The Last Guardian TGS 2009 trailer

Interview with Fumito Ueda and a new The Last Guardian trailer from TGS 2009. Nuff said.

Team ICO's PS3 game tease

Are you excited as I am now? This solitary screenshot alone just sold me the PS3. Just waiting for a release date to save up.

via GAF

Rare Shadow of the Colossus *new* for under a tenner

Spotted at GAME this afternoon, I thought I would like to share with you the current "deal of the year" (my words, not theirs) promotion the chain is having. Remember this is for a new (not used) Shadow of the Colossus UK copy - which means in awesome digipak format. Go buy it (non-affiliate) now.

Other bargains according to BGB includes both Okami and God Hand for £15 each at HMV.

It is disturbing when a rare and awesome game like Shadow of the Colossus, Okami and God Hand gets marked down by that much. It does say more about the gaming habits of this nation than anything else. Oh well, at least more gamers will now hopefully get to play Fumito Ueda's masterpiece.

Go hunt down ICO too while you are at it.

NTSC gamers can order SOTC greatest hits for a reasonable £12.

Five exclusive PlayStation 2 games you should own

With the recent arrival of the PS3, there hasn't been a better time to get a PS2. Unlike Microsoft and Nintendo, the PS2 has yet to be abandoned, a testament to its versatility - despite it being the weakest in terms of raw power of all the last-gen consoles. New games are still being released for the PS2, such as Rogue Galaxy, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria and Atelier Iris 3.

With many early adopters trading in their PS2 collections, pre-owned PS2 games are increasingly becoming widely available. Just yesterday I saw a guy trading in his almost mint condition copy of Shadow of the Colossus. Inspired by Richard's take on PS2 games, I decided to write this up. It's only five games though as I am just too lazy and tired (shakes angry fist at politicians who thinks British Summer Time is a great idea)!

5. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence
Kojima Productions, Konami (£10-£15 / £25-£40)


The thick forest setting is quite a departure from the mainly urbanised setting of previous Metal Gear games.

While Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was a great game, but if you can afford it, Subsistence is the definitive version to get. With an improved 3D camera (the same one to be used in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4), massive amount of additional content and other bonus stuff usually included in a "director's cut", as well as the first two games in the Metal Gear series - both based on the superior MSX 2 releases, there really isn't any point in getting the flawed (but still awesome) Snake Eater.

Snake Eater is set in Russia during the Cold War and centers on Naked Snake (Big Boss), a CIA operative sent to rescue a weapons researcher. Unlike previous Metal Gear games, Snake Eater begins with Snake infiltrating the enemies territory through the jungle, a far departure from the usual urban environment of previous Metal Gear games.

Subsistence also contain Metal Gear Online, and if online multiplayer rocks your boat then go get it. Take note however that the North American server for MGO will shut down next month. It is possible that the European servers would go before the year's end too, so beware. Regardless MGS3 is a solid 3rd person stealth shooter with an amazing plot. It also host what is arguably one of the most memorable boss fight in video gaming culture.

4. ICO
Team Ico (In-house), Sony Computer Entertainment (£15-£35)


ICO's architecture is a marvel to look at, even through the dated visuals and ugly textures.

ICO's failure as a commercial item is a sad affair. To be fair, part of the blame can be attributed to SCE's reluctance to market the game properly, but even then it isn't entirely their fault. Such risk taking can only go so far in a video game market dominated by uninspired titles. Even despite the recent reprinting, the only place to purchase this game today is eBay and online stores dealing with niche products.

At the age of twelve Ico, the game's protagonist who was born with a pair of horns, was taken in by warriors to a castle where they locked him up, offering him as a sacrificing token to keep evil at bay. The boy escapes from his casket. He soon finds Yorda, a fellow captive in the fortress, and together they work together to make way out of the massive fort, solving kindergarden easy to brain busting difficult puzzles and occasionally battling wraiths and ghouls as they progress.

