Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ~ review

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a computer game / video game from Ubisoft released in late 2003 and is a reboot of the popular Prince of Persia video game series created back in 1989. A commercial and critical success, the game let players to take on the role of a prince who were tricked into releasing the magical sands of time which turned the occupants of the palace into monsters. To save the kingdom and his father, the King of Persia, he must work together with a beautiful prisoner named Princess Farah and defeat the Vizier who tricked him into releasing the sands. Since the game that I played is for the PlayStation 2, this review would be talking about the aspects of the game on that platform instead of on PC. And also please note that this review will contain spoilers. Without further delay, let's start dissecting Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

First stop, the plot. This video game put players in the shoes of the Prince, the son of King Sharaman of Persia, who had released, unknowingly, the sands of time throughout the kingdom and turning all the occupants of the palace into monsters. With the aid of Princess Farah, the player will then explore throughout the vast areas of the castle to try reverse the situation by returning back the sands of time into the hourglass that had once stored them. I personally feel that the story was just okay at first but as I played along, I fall in love with the story as it became more emotional, engaging and interesting. I also like stories with time travel element in it, so the time travel element in this game also helps in making me fall in love with the plot. I like the growth of the main character, the Prince that players control throughout the game. You can see him slowly learning from his mistakes and bad behaviours and try to wrap things out in his head (that players will learn through his monologues) while this bizarre incident resulting from his action in releasing the sands is happening all around him. The developer managed to create a character that players can root for, something that I feel is important to make the players relate with this story.

The inclusion of Princess Farah made the story even more interesting with the love twist and since the Prince mostly interact with her as there are not many talking characters in the game, she is definitely an integral part of the story as well as the character responsible for the growth of the main character, the Prince. The main villain, the Vizier, is also an interesting character in the game. But sometimes I cannot really grasps what he wants to achieve with his plan and that somehow made me feel like he is not a strong villain that I would like him to be. I personally think the developer could have done a lot better with him and make him a greater villain. One other thing that I would complaint is that it was sometimes hard to follow with the story because of the low-volume of the character's voice during cut-scenes. It was a bit weird since the music that played during gameplay was loud enough but somehow the volume got lowered during cut-scenes. To be honest, it was pretty annoying.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game ~ review

It is widely known that films based on video games are hardly successful at the box-office. The only one that is successful that I could think of is the Resident Evil film series which has now span 5 (soon to be 6) films. Even that series haven't been truly faithful to their source materials. But what about video games based on movies? I rarely played them and I hardly read anything about them but if this video game (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that is) is any indicator, then I would say that their fate is somewhat the same; not successful.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the video game, was released back in 2009 to coincide with the release of the movie. It was released on multiple platforms; PC, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, XBox 360 and mobile. The version I played and review here would be the PS2 version.

In short, the storyline followed much from the movie. It follows Harry and his friends in their sixth year in Hogwarts, and shows how Dumbledore prepares Harry to fight with Voldemort and how they work together to find the key in breaking Voldemort's defences. I noticed there are some things in the storyline doesn't really match from the movie but I'm not sure whether they are plot points from the novel that were left out from the movie or they are just things made up for the video games. But of course there are some plots that are made up for the video games but since I didn't read the book I can't point out which one. To be honest, plot is one of the thing that is not important in this game as I feel the whole point in it is to let gamers feel like they are truly attending school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Final Fantasy X ~ review

I was a little late in discovering the amazing world of Final Fantasy video game series as I was only introduced to Final Fantasy VIII during my teenage years. But it was Final Fantasy X that became the first game in the Final Fantasy series that I had completed playing. To finally finish a game that I had only managed to adore from afar before, it was truly a satisfying feeling.

Final Fantasy X is a role-playing video game by then Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix) released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. It was the first game in the series to introduced voice-acting. The game was a critical and commercial success and had sold millions worldwide, which then lead Square to release the first direct-sequel in the series, Final Fantasy X-2.

