“Warning: The stark, ugly, profound truths Bone Machine exposes may be soul crushing to the weak of spirit.”

This was taken from the warning for a TV show, but it might as well be the fine print on the cover of Bone Machine. If you are trying to avoid sugarcoated lyrics and masturbatory music, you just may have found the right place!

One thing Tom really shows here is his mastery for creating unique textures and arrangements. He isn’t afraid to take an extended vacation into left field and turn ordinary objects into a rhythm section…an outdoor recording of sticks beating on asphalt drives the very first track!

These textures and peculiar arrangements are not used just for the sake of being odd, but purposefully in relation to the lyrics. Many songs are honest depictions of the chaotic state of nature, human fragility, and the ignoble savagery that drives people more than they’d like to admit. Relatively uncommon things like sparse large drums or distorted shakers are used to create primitively hypnotizing backdrops for songs like this.

The musical selection is fairly eclectic, however. There are blues songs, semi-love songs, backwoods country songs, and more. Much of the album remains outright scary but not all of it… and like a Bob Dylan album, the music might not work without some amazing lyrics. They are the cornerstone of this album, and Waits still has room to supply a unique feel and keen musicianship (in his 40’s!) to round out a classic album. He is insane!

Some obligatory facts in conclusion:

• “Goin’ Out West” was the raunchy song playing when Ed Norton and Brad Pitt walked through a bar, heading downstairs for a meeting in “Fight Club”.
• The Ramones covered “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”.
• Keith Richards co-wrote and performs on “That Feel”… here’s Tom for you:

(Interviewer) - How did Keith Richards come to be on the album?

T.W. - We’re relatives, I didn’t realize it. We met in a women’s lingerie shop, we were buying brassieres for our wives. They had a little place at the back there where you could have a drink, two cups at a time.

No, he’s been borrowing money from me for so long that I had to put a stop to it. He’s a gentleman, he came into the studio and took his hat off and all these birds flew out.

Well, I suppose experiencing one of the best Final Fantasies is better now than never. Though not for lack of trying, this was my first run through of this game, and in many ways, it rivals the best in the series in terms of storytelling, gameplay, and music.

You begin as a dark knight Cecil who becomes concerned and dissatisfied with his king’s motivations, and are shortly after, outcasted by your own people. From there, you discover a collection of great characters, flight, an alternate underworld and finally even space flight to the moon. There are a lot of twists and turns and good secrets, but suffice to say, it is a story that overall is much better structured than, say Final Fantasy VI (whether it is a better story on the whole, I will leave that up to you) and really manages to pull you into its world. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention what a fantastic re-translation Square-Enix did. Gathered from others and my brief time spent with other versions of the game, I had come to understand that the original US translation wasn’t so hot and affected some enjoyment of the plot, which, of course, is a big reason many play role-playing games in the first place. Now the game is fluid, witty, and often touching. In general, it’s a more truer version of the original game.

Of course, this was an early Super Nintendo game, and this is a Game Boy Advance port, so it’s unreasonable to assume this game is full of beautiful 3D graphics and computer generated cinemas. Instead, it is a classic overhead, sprite-based game that calls back to a time when games were as much dependent on your own source of imagination and wonderment as they were on what it could actually display on screen. And for what it is worth, the game has beautiful sprite based monsters and attractive character designs. In addition, the GBA port has graced us with slightly more detailed characters and pre-rendered backgrounds on the battle screens, both of which are unobstrusive and make a very subtle but excellent change. The addition of the portraits on the menu is also a small but welcomed change that gives a bit more personality to the game.

The music has and always will be a very large part of Final Fantasy games, especially the early games that relied on the music to accentuate the mood, and in some ways, tell a bit of story themselves. Luckily, FFIV is regarded as one of the best soundtracks in the entire series, and for good reason. Uematsu’s score has great rocking tunes (all the battle themes and boss themes are fantastic) and slower, somber moments that connect you to a game that otherwise wouldn’t be as effective. The music is so closely tied to the game that it is hard to think of the game without immediately considering how much good music is in it and how it made the game that much better. Luckily, Square-Enix realized this and included a music player to play any of the tunes whenever you like.

