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Resident Evil 4 Review

Graphics:
9.7
Gameplay:
9.5
Sound:
8.5
Control:
9.0
Replay Value:
9.0
Overall Rating:
9.4
Online Gameplay:
Not Rated
Publisher:
Capcom
Developer:
Capcom
Number Of Players:
1
Genre:
Action
Release Date:


After several years of sequels, remakes and spin-offs, the Resident Evil series finally has a game that has brought new life to an aging series. Resident Evil 4, a port of the GameCube game of the same name, features more missions, weapons and costumes than ever before, and the game play has improved greatly as well. This installment improves and expands upon the original survival horror formula of the first older Resident Evil games, giving it that extra boost that fans have wanted for a long time.

The game takes place a few years after Resident Evil 3 and stars Leon, who left the zombie infested Raccoon City to become a federal agent. After some time, he is assigned to a mission to protect the president's daughter but, he eventually finds out that she has been captured by an unknown group residing somewhere in Europe. What seems to be a simple rescue mission turns out to be a lot more complicated when he gets attacked by possessed villagers, who turn out to be the kidnappers. The story is gripping and mysterious, with the new setting adding a lot to the game play. The PS2 version also has fleshed out cut scenes, extra missions and even a set of side missions where you play as a woman named Ada, making the game very complete in terms of story and content.

For those new to the series, the core Resident Evil games pit you against a legion of zombies, putting you in dark, eerie environments as you try to run, hide, or kill your enemies. The name of the game is survival, and you must do anything to protect yourself. In addition to zombies, there are usually a few monsters set as bosses. But this time around, with the new setting, there also comes a new enemy, giving the gameplay that tweak it needed. No longer are your enemies mindless and barely mobile, you're facing nimble and conscious villagers that'll do anything to stop you from completing your mission. The AI is great in the game, even though they aren't exactly the brightest of enemies; they aren't supposed to be, so it makes them an unpredictable challenge. Amongst the normal villagers you encounter, some will be carrying weapons, including pitchforks, petrol bombs, and even chainsaws. There's no reason to worry though, since Leon can carry many different types of guns around with him, ranging from standard pistols to rifles and even a rocket launcher. This installment still follows on the tradition of having bigger monsters for bosses though, so that's where those bigger guns will come in handy.

The graphics are definitely like no other game seen on a PS2 before, because even though they may not be perfect, the environments and characters look absolutely stunning. There's a vast amount of detail in almost everything, especially the characters. This time around, Leon looks quite a bit older and certainly bulkier, giving him a darker look compared to how you may remember him from the past. Whilst the idea of possessed villagers may not seem as scary as zombies, your menacing, blood drenched attackers look great, and the game feels eerier as there is a more human feel to it. There are a fair share of monsters in the game, including one of the coolest boss battles in any game on the PS2; the lake monster. Not only is this gorgeously rendered beast almost as big as the lake it lives in, you also have to take it down whilst dodging it in a small speed boat, using harpoons. This battle looks awesome, and showcases what the PS2 is actually capable of.

The new setting also makes an interesting change from the usual city setting, and it adds a creepier tone to the atmosphere. The village, in which the game takes place, is relatively big, with some very detailed areas, such as the aforementioned lake and the many underground tunnels in the area. Even when you're about 8 hours into the game, there are still many areas left to be seen on the map. Areas with houses are mostly desolate and empty; there'll be nothing but Leon for the most parts, leaving you to explore houses and open areas alone. However, when you enter a new area or head towards your destination it's more than likely you'll be greeted by a horde of rabid people waiting to tear you to pieces.

The game mechanics all revolve around the new camera system, which allows you to easily see where you're aiming with accuracy, and have a good look at your environment as well. The view comes from behind Leon's right shoulder, revealing his back and head from the waistline upwards, but the main focus is obviously over his shoulder. It's not quite a first person camera, nor is it a traditional third person camera. It utilizes the best parts of both types of cameras, and if used properly it can go in your favor when trying to kill that group of violent Europeans. The control scheme, generally, hasn't changed from the previous games which may disappoint some people, although they are now complimented by the camera, making it easier to kill off multiple enemies and at the same time relieving the strain on your health and ammo, as it's almost certain you won't be losing as much of either. It's almost as if that, when they changed the camera to make it fully 3D, it fixed the controls. They aren't perfect of course, but it's a lot less problematic now.

