FINAL FANTASY XII

LONG TIME NO SEE

Undeniably the most conspicuously absent game of E3; Final Fantasy XII’s prolonged development has been subject of much speculation. The all-FMW trailer at the show left many unanswered questions, especially amid talk that the new battle system had been overhauled since its last public showing. However, these rumors turned out to be false, as many gamers learned at a recent Square Enix event in Tokyo where the game was presented in playable form for the last time in over a year.

The most unconventional of the changes is the integration of a real-time battle system Granted, this isn’t really new information since the mechanics were in place for the E3 2004 version of the game, but now their presence has been confirmed. This means that all foes will appear. Onscreen (as well as on a radar), but wont attack until they notice you. Once they do engage you, the controls transition seamlessly into battle, eliminating the separation between ‘’battle time’’ and exploration time, much like an MMORPG.

While real time fights may sound like heresy, there will still plenty of classic Final Fantasy touches to please fans – most notably in the summoning of colossal beasts. Instead of previous games, where summons could only score one big attack (or replace the entire party), they are more like partners in the battle than isolated warriors. When called upon, summoned creatures will replace two party members, rampaging and unleashing special attacks while the players retains control of the party leaders to assist in the carnage.

Its transformation may not be drastic, but our time with the newest form of Final Fantasy XII revealed many intriguing elements that are likely to split the fanbase in two – those who embrace the changes, and those loyal to the traditional formula. At any rate, players wont know which camp they fall into until at least next year; the game hits Japanese shelves, though the inevitable U.S release still hasn’t been finalized. You probably shouldn’t bother digging out your moogle suit before the 2006 holidays though.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Top webmasters meet their idols at The Gathering

The Xbox Community Networks is a group of websites with official support from Microsoft. The folk behind them work incredibly hard, so, as a reward of their efforts, Microsoft invited 30 of them to a mini games convention in London. Top names were there, including Lionhead’s typically mischievous Peter Molyneux and Mike Newey, Xbox group product marketing manager, who gave a great speech about the importance of the community.

Xboxgamezone.co.uk Lisa Bidder said, ‘’we were struck all day, especially when we realized that two of the people talking to us were form Bengie’s Halo 3 development team!’’. There were huge selections of games to play, too. We played Scene it! With Bungie, and Xbox.com Acey Bongos demoed Mass Effect there was also an option an opportunity to play Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty 4 and The Orange BOX!

‘’It was great chatting to the other website owners and developers, ’’said Xboxliveaddicts.com Helene Wilson. We totally agree and hope there’s a lot more of this kind of event for the Xbox 360 in the future.

ACTIVISION LOVES PSP

It comes as little surprise that a company with Activision’s clout should hop abroad the PSP bandwagon and announce two launch titles for Sony’s new wonder machine. As expected, Activision is bringing two of its biggest franchises to the machine in the shape of Spider-man 2 and Tony Hawk’s Underground 2.

THUG2 is currently being developed by Shaba Games and Spider-man 2 is coming courtesy of Vicarious Visions. Both games are expected to be available at the launch.

Kathy Vrabeck of Activision told us: ‘’Sony’s Playstation Portable Entertainment Platform is an exciting new platform that combines processing power with a sleek new look that will appeal to an older demographic. By matching our top brands like Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 and Spider-man 2 with new entertainment device, we are able to broaden our consumers base and leverage our franchise into new areas.’’

The PSP launch line-up is looking more impressive by the day, with most of the major game franchise now represented Price and bundle details are still being ironed out but you can be sure we’ll let you know as soon as Sony gets its price gun fried up!

Prince of Persia : The Forgotten Sands - Announcement Trailer

CRASH TWINSANITY

Crash has been spinning in and out our consoles for some time now and (to an extent) we’ve enjoyed his platforming antics and puzzle filled mayhem but, unfortunately, the bandicoot has a touch of Peter Pan about him and refuses to grow up.

It’s hard to believe that in time when the next generation of consoles will soon be with us, publishers, rather than adding something fresh, still producing titles that seem to be in state of regression. But playing Twinsanity you will struggle to comprehend which decade the production team was working in – it feels like a PSONE title, and not an outstanding one at that. This time around you get to join forces with Crash’s arch-enemy, Cortex, in order to solve puzzles and defeat foes. At first this seems like a novel idea as you use the freaky looking evil-doer to clear paths, turn cogs and throw switches. You can also join together and roll through various sections collecting goodies and avoiding obstacles. However, the novelty is short lived and is soon replaced by teeth-grinding frustration as your attempts to compete what appear to be the simplest of tasks, fail time after time.

We’re well aware of what market this game is aimed at but that doesn’t mean that kids don’t deserve a decent platformer now and then. The controls feel like awkward and issues with the camera will have even the most mild mannered of children (not to mention the highly strung members of the PS2 team) hurling the controller at the screen as yet another challenge ends in disaster. Perhaps its time to call the vet, as this bandicoot needs to be put out of his misery…..FADI