Gameplay-wise, the game is very similar to other FF’s in the Super Nintendo generation, so if you have played any of them you will be right at home. This game relies on your characters being strict classes that are related to their stories and their abilities are drawn from their class. This in turn gives the characters much more memorable characteristics and personalities and ends up being a positive instead of a limiting factor (so that way, not all of your characters can perform white magic, black magic and attack for 4000 damage each time, and you in turn can’t remember who is the white mage and who is the fighter). Of course, the gameplay isn’t quite as refined as V or VI, but that’s the benefit of coming afterwards, I suppose. This is a pretty standard RPG in terms of battle-town-dungeon repetition, but the story really helps move along through these parts so it never feels like a task. Also, battles are frequent, but not particularly long, which is very nice, since long battle transitions can make RPGs painful.

I’ve talked about a few new features, and the Game Boy Advance version also adds a few new dungeons and bosses for veterans to tackle. One great thing about these new parts is that they force you to use all the characters and also enable you to select your own party, a feature that the original game lacked. FFIV has a bad habit of shedding characters rather quickly from your party, so being able to use your favorites is definitely a plus. The Lunar Trials is perhaps the most significant addition, and while it adds really nothing to the story, it is a fun addition for those who love the game. I personally didn’t like the fact that in order to complete it, you had to beat the final boss with every character (which means beating the final dungeon 3 times), but I digress. It’s extra, so I cannot really complain.

With the new features comes a few downsides, however. The biggest problem is that in battle, you will notice issues with the battle system from time to time. I noticed it more towards the end of the game, where it seemed like the active time battle system wasn’t performing correctly (it seemed to be allowing players to go out of turn), and the game seemed to lag a bit. It didn’t affect me too much, but it was noticeable nonetheless. The game is allegedly a bit easier than the actual Japanese version as well, but I found the challenge to be pretty good. I was definitely struggling to survive near the end.

Whether you are fond of recent Final Fantasies or not, this is a great game, and a great port to a portable system. It’s perfect for short plays on the go or extended play at home. If you enjoy role-playing games and have not played IV, you should consider dropping 30 bucks on this game.

The Nintendo DS has been home to quite a few adventure games now, with both Phoenix Wright games, Trace Memory, the recently released Hotel Dusk, and the topic of this review, Trauma Center. Personally, I hope we see a lot more in the future, because this is a genre that has been dead for far too long.

In Trauma Center, you play the role of Doctor Derek Stiles, a young inexperienced doctor who quickly becomes an expert due to some amazing surgeries and the use of the “healing touch”. The action is split up, not unlike Phoenix Wright, with 2 distinct segments: story and operation. The story mainly focuses on Derek and his rise in the medical field, as well as his maturation as a person and professional doctor. Later in the game, it is more about the mysterious disease called GUILT, and a large part of the explanations of this disease are pretty overdramatic and nonsensical, but it works. The operation segment places you in a first person 3D view point of a patient and you are given hints and instructions from the top screen. Your stylus is your operating tool and you have a dozen different options on the sides of the screen to choose from when trying to help a patient with their particular problem. Each operation is timed (aside from the occasional special operation) and you are only given so many screwups. In addition, each patient has a health meter which slowly declines over the course of the operation. If you do not use the magical green stabilizer to keep the health above 0, you lose.

The story section is probably the weaker of the two parts, but it has its moments. It usually sets up the operations pretty well, but there are times (especially towards the end of the game) where it just seems like they threw a few lines of meaningless dialogue at you as a transition into yet another difficult surgery. Also, this is like Phoenix Wright in that you have portraits of characters talking back and forth, but the writing isn’t nearly as funny or witty, so some of it comes across as generic and uninteresting. Also, it seems like each character only had 3 portraits (usually happy, nervous, and shocked), so there are times when their expressions seem pretty out of place considering the plot point. Occasionally, you do get a nice dual screen piece of art for special sections of the game, so that is nice at least. The plot also kind of leaves you hanging at the end when you are expecting one last big final surgery or some resounding resolution, and instead the end feels truncated and a little unsatisfying.

