M:B #17 Grand Theft Auto IV

Pros: Large open world to explore; offers many options, from dating to clothing; helpful GPS feature
Cons: Some of the base mechanics (like targeting) feel broken; missions involve luck far too often; missions tend to run together; no checkpoints within missions

Grand Theft Auto 3 was a system seller to me. When it first came out, I was mesmerized by the writeups and screenshots without even playing the game or even seeing it in action. It got to the point where I had my sister and her boyfriend take me to the mall to buy the game, even though I didn't own a PS2. I wanted to play the game so bad that I practically forced myself to buy a PS2 by getting a game for a system I didn't even own. When I finally got to play it, it was hardly the best experience in gaming that I had ever had, but it was still enjoyable enough that I made it through three quarters of it before quitting for Final Fantasy X. Now, I went back and finished the game at a later point, but the fact remained that I found the overall repetitive gameplay a bit off putting, even if it was done in a way that (at that point) really hadn't been done before. I passed when Vice City came out, but San Andreas hooked me with its promise of even more freedom by being able to drive in the country between cities and fly airplanes as well. I played San Andreas start to finish without a problem, as somehow the diversity between areas helped break up the game enough that I didn't notice I was doing the exact same tasks over and over. The game was criticized for offering too much dead space in the form of the country between the cities, but that helped make the game feel special to me. And so when Grand Theft Auto IV came out and offered a new take on the city from Grand Theft Auto 3, I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to get the game. Sure, it offered a lot of refinements, but it also marked a devolution in the series to me, returning to something safe instead of venturing too far out of the series's comfort zone. And so I waited until I could pick the game up for five bucks before taking to plunge and buying it. It was more or less exactly what I expected, in that Grand Theft Auto IV is a well done open-world third person shooter that offers up some interesting gameplay, but not enough to last its entire span.

Grand Theft Auto IV is the story of Nico Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant who has come to Liberty City to seek the man that betrayed him and in turn killed his entire home village. Nico begins by helping out his cousin, who works at a small taxi company, but he soon climbs the ladder of organized crime until he is doing jobs for the Mafia. GTA IV all takes place in Liberty City, although the city is divided into three islands which the player gradually earns access to. It happens fairly organically, as the player is sent on missions that go further and further out until they are in completely different areas. There doesn't seem to be a set course of mission in order to beat the game, and if there is, Rockstar did a good job of disguising which missions were essential. Getting around the city is easier than ever because of a GPS feature on the radar that tells you the roads to take in order to get to your destination or any waypoint you decide to place on the map. Given that Libtery City's highways would be a nightmare to traverse otherwise, this is an incredibly welcome feature. Driving around the city is well done, with a blur motion effect that makes speeding much more intense than it had been in previous entries. The different car models handle differently enough to make it interesting, although the motorcycles prove to be relatively worthless in the game. Players can also drive boats and helicopters, although the boats seem too slow to be interesting and the helicopter controls too poorly to be a viable option for transportation. The city itself is well made, with a full population that act naturally enough that it doesn't seem like its just a bunch of NPCs filling a void. The traffic might not always act realistically, but some liberties had to be taken (we couldn't have police pulling the player over for going through every red light, after all). The city itself is clearly where most of the effort went, and it shows, both for better and worst.

The missions themselves might have been fun if the combat system didn't seem so antiquated and, quite frankly, broken. Players target enemies by holding the left trigger, and then fire with the right trigger. However, the game often either has a hard time detecting enemies or targets the wrong one without an easy way of changing targets. Additionally, once you're locked on to a target, you can't unlock yourself without releasing the left trigger. I'm used to being able to correct my aim after an autotarget by using the right analog stick, but GTA IV's auto-aim fights you every step of the way and tries to snap back to the target's stomach. This makes throwing grenades near impossible, as you'll aim, get snapped on to a target behind a wall, and be unable to move the target away from the wall in order to throw the grenade effectively.What's perhaps the most sad is that the auto-aim ruined some of the biggest missions in the game. The penulimate mission features an indoor section in a tanker that is nearly unplayable, and basically any extended mission with an indoor section was at least twice as difficult as it should have been because of the targeting. Which brings up another major flaw in the game: a lack of mid-mission checkpoints. Some missions last around 10 minutes, and a random occurence (say a car blocking a path when it normally doesn't) might cause you to fail 8 minutes in. You are forced to start the mission from the beginning, risking another random occurence in those initial 8 minutes. From what I understand, they fixed this in the DLC, but it still should have been released with the original game.