Final Fantasy X (FFX) is set in a troubled world called Spira, and follows the main protaganist, Tidus, as he became one of the guardian to a summoner, Yuna, as the group traveled Spira on a pilgrimage to obtained aeons and in the end to destroy Sin, a montrous creature that had been creating chaos across Spira. The group also consists of other iconic characters which are Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Auron and Rikku.

Let's start dissecting FFX with its plot. Story-wise, FFX has a very complex story that are quite hard to follow or understand if you do not really paying attention to what the characters are saying during the cutscenes or gameplay. But that not to say that the story is bad, in fact it was rich, entertaining and satisfying. Since the plot deals with the theme of death and a glimmer of hope, the atmosphere of the story are quite gloomy and sad,  which you can immediately feel from the start of the game at the start menu. But it's not melodramatic all the way to the end. To be fair, there are some cheerful moments throughout the game and some pretty good action cutscenes but overall, it is a game with a sad story.

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories ~ review

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, released in late 2008, is a PlayStation 2 remake of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories which was originally released on Game Boy Advance. The game took place in a castle called Castle Oblivion and Sora, along with Donald and Goofy, had to unravel the mysteries of the castle. As they did so, they met with a new set of enemies who seemed to have their own agenda in drawing Sora to the castle.

Plot-wise, KHRe:CoM deals a lot with the theme of memories, hence the name of the game. As Sora, Goofy and Donald travel higher and higher into Castle Oblivion, they start losing their memories of their loved ones and this makes them much easier to be manipulated by the new enemies introduced in the game called the Organization XIII. I have a weakness when it comes to stories with characters losing their memories so I find KHRe:CoM's plot to be very amusing and interesting. Since the game levels are basically ripped off from the original Kingdom Hearts game (because Sora and the gang revisit their memories hence the events in the different worlds of the original KH were relived again), some might feel that the story was a bit repetitive. But luckily the events from their memories and the current events in Castle Oblivion with the Organization XIII were played back to back so the story still feels fresh and not just a repeat from Kingdom Hearts. It is also interesting that the studio decided to include Riku's side of story in the game, revealing what had happened to him after the event in Kingdom Hearts and revealing his part in the Organization's plan as he explores basement levels of Castle Oblivion. It helps to widen the story through his perspective and cementing his position as part of the main characters in the game.

There are not much to be said about the characters of the Disney worlds featured in this game as they are the same when they were introduced in Kingdom Hearts. So it is best to say that, other than Sora and Riku, the members of the Organization took centre stage in this game as we get introduced to them with their unique abilities and agenda. Six members from the Organization XIII were featured; Axel, Larxene, Vexen, Marluxia, Lexaeus and Zexion. Out from the six members, Axel is my favourite character. As for their fighting abilities, I like Zexion the most with his book and illusion power. Not to forget, Namine, a mystery young girl with the power to alter memories who was kept in the castle and manipulating Sora's memories as ordered by Marluxia. All the characters were very well designed and the good voice acting also contribute to the overall appeal of the characters.

Now let's talk about gameplay. KHRe:CoM introduces card system in which players use numbered cards to defeat enemies who also have their own set of cards. At first I was kind of confused with the battle system but after I got used to it, it was pretty interesting and, not to forget, addictive. Unfortunately, the player got to choose which Disney worlds they want to explore first and each world have different difficulty level. If somehow players accidentally pick a harder world as their first level, then it might get frustrating for the players to get used to the card battle system. This directly will impact the learning curve of the game based on which Disney Worlds that the players choose to play first. But a persistent players will find that it is very rewarding to master the system earlier in the game for the later harder boss fights.

I didn't play the original Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on Game Boy Advance but I do know that this remake has been improved a lot especially on the graphics to suit with PlayStation 2 system. Some scenes with dialogues or FMV (full motion video) were added and I also read that some additional battles were included too but sadly I can't tell which one. The FMV were amazing and nicely done, they also play important part in absorbing players into the new conflict in the game. The overall graphics were somewhat the same with what you see in Kingdom Hearts which means that it is visually beautiful, wonderful and stunning, especially the FMV. And, as I stated before, the voice-acting of the characters were good and help bring the characters to life.

