FINAL FANTASY IV: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.

PLATFORM: EXCLUSIVE ON PSP

GENRE: RPG

Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection isn't only a re-release of Final Fantasy IV as we already know it. It also includes all of the Wii-centric episodic releases of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, as well as an all new game known as Final Fantasy IV: Interlude that ties the events of Final Fantasy IV and The After Years together. 

 If you're unfamiliar with Final Fantasy IV, let me catch you up. First released on the SNES back in 1991, Final Fantasy IV is a traditional console JRPG. It tells the story of a Black Knight named Cecil who, after committing heinous crimes on behalf of his king, attempts to right past wrongs. Along his journey, he meets a cast of characters that are amongst the most interesting characters in the entire Final Fantasy series. From the deceitful Dragoon Kain and the summoner Rydia to the ninja king Edge and the twin mages Porom and Palom, Final Fantasy IV's cast is among the strongest in RPG history. The fact that these characters end up on an unavoidable path to save the world simply makes them all the more likeable, even if each of them has flaws that are, at times, significant. 

 Final Fantasy IV plays much like many traditional RPGs of the time. Gamers will control a party of up to five characters. By visiting a variety of locales, from castles and dungeons to towns and cities, you'll be able to progress through the primary story of Final Fantasy IV, while occasionally branching off to complete some random side quests and other peripheral tasks. Many locations are associated to an overarching world map that players will often travel over. And combat in the game is triggered by random encounters. Once a random encounter has trapped your party, you'll have to fight through enemies using Final Fantasy IV's turn-based-but-not-quite system known as Active Time Battle. This system puts an impetus on actively paying attention to each fight, as opposed to a more straight forward turn-based affair ala the Dragon Quest series. 

What makes this re-release of Final Fantasy IV all the stronger is the extra content that's included in the overall package. The After Years takes place nearly two decades after the events of Final Fantasy IV, and deals with Ceodore, the son of Cecil and the white mage Rosa. Its episodic approach means that you'll be playing scattered events using many characters from Final Fantasy IV, as well as a slew of new playable characters, both familiar and unknown. Final Fantasy IV: Interlude, on the other hand, takes place almost directly after Final Fantasy IV, and deals with the events leading up to Ceodore's birth. Both The After Years and Interlude otherwise play identically to Final Fantasy IV itself, using familiar locations and graphical and audio assets, though The After Years throws a few curveballs at gamers, including a combat system called Band and a strength and weakness system based on the phases of the moon. Interlude is short -- a mere three hours -- but The After Years will take you a much more significant amount of time to work through. 

Clearly, Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection is the ultimate purchase for Final Fantasy IV fans. Even if you’re already experienced with the core Final Fantasy IV experience, there’s still so much to see and do here that it’ll be hard not jump back in. The After Years and Interlude certainly aren’t as strong as the primary game, but fans like me will enjoy getting to know more about the characters we love in locales we’re already familiar with, putting a little bow on the entire saga.
But there’s just as much here for gamers who are unfamiliar with Final Fantasy IV. The main game is enough of a draw, but having all of this extra content will simply give you more bang for your buck. Just be sure to play sequentially if you’re new to Final Fantasy IV, or you’ll be completely lost. If you haven’t played Final Fantasy IV, are a fan of RPGs, and don’t find yourself utterly impressed with the game, I will be surprised.

MIGHT AND MAGIC: CLASH OF HEROES

PLATFORMS: PS3, X360 AND NDS.

GENRE: PUZZLE  ADVENTURE

Like Puzzle Quest before it, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes marries puzzle gameplay and role-playing elements with much success. But unlike Puzzle Quest -- a straight-up riff on Bejewelled -- Clash of Heroes doesn't ape another game's mechanics. This is a game all its own with a lot of depth and nuance to be discovered.

Clash of Heroes is a fantasy adventure about five young adults from different cultures banding together to stop demons from taking over the world. It's set in the Might & Magic universe (see: knights and wizards) but is a standalone story, so don't worry if you're unfamiliar with the series like I am. 

The role-playing elements are found between battles when you're exploring lush environments, chatting with locals, gaining party members, and leveling up your characters. It's a rewarding system that allows for a little creativity in how you approach combat. Once you engage in battle, you are thrust into an addictive puzzle game.

With the battlefield divided in half, your army is on the bottom and the enemy's on top. The object is to launch attacks at your opponent and deplete his or her health. By creating vertical stacks and horizontal rows of at least three same-colored units, you create attackers and defenses, respectively.

