On being sent Monster Hunter Tri, I was slightly chagrined to discover just how little I knew about the franchise – it is, after all, nothing short of a national sensation in Japan, where Tri has already been declared the country’s highest-selling third-party Wii game to date. Given the title (and the enormous aquatic dragon on the cover), it seemed a fairly safe assumption that I’d be hunting monsters at some point, but the specifics eluded me. Once I’d actually immersed myself in Tri, however, I soon discovered just how much I’d been missing.

The game begins in Moga, a sunny little fishing village whose tranquility is shattered by sudden earthquakes and coastal storms. The culprit is Lagiacrus, the aforementioned aquatic dragon; he seems to have found a new home in the region, terrorising local waters and roiling up the sea. To whom do good dragon-fearing folk turn in such a crisis? Why, you of course, a freelance hunter who (despite being an apparently reputable slayer of beasties) arrives in only his underwear, carrying a cheap sword and very little else. You’ll need legendary arms and armour to defeat your foe – to forge these, you’ll need the necessary parts, and to obtain the necessary parts, you’ll have to hack them off the necessary monsters.

My initial assumption was correct – in Monster Hunter Tri, you hunt monsters. You hunt an awful lot of them, in fact, from the humblest insectoids to the mightiest stone-plated, razor-taloned, fire-breathing behemoths. It’s a simple premise that’s remarkably addictive; kill monsters, strip their carcasses for parts, bring the parts to a Smithy, forge them into stronger weapons and armor, kill stronger monsters, get stronger parts, and so on. While this might seem like just another form of grinding, it never feels laborious, due in no small part to the enormous array of armaments that can be crafted. Whether you prefer your quarry slashed, cleaved, bludgeoned, skewered or shot from afar, there’s a suitable weapon for you to brandish and an armour set to make you look hardcore while brandishing it.

You’re also saved from aimlessness by a basic quest system, which is included essentially to provide context and give a sense of purpose to each of your wilderness excursions. You’ll be contracted by “The Guild” on behalf of various townspeople to complete increasingly difficult tasks – these involve anything from fishing and gathering to killing a particular monster, or even capturing it alive. They all invariably fall into the same basic categories, but each offers a bag of goodies for your trouble while moving the narrative forward.

In spite of all these features, the offline single-player is a somewhat limited affair; once you’ve completed all the quests, there’s very little else you can do on your lonesome. Tri is, however, a game clearly designed with multiplayer in mind, as it features one of the most robust and carefully considered online components I’ve ever encountered in a Wii title. Once you select a server, you’re dropped straight into Loc Lac City, a bustling trade hub where you can meet other hunters and embark on various quests for up to four players. In lieu of narrative, there are numerous new quests on offer, new locations to explore and new epic monster encounters, all geared towards teamwork. These will provide you with rare, otherwise unobtainable components from which to forge some of the sexiest gear in the game. Don’t worry if you’ve spent a lot of time learning the ropes offline – you’re able to use the same character for both offline and online play, so your efforts aren’t wasted.

Communication with other players is understandably vital, and Capcom has gone the extra mile to include support for Wii Speak. Unfortunately, my bundle of the game did not include Wii Speak (though some apparently do); instead, I was forced to write out messages letter by letter with the D-pad, a truly barbaric act that no civilised person should ever be forced to perform. There are a series of “gestures” available to your character, but these aren’t especially helpful, and I certainly wouldn’t advise you to attempt them while you’re in any sort of real danger. You can, at the very least, ‘ping’ your location on the map if you need assistance.

In terms of presentation, the game maintains a colourful, reasonably detailed aesthetic reminiscent of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. NPC models are kept relatively simple, while greater attention is given to your character, whose appearance you can customise upon creation. It’s nothing spectacular; you’re given a level of control comparable to World of Warcraft, selecting from preset faces, clothes, hairstyles and colours to create someone reasonably unique. Weapons and armour are again more detailed – it’s these that you’ll be showing off to other players, after all.

The environments are deceptively beautiful. As you explore them, you’re really only moving through a series of small ‘enclosures’ – you’re kept from wandering by conveniently placed boulders, inclines or ravines. Beyond these, however, you’re offered a spectacular view of the horizon, as the landmass stretches towards a vast sea and skyline. A slightly contrived illusion perhaps, but it works; the levels appear genuinely expansive, and you don’t feel nearly so confined. The lighting and environment effects are much the same, economical but pretty, and you’ll see them in play across all manner of settings: volcanoes, icy tundra, desert plains, marshland and forest. The monsters themselves are similarly diverse, although earlier creatures such as the Aptonoth and Jaggi bear a striking resemblance to dinosaurs (on my first hunting trip, I felt as if I’d been let loose on an indiscriminate killing spree through Jurassic Park).

