ShowMeWhatYouGot

once again Konami dares us to venture out to the unknown, and what lurks beyond the darkness that creeps in our deepest nightmares. into the realm of the unthinkable and the inimaginable. welcome back, to Silent Hill. and exclusive for the PSP.

in this game you play Travis Grady. a lonely truck driver who got stranded by driving through Silent Hill and starts seeing things on the road. thus, he ends up chasing after a girl named Alessa, into the town. and that’s where all things go muddled for Travis, and most especially you, which leads you to move around and around into the fog, and into the establishments and houses of the forsaken town.

the game looks good with monsters from the previous titles of the series returning or should i say originated. the straight-jackets and the nurses looks believable and scary. although there are some parts where the scenery can hardly be noticed like doors or gates or even potholes and the camera sometimes has a bad way of starting up infront of your face and by pressing the align camera button, still ends up the same way. making you walk forward to a bloody end without even knowing, all because of a crazy camera angle.

for a scary game there has to be a scary sound right?, here they developers didn’t miss the best part of the game. where you get to interact the unknown and beyond using your ears and not your eyes. clear, catchy and well orchestrated music plays at the right moment either in combat or on melancholic and explorations.

controls can sometimes be hard. although the dead-aim is simply a joy. now you won’t have any problem knowing where to point your gun or rifle.another addition to the game is that Travis gets tired if he runs longer than he should. making you stop or walk of you prefer just so he can catch his breath for a bit and run again. bad timing when your running from enemies. thankfully energy drinks are scattered all over the town. like the old titles, this game lets us explore and interact with the surroundings all we want, if we dare.

the story line is a bit crazy though, tends to end you up puzzled and making you say to yourself, " how the hell did that happen?" or even, " how is that possible?". thus making you play the game again and again until you get the point of the story, this is good though since you can unlock 3 types of endings and a lot of accolades and items.

to rate this, graphics gets an 8/10, sound gets 9/10, gameplay gets a 6/10.

if you still want to figure out how in the world did that town end up like that, this is the best answer to that question so far. by the way, this aint recommended to play with the lights on and on the speakers. best played only in total-darkness and with headphones.

enjoy the darkness.

once again the legendary count Dracula has risen from his eternal slumber under the sanctuary of an abandoned church. with the help of Shaft, the high priest, and his minions, they sacrificed the blood of an innocent to bring their master once again to the land of the living to wreak havoc. and yet the bloodline of the vampire hunters never cease to exist. the last of the bloodline, Richter Belmont charges towards Castle Dracula to fight the Nosferatu Lord and his ghouls and rid the town from the terrible onslaught.

for years the Castlevania series was one of the best and most challenging games i’ve ever played. and always, konami came up with ideas that would leave fans at the edge of their seats playing their hearts out. but as a reward for their loyalty, the developers came up with a cool idea of bringing back the original game. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles is a remake of the famous and fabulous Castlevania: Rondo of Blood from the old 16bit game systems of yesteryears. with a total makeover starting with the graphics, making the 2D cartoon game into an almost 3Dish like look.

but with looks also came sounds. all the songs from the original game were revived from their graves with a whole new twist of rock, classical, and even pop.and the sounds of the dying and the undead are more realistic than ever.

although controls are still the same as the original game, the biggest plus factor here is giving the gamers a chance to ulock the sountrack of the game and also the original game’s soundtrack itself.did i say original game? you can also unlock the original game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. but that’s not the only one. you can also unlock Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as a bonus. beat that. now you can play 3 Castlevania titles in one sitting. that is if your battery will last for hours and hours of gameplay since the new game holds lots of secret rooms and passageways and unlockables hidden for players to find at their leisure.

to rate this, i give graphics a 7/10, sound gets 7/10, and gameplay an undying 9/10.

best recommended to play when you feel so nostalgic all of a sudden, a collectible you don’t want to miss.

who would have thought that the sands of time series was going to end with just one game from the Prince of Persia franchise… of course it continued… and with lots more surprises than before… but this aint a review of the PS2 version, its the PSP version.

