Review #117: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - All Star Battle

 MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA DA!

 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is a bit hard to review, y'see, while it looks and plays like a fighting game, it's a JoJo game first, and a fighting game second. CyberConnect 2 did an amazing job in creating a game from fans for fans, but does that mean that they made a good game?

  At it's core, this is a 1 on 1 3-D fighting game. You get a simple three attack buttons, a sidestep button and a Style button. As for the mechanics, it has a very basic chaining system, light attacks chain into heavy attacks which can then be cancelled into Special moves which in turn can be cancelled into Super moves(Heart Heart Attacks) or Ultra moves(Great Heart Attacks). Furthermore, while you can use the Sidestep button to sidestep at any moment, pressing back just before getting hit will instantly sidestep the attack, while performing a fabulous pose, allowing for a swift counterattack. The Style button is a fairly fun addition, as it behaves differently depending on what type of character you are using. There are Ripple Users(Style allows to charge Meter or unleash EX versions of the special moves), Stand Users(Calls forth a "Stand", a spirit of sorts, which usually changes up the whole moveset while active), Vampirism(Can restore White health after a while and suck HP to restore its own), Pillar Men(Similar to Vampirism, but instead of sapping HP, they get special modes) and Horseback(Can ride horses) still, there are exceptions, like Hol Horse who is classified as Stand but plays very different to stand users, or Old Joseph who uses a Stand and the Ripple, or Cool Ice and Dio(3) who have both Stands and Vampirism, heck, Cool Ice's Stand plays nothing like the other stands! There is a lot of variety, both in movesets and styles, almost every character of the 42 plays very differently from one another, even though the "repeated punch" special move is shared by most of the cast(It is a staple of the series after all!). Needless to say, there's bound to be at least one character that suits your style.

 Delving deeper into the mechanics, there's also an Easy Beat combo, mashing the Light Attack button will produce a small, simple combo that usually(but not always!) ends in a Heart Heart Attack if you've got the meter to spend. While I'm not a huge fan of this, since you can't turn it off, the combos are fairly simple and easy to pull off, so it's not like it gives them a huge edge, and lets you play as a character even if you don't know how to use him/her. There's also more advance mechanics, like Flash Cancel, that lets you spend meter to cancel a combo, or the Stand Rush to fight as your Stand performs an Special move. There's a bit of a comeback mechanic in the form of Resolve and Rumble modes, both modes are activated automatically after a character's health drops below a certain threshold(30% for Rumble Mode, and 20% for the few that have Resolve Mode) and offers a wide variety of buffs. It's not necessarily a game-changer, but I wasn't too fond of the mechanic. Furthermore, each stage has a different gimmick(Which can luckily be turned off!), usually some sort of telegraphed attack that deals damage to any player on its way.

 The game contains: Arcade Mode, Story Mode, Campaign Mode, Versus, Practice, Customize and Gallery. Now then, Versus, Practice and Gallery are pretty much self-explanatory, so I'll talk a bit about the others. Firstly, Arcade Mode, which is a simple ladder-style mode in which you fight 8 random opponents, with no real reward besides money which can then be spent in Gallery Mode, simple yes, but keep in mind that the Japanese version didn't have this mode. Then we get Story Mode, as I'll explain further, CC2 went the extra mile when it came to fanservice in this game, which is why it's so surprising that this mode is so barebones. While it goes from part 1 to 7(And makes up a scenario for Part 8 where Josuke faces off against the other JoJos), you do get some preface before each battle... in the form of short text snippets. There's no accompanying images, no panels from the manga, no character cut-outs, just dry, flavorless, bare text. The story rushes through events, mentions characters that aren't even featured as NPCs and does away with them in a matter of sentences, which kinda makes you wonder why even bother mentioning the character if it won't be a big deal at all when it comes to this mode. It tries to make up for it by having "Hidden Missions", the objectives usually have you use moves that were used when the fighters fought each other in the Manga, which rewards you with extra money and unlocks stuff for you to buy in the Gallery Shop.