It's only fault lies with the camera system, which sometimes hamper our ability to marvel at the inescapable beauty of ICO's architecture. The graphics of ICO may seem primitive by today's standard (even back then the lower polygon was somewhat against it - this was a PS1 game), but don't let that fool you as the visual design are still outstanding. The gameplay, surreal atmosphere and architecture is just as majestic as when it was when released. ICO is a beautiful game, and a highly artistic one at that, even down to the surrealist art cover.

3. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Level-5, Square-Enix (£15-£30)


There never has been a Dragon Quest game where Akira Toriyama's character designs are blown to video game life so realistically, giving the group of protagonists much charm - something that their next-gen photo-realistic counterparts lack.

There is hardly any difference between Dragon Quest VIII when compared to the near two decade old DQ III. Apart from the graphics and plot, nothing much has changed. Battles are still very much and combats are done through the traditional turn based system. This is very much a love-hate game, and it is entirely up to the gamer whether he likes his gameplay old school or otherwise.

The plot is the simple but effective 'once upon a time' and 'they live happily ever after' kind, and can take a massive 70-80 hours to complete (and that is just for the main quest). The game begins with you, the nameless royal guard known as the hero, who has travelled to Farebury, with a mysterious companion known as Trode, hunting for a mysterious jester known as Dhoulmagus. The jester, armed with a magical sceptre, has unleashed a curse upon the kingdom, cursing everyone within including the king and the princess. Only you, the hero, remained unscathed and it is up to you to rescue the kingdom.

Where the game truly shines is the graphical overhaul, all thanks to Level-5. The cel-shaded look is stunning and the overworld is amazingly huge. It compliments the game very well.


Dragon Quest VIII features an excellent translated script as well as brilliant voice acting by European actors.

2. Final Fantasy XII (review)
In-house, Square-Enix (£25-£35)


XII is the first Final Fantasy numbered game to introduce a hybrid turn and menu based combat system. I hope they keep it.

Final Fantasy XII is the direct opposite of Dragon Quest VIII. It eschews jRPG traditions for new innovations, even more so than the pitiful Final Fantasy X-2. Unlike X-2 however, they got many of the new and old stuff right.

The plot, built over from Final Fantasy Tactics' political unrest of Ivalice (although in a different time line), is an acquired taste, as it lacks the individualism of the more popular (but in my opinion over-rated) Final Fantasy games. It is still on an epic scale, providing much relief in the overcrowded angry teens as protagonist RPG market. Final Fantasy XII highlights that there are still people within Square-Enix's internal development team intent on progressing a stale genre and introducing new gameplay ideas.

1. Shadow of the Colossus (review)
Team Ico (In-house), Sony Computer Entertainment (£15-£30)


SotC's visual design is not unlike that of Ico's, with washed out pale colours and majestic architecture.

Ignoring the lack of frame rate and the occasional camera reset, what you have here is the spiritual successor to Famitu Ueda's Ico, times ten. The plot is shamelessly simple. A young man known as the Wander (or Wanda in Europe) has travelled far with his faithful horse Agro to arrive at a temple in the middle of a barren land. In order to restore the life of a girl, he was commanded to slay 16 fabled ancient creatures. You then spend the entire game travelling, climbing, killing and repeating the process ad nauseam, minus the nausea bit.


Travelling through the desolate landscape, said to be the size of Tokyo, is a surreal experience.

Shadow of the Colossus isn't any conventional platforming game. For one the game consists of only 16 'enemies'. And second, the platforming levels are the giants themselves. There are no dungeons to traverse upon, no minions to battle through, just the pure adrenaline rush scaling the giant beasts, admiring the view from the top (and holding on), then slaying them.


You will often feel insignificant when battling any of the Colossi, but not so much after you slay each one of them.
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There you go, five fantastic exclusives that I recommend you get. Five games that makes owning a PS2 worth it, even if those are the only five games you will ever play.

