VideogameVagabond.com

Can a 45-year-old man maintain a marriage and a videogame habit? Let's find out!

Tag Archives: Sony

PSP Go is announced

While not as practical as a fresh round of bathroom safety products, Sony has set the videogame world a’buzzing with the announcement of its newest iteration of the PlayStation Portable, the PSP Go!

Here’s the upside: The PSP Go will be 43 percent lighter than the first PSP and will abandon the failed UMD experiment, going instead for 16 GB of internal flash memory as well as supporting the Memory Stick Micro format for additional storage. There will be Bluetooth support as well, and the screen will shrink from 4.3-inches to 3.8 inches, though it’ll still be a nice screen.

Here’s the downside: a hefty $249 price tag, which is just above the comparable 16GB Apple iPhone/iPod Touch; no touch-screen; still only one analog stick; no revved-up processor or additional RAM.

So while the PSP Go definitely makes the PSP sexy again, and perhaps having a chance to be more competitive with Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch initiative, it’s still hardly a reinvention that could be dubbed properly a PSP 2. While that makes backward compatibility a non-issue, it also means the PSP Go isn’t quite the “PSP reinvented” solution many were hoping for.

Review: SingStar Abba (PS2 and PS3)

Call it a Karaoke Revolution ripoff, a crass money-machine or a very expensive karaoke machine, but Sony’s SingStar karaoke game series is nothing if not persistent. Made available for both the PS2 and PS3, SingStar takes music videos, pops the words on the screen and encourages gamers to sing along. There are both strengths and weaknesses to the series, and since they are as few in number as the number of diet pills in Oprah’s dressing room, let us concentrate on the strengths of SingStar Abba first.

First, a word about the microphones; they are hefty, sturdy and substantial. Considering my wife has pursued musical aspirations most of her life, I’m a karaoke junkie, and we’ve both sang in churches over the years as well, I’ve had ample opportunities to be around audio equipment and distinguish junk from items.

While I don’t know ultimately who made the SingStar microphones – perhaps Sony themselves – I can say they have a very similar weight, feel and sensitivity to a high-quality Shure mic. Considering the cost is lower than most Shure mics, that’s a complimentary comparison.

Yet there is a downside to the SingStar microphones: they are only compatible with SingStar games, and no other audio input devices work with SingStar. That means even if you laid out a cool $50 for a Sony Bluetooth headset, it’s useless when it comes to SingStar; if you already have mics from Karaoke Revolution, they will have new storage space buddies because KR mics don’t work with SingStar, and vice-versa. Oh well.

Mics aside, I also have to say that I was impressed with the vocal performance analysis technology underlying the SingStar system. Whenever I would sing intentionally tone-deaf to test the system, my score in the game suffered; the higher the skill level I played at, the worse my score became. So, good news: you can’t sing like a tone-deaf Black Angus steer and do well in SingStar. Unless you’re a tone-deaf Black Angus steer who was hoping to do well in the game, that is; then it’s probably not-so-great that you have to know how to sing to do well in the game.

Still, the system isn’t perfect. While you must stay in-tune to do well in the game, it doesn’t necessarily measure the quality of the in-tune note you’re holding. So, your voice could be ragged and breathy and you could still score decently in the game, as long as you hold the note in tune. Still some room to grow here.

Now let’s consider song variety; while all other SingStar releases thus far have included a mix of artists, SingStar Abba is one of the first releases to feature a library of work by the same artist. Abba was selected, quite likely, due to the well-timed Blu-Ray release of the cinematic adaptation of Mamma Mia!, the musical based on the song catalog of Abba. For a 1970s band best known for the hit Dancing Queen, Abba’s done pretty well of late garnering post-career attention.
I never knew before exploring SingStar Abba that the Swedish supergroup had even made 30 music videos for their songs, considering they were largely out of the spotlight by the advent of MTV and music videos. Yet this game includes 30 of Abba’s biggest hits and I’d be hard-pressed to even remember a single the group ever released that’s not included in this collection. It really is an ideal companion to the Mamma Mia! Blu-Ray.

That said, there are several drawbacks to SingStar Abba, and most of them have to do with the general SingStar system, rather than being peculiar to SingStar Abba, and the biggest drawback is the karaoke system itself. In most karaoke systems, the real artists’ vocals are removed to make way for the karaoke performer; at worst, one is offered a learning track where they can sing along with the real vocals, as well as a performance track with the lead vocals removed.