What about the soundtrack or music for the game? I can absolutely say that the soundtrack is one of the best aspect of the game. It follows the mood of the story and accompanies each scenes perfectly well when it comes to the FMV. The music for the gameplay is very easy to the ears as well. Basically the soundtrack are reworked version of the original soundtrack from Kingdom Hearts.

So should you get KHRe:CoM? Consider this; great FMVs, powerful story, addictive gameplay, and wonderful soundtrack. I personally think KHRe:CoM is a lot better than the original Kingdom Hearts even if it is just a side story that bridge the gap between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. So the choice is yours. For me, KHRe:CoM is absolutely a wonderful game.

Thank you for reading!

Image sources: KHReCOM and IGN

Silent Hill 3 ~ review

Silent Hill 3 was developed by Team Silent and published by Konami for PlayStation 2, it was released in 2003. The game following its release received high scores from reviewers and fans alike similar to its popular predecessors. It is a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill video game.

The story continued 17 years after the events from the first video game and players get to control our main protagonist, Heather Mason. Heather had been living with her father and the both of them are continuously on the run from something that Heather could not fully understand. Finally, after some major event in the game, Heather (and the player of course) come to realize who Heather really is. She heads to Silent Hill to find out more about what was going on and also to avenge his father. Accompanied her is a detective, Douglas Cartland, who initially works for the people who was after Heather. Travel between the fog world and the Otherworld, Heather slowly unfolds the history behind her own birth and the history of the cursed Silent Hill.

I like the story of Silent Hill 3 because it has that dark element about it, about finding yourself and who you really are, and they managed to make it flows beautifully without making it cheesy or predictable. At times I did get a bit confused about certain events but as you progress through the game, you will begin to understand what was going on. Some minor details might not be clear though, but that’s the beauty about Silent Hill games, they are multilayered and many different interpretations can be made about certain things. It would be best that after you finish the game, go to the internet and find out more about the story and other official or unofficial interpretations about the game. You will be surprised about how certain items, events, character or behavior might have certain meanings behind them.

Heather was a great character, beautifully rendered and has that tough-girl attributes that makes her likable and someone that players can relate to. Other characters fared quite well. Claudia Wolf, the main antagonist, who was also the leader of a cult, was seriously delusional and eager to get Heather to birth the god that will destroy all humans and create Paradise on earth. Vincent, another cult member who rejected Linda vision of a perfect world, somewhat guides Heather through the chaos of the Otherworld. Douglas, the detective who Claudia hired, was eager to reveal Heather true identity at first but in the end  decided to help her after feeling somewhat responsible to what had happened to Heather's father. All these characters were carefully modeled to convey human-like personalities so that they can give emotions to the story. The efforts can be seen when you play the game. The voice-acting were a little bit off though, but the overall performance were quite good.

 The graphics for this game is slightly different than the previous games in the series. It's more pitch black and darker where the use of dark colors are truly excessive. The Otherworld sequence involves more blood-stained walls and ceilings, and occupied with corpses and caged creatures. With such environments, it managed to brings out the creeps in you as you play the game. The game design, in my opinion, is truly brilliant. You get to explore an abandoned shopping mall, subway station, building in construction, and the usual hospital among others. The developer was clever in incorporating several creepy moments in the game like someone knocking on the door of an empty toilet stall, or when a mannequin that suddenly got its head chopped off and covered in blood. All these little details might not add to the story but it gives the game a unique value that players will come to appreciate. My only complaint would be that for a Silent Hill game, you get to explore very little of the town as most of the places that players get to explore are not in Silent Hill.

