2009 is PSP year!

John Koller promised us year 2009 will be PSP year, and he is not joking. We have a list of Triple-A titles coming out on PSP in year 2009 (at least till Q3 of 2009/10). Rumors of PSP2and PSP Go! or something new-PSP related keep us excited till at least E3 (I personally would sure hope PSP2 is a real thing!).


So, set aside the rumor of new PSP hardware coming out or not, the library of PSP software certain has and will be expanded to an enticing degree! Even though not all the games are my pick, but I am still happy the beloved little piece of gadget has got so many love from first- and third-party game developers and publishers. Sony certainly has done a much better job compared to last year. Looking at these new hardware (yet to be confirmed) and software (yet to be exhaustive), I am confident year 2009 is really PSP year! I sure hope its big brother PS3 would get the same treat real soon!

Year 2009 of PSP for Versus!

Not Final Fantasy Versus XIII, mind you (albeit wouldn't it be cool to have that game on PSP -- dream on!) Neogaf has a very nice thread regarding PSP in 2009 listing a rich library of PSP in 2009. Among those several caught my attention. In addition to RPG genre (i.e., Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, .Hack//Link, Persona, Cardboard Senki, Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days, Undead Knights, Ushiro, Ys Seven, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, etc.), maybe because of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, I kinda draw to more alike RPG/Fighting game.

Yes, I have already got my Japanese import, and yes I have put in precious 90+ hours in the game, but, frankly I still love it! Love it! And, surprisingly (even to myself) I look forwards to the English version (coming out in this summer) hoping there will be some extra bonus stuff (as happened to some games before during the localization, some extra stuff is added). I am not kidding when I said I am going to get the English version as well! It is really a masterpiece, putting all Final Fantasy protagonists and antagonists fighting to each other till death, certainly is brilliant idea. And, the sale is certainly quite impressive -- As of February 1, 2009, Dissidia: Final Fantasy has sold 900,000 copies in Japan, making it the fourth best-selling game for the PSP in Japan. And, it has obtained quite good reviews from all sorts of critics -- Famitsu (36/40) and Dengeki (90/95/85/85).

Probably, that's why there are two games coming out that can fall into the similar genre. One is Koei's Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. This game probably is a marriage of Monster Hunter Portable (that has been crazily popular in Japan) and Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Almost all the Dynasty Warriors will appear in the game, and the game features a mission-based multiplayer theme, as well as, versus mode for players to fight to each other (4-on-4!). From the gameplay, we can see the warriors now have the ability to fly (or more precisely float/glide) in the air. The graphic is certainly quite impressive (almost as good as Dissidia). That's why I really like to get my hand on this game. It (the English version) will be released end of this month. Time to pre-order it on Play-Asia!

Now long ago, Namco Bandai announced a new game Tales of VS for PSP. I personally welcome such announcement. According to the announcement made, the game will be released in Japan this coming summer (and hopefully soon in English-speaking land). From the scans, pictures, and even trailers, the game looks very promising. Tales of VS would utilize a Linear Motion Battle System or LMBS which is used in previous games in the series. Characters will be able to carry out normal attacks and use new intricate actions such as jumping off of walls. Characters are able to gain experience by collecting Grade Points from winning battles and use these Grade Points to upgrade the statistics of three character. Like previous games in the series characters are also able to customize their weapons. Battles can feature up to a total of 4 characters at a time. Basically, it looks a lot like Dissidia, and I believe I am going to love it!

2009 is certainly a year for PSP, and I am really happy for it! I have my PSP for almost 5 years now (damn! time flies), and I am not even a single bit tired of the system. Good job Sony. And, now that there is rumor going on for PSP2. I am not really an early adopter, but I will go and buy this PSP2 when it is out the first day!

Metal Gear Solid Touch is not bad!

Metal Gear Solid is certainly a franchise that no gamers wouldn't know. The 20-year old series (I think now is 21 years old or so) certainly has captured a lot of attention, especially when the 5th episode, i.e., Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released last year. I myself have played through Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (and Plus) on PSP and LOVING IT! It is short and sweet with definitely near-perfect visual. Now, Metal Gear series expands to iPhone/iPod Touch. I certainly welcome such addition. The graphic certainly lives up to PSP one, and the gameplay fully exploits the touch feature. Moreover, Kojima really renders the whole game sweet and short in one go, that makes it perfectly fit into its portability.