The sound is not exactly the biggest part of the game, but silence is pretty much a key part of creating tension or anxiety before entering a surprise attack, and if it weren't for that, the game would be much less scary. When there is music played as a back ground noise, it's usually quiet since the ambience is the dominating factor of the audio. The ambient sounds are very realistic, and work well when in the silent or quiet parts of the game. Perhaps the best part of the sound is the dub, even though all the main characters have great voiceovers, they are outshone by the hilarious sounds the villagers make. Maybe I'm not supposed to laugh when a villager starts shouting something at me in, what seems to be, Spanish, but I can't help it. They call out to each other, giving orders or alerting their comrades where their enemy is, and it just goes to show that the AI is great.

A mixture of all these great elements make this one hell of a great game, one that every PS2 owner should consider buying. Having only briefly playing the older games, and my survival/horror knowledge only being previously limited to Devil May Cry, the game was a bit of a gamble purchase for me, but I definitely feel like it was more than worth it. The game itself will last you more than 20 hours, and with the extra content and hidden extras, you'd be doing yourself a big favor if you went out and bought the game as soon as possible.

Worms 4: Mayhem Review

Graphics:
8.0
Gameplay:
8.2
Sound:
7.7
Control:
8.0
Replay Value:
8.5
Overall Rating:
8.0
Online Gameplay:
Not Rated
Publisher:
Majesco
Developer:
Team 17
Number Of Players:
1-4
Release Date:


Worms 4: Mayhem is the latest game brought into the popular Worms franchise. Like Worms 3D, and Worms: Forts Under Siege, this game is all in 3D. After a disappointing start in the next dimension, the new installment tries to spice things up a bit, boasting new weapons, new scenery and best of all, an all new story mode.

The gameplay in Worms 4: Mayhem plays like a typical worms game, but in 3D. Team 17 seemed to have patched up the holes that were found in Worms 3D and have done a good job at making the game more playable. The movement and camera movements are smooth, and the controls make it easy to perform all the actions, and bring up the weapons list with no problem. For those who have not previously played one of the games before, the general ideas behind the game is taking your team of four to six worms, and kill all the other worms, using crazy weapons and gadgets.

There are several different modes to the new game. Firstly there is the standard quick game, which throws you into a randomized battle against one computer opponent; next there is the standard multiplayer mode where you can fight your friends and/or CPU enemies with personalized settings. There is also a challenge mode, a shop to buy new goods, an area to customize your worms and of course the story mode.

The story mode is unlike anything that has been seen in a Worms game before. The plotline is based on a mad scientist worm, commanding a regiment of worms (your team) into battle. At first you are fighting builders in the current time zone, but as the game progresses, you end up in all sorts of time zones, fighting different worms, each with unique weapon lists. To move to the next level, or mission, the general theme is to destroy all the enemy worms, destroy a designated piece of scenery or collect a certain amount of items, sometimes even a combination of the three. Whilst this is great to begin with, it does seem to lose its charm over time and at points it can feel slightly repetitive; nonetheless it is still fun to pick up and play every now and again.

But this is not where the main focus of these games is. Worms has, and probably always will be, a multiplayer game, and in this respect the development team has achieved what they wanted: a great game to play with friends. The multiplayer mode has lots to offer, six teams at a time can play in a predetermined, or random generated, map. There are different settings for the map such as Prehistoric, Construction Site and The Oasis, and each one feels very different. As well this, there is a "slot" machine where you can add new twists to the game such as double damage, low gravity, slow moving worms etc. With this, each game feels pretty unique and it gives the game a lot of replay value.

On the customization subject, this game has a lot of it. Everything can be changed, from team names and worm names, like in normal worm games, to how the team dresses. That's right; you can now dress your worms up with all sorts of hats, gloves and glasses, all weirder than the last. This is kind of fun, but also seems like a bit of a gimmick after awhile.

On this game you can also create weapons; there are three types, launched, projectile and air. Launched are bazooka type weapons, projectiles are grenade like and air are launched via air strike. Each has there own special use, so choosing which weapon to have (they act like special weapons) is purely down to preference. The way you make the weapon is entirely up to you, but there is a limit on how good each one can actually be.

The graphics work pretty well, with a cartoon feel that has been present in the worms games since the days of Worms: Armageddon. The worms pull a lot of different faces in battle, and they all look pretty funny in different costumes, my personal favorite being the cowboy look. The scenery is what you would expect from the game, and whilst the explosion animations, and other flame animations sometimes contain jaggies, the weapons still look pretty wacky. The audio is never really too impressive, but the voices and the explosion sounds do the jobs that they are intended to do, and even provide a few laughs.

