If anyone remembered, i got Eledees (named Elebits elsewhere from UK) a long time ago. It was one of the very first Wii games i got. I spotted a deal of buy 2 Wii games for £35. I chose Eledees and Kororinpa; in my eyes, those were the only games worth the price. That was, ooh, almost a year ago? So why did i take so long to complete this game and complete it? Well, this game has flaws. The biggest flaw is the pacing structure and lack of variety in gameplay that is usually used to hook game players and so other games would easily tend to steal your attention away from Eledees. That is not to say this game is all bad, rather, the significance of this unique title is easily dwarfed.

The story of the game is presented in an unnecessary tone as it would be for children - the voices in the cutscenes would make anyone cringe. The still images used however are quite beautifully hand-drawn. You are 'Kai', a young boy who dislike 'Eledees'. Eledees are these small beings that contain some form of energy which is used to power everyday things in the modern society. One day, there is a sudden power outage. Kai, home alone, decides to get things right so that he can watch TV. It just so happens, Kai's parents are researchers of the Eledee phenomenon. Kai uses his dad's capture gun to put things right and seeks to capture all the Eledees amidst his dislike and frustration.

The premise is simple. You are a boy armed with a capture gun and you seek out 'shooting' these Eledees much like a first person shooter. You control your movement with the nunchuck and you capture with either the A or B button. Although the game is simple at first, the maps become grander in scale. Small puzzle elements do well to keep things a bit different. For example, to open doors, you shoot, hold the door knob and twist the wiimote. You can push buttons, flip switches and it all ultimately rewards you well with more Eledees coming out of hiding. The game becomes more complex as you go along by imposing certain criteria such as keeping noise down to a minimum or having a limit on the number of items you're allowed to break. When you have captured a sufficient number of Eledees the power of your capture gun increases and eventually you'll be able to move humongous objects (like the moon? ). It is only in the latter half of the game in which things become really exciting; theme parks, Eledee bosses, stadiums filled with hundreds of objects would have you throwing things around like a madman. The bosses are good highlights of the game and are varied, and extremely satisfying upon completion. The scale of things become grander and grander as you progress. This game actually pushes the Wii's CPU as the framerate would stutter in these huge open areas filed with hundreds of objects. It's quite impressive, if not for the archaic lighting and low textures, then for the sheer amount of things happening on-screen at once.

Although, graphically unimpressive, the experience can be quite special with hundreds of objects being flung around the screen all the while backed by well-suited soundtracks. The game almost becomes an aural experience in itself: rhythmic beats and booms create a distinctly quirky atmosphere and even becomes nicely muffled when you activate some noise-cancelling powerup. However, the zapping sounds can be grating to the ears and the overall sound-effects are plain and uninspired. I found that the game uses the motion controls in small doses and when it does, it does it in a unique way - it definitely brings variety to an otherwise plain shooting gameplay. The game does have flaws; you can't move through objects, so when you're in a cramped space with items everywhere, it can be difficult to get away. Personally, i got headaches after extended playtime. There are certain exploitable glitches, for example, even if you can't lift up a heavy object that's blocking your path to an area, it is possible to knock it out of the way with a lighter object. Bizarrely, some objects can defy gravity by hovering in the air if you carefully remove a supporting object just underneath it.

The game is quite full of content. There are Konami-centred easter eggs littered thoughout the game that'd be unnoticed by all but the most core gameplayers. The Edit Mode is a decent attempt at some 'community' online creativity although limited in variety due to the gameplay mechanic (goal is to capture Eledees). And there is enough tweaking in the settings to have a mess around in, be it experiencing no gravity or just basically creating huge domino chains. You unlock different game modes as you complete missions. Most noteworthy of the unlockables is the challenge mode which are really fun or extremely frustrating depending on how well you fare against high difficulties. You will also unlock 'maps' and 'objects' which can be used in the Edit Mode. There is also a multiplayer mode for up to 4 players but is only limited to maps you've played - it does not allow you to use this mode to advance through the game as though it is co-op.

