VideogameVagabond.com

I’m not a feminist, per se, but I have to admit that videogame sex symbols like Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame are hardly realistically proportioned. I mean, the typical build for Lara is nothing like Angelina Jolie, who played her in two feature films.

No, the typical build of Lara makes her look like a Calista Flockheart on a serious program of diet pills, yet still possessing enough weight to carry around Pamela Anderson-sized cleavage. Genetically impossible and, truth be told, not very appealing.

That said, the newest Lara Croft game, Tomb Raider Legend, is less egregiously exaggerated in its depiction of Lara, and best of all, the game is finally fun to play again. After a decade of disappointing sequels, it’s about time! At least the gameplay didn’t go on a diet this time out!

While Oblivion may be my RPG of the year, I do want to clarify that Final Fantasy XII is pure gaming bliss in its own right. Released nearly five years after the last “legitimate” Final Fantasy title, FFX (since I don’t count Final Fantasy XI as a legit title, as it was online-only and an MMORPG.)

While the wait was longer than any wait between titles in series’ history, the wait was certainly worth it. No burnout on the series when you wait that long for the next installment, that’s for sure, and the extra time gave Square-Enix a change to show a real progression from FFX. Final Fantasy XII is likely to go down as the most beautiful game ever pulled off on the aging PS2 platform, and certainly delivers almost as much eye candy as anything you’ll get on Xbox 360.

Graphically, the game is just outstanding and beautiful. About the only experience I can compare it to is the real-life beauty of the Outer Banks of North Carolina… if you’ve never been, it’s a place to make sure you get to at least once before your traveling days are behind you.

But I digress. Along with the beauty of the game, there’s a deep level of challenges, an immersive game world and plenty of memorable characters. Sure, it may not be quite the mammoth achievement that Oblivion is, but as a long-time series fan dating all the way back to the first Final Fantasy, all I can say is, thank goodness it’s finally here!

It’s been about six months, maybe more, since I first bought and began to play Elder Srolls: Oblivion for my Xbox 360. I never realized just how deep the game would be at the time I bought it. I’m currently on my second character (trashed my first one because I ended up not liking him), and about 80 hours into the game, and I haven’t even touched the main storyline yet, after emerging from that first dungeon. Some folks estimate that to do and see and discover everything in the game could take well over 500 hours.

That’s depth of gameplay! And the amazing thing about it is how well the experience wears on you. Heck, even great Final Fantasy titles get a bit repetitive after about 20 hours and you need some time away from them before going back and doing another 20, then another break before pushing through to the end. But Oblivion is different.

Maybe it’s because the game has so much freedom in it to do whatever you want, outside and away from the main storyline. You can join one of at least eight guilds, buy houses, invest in stores… heck, you can do just about anything in the game that yuo want to, except maybe hang out with a group of house painters and paint houses all day. And now that I’ve said that, just wait… the developers at Bethesda Softworks will find a way to squeeze even that into the upcoming expansion pack! Sure, it may not be the same as hanging out with the pros at CertaPro, but my point is that the game just offers 100s of hours of playable freedom without ever really forcing you to do something you don’t have an interest in doing.

I didn’t get the chance to write the review for Oblivion over at my gig at DigNews.com. And in a way, I’m glad I didn’t. Playing the game has never been a task, only a joy. As much as I love Final Fantasy XII on PS2, Oblivion is certainly looking to be my favorite RPG of 2006.

The latest assignment I had for DigNews.com was a review of the Eragon movie tie-in games. Sounds simple, right? Not really.

As it turns out, there are basically four versions of the game, not counting wireless phone games based off the movie. They include one version that appears on PC, PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360; one version that is exclusive to PSP; one version that is exclusive to Nindento DS; and one version that is exclusive to GameBoy Advance.

To make matters more complex, I couldn’t review the PC/PS2/Xbox/360 versions all together, because the graphics were too far apart. So I had to split them up so that the Xbox and PS2 versions were combined into one review, and the PC and 360 versions were combined in another review.

Five reviews, five different chances for the developers to “get it right” … and they all failed. Even on the high-end PC/360 version, the graphics were rush-jobbed and nothing to write home about. The basic gameplay was generic and uninspired. And although the games on handheld platforms were all different, none of them were very good at all.

I stand by my standard line on this one: Eragon is a better reading experience than it is a gaming experience.

For several years, I’ve been a videogame reviewer. My first work was for SegaWeb, which grew into a family of sites called GamerWeb. I became the editor of SonyWeb for as long as that site lasted.

In the fallout of that site going under, I became a reviewer for Dignews.com, where I’ve been reviewing videogames ever since. I do a fairly large number of reviews, primarily on PS2 and Xbox 360, but also on PSP and DS, as well as the occasional PC title. I sometimes also do features and previews.

This site will be where I air some of the stuff that doesn’t find its way into my work at DigNews.com. And just a place for some random thoughts, sometimes. Join me!