Review #369: Catherine

 Girls, drinks and nightmares, what else would you need?

 Catherine is a horror-esque puzzle game made by the same team that brought us Persona, which usually implies a brilliant soundtrack, believable characters and top-notch atmosphere. And it delivers.

 Vincent Brooks' the game's protagonist, he is irresponsible, laid back and not ready to commit, much to his girlfriend's, Katherine, chagrin. It was a normal day, after his every-day routine of joining his friends for drinks, that he meets Catherine and cheats on his girlfriend... and the nightmares begin. Now begins Vincent ordeals, dealing with his pushy girlfriend, the pushy lover and the deadly nightmares. The story is all kinds of fantastic. Taking place during 8 days or so, every day begins with Vincent waking up after a nightmare, AKA gameplay section, then a few cutscenes of character development, a brief playable interlude at the bar and then another nightmare. The formula doesn't get repetitive due to how good the story-telling is and how engrossing Vincent story is, not to mention how eventually other people get sucked into the nightmare, and you get to follow their stories during the bar and nightmare scenes. It helps that Atlus nailed the game's atmosphere just right, and unexpectedly for a Japanese game, they treat the game's themes with maturity.

 As previously noted, before each nightmare, Vincent will get a brief respite at his favorite bar, The Stray Sheep. These moments are brief, simple and brilliant. Besides interacting with the many different NPCs, which you should, in order to further their personal stories and make sure they survive the nightmares as well, you will also get text messages from Katherine and Catherine, and you are able to answer them in multiple ways, which will affect Vincent's... morality? This can be influenced through other means as well and will change how he behaves in certain cutscenes as well as change the ending. Back to the Stray Sheep, you are able to move around the bar, and while talking to some NPCs, other may leave or enter the joint, which adds a nice little tingle of realism to these sections. Lastly, you can also get hammered on various drinks, getting drunk not only makes you faster during Nightmares, but it also rewards you with alcohol facts! There're a few other thingies, like a record player and an Arcade machine with a 2-D-version of the Nightmare sections, but based around limited moves and solving the challenge. These were probably some of my favorite parts of the game, since they built up the game's world so, so well.

 But then it's time to go back to your house and suffer the Nightmares. This is the meat of the game, in which you must climb a tower of blocks all the way to the top. But you can't take your time, as either lower levels of blocks are constantly falling or you are being followed by a boss. At first, it's simply a matter of pulling and pushing blocks in order to make your way across, but then different types of blocks get introduced: Icy, slippery blocks, Trap blocks, Void Cup-blocks, Spring Blocks and a few others. While it's easy to exploit Retry items, and the 'Undo' feature is pretty generous, the game gets rather brutal at times even in the Normal difficulty setting. I'm not much of a puzzle-game aficionado, so I'm not ashamed to admit that I wasn't much of a fan of these sections. That said, after every stage, each Nightmare being comprised of two-to-four stages each, you'll get to talk with anthropomorphic sheep who soon reveal themselves to be the NPCs from the game's bar section! So even during these you'll get more story bits, and even questions to answer in order to alter Vincent's morality gauge.

 Beating the game unlocks a competitive two player mode, and then there's also the harder, randomized Babel Mode. However, you must earn your entry into the Babel challenges by getting Gold Cups during the story-mode's Nightmares, so... get good.

 Gameplay-wise, Catherine was not my kind of game, but as far as the story is concerned, it's right up my alley. It's a fantastic, original story that keeps you engrossed all the way to the end. So even, even if you are not into puzzle games, the story is more than worth going through the game, featuring mature, serious themes that are displayed in very ingenious ways, mixing Persona's brand of surrealism and fantasy, with more realistic tones. Catherine is fantastic, no two ways about it.
 8.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Dillon's Rolling Western

 Not impressed.

 I just started Dillon's Rolling Western, and it's kinda boring to say the least. The first part of every day is about gathering resources and building stuff... and it's really boring. Rolling around isn't much fun, it's kinda dull, and thanks to the dumb touchscreen controls, a bit imprecise.

 Then comes the Tower Defense bit, and... it's kinda dull as well. Enemies work like 'random encounters', as in touching them brings you into a battle zone in which you must do battle with several baddies. The touchscreen controls are too imprecise and clunky for my liking, it's easy to accidentally bring your fingers to the edge of the screen, and then makes it impossible to aim your charge.

 All in all... it doesn't seem like a good game.

Review #368: Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

 Revenge of the mediocre licensed movie tie-in videogame.

 Revenge of the Sith the videogame looks really cool, but it really isn't. Watch gameplay footage of the game and you'll be misled thanks to its pretty graphics, smooth animations and fantastic looking combat, because it looks really good, but looks can be deceiving.

