9/27/05

Good news for everyone looking forward to Capcom Classics Collection... according to this review on IGN, the compilation contains content not found in the original arcade games.  This includes not only the original mission from the Genesis version of MERCS, but the option to start dream matches between the characters from all three Street Fighter II releases.

9/26/05

It is 2005, and I still hate Grand Theft Auto.  I discovered this the hard way when I bought a copy of San Andreas from some random guy who couldn't sell it to GameStop.  I took the game off his hands for sixteen bucks.  On one hand, that's a fraction of its original retail price, but probably a whole lot more than I should have spent, considering my opinion of past GTA releases.

I will give San Andreas credit for the improvements it's brought to the series.  There's not much you can do to fix a fundamentally flawed game like Grand Theft Auto, but at least Rockstar tried to bring purpose to the aimless wandering by letting the player improve their character's abilities with exercise.  Running from the cops boosts CJ's stamina, while taking a bicycle instead of a car to each mission makes him a more skilled cyclist.

The atmosphere feels very genuine, too.  Forget that the game was designed in Europe... you'll never question the authenticity of the setting or the characters, thanks to convincing dialogue and voice overs to match.  Naturally, there's a lot of rap music in the San Andreas soundtrack, but if you're not a fan of hip-hop and don't mind breaking the fourth wall, you can tune into alternative rock, country, or even 70's funk instead while driving that car your stole to your next mission.

However, the game itself just isn't much fun.  You can squeeze some entertainment out of San Andreas if you color outside the lines, but actually playing the game as Rockstar intended is a mind-numbing experience.  The missions are long, dull, and frustrating... if you're gunned down by cops or rival gang members while trying to complete one, you're dropped at the footsteps of a hospital miles away from your house.  Your only real option is to restart from a save point, slowing the game to a crawl despite the streaming playfield designed to keep San Andreas and its predecessors running at a brisk, even pace.

The bottom line is, I still prefer True Crime: Streets of L.A.  True, it's a glitchy, overly ambitious jumble of a game with an obnoxious hero and ridiculous plot twists.  I still can't get over one of the endings, which pitted you against zombies and dragons (what, no vampire cowboys?  Oh wait, that's been covered already).  Despite all that, True Crime was fast-paced and fun, because the designers wisely chose to seperate each mission from the open-ended design of the city.  You could explore your surroundings at your leisure, then get down to business battling the bad guys.  If your were brought down by the criminals' flying fists or bullets, you were sent back to the beginning of THAT MISSION, not a clinic nine blocks away.

Having said that, I don't have high hopes for the sequel to True Crime.  Shockingly, Luxoflux has disposed of both the title character and the karma system that kept a running tab on his morality.  The only thing they should have thrown in the trash was the desperate pandering that made Streets of L.A. hard to take seriously.  Unfortunately, it seems that things will only get worse now that the bright lights of Los Angeles have been replaced with the dirty back alleys of New York. 

I actually have higher hopes for Total Overdose... I played the demo of this upcoming Eidos release and liked the irreverent approach to the typical third-person action game, even if it was full of cheesy Latin stereotypes and lackluster graphics.  At least the designers were willing to stand up and admit that their game is silly, unlike the starchy yet equally absurd Dead to Rights.

Well, enough of that.  There's a new review on the site... this time, it's We Love Katamari, the sequel to the little budget game that could.  While I'm on the subject, check out the review of the game on 1UP.  I make a cameo appearance in the seedy dive where fans of the game are reciting poetry.  Jeremy exaggerated me a little for comedic effect, though.  See, I'm usually not that friendly.

9/24/05

Attention PSP owners!  If you've got emulators on your system and are thinking of buying Burnout Legends, or any other new game, you've got to read this.  This information will save you a lot of heartbreak... about three hundred dollars' worth, to be precise!

And now, some random thoughts on Rise of the Imperfects, the new Marvel fighting game by Electronic Arts...

*  The GameCube version is a full ten dollars less than its Playstation 2 and XBox counterparts.  Someone from the Higher Voltage message board theorized that the drop in price was due to the game's lack of online support.  If you don't have a broadband internet connection or just aren't that excited about online gaming, the GameCube version is the way to go.

*  According to the back of the box, the term "super hero" is a joint trademark of Marvel and DC Comics.  One can only guess how these two massive corporations managed to claim the rights to such a broad concept, but one thing is clear... it must really suck to be Image right about now.

