Month Overview: August 2017

 Tally:
Dead to Rights II 6.0
Mortal Kombat 4 6.5
Dead to Rights - Reckoning 8.0
X-Men Legends 6.0
X-Men Legends II - Rise of Apocalypse 7.5
Dead to Rights - Retribution 8.5
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 7.0
War Gods 3.0
Mortal Kombat Trilogy 4.5
Marvel Ultimate Alliance(PSP) 7.0
Dragon Ball GT - Final Bout 0.5
Bloody Roar 7.0
Marvel Ultimate Alliance(PS3) 7.0
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2(DS) 4.0
X-Men - Mutant Academy 6.5
Gladiator - Sword of Vengeance 6.0
Shin Megami Tensei IV 8.0
Street Fighter EX2 Plus 8.0


 The month of Franchises? I played the rest of Dead to Rights, played almost the entire Marvel Rpgs from Raven Software, and played two Mortal Kombat games as well as War Gods, MK 4's predecessor. More interestingly, one year later I finally finished SMT IV, the bastard! I absolutely hated how much they Persona-fied it, but it's still a quality game... but I don't think I'll be picking up SMT IV: Apocalypse any time soon, they even added Beach/Swimsuit DLC, because Persona-fying the main branch of SMT is a smart idea. Damn you, Atlus! I also picked up Monster Hunter 3 back, so maybe I will finally finish it this year, eh?

 Game of August:

This cover is NOT pretty, but...

 Dead to Rights Retribution was phenomenal, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. I still can't understand how underrated this game is, and I can't understand how many people would describe it as 'generic'. This is as good as arcadey shooters get!

 Runner-up:

...at least it's not this ugly. Who gave the OK to this cover? The European and Japanese covers are so much better it ain't even funny.

 Street Fighter EX2 Plus was almost as good as I remembered it to be, almost. Perhaps... perhaps it's as good as it's ever been, but other fighting games that came after it spoiled me? Alas, it's still a great time to be had, although I don't think I'll be coming back to it as often as I once did.

Review #459: Street Fighter EX2 Plus

 I need to stop using the really good openers on my first impressions!

Videogame covers should've never involved character renders. They're awful!

 Way back when, Capcom managed to bring their flagship fighting game franchise, Street Fighter, into the third dimension by not making it themselves, thanks to Arika's EX series. Woefully underrated, Street Fighter EX2 stands as what I believe to be the best in the EX franchise.

 The game is a bit lacking in modes, we've got an Arcade ladder(7 opponents and 2 bonus rounds(Mini-games), Practice, Trials(From very basic 'perform the move' affairs to a bit more complicated combos), Bonus Mode(Play the bonus stages by themselves, and a few extras), VS and VS Team(Both against Player or CPUs) and finally, Director, in which you can make highlight reels if you, for whatever reason, are interested in that. Fighting game staples such as Survival or Time Attack are nowhere to be seen and characters don't even get endings. At least the character roster is fairly large, featuring 24 different characters, 10 veterans as well as 14 Arika originals. Returning characters have new moves, altered moves and even new animations so they feel relatively fresh.

A perfect example of Arika's hit or miss designs. One of these characters' awful design, while the other is all kinds of awesome... but it depends on who you ask.

 The game works with Street Fighter's classic 6 button set-up, three kicks and three punches, blocking is done by holding back against the opponent and throws are performed by pressing strong attacks when you're as close as possible to your opponent. The game might have 3-D graphics, but it plays entirely in 2-D. There's an ever-present three-tier energy gauge, which is filled by doing or receiving damage, which can be spent in Super Moves, Excel or Guard breaks. Super Moves consume a single energy bar, or you can spend all three to use a devastating Meteor Move, Excel is performed by pressing Medium Punch with Light Kick and, for a short while, makes everything combo into everything, sorta like Alpha 3's custom combo. Lastly, Guard Break is an attack that costs a single energy bar and is done by pressing a punch and a kick of the same strength, which breaks an enemy's guard and staggers them. To be honest I didn't felt the need to use them and Excel seemed more worthwhile. The game plays like a dream, it's pretty fast and performing combos works pretty well, it's a bit more lenient than your usual Street Fighter game.