 This is a 3D beat'em up/action game that follows the movie of the same name... or rather, it only follows the actiony sequences from the movie, and only those, so if you haven't seen the movie you might get lost and will definitely not be seeing the whole picture, pun intended. You'll play as both Anakin and Obi-Wan, but finishing story missions will unlock bonus missions in which you can play as Yoda, Grievious and a few others. There're also a few co-op endurance-like missions and a surprisingly fun 1 on 1 fighting mode.

 Square and Triangle are your basic attacks, and they can be strung together for various combos, circle is a power blow, while the shoulder buttons are relegated to Force powers(Push, Saber Throw, Jedi mind trick/Sith Lightning) as well as locking onto enemies. Controls are simple, and the combat, while lacking oomph, is fun enough... for the first couple of missions, eventually devolving into a repetitive drag. The game gets boring and repetitive way too soon, and it's a shame because the game is rather short as well!

 I noticed that the game tried really hard to have cool moments, but they aren't very exciting. There're a few turret sections that are downright boring. It doesn't help that the rest of the game consists of mowing down the same few enemy types over and over and over and over again. On the flip-side, Jedi/Sith boss battles are actually rather fun, and this carries over to the game's bonus VS mode. Battling CPUs and Playrers in one on one combat is more fun than it deserves to be!

 And that's Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: You average, every-day licensed movie tie-in game. It does nothing unique, it's nothing special and you're probably better off playing other Star Wars games, preferably those not directly based off a movie.
 5.0 out of 10

Review #367: Gekido - Urban Fighters

 A whole lot of heart, but not the punch to back it up.

 Oh, Gekido, your heart is in the right place, but... but you just couldn't make the cut. Let me tell you Gekido's tale, a tale about a game that wanted to be the next big beat'em up game, the next Streets of Rage or Final Fight, if you will, a tale that ends in disappointment.

 While the game's instruction manual talks about a kidnapped girl, and paints this grim picture of New Tokyo... there's none of that in the game. Seriously, there's no story, there're no cutscenes, only a handful of pre-battle quips by some enemies. So hopefully you didn't expect to play this game for its engrossing storyline. Luckily there're plenty of modes for you to sink your teeth in. Urban Fighters is the main mode, in which you go from stage to stage beating up baddies to a pulp. Arena is a fighing game mode in which up to four players can do battle in closed-off arenas, not to bad! Shadow Fighter is an Arcade ladder of sorts focusing on fighting. Then there's Survival, once again for the Fighting mode, and an unlockable 'Street Gangs' mode, which I really don't care enough about to unlock, and you'll see why in a bit.

 The game gives you three attack buttons: X, triangle and square produce different kind of attacks, and there're specific button string for each character in order to produce combos. Movesets are rather extensive for a game of this kind, and they may involve pressing up to three buttons at the same time, a movelist menu would've been nice, since you'll just resort to mashing buttons. R2 let's you pick up items and weapons, such as pipes, guns or barrels, L1 jumps and L2 crouches. Pressing all four shoulder buttons at the same time will produce an AoE attack that consumes an orange energy gauge... although you can use it even if it isn't full at the cost of some health. Lastly, there's a blue gauge, Rage, which is unleashed by pressing circle. It's got up to three levels and each level does something different: Level 1 is a special attack, level 2 makes you stronger for a while and level 3 makes you stronger and invincible for a while as well as enhancing your AoE attack. Sounds pretty solid so far, right?

 And then it all falls apart. My biggest pet-peeve with beat'em up games is how hitting enemies feels, you'll be doing a lot of mashing, and killing repetitive hordes of enemies, so it will get repetitive, so it's a necessity to make hitting enemies feel crunchy, feel satisfying. But here it's anything but. Hitting enemies is like hitting air, there's very little audiovisual feedback, which feels very lame. It doesn't help that enemies have a lot of invincibility frames on some of their moves, and sometimes hit detection feels really sloppy, just try playing with Ushi and watch all your moves miss. Enemies are also rather cheap, some will shoot you while they are offscreen, others will hit you as soon as a stage starts, without giving you so much as a chance to do anything. Dogs are the most annoying enemy, since they have huge priority on their grab move, so be careful when approaching them! Lastly, sometimes the controls feel a bit unresponsive, particularly the Rage button, you gotta press it really hard, and I tried my controller with other games, so I know my button was working perfectly!

 The presentation leaves a lot to be desired at both a technical and an artistic levels. While Joe Madureira's art is fantastic, character designs are very generic and forgettable, the only memorable design in the entire game is Tetsuo, and that's because he is a Bruce Lee clone, so he is memorable for all the wrong reasons! The five unlockable characters also feel very... random? Why is Gorilla a playable character? Why is the mummy sub-boss from level 3 playable? Why them over the other generic-looking bosses? Why? They don't have importance on the story, none of them do(Except Angela and Akujin, but I digress), so why did they decide to make those playable? Why? As for the technical aspect of the presentations, the graphics are rather poor, and while the game's cover boasts about the artists involved in the game's soundtrack... it feels as if there're only 2-3 songs in the entire game. What the hell??

