Bleach: Soul Resurreccion

 

When I compare a game to the Dynasty Warriors franchise, it throws up red flags for a lot of people. Although Dynasty Warriors popularized the “kill hundreds of enemies” formula with fast, easy-to-learn action, it’s lambasted for its repetitive combat and generic design. Bleach: Soul Resurreccion avoids these problems, in part, and makes endless hacking and slashing fun. As someone with a 50-episode familiarity with the Bleach anime, I shrugged aside my confusion over the incomprehensible campaign and enjoyed collecting Soul Points — it’s like glowing green money that dead people use! 

Bleach: Soul Resurreccion follows the battles of Ichigo and the Soul Reapers as they fight against Aizen and his army of Arrancars. For those not in the know, Arrancars are nasty, evil spirits. Soul Resurreccion is spread across 14 story chapters, as well as extra missions that can be played with any of the characters you unlock along the way.

I had fun with Soul Resurreccion for plenty of reasons. The combat initially looks easy because most basic combos can be executed by mashing the Square button. There’s a lot more to it, though. With good timing, you can power up a normal combo. This gives you an incentive to do more than just pummel the same button for hours. Each character also has a bunch of special attacks that can be mixed into normal combos. 

The subtleties of combat were clear to me after I spent a while experimenting with different techniques. With Ichigo I started by launching a few Spirit Attacks — which send arcs of energy tearing across the screen — and then transitioned into a basic combo. At the end of the basic combo, I launched my opponent up into the air, unleashed a few more basic attacks, and finished with a Super Move. 

It’s not the most complex battle system out there, but Bleach: Soul Resurreccion gives you lots to do in the heat of combat. But beware, your enemies do fight back — especially at higher difficulty levels. You’ll need to keep your guard up at the right times, dash away from danger, and even counter attacks when you have access to the ability. It’s an engaging system and it facilitates the process of collecting Soul Points. 

Yes, Soul Points are the sweet, sweet candy of Bleach: Soul Resurreccion. They’re green, they glow, and you don’t even have to run around to pick them up — they come to you when you defeat an enemy or destroy an object in the environment. Not only is it super fun to collect things, but Soul Points act as your currency for purchasing character upgrades. With enough Soul Points you can enhance your character and learn new techniques thanks to a stylish board similar to the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X (Anybody?). 

Soul Points give combat purpose, and you’re rewarded for keeping up a combo with a Soul Points multiplier. This adds a degree of pressure to an already frantic, effects-heavy experience.

If the combat wasn’t as rewarding, Bleach: Soul Resurreccion would be a sad story. The mission structure is formulaic and rarely deviates from “go forward, kill bad guys, beat the boss.” The extra missions provide challenging restraints to work around, but for the most part Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a repetitive game. I had fun with the activities I kept repeating, but it definitely runs the risk of getting old. 

Speaking of repetitive, let’s talk about the environments. There are only three background types in the whole story, so even though the stage layout changes, the scenery does not. It gets boring, and pales in comprising to the stylish characters and animation. 

Lastly, if you’re not already familiar with the story of Bleach, don’t expect to follow this. There are more names tossed around in the opening narration than you’d find in an actual book of baby names. Chapters blur together, gloss over massive amounts of material, and don’t do much besides contextualize the mayhem. 

Read more on how I reviewed Bleach: Soul Resurreccion. 

 

CLOSING COMMENTS

Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is easy to learn and fun to play, despite its incomprehensible story and repetitive backgrounds. It’s like Dynasty Warriors, but with a more enjoyable combat system that gives you tangible rewards for performing well.

If you’re up for some simple fun, Bleach: Soul Resurreccion might be worth a look. But you won’t be missing the experience of a lifetime if you decide to pass on it.

