Review: Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII is the first of three games in the FF13 set featuring a lovely cast of characters, an engaging story, and creative gameplay. Rating: T for Teen Players: 1 Genre: JRPG System: Xbox 360 Publisher: SquareEnix Release Date: March 9, 2010 RENT/BUY Anyone who knows me knows that I am completely obsessed with the Final Fantasy games. Even though X-2 and XII aren’t on the top of my list of favorites (a spot held by IX), I still enjoyed playing through them. So, of course, when I went to pick up this game, I had very high hopes and, admittedly, high expectations. Almost instantly, I’m captivated with the opening cutscenes and find myself squeaking and crying out “Chocobo!” when I get the first glimpse of Sazh’s baby chocobo that lives in his hair. One thing I both liked and disliked were the characters. The cast spanned a wide

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Haven’t We Seen You Before? FF13 Characters Exposed!!

(May contain spoilers, so read at your own risk!) Final Fantasy is one of those series where fans have been known to nitpick at the smallest details. I am one of those nitpickers, and today, I am nitpicking character design and development. Several of the main Final Fantasy 13 characters bear strong resemblance to people we met in Final Fantasies 7, 8 and 10. Now, while I don’t mind minor similarities for the most part, I do mind when it seems not one of the main cast is 100% original. And not one of them is completely “new” to the franchise. Lightning & Serah Farron Let’s start this off with the Farron sisters. It’s common knowledge that they wanted a female Cloud to lead the cast of FF13, hence the moody facial expression and the wild bangs brushing to the right side of the face. Both wield giant swords and

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Final Fantasy XIII Digital Larger-Than-Life Gallery Released Today for iPhone/iPod Touch

Can’t get enough Final Fantasy XIII? (Full disclosure: Neither can I.) Well, Square’s bringing the art to you, and not on some crummy paper, no, ma’am. The Final Fantasy XIII Larger-Than-Life Gallery puts the beautiful art of the current-generation release right at your fingertips, letting you use your fingers and the pinch-zoom gesture of the device to make even the tiniest details way bigger than they’d ever be in some silly book. See, that’s so much better than just putting the book up to your nose, isn’t it? (Also, it’s probably less likely to cause a headache over time.) As you can see from that center image, you can also add a calendar and clock to each beautifully-rendered image, though I’m not sure how much sense that makes without being able to use that as your main clock. (Adding just a calendar, though? That would be nice, and taking a

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Final Fantasy XIII-themed Items Coming to PlayStation Home

Starting March 11, you’ll have the ability to purchase some Final Fantasy goods to deck out your virtual pad. PlayStation Home will have a variety of goods on sale: An exclusive FINAL FANTASY XIII themed apartment, furniture bundles, figurines and accessories. In total, these include a sofa, table, chair, shelves, planter set, Cactuar and Tonberry figures, and stuffed animals. Now…can we just get these to cross over into real life? That’s all I really want.

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The guest list grows for AX2010!

First we hear Nabeshin is making his way to Anime Expo, then J-rock group Sophia was making their way to LA as well. Now word is that Yuu Asakawa is going to be there as a Guest of Honor too! I am growing incredibly jealous of those who are able to attend! For those who don’t know Yuu Asakawa, she has been a voice actress in a myriad of Anime shows (70+ according to Anime Expo) including Priss in “Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040“, Sakaki in “Azumanga Daioh” and Motoko in “Love Hina“. This talented Japanese lady has also used her vocal abilities to voice Lebreau in Final Fantasy XIII and Shalua in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, as well as singing the theme songs for Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 and the Love Hina Christmas Special! If you’d like to meet Yuu Asakawa, you can see her at autograph sessions,

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Expect More, Pay Less…Get Final Fantasy XIII

If you haven’t pre-ordered, it’s time to start planning your Tuesday shopping trip. Target is offering up a limited amount of “free” $10 GiftCards when you buy a copy of Final Fantasy XIII for PS3 or Xbox 360. This starts as soon as the game is out and Target is open at 8 a.m. on March 9th. Yeah, you’ll probably want to be in line for that one. Also, note that you can’t use the GiftCard immediately, so the game is still the same price. They also have the $399.99 Final Fantasy Xbox 360 bundles available that day, but no GiftCard with that. (Sorry!)

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EB Games Searching for Australia’s Biggest Final Fantasy Fan

Are you Australia’s biggest Final Fantasy fan? Well, you don’t have a lot of time left to tell EB Games about it! If you enter a 30-second video to the contest by following the directions listed here (in short, make a video and use a code that comes with your Final Fantasy XIII pre-order to submit it), you’ve got a pretty good shot at winning a custom Final Fantasy XIII Yamaha Vmax motorbike. Finalists are narrowed down by EB Games and Ubisoft, then voted for by the public. You have a lot less time than I think you do, seeing as Australians live in the future and all. If you enter, link us to your video in the comments! We’d love to see you express your Final Fantasy love.

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Leona Lewis Uses Her Hands to Announce Final Fantasy XIII Experience

Square Enix had a Final Fantasy XIII-filled day today! Since the release is officially less than a month away, things have gotten kicked into high gear with the announcement of the Final Fantasy Xbox 360 bundle , two more announcements for the Final Fantasy XIII Experience and an official launch party, and a bevy of screenshots. The two launch events will take place in San Francisco on March 8. At the Final Fantasy XIII Experience–a fan-focused, daytime event which will take place across two sessions of two hours each–attendees get to play the game, browse game artwork, watch trailers and meet the development staff. Some lucky fans will also win fantastic raffle prizes at the event. Square Enix Members is offering an opportunity to win one of 200 invitations for two to the event, and Bronze members and above have a chance to win one of 50 invitations for two

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Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Xbox 360 Bundle In Stores March 9

We had hints that there might be a faceplate, but I don’t think anyone anticipated this unless they work for Square Enix: Yesterday, Squenix announced that in celebration of the debut of the Final Fantasy series on the Xbox 360, they and Microsoft have collaborated to produce a Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Bundle. This makes the Xbox 360 the only console outside of Japan to be bundled with the game. The bundle includes a 250GB Hard Drive engraved with the Final Fantasy XIII name, two Wireless Controllers, exclusive downloadable avatar items and a Standard Edition copy of Final Fantasy XIII. Additionally, Square Enix’s famed character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, has created an exclusive Final Fantasy XIII Limited Edition Faceplate (seen here first!) that will be available promotionally in very limited numbers. Players can immerse themselves in the complete Final Fantasy XIII experience this March. The Special Edition Bundle is available

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Microsoft showcases their biggest year

Today at X10, Microsoft set out to prove why 2010 is going to be their biggest year ever by showcasing their exclusive games set to come out this year. And I must say that after reading all about these games I’m pretty excited myself! Microsoft has many titles coming out that will satisfy the needs of gamers from the fans of Halo, to Left 4 Dead to Fable. “This is going to be an amazing year for Xbox 360 and for gamers worldwide. It’s our biggest and most breakthrough year yet, filled with games and entertainment that you won’t find on any other console,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “I’m floored on a daily basis with what the ‘Crackdown 2’ team is doing, and Bungie is proving the impossible possible by eclipsing even its own untouchable standards with ‘Halo: Reach.’ I can’t wait to jump

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