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Review – Jetstream Sam DLC, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

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What’s good, everyone? Joshua Evo here (yes, I’m totally still around) with a quick review for you guys. Let me just start by reiterating that amidst some of the criticisms of rapid tonal inconsistencies,  seemingly “shalllow” game play and bizarre story in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I still enjoyed this game, except that I felt it was a bit on the short sid.. Thankfully, this past Tuesday, April 9, 2013, Konami released a DLC add-on that traced some of the backstory of my personal favorite character in the the game, Jetstream Sam.

The add-on puts players into control of Samuel Rodrigues, dashing swordsman,administrator of justice and man of MANY monikers (Jetstream Sam and the awesome sounding “Cool Brazilian Wind). After cutting down drug cartels and other underground criminals across Latin America, he arrives in Denver at the World Marshal headquarters to  further test his skills. For me, Sam was an incredibly compelling character just based off of his appearances and role in the rest of the game, so assuming control of him in any form was a tantalizing concept, as was checking out the differences between him and Raiden. To avoid spoilers, I’ll be focusing more on the game play rather than going too into detail with the story points.

How dare you, sir! My story DEMANDS to be told!

How dare you, sir! My story DEMANDS to be told!

While a lot of the core game play mechanics like Zandatsu, parrying, Blade Mode, Ninja Run, counterattacking and stringing attacks together are all still intact, there are some pretty notable differences between the two characters. For starters, playing as Sam feels MUCH less emphatic on stealth. Raiden’s Enhanced AR is replaced by Sam’s Taunt, which serves to attract attention to himself and enrage his attackers. What does this do other than turn you into a moving bulls-eye? Well, it makes affected units take more damage and more prone to blade mode destruction. Considering that Sam is much more flashy than Raiden, his attack swings are a little bit slower and more deliberate feeling. Virtually ALL of Sam’s Hard attacks can be charged for a few seconds to unleash much stronger versions of themselves with differing effects. While some of these are stagegeringly powerful, they can leave Sam vulnerable. Luckily, he is also very maneuverable; as he has an air dash and is granted a dodge roll/somersault move to get himself out of trouble spots. 

Pictured: Trouble spot.

Pictured: Trouble spot.

While also a bit short, the add-on also includes several familiar faces and additional collectibles of its own. The interaction with LQ-84i is particularly interesting and fleshes the two characters out a bit more. The Sam-specific VR Missions are very challenging and the differences in styles between Sam and Raiden, while subtle, are enough to need to modify your approach and attack patterns to get in and do what needs to be done progress. The familiar locations look as good as they ever did and Sam is a great character to control and watching his story unfold and seeing the chain of events that lead him to his place in the main story of Revengeance is satisfying and fun. The DLC is available now on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for $9.99. Definitely give it a look if you’re a big fan of the game, though it might seem a little steep for casual fans.

By the way, if you check out the trailer above, keep an eye out at the very end for a teaser regarding the next bit of DLC.

– Evo out.

Great Game(s) You May Have Missed! (Part 2)

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Megan Highwind here! This time I am going to delve into the reasons why tri-Crescendo’s Eternal Sonata is a game that did not get the attention I feel that it deserved. Eternal Sonata was a Japanese RPG released on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and the Playstation 3 in 2008. This game is amazing for many reasons, the first of which being its story.

Eternal Sonata is the story of the composer Frederic Chopin, lying in his deathbed in Paris, and the world he creates in his mind while he is not awake to the outside world. He creates an intense story with an alluring set of characters to match. I will freely admit that when I started this title I found myself thinking that it was going to be another overdone story, especially with the cutesy cover art and young looking characters, but I was wrong. When first falling into the world that Chopin creates, it is easy to feel like the story is going nowhere; but after the beginning sequences end and the heart of the story begins, it becomes so much deeper than at first glance. The story brings to the forefront the meaning of life and death, light and darkness and even dreams and reality such as the dream that Chopin created for himself. When the game ended, I found myself wanting more. All of the different characters that player encounters and the circumstances that have brought them together are also part of what make the story great. While they may all seem as though they are just children with no real issues to face, the more time spent with them the more it surfaces that not just Chopin, but Polka, Allegretto, and the others are all dealing with issues that are well beyond their years.

