Story-
The Cool thing about Radiata Stories is every character lives it’s own life and it’s not the same thing over and over, every day they are doing something different.

At some point you can recruit most of them 175 to be exact. You start out as a Kid Named Jack And you are late for Knight try outs,
you are expected to be a great Knight since your father was a legend.

You must beat a Girl Named Ridley which the first time playing is nearly impossible after you beat it once you start out at the lvl you beat the game at so she’s easy, or should be.

After that you do various Missions while the story progresses. Into many Twists and Turns it kept me interested. I did both paths, about half way through the game you pick which side you want to be on each has it’s benefits I beat it on both and one is easier then the other. But both are fun.

Also I would like to point out that this is one of the funniest RPG I’ve played.

Game play-
The cool thing about this RPG is you can go up to any NPC even if they’re in your party and kick them until they snap and battle you.

Some will join your party if you succeed in beating them some will battle you right Away the next time you talk to them. but I could play for hours just going up to NPC’s and kicking them. Ohh the joy..

The battle system is like Star ocean: Till the end of Time. You walk around freely and have certain buttons you push to perform certain moves also Custom attacks, Group attacks(where your whole party does a Combo most are pretty amusing..) Chain attacks, (if you hit a combo after a party member does a combo you can do a Chain combo)

Also your Party can be customized to do what you want them to do. I usually went with a healer and a Rusher. Healer guy/Girl would sit back and heal me and the other guy. While the Rusher would be Rushing all the enemy’s and do big attacks while I decide whether I need to rush as well or be a secondary Healer or spell caster usually I ended up protecting the Healer.
Because the NPC are not Dumb they go after The healer quicker then Shit.

Graphics-
The graphics were pretty good but lacked CG Cut scenes most of them were Rendered in with the original Graphics.
Special effect were well made especially the Kick Effect. You could literally Kick ANYTHING!

I Kicked a House 5 times and an old guy came running out and kicked my ass, Had to go back to my save spot 3 hours before. Old Hag..~!

Music-
The music was good, most of the Boss battles had very Catchy and Fast paced Themes, which helped if you failed to kill the Boss the first time.

Story-
Its 1958, you are Delta, the first big daddy, and you are trying to keep up with your little sister, Eleanor, as she runs through a party. After some unfortunate events you awake from a coma like state ten years later.

The story is given to you pretty much the moment you wake up. Tenenbaum contacts you through a radio message and tells you to rescue Eleanor so you and she can escape together from the decaying utopia. However there is a certain bond between Delta and Eleanor which makes the search for her all more valuable.

So after the events of Bioshock and many people saying, “Would you kindly” people questioned how a story could be any better. While the story to Bioshock 2 is definitely not as good as the first the way the story and history are told is better.

The story is given to you when you wake up however additional details are dolled out through audiotapes. While this was the case with the first more of the audiotapes were for historical purposes instead of a focus on story, which was shown through ghosts or Atlas. But if you are not the search and find kind, then don’t fret, important audiotapes are places practically in front of your face, so you don’t have to search every nook and cranny.

History is another thing that is better than the first. The first one left many questions as to how Rapture was built, and who exactly were the previous inhabitants. The perfect example of the tale of Rapture would be the Ryan’s Amusements level. This was basically one of those boring amusement parks that were supposed to be educational; however this is quite interesting for the gamer as it shows how Ryan built his city, along with the propaganda he pushed upon the children of Rapture.

The story all together is pretty much stand alone and does not require you to have played the first Bioshock. However I must recommend playing the first as it will let you get the Easter eggs hidden throughout Rapture. I don’t want to give too many of the hidden surprises away, but in one part you may find sunken remains of the crashed airplane from the first one.

Game play-
Game play is pretty much identical to that of the first one with you being able to use plasmids and shoot guns. But the minor improvements to the game make the sequel a lot more of an enjoyable experience than the first.

I shall begin with the basics. Many weapons lay around Rapture, and there were some you couldn’t use it Bioshock. But with your new found strength in the form of you being a big daddy you can use these enormous weapons that no ordinary man could use. Rivet Guns, the weapons a Rosie would wield, are your main weapon of the game along with the drill, Mr. B’s weapon of choice. The weapons you get later in the game are basically the same weapons you got in the first game except with a different look. You’re a big daddy though so this gives you some extra ammo that Jack couldn’t use. These new bonus ammo range form rocket propelled spears, mini turrets, and trap rivets.