of course gamers all know that the 2nd installment to the franchise was a bit more interesting. besides the Prince’s makeover, like looking more scruffier and more muscular and not wiry, he surpassed all the expectations from button mashers as well. unlike the 1st Prince of Persia, this game is not all about just pushing 1 button to attack, or 2 buttons, 1 for light attacks, and the other heavy attacks. here the developers came up the idea of giving players the edge in fighting. they created the free-form fighting style, a style where you can kill enemies with different strokes that will lead them to, yes, death. like stealing an enemies own sword to cut off his head, or maybe vault above an enemy and cut his whole body in half.a cool add-on to the game huh?

another is the graphics. although this game didn’t look quite like the Sands of Time game, this one doesn’t look like it’s well polished like a gem. but the whole dark image and atmosphere seems to blend together with the game’s new concept and storyline. you may see pixels everynow and then and a few bugs when running to walls and jumping on ledges and stuff, but still is good to look at, especially the new set of enemies like the raiders, blade dancers, and even the legendary griffin.

when it comes to sound, the first game came out with a sound traditionally with a middle-eastern feel. just the right kind of music for the 2nd game, don’t you think? wrong. in this game, it sounds better. it even features the song " I Stand Alone" by Godsmack as the Dhahaka Chase background music, and sometimes some fight scenes, and some other bands with their head-bashing music are introduced in this sequel. the voice actings are soap-operatic. makes you feel like you’re watching a movie instead of playing a game.

lastly the gameplay and the storyline. the story continues with the prince headed towards the island of time trying to change his fate by looking for the Empress of time for answers to his upending doom. no matter what the consequences are. the game holds at least 32 hours of playtime, iuncludes making so many mistakes on traps and falling off a ledge or maybe getting killed by enemies. but the time-consuming part of the game are the puzzles which will leave you dumb-founded for hours until you get it right. or not quite right. plus, the PSP version has extra bonus mazes and puzzles for fans which didn’t appear on the PS2 version.

to finish this review, 1 give graphics a score of 7/10, sound gets a 9/10, gameplay gets a 9/10 for making it more challenging and fun.

a must have not just for PSP fans and owners, but also for the fans of the series.

it is now september… in the United States, college students are just preparing or simply enjoying the first day of school. alas we are not from the Land of the Free. we are from the country known as Philippines, and here our classes starts on the month of June… sucks doesn’t it? what’s worse it when you graduate from college… that’s the suckiest part, if there is such a word. why? because, like me, i am a graduate. and what’s worse is that the we have to take the licensure examination which is scheduled exactly a month and a half from today…

recalling back the good old days of college when i still slack off, ahhh the good life. skipping classes just to play video games or 9 ball pool was the life for me. smoke all you want and drink all you want even on school days was the everyday agenda. i bet if you were in my shoes you can say that it’s the best thing that could ever happen to you, right? wrong. because that way, it took me 7 years to graduate. and i was able to think over about what i’m gonna do with my life for the next 20 years, if im going to be succesful or just become another bum asking beer money from my mom. i wouldn’t want that to happen. the easiest way in life without the challenges is the most boring life. and i just realised that when i started working, and i was working for free. and yet it brought me back to my sense, that life’s not all that peachy and cool.

now am currently under that last stage of my review for the board exam. i’ll be taking the preboard exam given to us by the review center i enrolled in. that way i’ll be able to put myself in the situation on how it feels to take the actual board. kinda like a simulation. but pass or fail, it doesn’t matter. next month, we’ll start with the final coaching classes. 8 hours a day of hellish memorization and endless discussions of topics and possible answers to certain questions that could possibly come out of the actual board. but in any way, all of these doesn’t give you guarantees that you will pass the exam, but it gives you the edge against other competitors, since the examination is a competition, where graduates from different parts of the country compete against each other on who will have a part in the list of rooster engineers for this year. around 7000+ who’ll take the exam on november, only 1500+ will be given a license. now that is tough… only 30%. but still i’m not losing any hope whatsoever. i still believe that there is a chance for me to pass, all of us does. all we need is to make a few sacrifices, and a lot of courage, and more on faith.