Not in the SingStar system; instead, the original artists vocals remain in the song and at full volume at all times. The problem with this should be obvious; even an accomplished vocalist can come off sounding second-rate next to the original artist, especially if one needs to sing an octave lower or higher than the original artist. At best, the player’s overlaid vocals sound like a poor attempt and a duet; at worst, well, it’s best not to listen at all.

Another black mark against the series so far is that the SingStar series, including SingStar Abba, does not possess a real online play element. Sure, each player can create an online profile, have their best scores posted competitively against players worldwide and even upload their favorite performances for the world to listen to; but that’s as far as it goes.

What the series truly needs is an online competition mode, as well as an online duet mode. While such things can be done in your living room, the inability to do the same thing with other players online really cripples the game from reaching its full potential and appeal. If there were a genuine competitive aspect to such on online mode, in the vein of Karaoke Revolution’s recent American Idol license, would help tremendously. Instead, SingStar feels like a PS3 title stuck in a PS2 era of limited online features.

The pricing structure for adding new songs to one’s holster is also problematic; SingStar games always carry only 30 songs per title. While that size is perfect to encapsulate the greatest hits of a band like Abba, it’s actually quite limited when you calculate in the fact that in most SingStar collections, there is likely to be only 2-5 “favorites” that appeal to any one player, and it’s not like one can select a custom play-list at the time of purchase.

That’s where the Sony Store comes in, of course; right within the SingStar game, you can access a library of songs that you can purchase, download and play within any SingStar game, via the Sony Store. The problem here is the pricing model Sony is following; each song is $1.49, and while that may seem low and Sony apologists will protest that SingStar tracks have a video and game programming included in that download, the fact of the matter is that SingStar is in competition with general MP3 music services like iTunes, which charges fifty percent less at 99 cents per tune.

Also, the pricing structure has to be compared to other music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Back, which often include far deeper libraries in each game, and make expansion music packs available at a far lower cost-per-track when bought in packages. To compete over the long haul, SingStar will need to price itself more competitively. Song some individual songs on Guitar Hero and Rock Band exceed $1.49 per track, the average cost is usually lower.

Cost aside, the additional tracks available in the Sony Store are not very deep at this point; a mere 500-plus tracks in all, with the bulk of the catalog coming from the 1980s. While a gamer like myself may find 1980s music appealing, it’s a bit limiting when it comes to younger gamers and music fans.

For example, it is possible to find plenty six tracks of Billy Joel songs, four or so tracks of David Bowie, and even some Blondie; however, there is no Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, only two Britney Spears tracks, no Kelly Clarkson and very little rap/hip-hop. The most accessible pop tracks I could find post 1990s were a handful of Avril LaVigne and one or two tracks by Pink, yet no Evenescence, no Gwen Stefani, no… well, you get the idea.

Another disappointment is the severe lack of musical variety at this point; there is virtually no country music selection, no Elvis, no Beatles, no R&B, and very little in the way of metal. Most of the selections are highly commercial pop artists or little-known underground bands willing to license their music inexpensively for exposure through the game.

Compare that to iTunes, which boasts a library of nearly every kind of music consisting over millions of singles, and one can begin to see the deficit at which the 80s-pop-music-dominated SingStar is operating.

On the whole, SingStar Abba is decent for what it is: a narrowly focused release specializing in one band, with only 30 songs included, whose appeal will ride on whether the songs of Abba are of interest or not. The lack of online duets or online competitive play is severely disappointing, and the relatively narrow, expensive library of additional songs available is also a barrier. While Sony seems committed to making SingStar work, there is a long journey between SingStar Abba and anything approaching an intriguing and viable karaoke franchise.

Resistance 2 is more fun than expected

I’m not a big fan of shooters; I’m more of an RPG player. But I have to admit that after digging into Resistance 2, the sequel to Sony’s huge shooter hit that launched around the same time as the PS3 itself, that I enjoyed my experience.

Maybe it’s the cool creature designs, maybe its the solid action, maybe its the intriguing storyline and maybe it’s just that I played the game on the easiest section where I wouldn’t end up dying constantly (since I’m not a big shooter fan, remember?) or what, but I have ended up really enjoying my time with the game so far.

Searching out aliens to blast is less healthy, but more fun, than searching out the best diet pill. I can’t imagine anyone who loves shooters not loving this game.