Those are the very basics of combat in Clash of Heroes, but from this foundation the game spins out many rules, unit abilities, and combo opportunities. Things get pretty intense when your Champion Dragon still has one turn left before it unleashes its poison breath and your opponent has a fused elite unit and a level-two wall formation in the way. (Don't worry, the game will explain all this to you in helpful tutorials.) By the second chapter, Clash of Heroes is a very challenging game.

What's New in the HD Version?

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes was originally released on the Nintendo DS back in 2009. Several upgrades are included here on the PlayStation 3:

• Multiplayer now supports up to four players and is available locally or online.
  
• The visuals have been completely redone from pixilated sprites to hand-drawn characters, giving the game a very pleasing cartoon look.
  
• New spells, abilities, and artifacts have been added to the campaign.
  
• You can now revisit every faction's chapter to finish side quests.

 Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is where it's at. I loved it on DS, and this HD version is even better. A deep, clever puzzle game mixes well with a beautiful role-playing adventure. This is a game to get lost in, providing hours and hours of single- and multiplayer fun.

RIFT: PLANES OF TELARA

PLATFORM" EXCLUSIVE ON PC

GENRE: PERSISTENT ONLINE-RPG

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Operating system: Windows XP, Vista or 7Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or better
Memory: 4 GBHard disk space: 15.0 GB available
Desktop Video: Nvidia GTS 250 or betterNotebook Video: Nvidia GTX 200M series or better
Sound: DirectX 8.1 compliant cardDirectX®: 9.0c, June 2010 update
Broadband internet connection (DSL, cable modem or other high speed connection)

Rift is a game built for MMO veterans. Its core gameplay is almost identical to that of World of Warcraft or EverQuest, but there's a layer of complexity gently draped over some of the more important aspects. This might turn off newcomers to the genre, but hiding behind the steep learning curve is a rich world with a lot of depth. It's also incredibly polished for a new MMO, with fewer bugs, less lag and more client stability than any in recent memory.

During character creation, you choose a character archetype or "Calling" out of four options -- Mage, Rogue, Cleric and Warrior. Your Calling determines what armor you'll be wearing and which 9 of 36 souls you'll ultimately have access to. The number and variety of souls provides you with a lot of different playstyle options, but not all of the souls combine very well. This is particularly true with the Mage, whose trees tend to focus on a specific school of magic. The Mage also seems to have the least amount of versatility when it comes to group play, as it can reliably heal and support with a couple souls, and can deal ranged damage with the rest, whereas all the other callings have access to tanking, ranged and melee damage, support, and (with the exception of the Warrior) healing.

 PvP, by the way, is a lot of fun in Rift. There are four warfronts that you unlock at various levels, and while they all conform to game types we've seen in other MMOs -- capture the flag, capture points etc… -- the maps are well designed and provide strategic positioning options for virtually all roles. Black Garden's trees help Fang carriers stay hidden from attacks on the ground but the adjacent walls make the carriers susceptible to attacks from above. In The Codex, each capture point has its own layout, with spikes of stone providing a good vantage point for ranged attacks and narrow bridges serving as excellent chokepoints for defenders. There are power-ups hidden around the maps, but usually away from the action, meaning you need to trade a temporary numbers loss for the potential for to seek out their bonuses.

I believe that's why rifts, the entities the game is named for, are present -- to break up the monotony of questing. Rifts are massive tears in space that open a pathway for creatures from other planes to enter Telara, the world you reside in. If left open long enough, the monsters that spawn from the rifts will begin to overrun your settlements and questing hubs, so closing them becomes a priority. Rifts are broken into stages, with each stage spawning more difficult (or just more) monsters than the last. There are optional bonus stages for rifts that require you to slay the monsters extra fast, and depending on how well you perform, you are rewarded with a pool of items unique to closing rifts. The items are all pretty useful and a lot of the consumables can be lifesavers. 

 Meanwhile, the collectables part of Rift is amazing. Hidden across the world are little glowing balls, called artifacts, which can be picked up and added to a series of collections. Completing a collection gets you a token for a vanity reward (like a pet or a hat) but the real fun is in the collecting. The little glowing orbs are almost always placed off the beaten track, behind a box or in a tree, or between rocks. They've been carefully placed in areas where you wouldn't see them unless you were looking.

