First Glance:

Roam a post apocalyptic wasteland with a gun and an attitude.  The long awaited next chapter in the Fallout series.

The Short Story:

Bethesda takes the reins of the Fallout franchise and delivers a visually stunning, dramatic, awe inspiring game.  Unfortunately, it’s a very long, very unforgiving game for the Busy Gamer.

The Score:

There’s very little here not to like.  And that’s the problem for the Busy Gamer.  There’s so much here to do, see, and yes, kill, that the game is simply too expansive for most Busy Gamers.  While there’s not a steep learning curve and a very good quest tracker for the game, Fallout 3 rates a 1 on our scale.

Body of review:

Let me begin by saying that I have been waiting for this game for a very, very long time.  I was a fan of the first two Fallouts and even before that, played the Wasteland games.  I was always curious how well Fallout would fare as a first person shooter if it was able to somehow incorporate the turn based combat into the mix and I have to say Bethesda Softworks has managed to merge the two in a very functional mix.

Fans of the series will be thrilled to see that the “feel” of the franchise has translated well in Bethesda’s efforts.  The 1950s sci-fi feel is intact and the whole landscape conveys the post-apocalyptic genre that the series has always done so well.  Also intact is the storyline that each chapter has delivered on.

Returning players will find that very little has changed during the character creation, the old S.P.E.C.I.A.L. build.  Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and finally Luck.  Some old faithful perks, unique abilities that can be chosen at each level, make their return while new, interesting perks make their debut.

The latest hero of the Fallout series begins, quite literally, at birth.  The initial cutscene shows our hero being born and it is during this initial scene that the sex, looks, and stats of the character are established.  Shortly thereafter, our hero begins his life within Vault 101 and the story begins to unfold.

Initially your character will begin wandering the Wastelands with a pistol and very little ammo.  This would be a problem if this were a straight first person shooter but fortunately, this is where the incorporation of the turn based combat comes into place.  It’s called V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) and you’ll grow to love it.

Essentially allowing you to target specific body parts with ranged weapons and slowing down the action while you fire, VATS moves you into a slow motion action sequence where you spend your Action Points to fire.  The results can be quite gratifying and gruesome.  Headshots can result in decapitations and skull explosions.  Put the kiddies to bed for this bit.

The Wasteland you’ll be exploring (the East Coast, specifically D.C, Virginia, and Maryland) is huge and unlike the previous two chapters, which allowed you to pick a spot on the map and fast travel there even if you hadn’t been before, you must run everywhere.  This increases the amount of combat you will see significantly, which is fun, but results in a much longer exploration time, a downside for the Busy Gamer.

You’ll run into some of the old familiar beasties and baddies if you’ve played the previous titles, but with much improved graphics.  Molerats, Radscorpions, Raiders, and of course, no Fallout title would be complete without the Deathclaw.  You’ll also see some familiar groups like the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave.

The graphics are gorgeous, the landscape is suitably surreal, and the voice acting is outstanding.  This game has been a long time in the making and Bethesda has certainly not disappointed this longtime Fallout fan with its delivery.  The weapons, when you can find them are devastating, when you can keep enough ammo to use them, and the skills and perks give this game high replay value.

No for the downside for the Busy Gamer…  The game is huge.  I mean huge on an epic scale.  You have to run everywhere, at least the first time before you can fast travel to a location.  Running into a location without sufficient levels or weaponry will typically end poorly though the autosave feature has saved, pardon the pun, my butt on more than one occasion.

There’s so much to do in the game, you may find yourself bogged down with side missions, completely ignoring the main quest line as you travel to just one more new location before continuing on.  The characters are genuinely interesting and almost everyone you meet has some agenda that you can participate in.

There’s certainly enough here to keep you interested for some time to come but the time investment will be the main concern for the Busy Gamer.  The control scheme is easy enough to pick up and an absence from the game won’t mean having to remember where you left off thanks to a very nicely done quest log.  Map markers are clear and easy to follow, showing you waypoints where you may have to travel underground but always showing clearly on the map where you are and where you need to get to.

All in all, the game is fantastic.  There’s just so much to do, so much to see, and so much to discover that it’s easy to lose track of time and wander the Wastelands looking for bottlecaps…  And ammo.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

First Glance:

A boy, or girl as the case might be, and a dog explore the land of Albion.  Moral choices not only affect how people react to you but your appearance as well.  Who’s up for burning down some orphanages?  I need my horns.

