A recommendation!

So from time time, I've decided it would be cool to show some videos that I think are cool, and/or my friends have made and posted. This is a case of the latter. My bro, MrSquallKennedy, a U-TOOB! AMV artist, has created a Leon Scott Kennedy tribute that I love, in honor of many things, including his 5 year AMV creating anniversary, and Leon's inclusion in Resident Evil 6. So check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKKu5vHuTI&feature=g-u-u&context=G21772eeFUAAAAAAADAA

Yep.

Review the Second!

And Stuffimus Maximus makes it's way to it's second review, which will be...

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron!

(Wow! That's a mouthful...)

El Shaddai is a multiplatform (PS3, 360) Action/Adventure game developed by UTV Ignition Entertainment, headed by spectacular game director Sawaki Takeyasu (Devil May Cry) as well as Masato Kimura (Okami, Viewtiful Joe). With that kind of line up, I'm expecting an unforgettable experience, as Devil May Cry is one of my favorite action game series' of all time, and I hold Okami as out and out one of the greatest games ever created.

Let's see how it measured up. On to the review!

First Impressions

Having experienced the demo first, I was already excited to give El Shaddai a whirl. The game seems positively beautiful from an artistic standpoint, and the combat was nice and fluid in the demo, if a tad simple. When the game begins, prior to pressing start, you're treated to a small cutscene that gives you an idea of the game's quirky nature via a swift character introduction, followed by a beautiful presentation of the title of the game. Upon actually starting the game, you're given a brief idea of the story, then thrown straight into your first fight, no instruction or anything of the sort. It was a bit off-putting, but the entire presentation was done in such an interesting fashion that I definitely wanted more.

(9.0/10: While different, the game struck with it's art style, fluid movement, and wonderful sound. It promised a rather beautiful and deep experience.)

Overall Presentation

Trippy, eh?

My god, if there's one thing El Shaddai does well, it's presentation. From it's streamlined menus to the constantly changing landscapes, from the cliffs of heaven to the depths of hell, from a passionate, celebrating city to a radically different tron inspired thrill ride, El Shaddai never fails to provide an interesting image, be it a grand sweeping world, or a simple fading watercolor background. It's soundtrack matches it's visual display magnificently, with sound effects you would imagine attributing to heavenly machinations, and an excellent musical score.

However, the game's presentation isn't entirely perfect. It's good points in the long run fail to help tell it's nigh incomprehensible story beyond some basics, and the voice acting is subpar at best.

(8.0/10: The game looks and sounds beautiful, but it's plagued by a "strange and hard to follow" at best story, and other tidbits.)

Let's get more in depth.

Accessibility

While El Shaddai does throw you into your very first fray entirely unprepared, the game is relatively easy to pick up and beat your way through. You don't need a Harcore Gamer's Degree in Action Game Destruction to make it through this game by any stretch. Truly, the only issues the game has as far as access are story based. I like to think myself as an outside-the-box thinking person, with a fairly artistic and broad imagination, but... DAT STORY! While the story issues are the only ones, they are huge ones in my opinion. If the game I'm playing is based around the single player experience, then the inability to immerse myself in the game's world is an issue for me. And on further thought, the... Different art direction may be off putting for those looking for a more "cool" or "badass" experience.

(6.0/10: While the game is easy to pick up and play, it's somewhat hard to get into, considering the oddities of the art direction and, again, the extremely questionable presentation of the storyline.)

Graphics

...Preeeety.

Graphically, El Shaddai slides from excellent to masterpiece quality, with vigorous use of watercolor-styled and inspired imagery, vibrant and well placed colors, and gorgeous accompanying effects, be they the sparks flashing across a blade mid-purification, trails from blistering attacks, the pulse of the protagonist's steps as he makes his way across a glowing glass floor, or the subtle effects in the air that let you know you're in a windy area, or perhaps a zone filled with sorrow and sin. However, it is an eccentric looking game, and these things can cause a person to want to not give the game a second glance.

