ABXY Podcast #17 is live!~ Limited Lives.....is close...

Hello once again. I'm glad to say things are almost to normal. We got some more reviews coming, and the site, Limited Lives, is almost complete. This means we'll be one step closer to having our podcast searchable on iTunes. Yes, this makes life easier for you. For now, enjoy episode #17. It's just Matt and me (Adrian) this week, but it's a great show with...RAMEN! Also enjoy Katamari Forever, Dead Space: Extraction, Let's Tap and Lumines for iPhone. We've also got some news and release dates for you. Expect a new episode of portable pocket games next week as well. Cya next week! ENjoy!

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Xbox 360 Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Being the Batman is no easy task; dealing with childhood trauma and balancing his life as Bruce Wayne just add to the pressure. To make matters worse, Batman’s foes are constantly wreaking havoc on his nightlife. No matter how many times he thwarts their evil plans, they just seem to keep coming; so when the Joker surrenders without a fight, the Dark Knight has every right to be more than a little suspicious. Still, he follows procedure and transports the Clown Prince of Crime to Arkham Asylum, the most secure facility for the criminally insane in all of Gotham City. With the Joker under intensive care, it seems the Dark Knight may finally be able to take some well deserved rest. I mean, what damage could the Joker possibly do from inside Arkham? Well, being the criminal mastermind that he is, The Joker has more than a few tricks up his sleeve and, in no time at all, the inmates are running the asylum. What ensues is one of the most engaging and realistic depictions of the Batman universe ever created.



There is a great story to be told here and make no mistake, it’s a dark one. You can get a much better idea of what you are in store for by reading the graphic novels or watching the more recent Christopher Nolan films. People are dying here, and not in a fun, cartoony way. The premise is simple; The Joker hatches phase one of his latest maniacal scheme, leaving Batman trapped inside an Asylum full of psychotic “patients” who just can’t wait to get themselves a piece of the Caped Crusader. You’ll be touching gloves with many of Batman’s greatest foes, including Harley Quinn, Bane, Killer Croc and the Scarecrow, who is given a new life with his outstanding dream sequences which rival Psycho Mantis from the Metal Gear Solid series. By the time you find out Joker’s real “magic trick,” you’ll have plenty of classic boss battles under your belt, all of which are memorable in their own right.

Combat is not at all complex, but is extremely satisfying. You have a basic attack button, a counter button, a stun button and a run/glide button. That combination sounds like a dangerous recipe for another button masher and, honestly, if it wasn’t put together so well, it might be. As it turns out, a single attack button is all Batman needs to paint a Picasso with his hard earned Ninjutsu skills. But don’t expect his enemies to take it lying down. If you’re in danger of being popped from an incoming enemy, you’ll see a couple little lightning bolts pop up above their heads, which is your cue to press the counter button and watch the show. The stun button doesn’t really come into play until later in the game when you run into super-powered knife wielding thugs who can’t be taken down so easily. As the game progresses, you’ll unlock various other attacks that reward you for stringing together combos. This keeps Batman a force to be reckoned with in world of constantly evolving enemies.

Sometimes, brute force just won’t cut it; this is where being trained to be invisible comes in handy. You can swoop in and take foes down with your bare hands, but it just wouldn’t be a Batman game without all the cool little toys. You have several tools of destruction at your disposal, including the batarang, a grappling gun, a seemingly endless amount of explosive gel and the Dark Knight’s own special brand of night vision. All this and more can be used to stalk your enemies from the shadows and have a blast doing it.



Rocksteady Studios really outdid themselves on the production values here. The game is simply beautiful and has a distinct advantage over the movies, comics and graphic novels: you can explore it all first hand. Take it from me, once you get loose on the Arkham grounds, you’ll definitely find yourself doing a double take at the scenery. Both Batman and his enemies look great as well, with the dark and deadly appearance of all of his foes really adding to the atmosphere. Just try not to panic the first time you run into Killer Croc. The only aspect of the production more satisfying than the look of the game is the voice talent that comes with it. Mark Hamill reprises his role as the Joker, whom he voiced in Batman the animated series, and he’s not alone. Kevin Conroy returns as Batman and Arleen Sorkin reprises her role as Harley Quinn. All of the voice acting in the game is absolutely fantastic and really helps immerse you in the experience.

Once you’re done with the story you can try your luck at solving the Riddler’s puzzles and come back to the challenge mode to test your skills. If you purchased the PS3 version, you also have the opportunity to play as the Joker, which is just another great feature to keep you going. My only gripe is that you can’t bring your upgraded skills and gadgets over to a new save file if you want to play through the game again on a harder difficulty.

