Sword & Sworcery is a great iOS game for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is its amazing soundtrack. Jim Guthrie, the creator Sword & Sworcery‘s soundtrack, is at again with a new album that was released on December 21. It’s called Children of the Clone and you can get from iTunes or Bandcamp.

Children of the Clone sells for $5.99 on iTunes, but you can choose your own price if you get it from Bandcamp.

Guthrie created the music for Children of the Clone using a PSone and MTV Music Generator. MTV Music Generator was released in the late 90s. Given the technical limitations of the time, it’s amazing what Guthrie managed to compose from this software.

The album is composed of eight tracks with none of them lasting longer than four minutes and 31 seconds. The album can be downloaded in MP3 320, FLAC, MP3 VBR, AAC, Vorbis, Ogg or ALAC format.

Purchase [Bandcamp] [iTunes]

Gust is primarily known for two series. One is the Atelier series, which is an adventure/RPG/sim series about female alchemists as they accept requests to make items to help the people around them while also completing some kind of personal quest or objective. The Mana Khemia line also falls under the Atelier umbrella. The other is Ar tonelico, an RPG with some visual novel and dating sim elements that is set in a futuristic world called Sol Ciel. Humans and Reyvateils, artificial people who maintain the Tower of Ar tonelico to keep Sol Ciel safe.

It seems like that first series, Atelier, has caught Tecmo Koei’s eye. While the series isn’t hugely popular outside Japan, it has a cult following. In Japan, it’s quite popular. Tecmo Koei has already confirmed that it wants to capitalize on that, and also wants to look into making an Atelier social networking game.

I honestly don’t care if Tecmo Koei decides to force an SNS Atelier on us, as long as it still allows Gust to do what it’s good at – make Atelier games like Atelier Totori, Atelier Rorona and Atelier Meruru. Personally, I don’t see it working as something you’d have to play with the help of friends, since it’d probably make item gathering impossible and seems like it generally wouldn’t work. But as long as the series as a whole doesn’t go that way, the company can do whatever it wants.

Read [Andriasang] Also Read [Nikkei (Japanese)]

Sony has a Japanese Vita FAQs website online now that addresses important questions. While it confirms that there is backwards compatibility with downloaded PSP games, it also has a teeny note at the bottom of the question that says the answer only applies to PSP games. It says it doesn’t include the Game Archives downloads. However, there may be some hope as Sony did say it will address the issue of all those PSOne and Turbografx classics you already own.

If this were a game of Battleship, then this news attack would have launched a direct attack on your cruiser.

You know what this means if Sony doesn’t give Vita owners PSOne Classics? There’ll be no Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden, Crash Bandicoot or any of those other awesome PSX games that have really held up well over the years. I’d list some Turbografx-16 games as well, but I never owned or played any games on that system, so I’m not terribly broken up by the prospect that they may not be available on the Vita.

In other news, Sony’s Vita FAQs does confirm that there will be a way for UMD-owners to prove they own a PSP game in order to get access to a cheaper, download version for their Vita. So yay for that.

Read [PlayStation Vita (Japanese)]

Title: Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Price: $39.99
System(s): PSP
Release Date: September 20, 2011
Publisher (Developer): Atlus (Atlus)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Drug Reference, Language, Mild Blood, Sexual Themes, Simulated Gambling and Violence
Pros: Traditional Persona gameplay with first person dungeons, demon negotiating, demon fusing and the ability to talk to and develop relationships with certain characters. It’s the first time released in English, there’s new character art, battle system was adjusted, there’s a new opening movie, new music, two Climax Theater side-quests and a new map. The game uses a rumor system to unlock new quests, side-quests or items. There are also multiple difficulty levels. It’s worth getting invested for the way the story eventually twists and turns.
Cons: Battles happen way too frequently, battles can get a bit long and tedious, the story takes a while for things to really get going and collecting cards to actually get new Personas is a dismal experience. Dungeon crawling can get frustrating since there can be a lot of traps in later dungeons. It can be really easy to forget to talk to someone you should have talked to in order to unlock an extra side-quest or check on a rumor.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways, 74/100, C, * * out of 5

The final piece of the puzzle is now in North America, thanks to Atlus. For the first time, Persona 2: Innocent Sin is being released in English. Which means people with the right platforms can experience the entire Persona experience, from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona to Persona 4, in all its glory and see just how the series has grown from its roots. This fact alone will make it easier for JRPG fans to overlook some of the less desirable aspects of this classic game.

Have you heard about the Joker?

Sumaru City isn’t like others. It’s a cursed place, one where rumors come true. One of the most recent ones involves the Joker, a mysterious figure that will answer if you call your own cell phone. He’s supposed to grant wishes to people who tell them, and turn ones who don’t into Shadow Selves. Tatsuya Suou and his associates Lisa and Eikichi decide to try calling the Joker to see what happens. He appears, but he isn’t happy and certainly doesn’t want to grant any of their wishes. The Joker claims those three wronged him and claims he’ll get revenge. But Tatsuya, Lisa and Eikichi don’t remember ever meeting the Joker before.

Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi, later joined by Maya, Yukino and Jun, realize they have personas, supernatural spirits that represent another aspect of themselves. They decide to their new abilities to undo the troubles plaguing Sumaru before the of the rumors and investigate the Joker to figure out how he’s connected to this mess. Of course, the party also have to take advantage of the rumor system, allowing players to spread rumors among NPCs via the Kuzunoha Detective Agency to get access better equipment or find additional side-quests.

An exercise in excrutiating activities.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is closer in terms of gameplay to Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment than Persona 3 and 4, so prepare for that going in. Dungeon exploration done in a third person perspective, with players occasionally getting tripped up by traps or being able to enter rooms with NPCs to interact with. The town map is similar to the one in Persona, showing an overhead view as players choose which location to enter. Players are also able to talk to NPCs and party members throughout the game, influencing the world by spreading rumors or helping form relationships with party members. These conversations are practically mandatory, since rumors are always spreading and players can easily miss something if NPCs aren’t repeatedly talked to at different times throughout the game.

Battles are turn-based, with a party of five characters arranged in two rows. During battle, members can attack, use spells or talk to the demons in an attempt to get cards, items or make the opponent run. Persona attacks are the most flashy, and occasionally the most effective since many enemies have weaknesses. As personas are used, new abilities can be learned and even team attacks, where two characters personas attack at once, can be used. The ability to contact the demons is also vital to succeeding in Persona 2: Innocent Sin, as each character can interact with demons in a different way with different results. The whole party can even converse with demons as a whole. These negotiations can occur in any non-boss battle.

In order to acquire new personas for Tatsuya, players must take advantage of this feature. Like the original Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Persona: Innocent Sin requires players to negotiate with demons encountered to earn cards. Collect enough cards, and they can be taken to Igor in the Velvet room to create a new persona. The thing is, a new persona can’t be created with one card. Multiple cards are required. Which means lots of tedious battling and negotiating, hoping to meet the right demons and go through the same process over and over.

Actually, battles in general aren’t terribly attractive. When I first began playing, it was interesting to see how the demons would respond to conversation attempts and to test out all the new personas. After a while, it’s an exercise in tedium. Random battles quite frequently, with little time to recover and regroup in between. What adds to this is the aforementioned need to gather cards from demons from contacts. There is an auto battle function, but it doesn’t help much when you’re spending more time in battles than out.

It may not be what we hoped, but at least we finally got it.

This may sound silly, but I honestly don’t think Persona 2: Innocent Sin has aged as well as the original Persona, which was ported to the PSP in 2009. I suspect it has something to do with the first being the original, resulting in lower expectations. It was easy to see Persona 2: Innocent Sin show its age as I played, in the dungeon design that could be occasionally frustration, high encounter rate for random battles and card requirements for fusing new personas. Still, the game does have an interesting story, once the right amount of time has been invested, and the rumor system is an unusual gameplay mechanic that’s executed rather well. It all comes down to Persona 2: Innocent Sin being a piece of gaming history, one that the Atlus Faithful and RPG fans will want to experience.

Site [Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2: Innocent Sin]

NIS America has just released Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland in North America and, while it has been six years since the first Atelier adventure was released outside of Japan, the series still is a mystery and unknown force to many gamers. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re missing out on a rather unique JRPG and life sim experience. The Atelier line of games focus on creation, rather than destruction, and typically revolve around day to day life and activities instead of some grand, save the world scheme. They’re also quite accessible, so if you find yourself interested after learning more about this line after reading, you’ll have no problem leaping in to Atelier Totori, Atelier Rorona or Atelier Annie.

The Atelier Alchemists

The Atelier line was conceived by gust, a Japanese developer that got its start making doujin games for computers. In the 1990′s, the company was able to get a license to start developing for the PlayStation, and that’s when the Atelier series began with Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg in 1997. It was notable as it appealed strongly to women, with its female leads and cute characters, but still offered challenging RPG gameplay and item creation aspects.

While Gust does make other games, with the Ar tonelico series being its second most popular, it’s gone on to focus almost entirely on Atelier, with 20 games falling under than banner so far. Only a portion of those games are considered “official” Atelier releases, as some others fall into side story categories. Even the main games get divided up a bit, as their subtitles often denote which line to which they belong. For example, there are the Salburg, Gramnad, Iris, Mana Khemia and Arland lines. Games with one of those names in the title are directly related to one another, and can also be loosely tied together overall. A good example North American residents will recognize is Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori. The latter is a direct sequel to the former, with many of the same characters appearing, and even joining Totori’s party in her game.