so to all the ECEs who’ll take the examination this november, GOOD LUCK TO US ALL…

ok so find me geeky all of a sudden for making such blog entry… but eyy i can’t help myself… anyway this is all about transformers: the movie…

this film totally brought the house down, 4 movie houses at glorietta alone was jacked up with movie-goers, and there was a very long line of people waiting to watch the next round of the show… wow…. me and a couple of my lady friends got in at the last full show. good thing i bought tickets in advance or else i could’ve missed the premiere night. anyway for those who haven’t seen the movie yet, go the the theaters and have a good time watching the film.. eyy for a long line, and 170 bucks for a seat and 100 bucks of popcorn and a cold soda, for a 2 hours and 30 minutes of pure fun and relieving your childhood is worth every penny…

it’s been a while since i touched the keyboard or a mouse or even to actually be inside and internet cafe. the problem is that, this place is s friggin huge… everytime i try to walk the streets of sampaloc, new street names pops out… it’s like a lush jungle where the trail leads you in circles.. but you know what they say, you just gotta have to give yourself some time to get used to it…

yet i have to consider the fact that i’m here and everyone else is back home… missing them is all i can do, accomplishing the task that i came for is will lead me to my greatest reward, to be with my friends and family once again. call me sentimental but it’s true… i just miss everything so much…

what is the most common lines you hear when you step inside an internet cafe these days? " Stun, damnit!", or sometimes, " bring it on Rikimaru!", or even, " Push!!! they’re still dead!" wow! and to think that people these days are into hobbies that are quite, well, weird. but this is even amazing..all i can say is, welcome to the age of video games, kid.
true that the video game scene has truly pushed itself to a different level. garnering an audience and players from all over. checking out skills, or as i call it, talents, of people who has passion for this type of hobby. but sometimes these people are composed let’s say 36%, mainly kids at the age of 15-25. well 25 is no longer a kid but still this kind of actions will make others think that he is still a kid. to tell you all, i myself is a game fanatic. once i was addicted to video games that i didn’t go to school for 2 months. all i said to my mom was that there was a meeting in school and all the teachers are busy for the program they’re trying to organize. a white lie, just to get my hands on a controller and play for hours and hours. well that experience opened my eyes to the reality.
after that incident i wasn’t able to do well on my school work. term papers due, well i forgot to make them. assigments to answer, i just threw the notebooks out of the house and head for the console and the tv. and my exams? well let’s just say all i ever thought was how to make a good starcraft strategy. but in the end i realized that it only took a lot of my time, instead of learning, i devoted myself to the glorious and wonderful world of virtual reality. thus, i ended up as a summer graduate. that was in high school.
for years i’ve tried to control my urge to hold on to another console controller or even a keyboard and mouse. but then again, once a player, always a player. but this time around, i was able to allow myself to do things that are necessary and with sense before i lure myself to the fantasy world that’s on the tv screen or the monitor. i made video gaming as a reward for all the hard work done instead of playing first before struggling. no pain no gain.
going back, these days, high school students also do the same things i did when i was their age. skipping school and hanging out in an internet cafe and wait until other players arrive and compete against each other. and to think that even college students are lured to this shindig. but the only difference is that most college student s who play are from the barrios. students who’ve come here in the big city to learn, not pass the time away spending money on competing with another person on who’s better in playing D.O.T.A or whatever games they choose. no offense, but try to think back of the time that you spent on playing, then you exchanged that time instead of reading your lessons and passing the exams. if you all try to work first before you play, believe me, it is most rewarding, and when you play, damn, it feels so good. so to all students out there who are taking their exams, good luck and best wishes, and after all the sacrifices made, let’s play!

ok so your going to think that i’m unleashing my geeky side again just because i’m having this video game review. but eyy, can’t help it.. why? because this is all about Final Fantasy XII.

first to all those who’re not familiar with Final Fantyasy lik, "what the F#@! is Final Fantasy? is it a movie or somthin’?" well yes it is a movie, and it is a video game. but what i’m going to talk about is the game FF XII. here you play a thief where you got yourself into trouble (as if thieves in the world don’t get into troubles..). but the only difference is that he got involved in a game of politics, which is why this game is so different from the other Final Fantasy series. and as usual you get to explore the world and venture out to new heights and kill monsters to your pleasure, HAH! just so you can level up and gain a few extra points on your HP ( hit points ), MP ( magic points ), and acquire new set of skills and magics.