Not only is this the best Batman game of all time, it’s easily the best comic book game of all time. As a matter of fact, it was just awarded a Guniess World Record for “Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever!” To those who never thought they would see a superhero game weighing in as a game of the year contender, that day has finally come. Developers take note: Arkham Asylum has set the bar for superhero gaming.

Rating: A

Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

Price: $59.99

ESRB: T

Pub: Rocksteady Studios

Dev: Warner Bros., DC Comics, Eidos Interactive

Players: 1

Wii Review: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Developer Vanillaware brings a truly immersive experience to the Nintendo Wii with Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The game takes place in the Japan of yesteryear where demons, woodland creatures and shogun warriors run amuck. Players can choose between two characters: Momohime, a young princess who becomes possessed by the soul of a deadly samurai warrior, and Kisuke, a master ninja who loses his memory and searches for the ultimate blade in hopes to remember his past. Muramasa is an action-RPG game, so all the fighting is real time and done like old-school 2D shoot 'em ups in which the player uses directional buttons and an attack button. Various button combinations allow the player to execute some truly destructive and flashy moves.

The RPG elements of the game will surely please RPG fans, as there are the usual merchants who provide the player with life-restoring items and gear to improve strength and defense. The two playable characters in the game can also cook, which can almost been seen as health spells of most RPG titles. The characters; however, can only eat and drink things when they are hungry enough for them; all foods add to their fullness gage and, depending on what they ate, determines how long it will be until they can eat again.

The characters wield swords, three of which can be equipped at one time. One may wonder, though, how to go about collecting more swords. This is where Vanillaware goes the extra mile. Money is gained along with experience points after every fight, but blades can not be bought. They are only rewarded after defeating a boss or forging. Forging is, in itself, a type of leveling up. Particular swords can only be wielded once a certain strength and defense level has been reached and to forge swords, the player needs previous swords. So it ends up as a large, connected chain beginning from the very first three blades down to many more. Another way to unlock blades is to do challenges. Enemy lairs are survival matches against ninjas, monks and sometimes mini-bosses, as well as other enemies. Access is only granted to these areas when characters have reached a certain level.

Vanillaware's past works, Princess Crown and Odin Sphere, had unique looks, and Muramasa follows the trend. Ringing with ancient Japanese drumming and cymbal clashing, Muramasa is just as pleasing to the ears as it is to the eyes. The characters speak in Japanese with English subtitles. There's the clashing of cymbals and beating of drums for a little melody to accompany the mayhem your character causes.

Most importantly, the game play is full of win. First of all, the HUD needs to be explained before you can mastering combat. There is the usual health bar, which is measured in HP (just like in an RPG), but each blade has a Soul Meter. The Soul Meter is what determines whether a quick draw can be performed, parrying is possible or if the sword's at full strength. There's also a special move attached to every blade, like a lightning storm or homing energy waves, which drains the Soul Meter, but whenever an enemy is defeated souls can be collected to refill the meter. The bosses in the game, which range from the Japanese ruler of the underworld to a gigantic centipede to a totally outrageous and insanely outlandish giant that turns into a giant boar, are quite a sight to see.

On a side note, the bosses can be very unforgiving at times. They have a rather lengthy life bar that can be very misleading at first, leading to some premature celebrations if things get too out of hand. Vanillaware really puts the player in a position to unleash a barrage of relentless attacks and special moves that'll make the gamer in all of us say, "Wow" with an unhinged jaw.

At the end of the day, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a great Wii exclusive that should not be overlooked, despite its lack of advertising. For any gamer who has dreamed of fighting hoards of evil monks, gigantic demons or shogun warriors while cooking rice balls and drinking liquor in between unleashing tornadoes, fire balls and poison from magical swords, this is the game to get.

Rating: A

Platforms: Nintendo Wii

Price: $49.99

ESRB: Teen

Pub: Ignition Entertainment

Dev: Vanillaware

Players: 1

A final fight for Final Fantasy

Dissida: Final Fantasy is a Final Fantasy lover’s dream come true. More than 20 characters across Final Fantasy games from FFI to FFXII come together to fight for Chaos (discord and evil) or Cosmos (harmony).

Dissidia is an extremely deep game. At first glance, the amount of equips, summons and skills may be overwhelming to players not used to action games. The game hosts more than five modes of play with varying difficulty levels for each mode. There is also an unimaginable amount of unlockables including characters, alternates costumes, BGM tracks, additional play modes and character enhancers. If you are looking for a game to sink some time into, Dissidia is a great choice.