The missions also tend to involve the same objectives but in different orders, leading to a lot of familiar experiences. The game throws a cool variation every once in a while, like a bank robbery or an assassination involving a job interview followed by an escape against the security guards, but too often its a variation of driving somewhere, shooting some place up, and chasing a car down. The more epic missions near the end just tend to string together activities from multiple earlier missions instead of trying to do anything new.

In addition to the main missions, players have the option to do activities with the game's various minor characters in order to build up a good relationship and even go on dates with various women. You can partake in activities such as bowling and darts with your companion, but none of this is required in the game (outside of one bowling excursion). This adds to the overall feeling that you're actually living in a city, but because the events are completely optional, they tend to feel tacked on.

I honestly doubt that Grand Theft Auto IV will be as well regarded in the future as it is today. A broken combat system, repetitive missions, and a lack of modern gameplay innovations like mid-mission checkpoints all hold the game back, despite a surprisingly well done open world that is relatively free of bugs (or at least major game changing ones). While people only interested in driving around the city and wreaking havoc may enjoy themselves for awhile, that in of itself isn't enough to sell GTA IV. Grand Theft Auto 3 may have changed the way we view open-world games, but Grand Theft Auto IV does little to innovate, and it ends up holding the game back.

Overall Score: 7.9
Recommended Price: $5

M:B #16 Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

Pros: Fast combat that doesn't get stale; levels are just one interesting scenario after another; lots of subweapons to experiment with
Cons: Not all of the subweapons are useful; story is a bit incoherent and hurts the pacing of the game; short; occassionally fickle camera

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is perhaps the best example on my list of unbeaten games of a game that I have no excuse for not beating. When I first bought the game about four or five years ago, I played through the entire game and got to the last boss, but then I just put the controller down and never went back. It's not as if I was forcing myself through the game, as I genuinely loved it, both because of a fascination with mechs at the time and because it was an incredibly well done action game. It wasn't because the boss was particularly hard, although I did die when I first faced him. I didn't even have the outside excuse of going on vacation or having something else come up in my life. I literally just stopped playing it and never picked it back up for that last battle. It ended up being a mixed blessing, however, as Mission: Backlog gave me a good reason to replay a game I knew I liked.

Zone of the Enders 2: The Second Runner is a third person mech game that casts you as the pilot of Jehuty, a specialized "Orbital Frame" (this game's name for mechs) that is wanted by two warring factions. Technically the story continues on from the first game, but no real knowledge from the original is needed to get the gist of what is going on. I say "get the gist" because while the general story is easy enough to follow, the specifics are nearly incomprehensible. You find Jehuty while on a mining mission, at which point you are forced to fight in a war where you used to fight in one of the factions until some type of betrayal and the other faction seems to be manipulating you for their own ends. Thrown into the mix is a new energy source called Metatron and a deceased comrade that has been turned into an AI. ZotE2 is a Hideo Kojima game, which should tip off most people that the story will be as convoluted as his Metal Gear Solid games, but I felt like ZotE2 had an especially miasmic quality to its story that didn't really have to exist. The story cutscenes happen often and can last between 3-10 minutes, which also tends to hurt the pace of the game. However, that's also because the action sections are that good.

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner features just about the best mech combat that I have seen in a video game. Mechs in anime often zip about at incredible speeds, dashing from one enemy to another without missing a beat. Mech games, on the other hand, tend to have the mechs trodding slowly around as the developers try to accentuate the weight and enormity of the machines. ZotE2 successfully recreates anime-style mech battles as the player can take Jehuty from enemy to enemy with little effort, making the machine feel that much more powerful. There is one main attack button that changes the style of attack based on how far one is from the enemy. If the enemy is far away, Jehuty will fire an energy shot. If they're close, he'll use a blade attached to his arm. Jehuty also has access to a variety of subweapons, each with a different function. While they're all fun to experiment with, there are a few that are much more useful than others, meaning that you'll be relying on only one or two and you'll ignore the others. The camera can sometimes obscure the action, particularly when near a wall, but it will by no means ruin the game for anyone.

