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 GameSpot.com has managed to tried their hands on the much acclaimed Final Fantasy XIII, English version. You can view the videos and the full article over here. The game is lives up to its reputation with astounding graphics and way-too-flashy action moves that we all love. The main character, Lightning, summoned her... I don't know what they call that, Guardian? Anyway, she summoned her Guardian with over-the-top flashy moves to go against the giant monster that at first looked intimidating but was humbled by Lightning and her pet.

The attacks and movement are cool and all... BUT I couldn't help but find something was wrong with the animation. Something was missing and it didn't look and felt as realistic as it could be. If you've watched the video, you would realize that when the monster was getting attacked by Lightning and her pet, the monster doesn't display any signs of being attacked other than the white numbers popping up above him. Never mind about the puny Lightning and her tiny sword but not even budging when the colossus was slashing his giant blade through it? Come on! Show some signs of damage! Budge a little, get stunned, take a few steps back! Don't tell us that you're being attacked! SHOW us!

Quite frankly, I was quite disappointed with this tiny little flaw. And it is exactly the fact that this is just a small, tiny little flaw that makes me even more disappointed. The game has AMAZING graphics, fantasilicious gameplay but ALL OF THAT had to be ruined by a SMALL, LITTLE, TINY flaw. Not like the sales of the game will be dipped by a monster that doesn't show pain but... seriously.

 You are Harry Mason, and after crashing your car, you find that your daughter, Cheryl is missing. The objective of the game is to find her, armed with pistols, chainsaws and bazookas... No I'm kidding. Unlike the previous Silent Hills you've been to, you are only armed with a torchlight (that never runs out of battery) and a cellphone (that... also never runs out of battery). If you're wondering how to kill the monsters in this game, good question. Unfortunately for you fearless protective Daddy-wannabes out there, you don't get to enjoy the pleasure of killing those creeps that kidnapped your daughter. While searching for his missing daughter, Harry will slowly recover fragments of his memories, as well as memories of others that still lingers in objects. Now here's the fun part. Whenever an object or person like that is nearby, Harry's torchlight will start to flicker and static noises and visuals will begin distorting your screen. This gets worse as you get nearer to the objects. When you're still not used to it, it can get quite frightening the first few times


Most of the areas in the game will be dimly lit, if at all, and usually your never-say-die torchlight is your only source of light. Well, that's the point of the game, right? To keep you on your toes, the feeling of can't help but suspecting something is lurking in that dark corner. This game scores high in this aspect. While you will not be exposed to any danger when the world isn't frozen over and faceless frenzy monsters start chasing you, thanks to the excellent lighting in this game, you will feel that something might come at you in the dark. Fortunately none of this ever happened, that's why a wuss like me were able to complete the game.


What hooked me in the game was its storyline. While at the end it wasn't all complex and jiggle wriggle, it was confusing enough for me to want to connect all the dots together. The more memories I collected, the more jumbled up it got. And at the end it contained a twist that made me went, "Oh WTF?" If you're feeling a little daredevil and want to explore the dark a bit, get the game now!

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is available on PS2, Wii and PSP.(I played it on PSP but I think I might enjoy it on a Wii more!)

Go ahead and get the game if hack-and-slash games with hot undead girls in it are your type. It will keep your hands busy for a while. But if you're looking for a game with solid gameplay, then I suggest not.

Woah woah woah woah! So now the bloke with the best silence-cum-DoT (damage over time) nuke gets a disabling skill? Oh sorry, I mean, skillssss. For those who lives in a well better spends their time other than playing DotA, IceFrog has apparently decided that Doom's Devour skill which practically grants him a free creep kill, giving free money and EXP, was not good enough. Lucifer now not only digests his victims for food but also copies their skills. Kind of like a nerfed version of  Morphling's ultimate back in v5.84c (Deathward anyone?). Besides having an extra FREE skill in his arsenal, he can also make use of creeps' skills to counter certain heroes without the need to spend unncessary gold on items.

"Oh no, there's a Sven in the enemy team!"
"No worries, comrade, for I Lord Lucifer Doombringer is here! I have Purge."
"What about the Rhasta? We need a stun!"
"I have Warstomp."
"HEY! Zeus is getting away!! Get him!!"
*Throws net*
*BUUURP*

All these possibilties... for FREEEE! All hail Lucifer DoomStompNetPurgeBringer!! And this brings me to a question: Does creeps with passive abilities like Alpha Wolf's Critical Strike aura and Gnoll's Haste aura works on Doom? So many bastards are getting Doom now I have no chance of trying my hands on DoomStompNetPurgeBringer...

Another recent trend I've noticed in the last few maps are the additions of more and more heroes who are able to make use of Aghanim's Scepter. At first it was only available to Intelligence-heroes to help them narrow the gap between them and late-game heroes by improving their ultimates slightly. But now, all sorts of heroes are able to make use of the scepter. An indirect nerf to Intelligence-heroes, if you ask me.

In v6.65, Axe was added to the list of Aghanim users. Why would a barbarian use a fragile, handle-with-care weapon? You don't see warriors wielding wands in World of Warcraft, you don't see Barbarian PKing with a wand in Diablo II, so why should you in DotA? If they care what kind of dance Treant Protector has to do before he casts Eye of the Forest, then they should care why warrior-class heroes don't wield wands. Now in v6.66, Undying and Earthshaker are also able to benefit from the mage item. Looking at this trend, I will not be surprised if more and more non-Intelligence heroes gets added to the list of beneficiaries. Pitlord, Soul Keeper and Treant Protector will be good candidates in my humble opinion. Okay maybe the last one was biased since I <3 Rooftrellen.

What do you guys think of the new changes in v6.66 and what direction do you think the Aghanim's is heading towards? Share with us your opinions! You might have some insights I missed out. And if anyone knows if passive skills work for his new skill, do enlighten this humble one.


Okay, I'm off to try out Sir Lucifer DoomStompNetPurgeBringer now! Purge, Net, Stomp, Shockwave, DOOM!

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines fills the void between Assassin's Creed I and II. For people who haven't play Assassin's Creed before, Bloodlines will let you have a little taste of what being an Assassin is like. But only a little. Moving on top of rooftops to avoid guards and patrols (who all happened to have their backs facing your target, by the way) to assassinate your victim is about as close as you can to being an assassin in this game. Assassin's Creed Chapter XII: "Choose the right victim -- There, the one who has all his underlings' backs faced to him."