With these new weapons there certainly must be better upgrades right? Well of course. While the Power to the People stations are still operational, you are able to get a total of three upgrades per weapon. The first two upgrades are pretty standard; make your weapon more powerful, increased clip size, that good stuff. However it is the third upgrade that is always the best. In order to get the third upgrade you must get the previous two but it is worth it. These upgrades basically change your bullets. Heated rivets ignite enemies in flames, machine gun bullets ricochet; these are but a few of the upgrades that are available to you through out the game.

Along with deadly weapons there are weapons that are not meant for combat but used to increase your power against others. These weapons are the hack tool, which I will go over later, and the Research camera.

The research camera form the first one was a camera that took pictures, and while you had this camera you were pretty much vulnerable to attacks as alls you could do was just take pictures. That is changed as the research camera of Bioshock 2 is a video camera. Equip the camera and select a target and it will record them as you fight them.
Research points are gained based on how you fare against them and the variety of weapons and plasmids used to defeat them. This definitely made me happy as no longer did I have to stand their like a jack ass taking pictures but I could actually do something while I researched.

The weapons, while they are the same, do seem to be a bit more interesting with the changes that have been made to your arsenal. However that being said some of the weapons used in the game don’t seem as potent as they should be. The rivet gun and drill are the only ones that seem more powerful than the weapons you had from the first game, but it is the others that just don’t seem to pack the extra punch, at least not as much as one would think. But in the end they do their job and kill everyone in your path.

The enemies that you encounter are more or less the same as the last. Their deformities do seem to have worsened a bit more but I will delve into that later. Besides the regular group of splicers and big daddies there are new enemies that have come to Rapture, and they are definitely a harder challenge.

The big draw to Bioshock 2 is the Big Sisters. Your first encounter with one of them is intense as you see her running around, teasing you into chasing her, and that’s when she shows you what she is made of. It is the same wakening call we got when we were first introduced to the big daddy. But in good time you will fight her.

There is more than one big sister in the game, and one comes every time you either save or harvest three little sisters. I would suggest that you prepare yourself thoroughly before you save or harvest the little sisters. While they wield the armor and force of a regular big daddy their acrobatic skills and use of plasmids definitely make for a tough fight. And while dieing was a sure fire way to get out of a daddy fight you couldn’t handle, don’t expect this to work on a big sister as they will chase you relentlessly until they are dead.

The other new attacker is the brute splicer. Think regular splicers except beefed up on steroids. They have a very simple set of attacks but each hurt quite a bit. One is the shoulder ram where he just charges at you and rams you up against a wall and just lands punch after punch into you. If the brute isn’t in the mood to punch he will retreat and grab something to throw at you which will knock you off balance and make you vulnerable for several seconds.

The new enemies offer a more difficult challenge but I loved it. Unlike the previous Bioshock you are forced to combine your weapon and plasmid use to defeat these creatures. Cycling through your plasmids in order to stun a brute in charge or use telekinesis to stop the objects he throws at you are some ways you will have to gain mastery over the interface of the game, and the challenge is welcome.

Vendors are everywhere in Rapture, and sometimes you just don’t feel like paying full price for health or ammo, and that pipe mini game you were forced to play in the first one would get so old and sometimes impossible that occasionally I didn’t bother with the hacking at all and paid full price. Luckily Bioshock 2 has had a massive update for the hacking tool that has made it more bearable and more useful.

The hacking in this game is now radar across the bottom of the screen with a needle that goes back and forth. On this white bar there are green, red and blue sections. If you hit it on green you move on to the next phase of the hack, red triggers the alarm, if you hit the white area it’s a miss and you are hurt, blue gives you a little something extra. If you’re hacking a vendor and hit the blue area you get a free item or if you hit blue while hacking a safe you get some more cash. Hacking can sometimes go up to around three phases, each time the green and blue areas getting harder to hit.

Since the hack tool is used as a weapon, it has weapon like qualities, of course. Your hack tool can only be used by as many hack darts you have, except if you get up close and hack. However that is not advised as hacking is now done in real time. Since you can hack from afar, if there is a turret with some unknowing splicers around it you can hack the turret and watch as it wastes the splicers around it.

While there are vendors that take normal money there are machines that use only Adam, The Gatherers Garden machines are used to buy gene tonic, improved health/eve and better plasmids. But there are now more ways to get the Adam than just rescue or save little sisters.

So while you main source of Adam comes from little sisters you can get a lot more Adam from them in the form of escorting them to dead bodies. Using your little sister, she will smell sources of Adam for you and you will follow this cloud like thing as it flows down the halls. Once found, press x and she will start to gather the Adam. The process takes quite sometime and during this time splicers will come to get her, so it is up to you to protect her.

Preparation seems to be a big part of the game, and I like it. Sometimes the little sister escorting does get old, but the Adam rewarded keeps me doing it. With splicers coming out of hallways and the ceiling, ammo can run scarce; luckily the new plasmids can always help.

