We also get some stories in this one, about helping others get video game clarity as well as angry older white women at a hotel. Enjoy!

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Here’s a list of some things (or everything) we discussed:

• New Releases
• My Sniper Elite Impressions
• PS+ Free Month Trial Giveaway
• Top PSN Game of April
• Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Getting Massive Update
• Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite Delayed
• The Last of Us New Trailer
• Why I Finally Joined Twitter
• Diablo 3
• Secret Word

Namco Bandai’s Tales of Graces f is an HD-port of Tales of Graces, a Wii game that was released back in 2009. It features essentially the same game content with upgraded visuals, plus a complete extension (f in the game title refers to Future) called “Lineage and Legacies”.

I have to admit that I haven’t played a lot of Tales of games prior to this one; the only other I played is Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube a few years ago, and I wasn’t really a fan of the series back then. However, after a few hours in this really cool Action-JRPG, I was really impressed by how fun this game is!

Tales of Graces f Opening Cinematic

Story [Spoiler-free]
The story focuses on Asbel, the young heir of the Lhant family, and his friends. The prologue takes place while all the main characters and their friends are children and gives an insight on both their backgrounds and their own motivations. After a few hours, the story fast forwards a few years in the future, when the characters are young adults. This is when the main story takes place.

At first, friendship is the story-driving element, but it soon unfolds to a greater scale, where Ephenia — the planet — is at risk. It might sound like a typical Japanese-RPG, but the story is very well-written and will keep you up later than usual!

Gameplay
Tales of Graces f features a fast-paced Action-RPG battle system that is easily the greatest highlight of the game! Your battle party consists of four characters, one of which you control. Each party member has is own attack pattern, so switching from a character to another completely changes the battle gameplay. Enemies are always visible on the field (no random encounters) and most of them can be avoided if you want to go quickly from point A to point B.

As for the battle system itself, your attacks consist of “Attack” and “Burst” Artes, and can be fully customized to your liking by assigning them to buttons on the controller. An awesome feature is how you can change the assignments in real-time right in the heat of the battle when you realize your setup needs adjustments for a specific enemy. Each attack requires a set amount of CC (stamina), and attacks can be chained until your available CC runs out. A chained attacks uses more CC than the previous one, but they also yield more damage. Luckily, it replenishes very quickly in battle while guarding or by moving. This is great because it prevents the battle system from falling into button mashing and requires strategy!

Finally, for those of you who like to play with friends, Tales of Graces f offers a much welcomed local multiplayer feature in which each player can control a different party member. Battle difficulty can also be raised if you want more of a challenge, up to 4 levels harder than the default. Rising the difficulty gives more Experience, Skill Points and rare item drops, so there are plenty of good reasons to switch!

Content
Another big highlight of the game is the sheer amount of content it includes! The world is huge, and when a typical JRPG title would last around 25-35h, this game features a 60h-long campaign, plus a ton of side-quests. It even comes with a 10h in-disc extension called “Lineage & Legacies” that becomes available once the main quest has been completed.

There are also a lot of optional and hidden cut-scenes that are often related to the story progression or that appear randomly at the battle victory screen. Some of them are really humorous and actually made me laugh! This game even includes a very easy to use “Dualizing” system, which allows you to mix two items to create a totally new one!

Audio / Video
In Tales of Graces f, Japanese culture is really prominent. The game features cut-scenes, videos and characters all in anime. The characters are likeable and their voice acting is also usually very good. However, there are no options to switch the voices back into their original version, which was quite a deception. The soundtrack is both good and expansive! For example, each continent has its own field and battle theme.

The rendering engine uses cell-shading and is as beautiful as it is polished. Landscapes are gorgeous, frame rate is rock-solid and transitions from field to battle are instantaneous. There are a few loading times when switching from one zone to another, but they’re minimal thanks to the game installation on the PS3.

Final thoughts
It had been a while since I played a game with such a strong story and with a fun and rewarding battle system. With a gorgeous game engine, a campaign lasting around 70h, local multiplayer and lots of unlockables, everything in Tales of Graces f has been done with the player in mind. Namco Bandai delivered an awesome game, and I can’t wait for more iterations of the Tales of series on the PS3.

