Tag Archives: PS3

Chaotic Shadow Warriors Review

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Chaotic is a franchise that I never actually got into. It looked pretty interesting, but I just didn’t have time for it. The concept had some similarities to Pokemon and Yugioh and the formula is tried and true. Any toyetic show with monsters is usually a lot of fun so I had to get this game. I’ve owned this game for a long time, but I never really played it until now. I dug up the old game and started playing. It’s a decently fun experience, but there are enough negatives to turn this into a one time play through.

Tom is the main character of the story and he’s isn’t happy when he finds out that something fishy is going on in the Chaotic world. Maxxor is keeping him in the dark, but Tom won’t have that. These Shadow creatures have begun to impersonate the heroes and it would appear that they will stop at nothing short of world domination. Tom’s going to have to get out his old gear and hope that things don’t get Chaotic. (Which is his “epic” catchphrase) The main villain is unknown and it could be anyone, but that won’t stop our Hero as he gets to the bottom of this adventure. He’s going to have to find all 7 of the Mugic pieces in order to save both worlds.

First off, the graphics are pretty bad. Bad is a strong word since it may technically look better than some games that were created decades ago, but I expect more out of the PS3. Everything feels dated and the characters move around a lot. Tom appears as if he’s having a panic attack half of the time and all of the characters appear impatient. They just can’t stop moving! Tom has a yelling match with one of the monsters and the animation makes it pretty humorous. I suppose that it isn’t too bad since it can make you laugh, but I definitely would have liked for it to look as good as Bakugan.

The gameplay is the main chunk of any game so that’s something that you will want to know about. At it’s core; Chaotic plays out like a Pokemon. Turn based combat and the battles can go up to 5 on 5 at a time. There is some strategy involved as you will want to take out some opponents before others for maximum epicness. Health seems to be the most important factor in this game and I just made a team out of the strongest monsters that I had. You’ll typically be okay without using any health items as they will just prolong the battle.

After that, there are more complicated aspects. Chaotic has the element system like in Pokemon so certain attacks will do more or less damage depending on what’s happening. Unfortunately, it’s not as obvious as Pokemon, but Chaotic fans who watched the show will likely understand who they should aim for right away. If not, just look at the number next to the attack and based on whether it’s lower or higher than usual; you’ll know if it’s good to use or not. Either way, you’ll typically just want to use the strongest attack possible. One feature that helps to make the battle easier are commands that are placed on the screen when your creature attacks. Correctly inputting them will add a bit of damage and help to recover AP points. Likewise, you can hold the R2 button and hit X a lot to block an attack and mitigate the damage that you take from it.

From your 5 monsters on the field, only the three in the front can use their attacks. The two in the back are forced to rely on long range spells and Taunts to keep their turns going. You’ll want to stock up on a lot of mugics through the levels or else you’ll have to listen to the taunts all of the time.

The downside to the gameplay is definitely how long each battle can be. There are a set amount of battles in the game and there are no extra ones to stay and level up. (There is a mild level system where you improve their rank by combining monsters that you’ve scanned, but it’s not the best option) This means that the enemies will typically be weaker than you and you don’t have to worry that much about losing, but they will delay the inevitable. Constant health items will ensure that each battle can take 10+ minutes. That’s a lot of time for a simple battle and eventually you will really get tired of them. I dreaded the battles whenever they came up and that’s never a good sign.

Aside from fighting, there is also a platforming part to the gameplay. You get to play as Tom and explore the world. Look for ruins hidden in the rocks and find all of the mugics while blasting away alien insects. This part was pretty fun and you can’t die so feel free to take a lot of risks. I do wish that Tom could run a little faster and a boss battle in this mode would have been fun, but it was still a fun section. I’m always up for some platforming!

The soundtrack can definitely get annoying pretty quickly. I didn’t care for any of the tunes, but the monster lines during the battle can be tough to watch. They have a very limited vocabulary and they will say the same things over and over again. I do appreciate the fact that nearly all of their lines are puns, but they get old after you’ve heard the same one 20 times over. The monsters will talk when they attack so you can’t go through a battle without hearing the lines about 4-5 times over. Hopefully you are a Huge fan of these lines.

You can’t go through the levels freely once the game is complete so I recommend obtaining all of the collectibles in each level before moving on. This can be toughest before the final boss, but you should be fine as long as you keep an eye on the map. It’s highly rewarding for the trophies and you get the maximum enjoyment for your purchase.

