Finally, Starkiller is a Sith Lord…
December 13, 2009
Mr Starkiller and his new lightsaber's hilt
This time, Lucasarts managed to get out from the idealist of George Lucas (or maybe he’s the one who initiates this idea) by creating the curve for changes to be accepted (if possible), in the Star Wars legacy. There is a book on filmmaking that challenges ideas on creating “WHAT IF” theory that creates new thinking (I don’t remember the book’s title, sorry). The word “IF” itself is significantly a vital turn point in any choice being made. For example in programming, IF-ELSE is absolutely the heartbeat for any logical functions for identifying choices. Ok, enough with these archaic languages…
About a month ago, I played The Force Unleashed on the Xbox 360. After I finished playing it, my friend managed to get the expansion for the games, Ultimate Sith Edition. The games offers 3 missions; the first one in the ruins of Jedi Temple, the second mission features Dantooine where Jabba the Hut operates his crime activities and the third mission takes place in Hoth System (Star Wars: The Empire Strike Back).
The Force Powers in the expansion will automatically changed according to the previous Force Points you’ve spend in the Force Unleashed (that’s why it is called an Expansion, duh). If you didn’t have any available Force Points, you can still gain it in the expansion and become an all-rounded-super-freaking-Jedi. Still, the enemies for the game include Rebels Alliance, stormtroopers and some Jawas.
These are some features for the game.
- No new Force Power available.
- New costumes and many playable characters (including Darth Maul).
- Holocron can be collected from various places, but no additional Lightsaber Crystal or Lightsaber Color will be added.
- Starkiller can deflect the lightning being used by other Jedis (Obi Wan and Luke Skywalker) by holding down defend button.
- Oh, the Force Lightning color will be a bit like purple…different from the Force Unleashed.
Dragonball Evolution
When I first looked at the screenshot, I thought maybe this is the game that may fulfill my thirst for the ultimate fighting games for PSP after Tekken and Def Jam. Due to my undying search for it, I searched the scattered information for the probability that the ‘perfect’ fighting games will arise from somewhere. When I first tested this game for the first 2 minute, the overall score was 8.0 (because of the smooth movement of the character; punch, kick, run). :p
But then, the catastrophe occurred. Why so simple? Why the movement is easily mastered by triggering only punch plus up arrow to make Kame Hame Ha?
I don’t watch the movie because I know exactly how it will end up. Since that is true, I thought the game would be more interesting than the movie. Damn! I ended playing it for not more than 1 hour (forgot to calculate and jot down the time I played, sorry). After I finished playing the game, I don’t feel any emotion of happiness bursting out as usual (where celebration party will be held upon my success of finishing the game by my roommate). The only thing that makes me mesmerized is the Kame Hame Ha animation sequence.
What I found out about the game:
- Combos can be done by pressing KICK button or PUNCH button simultaneously.
- You can finish the opponents by recharging and using ONLY Kame Hame Ha, seriously!
- Super Combos can be done by pressing UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT plus KICK or PUNCH.
- The character design is so simple.
- Shallow and simple storytelling.
When I hastily ran towards the bed crying for the imperfection of the Dragonball Evolution, my mailbox rang for something that I’m surely be dumbfounded in coming months. Soulcalibur Broken Destiny will be released for PSP. Can the game quench my thirst for the fighting games? We’ll see.
Hit ‘em with Style on Def Jam [PSP], a late review!
January 11, 2009
Def Jam PSP Cover
I just finished the Def Jam: NYC Takeover last month, within 3 hours of direct play. I knew the game was released 2 years ago, but it took some times for me to have courage to play this one. After some bloody battle and frustration on losing every battle during hard mode, I switched to easy mode (I won every single battle, yay!). Thanks to the developer for having such an easy level…:p
Since I’m quite addicted to fighting games, I played this game 14 times. The 15th times will come sooner, as I can’t stop stomping and punching those rappers to their grounds. Even though the main storyline has been revealed, I still managed to put aside my “boring attitude” toward repetitive gameplay in this game. The main attraction comes from the Development Points you spend carefully whether on new moves, new skills or training points. I only take 3-4 moves for the finishing technique, as the rest goes to the training points; Upper Strength, Lower Strength, Speed, Health and Toughness.
Other than that, the game enables players to mix styles of fighting ranging from kickboxing, street fighting, wrestler and kung fu. I mixed my styles between street fighting and kickboxing (benefits gained by combining upper strength + lower strength).
After I finished playing this game, the credits take too long to end. There is no button initiated to cancel or go back to the main menu. When the game loaded to credits, I manage to cook some Chicken Nuggets and even make a Maggi Noodles. What a waste of time…
The game does not offer you to have MAXIMUM training points on all aspects at the end of the game. I guess it is good to have some repetitive play which enables player to fully maximize their skills, thus creating the superb fighter in the hood!
