It's been while....

wow, havent posted anythin for like months now. it's not like anybody is still following ( -___-)

Anyways, now im in a great mood to continue posting again~!

What i'll do for this post is to bring ya up to speed in some of the H!P news and reviews of games that ive been experiencing this year. And it's gonna old news so this may roll your eyes in boredness - how do you even roll your eyes like that? doesnt that stress your eyes? lol

First up, GAMING~!

- Plants vs Zombies
who knew our last line of defense against the zombpocalypse are plant seeds :\


Yes yes, i know its a game released last year but i started to take interest of it now since alot of ppl recommend playing it. To put it simply: it's an active desktop tower defense of plants vs zombies. What i meant by active is that unlike any other DTD games, you are not just watching your defnse beat out the zombies. instead, you are always trying to gather enough sun and constantly beefing up your defense and always rearranging your offensive plants. This game is both deep and fun. This has lead me to finish the main game over 6 times over now. This game is addictive to GeN. Like what others say, "I really recommend playing Plants vs Zombies"

- Super Street Fighter 4
HADOKEN! SHORYUKEN! SONIC BOOM! YOGA FLAME! PSYCHO CRUSHER! TIGER!



This is the expanded version of Street Fighter 4 last year. It has more characters from previous Street Fighter games plus two new characters. ppl say that they tweaked the gameplay a bit but i cant tell lols. i havent played SF4 that much so i can recognise the little differences. But still, this game is now fun to play. I started playing this coz i watched on some of the matches during this year's EVO. EVo is a tournament open to the world. The biggest names in street fighter style games came to participate to versus each other in this better version of SF4. Watching the matches in youtube had inspired me to play much better in SSF4 and often played online in XBOX Live. ppl are still better than me though....(stupid 360 controller X\)

- Yakuza 3 (jp name: Ryu ga Gotoku 3)
Like a dragon~! Touched for the very first time~! Like a dra-a-a-a-gon~!


The sequel of 2008's Yakuza 2 in the PS3 and THE only game that can immerse you in modern day tokyo. An open world of the red light district in tokyo that has limited yourself into a few block radius. But this does not limit you seeing the exquisit detail of authentic aesthetics of the tokyo streets.

This game have a movie style plot of a yakuza flick which keeps you guessing and hitting unsuspecting twists. Between each plot cutscenes, you get to explore and experience that Tokyo and Okinawa has to offer. This can range from completing side quests taken from strangers in need to hitting a couple of swing in a batting cage or getting you ball out of a sandtrap.

Also in the streets, there are loitering thugs that think you owe them money or some lame ass excuse for us to kick their asses. The battle system in this is pretty simple to master the deep move list that your yakuza hero can perform. What makes you drive to fight more is the HEAT actions. This executes the many uses of objects that you can pick up and deal massive bone crunching and nose bleeding hard hitters on your helpless foe.

The dedication of this japanese experience made by the developers is unbelieveable. It is unfortunate that they took out some of the activites that they think us western audiences cant comprhend, like hostess clubs and mah jong. I truly recommend this game for ppl who have a keen interest in japanese culture and want to explore the world of the yakuza. And also, there is a free demo in the PSN store. You hear that? THE DEMO FOR YAKUZA 3 IS FREAKIN FREEEEE!!!!!!

- Final Fantasy XIII
The most hyped RPG for 2010. Was it worth the wait?



Old Final Fantasy verterans have turn some heads from the gameplay choice that is embeded into this game. This "RPG" involves a couple of characters that live in the world of Cocoon. Each having a doomed curse upon them and they have to "find a way" to get rid of it, while also trying to save their loved ones who has also been doomed by this fate as well. This kind of story would have been in a more epic scale but failed the most strenuous close minded thinking in most, no wait, all of the characters. There are times that made me want to skip cutscenes coz all they did is whine and talk poetically about their views in life. i know that alot of the japanese RPGs fans eat that stuff up but this would not fly into worldwide appeal.