The gameplay in this title is another interesting part of the allure. Like some other RPGs, when a monster runs into the party the player controls three different characters and has to fight. Hitting the monsters is done by slashing with the X button while special attacks are reserved for the triangle. However, unlike other games the light and darkness elements and the party level system keep the game from becoming too linear. As the Party Level of the group goes up, things become increasingly difficult. For example, when the player begins the game there is plenty of time to counter attack an enemy whom is attacking you. However, the further along the game gets the less time the player has to use a counter attack. Similarly, the counter of time above the players’ head shows how much time is left before the enemies can attack. As players level up, the counter gets faster so tactics have to be taken into account to figure out the best way to get the most damage in. The final thing I loved about the gameplay in this game is the Light vs Darkness system. Depending on whether characters are standing in a light area or a dark one, the attacks that they can use change. This adds a level of difficulty to the game as well because it is not always easy to reach a light or dark area without wasting at least one turn. Little side quests like finding Score Pieces also add to the gameplay to keep it from being just about running through dungeons and killing monsters.

Orchestral composition has taken a VERY different direction these days.

Orchestral composition has taken a VERY different direction these days.

The final things that make this game worth checking out are the music and graphics. The music in this game is fantastic. Some of the songs are ones created by Chopin himself and are played at times with a thoughtful little saying or phrase that really add to aspects of the storyline. Other times pieces created by Motoi Sakuraba flood the speakers. No matter which composer’s songs are played during different times in the game, they blend together beautifully to create a picture of a world of beauty and hope as well as sadness and pain. Finally, the way the characters and backgrounds look and feel together are well done. The characters show emotion with every word and look that comes out of them. This makes it easy for the player to feel for them and their situations as the game progresses. The different places that the characters travel to and the worlds that they encounter inside of Chopin’s mind also contribute to the understanding of the state of Chopin’s innermost feelings and it is beautiful to behold how fluidly the characters and the settings blend together.

Overall, Eternal Sonata definitely falls into the great games that you may have missed category. Trust me when I say that if you enjoy games with an alluring story, memorable characters, beautiful graphics and incredible music that this game is worth a try. I decided to try it and even though it took a little while for the storyline to draw me in; once it did it kept me coming back until Chopin drew his last breath.

– Megan Highwind has left the party

Review – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

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What’s good, everyone! It’s been a pretty long time since our last review but we’re back in fine style, and considering that 2013 has a very robust release lineup, we’re going to get right into it. Today, we’re going to be discussing Konami’s most recent addition to the Metal Gear saga, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. 

mgsrrnaba_610

As regular readers of the blog know, I’m a bit of a Konami fanboy. They’re responsible for some of the most awesome games I’ve ever played in my life, from Castlevania and Contra to Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders. Hell, I was even a Yu-Gi-Oh! player for almost a decade. So when Jessica and I got to go to the Konami Gamers Night press event last year, it goes without saying that I was pretty drooly at the prospect of playing the demos for both Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Zone of the Enders HD Collection. While ZOE is firmly established as my favorite game, I was (like many) a bit leery on the direction that MGR:R was taken in. Granted, Platinum Games has a great rep and has put out some great titles like Vanquish and Bayonetta but an established property like Metal Gear? Particularly one that’s historically very heavily stealth based? I had to see it to believe it, and when I did, all my fears were gone. After that, my hype was sufficiently built for the game’s actual release, as I had been playing the demo that was included with ZoE:HD over and over again. The prospect of owning a plasma lamp of Raiden’s sword kind of fed the hype too.

As is expected of the current-gen Metal Gear games, MGR:R offers some incredible visuals. The outdoor environments are lush while also providing a sense of warring conflict, that the player is surrounded by the feeling of trouble in paradise. Raiden himself has the “ninja-cyborg-of-doom” look down perfectly. Every little movement and facial nuance is incredibly detailed. Then again, considering how late into the current generation of gaming we are, it’s kind of hard to get good visuals wrong. Nevertheless, the sword swings, enemy movements, cinematics and accompanying audio are all extremely crisp and hampered by little to NO slow down… unless you’re going into Blade Mode in which case, the game slowing down is a core part of enjoying the experience

FUN FOR ALL AGES!

FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!