My favourite stage in the game would be when Heather entered a haunted house at an amusement park. It was totally creepy and I felt like I was in a haunted house for real. The side story of the people who used to live at the haunted house was also interesting, it makes you want to know more about them. It was just a short trip though but it was fun.

The music score for the game is very good and memorable, it suits the game very well. It creates the mood for the story and gives you that uneasy feeling as you explore the disturbing atmosphere of the game. Another great thing is the sound effects which make you feel like there is always something near you.

As a conclusion, Silent Hill 3 brings a lot to the table with its great story and clever game design. The visuals, characters, and music are very good but the voice-acting could be improved. Fans of the series will be pleased with this title while new fans may find this interesting although the story might get a bit confusing at times. It's a great addition to the already great franchise. If you like survival horror, Silent Hill 3 is definitely for you.

Images from Wikipedia and IGN.

Rule of Rose ~ review

Before I begin my review, let me caution you that this review contains spoilers, so read at your own risk. ;-)

Rule of Rose is a 2006 survival horror video game for PlayStation 2 and was made by the company Punchline. In the game, we take control a young teenage girl named Jennifer who was somewhat trapped in a place where it was ruled by young underage girls known as the Red Crayon Aristocrats, with the backdrop of 1930 England. The video game was banned in several countries for child violence and sexuality.

The story began as Jennifer was given a story book by a small boy on a bus in the middle of the night. When the boy suddenly took off, Jennifer followed her and came across a creepy orphanage with a lot of mysteries. Her journey in the orphanage was cut short though as she was captured and transported to an airship. And on this airship the torture began. Jennifer was captured by the Red Crayon Aristocrats who ruled the airship and in order to survive, Jennifer had to obey all their rules. She was asked to do several tasks, all of them involving finding certain items to progress. With an airship filled with strange creatures, the tasks were not easy to complete. Lucky for Jennifer, she was accompanied by Brown, a dog that she rescued on the ship.

 The plot story is definitely one of the best aspect of Rule of Rose. Although at times we end up clueless and running around not exactly sure what to do, but as the story progress, we got more and more curious to find out where will this all end. It teases us with a bit of information here and there without fully revealed the whole agenda and that what's keep the gamers going. Although I do feel that the story can be a bit confusing and hard to follow. Personally I have to search online to fully understand it, and I encourage other players to search online too if you finished the game but not truly get what was going on with the story because you will appreciate it more when you understand what's the story about.


The gameplay, however, is not as good as the plot. The character is too weak and players can get frustrated while controlling especially during fighting enemies. Although it is believable but it gets truly annoying when fighting bosses that needed to be hit multiple times to be knocked off but can easily get us sprawling on the ground with just one swipe. That was kind of unfair. The gameplay is very repetitive too, all you got to do to progress the game is find items upon items upon items. This contribute to the game's low replay value.

The visuals for the game are beautiful, and it almost reminded me of Silent Hill video games. The characters are well rendered and the settings are creepy, dark and desolate. I also like the writing of the game menu that looks like it was written with chalks on a blackboard. The voice acting are rather good too although at times it can be a bit off.

The music of the game is another great aspect of Rule of Rose beside the plot. It is well arranged and hauntingly beautiful. Not to mention memorable. It creates a sense of loneliness that suited the game very well. In fact it was so great that I could almost hear it playing in my head even after days not playing the game. It sounded good and perfect for the game with its settings and story.

Overall, the plot and music are definitely the best part of Rule of Rose. With flawed gameplay however, you might feel frustrated playing it. But there is no doubt in my mind that this game is one of a kind, a rare game that you don't usually get in the market. Thank you Rule of Rose for a great story telling.

Images from Wikipedia and IGN.

Resident Evil 4 ~ review

Before I begin this review, I would like to state that the game I played for this game was the PS2 version.

Resident Evil 4 is a hugely popular and highly praised video game from Capcom and was released in 2005. Considered as one of the most influential video games in the 2000's, Resident Evil 4 is a commercial and critical success.