 After you are done with the oh so very short Story Mode, you'll have unlocked every character(which is a good thing) and "Another Story Mode", which is the same mode, with the very same text snippets, but you play as the opponent this time around, superfluous at best. After getting done with this short mode, the next mode is... Campaign mode. This is where the game placed all of its Microtransactions. Yes, a full-priced game(except in the USA) has the audacity to place Microtransactions. Campaign Mode is the only place to unlock the real cool extras, like the taunts, colors and costumes. "But this is so much better than having to buy the costumes!" kinda. Y'see, in order to gain the cool extras(Colors and Costumes) you need to defeat bosses, and by defeat I don't mean "Defeat them in battle" but drop their HP to 0. Unless you spend Energy from your 10-stock battery, you'll only deal 250 damge(They have HP ranging from 1500 to 15000). Bosses are found at random(You can buy microtransactions to up the chances to find them, and if you don't find them after using an item... too bad, its gone for good(The game does give you a very few of these for free after playing a lot in this mode)), and the most damage you can do is 4000+ using an entire Battery.... This is a very, very disappointing mode, I spent more time waiting in order to milk the bosses as much as I could. I spent more time waiting than playing. And look on the bright side, after Namco closes down the servers, this mode is gonna be gone for good, alongside all the unlockables, so you better get cracking right now!

 As for the extras, most of the alternate costumes are merely cosmetic changes, so even if they wanted to sell them to you, they would've had trouble finding an audience that wouldn't complain! To be fair, these costumes are based off on the covers of the different volumes of the Manga, so while, most, are small variations, they are very neat references to the manga. The taunts, as well as the poses, are ripped straight from the manga, so extra points for that as well. Even the alternate colors(You start off with 2 per character, and can unlock 2 more for every character in Campaign Mode) are based off the manga. Furthermore, the art pieces in the gallery are all very high quality and look really good. Finally, there is a disappointingly 9 DLC characters, while I'm usually against this, I think the amount of work CC2 put into fanservice was very well worth it, plus, the core roster gets all the essential characters, while the DLC are merely fan-favorites or Araki favorites(Like Shigekiyo!) that aren't really needed.

 The game is drop-dead gorgeous, there's no two ways about it. Models look fantastic, and almost every move, every pose, every word they speak was taken straight from the pages of the manga(There are a ton of videos showing where moves and poses are from!). The game uses a special cell-shading that looks fantastic, the coloring is bright and colors look very liquid, it tries to look as a moving manga and it very well succeeds, there's no other game that looks like this. Keep in mind that JoJo is known for its very extravagant and flamboyant male characters, there are a lot of rather feminine poses and pink alternate colorations, so not everyone might "get" what JoJo is all about, which would be a shame. It sounds too good to be true, and it kinda is, there is a cost for such beauty.... the game, a fighting game at that, runs at 30 FPS with occasional framerate drops when it gets too hectic. Serious fighting game players might scoff at that, but remember, this is a JoJo game first and a Fighter second. The Soundtrack is fairly extensive, with a ton of very good and fitting pieces, but if you are so inclined, it possess a custom-soundtrack option. Voice-acting is Japanese only, but top-notch in quality, most characters were recast(Like Giorno, no longer voiced by Paku Romi) for the better.

 Needless to say, as a I huge JoJo fan and a huge Fighting game fan, I adored this game. The framerate drops, easy beat combos, stage hazards, long Great Heart Attack animations and flamboyant characters will probably turn off a lot of Fighting game fans, but fans of JoJo look no further, this is the game you have been waiting for. And hey, we got an even better deal than the Japanese, we actually get an Arcade Mode! which is something, as the lack of modes is fairly noticeable, and the Campaign Mode was downright disgusting, but the gameplay was so good, and the amounts of fanservice(The good kind!) were off the charts.
 8 out of 10.

Review #116: Dexter's Laboratory - Robot Rampage

 Done with it in a spell.