Unleashing Darth Maul on Force Unleashed [PSP]
January 11, 2009
the 'superb' tattoo of the month
He is so cool even though he died totally uncool on Phantom Menace…
He is well-trained with double bladed saber but still loss to single blade (Obi Wan)…
He doesn’t talk much, action is the only matter…
As I finished unlocking all the main story and critical quick battle on Order 66 in Force Unleashed Mode, it was an excitement where you were able to play it on Darth Maul. But, you play him on single blade (originally, double-bladed saber in the movies). The fans may be disappointed with this, but still it is worth enough to try it out. On the main storyline, you cannot simply change the main character, Galen Marek to Darth Maul. It requires skinning (Lucasarts is now building the skin platform for Xbox 360; enables skin changer. Damn!). There is a code for enabling more characters to be played on PSP during main storyline. But be sure that the movie will be skipped as the game on PSP doesn’t have any skin changer.
This is the code: GRANDMOFF
…and you can play it as Darth Maul and other characters as well. Yay!
I Want to Live with the Force – The Force Unleashed [PSP] Review
December 5, 2008
the jedi apprentice
“…I’ve been momentarily lost in the world of star wars universe. I could sense the movement and threat of the Force behind me (when my roommate start sneaking and looking at my latest blog entry), Force Awareness on reflex movement (when my roommate unpredictably start throwing pillow when I’m half asleep), and the charismatic effects on Jedi persuasion techniques used during buying process at Plaza Lowyatt…” – MistaWes.
Due to the awaited for the not-too-long-ago Force Unleashed games on PSP platform, I’ve been brought up to some extent where my lightsaber was believed to be located in my drawer. Since it was not true, I changed my desktop wallpapers to Starkiller (Galen Marek) as a salutation of his bravery and his sacrifice to spark the rebellion to the Empire (it can be achieved on Good side ending, the Jedi). Duh…am I so addictive to the content of the games?
By the way, the games can be completed within 24 hours as it is intended for simple and one-way kind of gaming style; there is no puzzle, hidden quest whatsoever. When I read on forums regarding the games, the developer tends to craft it on easy level. Sooo… everybody can play with no fault language being spoken, repetitively. Since the game is built on Xbox 360, you may expect the graphic is unbeatable on 40-inch LCD TV rather than playing on small-sized PSP screen.
I played it more than 10 times on my PSP just to find all the crystals and hilts hidden on several objects without embracing the dark side offered by helpers on forums and walkthroughs until the err… critical situations arrived. Ehem…:p
When I first played this game (after the cutscene of the arrival of Darth Vader on Kasshhyyk), there are many questions orbiting my mindset; is the game going to be successful on PSP? Is the storyline in the game may affect the continuation of the Episode 3 and 4? Are there any new techniques in gameplay being developed such as more combos or more beautiful acrobatic movements? Is it just another plain 3rd person fighting games? Are there any secrets that may need to be unveiled by the player?
One crucial new great system in the game is the ability to test the environment physic by throwing, pushing and manipulating objects (or even, the enemies!). Months before the release of the Force Unleashed in the market, I’ve been watching some promotions; trailers and developer diaries which I successfully downloaded for future reference. When the date for released was set up, it is time to hold a breath and keep surveying about small chunk of latest updates on site. The most disappointing report is; the game will not be available on PC!! Oh…come on, man!! T_T
By the way, these are some tips for playing the game. I make it short enough as it is not meant to be a definitive guide for new players (I’ll let you play with no interruptions: p). May the Force lead to you to your destiny…
- Destroy everything along your path (holocrons, color crystals and lightsaber hilt may be hidden beneath the objects).
- Use combos as much as you can (Force Choke + Lightsaber Throw + Sith Scorcher).
- Don’t just use your lightsaber. Added it with some force power (Total Experience added may be high).
When I finished playing this game, there are two endings found; whether you ended it with the bad side (by fighting Darth Vader on the last mission) or the light side (fighting head-to-head with the Emperor). These endings will unlock two costumes; Sith Stalker Armor (bad side ending) and Jedi Ceremonial Robe (good side ending).
The game doesn’t offer to be played by chapter as you finished the whole story. When you’re killed (oopps, spoiler!), you will redirect to the first Vader’s mission on Kasshhyyk. At first I thought it was normal. And then, you realized that you’re running in a circle. Duh…I just want to fight those Jedi bosses, not playing it whole again.
The depth of the story is great. But the relationship with Juno doesn’t show much… that’s how a Jedi love would be, I guess. The end.
