Reviews

It's funny to me now, how I almost gave up on this game completely. A couple of months ago a friend gave me three of his Xbox 360 games to borrow for a while. One of these was Soul Caliber IV, the other I can't remember the name of, which is ironic since the one I can't remember the name of was actually the one I had wanted to borrow in the first place as far as I can remember. Anyway, the third game was Lost Odyssey; he threw in Soul Caliber and LO because he wanted me to play them and see if I liked them. So I played Soul Caliber IV for a while and enjoyed it, and then I decided to try Lost Odyssey. At first, I was bored and convinced that, being an RPG novice, I wouldn't be able to play the game properly. So I cast it aside without giving it much of a chance. I'd barely even made it past the first city.

So, yeah, I wasn't into the game and I soon forgot about it. My friend asked if he could have the game back, if I wasn't willing to play it. I said yeah, but we both forgot about it and I didn't see him during the summer, when I realised I still had the game. One day I randomly put it on again and this time I started playing for real, and soon found myself hooked. The game is four discs long, and it took me about a week to get through three of the discs. That's how much the game sucked me in, and had me addicted.

The story is of Kaim Argonor, an immortal who lives in the human world. His memories have been erased and he cannot remember who he is and what he has done in the past. He soon meets up with other immortals, and also mortals, who become his close friends. As time goes on, he begins to remember, as do the other immortals whose memories have also been erased.

I won't spoil the story, I'll just say that this game is great. I haven't got much to compare it to since I'm not really much of an RPG gamer, but in my eyes it is one of the best looking, deepest games I've ever played. I've played Final Fantasy X, but it was so long ago that I'm not sure I can really compare the two games. Still, Final Fantasy fans may want to give this one a look since I've heard the music composer of the FF series helped with this game. Anyway, it's a really good game and deserves to be recognised as an amazing RPG.

I had been wondering whether to buy this game since mid March, and I pretty much forgot about it after it first came out. Then I was shopping the other day and was looking for some new games when I came across it again. I decided to buy it and I was quite surprised at how impressive it was overall. The graphics are especially beautiful and near perfect, and the storyline, though pretty much the same as RE4, is still great. I have no problems with the new game style except that I feel they should have done a different type of storyline, not one that was obviously copying RE4, which was pretty much the best game I have ever played on PS2. Still, apart from that, I have no other faults to pick with this game. Seeing Chris and Jill again, and also Wesker, made the game even better for me. Sheva, the new character, is also great, I took a liking to her almost at once. Seeing Chris and Jill, and Chris and Wesker together in a new game is brilliant and I praise the makers of the game for doing this for us. The enemies, boss enemies and locations in this game are also great fun. I can't really say that there is a part of this game I didn't enjoy. The only thing I would like to say in closing is that I hope the next game (if there is one) chooses a completely different type of story, without the Las Plagas. I would really like to keep the new game engine though, since I really enjoy it. 8/10

This is the best game I have ever played, period. The graphics, the detail, the voice acting, everything about this game is perfect. It would be pretty damn hard to find a fault. Honestly, I've never played a game like this. At first it was just okay, then it was better than okay, and now I'm officially hooked. I never want this game to end, and I honestly believe it outshines San Andreas by many miles, which used to be my favourite game. Liberty City has never looked so good; you'd never believe it was the same city as that of the third game. Everything is polished to perfection, the lighting is just exquisite, the way the main character walks makes him look like a real living person. There are so many pedestrians I've never seen the same one twice yet. Lately games seem to forget the storyline and making a game good and focus on the graphics. This game has proved to me that gaming is not dead yet, and that good, no in this case AMAZING, games can still be made. You'll never have played anything like this. And that's a promise.

I've read several Japanese manga's but none has managed to capture my heart like 'Love Hina' did. The series was made into an anime series, which is good, but nothing compared to the manga. The story is as follows: Keitaro is about to become a third year Ronin and wants to get into a high class university called Tokyo U, but he has failed so many times before he doesn't think he has a chance... until he moves into his grandmother's former hotel, which unfortunately for Keitaro has now been turned into a girls' dormitory. After several mishaps with the girls they finally allow Keitaro to stay with them. Upon learning the truth that he is not really a Tokyo U student, they begin to contemplate kicking him out. However, when Keitaro announces to them that he wishes to take the exams again in order to get into Tokyo U and escape becoming a third year Ronin, they let his little lie slide and allow him to stay. However, he neglects to tell them the real reason for why he wants to go to Tokyo U: years ago Keitaro made a promise to an anonymous girl that both of them would get into the university together. He wants to discover the girl's identity, but how can he after all these years?

Keitaro becomes close with each and every one of the girl characters. There's Naru, the heroine of the story, who becomes Keitaro's best friend and begins to harbour a crush for him, which is mutual; Kitsune, the sly fox who often gets into trouble by getting wasted or gambling far too much; Motoko, the verging-on-psycho kendo girl who is forever trying to kill Keitaro (she, however, also has a crush on him); Shinobu, the sweet, shy and caring young girl who unlike Naru and Motoko falls in love with Keitaro almost at once, and Su the eccentric yet lovable Indian girl. Each one has an effect on Keitaro and he becomes very good friends with all of them. Along the way Keitaro meets other new friends, such as Mutsumi Otohime, the clumsy yet carefree girl who could be a link with Keitaro's past.

Together both Keitaro and Naru vow to study hard in order to get into Tokyo U together, but they both know it won't be an easy ride.

So, why should you read the manga first? Because simply put it's one of the best manga series' ever created. In short it's a sweet, fun, hysterical masterpiece. The main problem with the anime is that it's only twenty six episodes long, while the manga lasts for a whopping fourteen volumes. Therefore not everything could be packed into each twenty minute episode of the show. Not to mention that the manga is a hundred times better and funnier then the anime. Still, the anime is great too, and you can hardly beat that catchy ass theme tune. So please read the manga first, I beg of you! You really will not regret it. Also if you are considering watching the anime please watch the Japanese dub as the English dub is beyond awful.

Now I'm not going to say that this movie is for everyone, because it isn't, but I was amazed by it nonetheless. It has to be the best movie I have ever seen at the cinema yet. The graphics are stunning, and make it look so real and harrowing. The movie pulls you in, making it seem like you're actually there experiencing this with these people. The actors did a great job of making me feel for their characters and not wanting any of them to be killed off. I went into this movie expecting a good thriller, but I got more than I bargained for. This is not the sort of movie that anyone under the age of fifteen years old should see. It's quite gross in parts but even in other parts it is disturbing, watching everyone running for their lives from this huge monster. It really was very frightening, especially the ending, which disturbed me to no end, but I won't spoil anything for you. It may not be for everyone, but you should definitely check it out anyway. You'll either love it or hate it. I for one was mesmerised by it, and I don't care what anyone else thinks, because I loved it. Don't be swayed by the bad reviews, see it for yourself and see what you think.

I watched some episodes of "Life on Mars" so when I saw this was on I thought why not. I just finished watching the first episode and I have to say I was very impressed. At first I was very confused but by the end I understood what was going on (for the most part, anyway) and I just thought this was a good first episode. I'll probably watch the next few episodes as I liked this one quite a lot. Like I said I didn't see a lot of Life on Mars so I can't really compare this to that show, but I still liked this one. I loved how they featured the guy from the David Bowie 'Ashes to Ashes' music video, that was very well done. Anyway, I'd say that anyone who liked Life on Mars should watch this. Even if you haven't seen it though, I'd still give this a go. 8/10