Month Overview: December

Games finished in December:

Dragon Ball Z - Tenkaichi Tag-Team               8.0
Gran Turismo                                                     5.0
Pursuit Force                                                      9.5
Project X Zone                                                   4.5
Pursuit Force - Extreme Justice                         9.0
Rengoku - The Tower of Purgatory                   6.0
Spectral VS Generation                                      6.0
Rengoku 2 - The Stairway to H.E.A.V.E.N.      8.0
Parasite Eve                                                        9.0
Crazy Taxi                                                          7.5
Capcom Classics Collection vol. 2                     8.0
Me & My Katamari                                            8.5
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max                                9.5
Jumping Flash! 2                                                8.0

 I... definitely played a little bit of everything this month, a ton of great games, and... Project X Zone, man was that game misguided. I'm cutting this month short since I'm pretty sure I won't be finishing Guilty Gear, Naruto or Dungeon Explorer( Oh god, this game...) before December ends, and the first part of the super prestigious Archile's End of the Year Awards are coming later tonight so... yeah.


 Game of December:

 Pursuit Force - Extreme Justice was an excellent sequel, but there was something about the first one that Extreme Justice couldn't match. Pursuit Force is one of those games that feel as if they were made for me, an arcade game full of action and explosions, alongside fun mechanics that make it a pretty unforgettable game. Pursuit Force is a must have on anyone's PSP library.

 Runner-up:

 Parasite Eve was just... amazing. I had played PE II before, but I wasn't too fond of it, regardless, I've been wanting to replay it, alongside its prequel, for a while now. Parasite Eve is a much superior game to PE II, with a likable protagonist, an fun battle system and an interesting story. It's a game that reminded me of how good SquareSoft used to be, before they started to make terrible games and thrive on fan service. Oh, how times change...

Now Playing: Guilty Gear Judgment.... and Naruto Shippuden - Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst

 Heaven or hell.... Round 1, FIGHT!

 Guilty Gear is awesome. I've loved it ever since I played X back in the day, and eventually wound up playing the first GG, X2, X2 #Reload, X2 Accent Core Plus, GBA and now... Judgment.
 Judgment... is fine. It's a fine game, I like how they reworked the characters to fit a beat'em up game, it ain't perfect, but it's good enough. I'm up to level 3, and I'm not seeing a whole lot of enemy variation, but it's alright.

 On the other hand, the game also includes X2 #Reload, sans Story-Mode, so even if Judgment ain't your thing, you can't say not to X2 #Reload, you simply can't.

 Anyways, thing is, Dungeon Explorer was my 'off game', the one I played when I was bored and wanted a quick gaming fix, but... it ain't very good, I think it  completely burned me out already, after 6 hours of gameplay. No bueno. Anyways, a couple o' days ago I also began...

 I've mixed feelings about it, somewhat. Y'see, the game feels faster? I may be crazy, but I think it feels faster, and that's good. What ain't good is how they cheaped out with the roster. Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 added a ton of new characters(over Storm 1), Generations just added a few new ones and brought back the child versions(They just ported the Storm 1 characters). Storm 3 adds about 10 new characters... but I heard that you fight the Dead Kages in Story Mode, yet they wouldn't become playable until Revolution. That's not cool, specially since they removed one combo from every character. Why? No, really, why would they do that? So that they could make more characters? Then why not have the Dead Kages playable? Oh, and the DLC costumes? They are terrible. They expected you to pay for Madara(Alive), they just cleaned his skin, for Itachi and Kisame with... hats. Really? They wanted money for that? And what about the terrible, terrible Naruto and Sasuke costumes? And why did they give every female a swimsuit? Are they really that desperate for money that they have to appeal to the lowest common denominator? And Revolution would get even worse with this....

 However, the Story Mode is awesome. It takes place during the time in which the story began getting a bit... worse, but so far it's still tolerable. The cutscenes are awesome as they were on Storm 2. However, as much as I'm loving it, sometimes it feels as if there's too much talking. They even tried to spice it up by adding fights that didn't happen in the manga, but still...

 Ah well, all in all, it's already better than Generations. I think.

Review #191: Jumping Flash! 2

 Hope y'ain't got vertigo!

 Jumping Flash! 2 is truly one of a kind. Well, 'three of', since it's kind of a sequel and it had a sequel itself. But I digress, Jumping Flash! 2 is a first-person platforming game... and it's so good.

 There's two main modes: Adventure and Time Attack, both are pretty much self explanatory. The game is made up of 6 worlds, with 3 stages each, 2 platforming stages and 1 boss stage each(except the sixth world that trades a platforming stage for a second boss). The objective of each level is to find 4 MuuMuus, squid-like aliens, and reach the exit. The game is a bit on the short side, you could probably beat the game in under 2 hours, but finishing the game unlocks "Extra" mode, which rearranges every stage. This mode is completely worth it, new cinematics and harder bosses, it almost feels like an entirely new set of stages. Furthermore, there's 12 performance medals to earn(Think of them as achievements), getting all 12 of them unlocks Hyper Mode, which buffs Robbit and re-rearranges the levels. The main game might be a bit short and easy, but the extra modes more than makes up for it.

