Retro Impressions: Omega Boost

OMEGA BOOST

So here is a game on the oringal Playstation that you guys may not have heard of.  The game is titled Omega Boost and it actually has a interesting story behind it. However, let me tell you how the game plays and whether or not I think this game is worth your time.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Omega Boost is very simple, but is highly addictive and fun. The game is a semi on rails shootem up, and is compared by some to Panzer Dragoon (We will get back to this.) I however think that due to the very dynamic camera angels and sense of speed it plays a bit similar to Zone of the Enders. You only use 6 commands in the game, each are mapped out very well and some commands are repeated to offer control variety. The combat is very similair to rez, or vice versa, and is instantly understandable. You move your cursor over enemies to lock on and once you have locked on to enough enemies you unleash your deadly homing lasers with the X or SQUARE button. If you don't lock on you also have a free aim gun that you can shoot, I never used that however. The next commands are all around boosting and although explaining this may sound confusing, it is really quite simple. You have R1 for the breaks and both TRIANGLE and CIRCLE can act as your quick dash with boost. You can combine this dash while moving to the left or right to perform a spiral maneuver. The last dash is a sort of a lock on dash, and this you will be holding down for most of the game. When you tap L1  your character quickly switches in the direction of the closest enemies allowing you to quickly swift between enemy and obliterate them. This dash isn't as fast as the other one, but it still makes the game feel hectic and gives it  a fun way to play. The lock on feature a necessity as well since controlling the camera can be a pain at times. The last command you have is your special which is the L2 button. It is actually a dash attack that rams into the enemy and deals a high amount of damage. Overall the controls themselves have no problems and I was very impressed

Story

There is a story, with CGI animation as well as actual cutscenes with actors. However, the story didn't seem important to me. Basically you go back in time to destory this computer that took over mankind, and then you go back to the future to kill a stronger version of it. Not really impressive and the game is simply being bought for the fun gameplay, not the story.

Soundtrack

The music here is simply badass. Techno Metal at it's greatest, just overall a really amazing soundtrack. Sadly, the soundtrack of this game is very rare and will cost you more then the game even goes for. The audio can be ripped from the original Playstation 1 game though.
To the left of this text I have a very good song from the soundtrack that I recommend you listen to, you will not be disappointed.






Overall Impression

I have to say, once I saw a live stream of this game I was pleasently surprised by what I was watching. It reminded me a lot of Zone of the Enders and it did not dissapoint. Graphically the game looks amazing on the Playstation and is probably one of the best games for the console. Some parts of the game run at 60 frames/sec and the mechs were created by a designer of Macross. There are plenty of colors and some of the coolest effects that I have seen are used commonly in this game. It can get a bit reptitive, but this game can be picked up at a max of $5. I picked up my copy for 1.50$ complete an I would highly recommend you guys go do the same.

Interesting Facts
Remember how I said this game plays similair to Panzer Dragoon? To my surprise, there is actually a reason for this. Yuju Yasuhara, who worked on Panzer Dragoon Zwei, turned out to be the lead designer and programmer He joined Polyphony Digital and helped create their only shooter in a world of racing games. Some more interesting facts is that some of the soundtrack for the US version is made by Static-X and Loudmouth.

Gaming News For May 9, 2012

Gaming News for May 9, 2012

Soul Sacrifice Is Being Developed by Keji Inafune, And More Details

At the Game Developers Conferenece, Keiji Inafune announced that he was working on a fantasy Vita game.It has been officially announced that Keiji Inafune will be developing Soul Sacrifice. He also will be working with Marvelous AQL, who has worked on some handheld games from the Harvest Moon series along with the
Fate/Extra game on PSP. The game is still being worked on by Sony Japan as well. Teruyuki Toriyama may be producing the game, but that information remains unclear. Toriyama has worked on Folklore and Demon's Souls. Although My original thoughts for this game are most likely false I am still very excited for this game.
In Soul Sacrifice you play as a wizard who is a slave to a evil magician. While you are enslaved your character finds a book in disguise as a demon. The story revolves around there. To cast spells throughout the game you must give up something. This idea becomes very dark because minor spells require items, stronger spells however require a body sacrifice. This can be seen through some truly gruesome imagery that successfully made me cringe a bit. Another exciting announcement is that the game will have 1-4 players, ad hoc and wifi. There also seems to be some character customization. which always is a nice touch. The game is slated for a winter release.


