Music Review: The Greatest Video Game Music (London Philharmonic Orchestra)

Released on the 7 of November, 2011, the London Philharmonic Orchestra tackles some of gaming’s greatest themes from the iconic Super Mario Bros. theme, to the more obscure Angry Birds theme in this amazing album, The Greatest Video Game Music.

Listening to the album is one of the greatest musical  collections that I have had the pleasure of experienced in recent years.  Along with magnificent arrangement of every gamers favourite tunes, the songs themselves bring back memories of the games they originate from.  Whenever the Zelda Suite came on, images of the lush greenery of Hyrule Field sprung to the forefront of my mind, bringing back memories of the time Link first left the forest and embarked on his amazing journey with everyone playing along, all those years ago.

Some of the standout tracks on the album include the hauntingly beautiful theme from Bioshock (The Ocean On His Shoulders), and the dramatic, heart-pounding action theme from Metal Gear Solid: Sons Of Liberty.  Although I have never played either of these games enough to have any fond memories (albeit the first time you are exposed to the enormous underwater city of Rapture) these songs bring together the experiences of the games into one, tight package, able to be enjoyed at a moments notice.  While not as good as actually having the game in your pocket, this is definitely a worthy substitute.

This album serves as a soundtrack to many gamers lives, with classic, retro songs from a simpler time cropping up in between the newer, more dramatic pieces from the past 4 or 5 years.  A prime example of this is the appearance of both the famous Tetris theme song (The Russian folk song of Korobeiniki) and the much more recent Splinter Cell: Conviction theme.  There is a definite sampling here for all gamers, old or young, and surely everyone will find a song that fits their tastes, and brings back memories of a dramatic cut-scene, or a tormenting boss battle.  This album is an amazing collection of some of gamings greatest melodies, and a worthy addition to your own collection   This album is an amazing collection of some of gamings greatest melodies, and a worthy addition to your own collection and I heartily recommend this album to any and all fans of either classical music, or video game music in general.

Track Listing:

1. Advent Rising: Muse
2. Legend Of Zelda: Suite
3. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Theme
4. Angry Birds: Main Theme
5. Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali
6. Super Mario Bros.: Theme
7. Unchartered – Drake’s Fortune: Nate’s Theme
8. Grand Theft Auto 4: Soviet Connection
9. World Of Warcraft: Seasons Of War
10. Metal Gear Solid: Sons Of Liberty Theme
11. Tetris Theme:  Korobeiniki
12. Battlefield 2: Theme
13. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
14. Call Of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare: Main Menu Theme
15. Mass Effect: Suicide Mission
16. Splinter Cell: Conviction
17. Final Fantasy: Main Theme
18. Bioshock: The Ocean On His Shoulders
19. Halo 3: One Final Effort
20. Fallout 3: Theme
21. Super Mario Galaxy: Gusty Garden Galaxy
22. (Bonus Track On Amazon) – Dead Space: Welcome Aboard The U.S.G Ishimura
23. (Bonus Track On iTunes) – Final Fantasy XIII: Hanging Edge

The Greatest Video Game Music is available to purchase from Amazon here, or from iTunes here

Why Final Fantasy’s Character Design Is Actually Not That Bad.

Recently, I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the Final Fantasy series’ character designs.  You’re probably familiar with them.  Strange looking characters with huge hair designs and crazy looking clothes.

Seriously, look at that crazy hair!

They are quite frequently the laughing stock of the video game world, and almost every review I’ve seen of Final Fantasy always picks on the strange looks that all the main characters sport.   But, believe it or not, there is actually a good reason for this.

Many Final Fantasy games feature one of the main characters wandering around an over-world, generally interacting with other characters, and all of these NPCs look relatively normal.  But why not the main characters?  If all of the characters looked alike, then some of the more incompetent players might not be able to figure out which character is theirs.  This more than likely stems back to the times of earlier consoles (like the NES) on which most birds-eye views of maps were, shall we say, sub-par (at least compared to today’s standards).  If the main character were dressed like all of the other characters on the screen, it would be difficult for many players to be able to determine who they were, and especially to try and leave towns with a 1 space wide exit.

This isn’t just the case for Final Fantasy games.  Many other games featuring over-worlds  feature a main character who looks remarkably different from all the other non-important characters.    The developers of The Legend of Zelda garb their character in bright green to make him easily picked out in a crowd of NPCs.  All Pokemon trainers wear a hat that allows them to be distinguished from above, especially when in the Union Room, and they are interacting with many other trainers in a small space.