The game plays primarily as an action game. After selecting a fighter (and opponent, depending on the mode), the player can choose the opponent’s level, fighting strength, specific rules for the level and even CPU behavior. Fights can be conducted in “action mode” or “command-based mode.” Action mode is like a traditional action-based fighting game: Players use “Brave Attacks” to build up their brave to power up HP attacks which damage an opponent’s HP bar. Attacks are customizable before the battle and can be set to different directions on the analog stick, along with either the circle button for brave attacks or the square button for HP attacks. Unfortunately, these attacks are not quite as responsive as one would like; however, careful input can solve the issue of unresponsive commands. It is unfortunate that the player has to take extra care when the input type could have been tweaked to accommodate for this shortcoming.

“Command-based mode” is more for those who enjoy traditional RPG-style fighting. Commands for brave attacks, HP attacks, defending and other context-sensitive commands are displayed that allow the player to pick one and see how their choices play out. Besides these attacks, players can build up their “Ex-Force” by collecting spheres and cores on the field to activate an extremely strong Ex-Attack. Ex-Attacks often refer back to the Final Fantasy game a character is from for their properties (Squall’s Renzokuken or Cloud’s Omnislash), and Ex-Attacks are often deciding blows in matches that can turn the entire fight around.

Battles are conducted on well-rendered 3D battlefields that players may recognize from previous FF games. Stages such as the Lifestream or the Final Aeon stage make a welcome appearance in Dissidia, and most of the stages are quite spacious, allowing room to take a breather in the fight or the providing the satisfying feeling of knocking your opponent a mile away. Stages are dynamic and allow players to smash through certain stage elements, run up and down walls and interact with stage elements — such as riding on the Lifestream —which adds an interesting element to the game play. In stages with no floor or bottom, characters who run out of jumps land in a void which saps bravery and teleports them back onto stable ground. There are sometimes issues with the camera, most noticeably in stages with many walls. The camera has some issues with maneuvering so that the player can see what is happening when the action gets stuck on a corner or through a wall.

The Story Mode sports a separate story for each of the heroes on Cosmos’ side that allow the same overarching story to be told from several different viewpoints. Unfortunately, the story is lackluster and the characters’ motivations often static and boring; it would have been nice to see character personalities pinned down through deeper story-telling. Fortunately, the story modes are enough to give each character a direction and a higher purpose than just fighting. Other modes, like Quick Play or Dual Coliseum, allow players to quickly earn experience, items and weapons while learning the finer points of a character’s play style. Since all of the fighters in Dissidia are unique and changing characters requires players to rethink their strategies, modes like these are welcome.

Most of the fights start before the battle. Players have a wide array of weapons, armor and accessories to choose from, along with many fighting and support skills. Many weapons cannot be equipped until higher levels or require other specific items to be traded into the shop to obtain. Weapons generally follow the same name and effects as the weapons from the FF game that they are from, and all characters have at least three weapons that are exclusive to each character. While exclusive weapons are the most effective, they often are the most difficult to obtain and getting them requires diligence and some luck on the player’s part. Enemies can drop weapons, items or accessories they have equipped, or the player can “Battle Generate” them. This is a system that, by performing certain actions in battle, increases the probability that specific items will drop after the match. Actions for BattleGen include breaking field objects, getting rid of all your opponent’s brave or ending the match in a certain amount of time.

Dissidia also supports multiplayer via online ad-hoc mode. Though it is unfortunate there is no online multiplayer, the ad-hoc mode is seamless. Players can engage in the same great battles amongst themselves as they do the computer, with the added bonus of getting items, experience and money from human opponents. If a player acquires another person’s Friend Card, the game will remember the final setup that their opponent used so that the player can fight a Friend Card at any time, even when offline. Players can manipulate their levels, equipment and weapons just like they can within the single player portions of the game.

Overall, Dissidia: Final Fantasy is an excellent game. The character models are rendered extremely true to the original concepts, English voice acting is generally very good and the two (yes, only two) CGI cutscenes are excellent. It is a bit of a letdown that there are not more cutscenes, especially in lieu of a better storyline, but the two that are there at the beginning and ending of the story modes are awesome. Such beautiful renderings on the PSP screen are sights to behold, and really make the player pine for more. It is unfortunate that more of these scenes were not included.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy works great on the PSP. A bland storyline, annoying camera and unresponsive controls are the only major shortcomings to this otherwise awesome game. If you are a PSP owner and need a game with some legs on it, Dissidia is an awesome time sink. If you enjoy the FF universe and its characters, this game was made for you, so go out and get it. A unique battle system, deep character customization, and tons of unlockables make this game worth the price. After all, who does not want to see Sephiroth fight Squall?

Grade: A-

Dissida: Final Fantasy

Platform: PlayStation Portable

Price: $34.99

ESRB:Rated T for Teen

Pub: Square Enix

Dev: Square Enix