To be realistic, Bleach is less of a Strategy Game and more of a slow and painful lesson in why Bleach is not to everyone’s fancies. As a TV series, the anime fights and over the top dialogue works, but on DS developers Sega have decided to create hours of talking head style cut scenes that feature no fighting, but plenty of over the top dialogue. I would find it near impossible to explain exactly what The 3rd Phantom is about as well, with cut scenes that reach up to 25 minutes in length, and one of these before and after every battle in the game (one each chapter), your sanity is tested throughout. This is a real shame, as the few times you are not trying to skip past some horrendous dialogue, Bleach can actually be enjoyable.

Standard SRPG fare when in battle, you have an array of moves you can perform when fighting enemies on an isometric grid. Reminiscent of the fire emblem series, once you engage with an enemy, the action switches to a side on view where you can choose to either guard or counter oncoming attacks. Being able to see your characters react to attacks makes the game much more like the anime, and the tactical edge the counter feature gives is well implemented. You don’t ever have much choice of attack though, beyond the simple slashes, magic and special abilities far too exclusive to extremely high level characters to have much effect on your tactical choices. The combat works well, and does everything right that it needs to.

The only other place you’ll find any enjoyment in Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is in the ‘Free Time’ you get in most chapters. Similar to the story mode in Dissidia: Final Fantasy, you move across a board covered in various power ups and items, careful use of your character’s AP used to move onto these spaces. Little more than a way to get extra trinkets to use in the next battle, it’s yet another decent, but ultimately disappointing aspect of the game that prevents you from actually engaging in real SRPG battles.
Aesthetically pleasing, Bleach does a good job of retaining the trademark style of the TV Show, but when compared to other SRPGs, the battle screens can be a tad dull and empty. Detailed character designs are welcomed though, as are the expressive effects when characters square up to each other. A boring and repetitive music score isn’t appreciated though, although the lack of audible speech from the various characters you encounter can only be a good thing.

If you are new to the world of Bleach, avoid The 3rd Phantom at all costs. The well developed combat system and battles are not enough to warrant the effort it takes to plough through the cut scenes. For Bleach fans, this will be a positive though, and for those people, this will be a worthwhile story led SRPG. For others, stick with the excellent Final Fantasy Tactics A2 or Disgaea DS for you SRPG fix.

Every time one of these major sporting events looms on the horizon, many people suddenly seem to lose their purchasing autonomy; shuffling down to their local game retailer in zombie-like fashion and drooling over the appropriately licensed box as they carry it to the counter. Such is the pull of this tournament Electronic Arts might just have well put subliminal messages in their adverts, or replaced Gary Lineker with some jug-eared hypno-robot for all the self-control large numbers of us will display as June 11^th moves ever closer.

So if you do allow yourself to become mesmerised by this very attractive piece of official merchandise, what kind of value can you expect for your money? Especially if you’re the kind of hardcore fan who’s already emptied their wallet once this season in order to play FIFA’s beautiful game, and is now planning to purchase 2010 World Cup so that they can indulge in a spot of footballing polygamy that the President of the host nation is almost certain to approve of.

Well, obviously, you get the complete, and fully licensed World Cup experience – 199 national sides, all the qualifying groups, the play-offs and the finals tournament itself. So if you’re a Republic of Ireland fan wanting to erase Thierry Henry’s infamous ‘Hand of Frog’ from the annals of time and change history for the fairer, now you can. Squads vary in size to try and anticipate any surprise inclusions, like Diego ‘Madman’ Maradona deciding to try and role back the years (but unfortunately not the pounds) and name himself player/coach, or Wayne Bride having a last minute change of heart and leaping into John Terry’s arms, Love Actually-style, at Heathrow Airport just before the plane to Johannesburg is about to take off.

In an attempt to capture that unique, World Cup, party atmosphere, the presentation has also received a comprehensive overhaul. So along with the carnival-esque big-game build up provided by showers of confetti, blaring music and thousands of blinking flashbulbs, you can expect TV-quality production values that including official on-screen graphics, shots of managers reactions to on-field events and the now ubiquitous cut-aways to people in the crowd, when the camera’s gaze often mysteriously seems to fall on a young Brazilian beauty who looks like she’s got Pele and Zico’s heads stuffed up her top.   