*  The commercials for Rise of the Imperfects kind of creep me out.  Did anyone really need to see a grown man donning Underoos featuring all the game's characters?  If that weren't sad enough, he ultimately decides to docorate his dong with the face of Paragon, the game's female warrior.

*  Why are game companies like EA suddenly deciding that NOW is the right time to start ripping off Power Stone, five years after its Dreamcast debut?  Aren't they a little behind the curve on this?  Furthermore, why hasn't Capcom released any sequels to the game?  Seems like the PSP would be perfect for a Power Stone revival.

9/19/05

The Game Live tour (sponsored by Mountain Dew ™ , G4 ™ , Creative Labs ™ , Alienware ™ , and new X-treme Depends ™  undergarments) took a brief stop in my town this afternoon.  You can guess where I was for most of the day!

Most of the games they had on display were already available as demos at GameStop, where you DIDN'T have to endure eardrum-piercing techno music while you played them.  Nevertheless, I did experience a few games I hadn't tried, such as...

SERIOUS SAM II:  Thankfully, Serious Sam is anything but, injecting a welcome dose of humor into what is an otherwise by-the-numbers first person shooter.  Hordes of enemies chase after you, ranging from hulking stone natives to red soldiers that bear an eerie resemblence to Halo's Master Chief (I doubt that's just a coincidence).  You blow these creatures away with a selection of weapons, including my personal favorite, the explosive parrot.  He just looks sooo adorable perched on your arm, but he's anything but harmless when he's released, making a beeline for the nearest foe and leaving behind a hail of bones and colorful feathers in his wake.  If this sounds like your kind of game, make sure you pick it up for the PC... the XBox version looks surprisingly awful, with bland environments and textures so blurry you'd swear someone swapped your system with a Nintendo 64 while you weren't looking.

NEED FOR SPEED: MOST WANTED:  The next game in the Need for Speed series is more original than the last, and is shaping up to be a much smarter buy than the disappointing L.A. Rush.  This time, you're not just racing against the clock and other opponents, but fighting to stay on the road as a half dozen cops swarm your car.  You'll have to outsmart the officers to win each race, but they won't make it easy for you, using their own vehicles as roadblocks and temporary holding cells.  There seemed to be some frame rate issues, but I tend to attribute that to a buggy XBox which also locked up the first time I tried to play it.  This isn't the first time the police have made an appearance in a Need for Speed game, and with any luck, it won't be the last!

MORTAL KOMBAT: SHAOLIN MONKS:  It's a Mortal Kombat spin-off that's actually more fun than the official games in the series!  Shaolin Monks is a fast-paced beat 'em up with control as razor-sharp as the spikes you'll use to finish off the grotesque enemies in your path.  The game is combo-friendly as well as player-friendly... you don't have to memorize lengthy button combinations to pull off fatalities and special moves, and both Liu Kang and Kung Lao are armed with launchers which let them bat around the bruised bodies of their adversaries.  It's fun, fun, fun, the way Mortal Kombat should have been from the very beginning!

You'll find more of my impressions of the Game Live tour at my LiveJournal and 1UP blog.  And hey, I wouldn't mind a bit if you'd share your own opinions of these games at the official Gameroom Blitz forum... after all, that's why it's there!

9/17/05

September's been a great month for gamers.  We were hit with a double dose of Burnout action earlier this week, and next week, we can look forward to the long-awaited sequel to Katamari Damacy.  Closing out the month is the release of Capcom Classics Collection for the XBox, Playstation 2, and, uh... XBox.  Hey, Nintendo, what gives?

October will be even more exciting, with the American debuts of Trauma Center and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.  Treasure's sequel to Gunstar Heroes will also debut this month... will it live up to the legacy of the original on the Sega Genesis?  Only time will tell, but we won't have to wait long for the answer!

I hate to end this upbeat update on a sour note, but, uh... here's a review of Capcom Fighting Evolution.  What's the final word on Capcom's latest 2D fighter?  "Blah."

9/13/05

It wasn't love at first sight, but I'm really starting to get into Graffiti Kingdom.  In case you missed last month's updates, this is the action/adventure game by Taito and Hot-B that lets you create your own mighty monsters by drawing them and assigning them abilities.  Who needs to catch 'em all when you can make 'em yourself?

Anyway, if you already own this game, or plan to buy it, there's something you should know that will save you a whole lot of frustration.  About halfway through Graffiti Kingdom, you'll find yourself locked in a danger-filled room along with a bouncing pink boss named Telepin. 

