REVIEW: Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)

One genre of video games that I have a real hit-or-miss relationship with is the SRPG (strategic role playing game); especially the JSPRG (Japanese... etc. etc.). I remember reading all the blurb about the Disgaea series, and getting really hyped for the third entry on PS3,  thinking "this really sounds right up my street" - only to be crushingly disappointed. Still, I gave it a chance, and put over twelve hours of game time into Disgaea 3 before deciding that it just wasn't my thing. This was a main-entry in a series that supposedly encapsulates and defines the genre, but it was in another that I first got my taste of the ludicrous addictive and deep rewarding gameplay that SRPGs are renowned for: Valkyria Chronicles. I'm planning to write more about that game in a future blog post, but sufficed to say that Valkyria Chronicles is an amazing game, one of the very best for PS3, and a shining example of how SRPGs can have a finely-woven engaging story, fantastic characters, and beautiful graphics while still retaining the core tactical depth of gameplay. That game also had another element that clearly defined it, and it wouldn't be until Fire Emblem Awakening that I'd find another game which was it's equal in all things, especially this thing... permadeath.

Fire Emblem is a series that has built a reputation for being challenging and fairly unforgiving, and this is mainly because of its infamous use of 'permadeath' - which basically means that main characters can die during the course of the game, through your own actions, and once dead they are permanently gone. Of course this has been done in other games, but has a massive impact here because of the way Fire Emblem Awakening works. You see, each unit you order about the battlefield and fight with is not a generic soldier or copy of another character; each member of your elite fighting force is a unique person, with their own distinct appearance, abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly personality, relationships and plot. As they fight side-by-side against bitter odds, they form bonds with one-another, which manifests itself in branching dialogue, plot lines and even the ability to fall in love. Not only this but your're also constantly tweaking characters abilities, class and equipment load out until you can list off a load of names for any given situation; including who those characters work well with, what they're good at, their hobbies and even their birthdays! Then, during a particularly grizzly battle, you'll overlook an enemy strategy and an arrow will strike of of your favourite characters in the face... and kill them. FOR EVER.

Having those characters, which you've invested so many hours and emotions into, suddenly die is just gut-wrenching, and the common reactions is to hit the reset button and try again. This is really where I think the challenge comes from, as the game isn't too difficult if you're prepared to lose some characters along the way (there's a "casual" mode to facilitate this if you're so inclined), but you really won't want that - it was a very serious decision for me to let a few characters die through the course of my playthrough, and afterwards I'd feel guilty and anxious if it was the right thing to do. Keeping your characters alive, and building those relationships between them, is also the key to unlocking all the side missions in the game, which again makes their deaths even more poignant. Even now, despite the fact that the only characters who died were ones I hardly ever used and found difficult to master, I think about all the content and storyline that I might have missed out on.

The core gameplay of Fire Emblem Awakening, like most SRPGs, is found on the many battlefields and through the combat system, which makes fantastic use of the 3DS hardware. You have all the information you need on the bottom touch-screen, available at a moments glance, leaving the top 3D screen to control unit placement and display the awesome battle animations. The controls are extremely intuitive, and the game does a fantastic job introducing key concepts through a few tutorial levels at a fairly brisk pace; it isn't long before you start to feel comfortable commanding your troops with conviction. Unit placement and interaction is key to unlocking their true potential, and keeping them alive, which is facilitated through various options of pairing them up and seeing their movement/attack ranges ahead of time. This extends to the enemies that you face, with the game letting you keep track of danger zones, and enemy equipment/level/etc. easily - meaning that any mistakes made, which subsequently get characters killed, are usually your own fault. Couple this with easy (and fast) saving and loading of games, including the ability to bookmark and leave a battle on top of the 3DS's suspend feature, and you never feel like you have anything but complete control over events.

As you can see from the screenshots so far in this review, the presentation of Fire Emblem Awakening is superb; especially for the 3DS, where it is one of the best looking games on the system. The game actually uses a variety of different visual styles and graphic engines to drive the different elements, but it is also a great example of how fantastic art direction can really make a cohesive whole and pull everything together. There are fully animated cut-scenes that enhance the storytelling of the game, which are presented in a very high quality 3D cell-shaded anime style. For the dialogue and support conversations between the characters there are finely drawn vignettes and subtle animations of facial expressions. The main bulk of the cutscenes share the same graphical engine as the fight animations - detailed character models move about in full 3D environments replete with flashy special effects and animations. Lastly, for the strategic gameplay itself, there is a top-down perspective, which uses finely detailed 2D sprites on a 3D background. Truth-be-told, the screenshots in the blog (or anywhere on the internet) don't do the game justice. Rendered on the 3DS screen in native resolution and with the 3D slider all the way up these graphics look amazing and the depth gained by the 3D is well worth straining your eyes a little for.

I mentioned Valkyria Chronicles in the intro, and one of the defining features of that game was the engrossing story. For an SRPG to have that deep a yarn, and inspire those sorts of emotions while playing is very rare indeed. Well, Fire Emblem Awakening can hold its head high and is once again a diamond in the rough. The story involves plots to resurrect a giant gribbly soul-eating Dragon, time travelling children bent on changing the future, characters with amnesia trying to discover who they are and what their connection is to the unfolding events, and vast warring nation-states struggling for dominance in a rich fantasy world. While some of the story bears might seem a little out-there initially, they're all brought together in the end and the game is extremely engrossing from start to finish. Presentation of this is all top-notch too, with a fantastic orchestral soundtrack as well as excellent (if limited) voice acting; it even gives you the option of using the original Japanese voice actors - which normally I'd snap up, but the localisation is superb and I played the entire game with English voice actors.

