• Great mixture of 2D and 3D Graphics.
• Awesome music.
• Combat system a bit complex, satisfying however once you manage to pull them off.
• Astral Finishes will leave your opponents devastated.

You probably have read reviews or heard from others about how bad this game ran on the Xbox 360. No doubt the technical issues surrounding The Last Remnant makes you wonder … how did it manage to pass Square-Enix’s QC? (Quality Control). When I was battling against a monster that does an area effect damage, the frame-rate barely made it beyond the 10 figure. Texture pop-ins are another obvious issue.

Can we safely conclude that this game sucks and toss it in the trash? Nope.

Despite all the technical hoo hahs about this game, I actually enjoyed playing it. It was far better than what I have expected, especially after reading online reviews. At the time of posting I nearly reached the end of 1st disc, completing about half of the sidequests.

So what aspect of this game did I find interesting / good?

Battle System / Gameplay
Huge battles consisting of 20 (or more) characters on screen. Instead of commanding one-to-one like in other JRPGs, you get to control a Union, which is literally an army up to 5 people. Each Union share one lifebar and the same commands. In other words, everyone in that union will execute the same command given and wipes out if its lifebar is depleted.

Music
The music is just spectacular and memorable. Nothing short of what I would expect from Square-Enix.

Graphics
Putting the technical flaws aside, The Last Remnant actually looked pretty good on the Unreal 3 engine. Plenty of details on both the characters and environments.

That’s about it for the good points.
Now for the low blows …

Lag and Texture Pop-Ins
This is the main problem that hinders the gameplay from the very start. Installing the game on the Xbox360 hard disk minimizes the issues but not entirely.

Customization
Only Rush’s equipment can be customized and that is also on a fairly low level; just weapons and two accessories. They could at least allow us to customize the general’s equipements. Too restricted.

Animation
Some parts of the game the animation looked good (e.g. Emma’s battle cutscene) but most of the time, the character’s animation seemed robotic and unnatural.

Lack of Hot Looking Babes

Overall I would give The Last Remnant the green light. Like everyone else, I was disgusted to see how bad the game ran when I started playing, but now it’s almost non-existence (in other words I gotten used to it). However whether or not its tolerable to others is beyond my judgement.

Your call.

Neko recently purchased Wipeout HD from PlayStation Store and we gave it a spin last Monday. First impression? Wow!

The game is everything I would expect of a Wipeout game and more.  Having played on a 4 : 3 ratio using component cables, I didn’t expect much from the graphics. Man, was I wrong. The graphics were absolutely fantastic, mesmerizing. I can’t imagine how good the game will look like if we ran it on full HD 1080p resolution.

Music from the game is top-notched, although I’m sure it will be promptly replaced by your own. Like Pulse, Wipeout HD also supports external music (mp3 format) which is placed inside the HDD. Changing the music is a bit tedious as you have to access the ‘Audio’ option each time. Bad implementation if you ask me. They should just allow you to change the music the moment you hit the pause button instead of navigating through menus. A ‘rotation of songs’ options would be a big welcome as well.

Overall the game plays exactly the same as its PSP counterpart, with the exception of Zone races. Not much in terms of gameplay but I like the way how the tracks turn different colors as you hit different zone levels. At the side you see a ‘speedo meter’ lookalike that shows which zone you are at now, along with the help of an announcer. Simple yet interesting touches.

Here are some of the minor bad parts about Wipeout HD. Apart from the music problem mentioned above, it was sad to see that Elimination type races has been omitted from HD. It was great fun playing it on Pulse, so kinda wonder why they took it out. AI and the learning curve could have ease up a little. Normally things start to get nasty after the 4th grid. For HD, 2nd grid was enough to make you replay the same race over and over again to hit gold medal (Skilled setting).

Get past these minor setbacks and its all good.

Final comment : A must have for any PlayStation 3 owners who is in need of a good racing game. Then again racing enthusiast would probably have gotten the game aeons ago.

Click here for my InvisibleSHIELD (PSP Slim) Review

After a long period of idling I finally applied the InvisibleSHIELD which I bought 2 months ago on my NDS. The trauma I faced from the PSP Slim version was the reason for the long delay. I couldn’t bring myself to face another round of hectic stress.

Surprisingly, applying the shield on NDS wasn’t stressful at all thanks to its shape. Most of the pieces are huge, thus making them easy to put on and less chance to mess things up.

Similarly like the PSP version, the shield covers almost all the areas of the NDS. The only parts that are not covered are the battery led (the entire section) as well as the L R buttons. I remember reading from somewhere that shield does covers them but alas, they are nowhere to be found. Probably the guy took the left over film, cut out two rectangle shapes and slap them in. I might do that after I find something to clean my buttons. They are kinda dirty …

My apologies for not taking photos of the shield before application. It slipped off my mind completely.