 Remember Dexter's Lab? It was a fantastic series, back when Cartoon Network actually showed Cartoons, and the Cartoons were actually good. Robot Rampage is, unmistakably, an Elevator Action reskin. For some reason, Bam! saw fit, when bringing Elevator Action to USA, to make it a Dexter game, which is a bit baffling as Elevator Action actually had an audience.

 There actually is a story for the game, Mandark has taken control over Dexter's lab, and Dexter must now gather the keys, discs, passwords or what have you in order to defeat Mandark and save his laboratory. There're four stages with four levels each, in each you must either climb down or up the building, while looking for red doors, which possess either the keys that you must gather, or optional weapon power ups. Levels have an assortment of elevators, which both you and the endlessly spawning enemies can use to ascend or descend through the levels, escalators and later on, gaps and alarms. Dropping from distances beyond one floor will outright kill Dexter, which is why you must make use of the elevators and escalators throughout the maze-like buildings.

 You can play as 3 different forms of Dexter, plus an unlockable character. Each character has slightly different running and jumping stats, so they allow for experimentation, although you are not allowed to change characters upon death. As for the weapons, some are more useful than others, so you might want to avoid weapon-possessing red doors once you finally get a good one! Another thing to keep in mind, is that sometimes, avoiding getting hit is impossible, but infinite continues soften the blow. As a whole, I liked the gameplay, it's a very fun Elevator Action game, the red doors being randomized on each playthrough allows replays to feel a bit different. The game can be beat in an hour or two, but there's no battery save or passwords, so you must finish it in one sitting.

 The presentation is disappointing on two fronts: the graphics themselves are unimpressive, with minimal animation and the fact that it doesn't make the most of the license. The only character from the show you'll recognize is Dexter, sure Mandark makes an appearance in cut-scene form before each Stage, but he isn't even the last boss. The enemies are simple generic robots that don't even borrow from the show's artstyle, so it ends up being a missed opportunity to make a good Dexter game. Music is... average, sorta generic, and it gets old after a while.

 All in all, as far as Elevator Action games go, this is a pretty average version. The Dexter reskin is superfluous at most. If you are looking for a Dexter game, this is not the game you want, but if you want Elevator Action on the go, this is not a bad choice.
 6.0 out of 10.

Archile's Grab bag - Cosmo filled Saturday in the evening Edition

  Ain't this the best way to wake up in the afternoon?

 Ragnarok Odyssey Ace: Wish I could say more than "It looked really neat", but I can't....

Saint Seiya Omega Ultimate Cosmo: I despise Saint Seiya. I loved it as a kid, but there's not way an adult can like that train wreck of a series, BUT, I do love the concept behind it. Do you know the best thing about the games? You get the concept and not the poor execution. While this game is based on the Omega series, which fans hate... one has to remember that Saint Seiya fans actually like Saint Seiya, so what do they know? And hey, this game looks much better than Brave Soldiers.

Now Playing: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle

 Must... not... let... fanboyism... get... over... me....

 The game arrived to my door today, and I've already logged in a... respectable amount of hours. All characters are unlocked now, by the by. So... first things first: the North American version got the short end of the stick, it has the worst cover(Japanese cover has Jotaro with the other JoJos imprinted on his clothes, my fave, and the North American one is, basically, the European one but zoomed in on Jotaro and Star Platinum, so that you can't see the whole of their fists, it looks terrible).

 Then... the worst I can say about the game, is that it has a incredibly bare bones story mode. Dragon Ball Budokai 1 had the best Story Mode I've seen in an anime-based game, while Budokai 2 has one of the worst. JoJo's is in the middle of the road between both, it ain't bad, but it's so disappointing. Stories are briefly told and rushed through a few text windows. It introduces non playable characters that add nothing to the mode just to do away with them through text, which feels dumb. They could've at leas used some panels from the Manga, or character cutouts, SOMETHING besides just text.... The good news is, after you finish the story mode, you are greeted with a very stylish credits roll it's one of my favorite, if not my favorite credits roll ever, it looks phenomenal.