Before I wrap up this review I think I need to briefly mention some other features, which only add to the crack-like addictiveness of this game. Fire Emblem Awakening makes good use of the 3DS's "Spot Pass" feature, allowing you to access and download all manner of goodies completely separate (and available free-of-charge) from DLC, which is also purchasable from the 'outworld gate' in-game. Spot Pass lets you download new maps and missions to play on, to bring challengers into your world and either recruit, fight or parley with them, as well as letting you access a bonus box of extra weapons and rare items. Even if you never touch any online features, the game randomly spawns merchants with rare artifacts and equipment on sale, as well as random challenges across the world map for you to grind your characters on and level them up outside of the main storyline. Fire Emblem Awakening is an utterly fantastic game, perfectly designed for the hardware it runs on, and containing hours of engrossing content and challenge. It's a game that everyone with a 3DS should play; just leave 'permadeath' turned on if you do!

REVIEW: El Shaddai - Ascension of the Metatron (PS3)

This will be quite a short review, because it has actually been quite a long time since I played through this game. Recently I've been thinking about this and numerous other games that I've played and which are criminally under appreciated; perhaps not in terms of review scores from critics but certainly from the game-playing public. There are a number of excellent video games that have not only been overlooked at the time of their release  but haven't been given a new lease of life on budget labels and "best of" collections. The first of these games that I'd like to write a very brief review for is El Shaddai - a unique hybrid of 2D and 3D platforming and Devil May Cry style hack and slash brawling.

Firstly, the premise of El Shaddai is very unique within video games. Based on the 'Book of Enoch' from the apocryphal 'Dead Seas Scrolls' - you play as the eponymous Enoch, who is tasked by God to hunt down and dispatch several fallen angels (not
demons!) who have fallen in love with mankind and have subverted creation into their own design. You also have to stop the Nephilim (angel-human hybrids) from destroying the world, and you are helped along the way by Lucifel (not Lucifer!), an angel who wears jeans and uses a cell phone to talk to God - as if time has no meaning in the realm of Heaven. Now *deep breath after all that*... as someone who is a complete Atheist  I find the majority of Christian mythology to be pretty damn dull. However, this apocryphal tale is absolutely bonkers, and the most awesome basis for such an eccentric video game as El Shaddai.

The gameplay of El Shaddai is split between 3D platforming sections, which also involve a fair amount of hack and slash, and old-school 2D platforming sections. In both 3D and 2D the controls and collision detection are very tight and requires some precise platforming to get through the game; this is backed up with fantastic level design. Combat in the game uses a very unusual single button system, whereby the designers felt that "less-is-more". Rather than coming up with complicated multi-button combos (ala' Bayonetta), instead El Shaddai uses a context sensitive rhythm-based system. You create combos and different types of attacks by pressing the button in different tempos and sequences - it really is fantastic and very intuitive. The only downside is that combat doesn't really change very much throughout the game, only the bad guys that you face and your access to their weapons.

The other outstanding feature of El Shaddai are it's unconventional graphics. There really is no way to accurately describe them (you have to see them in motion) - as while the engine itself is not technically impressive - the art style and design are just extraordinary. Characters are rendered in a sort of faux-cell-shaded effect, whilst the backgrounds of levels are composed of geometric shapes, lines, and amorphous textures, which all shift in colour and tone as you move through them. The effect is unlike anything you will ever have played before and ranges from the bizzare to the downright breathtaking.

El Shaddai is criminally overlooked for many reasons.The characters, setting and story are totally unique - as is the graphical presentation - and diametrically opposed to the grey and brown first/third-person shooters that dominate the market. But really, the most infuriating thing is that El Shaddai is just a damn good game, exquisitely made, and the experience is utterly unforgettable.

REVIEW: Asura's Wrath (PS3)

When Asura's Wrath was unleashed upon the world in 2012, the gaming press were split down the middle, and torn asunder as if they'd been hit by a mantra-charged palm strike (more on that later)! Some reviewers absolutely loved it, and touted it as some sort of brave new experiment in video game design; especially in the current climate of first-person-shooter focused hegemony. Other's were confused with what it was trying to do, called it a "QTE"-fest (more on that later too), and some even wondered whether it was actually a game at all. Often billed as a sort of interactive-anime, or a game/movie hybrid, regardless of it's format Asura's Wrath is an exhilarating experience and an tour-de-force of Japanese animation and storytelling. It is with no hyperbole that I say this is probably some of the best anime series I've watched in the past decade and also one of the best video games released in 2012 - something that I will be amending into my GOTY list - the fact that I can make both those claims about the same piece of interactive entertainment is truly astounding. Obviously, I really liked Asura's Wrath, now... press O to find out why.