A Bunch of Persona 4: Arena and Persona 4: The Golden News


First off, the story for Persona 4: Arena has been revealed. It starts off with the Protagonist taking a train to return to Inaba. When he reaches the town, Nanako greets him and they then go meet up with Dojima for a meal. However, this is cut short when Maragret invites the Protagonist into the Velvet Room. Yosuke, who is now a senior in high school, is living out a normal life working at Junes when  suddenly rumors of the midnight channel pop up. He decides to go into the TV and while he is in there he meets Labrys. Labrys was first mention in the Persona 3 Drama CD Vol. 2: Moonlight, and she is named after a double bladed axe. The cool thing is that her weapon is also double bladed axe. Chie is trying to become a police officer and she too hears rumors of the midnight channel. Later on, the TV tells her she will soon meet a man wearing a cloak. Atlus has added extra

story scenes to the console version of the games. Just for reminder the game is coming out in August on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and the Arcade.

In other Persona related news, Persona 4: The Golden has some newly announced updates. On the first note they will be having a bug catching mini game. In the mini game you catch bugs that you can also use for the fishing mini game. Additionally, a few new changes will be happening to Rise. Rise will have a new evolved persona named Kouzeon. Along with the new persona, some new abilities have been added to her character. Although she does not fight in battle, she tells the player what the enemy is weak against before the battle begins and also gives the party full health when she levels up.
Rise has another new  ability that allows her to join a "all out" attack. A very helpful ability she will have will be the ability to bring the protagonist back on his feet when he is knocked down by his weakness. I never was a big fan of Persona 4, but doing all of this news is seriously getting my interest in the game again. Overall I am glad that Atlus is taking the time to add new features to the game and not just do a straight port. I think this will be a must buy for the Vita and you can expect it June 14th in Japan, and during the fall in North America



New Xbox Bundle Includes 4 Game In Japan


It seems as though Microsoft is really trying to gain a market in Japan with their newly announced bundle. This amazing bundle includes

• Xbox 360 Console 
• 250GB Hard Drive
• Wireless Controller
• Headset
• Halo Reach, Gears of War 2, and Fable 3 online codes (digital copies of these games obviously)
• Monster Hunter Frontier Online (Physical Copy)
• "Eversleep" One handed sword (Dlc for monster hunter maybe?)
• Avatar Clothing (Armor and Gunman)
• 3 free months of Gold Subscription

The price of this bundle is only $373, and it comes out May 23, 2012. Although I do find this bundle to be really cool, I have to wonder why are we stuck with a 99$ Console Bundle that has us sign a contract saying we have to be subscribed to gold for so long or else we rape your wallet. Anyways this is going off topic, this is a great bundle for any Japanese gamer and if you were looking for a Xbox 360, Now is the perfect time

New Tales Of Game Being Announced At Tales Festival In June

There is a new Tales game being announced at the next Tales Festival, which is being held through June 2nd - 3rd. No more information has been given, but hopefully we will see a international release. The recently release Tales of Graces F sold 175 thousand copies in the United States. A localization for Tales of Xillia has been hinted at heavily and if the game comes out here, make sure to buy it if you enjoy action rpgs. Remember, the more money they make on the Tales Of series the more we will see of them.








Wolfenstein 3D Is Now Free, Typing Of The Dead Is Coming To iOS

Wolfenstein 3D is 20 years old and now has a free to play browser version. The browser copy has chapters 1-3 and can be found HERE (Game). There is also a Devlopers Diary that was release feautring one of the developers, John Carmack. He plays through some of the game while sharing his time working on it and it can all be found HERE (Video)






Sega announced a new remake of Typing of The Dead for the japanese iOS market. The game uses a phone keyboard instead of a computer keyboard obviously and is free to download on the Japanese  market. They have added 25,000 words, Boss Rush, and a Drill Rush mode which may or may not cost you extra. I am very glad to hear about this since I always wanted to play Typing of The Dead. If you haven't played Typing of The Dead then I would recommend you try out this copy to see if you enjoy it. After all, it's free.

Gaming News for May 8 2012

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A New Beggining For My Journlialism

Welcome To My New Blog

I have recently decided that the main provider for my video game journalism will be on my Blogger. I want to become a journalist in the future, and I believe I should start with written content before I go into video. This will allow me to focus more on the content, not video editing or other distractions. I have no plans to stop making videos, but I do believe that this is the better move. Since I am focusing on written content you can expect better, more detailed, and professional content.

Focus of This Blog

My blog's main focus is on video game journalism, but it will branch out into different areas when I want to share my opinion in such. Since this has no major budget, like many "professional" review sites, the press and review content will most likely come out late. However, my content will be very informational and I will have my own personal content which will fill the time gap. I plan on providing the best video game journalism blog I can.

What You Can Expect From This Blog

Gaming news 

I plan on posting news stories on here and giving my best reactions to them, obviously this  won't be coming out as fast as some other review sites, but you can expect me to put the news up here and give some more information than a typical news story.