In general, the plot centers around Leon S. Kennedy, recruited by the US Secret Service, who must travel to a remote village in Europe to rescue the US President's daughter, Ashley Graham, that had been kidnapped by a mysterious cult, Los Illuminados. Along the way, he met several key characters like the mysterious agent Ada Wong, the suave researcher Luis Sera, the former comrade Jack Krauser, the local castellan Ramon Salazar and the cult leader, Osmund Saddler.

As a horror-action video game, the plot was entertaining and engaging eventhough it was not really connected to the main storyline of the Resident Evil series which pretty much about the Umbrealla Corporation and its evil deeds. It's great to see how the main character, Leon, has grown since we last saw him in Resident Evil 2. Although the plot sometimes focus too heavily on action especially at the last half of the game, Resident Evil 4 still generally had a good horror storyline and manage to keep the tradition of the franchise in putting horror into the story.

The characters were pretty well-designed. I like how Leon was portrayed in this game, tough yet very cool. The President's daughter, Ashley, can be pretty annoying sometimes with her constant cry for help, but I like her voice actor and the way she delivered her dialogues. We had one tough girl in the game in the form of Ada Wong, who was a great addition to the game. She was just as mysterious as she was in Resident Evil 2. The primary antagonist, Saddler, was very good a character too, although I wished the developer polish him more to be a great villain, instead of just good.

A lot of the enemies that the player had to dispose however reminiscent of fantasy and action video game rather than a horror video game. The only enemies that creep me out are the generators. The breathing sound they made was really creepy. To be fair, although most enemies seem human (and some were regular animals), the game does have its scary moments like a burning enemy running out of a standing oven and enemy sneaking up on you with a chainsaw.

The visuals were, needless to say, amazing. The settings, especially the remote village and the big castle were ample in bringing in the spook feelings that associated with the previous installments. The island setting in the last half of the game however was too emphasized in action with its war-like setting which making me feel like I was playing an action or a world-war based video game rather than a horror one. The laboratories however reminded me of the previous games in the franchise, which was pretty good in keeping with the RE tradition.

The gameplay was a major shift from the previous installments of the series. The over-the-shoulder camera view was refreshing and very engaging when the characters get into action in blasting the skulls of the enemies. I read that many people criticized the fact that you can't move while in the aiming position, but for me personally, I don't really mind because I think I wouldn't use that feature anyway if its incorporated into the game (not because I'm a great player, but because I'm a novice player who can't even beat Devil May Cry chapter 3).

Overall, Resident Evil 4 was a great video game with a mixture of horror and action. Plus the bonus features you get after completing it were great too like Separate Ways and Ada Assignment. Definitely a worthy game for a Resident Evil fan.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia and IGN.

ICO ~ review

I fondly remember the day when I first saw the review for ICO when I was a teenager. I didn't remember what they say about it, but what I did remember were the hauntingly good background music and a scene of a boy running up a staircase (or was it running down?) while fighting shadowy creatures. It was a fond memory indeed. I made a promise to myself to look for this game if I ever get myself a PlayStation 2 in the future. Time goes by and I didn't get a chance to buy one, and the memory of the game slowly fades away. At times I can still visualize the boy fighting the shadowy creatures but I can no longer remember the name of the game.

Fast forward to 7 or 8 years later, I finally purchased the game and completed playing it. I stumbled upon the game accidentally as I was browsing for PS2 games to buy. Although I didn't quite recognize it at first (I forgot the name of the game) but memories started flooded back to me and I immediately made my choice and bought it. The promise I made years ago was worth it because ICO is a beautiful, unique and heart-warming video game I had ever played.

ICO is about a young boy with horns who was locked away in a seemingly abandoned fortress by his village men since boys born with horns are considered as a bad omen. As he tried to find a way to escape the fortress, he met Yorda, a young girl with glowing skin, caged in one of the room. He freed her and together they explored the huge fortress to find escape while running away from mysterious shadowy creatures that relentlessly tried to abduct Yorda, and a mysterious Queen of the fortress who controlled them.