There are, in spite of its merits, a couple of annoying faults in the game. The first is the lack of a lock-on system – regardless of the reason, it’s an appalling oversight. I very quickly lost count of the times I lashed out at a monster only to go hurtling past its shoulder, slashing stupidly at thin air as if I were concussed. Such clumsy combat is rendered all the worse by the game’s camera system, which seems determined to face away from your enemy at all times. You’ll spend most of your time manoeuvring it manually while fighting, or hammering the C button to keep it locked behind your back. The camera is also solely responsible for directing your character underwater, which makes marine combat an absolute nightmare. It’s a real shame that these issues weren’t addressed; they’re a blemish on an otherwise enjoyable experience.

Closing Statement:

There are two fundamental demands we make of a Role-Playing Game – epic boss battles and epic loot. Monster Hunter Tri doesn’t disappoint in either regard, and yet it never gets mired in the tedious number crunching that so often afflicts the genre. It’s not a perfect game by any means; there are only so many monsters to kill and items to craft, particularly if you only play offline. The game’s online replay value ultimately depends on Capcom, who have already started posting temporary “Event Quests” with the promise of further downloadable content in the future. In any case, it’s an extremely solid title that you can and will get lost in for some time to come. If, like me, you’re new to the franchise, don’t overlook this one.

Final Score: 8.6

Within the past couple of years, Ubisoft has centered itself as a comparable developer/publisher. That said, wanting to expand its reach, the publisher revealed its ambitions to develop a Japanese role-playing game, much like the Final Fantasy series. When be interviewed Famitsu, Ubisoft’s Alain Corre spoke about the companies general ambitions within the role-playing genre.

“People often say that Japan is packed with hardcore gamers, and it’s important to understand what it is they’re looking for,” Corre said in the Famitsu interview. “Our mission is to create hit games on the same level as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. We’d like to see everyone in Japan root for us. Perhaps someday our efforts will result in a major hit on the level of a Dragon Quest.”

“We have never made any RPGs, a genre Japanese people love,” he continued. “We’ve made shooters, strategy, sports, action, and adventure games, but not any RPGs yet. Still, we’re open to all possibilities. If we can get a quality team of RPG-oriented developers, I’d love to release one. If we have a chance to work with Japanese creators, then I’m sure we can make a game that appeals to the Japanese audience.”

Corre also made it known that they’re “currently investing in Japanese development studios”, and that they’ll be revealing more about those projects “in a year’s time.” With that said, could this have to do anything with “Project Eden”, Ubisoft’s collaboration with Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Q Entertainment? Well… it’s anyone’s guest.

Japanese role-playing games don’t command the respect that they once had. But, why is that? BioWare, a leader in Western RPG development, believes that Japanese role-playing games don’t innovate, meaning that “lack of evolution” is the reason for the JRPG decline, in both sales and quality.

“The fall of the JRPG in large part is due to a lack of evolution, a lack of progression,” BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Destructoid last week. “They kept delivering the same thing over and over. They make the dressing better, they look prettier, but it’s still the same experience”.

“My favorite thing, it’s funny when you still see it, but the joke of some of the dialogue systems where it asks, ‘do you wanna do this or this,’ and you say no. ‘Do you wanna do this or this?’ No. ‘Do you wanna do this or this?’ No. Lemme think — you want me to say ‘yes.’ And that, unfortunately, really characterized the JRPG.”

“We have big debates on whether GTA is an RPG, for example”, he adds. “It’s got all the elements, it just doesn’t have the numbers. And what gamers here want is that higher depth, that higher integration of features…Mass Effect 2 is in some ways a continuation of that evolution.”

BioWare’s known for impressive and engaging RPGs. However, the genre been seemingly non-existent this console generation; there are only a few out in the market right now. One of the many unnoticed problems of this console generation, BioWare has set out to fill this void with its “dark heroic fantasy” Dragon Age: Origins, the spiritual successor to the highly praised Baldurs Gate franchise on the PC. That said, unsurprisingly, Dragon Age surpasses all expectations; pushing the breaking point and scale of any previous RPG. In fact, Dragon Age could even be considered as the greatest RPG ever conceived.