One of these things is not like the other.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve played quite a few games where they don’t make it blatantly obvious as to which character you are playing as, and that can sometimes create chaos, especially in busy towns and cities.

Perhaps another reason for this is for some of the younger gamers.  Many times, the hair is able to help distinguish whether someone is a bad guy, or a good guy.  Maester Seymour in Final Fantasy X is a perfect example of this, with his vibrant blue hair just screaming “EVIL” at the player.  Sephiroth is another prime example of this, with his slicked back, 4 feet longmane cascading down his back being the perfect example of evil.  His style is akin to Draco Malfoy’s (from the Harry Potter series), who himself harks back to the “bully jocks” from 70′s films.  The hair is the most defining characteristic of characters in video games, and often sets the tone from your first encounter with them.

How can this possibly protect you in battle against enemies with guns, lasers and swords?

The clothes that characters wear are usually more tame than their hair, but are, more often than not, simply fan service (I’m looking at you Rikku).  By putting their main heroines in skimpy clothing, the developers are appealing to the age old adage, “sex sells”.  Plus, it is almost guaranteed to increase sales, given that the majority of gamers are men.

Now, I’ve examined this from a western point of view, but I’m sure that someone from, say, Japan would have a different point of view on this matter.  Maybe it relates to a cultural identity, or maybe it’s just how they were raised, but the majority of wacky designs are created in Japan, so I’m sure that they view this matter differently.

Remember to keep an eye on people’s hair.  You never know what it will reveal about them.

How could this guy possibly be evil?

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Review

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is a superhero based action game revolving around the multiple worlds of everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Spider-Man. Released just over a year ago, in late 2010, this Beenox developed title is a great romp through a variety of Spider-Man universes. I sunk a fair amount of time into this game, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The main gimmick of Shattered Dimensions is the way the game is structured. Over the course of 12 levels, you control 4 different incarnations of Spider-Man, the Amazing, Ultimate, Noir, and 2099 versions. All of these Spider-Men control differently and you’re forced to alter your style of gameplay for each level. 

Amazing Spider-Man is the typical Spider-Man.  Most of the levels involve using his webs to swing around, solve puzzles and beat up bad guys.  This Spider-Man is the featured as the main protagonist, with the majority of the story taking place in his dimension.  Ultimate Spider-Man is a fighter, currently being bonded with the alien symbiote (Venom).  As such, the majority of his levels feature wave after wave of enemies for you to beat back.  Noir Spider-Man is set in the 1930′s, and the Spider-Man in this dimension is a lot weaker than the others, and, as such, requires the use of stealth gameplay, sticking to the shadows and not taking enemies down in groups, rather one at a time (a la Splinter Cell).  Finally, 2099 Spider-Man is set in future Manhattan, where all the buildings have been raised to ridiculous heights, and you frequently dive off of them in order to chase a boss.  This creates some interesting free-fall combat segments, in which you must catch up to your prey and beat the living daylights out of them,while simultaneously dodging certain obstacles (eg. flying cars, random billboards, etc.). 

The story for this game is a bit weak, but works well as a way of bringing these different Spider-men together.  Mysterio (A recurring villain) attempts to steal a magical tablet: The Tablet of Order and Chaos. In his attempt to stop him, Amazing Spider-Man accidentally breaks the tablet, shattering it into 12 pieces, which end up scattering around the multiple universes. Madam Webb set’s the multiple Spider-men on a quest to find all 12 pieces before Mysterio can.  However, these pieces have all been found by Spider-Man’s many enemies, and so, Spider-Man must face off against them to get the pieces back. 

I had a few problems with the game, but not enough for it to be a major concern.  The wall crawling (which is a key part of the game) can sometimes be frustrating when turning corners or changing surfaces.  This is especially noticeable in the Noir universe, as if you don’t wall-crawl properly, you will be seen, and more than likely fail the level.  This is in part due to the camera, as once you turn a corner, it re-orients itself, occasionally causing you to turn back, around the corner you just turned.  There were also a few glitches in the game, such as when Ultimate Spider-Man would fall off the edge, instead of progressing to the in-game scene in which you save yourself, he would simply hover.  Unsurprisingly, this is not the first Spider-Man game in which this has happened to me. 