Trion has come out of the gate swinging with Rift. There are flaws -- it's a game that will overwhelm anyone who hasn't experienced an MMO before, and it brings little new to the genre -- but to my mind the quality of the content, the detail of the world, and Trion's excellent early support outweigh those flaws. There's a steep learning curve, but once you're comfortable with what Rift offers, you will find a deeply immersive experience. Telara is a worthy alternative to Azeroth for anyone looking to explore a new world.

SHOGUN II: TOTAL WAR

PLATFORM: EXCLUSIVELY ON PC

GENRE: STRATEGY

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 

• 2nd Generation Intel® Core™i5 processor (or greater), or AMD equivalent
• 2GB RAM (XP), 4GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
• AMD Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series graphics cards or equivalent DirectX 11 compatible graphics card
• 1280×1024 minimum screen resolution
• 20GB free hard disk space 

Breaking from the complexity of Empire: Total War, Creative Assembly trims things down for Shogun 2. It's not a revolutionary step, but a necessary one. It's a reaffirmation of Total War's core values. It's about armies charging forward waving spear and sword, clashing in the middle of vast battlefields to determine the fate of a nation. It's about navigating a land at war to negotiate trades, establish alliances and govern a growing collection of provinces to satisfy a need for conquest. Shogun 2 proves Creative Assembly's combination of turn-based strategy with sweeping real-time tactical combat is just as entertaining as ever. It features brilliant visuals and sound, thrilling clashes between massive armies, and an expertly designed interface to ease in newcomers without sacrificing the depth veterans expect. Issues with the game's artificial intelligence and stability are still present, but pale in comparison to the whole of Creative Assembly's accomplishment. Shogun 2 is a high water mark for the Total War series. 

As established by the original Shogun back in 2000, the Total War formula is comprised of two parts. First there's the turn-based campaign map management, similar to Civilization. In Shogun 2 you have but one goal: seize control of Kyoto and establish yourself as shogun in 16th Century Japan. Starting conditions vary, with a short campaign starting in 1545 and lasting until 1575, while long and domination campaigns last until 1600. With four turns per year, one for each season, you'll need to spend time wisely to navigate Japan's hostile landscape packed with warring clans and swirling loyalties. Competition for territories and trade routes is fierce, making establishing dominance all the more rewarding. 

One of nine clans is available to play from the beginning, each associated with a set of bonuses and level of difficulty. Some are positioned by the sea with easy access to harbors and trade routes and few borders to worry about. Others begin the game in Japan's center, locked in on all sides by potential enemies. Expansion and acquisition is always the goal, as you'll need to capture and hold a number of territories in addition to Kyoto to attain victory. Expand too fast and you'll draw the attention of the sitting shogun. Move too slowly and you'll fall way behind as rival clans maneuver and seize territory, eventually storming Kyoto before you've even had a chance to see it. Diplomacy can be crucial when extending your network of power, but this is ultimately a game for warmongers. 

The artificial intelligence of your enemies is also much improved. On the campaign map, if you make an alliance with a clan, there's no need to worry they'll suddenly turn and raid your empire with no warning. In battle, it will move cavalry away from spearmen to drive into the sides of your formation, surge katana infantry at archers, take to the high ground and hide in trees and wheel its front lines around to match your angle of approach. Though it is possible to pull in live players to your campaign battles if you want, you'll still find a formidable adversary in the AI, even if from time to time it forgets to move entire columns of spear infantry out from the range of archers. 

All of the action is presented with incredible visuals. You'll see burning arrows soar through the sky leaving trails of smoke, igniting the ground under their target and, occasionally, houses if they're in the way. Riderless horses flee from the heart of combat while katana infantry slash and block as individual units. Though organized into artificial formations, as soon as columns clash there's chaos as samurai charge into combat and cavalry topples those on foot like toys, while the occasional rider is sent flying helplessly through the air. Whether at sea or panning across the campaign map, the attention to detail is always impressive, even less technically advanced effects like the way undiscovered regions on the campaign map are displayed like paint strokes on paper. It's still a demanding game that will chew up lower end systems, but still better optimized than past Creative Assembly products. As might be expected of a Total War game, the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant, with pounding drum arrangements that churn the adrenaline in the midst of a fight and wind and string melodies that soothe the mind while tending to tax rates. If you listen closely on the campaign map, you can even hear the flutist's intake of breath. 