While the combat itself is pretty satisfying, it's the levels that make Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner so special. Clearly a lot of thought went into the level structures, as almost every level is unique from the last. While you begin simply going through a base, battling enemies, the game doesn't settle into that rut. You'll fight boss battles often, most of which require wildly different tactics than you would use otherwise. Additionally, the game has a couple of "dream scenarios," levels that just about any mech fan would kill to have. The two that stand out in my mind are one in which you must take down a fleet of 5 airships in a single life and one in which you fight an entire battle, complete with thousands of enemies and over 50 allies. The levels force you to approach combat in a slightly different way that is still immensely satisfying and go a long ways towards making the game memorable. As I mentioned before, I'd played most of ZotE2 in the past, and when I was playing through it again, I found myself thinking "I remember this!" just about every level (and not with an "oh fuck" before it). You'll likely be disappointed that the game ends after about five and a half hours or so, although chances are you'll enjoy every minute of the gameplay (outside of one somewhat slow "stealth" section). The story took up a bit too much of this five and a half hours as well, although once again these might seem like moot complaints given that Metal Gear Solid was about six hours long and featured more cutscenes.

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is a game that would be perfect for anyone with a passing interest in 3rd person action games. The action is frenetic enough to always feel exciting, and yet structured in a way that you'll almost always know exactly what you're doing. Add to that first class level design and you have a game that probably should have catapulted the series (thank Metal Gear Solid 3-5 for the lack of a sequel) but instead just lead to some of the best gameplay in a game last generation, despite a too short game.

Overall Score: 8.8
Recommended price: $10

Bioshock 2

Pros: Interesting story; strong combat encourages experimentation; excellent setting; new multiplayer options
Cons: Some pacing issues ; lots of powers recycled from first game

Quick preamble: I've purposely left off spoilers from both the first and second games, as Bioshock featured some of the best plot twists of 2007, and knowing those aren't important when explaining Bioshock 2. So the descriptions of the games reflect what you're given at the beginning of the game story wise, not what you know by the end.

 I really don't like period pieces in the least. One of the more painful movie viewing experiences of the year was watching Jim Carrey's The Majestic, although to be fair it was watched after 3 other Jim Carrey movies and I was already exhausted. The setting of Batman: The Animated Series was always a turnoff to me instead of a reason to watch (particularly after the setting created a shitload of continuity errors when they launched Batman Beyond. How can you age 30-40 years and suddenly jump 70 years into the future, Bruce Wayne?). So when I borrowed the original Bioshock from a friend, I did so with a grain of sand, not really looking to love it, but still expecting it to be a good game. It ended up playing alot like Deus Ex or, more accurately, Clive Barker's Undying, and I found myself enjoying the game because of the setting, not in spite of it. For anyone who has ever been to Epcot and gone on the "Future World" ride or simply watched Mad Men, the 1960s were a strange time where idealism seemed to override all else and coat almost every social problem with a glossy finish. This was an absolutely perfect time setting for a game based in a utopian underwater city that seemed lost in time. Bioshock 2 manages build on the setting by offering a unique view on the city that takes place after the first game has concluded.

Bioshock 2 takes a much different path than the first game in that it attempts to tell a much more personal story. Bioshock was great in that the story featured someone that was looking at the underground utopia of Rapture with fresh eyes, and so exploring the city and soaking in the new setting was as exciting as anything else in the game. The sequel faced the challenge of a game with a setting everyone was already familiar with, and hence Bioshock 2 had to do some trailblazing if it was going to be as engaging as the first. It does this with an overall better story that has the player controlling a Big Daddy, one of the lumbering giants from the first game that were effectively minibosses in the first game. Big Daddies are protectors of Little Sisters, the seemingly obligatory creepy children that harvest an energy substance from dead bodies throughout Rapture. In the first game, you were given the option of rescuing them or killing them after defeating a Big Daddy, but in Bioshock 2 defeating a Big Daddy allows you to adopt their Little Sister. You can then go around and have them harvest energy for you before you decide whether you want to rescue them or kill them. The overarching story involves you finding the Little Sister that you were originally created for, and while it may not have the same overall sense of espionage and intrigue that the first game had, it features a mission that is more personal and hence a bit either to sympathize with.