The game lives and dies by its operation segment (wow, what a horrible pun), and this section is the most frustrating to review because it alternates between being brilliant and almost too difficult. While most of the time you know what you have to do, there are points in the game where you are left assuming you know exactly what to do to save a patient, and in reality, you may have no idea whatsoever what they need you to do next. This in turn leads to a lot of failed operations. As you progress later in the game, the objective is more clear, but the way to successfully do it is not. There is often a certain rhythm and way to complete an operation, and deviation from that method will almost always end in faliure. This in turn leads to a lot of screaming at dying patients and cramped fingers from working so fast. By the end, your “healing touch” move and stabilizer shot will become lifesavers and absolute necessities. This still makes for a fun game, but the annoying part comes when you can beat 3/4 of the operation and the last part reveals some crazy final twist, and it kills you in no short order. Essentially, it can ruin 5+ minutes worth of operating in a few seconds, and make the game not seem so fun. Make no mistake, the game is difficult, but finishing these hard tasks is also surprisingly rewarding. When you finish, it’s like you actually have saved their life, sometimes by the skin of your teeth, but saved them regardless. This in turn is a great feeling of accomplishment that you seldom get in most current games.

I mentioned the graphics for the story section already, which is just portraits on environments, but the graphics for the operating part are nice 3D graphics that aren’t high on detail, but they work quite nicely and don’t throw off the style of the story part too much. Sometimes you are looking at parts of the body that are completely unidentifiable, but like i said, the graphics are competent and functional. The blood looks real enough, the diseases look menacing, and the parasites look disgusting, which is just as it should be.

The music doesn’t stand out quite as much as a game like Phoenix Wright, but Trauma Center’s soundtrack is full of appropriately tense songs for operating and dramatic story sequences. One standout track in particular is the final type of GUILT parasite, which is about the most epic operating table music ever. There are times, however, when it falls into generic sounding beats, but in general it is a pretty good and competent soundtrack for the game. The voices in the game are used sparingly, but do tend to grate a little when you hear “DOCTOR!” every time something happens during surgery.

Control in the game is pretty easy for the story part, just press a button to move text. In surgery, the controls are all touch-based. This can be a mixed bag. It seems pretty accurate most times, but there are other times, for example, when you really, really need to suture a wound before the patient dies and the game just will not give you the suture. Other times, when many things are on the screen at once, you get some very noticeable slowdown that gets distracting and your tools will lag or be unresponsive to the pace you need to work. The game works on a ranking guide too, so it’s even more irritating when you lost your chance for an S-Rank because the game didn’t think you did a stitch well enough, when it may not have even been anything you did. These are small issues, despite how it sounds. 95% of operations work smoothly and you never notice these things. It’s that 5% that become troublesome.

Trauma Center certainly isn’t perfect, and it’s about as hard as you would ever want a game like this to be. However, it makes great use of the DS’s features and is the kind of unique, quirky game that the system has become known for. It is certainly a good purchase for those who want a decent adventure game with a sense of action and a good challenge.

The world of chiptunes and micromusic is one filled with mystique and mystery. One of the hardest parts about initially getting into the scene is the vast amount of strange artists and remembering who is who, and who you like. Most artists toss their tunes onto their web site for free, but there is little to no publicity. A few websites, however, not only publicise these releases, but play the role of the label. 8bitpeoples is one such label, one that has gained quite a bit of ground in the scene.

For quite some time now there has been a gap in the 8bitpeoples release list. The slot where 8bp050 should be was marked as “saved for a special release”. Well, that special release is finally here, and special it is. Spanning two discs (with a bonus disc available online), 8BP050 compiles 50 artists and songs into an amalgam of chip bliss.

8BP050 is just what the chiptune scene needs. It is not only a compilation of various genres and styles of chiptunes, but a celebration of what the scene is all about. Although all of the songs on these two discs are made to sound like sound processors of yesteryear, there is a wealth of creativity and diversity.

