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Kamis, 17 Februari 2011

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play first impression

Yesterday evening I had a hands-on with Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play (the "PlayStation" phone) at the London #XperiaMWC event.

The Xperia Play is the only new Xperia not to share the same DNA as the Pro, Arc and Neo. It doesn't have a Bravia reality engine, nor does it have the cracking 8MP Exmor R backlit sensor that graces the back of the other Xperia phones.

As a gaming device, the Xperia Play houses a slider that contains the gamepad, not too dissimilar to Sony's PSP Go. Here you will find the four directional pad, dual touchpad (to simulate dual-analog on PS1 games), four action buttons (with classic none-coloured PlayStation shapes), start/select buttons and a another button that I assume emulates the analog button of the original PlayStation Dual Analog controller.

I found the buttons to be small. In fact smaller even than those you find on the original DS Lite. Tactile feedback isn't particularly good, particularly the shoulder trigger buttons. It isn't the most comfortable portable console out there, though I do have to stress that it is the only modern (and small) smartphone with a built-in gamepad.

The body was mainly made of plastic (in fact all the Xperias were mainly made of plastic). This was likely a design decision to not only keep costs down, but also to keep the weight down. Fortunately while it felt cheap, the built quality was great. The slider was solid and did not wobble or creak. How long will it last is another matter.

The Xperia Play contains an ageing Adreno 205 GPU and 1Ghz Scorpion processor. While no slouch by itself, the effect of using such an outdated architecture was immediately felt when gaming. Games like Asphalt 6 was slow to boot and suffered from frame drop outs. Not only that but I took issue with how Gameloft did not optimise the interface to be used with the gamepad. At times I am required to use the d-pad to navigate and sometimes I am forced to use the touchscreen.

On the upside it was obvious how much the gamepad (however bad it is) improves upon mobile gaming. Touchscreen gaming gaining traction lately, but the lack of controls has always hindered gameplay. Even a simple Gameloft game (and people know how much I hate Gameloft games), was much more enjoyable because I do not have to resort to on-screen buttons to do tasks, or use the dreadful accelerometer to move. I see more of the screen as well as it isn't blocked by the large thumbs.

No doubt by the time the Xperia Play launches, games optimised for the Xperia Play's architecture and unique gamepad will appear. Only time will tell if gamers will be tempted to ditch their PSP and DS, or away from the 3DS and pending PSP2/NGP for the Xperia Play, but for everyone else - the lure of the PlayStation brand could sell them this device, or at least that is what Sony Ericsson are hoping.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play first impression

Sabtu, 13 Maret 2010

Final Fantasy XIII extended impressions

As you know, I wasn't very impressed of Final Fantasy XIII when I first played it. Twenty hours in and things have improved somewhat. I still had to plough through about 15 hours of utter boredom as the story is blighted by petty talk, in-fighting and the lack of cohesive directions, but at least the game is slowly coming together.

The new Role system is similar to the old Job system. This allows the player to somewhat customise the characters through six roles: Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Synergist, Saboteur and Medic. The actions the characters perform during battle will depend on the roles currently assigned to them, for example a Medic will heal where as a Synergists will buff and a Ravager will focus on using elemental offenses. The role of each character can be switched on the fly via the Paradigm Shifts system.

While the Paradigm System is a dumbed down version of Final Fantasy XII gambits, I am finding myself enjoying the new battle system, which works half way between the fantastic Active Dimension Battle of Final Fantasy XII and the old ATB series staple. Switching A.I. on the fly is still good fun but I do find the battles as a whole much much easier than the previous title - and I haven't even started grinding yet. Crystarium is a rejigged Final Fantasy XII Sphere Grid but in 3D. It is a clusterfuck system and it gives me a headache everytime I use it. It is a pathetic replacement to the more intuitive License Board.

Weapons and accessories can be upgraded using loot (spoils) gained during the course of the game. These can be sold or dismantled to gain new materials to be used as further upgrades. Because there is no traditional levelling up system in place, it is generally more important to spend more time levelling up the weapons and accessories.

Both me and my partner agree. We love the art direction, character design etc. of Final Fantasy XII more. If you are a Final Fantasy X fanboy/girl you will be happy with the art direction here. Visually, the game is disappointing. Frame rate is very consistent during the most important bits - the combat, so nothing to complain about here. But while it does contain more polygons and better textures, it just kinda looks like a 720p Final Fantasy X game, but with the added advantage of a free camera. The pre-rendered cutscenes are stunning, but then so were the ones in the previous titles.

The linearity isn't bothering me as much as I thought it would be. There are some nook and crannies to look for treasures, but that's about it. I like towns, but do not mind the lack of towns in here either. In any case the lack of exploration do annoy me somewhat, but then again the architecture design here is so awful I didn't feel like doing much exploration anyway even if given the chance...

Bar Lighting, all the main playable characters have really forgettable design and are annoying to boot. There are three kind of voice acting in this game: brilliant (Lightning), competent (Fang) and awful (the rest). Shame that Lightning only ever speaks once every millennium. The plot is convoluted mess, especially in the beginning. But the story is slowly and beginning to get a little bit more interesting as my party (spoilers!) found themself ditched on an ancient arc after getting their arse kicked by a pope who I can't even bother remembering his name (end spoilers!).