The step into the next dimension was a very big decision for Team 17 at the time, and Worms 3D made the transition smoothly, but, it seemed to lack the quality of the original titles. Worms 4 is a big improvement from its 3D predecessors and the game has taken a step in the right direction. Having not being able to test out the online play, the game might be even better than this review indicates for some people, but it is definitely worth a purchase for anyone looking for a decent multiplayer title. For the main story, the game may only be worth getting when the price drops a bit.

Gungrave: Overdose Review

Graphics:
7.5
Gameplay:
8.3
Sound:
6.8
Control:
8.0
Replay Value:
7.7
Overall Rating:
7.6
Online Gameplay:
Not Rated


Gungrave: Overdose is the second the game based on the popular anime series Gungrave. The title stars Beyond the Grave, a hero raised from death, fighting drug lords and gangsters, set 3 years after the first game. Overdose features simple third person action in the style of an arcade game. If you love to blow things up and shoot lots of gangsters then read on.

The Corsione family, the bad guys of this game, are releasing a super powerful drug named SEED, which is extremely addictive and ultimately fatal to the person using it. Grave, Mika and Spike set out to destroy the drug and come across two more characters, which make up the rest of the three playable people, named Juji and Billy. The game is pretty simple, you run from A to B in an arcade style, shooting as many enemies as you possibly can. The more people you kill, the more beats you gain; beats are used to fill a meter. Once the meter is full you gain a demolition shot, when you perform this special attack, a massive area of the screen is literally blown up. As you progress into the game you get more powerful shots.

Each character is different; Grave is the balanced fighter, who uses two pistols for long ranged shots and also has a coffin that is chained to his back for melee attacks, Juji specializes in close up attacks utilizing his sword and gun combo weapon and Billy performs powerful long range attacks using an electric guitar. With these different characteristics, it's best to play a level as all of them before making up your mind on who you prefer. The only problem with this is that they all run one story, every level is exactly the same, and every enemy is the same and so on. Because of this, sometimes it feels like levels have been designed purely for Grave, and if you were to play with either Juji or Billy, the level may seem ridiculously easy or hard.

Grave faces all different kinds of enemies ranging from humans, to robots and monsters which have been affected by different kinds of SEED. As well as the regular grunts, there are two kinds of bosses; end of level bosses and "mini" bosses. Mini bosses are scattered around every level and are tougher than regular grunts, but are not as tough as an end of level boss. End of level bosses tend to be relatively easy, but take a lot more thought and strategy than the seemingly simple mini bosses. The models of the enemies are well designed and get even better as the game progresses.

The simplicity of this game is perfect for people who just want to run around shooting and killing without giving it much thought at all. Although the game is based on an anime, the story is easy to follow and you don't really need to know that much about the anime before playing the game, making it enjoyable for anyone who loves this kind of game. The game would take an average player about five to ten hours to complete once, and once completed you can then complete the game again with another character. There are nine stages in all, and each stage is split up every now and again by save points. There are no lives at all, but if you die you go back to the beginning of the last room you entered or the last save point. However, you have a shield bar as well as a standard health bar, which is reminiscent of the Halo games. Your shield will deplete before your health, but can also be regenerated, unlike the health bar. So you won't find yourself dying very often.

The graphics are made in an anime style that looks and feels like a cartoon. However, this is not cell-shading, unlike its predecessor, yet it still attains the look it is trying to achieve. The cut scenes look amazing, but this cannot generally be said about the whole game. Most of the levels and enemy designs are basic, and there are a fair amount of jaggies within the game, but there is not too much focus on the visuals within the game, so it is easy to look past. Another problem within battle is that when too many objects are on screen, namely objects firing at you, there may be a small amount of slowdown.

The audio is very basic indeed, with little to no in-game music and generic gun shot sounds, this is one of the few aspects of the game that needs to be improved a lot. There are both English and Japanese dubs to the game, so players have the choice on whether they want to put up with the dub or use subtitles. Personally, I used the English dub, because even though it isn't the best voice acting in games, it's bearable.

Overall the game is very enjoyable and easy to pick up and play. With a story that's interesting and game play that is simple but fun, you'll get hooked pretty quickly. There are some issues and flaws which could have been easily avoided, and whilst the game sometimes lacks substance, it makes up for it with other fun aspects. The game itself isn't really that long, and all though there are three different characters to play as, you may find yourself only playing through once with your favorite character of the three. Therefore the game is probably best to be rented, but with a low price tag, it might be worth picking up.