But it really is pretty though...

While the look may not necessarily appeal to some people, as a whole, the game looks beautiful. I never encountered a bit of slowdown during battles, and due to the constantly changing look of the levels, I never felt that the look of the game grew stagnate.

Yep. Definitely pretty.

Even at it's most simplistic, El Shaddai manages to provide an interesting graphical force. Definitely one of the game's shining points. If I were to say something bad about the game's look, it's that the characters themselves aren't necessarily the most graphically impressive bunch. They seem to play a strong second fiddle to the environments and special effects.

Other strong points include the game's combat animations which are fluid, and quite a treat for the eyes. Enoch (The protagonist, who could have done with some earlier introducing...) moves in a satisfyingly flashy fashion, blade whirling, feet flying, blasts careening all done with the game's deceptively simple combat system.

(8.5/10: The game looks beautiful and inspired, with some extra cool combat moments, and some rather impressive action sequences in cutscenes, but the art style may be a tad too different for some.)

Sound

Much like it is visually gripping, El Shaddai boasts a rather impressive sound selection, with particularly excellent boss battle pieces. The music fits the game excellently, but, and perhaps this is just a problem I have, very few tracks solidly leap out from the others. It's an overall excellent soundtrack, but as far as memorable pieces go, there are only a few. But again, that's probably just me.

The vocal work is nothing particularly amazing, though the nonchalant voice of Lucifel, the game's narrator, stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. I suppose my biggest gripe was I didn't feel any particularly gripping emotion coming from any of the characters. At least, not vocally.

Sounds effects are used wonderfully, with shatters accompanying Enoch's armor breaking as he takes damage, or the unearthly sound of energy strumming vibrantly as Enoch purifies whatever he has equipped at the moment.

All in all an excellent audio experience.

(8.0/10: While there isn't much to say for the voice acting, a beautiful, if not very memorable score accompanied by excellent sound effect work make for a pleasant time on one's ears.)

Controls

In a slightly bold twist, El Shaddai abandons the idea of a gigantic customizable combat system in favor of a very simple one. Light attacks are controlled with square, harder attacks with triangle, and more rhythmic combos can be produced with delaying button input to change the combo. There aren't any further combos to unlock, and very very few upgrades, and the biggest possibility of depth in the combat system lies in switching between the three weapons that Enoch can gain access to by stealing them from other enemies. In order to really speed up combat, it's vital to know which weapon beats which enemy, especially since whichever weapon you steal overwrites the last weapon you had, so it's necessary to plan out which enemies to defeat first.

The weapons Enoch gains access to are the "Arch", Enoch's most commonly seen, and all purpose fast and flashy close range weapon, shaped like a bow that functions like some sort of sword/staff hybrid, the "Gale", what appear to be a flock of paper airplanes that Enoch controls as his long range weapon, and the "Veil:" A combination of a shield, and giant-ass holy gauntlets, the Veil is slow but hella powerful, relying on powerful charged hits to break opponents, and grind them into a fine powder.

Another thing one needs to know about the weapons is that the more you use them, the more they're "corrupted" by the enemies you face, and the weaker they get. In order to keep them at optimum efficiency, you must remember to purify with L1/LB to restore them to full power. The same button is used to steal a weapon from a stunned enemy, an efficient tactic for making fights easier to get through.

Enoch's health is not handled via use of a bar or meter, but is rather viewed by the state of his armor; the less armor Enoch has left, the closer to death he is. If he is struck when beaten down to his jeans (yes, jeans.), Enoch's health will be completely defeated, and he will fall. When you fall, it's not necessarily the end, however. You can rapidly press the face buttons to force Enoch to get back up with some of his armor regenerated, though this becomes harder and harder the more you fall.

Progression through the levels is handled through 3-D and 2-D platforming, and is usually fun enough, but can be complicated by an odd shadow placement/timing of the shadow's arrival, causing more than a few falls over a misjudged jump.