Review: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)

In most Gran Turismo titles, about the only thing missing is car insurance. That’s because it’s not any simple “select a car, a track and start racing” formula racing title, but, as the series subtitle has often boasted, Gran Turismo is “the real automobile simulator.” An international obsession ever since its PSone debut, Gran Turismo has often been referred to as a CarPG, due to its RPG-like depth of play.

In the PS3 era, the series has kept up an almost constant, but not yet fully complete, presence on the platform. About a year ago, the PlayStation Network introduced a freebie download version that only had a handful of cars and, if I remember right, only one track. Now, Polyphony Digital and Sony have introduced Phase 2 of bringing Gran Turismo into the next generation of gaming: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

GT5P would, for most publishers, constitute a complete game experience. Stocked with around 70 cars and maybe a dozen tracks, however, GT5P is merely an appetizer. That’s because the last full version of the game, which appeared on PS2, contained over 700 cars and over 60 tracks. And rest assured, Polyphony Digital isn’t stopping with Prologue; in fact, the company has publicly admitted that the game, while satisfying in and of itself, is merely a test platform with which they intend to work out all the online racing bugs so that when the final version of Gran Turismo 5 is unveiled, it’ll be a true, deep mindblower of a title with at least as many cars and tracks as GT4 had on PS2.

In the meantime, what is GT5P like? Well, let’s start with the graphics; the game looks better than ever, especially on HD displays. The cars shine and gleam and, along with the backgrounds, are often nearly indistinguishable from live TV footage of car races. Of course, looks have always been a strong point of the series.

A traditional weak point, however, is still hanging in strong in GT5P, and we can only hope Polyphony Digital corrects it before they unleash the final version of Gran Turismo 5, and that’s opponent AI. In GT5P, once you pass an opponent and put him a little distance behind you, they never threaten you again, unless you goof up bad and lose a lot of time correcting your error. That means that if your car has a clear horse-power advantage, you’ll blow out your opponents in C-class races by quite a distance, not just a minor margin.

What would be truly satisfying is if each opponent were made as cagey and challenging to beat as a human opponent. Horsepower is on aspect of winning a race, but it shouldn’t be the only determining factor; too often, with as little as a 25-50 horsepower advantage, you can drive sloppy lines and endure minor miscues on turns and still finish well ahead of the pack. Similarly, if you’re at a horsepower disadvantage, unless you take advantage of the fact that there is no damage modeling in Gran Turismo and treat each race like the demolition derby on the early turns of the first lap, you’ll never get close to the lead cars that are way more powerful than yours.

The lack of damage modeling is once again a serious sticking point in GT5P, and considering that over on the Xbox 360, Forza Motorsport 2 is able to get many of the same car licenses AND an agreement to allow damage modeling, the failure so far of the Gran Turismo series to include this aspect of racing gameplay into the game is becoming an increasing drawback.

In fact, the challenge level (traditionally, Gran Turismo is excessively hard to succeed at) has been scaled way back for GT5P, and plays more like an arcade racer than a real driving simulator. Part of this is the ability to choose from standard and ultra-realistic driving physics, as well as a new ability, which is oversteer assistance. This feature can be enabled as a preference and seems mostly to be there for newbies, to make the game more playable in the early going. This assistance has three settings; off, which makes the game like previous installments, putting complete control of the car in your hands; mild, which only corrects your biggest oversteering errors; and strong, which can pretty much eliminate all but the biggest errors in oversteering.

Set on strong, the game becomes considerably less challenging to beat, especially due to the AI deficiencies already at work. This can rob series veterans of a good portion of the challenge, and so in online play, all drivers are made to use the same, identical setting for this, which is predetermined before the race begins. Intended to make the game more accessible for newbies, it can make experienced players almost as flawless as computer-controlled drivers, only more dangerous since the average human opponent drives way more competitively than the average AI opponent.

On the interface side, many elements are missing, such as posting times for all finishers at the end of a race. Also, front end boasts dealerships and garages, but lacks the Parts Centers that allow you to upgrade your care with after-market parts. Once you reach a certain level of achievement in the game, a Tune-Up shop is unlocked so gear-heads can tweak their cars for better performance, but for the non-mechanics who just like racing, that can become a bit challenging and the absence of Parts Centers is definitely felt.

While boasting a wide variety of car makers in GT5P, many of them only have one or two cars in the game, which is a disappointment; apparently Sony will be releasing more cars and perhaps even more tracks through expansion packs via the PlayStation Store in the near future, but for now, the 70 car roster has some favorites, but nowhere near as much depth as series fanatics are accustomed to enjoying.