But what is impressive though is some of the detail of the backgrounds and graphics in the game. Though i say "some" because travelling long straight paths between each hotspots had burned out the creativity of the level designers. cutscenes are truly boastful, up to the Square-Enix's standard of gorgeous cinematics.

The battle system is the most flashiest turn-based type yet. Though it suffers by limiting on one character vital to the fights and what each character's set jobs that they have equipped.

But after all the great flashy things that are present in this game, I ended up hating on this game. It didnt give me the amount of fun of 30+ hrs ive put into it. Square-Enix has self indulge themselves into making a very casual gameplay oriented RPG. There's no true exploration around the world, the job system and items arent as deep unlike its' predecessors. The story blew ass. Well, to be fair, i 'thought' this story would go somewhere but after finishing it, it was a TOTAL LETDOWN. The story wasnt deep after all :\ I have only finished it coz i was playing it with my friend at the same time and he finished first. I was kinda close to beating it, so i did finish it. That gave me the absolute right to say, "FUCK THIS GAME!" And i know ppl who may differ from by saying, "you dont understand the genius of this game. make sure you finish it until it opens up", but I did finish it and made me bitter that i have not got any fun out of it.

- Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Join our favourite professor and his apprentice to discover the world in the future.


Right after the previous Professor Layton game, us fans have been starving for another brain teaser game. It only took a full year to finally give us another hit of Layton crack into our veins. This game is the final of the curent trilogy of Professor Layton, which has made this the best layton to date.

The game starts off by Layton receiving a mysterious letter from the future, both Layton and Luke are transported through time, 10 years in their city of London. As a avid fan of solving puzzles and mysteries, he and Luke are forced to travel around London to expose the threat to the city. As fun as the story maybe, the true fun actually lies in the thing that you'd be doing the most, solving puzzles!

The puzzles range from simple logic questions, graphic questions, mutliple choice, sliding puzzles, and the all time favourite, math puzzles :\ After hearing some of the complaints from fans about certain puzzle types in the previous layton games, those particular types are reduced in this game. Unwound Future have over 100 puzzles and 3 new side puzzles. Hint coins are aplenty because it introduces the Super Hint. Normally, you get three hints (each cost one hint coin)while solving a puzzle. A Super Hint (costing 2 hint coins) basically pretty much spells out what you need to do to solve it.

This game is polished like crazy. This game has the most voice acting than any other DS game that ive played. The characters and backgrounds have a nice auburn cellshaded design. The music in this game is very atmospheric that sets the mood of the event or location and the repetitive sound cue of telling you whether you have the correct answer or not. This game is a buy for fans that are willing to make youself sit for hours for just solving brain teasing puzzles. I now wait for the next Professor Layton game that is part of a prequel trilogy of the first professor layton game.

That is pretty much my highlight games since my last post. Ill come back another day to give my views on some of the Hello! Project news and singles/albums that has been released this year.

Until Next Time!
-GeN

Fly Me to the Moon -review

And here I thought the significance of the song 'Fly me to the Moon' to me was an ending song of a great anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Just yesterday, I finally got a copy of a game that makes the games like 'God of War' and 'Ninja Gaiden' look like fine theater. This of course I'm talking about is SEGA's new stylish action game, Bayonetta.


During this game's gameplay preview back in the last E3, many compared this game to Devil May Cry. And you're right to notice that. Bayonetta had also the same creative director from Devil May Cry, Hideki Kamiya. After reviewing from what Capcom did with their latest DMC, Kamiya wanted to create a game that has evolved from DMC to focus more on feminine style centering a female protagonist.

It's Bayonetta making herself known to the world.

Bayonetta's setting is about Paradiso(heaven realm) and Inferno(hell realm) having a ongoing war, with the real world and purgatory as their battlefield. Totally original right? So anyway, here comes in Bayonetta, the last surviving witch from the Umbra clan stricken with amnesia. She tries to recollect her lost memory while she gives a bunch of whoop ass to both of the waring factions. During her journey has reoccurring stereotypical characters. You got a hardass black dood, a 1940s danny devito chump, a red-wearing rival witch, a lame love interest, and a little girl who looks similar to Bayonetta. I havent play too long yet but i can tell story isnt gonna be that original but it'll definitely get you to travel many different baddies in the game.

