By all means the premise and the mechanics of Just Cause 2 spell a bad game but once you get into riding it you are in for one hell of a gaming experience. First, the setting. You are in Palau, an archipelago (kayong mga pinoy na di alam kung ano archipelago mahiya kayo) that has in it military bases, small towns, fishing villages, mountain settlements, airports, oil rigs. You name it, Palau has it. The environment ranges from hot arid deserts, snow capped mountain ranges, white sandy beaches and jungle terrain. And guess what, you can navigate and visit ALL of these settings, every single location… THE ENTIRE FREAKIN’ COUNTRY.

Your primary objective is to romp around the islands doing missions for 3 factions and for your agency. You get missions by getting chaos points. You get chaos points by, well, raining down fire and brimstone wherever you grapple your physics defying hook on. What are the ways to do this? Let me illustrate by citing a couple of things I did to gain chaos points.

• Grappled a motorcycle driver to steal his ride. While doing my Chuck Norris/Van Dame “balance on a bike” impersonations, I hooked on a helicopter passing by and stole that. Using the chopper’s guns, I fired at a water tower and fuel dump inside a military base nearby then crashed the chopper on cell tower and generator.
• I jacked myself a sports car, drove to top speed, jumped on its roof fired a my rocket launcher blowing up a gas station, opened my parachute, got propelled to the air as my car gets hit by enemy fire.

Suffice to say, action is the name of the game, not realism.

The graphics are simply stunning. Albeit the vehicle and NPC textures aren’t that impressive, but the environment is absolutely breathtaking. Climbing up a tower to look over a sandy beach as the water glistens and the cloud cover shifts is simply awesome. We tried grabbing a boat and drive it to the open sea, stopped and looked at the water, the waves. Then just for the hell of it, we jump into the open ocean. Lo and behold, there are corals, seaweed, fish and underwater rocks. The attention to detail is astounding.

Sound design isn’t that impressive but still immerses you into the game. The waves as they hit rocks, the roaring of a jet engine, the cars, the scooters they all sound very authentic, even the gunfire. One thing really impressed me is the attention to detail even on the languages the NPCs spoke. Mga kapatid, may nananagalog sa game na ito. Gulat na gulat akong nakita may nagsabing “HOY BUMABA KA DIYAN!” nung umakyat ako sa bubong ng tricycle. Some speak Thai and Indonesian as well. My only complaint is the bad voice acting by one particular character that sounds soooooooo fake with her accent.

Gameplay in Just Cause 2 is absolutely brilliant even with its loose grip on reality. Infact, being unreal helps in the fun. Infinite parachutes mean infinite jumps over ledges and even out of planes and choppers. The grappling hook makes getting to places easier and even downright hilarious when used on the proper combination of vehicles (i.e. hooking a motorcycle to a helicopter and fly it out). Apart from the bottomless parachute bag and the “hook of the Gods” you can also get weapons from enemies and buy them from the blackmarket. You can also upgrade your vehicles from there as well. So far the best help the blackmarket can help you is when you can them you can opt to have them extract you and bring you to a nearby stronghold you already unlocked. This beats running around the gigantic map, REALLY GIGANTIC map.

As for replay value, how many ways can you think of to blow up one objective? Well, top of my head, I have 15 already. Sky is the limit with this game so replay value is pretty much through the roof. There is no dull moment and each moment you’d want to play differently.

Just Cause 2 is a bit buggy however. You get stuck in the strangest of places and sometimes the physics engine fails (tank is propelled into the air by an exploding grenade, weird). However, the slight and occasional bugs don’t hamper the gameplay much making this one of the most fun games we’ve ever played in a long while.

Graphics – 9
Sound – 8
Gameplay – 10
Replay Value – 10

Kinect employs a sophisticated camera/sensor system mounted on your television set connected to your 360 of course. What does it do? well, it tracks your movement, scans your body, answers to your body’s commands and heck, depending on the software, talks and responds as well.

We were very impressed with their Kinectimals title which will allow people of all ages to acquire pets to take care of. You can teach them tricks, play games, and basically cuddle virtually with your beloved animal. Also impressive is Ubisoft’s Your Shape which is the best fitness software we’ve seen since nintendo came out with the Wii Fit.

Check out the video on the main site for the Kinectimals feature. Kinect is set for release during the holidays. Magpakabait na mga bata kung gusto niyo ng Kinect this Christmas.