All in all, it's a stable system, but it can get stale fairly easily if you're expecting more.

(6.5/10: The game plays well enough, but aside from the weapon stealing and the revival method, don't bring much by way of breaking ground to the table.)

Difficulty

The game is not hard at all on the default normal difficulty, though I suspect the challenge was not at all the intent for this game, so much as it was the presentation and the idea of the game itself. All the same, Lucifel is correct when he says "You can beat the game in 7 hours, if you really try" in a fourth wall breaking moment near the very beginning of the game. And any idea of a challenge the game may have is erased by the ability to simply mash buttons when you fall in combat to raise up and continue fighting.

(3.0/10: The game isn't very difficult at all, and honestly, I believe the game would have seriously benefited from a few challenging boss battles, at the very least.)

Replayability

There are about 5-6 difficulties to beat it on, with various unlockables like artwork, and alternate costumes becoming available to you for collecting various hidden items throughout the levels, meeting all of the wandering wisemen, and obtaining the highest possible ranking for every level on the various difficulties. So there's at least a decent amount of reason to give it another go if you enjoyed the game.

(5.5/10: While there isn't a huge amount of endgame content, there's at least enough to justify a second playthrough.)

Story

And here, quite unfortunately, is where El Shaddai falls apart for me. The tale of El Shaddai (loosely based on the "Book of Enoch") is about a human named Enoch, a priest/scribe who is sent to travel the world to find, defeat and imprison 7 fallen angels who have descended to earth in order to sample it's pleasures, to prevent the archangels' plan to eradicate all life on the face of the planet with a giant flood to start humankind anew. It's a tale that (quite literally) spans hundreds, even thousands of years. In game! Sounds like groundwork for an epic tale, yeah?

This is Enoch.

Mmmm.... Not so much.

El Shaddai, in it's attempt to be an artistic masterpiece, only ends up coming across as half eccentric, half hot bloody mess of convoluted exposition presented in a watercolor shell of crud. Or maybe I simply don't have a palette refined enough to appreciate El Shaddai for the work of art that it is.

Whatever the case, for a story with the potential that it's base has, El Shaddai's story presentation is terrible. It's only through the occasional breaks in chapter where Lucifel brings everything up to speed that I gain any real understanding of the story. Which is a problem, because if I can't immerse myself in the game's story (which, as an artistic game, I believe it should be somewhat reliant on) then for what reason should I pay it any mind at all?

The cutscenes are extremely vague, and don't offer much information towards any of the character's motives, or development, or even relevant relationships. And while there are nice little quirks on the side, such as Lucifel saving your progress by making reports to God on his cell phone, the little sense he makes isn't enough to make the story coherent. Collecting shards of "Ishtar's Bones" will also reveal more of the story, but this requires you to go find the aforementioned shards in a possibly game ending maze known as "The Darkness". There's a hidden portal to The Darkness in each level, and a shard of Ishtar's Bones is hidden in each one. But that will only then reveal these story pieces in a menu, or in the gallery. 

The story should not require this much work to discern.

(2.5/10: An awesome base, but terrible storytelling, and a lackluster actual story bring El Shaddai down kind of hard...)

Fun Factor

And so we come to the score of grand importance. The Fun Factor. And most unfortunately, while everything in El Shaddai is nice to look at, and listen to, the game itself, is not terribly fun. I mean, don't get me wrong, It's fun for the first few levels, but the inexplicably bad story, coupled with the eventual staleness of the combat system, mean that by the time I had completed the game, I was more than happy to put it in it's box, and never look it's way again. The game does have moments, however, that are a blast. Boss battles are suitably enjoyable, if a bit repetitive, and the absolutely out of nowhere TRON inspired level was so much fun that if I were to pick up the game again, it would be solely to play that level. But in the end, it's just not enough.