So, I guess I should spend some time talking about the story. Granted that this is a Metal Gear game, the assumption is that the story is a heavily convoluted mess of dismembered arms and multiple personalities. Thankfully, it’s not that terribly complicated, at least from the outset. MGR:R’s story takes place four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and follows the exploits of that lovable scamp, Jack Raiden. Raiden’s taken a job with a PMC called Maverick Security for the purposes of supporting his family, as any white-blooded family man would do. Maverick falls into conflict with rival PMC, Desperado Enterprises and Raiden is wounded in the conflict. After getting patched up, Maverick and Raiden must figure out and put a stop to Desperado Enterprises’s dastardly scheme. For the most part, it’s not nearly as complex as the Metal Gear Solid story line, so it’s easy to get right back into the stabbin’ and slashin’… which itself is incredibly responsive, gory, and satisfying. Movement and camera controls are perfectly responsive, which is a definite plus if you’re are familiar with the frenetic pace that’s the trademark of any of Platinum Games’s other stellar titles. Of course, the game’s highlight is “Blade Mode”, which is basically just a provided reason to chop things up into the smallest pieces possible.

Huh. I never saw THIS playing on the TV's at Toys 'R Us...

Huh. I never saw THIS playing on the TV’s at Toys ‘R Us…

Aside from being ridiculously satisfying, one of the pluses of engaging Blade Mode is that if you carve your opponents up in the right way, they drop Health and Energy for Raiden’s further forays into Blade Mode. Additionally, at the beginning of the game, the support character Doktor, the PMC’s doctor (oh yeah, that happened) asks Raiden to collect the severed left hands of certain fallen cyborgs, yet another useful application for Blade Mode. Raiden also has access to newer weapons upon defeating other bosses (Mega Man style) and is able to purchase body, technique and offensive and defensive upgrades with the Battle Points he collects from mission completion and senseless murder. Raiden also has the ability to engage something called AR mode, which is akin to Detective Mode in the recent Batman games but not as detracting from the imagery, which was a complaint that many players of Arkham Asylum had. 

Unfortunately, the game is on the short side but does prove to be quite challenging, especially after beating the game the first time and unlocking “Very Hard” and “Revengeance” difficulty settings. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a highly entertaining game that while a little repetitive, never manages to overstay its welcome. My only real gripe with the game is that the commands for performing the unlocked techniques is not really clear at any point in the game, so you’ll find yourself spending your hard earned BP on new attacks that you find yourself wanting to use but unable to. All things considered, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a genuinely satisfying gaming experience.

Cube 2.0: A Continuation.

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As promised, here is the conclusion to my tale to be united with the ever elusive (at least to me) Nintendo Gamecube. I am not one to recap really, but last time on Jessica Story Time… we left our hero waiting on the phone, awaiting the the news on if there was a local store that which she could purchase that hopefully platinum console.

So fly, I'd wear it around my neck,

So fly, I’d wear it around my neck,

And now stay tuned for our exciting conclusion…

The clerk spoke again. I held my breath. “It turns out there is one that I can find” A jolt of excited energy ran through my body. “Really where and can you tell them to hold it for me?” To which I got a response that I just did not want to hear. “Yeah, sure it’s in BlahBlahBlah” Again my heart sunk, there would be no time for me to travel that distance before the store shut after work, nor did I have the means to travel that far on the weekend. It seemed again that the cube has slipped through my fingers yet again. I replied “Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t really get to that location, it’s fine though, thanks” And just about as I was going to hang up the phone. That clerk spoke once more. Those beautiful words that I can remember right now but probably not next week. “Do you want me to have it shipped to this store?”

Wait an goshdarn minute, you can do that?! Does it cost more? Really? All these thoughts rushed through that tiny brain of mine. Finally I manged to stammer “Y-yes please” I could barely contain my excitement. Now here is the part of the story where I play with time, in short, I gave the store my contact information on the promise that next week I would be the proud owner of a Nintendo Gamecube. The only interesting part to this section of time was the fact that I was hopping around chanting in a singsong way “I’m getting a Gamecube, I’m getting a Gamecube, I’m getting a Gamecube” Over and over and over again.

Alas the day had come I counted the hours until I could get off work and be united with my beloved cube. I agonized over it. Why wouldn’t time go faster?! But eventually time got to its destination, and away I traveled with Joshua Evo in tow to finally pick up the cube. You can ask him yourself I was physically hyped and bouncing up and down. We arrived. I walked into the store paid a pittance of money and they handed me a white box with the word Gamecube written on the side. Shady…

But when I got to the car and realized, I didn’t even know the color of my new baby. Would it be black, purple or shiny shiny platinum. With shaking hands I opened the box, it was all there, the cords, the controller, and the console, the platinum console. Then Evo said it, words that would shatter my joy and make me realize a derp that I had made…. Do you have a memory card?