The setting is once again one of the main draws of the game as you go through different sections of Rapture in order to get to your Little Sister. Although some of the sheen from the first game has worn off the second time around, Rapture is still an overall stunning city that contains some great scenery. The game also has several sections where you simply walk underwater outside the city which, while they don't offer any combat whatsoever, are highlights because of the ruins and neon plants that you must push through to get to the next area.

The gameplay is almost identical to that in the first game (a good, if not a bit traditional, first person shooter), with the only differences being a few new weapons and a few new Plasmids, the game's equivalent of special powers. The Plasmids cover all the major elemental bases (fire, lightning, ice) as well as some more unique ways of dealing with enemies (there is a power that allows you to set elemental traps for your enemies to run into as well as one that attacks your enemies with insects). Ideally you'll use Plasmids in combination with the weapons in order to more effectively take down enemies, and the game attempts to reward you for being creative by offering a type of scoring system through a camera that earns you research points on the different enemies. Killing enemies off in different ways nets you more research points, and after accruing a certain number, you can deal more damage to that enemy or even earn new powers. It's a good way to make the combat a bit more interesting given that the game is overall a fairly straightforward first person shooter, especially given that I remember playing through more than half of the first game with just the wrench because it was so overpowered.

One nice touch that might be off putting to some is the way that the difficulty scales in the game. I played the game on Hard mode and ended up having a tough time at the beginning of the game that got progressively easier until I was pretty much walking through the end of the game without much fear of dying. The Big Daddy and Big Sister fights at the beginning of the game seem like Herculean tasks that you may be apprehensive to start, but are easily managed by the game's end. I found it nice that the game actually made you feel like you were getting much more powerful as the game continued, much like X-Men Legends, but those looking for a challenging game throughout may be disappointed.

The one area where Bioshock 2 falls short of its predecessor is pacing. Rescuing Little Sisters is an overall optional process, and because of this you'll spend about as much time fighting Big Daddies and harvesting energy as you will playing through the game since doing so will net you more energy to spend on Plasmids. Spending an hour pushing the story forward and then taking an hour off may sound fine to some, but as someone who played it for 3+ hour stretches, it felt pretty uneven overall to spend so much time doing an optional task that didn't push the story forward at all.

The game's length feels about right given the story in the game, and Bioshock 2 includes a pretty robust multiplayer mode for those interesting in continued play. Additionally, the game features 100 audio diaries to collect that flesh out the story, and chances are that most people won't find all of them on their first playthrough. Bioshock 2 feels unique enough from the original Bioshock that it doesn't feel like an unnecessary sequel, although its newest gameplay mechanic, that of the Little Sisters, is both a blessing and a curse because of what it does to the overall pacing of the game. While it comes up just short of the original Bioshock in terms of single-player experience, its multiplayer suite may make it the better game overall for those interested in competitive play.

Overall Score: 9.2

Recommended Price: $20

M:B #15 Deadly Creatures

Pros: Unique premise; varied combat, surpisingly gritty, terrific level design; shockingly overqualified voice acting
Cons: Poor camera on tarantula levels; web jump mechanic feels incomplete; fairly short with no real replay; no real story to speak of (although not THAT much of a con)

It's rare when a game peaks my interest based purely on premise, particularly when it's a premise I really shouldn't have any interest in in the first place. Normally I'll buy a game because of its general type and good reviews, although I'll also go the shallow route and buy a game because of a unique gameplay mechanic every so often. When I bought Deadly Creatures, all I knew was that it featured a scorpion and a tarantula as its two main protagonists and that it took place wholly in the desert. Part of me probably wanted to play it based solely on a childhood obsession with a scorpion encased in glass that my dad bought for me on one of his business trips out west. The thing was, I was incredibly interested in it as a souvenir, but had no continuing interest in scorpions past that, so it seems at best I was interested in a game because of a cheap tourist trinket from when I was 7. The reviews of the game seemed kind enough, as it generally received scores in the 70s, which I always take to mean a game that is either 1) overall average or 2) has a great idea but flawed execution. As this is my mindset when reading reviews, I was fully prepared for the game to have an interesting concept but ultimately fail, and yet I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up playing the game. Deadly Creatures is a unique third person action game that delivers on its promise of a game that highlights two of the most feared desert insects in a fun but mostly believable way.

