"First" Archimpressions: Darkstalkers 3

 Wow, much better than I remembered.

 Confession time: While I thought it was alright, I was never really a Darkstalkers fan. True, I wanted a new Darkstalkers game, but that´s because I love new fighting games. It´s been years since I last touched this, or any other Darkstalkers game, and... Holy cow, this game is much better than I remembered!. It doesn´t animate as well as Vampire Savior, it´arcade counterpart, but it has more characters and even with the lack of frames and white blood, it looks great.
 And my god is it fast! Rounds can end up in less, LESS than 10 seconds. And credits where credits are due, this series introduced the EX moves, which now got so popular that even Mortal Kombat and Injustice uses them! So, yeah, awesome fighter.

Archview #19: Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring

 I adore this game.

 Ehrgeiz, better known as that quirky fighter with Final Fantasy VII characters is a 1 on 1 3D fighting game. This is a game that, before I had a PS2, had always wanted to play. I loved Final Fantasy VII, PC version, and seeing the Magazine ads "He is back, and he is not alone" with a page-sized Cloud was oh so enticing. Yes, the FFVII characters were added since the game lacked any kind of brand recognition, and it needed something to make it stand out from the other, superior, and well-stablished fighting games.
 Ehrgeiz system is kinda unique, for instance, you have free movement around the arenas, some even feature higher places you can jump on to, and the camera does a great job at keeping both characters on the screen, as they run around the arena. Blocking is done by standing still, which blocks highs and mid attacks, or by crouching(Default position when "targeting" the enemy), which blocks lows, there are other defensive options, like interrupts which are done by pressing Special just before an special move hits you(These look really cool) or rolling.

 For offensive options you have Low, Mid, High and Special attacks. Special attacks consume a non-chargeable gauge that starts full every round, after it´s wasted, you get a different attack. One really neat feature, is how most characters have totally unique Special attacks, Godhand can place mines or shoot, Cloud pulls out his sword(And gets a new moveset!), Jo becomes a Werewolf, etc. There are two other buttons, Targeting, which targets your enemy, and the jump button. Attacks are very responsive, but moving around can be a bit cumbersome, it´s not too precise which will make you miss some attacks, unless you are targeting.  The game also has plenty of extras. There are 4 different minigames, although I didn´t find them too fun. One of them is just survival mode though, but there´s an Othello clone, a racing mini game and a Beach flag catching thing. they are passable at most, but they are there. There´s also a really cool extra: Forsaken Dungeon. It´s a mini-RPG of sorts, there´s some semblance of story, but it´s just there as window dressing. The game itself however is very engaging, it plays more like a rogue-like than anything, and you are to challenge a 21 floor dungeon as one of two characters. It may sound short, but it´s really challenging and incredibly fun. If you want to save, you are charged a lot, and money is quite hard to come by, and you´ll need it, for repairing your equipment to potions, which are a must and are expensive, unless you want to try your luck with monster drops. And like any good Rogue-likes, there are traps, you might find yourself trapped into a room with no healing items and broken weapons.... If you die once, you get to rescue your character with the 2nd character(Which you must level up individually, and there´s no storage, so no items, unless you care to buy from the expensive salesman). Die before you get to your partner? Game over. And there´s also the fact that stat growth is affected by what you eat... yes, this "mini-game" is surprisingly deep, engaging and fun.

 The graphics are very good, with exceptionally good animations, the movements are very fluid and look great. The music is nothing special, but it´s worth noting that there are remixed versions of FFVII´s main theme and victory theme, so I can´t complain. The character designs range from odd to strange. There´s a Taekwondo fighter whose leg dissapeared(Yup), so he outfitted his stump with a robotic leg that shoots rockets(I´m not making it up), a guy with a prosthetic arm, which conceals a gun, and he even removes the arm and bashes his enemies with it! While all the characters are really unique, in both design and moveset, most Final Fantasy characters are clones. Zack is a clone of Cloud, Yuffie is a clone of Sasuke, Vincent is a clone of Godhand and Tifa might be a clone of Prince Doza, but I´m not too sure.  I think that Ehrgeiz is not a good fighting game, but it is a great game, it´s very  fun and fast, and it has a bunch of extras, including an amazing mini-RPG.
 It´s a 9 out of 10.

Progress Report.

 It´s not a good fighting game, but it is a fun game. I´ve unlocked all characters, most costumes and cleared Arcade Mode with everyone, so I decided to tackle the Forsaken Dungeon... Holy Ess! It´s incredibly hard and fun, it feels like a Roguelike, with al those traps and the need to eat. And you have to eat right. It a balanced diet(Carbs, Lipids, Proteins, etc) and you won´t raise stats as you level up, you have to focus on something, since focusing on one stat, means that another one won´t get raised.... it´s quite challenging. And if you die you get a second chance... to rescue yourself, with your partner character, and with no way to store equipment, s/he will have to do a "naked run" to get the soul of the other character. Challenging, and fun, wish I could stream this! It´d make for a fun romp.