   Longtime fans will surely find a lot that's familiar in Shogun 2, but will also find Creative Assembly's most polished, well-presented and playable version of its Total War franchise. Shogun 2 is an expertly tuned turn-based strategy game filled with exhilarating real-time tactical battles against a capable artificial intelligence or others online. With a gigantic multiplayer suite and fantastic visuals and sound, Shogun 2 is a high point for the Total War series, featuring a staggering attention to detail and immensely satisfying gameplay.

FINAL FANTASY: DISSIDIA 02

PLATFORM: EXCLUSIVE ON PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

GENRE: ACTION RPG

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (also known as Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy) is a rich hybrid of role-playing and fighting games. It adds a colossal amount of content to the original Dissidia Final Fantasy, which was already a total blast to play. Like many Final Fantasy spinoffs before it, Duodecim is not without faults. There's a definite learning curve to overcome here. But for those patient enough to invest some time in learning Duodecim's ins and outs, the reward is incredible. 

Most of the gameplay in Duodecim is similar to what you experienced in the original Dissidia. Combat takes place in large, open stages and two fighters battle one-on-one. The entire roster is composed of classic heroes and villains from the Final Fantasy series. When engaged in combat, each character has a bravery value and hit points. Characters use normal attacks to raise their bravery value and HP attacks to deal damage to those hit points. 

At its core, Duodecim feels more like Smash Bros. than Street Fighter. Moves are much simpler to execute but you still need to worry about timing, character placement, and reading an opponent's next move. There's plenty of strategy here, but you're not required to perform 30-button combos to succeed. 

 Some of those offerings are new to this prequel. There are new characters to experiment with and the returning fighters have more moves. There are also a number of new stages, including ones built in the Final Fantasy XIII universe. But one of the biggest changes to Dissidia's battle system is the inclusion of assist attacks. A game with lots of strategy just got deeper. Now, when the time is right, you can use your assist gauge to call another character into the field to provide some support. 

Every character can be powered up to level 100 and they learn new abilities along the way. Duodecim constantly rewards you after every battle; there's no match that doesn't level up your character in some way.The biggest shocker in Duodecim came to me after completing the main campaign. Following the final battle, I was amazed to discover that the entire campaign from the original Dissidia is unlocked and it boasts all the improvements introduced through Duodecim. So you have no reason to go buy the original -- you're getting two games in one here. 

Playing Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy is like learning a foreign language. It's intimidating and difficult at first, but the end result is always worth the effort. If you're the patient sort that doesn't mind experimenting, Duodecim is hugely rewarding and could be one of the best additions to your PSP library.

The story mode should be taken with a grain of salt, but everything else you'll find here is well worth the price of admission. I sank more than 100 hours into the original Dissidia, and it's not hard to imagine I'll do the same for Duodecim

OKAMIDEN

 

PLATFORM: EXCLUSIVELY ON NINTENDO DS.

GENRE: ACTION.

In Okamiden, the player takes control of Chibi, an adorable white wolf who just happens to be the son of Amaterasu, the hero from the first game. It shares the same battle style and use of celestial brush techniques as Okami, with the addition of a brand new partner system, pairing Chibi with a variety of different buddies to help him throughout his journey. The game takes place nine months after the events in Okami, and shares not only the same gameplay mechanics, but also the same gorgeous, painterly art style and quirky sense of humor.

Also like the original, Okamiden draws a healthy dose of gameplay mechanics and literary devices from a certain Nintendo franchise of the same genre, but this most certainly isn't a bad thing. Much like in The Legend of Zelda, which the creators have admitted was a huge influence, players will find themselves solving puzzles with the help of acquired items and learned abilities, stepping on switches, solving riddles left by NPCs, slashing enemies/trees/pots (yes, you even smash pots), and so on. 

After debuting on the PS2, and later being ported over to the Wii, this burgeoning series has finally found the definitive control scheme for its brush techniques with the DS's touch screen. Using the stylus to wield the celestial brush is intuitive, captures the sense of magic they were trying to convey with the original concept, and just plain feels right. A quick Power Slash, for instance, can be performed with a simple flick of the stylus (or your thumb, if you don't feel like busting your stylus out of its holster), and even more complex drawings are perfectly easy to pull off. 

Even with the great controls and pacing, however, I did find during my play through that I learned the bulk of the integral battle techniques right away. While boss fights and certain side quests required me to think creatively and use the celestial paintbrush in a new and interesting way, the bulk of the game is generally less experimental. The fact that brush techniques cannot be combined, varied, or used simultaneously to create new results also has the unfortunate side effect of making it feel like this brush is more of a handyman's tool for overcoming simple obstacles than it is any sort of artistic device. Outside of trying the different brush techniques on different enemies, it simply doesn't encourage experimentation. 