The Short Story:

Fable brought us a game with an unusual take on how our choices affect the world around our character.  Fable II is more of the same with a longer story line, the inclusion of multiplayer, and some minor changes that make a substantial difference between this title and the original.

The Score:

Much like the first title, the length of the game and time commitments would rate this game our lowest score.  But a much improved quest log, a quest trail marker, and the multiplayer feature save it from the onesies.  Barely.  Fable II receives a Busy Gamer 2.

Body of review:

There’s a lot to do in Albion.  Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios made sure of that.  There’s a ton of quests to do, plenty of loot to pillage, villages to ransack, townspeople to offer up to the Dark Gods… Oh, you’re playing a goodie?  I suppose that could be fun, too.  Maybe.

Seriously though, the world of Albion is considerably larger this time out and a bit more free form.  You can run off the beaten path in most places allowing you a much more expansive world to explore.  And for each place you find, there’s generally a quest to go along with it.  And you get to do it all with your new best friend, a dog your character picks up as a child.

Your dog will sniff out treasures for you, some of dubious worth, and help you in combat.  He growls when enemies are near and protects you to the best of his abilities.  He plays fetch, does tricks, and as your appearance changes because of your moral choices, so does his.  Choose to be virtuous and good hearted and your dog’s coat turns gold and he practically glows with the good karma you’re spreading.  Choose to be a black hearted villain and your dog’s coat grows black and his nature becomes more feral.

As for you, the choices you make influence how people view you and actually begin to reflect in your appearance.  Good, you get a halo and give off an almost golden haze and most of the people you meet instantly like you.  Evil, you grow horns and develop halitosis… or something.  At any rate, people won’t like you much when they first meet you if you have an evil reputation.

Also affecting your appearance is the three skill sets your abilities are divided into.  Invest heavily in the Strength tree and your character becomes more muscular.  Investing in the Skill (agility) tree increases your characters height while increasing your Will (magic) tree will soon have your characters veins glowing with power.

There are no levels.  Experience is handled based on what ability you used to kill a creature and falls into one of four categories; Strength, Skill, Will, and General.  As the names imply, three of the experience pools must be used to increase the abilities in direct relation while General experience can be used in any of the three.  In this sense, you are not locked in to one type of character.

There’s very little you can’t do in this game.  You can get married, have children, cheat on your spouse, get divorced…  You can gamble, compete in an arena, get drunk and commit indecent acts in public.  If you chose to forego the adventuring part of the game, there would still be a plethora of things to do to hold your attention.

You can purchase property, effectively becoming a slumlord or the kind hearted land lord depending entirely on how you set the rent on the buildings.  Buying existing businesses like a shop or blacksmith allows you to change the amount of markup on your prices as well.  Unsurprisingly, hiking the prices or the rent on a purchased building can affect which way your karma is heading.

One of the new features in Fable II is the ability to team up with a friend for some co-operative play.  Unfortunately, the co-op lacks in some areas.  While you can help your friend with any quest and garner experience and gold while visiting their campaign that will follow you back to your campaign, you appear as a nameless mercenary to merely tag along on the adventures.  Your character skills carry over to the host’s game but none of your items make the transition either way.

Then there’s the inability to move the camera while playing multiplayer.  Neither host nor visiting player can manipulate the camera to change the view which means a static view in most of the areas you visit.  This can make it difficult in some cases to keep track of enemies off screen and sometimes mean missing the various treasure chests scattered through the land.

While one could conceivably complete the game in a very short amount of time, there’s very little point in doing so.  The content of the game will be the draw for most players and simply rushing to the end would be a waste.  Unfortunately, there’s just too much here for the Busy Gamer who wants their money’s worth.  And the co-op isn’t polished enough (yet) to warrant a higher score.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

First Glance
Epic’s Unreal engine returns for some blood, guts and cussing adventure. This game made it to 2008’s top 10 ‘Watchdog’ list of games unsuitable for teens. Uhhh, it’s a game – come on. Luckily there is a censor setting from the game’s menu but who wants too see ooos and ahhhs when we can hear sh*ts and giggles.