 While Ex2 Plus is missing a ton of fluff and fat, it hits all the right notes when it comes to what makes a fighting game good. The fighting is fast, satisfying, easy to understand but with layers of depth for those willing to invest their time. And while there aren't a whole lot of modes, there's 24 different characters, with only Ken and Ryu sharing moves, and even then, Arika did a fantastic job in making both of them feeling very different. Arika's original characters are weird and diverse to say the least, so there's going to be at least a few that you'll like and a few that you'll hate.

Get used to Skullomania, whether you like it or not, he's sort of become Arika's mascot.

 There's not much else to say about Street Fighter EX2 Plus. It's a game worthy of carrying the Street Fighter name, although it's not as deep as Street Fighter III, heck, or even as deep as IV, but there's a good amount of tools for players to delve into. Characters have a good amount of basic moves, special and super moves, and Excel allows for fancy shenanigans, if you know what you're doing, or mashing to your heart's content if you don't. And while it lacks some of the gimmicks EX3 added, I think that EX2 offers a purer and more refined experience, everything flows better in this game, plus, Sakura at the cost of losing Hayato was a steep price to pay, if you ask me.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Street Fighter EX2 Plus

 Street Fighter IV before Street Fighter IV.

Ken's got an ugly case of the 'early 3-D' disease.

 God, that cover is ugly. I used to be familiar with the European one, this one:

C'mon, how badass is that?

 Which is so GOOD it ain't even funny. As for the game itself, well, when I was younger there were three PS1 fighters I used to spend hours on end playing: Marvel VS Capcom, Bloody Roar 2 and... Street Fighter EX2 Plus. A few years ago, close to when I started this blog I think, I wrote about EX3 and claimed that it wasn't as good as EX2 and... it wasn't.

 I've played Arcade Mode with three characters already, and boy is it fun. Sure, it's not a particularly good looking game, just compare it with Tekken 3 or, well, Bloody Roar 2, but it tried, it really tried. For starters, veteran Street Fighter characters have new moves or have new animations for older moves that make them look more painful than before. Arika's original characters are hit or miss, but Kairi and Garuda are undeniable badasses.

 Street Fighter usually got flak for not making a good transition into 3-D, but people are wrong. EX2 works and plays as well as any Street Fighter game worth its salt. Granted, it's not as deep or complex as Street Fighter III, but not every game needs to be.

Review #458: Shin Megami Tensei IV

 The perfect example of Atlus' decline.

 While I can't say I've been a fan of Shin Megami Tensei since forever, I can say that I am... or rather was a fan of the franchise. They are fun, dark and grim JRPGs that feature atypical characters and intricate plots. But Atlus has changed a lot, and Shin Megami Tensei IV is a clear example of said change. It attempts to lure in long-time fans of the franchise by looking like Shin Megami Tensei, but it's clearly a game for their new-found Persona fans.

 The game has you playing as a mute hero from the land of Mikado, the land of Samurai, who have learned to muster the power of Demons to protect their city against other Demons. A land stuck in the past, victim to classicism born out of castes. Joining the hero are Walter, a Samurai that came from humble origins, Jonathan, one of the highest caste and the token girl Isabeau. If you know your Shin Megami Tensei you'll already figured out that each companion represents a different alignment: Law, Chaos and Neutrality. As something of a departure from the franchise, all three heroes will be accompanying the main character throughout most of the quest, but sadly, this doesn't necessarily mean more depth. Characters are rather bland, and while the story has some fantastic twists, such as the revelations once you come upon the world below Naraku, they can't hide the fact that characters are walking anime tropes. Which would be understandable if this was Persona, but it is not. Isabeu is far removed from previous heroines, being a walking waifu archetype that loves manga, and Walter and Jonathan's motivations draw from cliched plot devices. Mind you, it's not a bad story by any means, but it falls short of what one would expect from Shin Megami Tensei. Heck, even the art direction suffered, it's hard to take Medusa seriously when she sports the goofiest face I've seen.

 As far as gameplay goes, it plays like most modern Shin Megami Tensei games, using tried and true turn-based battles with the Weakness 'one more' system as well as having the player talk with demons in order to have them join his cause. The Samurai are equipped with an armlet that has an AI named Burroughs that not only lets them manage their roster of demons, but also save their game(How meta) or purchase enhancements, such as healing HP or MP while walking, discounts for summoning demons you've already obtained, bonuses when leveling up demons and many others. Yes, you can save and load your game at any time, as well as lower the difficulty if you so see fit. Dying can be remedied by paying Macca(in-game currency that's rather hard to come by) or Play coins. And you'd think that this is a way to handhold players, and maybe it is, but it's also a bit of a necessity, you see...