The core plot of Asura's Wrath is pretty traditional for a video game and for "beefcake" anime like Fist of the North Star - basically, someone has taken your daughter, imprisoned her, framed you for murder, and so it's you-vs-them and you need to kick some ass. What makes this particular version of this story so memorable and different are the setting, characters and the finer details of the story. You see, Asura's Wrath takes place on Gaea (which I'm assuming is Earth - just a long forgotten past like Hyboria, or Middle Earth) and concerns itself with an eternal struggle between primordial demonic creatures called Gohma and a pantheon of all-powerful demigods, which seem to be bio-mechanical. The mise-en-scene is a bizarre fusion of Buddhist/Hindu iconography and science fiction, framed with a faux-anime art style where you can see brush marks in the texture of characters faces and it often turns on filters that flatten the image into start black-and-white. Obviously this makes the game very unique to look at, but it's also absolutely stunning - the art direction is spectacular, the use of the unreal engine is mind blowing - to say that this game has good graphics is a gross understatement. This game not only looks beautiful but is also exquisitely shot with some extremely kinetic and stylish virtual cinematography. Production quality also extends into the sound department, with top quality Japanese voice acting (I haven't checked the English dub) and a soundtrack so evocative that I had to put it onto my iPod immediately.

Press X to learn about the gameplay!!

So, the game is original, looks stunning and sounds great... what were critics confused about!? Well, the gameplay in  Asura's Wrath is where it's going to be like 'marmite' for most people, you see at least half the time you are going to be watching what would normally be described as an "interactive cutscene". I've always been an advocate that not all games like Heavy Rain use what are often referred to as Quick-Time- Events (QTEs for short), instead that particular game uses context sensitive controls that differ depending on the situation - in one moment you're moving the analogue stick in a motion to simulate opening a door, the next you are tapping face buttons to fend off an assailant. Asura's Wrath does use QTEs, in the same sense as Resident Evil 4/5/6, where you are merely asked to hit a face button at a certain time indicated by an icon onscreen. The difference between other games that use QTEs and this game, is that here failure to hit the button properly doesn't get you killed - instead it merely effects your score, which is further used to unlock parts of the game. Also, more like Heavy Rain, the button presses are linked to the animation on screen; so when you're furiously hammering the 'O' button to deflect projectiles, it actually feels like you're doing it in a 'gameplay' sense. Its all very fun and involves you in the story more than simply watching it ever could - I wish there were more anime's like this!! However, as I said, this is only half the gameplay...

To continue press O.

When you're asked to do a bit more than watch and tap along the gameplay takes one of two forms; a Devil May Cry style brawler and a Space Harrier style on-rails shooter. Now, this game is no slouch in the challenge department either (it's Japanese afterall) so expect to get your arse handed to you a few times as you pick up the nuances of staying alive. In both cases your aim is to avoid as much damage as you can whilst chaining combos/shots together to build your "burst" meter, which when full will begin a QTE that ends that section of the game. The brawler sections of the game outweigh the shooter parts, and are actually really well done - they're like an extremely frenzied and kinetic God of War - with a fantastic graphics engine that never drops a beat. Shooter sections aren't quite as good, as it's usually harder to see exactly what is going on, and sometimes the controls are a little unwieldy. However, they're never anything short of exhilarating, and serve the same purpose as the rest of the gameplay - to make you feel like a badass!! The scale of this game is insane, and often makes other games look puny by comparison; there are several boss fights against beings larger than the planet, and you'll be zipping about punching asteroids and smashing through supernovas before the story is through. Press X for the conclusion.

When all is said and done, as grandiose as the spectacle on-screen is, and as exhilarating as the gameplay gets, it's the story that you'll most remember from this game. Asura's Wrath is structured like an anime TV series, with opening and closing credits for each "episode" and even bumpers for a commercial break! Composed of 18 core episodes, an alternative ending, and a 4 episode DLC pack to finish it off - Asura's Wrath is the best 22/23 episode anime series you'll watch in a long time, and considering that you also get a video game thrown in there for good measure, it's an incredible piece of audio-visual entertainment

SPECIAL: The Legend of Zelda (Article/Review)

Recently there have been many special (20th or 25th) anniversaries of treasured videogame franchises. Some, such as Metroid, went completely unnoticed while others such as Metal Gear and Kirby had a bit more fanfare. None more so though than The Legend of Zelda, which despite celebrating it's 25th birthday in 2011 is still going stronger than ever thanks to the designers ability to embrace new technology and changes in design. Zelda games have been some of the most influential and mimicked throughout the history of videogames, and Nintendo's franchise commands a massive worldwide cult following, largely due to it's appeal across different ages and genders. In this article I want to discuss and review four Zelda games from the modern "3D" era: Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword.

My own history with The Legend of Zelda began when I was just 10 years old. I remember picking up an original Game Boy in 1993 specifically for Link's Awakening, as I had played A Link to the Past on a friend's SNES and really wanted to experience it myself - I was a Sega fan personally and owned a Mega Drive, something that I absolutely do not regret. Link's debut on the Game Boy was an astounding game at the time, and one of my childhood experiences that I still cherish and remember fondly; especially long holidays away camping and playing Zelda on the long car journeys down to Devon. Because I was young and used to playing platformers, racing games and beat-em-ups I remember the difficulty of Link's Awakening being far too much for me - I don't think I have ever actually finished the game, despite playing it numerous times! As the years rolled on, and I stuck with Sega consoles before switching over to PlayStation, I missed many entries in the series and Zelda really dropped off the list of franchises that I considered myself a fan of (replaced with things like Final Fantasy and Silent Hill).