As I was playing the game, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the scenery in it. Even in a room filled with fallen rocks and ruins, I cannot help but amazed with the visuals. The lighting effect displayed in the game was spectacular. You can see that the developer are keen on the details. Although the visuals would not match the standard of today high-definition games on XBox 360 and PS3, they do have their own magic to captivate any gamers. Characters can appeared quire sharp on the edges on screens but I tend to oversee that due to the beautiful overall appearance of the surrounding environments.

Playing the game was quite simple; no health bar, no list of items, no instructions. You just go and do what you felt that needed to do. Guide Yorda through tricky places and figure out puzzles to overcome obstacles. Pick up sticks or sword and slash through the shadowy creatures once they appear. Call Yorda or take her hand and run if you must. I made it sound too simple for pleasure but ICO does give an emotional experience. The horned boy and Yorda did not speak the same language but somehow you felt their connection and bonding. They trust each other and language was not a barrier to them. It was really sweet seeing them fallen asleep next to each other on the glowing couch that act as a save point. And the cutscenes, especially towards the ending, was really heart-breaking. Story-wise, ICO is perfect.


One major complaint that I noticed from gamers around the world was the length of the game. Having played it, I must admit, it was short compared to the rest of the games that I had played. Nevertheless, the experience was priceless. There is simply no word that can accurately describe my feelings towards the game, therefore, I recommended people to buy this game and experience it yourself, if you haven't play it already. It is indeed a hidden jewel among all the blockbuster games that filled the market. It is worth every single penny.

For me, ICO is a masterpiece.


Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Gamespot.

Kingdom Hearts ~ review

I have mixed feelings when I played this game. But before that, let me introduce it first. Kingdom Hearts is a popular and commercially successful video game developed and published by Square-Enix. The video game, a collaboration between Square-Enix and Disney, received rave reviews and sold millions of copies worldwide.



The story goes like this. Sora, the main protagonist, is a 14-year-old boy who longs to go on an adventure, travel from one place to another with his 2 best friends, Riku and Kairi. One bizarre night, he was attacked by shadow creatures, known as the Heartless, and was swept away to another world, called Traverse Town. He met Donald and Goofy there, desperately looking for a key wielder that will lead them to the missing King Mickey. Realizing that he was the key wielder, the one wielding the Keyblade, he made a pact with Donald and Goofy and travel from one world to another looking for King Mickey, Riku and Kairi.



Good things first. The plot of the game is very interesting for me and I was very excited to find out how things would turn out. The story is very engaging and sometimes can be very heartwarming. I love everytime a cutscene being played as it was beautiful visually. For me, the opening scene is definitely the best. The voice acting was good too. If you didn't know already, some of the talents behind the voices for the English version are Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), Hayden Panettiere (TV series Heroes), David Gallanger (TV series 7th Heaven), Billy Zane (Titanic) and Lance Bass ('N Sync).


The gameplay, although confusing and not-so-interesting at first (for me at least), turn out to be very addictive. Players can also play many other mini games / side quests placed throughout the game. Visually stunning, the characters from two different mediums, Final Fantasy games and Disney films, also blend beautifully together, which was very surprising to me. This makes Kingdom Hearts even more special and unique compared to other video games. Oh, I forgot to mention about the background music. They were really good and very suitable with the different worlds they were set in. My favourite music were the ones in the world of Monstro and Halloween Town.

Now for the bad things. I was very frustrated with the Gummi ships section. I didn't even bother to design my own Gummi ship and used the one I was provided with throughout the entire game. It's not like I didn't try, I did made several attempts to build one based on the blueprint but it was too confusing. I rather focus on the story than this ridiculous side quest.


