Produced by: Konami
Rated: Teen
Players: One
Memory Required: 99 KB (supposedly)
Genre: RPG
How It Started
It sat there on the shelf of every single game store I�d been to for the past four or five months, calling to me. It was a standard take-a-look-and-put-it-back-because-Batten Kaitos-is-on-sale: I would stare at it with curiosity because it was blue and the main character was a twin blade with a red bandana around his head, and then I�d remember how much money I had in my feeble wallet and put it back. But then it came, the fateful day at Wal Mart when I really had nothing to do but hang around in the electronics section, and once again it begged from behind the glass case, �Pleeaaaasseee take me hooooommmmeee with yooouuu!! I�ll be good, I promise!! You�ll love me and play me over and over and over�� (I was ignoring it, of course, staring at the shiny new X-Box display�) �I�m only $17!�
Whoa, double take. Any time I can find any RPG for under twenty dollars, I usually go for it. I asked someone to open the glass case, and it was like the Halleluiah Chorus was blaring through the speakers overhead. Thirty minutes and an empty wallet later I was riding home triumphantly with Suikoden IV sitting in my lap. I could swear it was purring.
Plot
It�s graduation day and the navy trainees of the island nation of Razril are ready to become full-fledged Knights of Gaien. You and your best friend, Snowe (who is, in fact, the son of the lord of Razril), head to the ceremony, Snowe in his fancy Captain�s armor and you decked out in� your trainee armor. (Tsk, tsk, sucks to be you.) But that�s ok because kind old Snowe makes up for it by saying all kinds of wonderful things and even by letting you take the ceremonial Torch of Kindling, which he was supposed to bear, and finish the Kindling Ceremony. Not long after you and Snowe (and only you and Snowe) are given a special mission; escort a wayward ship all the way to Iluya at the northern tip of the archipelago. But in the process of sailing there, you are ambushed by a ferocious pirate gang! In the crossfire, Snowe is thrown across the deck and left with a broken(?) arm. He abandons you, rowing feebly away as you are left to fight off the pirate alone. (You�re having a rather bad day, now, aren�t you?) As it seems that the pirates are about to be defeated and only their captain, Brandeau, and his assassin remain. But�
Just as your fellow Knights of Gaien are closing in around the pirate captain, a glowing red light shines from a spiral rune mark on his hand. He raises it above his head and a bright glow envelopes you and the other knights. As everyone around you disintegrates into ashes, a shield of iridescent light enshrouds you. You hit the deck and black out.
But only for a moment. As the exhausted pirate begins to pull himself up, you too, start to rise. Brandeau mutters something about how you shouldn�t be alive and you possibly being the next chosen before declaring that he will kill you. A vicious duel ensues. Just as you deal the punishing final blow, Commander Glen boards you ship. You drop your sword and collapse from sheer exhaustion, and the Commander catches you as you go down, thanking you for not dying as blackness swallows you up.
When you come to, Commander Glen is lying on the deck with the same mark on his hand as Brandeau did, and only a small pile of ashes remain where once the pirate captain had stood.
(We�re not dooonnneee�)
Snowe, now known as a coward throughout Razril, starts acting strangely. That doesn�t seem to matter, though, because Razril comes under attack from some strange ships. Commander Glen orders everyone to leave the Knight�s Tower and not to come in under any circumstances. As all seems lost, the same red light that Brandeau had used shines from the top of the Knight�s Tower, obliterating all of the invading ships. Ignoring the Commander�s orders, you determine to find out what had caused the deadly light and enter the tower. As you reach the top, Commander Glen is on his knees, panting, apparently in great pain. �You idiot, get away! You�ll suffer the same fate!� he cries as your left hand starts to glow. Snowe, who followed you, runs to the Commander as he breathes his last.
�You idiot�� Commander Glen tells you with his final words, turning to ashes before your very eyes. �I�m� sorry.� A great pain bursts through you, with the images of men, women, and children falling down, dead. �You did this, didn�t you?!� Snow cries as you fall to your knees in shock at the images in your head and pain in your hand. �You killed him!� The last thing you see is the same cursed spiral mark on your hand before you (here we go again) hit the stone floor and lose consciousness.