The artist list is impressive, spanning from legends like Bit Shifter, Virt, YMCK, Nullsleep, and 6955, to frequent 8bitpeoples artists, to some lesser knows and newer artists. I feel wrong even attempting to classify any of these artists, however, as Virt mentioned to me a few weeks ago how there is so little infighting in the chiptune scene, as opposed to other scenes (OCR vs. VGMix). Everyone does their thing, and no one really bothers to put anyone they don’t like out of business. Why should they, though? Most of this music is driven out of hobby and passion, and there is no need to band into different groups based on genres. Even a net label such as 8bitpeoples seems to avoid this.

This relaxed acceptance has helped the scene grow tremendously. By not calling out other artists on their methods, artists have been allowed to expand into so many different areas of music and have created some interesting songs. A pure chiptune artist might use a GameBoy or a SID Station, or even Midi-NES to write their songs, but there is no reason why someone can’t use samples from various sound chips. And why couldn’t someone add some live instruments to the mix to get some really whacky songs out? Fortunately, this all does happen, and in 8BP050 you will get to hear an example of almost everything that goes on in the world of chiptunes.

8BP050 presents the listener with traditional video game style songwriting, IDM / glitch, jazz, dance, pop, emo, and so much more. Hell, there’s even a song with some banjo in it! The benefit of all of these styles is the diversity. It would be very easy for the scene to remain stagnant and just push out one certain style, but the freedom to experiment and the acceptance that the artists and labels give to one another is without a doubt the most important aspect of the scene.

What 8BP050 gives us is not a 2-disc set of 50 amazing songs. I’ll be honest, there are several songs on here that I skip over if I’m not in just the right mood. But that’s fine! What 8BP050 does give us is a 2-disc set of songs that vary so much that it is almost impossible not to find one that suits your fancy.

Whether you are deeply into the scene, just a casual listener, or someone with a piqued interest, I can almost guarantee you that 8BP050 has something for you. As an added bonus, it’s getting me into other artists and styles as well. Hopefully it will for you, too. At the very least, go download the bonus disc and give it a listen. Unlock the mystery and open the doors to some incredible talent.

Silent Hill 2 is the sequel to what was considered a Playstation sleeper hit, and is perhaps what truly elevated the Silent Hill series to an acclaimed immersive, dark, psychological masterpiece. 

On the surface, the game takes much of the same from the original game (the control scheme, many of the weapons, some familiar scenery, even the main character bears a passing resemblance to the first game) and simply expands upon many themes and scares using the superior power of the Playstation 2. However, looking back on Silent Hill 2 now, with the benefit of 2 sequels having been released, as well as gems such as Resident Evil 4 redefining what horror games can control like and should look like, the game’s visual appeal and control scheme have become a bit outdated.

The graphics are now a bit bland in many areas, with simple creatures such as the common armless creatures having low poly counts and the mannequin creatures having bad reflection effects that do, to a certain extent, take away from the spooky environment. As your progress, however, the later monsters look much more menacing and convincing. One effect that the game does use well is the darkness and fog effects. In the original game, the fog was there to save the game from having to load long views of the town and have massive draw-in (an unfortunate setback of 32-bit systems), but on PS2, it is added to create atmosphere. While the fog never looks perfect up close wandering through it (it comes up very blocky in some areas), it creates a feel of dispair and unrest, as it is very easy to get lost and run head on into monsters. In addition to low poly counts on some monsters, another small complaint I have is that our hero, James, has some very poor running animation. Walking, he is fine, but when dashing around, he runs like a 60 year old man crossing the street, and extremely stiff at that. This is a small complaint, but the way the characters move is an important part to how realistic a game feels (something, I should note, was addressed in the future games in the series). The enemies, however, truly shine here and move in terrifyingly strange movements.