I have problems with the opening section of the game too. For me, it was too childish. I felt like I was playing The Little Mermaid or Lilo & Stitch the video game. Not that it wasn't interesting, but unlike those two video games that I had mentioned, Kingdom Hearts were targeted for kids AND adults alike (eerr...at least that's what I think, correct me if I'm wrong). If it was targeted only for kids, then I wouldn't have mind.

I was also very disappointed with the ending. Yes, I understand they want to build excitement for the sequel but I think they hold back too much. I need more details and longer ending scenes. I was so looking forward to find out how it would end and I got a very disappointing ending. Bummer.

Nevertheless, Kingdom Hearts is a very entertaining game. I would not say that it's one of the best that I've had played before, but it was definitely fun and addictive. I've spent more than 50 hours on it and looking forward to play the sequels. Cheers to Square-Enix and Disney!

*Images courtesy of IGN and Wikipedia.

Silent Hill 2 ~ review

And so I continue my journey through this legendary video game series with Silent Hill 2. I know I was a bit left behind (Silent Hill Homecoming was already released and the remake of the first Silent Hill is currently in development) but it did not make me any less excited to finally get my hands on Silent Hill 2 since I heard and read a lot about it on the web. It is arguably the most popular and, some would say, the best game in the series.


Players will take control of James Sunderland, a lonely man desperately looking for his late wife, Mary, in the eerie town of Silent Hill after he received a letter from her stating that she will wait for him in their 'special place'. Along the way, James will meet various other characters; the depressive Angela; the naughty young girl Laura; the mysterious and seductive Maria; and the bully-victim Eddie. And of course James will also experience the surrealism and madness of the town as he stumbles upon monsters, corpses, and the mysterious and ever popular villain Pyramid Head. Players will have to navigate James through various creepy locations such as graveyard, apartments, hospital, and prison.



I'm impressed by the atmosphere present in the game as it gives me the sense of creepiness but also eagerness to explore more of the twisted locations. The foggy street, the I-don't-know-where-it-came-from noises, the decaying buildings; all that contribute to a great atmosphere for the game. Combine that with twisted-looking creatures and Pyramid Head, and you will get an awesome horror game.

The scariest place for me in the game was at the bloody underground prison. My heart almost stopped when there's a loud banging or when the monsters suddenly appeared on screen. Definitely one of the worst place to explore in the game.



In terms of plot / story of the game, it didn't continue on with the storyline from the previous Silent Hill game but present a whole new story for the gamers. But I must admit, the story is a bit confusing for my obviously-slow-than-your-average brain. I get the part that James is looking for his dead wife, and the background stories of the minor characters, but there are parts that I got confused especially when it involved the psychological twists. Maybe I need to get all the endings and the guide book to understand more of the game (I currently only achieved 1 ending; there are all about 4 to 5 different endings). I do appreciate more of the game and the psychological twists once I read more about it on the web. But if you do not like spoilers, than I suggest you play the game and get at least 2 to 3 different endings before you search the web about it.

Overall, Silent Hill 2 is a satisfying game for me. Like what I wrote before, although I was a bit confused, but I still get the whole picture of what had happened in the game. I found the story to be sad since it revolves around the themes of loneliness and the sense to belong. The story was well-written and very well played-out in the game. Silent Hill 2 was highly praised by critics and was a commercial success, so it's worth a game to own.



Images courtesy of IGN.

God of War ~ review

I believe this game needs no introduction. But for those of you who don't know, God of War is a third-person action-adventure game with a story based on the Greek mythology for the PlayStation 2 console. It was released in 2005 and had been praised by the gaming critics and fans alike.

The game begins with our protagonist, the legendary warrior (or should I say villain) Kratos standing on the edge of a cliff with a solemn face. After a moment, he let himself fall in an attempt to commit suicide. Just before he hit the bottom, we are taken back in time, 3 weeks prior to the event to be more specific, to discover the truth about Kratos and his journey that leads to his attempted suicide.