Over a decade after Link's Awakening (which I still own along with my original Game Boy), I got my hands on a Wii, the first Nintendo home console I had ever owned. With this came access to all those games that I'd only ever played around other people's houses and at school/college/uni on their portables, such as Mario Kart, Metroid and of course... The Legend of Zelda.

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After an extended absence, my first foray back to the land of Hyrule was with the dark and epic Twilight Princess, which was also my first hands on experience playing a "3D" Legend of Zelda. First impressions were of an incredibly slow start and a slightly muddy graphical presentation - Twilight Princess was designed to "give fans what they wanted" and update Zelda with a more modern and realistic art style, which didn't quite suit the aging GameCube hardware and the Wii only marginally better. However, after getting hooked by the story and progressing past the first couple of hours, the game starts to come into more of it's own and the art style starts to become more in keeping with the aesthetic of a Zelda title; albeit with Twilight Princess's own bloom-lighting-smothered atmosphere and mature design choices. What we essentially have here, although I didn't know it at the time, is the "grown up" version of Ocarina of Time - a game widely considered to not only be the best Zelda, but also one of the more influential and well designed games of all time. In many ways Twilight Princess improved upon it's predecessor, swapping out the annoying fairy Navi with the titular Midna (who is still my favourite of the "sidekick" characters aside from  Princess Zelda herself... more on that later), and making the world of Hyrule actually seem huge and epic in its proportions - the prior entry Wind Waker had probably been slightly bigger, but was a vast empty ocean populated by islands, not an actual open world.

Twilight Princess grabbed me and dug it's claws in like no other game had for a long time, which was down not only to the fantastic story, characterisation and atmosphere, but also the air-tight gameplay and level design. In my opinion, the temples in Twlight Princess are some of the best to ever grace a Zelda game - they're large, complicated and require a fair bit of puzzle solving to get through. There are also a LOT of them, and this constant variety really helps keep the game moving. There is a lot of backtracking in the over-world of Hyrule, as you go about completing various side-quests and errands, but the temples/dungeons sequentially only ever move forward driving you towards the epic conclusion. The sheer epic scale and differentiation of the environments has never been seen or matched in a Zelda game since, and the addition of the twilight realm makes this entry stand out from it's peers. All this would already make it one of the best Zelda  titles, but the truth is what really makes this entry stand out for me is the conclusion - I've never been so moved by a Zelda game. Along with Final Fantasy X, I found the ending of Twilight Princess to be simultaneously uplifting and overwrought with sadness to the point where I felt moved to tears; for me this cathartic release is something very special and only captured by a select handful of videogames. This alone makes Twilight Princess very special indeed. I just wish that the graphical style had been left for a HD Zelda - obviously Nintendo felt the same way.


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Skyward Sword is the first Zelda title specially made for the Wii, and with the Wii U now out, this is likely to be the last. Whereas Twilight Princess was really designed around the hardware (limitations) of the GameCube, Skyward Sword was built from the ground up to not only take advantage of the increased processing power and graphical output of the Wii, but also it's unique motion controlled interface. In short, while in the previous game you flicked the Wii remote back and forth to perform attacks, they didn't match your actions in real life. Skyward Sword tracks your motions 1:1 and the entire game is built around this; obviously this polarised gamers worldwide as some people just weren't ready to ditch analogue sticks and buttons. They're idiots. The whole design of this game is incredible and changed my opinion regarding motion controls so much that I immediately went and bought a move controller for my PS3 too (so that I could play Resident Evil 5 like a Wii). Combat in a Zelda game has never been better than when you actually have to strike your sword in certain directions to get around an opponent's shield, or chop the limbs off of bosses, or throw things, roll things or move things in precise directions. This extended to the puzzles as well and the temples are designed to make good use out of the precise control that the Wii Motion Plus affords. Not only in the gameplay top notch, but the graphical presentation this time around is also designed for the hardware and accepts its limitations; instead of the realistic and modern look that Twilight Princess tried to capture, Skyward Sword utilises a faux-water colour semi-cell shaded art style that looks beautiful.

Probably my vote for the best looking game of 2011, Skyward Sword worked with the SD visuals of the Wii and made that technological limitation seem unimportant. With the previous game I always had the nagging feeling that it would look so much better in HD and with larger textures, where as this latest entry looked perfect as it was. This was a triumph for Nintendo, and proved that artistic direction beats raw technology every time. However, Skyward Sword was not without it's faults. If the previous game seemed like it took a while to get going (story-wise) then this one is an absolute crawl. This story is a prequel to every other Zelda that has come before it, and so it has a lot of set up and a slightly alien setting from a series viewpoint; there's no Hyrule overworld because it doesn't exist yet, instead we have a massive expanse of sky and islands in Skyloft. Once the story gets going, is is very engaging and has some fantastic cut scenes for a Zelda game, however it does seem to drag on a bit. The major problem with Skyward Sword is pacing and padding, as there are only really a few areas and a few temples that you are asked to revisit several times over. Towards the end of the game it is not uncommon to feel fatigued as you are asked to fight the same boss for the third time and save the forest region again! Luckily, the outstanding quality of actually playing the game (as well as the visual splendour) overrides these faults to a large extent and Skyward Sword is still an excellent video game - innovative, beautiful, and one of the best released that year.