The visuals in general have been a real area of focus in 2010 World Cup, with the introduction of a new lighting engine and more realistic looking pitches, whose patchy makeup shows the ongoing battle between the baking South African sun and some desperate, retaliatory over-watering. Improved detail in the previously inconsistent player models means that Peter Crouch should no longer look like some giant, cartoon man-gerbil and will now look like a giant, real-life man-gerbil, and even the advertising hoardings are now of the hi-tech electronic variety.    

While the sight of fireworks bursting over the Moses Mabhida Stadium arch in a crystal clear Durban sky may be a very appealing one, it’s the pyrotechnics on the field people will be most interested in. And while EA really brought out the big guns for FIFA 10, some did have a tendency to miss-fire from time to time. Top of most player’s hit list was the way goalies frequently seemed to turn into baseball cap-wearing kamikazes, recklessly dashing headlong at incoming strikers who then simply lobbed the ball over them, and the good news is that the 2010 development team have taken steps to try and restrain them, as well as sharpening up the animations for controlling aerial balls so they don’t render players rooted to the spot, and carrying out some interesting experiments with altitude. With a handful of the World Cup stadia, such as those in Bloemfontein and Pretoria, located at over 4,000 feet, teams can expect the reduced oxygen content in the air at these venues to make their players tire quicker and balls move faster and bend less – effects that the FIFA team are attempting to subtly include in the official game.  

In keeping with the current EA Sports manifesto, 2010 FIFA World Cup is set to have a strong presence online, with its Battle of the Nations combining the win/loss records of players from all over the world to produce country-by-country rankings, while the World Cup Online mode will allow you to play through the finals whenever you fancy a game, by matchmaking you with randomly selected rivals of a similar skill level. Whether these features and all of the other exclusive content, will be enough to sustain interest in the title once the actual trophy has been lifted on 11^th July is a big ask; but until that day arrives 2010 FIFA World Cup will enjoy its golden age, with its official status alone making it an extremely enticing package which may will feel compelled to pick up.

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Not long to wait now though, the enigmatic plumber and his dinosaur buddy touch down 11th June 2010 in the UK and 24th May 2010 in the US.

You might not realise, but time really is against you – always

Yes, time is a taxing issue. Not only does it affect us in real life, but it pretty much stands in our way like a constant wall in most game situations. Whether you’re playing a round of cricket, or shooting your way through a hallway of aliens, time is always a harbinger of doom. You might not think time is against you, but next time you’re faced against an army of gun totting mercenaries and the only way to get out is to make a mad dash for the door at the opposite side of the building, you might well realise what the real threat is; yup it’s time.

It’s true though, it’s one of the deadliest forces in the gaming world. Going a second too late might result in hitting a deadly barrage of bullets, but waiting around might see you end up being the victim of an enemy flanking group. That’s really what makes time so deadly; it’s so goddamn unpredictable that anything can go wrong if you’re not careful. It’s not just waiting around that causes the most problems, the most obvious form of time related injury is usually caused by restricting time limits. Even in the days of early Mario titles, you were faced with the burden of squashing a whole army of baddies, as well as making it to the finishing line before the time runs out. In fact, there is an endless amount of games where time restrictions of some kind prove problematic. Take for example racing titles, which often include Time Trial modes, where pretty much the only thing stopping you earning that gold is time itself. There’s just so many examples of where time is your enemy, it would take forever to list them all.

Lara Croft really expanded the world of time related problems during the Tomb Raider series. Timing jumps, swings and all that was often the only way to get over tricky situations, and being even a second late often saw the first lady of gaming plummeting to her death in various, and often hilarious ways. This technique has been used many, many times, but more recently Mirror’s Edge followed sassy roof jumper Faith Connors, who spends most of the game jumping from rooftop to rooftop, all the while timing leaps successfully to prevent plummeting into the streets below. These type of games are proof that time itself is often one of the most irritating and stressful enemies to face up against.