Short Story
Six months after the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb, Marcus Fenix and the rest of the COG team are back to wreak some more havok on the Locust. There are new weapons, new multiplayer options, and even some great co-op modes riding on this 2 million unit seller.

The Score
Gears of War 2 is packing a Busy Gamer Score of 4. For the Busy Gamer there is alot to be offered. The controls are easy, multiplayer and co-op offer some nice suprises for late night plundering with your friends. And even if you lose track of the storyline it isn’t hard to follow suit with the assault on the alien campaign.

Body of Review
As with the predecessor, the very first thing I learned in Gears of War 2 is the cover system. It is this games strongest point. Knowing when to duck and roll is critical to your survival. The AI being very responsive, also taking advantage of cover. I found myself occasionally unloading a full clip to take out just one mob, which made me feel I was fighting more than just a computer controlled critter.

The executions were an awesome flare to the game, a nice head stomp, neck break, and human shield add a nasty zing to the gameplay making multiplayer more fulfilling of course for all you Halo tea baggers out there. Slapping a grenade on someones back and watching them go boom was a nice touch too.

The graphics are on par with any other game of this caliber. Lots of blood, break away rocks from gun fire and streaks of guts on the ground are prevalent throughout the campaign. Head shots look awesome and give an unforgettful watermelon splatter, if you can imagine that anyhow.

Campaign mode is somewhat lack luster but co-op was very enjoyable. Some scenarios split you and your partner up to complete parts of the story, opening up areas allowing you to finish the levels. Both you and your buddy can set your own difficulty level to beef things up for hardcore players running with a novice. This was a nice added feature, or rather a nice consideration towards new players.

Multi player matchmaking of course always cranks up the rating for our Busy Gamer games. The ability to just jump in and commit to some random chaos and destruction is always a plus for the Busy Gamer. If you can’t find any buddies to roll with, you can just set up some bots to practice on. I havent seen that since Unreal and Perfect Dark. Matches can even be created mixing players with bots. Horde mode I found really satisfying. You and three other players set up in a scenario to fight off waves of the Locust. There are 50 in all. Did I mention that you only get one life? Completing all 50 gives you a nice achievement too.

If your not too obsessed on storyline I think Gears of War 2 is an excellent addition to a Busy Gamer’s library. Jumping back into the game after time away for me seemed fairly painless. I don’t think it will replace your Halo fix, but offers a nice change of scenery and a heck of alot more blood and entrails.

-Crutchboy out

www.busygamer.com

(Editor’s note: Posted by Gritskrieg for the talented Miss Genocide)

First Glance: 
The killer trailer and demo lead you to expect a lot out of this game. The effects and detailed texturing are amazing. Sounded like a good title for players of Dead Rising.

The Short Story:
You are one of four survivors attempting to fight your way out of the city while helping your other team mates. Fight together or die alone.

The Score:
I’m giving this title a BusyGamer rating of a 3. L4D was very visually pleasing but there was not much brain teasing involved.  Valve spent a lot of time on the technical aspect of the game which made a lot of eyes open but when it got down to it, the lack of story line or varying goals kind of bored me.

Body of Review:

So far I’ve seen nothing but top reviews for this game. Many reviewers appreciate, or accept, the simplicity of the campaigns and compared it to some classic shoot-em-up titles.  I, however, expected a bit more depth.  One could simply run a straight shot from the beginning of the game to the end and miss nothing but maybe some hidden ammo.  The goal of the levels were simple but I can say the charisma of the special infected keeps you on your feet.  The lack of varying weapons and interactive environment left a lot to be desired. I, as a gamer, am into exploring and wasted a lot of time looking in empty rooms for something awesome to happen only to find nothing. You’re limited as to what you can use in your defense, guns and bombs only, plus melee.

L4D  features a dynamic artificial intelligence system for game dramatics, pacing, and difficulty called the Director.  Instead of set spawn points for enemies, the Director places enemies and weapons in varying positions and numbers based upon each player’s current situation, status, skill, location and alerts your team mates when you are injured so they may run to your rescue.  A similar AI system was developed for Halo 3 in its campaign mode.  Valve calls the way the Director is working “Procedural Narrative” because, instead of having a difficulty level which just ramps up to a constant level, the A.I. analyzes how the players fared in the game so far, and tries to add subsequent events that would give them a sense of storyline.