Interviews

I am going to get interviews from a lot of people who most likely you wouldn't see on other sites. These most likely will not be people from the industry (if the opportunity arises to get someone in the industry though you can expect it to show up here.) Either way there will be plenty of people who will have many interesting ideas and stories to share about gaming.

Personal Content

A lot of different content will be done by me, which I will list here.

     - Reviews (I do not have a huge budget that can afford to buy every new release, I will do my best but chances are that most reviews will be late from their release dates. Also if I do buy a game on release day you can expect that I am going to play through it and give a full review. Scoring system may be applied, not decided yet.)

     - Game/Demo Impressions

     -Anime Reviews 

     - Movie Reviews

     - Product Reviews

     - Top Ten Listing

     - Personal Content (This can literally be anything, but you can expect recent pickups and collection progress to be included here. These two post in particular will most likely stay in video format.)

Closing Statements

I just want to end this by saying that as of right now, this content will strictly be done by me. I do not want help with doing post on here, but that is not to say that this won't change one day. However I will never take a random person's content, if you want your content up here I need to know you and it has to live up to my standards. I will post a update of when I will start taking other journalist into this blog. With that being said, I hope all of my future readers enjoy this blog and content will arrive shortly.

Resistance 3 Review (Single Player)

                                               RESISTANCE 3 REVIEW

Introduction

Since the launch of the playstation the resistance series has been a major series in the playstation exclusive line up. It was the launch title that most people did or should of picked up and was one of the only ones at that. Resistance 2 added a very colorful color scheme and provided a great story with  some great set pieces. I am happy to say that Resistance 3 is another great game in the Resistance series and is diffidently worth your money.

Story


It has been 3 years since the events of Resistance 2. You play as Joseph Capelli, a character in Resistance 2 who decided that his fighting years are over. He settles in New Haven, Oklahoma: A town built underground so they can live in secrecy from the Chimera. He marries a girl named Susan and has a child who is very sick. The secrecy of his town though is one day in danger as Joesph notices a Terraformer in the sky, which is a weapon used by the Chimera to destroy everything on the ground. In response, Joseph decides to evacuate the city to save it from destruction. While doing this though he finds out that the Chimera were following a doctor, from resistance 2 and prior games, who was looking for Joseph. He tells Joseph that due to the events that happen in Resistance 2 a beaker was activated in New York. The beaker is quickly freezing the world and the doctor asks Joesph to destroy it. At first he is reluctant but through the persuasion of his wife he decides to go. The story then unfolds and there are many plot points that you wont see coming. The ending is also satisfying and doesn't drop you off at a cliff hanger. The story keeps you interested and will please most people. It is short, but I can forgive this because it felt complete. The satisfaction level depends on you though.

Graphics, Sound, Atmosphere

Resistance 3 is designed perfectly and they did a great job with the game. The graphics look beautiful and realistic, but do have there own art style to it that really adds to the atmosphere of the game. Humanity is lost in the game and the atmosphere complements that really well: There are plenty of creepy chimeras, horrific sounds, and terrifying settings that truly make this the scariest and most atmospheric of all the Resistance games. There was one level that really reminded me of the Half Life 2 level with all of the zombies in it, and that is a very good thing. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and will hold your attention throughout the game. All in all the atmosphere really captivated me. I felt like I was always alone, and I felt like although I was completing the mission I was never actually winning the war. This is what the Resistance series has been trying to do and it does it perfectly in this game.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Resistance 3 is one of the most addictive I have played in a long time. You are allowed to carry every gun in the game, which is a lost design feature in today's first person shooters and I love it.
The weapons where all really fun to use too and it was very hard to pick a favorite since all are well designed. There is a biogun that shoots a giant green blob that mutates the enemies and causes them to explode and spreads the disease. There is also a cryo gun that allows you to freeze your enemies and blow them up. In the end there are a lot of gun, all of which having a alternative fire, and they all feel special and unique.
Another cool thing is that the guns upgrade the more you use them, which gives incentive to use every gun. This complements  the guns so perfectly because every gun is fun to use. In summary the gunplay is fast and addictive and all of the other controls work like the should.

Overall

There are few series that have so many successful sequels that constantly get better over the previous installment. The Resistance series is one of the only series where I can honestly say has gotten better after each installment. The gameplay is improved over Resistance 2 and the Atmosphere is overall where the Resistance series always wanted to be. The game is just fun and addictive. You can clearly see that Insomiac has grown to understand the first person shooter genre. The game felt like a experience I would get from the Half Life, Bioshock, or other story driven first person shooters, which is amazing. I highly recommend this game to any first person shooter fan, and any fan of half life. Rather it is as good as Half Life, you will be the judge of that, but I can honestly say that Resistance 3 is a shooter that you should not forget.

This one gets a Buy It