Weekly roundup ~24 Jan 2010

PSOne
Dragon Warrior VII

DS
Dragon Quest IV

PS3
Demon's Souls - Holy fuck this game is amazing and I've only beat 1-1. Yay for stat/loot grinding made intense and enjoyable. I haven't been so on edge playing a game since the OG Resident Evils back in the PS1 days...some of the sneak encounters have me jumping off the couch.

Xbox
Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse - I finally completed co-op with my friend...stellar game. I've got the OST on the way from Amazon.

Raze's Hell - A decent budget actioner with a great premise...come on, who doesn't want to brutally slaughter facist Teletubbies?

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows - Eh, decent with a friend but not my favorite game in the world. Nothing sucks more than trying to get to a chest and being stuck since your partner is on the other side of the screen fighting.

SNES
NBA Jam - preparing for the Wii version baby

360 Bayonetta

Close to 1000/1000

Game of the Year

MVS

Metal Slug X
Bang Bead
Turfmaster's

SNES

Earthbound...finished it, overall fun game. The final boss fight was anti-climatic The first time I normally play through a rpg, I play it again incase I missed something the first time but not this time.

DS

Dragon Quest IV

Saturn

Shining Force III s1

DS

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - Here we go... I enjoyed PH after I played through it a second time. My biggest gripe with it was the fact that you had to constantly go back to the same temple and play through the same areas over and over again, getting a little deeper into the dungeon every time. In its sequel you still have to go back to the same temple repeatedly, but thankfully you can skip any floors you've already completed. This was well enough and good, though Nintendo's obsession with making you come back to the same areas over and over and over again, begins to wear a little thin.

The gimmick for this game, namely the train, really sucked. It's not that I don't like riding in trains, as opposed to boats in the other game, it's that it takes for fucking ever to get from point A to point B. Add to that the fact that the enemies that appear on the over-world map appear in the same places every damn time with only two variations. This makes for slow and monotonous gameplay every time you need to switch towns or dungeons. Frankly, it felt like they were trying to pad out what would have otherwise been a very short Zelda game.

The dungeons themselves were pretty good, if a little on the short side. There were some nice puzzles in this game. The only thing I would change for the next in the series would be to ditch the Phantoms. I was very tired of dealing with them by the end of the game (as I was in the last one, too).

The graphics were outstanding. No seriously, they really blew me away. Some of the best I've ever seen on the DS.

The music was meh.

Fuck the pan flute and required pan flute playing sections. Also fuck the passenger/item transport missions (more filler).

I dare Nintendo to shake up the formula in the Zelda series and give you all of your items at the beginning of the game for a change. It's not that I don't enjoy scavenging for the various items, it's that so many of them are completely useless after the dungeon they are used in is passed (or you get them so near the end of the game it gets used only once or twice, see= Sand Wand), that you have to wonder why Link is still carrying them. If you had all of your items form the beginning, it would require the developers to think of every area with all items in mind. Just try something new, that's all I'm saying.

Due to the train this game was torture to play. I don't recommend it.

Xbox 360

Blue Dragon - fun, but I'm only a few hours in.

Arcade
MOTW
Dimahoo
Dragon Blaze
Alpha 2

PS3
Tekken 6
ST HD remix

GGPO
MOtW

Mega Drive/Mega CD (JPN):
- Sonic CD
- Earnest Evans
- Sol Feace
- Final Fight CD
- Sunset Riders
- Contra Hardcorp

PSP
- Darius Burst
- SNK Classic I

NGCD
KoF94
KoF99

Mega Drive
CV Bloodlines

Xbox 360
Trials

PS3
Modern Warfare 2
Demon's Souls - decided to stop trying to beat 1-2 boss and start 2-1 instead.

Wii
Muscle March - The game is a lot of fun.

DS

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass


That's it. I've been a bit sick since I got back, and I wasn't in any mood for games... Planning to start on Demon's Souls tonight though. I've heard one or two good things about that one.

PS3

Demon's Souls
Uno - $4 right now on psn. Simple, but fun

GGPO

Garou: Mark of the Wolves (spectator)
Street Fighter III: Third Strike (spectator)
Street Fighter Alpha 2 & 3 (spectator)
Super Street Fighter II: Turbo (spectator)

PS3

Resistance 2
Prince of Persia - got it cheap second hand. Not played much yet.