(3.0/10: The game is probably great fun for one who doesn't care about the story, or depth of combat style, but it's not enough for me. And even the game's best moments can't change that.)

And so, we move on to the score. In case you don't know, here's a link to the score guidelines, just so you're aware of where my opinion lies after you read the final score: http://stuffimusmaximus.blogspot.com/2012/01/score-guidelines.html

THE VERDICT

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron scores a

60.0

A GOOD GAME!

*applause*

While I certainly enjoyed El Shaddai as a whole, the game's over-reliance on beauty in simplicity, coupled with DAT ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE STORY! bring the game down too hard. Which is unfortunate, as El Shaddai had the potential to be positively amazing. It could most certainly have benefited from more emotional content in the voice acting, a slightly deeper, more fleshed out combat system, and it definitely could have done with a far better presentation for the story.

But yep. That's that. Hope you enjoyed it. Should have another review coming sometime soon.

Score Guidelines!

So basically, I just want to have a post that I can link to that will give people an idea of how the review scores work around here. Here we go:

•  1-10: SO FUCKING BAD! LIKE EYE EXPLODINGLY BAD! Don't do it to yourself. Even if you enjoy pain. Some things just aren't worth the trouble.
• 11-20: Pretty damn terrible. I wouldn't suggest it for any reason.
• 21-30: A bad game. Not my cup of tea, but I'll forgive those who chose to enjoy it. Myself included.
• 31-40: An O.K game. While not a worthwhile pursuit, the game contains enough merits that should someone choose to defend it, it's at least mildly understandable.
• 41-50: A decent game. It's nothing worth raving about, but it's worth at least an hour, or a quick playthrough on a rainy day.
• 51-60: A good game. A game that's happily nestled in average territory, I wouldn't tell someone NOT to get a game that ranks here. Hell, I might recommend it, simply because it definitely isn't bad.
• 61-70: A damn good game. While not a masterpiece, a damn good game is something I'd recommend. It has enough merits to stand at least a head above the average.
• 71-80: A great damn game. This is a game worth suggesting to just about anyone, a solid combination of story, gameplay, graphical presentation, and sound work.
• 81-90: An excellent game, one worth having praise sung about it. Games that have the qualities of a great dame game, but have something that shine about them that puts them above the others will rank here.
• 91-99: A positively marvelous game. An awe inspiring, breath taking work of art that sucks you in and doesn't let go.
• 100: The Perfect Game: All of my reviews will be pursuit of this... An act of god... Or better yet, all of the gods from all religions. A creation of active impossibility, dividing by zero and producing, hands down, a game that firmly belongs in the halls of the gods of gaming, passed down to our mortal eyes for enjoyment solely so said gods can be amused by our ravenous mind explosions as we experience game nirvana. AKA, Not gonna happen.

So yeah. That's that.

Figuring out the next review...

So I'm trying to figure out exactly what game I'd like to review next. I've narrowed the choices down to three games, and the way I figure it, whichever game I choose to do, I'll do the remaining two games after in order of which one I liked least. Choices, choices...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So yeah. The new year is here, and with it, my plans to actually run Stuffimus Maximus at least somewhat decently are becoming a tad more concrete. The first review is up, a fine way to kick off the new year. Let's hope I can keep it up.

But that aside, HAPPY NEW YEAR. Hope it's a good one for everyone.

Malcolm.

THE FIRST REVIEW!

And so, Stuffimus Maximus comes to it's first review.

Exciting! (And really really late!)

Skipping the dawdling, we'll jump right into it! And the subject for today's review is....

*drum role*

White Knight Chronicles!

White Knight Chronicles (Referred to in this review as WKC from here on out) is an action RPG released in 2008 in japan, 2010 in NA. Developed by Japanese dev. company Level 5, and SCE Japan Studio for the Playstation 3, WKC is one of the few games released this generation to help fill the gaping void of decent quality role-playing games that the PS3 has to offer.