The trophies for the game are decently fair except I don’t care for the online ones. Don’t count on getting the Platinum trophy for this title because getting 50 Ranked wins in such a dead online community will be next to impossible without boosting. I don’t believe in trophy boosting so that was the end of the line for me. I managed to get all of the online trophies except for one that I managed to miss. The trophies aren’t very hard and you’ll do fine as long as you make sure to grab those collectibles!

Overall, Chaotic is a decently fun game. The graphics and soundtrack may be sub par, but the gameplay is decent. If the battles weren’t so long and repetitive; I would likely have given the game a 7. As it stands, the game just doesn’t have enough positives and I do wish that there was a better level up system or a level select. One playthrough is likely all that this game will get for most players, but it’s only 9 dollars so it’s a decent purchase for that price. It took me around two days to complete and that was mainly due to the insanely long battles. That’s a decent length for a game though so the overall length isn’t a negative. If you want a more exciting monster game for PS3, check out Bakugan! (Either game works)

Overall 6/10

Spiderman Edge of Time Review

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Edge of Time is another video game that I’ve had my eye on for a very long time. I greatly enjoyed Shattered Dimensions and while I’ve heard that this one is not even comparable..I knew that it would still be good. I’m pleased to say that the game is definitely a lot of fun and it’s worth buying.

The plot is pretty sad for Peter Parker since he is destined to die. Spiderman 2099 is going to need to alter the timeline to save him, but will there be consequences to his actions? Someone is messing up the time stream and both of the Spidermen need to find out who the culprit is. The answer may shock long time fans and amuse people who’ve never heard of Marvel before. Either way, the plot is solid and you’ll definitely enjoy it!

I definitely prefer this story to the one that was in Shattered Dimensions. For one thing, this game has more actual cutscenes as opposed to moving stills. You really feel the danger when Anti Venom gets involved and the beginning of the game is very epic. Seeing Spiderman 2099 take on Anti Venom was also pretty awesome. The start of the game is easily the best part and the rest is still good…just not as epic. There are three acts in the game, which results in around 15 levels. Acts 1 and 3 are great, but Act 2 isn’t quite as exciting. Less stakes and less danger, but that makes sense since the middle is usually the low moment for just about any game.

One factor that may hurt your experience is the portrayal of the two Spidermen. They’re constantly arguing and both of them come across as being unnecessarily mean to each other. Spiderman 2099 yells out pretty much all of his lines and he likes to insult Peter. Peter is quick to take some shots at Spiderman 2099 as well and while he doesn’t yell as much, he’s always very snippy. They just did not seem to be in character and I can’t imagine Spiderman acting like that. He even gives up at one point and resigns himself to oblivion. Finally, Peter was pretty overconfident during his fight with Anti Venom, which was okay….but letting down his guard is not cool.

Gameplay wise, this game tries to be the same as Shattered Dimensions. We still have the free fall levels and Spiderman’s gameplay is what you would expect. That being said, it’s not quite as smooth as Shattered Dimensions. I had to get used to this during the first few levels, but it’s great by the end of the game. I’m inclined to prefer Shattered Dimension’s fighting style, but this game is still solid in that aspect. The Spider Sense can’t stay on like in the last game so you can only use it as a short burst. Meanwhile, you can automatically dodge all attacks as long as you hold L2 while in Spiderman mode. It’s cool to watch, but it makes his fights extremely easy. The enemies cannot hurt you at all in that form, no matter what attacks they may try. Yes…that includes bosses! Spiderman 2099 doesn’t have that ability, but he can fire clones made out of energy which help you fight and it’s just as useful. All of the enemies will immediately go after the clone so you can get some free hits off of them.

Web slinging is the biggest negative compared to other Spiderman games. It’s hard to gain altitude and you constantly have to let go and just do a classic third jump. Unlike Shattered Dimensions, you can’t infinitely jump so you have to pause and swing around for a sec before continuing. It’s not a terribly long process, but it really wasn’t needed. They shouldn’t have altered the web slinging process! Defeating enemies can be a little tedious during the beginning of the game because the health bars on these minions are pretty large. It takes a lot of hits to finally bring them down, so I recommend upgrading your attack power right away. While the gameplay may not be as good as Shattered Dimensions, it’s still in 3D and we still get a lot of action. I would give the combat an 8/10, which is great!