 

IGN RATINGS FOR BLEACH: SOUL RESURRECCION (PS3)

Rating	Description
out of 10	Click here for ratings guide
6.0	Presentation Convoluted, poorly-told story. The interface, however, is stylized and clean.
7.0	Graphics Sharp character models, fluid animation and some great special effects. Backgrounds, however, repeat often.
6.5	Sound The music is forgettable. Both English and Japanese voice tracks are available. Performances don’t have much impact on the experience.
7.0	Gameplay Fun combat complemented by a rewarding upgrade structure that encourages you to keep combos rolling.
7.5	Lasting Appeal I had the most fun grinding the extra missions for Soul Points. You could do this for a while before it starts to get old.
7.0 OVERALL	Good (out of 10)

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

An actual zombie outbreak would have been less tragic.

In theory, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City had everything going for it – a great concept set in a beloved universe and a rich, compelling canon to draw from. However, this team-based shooter amounts to far less than the sum of its parts. There’s a distinct difference between a franchise offshoot and a franchise bastardization. Unfortunately, Operation Raccoon City can only be defined as the latter.

ORC puts players behind the scenes of Resident Evil 2 and 3, particularly that disastrous outbreak in Raccoon City. You play as a member of the Umbrella Security Service, retrieving virus samples and destroying all evidence of Umbrella’s involvement in the catastrophe. It’s a brilliant concept, one that could have made for an extremely badass story and shed light on these well-known Resident Evil events. Unfortunately, all of this potential is squandered by some strange choices and truly terrible execution. 

The AI of team members and enemies is simply atrocious. While it’s preferable to play with friends, I was still stunned by how useless the computer-controlled teammates were. Not only are you unable to control their actions in any way, but their every move is unreasonable and downright idiotic. From running into empty rooms you’ve already cleared to constantly walking into obvious trip mines to finding surprising and frustrating ways to get themselves killed, your team offers no real backup or assistance, and there’s very little incentive to even revive them when they fall. For a team-based shooter, this is absolutely unacceptable. 

The enemy AI is no better. There were literally countless times where a Hunter would jump in front of me, wave its arms, then dash away or jump off the edge of something for seemingly no reason. When you have to chase down a Hunter and practically beg it to attack you, you know something’s not quite right. And while dumb zombies are at least understandable if not preferable, the fact that BOWs and even human foes act like they have no blood flow to the brain just makes no sense. 

As if that weren’t enough, the aiming is downright spotty – blindfiring, at times, is completely broken and enemy damage is somewhat random. Sometimes you can unload an entire clip into a Licker’s face and it won’t flinch, other times a couple of bullets do the trick. The melee attack is also way overpowered. Sure, it’s a fine mechanic for a normal shooter, but not for one set in the RE universe, where your knife is supposed to be a last resort to temporarily postpone death until you find more ammo. In ORC, you can practically hack and slash your way through parts of the game, killing that trademark RE suspense. 

The game also implements an auto-cover mechanic, whereby you stick to any wall you go near. It’s beyond annoying when you venture over to pick up an herb and end up sticking to the wall. In fact, it’s downright frustrating and almost never actually useful. Having auto-cover in a cover-based shooter, especially one that’s supposed to be tactical, makes no sense. Perhaps it could have been implemented in a way that was clever and useful – but it’s not. It’s just not.

As if all that weren’t enough, ORC also suffers from a complete lack of atmosphere, which is simply unforgivable for a game boasting the Resident Evil branding. The set pieces are bland and forgettable, and everything down to the music fails to capture the RE universe or create any amount of tension. The only impressive parts of the package are the graphics and character models, but even those certainly don’t rank among the best of this generation. The story offers no insight into Umbrella’s actions, and its flow and progression are both uninteresting and nonsensical. Sure, Resident Evil is known for its cheesy and “out there” plotlines – but they’re usually at least interesting, and bolstered by memorable characters that are easy to care about. 