There are however, those titles that put time on your side. Take for example the Prince of Persia series, in Sands of Time you can rewind time to stop yourself ending up in messy situations, such as falling into a pit of spikes or being the victim of a stray enemy arrow. Other games, such as the woefully mediocre Blinx: The Time Sweeper explored time as a main weapon in the fight for all that’s good, letting the little cat bend time and space by unleashing such actions as rewinding, pausing and fast forwarding play.

But, does time really deserve to be included in the countdown? Honestly, I really think so. It may not have any weaponry, or even a physical form, but time is always there, always ready to get in your way. So yes, time may be an odd choice to add into gaming’s list of evilness, but after all, it’s unpredictable and unstoppable – and waiting around might see you the next victim of its terrible ways.

RATINGS

Intimidation factor – *****

Danger rating – ****

Weaponry – *

Ease of take down – ****

Overall badass-ness – ***

Where to find it?

Almost every game ever

What to do if encountered?

Well, it really depends on the game doesn’t it? You’ll need to devise a tactic depending on the time related problem at hand! Basically though, you can usually get through most situations by being calm and collected if you need to swing or jump over a particular obstacle. If you’re stuck against a particularly difficult time limit, your best bet is to run and hope you survive any damage you sustain along the way. Alternatively, you could probably borrow Blinx’s Time Sweeper, I’m pretty sure he wont need it anytime soon…

NEXT WEEK

A gaming enemy that has been abandoned recently makes a welcome return, as we travel back in time to spend some time with the dinosaurs!

It’s an incredibly detailed piece of work and no doubt serves excellently as an advertisement poster. It would be such a shame if such eye-catching imagery didn’t make it onto the game box.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 includes the same gravity-defying, physics-based exploration from the first game but is packed full of entirely new galaxies and features to challenge and delight players. Mario can pair up with his dinosaur buddy Yoshi and use his extra long tongue to grab items and spit them back at enemies. There’s even a bounty of new and fun items to play with such as a drill that lets Mario tunnel through solid rock.

The developer has finally put us all out of our misery and laid rest to rumours and speculation by not only announcing Portal 2, but giving it’s release date as “Holiday” season this year, which makes it a firm contender for the Summer/Christmas period.

As to what the game will involve, Valve are remaining their usual evasive selves by not actually divulging any more information on what to expect, not even a screenshot. So far the game has only been announced for both the PC and X-Box 360.

Returning Order of War players will know what to expect, huge battles over massive maps featuring armies of tanks, only this time focusing on online warfare with numerous new game modes both against other players and playing alongside them.

Key Features:
– 12 Unique Maps — Each map features different types of cross-country terrain and urban areas to provide great replayability.
– 6 New Multiplayer Modes — With these new modes you have the opportunity to prove you are the best commander on the online battlefield in a variety of ways.
– Command troops of the USA, Germany or the Soviet Union — Grasp your units by knowing their strengths, weaknesses and discover how to exercise their power to defeat your enemies.
– 4 Co-op Survival Missions — Play shoulder to shoulder with your comrades-in-arms to defend your headquarters from enemy attacks of increasing intensity. To get extra income and new reinforcement types, capture control points that appear randomly throughout the map but only stay for a short time.

Order of War: challenge will be made available on Steam this March 12th, in the meantime you can pick up the demo by following the link here, while more information can be found on the official Order of War website.

Rather than beating around the proverbial bush here, I’ll get straight to the point. Winter sports 2010 is a horrid experience. A package of 8 winter sports, ranging from Ski Jump to Snowboard Cross should work, but thanks to some sloppy gameplay design and a lack of polish the game is sure to disappoint Sports enthusiasts. Starting with the best of the available events, Short track Speed Skating can be quite enjoyable. You begin, like most of the sports, by mashing the R and L triggers, until you take the consistent position at the back of the surprisingly small group of 3 racers. I couldn’t get my way to the front at the start of race, though thanks to your control throughout the rest of the race, this was rarely a problem. You attempt to stay on the right area of the track, sticking into the corner of each incline while spreading out so you don’t get caught in the side of other racers. That said, even this sport, the best that Winter Sports 2010 has to offer, you begin to see the game’s major flaws, things that take away any feeling of actually participating in sport at all.

