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The PSP has been a haven for ports and remakes of varying quality over the years, but the remastered Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together sets a new standard for remakes on any system. It may not look like much has changed at first glance, but dig a little deeper, and it quickly becomes clear just how much thought the team at Square Enix has put into this remake of the 1995 tactical RPG for the Super Famicom.

There’s that fierce Galgastanian pride flaring up again.

This is actually the second time that Tactics Ogre has been ported to another system, the first being a disappointing PlayStation remake that was localized by Atlus. That version was plagued by slowdown and long loading times, which are both mercifully absent in this PSP update. Given that even Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions struggled with its share of technical problems, it’s refreshing to play a port as tightly coded as this one. It also does much to expand upon the original source material. In the original game for the Super Nintendo, which was never released in North America, enemies scaled with the most powerful characters in the party, making it incredibly difficult to level up the weaker characters. The remake fixes that by having whole classes level up instead; so if a character is struggling to keep up, you can always make them a Knight instead and they’ll suddenly jump to Level 14.

The flipside, of course, is that new classes typically begin at Level 1, and the only way to gain experience is to put the character in a corner during a battle while everyone else does the dirty work. The process can be difficult and time-consuming, and not everyone will have the patience to level up the Dragoon or Ninja when they finally become available. Nevertheless, it’s a unique approach, and one that alleviates that much of the frustration of the original. The skill system has likewise gotten a substantial overhaul. Now Battle Points are distributed following a battle, which can be spent to acquire skills that augment both offensive and defensive capabilities. There are a multitude of skills to choose from, but the key is that it’s extremely difficult to be good at everything. Magic users, for instance, generally have to specialize in one or two types of magic, as each element takes up a precious skill slot. Sure, it’s possible to go into battle with a mage capable of wielding every type of magic, but doing so means you won’t be able to equip skills that augment your magical powers or stregthen your defense.

This balancing act helps to ensure that no character ever gets to the point that they are invincible, which is all too common in other tactical RPGs. Moreover, Tactics Ogre allows up to 12 characters on the field, meaning that there’s a much greater focus on party synergy than in a game like Final Fantasy Tactics, which allows only five characters. You will quickly learn the benefit of having two Mages on the field, each with a different set of skills designed to handle all contingencies.

Revisit the game to explore all its branching paths.

On the battlefield, the action plays out much like any isometric tactical RPG, which makes sense given that Tactics Ogre helped to define that subgenre in the first place. There are no “Player” or “Enemy” phases; instead, each character moves according to their speed ranking. It remains an interesting approach to tactical RPG design, as it means that time magic (such as haste) factors in much more heavily than usual. Elevation also has a major part to play, as archers and mages with the high ground can pick apart approaching forces with ease. Line of sight comes into play when trying to attack enemies from far away, so it’s important to stake out the high ground when you get the chance. Fire a spell with an ally in the way, and they will get pinged in the back for some serious damage. The fixed camera would ordinarily make things especially irritating in that regard, but Tactics Ogre provides an interesting compromise. By holding the square button, it’s possible to shift the camera to an overhead view, which makes it much easier to get lined up and hit enemies rather than allies. It is one of the new features that make this update such a stand-out.

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While all video games engage our brains, some make cerebral stimulation their raison d’etre. Body and Brain Connection attempts to sharpen your wits with an assortment of minigames that test your mental faculties with light physical challenges. Using the Kinect’s motion-tracking capabilities, you solve fill-in-the-blank math problems by kicking numbered soccer balls or represent a digital time on an analog clock by positioning your arms appropriately. Body and Brain Connection is a successor to the Brain Age series in all but name, down to the daily tests of your brain’s age and the familiar host, Dr. Kawashima. It captures the self-improving appeal of the genre nicely, though it is also burdened by a few shortcomings. Some minigames are hampered by tracking issues, resulting in inadvertent answers, and swapping profiles midsession can also be problematic. It is ultimately a fairly shallow game, but Body and Brain Connection’s exercises offer a fun way for puzzle fans to get a few kicks out of their Kinects.

6298006NonePac-Man enjoys a rare moment of freedom from narrow corridors.

When you fire up Body and Brain Connection, the friendly doctor administers an initial test of your brain age to establish a point of reference for your further training. After playing three minigames, you are rated on a scale of 20 to 80. The faster and more accurate you are, the younger your brain age. Though you can take the test as many times as you want, only your first score of the day will be recorded on your calendar. As you become more familiar with the exercises, your brain age will almost certainly improve, and seeing your brain age get better over days and weeks of tests creates a feeling of satisfaction.