 What's really sad is that you can tell that the devs' hearts were in the right place. Every staple of the beat'em up genre is here, the elevators, the enemy dogs, the pipes, the train, everything. They even added an extra fighting mode, and characters have a decent assortment of moves! But the entire game was built around the main mode, Urban Fighters, and it just doesn't work very well. Hitting enemies isn't satisfying, enemies are cheap, stages and characters are plain and forgettable.... It gets a lot of things right, but the fundamentals? That's where the game failed. Gekido can be fun, Gekido can be entertaining... but it will never be what it could have been.

 5.5 out of 10

Review #366: Metal Slug Anthology

 Guns, tanks and loading. A whole lot of loading.

 It's Metal Slug, baby! You know, the Neo-Geo's sweetheart, the 2-D sidescrolling action that has you playing as a soldier mowing down hundreds of soldiers and heavy duty armed vehicles! Present in this anthology are Metal Slug 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5 and 6, only missing 7 and XX, which had not been released at the time.

 All 7 games play exactly the same way: Equipped with your infinite-ammo pistol, you must go from the left side of the screen to the right, killing and destroying anything and everything that comes your way. You may come across Prisoners of War which, when rescued, will bestow you with rewards, from mere points to limited-ammo weapons, like machineguns, flamethrowers or shotguns.The enemy comes equipped with all manner of destructive vehicles, so it's only fair that you come across vehicles of your own in order to lay waste to the enemy. They are fun, short, arcadey games.

 Playing the games in this collection grants you limited customization on the options, you can change the difficulty, turn auto fire on or off or switch free play with continues. A bit too basic, but it's enough. Beating each game unlocks bonus artwork, which is an OK extra. That said, these games have a couple of shortcomings that are hard to ignore. Most noticeably, loading times, they are very short, but they are everywhere, even on the character select screens! It's absolutely ridiculous as the PS2 should've no trouble running these games, heck, the stand alone Metal Slug releases run much better than these versions! Secondly, while I can understand lacking the home-releases' bonus modes, you can't activate 'Fixed fire' for the vehicles, which is a pain in the butt since you will more often than not self-destruct them accidentally.

 As for the individual games...

 Metal Slug 1 is pretty good when analyzed in a vacuum, but when you compare it with what's to come... it's understandably lacking. You can't pick your character(Player 1 must be Marco and Player 2 must be Tarma), and there's only one vehicle type. This version also adds load times between missions. All in all, this is but an appetizer of things to come.
 6.0

 Metal Slug 2 is a complete enhancement when compared with 1. New weapons, new vehicles, new characters and the addition of transformations! It's a fantastic game that is sadly plagued with slow-down and the new loading times between screen transitions and even when selecting your character.
 8.0

 Metal Slug X is a remixed version of 2 of sorts. The stages have been entirely recolored, enemy placement has been revised, and you will find new or different vehicles in new places. It also fixes the slowdown that was so invasive in Metal Slug 2. But SNK wasn't content with just that, oh no, there're new weapons, like the enemy chaser, new enemies, like the zombie dog, and Super variations of weapons! It's more than just a 'remix' of 2, it's more than a 'fix', it makes Metal Slug 2 completely obsolete. Sadly, this version has the same Loadin Screen issues as the Metal Slug 2.
 8.5

 Metal Slug 3 is probably my favorite of the bunch. This time around, every stage has branching paths and while the end boss is the same, different routes of the same stage can house entirely different enemies and hazards, which is brilliant. It also helps that this game has some of the longest, best and most exciting stages in the franchise, the final stage being a standout. There's also a new zombie transformation, which is as hilarious as it is useful. All in all, this entry doesn't add much new, but what it does, it does superbly. As per usual, this PS2 port adds all sorts of Loading Screens whenever you've to do a screen transition.
 9.0

 Metal Slug 4 was the first game in the series not made by SNK, but by Playmore, and it shows. Tarma and Eri got the boot in order to make room for Trevor and Nadia. There's a new weapon, dual machine guns and, thankfully, vehicles now self destruct if you press R1 instead of shoot+jump, which is so helpful. Besides the two newcomers, which are palette swaps of pre-existing characters, the bosses and a very few amount of new enemies... everything in this game is reused from previous games, heck, the stages look as if they were assembled from pre-existing assets. It feels lifeless, like they weren't even trying and just wanted to pump a new game just because. At least it kept the alternate routes introduced in 3.
6.0

 Metal Slug 5 adds the Slide maneuver, which isn't needed or particularly helpful but is fun to do. It adds nothing new to the formula besides new enemies and stages, which is more than Metal Slug 4 can say for itself. At this point, this is just more of the same, and if Metal Slug wanted to remain relevant, it was gonna need to shake things up.
 7.0