You play another Prince of Persia (duh!). You are helping your brothers defend your home city when you find out your brother wants to release Solomon’s Army as a desperate move to fight the conquerors of your country. You find out later that the army is evil and you have to stop it. Pretty standard Prince of Persia plot.

The gameplay is what you would expect from a Prince of Persia game. You jump around, killing opponents, mash buttons in combinations to stop the evil, and fall several times. Funny thing is, you only have 2 attack buttons which seriously reduces combat to a mash and pray activity. Dodging is counter-productive as well considering you’re always surrounded.

Although there is a sense of satisfaction when you pull off jumps and grabs unscathed, a sense of achievement is sadly missing since the obstacles are very easy to navigate through. In the more later levels the obstacles become absurdly difficult turning your ease in the first few levels intro extreme frustration.

Graphics wise, we expected this game to be a beauty considering the last prince of Persia was a cell shaded masterpiece. Repeated enemy textures anyone? There’s no noticeable variety in the opponents you encounter even in the environments you playthrough. Even on the PC where everything should look a lot better than in consoles (provided you have a powerful PC), the game looks and feels bland.

The sound design isn’t particularly notable either. Voice acting is on the shabby but acceptable end. The sword clashes and sound effects of boulders and catapults don’t excite the senses. The music is pretty standard fare too.

As for replay value, there isn’t much. Yes, you can play it again if you want to, but you’ll be doing the same things you did on your first playthrough leaving no room for decision making in this railed out action adventure.

Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands is a disappointment considering the satisfactory success of the movie it came out with.

Graphics – 5
Sound – 5
Gameplay – 4
Replay Value – 3

The story begins right after the events of the first game. You still play as Desmond, you’re still trapped in the laboratory of Abstergo the organization representing the modern templars that seek the Piece of Eden, powerful artifacts that were once used to control the world. After a daring escape assisted by Lucy your new found friend, you are brought to a hidden facility run by Assassins where they jack you back into a new and improved Animus 2.0. This time you won’t be in control of Altair, you will be controlling Ezio a young man of Italy during the 1400′s. Yep, you read it, THE RENAISSANCE.

For a console port, Assassin’s Creed 2 (AC2) looks fairly well rendered. On a high end PC, expect to see a lot of eye candy especially when you have Ezio climb really tall towers to look over Italian cities such as Firenze (Florence) and Venice. On top of those towers, the view is absolutely marvelous. Is it just me though or did the developers lessen the number of people inside the cities since part 1? Not only that but Ezio’s clothing clip on top of his other clothes? Perhaps its the console porting that did this. A PC game of this calibre, I’d expect, would have more polish. Generally though, the feel of the first game has been essentially preserved, even if the setting was changed.

Soundwise AC2 remains to be truly inspired. Markets sound like markets with people hawking their wares. Street corners are busy with carpet sellers, fish merchants, blacksmiths and even prostitutes! Yes, another game with prostis. What could have been improved is the transition of the sounds. When you walk towards a market, you should be able to hear the market sounds slowly getting louder, instead, you hear the market sounds the moment you step into an imaginary line that separates the market from the other places. It makes the transition sound contrived. Other than that, AC2 has superb sound mastery from music during chase scenes to the clanging of swords and even as weapons hit flesh.

Gameplay has dramatically changed in AC2 since part 1. Now, there are over a hundred ways to go about your mission not only because, as was part 1, its a open world game, but also the myriad of weapons under you can wield against the bad guys. You now get a second hidden blade which you can taint with poison, a small pistol, smoke bombs, oh and you can even throw money to distract people. To get around the game, you still do the awesome free runs on rooftops and on the streets of Italy the same way you did back in AC1. The game also has special action sequences as well, from driving a carriage to flying Leonardo da Vinci’s ornithopter.

Let’s talk about dramatic changes. Now you need MONEY. First of all because your weapons get damaged and you will need the money to get them repaired at the local blacksmith. Second is because you may want to buy new weapons and armor, one cannot survive in AC2 without a decent set. Third is to heal yourself, you now get potions to heal yourself with. And last, and something more interesting (spoiler) since you need to upgrade the Villa your uncle Mario runs. The Villa can generate income for you over time, but you will have to invest some money on it for it to grow. Investments in an action adventure, I love it! I myself invested heavily to acquire a whorehouse for the Villa, sue me, a town needs its prostis. I mean where would the politicians go if there’s no whorehouse, right?