Finally, online play is loads of fun, but does need some spit and polish to smooth out lag times, blips and clips. The potential is definitely there for online play to really push Gran Turismo to the next level, but I’m sure most of the kinks will be worked out by the time the full-release Gran Turismo 5 appears at last with a lot more cars and tracks than the current installment allows.

In the end, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is nowhere near as complete nor as satisfying as a full-on release and the much greater depth of play that 700+ cars and 60+ tracks can bring, so you’ll want to hold on to your copy of Gran Turismo 4 for PS2 for a while longer. But for series fans who can’t wait for the full release, just keep in mind that even in this current, abbreviated form, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is still far deeper than 95 percent of full-release racing games currently on the market.

Review: MLB 08 The Show (PS3)

It’s ironic … and shocking. It wasn’t that long ago that Sony’s in-house sports development team, previously known as 989 Sports and now just referred to generically as SCEA, was an industry laughing stock. But as the PS2 era wound to a close and the PS3 era dawned, Sony reinvested in reinvigorating their sports game lineup, and the results have been increasingly improved reviews, although none of their games have yet eclipsed the industry big boys, 2K Sports and EA Sports. Until now.

MLB 08 The Show has finally broken through; although it has turned out to be an off-year for 2K Sports “third-party exclusive license” MLB competitor, MLB 08 The Show nevertheless deserves recognition for finally pulling off the unthinkable and besting one of the two main third party sports developers. This year’s Sony baseball sim is just simply better than 2K Sports’ MLB 2K8. How? Let me count the ways as we open the books on MLB 08: The Show.

First is the new, deeper Road to the Show mode, which boasts new advancements, career goals, and position specific situations to play through. No longer restricted to a single season of play, the game allows you to track your players’ career from the rookie leagues on up to the majors, gaining experience and new skills along the way; the mode is basically a baseball RPG, which is a good thing that lends both depth and replay value to the game. To be honest, this is what won me over. I’ve seen similar features in Sony’s basketball franchise, but it is here where the concept has finally come together to create a solid experience in single-player mode, one that is not limited or limiting.

The new progressive batting system is also a welcome innovation; the game rewards players for consistent hitting, but penalizes them for failure, which helps keep the stats realistic and reflects the ups and downs all hitters go through as a 182-game season plays out. There is also a lot more stat-tracking this year, right down to a batter’s history against specific pitchers, which should satisfy the stat fanatics out there.

One feature I treasure, as a busy person, is the ability to save your game right in the middle of a ballgame; many sports games do not include this feature, which means either pausing the game and possibly getting caught up in something that causes you to forget the system is on with the game paused, or perhaps quitting and having the play the game over; neither option is particularly appealing and by allowing the user to save their progress in the middle of the game, MLB 08 The Show gets heartfelt gratitude for their consideration of an adult gamer’s schedule. While such a feature will rarely be needed on the pause-friendly PSP, it is a boon to PS2 and PS3 gamers.

Other convenience features include the ability to create a folder called My MLB Music on either the PSP or PS3 versions of the game, and import your favorite MP3s into that folder so they can be played in the game. This is worlds of fun for folks who want to game and hear their own favorite music playing at the same time. The feature, however, is not available for PS2 owners.

The game’s graphics are nothing too world-changing, but they are decent enough to get by with on the PSP and PS3; on the PS2, however, the graphics are starting to look dated. At least MLB 08 The Show on PS3 comes with out-of-the-box compatibility with the upcoming DualShock 3 controllers. Of course, since Sony made both the game and the new controllers, that one was a given.

The fielding controls are the game’s biggest flaw; the controls are as wonky and un-crisp as ever, and certainly make it worth turning on fielding assistance or auto-fielding whenever possible, though that’s not an option, really, in Road to the Show mode. The pitching controls are improved and the batting mildly improved, though, so at least the results on controls vary from position to position. And anyway, I’ve never liked the fielding controls in any baseball game I’ve ever played, so maybe that’s a wash.

In the end, no matter whether you’re playing on PlayStation 2, PSP or PlayStation 3, MLB 08 The Show is good enough that folks who own Xbox 360s and Nintendo Wiis may just start wishing Sony would make their franchise available to platforms other than their own, especially with this season’s surprising drop-off in quality on 2K Sports’ MLB 2K8.

