The Wii itself has not seen much growth, aside from a few staple titles, it has really only had Skyward Sword recently. Luckily for Wii owners in the United States, we were able to finally get our hands on Xenoblade Chronicles, which, until last month, was strictly available to Asian and European markets. It had received hugely positive reviews that only made U.S. consumers even more eager to get our hands on the title. This will hopefully open up the floodgates for more exclusives to hit our shores. Unfortunately, many RPGs lack the same sense of enthusiasm titles like Final Fantasy VII had and ultimately end up being a disappointment. Xenoblade Chronicles, luckily, steers well clear of a majority of the many stereotypes surrounding JRPGs. With its energetic, live action battle system, good voice acting and beautiful, lush environments filled with odd creatures and a sweeping orchestral score, it’s a definite improvement and a huge step for the stagnating Wii. I might even go so far as to call it a masterpiece.

Set in the world of Bionis, we have a civilization called Homs. Bionis is unique because of what it actually is: it’s actually a titan that has since died and becoming a nesting ground for Homs and other entities. The Bionis was caught in a battle with another titan called Mechonis, that has also since died in the battle. On Mechonis, we have a race of machines called the Mechon bent on destroying the Hom society. Our hero is named Shulk, who has a strange connection to an ancient sword capable of killing the Mechon, called the Monado. This sword has brought on several new abilities, such as being able to see into the future and prevent disastrous events from occurring. This pays off in a big way in regard to the battle system. With the live action battle system, you are able to stop potentially harmful attacks from happening to each character. An event shows up on the screen allowing the user to set up a counter-attack, dodge it or warn the other team member.

Monolith Soft has been developing the Xenosaga for quite some time now. For those of you who were as big fan of Xenogears as I was, Chronicles offers up a refreshing new entry and world into that saga. In the game, many new features are presented to further engage the player into that world: the “Heart-to-Heart” system, which improves the relationships between each character, their “Affinity” stat. It also has numerous quests that can be accomplished, gaining EXP and special items. Special items can also be found all over Bionis in the form of glowing blue orbs. It’s been awhile since a character in a game’s appearance changes depending on what he/or she’s wearing, but each piece of equipment can be seen visually on the character; for instance, Reyn, Shulk’s longtime friend and cohort, wore what looked to be an Indian headdress. It could be seen in the cinematic sequences as well as in the regular, free roaming world. It may seem like a small detail, but one that I found to be refreshing.

Xenoblade Chronicles definitely serves up some new and innovative features, but it also manages to have a compelling story that never slows down. Shulk, the once timid, reclusive scientist, is now on a hunt for Metal Face (a Mechonis), who murdered his friend and possible love interest, Fiora. This sets him off on a quest for vengeance, where, of course, he meets several new characters. All throughout the game, Shulk is constantly burdened by his ability to foresee future events. Dunban, the original owner and hero of Sword Valley (the first war waged against the Mechonis) is even shocked to see the compatibility between Shulk and the Monado. Tetsuya Takahashi, the developer and founder of Monolith Soft, takes them far down the road and all throughout the Bionis. He even makes a very daring choice in the climactic end. It’s a huge statement to have the ending the way he did, and it took a lot of guts to do it. He manages to make the story as engaging as the battle sequences, which is a tough feat in itself.

Takahashi has cemented himself as a truly great developer and creator of fantastic JRPGs. After having had a hand in several masterpieces of the genre, such as Final Fantasy VII, it’s hard to deny him that title. Xenoblade Chronicles is a must play for those who are burnt out on the average JRPG and are looking for something different. Most importantly, however, is how much fun you’ll have while playing it. In the span of only one week, it’s difficult to put it down. I can also see myself playing through it once more in order to accomplish the many side quests. The beautiful world feels both magical and engaging, and some of the environments (one of my favorites being a long bridge surrounded by waterfalls) even made me stop and scan around. It is, undeniably, one of the finest RPGs in a long time and certainly one of the top tier games for the Wii, right alongside Skyward Sword. That’s saying something.