Yeeeeeaahhhh...

Yeeeeeaahhhh…

Now I knew that I didn’t have any games, but how could I have forgotten that consoles of that generation had memory cards.. DERP! So here I was, gameless, memory cardless. With a console I could do nothing with. -insert sad trumpet noise here-

With some outreach of where I should look (not the internet, the internet is shady, and the list-of-Craig which is even more shady) and many days later, I did manage to make it to local store that still sold accessories for older consoles and games. In the end I managed to wrangle a new controller, 2 Zelda games, a memory card, as well as Mario Party 6 and Super Mario Sunshine. Not bad, and now the gaming begins.

Note to self next time I buy and old console, make sure to acquire games and any other necessary accessories beforehand, because there is nothing as sad as a Gamecube that has nothing to play.

Now seriously out of my way I have Zelda to play!

-Jessica OUT

Annoucing… Incoductic!

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What’s good, everyone? Joshua Evo here, back from a bit of a work-related hiatus of sorts to announce that today, I launched my podcast, Incoductic, with my good friend, Samantha of Sam-Tried-It. You can expect pretty much the normal fare, random weirdness, gaming news and musings and much more nerdiness to come. Make sure to follow my new show on at the link up there but don’t think that I’ve forgotten my lovely DRE audience! We have some big reviews and events coming up so make sure to stay tuned, or at least come back to us! 

Also, we’ve added links to the episodes in the Incoductic tab up on the Home bar up there. Check it out every other Wednesday… FOR GLORY.

– Evo out

Is this truly the FINAL Fantasy?

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Hello everyone, Megan Highwind here! Joshua Evo sent me an interesting article from the website Kotaku that prompted me to examine and wonder about my feelings on the future of the Final Fantasy series as we know it. If it is not obvious, I am a huge fan of this series and the article entitled “The Slow, Excruciating Death of Final Fantasy” discussed a new game from Square Enix entitle, Final Fantasy All the Bravest, is a game which pits heroes of the series against villains while various themes from the different titles play in the background. Now, I have yet to play this title since I refuse to pay any money for something that has, in every sense of the word, been considered terrible by everyone that has reviewed it. However, this article not only brought up this poor excuse for an addition to the long lived franchise, but how the future of the Final Fantasy series as a whole is in question due to poor choices in titles and lack of anything with any real sense of depth from Square Enix as of late in regards to Final Fantasy and how the writer of the above article feels that Final Fantasy has gone off the deep end and may never recover.

My favorite series of all time.

IS it Final? Who knows?

Square Enix has become a bit of a money grabbing company as of late, this is hard to deny, but the titles they have released are not games that make fans come and stay with a series. Between titles released for the iOS that cost an arm and a leg just to buy some new little upgrade and the terror that is Final Fantasy XIV, there are definitely questions to be raised. It is obvious that all companies in the industry are out to make some money, of that there is no question. It just seems as though Square has become too focused on the money and has started to forget how to make those good, solid, interesting titles of years past. Now, before anyone who likes Final Fantasy XIII gets down my throat about being an old fart who is always going to say things were better back “in my day”, let me tell you that is not the case. I did not love Final Fantasy XIII, I will not lie about that. But, I did not think that it it is the worst thing that happened to the series. It did bring in new fans who never had interest and maybe reawakened new fans who were wanting a change in pace. It also added some new systems and elements to the series that were fun to play. I do think, however, that in trying to bring new fans into the fold, Square has pushed away some of its veteran players. It seems like ever since Square Soft became Square Enix, everything for the series has changed. The first game after the combination, Final Fantasy XII, was fairly similar to other games before the merge except with a more action RPG based fighting style instead of the more familiar turn based style. Then, Final Fantasy XIII took this more action based style even further and changed even more from the older style. Some fans love this new direction that the series has taken while others disagree. The main point I am trying to make is that these changes have changed how veterans feel about the series and that is bound to catch up with Square at some point. There were a lot of people who were excited about Final Fantasy XIII, less excited about XIII-2, and I am supposing from that trend even less are awaiting this final installment in the Lightning saga. Now, will I play this title? Yes. Will I enjoy myself at least somewhat? Probably. However, if Square wants to save itself from losing the fans that it has built from the inception of the Final Fantasy franchise, something needs to change. Things have just become too different for fans of the older titles and while newer fans may enjoy these changes, compromises need to be made to keep both sides happy.

