Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island Review

Gust's Atelier games are wildly popular in Japan, but most have never had a chance to succeed in the US. Hoepfully all that will change with the release of Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island for the DS. Atelier Annie puts gamers in the shoes of Annie, a lazy young girl who finds herself entered in an alchemy competition.

Atelier Annie is similar to the Harvest Moon games in that it provides gamers with a large variety of gathering and resource management based gameplay. Players are tasked with participating in the game's main alchemy contest, using their prize money to help rejuvenate Sera Island, and also with building relationships with other characters in the game and creating items for them. Because of all the things to do in the game, Atelier Annie is great for playing in short bursts, but it can also be incredibly addictive. As I played I often kept telling myself "just one more quest" only to find myself playing for another hour.

Atelier Annie also offers a traditional turn based battle system. While questing for materials, players will often encounter monsters that they must either flee from or fight off. Players can build a three-person party out of other characters in the game, and can outfit them with weapons and armor than they purchase or synthesize. The battle system is very basic, but is full of cute character quips that help to spice things up.

Atelier Annie really could've benefited from more in-depth character interactions, but it still is a great game with tons of replay value. If you're not a fan of this sort of game, Atelier Annie won't win you over, but this is a great game for anyone who enjoys games like Harvest Moon. Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island  is available in stores now.

Battle of Giants: Dragons Review

From the makers of Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs comes a new game- Battle of Giants: Dragons. IGN reviewed the game and had many positive things to say about it.

Dragons looks pretty good for a DS game. The dragons are similar, but they're suitably badass. It's just a hell of a lot of fun to watch them beat the living hell out of each other. All of this dragon on dragon carnage is punctuated by a fairly epic soundtrack.

They felt the game had improved upon Dinosaurs in many way, such as the story and the gameplay. However, they still found some faults with the game.

Unfortunately, it all gets a bit repetitive: gameplay, animations, and music. All three change slightly over the course of the game. New moves are unlocked, the animations change a bit for stronger attacks, and there are a few songs, but it starts to get stale.

Overall, they seemed to enjoy the game, giving it a 7.2/10.

Source.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Review

IGN has posted up their review of the DS' Kingdom Hearts game. Right off the bat, they make it clear the game is only for Kingdom Hearts fans, saying:

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a game for Kingdom Hearts fans and its plot is very difficult for newcomers to grasp, considering its somewhat specific focal point.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days revolves almost entirely around Organization XIII, a group of extremely powerful (and eccentric) Nobodies. Organization XIII's primary goal is to fabricate Kingdom Hearts -- a powerful, ethereal collection of hearts -- so they can reclaim their own hearts and complete their existence. If this sounds a bit confusing, it is. As is the case with previous Kingdom Hearts games, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days can be a bit hard to follow and nearly impossible to understand if you haven't played a Kingdom Hearts game before.

The review is largely positive, praising 358/2 for its high challenge level and control scheme. However, they do have some complaints with the game, saying:

But not everything is simple and clean in this DS spin-off. This is the fourth time I've traveled to some of these worlds and met these Disney characters -- and it's getting old. The idea of visiting different worlds isn't disagreeable to me at all, but everything in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a rehash of a previous environment or scenario. Even the music tracks are all taken from previous games. This is unacceptable, because the Kingdom Hearts series deserves better.

Overall, IGN found the game to be a rewarding experience for fans of the Kingdom Hearts series, giving it an 8 out of 10.