The first of these is the R2 button, and how it acts as an ‘accelerator’ in near enough all of the events. When these events contain skiing and Bobsled, the idea of an accelerator is simply ridiculous. It means that you never feel like you’re participating in the sports, just driving your rider forward continually. Snowboarding for example just feels weird, especially when compared to genre specific titles such as SSX where you naturally accelerate when heading down a slope. The inclusion of an Adrenaline button is weak minded too, it being little more than a boost feature stolen right out of racing games such as Motorstorm. Olympic style sports games like this have always featured control combinations that revolve around quick time events-seen here in the mildly bearable Figure Skating competition-but Winter Sports 2010’s control design is noticeably lacking.

Split up into a career and a challenge mode, whichever route you take will decide whether you compete in single events or cups. With just 8 events though, cups are stretched thin when it comes to variety, where often you’ll play though 3 events multiple times. Playing in the day night is supposed to change things in these cups, never actually getting past the slight change in lighting stage. Challenge mode gives you single and solo events to play, collecting coins down a track or recording a quick time for instance. One thing that both these modes share though is a sky high difficulty. Thanks to the overly responsive Bobsled controls for instance, collecting all but 5 of the coins found down the run is near impossible. Some events fail to register certain manoeuvres too, I landed 1 out of every 5 jumps in Ski Jump and never got my fingers around the incredibly difficult shooting in the Biathlon. Skill in a game should come with practice, whereas in Winter Sports 2010 it only creates frustration.
You’d think that the saving grace of a game like this would be its graphical quality, but unlike its distant relative, Vancouver 2010, Winter Sports 2010 looks plain shocking.

After playing some SSX3 side by side with the game, it’s pretty much a bad looking PS2 in Hi resolution. While the snow looks white, the rest of the game suffers from a horrid murky tone. Riders all look identical too, the clinical nature of proceedings only frustrating me even more while boosting up near vertical slopes with ease.

And at that point it dawned on me that I was actually wasting time with Winter Sports 2010. Having missed most of the actual Olympics, this only soured the events I did get to see, putting me off white slopes and the accelerating that it seems Bobsleighs can do now. You can salvage some fun out of the game, but there just isn’t enough content here to recommend it over the ultimately better choice in Vancouver 2010. Online play isn’t worth thinking about either, the idea of sharing this experience with others being painful on many levels. Avoid Winter Sports 2010 even if you enjoy this style of game.

This week has seen a newsplosion, that’s sent shrapnel and shock waves reverberating around the gaming world. After picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off and pulling the bits of broken glass from out of our shattered bodies, we’ve managed to compile a concise, humorous, oft scurrilous précis of the last seven days. There’ll be laughter, there’ll be tears, and who knows, towards the end an old friend may just pop in to say hello. So sit back, relax, open a cold one and enjoy episode 20; The Week In Gaming: Electric Boogaloo.

The week started with catastrophic software failure, for once not on a Microsoft console. Older PlayStation 3 models, unflatteringly referred to in the press as “fats” were struck down on Sunday with a mysterious error message. It later transpired that the bug was down to the console not understanding leap years, which is a problem we’ve all encountered from time to time. For a good 24 hours, the internet was awash with rumours, hearsay and made up lies. Then, as quickly as the story had broken, it dispersed, the problem remedied, and only a handful of gamers were left with any damage. On any other week, the story would still be running now, but this wasn’t an ordinary week, oh no, this was the week that Activision and Infinity Ward threw all of their toys out of all of their prams, took their balls home and decided they didn’t want to be friends any more.

The story began with Activision firing Infinity Ward president Jason West and studio head Vince Zampella due to “insubordination”. The details of said insubordination are unclear, although the unsubstantiatedrumourweb seems to suggest that it’s something to do with conversations with EA. In turn, West and Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision for wrongful dismissal, claiming they’d been bullied and subjected to “Orwellian” practises. Activision retorted, saying the lawsuit was baseless and they were sad to see their former employees following the legal route.