 Metal Slug 6 is the last game featured in the disc, and it's quite good! The Neo-Geo was old by this point, so this game was released on SNK's atomiswave plaque, which allowed for a couple of neat new graphical tricks. Regardless, this game does something that should've been done before: Each character has unique abilities. For example, Tarma can fix vehicles by kicking them, Marco's got the strongest gun, Eri starts with bonus grenades, etc. Brilliant. There're two new characters, Ikari Warriors and King of Fighters alumni Ralf and Clark. They are brilliant new additions, Ralf can withstand one hit as well as perform his vulcan punch, at the cost of having less ammo on weapon pick ups, and Clark can pull of his Argentine Back Breaker.
 Disappointingly, Auto-Fire can't be turned on for this game, so it's back to mashing. At least now you can store up to two special weapons... albeit they are lost upon dying. I didn't seem to come across alternate routes, which is rather sad, and they removed the sliding, which I really liked! The Final Level is kind of a drag as well.
 All that said, this is the only game without intrusive loading screens, which is fantastic, and as a whole, it's a great addition to the franchise and exactly what it needed in order to rejuvenate the series.
 8.0

 The sad thing about this collection is that it's mostly made up of great games, but while entirely playable, this are undeniably sub-par renditions of these classics. Trust me, the loading screens are very short, even if frequent, but you can get used to them, but that still makes them inferior to both their Neo-Geo counterparts as well as the stand alone home releases.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Gekido - Urban Fighters

 Meh.

 Gekido is... kinda bad. The intent was there, I'm sure that they meant to make a great beat'em up, but... it simply isn't very good.

 I just finished the game with Travis, and it quickly turned into an endurance run. Dogs can seemingly grab on to you if you approach them, enemies shoot you offscreen, other enemies jump you as soon as the stage starts... And the controls aren't very responsive, at least the special move. Enemies and stages are forgettable as well as the playable characters. The OST is very limited and repetitive, and scoring hits lacks rewarding feedback.

 All that said, the game is kinda fun. Kinda. There're also a ton of different modes, so that's something.

Archile's Grab-bag: Compulsive Buying in 2017 Edition

 It's a new package! Which means more games and more debt!

 Suikoden III: I'm not very familiar with the Suikoden franchise, mostly because it's pretty expensive, but I did play a bit of 3, so I've been meaning to give it another whirl for a while. I'm expecting this one to be good.

 The Hobbit: I played this one all the way to the end on PC. I actually... liked it a fair bit. I must've been rather young, as the consensus is that this game kinda sucks. Regardless, I hope I get to enjoy this one as much as I once did.

 Twisted Metal Black: So I've admitted that I don't like Twisted Metal during my 2017 awards, so why oh why did buy TM Black? The reason is two-fold. A) I used to own this game and B) This game's savefile unlocks a costume on the fantastic War of the Monsters. And you may even add C) It was five bucks cheap.

 Transformers - Devastation: I'm not much of a fan of Transformers, seeing how I grew up with Beast Wars, but this game looked fun. It's made by Platinum, and the gameplay looked very flashy, which is something I can get into.

 Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam(DS):No, I do not mean to play the entire portable Tony Hawk offerings, because I'm pretty sure they are gonna be washed down games at best. But, but, Downhill Jam isn't your average Tony Hawk game, this game seemed, to me, perfect for a on-the-go game, which is why I wanted to get it. But I also wanted the full experience, which is why I also got it on PS2.

 Gekido - Urban Fighters: I used to own this game, and I remember being very hyped about it... but the end result disappointed me. I want to give it another chance, because this game should be right up my alley. I hope I can finally get into this game, I hope I can enjoy it because it seems like my kind of game.

 Tony Hawk's American Wasteland: Another Tony Hawk game! This was the last game on the Ps2 hardware and it introduced Bikes into the mix. I've seen some reviews and it seems reception is mixed: It's either the best or the beginning of the end. I like Underground 2 so much that I think, I think I'm gonna love this one.

 Koudelka: I remember watching this game trailer somehow. I think the game's introduction came bundled as a demo with another game? Regardless, ever since I saw that CG opening I fell in love with Koudelka and have been meaning to play it for a looooong while. I hope it's good, and I hope I can get into the rest of the Shadow Hearts franchise this year.

Review #365: Battle Arena Toshinden 3

 Clunky, wonky, stuffy, stiff... and somehow still fun!

 Enter Toshinden, one of Playstation's first original fighting game series as well as one of the first weapon based 3D fighters. Battle Arena Toshinden 3 is the culmination of Eiji's story, featuring the most characters, stages and mechanics yet!

 The game offers the usual suspects when it comes to modes: Arcade, VS CPU, VS Player, Survival and Practice, which is fair for its era. The Arcade ladder is a bit long, consisting of over 16 battles! At the start of the game you can pick any of 14 fighters, but as you play you will unlock more for a total of 32 characters! To be fair, most of the remaining 16 fighters are clones of the main cast, so they are not wholly original, and a few of these characters look like generic no-personality throw-away designs, like Leon or Tau. Still, there's a ton of characters, and unlocking everyone is sure to take you a while.