 The first 10 or so hours of the game are absolutely grueling because of poor game design. Shin Megami Tensei games have always been challenging, but fairly so. This time around it feels like it's entirely luck based. Something that holds true from the very start to the very end of the game is the fact that whoever gets the first turn will win the battle. Y'see, hitting an enemy with a weakness will give you an extra turn, considering your party is made up of the hero and up to three other demons you can get a total of 8 turns... which the enemy hordes can also earn. The problem is that every spell has a base damage, and even low-level spells dish a ton of damage at a base level, so it's entirely possible to die without having a chance if an enemy caught you by surprise. This also means that a boss that decimated you in one turn, because he had the first turn, can be absolutely demolished in a single turn if you go first. And this happens because who goes first in a boss battle is entirely random. If you hit an enemy with an element it resists then you lose a couple of turns and give the enemy a one-turn boost in damage. Remember how I mentioned that the supporting cast traveled with the main character? Well, they get a turn after your turns, and they are so stupid that it's entirely possible that they will hit the enemy with a spell they are strong against, thus giving them said buff for their next turn. Fun. The first hours are harder because your HP, as well as your demons', is very low, so an enemy hitting a weakness can mean death. So yeah, sure, you can lower the difficulty, save at any time or save yourself from death for price... but they are all there to compensate for how much luck can factor in a battle. It's not easy to recuperate from a mistake, such as having a single demon weak to Force on which enemies can profit in order to maul the rest of your team.

 The exploration part of the game is a bit lacking too. If you've played SMT before you know that they like using simplified maps for the overworld, but the map this time around is... too small and cramped, so it's not much use. Exploring dungeons is more straightforward but they added a weird gimmick in which you must move the camera up or down in order to climb surfaces or crawl through small openings. Why? What does that add to the game? What a useless gimmick. And while Burroughs keeps track of your quests and sidequests, sometimes can be a bit disconcerting figuring out where to go. And since I'm at it, this game has the most random Negotiating that I've ever seen in a SMT game, even demons from the same family can react differently to your choices, and it seems like negotiating always goes against the player, so have fun losing turns and HP as you try to sway an enemy to your cause.

 Waifus and character stereotypes? Check. Atlus tax? Check. They tried to justify the extra 10 dollars by adding a guide that nobody wanted, but still. What else is next in the Modern Atlus checklist? Ah! Yes, DLC, which this game has up the wazoo. Remember the four angels? Staples of the franchise, which you get to fight most of the time. Well, they have been redesigned and do have a part to play in the story... but can only be fought if you buy the DLC. Macca is hard to come by, need more? DLC fights to earn Macca. Your level is too low? DLC fights for extra experience. There's so much DLC it ain't even funny, there's even DLC armor, which is kinda ridiculous considering how you can only see your main character when exploring dungeons. So yeah, scummy Atlus' DLC? Check.

 I also want to touch upon the presentation. I'm a strong supporter of the 'graphics don't make a game' camp, but what the hell is this? I mean, I know what it is, in their effort to lure in long-time fans they most of the game look like the SNES classics. Enemies are represented by rather lackluster sprite-art, although at least they stay true to Kazuma Kaneko's designs, well, the enemies that still use his designs anyways, as I've previously stated, some of the new designs are rather poor and amateurish. The 2-D character portraits scream 'Generic Anime' as well, looking as if they came out of Persona 3-4 rather than SMT. Heck, important NPCs are represented by static 2-D sprites as well. The only time the 3DS' muscle is used is when exploring dungeons. Look, the 3DS can do MUCH better than this, and Shin Megami Tensei has looked MUCH better than this, just pick any game from the PS2 era. It's off-putting how many corners they cut with their flagship franchise.

 Shin Megami Tensei is very disappointing for a Shin Megami Tensei game, but it's still a great game on its own. Which is why it was hard to set apart what I wanted out of the game with what it actually is. After you get through the hardest, unfairest part of the game it actually gets fun, and the challenge becomes more fair(even if luck is an ever-present factor). For as disappointing as the story and characters are, there's no denying that SMT's brand of dark horror is still present, even if to a smaller degree. But it's time to accept that Atlus has changed, and with it, Shin Megami Tensei as a whole. Goodbye, it was a good ride.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #457: Gladiator - Sword of Vengeance

 There're many chinks in this Gladiator's armor.