While the story is always different in each game, the basic premise tends to remain the same. The lead character, typically a women, is an alchemist. She has the ability to take items, like grasses, wood, meat or stones, shove them in a gigantic cauldron and mix them together to create new items. Gameplay involves searching locations on a world map to gather ingredients or battle enemies, collecting recipes from people or stores and heading to a workshop to create new items. In most of the games, item creation is the primary mission, as there will be mandatory or optional missions that will require the alchemist to create certain items by a certain date in order to earn a reward or advance the story. Most of the Atelier games also feature some kind of relationship aspect, where interacting or helping certain characters and party members can result in earning a special ending. You can also earn different endings depending on the alchemist’s performance throughout the game.

The most recent and unusual Atelier game is the forthcoming Atelier Elkone. It’s a collaboration between Gust and Idea Factory and a side story game. It also differs from the standard simulation/RPG formula as initial reports suggest it is a otome (girl’s dating sim) visual novel with an alchemist lead named Meri as she possibly finds love with one of her handsome classmates.

Atelier in English

For such a unique JRPG and simulation experience, the Atelier series has actually developed quite a following outside of Japan. This is partially due to NIS America’s help, as the company has taken responsibility for releasing Gust’s series in North America so other people can experience them. The most recent English release is Atelier Totori (PS3), which I recently reviewed. But, if you don’t have a PS3, then there are also these English language Atelier options to consider.

All of the following games have my “I.I. Seal of Approval,” which hopefully means something. I’ve played each one and highly recommend them.

• Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island (DS): This is an awesome adventure about a rather lazy alchemist named Annie who’s competing in a competition to build a resort. It’s portable, which is a big selling point, and quite adorable.
• Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (PS2): While Atelier Iris is an Atelier game, it has a very different feel from the others on this list. There’s item fusing, but the main focus is on a traditional JRPG story. It’s not one of my favorites, but still a good game.
• Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny (PS2): The sequel to Atelier Iris attempts to better blend the JRPG aspects and item creation by having Felt do the JRPG thing down on the world below while his childhood Viese does the alchemy thing in Eden.
• Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland (PS3): Atelier Rorona is a very traditional entry in the series. The focus is on making items. Rorona is trying to keep her workshop open, which means completing tasks for the kingdom over three years to prove herself.
• Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (PS3): This is the direct sequel to Atelier Rorona. It’s even closer to the traditional Atelier experience as it has very few guidelines and limitations, only requiring players to perform certain alchemy or JRPG tasks to keep leveling up Totori’s adventurer license.
• Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (PS2, PSP): Mana Khemia is rather unique as it’s set at an alchemy academy. Players follow Vayne, a new student, and his classmates as they work together to pass their courses and meet certain objectives by accomplishing tasks throughout the school year. It’s similar to the Atelier Iris games, as there’s a bit more focus on fighting, but item creation still plays a very large part of the overall experience.

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2) and Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy (PS2) have also been released in English, but I’ve never played either game so I wouldn’t exactly feel comfortable recommending them.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables reviews Starry Sky in Spring Portable for the PSP.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables talked about some cool Super Famicom accessories and games.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

With Tales of Xillia being released on September 8, 2011 in Japan, it seems only appropriate this week to look back at the Tales series. It’s a fantastic group of RPGs from Namco Bandai that, for some reason, never seemed to get the respect and attention it deserved outside of Japan. However, with Tales of Vesperia‘s success and the forthcoming North American release of Tales of Graces and rerelease of Tales of the Abyss, that could change.

Tales of…

While Tales hasn’t really gotten a lot of attention, it’s a well established RPG series. The first game, Tales of Phantasia, was originally created by Namco Bandai back in 1995 and the series is going strong to this day, with new entries and spin-off games being released every few years. There’s even a single studio, the Namco Tales Studio, devoted just to making these games. In a way, you can almost consider them similar to the Final Fantasy series, as they’re JRPGs and each entry is an independent story about a group of characters setting out to help save the world.

The Tales series are unique for a number of reasons, mainly their battle system. These games were using an active battle system before it was even popular. Initially, it was a side-scrolling fight where players control one party member, with computers controlling the other three participants and called the Linear Motion Battle System. Different button-press combos can unleash special attacks. As the games became more advanced though, 3D battles were implemented, starting with Tales of Symphonia.

There are also a few other quirks. For example, outside of battle players can have characters use recipes to cook, using ingredients, to restore hit points and technical points. You can also see little skits from time to time, where the characters talk amongst themselves about things that may or may not be related to the task at hand. All playable characters can also earn titles as the story progresses or by completing certain missions, which either can be used for fun or to boost a character’s stats. Finally, each Tales main entry has a Characteristic Genre Name that sums up the general point and feel of that specific game.