While you can play as Leon, HUNK, Jill and other recognizable characters in the Heroes multiplayer mode, during the main campaign you’re stuck taking control of one of a handful of bland, faceless USS members with absolutely no personality or story arc to speak of. It’s always fascinating in Resident Evil games when you get a glimmer of what goes on behind the scenes of Umbrella – when its employees are humanized and portrayed as real people who, for various reasons, are capable of unimaginable evil. None of this conflict or depth is present in ORC, and it’s a true shame. As is, it’s impossible to care about what’s going on in the already paper thin story. 

ORC’s multiplayer modes don’t help much either, as they suffer from the same problems as single player – namely poor AI, a lack of atmosphere and an environment that is frustrating to interact with (there are literally tiny steps you can’t jump off and have to go around). The only difference is that you have a companion around to share in your pain and assure you it will all be over soon. 

In addition to co-op in the main campaign, ORC has four multiplayer modes, each of which supports up to eight players. Heroes mode offers a four-on-four team match that lets you play as notable RE characters (Leon, Claire, Ada, etc.), and Biohazard is essentially capture the flag, only you’re trying to capture lost G-virus vials. Survivors is a fight for survival against human and computer-controlled enemies that doesn’t end until the extraction helicopter arrives, and Team Attack is a team deathmatch – if you and your friends score more kills than the other team, you win. The number of play options would be great if the rest of the multiplayer experience were passable, but much like the rest of ORC, poorly thought-out gameplay mechanics, bad level design and a total lack of tension and suspense bring the whole thing down.

 

CLOSING COMMENTS

Given the huge amount of potential the developers of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City had to work with, it’s disappointing how little of it was actually realized. On several occasions I was legitimately surprised by the mention of the name William Birkin or the familiar sound of picking up an herb, having long forgotten that this was supposed to be a Resident Evil game. The terrible AI, the lackluster locations and the complete lack of atmosphere or memorable characters destroy what could have been a brilliant offshoot. In the end, Operation Raccoon City is little more than a poor man’s SOCOM, and a destitute man’s Resident Evil.

IGN RATINGS FOR RESIDENT EVIL: OPERATION RACCOON CITY (PS3)

Rating	Description
out of 10	Click here for ratings guide
2.0	Presentation ORC suffers from a bad, poorly thought-out story and characters without personality. The set pieces are forgettable and the atmosphere is nonexistent.
6.0	Graphics The graphics look fine, with pretty good character models of familiar RE characters in Heroes mode. It matters very little, though, since there’s nothing interesting to look at.
4.0	Sound The music fails to set the right tone. Familiar RE sound effects are cool, naturally, but almost seem out of place in this spinoff gone wrong.
3.5	Gameplay Insufferably bad AI, unbalanced enemies, spotty aiming and a terrible sticking mechanic destroy ORC’s great-in-theory concept.
4.0	Lasting Appeal Four multiplayer modes extend the fairly short campaign – but the gameplay is so bad, there’s no real reason to play any longer than you have to.
4.0 OVERALL	Bad (out of 10)

The House That God of War Built: Sony Santa Monica

Sony’s Santa Monica Studio is a well-known force in the gaming industry. As the minds behind the God of Warfranchise, it may be easy to paint this particular developer in Sony’s first party stable as a one-trick pony. But as I learned when I sat down with Santa Monica Studio’s Senior Director of Product Development Shannon Studstill, Sony’s unofficial western flagship is anything but. 

Indeed, the stories Studstill relayed — the money-crunch to finish the original God of War and being threatened with losing her job all the while, the internal battle on whether its sequel would be on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, and perhaps most importantly the studio’s role as indie developer incubator — made clear that Sony Santa Monica is so much more. Studstill graciously gave a clear lens which to view her studio’s storied history, as well as the path it continues to walk. 