One major feature that cranks this game’s rating up a notch is the ability to play online and through system link.  This puts it ahead of past zombie titles in that aspect.  When waiting for a lobby to fill during online play, you can choose your character; survivor, infected, or random.  When infected, you choose your spawn position; not too far from the survivors, and not too close.  You’re randomly placed as one of four special monsters – a Smoker, Hunter, Boomer, or Tank – and you are given special moves and tactic tips to help strategize your feast.  Should you be killed by a survivor, you respawn again. If you happen to complete a mission without dying at all as a survivor, you could randomly respawn into anything.  As a human, you are expected to help your team mates get to their feet when they are injured, give extra health or pain pills, and fend off any zombies that might have circled around them in order for your team to win.  In campaign mode this is fairly easy and allows for the levels to pass quickly. But during online play, your team mates are not always available to assist and you might often find yourself killed.  When respawning, there is a bit of a wait, 25 seconds the majority of the time, but sometimes you wait even longer before the countdown, so the survivors can either enter or exit the safe room. While this occurs you are switched to spectator mode and because of the wait, there is often more anticipation than actual gameplay.

Hopefully, in time, there will be more levels released in the Xbox marketplace at least for online play.  The fact that they used the same maps from the campaign was a bit dissapointing, and once again, boring.  Working with actual players instead of AI did make it a bit more interesting though.  If it were not for the online ability of this title, L4D would have gotten a much lower rating from this gamer.

First Glance:

This years wrestling title, I picked it up used which made it even a better buy. If you like instant action and great multiplayer fun while having a few brews with the guys and gals, this makes a great addition to the busygamer collection.

The Short Story:

I don’t religiously follow the wrestling franchises, but that’s what makes me like this game alot – the character creation is great, so it puts me and my friends actually in the game! Awesome! You can choose any superstar to go through the story mode, or make your own. You follow each day of the year with training, team ups, matches, making money to purchase moves and legendary characters while upgrading your abilities. The plot varies with which you side join, RAW or Smackdown. Both are still kinda shallow in story content, not unlike the real deal, haha – so it’s about par with all previous versions.

The Score:

I am giving this a busy gamer rating of 5. Although you can spend hours in story mode, you can actually just simulate a year or two and you end up pretty much in the same place. Leaving open the option of instantly jumping into the jam and slam or roleplaying some of the story here and there.

Body of review:

For years now I have always been a fan of these games. All the way back to the N64 I recall countless evenings of ranting and raving with roomies, battling till the wee hours of the am, being able to hold the coveted “random obscene word” titled belt of the house.  This fun continues here in this 360 version. The moves and combos were a bit sketchy at first, but after surpassing the learing curve I don’t have much trouble coming back to the game after a week break, being able to kick some computer butt in total chair bashing fashion.

The moves are bigger better and harder than ever. Plus blood! Real dripping on the mat blood action that makes the matches more realistic and rewarding. Lots of weapons that combine with your special moves make nice suprises for your staggered and swaggered opponent.

The character customization is great, I have as much fun making my friends for on screen bashing as I do with actually the bashing part, which sometimes goes in their favor anyhow. Layers are pretty endless with tons of intros and options. You can even add your own song from your hardrive (this is a must and plus for custom junkies like myself). I wish I would have gotten this game sooner, with 2009 coming out I hope they keep all the good stuff in this game plus maybe a better story mode (rumors are that it will be co op!).

In conclusion this makes a great addition to a busy gamer lifestyle, replay is great, graphics are pretty much the best they have ever been, and I see me going back to this quite a bit till I pick up next years. Or even if I dont I still will keep battling friends over my custom texas tag team title belt. It’s mine dammit.

Crutchboy – Out

www.busygamer.com  

First Glance:

Ok, it’s a Star Wars title, with like 2 years in the making, has the potential to be a really big hit – dazzling effects and a great demo to try out, sounds like a winner to die hard fans.

The Short Story:

You are Vader’s secret apprentice, raised from a child to possibly be the most powerful sith ever. No spoilers here, but the story is this game’s strongest point.

The Score:

I am giving this a BusyGamer rating of a 3. Making it an average bang for your buck. This games downfall (as sighted later) has dragged this down from being a top dog of your collection. Remember we are talking about time investment here, not so much how this game is overall.