The game attempts to maintain a realistic tone overall, and as such its hardly surprising that the story isn't that great. There are two men who are out digging for treasure in the desert, and at random times your insect will cross paths with these two and watch a short interaction. In a weird move, the game hired Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton to do the voice acting, which is done well but seems to be a bit of overkill given their general role in the game. The story isn't interesting enough to drive you through the game on its own, but it is really there in an attempt to give the game some type of overall structure. Each level features an "Adventure Goal" that you'll accomplish fairly naturally just by moving forward through the levels. By the end of the game, you'll begin to notice that the tarantula and the scorpion really don't have an overarching motivation for moving forward, but then again they're insects. They really don't need one.

The levels alternate between playing as the tarantula and the scorpion, although you'll find yourself repeating certain parts of levels. The key is that you navigate them in completely different ways because of the unique abilities of each insect. The tarantula is much more versatile overall in that it can climb on any wall or ceiling and additionally shoot a web that allows it to jump to certain special surfaces while the scorpion has the ability to cut through thick grass and also dig certain marked patches of ground. This is one of the few times that I have not been disappointed at all by level designers recycling levels, as instead of playing through the same level but clearing a couple obstacles in different ways, the game's level design more resembles a double helix. You'll start at different points and all of the sudden realize you're at a section of the game that you've played before, but this will only last a few moments as you leave that same area in a completely different way. I have to say that after playing a lot of games with poor level design, it was refreshing to finally play one that excelled in that area. There are a few particular sections that stand out, such as having to navigate through the interior of an abandoned truck as the tarantula. Although almost all of the levels take place outside in the desert, the locale never feels stale, in part because its perfectly fitting that these insects wouldn't play a desert level then a snow level and also because there are unique situations within the desert that you play through, such as the aforementioned truck.

The tarantula levels also falls victim to two of the games worst flaws: the web jump and the camera. Every so often a level will require you to scan around for web patches that you can zip to, and yet it's not always clear that the feature is even called for. Add to that the weird decision to only be able to web jump from arbitrary positions and you have a mechanic that still needed some work. In addition to this, you'll find yourself battling with the camera every so often just to see what surface you're trying to walk on to. You'll also find yourself disoriented often and will have to stop and get your bearing just to figure out if you're upside down or not. Since the scorpion's movement is much more restricted, you'll find yourself running into problems with the camera less often. It's a bizzare tradeoff in that the tarantula levels are better designed overall, but I found myself looking forward to the scorpion levels so I didn't have to deal with these problems.

The combat is interesting and never grows tired as the tarantula and the scorpion control completely differently and have varied move sets. The tarantula relies more on jumping around and striking the enemy once or twice before retreating while the scorpion has the ability to block, making combat more of an exercise in parrying then attacking. One of my biggest pet peeves with Wii games is when they require you to waggle the remote, and thankfully Deadly Creatures keeps it to a minimum. After I turned the remote sensitivity to maximum, I stopped really noticing that I was waggling at all, which was a godsend. Defeating enemies and completing adventure goals will give you points that will level your creature up, often giving you access to more powerful techniques. Although not all techniques are required to progress, its fun to have a few options other than the basic combo.

The game also rides a fine line between realism and fantasy that's interesting in and of itself. It's not surprising that the game takes some novelties with the creature's abilities (such as the web jump and scorpions cutting grass), but rather it's shocking how brutal and realistic the game is at times. Each creature moves incredibly realistically, with each leg operating independently. It's odd when I stop actually playing a game just to admire how a character walks, but Deadly Creatures just does it incredibly well. The combat should cause the game to be rated M, but because its insect on insect (or reptile or rodent) action, the game gets by with a T rating. Combat with the scorpion is particularly gruesome, featuring finishing moves where the scorpion either stabs the creature in the back with his stinger or through the creature's head. It's incredibly satisfying and really never gets old since you only play as him half the game and the finishing moves change depending on what enemy you're fighting.

Once you finish Deadly Creatures, there isn't much of a reason to return to the game unless you have an interest in collecting all 425 collectible grubs hidden throughout the game. But the game is fun for the 6-8 hours that it lasts and provides a memorable experience among the drudge of most games released for the Wii.

Overall Score: 7.9

Recommended Price: $12

M:B #13 and #14 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Chrono Trigger

Elder Scrolls IV
Pros: Open world that doesn't constrict your choice of how to advance through the story, leveling system that allows you to create a custom character; lots of optional sidequests; great setpieces
Cons: Lots of bugs that will cause the game to crash or just keep you from advancing; unbalanced character development options; unimpressive graphics and poor framerate; dungeons all blend together after a while.

