Scott Traynor @Masamune

Final Fantasy Chronicles (PlayStation)

Two of the greatest classic RPG's bundled together.

The Good
I have owned a Super Nintendo Since I was 6 years old. One of the first games I acquired back then was Chrono Trigger. TO THIS DAY, it remains as my favorite RPG game of all time. So you can imagine my enthusiasm when I learned about it's forth-coming to the PS w/ some added features. Essentially Chrono Trigger is THE R.P.G. It's game play and nature were new at the time and most RPG's today are based upon it's set-up. Chrono Trigger not only makes time-travel cool (yes, you can time travel back to the dinosaur age) but also the story line is phenomenol. Finally, CT introduced the multiple ending set-up based upon what events you did, or did not do. An improvement over the previous CT for the SNES is the addition of a B.G.M. and movie option. If you are even remotely into anime, you will recognize immediately who does the C.G. scenes. I never really played FFIV before this, but the instant I turned it on, I was hooked. It is similar to the rest of the FF games only with a certain pizazz (for lack of a better word) that seperates it from most conventional R.P.G.'s.

The Bad
This game is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it comes awfully close. The only thing that absolutely bugs the crap out of me is the loading time for battles on CT. Having come from the SNES version it just isn't the same. The only other thing I wish FFC had was more C.G. scenes for FFIV. Aside from the start movie, there are no others.

The Bottom Line
A combination of games that practically revolutionized the R.P.G. genre. I give it two HUGE thumbs up, and a "go out and get it right now" rating.

By Scott Traynor on July 29, 2003

Ridge Racer V (PlayStation 2)

Decent racing game

The Good
I like this game because it was one of the first good racing games for the PS2. The graphics are constructed better than most games. The cars are, well, cars. Nothing to specific but they do look good.

The Bad
Flinches Eesh, where to start. The racing system AI is kind of retarded at the higher difficulty levels. If you have even heard of Gran Turismo 3 then go out and get that instead. There are so many more things that make it a much better game than this. The only things that can be modified or changed in this game is the engine. Yes, all two of them.

The Bottom Line
A fairly decent racing game that looks better than it plays. Go get GT3.

By Scott Traynor on July 29, 2003

DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution (PlayStation 2)

Great dance game

The Good
The great thing about this game is you do not have to be great at dancing. Take it from me, the guy you see sitting in the corner alone at night clubs doing nothing. As long as you are beat oriented, then picking up the game is easy. The PS2 version is an improvement over the PS versions due to increased detail into backgrounds and better, more challenging steps. The other improvement is an added edit ability for all of the songs. Now you can't just start the game up dance all the songs immediately, first you must play a certain amount of songs to get more. This is good because it gives you an incentive to come back to the game just to see if you got a good new song. 99% of the time, the unlocked song is excellent. The last thing that is awesome about DDRMAX is that it has an added ONI mode. This mode can be best described as continuous play but with only 4 lives. 4 lives meaning you can miss 4 steps before you fail the set of songs.

The Bad
There are very few, if any flaws to this game, in my opinion. I wish there was more songs added to this game. Some of the great classics like End of the Century have been removed and this leaves more to be desired. In ONI mode, the counter is a little to meticulous, sometimes counting ones that have obviously been hit correctly as wrong. But this is rare.

The Bottom Line
I would have to describe this game as a great one that breaks the old videogame playing mould that says you have to sit on your duff and play. I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves music and if they want to learn some rhythm.

By Scott Traynor on July 5, 2003