In Dragon Age, you play as a newly mended Grey Warden, warriors tasked with fighting off the advancing Darkspawn in the time of “The Blight”, a catastrophic event in which Darkspawn try and take over the world causing years of darkness and chaos. However, the Grey Wardens have seen better days; their influence, as well as their numbers, are weak. Then, in this time of great weakness within the Wardens, push comes to shovel. Now, your character finds themselves building up an army in time for the impending Blight; done by pulling in debts from the other races and other factions within Ferelden, the setting for this adventure.

But, that’s only apart of the story. Dragon Age’s story also branches of into multiple segments; thanks in part to NPC dialogue tree, made famous in BioWare’s Mass Effect series, and the character creation system. However, with the dialog system, it’s not as obvious as to how your discussions effect your progression towards good, or evil. You see, since you cannot physically see the see the outcomes of your discussions, you’ll have to read and layout your options before picking your answers. This adds interesting aspect but, the moments when there’s only one outcome, are where the dialogue system trends to drags on.

That said, you’ll have three races (human, elf, dwarf) and three classes (warrior, mage and rouge) to pick from when customizing your character. Pick carefully because this decides how the world views and treats your character. Along with, which one of the six origin stories you’ll be to explore as that character. This is the biggest problem with the origin story aspect. After playing though a portion of the game, your characters origin story starts feeling like an afterthought, ie. The people of Ferelden don’t favor elves but, after awhile, it’s like people don’t care about who, or what, you are. This isn’t a major problem; it’s just that it adds an unrealistic feeling to the Dragon Age experience.

Even though there are some substantial differences between the PC and console versions, BioWare has created a combat system that mirrors that of the PC. This system works in one of two ways; fighting in real-time, and micromanaging. However, micromanaging isn’t the preferred battle preference on consoles; the console versions are geared more towards action, which is opposite to the PCs more tactical approach. Meaning that, there’s really no need for micromanagement on consoles – you can play though all the game without micromanaging. However, when you’re facing 15+ enemies, micromanaging is the prefect way for you to insure a clean victory. Be that as it may, the most notable difference between the versions are there presentations.

But, don’t get me wrong, Dragon Age is a gorgeous game. It’s just that, on consoles, the graphics can’t hold a candle to that of the PCs; the colors look washed out and foggy. Also, in the time it told me to play through Dragon Age, I noticed that the game was plagued with many annoying little glitches that, while not breaking the game, put a damper on the overall experience, ie. there’s a glitch in which a character’s lips move while no words came out. However, it isn’t all bad with presentation. Character animations, while stiff at some points, are smooth and well done, and the art style is very eye catching.

Closing Statement:

Dragon Age is one of those titles that can easily take hours out of your life, which, surprisingly, isn’t a bad thing because you won’t want them back. That, along with the fact that BioWare has chosen to introduce downloadable content, proves that Dragon Age is something that you do not want to miss. But, even though I did have a lot of fun playing Dragon Age, there’s just to many glitches that took away from the overall experience. However, if you can get past them, this is the game for you. In addition, never has a game been fully worth the $60; Dragon Age’s quality surpasses that.

Final Score: 9.1

Mark your calenders, and set your lasers on stun. Because Electronic Arts announced today that their upcoming futuristic, alien-killing RPG, Mass Effect 2, will be hitting stores shelves on January the 26th of next year in North America and on the 29th in Europe.

And, as a plan to increase Mass Effect 2′s pre-orders, those how pre-order the game at their local Game Stop in North America will receive a code giving them legibility to receive the Terminus Gear armor and the M-490 Blackstorm(click to view) Heavy Weapon.

However, those that pre-order the game at “other retailers” will receive the Inferno Armor, which gives Shephard “an increase in run speed and augmented damage from combat powers.” 2010 can’t come soon enough.

“Our fans are in for a genuine thrill in the New Year with Mass Effect 2 – the second installment in the trilogy will be of amazingly high quality,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, BioWare co-founder. “BioWare’s fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting this epic sequel, and we couldn’t be more excited to reward them for pre-ordering by delivering some awesome bonus content!”

If you can’t wait for its release. Piranha Bytes today released the demo for the upcoming role-playing game, Risen in North America – offering players a chance to get a first impression on some of the adventures that are awaiting them on the island of Faranga before the game release.

The demo is available for download at http://risen.deepsilver.com/blog/pages/us/downloads/downloads.php

The complete retail version of Risen will be available on the market as of tomorrow.