 Battling is done with the four face buttons, Square and Triangle are used for weak and strong slashes, while X and triangle do weak and strong kicks. Double tapping up or down, or using L1 and L2, will let you roll into the background, a feature which I found useless most of the time, as block, by holding back on the D-pad, works just fine. As a 3D fighter, combos in this game are performed by juggling your opponent using both attack strings as well as command special moves. I felt like the controls were a bit unresponsive when trying to pull off moves, and it doesn't help that characters feel very stiff when they move, but regardless, it was kinda fun, the game's engine allows for some pretty spiffy combos.

 Above your health bar lies a a small gauge, when filled, by dealing and taking damage, it will begin to blink as it runs out. While it lasts you can pull off Super and Desperation moves. Lastly, you get to 'Soul Bombs' per fight, which act as super moves of sorts by pressing weak slash and weak kick at the same time. Simple and uncomplicated.

 Character models look fine, although, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I think some designs are a bit too colorful. Animations are rather stiff and lack finesse, but you can get used to them. Curiously, you can run the game at either 30 or 60 FPS by going into the Options menu. Playing in 60 FPS will turn the backgrounds into untextured globs of paint... but I can deal with that if it means 60 FPS, that's the way I played the entire game!

 If I were to sum up the game it would calling it a mixed bag. Animations and attacks look stiff and lame, but there're also a few very crunchy, satisfying moves as well. Some character designs look really cool, but others are pathetically generic. You could certainly do much better than Battle Arena Toshinden 3, but you could also do much worse.
 6.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Battle Arena Toshinden 3

 Yes, another fighting game. Sue me.

 Color me surprised, I expected Toshinden 3 to be terrible, and it kinda isn't! I mean, it's clunky, it's wonky, it's rather stiff... but it's kinda good. I managed to pull some badass looking combos which actually surprised me a bit, it seems like... it seems like it plays better than Toshinden Subaru(4)!

 Basically, as stiff and lame as the game is, it can be kinda fun. Some animations look really good, others don't, some characters are kinda cool, others are terrible... It's a mixed bag. Everything in the game is a mixed bag leaning towards fun. And I'm definitely reusing that line in the review.

 And that's all I've to say up to this point. It has some good things, some bad things and there're a dozen other better fighting games you can get on the PS1... but it's still worth a look for fighting game aficionados.

Review #364: Tobal No.1

 Not gonna be number 1 any time soon...

 Tobal No.1 is yet another original idea from Squaresoft back when they were at their prime. I'm pretty sure it was their first fighting game, and while flawed, it would set up the foundation for the superior Tobal No.2 as well as some elements which were borrowed by Ergheiz.

 The game offers a Tournament Mode, which is actually the game's Arcade Ladder, a VS Player mode, as well as a Practice mode hidden underneath the Options menu. There's another mode, Quest Mode, which you must tackle in order to unlock the 4 bonus fighters. This mode... is not good. It's played in third person while retain the same control from the main fighting mode, which means that it controls like garbage. Turning around is clunky and tedious, the platforming is all kinds of annoying and moving around is imprecise and very, very wonky. It makes for a very vexing time. Bonus points for at least trying, but don't feel too bad, Square would get it right with Tobal No.2 and Ergheiz.

 But fighting is where it's at, and man is it swell! You've a low attack, mid attack and high attack as well as dedicated jump and block buttons. Mixing different directions, as well as the jump or block buttons with the attack buttons will result in all manners of different attacks and combo strings. I felt like there's not much potential for combos, but the movesets are deceptively extensive and every character has his or her own moves. While tearing down the enemy's life bar will KO them, you must also watch out for ring outs, as you can fall off the stage.

 The in-game camera is a bit of an oddity... it doesn't always try to give you a side view of both characters, as sometimes the camera will trail behind for a sort of back camera, or will lean too far to a side. It's not unplayable and it probably won't mess up your moves, but it's certainly weird for a fighting game.

 Props for Akira Toriyama's character designs. These are the most unique characters he has ever designed, and not only are characters different from each other as far as moves go, but also visually. There's a ton of variety, from a chicken man, to a big woman wrestler, to more grounded and generic characters like martial artists Chuji and Gren. It's a very colorful cast, and not something we see nowadays. Animations are also exquisitely smooth, it's quite a treat watching all these characters in action.

 Tobal No. 1 is a more than decent fighting game, but it's a bit lacking. It lacks modes, it could've used a couple more characters, and it's most ambitious mode, Quest Mode, is an annoyance. That said, when it comes down to the fighting mechanics, they are solid if a bit limited, so it's not the best fighter to play competitively. If you can get Tobal No.2 go for it, as it fixes Tobal 1's shortcomings and polishes what already worked well.

