Game Review: Final Fantasy Dissdia

Dissdia is a fighting type game on the PSP developed by Square Enix, containing all the past characters from the other Final Fantasy games. Not to say the storyline has anything to do with the past games, in fact Dissdia goes into its own story line about a war between two gods who have summoned warriors to fight for them. Now don’t be dissing Dissdia because it’s a little different to what Square Enix is use to, but they have pulled though what this little instalment.

Ones again SE has proven to be on top of their game and have delivered a fun and enjoyable game. Gameplay is very different to what is expected from a Final Fantasy game. A new feature is the free-moving battle system that gives the player a real feeling of control over their favourite characters. The Customisation feature in Dissdia includes around 200+ items including weapons; armour and much more add on to make your character stronger. A next feature add in is the summons, by playing though levels and completing levels under certain conditions player can acquire summon stones witch give their character special advantages in battle, but the better the stone, the harder it is the obtain. 

  
 Dissdia utilizes the PSP’s button lay-out and although it may look like a complicated game to play but it is surprisingly easy to master using only 4 buttons. Dissdia uses characters from FF to FFXII as its cast as well a few bad guys.

Dissdia offers much re-play ability; players will find themselves going back though level in an effort to unlock all items as well as all the summons or just to hit level 100. Overall Dissdia offers Final Fantasy fan a new style of play. The other thing this game offers are memories as fan of the franchise will find themselves thinking back though the ages as they fight with their favourite characters.

Game Review: Mirror's Edge

Mirror’s Edge tells the story of Faith, a runner in an unnamed city, where its inhabitants are under control from an iron fist from their government. Faith's job is to deliver important massages to an underground network who still live by the old ways. Using her acrobatic abilities to outrun the cops. As the game progress the players learn that Faith's sister has been wrongly accused of murder and Faith must clear her name

Although it looks like a free roaming game, it’s not; players are giving a goal and only have a few pathways to reach it, which is a shame as it has the potential to be a free roaming game. The control scheme is something else to look at as it only contains four buttons (6 if want to be technical). It may sound like it cuts-in to what the player can do, but it actually maximises what the player can do, different combinations perform different moves as well as a few special moves. “Fight or Flight” is the main focus in this game, as players continue through certain stages they are giving the option to fight up and coming enemy’s or run from them

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Visually the game is stunning, but over time the player will notice that some textures are re- used and it can feel as if the player is running through the same area again. But this minor setback does not affect the overall look of the game.

Mirror’s Edge uses a very unique colour scheme which plays hand-in-hand with the storyline as well as the environment, colours such as white; indicate the purity of the city and how everything has been flitted out of the city, red is a much stronger colour that stands out against the pale background which is used as a guide for the player.

The game offers a lot of replay opportunities, as the player progresses through the game they unlock time trails as well as unlockable content, players can also go back to make sure they’ve collected all the bags. Mirrors Edge features a DLC known as “ Pure”,  a map pack in with the game is stripped down to its bare essentials giving the game a completely new feel to the game

Overall Mirror’s Edge offers an exciting new style of play, for players seeking a trill as well as a challenge. Although it does have its flaws, it’s still a game worth playing. Player will find themselves drawn in by the story as well as the “Rush” that this game provides.

Game Review: Tomb Raider Underworld

The main story of Tomb Raider is, Lara croft is trying to find her mother by following the clues her father left her before he died. This story line starts in Tomb Raider Anniversary, and continues Though Legend and Underworld. Anniversary explained what happened to Lara in her in her early days as she started her quest for her mother, legend continues the story and takes it to the next level and reveals more of her fathers secrets

Underworld takes traditional Tomb Raider-style gameplay to a whole new level, with better graphics, an expanded range of moves for Lara, more interaction with objects, and many more new features. The traditional "boss" battles, a feature of past Tomb Raider games, have been completely eliminated, and combat in general has been cut back in this game.

Visual, this instalment of Tomb Raider is cut above the others, being the first in the series to use motion caption, not only that but it also has visual feedback, the environment reacts to the player ( Plants move when touched, footprints are left behind) a new feature that makes the play feel they are making an impact on the world.

A bit of a warning here: The game is very buggy. Of course this isn't unusual most game have there problems but there are a few in Underworld that can prevent the player from completing the game,several of these cannot be fixed after the fact, except by replaying large sections of the game, but all are preventable.

There are 2 DLC's available to download, Lara's Shadow, a short chapter that tells the story from the Doppelgangers point of view, and Beneath The Ash's, another short level which adds on to the main story.

Over all the game is a defiant improvement on the franchise and is a must have for all Tomb Raider fans, it could do with more puzzles and exploring. But it still is a fun and challenging game to play.