy came out like 2 years ago. For serious gamers, there’s not a lot to offer on the Wii, especially 3rd party content. That being said, Zelda and Mario, like all Nintendo first party games, are excellent, and Metroid Prime is one of my favorite video game series ever. Metroid also uses the controller very effectively and is the best first person experience I’ve had on the Wii. I threw Wii Sports: Resort on there because if you own a Wii it’s almost mandatory that you own a good party game, but really there are a lot of choices out there: Boom Blox is pretty fun - you could even get away with a game like Warioware: Smooth Moves, and of course almost everyone owns Mario Kart (just check the NPDs). Thankfully, Nintendo is releasing a couple of new Mario games this year and next, so hopefully there will be a reason for me to dust off my Wii soon.

Upcoming: New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Fit Plus

Nintendo DS

System Seller: Pokemon (kids), Brain Age (adults)
It’s no surprise that the average owner of a handheld console is much younger than the average owner of a home console. What better way to keep the kids occupied on long car trips than have them “catch them all”? I played Pokemon on the GBA, and it was a surprisingly deep game, and according to reviews the DS versions are still decent. Regardless, Pokemon probably sells the most DSes to kids, whereas older adults, including very old adults (like my parents) like the DS for games like Brain Age, simple brain exercises that people like to play to keep themselves young. If you’re old, you buy the DS, if you’re young, you buy the DS. No wonder it’s sold the most units in the current generation.

Must Haves: Square-Enix RPGs, Professor Layton series, Phoenix Wright series, Elite Beat Agents (Ouendan in Japan)
The crazy thing about the Nintendo DS is that there is something for everyone. For the most part, the “casual” stuff sells systems, and that’s what a lot of people focus on. But if you like old-school RPGs, there are the re-releases of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, for people who like puzzles, there is Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright tickles one’s adventure fancy, and Elite Beat Agents is for rhythm game fanatics. And if none of those genres floats your boat, there are legions of other game types out there (I’m sure I’ve forgotten a bunch of excellent games). As espion4ge has stated elsewhere, the DS really is one of the best values in gaming and a great investment for any gamer, especially if you’re on the go. If you spend time shopping with your wife (check), take public transportation (check), or like to play games before you drop off to sleep (now outlawed in my household), the DS is a great buy. Just do yourself a favor and go with the Lite over the DSi, so you’ll save yourself some money.

Upcoming: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth

So that’s my take on the best games out there for the current systems. Of course, most of it is based around my preferences, so I’d love to hear what games you all love to play on your systems! Especially if it’s the PSP…haha.