The Tales series is still going strong in Japan, with Tales of Xillia, a PS3 game, coming out later this year. Namco Bandai has been less than supportive of the series, with only about half of the games ever receiving an English release. This seems to be changing though, as Namco Bandai has commited to release Tales of Graces (PS3) and Tales of the Abyss (3DS) outside of Japan. Plus, anime and manga series have been released based on Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Vesperia.

The best Tales

While there are going to soon be 13 main entries in the series and a number of spin-offs, not all of them are legendary epics. Here are a few of the best entries in the series, in chronological order. Not that it matters, since each story is independent of the others.

• Tales of Phantasia (SNES, PS1, GBA, PSP, cell phone): The first Tales game involved time traveling. An incredibly strong sorcerer named Dhaos terrorized the world, traveling through time to cause havoc. He was sealed away by eight warriors from different time periods. However, forces seek to set him free and Cress, son of one of the original warriors who defeated Dhaos, must team up with friends to defeat him again. As the first entry in the series, it doesn’t have a Characteristic Genre Name like the other Tales games. The SNES game was a Japan exclusive, as is the PS1 and PSP port. The GBA was the first version to be released worldwide.
• Tales of Destiny (PS1, PS2): Strange relics from an ancient civilization called Swordians, sentinent swords, inhabit this entry’s world and a young adventurer named Stahn ends up discovering one. While looking to make a name for himself, he meets other warriors and their Swordians, and eventually gets pulled into a search fro the Eye of Atamoni. It is the “RPG of Destiny”. Only the PS1 game was released in Japan and North America. The PS2 version never made it outside of Japan. A direct sequel to this game was released on both the PS2 and PSP.
• Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 (GBA): This is a side-story where players follow two twins, Frio and Kyaro, as they attempt to preserve the Tales legends from diabolical people in the future who would attempt to change and twist them. It was only released in Japan, but it is region-free so you can import it.
• Tales of Symphonia (GameCube, PS1): Sylvarant is dying because its mana is decreasing and only its Chosen can reverse this by completing a special ritual. Colette is the Chosen and she and her childhood friends Lloyd, Raine, Genis and a mercenary named Kratos to undertake her task. It is the “RPG to Resonate with You.” It was released on the GameCube worldwide, but the enhanced PS2 version was a Japan exclusive.
• Tales of the Abyss (PS2, 3DS): This entry takes place in a world where everything is made up of Fonons, with the seventh Fonon (sound) has been recently discovered. The seventh Fonists can read the future with this power and keep the Score. A spoiled brat named Luke is inadvertantly dragged into a war between people who want to preserve the score and those who break destiny by Order of Lorelei member Tear. It is the “RPG to Discover the Meaning of Life.” Both the PS2 and 3DS version are available in Japan and North America.
• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (PSP): This, like the Narikiri Dungeon dungeon line, follows an original character players create as they go through multiple missions, with the help of famous Tales characters, trying to save the World Tree from evil. It was released worldwide, but it’s two followups weren’t.
• Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360, PS3): Follows a former soldier named Yuri who gets involved in searching for Zaphias’ lower quarter’s stolen blastia core. He is arrested for his goodwill, and ends up teaming with a girl named Estelle, who is searching for his friend Flynn, as he escapes. The two then search for the blastia thief and Flynn, inadvertantly getting caught up in an adventure that can result in the salvation or destruction of the world. It is the “RPG to Enforce Justice”.The enhanced PS3 version was only released in Japan, but it’s region-free so you can import it.
• Tales of VS. (PSP): This is the first, and only, Tales fighting game. It features a fighting game with 35 of the best known characters from the main series. It also has a mini-game with additional character cameos. It’s only available in Japan, but it’s region-free so you can import it.
• Tales of Graces (Wii, PS3): Asbel, his younger brother Hubert, his childhood friend Cheria and the Windol Kingdom prince Richard all meet a mysterious young woman named Sophie when they’re children, and get involved in a strange battle with her that results in her disappearing, Hubert being sent to the kingdom of Strata and Asbel deciding to abandon his position as next lord of Lhant and become a knight. Years later, Asbel is called back to Lhant when his father dies, and oddly enough ends up reuniting with an unchanged Sophie. It is the “RPG to Know the Strength to Protect.”The Wii version was only released in Japan, but the enhanced PS3 version is going to receive a worldwide release.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables reviews Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX for the PSP.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables talked about Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