The game is an open world, you can travel anywhere you want anytime you want which means there is a lot of ways to play it the first time, second time and so on. There is always a new way to play it, that pretty much takes care of the replay value. However it throws in a couple more surprises. You need to collect several disks from the tombs of dead assassins to unlock Altair’s armor, which looks pretty badass. Also you can choose to collect all the statues and paintings for the Villa and acquire all the upgrades for it. You could also go on side missions such as races, assassinations, beat ups and some special events. So there’s a lot of gameplay hours on AC2 which makes it a game worth buying.

Graphics – 9
Sound – 8
Gameplay – 9
Replay Value – 8

“It’s a difficult question to answer,” Lee admitted. “We launched Ragnarok II in 2007. That version wasn’t really enough for the market, so we tried to revise all the systems, but it takes time. We changed the engine and everything, it’s like a totally new game. The engine changed several times, but now we’re using Gamebryo.”

This is all funny to us here in Pinoygaming since Korea’s beta site for Ragnarok 2 is closed (previously www.ragnarok2.co.kr). However the game being a Gamebryo engine game does pose something interesting. Gamebryo is the same engine as Fallout 3 and Dark Age of Camelot. Those games were visually stunning and the gameplay was superb. If you want to see what the Gamebryo engine looks like, check out Atlantica Online, which uses the same engine.

We here at Pinoy Gaming Network look forward to this release, if ever there is really going to be one. It has been postponed too many times already and we’re getting tired of waiting for it.

Well mga kapatid, X-Play has the answer for you. X-Play is announcing the launch of Pro Gaming League (PGL) where the top players of online games in the Philippines could battle it out and have a chance of winning Php 1,000,000. Yes, that is 6 zeros there. Di ka naduduleng 1 million yan. And guess what, you won’t only gain fortune, you will get fame as well since matches in the PGL will be televised in GMA7.

Let the rise of Cybergaming as a new sport in the Philippines begin!

What will this downtime to do the official launching of Runes of Magic to commercial from Open Beta? How will this exceptionally long downtime – started March 16, 2010 – affect Domination IV, IP E-Games largest gaming event?

We will post updates regarding the issue as soon as we get them.

Runes of Magic is a fantasy MMORPG set in the land of Taborea. Taborea is a fairly peaceful land filled with small villages, big cities (ang hirap nga maglakad sa cities eh… napakalaki), caves, dungeons, and many more locales you might expect in a standard MMORPG. Nothing fancy there, pretty much what you’d expect in a fantasy setting.

You pick a job that tickles your play style. There’s a backstabbing, hide in the shadows rogue. There’s a meat-shield knight. There’s a berserking I-will-kick-your-balls-or-die-trying warrior. Also there’s an abracadabra-your-ass-is-on-fayah mage. A hit-and-run drive (or ride) by expert scout. And to top things off, a “Mr. Pa Buffpls” priest. Standard stuff.

You level up doing quests or killing monsters. You gain more stats and skills as you level and weapons and armor you pick up  along your adventures strengthen your character. Potions heal, weapons and armor need repair, you need gold to do commerce. This doesn’t paint a pretty picture much does it? It’s all pretty standard! That is until you delve deeper into the ame.

Runes of Magic is an enchantress dressed as a beggar. Looking at it once, you may think its a World of Warcraft clone (which isn’t exactly a bad thing since WoW is one of the highest rated MMORPGs out there). Later the new features it offers piles up, and you find yourself in a game that is not only deep and very engaging, but unique and oh so special.

First, Runes of Magic offers a dual class system. Not unique to an MMO, but developer Runewaker has topped it off with icing (sarap ng icing may diabetes kami dito). Runes of Magic (ROM) allows you to combine any 2 jobs choosing from the ones listed above. One will be primary, the other secondary. To our surprise, you can switch between your primary and secondary and play a
significantly different way! Let’s say, you play a mage/Knight. It’s totally different when you go knight/mage. And if that’s not enough, you get “premium” skills too! These skills are unique to each class combination. So possibilities are enormous!