Chasing the obnoxious creature around the screen will only result in your getting beaten like a red-headed circus monkey.  Instead, stand next to the red and blue blocks in the stage and face north.  When Telepin comes a callin', respond with a barrage of close-quarter attacks... I've found that the Fear Slap works especially well for this purpose. 

Telepin will try to smack you around with his cheap-o combination attacks, but if you're playing as the Rainbow Bear, his arsenal of weapons will fly over your head faster than a Dennis Miller joke at a taping of The Man Show.  You'll also be protected from the stage's roulette of doom... any dangers triggered by the roulette will also slip right past you.

Hold your ground, tagging Telepin whenever the opportunity presents itself, and victory will be yours in a matter of minutes!  This is a big improvement over the hour it took for me to find this trick... O_o

9/11/05

This update brings with it a new featured game, more content in the Game Boy Advance section of the site, and a preview of the latest installments in three of Sony's most popular franchises.

The folks at GameStop were kind enough to supply me with demo versions of three upcoming Playstation 2 releases when I preordered my copy of We Love Katamari.  Here's my initial impressions of all three games, in what I like to call the free play three-way!

SLY 3: HONOR AMONG THIEVES:  Out of all three series, Sly Cooper seems to have aged the worst.  The cel-shaded characters that were pretty impressive in 2002 are starting to show some rough edges, and I don't just mean that figuratively... Sly and his friends are constructed from low polygon builds that make them look more primitive and angular than cartoony.   While there aren't any noticable improvements to the graphics, at least the designers at Sucker Punch have thrown some new ideas into the mix.  Sly, Bentley, and Murray fight together in some stages, with play cycling from one hero to the next as the battle progresses.  There's also a two player competitive mode which pits Sly against the frigid female cop Carmalita Fox.  The screen is split into two halves, like the two player mode in the Sega Genesis classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2.  Sadly, handling two screens' worth of action proves to be a bit much for the Playstation 2, as two player games run at a noticably slower clip than the single player adventure.

RATCHET: DEADLOCKED:  The fourth installment of the Ratchet and Clank series was pretty much what I'd expected it would be... a rock solid, combat-heavy shooter with all the quality of Insomniac's previous releases, but far less of the lighthearted humor.  The storyline mirrors the plot of the similarly named movie starring Mimi Rogers and Rutger Hauer (who and who?), with a heaping helping of The Running Man thrown in to give Ratchet an excuse to blow away hundreds of laser cannons and heavily armed battle droids.  The game itself plays like the arena fights in the previous two Ratchet and Clank titles, emphasizing gunplay over puzzles and platforming.  While Clank is no longer part of the equation, Ratchet is given two android assistants which fight in tandem with him and can be programmed to perform simple tasks.  Finally, there are a quartet of new vehicles, and a weapon system that lets you enhance your firearms with the power to freeze, shock, or scorch your adversaries.

JAK X: COMBAT RACING:  Jak X is the biggest departure from the previous games in its series... this time, the nearly mute elf and his fuzzy sidekick Daxter (who you only wish could be as quiet) have entered themselves in an underground racing tournament.  The various events in this competition leave the game with somewhat of an identity crisis... you're never sure if Jak X wants to be WipeOut, Twisted Metal, or ATV: Off-Road Fury.  All of these modes play well enough, though, and the Artifact Race (where the racers desperately scramble to collect valuable items scattered throughout an open playfield) isn't like anything you've ever seen in a driving game.  The lightweight dune buggies leave the control feeling a little floaty, but this only adds to the challenge of the game, not the frustration.  If you liked the Jak and Daxter series and have already burned through Burnout, Jak X could be a great way to scratch that violent racing itch.

9/7/05

Mega Man's back.  Not the handful of cheesy descendants Capcom's been handing us for the past decade, but the real, honest to goodness blue bomber we loved in the 1980's.  The only catch is, he looks like this:

I don't mind the cutesy look, but I imagine that thousands of PSP owners, weaned on the gigantic breasts of the Dead or Alive girls, are going to complain bitterly about the game's new visual style.  With its chubby characters and soft pastel colors, Rockman Rockman (the game's redundant tentative title) is actually LESS edgy than the original Mega Man, released in 1987 for the family friendly NES. 

No matter how he looks, it's great to have the real Mega Man back.  There were rumors that Capcom was finished with the original series... rumors which have thankfully been disproven by this upcoming PSP release.  Between this, Capcom Classics Collection, and Okami, it seems that Capcom is going to have a lot of fans this Christmas.

9/1/05