No, you can't take away the Chocobos!

Not the Chocobos. Never the Chocobos.

In my opinion, Square needs to take Final Fantasy Versus and release it, SOON. It may be too late for some fans who kept waiting and being disappointed, but for the series to recover its veterans and keep its new fans Square should release this game. You might ask why I am saying this. Final Fantasy Versus looks to be the combination of the two that will keep both sets of fans happy. I could be completely wrong on this, but at this point what does the company have to lose? From all of the screen shots and demos we have seen Versus uses the old school open world style, storyline concepts and emo main characters, while incorporating the more action oriented style of the newer versions of the series. As I said earlier, there are fans that have been lost and gained by Square Enix as of the past few years. My disappointment in the direction the series has taken I’m sure is apparent from my reviews of the past two Final Fantasy titles. I think that XIII disappointed a bit too much with the overly linear style and XIII-2 tried to bring some of that back, which is why I prefer the latter over its predecessor. However, Square could do better. I have been a fan of Final Fantasy for over 10 years now and in order for the company to keep myself, other older fans, and newer fans from getting bored and straying from the beloved series, Square needs to work to merge the new and the old to make a game everyone can enjoy. I do agree with one thing, at least, that the author has said though, for good or for bad the Final Fantasy series will never be the same.

-Megan Highwind has left the party.

Gaming News – Pokemon X and Y Announced

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What’s good, everyone? Welcome to 2013 and one of the busiest Q1′s in my gaming memory. I’ll get to that as the year rolls on but for today, we’re going to discuss Nintendo’s recent Pokemon game. Obviously, when Nintendo said last week that they had a Pokemon-related announcement, most of us assumed it was going to be a new game, possibly optimized for the 3DS. Sure enough, we were right.

The game is going to be completely in 3D and is slated for a simultaneous worldwide release in October 2013. The trailer also offers a first look at the at the three new starting Pokemon: the Grass-type Chespin, the Fire-type Fennekin and my personal favorite of the three, the Water-type Froakie. Also featured is some gameplay footage where battles and even random encounters have been greatly enhanced.

Source > Joystiq

Obviously, James B. Boss and I are pretty hype for this game. So much to the point that while watching the trailer, we expressed vocal exasperation at the choice of using a Fire-type attack on a Psyduck. Wow, now that I look at it, that’s pretty bad. Oh well, no going back now.

– Evo out.

The Hits and Misses of 2012: Part 3 of 4

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Howdy everyone Jessica Valentine here, today I am going to round up the good, the bad, and the most surprising video games of this year. In other words YAY! BOO… and Oh Cool. Lets start with the BOO… shall we? I would hate to leave it for last best we get it out of the way.

And here we go… My biggest disappointment for gaming this year cannot be attributed to just one game, but the delays that pushed back the releases of a few games that I anxiously awaited. *Cough* BioShock Infinite*Cough*Luigi’s Mansion 2*Cough*. Sorry about that I must be sick. Sick of WAITING! Moving on and regaining my composure, I should mention that this year I have been let down by many a game, but one game immediately springs to mind when I think of the word disappointment. I had such high hopes for this game, only to be let down. So, the award for Jessica’s Biggest Disappointment of 2012 goes to… Drum-roll please…The Secret World.

Meh.

Meh.

Dear The Secret World, you broke my heart. I wanted to love you, I really did, your concept, your art, your ideas were fantastic. I thought you would be the one to rope me into MMO’s Then I took you home… For those of you not familiar with The Secret World it is a MMO set in the real world, but with just one difference. Every conspiracy theory  or myth turns out to be true. Cool, right? Players are given a choice of 3 factions, the Illuminati, the Templars or the  Dragon. Personally I chose the Illuminati because hey with a faction tagline of “Sex, Drugs, and Rockefeller” Why the !@#$ would I pick anything else? And that’s where I stopped having fun.