The plasmids are the same as the last game, incinerate, shock, wind trap, however it is the upgrades that separate them from Bioshock. While in the first one upgrading them would just simply make them more powerful but in this one an upgrade to shock will allow you to chain splicers through one shock attack. It is more incentive to buying the upgrades and made me want to buy upgrades to plasmids I don’t normally use just to see what they do.

Besides the events of the main storyline, 2k decided to add multiplayer, and just the mention of it was enough to have some people on their knees and shouting at the heavens with a shaking angry fist. However I am here to say it is not terrible, but it also isn’t very good either. It finds a balance at mediocre.

The game developers added a reason to the multiplayer, basically after the events at the Kashmir restaurant; you are to test the new plasmids. You awake in an apartment, this is basically where you store you inventory. It is here where you can find games with your bathysphere, change your characters appearance, and customize your weapon/plasmid load out. While I liked the use of an apartment as your source of navigation, it would have been better if you could have made it look better by buying stuff for it, or having people in an xbox live party come to your apartment. This is just one minor knit pick I have with the game, but after playing assassins creed 2 I kind of have grown fond of the customization options.

The game play itself is the same as single player, use plasmids, shoot weapons, kill stuff. The multiplayer games can only have up to 10 people, which isn’t a whole lot considering a game of MW2 can hold up to 18. But while it can’t hold as many people as MW2, I did find it rather enjoyable for a good 30 minutes. It also added research to it, so when you find a dead body on the floor you can research them and gain a damage boost to that specific character, but not a whole lot to where they don’t have a fighting chance. The maps of the multiplayer are areas of the previous Bioshock, but with a less chaotic look to them. Maps are small enough to where players are always running and gunning.

In the end the multiplayer was just something tacked on to increase the dollar. It is alright, but since most of the people bought the game for the single player experience I would suggest to at least giving it a shot. Even though it is not a multiplayer game I did find one enjoyable experience about it, and that is the fact that there are no campers.

Graphics/Audio-
The audio and graphics of the game still have that 1950’s feel to it, which makes me feel like Danny wandering the halls of the Overlook Hotel, except with more of a sea theme.

Graphically the game does not look to much different then Bioshock 1, which is kind of disappointing. While the graphics looked really good back in 2007, they just don’t look that good as of today.

While the atmosphere over feels similar, players will also notice a more of the sea taking back Rapture. This is shown through coral growing on the walls, and the increased flooding in some areas. While some of the rooms look similar it is the growing sea life that looks truly awesome. While this may sound lame it does add some nice details to the ever aging Rapture.

Along with an aging city, the deformed citizens of rapture have grow themselves. Splicers now have a more eerie vibe to them, as it looks like their faces have a piece of cloth sown over it in some areas. The look of the new enemies is refreshing, but in combat situations, not much difference could be told between previous and the new splicers.

The music of the game still compliments the atmosphere as well as the previous Bioshock. This time there seems to be earlier 1900’s music, probably because of fallout? However, in times of traps or combat scenarios the music is traded out for more of a symphony type style of music. Plucks of violin strings and the notes of a piano being struck just build up on some anticipation.

Final Thoughts-
-It lives up to the hype.
-Manages to do some things better then the previous Bioshock.
-Graphics are so 2007
-Story is getting kinda old

They follow Pluto and at night meet up with a cloaked figure who speaks in riddles. They then follow his trail and wind up in the great castle oblivion. A castle where for each memory gained by making it to a new floor, another memory is lost. The game’s major downside and anyone who has ever played a KH game will tell you, is the fact that the game has so many Disney themes in it. but it’s not near as bad as you would think.

This game is in no way childish like you would expect from a game with so many Disney characters in it. Upon entering Castle oblivion the effect of the castle makes the characters forget all there spells. So Sora who fights alone because Donald and Goofy turn into battle cards, Learns the new card battle system. The basics are taught to him by the hooded fighter after the opening scene in the castle and then further more by Leon/ Squall lion heart from final fantasy VIII. During the field mode Sora can move in all directions, jump, climb spring up off of a spring and grab ledges to reach area.

The heartless appear on the field weather it be by coming out of the ground or flying in or various other means. They can be avoided or the player can initiate the battle by sticking them with the key blade. In doing so the Heartless start the battle off with less health. By winning the Battle Sora will collect Kingdom cards with numbers ranging from zero to nine on them. These are essentially map cards that open Kingdom doors to new areas of the different worlds.