It’s been a right old kick about, with both parties slinging accusations around like they were angry pebbles. It’s impossible right now to untangle the web that both sides have spun; indeed, the real story of what happened may never come out. Infinity Ward started the Call of Duty franchise, and the Modern Warfare spin off, but Activision own the rights to the game. One can only imagine the furious legal tussle that’s about to ensue, but rest assured, we’ll keep you updated as soon as anything emerges, from either side.

Game of the week this week goes to Battlefield Bad Company 2, reckoned by many to be a Modern Warfare 2 beater. It wouldn’t have to go very far to defeat the story of MW2; simply making sense would do on that front, but we expect it’ll have to do something really rather special to trump the depth and crack like addictiveness of Infinity Ward’s multi bajazillion selling shooter.

In other news, a new Tomb Raider game was announced. Except it wasn’t; Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light is a digitally downloadable title for PSN and XBLA which drops the Tomb Raider moniker altogether. We’re told to expect something radically different for Ms. Croft’s first download only escapade, although our hopes that she puts on 200lbs, a sensible jumper and spends the whole game wallowing on a sofa eating cheesy snacks and lamenting the old days will doubtlessly go unheeded. Expect the game later this year.

And finally, more game announcing news, as Valve have confirmed that Portal 2 will be making its way to PCs and consoles. After a convoluted week updating the original game via Steam and adding a new ending, the game’s been confirmed and will feature on the cover of Game Informer this month. No details abound yet, but expect the webs to go mental for another slice of puzzling, cake based madness.

Next Week: Finally Fantasising 13 times

Art by Joe Porte

Although it was created in Japan, Final Fantasy XIII is perhaps the first game to come out of the development stable that fully embodies this strategy. The result is a palatable, easily digested role-playing experience for the gamer with the short attention span. Gone are the sprawling free-roaming worlds that the MMO-inspired twelfth instalment so expertly crafted, instead replaced by a great deal of linearity and hand-holding to keep the action and pace at a constant speed. Some may see it as a necessary evil to remove the off-putting grind, others will see it as pandering to the popcorn blockbuster generation. Although things do open up eventually, the first 15 hours force you down a set path, with no side quests or towns to explore. All you do is fight your way to the next cutscene ad nauseum.

Regardless, this is an ambitious title that boasts razor-sharp visuals, superb characterisation and perhaps the best musical score the genre has to offer. It’s an overall treat for the senses and only occasionally does it fall back into its archetypical ways with the annoying chirpy female character Vanille or Hope, the moody male with a chip on his shoulder and, as always, the odd smattering of J-Rock. Similar to Lost Odyssey, you are conned into presuming which of the JRPG pigeon-holes each of the characters fall into at the outset. However, the life-changing journey through the core plot changes all of them into completely different people and, as always, seeing them develop in front of your eyes is incredibly endearing.

The plot begins in Cocoon, a floating world governed by a totalitarian regime and held in a vice-like grip by the military faction PSICOM. Rumours of an impending attack from Pulse, a neighbouring world that lies below, keep residents trapped in fear. Through a series of fateful events, Guardian Corps soldier Lightning and a group of unlikely heroes become branded as enemies of Cocoon and must keep one step ahead of the military to stay alive. With no safe haven to resort to or allies to help them, the group must confront an ancient evil to clear their names. It’s thrilling stuff and once again the developer has gone to incredible lengths to create a believable world, fleshed out with history and beautifully realise locales. It’s just a shame that it takes about 30 hours of play to be able to enjoy it at your own leisure.

In an attempt to enforce a sense of pace and remove listless wanderlust, the opening 15 hours involve walking down restrictive set paths and battling enemies, with no town exploration or NPC engagement whatsoever. This initial bottleneck may sink or swim the game for many players, but it certainly feels far removed from any other entry to the series so far. Kudos are most deftinely due to the developer for trying to make the game fresh and unique. Random battles remain on the backbench, again replaced with triggered encounters. Fights are enacted by walking up to enemies that roam around the field, while pre-emptive strikes are launched by sneaking up behind foes or using shrouds – sprays that can render your party invisible or cast buffs such as haste, shell or bravery before a fight begins.