Body of review:

Very sadly, this game has too many shortcomings that ultimatley bring it toppling down from all that its great genre has inspired. Die hard fans will buy this game, I bought it. I will keep it, and possibly replay it in the future. Lucasarts seems to have yet again screwed the pooch on developing a Star Wars game that can bring a long time of  enjoyment to all gamers around. It hurts me to spit back out some thing with great storytelling and an enviroment that I could literally immerse myself in till doomsday.

The good. There is a lot of good stuff in this game, don’t get me wrong. The world is alive in Force Unleashed. The scenery is spectacular, the backgrounds response to your force abilities puts this game at the very top rung of the ladder as far as how the game looks and feels. The costumes are extremely detailed, as are the lightsabers which immediately appealed to me. The first 2 hours of gameplay I was jumping out of my seat, oooing and ahhing at how cool things looked and how I liked punting jawas 50 yards back.

I really think that the developers spent too much time on the reaction of the levels and the details of the worlds then the actual gameplay itself. Not a big suprise for these titles. And it really bums me out, I thought they may get this one right.

There are bugs within the first 5 levels that were hard to overlook. I would unlock costumes and find them relocked on the next levels making the achievement unfulfilling. I was awarded new lightsaber crystals after beating a boss and when checking the menus they were non existant. These two things frustrated me and made me cringe as I felt like I really gained nothing. How did these things get past beta testing? This has been a long awaited title too. I didnt see much power increases as I levelled because the enemies seem to also scale equally. Im not the memorize a ‘6 button combo move’ kinda person, as these were barely more  effective than just hitting X (normal slash) repeatedly, so I would accumulate levelling points that would go unnoticed and unused in the combo upgrade section of my character.

Without giving spoilers, I want to say that the story is great. The game’s definite high point. Seeing young Princess Leia was awesome, the cutscenes were pretty good, better than average, great dialogue and enticing plot twists that did encourage me to get through the next level.

Overall after the niceties wear off this game doesn’t offer a whole lot. Replay will be low, there is no XboX live use at all. No co-op, no duelling, nothing that could have, and should have been included expanding some online playability. Bad bad bad lucasarts. I still revel in thought that this long awaited title may gather dust, I shall give it another try – I am a die hard fan, but I really hope a patch comes soon to fix some of its basic mechancial defeciencies. 

Give it some time, buy it used and I feel you would enjoy it abit more, and atleast marvel at seeing more of the expanded universe of the Star Wars realm. 

Crutchboy – Out

www.busygamer.com  

First Glance:

The latest entry in the Soul Calibur franchise gets some “Force” behind it.  HA!  I made with the funny!

The Short Story:

Soul Calibur has always been about the combat physics and the weapons so it’s no surprise that SC IV has plenty to deliver on both fronts.  While the spoken lines are still a bit on the lame side, the voice acting has improved considerably over the previous entries.  And while I’m always down with lightsaber combat, I’m just not sure I’m comfortable with it taking place in the Soul Calibur universe.

The Score:

There’s a lot here for the Busy Gamer to enjoy.  Unlockable content is easy to obtain in short play sessions with repeated sessions yielding more “gold” to buy those items that require purchases.  Controls are intuitive and make it easy to learn each character’s moves for the majority of the characters with veterans of the series having the easiest time.  While online play can yield varied and often frustrating results (more on this in the body of the review) quick matches are there to be had if you look for them.  Gorgeous backgrounds, realistic physics, and ease of play net Soul Calibur IV a 5 on the Busy Gamer Scale.

Body of review:

Sadly, which each new generation of gaming console, we see fewer brawlers.  Perhaps it’s just me showing my age but I fondly remember a time when the brawler was the staple of the arcade.  But each year we see fewer entries in the genre.  Considering the last one I was really good at was Killer Instinct 2, perhaps I should be celebrating their decline…

The reason I bring up the old school arcade is that Soul Calibur IV’s online multiplayer offering has something of that feel to it.  You “wait in line” for your shot at the winner while watching two players duke it out.  And in my case, your turn is over much too soon, your victories celebrated much too loudly, and your losses blamed on everything but your lack of skill.

You’ll run into the usual oddball arcade antics as well.  Players will establish matches and then choose to play one character over and over, using very little variety in their attacks to establish dominance and then quitting out when someone comes in and shows them how miserable their “one trick pwn-y” truly is.  It’s a sad thing and you can’t help but laugh or heckle when it happens to someone who just kicked your butt eight times in a row using Sophitia’s low sword attack.