Overall, I found the game to be a very enjoyable, fun-filled romp through the many different Spider-Man dimensions.  As a non-comic, reader, I did not feel alienated from the game in the slightest, as it fully explained everything about the universes that I needed to know.  Plus, there’s always Wikipedia.  I would whole-heartedly recommend this game to any fan of Spider-Man, or of action games in general. 

Demon’s Souls Review

Goddamn it, this game is hard.  Now that I’ve got that out of the way, here’s a quick review of one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever played*

This hellish game is the work of Japanese game developers From Software (who made the fabulous game Enchanted Arms).  If you’ve read any other reviews about this game, you will have no doubt heard the difficulty level that this game exposes most gamers to.

In a world where gamers have been pampered with tantalizing “Easy” difficulty settings, Demon’s Souls is, without a doubt, a sharp slap to the face of any gamer looking for an easy ride.  This is the only game I have ever played in which you are expected..nay, forced to die against the first boss.  In fact, the only way to successfully complete the game (indeed, even the first level)is to make strategic use of death.  Yes, the game requires you to die countless times in order to progress.  To get past traps and to get to the first actually defeat-able boss, you have to die.  This introduces a whole new from of strategy to the game, and is an interesting change from the usual “Go forth, and don;t die” stratagem that is part of almost every other game these days.

The gameplay itself is quite decent, with an easy control system.  The only concern I have (and it’s quite a small one) is that combat is primarily confined to the L and R shoulder buttons.  This is quite a change from all other combat based games that I have played, and can be an annoyance at times, especially due to the fact that the square button (normally attacking in other games) uses items, and in the heat of battle, you can occasionally use a valuable item whilst attempting to attack.

The game has provided me with several hours of trial and error annoyances, where I repeatedly got stuck at the same area, due to either an annoying enemy placement, or sometimes (albeit rarely) an annoying piece of camera work.  This game can theoretically last you for a looooong time, and will doubtlessly provide hours of nail biting and swear-filled entertainment.

*and I’ve played Hell Tetris.

Brief Impressions Of The X-men Trilogy

Okay, so I just finished watching the X-men men Trilogy (2000 – 2006)  and I thought I’d share my impressions.

This is just going to be a quick one.

- The Rouge saga seemed to die off after the first part of X-men 1, and, despite an attempt to revive it during the third movie (The Last Stand) it seemed to just fade out.  Because, after all, this is Wolverine’s story….no, actually it’s Jean Grey’s story…..or rather Cyclops……or maybe it IS Wolvies’….or Jean’s….Seriously, the movies can’t decide which is the most important character.  Even in the third movie – in which they play Jean up as the big decider – its still wavers between her and Wolverine.  I understand that it’s based off the Dark Phoenix saga in the comics, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get my hands on a copy.

- I don’t understand the mainly negative criticism that the third movie recieves.  The main draw of the movies is the action scenes and the mutant powers, and this movie is quite heavy on it, introducing quite a few new mutants and drawing heavily on the special effects.  It’s quite impressive from a technical standpoint, especially in the final battle between the humans, mutants and Magneto’s force.  The battle itself was great, and all the action throughout the film worked great.

- Most of the characters were insanely well cast, particularly Magneto.  Ian McKellen does an amazing job in the role, and brilliantly represents one of the most powerful mutants out there.

- I seem to remember the winged mutant Archangel being a heavy part of the advertising prior to this movies release.  He appears on all the posters and other advertising, but he only plays a relatively small part in the film, appearing in only 2 or 3 scenes, and even then, playing only a minor role.

———-Warning.  Epic Nerd Rage Imminent——————–

-THE LAST SCENE! OH MY GOD.  WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

Obviously, the only reason this was added was to fuel the ever growing, shit monster that is the sequel.

We don’t need a sequel.  The  trilogy ended well, with a decent storyline, and, most importantly, closure.  The story was obviously intended to end with the finale of this movie, but, of course, the studio wanted the opportunity for a sequel if there was even a chance of them making a buck.

Not Quite Retro Review: Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

One of my favorite games is Natsume and  Marvelous Entertainment’s 2004 game, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. And I don’t really know why.  The principle sounds like the most boring thing ever, yet it is insanely addictive and enjoyable.