Second, Runes of Magic offers a unique loot distribution system. Sa ibang MMO, maghahatian sa item, or ibibigay sa guildmaster then guildmaster mag decide. Sa iba, may need over greed. Yung may kailangan, dun mapupunta item. In ROM, you can all benefit from one item by way of a feature called a Transmutor. A transmutor can take an item and break it down into its simplest magic components. Let’s say for example you get a +3 stamina +3 dex chainmail. Your scout needs the dex but your rogue needs the stamina. There’s only one item though and there are 2 people who need it! You just take your item, isaksak mo sa transmutor, and separate the +3 stamina from +3 dex and fuse them with 2 different items. Boss raids will now be beneficial for everybody in terms of loot, not just experience.

Third and speaking of boss hunts/raids. Bosses in ROM are smart. The standard “tank and spank” doesn’t work anymore (tank and spank -yung knight haharang, everybody fires on it, only the knight is healed). If the boss finds that he is getting hurt more by the scouts, rogues and mages, it switches targets and goes for them instead of the tank. If the boss finds out that the priest is a greater threat for healing everybody, it will go after the father. Plus, the environment plays a role in boss hunts/raids too. Falling rocks, electricity on the floor, fire, lava surrounding you are things you must avoid with your party, while fighting the boss.

Fourth, A housing system. World of Warcraft promised a housing system early in their development stage. Nakasulat pa nga sa box ng WoW na may housing eh. Until now we have yet to see this. In ROM, the housing system is in full swing and has a few added extras. A house is not only a place for your character to rest, it is also a place where you can store your loots and items. What’s more is that you can decorate your house to your liking by purchasing furniture. Yung mga may inner interior decorator diyan matutuwa dito. The furniture are not only for aesthetics, they offer XP boosts for you.

Fifth, the PVP system and Guild system. Siguro nakapanood na kayo ng masayang pelikula na may castle sieging. Panoorin niyo yung Kingdom of  Heaven kung hindi pa. Guild vs. Guild combat in Runes will feature a real castle that you and your guild will make. A real guild castle you decorate and design yourself. You decide where to put defenses and where to put your sofa if you want a couch in your castle. Not only that, guildmaster can control everything within that guild too! They have a guild vault  where they put in all their loot and cash and they can find out who has gotten how much in that vault, making guild management easier. Also there’s server to server battles. Yeap, you read it right, SERVER VS. SERVER. This is unprecedented in any MMO. One map in ROM can accomodate 5,000 players at one time making war, TRULY WAR.

Sixth, there is no grind. Again, incase di mo nabasa ng maayos… THERE IS NO GRIND. You do not go out and kill 1,000,000 monsters and reach the level cap. In runes, you quest. Questing provides better xp than performing genocide. I can remember in Ragnarok online we used to kill millions of alarms (RO monster) just to get from lvl 98 to 99. NO MORE in Runes. In ROM, the more you go out adventuring, (raid, boss hunt, daily quests, story quests) the more xp you get. So it encourages you to explore instead of kill and kill. That is why it is essential in ROM that you read the quests and follow the story (maganda rin mga kuento eh) This has got to be the best feature for me in ROM.

Last, after conversations with IP E-games head honchos, we’ve come to know that the GM (game master) tools in ROM are very powerful that they can track pretty much everything that’s going on in game with your character and can address  almost any problem within it, may it be bugs, scams and even hacking. In fact, there have been discussions about them offering hack insurance. Once you buy it and you get hacked, everything on your character can be restored.

Runes of Magic is not a unique MMORPG. It has the same elements as any MMO out there. In fact it has many of the same elements as one particular MMO *ahem WOW ahem*. The setting and jobs aren’t unique. Graphics aren’t that awesome (we hope it gets better in future patches). However, it brings so many new stuff on the table that here in the Philippines, it has the potential to reshape the Game Publishing/Operating industry.

We here at Pinoy Gaming Network rarely feature an MMO much less recommend one. Well there’s a first time for everything. We highly recommend Runes of Magic for hardcore and casual gamers. So far, it is the best MMORPG readily available here in the Philippines. And its all FREE. That’s right, FREE TO PLAY PO!! Missing it is missing a lot.