During combat Sora is given free movement through out the battle field. The A button will activate which ever card is collected and the B button lets Sora jump. Even though Sora may be 14 He is very skilled with his Key Blade weapon that he wields. The L and R buttons let you scroll through the different cards so you can choose the one you want be it a Key Blade attack, spell or summon. By pressing the L and R buttons simultaneously you can load up the card to use as a sleight.

Combining Key/ attack cards Sora can pull off various attack techniques called “Sleights” which can be earned at level ups. Combining summons allows for more powerful variations of the summon. Variations of spell and attack cards can create different attacks as well. One of the most fun aspects of this game are the boss battles which can get very intense. No two bosses is the same, the way the battle is played is completely different.

For one Boss you may have to hop from platform to platform and hit it in the week spot. You may have to hit a different target or wait untill it drops its guard to move. Some boss’s are huge and require the movement of the arena to hit them right. Some may battle you one on one. Each boss is very unique and gives you a good fight. This is normal for most games but bringing those elements to the rpg world blends perfectly.

A side from the games great and very fun game play Famous Characters from the final fantasy series make guest appearances. Which I feel was a plot to get Final Fantasy fans to get past the Disney aspect which of course worked. Cloud, Squall, Yuffie and Aeris and Cid all make appearances and Cloud is even a Boss in the game. Tidus is in the game but he is a child. Note: Sephiroth is also in the first game along with these Characters.

Also note that most of the guest characters are from Final Fantasy VII and no Final Fantasy games older then PlayStation appear. After beating the game with Sora players will get to replay the game as Sora’s lost friend Riku to see his side of the story. Riku can jump higher then Sora and also has a Heartless form All in All Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories is one of those games you will hate at first because of the Disney aspect, but will quickly grow on you and you will get past the Disney to enjoy a great game.

Personal Opinion: Like I said once you get past the fact that its got those Disney characters in it. Its a pretty good game to play. The fighting’s cool and the storyline is one of those ones where all the puzzles and hints and clues and shit keep you guessing and wanting more.

Length-There are 26 Total Episodes. No OVA’s, No Movies, yet. Myself I like longer Animes, but shorter ones tend to be great, I think they did a brilliant job on the pace of the Anime, to lead to a well done Anime, they didn’t make any of the common mistakes that shorter Animes tend to have which is, Bad story or jam packing 3 episodes into 1.

Sub/Dub- As of now it’s only FanSub, theres a total of 4 Sub Groups that finished the anime, as far as the best Sub Group goes, I did not watch all of them, I watched Shinsen-Subs & Ragnamart, and they did a decent job.

Animation- Mostly the Animation was outstanding but there was times where it wasnt as good as you would think, you could tell they spent more time on certain Monsters then others, it would be like as good as Naruto, then the next monster you see will be something you would see on Dragon ball, not that Dragon ball had bad Animation “when it came out” and it was Published in 1986.

Music- The music was good but it wasn’t good enough that you notice it, you know those animes your watching and all the sudden you think, (wow, that’s good Music) you never do that with this Anime.

Appropriateness- I don’t really care about appropriateness myself but, for those of you who do. as far as sexual Content goes, yes it does. Blood, Yes. Language, not really. Nudity, No. I give it a PG13 rating.

Characters/Story- I think the characters were well done they all had different personalities and they didn’t go episodes without saying a word. but they didn’t Draw you into the Anime like you would want. The story was great I give it a 9

One Piece
(Long Anime)

Intro-
Ten years have passed since the Rubberman incident. Luffy sets out to sail all alone. He sets out to become a great pirate captain and that’s when his great and long adventure begins.

Length-

Right now there’s 300 episodes and still going strong. your probably thinking how could an anime stay interesting after that many episodes. well One piece does it well. and there are 7 Movies that are decent.

Sub/Dub-
Kaizoku-Fansubs is by far the best Sub group for this Anime but they tend to be slow.
as far as Dub I haven’t watched any Dubbed except for the 4kids one that they cut. pretty much ruined the anime.

The Animation is average not outstanding just good enough.

Music-

The Music is good. I noticed some Music throughout the series I liked.

Appropriateness-

PG13- Blood, Alcohol, Language

Characters/Story-

I think this is the Main reason this Anime is still going is because even the Bad guys that will be dead in 3 episodes. you feel like you know them just as well as the main characters.

Story:

I find it hard to sum up Berserk, I find it even harder to sum up how awesome this series really is. First off there is Guts, he is the great Grandpa of EVERY Main Character, spiky hair Yup, oversize sword Heh…(King Of Swords),bad ass attitude For Sure..all Main Characters are pretty much based off him for he takes all the clichés but he brings them to new heights and goes beyond everyone else. anyway on to the Story.. Guts is a man without a destiny, he was born from a dead woman and was supposed to have died but did not, he was found and raised by a band of mercenaries even though he was considered to be an ill omen. During a siege he kills a well known member of the Hawks and after the battle is finished he is attacked by members of the Hawks who find themselves no match for him, the only one able to defeat Guts is Griffith, who then forces Guts to join the Hawks.