  As for the best the game has to offer, the gameplay is top notch. It runs at 30 FPS, with occasional dips when the screen gets crowded, which kinda sucks, but it looks so good that I didn't really mind, it's not like the game aims to be a competitive game. And this game offers a ton of fanservice, the good kind of fanservice, not the one that aimed at perverts, but the one aimed at the fans of the show. Every move, every line, every pose was taken from the Manga, which is amazing. There are tons of little details, like Gold Experience Requiem not being affected by  Made in Heaven, or how the faces characters make when hit with Gold Experience's punch are all taken from the manga.... It's a downright amazing effort by CyberConnect2.

 Bottom Line: My thumb aches, and there's nothing I love more than an aching thumb after playing fighting games for a while(I really should've dusted off my Arcade Stick...). I love this game.

Archile's Grab bag: JOJO FINALLY ARRIVED Edition

 I'm reusing yesterday's package photo, sue me.

 DmC - Devil May Cry: This game had quite the tumultuous release, didn't it? And it was all because of the hair. People will always cry foul, that that was an excuse that the devs used to make people with "real" complaints look bad, but c'mon, they started hating the game when all they had seen was the redesign, and once the demos and footage from the game started rolling in, they finally got real ammo, but the initial complaints? All about the hair or how Dante looked. I liked the very first redesign, but after they showed how it looked like the game director's, then I understood why people disliked it so much.... And then they slightly redesigned Dante again, so that he wouldn't look like Taneem(The director) anymore. And nowadays everyone gets mad about the tiniest littlest thing, like the scene with the wig, where those that disliked the redesign started calling it a slap on the face. I've been a long time fan, and I thought that scene was hilarious, even more so since Dante ends with white hair, learn to take a joke, like Bad Boxart Megaman in Street Fighter X Tekken, sheesh.

  OutRun 2006 - Coast 2 Coast: I'm not a racing game guy, I mean, when was the last time I had a Racing game in one of these? Regardless, I've always had a soft spot for the Outrun series, and this one looks pretty nice.

  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - All Star Battle: IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! YES, JUST INSTALLED IT, YES YES YES!

  Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2: I loved Tenkaichi 3, and after trying out Raging Blast 2's demo, I thought that they had ruined the controls. I tried the demo a second time, and while I didn't hate the control as much, I wasn't convinced. I was convinced after seeing how many people where saying that the controls were actually simplified, so I shouldn't have been having so much trouble with them....

 Dexter's Laboratory - Robot Rampage: Elevator Action+Dexter's Laboratory, two things I used to love. I never owned this game, but after reading about it in a Magazine, I knew I had to had it... but I never did. I did manage to get a ROM and play it on an emulator, and I liked it a ton, but way back then, I wasn't savvy enough as to buy online.... So I might as well fulfill my childhood now!

Now Playing: Crimson Gem Saga

 Jojo should be arriving today....

 I haven't had much time to play this month(Pretty clearly), and I'm gonna be focusing on Dark Cloud 2 and Jojo once it arrives, so this one will be relegated to those times when I'm feeling lazy and just wanna chill while watching TV. Anyways, I digress, Crimson Gem Saga, alright so far.

 I've logged 30 minutes(an hour, technically, as I'll soon disclose) and, while not impressed, I'm liking it, kinda. Know what I despise? How encounters work. As soon as an enemy sees you, and they seem to, sometimes, have eyes on their backs, an exclamation mark pops over their head, failure to make contact with them before they dash towards you means that you'll get ambushed, and if there is more than one enemy, prepare to suffer. I met my end after half an hour, in which I didn't think I'd need to save, this way. Getting ambushed is way to hard on the player, and getting the first hit is nigh impossible when enemies seem to be able to detect you at any time. It's incredibly annoying, especially since I only have one character so far!

 As for the combat, it's very simple, as straightforward as it gets in a turn-based RPG, so no complaints there. Killian, the main male lead, is quite likeable so far, he has this "Second place" complex due to his rival always getting first, no matter how hard he tries, it's easy to relate and root for him, even if he arrived late to his graduation due to partying the last night! The thief elf was as stereotypical as it gets, lame uninspired skimpy bikini design coupled with the "pretend to be nice and rip everyone off" attitude, which makes her pretty bland in comparison to Killian, nay, makes her bland in any and every regard.