For every click on every article, for every bookmark for our page, we humbly thank you from the bottom of our hearts and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Modern Warfare 2 continues the story from the first Modern Warfare only 5 years later. Imrahn Zakhaev is dead and a new bad guy has taken his place, Vladimir Makarov, who is even worse than Zakhaev ever was. You play a multitude of characters on this one jumping from one to another depending on the mission. There’s a private Allen and a Sergeant Roach. The story is a bit convoluted and a bit confusing if you haven’t played the first game. The twists in the story give you a couple of surprises here and there and totally makes up for the confusion. It also takes you to several different locales around the world which we truly believe is the strength of the single player campaign.

Graphically speaking, MW2 isn’t exactly the leap in technology you’d expect from such a high profile release but it is still a marvel to witness. Small details added to the maps make the game so immersive. Chickens for sale in a public market, vandals on walls, paper and plastics flying around, fire hydrants (that explode in a gush of water when destroyed), all these minutiae totally add to the experience that create a graphical marvel MW2 is.

The sounds in this game are another factor why MW2 is so much a success. The guns sound real. I’ve fired some of these rifles in real life and let me tell you they sound EXACTLY the same. And bullets hitting glass, stone, cans, cars exploding, are all mastered incredibly. To add to all this is the musical score by Hans Zimmer (yes the Hollywood Sound Genius responsible for the pulse pounding beats we hear in many action films). This all adds up to a frantic gunfight that sounds authentic and feels like an action film.

The gameplay of Modern Warfare 2 is threefold, each of which can function as a separate game. The single play campaign is one, the second one is the Multiplayer which we will discuss a little later and the new Spec Ops – you and a buddy get to do missions together (new in the Call of Duty world).

Multiplayer pretty much functions the same way as COD4 Modern Warfare 1. However it comes with LOADS of new content. Your weapons for instance have a plethora of attachments that you need to unlock. Before you’d be limited to 4 or 5 attachments, now there are 9. There are more perks as well ranging from the ever standard Stopping Power (that increases your bullet damage) to the new and interesting Hardline (which reduces the kills needed for a killstreak reward by 1). Speaking of killstreaks, you are no longer limited to UAV, Airstrike then chopper. Now you there are almost 20 to unlock. You get a UAV, counter UAV, airstrike, stealth airstrike, sentry guns, care packages, a tactical nuke (I love this one) and my new favorites, you get to be the gunner of an attack chopper and the AC130.

Multiplayer rewards aren’t limited to these however, there’s also camouflage for yourself and for your weapons. Also, and this is something new to Modern Warfare, titles and emblems. Titles are given when you achieve something in game. For me, having called several AC130s to win the game, I got the “Angel of Death” title, which I run with complete with an emblem (an image you can use to represent yourself) of a skull with wings. All these can be unlocked once you achieve something and the achievements are practically endless!

This time, multiplayer requires your team to work together well. Gone are the days when everybody is using stealth kits because if the enemy gets choppers and planes as killstreak rewards you’ll get totally owned since nobody could shoot them down. That’s why there’s a party system. You can bring your friends along with you as you hop from game to game.

Here’s the bad news about multiplayer, there are no dedicated servers. You have to connect to IWNET, Infinity Ward’s (game developer) new baby to play multiplayer games. The problem with this is you don’t always get the best connections. It’s a hit and miss thing. AND, to add to the frustration, when you quit a game because of bad connection, it is counted as a loss. We’re crossing our fingers that Infinity Ward fixes this problem with patches soon.

Finally we have Spec Ops or Special Operations. You and a buddy get to join in and take on missions with many objectives. For example there’s one where you and a buddy are a sniper team that needs to stop several enemies, waves of them. There’s also getting from point A to point B without being detected. There’s also breaching and clearing missions and loads more. There’s a potential here for downloadable content which expands on the game’s replay value.

Speaking of replay value, this game has ALL THAT. You’ll get hooked playing it OVER and OVER and OVER again to get unlocks in multiplayer, achievements in singleplayer and stars in spec ops. So for a Php2500 peso game on PC, this one will last you years! We highly recommend purchasing originals, SULIT KASI ITO MGA KAPATID.

All in all, Pinoy Gaming Network brands this game as a MUST BUY. See you in the battlefield mga kapatid, magpapa level pa ako to get new guns yokyokyok.

Graphics – 10

Sound – 10

Gameplay – 9 (minus 1 due to no dedicated servers)

Replay Value – 10

Discuss it! Click Here

To those coming to the biggest gaming event in the Philippines, See you Nov. 7 and 8!