Another issue is the game’s ancient control scheme, which is based off the first game, which itself was based off the Resident Evil series. The Resident Evil series never had a great scheme to start with, and Silent Hill’s wasn’t quite as good as that. Silent Hill 2 does take steps in the right direction. Running is still sluggish and combat is a bit tough, but the controls are more responsive and are second nature once you have played an hour or so into the game. Combat, as I mentioned, could be better. These games have traditionally relied on close melee combat for a good deal of the game, which is frustrating, considering the lack of mobility James has. The gun combat is fairly good overall, and there is a decent selection of weapons to pick from. In addition, while some of the puzzles are a little off the wall, most are solveable and prove to be a good challenge. They are a definite improvement over some of the ridiculous Resident Evil puzzles.

So what does a game that has dated graphics, an old control scheme, and passable acting really have to offer? Story. Though the acting is a bit laughable in some sequences, the story is one of the finest you will find in modern games. It begins as a man who lost his wife years ago receiving a note from her asking him to come to Silent Hill. What transpires from there is far too good to spoil in a simple review, but suffice to say that the entire game, from the monsters to the environment (especially take note from the Historical Society on), is full of symbolism that falls back on the main character and his mistakes and fears in his life. Even each of the characters he meets are not simply window dressing outside the plot, but instead each represent something in James, or are suffering similar personal damnations due to their past.

Once you begin to realize why the monsters are nurses, for example, or resemble restrained medical patients, the true planning and depth to the plot come to the forefront. It is truly a heartbreaking tale, and the plot alone will overshadow many of the shortcoming associated with the game. Not just the story, but the music is absolutely fantastic. Mixing elements of noise, indie rock, hard rock, and ambience, Akira Yamaoka creates one of the best modern soundtracks in games today. It is absolutely worth buying on its own, and the music itself tells its own tale.

In finalizing my opinion of this game, I have to realize that the control is still awkward, the combat is frustrating, the graphics have been bettered in subsequent sequels, and the acting is a bit substandard. On the other hand, the controls are forgiveable and graphics are only worth so much, as a compelling story with a frightening atmosphere and outstanding soundtrack is worth checking out. Especially considering the dirt cheap price you can find this, it is definitely worth your time and money.

Delivering about 40 minutes of stripped down English folk music and named after a phrase that was revealed when 5 rolling papers remained in a pack, F.L.L. was brought to life just as Nick was entering his 20’s. Allready, his best skills were fully developed: strong fingerpicking technique, songwriting, and the use of unconventional guitar tunings (such as BEBEBE, BBDGBE, & EADF#BE). (more…)

Welcome to the new and improved Good-Evil.net. Zach and I have been slaving away feverishly for the past year trying to mold the site into the best possible creation it could be. Ok, I am lying. We are just really lazy and put off doing a lot of work.

Here is what Zach had to say about the matter back in December when we first put this final version up:

We’re back. It only took a year and a half. Anyway, welcome to our first week back on the job. Things might look a little different, and we owe some thanks to quite a few people. Thanks to Matt “Klawful” Smith for making us some beautiful art, which you can see plainly in our banner. Matt has done tons of amazing work for the Minibosses and various publications. Also, I want to thank Andrew Raub for finding this beautiful Wordpress format for us, and Wordpress for being so versatile and allowing us to really change this to fit our needs. I also want to thank our writers for hanging with us (the ones that did), as well as thanks to Sherv, Skip, and Mat(t)/(su) for joining us. We hope to welcome some more people here and there in the future as well. The site still isnt perfect, but look for continuous improvements (as well as the inclusion of selected older reviews from the old site) as we move forward and everyone gets more comfortable.

To our readers, thanks for coming back. Or if you are new, welcome aboard!

I don’t feel like I need to expand that any more, so on with what we’ve got!

For our inauguration, we have several amazing reviews for you rabid readers to sink your teeth into.

Zach explains why Capcom’s risk with Phoenix Wright was a good one.

Andrew (me) is bewildered at Konami’s ability to re-hash the same format again and again, but still find room for improvement in his Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin review.

Kirk took a few minutes to tell us all about his most recent taco experience.

