Archview #33: Bushido Blade 2

 There's nothing like this out there.

 Bushido Blade 2 is a fighting game that prides itself on it's uniqueness. You take the role of a swords-man, and must duel your opponent in a 1 on 1 match, where each blow may be your last. Y'seen, this game has no life bars of any sort, it tries to go for a more realistic approach, slash or stab a vital part and the match is over. Other limbs may sustain damage too, if arms get hurt your attack speed decreases and you lose access to sub weapons, if legs get hurt, you will run slower.
 Surprisingly, the game takes place in modern times(Or what was modern at the time), so don't be surprised if certain bonus characters use guns, or if a stage is set in a parking lot. Regardless, the game tells of two clans that have been at odds since ancients times. There are no clear good guys or bad guys, it's just the Shainto wanting to retrieve the sword that was taken from them and end the Narukagami clan, and the Narukagami just want to crush the Shainto once and for all..

 Characters may pick from 6 weapons, with each clan having a unique pole weapon(Yari for the Shainto and Naginata for the Narukagami). Each weapon can be held in three different stances, which you switch by pressing the square button. Stance provide different movesets and ranges, so you may switch your stance to battle your opponent's stance more effectively. X and Circle are the two different attacks, press them with the direction pad and you may use different moves, depending on the weapon and moveset. Every character has a weapon the specialize in, with which they have a couple of extra unique moves.
 Characters can also jump and crouch, and you may throw dirt in order to throw the enemy off balance. There's also a unique special sub-weapon for each character, ranging from deadly sword throws to slightly damaging shurikens. There's no real defense in the game, instead, you deflect slashes with slashes. If you parry an attack with the opposing attack(Press O to counter the enemies X or vice versa) and you'll execute a perfect defense, which throws the enemy off balance, use the same time of attack and you'll block the attack but get thrown off balance.

 Stages are very large, and using the free run button, you can freely move around. Some stages feature elevations that can be climbed, though some also feature huge gaps, fall into them and it means death. There are no time limits, and the game feels very metodical, you can't throw moves around willy nilly, as any opening could mean death, few games manage to make you feel this tense so easily. There's a first person mode too, but it's almost unplayable, so it's better left as a curiosity.
 As for modes, there's the Story mode, you pick a character from one of the two schools and proceed through a number of stages. You must defeat a certain number of generic ninjas and then one of the playable characters from the opposing school. Here you will get to play as two other characters from the same school, win their stage without dying, and they become selectable on all modes. There's Versus and Training modes too, but most interestingy, Group Battle. In Group Battle you play as a school versus the other one, with bamboo swords. Instead of death, you score points. You can also unlock Slash Mode, where you must face off against 100 opponents.

 Graphics are good, characters look a bit too blocky, but not too bad. The designs however are a bit hit or miss, some characters look quite silly or boring, few actually look decent. The animation is quite good too, but until you get the hang of the movelist, they may seem a bit stiff, heck, the game feels a bit stiff until you get into it's slower paced groove. There's almost no music, at all, and the voice acting is all over the place. Some are really bad, and the rest are passable at best, the dialogue is not too bad, luckily.
 It's not the prettiest game, the character designs are ugly, and it can become a very slow game, but it's the only game of it's kind(well, it and it's sequel), and it excels at what it does.
9 out of 10

First Archimpressions: Rival Schools

 This game is awesome. Seriously, what more can I say?