Peter Molyneux announced Fable III during Microsoft’s GamesCon press conference today for the Xbox 360. Months before, Molyneux teased fans that the series might be taking a new direction – seeing that the recently released “See The Future” downloadable content for Fable II teased at that.

“I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with RPGs like Fable… It’s a mechanic that’s been there since the eighties. I’m going to take that foundation stone and throw it away,” said Molyneux when talking about making RPGs “new, fresh, and different”.

In the epic story of Fable III, the journey to rule the throne of Albion begins five decades after the events of the last chapter, and you play as the child of your hero from Fable II. As you rule your kingdom as king or queen, you will be called upon to make choices and sacrifices that will test your morality and can affect your entire kingdom. Themes of heroism, leadership and consequence are taken to a grand scale as you fight to unite a divided people.

“Ultimately you overthrow that terrible tyrant who rules Albion, but to do that you have to make some promises,” Molyneux stated. ”You are going to become the ruler of the whole of Albion. You’ve played in this land in Fable 1, in Fable 2 you became a hero; this time, why not rule Albion? Why not be a king or a queen?” He added, “I want players to feel and experience what it’s like to be a ruler.”

Fable III will deliver a sweeping, powerful story and new innovations in gameplay and Xbox LIVE functionality when it is made available in the 2010 holiday season, only on Xbox 360.

BioWare wasn’t keen on releasing any details on the newest alien character, which debuted as an assassin, at E3, however, now, that has changed because it’s “Meet Thane” day over at the official Mass Effect 2 website. And you won’t believe who’s the star of the event.

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA when announcing the game. “Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

[nggallery id=26]

Speaking at a Press Conference in Tokyo last week, Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada stated that a release date for long-awaited Final Fantasy XIII could be revealed in a matter of weeks.

Anyway, Wada told the Japanese press that he would make “an announcement in a few weeks”. However, if you look at the stated time, this could mean that Square Enix is announcing the game’s release at the Tokyo Game Show – scheduled for late September.

The title is due out in Japan this winter, with its Western debut, on PS3 and Xbox 360, expected sometime in 2010. However, we’re hoping to see more on the title at Tokyo because Square has confirmed that the tile will certainly be in attendance.

First announced way back in September of 2007, Gearbox Software has finally settled on a release for Borderlands – and it couldn’t of came at sooner time.

When speaking to Shacknews in a recent interview, developer Gearbox Software revealed that it’s targeting a October release for its post-apocalyptic shooter-RPG Borderlands.

“Borderlands represents an important evolutionary leap in game design and technology,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. “By utilizing revolutionary new technology to create thousands of unique, randomly generated missions, weapons and situations, Borderlands will raise the bar for next gen action games.”

There’s a god in heaven. Earlier on today during a Bethesda press conference in London, it was revealed that they are currently hard at work on the newest fallout title, Fallout New Vegas.

The new game was revealed by Bethesda’s Pete Hines who said that the publisher is working with Obsidian Entertainment, known from games like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, on the title.

“It is not a sequel to Fallout 3,” Hines said. “It’s simply another Fallout game in that universe.” 

It will be the same sort of role-playing game experience seen in Fallout 3, he said. The game’s official reveal, with more details and a look at the game down the line. Hines added that this title will have no impact on what Todd Howard and his team are working on. Fallout New Vagas will release next year for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

[New Fallout Announced via Kotaku]

Besides Sony’s claims that “nobody will ever use 100 percent of [the PlayStation 3's] capability.” It now seems that Square-Enix producer, Yoshinori Kitase, claims that Final Fantasy XIII has maxes out all the capability of the system.

In an interview with Japanese magazine Dengeki PlayStation 3, Kitase, when being asked about how much power the Final Fantasy XIII demo uses, he had this to say.

“Doesn’t the demo use about 50 percent of its power? Of course, I think the retail version will make use of nearly 100 percent,” he told the magazine.

He went on to say that the game will make use of all the PS3′s hardware power much like Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X made use of the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2, respectively. Kitase added that there won’t be any disc swap issues due to Blu-ray and the PS3′s hard drive.

This news only makes one wonder, what does this mean for the 360 version of the game?

["Final Fantasy XIII Uses Nearly 100 Percent of PS3 Power" via Kotaku]

We can’t wait for BioWare’s newest project, but, really, when are they going to release anything about the game’s plot? I mean we already know its links up with the ending of the first Mass Effect – thanks to the ever so revealing teaser trailer for the game.

