Video Juegos: Feb 16, 2010

Final Fantasy XIII Preview : Released Date 09/March

Although Final Fantasy XIII is still one of the most anticipated Japanese role-playing games scheduled to launch in the United States and Europe this year, I was never terribly excited about it. I, of course, would feel a stirring in my chest whenever massive tradeshow monitors were ignited with Square-Enix's glorious CG footage and I do recall feeling a few butterflies in my stomach when I first picked up a controller to play the Japanese demo, but that's about it. Perhaps I was just keeping my expectations reasonable or I was concerned about the design philosophies behind the game's unusual battle system, but this week, all that changed.

I recently had the opportunity to play Final Fantasy XIII in a much quieter, more controlled environment where I could more leisurely experiment with and explore the game's many subsystems. It was during this demo that the game's battle system finally clicked in my head. It's certainly taken a while, but I'm now officially excited for Final Fantasy XIII. There's no way for me to know if the full experience will live up to the now wild expectations, but -- at the very least -- I can now fully enjoy the final month leading up to the game's U.S. launch.

For those of you that missed out on our preview coverage of Square-Enix's upcoming JRPG, Final Fantasy XIII stars a cast of six characters with the mysterious "Lightning" taking the lead. The game takes place on two main worlds: Cocoon and Pulse. Pulse is a savage, sprawling field, whereas Cocoon is a spherical moon that hangs above it. The demo I played took place on Pulse, and this was one of the first times I was able to actually play in this environment

It should be said that Final Fantasy XIII is gorgeous. Standing amidst the sweeping plains of Pulse was a magnificent experience, as creatures could be seen sprinting through the field in the distance, birds cast shadows on the ground as they glided overhead, and massive, dinosaur-like beasts meandered slowly and carefully through the canyons. The developers at Square-Enix clearly invested just as much energy into the game's visuals as they did when developing the game's sleek interface and sizzling CG.

At the start of my demo -- after I drooled the proper amount over the game world -- I explored a few more of Final Fantasy XIII's menus. It was here that I learned a tidbit that brought me great relief: you can in fact control which characters are in your party and you can also select which character you as a player control during combat. I was previously under the impression that story progression dictated your party's members -- which is usually the case -- but the end of the game does open up and give players more options.

The battle system in Final Fantasy XIII is incredibly complex, but the fundamental basics are easy to grasp: players control one character at a time and can execute a string of commands in any order, as long as their command gauge has had enough time to fill. As the gauge fills in segments, the player can queue up as many commands as there are available segments. The AI handles control of the other characters in the player's party of three.

The other main component of the Final Fantasy XIII battle system is the Paradigm sub-system. A "Paradigm" refers to a collection or grouping of Roles that each character is currently assigned. There are six possible Roles available to the cast including Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Saboteur, Synergist and Medic. Although each character in the cast of six has particular base statistics that might make them more suited for one Role or another, these Roles are open to everyone. So there are plenty of customization options available to players.

When building a Paradigm before battle, the player must consider what sort of Roles are needed at any one time. As the Role selected determines the character's abilities, it would be extremely unwise to head into battle with all three characters acting as Medics, for example -- they would be unable to attack. It's all about finding an effective balance that suits the situation. Commandos, for example, are all about melee attacks, while Ravager's are magic-based and can also serve as support units. Sentinels, on the other hand, are defensive in nature, while Saboteurs and Synergists are de-buffers and buffers, respectively. So one handy combination might be one Commando, one Ravager and one Medic. This set of three Roles forms a Paradigm.

Fortunately, players can create up to six Paradigms before battle and then switch between them at any time during combat. This is called a Paradigm Shift and dictates how all the characters in the party behave. While speaking with Yuji Abe, the battle director of Final Fantasy XIII, I was told that this Paradigm system was designed to give players control of the flow of battle. If your characters are getting weak, set up a Paradigm where two of your characters are medics and one is a Synergist. There are numerous possibilities and the fact that each character has a full grid of level-ups to grind through (similar to the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X and the License Board in Final Fantasy XII) for each available Role, players can sink an exorbitant amount of time into powering up.

Although Director Motomu Toriyama confirmed with me that there was no downloadable content currently planned for Final Fantasy XIII (because Square Enix wanted a 100-percent enjoyable experience right on the disc), the game looks even more promising than ever before. I can now say that I am officially excited for Final Fantasy XIII, especially after seeing the character Fang summon her Eidolon, Bahamut.

After the king of dragons descends from the sky, shattering ancient, pulsating runes and splitting the clouds above, he can then transform into what I can only refer to as a "dragon jet fighter." Fang rides him around as he decimates the poor, underpowered creatures below with blasts of energy. This was about as close to a full "OMG" moment as I could have possibly hoped to experience.

Also, the game features little baby sheep that prance around on the field. You cannot interact with these sheep, but just look at how adorable they are. Who wouldn't be excited for this game?

Modern Warfare 2

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People are still wanting to know how is the game which is named to be the best FPS game ever. Modern Warfare 2 gained first-day income at $310 millions with 4.7 millions copies sold which breaks the record of Batman: The Dark Knight. We got one another review from PlanetXBOX360.com by Eric Bush, who gives 9.8 out of 10 for this title.