the graphics of the game is quite fascinating. the characters design were almost clean cut and the movements are more realistic than the other characters of the series. plus the cut scenes are so beautifully rendered and highly detailed. even the sand ocean area was well designed that you can see bits and pieces of sand rising and falling off your shoes as you move. and talk about originality. they created a new mob which is a sand fish. it’s uhh fish taht swims on sand? duhh.

the controls are exceptionally good, easy to handle and maneuver. the only drawback is the fight system. instead of the old style which was turned-based, they made it to real time, making it hard for the guys and gals who were used to the turned-based system find it hard to control. but in time, you’ll be able to master it. plus to make it more interesting is the " Gambit " mode. where you can set each character their skills or commands automatically. very handy when fighting with a lot of mobs when you need a heal and you can’t switch to the next character right away just to heal. here you can swithc the commands like heal for examlpe, to any of your teammates who are below 60, 70 or 80% in HP. neat huh?

lastly, the sound. WAY TO COOL! as usual the trademark sound everytme you finish off a mob is played only when you encountered a boss. a different music is played on normal mobs. and the musical score of the whole game is so dramatic. making it look like a star wars film.

all in all this game is almost perfect. a little drawbacks on the few graphic bugs and the controls. but eyy, it is really good. so if your in your house and your all by yourself and you don’t have anything to do, try to have an adventure into a world where corruption amongst men exists, and yet you have the power to change the world around you. go for this game. because, this is Final Fantasy XII, an adventure of a lifetime.

we are forever haunted by the fact that sometimes, having different tastes in music, or should i say each of us prefer certain genres doesn’t make us all musicians. a lot of people asked me these past few years as an artist, what is my genre? what is my music?

ok let’s put it this way. i have no certain genre to prefer simply because i am a Musician. in other words, i do all forms of music. classical, metal, reggae (though i dabble in the art of ragga), hardcore (i aint a screamer but eyy at least i try), pop, hip-hop, rNb, soul, jazz, acid-jazz, funk, whatever. i do all forms. the only difference is that since i do all forms, i am able to manipulate them and infuse all into one complex and diverse form of genre, which is still undefined.

you all have a say, either, you’ll hate me for being a crazy ass who thinks he knows it all, or simply a poser, who thinks i know too much and can do anything i want with all of this. but i say to all of you, there is a big difference between a rocker, a rapper, a singer and a Musician.

a rocker performs high energy songs that almost blows your minds out. a rapper is a poet who infuses his/her everyday life experiences in his neighborhood, and the drama of strugling to be on top of the game. a singer is someone who sings songs that eases the mind, body and soul, thus making you feel elevated to the next level, let’s put it musical nirvana.

but a Musician is a person who experiments with all genres and making a few simple this and that to create a different type of music. making him/her a scientist of music so to speak. a musician is never afraid to try new things, and still able to capture the ears and hearts of the masses. that is what i want to be. though i already consider myself as a musician, i know i still am not. i still have to perform more experimentations, research and putting those into action. that is what i am trying to do.

so a final word to everyone out there, don’t just be a rocker, a rapper, a singer, or a performer, it requires heart, soul, dedication, practice, and mastery of the artform. but lastly, be a Musician.

it seems today that everyone wants to become a rock superstar, or maybe a rap artist just waiting for that fame and glory and rolling that cash into their pockets and into the stores, clubs, and women.. yes, women.

but the problem with today is that musicians these days, especially here in Tacloban, are having problems. they have the material, crisp, new, inspiring, and fresh, but can’t seem to record the song. thing is, recording sessions costs dearly. before musicians from this town usually record at Cebu, costing more than what they bargained for. thankfully, recording studios here are starting to pop out like daisies, catering new musicians, giving them hope on the craft they’re good at.

i just hope there won’t be descrimination. meaning, no matter how corny or lousy an artist is, let them record their stuff. besides, at least the owner of the studio gets the cash which the guys owe him for. fair deal, fair share, and all ends well.

i salute you all, musikeros of Tacloban. may you bring good music and hope to the others.

one music, one love, one Taclobanon.