I don’t know why I actually got this game, as the premise of it seemed utterly boring. You play as a man (fan-named Jack) who moves to a small country town (Forget-Me-NotValley) after your father passes away, leaving his farm in your care. Your father’s friend, Takakura, introduces you to life on the farm during your first day, and shows you around the valley, introducing you to the locals, and, more importantly, your potential brides. Takakura finishes your introduction by getting you started on your journey by leaving you with a cow.

Celia, One of your potential brides.

When you wake up on your second morning in the valley, you are essentially alone. You have a dog which you found the day before, a cow that will only give you milk for 40 days, and an old man living on your property. Te primary “goal” of the game is to: a) Turn the farm into a profitable business, and b) Find yourself a wife and have a family.

The only way to turn the farm into a profitable business, is to plant and harvest crops, and buy animals. There is a moderate selection of different animal species to choose from, with your character being able to purchase cows (for milk), bulls (for mating with cows to produce more milk and more cows), sheep (to shear for wool), chickens (for eggs and breeding) and ducks (also eggs and breeding). Within these species, there is some variation in what you can buy, with higher graded animals producing a higher grade product, which will yield a higher profit (eg. Marble cow’s milk sells for more than Brown cow’s milk). Throughout the course of the game, special animals become available, mainly a horse (which serves no other means beside transport, but is perhaps the most useful animal in the game) and a goat. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES BUY THE GOAT. It stops producing milk after 40 days (1 year) and you are unable to get it pregnant to produce more milk, therefore, after 1 year, it just takes up space in your barn, and the only way to get rid of it is to kill it. Yes, you can kill animals in a game like this, although it is by no means encouraged.

Not really worth the effort.

The crops system works slightly different to other Harvest Moon games (eg. Friends of Mineral Town and Magical Melody), in that instead of planting crops in a 3×3 square, you plant them one at a time. This may cause some confusion for veterans of the series, but as this was my first Harvest Moon game, this caused me confusion transferring to other games in the series.  Plants will be your secondary source of income, as they require a lot more work than animals with less payoff.

The presentation of the game is wonderful, and takes full advantage of the technology contained within the Gamecube. The graphics look lovely, with lots of bright, pastel collies crying out at you from the surrounding countryside.  Despite only having a small-ish area to roam around in, the game changes from year to year (every 40 game days), with the local merchant having a greater variety of products available the further into the game you are, and the local ruins expanding at the beginning of every chapter

The characters are wonderfully designed, and, despite some translation issues, are quite enjoyable to converse with, and I often found myself taking some time off while my crops grew and my animals ate to go and chat to the people around the village.  There are a few “side quests” to go about, mainly playing a mini game or two, or collecting recipes.  This nets you the favour of the people, and, in return, they occasionally bring you gifts, most of which are  merely just for exhibition, but are sometimes (if you befriend the right person) incredibly useful, and almost impossible to obtain any other way.

Despite the seemingly boring nature of this game (taking care of your livestock and plants) and the repetitive nature of the game, it is actually a very enjoyable time.  I found myself spending a lot of time playing this game when I was younger (4 or 5 years ago) and every now and then I pop it back into the Gamecube (the only reason I still have the thing) and play through a season or two.  I highly recommend this for anyone who likes simulation games, and anyone who ever found themselves addicted to Farmville (which, surprisingly, I can’t tolerate)  This is by far my favourite entry in the Harvest Moon series.

30 Days Of Gaming: Day 29

Day 29 – A game you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

I mean, it’s a farming sim.  What sort of people outside of Japan enjoy this?  When I got it however, I found how addictive it could be.  These games were actually quite enjoyable, and I found myself quickly drawn into the world of Harvest Moon.

30 Days Of Gaming: Day 28

Day 28 – Favorite game developer

My favorite developer is DICE (aka. EA Digital Illusions CE).

They create amazing games, putting so much effort in.  However, the best part of thier games is by far the multiplayer aspect.  All of the recent games that they’ve done multiplayer for are amazing, and they’re really drawn the games together and been the highlight (Medal of Honor, Bad Company 2)

God Of War: Series Review

When deciding on my next review to write, I had to consider multiple options – do I review a style of gameplay, a single game, a series? Do I review a retro game, a game that makes me nostalgia all over the walls or a new game with newfangled graphics and about as much heart as a brick?

Eventually I decided to settle for a series of games that is often regarded as having the best action games of all time. Gratuitous violence, boobs, violence, gods, more violence and more boobs are all rife in this series – the God of War series.