To know Kratos's life journey, we are taken from one epic place to the next; from the Aegean Sea to the burning city of Athens, from the Desert of Lost Souls to the Temple of Pandora, and believe it or not, we even visit the Underworld; all in the name to defeat Ares, the God of War, who is causing chaos in Athens.

God of War is one of the game I've seen on Playstation 2 with such amazing graphics, and I'm not just talking about the full motion videos (FMVs), the graphics were stunning even during gameplay. And it does help in bringing the charm to the game as it was set in epic settings with an epic story. Yes, I know I keep repeating the word 'epic' but I can't help it; everything in God of War is epic. Even the music was hauntingly suitable for the tale.

Personally, I really love God of War for it's beautiful and breathtaking settings. The environments look majestic, and of course it suited the story about a warrior who are in service for the Greek gods. I would be amazed everytime I enter a new place. Some of my favourite places in the game are; the Aegean Sea in the beginning of the game, the challenge of Poseidon with all its water streams, and the challenge of Hades with all its scary burning fire. You will face both the challenges in the Temple of Pandora together with another one which is the challenge of Atlas. Athens also looks stunningly beautiful although some of the buildings are either in ruins or on fire.

As many of you would guess, God of War contains a lot of violence. Blood spraying, limbs flying, that's just a part of a day's work for Kratos. And there's nudity too primarily involving topless females. So I would not really recommend this game for minors.

As a conclusion, this amazing game should be in every house of those who love video games. To learn more, you can visit Game Trailers for the review of the game or just click here to go to the official site.

Silent Hill Origins ~ review

This is the first game that I completed on my PlayStation 2. It took me about 11 hours to complete it and I only managed to unlock 3 accolades (free costumes that you get if you finish the game within certain limits or criteria like killing Y% enemies with bare hands or if you only use the flashlight not more than 3 hours). I know I took longer time to complete this than other people but that just the way I play video games. I usually play it nice and slow, absorbing the atmosphere and story so that I could relive it in my memory time after time. But it was also because I suck at playing it! Haha! That's why I took 11 hours and most people can finish it at 3 to 5 hours, maybe even faster.

Silent Hill Origins is a prequel to the Silent Hill game series and took place before the events in the 1st game. Player took on the role of Travis Grady, a truck driver, who found himself involved in a mysterious activity of a religious cult after he had saved a little girl from a burning house in the eerie town of Silent Hill while also had to battle with his own demons from his tragic past.

I can't really compare much this game with its predecessor or successor because so far I had only played the 1st game other than this one. I found the story to be quite exciting but I really wish that the story could be much darker. Not that Travis's past isn't tragic enough, but it's a Silent Hill game, so I was expecting more. Sometimes the motivation that kept Travis searching for the little girl was confusing, for example at the end of Cedar Grove Sanitarium level, Travis found a theatre ticket and decided to go to the Artaud Theatre (which was of course mentioned on the ticket) to search for the missing girl. So just because he found a ticket he expected the girl to be at a theatre? Weird.

The control was good and easy although sometimes can be quite frustrating when it comes to loading the gun or aiming the enemies but I don't really mind that much because it creates more suspense and terror just like it should. The visuals were also good and satisfying in terms of creepiness but quite ridiculous when it comes to dark places. I can't even see much with the flashlight on.

In Silent Hill Origins, we get to explore more of the mysterious town. The places that will be explored are the Alchemilla Hospital, Cedar Grove Sanitarium, Artaud Theatre and Riverside Motel. The sanitarium took me the longest to complete. At first, it was such a creepy place but after awhile I got tired of it; it was ridiculously long and it could have been shorten. My favourite place was the Riverside Motel while the most creepiest to me was the sanitarium. The place was so dark, horrifying and infected with shadow-like creatures (among others) that cannot be killed. I would pick the sanitarium as my fave place but like I said, it was too long and somehow kill the fun.

I have here a gameplay video of Silent Hill Origins courtesy of Game Trailers. I posted it here so you would know what I've been through. I hope you guys enjoy it.