]]> http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/76809/important-importables-namco-bandais-tales-of/feed/ 0 http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/76249/xperia-plays-psone-emulator-hacked-now-can-play-psone-isos/ http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/76249/xperia-plays-psone-emulator-hacked-now-can-play-psone-isos/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:13:41 +0000 Jenni Lada http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/76249/xperia-plays-psone-emulator-hacked-now-can-play-psone-isos/ Sony is not going to be happy today. See, somebody's just figured out a way to crack open its latest baby, the Xperia Play. The Xperia Play is a smartphone with the ability to play original PlayStation games on it, and until now people had to make do with the PSOne games Sony was releasing via the PlayStation Suite. I say until now, because an Android developer named Yifan Lu found a way to get the phone's included emulator to recognize game files not acquired through Sony. What makes Yifan Lu's work special is that it's actually based entirely on the PlayStation emulator Sony has built into the Xperia Play...]]> Sony is not going to be happy today. See, somebody’s just figured out a way to crack open its latest baby, the Xperia Play. The Xperia Play is a smartphone with the ability to play original PlayStation games on it, and until now people had to make do with the PSOne games Sony was releasing via the PlayStation Suite. I say until now, because an Android developer named Yifan Lu found a way to get the phone’s included emulator to recognize game files not acquired through Sony.

What makes Yifan Lu’s work special is that it’s actually based entirely on the PlayStation emulator Sony has built into the Xperia Play. Yifan Lu just experimented with it, did a little reverse engineering and found a way to get PSOne ISO files (the information on the PSOne discs that contained the actual game) working on it. Most amazing is, Yifan Lu’s summary of the work done in the XDA Developers forum says the progress made so far was done in only nine days.

Yifan Lu even uploaded a YouTube video of the project’s progress so far, showing Crash Bandicoot 3 running on an Xperia Play thanks to his emulator tweaking.

The only things Yifan Lu doesn’t have working are PSOne games that required multiple discs, save state swapping to allow multiple save files to be maintained and a game manual function.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean everyone who takes advantage of this exploit is going to be resorting to piracy, since it isn’t exactly hard to rip the iso files from PSOne discs, there’s a good chance it many people will. After all, a lot of people were pretty upset that your PS3 and PSP PlayStation Store purchases don’t carry over to the Sony Ericsson smartphone. Oh, you didn’t know? The Xperia Play phone uses the PlayStation Suite, which is a separate entity from the PlayStation Store, meaning even if you already legitimately acquired a PSOne game for your PS3 and PSP, you’d have to rebuy it for your Xperia Play if you wanted it on your phone as well.

The next question is, when is Sony going to go after Yifan Lu to try and shut his work down. We already know the company’s stance on people reworking and modifying the PSP and PS3. I’m sure they won’t take kindly to an independent developer unlocking the Xperia Play.

Read [XDA Developers] Via [Phandroid] Site [Yifan Lu]

]]> http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/76249/xperia-plays-psone-emulator-hacked-now-can-play-psone-isos/feed/ 0 http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74782/rapid-angel-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/ http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74782/rapid-angel-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/#comments Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:30:13 +0000 Jenni Lada http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74782/rapid-angel-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/ With a tagline like "High tension comical action game," you know Rapid Angel is going to be something special. It was originally a Japanese-exclusive PS1 game, but Monkeypaw Games has picked it up so anyone in North America with a PS3 or PSP can experience the adventure. It's an original, anime-inspired game with five unique storylines, five characters that each play differently and multiple endings. The game does have a few quirks, with some opponents easily catching characters off-guard or some awkward attacks, but for the most part it's a bright and original adventure. Rapid Angel stars Natsumi, Ayane and Haruna. They're couriers who work for a company called, you guessed it, Rapid Angel....]]>


Title: Rapid Angel
Price: $5.99
System(s): PS3, PSP (Originally on PS1)
Release Date: July 5, 2011 (Originally August 13, 1998)
Publisher (Developer): MonkeyPaw Games (Techno Soleil)
ESRB Rating: N/A, Cero A for All Ages
Pros: English instructions via the MonkeyPaw Games site. Multiple endings for each character. Can choose different responses for characters in different spots. Three starting characters and two hidden ones. Each character plays differently. All playable characters can guard against opponents attacks. Lots of replay value for completists. There’s actually a lot of voice acting, considering the age of the game. If you die in an area, there are infinite continues.
Cons: Battle can be choppy. Some characters’ attack quirks are debilitating and awkward (Natsume – the red one – has no useful crouching attack.) Multiplayer is disappointing. If you want to unlock and see everything and can’t read Japanese characters, you’ll have to take notes of which dialogue options you choose each playthrough.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 80/100, B-, * * * out of 5

With a tagline like “High tension comical action game,” you know Rapid Angel is going to be something special. It was originally a Japanese-exclusive PS1 game, but Monkeypaw Games has picked it up so anyone in North America with a PS3 or PSP can experience the adventure. It’s an original, anime-inspired game with five unique storylines, five characters that each play differently and multiple endings. The game does have a few quirks, with some opponents easily catching characters off-guard or some awkward attacks, but for the most part it’s a bright and original adventure.




Delivery girls won’t be detered from their task!