Of course, for me, the new character creation option was a nice addition.  You can choose any of the “basic” characters to base your custom character on, basically making the character’s fighting style a clone of one of the game’s included characters.  But that’s where the similarities end.  You’ll trick out you character with new duds which will increase or decrease your stats based on what you choose.  The gear you choose also determines how many points you can spend on additional skills for your character.  The choices for skills are limited at first but as you level up a particular character’s “base” fighting style (meaning you can level it with either your new character or the default character by using either one in any mode) you are able to choose from more powerful skills.  A few of the choices include things like making your attacks harder to block, a skill that allows you to do damage even when your attacks are blocked, etc.

Aside from being able to change what your character is wearing, you can change how muscular they are, what they look like, skin tone, hair style and color, and even change the voice of your character.  The voice you choose will determine what your character will say during special attacks, when they get hit, and when they lose or win a match.  And while there’s a limited amount to choose from, you can tweak the pitch higher or lower to your taste.  Want a muscle bound, club wielding, barbarian with a sweet falsetto voice?  You can do it.

One of the modes available in single player is a story mode where you’ll find yourself wading through five levels of combat.  Each level has a differing amount of enemies; on a couple you’ll face one opponent while on the other three you’ll face more than one.  The catch is that you start each round with the multiple opponents with whatever health you had after defeating the previous opponent.  You only get full health when you reach a new level.  On normal mode, this isn’t such a big deal but if you crank up the difficulty to Hard, you’ll find yourself cursing at your television.  I did at least.  Victory in story mode allows you to see a short ending movie for the character you just played.  It also unlocks the movie in the game’s “museum” where you can view it as often as you like.

There’s also an arcade mode which let’s you play the game… well, arcade style.  This allows you to play a bit longer than the story mode and for those times when you’re looking to level up a character, spend a bit longer doing so.  It’s a handy means to level and allows you to have your friends join in at any time so long as they’re in the room with you.

Of course, unlocking characters is always a big part of any brawler and SC IV is no different.  Surprisingly, Yoda was available from the very beginning on the Xbox 360 version with The Apprentice from the upcoming “Force Unleashed” game easily unlocked in Arcade mode by playing Yoda through it and beating him.  As I stated earlier, I’m not sure how thrilled I am to see the universes cross in this fashion but I do have to admit to a certain thrill when beating up Cervantes with Yoda.  It just sets my geek sense to tingling.

Soul Calibur IV does a lot of things right.  The graphics are gorgeous, the fights are well paced without being ridiculously fast, and the sounds and voices are superb in this entry.  The story has always been a bit of a weak point in the series but it’s been beefed up a bit in this iteration.  The lines, while a bit on the lame side at points, are delivered with some believable talent from the voice actors making it just a bit easier to listen to.  Oh, and Yoda sounds like Yoda if you were wondering.

If you’re not a brawler fan, there’s very little here to peak your interest but if you are a fan of the genre or a fan of the Soul Calibur series, there’s a considerable amount here to grab your attention.  And, of course, if you’re a Busy Gamer looking for a good fighting game, you could do a lot worse than to pick up a copy of Soul Calibur IV.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

First Glance:

It’s Final Fantasy, it’s portable, and it’s turn based combat.  What’s not to like?

The Short Story:

If you’re not a fan of turn based combat, keep walking.  There’s a good story being told here, something we’ve come to expect from the Final Fantasy games, and the fact that it’s on the DS will make it even more appealing to some Busy Gamers out there.  The game is long but they’ve made some improvements over previous Tactics entries to help out; quick saving in the middle of combat being a huge one and a more comprehensive quest log being another.

The Score:

The quest log’s easy to read, the save function is easy to use, and the game play makes it easy to pick up for short play sessions.  But the number of characters you have to manage, level, and gear, not to mention a lengthy story line make this a bad choice for the Busy Gamer.  Long absences from the game result in trying to figure out what you had in mind during your last play session.  All of these considerations earn Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift a 3 on the Busy Gamer scale.