Maybe it’s just me, but I cannot get used WASD controls. A PC gamer I am not, because if I was at least I wouldn’t spend 20 minutes running into walls or get lost trying to find my objective. Also for some reason the game decided that it couldn’t recognize my graphics card and although I have a pretty beefy card in my laptop, the game always defaulted to a low graphics setting, where I couldn’t read anything. Despite my floundering with the controls and necessary tweaking of the settings I bravely pressed on. Then it was boring. I don’t know why, but the story did not engage me. I found myself not caring if my character lived or died. The game was just boring. Needless to say I didn’t play it very long. Maybe if I had toughed it out I would have liked it more, but there is nothing worse then realizing that you just spent good money on something that is just not worth your time. I realize that now the game is free to play, which is should have been to begin with. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose.

Now let me lighten the mood a little bit. “Damn Jessica, you scary when you go on rants.” “Why thank you, Jessica.I take that as a compliment.” Yes I am talking to myself and no I don’t care that you are judging me right now. Any who, incoherent segues aside, my most surprising game of 2012 is Borderlands 2. Before I am assaulted with a resounding “WHAT?!”, let me explain. I normally do not play first-person shooters because of this, Borderlands (the original game) somehow flew under my usually impressive radar. So on a whim, I purchased Borderlands 2 knowing nothing of the game other than it was a cell shaded first-person shooter. Boy howdy was I  delighted with my “whim” of a purchase.

Only downside? Claptrap, shut your trap!

Only downside? Claptrap, shut your trap!

Not only is Borderlands 2 fun, the story engaging, and is just overall awesome but it managed to accomplish something that no other video game had done before. It got me to actually buy DLC for it. I have wanted to buy DLC for many games but this was the first game that I actually purchased DLC for. I just had to have the Mechromancer pack. There is nothing not cool about running around with a !@#$% giant robot named Deathtrap that just straight murders practically everything in his path. I LOVE IT. If you don’t have it get it. Like seriously. So yes, that sums up my most surprising game of the year.

Now ladies and gents for the highlight of this post the highest honor I can give to a game my pick for best game of 2012.  And that the most exemplary game is Dance Central 3 for the Xbox 360. I do love me some movin’ and groovin’. Okay I you got me. I lied. I never have and most likely never will EVER play Dance Central 3 and no, I have not played the first two games of the series. Now I will tell you my actual pick for best game of 2012, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Yes, I know that came out in 2011, it’s because I am messing with you again. For realsies this time, my pick for best of 2012 is Persona 4: Golden on the PS Vita.

Golden for a reason.

Golden for a reason.

I love the Persona franchise and no joke this game is the reason why I bought a PS Vita. ‘Nuff Said.

-Jessica OUT *throws down microphone*

The Hits and Misses of 2012: Part 2 of 4

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Hey everybody, this is James B. Boss here to both wish you all a Happy Holidays and bring you my picks of 2012. This year has been an interesting run for a lot of video game titles and many of them were great hits, while some of them were either a gigantic blunders and some were just surprising or tragically unsung. I can go on about how the WHOLE year in gaming went but that would just be boring and it’s late, so without further delay, here are my picks.

I’ll start off with my blunder of the year because I hate ending things with a sour note. I would start by saying that Resident Evil is one of the best survival-horror franchises that I have ever played in my life and the one thing that I always wanted was a good Resident Evil game with multiplayer mechanics, so when I heard about Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, I was filled with joy and I reserved my copy right away, but when I finally got my hands on it and started playing it, I was greatly disappointed. The game’s story brings gamers back to the Raccoon City incident of Resident Evil 2 and 3 but the time the story is told through the eyes of the Umbrella corporation’s Spec Ops team. You can choose from one of six characters of the team to play as, and each character has their own unique set of skills that they can use to their advantage on the battlefield.

There's no way this can be anything but perfect... right?

There’s no way this can be anything but perfect… right?

This is all fine and dandy but once you start fighting the more advanced enemies, (or B.O.Ws) some of these abilities become kind of useless. I honestly found myself using the Cloaking, Super Armor, Incendiary Bullets and Painkiller abilities most of the time. Speaking of B.O.Ws, I would like to talk about the zombies, because majority of the time, they are the only enemies that you encounter. It’s not until later one that you encounter the more familiar threats like Hunters, Lickers and the American Spec Ops forces. The Lickers are annoying because they can strike from anywhere and walk on the wall, while Hunters are the biggest assholes in this game, as they have attacks that can knock you down and once that you’re down, they can just maul and camp until you’re dead. B.O.Ws aside though, the most frustrating thing about this game was the stability of online play. This game is home to some of the sloppiest matchmaking I’ve ever seen. When you look for a game by yourself it doesn’t take that long at all but when you are in a group of four people, it takes an eternity. I once went to the bathroom for five minutes and when I came back, my party and I were still in the process of looking for a lobby. There were also times when I entered a game and chose my character but would spawn with a duplicate of my character. So I either mastered the art of the secret shadow clone technique or it was a bug. Spoiler, it was a bug. In the end, while had some fun with this game, it was fairly short lived. Even with the downloadable content to play as the American Spec Ops team, it still was not enough for this game to stand out as a memorable title. Playing this game was like buying a big tub of Strawberry ice cream that looked delicious  but finally tasting it and getting a mouth full of Salmon sherbet.