While the game is full of content, the flaws can detract you away from the game. I spent over 10 hours on this game and found it quite a good challenge. The ending was quite sweet and the artwork in the storytelling was great. While, there was a lot more to play of the game even after the story mode, the appeal was somewhat easily lost to me. Overall, i got the game quite cheap (£17) and it was reasonably valued. These days, the game can go for £10, and that price is well worth it. If the look and appeal is just not doing it for you, a rental is highly recommended because this game does provide some unique gameplay elements as well as providing something different from all the other games out there.

Ahh, Half Life 2. Even though the game has been out for long time now, it was only last year or so did i complete it. The timing at which I did so perfectly lent itself to the follow-up: "Half-Life 2: Episode 1" and "Half-Life 2: Episode 2" from the "Orange Box" compilation. The Orange Box itself includes HL2 + Episodes 1, 2, and Portal, and Team Fortress 2. As an added bonus, my copy of the OB included Counter Strike 1.6, awesome - except i'd probably not play it over my beloved CSS.

There isn't all that much to say about this game after having reviewed HL2 because the games are so similar. The continuation of HL2 - but split into a third portion - pretty much sums up what Episode 1 is and with it, there is much criticism to be made from me. The story starts off from the moment the citadel is being destoyed. After being teleported away from the explosions you caused there (in the previous game), you find yourself just outside of the citadel under some rocks. With Dog and Alyx's help, you recover your gravity gun. The party is then informed that the breakdown of the citadel could cause the entire destruction of City 17 much to the irony of the revolution you wanted. With a new mission to stabilise the core, Gordon (yourself) and Alyx go back into the fortress once again.

The gameplay is directly derived from HL2 and would feel very familiar from after HL2. However the episodic structure of the game has somewhat affected the pacing and overall experience in a negative way. Because of the familiarity and the time since HL2, that 'Wow' factor has diminished quite a bit. The finale is underwhelming of what is to be expected of HL, but is fitting for the initial 3rd of a full game. Some weapons are missing like that alien-squishy-ball thing and the overall pacing and structure of the game does not encourage the use of the variety of weapons you do have (like the crossbow and magnum). Every enemy has been seen before except for the flying alien ship (which is the biggest highlight of the game imo). And the overall open-air areas are very much stifled in contrast to HL2 and it exerts very linear experience throughout. But that is where HL2 excels at - the action and exhilaration that is borne out of that linearity.

The visuals are solid but the art-direction is as compelling as ever. The game silky smooth at super high resolutions, locking closely at 59-60 fps on my machine. The striking bloom effects seem to have been upped alot, but does not look excessive at any time. The sound is also solid. Explosions retain their 'deaf-ear' effect and distant exlosions have the familiar lagging boom sound. The audio came out punctually in 6-channels and the music is varied well according the setting and pace (from heart pumping beats, to eery atmosphere in the dark).

All the negativity i've come to say is not to be taken as what the game is all about. Rather, they are the reasons why this episode does not stack up to the experience i had with HL2. Ignoring HL2, Episode 1 is excellent. Overall, the game is excellent value in the compilation but you shouldn't expect a full-fledged game. It doesn't do much new but helps extend the now-familiar HL2 gameplay, which would be great for some, but may be disappointing for those who expected the series to keep on going up and up.

Look what dropped through the post on Saturday morning. Moe~

I had this preordered at £27 which was enough of a discount for me to purchase - but i woudn't consider it a bargain. Also, i just happened to get a new printer/scanner/copier machine and seized the opportunity to capture these images - Excellent.

I managed 1.5 hours of playtime at around midnight and my initial impressions are: Great! Woah, LOL. WTH?

To those who are uninformed, the PAL version of No More Heroes has been 'censored'. The swearing is still there, the violence and gore seems pretty much intact. In fact, the only difference i notice is the colour of blood - it's turned black. So i'm not disappointed in this respect. The action is great, the variety and humour is awesome and the game just exudes this form of awesomeness that you just don't feel in many games. I had a few laughs and my progress is now after the second boss battle.