For anyone that isn’t up to date with the state of God of War, the first game was released in 2005. Some said it revolutionised the Playstation 2 gaming community – sadly enough I wasn’t playing it back at release.

God of War made a statement on it’s release, a big statement. You know that a game doesn’t care about social convention when in the very first level you brutally murder a famous beast of the sea by impaling it’s head on the mast of a ship, watch children cut down right in front of you and most importantly, there’s a sex minigame.

Yes, a sex minigame.

It quickly becomes evident upon playing God of War in 2011, that the game is past it’s prime. The controls are a bit imperfect, the fighting is trying hard to be smooth but not quite at it’s peak and the graphics are… in today’s standards they are appalling. However, God of War exceeds expectations even today in just one single area that most games still manage to forget – it’s criminally fun. The boss fights are – whilst still fights, they’re more of an interactive movie than anything, with pleasing masochism all throughout every fight. There’s something extremely enjoyable about ripping a hell beast limb from limb, about breaking a sirens back. It’s just plain, easy fun. That is if you play on easy however. One of the things this game does well is that easy is just easy enough that you can virtually button mash through the entire game, however, up your difficult to normal, titan or heaven forbid, even GOD, and you’ll find yourself in a game that takes itself a lot more seriously, where it’s vital to pull off insane slashing combinations, counters and dodges just to kill the first monster in a series of 30.

Speaking Of Epic.

The puzzles in this game are refreshing – they’re a stop from the blood and gore that can be somewhat tiresome in large doses. And they’re refreshing in 2011 terms in that they are absolutely brilliant. Never do you leave a puzzle room and think “that wasn’t very well thought out.” – They’re always amazingly clever. It really begins to dawn on you near the end of the game that throughout it, you aren’t just solving a whole bunch of little puzzles simply to progress, but the whole game is a massive puzzle with each room a different mechanism in a grander puzzle.

God of War’s incredible soundtrack is augmented with an iconic riff known throughout the gaming world. This soundtrack adds to the intensity and experience of playing the game and really assists in indicating the absolute odds that are stacked up against you.

The storyline and characters of this game are somewhat lacking. Granted, it has a great story, but the story really takes a backseat. I’m never one to skip cutscenes; however they scarcely entertained me in this game simply because I wanted to kill more of Hades minions. It’s worth noting, also, that this game is based on Greek mythology and uses this prewritten mythology extraordinarily well. Connecting some key ideas together in ways that make so much sense you wouldn’t believe it! The characters are merely there as a medium of the story. You do not feel anything for Kratos (your main character) in this game, given that he is a self-indulgent, arrogant douchebag that killed his own family. Every other character is irrelevant as only really Kratos and the final boss appear more than once.

Shadow of The Colossus?

In 2007 a sequel to God of War was released, and this new game quickly attracted much attention. Most expected it to fail abhorrently, based on the fact that most sequels cannot stay true to those classic nuances about the first game. Is this true for God of War? No it isn’t. God of War II is almost identical to God of War!

The controls are somewhat improved, but still pretty mediocre, oftentimes I found myself falling to my death or failing a quick time sequence merely because the controls left something to be desired.

However everything else is drastically improved, drawing on the increased technology being brought out of the Playstation 2’s engine. The action is smooth and amazingly, even more fun. A return of the monsters from the first game, combined with new monsters – shows us that even after killing 100 Minotaurs, there’s still something sickly sweet about watching the blood spill from one’s throat as you force both of Athena’s Blades down there.

The boss scenes in this game (and I’ll continue to use the word scenes, as they are truly still an interactive movie) are even more badass, even more acrobatic and amazingly, even more violent. This game forces you to kill some people that – when knowing that God of War III is out and God of War IV is scheduled for release – you know that shit is about to go down. More mythological beasts emerge from the dark in ways that leave the player shivering with fright and Kratos laughing with joy. Kratos is greatly improved as a character also, with a bit more relatability and a hell of a lot more reason to give him a chance as a guy worth following. For those who don’t know, the game follows Kratos’ fall from grace as a god and attempt to claw his way back to the moment he was killed, his attempt to claw his way back to the temple of fates to change his fate.

God of War II’s soundtrack is again improved on the soundtrack of the first, with higher sound quality, better orchestrations and more intensity. While in the last it effectively outlined the odds Kratos is up against, in God of War II it helps to exhibit the helplessness of Kratos against the gods and the lack of hope in the slightest.

