I seems santa has been cool this year and i got , in advance, my present: Vanquish, Castlevania LOS and Star Ocean Last Hope.

So these past few days, after finishing AC Brotherhood, i played a little of each. So i'm here to share my first impressions.

Vanquish is totally overhyped. Don't get me wrong it does seem a good game, but it does not feel "Editors Choice" material. The shotting mecanics are plain and derivative, while the weapons lack originality both in design and fucntionality. The special moves (dash and bullet time - o forgot their names) can be ignored while playing and don't seem to bring any advantage in the fights. I also found something ridiculous at the begining when the US army attacks the space station. Those dudes in the space station left the front door wide open and began to close it only when one of the US ships was right next to it... Why didn't they close it when they saw a bunch of ships comming ?

Castlevania, on the other hand, left a nice impression. While it is clearly derivative, combining Prince of Persia and God of War in the same game seems like a very good idea, especially if the implementation is done corectly. I have played the first two chapers and the only thing I didn't like is how Gabriel looks like... I always seems like his face is to small for his massive body. Aside from this this game is cool.

Star Ocean is probably the first game in years to produce mixed reaction. For most games a few hours are enough to decide if i like it or not, but with this one is different. I'm 5 hours into the game and I still can't make up my mind. It has become regular to see a thing i don't like followed by something that is awesome. I was particullarly impressed by the crafting system which is both original and easy to use. Also the fighting is pretty good, considering i grinded a bit for my first two quest and it did not feel boring at all. While many critics said that some things don't make sense in this game (like the fact that the main characters are teenagers or that they fight with swords) i think that the game offers a pretty good explanation for those things. At least from my point of view this the story is great so far and i'm not bothered by the fact that main characters name is Edge ( which some critics stated it was wierd or uninspired). Another thing a really liked about the story is tha fact that aliens did not come to kill us or enslave us. We actually destryed our own planet and aliens came to help.

The end :)