In addition to taking your daily test, you can choose to play any of the 20 minigames whenever you like. One menu option serves up three minigames that Body and Brain Connection recommends based on your test progress. Another lets you scroll through all 20 minigames and select the beginner, intermediate, or advanced difficulty level, depending on your previous performance in that activity. The minigames are sorted into five categories: math, logic, reflex, memory, and physical. While these categories do have general themes, don’t expect the logic challenges to be math-free, and because you’re using your limbs to select answers, every exercise has a physical component. You aren’t likely to get a workout with any of these games, but many of them have a timer and reward quick answers. Selecting an answer is usually a matter of darting your arms or legs in a specific direction or positioning them carefully to select onscreen icons. None of the movements are difficult or strenuous, but they are certainly more involved than pressing a button.

Given the simplicity of the motions involved in the minigames, Body and Brain Connection feels more mentally challenging than physically taxing. Leaning your torso left, right, or standing straight up in a math minigame isn’t very tough; the challenge is to track a scrolling line of digits and determine whether the sum of the bracketed numbers is less than, greater than, or equal to 10. Popping virtual balloons is easy and kind of fun, but things get tricky when they are numbered and you must pop them in ascending order, or when you have to pop the right color from a visually misleading cue (for example, the word “blue” in red text on a yellow background). Players who enjoy math-based challenges may like the minigame in which a timer counts up from one and you must punch the numbered bags when the timer reaches a multiple of those numbers (like punching 4 and 3 when the timer reaches 12). Those who prefer visual challenges may gravitate toward finding the two identical shapes amid an array of icons, and those who aspire to ambidexterity should find evading ghosts by guiding Pac-Man and Pooka (from Dig Dug) with their right and left hands simultaneously an enjoyable test.

Please note that bubbles and stars do not come out of actual rats when you kick them.
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By Ellen Creager, McClatchy News Service

In Print: Sunday, February 13, 2011

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In December an Antarctic cruise ship was caught in the violent waters of the Drake Passage, which tossed the ship around like a toy in a bathtub. A few days later, a cruise liner in the Mediterranean off Alexandria, Egypt, was hit by giant waves that tilted the ship.

Does it mean that cruising is unsafe? No.

It means that you should be careful in choosing when to cruise.

Sailing off-season might be cheaper, but there’s a reason for that: You are risking bad weather.

“Where we are hearing rumbling of concerns is that the cruise lines are definitely pushing the season in the Mediterranean,” says Carolyn Spencer-Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com.

“When people think of the Mediterranean they think of it as the Caribbean of Europe. But it snows.”

In past years, the Mediterranean cruise season lasted from April to October. Then it was March to December. Now, ships like Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas are cruising even in January and February, when ports like Southampton, England, Dubrovnik, Croatia, or Venice, Italy, can hit 30 degrees.

Ports in winter can be quiet and crowds blessedly thin, but bad weather can affect a ship’s ability to stick to its itinerary.

Still, as long as travelers know the risks, they can get good deals. In fact, some travelers actually like to cruise off-season, such as going from New York to the Bahamas in January, or traveling across the North Atlantic in March, Spencer-Brown says.

“There is a reason why you are seeing a $500 deal for a 12-day cruise,” she says. “There’s a downside. It’s a trade-off.”

The cruise lines won’t exactly advertise it, but here are my guidelines for the best and worst months to cruise, weatherwise:

Caribbean: Season is year-round. Best is December to April. Worst is August to October, in hurricane season. Personally, I have sailed during hurricane season with no problems.

Mediterranean: Season runs April to October, but now lines are cruising year-round. Best is June or September (August is most crowded). Worst is December to February. Watch out for England departures in winter.

Northern Europe: Season runs May to September. Best is June through August. Worst is very early May.

Alaska: Season runs May to September. Best is July and August. Worst is May or September — winter is lurking.

New England: Season runs April to October. Best is July to October. Worst is April to May.

Trans-Atlantic: Season runs March to November with most repositioning cruises in spring and fall. Best is June to August. Worst is March or November. One current ship, the Queen Mary 2, is built specifically to cross the Atlantic, Spencer-Brown says. “We’ve seen some really exciting waves, shall we say, on the Atlantic,” she says.

Antarctica: Season runs November to March. Best is mid December to February. Worst is November or March.