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Link's Awakening marked the last time I played a handheld Zelda title and it wasn't until fairly recently that I got access to a Nintendo DS and had a go at a more recent one. Spirit Tracks is the second of the two sequels to the GameCube's Wind Waker; a controversial entry in the Zelda franchise that switched the graphics to an anime inspired cell-shaded art style and dropped Hyrule for a flooded diluvian overworld. I've not played Wind Waker and so gave the first (directly connected) sequel, Phantom Hourglass, a pass for now - I've got it lined up for later - and instead hopped in this stand-alone tale. Like Skyward Sword, Spirit Tracks has been tailored perfectly to utilise the hardware that it runs on, namely that the entire game is controlled almost exclusively through the touchscreen and stylus, which actually provides a very precise level of control. Because the game was designed this way from the ground up, it feels very intuitive and comfortable moving, fighting and puzzle solving without ever touching the d-pad or a face button. In fact, many of the standard gadgets used in Zelda games such as the boomerang are at their best here, as you can quickly use the stylus to trace a path across the screen and around objects.

Also like the previous game, Spirit Tracks has graphics that seem very much at home on its native console. The cell-shaded graphics, simple textures and overhead perspective suit the game well and in my opinion is looks great, especially for the Nintendo DS, a console not famed for its power. I think a special mention must also be made of the train riding sections, which replace the usual open world Hyrule (or Skyloft, or ocean, etc.), they are just so much fun and intuitive to control. I really think that people who dismissed the idea as being crazy and not-very-Zelda never really gave it a go, or opened their mind to new things - especially from a franchise constantly innovating and experimenting with it's own formula. The soundtrack in these sections also has one of the catchiest tunes ever in a video game. Overall, I really enjoyed Spirit Tracks, as I found the story incredibly engaging, the new concepts that it introduces are fun and help it stand out, and the temples were really challenging to solve. There is a little backtracking in the main quest, but never to temples/dungeons (always just in the overworld - like Twilight Princess), and the variety in the game is excellent. Also, for Zelda geeks, its worth mentioning that this is the only game were Zelda herself is your "sidekick" character, and the interaction between her and Link is what drives the charming and affecting story along. One of the most fun and charming Zelda games, Spirit Tracks is just a fantastic game - and it caused me to invest in my own 3DS console, which brings me on to the final game in this article, and one that was definitely overdue for me to play.

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I mentioned above that one of the most widely praised and influential Zelda games ever made was Ocarina of Time, well... since I never owned an N64, I'd completely missed out on playing it. I toyed with the idea of picking the original up on the Wii's Virtual Console, but then the 25th anniversary of the franchise hit and with it Nintendo revealed Ocarina of Time 3D on the 3DS - not only the original game with a 3D "gimmick", but instead a complete graphical and gameplay overhaul. It was worth the wait. Booting up this game for the first time you would never in a million years think that it was an old remastered game, as it not only controls like it was designed for the 3DS, but it looks like it too. The graphics have been completely redone, with improved textures, character models and animation - as well as a new interface to streamline it and make use of the added touchscreen. I used the word "gimmick" above, but the 3D is anything but, as it genuinely adds depth and clarity to the overall presentation; as well as having gameplay functions when volleying magical energy at bosses, or avoiding projectiles, etc. I played with a combination of it switched on (at different levels of 3D) and off if my eyes got tired, but loved every minute of it. I also mentioned that the gameplay has been given an overhaul, well this is still the same Ocarina of Time that graced the 64-bit system all those years ago, but the interface and control scheme have been tweaked to make use of the 3DS's hardware. Aiming, for instance, has built-in motion control like Skyward Sword using the 3DS's gyroscope, and this works wonderfully throughout but especially in some of the arrow-shooting mini-games. Accessing the menus and switching items is also effortless using the bottom touchscreen.

At the time of its release, Ocarina of Time really defined what a modern "3D" Zelda game would be like for years to come- as well as influencing countless other videogames such as God of War and Okami. So, you would think that after all these years of advancements and modern successors that it would show it's age, but it really doesn't! A true timeless classic, Ocarina of Time is as outstanding now as it ever was; the story that it tells, as it bounces back and forth through time and over many varied locations, is still absolutely riveting and the pace of the game is perfect. Even when you're going back and forth to the Temple of Time and revisiting certain locations, you never get that "backtracking" feeling that you do in later installments, and this is helped considerably by the game providing fast travel via the titular ocarina itself (which is easy to play on the 3DS either via the face buttons or touch screen interface). Obviously, Nintendo has made some improvements over time to things like temple design, and the ones in Ocarina of Time do feel quite brief in comparison to those in Twilight Princess. As modern three dimensional gaming was still finding its feet, some of the bosses are also a little on the quick-and-easy side, however both of these points don't detract from the game at all. Sure, temples could be bigger and bosses could be harder, but then that's what the included Master Quest version is for; which is unlocked after beating the game.

In summary, Ocarina of Time has a reputation for being one of the best games ever created, and Ocarina of Time 3D reinforces this fact. An absolutely stellar update of an already solid title, this is the definitive Legend of Zelda game and probably still the best entry point for anyone looking to get into the series. It may have been Link's 25th birthday, but Nintendo have given all of us the best present you could possibly ask for.

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I'm in a real Zelda mood at the moment and still have several games lined up to play, this includes: Majora's Mask (Wii Virtual Console) and Phantom Hourglass (DS). So, expect a follow up to this article at some point with my thoughts on those games. Thanks for reading!