This game is and always will be a classic. It doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t, and most importantly it’s a classic (or rather it has no class) action game that never ceases to amuse with its puzzles, insane action, boobs and violence. Oh, so much violence.

God Tier

2008 came and went. 2009 soon followed with no mention of a God Of War III release. The new Playstation 3 system that had been released in the meantime boasted greatly improved graphics, capabilities and controls, yet still the cries from the God of War lovers seemed unfounded. In 2010 however, the light returned and it was announced that the final game in the trilogy was to come in epic scale. And come it did.

Right from the very start of God of War III, you are thrown right back into the action. And I’m not meaning the opening level; I’m meaning the opening credits! A silhouetted depiction of Kratos’ journey leading you straight back into the chaos of the battle between Titans and Gods. The graphics are stunning, the controls are exemplary, your blades easily carving their way through enemies with more grace than ever before, and when you reach the first boss, you can’t help but let yourself die a few times, just to enjoy the insane graphics and violence.

As the game progresses you begin to get an understanding of just how improved the Playstation 3 system is to the Playstation 2 system. The bosses are phenomenally awesome, with crazy sequences resulting in deaths in epic proportions. I won’t spoil anything, but the sheer scale of those bosses that you fight makes these fights more intense and more desperate. This is compounded by a greatly improved combat system and eventually, a multitude of new weapons and skills to play with. Those weapons are – excuse my greek – fucking awesome. They all have their own skillsets and they all have amazing feel to using them, you never get bored of any of them.

Near the start of the game you hear a haunting melody float through the air of Hades, and I’ll be honest, I stopped my playing and sat listening for nigh on 10 minutes to this 15 second melody. It’s augmented relatively quickly with a note stating “When the voice sings of anguish and pain, I can cope with it. I’ve dealt with plenty of anguish, plenty of pain. However when the voice sings of hope, that is when I feel depressed and helpless.”

About a quarter of the way through the game is where you see the first new thing – a slight glimpse that quickly turns into a shining bright light by the middle. The emergence of a story! If you are eager to look you can see little nuances hidden throughout the game, however when it really becomes obvious is when for the first time, Kratos changes his goal. Kratos shows so much evolution as a character in this game, and it’s not just him. God of War III boasts many more great characters then the first two and ALL of them have individual stories that tie in to the main story.

While the story takes a frontseat for the first time, all throughout the game are scattered those small puzzles that are so integral to a God of War game, and might I say, they haven’t lost their spark. The puzzles are still showing up those of other games, are still important and some of them are still important to the story. As ever I was astounded at the fact that each individual puzzle unlocks just one more mechanism in the big puzzle that is God of War III.

And then comes the end.

I came up with many ways of explaining the end of this game in my head, none of which could quite explain it appropriately. The closest I came to it involved “Total mindfuck” “equivalent to cancer of the brain” and “WTF².”

My lord. I can not even begin considering how to start even the first part of possibly slightly understanding the very beginning of the end of this game. Nor how they can make a sequel, but hey, I’m excited.

Kratos’ journey is a long one, And while sometimes it leaves something to be desired in God of War 1 and 2, by the end of God of War 3 the first 2 games are just that more important, as with the addition of the story you now understand more clearly the arduous journey he has undertaken. The evolution of the games is phenomenal whilst still including elements that can be called “God of War-esque.”

The soundtrack is ever epic, incorporating both one of the most intense and fiery themes I’ve ever heard, one of the most haunting and atmospheric melodies I’ve ever heard, and brilliant use of dramatic interludes to increase the absolute tension that rides through all three games. It’s interesting how the developers managed to not only keep you entertained through such an arduous and arguably repetitive journey, but they managed to make you crave more with the intricate puzzles, exhilarating gameplay and tendency towards the violent. Of course the ample opportunity to see bare boob played a part in that also.

This series is renowned for revolutionising action gaming and even gaming itself, and after playing it, it’s definitely not hard to see why. I eagerly await the fourth instalment and will certainly play it through to completion very quickly, Because I like killing things. And I like boobs.

OMG.

30 Days Of Gaming: Day 27

Day 27 – Most epic scene ever.

The opening cutscene of Final Fantasy X. 

This cutscene captures the grand scale of the game, and the epic storyline (and villain). When Sin appears and begins destroying Zanarkand, you think to yourself, “Woah, I have to kill that thing?”

This scene sets the tone of epic-ness for the entire game, in a game filled with epic scenes.