Rapid Angel stars Natsumi, Ayane and Haruna. They’re couriers who work for a company called, you guessed it, Rapid Angel. They aren’t your ordinary delivery girls though, as Natsumi is deadly with her firsts, Ayane carries around a huge sword and Haruna knows how to use magic. The day begins with getting a new delivery request, tasking one of them with taking blueprints to their rightful owner. But there are a lot of other people who also want those blueprints.

Once you’ve chosen one of the three initial characters to play as, you set out to make your delivery. It won’t be easy though, as you’ll be fighting soldiers, a bulky man with metal lobster claw hands, flaming zombie people, a dude in a trenchcoat with a sword and bipolar personality, flying jellyfish that shoot electricity, priests, purple blobs and even a maid who apparently can summon up demons. That doesn’t make sense? Well, Rapid Angel is an anime-styled video game! It doesn’t have to make sense!




Rapid Angel‘s robust personality makes up for its occasional awkwardness.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that fighting in Rapid Angel can be choppy, which isn’t exactly the best thing considering it’s a beat’em up game. You won’t notice it as much if you play as Haruna, but it will come up if you choose Natsumi, Ayane or one of the two hidden characters. Unless you can immediately launch into a combo when attacking, your character will typically attack in a halting manner, leaving her open to counterattacks unless you’re ready to immediately jab the block button. It’s far from an ideal situation, especially when there are random hoards of enemies roaming around each area and usually a boss fight against a stronger opponent before you can move forward. Oh, and you’re timed, which makes things even trickier because if time runs out, you’re dead. Death isn’t a big deal though, since you have access to infinite continues and pick up in the same area where you left off.

Still, this led me to develop a little Rapid Angel strategy that served me well during my Natsume playthrough. Dash through each level, constantly leaping, until you reach the end where the boss is. Then, go all out with attacking and using bombs if needed. Rinse and repeat until you reach the end of the game. That way you don’t have to worry about hitting enemies positioned awkwardly, especially if you play as Natsumi who seemed to have no crouching attack, or losing health to minions. This also means you can save your attacks, bombs and such for the big bads. The only time this doesn’t exactly work out is in a few select stages where you need to collect a pickaxe or push a switch to proceed. But for the most part, it’s golden.

Thankfully, what Rapid Angel lacks in finesse it makes up for in personality. Even though it is based on an original story, it feels like you’re following an anime’s storyline. The characters are fun to watch and listen to, and there are some pretty nice details on the character sprites. They’re bright and colorful, and you can even see their facial expressions change during story segments. (When you run into the dude in the trenchcoat for the first time, choose to just pass him by and not fight him. His reaction is hilarious.) Plus, there’s even some really nice voice acting. I also liked that you could choose your characters’ responses in certain situations, which could lead to unlocking extra characters. It’s just a shame that all of that is in Japanese so you can’t understand it. This means you’ll have to do a lot of experimenting and keep track on your own of what you had character say, so you can see if you can unlock the extra characters. Trust me, you’ll want to do it since the two hidden characters each have their own unique storylines.

Rapid Angel also has a cooperative multiplayer option, but it isn’t what you’d expect it to be. Since this is a side-scrolling beat’em up, you’d think a second player would be able to join in as one of the other characters. Alas, that isn’t what happens. The second player shows up as a tiny angel, who can also attack enemies and provide some minimal support for the first player. It’s helpful, sure, but with so many colorful characters it would have been nice to play as them.




A quirky, cute and surprisingly deep beat’em up.

Rapid Angel is the kind of game that has a bit of an adjustment period. Even if you’re familiar with action games, you’ll probably need a level or two to adapt to each character’s specific nuances and flaws and figure out the best way to proceed through that storyline. It happens sometimes. But while the characters’ shortcomings and awkwardness may be initially frustrating, Rapid Angel is definitely a game worth getting used to. It’s so much more involving than a typical beat’em up, since you will need to have a different play style for each character and keep track of what you’re saying to unlock the extra characters. There is a bit of a language barrier that will make unlocking everything more difficult for people who don’t understand Japanese, but even if you only speak and read English, Rapid Angel provides an entertaining gaming experience.