BGE S1: Demon's Souls (Review)

Video games have to move on and evolve. This might seem like an obvious statement, but it's all too easy to look back at older games through the veil of nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses, something that I think many people just don't realise. Sure, there are games that endure for one reason or another (such as my previous review of Final Fantasy VII - still one of the best stories ever written and worth experiencing), but generally speaking, you will find older video games clunky and cumbersome to play. Gameplay is one one area that is always getting tweaked and improved, along with graphics, and it always amazes me to see how basic some of those games are that I once held dear. However, one thing that is worth being nostalgic about is challenge and difficulty - basically most modern games are way too easy.

The medium has changed over time to become more accessible, as the target audience moved from niche (teenagers in bedrooms with lots of time on their hands) to the mainstream (adults with higher disposable income but also with jobs and time commitments), and as a result the level of difficulty dropped to allow people to progress easily and feel rewarded for playing. Those of us who are often given the moniker of "hardcore gamer" craved a bit more challenge and something more akin to the worthy progress we earned in the good old days of our youth. Along came Demon's Souls, and with it the message "You Died",  again-and-again-and-again... this is a 'hardcore' game, a fusion of old-school game design with modern technology and concepts, and one of the best video games ever created.

When you first start your inaugural game of Demon's Souls you'll begin in a tutorial section of the game, which does a good job of quickly introducing you to the basics of combat before throwing you into a boss fight, which you will probably lose. In fact you must die. By dying this early into your adventurer career you're reanimated in a place called the Nexus and your soul bound there for all time, or at least until you kill various powerful demons across the land and eventually lure the Old One back to slumber. This focus on death is an important one because it is the cornerstone by which the game's notoriously high difficulty is based. There is only one currency in the game (souls) that you use for leveling you character, upgrading weapons and armour, or purchasing supplies - and if you die, you drop all of this in a blood stain. You then have one chance to go and get it back, as dying again causes all that progress to be lost forever. This might seem unnecessarily harsh but it's actually a stroke of genius, as it causes you to play the game with caution and patience instead of just running in sword flailing.

Patience especially is key, as combat in this game is very precise, with parries and ripostes, blocking and circling you foes for a backstab, and the prospect of being brutally cut down by even the game's most meager of enemies. Obviously the highlights though are the demons themselves, each of them unique and requiring one hundred percent concentration and perseverance to overcome; there are some names that still give me the fear when I think about them ('Flamelurker' and 'Man-Eater' to name a couple). With this great challenge comes great reward though and there really is an overwhelming sense of elation after finally beating a level or demon that you have been stuck on for so long and knowing that it was your own skill that made it possible. Even though souls can be spent to level up in this game, it is the "leveling up" of your own skills as a gamer which is the most satisfying - to beat this game, you will literally need to get better at playing, and you will as long as you learn how to play and persist.

The world of Demon's Souls is beautifully realised, when I first played it, I was reminded very much of Shadow of the Colossus for many reasons. Firstly, the idea of a central hub, from which you are sent out to slay a powerful (and usually colossal) adversary and then return for respite. Secondly, that sense of loneliness  for even though there are other characters to talk to and enemies to slay, through ingenious game design this journey still feels like a solitary and melancholy pursuit. Thirdly, the lore and backstory of the game are again told almost exclusively through art direction and world design rather than dialogue or narrative. This sense of (albiet foreboding) exploration creates a driving force in the game that makes you want to explore every inch of the various labyrinthine dungeons and fortresses; all created in a superb graphics engine with excellent use of lighting and geometry. The soundtrack is also absolutely brilliant, as usually the game is silent except for ambient noise of the environment, but when those musical scores do kick in they are extremely memorable and expertly composed.

Something I've failed to mention yet is the online aspect. You see, even though Demon's Souls is a single player adventure, it is constantly online and accessing the games of other players as they take place in real time. You can see the ghosts of these other adventurers as they move through their world, and see the bloodstains of where they have died, but the game also allows some more direct interaction to help or hinder your own endeavors. You can leave messages for other players, which appear in their world and warn them of traps or difficult situations coming up, but you can also briefly enter their game directly either as a blue phantom to assist them destroy a demon - or as a black phantom to try and kill them and steal their souls. This component of the game is still very unique (aside from it's spiritual successor Dark Souls of course) and is only just starting to be copied by other developers, such as the pawn system in Dragon's Dogma, the idea of an always-online single player game was very progressive.

That is really why this game is so important and also one of the best games ever made (I've barely scratched the surface with this review); the fusion of old and new. Demon's Souls is an old-school 'hardcore' game given a modern lick of paint, control system and innovative online capability. It was something that a certain niche of gamers were crying out for, and it delivered, so much so that Dark Souls quickly followed and improved on the forumla still further, opening this sort of experience to a much larger market that didn't even know it existed. Still, Demon's Souls remains unique because of it's hub-based structure and dedicated levels, and so provides a gaming experience wholly unlike anything else out there.

BGE S1: Silent Hill 2 (Review)

I must confess, I've never played the original Silent Hill through to the end. I played it too late into the PlayStation's life-cycle to fully appreciate it and even revisiting it later on PS3, fully aware of it's graphical and gameplay shortcomings, I still couldn't get all the way through. It's sequel though is the complete opposite; it is actually the video game I've played through (to the end) the most. I think only Journey, a game that is easily completed within a couple of hours, has beaten it. Silent Hill 2 captivated me the very first time I played it, and was really the first video game to deal with some extremely adult themes: uxoricide, psychological trauma, dementia, sexual repression, etc. I remember being completely swept away with the plight of the game's protagonist James Sunderland, as I played through to the small hours of the morning. I also remember being almost paralysed by fear, unable to switch off the console and go to sleep and unable to continue the game because it had gotten it's psychological-horror hooks deep inside me.