 This game. Jesus. THIS. GAME. For starters, I love the physics, characters feel heavier than in other fighting games, it's hard to explain, but if you play it you'll notice. Another thing, it's incredibly fast and flui, even the recovery techniques add to the speedy feel, as characters place their hands on the floor, before touching it, and recover from the fall. Even neater, pick two characters from the same school, and you get chapter introductions. Even more neat, there seems to be two "Roads" depending on which partner you picked! Serves just right, as there are two endings per characters.
 It has to be mentioned, the game is hard, even on the easiest settings... until you learn how to play. There's a dodge mechanic, learn to use it. The CPU will block most of your attacks, but time the Dodge right when they use an special move, and you'll get right behind them, with an extra energy bar! Learn to abuse it and you'll outcheap the CPU.
 So far I got the good ending on both Arcade and Evolution discs with Batsu, but Evolution doesn't save the endings you get, so I'll just settle with the bad ones. Hey, they don't even have audio and getting the good ending requires some special measures which aren't necesarilly so easy.
 Almost forgot, the art. There are a 100 art pieces, 50 per disc, and they are shown while the game loads, they are awesome, even if they are in japanese. The art style of the game is also fantastic, the character designs have a very unique style, with big hands and expresive faces. The translation is not as fantastic. You can tell that characters sometimes speak way more than what the subs would have you believe, and if you recognize the japanese words, you can tell took some liberties.
 ONCE I WAKE UP, BUSHIDO BLADE 2 REVIEW, EGADS!

"First" Archimpressions: State of Emergency

 My kind of game.

 This game is amazing. Kinda. Maybe. Maybe not. So, this game is VERY arcadey, specially Chaos mode. Revolution, which is the mode I'm gonna tackle first, feels like GTA on a smaller scale. Certain NPCs give you missions, you complete them, rinse and repeat. The protection missions are a pain in the... they get really hard, as they are relentless. Still, I feel as if that's not the meat of the game.... oh no, that would be Chaos.
 Chaos mode has no story, just different modes. Time Attack(3,5,10 minute variations), Last Clone Standin and unlimited time. In this mode, there are no real missions, but objectives, and weapons spawn on various points throughout the map. This mode is much more fun, but I feel it might be a tad more time consuming(Even though there are a lot of missions in Revolution mode), which is why I left it for later.
 Oh well, first Impressions? I like it a lot.

Archview #32: Robotech: Battlecry

 I tried to draw a Veritech, I really did. But the only image I had, the cover, had it obstructured by the beam rifle. So I gave up. Sorry.

 Robotech: Battlecry is a third person shooter made by the people who would develop the western Earth Defense Force game. Based on the Anime-ish series(Robotech is a mixture of three different anime series, true story) in which you are put in the shoes of Jack Archer, a character created for the game, as he takes on the Zentraedi forces, giant aliens that want to conquer the earth. How would Jack, the giant killer(He actually says this in game), face off against giant enemies? The Veritech. Veritechs are vehicles that can turn into three different modes: Fighter, an airplane, Battloid, takes up on a humanoid shape and Guardian, which is, basically, an airplane with arms and legs.
 If Jack is to survive the game, he will have to make the most of all three forms. The Fighter is the speediest form, and has acces to missles, decoys and barrel rolls. The Barrloid is the slowest and less manuverable of the bunch, but it can shoot missiles with it's machinegun and use a sniper mode. The Guardian  can actually stay on place, which the Fighter can't, and has access to missiles, albeit weaker than the fighter's. All three forms have their uses, and you'll find yourself switching through them as you fight, you will need to. You'll also need to keep an eye out for your rifle, while ammunition(Both missiles and lasers) are unlimited, both are governed by a gauge, so you can't go trigger happy.

 The game is no walk in the park, thankfully you can change the difficulty settings whenever you want. The game starts off easy enough, but later, the enemies get more agressive and smarter. There are 5 chapters with many missions for you to tackle, and the objectives are pretty diverse. Sometimes you may need to hold off a bunch of enemies, protect allies, slaughter all your enemies, carry stuff from one point to another, or just get to the end of the level, so variety is never an issue. The controls will take some time to take used to, boosting while shooting lasers and missiles will never feel truly comfortable, but you'll learn to make do.
 Not only is the game pretty lenghty, there are many unlockables. You can unlock other head models, which actually affect your stats and paint schemes, both original and from the anime series. There's also a multiplayer versus mode with unlockable stages, while little more than a divertion, it has some exclusive units that can only be used in that mode. Finally, there are interviews with the cast from the anime dub, also unlockable, they did go the extra mile.