Crave Factor
10

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Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Game Rating: M (Mature)
Players: 1 to 4

How does one write a fair review of something as big as Mass Effect 3? When the game landed last March, it wasn’t so much a product launch as it was a megaton marketing blast over a groundswell of fan-generated buzz that would make most game developers weak in the knees. The whole circus of trailers, trailers of trailers, space editions, blog posts and Facebook campaigns made it the first real crossover hit by some accounts.  Others called it the year’s biggest blockbuster. Or first blockbuster, or… you get the idea.

So what happened? How could “75 Perfect Scores” and yadda yadda yadda morph so quickly into myriad complaints, grassroots efforts to get the ending changed and general vitriol being thrown at Edmonton?  Who knows, but I have a suspicion about just how much of the game early reviewers actually played--because everything you may have read about the ending is true. It’s broken, no matter which immaterial choice you make at the end. Or at any point through the preceding 2 3/4 games. And it’s too bad, because when Bioware isn’t stomping on continuity, character development or dramatic structure, the game’s great--if unevenly so.

As the prologue opens, Shepard is cooling his heels (or her heels, depending on your Shepard) in Alliance custody for his activities in the previous game. The action picks up pretty quickly, though: The Reapers arrive on Earth, kicking ass and taking names. Once you crawl over the toasted remains of the Alliance brass, you fight your way off the planet, leaving Anderson to coordinate the resistance at home.

Combat is somewhat improved over the previous games, though it’s more evolutionary than revolutionary. Some enhancements are concrete, like the ability to dive from cover to cover, or the new AI aggressiveness. Some of the goodies are less substantial, though--like biotic and tech effects that look cooler and weapons that act more… uh, weapony. That being said, if I’m holding an assault rifle that shoots grenades, it shouldn’t take three shots to down a Cerberus trooper.  They’re grenades, fer gossakes.

Also, the cover system ain’t getting any less unwieldy. Anyone who ever spacebarred to sprint away from an enemy in an earlier game, only to hunker down against an adjacent wall and get perforated by bullets will find Mass Effect 3’s expanded gymnastic possibilities an infuriating experience. Again, Bioware’s geniuses stuffed the whole thing onto the X button (or spacebar). It was a boneheaded choice in previous games; now it’s just insulting.

Personnel-wise, you get some of your old crew back from the Cerberus-branded Normandy, but only if they were companions from the first time you saved the galaxy or computer constructs from the second time 'round. The rest of your ME 2 pals are only available as temporary teammates or incidental chatter. The remaining crew is a mix of friends from the original ship and new faces. And while Liara is an extremely welcome teammate, the fact is that neither Kaidan nor Ashley are as remarkable or fleshed-out as their ME 2 analogues. In the first game, I let Kaidan die because he was the boring crewmember I wasn’t romancing. And while bringing Ashley back is a nice shot at closure, she just isn’t a very stimulating character. Her Mass Effect 2 counterpart, Miranda Lawson, is a different story: From her first appearance as a dark-side femme fatale, Miranda undergoes fundamental change until she finally leaves Cerberus at the game’s denouement. Ashley, on the other hand, remains the same vaguely interesting soldier from stem to stern.

Your choice of romancible teammates is similarly ho-hum. Both Shepards get the usual collection of possibilities from previous games, plus two overtly gay characters for those who find that a compelling choice. Liara’s back, for players who think that subverting the whole gender issue is kinda cool, and if you went for Tali the first and second times… well, you’re probably the type who macked on Merrill in Dragon Age 2. In a general sense, romance in Mass Effect has always been a case of building up expectations, then slamming into a fade-to-black or an after-school-special-grade love scene. True to form, ME 3 is the high-school hottie who dresses like a tart and flirts like a total filthnugget, but still won’t let you peek up her skirt. Dear Bioware, the game is rated M. If we’re playing it, we’re adults.