Review: Wild Arms XF (PSP)

Although most folks will rejoice when I say that the Wild Arms RPG franchise has finally arrived on PSP, hold on to your yippee-ki-yays for a moment, cowboy. The US Old West-themed fantasy series may now have a title on Sony’s handheld platform, but this PSP title is significantly different from the popular series that has done moderately well on PSone and PS2.

That’s because Wild Arms XF, developed as always by Media.Vision and published by XSeed is not your standard turn-based RPG, but has more in common with Final Fantasy Tactics than any previous Wild Arms installment. Given an all-new storyline and cast, Wild Arms XF is a full-on tactics-style RPG with all the benefits and drawbacks thereof.

One benefit is that the title introduces a job system into the Wild Arms universe for the first time; this allows for greater customization and skill acquisition than previous titles, but the trade-off is that the game has no world for you to wander around in and explore; it boasts only two modes – story sequences and battles.

Like FFT, Wild Arms XF doesn’t take it easy on newcomers; you must learn the game system fast or be crushed by superior opponents, some of whom are designed to be avoided at all costs, so pay attention to your actual mission objectives before entering into each new battle.

Of course, none of this is a problem for me; I love tactics RPGs and that makes this chapter of the Wild Arms saga a welcome change of pace. My wife, however, was not so kindly disposed toward the title, complaining that it was too hard too soon in the game, arguing that a game should offer a few more battles before ramping up the challenge level so quickly. (My wife prefers action-based RPGs.)

The story is one typical of the world of Filgaia. The game centers around a brother and sister, Clarissa and Filius, who start out exploring the world outside their home town, but who are eventually caught up into the political struggled of the day. There are hints dropped early on that Clarissa is either an exiled princess who doesn’t remember her past, or is a dead ringer for the dethroned debutante. Things just kind of snowball from there.

Wild Arms XF isn’t a title that breaks tons of new ground or revolutionizes the genre, but it is a game that’s entertaining, challenging, and possesses few flaws that will bug veterans of the tactics RPG genre. It also fits right into the universe established by previous games, and delivers a Filgaia-based game that you can take with you on the go. The only drawbacks are the steep learning curve for genre newcomers, and the fact that the jobs and skills system are a bit thinner than those found in Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lion. Then again, that’s setting the bar pretty high.

Wild Arms XF is one of the sharper-looking entries in this series, benefitting perhaps from the smaller screen the PSP offers. In the end, it all adds up to a niche RPG that will appeal to most fans of the series and fans of tactics RPGs, but likely won’t draw a lot of non-fans into the fold. Definitely a solid entry, though, and a good addition to any PSP-owning RPG lovers library. XSeed is doing all it can to support the title, too; I’m hoping they’ll offer up some logo pens as part of that effort!

Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

When I heard the God of War franchise was moving from PS2 to the PSP for the Chains of Olympus chapter, I was skeptical at first. Sure, the PSP needs a solid action-adventure title as much as any other platform, but one of the main appeals of God of War as a series has been its larger than life sense of scale. How could the title maintain that appeal on the PSP’s rather smaller screen?

Well, I needn’t have worried. The game still looks sharp on the handheld platform and offers plenty of oversized opponents appropriate to the lineage of the series. Even my wife was impressed with the look of the game on the small screen; it was loaded with detail that only a few other PSP titles have come close to achieving and that makes the game a really fine showcase for the PSP platform.

Not a simple port, God of War: Chains of Olympus is an all-new adventure that serves as a prequel to the first God of War title released on PS2. Developed by SCEA-Santa Monica and Ready At Dawn Studios, the game allows up to five difficulty levels, although the last two have to be unlocked. The game casts you as Kratos in a situation where the gods have been rendered powerless, leaving Kratos with only one choice: he must square off against the most vicious of demonic creatures from Greek mythology. Gamers get to choose between saving his soul or the ancient world from imminent and total destruction, which affects the way the game ends.

The only main complaint with GoW:COO is the typical one; it’s relatively short length. My wife beat the game in under 10 hours and from what I’ve heard and read, some people might be able to even trim that down to under eight hours. While the action is fresh and fast, the load times sometimes get a bit cumbersome and slow down the pace just a bit. The battle system is relatively easy to master and immediately familiar to any fan of the series; and it’s been adapted well enough that you don’t often feel the loss of extra control options.

Despite the minor gripes, though, the game is everything you expect from a God of War title, with all the M-rated content, huge monsters and epic storyline most gamers can handle, and packed with enough action and drama that most folks will be left wanting more. While the extra difficulty levels are appreciated, it’s hard to get much more than one replay out of the game, as there are only two options in the storyline path that can be taken. It might have been more replayable if there was a slightly different storyline for each difficulty level, though that’s probably hoping for too much.