 7.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Tobal No.1

 Another fighting game!? Another fighting game.

 Tobal, baby! I used to own the second one, but since it was never released in USA this'll have to do. I don't really care about the two newcomers or the dungeon baddies, so it's alright.

 That said, the game looks surprisingly bad. I mean, it's not a bad looking game, not by any means, but the second one looked like a Nintendo 64 game!... Which I realize doesn't mean much in this day and age, but it's the PS1 we're talking about!

 I've already beaten Arcade Mode with 7/12 characters, and it' pretty good. There's not a whole lot of combo potential, but movesets are deceptively extensive. I also like the character roster, most characters are pretty weird and unique.

 Bottom line is I'm liking Tobal a lot. Now onwards to quest mode!

Review #363: Bushido Blade

 The wind is blowing. A pair of Blades clash once and again. A single body falls. Sometimes both of them.

  I've always been familiar with Bushido Blade 2, since I thought being a fighting game sequel it would be the superior game, but last year I found out that both games are quite different, so I had to give Bushido Blade 1 a try.

 Bushido Blade is not your average fighting game. There're no life bars or energy gauges, and just one hit is enough to finish a match. You pick from 6 characters and 8 different weapons: A katana, a nodachi, a warhammer, a naginata, a saber, a long sword, a broad sword and a rapier. Quite a few of these weapons are actually missing from the sequel, and characters have never really been all that unique among each other, so in a way, this game actually has more variety.

 Control aren't as streamlined as in 2, you've three attack buttons: High, mid and low, as well as a defense button that must be timed alongside the enemy's attack. R1 raises your positions while R2 lowers it, which translates into changing into the three different positions each weapon allows, plus, R1 can be used to climb walls, R2 and then R1 allows you to jump and R2+attack buttons will produce special attacks. It sounds like a handful, and compared to Bushido Blade 2's simplicity it kinda is, but it's easy to get the hang of it. What you will notice is that gameplay is much slower, les flashy and more deliberate in this game. It's not better or worse, it simply is different, you could mash buttons in the previous game and produce some tense blade clashes, here when your blade clashes with another doesn't allow you to immediately attempt another attack, so you must be more careful.

 In the sequel, body blows didn't matter too much unless you were hit on an arm. In this game, unnecessary damage is an actual hindrance, which is awesome. Being hit on your legs will decrease your running speed or sometimes even reduce you to a crawl, which limits your stances and movement. Getting hit on an arm will limit the stances you can switch to. Getting hit anywhere will make your attacks slower. You really don't want to get hit in Bushido Blade 1, because if you survive the hit it will hamper your efficacy.

 Sadly the game is a bit lacking in modes. There's a VS mode, against player only, Slash Mode which pits you against 100 enemies(And lets you unlock a 7th character... if you are good enough), training against a CPU and, finally, Story Mode. There's two endings in Story Mode, the good one is a bit of a secret how to get it, but it involves running. Breaking the code of Bushido(attacking a downed enemy, hitting the on their backs) will cut your run short however.

 Bushido Blade 1 isn't better or worse than Bushido Blade 2, it's just different. While I prefer BB 2's faster paced combat, the importance of body damage in this game makes it a much more interesting affair. And while BB 2 might have more characters, I'd rather have more weapons! All in all, this is an interesting case, as I would suggest getting both as each game offers something different. But for what it's worth, Bushido Blade 2 definitely has more longevity: More modes, more characters and more stages.
 8.5 out of 10

Archile's Grab Bag: 2017 Edition

  New year means new packages which means new games which, apparently, also means a new pair of legs.

 Tobal No. 1: I'm actually familiar with the game's sequel, Tobal No. 2, but seeing how that one wasn't released in USA it would be a bit of a hassle getting it to work. Plus, I didn't really care about the bonus 'Dungeon' fighters or the new default characters. That said, the graphics seem a bit blockier, but oh well, as long as the gameplay is as smooth as it was on the sequel I'll be a happy camper.

 Battle Arena Toshinden 3: I played Toshinden Subaru(4) and it was crap. I also tried one of the PC Toshinden games and it was also crap. But seeing how Toshinden is supposed to be a Playstation classic, I'll try to give it another shot. Not too hopeful about it though.

  Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam: The Tony Hawk game nobody talks about, originally released on the Wii, I opted for traditional PS2 controls. It seemed decent, from what little footage I've seen.

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground: I wasn't wowed by Project 8, but maybe, just maybe, they managed to get Tony Hawk back on track with Proving Ground. I actually liked the new 'punching bystanders' mechanics I saw, so I'm slightly optimistic about it. Slightly.

 Sonic Heroes: I remember being kinda excited about Sonic Heroes back before it was released, since I had grown up as a Nintendo Kid, but jumped ship to the PS2, I hadn't had a chance to play Sonic, which made this my first Sonic game. I think I kinda liked it, although its reception was rather lukewarm and the PS2 version got the most flak!

 Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: The only Star Wars prequel that was actually good! This game looks very, very promising, to say that I'm very optimistic about it is selling it shortly. I can't wait to give this one a try!

 Metal Slug - Anthology: I'm a bit of a NEO-GEO lover, so of course I'm amiliar with the Metal Slug franchise! This anthology looks to be every Metal Slug fan's wet dream.


 I also got Bushido Blade I but didn't take a picture, regardless, I've already played it for a bit, and it's really good. In some ways, its better than the sequel, in others... not so much.

Review #362: Blazblue - CentralFiction

 The end of Blazblue.... as if!

 Calamity Trigger, Continuum Shift, Continuum Shift II, Continuum Shift Extend, ChronoPhantasma, ChronoPhantasma Extend and now... CentralFiction. It sure's been a long ride filled with nonsensical titles, but we've finally arrived to the last chapter of Ragna's Story.... yeah, right....

 So, the story mode... it's as bad as it's always been. It's long, boring, derivative, filled with anime cliches, moments and characters you've already seen before and seen execute better. There're mandatory boob jokes, because it is an anime game and animu girls are never content with their breasts. The first four chapters are a an unbearable remix of Calamity Trigger, but, for what it's worth, for the very first time in Blazblue's history.... it did have some interesting plot points. Chapter 10 did get sorta interesting, even if Ragna's decision was very animu in nature. Now then, a lot of characters die or... evolve during the course of the story... but this is a Fighting game, we know that they will find a roundabout way to bring everyone back for the next installment, so don't worry too much about the fate of your favorite character. Plus, there's no way that this is the last Blazblue game, taking nto account how many unresolved plot threads were left hanging.

 Once you are done wasting your time with the generic, senseless and convoluted Story Mode, you've Arcade Mode waiting for you, and now there're up to three different 'Arcade Routes' per character, although not every character gets three of them. There're both online and offline VS modes, Grim of the Abyss(Think Survival with some customization elements), Score Attack(10-opponent gauntlets where you aim to score high), Speedstar(You don't lose health, you only lose time! It's a rather novel idea!), training, the obligatory combo challenges for every character and a tutorial. The tutorial, as per usual for the Blazblue franchise, is pretty good, and this time it offers pointers on every specific character and how they should be played, which is pretty neat. It's a very meaty offering of modes, more than what you get in your average Fighting game, plus, thirty characters from the get go.... it does feel like you are getting your money's worth out of the game... even if ArcSys scummy DLC practices are present here, because ArcSys is that kind of company. You can either finish the story or pay to unlock Susanoo(If you offer a paid alternative, you are basically admitting that your story mode is a waste of time), and during the story mode you actually get to fight Es a bunch of time, a DLC character, and then there's Mai, the second DLC character. At least these latter two don't make an appearance on the game's cover or the character selection screen, so we're making some progress.

 There're 5 new characters, and if you skipped Extend, like me, you are getting Celica and the returning Lambda as well, and since I didn't even buy ChronoPhantasma's DLC, this is also my first time with Terumi and Kokonoe, so, potentially, you are getting a lot of new characters. Hibiki is my favorite of the bunch, being a speedy rushdown character who can create clones with his drive, Nine is another personal favorite, she can pull off magic attacks with her normals, which the stock, and mix, for her Drive. Naoto is based around a chargeable Drive attack, but unlike Makoto there's no timing involved, regardless, he works better without using his drive! Izanami gets some projectiles at the cost of her guard while under her Drive and lastly there's Susanoo, who is built around unlock and powering up his special moves. I liked all the new characters, even if Izanami and Nine couldn't escape the obligatory Japenese panty shots during some of their attacks.

 Mechanic-wise the game hasn't seen many changes or additions, which I guess is a good thing, since the entry level barrier, if you want to go competitive, is rather high. Being an animu fighter, the game is already relatively friendly for casual matches, since you can just mash buttons and watch flashy stuff happen, but they've revised Stylish Mode to work more like it does in Guilty Gear Xrd. Mashing buttons will result in different combos(I tried it with only three characters, but it seemed like Naoto only had a single normal combo? But Jin had many more alternative combos) and there's a new fifth button that can be used to pull of special attacks by pressing it alongside a single direction on the digital pad or analog stick. There's also the new Active Flow, by playing aggressively you are rewarded with higher damage and the energy bar will fill faster, and a new Exceed Accel, a unique special move for every character usable only while in Overdrive Mode. Very simple mechanics to use and grasp, but in a game as deep and complex as Blazblue they turn into good additions.