And at the least, it puts up a damn valiant fight.

Lets move to the deeper stuff.

First Impressions

White Knight chronicles piqued my interest immediately with it's intricately designed titular knight, and promise of a grand, sweeping story worth telling time and again. The simple, yet tastefully designed case art, in combination with the wonderful instrumental rendition of it's main theme, "The Travelers" that plays during the preview of the game that plays when you linger on the "Game" section of the cross media bar convey a sense of simple yet epic adventure awaiting you. The mandatory installation was a bit off putting, but my anticipation returned almost immediately upon the title screen loading. At the very least the game is capable of catching the eye.

(7.5/10: A well presented box/case goes a long way towards making me want a game, and good music certainly helps.)

Overall Presentation

This is where it begins to get a bit rocky however. While the game's start screen is nice, it's technical limitations begin to show almost immediately. Graphically, the game certainly is no powerhouse, and it's sound ranges from amazing to nigh gag-worthy. But those will be touched on later. Moving past that, before the story begins, you're given the chance to create your own character. The character creation is not particularly deep, but it holds enough options to leave one willing to spend a solid 20 minutes on preparing the avatar that will be representing your impact on the story.

The game chooses a very old, tavern-y feel for it's character creation menu, and a more ancient look for it's in game menus, so at least there's something nice to look at as you customize as the game goes along. the game opens in very typical story fashion. Evil is plotted atop a cliff, a mysterious cloaked man enters a gated high-city like environment, a king is sad, a princess is emotionally stunted, background is provided, a festival is held, and soon, you are introduced to your rather average looking hero/storeowner's apprentice, Leonard. Your character also enters the story at this point, and thus your adventure begins. As a whole, the games presentation begins to pick up after you pass the prologue (some time after the stuff I described), and the Knight begins to play a much more pivotal role. Character designs and locales become more and more inventive, the voice work picks up a bit, and so on and so forth.

(6.0/10: In parts, the game has shining moments, but altogether, it doesn't have the best flow.)

Accessibility

Fortunately, the game is not very hard to pick up, the battle system is easy enough, the menus are easy to navigate, and the story contains just enough twists and intrigue to keep you playing. There are moments of serious lulling though, when grinding is required or a particularly far trek across some land is required for a quest. There's also the game's primary time investment near the mid/late game, the online portion "Geonet". Players can log on and grab a few friends in order to complete quests earned by completing sections of the main story, or leveling up your Guild Level. You can also customize your lobby so that people can visit, buy merchandise you choose to sell, or join you on quests. All of this is also relatively easy to manage, so it makes for a good timesink. Leveling up isn't a chore either; the game makes use of a skill point system that allows you to invest skill points gained by leveling up into different sections of your character's combat style, earning stat increases, new moves, and stronger abilities.

(8.0/10: The ease of accessing the games features is a welcome plus in a genre populated by confusing menus and "innovative" battle systems.)

Graphics

A hero and his big ass suit of armor.

As mentioned earlier, WKC is not a graphical powerhouse, but it's not total crud either. The game comfortably straddles the line between good and great, Standing at around high end PS2, low quality PS3 when simply using the gameplay engine, but coming across wonderfully during an FMV/CG cutscene. As a whole however, the game's moments of graphical greatness do pull through, as characters move with a sense of life, and the Knights are awe-inspiring when summoned to do combat, or simply to provide epic moments throughout the story.

Weapon effects look swell, though nothing groundbreaking, and characters facial expressions come across convincingly. All in all, not bad to look at.

(6.5/10: Though it's not a graphical masterpiece, the game holds up well enough to keep one's attention simply by design. Despite some stiff moments, rather nice character designs, in combination with some flashy combat animations and fluid, constant graphical stability with little-no slowdown keep the game looking solid.)