Saint Seiya: The Sanctuary Review

Graphics:
4.5
Gameplay:
5.0
Sound:
5.5
Control:
6.0
Replay Value:
5.8
Overall Rating:
5.5
Online Gameplay:
Not Rated
Publisher:
Bandai
Developer:
Dimps
Number Of Players:
1-2


Saint Seiya: The Sanctuary is based on a popular anime from the eighties, which is based on the lead character Seiya, with his friends trying to protect the reincarnation of Athena. This game allows players to be many of the series' characters, duking it out in some of the cartoon's many arenas. The game features a quite a unique battle system, but does unique necessarily mean good? In this review I'm going to tackle this issue.

I'd like to start off by saying one thing, anyone who doesn't like crazy Japanese anime should hit the back button now and look for another beat ‘em up to consider purchasing. This game is solely based on appeasing the fans of the series. The story is very deep, and quite intriguing at first, but it is very peculiar and I doubt it will hold anybodies attention for very long; it's almost a certainty that many people will be skipping the long, tedious cut scenes unless they are fans of the show. In short, the game is based on Seiya, who has to fight these guards called the gold knights to help save the aforementioned reincarnation of Athena, with the help of his friends (who are aptly named the bronze knights). It is all very weird and hard to stand after awhile, but thankfully it's also easy to skip.

There are three main modes: 12-Gold Palaces (essentially the story mode), versus mode and an area to visit the unlocked objects (such as images from the comic). The story mode is relatively short and very disappointing, taking a maximum of two hours to complete, minus the very lengthy cut scenes. Although, once completed, there is an alternate story line allowing you to change the events within the game, which is probably a great bonus for the fans. Basically the fights are split up into story chapters. These chapters also include about one or two of the aforementioned cut scenes to show you exactly why you're fighting your opponent and to show what happens after he is finished off. Once both the alternate and the regular story lines are finished, there is a hidden mode to unlock.

There are quite a few characters to choose from once they are all unlocked, and even though they are supposed to feel and play differently when in combat, they don't seem to at all. This is obviously where the fighting system fails. There are three types of attacks; light, hard and special. You can perform small combos with light attacks, big combos with hard attacks and middle sized or different combos with a mixture of the two, with the way that the special attacks work, these are ineffective for the most part (they are only useful for getting your self out of the corner) and can only be worked well with the "dash" button, which is used to quickly move from side to side.

The special attacks can create a small energy attack that will take small amounts of health off the opponent, but when the energy bar is charged up to a certain amount, it will trigger a small cut scene to show a particular attack. Each character has three of these, so with the amount of fighters there are, this means you maybe sitting by the TV for quite a while if you want to see them all. All together, the fighting system can be confusing, and the video clips get rather annoying after watching the same one over and over again. The actual engine as well is not very up to scratch, with some ok ideas poorly executed.

The graphics are poor, and offer very little. In combat you may encounter a lot of jaggies and slowdown, this is also accompanied by bad graphics in general, making the battles unattractive. The cut scenes are reminiscent of Dragon ball Z Budokai 1, and they look slightly better than those of Budokai, but that game was released three years ago! This obviously represents that the game feels like it should have been released at the PS2's launch, and even then I think it would have gotten bad reviews.

The music during battles, from what I assume, must be from the cartoon. Although the tunes aren't all that bad, they are pretty bland and get very repetitive, very quickly. There are voiceovers from either the French or Japanese dubs of the anime. Now I don't know why there isn't an English, but the best bet is that it didn't get dubbed over here, so they stuck the original voiceovers on and the French dub.

As I have never watched the anime, I would not know how this game represents the show itself, so I am rating this as a normal game. In this respect, for all I know the game could be a real gem for its target consumers, the fans, but I really could not find anything that saved this game from being poor. It felt unfinished, mistreated and overall horrible. The only thing that salvages this game is that there are a lot of things to unlock in the Zodiac area, but apart from that I can't recommend this to anyone except fans of the anime, who I think should consider renting the game before buying it.

Devil May Cry 3 Review

Graphics:
9.7
Gameplay:
9.5
Sound:
7.6
Control:
9.3
Replay Value:
9.0
Overall Rating:
9.0
Online Gameplay:
Not Rated
Publisher:
Capcom
Developer:
Capcom
Number Of Players:
1


It's been two years since the lackluster Devil May Cry 2 came out to mixed feelings amongst fans, and now, the highly anticipated prequel has arrived; Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. The original set the bar for the action/adventure genre, boasting unbelievable graphics, addictive hack/slash/shoot game play and mind numbing sets of combos; for lovers of the first and second game, this instalment doesn't disappoint in the slightest.