Cost: $59.99
You can purchase Tales of Graces f from Amazon.com here.

Disclaimer
Total amount of time played: 74 hours.
Game was completed before writing this review.

This review is based off of a retail copy of the game purchased by reviewer

Starting today until May 22, Ubisoft is launching massive discounts on selected PSN and PS3 titles. There will be a %30 discount on over 30 titles and DLC. PlayStation Plus subscribers will be treated into a %50 discount, some fantastic 2D adventures like: Outland and Scott Pilgrim are going for only $4.89 each! Here is the full list of discounted Titles and DLC:

From Dust – PlayStation Plus price $7.34; Sale price $10.49

Outland – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – PlayStation Plus price $7.34; Sale price $10.49

Beyond Good & Evil HD – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Scott Pilgrim – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Prince of Persia Classic – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – PlayStation Plus price $14.69; Sale price $20.99

Assassin’s Creed 2 – PlayStation Plus price *$9.79; Sale price $13.99

Assassin’s Creed – PlayStation Plus price *$9.79; Sale price $13.99

Far Cry 2 – PlayStation Plus price *$9.79; Sale price $13.99

Call of Juarez 2 – PlayStation Plus price *$9.79; Sale price $13.99

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – PlayStation Plus price *$9.79; Sale price $13.99

Prince of Persia (2008) – PlayStation Plus price *$9.79; Sale price $13.99

Prince of Persia Classic Trilogy HD – PlayStation Plus price $19.59; Sale price $27.99

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – PlayStation Plus price $7.34; Sale price $10.49

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within – PlayStation Plus price $7.34; Sale price $10.49

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones – PlayStation Plus price $7.34; Sale price $10.49

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – Da Vinci Disappearance DLC – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Assassin’s Creed 2 – Battle of Forli DLC – PlayStation Plus price $1.95; Sale price $2.79

Assassin’s Creed 2 – Bonfire of Vanities DLC – PlayStation Plus price $3.42; Sale price $4.89

Far Cry 2 – Fortunes Pack DLC – PlayStation Plus price $2.44; Sale price $3.49

Call of Juarez 2 – Old West Map Pack DLC – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Prince of Persia (2008) – Epilogue DLC – PlayStation Plus price $4.89; Sale price $6.99

Scott Pilgrim – Knives Chau Add-On Pack DLC – PlayStation Plus price $0.97; Sale price $1.39

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (PSP) – PlayStation Plus price $9.79; Sale price $13.99

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Complete Edition (includes Da Vinci Disappearance, Animus Project Update 1, Animus Project Update 2 and Copernicus Conspiracy Missions) – PlayStation Plus price $14.99; Sale price $24.99

Far Cry 2 Complete Edition (includes Fortune Pack) – PlayStation Plus price $11.99; Sale price $19.99

Prince of Persia (2008) Complete Edition (includes Epilogue) – PlayStation Plus price $11.99; Sale price $19.99

Scott Pilgrim Complete Edition (includes Knives Chau Add-On Pack) – PlayStation Plus price $4.79; Sale price $7.99

Call of Juarez 2 Complete Edition (includes Old West Map Pack) – PlayStation Plus price $11.99; Sale price $19.99

You still here? What you waiting for?

Last week, we brought you news of the Record of Agarest War 2 LE for the US by Aksys Games. Well, now our EU readers can rejoice, as Ghostlight Games has announced TWO different releases for Record of Agarest War 2!

First up is the Deluxe Edition, which includes all of the following:

* PS3 blu-ray
* The Agarest: Generations of War 2 Soundtrack in a jewel case (only available from the Ghostlight Store)
* Double-sided inlay
* 6 art cards featuring character artwork from the game
* An A3 poster featuring Aina & Victoria
* A 48-page Hardback art book
* Special Slip Case

Plus, if all that wasn’t enough our Deluxe Edition also contains:

* Agarest-themed Messenger Bag!
* Agarest-themed Baseball Cap!