Site [Rapid Angel]

]]> http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74782/rapid-angel-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/feed/ 0 http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74781/yakiniku-bugyou-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/ http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74781/yakiniku-bugyou-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:30:16 +0000 Jenni Lada http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74781/yakiniku-bugyou-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/ Yakiniku Bugyou is a Japanese grilling game affiliated with the Gyu-Kaku chain of restaurants that originally came out on the PlayStation back in May, 2001. With a description like that, it's pretty easy to see why it never originally received a North American release. Thankfully Monkeypaw Games, known for giving PS3 and PSP owners access to PSOne imports, saw its charm and decided to release it on the PlayStation Store. While this is a niche Japanese game, it's also completely playable and enjoyable even if you have no idea what the game is trying to tell you...]]>


Title: Yakiniku Bugyou
Price: $5.99
System(s): PS3, PSP (Originally PS1)
Release Date: July 5, 2011 (Originally May 25, 2001)
Publisher (Developer): Monkeypaw Games (Media Entertainment)
ESRB Rating: N/A. Cero A for All Ages
Pros: English instructions via the MonkeyPaw Games site, 15 different customers, 12 different kinds of food, very simple to play, controls work perfectly, can be played easily without any knowledge of the Japanese language. Three difficulty levels for the single player and cooperative multiplayer modes.
Cons: If you don’t know Japanese, you won’t know if people want food cooked well, medium or rare. You may have a little trouble finding a friend to play along.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, * * * * 1/2 out of 5

Yakiniku Bugyou is a Japanese grilling game affiliated with the Gyu-Kaku chain of restaurants that originally came out on the PlayStation back in May, 2001. With a description like that, it’s pretty easy to see why it never originally received a North American release. Thankfully Monkeypaw Games, known for giving PS3 and PSP owners access to PSOne imports, saw its charm and decided to release it on the PlayStation Store. While this is a niche Japanese game, it’s also completely playable and enjoyable even if you have no idea what the game is trying to tell you.

Get to the grill.

In Yakiniku Bugyou, you’re a chef in charge of a grill at a Gyu-Kaku restaurant. Each session, three customers will come in, with a brief character profile telling you a little about them and what they like. Your goal is to serve up perfectly cooked food, so the session ends with them satisfied. If you do well and keep serving up flawless meals, you’ll be able to face off against a gourmet and try to give him perfectly cooked meat.

The trick is, each person has certain likes and dislikes. While most will eat pretty much any well-cooked piece of food, they also have one item they really love and one they really hate. You have to make sure the satisfaction bar beneath their character portrait is green and past the halfway point. Do that for all three customers, and you can keep cooking. Neglect even one, and you have to replay that level. It gets tricky, because characters are constant changing what they love and hate, so you have to pay close attention not only to the food on the grill, but to the demands of your customers.




It’s all about observation

Many PSOne Import games can deter players since they’re entirely in Japanese. Yakiniku Bugyou has no language barrier. Yes, all the text is in Japanese and you won’t be able to read or understand the characters’ bios or commentary, but that isn’t necessary to play the game. Each character has pictures next to his/her portrait so you can see which items they do or don’t want to eat, and the items are really easy to tell apart. The only thing you can have trouble with, if you don’t understand the language, is knowing how customers want their food cooked. But even then there’s an easy solution. When in doubt, cook until you see grill marks on the food.

Plus, Yakiniku Bugyou is just plain fun. It’s an action game, but it also requires you to think and pay attention. You have to strategize. Your first few playthroughs may not go too well, but that’s only because you don’t know how some meats and vegetables cook. Once you learn that, you realize where items have to be on the grill to cook better. For example, the vegetables can take longer than meat to grill properly, so stick those in the center. That, and you constantly have to keep moving. Flip the pieces, check for grill marks and if you see them, serve them up.

What helps too is the absolutely flawless control scheme. You aren’t floundering, trying to remember which buttons to push to cook and serve items. Each customer has a button designated to him or her based on where they’re sitting. The person on the left is square, the center is triangle and the right circle. The X button is used for placing items on the grill and flipping items. This way you can just focus on cooking things up properly. If you time things right and completely fill up the grill with food each time, you can send a stream of food out at once. If you manage to feed everyone the right foods, you can create a combo which boosts your overall score.

Where Yakiniku Bugyou really shines is the multiplayer modes. If you can get a friend to come over, you can work together on the grill. I preferred the cimpetitive survival mode myself, since the people I played with didn’t know the proper way to cook and I always won. The cooperative mode is also fun though, since you work together to see how long you can keep cooking and making the customers happy before someone slips up.

Yakiniku Bugyou is surprisingly awesome!

The idea of a game just about grilling food may sound a little weird, but Yakiniku Bugyou is a hidden gem. If you’ve never considered browsing the PlayStation Store’s PSOne Import section, you should for this game alone. It’s a perfect example of a game that is both incredibly fun and accessible to all audiences, even if it’s a bit unorthodox. Once you get the hang of cooking, you’ll find yourself coming back repeatedly, whether you have a few minutes to kill and play something lighthearted or if you can grab a friend to see how long you can keep customers happy. Yakiniku Bugyou is truly unique, and it’s always wonderful to have access to another game that deviates from the norm.