DMC 3 starts with a cut scene showing Dante in his newly opened demon hunting business. Moments after he sits down, a strange man walks into the shop, proposing a challenge from Dante's evil twin brother, Vergil. The story line isn't the most involving out there but proves to be sufficient, for a game of this nature, and is also a lot more in depth than the previous games. This time around, Dante is younger, cockier and funnier, which is very entertaining through some of the game's cut scenes.

Taking the best puzzles and action from both its predecessors, mixing them up to make some crazy survival action, this game creates an awesome gothic atmosphere which both astounds and amazes. There are a variety of monsters to fight throughout the game, ranging from grim reaper-esque fiends to weird four legged mutants that shoot plasma-like projectiles. The bosses also range from huge demons, to a horse and chariot, and you even get to fight Dante's evil brother a couple of times. The boss battles are really hard and may get a lot of players frustrated but, the bosses are so well designed that most gamers will look past it and carry on playing.

The battles are brutal, forcing you to think on the move as you try and account for all the enemies in your area performing some of the game's kick ass combos. In this installment, Dante can carry two short and long range weapons and even switch between them during battle; this can demonstrate some really useful fighting techniques as switching from one sword to another can open up a whole new sequence of attacks. This time around, Dante has a whole new range of swords and guns; such as, ice nun chucks, a devil gun, a rocket launcher, demon gauntlets and even a vampire possessed guitar that summons bats!

Too say that DMC 3 is difficult would be an understatement. The game's default difficulty is too much for most people. When I say it is unrealistically hard, you better believe me; this game is definitely not for those with a very low patience. After dying a couple of times you are given the choice to play on easy mode, which I really recommend to anyone who hasn't previously played the games, or to anyone who doesn't have the patience to play through a really hard game. That said, if you do submit to easy mode, you'll be missing out on a treat.

The fighting system utilizes four "styles" (there are also two unlock able through the story). These are: Trickster, the default style which uses evasive actions such as wall running and dashing; Sword Master, this style uses several different aggressive sword moves; Gun Slinger, the use of guns to hit multiple enemies or to charge gun attacks; Royal Guard, the use of counter attacks. To obtain better moves for each style, you have to level up through simply using it (you can only use one style at a time which is chosen at the beginning of a mission), and if you perform decent combos and moves, moving the style meter to Alright! or Sweet! you will gain a lot more red orbs. These orbs are what you will use to purchase upgrades. Exploring the different styles and fiddling around with each one is the best and easiest way to find the style that suits you best.

The graphics in DMC 3 are perhaps some of the best on any console at the moment, and while they aren't perfect, they sure as hell look very good. Both the cut scenes and in game graphics look superb, with dark, dingy rooms and dungeons that are indicative of what survival horror games should look like. Dante looks better than ever and the non-playable characters look just as good. All these pieces fit together to create a gorgeous gothic image, the likes of which has never been seen. The camera works well, tracking your movement from a stationary position most of the time, however, when the camera is free to control it can sometimes get awkward, as you have to fiddle with the right analog stick to get in the right position, which isn't always as fluid as it could be.

The soundtrack has a rock feel, mixed with a bit of techno, making simple and effective melodies that work well within the game‘s atmosphere. Having said that, it seems like they have used the same three tunes over and over, making the music boring and redundant after awhile. This can be ignored to a certain extent but it does get annoying after a few hours. The voice acting has improved since the last game, with a lot more dialogue and a much better voice for Dante, even if it isn't as cool as his voice from the first game.

Altogether the game is best summed up as a crazy mix of the first two Devil May Cry titles, with a bit of innovation and a more upbeat Dante. The action is flawless, which is all that is really important in a game like Devil May Cry 3. With a host of unlockables, it will keep the average gamer 10-15 hours to complete, but for us purists, there is new difficulty level to unlock and more gameplay that will keep you playing for a long time. Devil May Cry 3 is a game that all fans of this genre should own, especially if you enjoyed either of the previous games – just be prepared for an extremely difficult journey.