The Hawks themselves are composed of actual men with “PERSONALITIES” There’s not just 2 characters in this Anime, That have their own feelings, in fact ALL the characters in Berserk are their own person, it is Sweet. However there is a snag (there always is) the beginning episode is slower and takes place after the Hawks when Guts has become the Black Swordsman (long…LONG….story). And the ending…. The creators of the anime (Bastards!) made the Worse Ending I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of Freaking Endings.., you will want to Get the Manga and that’s A LOT coming from me (is worth it). Actually after watching the series Read it or Die, The ENTIRE manga, otherwise you SUCK I mean miss out on some key characters who were removed that need explaining for the ending to make sense( Oh God, You Have no Idea how much explaining is needed). Anyway to sum it up Beginning = It was Okay, Ending = SUCKED!, (I can’t Stress How Bad the Ending was!), Middle = The best Freaking middle I’ve watched… Can’t Stress that enough either. (The Ending Sucking SO BAD and The Middle Being SO GREAT, it kinda Evens it out, Non the less A GREAT Anime And/Or Manga).

Graphics:

How does Berserk look? Lemme put it this way, you know how black exists to be the exact opposite of white? Same thing with Berserk only replace white with “light and fluffy”. The only colors this series really needs are shades of black, white, and red (there is a LOT of red). However it is not that a gritty ugly series it is quite GOOD and at more dramatic moments it replaces footage with well drawn stills which add to the effect. Oh yeah and before I forget, don’t let the kiddies watch this one it is full of blood, dismemberment, and nudity (be glad that they cut most of it out of the anime… seriously the manga is screwed up how badly? Guts is raped when he is a kid for instance…) So keep children, the faint of heart, and the retarded away from Berserk they will piss themselves…

Characters: Like amazing characters? Then stop reading this and start watching Berserk… Actually the cool thing is how they go from clichés and become such awesome characters. Guts goes from being the brooding loner to the commander of his own squad and fights to protect them and his friends and you also see about his VERY dark past (which involves rape), Griffith starts out as the power hungry bishi however you see more of his past which is quite dark (which involves rape), and there is Chaska, your standard ice queen however she has an awesome relationship with Griffith and Guts which is an awesome part of the series, she also has an angst past (involving rape) (seeing something in Common? Rape, Rape, Rape..).

If you don’t mind darkness, blood…A LOT of BLOOD.., or sexual content (Heh, All the Sexual Content is in 3 Straight Episodes) and enjoy amazing characters and storyline then Get.. Berserk RIGHT NOW!!! if you don’t want 12 hours of asking your self WTF WHAT THE HELL!!! then I Suggest having the Manga Ready to Read after you Finish the Anime but even then the Manga Doesn’t Get much better.

Full Metal Alchemist
(Overall a Good anime)

Description-
In this world, there exists people with special abilities to manipulate objects and transform one object into another. These people are known as alchemists. This process does come with a cost though, the basic law of alchemy states that to gain something you have to sacrifice something of the same value.

The main character is the famous alchemist Edward Elric – also known as the Full metal Alchemist – who almost lost his little brother, Alphonse, in an accident. Edward managed to contain his brother’s soul in a large suit of armor. While he did manage to save his brother’s life, he had to pay a great price.

To get back what they lost, the brothers embark on a journey to find the Philosophers Stone that is said to amplify the powers of an alchemist enormously.

Length-

There’s 51 Episodes no OVA and one Movie. it doesn’t seem like they crammed a bigger story in
less room nor does it seem like they stretched it like they are with the Naruto Fillers.
but in the end of the Series and the Movie it just seems like you’re missing something.

Sub/Dub-

The Dub is decent but it’s not perfect I’d recommend watching a Fansub. which will be hard to find most of them stopped when it got licensed.

Animation-

Full Metal Alchemist Animation was nice clean and ran smoothly. they did a very good job at keeping it the same throughout the series. but the Movies animation was a bit different not exactly in a good way either.

Music-

The Music was well done nothing outstanding but it was nicely put together and matched the Anime.

Appropriateness-

Teen/PG13 for Blood Violence Alcohol use.

Characters/Story-

The characters were Well made and thought out in this Anime even the Bad guys get you drawn in at some points
and there’s so many Characters it’s really surprising they were all very well put together.