 I haven't been able to enjoy Blazblue as much as a I did with Continuum Shift for a while now. The story is presumptuous drivel, character designs are too much animu, fanservicey and pandering for my tastes and ArcSys scummy DLC practices keep trying to make me feel as if they haven't had enough money. But CentralFiction was different. We've so many different characters already, so many different ways to play the game and some of the newest additions are so much fun to play as well as original. The game has accumulated so many mechanics already that there're dozens of ways to play the game, and doing flashy stuff is so easy even if you don't intent to play competitively or succumb to Stylish Mode. What I mean to say is that I feel like CentralFiction injects new blood into Blazblue, it might simply be 'more of the same', but the quality of the additions is very high.
 8.5 out of 10

Review #361: Disgaea 2 - Cursed Memories

 New characters, more mechanics, same old Disgaea, more tedium!

 Remember Disgaea? That quirky, crazy convoluted, ridiculous SRPG  that made itself a spot in many a gamer's heart? It's back! A lot has remained the same, but a lot has changed as well.

 While you might spot Etna in the game's cover, and she does indeed become a playable character in the latter chapters, Disgaea 2's story centers around Adell and Rozalin. Adell wants to defeat overlord Zennon and end his curse on humans, which turned them into demons. A summoning ritual gone wrong later and Rozalin, Zennon's daughter, is summoned in his stead. Now Adell will escort Rozalin back to his father.... and then defeat him! The game is peppered with generic animu feel-good scenes about friendship yadda yadda, but it did manage to get a couple of laughs out of me. There's also a few surprising, smart plot twists. All that said, if you ask me, I preferred Disgaea 1 and 3's story and characters over Disgaea 2's. Adell, Rozalin and co. just aren't as interesting as characters, and I didn't see myself laughing as much as I did with previous iterations.

 Explaining how Disgaea works is no small undertaking. It's a turn based strategy RPG. During each battle, both you and the enemies get turns in which to move every unit. You can take up to 10 units out of your base panel(You can even return them back, and swap them for other units! As long as your units don't die, you can keep swapping them), and every turn you get you can move every unit and produce various kinds of strategies. One of the most interesting aspects about Disgaea is how much stuff you can do during your turn, since your turn doesn't end until you end it. You can shuffle the same unit around in order to avoid AoE from friendly allies, or you can move said unit around in order to have it partake in multiple combo attacks! As long as a unit doesn't do anything else besides moving, you can move it as far as its range allows during your turn.

 And there's a lot you can do. Besides attacking, using items or defending, units can also use special attacks tied to whichever weapon they are equipped with. Being in adjacent tiles to up to three other friendly units allows you to use hilarious combo attacks. Then there's Disgaea's trademark mechanic: Lifting. You can lift allies or enemies and throw them around, you can even make towers with many units lifting other units! And then attack with said tower! There's a lot to wrap your head around, and I've only covered the surface. There're also Geo Panels, pyramids that can be place on colored panels and thus imbue all the same-colored panels with its attribute, like, maybe 'Heal 20%' every turn, or even 'Enemy Boost x50'!! There truly is a lot to take in with Disgaea, and you will need to learn everything if you aim to reach level 9999 and fight the bonus bosses!

 I'll try to go over some of the most important things you can do while outside battle, namely, the Senate and the Item world. While in your hub you can opt to enter the Senate, this is where you can have your character create new units or go into a vote in order to allow for more expensive items in stores, unlock bonus maps or other niceties. The Senate may not always vie your way, in which case you can opt to try to fight them or bribe them. Honestly, it was kinda cute in the first game, but in this one... it felt like a bit of a chore, particularly having to go to the Senate over and over again in order to allow me to buy new weapons at the store, since equipment grow outdated very fast.

 .... Or you can try to min-max its stats by going into the Item World. Talking to another NPC will let you enter an Item's item world, a random 100-floor dungeon of increasing difficulty, the deeper you go, the stronger your weapon will get, and defeating certain, special enemies will raise particular stats of the item. In case you haven't noticed already, if you really want to get most of the game... get ready, because it's gonna be a huge time sink. And it can get pretty tedious.

 The game's 13 chapters don't escalate very well as far as enemy levels are concerned, so you will probably need to grind for levels on previous maps at least a couple of times. They changed the way unlocking classes work, for the worst, as well. It's no longer enough to just take a Warrior to level 100 in order to unlock the best version of the class, now you must create(Or reincarnate your unit) one unit of every 'rank' and raise him 10 levels over the previous landmark in order to unlock the next rank. Basically, take your Rank 1 Warrior to level 10 to unlock Rank 2, then reincarnate your Rank 1 into a Rank 2 or create a new Rank 2 Warrior and get him to level 20, and so on. Honestly, it's really boring, and it only serves to waste your time, particularly the first time through the game, when you simply want to get to the end and not have to go back to grind for levels.

 Disgaea 2 - Cursed Memories is not a bad game by any means, but even simply getting through the story mode required more repetition and time that I wanted to sink in the game. But if you are into convoluted games, with a ton of post game content, Disgaea 2 is right up your alley.
 7.5 out of 10