Anyway, it seems like we have some more in depth details about the games plot – it not an official reveal tho. In the Amazon listing for the upcoming sequel, Mass Effect 2, it ‘leaked’ what seems to be the plot details for the game.

The second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy “takes you to the darkest reaches of space, where you must uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of humans across many worlds.

“Prepare yourself for a suicide mission to save mankind. Travel the galaxy to assemble a team of soldiers and combat specialists, and launch an all-out assault on the heart of enemy territory.”

Today, when we visited the Mass Effect website we saw that BioWare had posted an update for the title, and by the title name of this article you can tell that it has to do with the sequel. As I was saying, when we had visited the site we saw the teaser trailer for Mass Effect 2 and lucky for you we were willing to share it with you.

If you didn’t know, ‘Mass Effect’ was an epic science-fiction roleplaying game set in a spectacular new vision of the future.

Probably one of the most under-appreciated titles in 2008 – it even won many “Most Overlooked” Awards – it makes sense that the title would be getting a re-release in the part of the world that RPGs are most dominant. After all, there were many reports that the game was not selling well in North America.

Now, however, it looks like Sega is scheduling a budgeted re-release of Valkyria Chronicles in Japan on March 5, and the game will include the Edie Nelson mission(s), which is currently only available via download on the Japanese PlayStation Store. The price has also dropped down to 3,990 yen, which is just about $44 U.S, give or take.

There is no word on if the title will re-release in North America, but there is a strong change that they will benefit from such a move. This will also help the popularity of the title in Japan, but this time let hope that they advertise the game better.

“True goodness and nobility is not about saving this person or that person. It’s about how much you’re willing to sacrifice.” This is one of many guide lines for the sequel to the hit Xbox title, Fable from Lionhead Studios. The question is what kind of hero will you be? Will you be a noble hero or will you be a selfish hero? If you can answer these questions you have now determine the future of Albion because you are the future.

Fable II opens 500 years after the first game in our heroes pre-teens years in the snowy covered town of Bowerstone. When in this period of time, you travel round with your older sister doing missions for gold to try and get a mysterious “magic” box that has attracted your attention from a seller. While attending to one of your mission in the beginning of the game you’ll meet a new companion in the form of a dog, that we like to call “Rex”.

You’ll rescue Rex from a bully that is trying to kill him with a wooded sword and from that point on your bond will begin. Throughout the game Rex will follow you everywhere, which can be both a plus and a minus because he will help you fight off your enemy’s and find hidden items. But, on the other hands he doesn’t really help you beyond that point, which is weird because Peter Molyneux made a very big deal about him.

In many ways you can surely say that this game has a Melodie of music because one of the things that you may notice is the game’s wonderful soundtrack. As you play along in the game you’ll experience different elements and along with these elements comes it’s own sounds, like when I was in a carve the music was very dark. This made it feel as if I was about to be attack, which really kept me on the edge of my seat waiting for an attack.

The games user interface isn’t as friendly as it could of been for one thing, as it was stated in the review details paper. One of my friends played the game that doesn’t normally play video games. And according to him the interface isn’t as “enjoyable” as it is in other games. It’s scrolling system could use some work mainly because when searching for items in a menu you can scroll out of menu pocket at anytime.

The games has some very amazing graphics, it really fits with it’s even more amazing style, but there are some spot in the game that feel weird, graphic-wise. Like if you were to climb on top of the water fall by the monks place, at the beginning of the game, you see a triangle type pace when you look off the edge, everytime.

Closing Statement:

To say that game isn’t what you’ll be looking for is a complete lie, this game has to be one of the best RPG out there, to date. One thing I did wish is that they should have focused less on the bloom effect because sometimes it didn’t feel like if it was needed in some parts of the game. The game has a great cast of characters with even better voice acting and great character customization throughout. You should really pick this game up for the holidays.

Score: A+

Mistwalker has announced the date for the next set of downloadable content for the Japanese version of Lost Odyssey. The DLC is set for availability on April 10, the 89 megabyte download will give players access to a new dungeon.

The new dungeon takes place in the remains of an underground test facility and involves Kaim and his buddies mortal and immortal seeking out the nature of the top secret research that had been going on there. Those who explore this dungeon, who’s entrance requires a trip under the sea, will find a new boss character and some rare accessories. This third piece of download content for the RPG epic will run players 400 Microsoft Points.

Source