Now Playing: Project X Zone

 Eh, typical Monolith Soft game.

 I'm gonna do a copy/paste since it sums up how I feel about this game, plus, I wrote it myself, so...
Ps: Project X. Zone impressions: Just what I expected. Combat is very fun, similar to Super Robot Taisen Originl Generation Endless Frontier, but much better. It also borrows some of the worst aspects of that game, namely the original characters and the fanservice. Haken, Kagura, Reiji and Xiaomu joined by newcomers Mii and... Kogoro? He's so bland I didn't even bother learning his name. Kagura is one of the worst designs in the game, and dare I say ever? She might as well be wearing just a towel, she looks dumb. Haken is a sort of Cowboy thing who is wearing so much crap over his long coat it makes you wonder just how he moves. Reiji is totally overdone and looks like a Dante wanna be... But he carries like 4 swords and can use fire(at least in the previous game) so I kinda like him. Xiaomu was made to appeal to the "moe" fans, flatchested(as it gets with Fanservicey games) and fox ears, but I kinda like her and how she fights alongside Reiji (cool by association?). The new Mii/Kogoro(?) Couple appeals to "moe" and the more straight forward fanservice crowd, she's supposed to be shy and stuff while Kogoro asks her to kick higher or give him fanservice. They suck.

You'd hope that they'd at least respect the other companies's characters... But no, during special attacks the guys look all badass and stuff... While on females the camera slides through their thighs/ass/chest with the occasional zoom on their bouncing breasts, y'know classy, tasteful stuff. It's a dumb game, but at least the combat is fun...

They also got the other kind of fanservice right, characters perform their moves based on their games, like Chris Redfield's infamous rock punches and uppercuts, or how fighting game characters, like Chun Li or Ryu perform EX moves, heck, Ryu performs a FADC during his super move! If only they didn't shoe-horn their original characters into the game, seems the annoying Mii-Kogoro couple are the main characters...

Month Overview: July

Games finished in July:
 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure                                                                                 8.0
 Assassin's Creed - Revelations                                                                        6.5
 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4                                                                              8.0
 Assassin's Creed III                                                                                        8.5
 Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi                                                                    2.5
 Darksiders                                                                                                      10
 Street Fighter - Anniversary Collection                                                            9.0
 Street Fighter - Alpha Anthology                                                                     9.0
 Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers                                   7.5
 God of War - Ascension                                                                                 7.5
 OutRun 2006 - Coast 2 Coast                                                                        9.0
 Asterix and Obelix Kick Buttix                                                                        6.0

 July was a kick ass month, I managed to go on vacations(Twice this weekend), got to go out plenty o' times and managed to finish over 10 games. Bad ass. The kicker? Almost every game this month was a killer, except that terrible Dragon Ball game which I already knew it would blow. I also managed to discover to new all-time favorite games. The one thing that suffered during these vacations were my comic book readings, I re-read Marvel's Civil War and kept up to date with a couple of monthly comics I follow, but that's it.

 Game of July:

 This masterpiece came completely out of the blue. I admit I was interested i nit for a while, but it was never among my top priorities. I managed to find it on the cheap, so I caved in. I dunno what pushed me into playing it, but that's one decision I don't regret. The very same day I finished it I was already scourging online stores for the sequel(Which I got on that very same day).
 Darksiders is an amazing game, maybe not on my top 10, but easily top 20.

 Runner-up:

 Wow. Just... wow. Another new favorite of mine, and the only "racing" game I hold on that regard. OutRun 2006 is just so much fun, it's so easy to lose yourself in it. The feeling you get while drifting at top speed while listening to Night Flight is just... so sublime. The only reason I scored it 9.0 instead of 10 is due to the lack of local multiplayer mode and the unlockables that require a PSP...

Review #136: Asterix and Obelix Kick Buttix

 Yet another game I loved when I was younger, reviewed today!

 Remember Asterix? Yeah, you probably don't. It began its life as a comic book, but managed to get a few animated adaptations. While they reached my eyes when I was younger, Asterix never took on, still, whenever I caught it on TV or came across the comic book in libraries, I'd spend my time on it. Asterix and Obelix Kick Buttix is an action/adventure game based on said comic, released for the PS2 and Gamecube, did it manage to make the license justice?

 Caesar, the main antagonist of the franchise, has raided the village of the Gauls while Asterix and Obelix were out, taking everyone captive to different parts of the world. As luck would have it, a Roman spy defects to Asterix aid and informs him of what happened, and ends up helping him save the rest of the Gauls. The story is very plain and simple, but it doesn't aim to be much more, and they got the personalities of the characters right, at least as far as I could remember, even though the supporting cast only gets little screen time. Bonus points for basing the enemies on the enemies from the comics.