Other recommendations:

Yakuza (SEGA)
Suikoden III & V (Konami)
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 (Atlus)
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Nippon Ichi)
God of War (SCEA)
Devil May Cry 3 (Capcom)
Okami (Clover)
God Hand (Clover)
Soul Calibur III (Namco)

Next week, five exclusive GameCube games you should own... or maybe the Dreamcast...

Shadow of the Colossus review

I have been meaning to write about this for quite some time since I got it a couple of months ago, but only now had the chance to finally sit down and write what I thought. Before I continue I will probably want to set the tone down for the review. There won't be any mention of Ico (wonderful game, one of the best on the PS2, but I feel SotC has enough qualities to stand out over Ico). This game is awesome. If there is anything next-gen, this is it.

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The premise of Shadow of the Colossus is this: boss fights. Nothing but boss fights after boss fights after boss fights. No in-betweens, no minions and certainly no pansy boss fights that we usually encounter in many video games. These Goliaths, known as the Colossus, are majestic and huge (think bigger than dinosaurs) - representation of would be gods, if they ever walked the earth.

SotC is a bare minimum game and hardly contains a plot. The epic opens with Wander, the clumsy protagonist of the game, riding into an ancient temple, carrying a dead body. Apparently there is only one way to resurrect her, that of the slaying of sixteen giant idols. Your job is to guide the hero across the massive desolate land in search for each of the Colossus.

This may seem daunting, but trust me, each of the boss fights is winnable. It may be challenging to people who never played platforming games riddled with puzzles (think Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider) but here's an example to ponder upon. I found the first Colossi the most difficult, mainly due to me struggling to get used to the control. Only once I finally nailed it I sent the Colossi to its deathbed. After that, by the time I reached the eight Colossi, the game only clocked 3 hours. When I completed the game by save file read 8 hours.

So it isn't too difficult, yet surely at 8 hours, some may correctly question its replay value. It isn't too much of a concern for me (since I got it cheap) but if you count your value based on RPG standard (70-80 hours to complete the main quest, with second ending, like I did on Dragon Quest VIII), then SotC would stack up rather poorly. Even then I would say that SotC is pretty good value, as it offers more than many video games. Which video game offers you the chance to battle 16 gigantic bosses, most of if they appear in other games, would probably be the final boss?

Each Colossus felled by the hero isn't the malevolent creature hell bent on destruction (though they do cause massive damage) that we see in other games. As each of the giant falls there is a moment of silent. No celebrations by the hero. Just necessary killings in order to resurrect a love one.

Agro, the trusted steed who , is easily the more realistic looking and animated videogaming animals I have seen. And I would like to think I know a little about horses (since I have ridden them in the past). You are never in full control of the horse. A nudge on the left analog stick basically tells Agro where you want him to go, not necessary where you will go. Sure the controls may be unpredictable, but we are after all role-playing as the protagonist, not the horse!

Despite being developed on a 6 year old console, the graphics are lush and beautiful, with its washed out blurring effect and lighting bloom. Sure the PS2 could do with a little bit more oomph as frame rates does stutter, but you know what? I didn't care. What was important was despite the limitations of the PS2 hardware, for some reason SotC's landscapes is as real as it gets even compared to newer games on newer hardware and high-end PCs. Sure things will get sharper, more colourful, more glossy etc. but are they any more 'realistic'? Some may argue yes, but I think not necessary. Even then nothing I have seen has yet to match the architectural detail and uniqueness that each Colossus has (my opinion of course).

The soundtrack is even more extraordinary. Music only begins when you enter the realm in which the Colossis live and during battle, even then only subtley. Apart from that the game has no music. Travelling the distance to each of the Colossus's hideout in silence, conveys a sense of solitude for the lonely hero. Surprisingly it works well.

SotC is the living proof that you don't need to spend £300-£400 for next-gen. It isn't perfect, nothing is. But it does break videogaming conventions, and for the better.

10/10

Buy now from Play-Asia or Amazon UK

Top 100 games of all time

Another utterly worthless post to keep this blog from heading down the gutter. This time a top 100 games of all time, that I have ever bothered to play.