Santa Monica Studio was founded in 1999 by Sony veteran and PlayStation evangelist Allan Becker in order “to break out of the corporate Foster City group” (a reference to Sony Computer Entertainment’s business-centric hub). After a short stay in an office next to future compatriot Naughty Dog, the fledgling crew ultimately found themselves tucked away in a series of brick buildings in the suburbs of Santa Monica, California, away from the prying eyes of Sony executives

“One of the key things for us at the time was open communication. We really wanted to have a collaborative open environment, no walls, no barriers between desks and that sort of thing.” This mantra was at the very heart of the studio’s design from the beginning. People like David Jaffe (already well-known for his Twisted Metal series) helped cultivate this attitude further. Jaffe would eventually give Santa Monica Studio its money-printing franchise God of War. 

Their directive? Ignore the PlayStation, and develop a game for that console’s upcoming successor, PlayStation 2.

The new team’s first endeavor was a PlayStation 2 racing game called Kinetica, the title that would eventually give God of War its engine. The Kinetica engine took time to develop, but it was time well spent because “we wanted to give the PS2 some legs” beyond this one game, Studstill explains. “We knew we weren’t going to necessarily blow it out on our first title, but certainly for me as the producer of the first game and one of the founders, it was really important that we shipped a product, right?”

“It was about getting Kinetica out even though we were still team building… we were pretty green so we didn’t have that team unity yet, we didn’t have that heavy-handed family feel yet.” Still, Kinetica got the job done. “We didn’t go into Kinetica thinking it would be a new franchise, but certainly a new high concept.” And while that all-important high concept ended up being the engineering foundation for a series to come, Kinetica still taught this new team other important lessons. “For me, [the memory of Kinetica] was shipping it on time and on schedule, just really that kind of production machine part, proving to Sony that we could ship something on time and stay within budget, and in this case we stayed under budget, which I’m surprisingly still proud of.” 

Following Kinetica’s release in 2001, the team turned its attention to the next project, a game that, several years later, would come to market as God of War and become one of the PlayStation 2’s most substantial critical and commercial smash hits. But with so much time to incubate and support the idea of God of War, it was surprising to learn that Studstill and her team didn’t know they had a bona fide hit on their hands until the game was only a few months from release.

Tim Moss, Santa Monica Studio’s Director of Technology, is well respected internally for his hardcore gaming sensibilities. During the Thanksgiving break of 2004, before the studio went into crunch mode to finish the game, he was sent home with a build of God of War under the directive to report back to Studstill on its quality.

“So we came back from Thanksgiving,” Studstill remembers, “and he was one of the first guys I was like, you know, scoping the studio, where is he?” Thankfully for her, it didn’t take her long to find him. 

“It’s pretty ****ing good,” Studstill quotes Moss as telling her. “And I was like ‘holy ****’… because that was the one moment that I had a breath as the producer of one of the, at the time, most expensive products out of Sony.” And there was reason for Studstill to be relieved, primarily because she had asked Sony’s President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, for more money to finish the still-untested project that previous spring.

Dungeon Village Review

The most charming warriors you’ll download today.

Dungeon Village is the latest simulation game from Kairosoft. The company’s previous sims have covered malls, game development, soccer, cruise lines, hot springs, and plenty more. But Dungeon Village seems specifically designed to capture gamers’ hearts — it allows players to construct a fantasy RPG town and send heroes off to battle tiny, pixelated monsters. 

Through building and nurturing a city of varied offerings, the town attracts heroes. Once a hero moves in, you can recruit them for quests ranging from clearing dungeons and ruins to cleaning up monster outbreaks. Whatever those tiny heroes earn on the job goes back to improving the town. Between adventures, you also hold events to drum up popularity and get your town’s name out there. As more heroes move in, acquire better equipment, and clear quests, your town’s renown climbs toward the ultimate goal: a five star rating.

Did we like it?