One of the romance choices is also the game’s biggest casting stumble: The reporter Diana Allers is voiced by Jessica Chobot, the PSP-licking IGN personality known to geeks far and wide as the blueprint for the sardonic-sounding female geek-show hosts crowding YouTube. That Chobot’s voice acting is wooden isn’t the problem. The fact that a game columnist was cast in a game, on the other hand, stinks like rotting squid.

Okay, but aside from all that, Mass Effect 3 is a gameplay tour-de-force and a stonking great time. It builds on the previous two games to make the weapons customization simple yet effective, streamlines the skill trees and just moves with a certain grace.  Some levels work better than others, but overall, once you get used to the sorta-familiar, slightly dumbed-down experience, wading through the bloodied corpses of your enemies recaptures much of the satisfaction you felt in ME 2.  Likewise, up until the endgame, your choices build on those you made right back to the trilogy's first chapter, and can bring about some delightful moments. As a bonus, the game comes with a multiplayer mode that doesn’t feel like an afterthought.  The choice of MP maps is too limited to stay interesting for long, but Bioware has already released DLC maps. It's reasonable to assume that more are coming, though if past experience is anything to go by, they won't be free. Whether paid-for DLC is a reasonable way of expanding your game experience or a sleazy way to further monetize a $50 game is up to you. Linking your Multiplayer performance to the galactic readiness in single-player, on the other hand, is a flat-out fail.

 I would also like to have seen the in-game puzzles for wall safes, hacking and bypassing locked doors return, but that’s not a deal-breaker. Most of the time, this game is a lot of fun, with good dialogue, characters you care about and visuals that are beautiful yet don’t require a big computer upgrade.

So, what the hell happened? Quite simply: Near the end there, Bioware lost its way. Whether this was due to a headlong rush to get the game out the door, pressure from EA or the development staff simply running out of energy bars is unclear. And doesn’t matter. If you’re one of the three people who still hasn’t bought this game, wait on it. If you can score a used copy, do it.  If it goes on sale, do it. But right now, you’re looking at $50 for the game, plus another ten-spot for DLC to get the bloody integral Prothean squadmate. It’s too much for a game that sets you up for so hard a fall.

Presentation

Level design is very good, with goals that generally keep the overarching story moving without sacrificing playability in the name of narrative. Enemy AI makes the bad guys in previous games look kind of remedial, so you’ll definitely be kept on your toes. The character designs of the enemies and your allies have been re-vamped, generally with very good results.

Graphics

The game looks fabulous enough that you will sometimes stop and just look around. Faces and movement are vastly improved as well. And some of the non-human enemies are freakin’ creepy.

Sound

The sound is extremely well executed.  Bioware has a habit of giving us high expectations in the sound and visuals department, and here they definitely deliver. Guns sound more dangerous, the music is of the same high level that we have experienced in previous games, and the ambient sound is lifelike and lush.

Gameplay

Improved but imperfect.  As mentioned above, the game features some very nice moves hampered by that stupid X button thing. Next time I hunker down right next to an enemy rather than vaulting a low wall to escape, I’m seriously going to throw the controller through the TV.

Lasting appeal

I think that the multiplayer segment skews the replay factor a lot. For instance, when I bought Mass Effect 2, I didn’t just play it; I played it into the dirt, then flipped it over and got creepy with its corpse. I really can’t see the same thing happening here, just because I know that instead of heading for an epic final battle, I’m fighting my way toward an ending devoid of meaning, and is not only broken but feels like it was tacked on like a last-minute bandage. I played through Mass Effect 3 once and I’m good with that, though I’ve spent several hours on the multiplayer side.

I’d love to give this game perfect marks, even just to commemorate the two seminal, scene-changing chapters that came before it. But the truth is that the end feels like a betrayal, and there are just enough niggling little issues throughout to make the overall experience disappointing.

Crave Factor: 7

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Two of our readers can win! One winner will receive the Blu-ray edition of the film and the grand prize winner will win the Blu-ray in addition to a special comic book.