Story: It follows the same story line of Metal Gear Solid 4 without the epic cutscenes, dialogs, dramatic visualization, etc., replaced with some text. I personally don't have any objection on that, in fact, since I don't have Playstation 3 (man, how much I wish I have one), I now can enjoy the epic story of MGS 4 on iPhone. That certainly is welcomed by other people like myself, who do not have Playstation 3.

Control: It fully uses the touch feature, and I must say, perfectly applying it! To aim, we just needs to move our finger to the target, and to shoot just quickly tap it. To avoid the bullets, just remove the finger from the screen. It is certainly intuitive enough that even without reading the instruction, gamers can just straightforward plays it and figures out in one second. One thing to mention is that the gameplay is merely shoot and dodge, yet so much fun so. Snake is not going to move around like in Playstation 3. I think it is very nicely designed to fit on iPhone/iPod Touch.

Graphic: Like I said earlier, the visualization is really sweet and neat! I think, this might be the best looking iPhone/iPod Touch game. Of course you can argue that I rarely play any iPhone/iPod Touch games. But, you would agree with me when you play this game. Somehow, I hate to admit that the graphic beats PSP version of MGS.

Sound: What can I say, the sound is great! The gun shoot, background music, etc. everything is done very well. Kojima's team certainly has nailed it one more time on this! Well done, well done!

Overall: I will certainly give it 4.5/5!!

Suikoden is quite nice on DS

I haven't really played any DS games for a while (the last one probably was Dragon Ball Origin). More importantly I haven't played any RPG (well, Dissidia Final Fantasy is hardly a pure RPG) for a while now. So, Suikoden Tierkreis is certainly welcomed by myself very much. I guess I kinda like Konami style of RPG, or maybe in general I like those anime-quality RPG. This game certainly reminds me of Jeanne d'Arc for PSP. Anyway, this game is fantastic, considering I have spent 8 hours over the weekend staring on the small DS screen for this game (maybe that is the reason why I got the headache).



Gameplay: This is a classic turn-based RPG, with some new elements. I have mentioned about "fast-paced" in the beginning. Basically, you assign each of the character an action such as attack, using Mark of Stars ability, defend or use item. Then, just chose "Start Battle", and then the sequence of attacks are launched or actions are initiated. If you think it is too troublesome to do that everytime, you can choose "automatic battle" too, and that is really convenient if your characters levels are so much superior than the foes. Of course, similar to other RPG, you can customize your characters with weapons and armors. Good thing is that you could see the weapon change, bad thing is that you don't see any change on the armor. But, I am already satisfied with the weapon change.

Story: The plot opens as the leader of 108 heroes engages the main antagonist known as "The One King" in battle. It is currently unknown whether the defeat shown in the introduction precedes the game or if the game is actually a flashback leading to that scene. The game is set in the Kingdom of Salsaville hich is a part of one of the many universes in the Suikoden multiverse, known as the Infinity. Anyway, the story from my own point of view is quite interesting, and got me hooked continuously for almost 5 hours! I must say, and I always think, Japanese is much better at story-telling in RPGs then those in Western world.

Presentation: It is a universal fact that DS has that much graphic capability. Thus, I don't ask much on the presentation, yet it certainly has satisfied me. The battle field is in 3-D (nicely deployed!). The movement of the characters among different places on a map is done in 2-D, which is quite huge! And, the freedom of movement in the location is done in 3-D, and good thing is that it is not so huge or twisted with multiple paths that can easily get lost. Anyway, I love it. Voice acting is always a challenge. If it is not done correctly, it would become an annoyance, but if it is not enough, it would be like missing something in the game. This game does it just right. Not too much, not too shabby, not too lack.

In conclusions, with a classic RPG with fast-paced elements gameplay (8/10), a good and interesting story (8/10), and nicely done presentation (9/10), I do think this game deserves our attention (25/30)!

