Multiplayer games are awesome and I love them dearly. Obviously, if you’ve read any of my Wrath of the Lich King previews, I’m quite fond of MMORPGs. I tend to sporadically pick up new ones like I’m at a cocktail party and they’re a plate of hors d’oeuvres. One thing that repels me from MMORPGs, however, is forced grouping. The thought of being forced to be in a party with people in order to get anywhere makes me scream.

Do I like to be in groups? Yes, when the mood strikes me or I find a leveling partner I like. Do I want to be in a group the entire time I’m playing? About as much as I want to write a twenty page paper on the chemical symbol for lead.

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Cars are boring. What? They are. Brake, gas, honk. Brake, gas, honk. Turn left, turn right. Flip that guy off. Psh, so old. Video game characters have all the luck, really. They get totally amazing mounts to ride all over their pre-programmed world. Playing through some games got me to wondering which mounts I’d love to have in real life. Obviously, not all of them are practical. But still, beats the Hell out of the rising gas prices, eh? Yeah, I should stay away from the political commentary, sorry. On with my list!

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MMORPGs seem to be the new ‘it’ game platform. It seems like almost every company is falling all over themselves to try and get a nice piece of that massively multiplayer cake. Subscribers come and go, each one looking for something a little bit different. What sets a certain MMO apart from others depends on the person playing it. For example: Some people hate PVP while others simply can’t get enough of it. With this in mind, most companies strive to make their game something special. Something people will want to play even if the game itself is slightly less than desirable in other areas. What sets an MMORPG apart?

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When most people think of epics their minds immediately drift back to nights in highschool spent hunched over their copies of The Iliad and Paradise Lost. When gamers think of epics, we tend to think of those nights learning Sunwell Plateau. Even from the earliest days of side scrolling adventures, most video games have told (or attempted to) a story. Blowing up a space alien isn’t necessarily on par with Odysseus’ long, poetic journey, but it’s true that some literary elements exist in every well made game’s plot.

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Brimming with excitement, I flipped my DS open and eagerly smudged my thumb against the start button. The moment I had been waiting for finally arrived - my chance to play the much anticipated sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I went into playing Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift with such high expectations; At this point I’d be lying if I said the game met them. But at the same time, it hasn’t significantly disappointed me either.

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The Pokémon franchise is one that’s earned a bit of a negative image due to the way it was aggressively advertised. In short, it was forced down everyone’s throat and now some people can’t stand it anymore. Little kids loved it so parents bought it, which drove Nintendo to push it even more. The recommended age was lost in translation somewhere around the time the television series came out and Pokémon, like so many others before it, was branded as a kid’s game. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because kids really do seem to love their pikachu. The downside was that many people turned away from the series because their little nieces and nephews were all about catching them all.

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