Dungeon Village is one of the best Kairosoft titles available — at least the first time around. The adorable pixel art of its varied monsters, mountains of loot, and the driving pursuit of both gold and popularity make it an extremely fun game. The tried and true Kairosoft formula applies well to this setting. Outfitting a bevy of heroes with fire axes, tinkering with magical recipes, and deciding the right number of heroes to send on a quest makes for a fun experience. Though once you hire the best possible heroes to join any open slots left in a party, quests become a little too easy. Additionally, the game’s job system seems largely superfluous. Sure you can turn someone into an archer, but they can still handle some business with an axe in hand. 

After sixteen in-game years of looting and battling, you set a high score based on quests completed, buildings built, gold stacked, and a few other factors. But here a problem arises. Looking back over a full run-through, outside of a few details there’s very little incentive to try and beat that high score. The variation in points and success feels minor. After you recruit some heroes, get them settled in town and outfitted with the best equipment available, there’s very little challenge outside of waiting for resources to build up and upgrading the town. That said, the charm of the setting and multitude of loot drops really makes this an exciting little game — even if it’s only worth a single playthrough.

Should you buy it?

Do you like collecting loot? Do you enjoy watching heroes slay tiny pixelated monsters? Do you enjoy town simulation games from Kairsoft? Dungeon Village is a great little game. It’s one of the best Kairosoft games out there mainly due to its setting and charm. Watching (temporarily) slain heroes get thrown from haunted houses, sphinx temples, and deep caverns remains entertaining throughout. The loot feels endless, and conquering a tough fight feels great. $4.99 is a little steep, but it’s the price of entry for nearly every Kairosoft title. Gamers on the fence can try the “lite” version risk-free.

 

CLOSING COMMENTS

Dungeon Village is a little too easy, but its art, items, and charm are more than enough to warrant a download. This is truly a gamer’s simulation and it’s about time Kairosoft tackled RPGs.

Phantasy Star Online 2 to Be Available on iOS/Android

Game developer Sega announced during its second media briefing for the Phantasy Star Online 2 game on Monday that a version of the game will available on iOS and Android smartphones, in addition to Windows PCs and the PlayStation Vita. In addition,Sega revealed that the role-playing game will be free-to-play across all platforms.

Sega also announced a closed beta test for the PC version. The beta test will allow players to play up to 24 hours at a time and advance up to level 30. It will have some of the final version’s features such as an item appraisal shop, a beauty shop, a costume shop, and a useful team counter in the gate area. Sega will begin accepting applications for the beta test on Monday at 4:00 p.m. in Japan.

The PC version will launch in early summer, followed by the smartphone version in winter, and finally the PS Vita version next spring.

Kuroko no Basuke Sports Manga Gets PSP Game

Tadatoshi Fujimaki‘s high school basketball manga Kuroko no Basuke is inspiring a PSP game titled Kuroko no Basuke: Kiseki no Game (Kuroko no Basuke: Game of Miracles). The simulation game has the player training a basketball team “with confidence.”

In the story, Taiga Kagami (played by Yuuki Ono) has just enrolled into Seirin High School when he meets Tetsuya Kuroko (Kensho Ono) of the school’s basketball team. Kuroko happens to be the shadowy sixth member of the legendary “Generation of Miracles” basketball team. Together, Kagami and Kuroko aim to take their team to the inter-high school championship — against Kuroko’s former teammates.

The manga has been running in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since 2008, and Production I.G‘s television anime adaptation will premiere on April 7. Shunsuke Tada (The Prince of Tennis, Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations) is directing the anime, and Noboru Takagi (Durarara!!, Baccano!) is in charge of the scripts. Yoko Kikuchi (Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations, Noir) is designing the characters.