Runes of Magic is the newest MMORPG in the market and we are proud to say that it is NOTHING like any other MMORPG out in the Philippines today. Currently Pinoy Gaming is writing a preview of it to follow up our initial overview.

You can join the fun before many of our kababayans in playing the game. Here’s how we’ll do it.

1. Create an account in our forum here http://www.pinoygaming.net/forums
2. Answer the following questions through a post on this thread:

a. What game company is bringing Runes of Magic into the Philippines?
b. Name all 6 character classes in the game.

3. First 90 players to post their answers on these boards will be given access codes.

To download Runes of Magic client visit this link CLICK HERE

to use the activation code use this link CLICK TO USE ACTIVATION CODE

We’ll see you online then mga kapatid!!!! bago na namang kaadeeekan!!! yokyokyok

You (primarily) are Chris Redfield. You are an agent in an organization called the BSAA that oversees and eliminates biological weapons. You are inserted into some unnamed town in Africa to capture some guy named Irving who is trying to trade biological weapons. You are joined by a very beautiful African lady (astigin pero sexy) name Sheva Alomar who will be your partner in this little African escapade. Story wise, this game is deep and very intriguing. There are times that you’d just play and play just to see what happens next.

Graphically the game is moody. The environment feels really HOT. Naawa ako kay Chris Redfield dahil naka polo shirt pa ito sa simula ng laro. Mukhang ewan, polo polo ang init init naman. Technically speaking the game is not a cut above the rest like Deep Space was but the Physx engine compensates. The detailing of textures is quite impressive though. Looking at Chris’s gear and even Sheva’s body armor, you certainly notice the attention to detail. Sheva’s earrings even move like real dangling earings my wife wears. Yokyokyok. We ran the game in DX10 using a single GTX 260 as our video card and it never lagged or got any major dips in the frames even with high action going on.

I’ve played Resident Evil games before and the one thing that will really set the mood in any horror game is the music and RE games are always the best at it. Having said that Resident Evil 5 has perfected this part of the game. It is often quiet while you play. But, when in combat a steady drum beat rolls in and helps get your heart rate up. Scares come in few and far between but they are quality shocks that leave your heart pounding for minutes. But, as usual though, they didn’t get the sound effects for the guns right.

Resident Evil 5 doesn’t go far from the standard when it comes to gameplay though. Get weapons, upgrade them, follow the story, and gather treasures and secrets. That’s basically how it’s played. Its survival horror, you just have to survive the onslaught brought about by the story. Kasama na diyan siguro ang pagiging madamot sa bala. Pag kokonti nalang bala, saksak nalang! It’s funny how you get healed by herbs though, and herbs grow everywhere. What I don’t like is “di ka parin puede tumakbo habang bumabaril, titigil muna dapat bago bumaril nakakainis.”

What you really play RE5 for is the boss fights and timed sequences. Timed sequences are like movies that you interact with. For instance, there’s this sequence when you’re floating on a raft and have to hit a combination of buttons to avoid getting your torso bit off by a giant crocodile. The boss fights consist of finding the pattern the boss follows and use it against him. It takes a while to figure out but getting it perfect is quite rewarding.

RE5 offers something new in the franchise and that’s coop mode. As you play Chris Redfield, anybody on your connection could join in and play Sheva Alomar and help you survive the rigors of being in virus infected Africa. In resident evil games I’ve always wanted to have a buddy to help me out at times and here we are. lol

As for replay value, it’s a bit limited but quite satisfying. As you play the standard story, you get to unlock costumes and weapons. Heck, you can restart the game with the current gear you already have and just wreck havoc. There’s also a mercenaries mode. You get to play any character present in the game (you have to unlock some) in timed maps where you have to survive until a chopper comes for you.

If you’re looking for a decent survivial horror with some good replay value, get this one. If you’re a fan of the RE5 franchise you should definitely get this game, it answers A LOT and I do mean a LOT of question.

Graphics – 9

Sound – 10

Gameplay – 8

Replay Value – 8

Final Fantasy III of NDS revolves around four orphans who were chosen by the crystals to bring light into their world. Final Fantasy III offers the classic turn by turn battles just like the other Final Fantasy. The game also offers some features similar to that of Final Fantasy Tactics wherein you can assign a specific job for your characters. Some jobs found in the game ranges from the ever famous Black Mage who cast deadly spells to the White Mages who focus on restorative aspects. What good is a Final Fantasy without the ever famous and known CHOCOBO. Chocobo are some kind of transportation known in every Final Fantasy game and without them, you can never say that the game is Final Fantasy.

