Monday, April 2, 2012

InuYasha! The Series

Tomorrow Never Comes

Genre: Anime
Completion: Series and Movies
Graphics: Great
Sound: Awesome
Story: Great
Plot Holes: Some
Complaints: Some
Rewatch: Yes
Verdict: Recommend

I have to admit, its been a while since I watched the entire first series and then read the manga, which wasn't to the end yet.  I finally got around to watching the Final Act though and finished up one of my favorite anime's!

The story in InuYasha is great, I have always loved the feudal era and any anime or art based on it.  The music, fighting, voice acting and almost everything else in the series is awesome.  Naraku has to be one of my favorite villian's. I love how he creates incarnations and uses the demons and feelings of everyone around him.  The way he sets traps and plots things, along with his back story, his connection to InuYasha and Kikyo, is just all cool.  How the demons are drawn, the way they swarm around, their ability's, the settings, loved all that stuff.  Both of the series also had some of my favorite anime music, the build ups, fights and emotional scenes were just so much better because of it.

The first series was drawn out a lot.  It built up the story, introduced the characters and seemed like it was going to go on forever, which is how I like my anime's, long while still keeping the story going good.  There was some filler, while they waited for the manga story to continue but I am fine with that, some of the better characters and episodes were filler.  The story is pretty good, revolving around the shikon jewel, Naraku, Inuyasha and his love interests with Kikyo and Kagome with plenty of fights thrown about.  It has a lot of emotional love stuff going on with it as well, but that's ok with me.  I didn't like, however, the way the series just suddenly ended right when it started getting to some good stuff.  One second they are introducing some new incarnations and building up some drama, then Kagome tells me that they are gonna keep fighting and gathering jewel shards!  The End.

After years of waiting, with many people saying there would be no more anime for the series, The Final Act finally gets going.  It took me a couple of more years to get around to watching it and while it was almost done as well as the first series, same art, introduction scenes and things, one thing really made me not like it as much as the first series.  Instead of being drawn out and full of filler, it seemed rushed.  In almost the same way as a book made into a movie gets hurried along and cuts out parts of the story, The Final Act turned what could have been another 100+ episodes into like 26.  Very disappointing.  Tetseiga, InuYasha's sword gets powered up too fast, fights end quickly, scenes jump around without explanation, Naraku and some of his incarnations motives don't make sense.  Without reading the manga I may not have noticed, but the pacing was much faster compared to the first series, making the transition between both of the series a bit awkward, it should have been smoother and lasted longer.

Overall I really like the series, one of my favorites, though there are a few things I never liked.  Why did Kagome always wear her school clothes everywhere?  I understand this is a fetish thing over there, but it didn't make sense fighting demons in those clothes, especially since she wore the robes often anyway.  InuYasha was always conflicted with his love between Kikyo and Kagome, but she was Kikyo's reincarnation, so why didn't anyway just tell him he loved the same person haha, duh.  Naraku should have infiltrated Kagome's home version of Tokyo, that would have been so awesome and made sense, but he never tried.

Finally, the end of the series.  I didn't like it as much as I would have hoped.  The final battle wasn't that epic, which seemed like it was building up to a massive fight.  The whole ending just seemed like a cheap way to finish things.  It was emotional, but it didn't have the closure I would have liked.  There could have and could still be a lot more from the InuYasha story, so much left in what was a pretty awesome universe.  The ending was happy enough but, I wanted to see so much more of the characters, Sesshomaru for example, so much left between him and InuYasha that could be told.  I always hate when a good story ends and will always find a way to ask for more, hopefully tomorrow will come for the InuYasha series.  I will admit it, I teared up a bit at the end and will miss this series.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

A Fool's Errand

Platform: PS3
Completion: Platinum
Graphics: Great
Sound: Good
Story: Good
Bugs: Some
Frustration: VIOLENT
Replay Value: Some
Verdict: Don't Bother

This game was just about what I expected it to be. The story mode, which has some pretty graphics and is fun enough if you are a fan of Naruto, is for the most part a cheap rpg. You waste tons of time running around, talking, opening then closing menus and collecting things that you don't really ever need. It covers the story pretty good and I really liked the quick time event fights for boss battles. The fighting was a lot of fun, but you have the typical AI that cheats and moves that only seem to work properly for the opponents.