Assassin’s Creed III: The Unstoppable Force

Scattered amidst the rocks, shrubs and trees of Bunker Hill, the American colonists attempt to mount an attack against superior numbers. Their ranks lack discipline, as each soldier fires his wildly inaccurate musket at will, with no order or coordination amongst the troops. Cannon fire rains down from the heavens, forcing the rag tag rebels to dash for cover. It is here that an assassin seeks his prey – a British commander atop an opposing peak. The only thing in his way – thousands of patient, professional soldiers. The British keep their formation, enduring the inaccurate, infrequent shots from their foes as they load their muskets. They wait for the order to fire. A tense few seconds tick by as the trained army ready their weapons. Almost as a battle cry, the infantry is given order to fire from across the valley. The hillside lights up as hundreds if not thousands of firearms erupt, tearing into the American militia. 

Still, the assassin moves forward with determination, mindful of the battlefield around him, yet determined to find his target. He knows that in this war, the life of one man can make a big difference, that thousands of troops look to orders from their officers. The assassin moves beyond the chaos, swinging from tree branches and scaling large boulders to ascend the knoll that hosts not only the troops waging battle, but their leaders as well. Atop the hill, the trained killer spots his target. The commander sits atop his horse, watching over the battlefield, but still guarded by at least a half dozen men.

The assassin is spotted, but he moves forward quickly, paying little attention to the British loading their muskets. They fire, but without overwhelming numbers, their inaccurate weaponry means little. Suddenly, he is amongst them, dispatching them with brutality and grace, an unstoppable force, determined to strike down his objective. In a matter of seconds, the soldiers have fallen, and the commander is alone, destined to meet the sharp end of a tomahawk. 

Ubisoft isn’t necessarily reinventing Assassin’s Creed, but if a recent demonstration of the next installment in the series is any indication, it has spent the last several years determining how to make this transition to the American Revolutionary War more than a simple shift in time. If the final product can hit what the development team in Montreal is promising, this game is going to be something special. 

Assassin’s Creed III is unmistakably born of its franchise, but it contains a scope and energy that speaks volumes about its differences. True, this is still about a man pulled into a greater destiny, pushed into the Assassins’ order, as if fate were calling all his life. The outfit looks familiar. A brotherhood will still be formed. Haystacks are still ideal hiding places. The high-tech Animus concept – and Desmond – still exist.

But then you’re darting from tree to tree more effortlessly than any building you scaled in a previous Assassin’s Creed game. You’re watching thousands of soldiers battle each other, as you dart amongst the bloodshed. You realize the combat mechanics now allow for both defensive, countering play styles as well as more fluid, offensive styles that take the fight to the enemy. Or you’re fighting a bear in the snowy frontier. That’s right – a bear. Seeing all of this take place in an in-game setting is stunning, seemingly pushing this franchise to a new height. 

Though Assassin’s Creed certainly hit its stride in the past few years, each entry felt similar to the last. Despite seeing the full life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the fact that three successive games starred the same character introduced a great sense of predictability to the series. Ubisoft is attempting to break that mold with the half-Native American, half-British man known as Connor. As in the case of Ezio, players will see Connor’s youth transformed, as his village in Mohawk Valley is destroyed. Much of the game’s story focuses on Connor’s indoctrination into the Assassin’s order, as he attempts to fight for his own beliefs in the midst of an iconic war

Assassin’s Creed creative director Alex Hutchinson describes Connor as a ‘hard reversal’ from Ezio, as the character is more quiet, earnest and good versus the more arrogant, showy nature of his predecessor. What’s more interesting is that Connor’s quest doesn’t necessarily align him with American interests. Allies and foes are everywhere, meaning that sometimes he’ll be taking on Templar elements rooted in British forces – and sometimes he’ll be hunting down villainy hidden in the rebel forces. The differences are even evident in the way Connor moves, which is far more predatory and tense compared to Ezio and Altair. That also plays out through the aggressive, two-handed combat we saw on Bunker Hill. 