PSP

Dissidia
Gran Turismo
Valkyria Chronicles 2
100 Man Ton No Bara Bara demo

NEO GEO
King of Fighters 2000

XBOX 360
Bayonetta

NES:
Mega Man

360:
Outrun

360 :

Senko no Ronde
Magic the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers
Pac-Man CE
Bust A Move Live
Mushihime-sama Futari

PSP :

Princess Crown

Wii: Grand Slam Tennis

PS3: MK2, Castlevania Chronicles, and RE5.

PC :

Aion

The more I play this, the more I'm impressed.

Actually, my WoW account is now suspended from not paying. I might bore of it one day, but as of now I can't forsee myself ever touching WoW again.

I've just been playing random N64 stuff all week.

And Shadow Squadron for 32X.

I've also played KoF XII on 360 for almost two hours but forgot to list it. Yes, as always I'm very late to the party!

Didn't expect too much after the tirades I've read about it on ng.com...

Ah well, it plays quite well, some of the new "sprites" look okay, others are too huge and bulky for my taste (Ralf, etc.). Had quite some trouble with the new movelist of some old charas like Iori and Kensou. Is Iori the new Freeman now? I don't get the motivation behind some of those changes (if there is one).

The backs are okay-ish to good, at least they tried to capture the atmosphere of a world-wide competition. Music is not too annoying.

No endboss... haha... I mean, yeah, KoF is a fighting game that should be played in 2P for maximum fun but that shouldn't be taken as a lame excuse to save a few bucks by not stuffing another incarnation of Rugal in a KoF game... ... grave mistake on SNKP's part, the missing endboss and story bits let the game look even more bland. Speaking of 1P, I played on normal and hard but noticed no difference in difficulty between the two.

And there are more stupid details, like the missing move list option in practice mode. ...did I miss something or were the dev'ers really THAT dumb? This isn't fucking '94 anymore, SNKP!

Overall, XII looks and plays incomplete and rushed, IMO it's not a good base to build the coming KoF games on. SNKP obviously tried to do the Capcom reduce-to-the-max thing as seen in SF IV but ended up with a game that has too much reduction and no max. The chara lineup could do with more old/better faces as well. They took out lots of good old charas but kept most of those friggin' anorexic freaks we saw from 2k3 onwards. God I hate that androgynous Ash Crimson fuckface with a passion, his hair alone makes me want to run amok!

What KoF needs is a bit of fresh air that blows off the dust and foul smell of a slowly rotting franchise, not a hurricane of new ideas that also sweeps the old magic away. Again, it plays okay-ish (even though I don't like that repel thingy that reminds me of a lame version of Alpha counters) but KoF always was more than just a fighting game.

IMO SNKP kept the chaff and threw too much of the good wheat away. Reduce to the max? Improve to the worse, more like.

Retro Game Challenge
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
Mass Effect
New Super Mario Bros.
Final Fantasy IV

Xbox 360

Lost Odyssey-great, great, great RPG. The more I play this, the more convinced I am becoming that this is Hironobu Sakaguchi's opus as a storyteller. The characters, and the questions posed about the problems with immortality, are very fascinating and engrossing.

I also picked up these gems on clearance at Best Buy over the weekend and am looking forward to playing them:

Lux Pain (NDS)-$15
Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)-$25

Upcoming:

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom-picked up the Hori fighting stick over the weekend so I'm looking forward to this one

finally bit the bullet on megaman9 about a week ago and played it till my thumbs hurt like they haven't hurt since back in the day its been a little while since I beat a new game and was actually proud of it.

I really wasn't too hyped for megaman10 when it was announced as I thought they already did the 8 bit gimmick, lets at least go for a 16 bit gimmick now or something. But i don't even care anymore, 9 was so fun i want more of it and asap.

360
Futari

PC
Quake Live

Takumaji said:

Ah well, it plays quite well, some of the new "sprites" look okay, others are too huge and bulky for my taste (Ralf, etc.). Had quite some trouble with the new movelist of some old charas like Iori and Kensou. Is Iori the new Freeman now? I don't get the motivation behind some of those changes (if there is one).

Click to expand...

Iori's moveset had to change since Ash stole his Orochi powers in KOF XI or something. Basically he can't use flames anymore so they had to rework his entire moveset.

And there are more stupid details, like the missing move list option in practice mode. ...did I miss something or were the dev'ers really THAT dumb? This isn't fucking '94 anymore, SNKP!

Click to expand...

There is a moveset in practice mode...hit the right bumper to access it real time.

KanYozakura said:

Iori's moveset had to change since Ash stole his Orochi powers in KOF XI or something. Basically he can't use flames anymore so they had to rework his entire moveset.




There is a moveset in practice mode...hit the right bumper to access it real time.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Ash stole Iori's power... figures.

I should read some more before opening my mouth.

Ah well.