Overview of the NDS with InvisibleSHIELD

Earphone Jack

Bottom View of the NDS

In general, the shield includes top, bottom areas, GBA panel and all the sides (mic, power tab, volume control). Due to the DS’s rounded nature, the corners are not entirely covered. Apart from the outer areas, there are also shield films for the inner parts as well. There are 4 pieces; 2 for the speaker areas, one for the D-pad and one for the YXAB buttons.

I can’t exactly remember if they include shields for the screens, but I wouldn’t recommend using them. It makes your screen look fuzzy, which I find annoying (I applied onto my PSP and immediately removed it the next day). You are better off using screen protectors from Hori.

Here’s a couple more shots of the NDS

Overall the NDS version of InvisibleSHIELD has fulfilled my primary objectives; to protect the upper and bottom areas from scratches. It’s similar to having a crystal casing on the DS albeit lighter. Comparing this (shield) with the crystal casing + rubber pad combo I had, the weight difference is frightening.

I give this product a 8 out of 10.

You can purchase InvisibleSHIELD online through their website at USD $19.90. If you want a cheaper alternative, check out Protection Filter DS Lite from Hori.

This is probably my first time reviewing a game that I have completely finished. Usually I would only go through about 40% of the game before jumping onto my review. Not that I prefer it that way but the lack of time prevents me from finishing a game within a short period of time, unless of course the game’s length is short itself.

Taking that into consideration, I can honestly say Crisis Core is very lengthy game. The main storyline itself would take about 10 hours to complete. Throw in the side missions and the total hours would easily exceed the value of 60. This is to date the longest game I have ever played on the PSP, taking over my personal record which Jeanne D’Arc previously held.

Heading back to the roots, Crisis Core depicts the storyline of Zack Fair, a SOLDIER working for Shinra Corp who dreams to be a hero one day. Actually I would say the main point of this game is to see how Sephiroth went from honest-to-goodness hero to the famous villain whom we all love and hate. Zack is more like a ‘point-of-view’ that sees all the changes that are happening from within Shinra itself. A first class view no doubt.

As a direct reflection of Final Fantasy 7, Crisis Core starts off with Zack infiltrating on top of a train, similarly like his future yellow spiky haired successor. After a short intro CG cutscene that is nothing less than awesome, you will be thrown right into a battle. From here onwards I finally understood the gameplay mechanics behind Crisis Core. Pretty much to say I was confused upon going through some of the gameplay videos before this.

From my personal point of view, Crisis Core’s style falls between Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, more on the later than the former. You have the freedom to move, attack, dodge, defend, use items or cast magic at any time yet only one command can issued at a time. It felt a bit sluggish at first but after that it’s all good.

As much as similar elements are implanted inside Crisis Core, Square-Enix threw in something totally new and that is called the DMW (Digital Mind Wave). The DMW is a “slot machine”-a-like that keeps spinning during battle. Once you hit a jackpot (e.g. 3 Sephiroths), you will perform a limit break base on who you have gotten. Apart from that, DMW can also trigger summons, from Bahamut Fury that looks like Freedom Gundam to “Zantetsuken” Odin to “Needle Killing” Cactuar. The summon animations will definitely leave a wow impression.

I find it hard to love yet hate DMW at the same time. Early in the game, it’s easy to get a ‘hit’ on the DMW but as you progress further, the chances become less and less. Honestly speaking I’m not sure if its just my luck or it is indeed harder to ‘hit’ as your level gets higher. However judging by how my girlfriend played the game, I would say it’s just my freaking luck. Regardless, any DMW hit is always welcome.

The storyline in Crisis Core is like what I would expect from a Final Fantasy game, albeit a bit short. As I have mentioned, it will probably take an average player about 10 hours or so to reach the end. The side missions are something which most people would avoid at first until a new game+. Frankly speaking, the missions are a loop of one another. You are thrown into a map, locate the main monster or enemy you are suppose to find, kill it and mission accomplish. The lack of mission variety is what made most people gave up mid way but that is the only way to collect rare materias or equipments and to fight the hidden boss Minerva.

Hidden Boss Minerva

Graphics, sound and music are top notch. Zack’s animation is fluid with plenty of detail and the music remixed from Final Fantasy 7 will definitely keep your adrenaline up.

All in all, Crisis Core is a great game and a must have for any PSP owners. The lack of space in the UMD is probably the reason for the recycled missions, but Square-Enix could have altered the objectives a bit to make them more interesting. Running through the same thing for 100+ times isn’t exactly what I call … fun.

- Yet to own the game? Get your copy of Crisis Core from Play-Asia -