Nature is not only a major setting of Assassin’s Creed III, it also plays a critical role in gameplay. Fog, rain and snow can not only affect mobility but how crowds and enemies react to you. This will particularly play a role out on the frontier, where fierce winters lead to waist-deep snow – which definitely impairs Connor’s ability to stalk his prey. Hutchinson stressed that the team wasn’t just focusing on making a setting, but an environment that actually changes how players will interact with the game. This frontier, incidentally, will hold a considerable amount of the game’s content spread across a region 1.5 times the size of Rome from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. That’s not to say cities are completely absent – Boston and New York are both present – though their designs are very different from what we’re used to in European settings

Seeing Assassin’s Creed III in action reinforces the impression that first reports and the debut trailer gave – this is absolutely the franchise we’ve come to know over the past several years, yet it’s changing itself in a significant way, much like the leap made from ACI to ACII. The Assassin’s Creed series has proven it has a lot to offer – but it definitely needed to shake things up, and find new material to explore within its basic framework. So far ACIII seems to be delivering precisely that. It remains to be seen how the game plays, and if all these promises actually make a difference, but watching Connor barrel through British forces like an unstoppable force certainly gives us hope.

Story: Michael Bay Presents: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

 

[Comedy][¿Satire?] “If Independence Day knocked up Armageddon and gave birth to the new Transformers franchise, and that abomination was a brony, this would be what the inside of its mind would look like.” -Pre-reader that is an example of someone who ships Rainbow Dash with everything
“Not even exploding twice could stop me from enjoying this masterpiece.”– Pre-reader #2

Author: Cold in Gardez

Description: On June 28, 2011, Michael Bay released Transformers: Dark of the Moon, his third feature film based on the HASBRO toy line Transformers. The next day, Bay and HASBRO entered into talks over another of the toy company’s properties, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The only concrete evidence of the new film to emerge so far is a tattered screenplay, presented here, which was found in a dumpster outside Bay’s production house, Platinum Dunes

Michael Bay Presents: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Revenge of the Unicorn God Slayer: Part 1: The Horn of Destiny

Kid Icarus Uprising – Yay or Nay?

 

Another week, another community blogging challenge. But first, IGN Nintendo would like to thank you readers for making this weekly feature such a special/badass endeavor. The response to this series of articles has been astounding, and we can’t thank you enough for stepping up to the blogging plate and starting some great Nintendo-related discussions. (Definitely! Thanks you guys! – Rich) 

In order to shake things up and try to give more of a spotlight to those of you who are chosen as Bloggers of the Week, we’re going to try something a little different this time around. Instead of an article compiling selections from the best blogs, we’re going to feature these blog entries directly on the site. The result is that fewer blog posts will be highlighted each week – but those that do will be directly promoted on IGN 3DS and/or IGN Wii. Not a bad tradeoff, right? 

Of course, we’ll still strive to read as many submissions as possible, so rest assured your work has a very good chance of being seen if it’s submitted. We’re also going to experiment with using these weekly blogging challenges to compile data for a cool little side feature to go up at the end of the week – but more on that later. 

For this week’s question, it seems only fitting to open the floodgates and discuss that little 3DS title that just saw a stateside release this past Friday – Kid Icarus Uprising. There’s been a lot of hype, anti-hype, controversy and speculation about this title, and now that many of you already have your hands on it, we want to hear what you think. Since Icarus features controls that take some time to get used to, we’d prefer it if you’d at least play through the first few chapters of the game, and at least toy with features like the Fiend’s Cauldron and weapons fusing, before blogging.

With that in mind… here are the questions we’d like you to blog about: 

• What do you think about Kid Icarus Uprising’s controls? Are they uncomfortable? Not a problem? Did you find an option/holding technique that made it work for you? 
• What do you think about the voice acting and running commentary during the main adventure? Too much? Just enough? Annoying? Delightful? Let us know! 
• What about Kid Icarus Uprising surprised you, in a good or bad way? It can be a feature, a gameplay mechanic, the visuals, anything – but be specific! 
• What are your overall thoughts about Uprising? Did it meet/exceed/fall short of your expectations? How so? 
• Finally, having played Uprising, what would you want to see from a sequel? More of the same, something with minor tweaks, or something completely different? 