Site [Yakiniku Bugyou]

]]> http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74781/yakiniku-bugyou-for-ps3-psp-review-monkeypaw-games/feed/ 0 http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74410/important-importables-playstation-pocketstation-and-dreamcast-vmu/ http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74410/important-importables-playstation-pocketstation-and-dreamcast-vmu/#comments Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:30:10 +0000 Jenni Lada http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/74410/important-importables-playstation-pocketstation-and-dreamcast-vmu/ We're now in the generation of hard drives, SD cards and even the occasional memory stick when it comes to backing up game saves. It almost makes it hard to believe that a few years ago the standard method was memory cards, plastic blocks gamers would shove into consoles or controllers so they could save their game progress. At the time, memory cards were the thing. They offered a sense of freedom gamers hadn't had before, allowing them to take their game progress on the go with them, not bound by on-cartridge memory or those loathed passwords. Some companies decided that maybe they should take memory cards a step further. Not only have these devices hold onto our valuable game data, but allow them to be game playing devices as well. The results were Sony's PocketStation for the PlayStation and Sega's Visual Memory Unit for the Dreamcast. Sony's PocketStation crashed and burned, while the VMU could be helpful, but never really reached the iconic status Sega hoped for. This week, let's learn a little more about both of them...]]>

We’re now in the generation of hard drives, SD cards and even the occasional memory stick when it comes to backing up game saves. It almost makes it hard to believe that a few years ago the standard method was memory cards, plastic blocks gamers would shove into consoles or controllers so they could save their game progress. At the time, memory cards were the thing. They offered a sense of freedom gamers hadn’t had before, allowing them to take their game progress on the go with them, not bound by on-cartridge memory or those loathed passwords.

Some companies decided that maybe they should take memory cards a step further. Not only have these devices hold onto our valuable game data, but allow them to be game playing devices as well. The results were Sony’s PocketStation for the PlayStation and Sega’s Visual Memory Unit for the Dreamcast. Sony’s PocketStation crashed and burned, while the VMU could be helpful, but never really reached the iconic status Sega hoped for. This week, let’s learn a little more about both of them.




Dreamcast VMU

We’ll start with the Visual Memory Unit (VMU) since it came first. When the Dreamcast launched on November 27, 1998, the Visual Memory System, as the card is known in Japan, came with it. It was a memory card with 100kb of memory, a screen on the front, a directional pad, a and b buttons and buttons to make it sleep or choose the mode. The Dreamcast controller had a window where the VMU’s screen could peek through, allowing the VMU screen to offer supplemental infomation while playing a game.
Pretty much every game made some use of the VMU. At the very least, the VMU displayed game logos or icons when plugged into a Dreamcast controller. At most, it gave players access to a supplemental mini-game. Sometimes, a VMU plugged into a controller would let you see characters’ HP or stats so you didn’t have to keep checking the menu to see how they were doing. Pop’n Music is a good example of how helpful the VMU be when plugged into a Dreamcast, as the screen would tell players which buttons to press. Sonic Adventure also made good use of the device, allowing players to raise a Chao virtual pet in Chao Adventure on their VMUs.

The VMU was the most successful of the two memory card/game devices for consoles. Multiple developers took advantage of it, providing extras for people who chose to use it. Sega released multiple versions of the VMU, in different colors and designs. Special edition VMUs were even released. Godzilla fans could have grabbed a Mothra-themed unit and limited editions of certain games, like Sakura Taisen, came with special edition VMUs.




PlayStation PocketStation

The PocketStation was going to be the PlayStation equivalent of a VMU. It didn’t take off. It originally launched in Japan on January 23, 1999, and stayed there. It isn’t that it didn’t do well. Millions of units sold in Japan. It just didn’t sell well enough to merit a worldwide release. Visually, it was pretty similar to a VMU. It had fewer buttons, with four directional buttons and one action button placed beneath the screen. The main difference was the PocketStation had an infrared sensor to exchange data with other PocketStations.

If you had a PocketStation, you could only use it when you weren’t actually playing a game on your PlayStation. Once you saved your data to it and removed it from your PS1, you could then access a little mini-game or extra application on the go. With Final Fantasy VIII, you could send a chocobo around a virtual world to collect items for your game. In Monster Rancher 2, you could play minigames with the monsters you were raising to earn special items. In many cases, games had exclusive items or content that could only be unlocked with PocketStation games. Legend of Dragoon‘s PocketStation game let you play a mini-game that is the only means of earning the Dabas Shiny Bag that doubles the number of items Dart and company can carry.

Here’s a neat little tidbit about the PocketStation! If you had the Final Fantasy VIII PC game, it came with a little Chocobo World application based on the PS1 FFVIII PocketStation game. You’d guide a little chocobo around, finding items you could use in the actual game. Also, if you import a Japanese PocketStation you can actually access the FFVIII and Saga Frontier 2 PS1 mini-games.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables talks about Square Enix.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables listed some good Korean MMOs to try.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

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