I've took the time to scan this page of the manual - and the manual is GREAT! None of that black/white crap with pathetic art-work. NMH's instruction manual sets an example that everyone else should follow.

If you want to read it, zoomed in, you can download this page here: http://ui21.gamespot.com/1780/img0002.jpg

A package arrived this morning and it was Trauma Centre: Second Opinion (why is the PAL version spelt 'Center'?):

I wasn't planning on getting this game actually when i heard that it was basically the same game as the DS version (Under The Knife) story-wise and that 'New Blood' was on the horizon. However, with a price-tag of £17 delivered, i couldn't resist. The game's RRP is £39.99 and is usually sold at around £30-£35.

I've been busy, very busy. So i'm not actually going to open this game till a lot later, probably once i've completed-off Eledees (yes, i'm still playing that!), DiRT (almost there!), write up the HL2 Ep1 review, Crysis Review, start on Super Paper Mario, finish CoD4 campaign...etc

Anyway, i'll be looking to write up HL2 Ep1 and so expect that soon.

"About time", "better late than never" - i know, i know, why does it take several years for me to go and finish some RPGs? Final Fantasy X came out on the PS2 back in 2002 (PAL) and i was extremely excited for it. Unfortunately, the time i spent on gaming shortened and devolved to quick short bursts which didn't lend to me having the best opportunity to experience a full JRPG. Alas, i've been getting back into gaming and with renewed determination to finish games, i bring here this FFX review.

When we look at FFVII on release, it was an incredible launch and it marked a significant step for the JRPG genre. The follow-ups in both FFVIII and FFIX on the PS1 showed that the quality was improving in each iteration. Leaving off from FFIX on the PS1, the prospect of another very significant 'next-gen' JRPG for the PS2 was epic. However, it could be because I played the game at a much later time in the game's life but the overall game itself was rather sub-par. Disappointing really in terms of the Final Fantasy series but it is still a very solid game - now that i think about it, a little bit like Zelda TP.

The story starts out with you playing as Tidus, a Blitzball player - Blitz Ball is much like football but it involves swimming around in a water sphere. During a Blitzball match in Zanarkand, a huge 'monster' known as Sin attacks the city. During the struggle for survival you meet up with Auron, a mysterious person carrying a huge sword. It is with him that you fend off 'Sin Spawns' but ultimately, you are sucked up in some sort of portal within Sin. Waking up, Tidus is no longer in his homeworld but in a world where everything revolves around the destruction of Sin. As you journey on, you meet Yuna, a summoner, who is about to embark on a pilgrimage which will reach Zanarkand at the very end. And so, Tidus seeing this opportunity, follows this group as a one of several guardians (of Yuna) in the hope of 'getting home'. The pilgrimage's ultimate aim is the defeat of Sin and the resulting 'Calm' afterwards. Sin is such a being that brings misery, death and destruction in the wake of its path, and the game sees Tidus battling Sin to a point that brings the very meaning of Tidus' existence into question.

This game is one of the most beautiful games to come out ever; the storytelling is worldcIass and unpredictable, the music is hugely emotional and epic, the character models, animations are distinct and the voice acting is in a cIass of its own. There are probably around 3 models each of the same characters with different poly-counts and higher res textures; the best is seen in the CGI laden throughout the game, the highly detailed models (particularly on the face) are found in the cut-scenes and the least detailed models are in the overworld or when walking around the areas. The result of all this effort is that the player rarely, if ever, starts thinking less of the presentation of the story but focuses on what the story is. FFX pushes the PS2's hardware at all opportunities and the game looks nothing less than stellar if you can ignore the little anti-aliasing issues.