Antarctica is the one trip on which you must expect dicey weather even in high season. Ships have to cross the unpredictable Drake Passage off the coast of South America, the trickiest stretch of water in the world.

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By Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press

In Print: Sunday, February 13, 2011

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NEW YORK

Boo hoo, so you didn’t get a front-row seat for New York Fashion Week! Fortunately, for fashionistas who love couture but can’t afford to buy it, there are many museums in the United States and abroad where you can get your fashion fix without presenting credentials at the door.

Fashion museums and costume institutes offer closeup looks at contemporary designers and cutting-edge trends, as well as classic styles and fashion history. These collections of clothing, accessories and textiles can be found not only in style capitals like New York, Los Angeles and Paris, but in unexpected places like Indianapolis and Antwerp, Belgium.

In Manhattan, a gem that deserves to be better known — especially among tourists with an interest in fashion — is the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, at 27th Street and Seventh Avenue in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood (fitnyc.edu/3662.asp).

The Museum at FIT hosts special exhibits as well as a rotating themed show selected from its permanent collection of 50,000 objects dating to the 1700s. Through May 10, the museum’s first-floor Fashion and Textile History Gallery hosts “His and Hers,” a look at 100 items exploring the relationship between gender and fashion. The exhibit ranges from side-by-side displays of men’s and women’s outfits from the 1700s and 1800s — including 19th century wedding attire — to business suits from the 1980s.

Through April 2 at the Museum at FIT, the “Japan Fashion Now” exhibit looks at contemporary Japanese fashion, from Lolita fashions — sugary-pink little-girl styles for young women that also have a black Gothic Lolita iteration — to the gauzy, flowing Forest Girl look. Works of famous Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto are also on display.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, is gearing up for a major exhibition, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” May 4 to July 31. The show will look at the late designer’s career, from his first collection in 1992, when he was in his early 20s, to designs that debuted on the runway after his suicide last year (metmuseum.org).

In Los Angeles, the Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising, 919 S Grand Ave., hosts an “Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design” show each year during Oscar season. Costumes from more than 20 movies from 2010 are on display through April 30 (fidmmuseum.org).

At L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, “Rodarte: States of Matter” looks at more than 20 pieces from fashion and costume designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, a brand known for unusual and elaborate use of textiles. The show includes original ballet costumes designed by Rodarte for the movie Black Swan (moca.org).

Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, is home to a school of fashion design and merchandising, and the university’s museum focuses on fashion and textiles, though the collection also includes decorative arts (kent.edu/museum).

The Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, has a dedicated fashion and textile arts exhibition space that usually highlights the museum’s collection of 7,000 fabric and fashion-arts items, which range from couture to antique silks and lace. “Material World,” which opens April 22, examines how extravagant ornamentation of textiles and personal adornment relate to wealth, status and power (imamuseum.org).

In Florence, Italy, the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, in Palazzo Spini Ferroni, looks at the history of the famous footwear company and its founder (museoferragamo.it). Paris has two fashion museums, though the Musée Galliera is closed for renovation until next year. The other, Les Arts Décoratifs, at 107 rue de Rivoli, is a branch of the Louvre that also houses design-related items like furniture (lesartsdecoratifs.fr).

In Antwerp, the Mode Museum, known as MoMu, at Nationalestraat 28, hosts “Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion,” March 16 to Aug. 14 (momu.be). The exhibit looks at knit garments from classic Schiaparelli and Chanel items to knits in avant-garde, everyday and contemporary designs.

Another favorite in Europe for fashion lovers, the fashion gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, is closed for renovation until next year.

Toronto is home to the Bata Shoe Museum, at 327 Bloor St. W (batashoemuseum.ca). The personal collection of founder Sonja Bata forms the core of the museum’s holdings, which include footwear and related items from around the world and across centuries.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts hosts a Jean Paul Gaultier retrospective beginning June 17 (mbam.qc.ca). It brings together what the designer described in a recent interview as his “obsessions: the corset, skin, the cinema, music.”

In Shanghai, the Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting “Culture Chanel” through March 14 looking at the creative heritage of the House of Chanel (mocashanghai.org).

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Weird news stories, bizarre news, strange but stories. You’ve come to the right place: Bizarre Florida, where weird is the norm. Exploding pythons. Armless, one-legged drivers. Yep. We certainly have unusual news stories. Offbeat news. Strange, interesting stories. Weird, unusual, true news stories. Get the picture? Have a story suggestion?