Chrono Trigger
Pros: Great story with likable characters; interesting sidequests; New Game+ feature encourages replaying the game multiple times
Cons: Game becomes incredibly difficult at the end, hence encouraging grinding; "optional" sidequests really aren't that optional

I find it fascinating that one genre of games can develop in two almost completely unique ways depending upon the country that they are made in. Granted, games are obviously going to somewhat reflect the culture of the developers, but every once and a while a genre takes on enough of its country's tendencies that they develop into a completely different sub genre. Perhaps the best example in my mind is that of the Japanese RPG, or just JRPG, which has come to represent a game (often turn based and almost always menu driven) featuring a cast of lovable characters who move through a linear story to combat some great evil. Contrast this to American RPGs which have always seemed to value choices and the ability to progress through a game as the player sees fit while still involving statistics and leveling up. In a move that ended up doubling the subjectivity that Chrono Trigger was treated with, I decided to try and play Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Chrono Trigger at the same time in order to contrast a new "American" RPG with a traditional JRPG.

Oblivion is just about everything that I expected from a game very clearly made in America. Although it sounds cliche, American games have come to value freedom in a broad sense. Whether it be the freedom of choosing whether to play the game as a good or evil character or the freedom to tackle the game as the player sees fit, some elements of choice are almost always included in American games nowadays, and Oblivion was perhaps one of the best examples of this I have seen. My previous experience with a Bethesda Studios game was Fallout 3, a game that is a spiritual successor more to the Elder Scrolls games than its namesake. As such, I had an idea of what I would be getting in to in terms of a sandbox environment. That said, for better or worse Oblivion's world is more expansive and offers more choice, both in how to develop your character and what quests you want to tackle. The game features a story about the assassination of the Imperial bloodline in order to open up rifts to a hell dimension, but the main quest is not the real focus of the game. Oblivion offers no less than 4 extra factions that each have a unique quest line that provide about 4-5 hours of gameplay each. These quest lines can be tackled at any point and can also be interrupted, so you can play a few missions for the Thieves' Guild, do a Mage's Guild mission, and then maybe a story mission and not be penalized for it in the least. The game features many memorable setpieces within these quests that, for me, were the highlight of the game. In particular, the Dark Brotherhood missions that involve killing off characters in creative ways were my favorite, including one mission where you were invited to a dinner party and tasked with killing off each guest alone so that no one at the party would suspect you as the killer. There are also quests that can be picked up that have nothing to do with any faction and feature a simple one-off quest. Additionally, the game has many ruins that can be explored that are unconnected to any missions whatsoever, but rather just offer an opportunity for treasure hunting. All said, it took me about 50 hours to finish the main quest, the four faction stories, and the optional Arena, and I still felt like I could have spent more time with the game and unearthed more.

The character development is as open as the game world is, with the ability to specialize in certain areas or spent alot of time with the game and become a jack of all trades. The game allows you to use swords, bows, hammers, staves, and magic spells, although not all of these are good options. I found the bow to be almost completely useless and without much use, while the spells and staves seemed a bit overpowered. There are 5 different magic schools that each offer a different array of spells and level up separately (Illusion, Mysticism, Conjuration, Destruction, and Restoration). Some schools are more useful than others, but its incredibly easy to level up all these schools at the same time, so you aren't really forced to focus on one in particular. The game has you choose seven "major skills" at the beginning of the game, and as you level up these skills, you eventually gain a general level that allows you to add points to your base attributes (such as strength, agility, and endurance). All other skills are considered "minor skills" and although you can level them up without any penalty for not choosing them as a major skill, raising a minor skill's level will not increase your overall level.

