Boom!! Headshot!
Gambit System in Final Fantasy
Initially I hated the gambit system in Final Fantasy 12. I didn’t want my A.I. partners acting on their own and screwing up my strategy. Some battles could be a single move between life and death. But then the gambit system kept getting deeper and deeper and I grew to love it. I could have one partner healing me if I got lower that 25% health, one partner casting element spells depending on an enemy’s weakness, and one partner switching between defensive spells and attacks. Final Fantasy 13 is going to continue the gambit system and I couldn’t be more excited. In one trailer, the player-controlled character hit an enemy into the air, and the A.I.-controlled enemy continued the combo by shooting a fireball and hitting the enemy in mid-air. That’s awesome.
Bioshock’s Setting
The setting where a game takes place can really make the difference between a good game and a great game. One of the most recent games to really nail an amazing setting was Bioshock and its underground town. Stuck in the 1960’s, the look and feel of the town really added to the horror and suspense of the game. Every part of this underground setting from the guns, to the plasmids and the enemy outfits really lended to the story and fun of Bioshock.
Looting system in Borderlands
Fallout 3 had it all wrong. I want my loot exploding out of my enemies’ corpse Diablo 2 style. There’s nothing better than seeing loot fly out of a particularly difficult enemy, and then scrambling to see who can grab the best loot first. It adds a little of a competitive edge in an otherwise cooperative game. The addition of a duel system in the game also ensures that there will be plenty of battlefield smack-downs over who gets the best loot. The only way the loot system could be any better, is if I had the option to pick up the best loot and then break it in front of my friend and laugh…but that’s just me.
Unique Art Styles
Most games end up usually looking very similar which is not a bad thing but there are occasionly games that really change it up and try something new. A couple of the ones of recent memory include XIII and Valkyria Chronicles which both employed a very different and unique art style. SEGA actually developed a new engine called the canvas engine to give their game a hand drawn look to it. XIII had the look of an old Batman cartoon which made for a great experience. Now its never a bad thing if a game developers sticks to a more normal art style but its always nice to get that game that tries something new and succeeds.
As always thanks for taking the time to read and please check us out next week!