One of our new writers, Matt, has bestowed his love for Justin Timberlake upon us.

Audun returns with a review of his favorite Japanese doujin band, Mint Jam.

And last, and certainly least, we have the first of our “G-E Classic” series of reviews (otherwise known as Zach’s attempt at getting out of writing a new review for our re-opening), Metroid Prime(rib) Pinball!

Thank you all for showing some sort of interest in our site. Hopefully we will start having some non-DS game reviews in the future. Or not. The DS is fun.

NEWSFLASH!  In a miracle the likes of which haven’t been seen since A Christmas Carol, I have had a change of heart and decided to include Chris’ review of Mary Cary Gets Carried Away. Good-Evil.net does not endorse, support, or otherwise wish to make it look like we watch porn, despite the fact that we’re a bunch of nerdy dudes and you probably assumed we did anyway.

Phoenix Wright represents what essentially was a large gamble for Capcom in the current video game industry. Phoenix Wright is a bit of a throwback adventure game that you do not see much of anymore. It is the type of game that is usually left to Japan and the US is left oblivious to its existence. However, for whatever reason, Capcom brought the text heavy adventure-lawyer game to the States and we are all the better for it.

The lure of a game like this is not the flashy graphics (all still frame anime portraits that change based on the current text of the character, similar to that of Trauma Center), intense skilled based gameplay (it is essentially choosing from options displayed in front of you and clicking on context sensitive areas on a pre-rendered backdrop), but instead lies with the clever (and sometimes goofy) dialogue and ingenius (if sometimes ridiculous) plot lines that occur related to the crimes committed. Phoenix Wright has 2 types of gameplay: the evidence collecting/witness interview part, and the courtroom trial part. Both actually manage to be quite entertaining, as you slowly meet both allies and enemies, and all the characters have a certain charm to them that helps flesh out an identity for them and give you an affection for some even. The evidence collecting/witness interview phase is definitely a laid back, informational stage, where you need to take in a lot of character’s responses to questions and pay attention to the surroundings. These actions usually end up recurring in court at some point and almost all information will relate to your case somehow, even if it isn’t completely clear. The courtroom phase is rather tense and calculating, since this is the only part of the game you can “lose”. You are given strikes, and if you mess up too many times, you lose the case. So when you are put on the spot to present evidence or object to a testimony, you need to be sure it’s correct.

While the game is quite excellent, if simple in its design, a lot of the beauty of this title comes from the combination of the music and mood presented. The music, by Akemi Kimura, is simply excellent and fits the areas used to perfection. Winning in court is ridiculously triumphant musically and when you are on the ropes it is intensely dramatic. Somber victim flashbacks are slow moving introspective numbers, while cheery characters get upbeat, carefree tunes. Much of it is presented in a chiptunish style, and this style works quite well overall. This is definitely needed, because there is no character movement, aside from a small bit in the DS-exclusive 5th chapter. The game really makes you appreciate the artist involved, as you actually look forward to seeing new backgrounds to areas and different expressions on characters faces by doing certain actions. I can’t remember the last game I thought to myself “YES I AM GOING TO SEE THIS CHARACTER’S PORTRAIT LOOK VISIBLY UPSET IF I CHOOSE THIS OPTION” but it’s true.

As I mentioned earlier, the writing is superb and really carries this game throughout. It has a very dry sense of humor at times, while other times it is definitely more obvious and slapstick. However, the stories are very well written, and many of the individual cases tie into each other eventually in creative ways, as well.

If I had to fault the game for anything, it is that sometimes there is just too many crazy turnabouts in court (especially in later cases) and it causes the trials to go on forever. At times, it feels like you are essentially going nowhere with a case because you end up replaying the same set of circumstances over and over and some new drama comes up and you have to address that before you can get back to the real case. Also, at times, the investigation phase can leave you without any clues as to who to talk to and where to go next. Finally, one small gripe is that the anime portraits in general are well done, but sometimes the same reactions over and over again get tiresome and frankly seem kind or irritating when the character has the “I’m angry” face for something that isn’t that big of a deal. Some more portraits for the characters would have been great.