Graphics offered by Final Fantasy III are still the same quality offered by other Final Fantasy games. They also have some movie scenes where you can enjoy the one of a kind artistic style of SquareEnix. Their in game graphics will never leave you bored to death.

Game play however disappoints me since it is on DS I kind of expected a unique game play offered by the NDS Touch Screen. The game can be played by either with the press of the button or using the stylus. You can use your stylus to pinpoint where you want your characters to go and have them open up treasure chests or talk to people just by tapping the screen with the use of the stylus.

The usual leveling applies to this Final Fantasy since every time you encounter some enemies and defeat them you gain a specific amount of experience which will help your character grow as the game progresses. Different monsters can be encountered either outside the world map or a normal dungeon.

BGM is one of Final Fantasy’s never changing features. They offer BGMs that will be suited in the area or scene where you are playing. Maganda naman ung BGMs nila kaso nakakasawa ng pakinggan kapag nagtagal.

Why would you keep playing this game you asked? First of all using your stylus to kick some monsters behind is quite cool enough. In addition to that, there are a wide variety of jobs you can try out for each character. Try to explore the potentials of every job and make your team a devastating force to reckon with. Wouldn’t it be fun to use/try on every job and defeat those pesky enemies of yours over and over again? If you are looking for a classic Final Fantasy game with some twist, then this game is for you.

Credits: Francis Salenga – writer

Not to be outdone, the genetics are here as well. They look awesome and all but I really dont like the name. The skills are interesting too. I very much like the Sorc skills which resembles the one in Diablo. Yung tatakbo na may apoy yung tinatakbuhan… sarap mag lure ng mob nito haha. Genetic Skills Sorceror Skills Source: Doddler! TY Doddler!

In the words of one of my partners “Hihimatayin ako!”

CLICK HERE FOR ALL OTHER NOMINEES!

Pinoy Gaming Network has always held gaming at a high premium over other pasttimes and not because it is our niche. We recognize that online gaming is a breeding ground for the next wave of influential people and the studies done by IBM has confirmed this. This was the primary focus of the forum, to translate online leadership into real life leadership.

The guildmasters arrived earlier than expected in groups of 4 or more and boy were they pumped. The guests came from different games from different game publishers. Cabal, Ran, ZX, Audition (E-games), RF Online, Ragnarok Online (Level Up! Games) and even World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) were represented.

The event started with a short introduction and a talk on the IBM study delivered by Pinoy Gaming Network’s own David Ralph Lleno (known in the gaming world as the Game Hero Sir David). He briefly touched the subject of the different reasons why online guild leadership has a strong correlation with real life leadership and even leadership in the corporate world.

He was followed by Gil Edeza President of E-Games and a pioneer of the Philippine online gaming industry. Mr. Edeza discussed the history of Philippine online gaming and its current state as well as its future outlook, citing that the way things are going poses great opportunities for guildmasters to make better their online influence and apply it to the real world.

Last and certainly not the least, the keynote speaker on leadership was welcomed, Sen. Chiz Escudero. He discussed the vast similarities of the online world to the real world and the consequences of one’s actions in both. He encouraged guildmasters to use their influence in the online world to make valuable contributions to society at large.

The response to his speech was tremendous. Questions came pouring in during the open forum regarding how guildmasters could use their influence to positively contribute to Philippine society. Senator Escudero promptly answers with an analogy of using the guild as a “rotary club”. He urged that guildmasters should discuss things that matter in society with their guildmembers and possibly create events to address these issues. The good senator went as far as to say that even if they don’t support him, as long as they engage and get themselves involved (positively) is already a step in the right direction.

The event ended with photo ops and a raffle that had a few guildmasters walk away with a Chiz Escudero boble head and one very lucky guildmaster  from Cabal Online bringing home  a brand new iPod from Mobil 1.

Pinoy Gaming Network would like to thank all the guildmasters who joined us in this endeavour and all our sponsors, Mobil 1 and E-games Philippines.

Maraming maraming salamat po.

To learn more about volunteering you may visit this link CLICK HERE

123456►

Game comes out November 10, 2009. I’ve already pre-ordered yokyokyok.