You wake up much later in your room, only to discover that you have been convicted of Commander Glen�s murder, on Snowe�s sworn testimony! You are sentenced and set adrift without sails or oars, alone and unaware both that the rune now imbedded in your left hand is slowly drinking up your very life force and of the incredible destiny that awaits you�
Storyline and Game Play
Well, that was a long summary! (and we didn�t even mention the Cray Trading Company�s evil plot.) If we had covered the entire (veeeerrry slow) introduction, however, it would have taken much longer. In fact, if it takes you less than an hour and a half to get to the fight with the pirate Brandeau, count yourself lucky. While the long opening does give you time to get attached to Snowe, Paula, Jewele, Tal, and Kenneth and give you a better understanding of the fatherly view that Commander Glen has of you and Snowe, it starts to get frustrating when the expected �life-changing tragic event� doesn�t occur after the second voyage, the third voyage, the fourth voyage�
When the story does get going, however, it leaves you thinking �Dang! This was worth the wait!� There are plenty of unpredictable plot twists and events that have you as the character pulled out of yourself and your own predicament and called to something much higher than self-pity (even though you�re left with a solemn moment or two to ponder the fact that the very thing that will save thousands will kill you eventually). Overall the entire storyline is captivating and entrancing, making you want to spend all of your five hours of free time on Saturday playing it� Oops, did I say that? *guilty grin*
The game play can be frustrating, though. It�s on a random, turn-base battle system. It�s not the battle system in itself that the problem, in fact it�s a rather fun turn-base system. Instead of, �OK, I�ll slap you this turn, you slap me next turn,� it says, �Everybody rush in and slap each other at once!� It�s much more fast-paced and unpredictable, especially against human opponents. The problem here is the RANDOM part. There are far too many encounters in field than is necessary. Walk forward two inches and you get slammed. Try another two inches� WHAM! After fifty plus battles to get fifteen feet and you�re just about to the exit, WHAM! It happens both on land and on the sea, making voyages three times as long as they would otherwise be. I don�t know about you, but I don�t like doing one thing in a game for too long, so sailing for forty-five minutes is not appealing. You do have the option of retreating from a battle (which isn�t an assured thing; you�re chances of escaping leave you to take your punishment sometimes) or paying money to get out, but guess how you get money to stop fighting monsters? That�s right; you have to fight monsters. At least you can become very, VERY strong within a relatively short amount of time, and with all of the people you can gather, sometimes you need that advantage.
Graphics
As far stunning, almost real, and cutting-edge are concerned, there�s not much in Suikoden IV. Don�t get me wrong, the 3D environments and people are surprisingly well done (their faces don�t look FLAT!), but I was spoiled by Squaresoft (namely Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X) and the �fancy� graphics just aren�t �fancy� enough. So when the introduction wasn�t making me gasp with surprise, I was mildly disappointed. However, as I mentioned before, the people and environments are very well done. The people have hands with fingers that move and point, ect. They look 3D, right down to their faces, with mouths and chins that move when they talk (That got me excited. �OMGOSH, their CHINS MOVE!�) and eyes that look like they belong in their faces. Nice.
The cutscenes are smooth and the environments are creative and realistic. The paths aren�t always straight, and most of the doors are actually in the building with an overhang, even the ones that don�t actually open. (Imagine that, these people actually have doors, not painted-on pictures of doors.) The ocean moves in rolling waves, which is fun to watch when on the Stronghold�s rear deck. There are sunset and nighttime scenes where the sky is bright with colors or scattered with stars. Overall, the graphics are pleasing and easy to sink your teeth into.
Morality
Uh-oh, I have a few things to nail in this department. Mostly it�s just concerning some of the girls in this game, who don�t seem to understand modesty. Take, for example, Mizuki, who wears a tiny blue dress that shows 80% of her legs and is low enough to be embarrassing to a modest girl. This seems to be a problem in many games anymore, and is a serious stumbling block to our young men out there. There�s just no respect for women�s bodies anymore.
There are other things I have to get before we can move on. There is scattered cursing here and there, nothing major, but definitely something this game could have gone without. Also, there�s a bit of drinking here and there. I don�t have a problem with someone taking a few drinks now and then, but Elenor takes it to an extreme. She can�t think straight if she�s not drunk, which is scary because she�s the tactician. o_o
There is no blood in this game; plenty of violence, but no blood. I was most appreciative about this, especially with people being shot and stabbed and clawed right and left. There are few problems with morality in this game. Just tell those girls to get more clothes on!
Message
The overall message about this game seems to be about two points; the value of true friendship, and self-sacrifice. Two of your friends (and one cat-thing) stow away on the ship you�re set adrift in because they firmly believe in your innocence and want to help you, even if it means throwing away their life-long dream of being Knights of Gaien. Throughout the game, although there is immediate danger in being around you, those two stick close to your side and provide you with much-needed support, even to the very end.