E-mail Bizarre Florida: bizarre@tampabay.com

Weird news stories, bizarre news, strange but stories. You’ve come to the right place: Bizarre Florida, where weird is the norm. Exploding pythons. Armless, one-legged drivers. Yep. We certainly have unusual news stories. Offbeat news. Strange, interesting stories. Weird, unusual, true news stories. Get the picture? Have a story suggestion?

E-mail Bizarre Florida: bizarre@tampabay.com

   Want to become a nudist? There’s an app for that.

   The American Association of Nude Recreation in Kissimmee has a free “Nakation” app on iPhone as part of a social-media push to keep nearly 50,000 members connected and to share news, OrlandoSentinel.com reports.

   So far, it’s been downloaded 800 times since it debuted a month ago. However, anyone looking for nudity via the app is going to be disappointed. “Almost anything we do that goes out to the general public, including brochures. … We do not want to offend anyone by using full-frontal nudity,” said a representative of the group.

On paper, the Motorola i886 seems like a pretty run-of-the-mill Nextel phone. It has push-to-talk with Nextel Direct Connect, stereo Bluetooth, a 2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, GPS, and as it is not a smartphone, it has no Wi-Fi. Like most Nextel phones, it is billed as a durable handset, with thick rubberized casing that is military-certified to take a beating. The i886 also looks like a regular messaging handset, with its slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Yet, it has a trick up its sleeve–its user interface looks almost identical to that of Android. Indeed, the multiple home screens, the pull-up menu, and the app icons look uncannily like Android. But it is not–the OS is a proprietary BREW operating system. While we initially thought the use of a fake Android interface was odd, we actually think it’s a great idea, as it is far better than the usual Nextel one. The inclusion of Opera Mini is welcome, and we appreciate having a dedicated GetJar app store as well.

We do worry that some people might get fooled into thinking it’s a smartphone when it’s decidedly not. At the end of the day, the Motorola i886 is just a well-made Nextel messaging phone, which is not a bad thing. Just don’t expect anything more than that. The Motorola i886 is $79.99 after a two-year service agreement.

Design
As far as rugged handsets go, the Motorola i886 is positively petite. At 4.6 inches long by 2.0 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick, it’s not exactly wafer thin, but compared to other Nextel phones like the Brute i680, it’s quite slim. Clad in hard plastic and thick padding, the i886 is military-certified to withstand dust, shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, low pressure, solar radiation, and humidity. We couldn’t subject the phone to such a battery of tests, but it did survive a drop in a bucket of water. While the black-and-gray color scheme is a bore, we do like its compact form factor, and at 4.98 ounces, it feels very solid in the hand.

The 2.2-inch QVGA display is quite bright and colorful, with 262,000 color support. We like the bold graphic icons, and the text is clear and legible, too. We did think the text was a little on the small side, and unfortunately, you can’t adjust the font size. You can adjust the brightness and backlight timer, however. You can also toggle window animations from the display settings.

As we mentioned in the introduction, the i886′s user interface is almost note-for-note the same as Android’s. However, unlike most Android phones, you have to control everything using the navigation toggle since the display is not a touch screen. We had to resist the urge to swipe the screen at times, but we soon got used to it. Everything from the home screen to the pull-up main menu is identical to the Android user interface, right down to the app icons.

You get up to three home screens, and all of them are customizable with shortcuts, widgets, and wallpaper. Simply press the menu key, select Manage Home Screen, and go from there. You can display widgets for the analog clock, the calendar, the music player, Nascar updates, one-touch Direct Connect, the picture frame app, power control, and Sprint Football Live. Do note that there aren’t any Google widgets, because, remember, it’s not really an Android phone.

Underneath the display is the navigation array, which is, again, very similar to most Android phones. You have the menu key (which doubles as a screen lock key), the Home key, and the Back key. Instead of the usual Search key, you get a Notifications key, which brings up the notifications screen. In the middle of the array is a round navigation toggle with a center select key. We almost wished the center toggle was an optical touchpad of some kind just to make it feel more like an Android phone, but no, it’s just a regular physical key. There are also raised Send and End/Power keys on either side of the toggle.

Beneath the array is the number keypad, which consists of rubbery raised keys. They’re well-separated and we found it easy to dial by feel. If you want you can also text with the number keypad using XT9. However, we would recommend using the full QWERTY keyboard instead.

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