 As stated before, this is a first-person platforming game. Robbit is a robot rabbit(Hence, Robbit) that can triple jump(increased to six in Hyper mode), shoot lasers, shoot fireworks, dash(Hyper Mode only, with L1) and do a ground pound(With triangle, Hyper Mode only). The first person perspective is pretty easy to get used to, as soon as you do a second jump in the air, Robbit's view will automatically turn down to his feet, allowing you to see where you are gonna land, with aid of your shadow. To be honest, sometimes I would've preferred if the camera panned down as soon as you jumped for the first time, but it isn't too bad. Defeating enemies can be done by jumping on top of them, shooting them with your weak lasers or using Fireworks. Fireworks can be found throughout each level or are sometimes dropped behind by killed enemies, you can carry up to three of the them at the same time and they work as alternate weapons, they are best saved up for the bosses, at least in Extra Mode.

 One thing that can take a while to get used to is that Robbit can't just double and triple jump just whenever you want, there's a gauge at the right of the screen that rises to the top and then goes back down, as long as the yellow bar is still in the gauge, you can perform another jump. It takes a while to get used to it, I actually got over 4 game overs in stage 1-2(That's more than 8 lives) due to it, but after you get the hang of the controls, the game becomes very breezy. Levels have a time limit, but it never cost me a life, which means that it's pretty lenient. One small issue I had was that sometimes Robbit would be obstructed by corners of buildings just outside the field of view, strafing would've been a nice addition, but it isn't too cumbersome.

 This isn't one of Playstation's best looking games, but it's pretty colorful, and happy. Seriously, the enemies are very cute-ish, as is Robbit itself. The levels are pretty well designed, and they were fun to explore as you jumped around as well. After getting the hang of the controls, and being able to gracefully go from place to place, I was marveled at how the game looked and felt, this worlds are places you want to explore. At least the open areas. There's a couple of  closed-corridor levels that aren't as fun as the rest. As for the music, very upbeat and cheery. Hardly classics, but they feel straight out of the SNES platforming games, and that's a good thing.

 Jumping Flash! 2 is a first person platforming game. With no analog support. Conceived during the PS1 era. And it works. It's original and it's fun to play, it may be a bit too easy, but it's a great platforming game.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Jumping Flash 2

 Mon dieu!

 Here's the skinny: Dungeon Explorer on the PSP is very dull, very boring, I just... needed to play something different. Jumping Flash 2 is different, a good different.

 It's a first person platforming game(Really!), and it's really fun. It also seems... hard? I got over 4 on level 1-2. OVER. FOUR. GAME. OVERS. That's about 8 lives. I think it was just me getting a hang of the game and how the jumps work, you can't just jump whenever you want, you have to keep in mind a gauge at the right that shows you when you can jump. Anyways, after getting over that hurdle, I haven't died since. The bosses are disappointingly easy. Also, every now and then I get stuck on corners, some kind of strafing option would've been nice...

 Still, gotta give it props, it's a first person platform game, on the PS1, before the Dual Shock was introduced... and it works pretty damn well!

Now Playing: Dungeon Explorer - Warriors of Ancient Arts

 Eh...

 So, here's the deal, I loved Dungeon Explorer on the DS, heck, it was my favorite DS game for a while. I spent hours upon hours building my fighter, and I created to alternate classes/characters as well. And for the longest time, I ached to play the PSP version, which at the time, looked much better.

 First thing that rubbed me the wrong way: The female playable characters are completely fanservicey, they have the hugest cleavages, and most of them have at least one naked buttock. They look so silly. Then I began the game, and the gameplay is... it's fine, nothing special. I was immediately reminded of the Dungeon Explorer DS' palette, where you could assign items or skills. One thing I'm not liking is how much your attacks miss, at least at this level, it's not uncommon for an entire 5-hit string to miss completely. I even died on my first mission! But to be fair, I wasn't paying attention to my life bar.

 At the moment, I'm unimpressed, buuuut I have high hopes that it will grow on me. Dungeon Explorer DS looked terrible, and the combat was simple to a fault, yet I fell completely in love with it, so maybe, maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe I will grow to love it. I also have to keep in mind that I'm dead tired and my stomach is aching from all the Christmas food, so I'm gonna keep a positive outlook on it.

Review #190: Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max

 Get ready fighters, Go for broke!

 This is the second port of SF Alpha 3 I played this year, the third version I've bought(GBA, PS2, PSP) and the fifth I've played(Arcade, PS1, PS2, GBA and PSP). It's a game I've played over and over throughout the years, and it still hasn't gotten old, in fact, this may be the best version yet.