About the game itself: It's freakin awesome!
Well, that's if you dig games like DMC and Ninja Gaiden. Fans who are familiar to the series genre can expect some of the moves you can pull out from the game. I got the 360 version of the game so ill point out the control scheme by referencing the 360 pad.

A - jump
B - kick (hold to fire wepon)
Y - punch (hold to fire weapon)
X - weapon
RB - hold to lock on target
RT - dodge/Witch Time
LT - change weapons
LB - taunt (lol!)
Left stick - move
Right stick - move camera view

Like the usual of the genre, you can have many combination of flurry attacks against your opponent. Many of which are combos of weapon+punches+kicks. To add a halt to your combos, you can hold one of the punch or kick buttons to end the end early (or to chain off it) with firing your weapon. You can press punch/kick while moving the left stick in a circle to execute in 360degree shooting mode to aim baddies around you (while you press left or right in the stick to switch baddies).

Beating up big scary angelic monsters
is all in a day's work for Bayonetta.

Back to the combos, having a long stream of punch/kick combos sets up a attack that delivers a devastating blow to the opponent. You can immediately notice the heavy blow coming by seeing you character momentarily strip off for clothes leaving what looks a black V-shape bikini (just to note first, her clothes are made out of her magical hair). After a long chain combo, her hair goes into a portal and come out to another portal in front of the baddie looking like a huge 'hair weave' fist; or a 'hair weave' leg wearing heels. It may sound obsurd but while fighting larger baddies and bosses, you'd want to have long combos with devastating blows to end it.

Nice heels you got there Bayonetta~

The real helpful tactic while fighting is the dodge button. Pressing RT by itself just lets you dodge enemy attacks. But dodging just moments before the baddie lands a hit on you, time slows down and the stage goes purple. This mode is called Witch Time. While times slows down momentarily, your character becomes a bit faster, this means you can run up to the baddie, make a long but very fast combo and end it with a devastating blow. Time reverts back and you can repeat it as much as you want just as long you time your dodges just right to go back in Witch Time mode. And also, its absolutely free, meaning there isn't a gauge that times you while doing it.

Witch Time makes the screen look more purple...

There are many different ways while being in action in Bayonetta. The weapon button doubles a interact button and a pick up button. The things you can pick up are baddies' dropped weapons, with each of them have a very unique style of using them. There is also a bar adjacent to your health meter. This is your magic gauge. What it does is while you chain successful blows to your opponent, the gauge fills. Once it fills, you get Bayonetta close to the baddie and press Y and B together. This activates the Torture Attack. The opponent is placed inside a torture device, and with a little bit of repeated presses of the B button, the attack increases and you get a wonderful bloody animation of damage.

Don't get caught by one of Bayonetta's Torture Attacks.

Bayonetta is split up into chapters containing many verses in between. After clearing each verse you'll be given a medal. And after clearing that chapter, the game accumulate your medals from the chapter's verses and gives you an overall score. Sometimes while it calculates the accumulated verses, there are some medals displayed in black. This means there are some optional verses that you can clear later on your 2nd playthrough, hence giving this game some replayability. Also, after the end of each chapter, a short shooting minigame can be played. It's played by how many 'bullets' that you have collected in the chapter. Shoot enough baddies on the screen gets you to get some points to buy items or just change them into halos(currency of the game).

There is also a shop located in different points of the map called the Gates of Hell. It looks a bar, but it's really a front for a weapon and item shop. As you get through the game, there are a few weapons will be available for you to purchase. You can also buy recover and life enhancing lollipops. Buy accessories to add more punch during your fights. There is also a special section where you can buy new flashy moves to add your repertoire of baddie slaying.