 Overall? Not impressed, not disappointed. It has a pretty b***in' opening by the by!
 (And you know it's got to be badass if I have to reduce myself to cussing about it!)

Review #115: Mobile Suit Gundam - Gundam VS Gundam Next Plus

 I swear to god, I've been in love with the series ever since Federation VS Zeon!

 Mobile Suit Gundam - Gundam VS Gundam Next Plus is the prequel to the Gundam Extreme Vs I've talked about on this blog oh so many times before. It being an older game in the series, specially when it comes to fighters, could mean that it's an outdated game, luckily, this isn't the case.

 Gundam VS games are unlike most fighters you've played. Matches are played strictly in 2 vs 2 or 1 vs 1 battles, the first being the most popular on both casual and higher-level play. Matches are played on a 3-D environment, with the camera situated on the back of your Mobile Suit and a target locked onto either of your targets. Basic controls use only four buttons and the analog stick, you have a close-combat attack, a long range attack, boost(Used to fly or move around fast) and switch target, pressing two buttons of the first three together produce other special functions depending on which of the 66 units you are playing as. Matches are fast and furious, very arcadey, the object being to deplete the 6000 cost gauge of the enemy players, you do so by destroying their suits. Mobile suits cost 1000, 2000 or 3000 points, and upon death, are subtracted from the gauge, this means that if both player pick a 3000 cost unit, only one of them can die and only once. It's a very simple concept that makes for some very entertaining fights, the smooth and simple controls just ease you into the groove, as mastering the game can be quite harder, as you have to make a lot of resource management.

  Coming from Extreme Vs, this is slower game. It's not necessarily a bad thing, the game is quite fast on its own. Another big difference lies in the basic gameplay, for starters, there is no soft-dashing(Double tapping) in this game in order to cancel moves, instead, all actions can be cancelled by boosting. A rather minor change, is that every suit in this game has an Assist unit that they can call upon for various functions. As expected, Arcade Mode is completely different, Routes in this game are set from the start, so you can't jump from route to route, but each route usually has a healthy amount of alternate stages, so in a way, this game has more stages than Extreme Vs, even if it isn't as flexible.

 After you are done with Arcade Mode, you have a basic Multiplayer Mode and a fairly in-depth Mission Mode. Mission Mode has about 60 missions with many stages each, some even have secret stages and alternate stages. In this mode you pick a group of four Mobile Suits(You can change the team before starting a Mission) and you can upgrade them as you go along. There's plenty to do in this mode, and there is a lot of variation, you may find yourself defending targets, chasing extremely fast targets, normal death matches , trying to grab pink circles, having to endure a certain amount of time at 1 HP, and plenty of others, definitely a much better mode than Full Boost's Trial Mode.

 The game does have a couple of issues, even though they don't hamper the overall experience, they deserve to be mentioned. The most harmless lies in the rather long loading times, they are not terrible, but for a portable game, when you are on the go, they can get quite aggravating. And secondly, there's a couple of framerate drops when there is a lot going on on the screen at the same time. Special stages that pit you and an ally against three opponents are specially taxing, but as long as you don't get all five units on the screen at the same time, you'll be Ok.

 This is a very pretty game, playable Mobile Suits look fantastic, but the unplayable "fodder" units look terrible, it's very jarring when the camera pans from a playable suit to a unplayable one. Stages are very detailed, even if most are not very interactively. The soundtrack is fantastic, with plenty of licensed music from the anime series, and the voice actors reprise their roles from the anime.

 I'm not gonna even try to hide it, I love the series, you could take away all the mobile suits and replace them with generic soldiers(Or metahumans, like the upcoming Rise of the Incarnates) and I would still love it, because it's pure arcade gameplay goodness, and I won't get tired of it anytime soon.
 9.5 out of 10.