In the end, GoW:COO delivers the goods with surprising effectiveness on the PSP. With some of the best graphics available on any game currently released for the platform, as well as just under 10 hours of playing time, God of War: Chains of Olympus is one title most PSP owners will end up being embarrassed not to own – so go buy it already and avoid the blushing humiliation.

Waiting for Final Fantasy XIII

One game I don’t need trade show displays of to create excitement in me toward playing, once it’s released, is Final Fantasy XIII. From every bit of video footage I’ve seen, the game looks gorgeous and truly deserving to be on the PS3 platform.

While I’m not one to condemn most RPGs for not being on the cutting edge of graphics … after all, one of my favorite publishers of RPGs is NIS America … I can certainly get excitied when a title like this comes along and is on that cutting edge. While I am not sure if it will be released in 2008 or not, I can say that it is already one of my most enthusiastically anticipated games of the year.

Blu-Ray outsells HD-DVD 2 to 1!

Those wondering about the outcome of the high-def format war between Sony’s Blu-Ray Disc format and Toshiba/Microsoft’s HD-DVD format need look no further than the news coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show. With Holiday 2007 now history, the votes that matter most have been cast: consumer spending dollars.

In that battle, it is Sony’s Blu-Ray Disc format that is emerging as the winner. For the 2007 holiday season, Blu-Ray Disc outsold HD-DVD by a two-to-one margin. At the CES, Sony’s reps and movie studio partners were saying that the war is pretty much over; it’s just a matter of time now.

By contrast, the Toshiba reps were saying, “It’s too early to cast HD-DVD aside.”

Considering the sales figures, however, and the fact that a Blu-Ray Disc holds 20 GB more information than the largest-capacity HD-DVD, whose reps sound more desperate? Hands down, Blu-Ray Disc is going to be the high-def format winner, thanks in large part to PlayStation 3 sales.

These aren’t your grandparents’ air purifiers wars, kids! This is for keeps!

Review: Folklore (PS3)

Billed by Sony as “the next generation in dark fantasy games,” Folklore, like so many action platformer games, tried to bill itself as an action RPG but the truth is the game more honestly has more in common with Rachet and Clank than it does with Final Fantasy XII. Although filled with gorgeously detailed graphics, the designers sometimes went overboard in artistry and didn’t think enough about legibility for game elements like the bits of dialog that have to be read on-screen instead of being spoken.

The game has two playable characters, a young blonde girl named Ellen, and an older male character, a journalist named Keats. Both end up traveling to Doolin, Ireland and entering a dark fantasy world where they must fight individually, and ultimately together, to survive in a world filled with monsters known as Folk.

Sounds a bit more intriguing than it becomes in execution, however. The unique gameplay element is supposedly how you defeat monsters using the motion-sensing SixAxis controller. Basically, after beating them down to where they are stunned, you rip their souls out of their bodies by … waving the SixAxis up and down. A lot. Not as innovative as it sounds, and it grows kind of boring and repetitive, fairly early on.

The story is somewhat interesting; Ellen is searching for her dead mother, which draws to mind the plot set-up of Silent Hill 2, while Keats is tracking down a lead springing from a call by a mysterious woman. While such is the stuff true dark fantasies like Silent Hill are made of, Folklore is far less dark, belonging more to the world of Papa Smurf than to the living dead. And while it’s a nice framing sequence, the story just isn’t all that deep or intriguing once they toss you into the game itself.

As for depth, there are over 100 creatures to encounter in the game, which plays out over seven different realms. The real problem is repetition and tedium; once the novelty of the game’s battle system wears off – which happens quickly – you are able to step back and realize just how simplistic the combat actually is, which destroys the charm. There is also not much in the way of minigames, such as Mizuno golf or fishing or anything like that, which keeps the focus too much on the maps and areas which respawn enemies at a rather annoying rate of frequency.

It’s too bad some of the lovely graphics are adorning such a gameplay- and story-lacking package. The look of the game itself is well done if a bit polished and idealisitic, but it gives one a solid idea of what can graphically be achieved on the PlayStation 3. While I’m certainly awaiting even better examples, like White Knight Story, Silent Hill 5, and Final Fantasy XIII, Folklore is at least an eye-catching showpiece.

Unfortunately for gamers, it’s not much more than that.