The battle system itself is both confused yet brilliant in equal measure; a hybrid of the active time battle system from FFVII, squad AI from FFXII and the summon mechanic from FFX. At the start of each battle, a time bar fills gradually. Each of the filled segments can be used to pull off attacks, use items or cast magic. Once spent, the bar begins to refill again over time. It’s a fast and snappy mechanic, but the time pressure makes longer strategies a luxury you can’t ever really afford. Instead, fast combo chaining is the name of the game. Each enemy has a ‘stagger’ point which is triggered when you manage to sustain a set combo string against them. This renders your foe in a weakened state, leaving them open for a barrage of relentless follow-up attacks. Combos are the key to achieving a decent battle rating at the end of each encounter and refilling your technical point gauge. TP points are awarded depending on how well you fight and these can be spent on summoning Eidolons and other neat techniques.

Irritatingly, while playing through the initial 15-hour bottleneck, the game decides your battle team and party leader. During each fight you only play as the leader while the surprisingly efficient AI controls your teammates. This is fine in practice, but if you get KO’d, the entire party is defeated and you are met with the game over screen. It defies logic and during some of the early difficulty spikes, becomes a real problem. It’s as if your comrades suddenly become so stricken with grief at your defeat that they forget how to use a phoenix down. Another issue is the Paradigm Shift feature which is almost like the dress-sphere mechanic from FFX-2, or the job system from older instalments. Characters can change between one of six roles mid-fight, such as the physical attack-based Commando, Ravager mage class and Medic support. Players can change whenever they want and as much as they want, but the whole party remains open to attack while the change cut-scene plays out, so there is an element of risk involved.

While it’s refreshing to be able to change strategy on the hoof, shifting paradigms also changes the roles of your team-mates. In the field menu you must create pre-set paradigms for use in battle. For example you could create ‘Slash and Burn’ which is a combination of Commando and Ravager classes, or ‘War and peace’ – a mixture of Commando and Medic roles. Say halberd-wielding tough girl Fang is running low on health, your other characters are KO’d and you are all out of potions. Unless one of your pre-set paradigms has Fang listed as a medic class, you’re completely and utterly screwed with no chance of lasting the fight. When this situation occurs it’s enough to make you want to bang your head against a wall. It’s just as well there is a retry option that allows you to restart just before the last fight.

Instead of gaining experience from battles, your squad will receive Crystogen Points that can be spent on learning new skills. Similar to the skill-sphere system in FFX, these points can be spent towards advancing each character’s skill tree and progressively unlocking new tiers and abilities. It’s a neat system and one that will take a long time to max out. Just to be crystal clear, the game does eventually break free of its linearity, allowing you to mix up your party, explore the world at leisure and embark on a levelling-up grind if you wish. It will be difficult for some gamers to see beyond the initial coddling and put up with it until the game finally decides to liberate the player, but fans of the series will likely need no such persuasion.

Taking a long-standing series like Final Fantasy and attempting to market it to a wider demographic is a bold and risky move. For the best part, the developer has broken the formula down into a format that newcomers will find more engaging, but at the same time, it has stripped away some of the depth that made previous instalments so endearing. This was never going to be an easy juggling act; after all, how do you change the template just enough to ensure a more bankable product without leaving some of your most loyal followers out in the cold? With the game currently garnering split opinions from critics across the board, only till receipts will serve as a true measure of success.

While Final Fantasy XIII is ultimately an enjoyable experience, the change in pace will throw off fans of turn-based battles or those who enjoyed the immediate grandeur of the twelfth instalment. While players were treated to the world of Ivalice from the word go, here players must earn their freedom to explore. Perhaps the intricacies of the battle system demand what is essentially a 15-hour tutorial before they are let off the leash, but it’s clear that some RPG veterans will come away feeling a little condescended by it. In 2006, critics across the world almost unanimously championed Final Fantasy XII for its sheer scale and sense of weight, which is perhaps the reason some are finding it difficult to forgive this latest entry for starting off so restricted. Judging by the whopping sales and immeasurable critical acclaim that FFXII received, it will be interesting to see how the same gamers respond to this game.