Dot.Hack Part 4: Quarantine Review

Graphics:
5.9
Gameplay:
6.5
Sound:
5.0
Control:
5.1
Replay Value:
5.0
Overall Rating:
5.7
Online Gameplay:
Not Rated
Publisher:
Bandai
Developer:
CyberConnect2
Number Of Players:
1 Player
Genre:
RPG
Release Date:


.hack Part 4: Quarantine is the fourth and last instalment of the .hack series, which follows the story of an outlaw player named Kite, who is trying to find out the mystery behind a virus that is plaguing ‘the world' and also attempting to save his friend Orca at the same time. As people are falling into comas, the CC Corp (creators of ‘The World') are under increasing pressure to close the game servers down but, this will mean certain death for the coma victims, including Kite's friend Orca. ‘The World' is a fictional MMORPG that has over 20 million players; this is the setting of the game, which boasts vast areas and plenty of fields and dungeons that are accessible through chaos gates.

At the start screen, you can choose to load character data from the third game into this instalment, which is a cool add-on, especially for those who have invested time in the previous three titles. When the game begins, you are given a brief summary of the last three chapters. You are then brought to the ALTIMIT screen where the player can choose to read their emails, read the news or enter ‘The World'. If you choose to read your emails or the news, you will be bombarded with a lot of reading material that is irrelevant to this point in the story. There's also a message board that has a lot to read but, some of these topics contain codes that unlock dungeons at the chaos gate, and are vital to gaining certain challenges through out the game. Even though it is boring, it is best to read the board messages as this is the easiest way to obtain the dungeon codes.

Once you enter ‘The World' you are brought to one of several servers. You'll see simulated players run around on screen, and you can interact with these by either talking to them or trading with them, while this helps generate a MMORPG like feel, this doesn't quite work because AI does not substitute for an actual person, who will think and act differently to the prompted messages given. Each server is in the form of a town or village, whilst the settings are unique, the layouts are always similar and the graphics seem rather basic.

The chaos gate is the main source of access to the servers and it also allows you to gate travel into other environments in the game. There is almost an infinite number of these environments, with a dungeon in every one, as each environment is defined by a three word code; choosing a code at the chaos gate from one of three blocks, there are 65 words for the first block, 64 for the second block and 63 for the third block which literally makes the possibilities endless. Although this is a very nice feature, a lot of the dungeons contain useless items and there only seems to be about 10 different main environments, making the rest very boring variations. In these environments, you can wander around, finding treasure and killing enemies for EXP.

The whole point of this game is to unlock the mystery of 'The World', as the story is carrying on from the previous titles it is quite easy to get very confused if you haven't played any of the previous three games. Having said that, the game play is quite easy to jump in and out of as it isn't really too complex. The story revolves around Kite and his other online friends that are trying to figure out why people are falling into comas after playing the game, this is all under the clock as CC Corp threaten to bring the servers offline, Kite must figure the mystery of the small girl Aura and what the motive of the virus is. The game boasts new bosses, new magic and summons; however, this does not really affect the game play much as this is standard for a sequel.

The fighting system claims to be improved from the previous titles but this is hardly recognisable. Kite can only perform a simple melee attack, which feels sluggish and slow. The camera angle is also a big issue as you have to constantly press R1 or L1 to adjust the camera and make the enemy visible. Saying all this, the magic system works pretty well, with a few separate types of spells containing different kinds of offensive or defensive magic. The party system tends to get annoying because party members are not always logged on (just like in real life), and sometimes you find yourself with no party members when you need them and all of your party members when you don't.

The "Data Drain" technique can edit a monster's data and degrade them to a lower level. All this actually does is give you an item, which has a 50-50 chance of being good or bad, unless used on the correct enemy, and if it is a boss you use this technique on, it will lower its level to such an extent that its EXP becomes worthless, which is not what you want from a boss. The game also has a new data drain technique to learn, which can now drain multiple enemies.

The character designs look good but they are not very complex. They aren‘t as bad as a lot of games out there however, they do stay true to the anime style the game focuses on. The rest of the graphics are hit and miss; with the environments looking plain, while the cut scenes and the data drain sequences look very impressive. The presentation feels dated as most of the backgrounds and enemy designs seem like they have been used from the previous games, whether they have or not.

The in game music does not really make an impact on the player, with boring melodies that are simple and repetitive. It is easy to ignore though, as the sound doesn't seem a major focus in the game. The voiceovers are recognisable as a lot of the characters have voice actors which have done other cartoons or anime. For example, the main characters voice is Izzy from the old Digimon cartoon, which is pretty cool as he is not a bad voice actor for this type of game.

For those who will play the whole game through, there is a ten minute cut scene and once you've watched that you have a chance to play the epilogue, and thus show the true ending to the game. Fans of the series will probably be jumping for joy with this final chapter, but for those who aren't fans of the previous games, I recommend picking up another RPG.