Overall the game was pretty fun for a fan of the series, unless.......

Getting the platinum in this game was the most frustrating one yet. They just made you waste time for most of them, I finished the game like 3 weeks ago but just now got the trophies done.

The online mode killed what fun this game did have. You have the usual quitters, the cheaters (lagswitches), the trash "pros" who just pick the cheapest characters and win all day for no reason etc. The ranked matches don't matter since you can pick who you fight and quit if you start to lose.

The worst part was the matchmaking. This game has some terrible design for menus and too much loading, no excuse for it now days. You wait for it to find sessions, by the time you get to one its full and then it kicks you back to the menu to search again instead of letting you try a different person, or you get stuck transmitting. In 20 minutes you might get one or two 50 second matches and when you need 50 wins (looked like just 10, but they hid more in the titles you have to get.....) you are in for a long, frustrating, annoying, anger filled experience that might cost you a few controllers.

With the new game out already, don't bother with this. From what I hear it has the same matchmaking, but you don't need it for the platinum.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

inFAMOUS 2

Sucker Punched!

Platform: PS3
Completion: Platinum
Graphics: Great
Sound: Great
Story: Great
Bugs: Some
Frustration: Too Much
Replay Value: Low
Verdict: Rental

Just like the first, inFAMOUS 2 is a great game that gets RUINED, this time INTENTIONALLY.

Almost all the problems from the first game have been fixed, the game is a lot of fun to play through and complete, great graphics, story and sound, but if your going for the platinum and full completion get ready for some more frustration. Last time around, it was blast shards and xp farming that really made it hard to get a platinum, this time around they added a new power that shows where the nearest blast shard is to fix that, bonus points, as for the xp.....

UGC, User Generated Content, basically they are allowing players to make new missions. This fixed the need to exploit xp by redoing a mission over and over again if you were lucky enough to have it left at the end of the first game. Looked like it could have been fun, especially the xp missions where you just blow everything up real fast, but they decided to remove the ability to earn xp from UGC missions........ the only reason to have them..... They have no leader boards or multiplayer, so most of them, even the Sucker Punch ones, suck.

I wasn't smart enough to leave missions to exploit this time and after spending two days just trying to earn my last 10k or so xp to unlock powers, I found out that I could camp by the ice tower blowing up gas tanks, entering and exiting the UGC to cause them to respawn, getting about 70 xp each time. In the end the UGC did fix the problem... barely, but we are still required to exploit in order to finish, just like the first game.

Overall both inFAMOUS games are great and worth playing, if you rent them or get them bargain priced. I will be trying Festival of Blood from the PSN eventually as well.

inFAMOUS

Shockingly Aggravating

Platform: PS3
Completion: Platinum
Graphics: Decent
Sound: Great
Story: Great
Bugs: Many
Frustration: EXTREME
Replay Value: Low
Verdict: Rental

inFAMOUS is a great game ruined by game flaws and bugs. One second you will be enjoying the game, which should be excellent, the next you want to smash your controller.

Getting the Platinum is a real pain for this game and imho required for a actual review. Bad climbing, annoying ai, aggravating missions and fights just ruin the game. The enemy's try to shoot at you through buildings with unlimited ammo and accuracy and will run screaming around chasing you even if you are not close by. The radar doesn't even show things close enough to be much use in combat. Dying and failing rarely feel like its the players fault, but the game does help by not making you redo everything when you do (huge plus).

Overall the game is great and is worth playing both ways, but its one of those games that make rentals, used games and piracy important.

Rent it or buy it bargain used, then play the sequel.