Body of review:

We’ve come to expect certain things from the Final Fantasy franchise.  There will be a hero, a young lad who aspires to be more than he currently is, and there will be an adventurous girl who he will eventually fall in love with.  This will take place in an exotic land where chocobos roam wild on the plains and moogles give cries of “Kupo” as they go about their daily lives.  And at some point, we get to fight a bunch of stuff.  With lucky number thirteen in the main series on the horizon, they must be doing something right.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift definitely falls into the doing something right category.  Fans of the Tactics series will be familiar with the different classes and races but those who are newcomers to the series won’t have any troubles picking it up thanks to modifications to the help screens.  Help screens can now be accessed to tell you what skills from which classes are necessary to change to the advanced classes later in the game, something distinctly lacking in earlier versions.  This change helps you plot out a characters evolution as you play through the game and takes the guess work out of leveling.

Characters not involved in combat still learn skills, allowing you to build up lower level characters into the classes you need or want, another welcome change.  Skills are learned by equipping different gear and then merely keeping it equipped until the desired skill is learned.  Switching a piece of gear off of a character before a skill is fully learned merely halts the process meaning you can always re-equip the piece of gear and pick up where you left off at a later date if need be.

Equipment is handled completely different in FFTA2 than in previous versions of this title.  You’ll gather components as you travel and then take the various components to the shops in the various towns you visit.  Placing combinations of the components on the bazaar allows the shops to sell you new, more powerful gear.  You’ll still come across equipment in fights and quests but being able to “build” the new gear is a welcome addition to the series.

Combat is turn based and is resided over by “Judges”.  Laws are in effect each and every time you fight and may restrict you from doing things like using elemental attacks or restrict certain races from doing anything but move and basic attacks.  In most cases, the laws can be ignored but following them garners extra rewards at the end of combat and grants a bonus of your choice during the combat.  Disobeying the laws result in the loss of the combat bonus, the ability to resurrect defeated allies, and the bonus items awarded at the end of the battle.  There are quests, however, that require you to follow the laws for that battle resulting in some very interesting restrictions.  You’ll find very quickly, though, that you’re the only one who has to follow the laws.  Your opponents are free to do as they wish.

As I mentioned earlier, the game is lengthy.  Forty hours in I began to feel as if I had barely scratched the surface.  This is the trap you’ll fall into as a Busy Gamer.  You can ignore the additional quests in favor of pursuing the main quest but you’ll find yourself overwhelmed in some situations if you don’t take the time to level up some of your other characters.  The laws you’ll face may find you having to remove one of your most used characters from your lineup which will force you to rely on a lesser used, considerably lower level character as a backup.  Relying to heavily on a certain group of characters will hinder you in the long run.

You can do a quick save in the middle of combat, a long overdue feature from previous iterations.  The quick save allows you to essentially halt combat, set the game down and pick up at a later date.  It’s very nice to have in situations where you might not be able to finish out that hour long battle.  Yes, you’ll definitely come across a fight or two that will take much longer than you’d hoped.

The quest log allows you to quickly see where you’re headed, what you need to do, and any necessary items or characters you’ll need to complete the quest.  This is nice for those long absences away from the game.  It doesn’t, however, help if you had a particular profession in mind for one of your characters.  Tracking character development can be done from the Unit Info screen but if you had something planned for one character, you’ll probably need to write a note if you plan on being away from the game for too long.

All in all, this is a great portable title and one I’d recommend if you have some extra time on your hands coming up.  But as with most Final Fantasy titles, the Busy Gamer is better off looking elsewhere for an entertainment fix.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

http://www.busygamer.com/

First Glance:

It’s a Grand Theft Auto title so there’s going to be over the top violence, sex, and car chases.  Sounds like the new Fall TV programming schedule.  I can’t wait.

The Short Story:

Top notch voice acting, beautiful graphics, and a story in the single player campaign that belongs on the big screen all make this one of the best games on the market.  But the campaign is long, saves aren’t available during missions meaning you finish it the first time or start completely over.  Fortunately, multiplayer matches can be set up quickly and enjoyed with very little time to invest.  Buying this game for just the multiplayer, however, would be like giving your friend the cash to go see the summer’s big blockbuster and then have him tell you about it rather than seeing it for yourself.  It’s just not the same thing.