Silent Hill 2 doesn't waste any time getting you into the game, as it opens on the outskirts of the infamous town and has you searching for your, previously considered, deceased wife who's waiting for you at your "special place". The town of Silent Hill is enshrouded within a thick otherworldly fog, limiting your viewing distance to a mere meter or two infront of James's face. This helps the game designers to build up a palpable sense of confusion and fear, as in the early stages of the game there is very little in the way of physical enemies, just a clever use of soundtrack and musical score, which I'll get on to later.  When you do eventually happen upon the first creature haunting the mists it sets up a few things - firstly that the enemies in this game are not your typical zombies or other survival horror tropes. Instead, the menagerie of menacing adversaries reflect the psychological ailments of the main character and are usually women (or women's bodyparts) disfigured into some sort of tortured being. This is obviously all very disturbing and part of why the game gets under your skin; zombies are ten-a-penny especially in modern video games, but these monstrosities remain as creepy as ever. The second thing it sets up is how weak and alone you are.

You see, Silent Hill 2 is true survival horror, a genre that has been diluted now to the point where it is almost non-existent. In this game, there are few firearms, and even then bullets are scarce  instead your only means of defending yourself is either to ineffectually hit things with a stick or run the hell away! Usually the best option is to do the latter (although in the HD re-release there are trophies to the former), especially in the case of the game's most iconic and undefeatable adversary: "The Red Pyramid Thing", also known as Pyramid Head. This silent hunter stalks you throughout the game, it's every appearance marking a key moment of panic and terror, it is little wonder that this has become such a memorable icon of video games and of survival horror. Pyramid Head's visual design and role within the game is again directly tied to the plot and themes explored within it. A faceless killer with a head shaped in painful, spiteful angles, he represents James Sunderland's guilt and desire to be punished.

The narrative takes you throughout the town and out across Toluca Lake, stopping several times along the way to let the game world (as well as the well being of the character's mind) literally break down and become abstracted. There is a sequence within a prison underneath the lake that slowly turns into a strange labyrinth, where connected halls and doorways seem to openly defy the laws of space and time. The events happening on screen as are much metaphor as they are actually happening and I've never experienced anything quite like it except maybe 'Catherine', another favourite game of mine from the past few years. Production values for the game are extremely high, and still hold up well to this day. The level of detail that the town of Silent Hill is lovingly rendered in is staggering, with lots of cryptic clues and messages hidden throughout that may let you piece together the lore and mythology of the game. A stellar soundtrack by composer Akira Yamaoka is still one of the best ever recorded for a video game and the voice acting (while dreamlike and unnatural in an Eraserhead-kinda way) was so well done that fans literally protested at the idea of a re-recording for the game's HD release.

As I mentioned above, I've completed this game multiple times and it still holds up to this day as a unique and almost perfect example not only of pure survival horror, but also of modern adult-targeted video games. Silent Hill 2, for me, symbolises a turning point when game designers took the brave step towards using the medium in other ways besides just entertainment. In recent years a HD remake of this game was released, initially with several flaws but now patched and completely faithful to the original, giving me the opportunity to relive this experience once more. Silent Hill 2 still scares, still captivates and unnerves me, and is still one of the best modern video games ever made. It is such as shame that (excluding Silent Hill 3 which is also excellent) Silent Hill, and the survival horror genre in general, has never managed to again create anything as amazing as this.

BGE S1: Final Fantasy VII & X (Reviews)

During the 16-Bit era of console gaming I was firmly embedded in the Sega camp (with occasional forays into Nintendo territory whenever going around a friend's house who had "chosen the wrong side"), so when the Sega Saturn was released at the birth of 32-Bit I picked one up, and shunned Sony's PlayStation nonsense despite its popularity. I managed to keep this up for quite a while too until one day when I purchased a copy of CVG magazine and feasted my eyes upon screenshots of Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I was blown away by how awesome this game looked and sounded, especially when the accompanying article had made such a fuss about it. When the game finally hit UK shores and was released in shops nationwide... I picked up a Sony PlayStation and felt dirty. I'd betrayed my beloved Sega. But by the time I got to the end of Final Fantasy VII's three discs and over forty hours later, I didn't care anymore.

For myself and many others, Final Fantasy VII was our first real experience of a huge sprawling JRPG, sure there had been many similar games before, especially on the Super Nintendo, but this game was the breakthrough event. My previously short childlike attention span was completely destroyed by this game, I can't remember ever being so absorbed within a video game story before or putting in so many hours to leveling up and perfecting my characters for their final battle. The presentation of Final Fantasy VII was simply groundbreaking, not only regarding it's highly detailed pre-rendered environments, but also the CGI cutscenes lavishly produced in real cinematic quality (for the time). Previous entries in the series had used two-dimensional battle scenes, often with very little animation aside from some special effects such as fire, thunder, etc. Final Fantasy VII has fully three-dimensional and dynamic battle scenes, with highly detailed character models and some awesome special effects, which was only magnified during the epic-scale boss fights and magical "summons" that characters could call upon. As I'm writing this blog post I'm listening to orchestral versions of the game's soundtrack, which was also just amazing, and still is! Many tracks such as 'Aerith's Theme' and 'One Winged Angel' are classics, still loved and performed live all these years later.