 Graphics consist on very simple cell shaded forms, but they are incredibly colorful and detailed. The 2-D explotions, while on screenshots they may look awful, in gameplay, they fit the game fantastically. The music is good, nothing too impressive, but the voice acting feels a bit overdone. Every now and then, the game will have some exposition hand-drawn scenes narrated by Jack, these can get quite boring. Sadly, there are audio bugs everywhere, sometimes the audio may skip, sometimes the portraits will get stuck on the screen and the such, they are actually quite common, a put a slight damper on an otherwise neat presentation.

 All in all, Robotech Battlecry is a good game. It's hard, and the audio bugs are impossible to ignore, but there are plenty of extras to keep players interested.
 7.5 out of 10.

First Archimpressions: Justice League Heroes

 This is no Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

 So I just started the co-op mode with my sister and played a bunch through it. It's fine, but it gets a bit repetitive. It's cool how you can customize the different skills, but you will stick mostly to mashing X and O. The worst part about the game, is how most stages forces a certain team on the player, it makes sense, since sometimes there are puzzles related to the character, but these missions are the majority, not the minority, so it's a bit annoying when you want to play as a certain character.
 I didn't really pay much attention to the music,audio or story(It was co-op, who's paying attention to the story?!), but I could tell certain quotes are repeated a bit too frequently(Superman, stop saying Super!) and Batman's deffinitely not voiced by Kevin Conroy.
 As a whole, it feels like a decent time waster, but I believe MUA is the superior game, and both games are very similar, so they can be compared. MUA has a bigger roster(MUA takes character from Marvel itself, JLH from the Justice League(Which means no Nightwing)), MUA has more powers per character and more costumes per characters. Speaking of costumes, unlockable characters get none, and I fear they only have 4 skills instead of 5. And what's up with Hal and Kyle occupying different slots when they play exactly like John?

"First" Archimpressions: Bushido Blade 2

 There's nothing like this out there.

 Sweet mother of jesus, this game knows how to get you tense. When your life could be over in your next attack, you really start being careful "Am I close enough?", "Is he gonna parry?", "What if he attacks now?!" and other questions. It's even worse when you are playing as a sub-character, where defeat means having to start all over, if you want to unlock him/her.
 What baffles me the most, is how the six default characters have a unique costume for Story mode, yet use another one on the other modes, Tatsumi's schoolboy costume is not as good as his story mode costume. Speaking of costume, the character designs are hideous. The art itself looks pretty amateurish, and the designs look as if they have no rhyme or reason! THERE'S A GUY WITH AN AFRO ON A RONIN GAME. Ronins? Eh, assassins fits the bill better, me thinks.
 Regardless, I'm loving the game. Onwards!

Archview #31: Injustice: Gods Among Us

 Also known as Batjustice: Batman Among Us.

 Injustice is the latest fighting game from NetherRealm, the developers of Mortal Kombat(And they will have you know it by writing "From the creators of Mortal Kombat: Injustice" every chance they get!). For this outing, they decided to try something different, instead of being your usual fighting game, they added stage transitions and interactives. The game is confined to the 2.5 D realm though, and just like MK, borrows attack strings from 3D fighters like Tekken or Virtua Fighter, while borrowing command specials from 2D fighters like Street Fighter or King of Fighters.
 There's four primary actions: Weak Attack, Medium Attack, Strong Attack and a unique Trait. Traits range from buffs to actual attacks depending on the fighter, admitedly, I expected something a bit more... unique, like Blazblue, as most Traits are merely buffs, but it's still a neat idea. Best of all, NetherRealm Studios made this game Arcade Stick friendly! Actions like grabbing no longer take up a button, you can press Medium Attack+Strong Attack to grab. Stage interactives are performed via their own button or Medium+Strong. There are two other buttons, Flip Stance and Meter Burn, press them together to use the Super Move(Which consumes the full Meter bar). Meter Burn is pressed after inputing a Special Move to enhance it, it's anything from adding knockback to adding attacks, and you can pushblock too, by pressing it while blocking. Flip Stance looks useless, but certain combos only work on certain stances.