Alright now for my surprise of the year and a surprise it is indeed. My surprise pick hails from the  Nintendo 3DS library and it’s name is Code of Princess. The game has a simple plot; You are a princess who takes a legendary sword that was handed down through the royal family to destroy the forces of evil. The game play is a pretty traditional 2D beat-em-up-in-the-spirit-of-Final Fight game. You can choose up to four different characters in story mode but more characters can be unlocked by playing through the game.

get-a-sneak-peek-at-code-of-princesss-pre-order-bonus

Thankfully, this lends itself well to repeated playthroughs.

One of the most appealing features of the game is its Multiplayer mode. You can play up to four people wirelessly using the Nintendo 3Ds’s wireless function and play through either versus mode to beat each other up, or you can help one another in the games’ story mode. Code of Princess also has RPG elements that allow you to strengthen you characters but strangely, you can only use your powered up characters in Story mode. The only drawback that I can think of for this game, is that there is SOME lag when you play with others. This is game is quite fun and I am glad that I decided to buy this game on a whim, because if I didn’t, I would have missed out on a really good game.

OK! It’s time for my super-ultra-awesome pick of the year. My top game of the year is none other than a game that I reviewed earlier this year and absolutely gushed over: Transformers – Fall of Cybertron. I chose this game because everything about this completely satisfied me to the point where I was left speechless. I remember playing the prequel, War for Cybertron and remember it being a great gaming experience but I was left hungry for more. When I got wind of the sequel, the first thing that went through my mind was the question of which characters they going to put in the next game?

Hey cool, Optimus Prime and... wait, is that...

Hey cool, Optimus Prime and… wait, is that…

My first glance of the new roster of who they included was interesting to me but the one who got my attention as soon as I looked at the list was the Dinobot leader, Grimlock. This blew my mind when I because not only was I a Dinobot fan butI always wondered how they would portray his character, as in Transformers lore, he wasn’t an @$$-kicking cyber T-Rex until he got to planet Earth. When it came time for High Moon studios to show off gameplay footage for Grimlock, they pulled out all the stops. It was amazing to see him in dinosaur form on the planet Cybertron and seeing him slash and rip Decepticons to pieces. The Multiplayer feature in this game was also satisfying as well. Character customization was back and players were able to create their very own Transformers once again. On a personal note, since I reserved my copy of the game, I got to play as big rig Optimus Prime, which mad it even more awesome. Fall of Cybertron was the game that I was waiting for as a fanboy and as a gamer. It delivered on EVERYTHING it promised; A great story, improved online and offline game mechanics and a buffed character roster. It may have not been this year’s best game but in my book it is a title worthy of a gold medal.

– James B. Boss

Gaming News – Street Fighter x Megaman announced

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Capcom announced at the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals in San Francisco, CA today that on December 17, 2012, to commemorate the 25th Anniversaries of both the Street Fighter and Megaman franchises, they will be releasing for Street Fighter x Megaman for PC download at the extremely affordable price of “Free”.

The game is a crossover that is done in the retro 8-bit style of the Megaman games of the past, as well as the more recent MM9 and MM10, except that instead of the usual robot masters the Blue Bomber usually faces, he’ll be squaring off with 8-bit renditions of favorites from the Street Fighter universe like Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Rose and of course, Ryu. In true style, Megaman will acquire the powers of his fallen enemies and use them to tackle the next combatant that stands in his way. Additionally, this is a fan-collaborated game and features an amazing mash-up soundtrack by A_Rival.

Source > Brelston’s Blog

Wow. What an amazing way to close out the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Celebration and bring in the Megaman 25th Anniversary Celebration. I can’t wait for this game on a personal note, it shows that Capcom hasn’t completely given up on the Blue Bomber just yet and maybe has some great surprises in store for fans!

- Evo out.