The Score:

GTA IV is a wonderful game but the lengthy single player campaign makes it hard for the Busy Gamer to fully enjoy the story that’s being told here.  Addictive gameplay means you might lose hours of your life without meaning to do so.  If it weren’t for the various multiplayer modes, this game would score a one on the Busy Gamer scale.  Fortunately, quick and enjoyable matches are easy enough to find at any time of the day or night so the latest installment of Grand Theft rates a 3 on our chart.

Body of review:

It would be very easy for the story in GTA IV to make the jump from video game to the big screen.  There’s a deeply involved plotline here that should make some of the best screenwriters jealous.  The characters develop as you play, the story unfolds, pushing you to play through that “one last mission” before quitting for the day.  And when it’s all over, you feel like you’ve been on the ride of your life.

And that’s part of the problem for the Busy Gamer.  There’s so much to do here in the single player campaign that you’ll have to make some sacrifices to fully enjoy the story.  Whether it be foregoing time with the family or spending some long weekends just playing the game, to get the most for your money, you have to have the time.  You could use cheats or pick up the guide or even skip through the side missions and only focus on the main story to cut down on how much time you’d need.  But honestly, why bother playing it?  That would be the same as renting a movie and fast forwarding through the whole thing just to see the ending.  You’re going to miss out on a lot of the good stuff.

As a shooter, GTA IV does a lot of things right.  You can take cover from your enemies and lay down a hail of fire from behind a protective surface but just like you, your enemies can do the same.  You’re often heavily outnumbered in single player and have to carefully choose your shots to make sure you don’t get flanked or outmaneuvered by the AI.  The AI is flaky at times, choosing to forego cover to rush blindly at you from time to time while at others remaining in a position even when it doesn’t have a shot at you.  Sometimes this can make tracking down that last enemy a bit difficult.

The driving portion of the game is what we’ve come to expect from the series with a wide variety of vehicles to choose from.  Each vehicle has its strengths and weaknesses when involved in combat situations and you’ll find yourself looking for particular cars depending on what it is you want to accomplish.  Shooting and driving at the same time can be tricky at first but it becomes a necessary skill as the game plays out and you’ll find yourself becoming adept at shooting out tires on enemy vehicles if you want to get things done quickly.

Police chases have always been a staple of the GTA franchise and so it’s no surprise to see that the law enforcement of Liberty City takes a dim view of violence against civilians in their city.  Firing a weapon with a patrolman anywhere nearby results in an instant wanted level and you’ll find very quickly that the majority of civilians in Liberty City are more than willing to call in the 5-0 on their cell phones if you’re shooting up their neighborhood.  An arrest leads to you losing all of your collected weapons when you’re put in lock up while being gunned down by the cops, or anyone for that matter, means a trip to the hospital where you’ll lose a portion of your bankroll.

The citizens of Liberty City provide a constant background of noise and various conversations.  You’ll find yourself just walking around listening in on some of the conversations simply because they’re hilarious.  And they react much like people do in the real world to violence.  Most will run away if you pull out a gun but some will pull out guns of their own.  Shouldering your way down the street can lead to fist fights with the populace and in some cases, a gun fight.

Of course no GTA would be complete without sex.  Between the woman you can date, the strip clubs where you can buy lap dances, and the hookers you can buy various “services” from, you’re sure to blow through your bankroll if you decide on a night out on the town.  There’s no Hot Coffee mod here, it’s all right out in the open if you’re looking for it.

The multiplayer is where a lot of Busy Gamers will end up spending the majority of their time.  Free for alls, cops and robbers, races…  There’s a multiplayer mode for everyone.  Competitive, team play, and even some co-operative play are available.  And matches are easy to find, day or night.  Simply enter the staging area alone or with your friends and set up what type of match you’re looking for and you’ll generally have one in a matter of minutes.

Free play will be a draw for the Busy Gamers who just want to team up with their friends and wreck things in Liberty City.  There are no objectives, no time limits, and no point to it other than to have fun.  Stealing cars, getting the cops mad at you, trying to see how long you and your friends can hold a Burger Shot while the cops try to get inside…  It’s a lot of fun.

The single player mode should be the main draw here, though.  It’s the best part of the game.  The inability to save in the middle of a mission and the addictive gameplay make for a dangerous combination for the Busy Gamer.  The various multiplayer modes make up for some of what you’ll be losing out on not playing through the single player story but without the story, you’re missing out on the best game this year.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

www.busygamer.com