The game's music is varied and unique despite seeming to have an underlying tone which fits the game perfectly from beginning to end, and it's little wonder why a lot of my favourite Nobue Uematsu's work revolves in this game title alone. I've heard the voice-acting on both the asian and european versions of the same game and the translation is spot-on. Many times do poor dubbing ruin an entire franchise and FFX is not a culprit in this. Characters retain their vocal characteristics and the performance is polished enough to think you're watching a film. And that is what this game really excels in, the story, the characters, the plot, and the drama. And it's not surprising to see dozens upon dozens of fangirl-made music videos revolving around Tidus and Yuna's relationship as the game is heart-tugging/wrenching. Not since the death of Aeris has a game created such an emotional connection to the player.

But enough about the story and such. Afterall, that is not what you may be looking for in a JRPG. Perhaps, you want to know about the level-grinding, the Ultimas and Omegas, and the skills that you learn or what you can summon. As a Final Fantasy game, expect much the same; Chocobos make a welcome return once again (but much more detailed now), you can customise your characters to learn different skill sets or attributes, phoenix down (item) to blizzaga (magic) to auto-haste (attribute) etc, Valefor, Shiva (summons). All of that can be expected, and yet that is the downfall of this game. Fans of the series would probably be disappointed by the lack of progression in the series - and in a sense for PAL regions, the JRPG genre. There are a few tweaks here and there. Character stats are controlled by the 'sphere grid' which is a large board with many 'sphere slots' to improve your HP, defense, strength or learn new skills like white/black magic or steal/pilfer. While the grid certainly opens up many possibilities in tailoring your characters, it holds back the pacing of the game. Everytime you gain enough 'experience points' to progress on the board (very often) you'd feel the urge to immediately 'upgrade'. It wouldn't sound so bad, but when you have several characters 'leveling up', you have to constantly move characters one or two paces, use spheres, change character and repeat. This process is done many, many times when wandering the battlefields and can be as often as every battle to every every 4 battles or so.

To make things worse for me, i absolutely despised the Blitzball minigame. Although not really essential to the game, this aspect pales in comparison to the card games of the previous FF games. To add insult to injury, there is only the chocobo training minigame to replace all those, rope-skipping, surfing, motorcycling aspects that i've enjoyed before. The list of negatives continue here, the game does let you travel around the world map in your 'own' airship. Sure, but you can only visit locations from a list of locations. No longer can you drive this 'vehicle' up, down, left and right freely. While the ability to customise your weapons with Rikku (character) is a redeeming feature for the level-grinders out there, it did little to actually make the game more enjoyable for me.

The replayability of the game is heavily dependent on the person playing. While i went into the game with full intention of not wanting to grind and just play the game as a typical all-around game-goer, i ended up clocking 55 hours or so to see the credits rolling. The problem here, lies in the expectations of how the game is going to be played. The moment i had access to the final boss, i dived straight in only to be slaughtered not long after. The game opens up near the end by giving you freedom of where you want to go in the airship, and for some reason, the designers at SquEnix expected that players are not going to go to the final boss but explore all the areas that they've already been through, grind, level-up and seek out more Aeons (beings that you summon) before finally committing to the final boss. It is at this point in the game in which i actually resorted to a guide, something i was determined not to do from the beginning. The game gave little choice and forced me into learning of other things and what to do if you want to grind or get new aeons. Put-off for a short while, i returned and then spent the next 5 hours or so aiming to defeat Omega, which wasn't really enjoyable - and far from what the game had set about in presenting the story. Thankfully, the final boss was easy once i had defeated Omega and the ending was extremely satisfying.

For fans of Final Fantasy series expect some disappointment. Die-hard level grinders would probably like this a lot due to the freedom of the sphere grid and weapon modifications (however, some sort of guide may be needed here). Due to the nature of this freedom, people have been setting challenges like Yuna-only, no summons etc. If that's your type of game, then this would have you whiling upon 100s of hours. Female gamers would probably gobble this game up from the story and characters alone. Although FFX was fully 3D, the impact from the transition is not profound. The only 'next-gen' impact/feeling would be the huge step up in visuals/presentation for the storytelling. Still, this is a solid game and is a rare full experience that is found when movie-like qualities interact with videogames. If you're into JRPGs, the high production values alone would see this game in your collection if not for your gaming tastes because everything that's presented in the game is in epic proportions.