One slight negative for the game is the lack of bosses. We get to fight Black Cat, Anti Venom and the final pair of bosses. That’s not as many bosses as I would like in a game. Throwing in some more would have definitely helped the game and it would have also lengthened the story. The game may be under 10 hours in length, but we have the Web Challenges to keep you busy. There are over 60 of them (Significantly less than Shattered Dimensions) and they are simple enough. The Free falling challenges can give you some mild trouble.

My biggest negative with the game is the level designs. Yes, even more so than the fact that you can’t skip many cutscenes. You never get to set foot outside, which is very sad. What happened to swinging across buildings? That’s typically one of my favorite parts about playing a Spider Man game and I was sad to see it go. There may be around 15 levels, but some of the designs actually appeared to be copied from each other. After a while, you’ll feel like you keep going to the same rooms and labyrinths. The bland level designs can take away from the fun and the scenery just isn’t fun to look at. It’s basically always night time. I really hope that they never cut out NYC from another big Spiderman game because that definitely hurts the experience.

The Graphics aren’t terribly impressive. It’s definitely using a different style than Shattered Dimensions, but the graphics during gameplay are pretty good. The ones that I was not impressed with were the scenes that took place in the cutscenes. At one point, Peter has his big scene and he takes off the mask…only to look nothing like Peter Parker. I had to wince at the design and the graphics did not really look like a PS3 game. It felt like I was looking at Madden character models. Either way, the game doesn’t have a whole lot of cutscenes and the gameplay graphics definitely suffice.

The trophies in this game are considerably easier than Shattered Dimension’s. You have fewer things to do and long challenges like getting all of the Golden Spiders have become pretty simple. Your Spider Sense will tingle if you’re near a spider and the game did a very good job with it. You can obtain just about every Gold Spider through a normal play through. I don’t have the Platinum yet, but I just have three trophies left so I should be getting it pretty soon. You don’t need to worry about any “unfair” trophies so that could help you decide to pick up this game.

I can’t say much for the soundtrack. It defeats Shattered Dimensions in this aspect, but it’s pretty close. I really like the main menu theme for Edge of Time and the epic music that occurred during the Anti Venom moments were also pretty intense. Beyond that, the rest of the music was pretty forgettable and we didn’t have much in the way of boss themes.

Overall, this was a very good Spider Man game. It may have lacked Shattered Dimension’s combat mastery, but the epic story line made up for it. The gameplay is solid and the graphics are good enough. The game isn’t terribly long and you can complete it in under 10 hours. That being said, the replay value will help you out and it’s definitely worth the current price. (Around 15-20) I guess this means that I need to go and pick up the Amazing Spider Man game for PS3 at some point, but I doubt that it will be able to beat this one. Still….we shall see! I recommend this game to all action fans and to anyone who is a fan of Spiderman.

Overall 8/10

Dragon Ball Raging Blast Review

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DBZ has had some terrific games in the past! Even the ones that did not hit it out of the park were generally very good so I had high hopes for this one. After all, Raging Blast is known as a (sort of) successor to the Budokai Tenkaichi series, but with PS3 graphics and a large chunk of the roster being thrown aside. I knew that I was going to be in for a treat! I had actually been meaning to get this game for years and years, but it always got beaten to the punch by other games. Well, now I finally got it and the wait was worth it!

This is usually where I would talk about the plot, but it’s DBZ. You already know the plot! It covers all three arcs of the manga along with the Bardock OVA and the Broly films. Beyond that, we also have some good ole What Ifs. Unfortunately, the game plays it very safe with the What Ifs so they aren’t very interesting. Having Vegito battle Gogeta is a good concept, but they make you play it twice so that both characters can win. Talk about a cop out….Nontheless, the game has over 100 levels, which makes for a very extensive Story Mode! At times you may wish that it was shorter, but that’s not my main complaint with it. I don’t like…The Red Star system!

In this game, Red Stars are used to unlock just about everything from costumes to music to levels in Story Mode. Earning Red Stars is the annoying part. Basically, you have to replay a level that you’ve beaten and there will be 3 missions. You get one Red Star for beating the level on Hard Mode and two others for doing certain actions during the fight. This could have been acceptable, but you can’t get the Red Stars from the get go. This means that you have to play each level at least twice and most of them will need a third play through since getting all three in one shot is extremely difficult. Considering that there are over 100 levels….you’ll be playing over 300 fights! (Not counting that some levels have up to 5 fights in them) That was more than a little tedious and I don’t think that the developers did a good job on that one. I’ve earned about 50 Red Stars so far, but playing through those levels so much can get old very fast.

