why don't i ever find out about these games...
anyway for me i got this one as a source of cheap entertainment to distract me from a long boring trip. yes i said cheap entertainment, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
well to start things out gameplay is first on the chopping block.
as far as gameplay goes there is not much besisdes battles and bosses.
i didn't mind the fighting system it was sort of a new take on turn based fighting, though hard to get used to i learned it soon enough.
but i didn't get it for gameplay i got it cause it said on the back that it take 80 hours to finish, i just needed something to occupy my time, moving on.
characters [yes i consider this a seperate category]
after getting though 4:24 minutes of video you get to see a few of the characters you will be seeing for the rest of the game.
shion: finally the leader is a female for once.
this girl is a girl after my own heart, seriously she's oblivious to others half the time, loves computers and electronics. thank god.
she also has an andriod that is always around her.
KOS-MOS: wow two girls in the party right from the start.
i have to say her personality [if you call it that] is just hilarious to me mainly because she explains in detail, even when nothing needs explaining.
allen: i think this is the fifth person with that name that i've found now.
basicly i knew i was going to like this guy from the begining, whether he's getting dragged through every dangerous or frightening situation or just bailing shion out of trouble he always tends to be a source of entertaniment.
and i usually hate the weaker characters who never fight, [i think just described zexion to a T] there is something about him that i just like.
ziggy: at first after dieing like a good half billion times in the utic base i wasn't to fond of him.
but that soon changed once i got deeper into his story and learned what his personality was like. besisdes being a cyborg is cool.
momo: i think i was being to see a pattern once i got to her.
that was all realians have yellow eyes which besisdes blue is my favorite eye color. besisdes that momo seems to have a tough personality at times and it's also fun to put mech drivers to sleep with her sheep beam.
chaos: ok i think this name is getting popular.
calm should explain this guy perfectly and nearly every character winds up talking to him about problems they are having, anyway chaos is probably the most laid back character on the game he only gets uptight like twice or something in the whole series.
jr.: ah refeshing.
what... he is, jr. although being an adult still resides in a kid's body and as some child-like tendences and he also can be very serious and smart.
but what i like about him is he will say anything to anyone and he has somewhat of a smart-mouth when you get to an enemy. but he has a loyalty to his friends that seems to never die.
basicly i can say that the character development in this game is of the best i have ever seen, and you will end up knowing these characters probably more then you understand yourself.
like when they get in a dangerous situation the most likely ones to lose it are hammer and allen.
when a villian of the game jr. will most likely be the first to trash talk him or her.
and as the game moves into the next two this pretty much remains consitent, thank god i'm sick of people having to change who they are on games and movies.
graphics
small clipings aside this game has some of the best graphics i have seen yet, this is mainly displayed in the space battles, just make it to a space battle scene and you'll know why i say "best"
other then the space scenes there are tons of mechs and ships [no crap] and they a rendered beautifully, the durandel is a good example of this.
as for video effects, there are tons of effects wether is just gun shells being shot out of the housing of a gun to the sparks that fly whe a ship hits the hyperspace colum walls.
heck even the gnosis look good even for as ugly as they are.
i defently say that i like the style that most of the characters are in, it reminds me of the misselanious chibis i have seen on several art sites, so most of them are cute.
sound
now i'm one who most never bothers to listen to music while i'm running through the levels, so i'm actually glad because for once i didn't have to bother because for most of the levels everything was silent besides footsteps and machines you activate, finally no constant playing tune to drive me nuts.
well as far as machine sounds go, most sound pretty spot on.
a good example are the agws or mechs you can run around in during battles, every movement brings the familer machine sound that most of us should know by now.
some gun sounds could be inproved though, i don't think the pellet gun sound fits.
voices are decent and most of the voice acting is the best i've seen, though the syncing could have been better.
jr. and allen have the best voice acting that i see which makes their personalities more believeable.
syncing isn't as good, sometimes the characters will ramble on without sound and other times the sound starts without the characters talking.
but the minor flaws are easy to overlook.
story
ok i will try to make this brief. first off the who story is set way into the future, a world i only dream about.
basicly the story is complicated and confusing you will see characters switching their rules as the game goes on others that die coming back.
but it's all done very nicely and there is nothing that doesn't have a reason for it's existence or a question that does not have an answer, as the series goes on everything is explained.
but all the unanswered or unexplained events is what will keep you hooked and always wondering what will happen next. and because of the story in this game it will be something that will keep it as a favorite for a long time.
overall
a great game with a story that's actually worth a damn unlike some other games and every little fault or annoyence is worth suffering through just to see where it all goes in the end.
but like gamespot says this game is not for everyone, only the paitent can play it. as for it being anime like it does at times if you see it that way and i've seen animes and i have a few on my computer.
as far as animes go i really don't see the resembelence, heck a few times i was thinking the movie twister as i played it, the only thing that could mark it as an anime is the style used for the characters. hell even the anime of the game is different from it.
anyway i wish more games could be as well done as this one.