Red Steel, I got this game with Sonic and the Secret Rings at a 2-for-£30 deal from Argos. A good deal (£15 a Wii game) considering that it first came out at £40. Ok, granted, the reviews have been less than stellar, but considering this is an exclusive Wii game, one of the few FPS out there using the Wiimote and the incredible drop in price for the past weeks, i felt this game deserved a chance. Here is my Red Steel review.

When the game was first revealed, there were some bull-shots with incredibly high AA put on, it touted japanese sword fights as well as 'true-to-life' gun shooting - and if anyone went with what was promised, they'd be hugely disappointed. Not only does the game look both weak and strong in parts (most often on-par with a PS2 title), the sword fights were nothing ground-breaking (could have been done with mere button presses) and the shooting controls were far from comfortable to use (although intuitive). If however, you took this game cautiuosly, especially after reading negative reviews, you'll begin to realise that this is one very unpolished game, a very small diamond in the rough.

The game opens up with a strange menu select screen whereby you drag icons onto a screen to choose. New game? Drag the 'New game' icon onto the large monitor. Load Game? Drag. It was puzzling at first, i have to admit. Starting a new game, you're 'treated' to a set of still images that move and are presented in a dramatic fashion. Accompanied by some bad dialogue that can be mistaken for cheap japanese-to-english dubbing; the story begins with you as a bodyguard named Scott. Luckily for you (or maybe unluckily), you've become engaged to your client, an attractive Miyu Sato, the daughter of the Sato Group. After a brief talk at the dinner table, it's been decided that you'll meet Miyu's father and tell him the good news. Things don't go as planned however, as another group/gang launches an assault against the Sato Group. Both Miyu and Isao Sato (her father) are in trouble. Naturally, as a bodyguard, you give chase only to be knocked-out round a corner. Upon waking up, you pickup a handgun from the floor and make your way through the dining area and kitchens, looking for Miyu.

The game starts out linearly and doesn't do anything impressive. Looking back at it now, it is literally a training course of which the difficulty is anything but training. Pacing is well planned-out but ineffective if the majority of players are going to drop out 30 minutes into the game; after the linearity of game, it suddenly pans out and splits into 'chapters'. Each chapter is given to you by different members of the Sanro kai. This hub-like section of the game gives you the freedom to choose missions, practice and 'gear up' on new arsenal at the bar, OR head out to the artistic setting of the traditional japanese dojo (in the middle of the city!) and practice/learn sword techniques. It is only when you reach this section of the game is when things really do start looking up. The graphics, modelling and locations suddenly look and feel better. The story finally drums up some much-needed interest and dares to go out of it's way to be different from typical shooters. There are points at which you really have to try and snipe enemies from a distance (sniping is almost always a good highlight of a fps). There are locations that are quite unique, such as the japanese bathhouse, geisha house and amusement 'arena'. Even the dock has some pretty interesting structure as you work your way through the conveyor belt of the factory. To spice things up, you can throw grenades or roll grenades that are admittingly satisfying with the motion controls (although not particularly effective in both execution and use). The sword-fighting sections of the game does break up the gun-action a lot. And one of the best bits of the game is the ability to 'stop time' - or focus to the point at which time literally slows down (an ability of ninjas apparently according to one of the characters in the game). Slowing down time, gives you the advantage of aiming faster than the enemies, but more importantly disarm your opponents for them to submit to surrender. Shooting an enemy's gun in slow-time and waving your gun at them afterwards, motioning them to put down their gun, they'll drop to their knees with hands in the air. Not only do you save bullets but you will also recieve respect points which fill up your focus guauge and build up your rank.