“Every year there is one major video game release that nearly every person in the world is waiting for, this year that honor goes to Modern Warfare 2, from publisher Activision and developer Infinity Ward. MW2 is part of the infamous and long-living Call of Duty franchise – which had its beginnings in World War 2 and has since moved onto current day conflict. The first Modern Warfare was one of the best all-around first-person shooters ever created, a game that still sits atop the Xbox LIVE charts each month, and number 2 looks to bring a whole new experience to Xbox 360 gamers. There are a number of different retail packages to choose from when you go to pick-up your copy of Modern Warfare 2 on November 10, 2009; don’t worry too much as they all include the bare-essentials, what I am calling the trifecta of gaming perfection. The first, and most important part of the experience is the single-player campaign; number two goes to a strong multiplayer showing; and last but not least is something completely new to the MW franchise, Spec-Ops mode.

Let’s start our journey through the awesomeness that is Modern Warfare 2 by looking in detail at the single-player campaign mode, what most would consider the meat-and-potatoes of any successful video game. The story revolves around many of the same characters you have come to know and love from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Soap, etc.) – as well as some all-new badass ones (see Ghost for best in-game personality ever). There is a large variety of level-locations in the game, taking players from sunny Brazil to the snow all the way to war-torn Washington D.C. in the United States. I don’t want to give any actual plot-elements away in this review but the one suggestion I will make it to start your first play-through on “Hardened” difficulty as you can always move it down during play if it becomes too difficult. The one and only gripe that you will hear about Modern Warfare 2 is the length of the campaign, clocking in around 7 hours on normal difficulty, however if you bump it up to the most realistic and enjoyable setting of “Veteran” the campaign takes much longer, well over ten hours on average. I believe it was for this reason that the developers decided to include my personal-favorite aspect of MW2: Spec-Ops mode.

There is no form of “story-mode” co-op in Modern Warfare 2, instead Infinity Ward decided to change the formula up a bit and include Spec-Ops (a form of challenge mode that can be played split-screen or via Xbox LIVE with a total of two players). There are five challenges per stage, each with three levels of difficulty and up to three stars to earn per result. The goal is to unlock all challenges and garner perfect three-star ratings in each and every one, the challenge are different from one to the next, even in the same grouping. A couple examples are sniper cover from the top of a building, running the “pit” challenge course, racing snow mobiles down a mountain, and covering your buddy via helicopter turret. Spec-Ops ads a great amount of re-playability to Modern Warfare 2 and helps ease the pain of not having story co-op (per COD: World at War). As we mentioned before players have the option of playing with their buddy locally or with one other player over the internet via Xbox LIVE; split-screen was an excellent addition and we are glad to see it make an appearance in the game.

Going back to the single-player story mode it has to be said that the writers at Infinity Ward have crafted one of, if not the single best, pieces of video game entertainment of all time. The story flows in and out of mission-orders and briefing tools, letting the player take over control for the major plot points. There are more twists and turns than some entire game franchises feature, oh and don’t get too attached to any specific character because this is a tragic story even Quentin Tarantino would be proud of. The gameplay that any gamer familiar with the first Modern Warfare will become instantly comfortable with is back in full force as the main building block of the sequel. For a first-person shooter it does everything right. Infinity Ward has mastered the techniques and Modern Warfare 2 is their shining glory, in the 40+ hours I have spent with the game I never once felt like I was cheated in some way by the control mechanics or computer AI. If the first Modern Warfare is something to trust it’s the multiplayer portion of this game that will truly set the world on fire and provide hundreds of hours of fun.

All the normal MP game modes (team deathmatch, capture the flag, etc.) are available in Modern Warfare 2 – as well as a couple unique additions such as third-person mode. The completely upgraded perk and killstreak systems (UAV, ammunition, AC-130, or even an atomic bomb), customization options, and redesigned level setup help complete what has to be the most complete multiplayer experience gamers will ever see. A lot of the new “challenge rewards” found in Modern Warfare 2 have something to do with the class system, and how the player uses their chosen class to help the team win each match. The ranking system is back and comes into play a lot more this time around, controlling exactly what upgrades a player can use at what time, helping give reasons to play online. There is so much amazing stuff jam-packed on this disc I have a hard time finding negative things to say about it, and every time I do it is followed quickly by a “but for” statement. For a more detailed breakdown of the multiplayer aspects of Modern Warfare 2 be sure to check out our hands-on impressions by clicking here.

Graphically Modern Warfare 2 sets a bar so high that our industry will look to it as a blueprint of what can be done on next-gen systems visually. The developers found a perfect balance between realistic and entertainment (just wait until you play-through the airport level) that there were points during our review period that we actually forgot we weren’t watching a HD movie. The lighting effects and character models have been upgraded from 2007’s outing, and the draw-distance is beyond incredible. MW2 campaign also features one of the greatest designed and looking levels seen to date; the Brazil “ghetto” level includes a color palate that will leave you drooling. As with so much else in the game the audio is near perfect; everything from the sound effects to the epic musical score just screams quality. At the end of the day Modern Warfare 2 is everything we were hoping it would be, from the “that did not just happen” moments to the refined gameplay mechanics, to the all-new Spec-Ops mode – it’s as near perfect as any video game has gotten up to this point. The reason the game didn’t score a perfect 10 is because there is always something better to develop, and the lack of a longer SP campaign and MP story co-op drops it a smidgen. To be honest this is the highest score that PlanetXbox360.com as ever given out and we are completely OK with it going to Modern Warfare 2 – if you own an Xbox 360 there is every reason to go buy it, right now.”