Both only available when buying from the Ghostlight Store.

As for the Collector’s Edition? Substract the last two items from the Deluxe Edition, and you’re good to go.

You can pre-order the Deluxe Edition by following this link.

And you can pre-order the Collector’s Edition by clicking here.

Velocity lives up to fond memories of shoot ‘em-up classics, and you can Teleport too! Featuring genre-busting gameplay innovation and music from Joris de Man (Killzone, N+), Velocity plays like a dream and sounds incredible.

In 2212 the distant star Vilio exploded into a red giant, sending an electromagnetic pulse surging into our deep space mining ships, colony cruisers and Special Forces fighters, knocking out their primary power. Now the star is beginning to collapse into a black hole, pulling our stranded fleets to their doom. To make things worse, our warring neighbors have seen reward in our misfortune and have deployed scavengers to prey upon our people!

Only one craft is capable of a rescue mission, the Quarp Jet – a spacecraft capable of teleportation!

Take control of the world’s first quantum teleport craft in this innovative shooter, using a range of teleport controls to outsmart enemies, solve action based puzzles and rescue helpless survivors from their deep space hideaways.

You’ll learn everything you need to know during your first missions, and you better pay attention! Rescuing survivors, boosting, destroying all hostiles, avoiding insta-death laser fields, they are all part of the game, and you must learn how, when and why you must do all this in order to succeed.

There are three different types of missions in the game: Search and Rescue, Hostile Forces and Urgency. They are different from one another since new elements are added for each one to keep you coming back for more. For example, one Search and Rescue mission will require you to destroy color coded security energy fields in order to reach the survivors. And, eventually, you’re tasked with more than one objective, such as destroying Hostile Forces while rescuing survivors while warping all over the place AND boosting to make it to the end on time!

There are checkpoints on each level in case you are destroyed by your enemies or the obstacles and walls of each level press you against the bottom. There is also a timer and, depending on how fast you are at completing each level, you’ll be rewarded with experience points to increase your rank overall rank. You also get an experience bonus depending on your score, a well as the number of survivors you rescue, and you can replay any level to try and increase your experience points, as well as to obtain a gold medal for a perfect level total. For example, during a Seek and Rescue Mission you can focus on completing the level and rescuing all survivors during your first try, and then focus on quickly completing the level during your second run, and the game won’t force you to do it all at the same time thanks to the autosave after completing each level. BUT, if you want that perfect medal, you have to do everything (score, survivors and time requirements) on a single run. And what is all the experience you gain used for? Why, for unlocking new levels! If you don’t succeed, then you can’t make it to the last mission.

Two new abilities are introduced later in the game, keeping things interesting until the end. On mission 15 you are given a level map and the ability to drop telepods by hitting the triangle button, and each level has a limit on how many you can drop, bringing a new degree of strategy to the game. By opening your map, you can return to the telepod that you dropped, which means you can use one when the road splits in two (or three!), and then return to the pod to take a new path and rescue more survivors, or take care of the next security switch in the set.

There is also a hidden yellow crystal (or two) in some levels, and they are used to unlock even more extra missions on top of the already available 50 main ones! Velocity even provides some extras: a program called Mines on which you search for active explosive mines on a field, in order to deactivate them; a complete profile on each Hostile you will meet during your quest, giving you insight into their defense, their attack power, speed and agility; a huge in-game trophy system that awards you medals for achieving several objectives such as obtaining a perfect score on every zone, reaching the end of the game, or killing a certain number of enemies by flinging side bombs at them; it even has a functional calculator for your math needs!

Velocity is a very welcome entry in the Shoot-em-up genre, and it improves over other games by providing fresh elements that make this a release that all fans of the genre should own. The fast paced action, different types of missions, weapons and power ups make this a great digital offering you can take with you on your PS portable of choice, or enjoy at home on the PS3.

Cost – $4.99

Disclaimer

The game was completed before writing this review

Total amount of time played: 4 hours

This review is based on a PS3/PSP copy of Velocity provided by FuturLab.