I didn't put much thought into the list. Who would? It isn't a serious list, just a list of games I love(d), as of November 2006. It doesn't include pretentious games that many people pretend to like though. Also, not all that made the list, I would even consider twice of playing again. For example F-Zero was great and I had fond memories of it, but will I ever play it again? Hell no. It has aged rather badly me thinks (faux 3D games tends to do that).

I did think hard (for like 10 minutes) of ranking the top 10 games though and why I love them. Commentary on the top 5 (because I am lazy enough not to justify the latter five).

List updated as of May 2008

1. Total Annihilation (PC, Cavedog Entertainment, 1997)
- This is the ultimate game as far as I am concerned. When I first played this many many years ago, I had no idea that it would ever lodge Red Alert from my top RTS game list, but it did. Incredible graphics (even in this day), soundtrack and huge maps. Enemy A.I. was a bit patchy, but so what? The cool thing about this game was building up a massive army (hundreds) of cyber robots and watching the mayhem as they destroy the pitiful enemies. This game rocks, and still rock hard today. I pity the fools who prefers StarCraft over this.

2. Chrono Trigger (SNES, Square Co., 1995)
- Still the greatest RPG ever made, Chrono Trigger, while short, featured multiple ending due to the non-linear gameplay offered through time traveling.

3. Final Fantasy VI (SNES, Square Co. 1994)
- While not too dissimilar with fanboy favourite Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VI was without doubt a much better game. Nothing more nothing less. That is of course my opinion.

4. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2, Square Enix/tri-Ace, 2006)
- Without a doubt one of the best RPG game in recent history. The sequel to the fantastic PS1 game eschews jRPG cliché for a more modern uptake on the stale genre.

5. Final Fantasy XII (PS2, Square Enix, 2006)
- The developers of Final Fantasy XII with much flair, revamped the series for the PS2's final Fantasy swansong. Purist may hate it, but this is destined to be a classic.

6. Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PC, Westwood Studios, 1996)
- Who could ever forget playing Red Alert on those creaky Windows 95 Pentium machines, cranking up the speakers to full blast whenever 'Hell March' plays, annoying the neighbours at the same time? The sequel to another masterpiece, gameplay hasn't really aged well, but the graphics (made up of 2D sprites over 3D isometric plane) still hold up well.

7. Rollercoaster Tycoon (PC, Chris Sawyer, 1999)
- It is quite shocking that such a behemoth of a game was developed by a single man who was obssessed with rollercoaster, which in turn turned many of us into obsessed Rollercoaster Tycoon gamers - with so many sleepless night wasted trying to create the most insane rollercoaster there is.

8. Gyakuten Saiban 3 (DS, Capcom Production Studio 4, 2007)
- An utterly bonkers of a game, yet a fine example that text adventure role playing genre can still do well.

9. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (GCN, Nintendo EAD, 2003)
- If I was a well known guy and this was a well known list, Zelda fanboys would be sending threats due to my ranking of Wind Waker higher than Ocarina of Time. Fortunately this is the internet and such a simpleton like me isn't important enough to warrant an assault. Put it simply, in my opinion, OoT has aged rather badly, whereas Wind Waker, like an old Disney classic, still looks stunning (granted it is newer after all).

10. Soul Calibur (DC, Namco, 1999)
- When I got the Dreamcast for the low price of 20 quid, I bought three games with it, all original, and all at a fiver a piece. This was one of it. Beautifully executed moves were a joy to create. Maybe I should start looking for my old Dreamcast again.

11. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, Team-Ico)
12. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2, Level-5/Square-Enix)
13. ICO (PS2, SCEI)
14. Metal Gear Solid (PSX, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan)
15. God of War (PS2, SCEA)

The rest (in alphabetical order):

Advance Wars (GBA, Intelligent Systems)
Age of Empires (PC, Ensemble Studios)
American McGee's Alice (PC, Rogue Entertainment)
Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS, Nintendo)
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (GBA, Treasure)
Battle City (NES, Namco)
Beach Life (PC, Deep Red)
Bubble Bobble (NES, Taito)
Caesar III (PC, Impressions Games)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1, Konami)
Command & Conquer (PC, Westwood)
Commandos 2: Men of Courage (PC, Pyro Studios)
Contact (DS, Grasshopper Manufacture)
Contra (NES, Konami)
Crazy Taxi (DC, Hitmaker)
Dead or Alive 2 (DC, Team Ninja)
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive (PC, Spellbound)
Dino Crisis (DC, Capcom Production Studio 4)
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2, Nippon Ichi)
Doom (PC, id Software)
Double Dragon II (NES, Technos Japan)
Dragon Quest III (SNES, Enix)
Empire Earth (PC, Stainless Steel Studios)
Final Fantasy IV (SNES, Square)
F-Zero (SNES, Nintendo)
God of War II (PS2, SCEA Santa Monica)
Golden Sun (GBA, Camelot)
Gradius (NES, Konami)
Gunstar Heroes (SMD, Treasure)
Half-Life (PC, Valve)
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (GBA, Marvelous)
Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 (PC, Ritual Entertainment)
Hexen (PC, Raven Software)
Hitman: Codename 47 (PC, IO Interactive)
Ice Climber (NES, Nintendo)
killer7 (GCN, Capcom Production Studio 4/Grasshopper Manufacture)
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (GBA, HAL)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap (GBA, Flagship)
Lode Runner (NES, Hudson)
Max Payne (PC, Remedy Entertainment)
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (PC, 2015, Inc.)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (PC, Lucas Arts)
Mortal Kombat II (SNES, Sculptured Software)
Mother 2/Earthbound (SNES, HAL)
No One Lives Forever (PC, Monolith)
Okami (PS2, Clover)
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (DS, iNiS)
Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast (PS2, Sumo Digital)
Paperboy (NES, Mindscape)
Parasite Eve (PS1, SquareSoft)
Populous: The Beginning (PC, Bullfrog)
Prince of Persia (PC, Broderbund)
Quake (PC, id Software)
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii, Capcom Production Studio 4)
Resident Evil Code: Veronica (DC, Capcom Production Studio 4)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC, Gray Matter Interactive)
Sam & Max Episodes Season One (PC, Telltale Games)
The Secret of Monkey Island (PC, Lucasfilm Games)
Seiken Densetsu: Secret of Mana (SNES, Square)
Sensible Soccer (PC, Sensible Software)
Shenmue (DC, Sega AM2)
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2, Atlus)
Shogo Mobile Armor Division (PC, Monolith)
Shogun: Total War (PC, Creative Assembly)
SimCity 2000 (PC, Maxis)
SiN (PC, Ritual Entertainment)
Snails (PDA, PDAMill)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SMD, Sonic Team)
Suikoden III (PS2, Konami)
Super Bomberman (SNES, Hudson)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)
Super Metroid (SNES, Nintendo)
Street Fighter II (Arcade, Capcom)
Tales of Phantasia (GBA, Namco)
Tetris (GB, Nintendo)
Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS, Atlus)
Unreal Tournament (PC, Epic)
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2, tri-Ace)
Viewtiful Joe (GCN, Capcom Production Studio 4)
WipEout Pulse (PSP, Sony Studio Liverpool)
The World Ends With You (DS, Square Enix)
Xenogears (PS1, SquareSoft)
Yakuza (PS2, SEGA)

DC: Dreamcast
DS: Nintendo DS
GB: Game Boy
GBA: Game Boy Advance
GCN: GameCube
SMD: Sega Megadrive/Genesis
N64: Nintendo 64
NES: Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom
PC: Windows PC/DOS
PDA: Pocket PC/PalmOS
PS2: PlayStation 2
PSX: PlayStation
SNES: Super Nintendo/Super Famicom

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