Review : Crystal Defenders

Square-Enix starts showing some love for Apple. Crystal Defenders is the first love! So, I decided to give it a trial, and somehow paid for it afterward. I guess somehow I just love whatever Square-Enix produces. What is the game then? It is simply a casual game that fits nicely on an iPhone / iPod Touch. For USD 7.99, does it worth it? I guess it really depends. So, the game is simply like the Tower Defense game.

Basically you have to deploy a number of Final Fantasy Tactics characters with different jobs such as soldier, monk, thief, black mage, etc. And, what they are going to do is to beat or eliminate those marching monsters and protecting those crystals from being stolen. Each of these characters has its strength, speed and attack range. So, the player has to plan carefully to deploy the characters because each deployment consumes some amount of Gils, and it is limited. But, you can earn Gils by beating the monsters.


Story: There is no story... So, nothing to say about this. Basically, just deploy as many strong characters as your amount of Gils allow you to to defend your crystals. Another thing, there aren't a lot of levels or scenarios to choose from. In total, I think there are only about 12 scenarios... I mean seriously!
Control: Honestly, the control is a bit clumsy on iPhone. There is a big orb with some directional arrows around it at the bottom of the screen. And, they are not that useful and intuitive. I have to do some trials to know how it works, and the directional "button" certainly is not that responsive.
Graphic: It is satisfying for me. I can really see those cuteness of the FF Tactics characters. And, the presentation is certainly stunning on the small iPhone.
Sound: The quality of sound is cool, but I have to complain about the music. As far as I know it only replays the one song over and over again at the background. I am a bit disappointed, really. I mean Square-Enix should do more than that!

In conclusions, does it worth USD 7.99? Like I said, it depends on yourself. For me it is good enough, but of course always the more the merrier. So, I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Import Review: Dissidia Final Fantasy

It certainly has granted me the excitement everyday in my boring routine life ever since I got my order from Play-Asia. I am really thankful for Square-Enix to bring this celebration of 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy to PSP! And, I have to say, Dissidia Final Fantasy certainly worth the money I have spent (even though it is Japanese import), and certainly is the representative to 20th birthday of Final Fantasy. There are tons of modes for playing the game, including Story Mode and Dual Mode. I have been playing Dual Mode, i.e., fighting with the CPU, which is fun enough. Story Mode requires some knowledge of Japanese... Even only Dual Mode, I have already spent like 30 hours in the game -- got addicted to improve the levels of these characters. Moreover, there are still so many modes that I haven't tried yet (damn my poor Japanese).


As a lot of sites mentioned, the battling system is certainly innovative and interesting. You press 'circle' button to "rob" your opponent's brave points (BP), which determines your attack power, i.e., the amount of health points (HP) damage that you are going to impose on your opponent when you press 'square' button. And, you have that EX gauge that when reaches maximum you can inflict flashy, stylish, critical final blow (most of the time anyway) on your opponent. Let's quickly have a review on this game using these common aspects, namely Story, Control, Graphic, and Sound.
Story: It simply is a (ever-lasting) fight between evil (Chaos god) and good (Cosmos goddess). Somehow, both sides able to summon the bad guys and good guys from Final Fantasy worlds (I to XII) and fight to death to each other. Story sounds lame, but as a fan, I really love it!
Control: Control is simple enough (not like Street Fighter kinda game that you have to use the directional knob like a monkey), yet so in-depth. It has so much customization, I am really impressed.
Graphic: OK, I don't need to talk about this cause no doubt, and no one would say otherwise, the graphic makes you think this is a PS2 game!
Sound: I even have the soundtrack! The music is just... amazing!

In conclusions, it is 5 of 5 stars game!!

Finally! It is here!!!

After more than 1 week of waiting, due to the stupid UPS service, it is here, in my hand. My beloved Dissidia: Final Fantasy is so lovely to look at. Yeah it is in Japanese, but luckily it has some English/Chinese instructions in the booklet inside the box. And, some Website has provided quite a comprehensive guides to play the game without knowing any Japanese.