That’s all there is to it! Now all you have to do is go blog it up – just be sure to send us your links through Twitter or our IGN blogs (our info is at the bottom of this article). Please make your submissions no later than Wednesday, March 28 at Noon PST. 

And to motivate you a bit… we’re going to bribe you. As mentioned, the best submissions will be promoted on the IGN 3DS page. Among the blog posts chosen for promotion, we’ll be singling out one or more as our Blog of the Week. These chosen bloggers will win a random selection of Kid Icarus Uprising AR cards. You can only get these through special distributions such as this one, so don’t miss your chance to make funny pictures like the one below using the game’s AR viewer.

Since we’ll actually have to mail out this reward, for this week alone only those who live in the United States are eligible for the prize. Those outside the States are still welcome to participate in our blogging challenge, and may still have their submission chosen and featured – but again, they will be unable to take home this week’s prize. Next week we’ll go back to giving out download codes, so don’t fret. If you’re chosen, someone from IGN will contact you through e-mail (and your IGN wall), so keep an eye out, and be ready to respond! (And please don’t ask us if you’ve won – we will be in touch.) 

That all sound good? All that’s left is to vote in the poll below, start blogging, and check back later this week for the results. We look forward to reading your entries!

Chaos Rings II Review

Who knew sacrificing friends could look so good?

The Chaos Rings franchise is the RPG equivalent of the Saw movies. Chaos Rings II begins with a guy named Darwin magically kidnapped and sent to a trippy mansion where he is forced into a series of battles. While Chaos Rings involved teams fighting to the death, this sequel instead follows Darwin as he is asked to sacrifice a group of people from his past, ostensibly to save the world. 

Chaos Rings II has the same basic mechanics as the original. Battles are turn-based with parties of just two. Random encounters initiate battles in the wild and, like other recentSquare Enix RPGs, the end of each battle fully refills HP and cancels any status ailments. The Genes of the first game have now been replaced by magic skills called Sopia, as well as Advent abilities, which are essentially typical RPG summons. Characters can also fill a meter during battle for their own unique Awake skills, which allow for massive attack damage or rapid healing. Each character earns additional Awake abilities as they level up.

Chaos Rings II is far more fully-featured than the original. It’s visually stunning, the battle system has been expanded, and there’s more to see and do. Switching between the new types of abilities adds a much-needed amount of variation to battles, and combining different Sopia to offset enemy strengths and weaknesses brings a whole new layer of strategy. 

While gameplay has been refined, the story never quite reaches its potential. It’s interesting following Darwin’s quest, learning about his involvement with each of the people he must sacrifice, but the tale is told almost entirely through clunky expository dialogue. Chaos Rings II features voice acting, but only in Japanese, and not being able to understand conversations prevents the game from having any kind of major emotional impact. 

Still, exploring the game world more than makes up for any story deficits. The environments are absolutely gorgeous and completely distinct from one another. From forests to Japanese villages to dilapidated cities, the levels are varied and complicated enough to make exploring feel like absolutely anything could be around the next corner. Characters each have their own unique traversal abilities (breaking down walls, moving platforms, jumping across large gaps, etc.), increasing replayability by encouraging players to return to each area to access previously unreachable sections. 

Chaos Rings II is priced aggressively at $17.99. While that’s undeniably high for the App Store, the game is robust enough to justify the price tag. This is easily one of the best JRPGs available on iOS, on par with similarly priced offerings on Sony or Nintendo handhelds. That said, it’s still a steep price point, and whether or not that purchase is worth it will depend on how much you enjoy traditional turn-based battles.

 

CLOSING COMMENTS

Chaos Rings II is a beautiful, full-featured RPG that highlights what Square Enix can do on iOS. Clunky storytelling and a high price prevent the game from reaching its full potential, but gorgeous environments and an expanded battle system more than make up for it.