Open world games are known for the immense amount of freedom that they give the player, and yet this almost always comes at the price of bugs. It's understandable, since the number of variables that programmers have to take into account simply becomes too much to handle, and yet Oblivion's bugs tend to threaten your enjoyment of the game as a whole. The game will randomly crash, and while the game also autosaves frequently, it still doesn't help the pace of the game to have to turn off your console and reload the game. Additionally, there are bugs that just keep you from progressing in the game. I came across two in particular that almost prevented me from being able to proceed at all. One involved a cutscene that would automatically cause the game to crash and forced me to replay a save that was over a half of an hour old, and another involved a spell that unlocked locked objects being unable to hit a locked gate at all. I was able to circumvent both of these with the help of internet suggestions, but I shouldn't have had to resort to this in the first place. Additionally, the game hasn't aged well graphically, and the frame rate is pretty bad any time that you are on the world map due to the immense amount of foliage. Even though there are an incredible amount of dungeons, caves, and ruins to explore, they're all made of the same 6 rooms or so, just pieced together separately, which you will undoubtedly start to notice by the twentieth hour.

It was towards the end of my time with Oblivion that the bugs started to become overwhelming, and so I was relieved to start playing a game that was so structured as to almost completely eliminate the possibility of bugs. Chrono Trigger is the story of a boy who is originally just tasked with rescuing his friend after she falls into a time rift, but the story eventually grows to involve an enemy that is threatening to destroy the entire world. In order to combat this threat, Crono and his friends must fight throughout different time periods in order to prepare themselves for the final confrontation. The game is mostly linear, but near the end of the game you are given a list of possible sidequests to do in any order you see fit. These side quests are completely optional, but you will find yourself unprepared for the final battle if you ignore them all. To be honest, I was a little frustrated that the game forced you to do optional sidequests instead of just having a longer main story, but these sidequests often filled in the backgrounds of the various characters, so they did have some value for the story. I suppose I was expecting a completely regimented game throughout like Final Fantasy IV but instead found myself playing an RPG closer to Final Fantasy VI. You are given the option to face the end boss about a quarter of the way through the game, although this isn't really an option unless you are playing in New Game+ mode (which I'll touch on later).

The combat in the game is menu based, but once again it plays more like the SNES Final Fantasies since it makes use of an ATB gauge that makes the battles play out in real time (as opposed to turn based). I played the game on the DS, which allowed for the use of the touch screen to input commands and made the actual battle screen much less cluttered. Each character has Techniques that they can use and are, for the most part, unique to the character. Additionally, characters can perform Double Techniques with other characters and eventually Triple Techniques. Since the game only allows for three characters on the screen at a time, battle tactics can drastically change depending on who you take into battle given that there are a total of 7 characters you can recruit into your party. Characters that aren't in your active line up still receive some experience, though it isn't the full amount. From what I could tell, they receive about 3/4 of the experience, which means that they are never completely behind. All of these characters are viable battle options as well, which is surprisingly refreshing. I really can't tell the last time that I could actually take any character I wanted into a battle and have them be equally effective.

After you finish the game, you are able to create a save file for New Game+ mode where all of your experience and equipment carries over into a new game. This makes fighting the last boss before finishing the main quest actually feasible and will change the ending to the game. There are 13 endings in total that a player can get depending on when they face the final boss, so there is definite room for replaying the game.

Chrono Trigger is a well paced game overall, although players should know that a significant amount of grinding is involved at the end of the game. When the main story ends, your characters are no where near the level that they will need to be to finish the final boss. In addition to doing all of the sidequests, I found that I also had to level up in the last dungeon for about 2 hours before I was able to take on the final boss and have a chance at winning. This weird spike of difficulty at the end of the game is only really jarring because it doesn't have a precedence in the rest of the game, but it by no means is insurmountable.

The art should also be addressed, as it makes Chrono Trigger stand out as one of the best looking SNES period RPGs released. Although Akira Toriyama's character designs start to look derivative across his entire body of work, Chrono Trigger as a whole is vibrant and warm and one that you will never get bored looking at.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a game that I could recommend to just about anyone, as the freedom afforded in the game has an appeal to it that could draw in people who may be turned off by more traditional RPGs like Chrono Trigger. Think of Oblivion as the RPG that someone who plays Grand Theft Auto could still enjoy. If someone's tastes in RPGs run more traditional, Chrono Trigger is a near perfect example of a classic JRPG that has a cast of likable characters and satisfying storyline. Although the two games are completely different types of RPGs, both can fairly easily be considered classics, as they are two of the finest examples of their respective sub-genres.

Overall Scores
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion : 9.3
Chrono Trigger : 9.4

Recommended Prices
ESIV: Oblivion: 19.99 (but make sure you get Game of the Year Edition)
Chrono Trigger: 19.99 (go for the DS version if you can)