 This is the most fun I´ve ever had with Tetris. All the extra modes are great, and I´m trying to clear them all before marking it down as done. Some of the puzzles get devilishly hard, and puzzle games are not my style, so.... it´s gonna be a while.

 I did not forget about Megaman Starforce, I´m on part 3 now! I just hit a slump since Starforce 2 got so damn boring, it´s easily the worst in the series. It was such a drag that I decided not to do the post game and jump right into Starforce 3, and what a good choice it was. Megaman Starforce 3 is as great as I remembered it, but I´m still 5 hours or so into it. I really don´t know how I managed to 100% Megaman Starforce 2 on my first go through the game, going through the Skylines is such a drag, specially when sidequesting and forced to go back and forth, back and forth.

"First" Archimpressions: Ehrgeiz - God Bless the Ring

 Since I´m on gaming fire today, here´s one more

 Control is a bit odd. Characters are a bit odd too. The controls are a tiny bit odd too. But I like it! A lot. Ehrgeiz is fast, and... better than I remembered it to be! However, unlike the last time I owned this game, I will do the Forsaken Dungeon RPG minigame, and I will clear it. And I will review it. Yes.

Archview #18: Street Fighter EX 3

 What a shame...

 I´ve always been a fan of the awfully underrated Street Fighter EX series. Why? They tend to be faster than the regular SF games, and they have some badass characters like Kairi and Garuda, owned by Arika, reason as to why they haven´t appeared outside the EX series. Street Fighter EX 3 skipped arcades, a first for the series, and it was a PS2 launch title. As with most launch titles, this means the game was rushed, and it shows even in the boxart, which is just a picture of Ryu model´s face, it even doubles as the instruction booklet´s cover, a sign of things to come?
 For starters, it has less characters than EX 2 Alpha Plus. There are no new characters either... actually, there is a new character, Ace, but he is a "template" character, destined to be outfitted with moves from other characters, that means that he looks generic and his moveset is not unique to him. Gameplay-wise, they removed the best feature of EX2: Excel combos, and it was substitued with mechanics that seem more like an afterthought, like the "Surprise Attack"(Mid Punch plus Mid Kick) and some tag non-sense.

 For some reason they decided to make Tag the default mode of play, heck, 1 vs 1 can only be done by going to Team Battle and doing one-man teams, baffling to say the least. Besides Tag battle, there´s also "Dramatic" battle, where you can go 1 vs 3 at the same time, or 2 vs 2, amusing for a couple of times at least. The game does have a clear lack of modes, theres Original Mode, read "arcade mode", however after beating each oponent you can add him to your team, then Arena Battle, where Dramatic, Tag, Team and Multiplayer is located, finally there´s Character Edit, where you edit Ace´s moves and accomplish missions to earn points in order to buy more moves. My One gripe with the missions is that you are told what to do, not how to, so it can be a bit challenging until you have learned what a Surprise blow is and how other mechanics are named.
 The presentation is lackluster, graphics are blocky and simple. Some models just look awkward, like Guile or Sagat, and some of the animations lack oomph. All the stages look incredibly generic and boring, and the music didn´t win me over, I felt it didn´t fit the game, but to each his own. The endings are just a tiny text window, and none of them are satisfying. There´s also a bizarre "mini-game" during the credits, where you get infinite HP and infinite energy bars, and you get to pummel loads of generic thugs, it´s midly amusing, but gets boring after the tenth time!
 Despite being a letdown, the basics of the game are sound, it is a fun game, but it could´ve been so much more, SF EX 2 Alpha Plus ends up being a better alternative.
 5 out of 10

"First" Archimpressions: Street Fighter EX 3

 Eh.... At least now I can see it´s flaws.

 I like it, I really do. It´s fun and fast, just the way I like my games. However, as a sequel to EX 2, it is a letdown: Less characters, less modes, less mechanics... less everything. And as a launch title? Even worse, graphics are blocky and ugly, there´s a lack of everything, it´s pretty clear that it was rushed to meet a deadline.

First Archimpressions: Tetris DS

 It´s gooood.

 I´m not a fan of Tetris or puzzle games for that matter, but this version is quite good. The Nintendo inspired look is a big plus, for me, and it has loads of modes which are Nintendo inspired. I just tried all modes and they range from fun to amusing. I was not planning on tackling this one so soon, but I kinda tried standard mode, and cleared it, so now I kinda have to commit to it. Curse my 1337 Tetris skills!