The other message, self-sacrifice, is a strong one indeed. Although you as the main character have a rune that will kill you if you use it too much, you must use it again and again to protect your friends and your cause. You must forget your own struggle to help others with their problems, and throw away your life to see a war through to its end. Everything about this game pulls you out of your own dilemma and gives you the option of dying for what you think is right. It is an especially poignant thought for Christians that the main character�s plight resembles that of Christ; that you must die to save everyone, even if they don�t acknowledge you or even know if you exist. (Take a look at Snowe. Again and again he is offered acceptance into the resistance even though he repeatedly betrays you.) This is a message to remember, to be certain.
Summary
The loveable characters and tragic yet hopeful story of sacrifice, love, friendship, and war combines with a terrific message and enjoyable graphics to create a masterpiece of RPG gaming. In short, Suikoden IV promises the world and most certainly delivers. For only $17, I am left singing Suikoden IV�s praises. It�s definitely worth whatever you have to pay for it. Just don�t forego food to buy it, ok?
Mhiko�s Rating
9 out of 10
Minus 1 for the shabbily dress girls and mild cursing
Produced by: Atari and Funimation
Rated: Teen
Players: Two
Memory Required: 71 KB
Genre: One-on-one Fighting
How It Started
�Only one round,� he said, �I just want to see how the split screen looks for two players.�
Despite my normal aversion to one-on-one fighting games, I succumbed to my brother�s begging and agreed to hold the other controller so that the vigorous vibrating from his beating wouldn�t dent the wooden floor. I slipped, though, and hit one of the buttons, throwing the first punch.
�Hey,� I thought. �that was kinda fun��
Two rounds and twenty minutes later, I found myself holding my own against my brother and enjoying myself besides. May be my distaste for Dragonball Z; Budokai Tenkaichi was misplaced after all.
Plot
If you have ever watched or read the Dragonball Z series by Akira Toriyama, then you know the basic plot. The whole story revolves around a man named Goku, the saya-jin warrior who defends Earth from various disasters, calamities, and all-powerful alien real estate agents. Although the basic plots have been beaten to death by the previous three Budokai games, that doesn�t mean that fans weren�t screaming and hollering for the chance to fight their way through the show yet again. The difference, however, lies in the fact that now the player has the option to play through not only the standard episodes, but a few of the movies as well. While the choppy dialogue and lack of movement (or expression) during cutscenes can leave some confused, faithful Dragonball Z fans are left shaking with excitement as they fight their favorite bad guys, including Broly, Cooler, and Jenemba.
Storyline and Game Play
Storyline? What storyline? Everything in Tenkaichi is an excuse to take it outside. The brief and ineffective cutscenes feature the two people (or things) who are about to bash each other�s brains out having an argument or taunting each other, all the while motionless and unexpressive. If perhaps, someone would actually smile when they laugh like evil maniacs, then we�d believe that they were living beings and not puppets. Then again, Dragonball Z lovers didn�t come to talk�they came to bleed, and bleed they shall. For while the story is a snore, the game play definitely isn�t. The new battle system is a 360� innovative fight-or-run arena. Imagine; a fighting game where you�re not always able to keep your eyes on your opponent! Players can run, hide, fly, and swim at will. Sure, you can lock onto your enemy, but that doesn�t guarantee a clear shot. He might duck behind a tree or rock, avoiding your blast completely. Also, the environments are HUGE, adding to the free roaming experience.
One nice perk about the new game play; can you say characters? There are fifty playable characters, some with two or three different forms, making about ninety butt-whooping options, each with their own unique techniques and abilities. There are some unusual newcomers as well, like the elderly (and quite ornery) Master Roshi, and kid Goku.
Graphics
Graphics for Tenkaichi blow the other Budokai games out of the water. The crisp, clean lines and more true-to-life character traits are coupled with the stunning (and terrifying, if you�re on the wrong end) colors and effects for the ki blasts and super moves make this game score worlds above the other Budokais. The landscapes haven�t changed much from Budokai III, but they are far more interactive. Overall, the graphics are a definite thumbs-up.
Morality
Morality? Well, the whole game is about beating the living daylights out of the guy in front of you. There�s not much morality here either way. You can save the world or destroy it, so the choices between good and evil exist in abundance. Just don�t try to vaporize all of the inhabitants of Earth, ok?
Message
Again, not much here. Perhaps one could say that the message of Tenkaichi is really about doing everything you can to reach your dreams and to protect what you love, but that�s reading into things a bit.
Summary
Well, Tenkaichi is definitely a step up from the previous three Budokai games, and I can say that my brother enjoys it mightily. The graphics and game play could make up for the lack of storyline and expression for some people, but unfortunately, I�m not one of those people, and while the game is fun for spending time with my brother, I wouldn't play it just to play it. In fact, I�m gonna go play Suikoden IV. Right now. See ya.
Mhiko�s Rating
7 out of 10
Minus 3 points for lack of expression and minimal brain engagement