Luckily, not everything is purchased through these Red Stars. You also have the classic D Points and you use them to buy items from the shop. This feature is in just about all of the DBZ games and it’s a good system. The items aren’t unreasonably priced and you should have a good chunk of them by the end. Going to Shenron and getting the D Points multiplier is a must if you’re in a hurry.

To collect the 7 Dragon Balls, you must compete in a Super Battle Trial. This will open up a Dragon Ball fight. After one battle, then it closes and you have to rinse and repeat. This is another tedious part of the game because you have to do at least 14 battles to get the 7 Dragon Balls each time. That’s a little long, but not extremely long. It’s just a bit of a bother. The Super Trials have several modes like Survival, Team Battle, Punch Machine, etc. They’re pretty good and extra modes means extra replay value!

I mentioned that the roster got a lot smaller, but it’s still decently large with at least 50 fighters. We have most of the big characters from the series, although the exclusion of Mystic Gohan is not cool. For that, I would have preferred that they kicked out Videl or Chiaotzu. Mystic Gohan is essential! The game mostly ignores the films, so Broly is the only extra character. Still, I’m glad that they chose him since he’s a Must in any DBZ game. Some of the hype for the game also revolved around the Super Saiyan 3 form that Vegeta and Broly got. It’s definitely fun to play as those guys and it’s a fun addition to the game. I’m hoping that they’ll be mainstays in future DBZ titles although that does not appear to be the case. Hopefully in the next big DBZ game for PS4.

Time to get into the most important aspect of the game…the gameplay! I must say that it is a solid step down from Budokai Tenkaichi 3, but I suppose that was bound to happen. The problem is that you don’t feel the blows as much as you did in that one. Also, it’s tough to link combos to each other because some characters simply cannot do it anymore. You’ll finish a few hits and the character will pause. By the time you can launch the next attack, the fighter is on the ground and your combo is lost. Most of the techniques and combos are similar to BT3.

It took me a while to get the hang of the game, but now I’m pretty confident in my skills. You’ll find yourself using the super attacks a whole lot since they’re so easy to use. Not to mention the fact that it’s a lot safer to just spam them against enemies once you’re playing on hard difficulties. At first I was definitely not crazy about the fighting style, but it grows on you. You just need to give the game a chance and playing through the tutorials may not be a bad idea. (Trophies…) I forgot how to transform, which is too bad, but it’s easy to find out with a quick Google search. Once you feel like you’ve brought your A game, then it’s time to try out your skills online against real players. That’s one of the great things about Wifi. It can definitely add to the experience of a game and the servers are still open, which is pretty amazing! It’s hard not to compare the fighting style to BT3, but once you get past that…then it’s pretty incredible!

Graphics are not ultra important, but they’re always worth noting. They look really good in this game and the character models hold up well. I find Goku’s Super Saiyan character to look the best from the whole cast and his Super Saiyan hair is great. It captures the golden look while also appearing yellow. It’s hard to describe, but it’s how I want a Super Saiyan’s hair to look. The rest of the animation is basically what you may expect from the Budokai Tenkaichi games. The models have less black lines across them and they seem more streamlined. I definitely have to give the graphics a big thumbs up!

The soundtrack isn’t the greatest as far as DBZ games go, but it’s good enough. The tunes can come across as a little generic, but there is a decently large selection so you’re almost guaranteed to find at least one song that you like. The opening is pretty catchy when the game first boots up and the dying Namek stage theme is pretty good. The game won’t be losing any points in this area!

This game has trophies and they’re pretty reasonable for the most part. I don’t care for the online trophies and I never will. Online trophies aren’t practical since the servers will eventually close and you’re doomed if people aren’t playing the game anymore. Beyond that, I’ve gotten a decent amount of the trophies, but I don’t intend on getting the Platinum. Not really worth the time and effort, but the trophies are still reasonable for the most part.

Overall, this was an excellent DBZ game and easily one of my favorites of all time! It’s my third favorite in the franchise behind Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3. We have a solid cast of characters and a really large story mode. With all of the collectibles and modes to try out; Raging Blast has a huge amount of replay value. You’ll be playing this game for countless hours and I recommend it to all 3D fighting game fans. Also, what’s cooler than the thought of playing as a Super Saiyan 3 Broly!?

Overall 9/10