Okamiden's story is another thing it has going for it, as the narrative is simply beautiful and the characters are incredibly loveable. From Issun the flea to Susano the drunken warrior, familiar faces from Okami are all around, and the new characters (especially Kuni, whose story is truly moving) are just as memorable and lovable as the old favorites. What's especially impressive about the story is how integral it feels to the action, which really goes a long way in connecting you to the world. 

Okamiden has all the right ingredients for a spectacular adventure game, though it never quite reaches the heights of the titles it seeks to emulate. Even so, it shows tons of promise, and has me really excited for the future of this franchise in the making. All in all, there is nothing lacking in this package. An engaging tale, memorable characters, epic boss battles, and cute wolf puppies-- it’s all here and it feels great. Good news for gamers: it seems an old wolf can learn new tricks.

DRAGON AGE 2

PLATFORMS: PS3, XBOX 360 AND PC

GENRE: RPG

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent , AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
Memory - 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Graphics Card - ATI 3850 512 MB or greater (To run Direct X 11 - ATI 5850 or greater) , NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater (To run Direct X 11 - NVidia 460 or greater)

There are a few things I'm certain of in life: Darkspawn must die, dragons must die, and, from a technical perspective, Dragon Age II is the best game in BioWare's fantasy role-playing franchise. The gameplay, user interfaces, and conversation system have all been modified to the point where the game is much more functional and fun than before. Yet despite all these improvements, there are still some issues with the story and setting in the sequel. 

 To kick things off, the plot is told through a framed narrative, much like the movie The Princess Bride. It's known that your character, Hawke -- a male or female human mage, rogue, or warrior -- will eventually become the Champion of Kirkwall. It's also clear that the world is on the cusp of war, and the Chantry, the main religious faction in the Dragon Age universe, is coming apart at the seams. What isn't known is your amount of involvement in the chaos, and why a Chantry seeker named Cassandra is interrogating a former friend of yours, a dwarf named Varric. It turns out that your part in this play is major, and you'll figure it out as you go along. 

 Most role-playing games depict a prevailing evil presence that only your hero can defeat after an epic journey across the world. You can imagine my surprise, then, when Dragon Age II threw most of those ideas out the window and instead opted to document the political struggles of the city of Kirkwall. It's a gutsy move to say the least – this is a 30-hour game and most of it is spent in and around the city looking at similar architecture. I appreciate that there are distinct parts of Kirkwall like Hightown (a bright, clean spot for nobles to hang out) and Darktown (a dingy, underground area), but there's so much to explore in the Dragon Age universe that it's rather puzzling to set an entire adventure in just one area.

One of the best things about Dragon Age is stopping and listening to what your companions have to say. That remains true in the sequel, where the background chatter between party members is often hilarious and sometimes heartwarming. It adds authenticity to their personalities despite their occasionally stiff movements. Assembling a team isn't a light decision in Dragon Age II as your companions aren't just there to aid you in battle. They can also partake in conversations, opening up new dialogue options. Anders might be able to tell if someone is possessed by peeking into the Fade (the spirit realm), Varric can sweet-talk you out of sticky situations, and Aveline can threaten like nobody's business when the terms are right. 

Of course, you do need to consider their combat abilities as well, because a team full of mages probably isn't going to get very far. The appeal of the combat system in Dragon Age II is its versatility. You can easily play it like an action title and mash buttons on lower difficulty levels, but if you prefer to think about what you're doing, you can crank up the difficulty, pause the game, and issue commands for individual team members. It's more difficult to direct complex strategies on consoles due to imprecise movements with the analog sticks, but it's easy with a keyboard and mouse, though PC users will need to get used to the new camera that doesn't zoom out quite as far as the one in Origins. Still, taking on foes in any version of Dragon Age is really entertaining – attack animations have been sped and spiffed up and slicing through an enemy with a sword feels satisfying. 

Every modification to the gameplay and structure of Dragon Age II is a clear improvement over the previous game. The combat is more responsive and bloody, you don’t need to fight the inventory system anymore, and conversations are more engaging thanks to the adapted Mass Effect wheel. There are downsides though; the semi-linear story and repetitive environments have a negative effect on what is otherwise a great role-playing game. Despite these complaints, Dragon Age II is a game I’m eager to replay.