Sound

Moving on to the audible portion, WKC's sound splits somewhat between bad and positively amazing. As far as voice acting, WKC tops out at mediocre, with some scenes coming across with a distinct lack of emotion, taking the wind out of some of the more dramatic scenes' sails. Other scenes are overacted to the point of not being able to take the thing seriously. This, however, is standard for JRPGs, so it doesn't bother me too much. 

On the soundtrack half, however, WKC shines, with brilliant mood pieces, excellent overworld music that almost drives you to explore the depths of the world as best you can, and one of the most memorable theme songs in "The Travelers" in recent video game history. It is hands down one of my favorite video game tracks of all time. Of course, with all games, there are bound to be a few duds. In particular, the battle music is quite boring, which isn't helpful if you're the type of player who tends to grind as you progress through the game so that you have no problems. It makes the journey just that bit more tedious.

But as a whole, the quality of sound in WKC is memorable, and one of the better qualities of the game.

(8.0/10: Despite some issues with mediocre voice acting, the overall sound quality of the game is excellent, with a positively excellent soundtrack.)

Controls

The game, out of battle, handles like any standard RPG, with the X button controlling a majority of decisions, and the analog stick controlling your movements. Triangle opens the menu, and so on and so forth. There's an openable mini menu (select button) that control things such as the character you're currently controlling, mapped keys and shortcuts to help out in the overworld, which are nice. 

Battles are entered in an encounter fashion; You see an enemy, you attack it, battle begins. The battle system is handled by equipping learned techniques to one of three action bars. You can move your character around at whim during battle, but attacks can only be unleashed once a white action circle fills, making it a slightly more in depth "Active Time Battle" combat system. The stronger the technique, the more "Action Chips" or "AC" it uses up, which are gained by attacking with weaker, costless attacks, taking a turn to charge/wait, or being attacked.

The game also has a rather interesting "Combo" system, which allows you to combine moves in a string in the menu, then save as a single combo, which you can name then equip like any other technique. Combos take up more AC the more moves you have strung together, and so as a result, can double as a "Limit Break" system of sorts, but that was just a personal view I took when playing. Magic is handled using Magic Points (MP), and as a whole, the battle system is fairly coherent, but a bit sluggish.

Battle for the Knights are handled in a similar fashion; transformation into the behemoths costs AC, the more AC spent, the more combat options available to the Knight in use. Knights battle using Action Points (AP) that double as their Hit Points (HP). When these run out, the Knight reverts to human form, and battle continues (or ends, if you've killed the last enemy.)

As a whole, it's easy enough to master, but deep enough to want to invest a bit of time in messing around until you've created the best configuration for yourself.

(8.0/10: The game's menus and combat are easy and fun, though not particularly original, and the customization of your skillset via the action bar is quite a draw. As a whole though, the game controls quite fluidly.)

Difficulty

The game has moments of difficulty, but nothing particularly noteworthy. If you're the type of player who grinds before big battles religiously, the game can become a breeze. As a result though, it makes paying attention to the story quite easy, as opposed to games where the difficulty completely overtakes any story value the game may have.

(3.0/10: If you're coming to the game looking for a challenge, you won't get much of one unless you don't spend any time leveling up. It does make the story easier to enjoy though.)

Replayablity

While there's a fair bit of reason to continue playing the game with the online features, there's practically no incentive to play it again once you've finished with that. Unless you simply like the game that much.

(1.0/10: Save for obtaining some bonus equipment via New Game+ that you would normally have to grind for online, there isn't much reason to dive back into this one.)

Story

The story for WKC, while not a masterpiece of storytelling, is fairly engaging. full of political intrigue, expansive fantasy, and a grand sense of adventure, WKC has everything you need to at least entertain you for a solid playthrough. Centered around the aforementioned protagonist, Leonard, the story chronicles his adventures attempting to save the princess of his kingdom from the invading force that's kidnapped her, using the ancient force that said kingdom was initially invaded for; the White Knight.

Quite the badass ancient weapon.