Now that I've gushed about how this game blew me (any everyone else at the time) away with it's production values and technical merit, lets get on to the real reason why this is one of the best video games of all time and it's not a reason you often hear in the world of gaming: the story. The story told in Final Fantasy VII is still one of the best ever written for a video game, and was unique for the way that it told a grand tale of heroes saving the world while also fitting in themes of environmentalism, genetic engineering, post-industrialisation, and many other adult content that just wasn't done in this medium at the time. The characters, both your playable characters as well as NPCs and antagonists, were so well developed in terms of their backstory and psychology that it really made you invest in their personal journey. Also, this was the first video game that ever reduced me to tears. I don't feel an ounce of shame in typing that, as anyone who played Final Fantasy VII will understand. Before the first disc, out of three, is even complete you will have had your heart strings tugged on and then torn from you, and I'm a sucker for tragedy.

Final Fantasy VII starts off at a good pace, and slowly introduces you to it's core characters and gets the plot underway before throwing you into some fairly lengthy and difficult fights. After what seems like a decent amount of playing time by itself you are eventually expunged from the opening city of Midgar and given free reign to explore the world. Not only do you have the sprawling narrative to tend to but there are also lots of side quests, activities and hidden easter eggs to find that the volume of content is through the roof; people have been known to put in around one hundred hours just breeding 'Chocobo' (giant flightless birds).

I popped in my PlayStation discs into my PS3 a couple of years ago and had another blast on Final Fantasy VII. While the battle system doesn't hold up compared to modern entries in the series (after Final Fantasy XIII's hectic fast-paced affair the original PlayStation games feel like they're in slow motion!) and the graphics have obviously aged an awful lot, the story and characters remain. I was still gripped and enthralled, because despite the aging of the medium, some stories are timeless. I was not to feel this strongly about a video game story again (personally VIII and IX weren't anywhere near as good) until much later when I picked up a PS2 for a similarly named game, for a familiar reason...

When Final Fantasy X was released, I'd been out of the video gaming loop for a while and it was yet again another release in this series that sucked me right back in; largely for the same reasons as before. I picked up a PS2 console largely just for this game, as I couldn't resist after seeing screenshots and reading the glowing reviews. What I didn't expect was another complete classic in the making, and another unforgettable experience that I'll always remember. Final Fantasy X is even more special to me because I played it while attending university and will always cherish that escape when stress was getting to me; the world and story completely hooked me and I spent many hours absorbed in their splendour.

Again, it's easy to espouse the technical merits of this game, especially in the context of it's release. The graphics are a massive step up from those of the previous console generation: lost are the pre-rendered backgrounds, instead three-dimensional environments allowed you to move through them and the camera to follow. The battle scenes were still loaded separate from this of course, but they were now even more dynamic and action packed, the special effects even more explosive, and the bosses truly monstrous. My personal favourite being the summonable boss 'Anima', which I had a statue of in my student house. The characters were now ultra-high detail and completely voice acted, and the musical score was a fully orchestrated affair replete with vocal tracks and pop-songs to boot. Animated CGI cutscenes were now so lavish and well produced that they literally put Hollywood to shame (something they realised and tried to address when they gave the game creators money to make 'Spirits Within' - which unfortunately sucked in every area except the visuals).

I will always have a fond space in my heart for the gameplay of Final Fantasy X, especially the battle system, which to this day remains unique within the series. Rather than the filling of time bars to dictate when certain characters could take their actions, this installment had a turn-based system similar to a board/card game. The layer of deep strategy that this added, as you could play with the sequence by casting certain spells or using abilities, completely absorbed me. Some of the boss fights in particular were very lengthy as a result of this, and the sense of achievement when you finally realised the sequence of events needed to emerge victorious with your team alive was outstanding. However, and similar to Final Fantasy VII, the real beauty of this game, despite the overwhelming levels of polish in all areas (the music is one of my favourite video game scores of all time!), was again the story.

The tale told in Final Fantasy X is once again almost unrivaled in video games, both in terms of the main narrative and (again) in relation to the themes and ideas that it explores; this time there is lots of lamenting over the devastating effects of war, something close to the Japanese psyche and often explored in anime and movies from that country. Some truly memorable characters emerge from this game too, and again they are so well realised that its hard not to completely invest yourself in them - despite some occasional slip-ups in the quality of voice acting; or perhaps because of it, after all this is before the series started to take itself a bit too seriously. The relationship between the two protagonists Tidus and Yuna is one of my favourites, and the tragedy of their story touched me very deeply, especially sitting in my room late at light, lights off completely transfixed on those final closing hours.

About a year ago, they announced that a special HD version of Final Fantasy X was coming out for PS3. At the time of this blog post, it still hasn't emerged, but if/when it does, I will be picking up and playing this most classic of tales once again. I'm very much looking forward to it, and will rejoice to live these characters stories all over again. Final Fantasy X is fondly remembered as a highlight of the series, so much so that it is one of the rare cases where a genuine sequel was created in X-2, and along with Final Fantasy VII these are some of the best examples of video game narratives ever created.