In general though, the game is truly an excellent adventure game that may not appeal to everyone with its slower pace and distinct sense of humor, but is worth the time and investment to find. Despite a lack of any replay value, it is definitely one of my favorite DS games available.

Goodness me, a new taco joint! A refuge in those many, many nights of excessive alcoholism that leave one craving something south of the border, and man, is it good. I ordered one of the sampler plates, which includes a few taquitos, a small quesadilla, and a healthy dose of nachos and delicious salsa. I never knew a week’s portion of cheese and about 10 tortillas could be so appetizing as it was in this meal. Delicioso.

Time to brush up the review skills.

Let me just start off by saying that this is, without a doubt, the best Castlevania since Symphony of the Night. Now let me explain why (hopefully without revealing too much).

At first, Portrait of Ruin seems just like all the other Symphony style games, and in reality it pretty much is. But, it has some nice new twists that keep things fresh. The portrait system is a great new way of breaking up the standard castle layout. Dracula’s castle this time around isn’t as big as in the past, but there are 8 portraits to explore so the game as a whole is just as big, if not bigger, than in the past. These portraits range from a pyramid to a school, and offer styles that would seem out of place in the past games. The portraits are much closer to linear level design not seen since before Symphony of the Night. This is a real treat and surprisingly refreshing.

Item collecting and detailed searching is emphasized much less this time around. Certain items are still required to progress to different areas, but to get 1000% or to find all of the items takes much less backtracking through the castle walls. In fact, the vasy majority of the castle’s layout is area’s with gameplay substance. Some areas can become overwhelming at first because there are so many enemies around, but these areas also become very important towards the end of the game.

Of all the item collecting that there is to do, most of it is in relation to the new quest system. There is a character that offers various quests to complete, and the rewards are quite nice. Some of them are very vague and it can become frustrating at times figuring out what to do, but overall it is a great addition and well worth completing.

How could I get this far without introducing the biggest addition? Portrait of Ruin revolves around two main characters: Jonathan and Charlotte. Jonathan is the weapon-wielding, physical powerhouse of the team, while Charlotte is the magic user. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but eventually either one can hold their own. It is not required to just pick one at a time however. You can call out your team mate to perform their equipped sub-attack, or you can pull them out permanently to fight right alongside you. When the second character takes damage, the magic meter depletes rather than the HP meter. This makes for some good strategy planning. Luckily the A.I. targeting is good, and the partner will go after enemies that you currently aren’t.

The best improvement in Portrait of Ruin, in my opinion, is the weapon balancing. In Dawn of Sorrow, it seemed like there was often no incentive to use anything but the most powerful weapons. Maybe I was just too lazy to try anything else, but it seemed like the claymores and axes were the obvious best choice. But in Portrait of Ruin I found myself switching between large swords, fist weapons, whips, and short swords. Almost every weapon in the game offers some cool reason to try it out, weather it just looks cool, is more powerful, has a nice ability attached, or is faster. I don’t want to say too much, but the whip makes a huge comeback in Portrait of Ruin, and for me it is a very welcome one.

What else does the game offer besides a solid single player mode? Well, as can probably be expected, there are a few endings and some unlockable characters. The unlockable characters are very fun to play as, and offer new experiences to the game. There is also a hard mode and a level cap that can be applied, with bonuses for beating them. The Boss Rush returns with multiplayer additions. While it won’t be the next big online multiplayer game, it is fun. You can also set up a store and either sell goods or shop for goods online. Trust me when I say that this will be your best friend after you unknowingly sell something that you shouldn’t have.

Graphically, Portrait of Ruin improves on the already fantastic Dawn of Sorrow. There are some excellent 3D and 2D backgrounds and detailed and large enemies. The game also features yet another solid soundtrack, perhaps the best since Symphony of the Night.

There you have it. Portrait of Ruin is a fantastic game. I don’t understand how Konami does it, but these Metroid ripoffs keep getting better and better.