You see, it turns out the White Knight can only be wielded by the one it deems worthy.

...

I suppose I would have chose someone with a cooler name than Leonard... but I digress.

Leonard passes the White Knight's test of worth, and as a result, becomes it's sole wielder. The villains decide that the best way to convince him to give up the Knight, is to kidnap the princess of the kingdom/Leonard's love interest, and as a result, end up with a face full of main character with a big ass Knight/theoretical weapon of mass destruction watching his back.

As the story continues, you find out that there are more Knights than simply the titular White one, and they were created to be weapons of mass destruction intended to end a war between two precursor races.

They were sealed away after the war because of the destruction they caused. Which means should they be gathered together and reactivated, the world could become a big pile of chewed gum! Or at the very least, be destroyed in a fire/brimstone-y fashion. 

So. obviously, as main character, in addition to saving his lady love from what amounts to an entire kingdom, Leonard must also stop the gathering of the knights, else the world go "BLOOEY!". No pressure.

Plot twists and cool shit follow pretty much without fail, and so as a whole, make the story quite an enjoyable one.

(7.5/10: While not the greatest story ever told, WKC still tells a pretty damn cool one. If only it had better voice acting...)

And finally, we come to:

FUN FACTOR

To me, the most important part of any game, is whether or not it's fun. A game can be an absolute artistic masterpiece, but if I didn't enjoy playing it, then I couldn't give a fuck if I was paid to. (Well... On second thought...)

That out of the way, I can safely say that I had great fun playing WKC. I wouldn't sing it's accolades across the world, but if someone was looking for a pretty solid action RPG to sink some time into on the PS3, I would certainly recommend it. And for those worried about a slow battle pacing, the sequel contains an updated version of the original with the updated sped up battle system introduced in part 2. So there's that.

(7.0/10: It's a great game, with added fun points for not forcing me to grind constantly!)

THE VERDICT

 Before I get to that, I'd like to explain the score guidelines. Basically, the scores indicate the following.

•  1-10: SO FUCKING BAD! LIKE EYE EXPLODINGLY BAD! Don't do it to yourself. Even if you enjoy pain. Some things just aren't worth the trouble.
• 11-20: Pretty damn terrible. I wouldn't suggest it for any reason.
• 21-30: A bad game. Not my cup of tea, but I'll forgive those who chose to enjoy it. Myself included.
• 31-40: An O.K game. While not a worthwhile pursuit, the game contains enough merits that should someone choose to defend it, it's at least mildly understandable.
• 41-50: A decent game. It's nothing worth raving about, but it's worth at least an hour, or a quick playthrough on a rainy day.
• 51-60: A good game. A game that's happily nestled in average territory, I wouldn't tell someone NOT to get a game that ranks here. Hell, I might recommend it, simply because it definitely isn't bad.
• 61-70: A damn good game. While not a masterpiece, a damn good game is something I'd recommend. It has enough merits to stand at least a head above the average.
• 71-80: A great damn game. This is a game worth suggesting to just about anyone, a solid combination of story, gameplay, graphical presentation, and sound work.
• 81-90: An excellent game, one worth having praise sung about it. Games that have the qualities of a great dame game, but have something that shine about them that puts them above the others will rank here.
• 91-99: A positively marvelous game. An awe inspiring, breath taking work of art that sucks you in and doesn't let go.
• 100: The Perfect Game: All of my reviews will be pursuit of this... An act of god... Or better yet, all of the gods from all religions. A creation of active impossibility, dividing by zero and producing, hands down, a game that firmly belongs in the halls of the gods of gaming, passed down to our mortal eyes for enjoyment solely so said gods can be amused by our ravenous mind explosions as we experience game nirvana. AKA, Not gonna happen.

And with that out of the way....

White Knight Chronicles scores a 62.5

 A DAMN GOOD GAME!

*Applause*

 

And so ends the first review! Hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully, the next one will come a bit sooner. 'Till then.