The composer is the same guy who composed the score for Final Fantasy X and Dirge of Cerberus. That pretty much tells you all you need to know (that the soundtrack is shit). I play mainly with the volume turn all the way down just not to disturb my partner and never miss it. In fact I was seriously tempted to play the soundtrack of Final Fantasy XII (scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto - the same composer to the excellent Valkyria Chronicles and Vagrant Story) whilst playing this. A Jpop mix - seriously? It works for Persona 3 because the tracks fits the game style and location, but not here.

I am beginning to feel that Final Fantasy XIII is last-gen game moonlighting as a current-gen game in that shiny Bluray disc. It just plays and feels like one (just like Final Fantasy X felt like a PSone game), albeit with upgraded graphics. Well historically it is, as development started out as one but it has been more than three years since the PS3 was released (we have had two sublime Uncharted games for goodness sake!).

Final Fantasy XIII extended impressions

Selasa, 09 Maret 2010

Final Fantasy XIII first impressions

So I got Final Fantasy XIII, much to my surprise (was a surprise gift). Have been playing for about an hour or so, so beware that this is just an initial first first impression (more like a hands-on).

In-game visuals isn't as impressive as all the hype has led me to believe. The characters are pretty darn poor, in design and their personality. The voice acting ranges from mediocre to downright cringe worthy. Gameplay wise, can't say I enjoy the separate battle screen but at least it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It still ain't Final Fantasy XII though. Basically I can only control one party member (others are on auto, Persona 3-like) and so far all I do is press X for attack and occasionally on potions duty. I loved Persona 3, so this isn't a bad thing. It has been an easy first hour though (HP automatically refilled after every battle), such is Square Enix's desire to making it easier for the lowest common denominator.

Rather surprisingly Lightning has been the most likeable character in the game, in terms of her voice acting and character design. The rest are just so... well, unlikeable. Obviously with only one hour under my belt, I am sure that each character's back story will be examined (well, at least I hope so). I just wish their design weren't so... crappy. Sazh is one annoying guy who follows Lightning around, likely to be included as comic relief (he has a Chocobo pet). There's another typical Tetsuya Nomura playable character (called Snow - puke!) and is supported by a Blanka-like monkey, a girl who only wears underpants and is followed by a Jax-like (Naughty God) character (design wise anyway as he is a total coward). Square Enix better make Nomura take a break after this. Perhaps even swallow their pride and throw big money at Yasumi Matsuno whilst taking an ad on a big national paper apologising to the way they treated him.

I was initially reluctant to take much note the complaints regarding linearity. After all there has been plenty of A+ games in the past (Uncharted 2, God of War series, Mirror's Edge) that are linear including Final Fantasy ones. But it has just been a straight line - literally! I do hope things improve quickly, but various online reviews do indicate that I would need to play through about 20 hours of shit before hitting the good stuff. Fingers crossed they are right as I would be mighty pissed.

At any rate, after this unexpected procurement, I'll have to put on hold my plans for God of War III. Killing Zeus and sexing up Aphrodite will just have to wait for next month whilst I see what the fuss the first title in the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII world is all about.

Final Fantasy XIII first impressions

Selasa, 20 Januari 2009

Resistance: Retribution impressions

Sony Bend Studio's last PSP game wasn't that great. In fact it was awful. But by the simple fact of giving people the option to use auto-target, their latest game Resistance: Retribution plays a bit like a proper console shooter game as it does make use of the face buttons (which emulate the functions of the right analogue pad rather shoddily) less important. Still even though Resistance: Retribution looks like a third person shooter, it is actually more similar to a first person game.

Toggling the up button allows you to switch between auto and manual aim. Most of the time you will likely just ignore them as manual mode is simply too difficult to use (it zooms in a bit). The left button reloads your weapons and pressing the right will cycle through the available weapons. Firing is via the right shoulder button whilst the left shoulder button offers an alternate fire (if available). Sony Bend has also coded in options that will allows you to customise the speed and acceleration somewhat though I think the default setting was perfect. You can also turn off aim assist and auto recentre if you feeling a bit superior. Weapons includes an automatic, rifle, grenades and rocker launcher. No doubt more will be uncovered in the full game.

Auto aiming works well. As enemies enter the area covered by your weapons reticule you can merely press the right shoulder button down to lock on the enemy and let it do the work. At most you will need to run around for cover, kill a bunch of close enemies, switch to the rocker launcher and aim at ranged enemies like giant robots. I was fairly surprised by how intuitive the controls were considering how much I hated the PSP version of Syphon Filter. Here I found the gameplay to be of second nature, so well done to Sony Bend in getting at least the controls right.

The visuals are rather impressive. The frame rate is very smooth and never stuttered despite the number of enemies and special effects. While the grotto is fairly limiting (there is no sense of epic scale in the demo), the graphical details are still incredible. The load time seems to be very quick, not surprising considering I was running the demo from a Memory Stick. Perhaps the only issues of contention I can think of is the lack of anti-aliasing filter, and it doesn't look nearly as pretty as God of War: Chains of Olympus (which I doubt any developer can surpass except maybe Ready at Dawn themselves).

Resistance: Retribution certainly looks good and the gameplay seems to be working fine. In a year where one isn't expecting plenty of quality games, it is one of the few PSP titles (including Dissidia, Disgaea 2 and Patapon 2) I am actually looking forward to.

This impression is based on the demo. Resistance: Retribution is due out this March.

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Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play first impression

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play first impression

Final Fantasy XIII extended impressions

Final Fantasy XIII extended impressions

Final Fantasy XIII first impressions

Final Fantasy XIII first impressions

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Resistance: Retribution impressions

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