The election season is about to get a whole lot bloodier as a historical legend throws his hat into the ring in ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, arriving on Blu-ray™3D, Blu-ray™ and DVD October 23 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. A citizen by day and a hunter by night, this action-packed film with cutting-edge visual effects shows the Lincoln you know – with one additional quality of which you were unaware….until now.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER explores the secret life of Abraham Lincoln before he became President, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton (Dark Shadows) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) bring a fresh and visceral voice to the bloodthirsty lore of the vampire, imagining Lincoln as history's greatest hunter of the undead.

Based on the New York Times Best Selling novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER stars Benjamin Walker (Flags of Our Fathers), Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger), Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) and Rufus Sewell (The Tourist). The Blu-ray™ 3D and Blu-ray™ are loaded with killer content and hard action, including an exclusive never-before-scene animated graphic novel prequel about the origins of vampires in the U.S.A. Pre-book is September 12.

Furthermore, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov have obvious connections to the comic book world via their adaptations of the Batman comics and Wanted, respectively. In support of Abraham Lincoln, Bekmambetov has teamed with Aspen Comics to release a book quite unlike anything we can remember seeing. Bekmambetov considers the comic, officially called Director's Cut: The Art of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, to be his director's cut of the film.

Follow Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Twitter @FoxHomeEnt

Follow Eye Crave Network on Twitter @EyeCraveShane

For a chance to win a prize pack giveaway including a copy of this action packed thrilling Blu-ray loaded with special features and the comic-book answer this trivia question below:

Director Timur Bekmambetov considers his comic book to be what version of the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter film?

(A) The Prequel
(B) The Director’s Cut
(C) The Sequel

Share on Twitter (#ecnAbe) and Facebook (tag Shane MacDonald) to increase your chance to win

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Disney releases animated movies that are either created by Pixar or from their own Animation Department.  Wreck It Ralph is from the latter and as such does not match the storytelling and visual splendor that Pixar seems to do without effort.

Wreck It Ralph is a solid effort that are technically well done, especially with the Sugar Rush sequences, but never elicits a Wow response. Part of this is due to aping the art of videogames from the 8 bit to the latest HD quality videos.  Ralph is very strong in the 3D area too - for my money 3D really only works when the film is a totally digital construction.  There is a great sense of depth and the film eschews any opportunities to use it to throw out any overt objects straight at the viewer.

From a story telling perspective Ralph lacks the nuanced layering of a Pixar flick and is dialed towards a lower range in the small fry spectrum as well.  The strengths of the film lay in developing the lead character Ralph aided greatly by the voice work of character actor - John C. Reilly.

Ralph, a Donkey Kong human counterpart, is the lead villain in a 30 years old videogame and is tired of being the bad guy.  Or rather he is tired of being perceived as nothing beyond the bad guy.  So he becomes obsessed with finding a gold medal at the risk of losing himself.

Wreck It Ralph gives a Monsters Inc vibe in that it builds up a world that video game characters live and socialize in after the video parlour closes its doors each night.  Linked through the power bars that each game plugs into; the video game characters intermingle and go to such things as Help Groups for Videogame Villains.

It is in these moments that adults that grew up and played, and are still playing, videogames will have the most fun.  Sight gags and dialogue references that span the history of videogames run rife and without abandon.  Some work better than others.

Where the story steers more to the younger audience members is when Ralph ends up in a candy land video game racer called Sugar Rush with candy named little girl characters race in cars made up of candy drops, icing, cookie wheels, and chocolate fenders.  Here Ralph meets a glitzy little girl Vanellope von Schweetz who is treated in her videogame by the characters there much like Ralph is in his.  She is voiced, a little too forcibly - a little too much sugar perhaps?, by stand up comedian - Sarah Marshall.

Visually the movie is the strongest in the Sugar Rush scenes with the various candies, gumdrops, licorice and more look good enough to eat.

Kids will enjoy the characters across the board and everything is wrapped up in a happy bow by movie’s end.  Adults will enjoy the nods to videogames plus the voice work of John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Ed O’Neill, Sarah Silverman, and many more.

Crave Factor
7

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