 The game borrows the 2 health bars 1 round system from DarkStalkers, so fights can go by quite fast. It seems NetherRealm wanted to attract Street Fighter players, as blocking is now done by holding back, and the game is much faster than Mortal Kombat, and it's much more combo-friendly. You can also change the controls in order to turn the MK motions for Special moves into Street Fighter motions(Turn Down,Forward+Punch into quarter circle+punch).
 Interestingly, overhead moves are now universally performed by pressing Strong+Forward. Strong+Back has two functions, first it causes the oponent to rebound from the edge of the screen, providing juggling opportunities, but, perform it close to the edge of certain stages and you'll inititate a stage transition. Stage transitions are very damaging, but after a while tend to last just a bit too much. The game introduces a "Clash" mechanic, or wager, usable when you are on your 2nd life bar, by pressing Forward+Meter Burn when you are hit, you'll engage in a clash. By waging your meter you can regain health(If you outwage your enemy) or get damaged if you lose.

 The game uses MK's engine, so visually, it looks quite similar. The character designs can be hit or miss, some disliked the new armored look, I dig it. The models themselves get the job done, but couple of them could've been better, right Wonder Woman? Her official render is stuff from nightmares. Regardless, it shows that NetherRealm is getting better with animations, while there are a few stinkers here and there, most of the animations are really nice, and some are surprisingly fluid. The stages are very interesting however, and they get destroyed as you fight, which is kinda cool. While it's clear that they were going for a dark setting, there's a notorious lack of color. Every color is very light, even the Green and Yellow lanterns, and it haves an overall washed out look, it is a very dark game.
 I can't really comment on the music, since it's too low, you can barely tell it's there! On the other hand, voice acting is fantastic. They managed to get Kevin Conroy, and most characters are voiced by people that voiced them previously on other media! The sound effects sound as if they came straight from Mortal Kombat 9, and they get the job done.

 There are many modes, stand-out among them is the Story mode. While shorter, it feels a lot tighter than Mortal Kombat, though you might need to be a comic book fan in order to enjoy it the most(Parallel universes), and those that have been reading the prequel comic book might feel a bit disappointed with the direction they took. The next Single Player mode is called S.T.A.R. Labs, a series of 240 missions themed about the 24 characters. Some of the missions are actually mini games, like dodging missiles or flying through the air while avoiding flaming rocks, they are not exactly engaging, but their inclusion doesn't hurt. There's also Arcade, where each character has his/her own ending and Versus(Both online and offline).
 As for unlockables, there are loads. There's about 20 different Arcade mode variations, like "Heroes only", "Survival", "Mysterious buffs and debuffs per round", "Infinite meter" and a lot of others. You can also unlock concept art(Which is pretty nice, by the by) and alternate costumes. For the costumes themselves, while NetherRealm is providing paid DLC costumes, there are not many free costumes. Few characters get three costumes, while each one has at least a Regime and Insurgency costume. Problem is, on most characters, Regime and Insurgency are pretty similar. You can play as Flash or a slightly different flash. Aquaman or a slightly different Flash with beard. Armored Batman or even more armored Batman. Worst of all, alternate colors. There's only one alternate color per character, but the differences are in the shade. You can be Red Flash or a slightly different shade of red flash. It feels as a bit of a missed opportunity, as they could have made cameos with Colors(Dr.Zoom Flash? Red/Blue alternative for each Nightwing Costumes?).

 Lastly, each character has only 1 win pose, and they are a bit on the long side, so they might get a bit boring. The first couple of times Joker burns his opponent are awesome, the next couple of times where you have to sit and wait 'till he is done to pick rematch or character select are not. Also, unlocking stuff can get a bit long in the tooth, the game uses a "Level up" system, as you play you earn experience, every time you level up you are entiltled to 1 or 2 unlocks of your choice. Let's just say that there's enough stuff locked to last you a loooong time, from the costumes and arcade ladders, to galleries, avatars and music. But after you reach level 50, leveling up starts to take a long time.
 Injustice: God Among Us is a great game, there's few real complaints to be had, and everything it does, it does it very well. Easily the best fighter released this year.
8 out of 10