Despite sounding positive in the last paragraph or so, there are some serious negatives - most of which is borne out of being rushed to release. Firstly the controls, "oh my god!, it's absolute £*&!" - actually, not really - but probably what the majority of gamers will say. I found the controls to be passable at first but still difficult that it needed getting used to. And to be honest, by the time I saw the credits rolling, I still weren't fully used to them. You can zoom in by holding down A to 'lock on a target' and thrusting the wiimote towards the screen, it's clumsy in execution but unfortunately essential for the sniper rifle. Throwing or rolling grenades require motioning the wiimote while pressing 'down on the d-pad'. And to slow down time, you hold 'A' and press 'c' which works really well and is one of the best parts of the game. When duelling with swords, attacking requires motioning the wiimote left, right, up or down. In reality this could easily be mapped to the d-pad which could have been a good idea since the gesture-recognition is quite hap-hazard. You can dodge by holding down 'C' and moving left or right. Dodging is essential in monitoring the enemies' attack patterns but the combination of C + movement makes the dodging a split-second slower to execute so don't be surprised in getting hit as you dodge 'too slow'.

If you can get past these negatives (sword-fights seeming to be impossible, fustrating controls), you also need to put up with the bad voice-acting, derivative story and the occasional spelling mistakes in the subtitles (WTH?). Inexcusable. Really. *shakes head*. There are some positive things to say about the audio of the game; the music hastens and builds up when in combat and loosens up when no enemies are around. The cheesey JPop music as this happens is strangely quite pleasing to me (). In the sword-fights, authentic Taiko drums boom out with tense ferocity. And when an area is cleared of enemies, japanese-sounding wind instruments play out in a short 'cool-hero' moment. The graphics are a mixed bag; the character animations and AI are poorly polished despite them jumping over obstacles and hiding round corners or ducking for cover - yet the animation and modelling of characters in the sword-fights are nicely done. Character and environmental models have low poly counts and poor textures but the lighting in some scenes really makes things look special. Unrealistic, Over-the-top explosions from vehicles, oil drums are quite stimulating but seriously dampens the pace of the game if you yourself are caught in an explosion every now and again (instant death).

When having completed the game, i approached the multiplayer of this game and dragged my brother into it. the game supports 4 player split-screen but the chance of you having four full controllers and 3 other willing-friends to play the game is slim. Firstly, I completely dominated my brother in deathmatch unsurprisingly as i was somewhat used to the controls. The controls actually seem better in multiplayer than singleplayer but despite this, other players would probably not enjoy it. It actually feels very similar to Goldeneye and if more time was spent playing in multiplayer, i'm quite certain that it'd be very fun. But simply-put, it's a decent attempt on the Wii but needs a lot more work if it's to persuade you from better, more fun multiplayer options in other games. It's a decent attempt because it actually uses a few unique things such as the wiimote speakers, choosing abilities such as faster rate of fire, stronger bullets, or healing faster when activating special. The sword melee attack is quite fun too although it feels a bit random at times.

When thinking of this game a week or so after completion, the game was worth the £15 i paid for. The game definitely had its moments and actually does have a decent multiplayer option (too bad you won't find many people wanting to touch the game though). The price for this game has been plummeting for the past weeks and so don't be surprised seeing this go for £10 now. Some rush-work put into this game to launch it for Wii-release has hurt it tremendously - what's the excuse for having spelling mistakes? Why have lack-lustre still-images for cut-scenes? (i can understand for artistic reason but overall, it just seems cheap). Awful voice-acting. Oh, and why are there some, but not a lot of, bugs/glitches in the game? The ending had some satisfying music but why did it have a single screen of 'Thank you for playing' in ten or so different languages and lack of pictures with the credits? Why is it that a certain chapter in the game has my Wii constantly reading the disc really loudly? (). Considering all of these things, it seems as though the game's target was not set very high or that it was simply a rushed project. In a strange way however, i admit now that i'm looking forward to Red Steel 2, only for how much this game can improve. If the promised online support, more optimised controls (post Metroid Prime 3, Medal of Honour 2) and better graphics holds true, Red Steel 2 could turn out to be what Red Steel should have been - a kickass, unique action game that actually makes you feel like you're wielding a japanese sword and feel like a badass as you hold your pistol/wiimote side-on, gangster-styIe.