 Controls are very simple, square attacks or performs context sensitive actions(Like pulling, pushing or grabbing items), X jumps and triangle performs a grab on dizzy enemies. Successfully hitting enemies raises the combo bar, once filled you can unleash special combos, provided you bought them from the vendor. Combat is very basic, and at times dull, but it seems the developers thought it was better than what it is, so many a times certain objects pertinent to your objective will become inaccessible until you defeat a certain number of enemies. Twenty enemies is alright. Forty is pushing it. By the end of the game, it will be locked behind over hundreds and hundreds of enemies, had the combat been more engaging, I wouldn't have minded, but in this game it's just obnoxious. Later in the game you can purchase the Twister combo that will thin out the enemies in a matter of seconds, I'd complain that it makes the game too easy, but in this case it's a godsend. Also, some enemies will decide to be extra annoying and will run away from you for reasons unknown, them being faster than Asterix makes finishing off 40 of these cowards quite a chore.

 Most of the time you'll play as Asterix, with Obelix on tow, Obelix's AI is alright but he takes no damage which is a plus. When you are not fighting, you'll be exploring and puzzling, and at certain times the game will switch control over to Obelix. Obelix plays basically the same as Asterix but with less Combos. Regardless, a ton of the puzzles requires switching between characters, having the game make the switch for you makes them a bit easier than they could be. As for the levels themselves, they are five in all, very colorful and lengthy, plus, they house a wide variety of collectibles and secrets, exploring levels is very fun. Among the collectibles, there are 51 Golden Laurels, getting every Golden Laurel in a level will unlock a costume for Asterix or Obelix. Controls are alright, but movement feels a bit wonky since Asterix and Obelix move with very exaggerated, floaty motions. The camera is a bit unwieldy, being a bit to sensitive, and when it moves by itself it tends to pick the worst camera angles it can. Finally, each level has a boss fight at the end... except that it's the same boss, but with additional obstacles. That's right, the same boss has to be defeated using almost the same strategy. The last boss is just two of them, very original of them, huh!

 Graphics are fairly good, all characters look just how they should, and levels are very pretty and varied. However, animation is terrible, it seems they were aiming for a cartoonish feel to the movements, but they didn't get it quite right, the end result looks off. The game has a few very good tunes, but the rest are kinda bad, plus, the game sometimes decides that it'd rather not play any background music. Voice acting was passable at best, Obelix being one of the worst.

 It seems as if I've mostly bad things to say about it, but the game is more than the sum of its parts, it actually manages to be fun when you are running and jumping around levels, it's when the game decides to push combat onto the player, locking them in those four hundred man fights when it's at its worst.
 5.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Mario Kart 7

 Mario a la go.

 I'm going out this weekend, which means I needed a game, and I was THIS close to taking Project X Zone(That was the name? The Capcom/Namco/Sega crossover thing), but in the end I opted for Mario Kart.

 So, first impressions: Looks beautiful. I played the first of the "original" cups, and it's... eh, Shy Guy Bazaar was good, but the other three were rather plain, maybe they feel better at higher ccs. Then I played the first retro cup... they brought Mario Kart DS' Luigi's Mansion track, and it's glorious. The first N64 track was also a nice surprise. Gliding and Diving feel so superfluous, might as well not even be there.

 Oh, and no Wario? Wario better be a hidden character or something. All my mains are gone: Diddy, Bowser Jr, DryBones and Wario, what am I to do?

Now Playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha VS The Soulless Army

 Name's quite a handful, eh!

 Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th is the second most badassest character in Shin Megami Tensei, second only to the HitoShura/DemiFiend. I love Raidou, however... I had only played Devil Summoner 2, inexcusable, which changes today.

 Overall impressions? A huge step down. I mean, I knew that Devil Summoner 2 was considered a HUGELY improved sequel, but I didn't know what to expect. You only take one demon at a time, melee combat is reduced to a single button(No more weak/strong blows), no demon negotiations(Do you even SMT?) and Raidou feels very slow.

 Regardless, the thing I like the most about Devil Summoner is the setting, the characters, the lore. I love the idea behind the four great Devil Summoners and how they are succeeded by people taking their names as titles, that's very cool. I love the setting of a Japan early in its westernizing, and how the Devil Summoners fit in this world. I love Raidou's cast, Tae the reporter, Gouto his mentor/first Raidou, and Narumi his chief/partner. I also took a liking to Nagi, but she was introduced in the second one, so that's one character who I won't be seeing again... this time.

 The new villains look very interesting. I kinda like the human enemies from the second one better, but this robot soldier-army is very interesting, and I love how they kick Raidou's butt in the beginning. Speaking of Raidou, I love how you take control of him as he takes the test to become Raidou, the strongest in the Kuzunoha family... yet the test has him battling low level demons! Guess their standards are reaaaally low, heh.

Review #135: OutRun 2006 - Coast 2 Coast

 This is what fun is made of.

 If there's one thing I love when it comes to games, it's when they are arcadey, meaning, they are easy to pick up, fast paced and usually score based with very little nuances at their most basic level. I don't usually like Racing games, but OutRun was a game that I always enjoyed, so I knew, I just knew that I was gonna like Outrun 2006.