Rodin, the owner of the shop, Gates of Hell

The set pieces of the game are nicely detailed while you tour the European terrain. You get to cross the city streets of Vigrid, tour active caverns and explore gothic ruins. But all this limits you to move from corridor to open-room pathways. You can also destroy pots and benches to get some ingredients for alchemy. And there are some objects on the field that you can pick up and toss them on baddies. You can tell by a fight coming if you approach a larger open space, so be prepared.

One of the beautiful locale in the city of Vigrid.

What makes this game made more interesting are the set pieces when fighting bosses. Sure there are some mini-bosses in the chapters too but the real boss fights are fought in a huge scale. Even different stages of the fights is having the boss pick up the land you are standing on and you try to land hits while being tossed around. During and near the end of the boss fight, there is move you can do called Climax Mode. What it is, is that you get to execute a number of quick time event presses on the pad to make large (or even decapitating) damage to the boss. This is both quick exciting and pleasing to watch. Almost all mini boss and big boss ends up Bayonetta removes her hair clothes to help summon Infernal Demons. One of these is a bigass 'hair weave' dragon (and a bird sometimes)that just brutally crush the boss. While this happens, you can get more halos by pressing the X button.

Top Left: Bayonetta's Infernal Demon

Bottom Right: a not so happy mini-boss

This was a pleasure to play and own. Though the story maybe a bit lacking with still shot cutscenes and lack of better voice acting. But what really gets you going is the many different stylish moves you can acquire and the insanely larger than your 'three storey house' bosses. Now I can't wait to finish it because I heard that the last few chapters is gonna eat my face lol~! This game is now set the standard to the extreme stylish action genre. Even you aren't familiar to this type of game, pick it up, and you'll be in awe by the hilariousness and craziness that is Bayonetta.

Thumbs up: Stylish movelist, crazy Quick Time Events, jazzy j-pop and larger than life bosses.

Thumbs down: Still shot cutscenes, lame dialogue, story at times is hard to follow.

Bayonetta Trailer

2010 ~~!!!!

!~~TWENTY TEN BABY~~!

Looking back from 2009 had me goin on a Momusu 101 experience. Now this year I'll continue supporting the girls whatever they may release this year. And also, we'll all wish no more graduations this year. Unlike last year, there were graduations like crazy. Let's all support the new H!P lineup this year and pray for #1 spots in the charts too~!

Since I'm posting this, I'll just go ahead and list some stuff that I look forward to this year:

• - all new singles of Morning Musume
• - another #1 spot for Morning Musume
• - Nine Smile Concert dvd (i wanna see the Koharu graduation)
• - New Momusu album
• - New Momusu Members (oh plz Tsunku!)
• - Morning Musume in Utaban again!
• - Reina's new anime series, Kaito Reinya
• - Mano Erina's new tv series (just wanna see Momusu cameo in it)
• - Super Mario Galaxy 2
• - New Zelda for the Wii (maybe?)
• - Tales of Graces (english plz!)
• - a copy of Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0

That's all for me today fellas~! Happy Morning Musume-filled New Year Everybody~!

The King of What?

Today, while searching around in my foxtel, i've stumbled to a video game documentary called the King of Kong. I've heard from NoobToob that this is one of the best documentarys around since the theme is about Donkey Kong. To give a quick gist of it, this school teacher Steve Wiebe wanted to beat the high score in Donkey Kong set by Billy Mitchel, who also got the perfect score in Pac-man. This documentary is mainly about Steve's trials and tribulations while trying to achieve his goal. This documentary is a must see. Even if you dont play games, this is one hell of a ride coming from a documentary.



So after watchin the movie, I hopped in the net and downloaded the rom of Donkey Kong thinking, "How hard can it be?" Dood it's hard. So hard that i cant even pass level 3. I could pass it if i had more patience but for now, Donkey can have the princess. Well, mad props for Steve for goin up to Billy for taking his title briefly. Makes me wanna think if i try to set a high score in some of the games i play. Maybe Pac-Man Championship Edition maybe ( >_>)

Anyway, watch the King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters~! It's awesome~!