 The first thing that you'll notice after pressing start, is that the game has a TON of modes. The classic Arcade Mode(Console Version, meaning you can retry the last fight), the return of World Tour(A fan favorite that hasn't been seen since the PS1 version!), Survival, Variable Battle(Tag-team! Sadly, only 2 vs 1), Dramatic Battle( The player and a CPU VS 1 CPU at the same time, the opponents are randomized this time!), Reverse Dramatic Battle(You VS 2 CPUS), Training, Free Battle(Normal, Team, Variable, Dramatic and Reverse Dramatic), VS 100 Kumite(Even if you lose, the ladder keeps on going, the objective is to see how many you can defeat of 100 opponents), Final Battle(Skip directly to Boss Bison... or boss Akuma) and lastly, Network Battle. Did I mention that it's a ton of modes? No other port of this game has had so many ways to play the game.

 I've already talked about how SF Alpha 3 plays, but needless to say, everything is here, all the ISMs, all the modes(Mazi, Saykio, etc), all the endings. This port has the most characters yet, having all the PS1 additions, the GBA newcomers(Eagle, Yun, Maki) and a 'new' character, Ingrid(She's from a cancelled Capcom Fighting game, but her first real debut was Capcom's Fighting Jam). She... doesn't really fit Street Fighter, she feels right out of King of Fighters, heck, she's a bit of an Athena clone. She also seems a bit overpowered, but that's just my estimation. One thing that really bothers me, and hasn't been addressed ever, is that there's no in-game movelist. To add insult to injury some characters don't have access to all of their moves on each ISM, which can make it even more annoying. This time around, there's no excuse, I'm pretty sure the Japanese version had an in-game movelest. Another issue is that the PSP's directional pad and analog nub aren't the best, you can turn on "easy motion" to add leniency to the input recognition, but it's not perfect.

 The game looks very crisp on the PSP's screen, and every frame has been kept intact. As for the sprites themselves, they are pretty much timeless, animation isn't the best in the Street Fighter series, but it's still really good, and the bulky, colorful, anime-ish style looks fantastic. The Music is just phenomenal, the soundtrack is just perfect, I've played the game over and over again, and I still love the music.

 This is straight-up the best version of one of the best fighting games ever created. There's a ton of modes ensuring that you won't get tired of the game any time soon, a ton of characters, and a ton of ways to play with each character thanks to the three different ISMs and Modes. Not to mention World Tour Mode and the fact that you can pretty much create your own ISM as you develop your fighter. The controls aren't the best, true, but you can adapt. If you like fighting games, own a PSP or both, you need this game.
 9.5 out of 10

Review #189: Me & My Katamari

 It never stops rolling.

 Me & My Katamari was the first handheld version of the Katamari series. Made from the ground-up for the PSP, Me & My Katamari is a game that rises above its limitations to become even better than the first, and here's why.

 The King of all Cosmos, alongside his Queen and his son, the Prince, is on vacation, but as it usually is with the King, he manages to destroy all the tropical Islands, so now he sends his son to rebuild the many different Islands. Of course, that's as easy as rolling a Katamari and gathering as much stuff as possible, so that the King can turn it into an Island with his powers.

 The first hurdle you had to jump on the PS2 version were the controls, that hurdle is back, but this time around it's a bit higher. To roll the Katamari you must use either the analog nub or the directional pads in conjunction with the four face buttons on the PSP. Getting used to them will get a while, and even when you get the hang of them, they don't feel as good as the PS2 version, mind you, they are not terrible by any means and they are more than functional, but nothing beats two analog sticks.

 The rest of the game plays the same, gather up stuff, by rolling over it, and get your Katamari bigger, so that you can roll bigger stuff, before the time runs out, do especially good and you'll unlock the "Eternal" stages, which allow you to play without a time limit, and on your travels you'll come around presents, which unlock accessories, and cousins, which, well, unlock them. This time around you can play and customize the different cousins, they all play the same, but it's a nice touch, the Yellow cousins are the best! Oh, and beating the game unlocks a 2D mini-level of Katamari, very cool.

 The first game in the series sometimes had special stars, that required you getting the biggest or a certain object or the like, these are gone, The animals make ask you to gather "cold", "cool", "cute" or even "shiny" stuff, but at the end of the level, the only thing that really matters for your score is how big your Katamari got. Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way, these is just the purest Katamari experience, and since it's supposed to be played on the go, you don't have to think much about it, just roll your Katamari and gather stuff! The game has about 5 different stages, which correspond to the size of the Katamari, but depending on the time of the day said 'stage' takes part, is which objects will be available and where. All in all, there's more stages than on the first Katamari game, they are bigger and more fun to explore.

 The game looks really good, I'd say about as good as the first game, but the frame-rate can suffer a bit at times. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, featuring the songs from the first game, plus a couple of new ones. The soundtrack is as quirky and bedazzlingly hypnotic, I found myself humming the theme song more than once.

  I do think that it's slightly superior to the first game. The controls aren't as precise, and don't feel as good, but that's the PSP's fault. There's more levels than on the first Katamari, and they got a bit more creative this time around, and it has little enhancements like playing as the different cousins, even if they are the same as the Prince, or letting you pick which song will play on each level. I also liked that the more involved challenges from the first game are gone, they add variety and are better for a Console game, but if I wanna have Katamari on the go, this is how I want it.
 8.5 out of 10