 I think calling OutRun a racing game is not entirely correct, sure, you are racing against the clock, but you are not racing against other racers(At least on the main mode). "Adventure Racing Game" suits it much better, reason being the way the game itself plays. At the start of the game you start of with 99 seconds on the clock and a very straight forward path that branches in two at the end, rule of the thumb being that the left routes are always easier than the ones on the right, and then whichever route you chose branches off again for a total of 15 "tracks" and 5 possible goals. Needless to say, there's a lot of routes(20 if I'm not mistaken) you can take, and each track is completely different from each other, which is why it feels more like an adventure than anything else. OutRun 2006 actually collects both OutRun 2 and OutRun 2 SP's tracks for a total of 30(Although, sadly, you there's no "mixed" set, you either play on 2 or SP's sets). The game also features two 15 track races(One for each set) which are quite long, but feel very epic and even more of an adventure.

 The game is very simple and built around 2 techniques: Drifting and Slipstreaming. Slipstreaming, the easiest one, consists of running behind another vehicle in order to have it break the windr esistance for you, thus boosting your speed. Drifting is performed by letting go of the accelerator, quickly tapping break and then accelerate again while engaging curves. If you wish to real the finish line, you will have to learn both techniques. One thing I really loved is the difficulty curve, when I first started I usually lost by the third track, but as I got better, learning how to play, I managed to reach every goal with very little trouble. It feels very natural, and very rewarding how you manage to get a little further every time. In no time I was clearing the 15-track monsters which felt incredible.

 Besides the traditional "OutRun" Mode there's three other modes: Heart Attack, in which you must fulfill challenges to earn points as you race through the game and Time Attack, in which you compete against Ghosts as you... race through the game. Time Attack is the only mode in which you can play the unlockable Reverse Tracks(or even Reverse routes, including the 15-track routes) as far as I noticed. Lastly, there's "Coast 2 Coast" AKA Mission Mode. There's two varieties, Girlfriend missions and Flagman missions. Girlfriend missions has you completing challenges for one of three girls, but these are way crazier than the ones features in Heart Attack, like counting cars, picking up food, avoiding meteors among others. Flagman challenges are more straightforward, most of them are simple "race your rivals" in which you start off in last place and must race your way to the top in a set amount of tracks, but there's also a few more interesting ones, like Elimination races, in which every few seconds the racer in last place gets eliminated. These missions are interesting in that they feature the reversed tracks and sometimes mixes tracks from 2 and SP, and they get progressively harder as you go along, culminating in a epic race in which you start in position 100 and must reach the car at 1st.

 Playing any of these modes earns you "Miles" which you can spend in the shop to buy a ton of unlockables, cars, music, reverse tracks and colors... and here's where my first gripe with the game pops up, there are PSP unlockables. This means that the game requires you to link up with the exact same version of the gameon the PSP in order to unlock them, which would suck had it not been for the "Unlock all" cheat. Probably best use it after you are done with the game, as it will overwrite your scores in Coast 2 Coast mode. The game also lets you play the original version of OutRun 2 SP, but it feels kinda needless, as the main game contains everything and anything this has and more, only that the Arcade version doesn't net you "Miles"... maybe it's there to give you a taste of some of the unlockable cars, since everything is unlocked from the start?

 Know what the game could've used? Local Multiplayer. There's absolutely no way to play this on the same console with other players, having online is Ok I guess? But who really used the PS2's online services? It's a bit disappointing really. Since I'm at it, although this is more of a nitpick, I would've liked a mode that let you race without a timer on top, the game really lends itself to casual play, so it would've been a nice addition.

 Graphics are pretty nice, I bet having real Ferraris was a huge selling point for some, but in my opinion, it's the beautiful tracks that steal the show. Each track is very distinctive, particular stand outs being Milky Road and Casino Town. It's a very lively, colorful game and these tracks never get old. The soundtrack is phenomenal, every song lends itself to the game, with "Night Flight" being my favorite. Nothing, absolutely nothing beats drifting at top speed while listening to Night Flight, it feels incredible.

 OutRun 2006 is an amazing game, I found myself getting sucked in the game oh so many times, driving in this game feels like a dream, the sense of speed coupled with the amazing environments and the great tunes.... It's a fantastic game.
 9.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Asterix & Obelix - Kick Buttix

 Hey, I'm almost done with Outrun(Already!) and the month ain't over yet.

 So, I'm coming out of Outrun 2006, fun made disc, and.... Oh god. I loved this game when I was younger, I had such fond memories of it that I just had to have it.... Either it hasn't aged well or I didn't know what a good game was... but then again, I liked Quest 64. Still do actually.

 Animation is terrible, music is used sparingly who knows why, you switch between Asterix and Obelix when the game feels like switching, combat feels off, I can't pull off the Combo I bought I dunno why... Yeah, I'm not having much fun....