 Before Sony took us to Ancient Greece, with its gods and copious amounts of blood, we had Gladiator - Sword of Vengeance, a similar game in concept but with a much different execution, and set in Ancient Rome. This is a hack and slash action game that tried to do its own thing, to varying degrees of success.

 Arruntius has come to power, turning Rome into a city of... even more blood and more malice, and to celebrate he promises Rome the blood of a champion, the Invictus Thrax, a Gladiator that remained undefeated... until these games happened. But it's not all that bad, Thrax gets sent to the Elysium Camp upon which he learns that Arruntius is being helped by the gods Phobos and Deimos, but he too will be aided by gods, given a second chance and a mission: Kill Arruntius. The story takes a backseat to the gameplay, so don't expect interesting dialogue or characters, but it's an interesting set-up to have you, Thrax, slay both mythological creatures such as Cyclops and... Spartan Skeletons as well as other Gladiators.

 The game takes place throughout 6 stages, but each stage is relatively long and offers bonuses for exploration, so it'll take you between 6 and 8 hours to do everything and collect everything. The game is a bit weird, but it's mostly competent, R1 initiates locking onto enemies, and L1 can be held to target a secondary enemy. This is a rather important mechanic, y'see, Thrax can only perform three-hit combos by mixing Square and X attacks together, with no way to juggle enemies or create your own combos, but you are rewarded for switching between targets as you perform your three-hit combos. Rapidly switching, and successfully hitting different enemies will fill a gauge on the top of the screen that rewards you different bonuses, just as double strength, defense or even invulnerability, but do be careful, as the bonus only remains as long as the gauge is over its icon, and it will drop rapidly if you fail to hit enemies. Lastly, circle can be used to dodged, Thrax can't block, and triangle to use magic, three types that build upon each other, which grant you bonus strength(Easily the most useful), life-leeching or splash damage.

 For the most part, it's a competent system that's relatively fun. For the most part. There's a few kinks that keep it from being great however. For instance, you can't dodge or attack unless you are locking onto an enemy, which can throw you off when you are fumbling with the R1 button, since sometimes the game will autolock, and sometimes it won't, so you might accidentally turn it on or off, and while you deal with that you'll get hit with no chance to dodge. And if an enemy starts blocking... you can't do anything about it but wait until it gets bored and does something else. Certain enemies, the ones with black life bars, can be 'executed' in various, gory different ways, but I found no advantage or reward for doing so except having to go through a short loading scene, so they are pretty lame.

 You are given three different weapons: Sword, Axe and Gauntlets, and to be fair the do have different attacks, strength and speed, but, BUT you can't switch between them mid-combos, a huge missed opportunity. Combat could've been made more rewarding too, although to be fair exploration IS rewarded. Peppered throughout the first five stages you'll find challenge rooms that will bestow you with: Gauge enhancers for every weapon, new weapons(I didn't notice much damage improvement between them, but hey at least they look different!), combat gauge extenders, life bar extenders or one of 20 collectibles. These collectibles can be used to unlock the fourth combat gauge extenders for each weapon and collecting them all lets you choose one of the three ultimate weapons. These are instantly rewarding, which made searching throughout stages a fun enterprise.

 Not that they don't come with a few caveats, however. These fourth combat gauge challenges are unlocked somewhere inside levels you've already been into, and going back to a previous stage means having to endure every single cutscene, even the ones that introduced enemies and solving most puzzles. Not my idea of a fun time. Speaking of cutscenes, they can't be skipped and, to put a cherry on top, the game can get rather challenging, so have fun watching those cutscenes again. And did I mention that there's no manual saving? Hopefully there was a checkpoint close by, lest you have to replay and rewatch much! And I forgot to mention, you can unlock all three final combat gauges after clearing stage four, but don't go after the gauntlets' , since you'll backtrack all the way only to be told that you are missing the third combat gauge power up... found in stage five. Brilliant.

 Before wrapping up, I must mention just how boring and repetitive bosses are. There's one boss for every stage, kinda. The second stage has you fighting Phobos, which is easy as pie but takes a long while since you need to build your magic meter. The third stage features Phobos again, with one new technique, but is basically the same boss. The fourth stage has Deimos that fights similarly to Phobos, but at least beating her is slightly different. The five stage has Deimos again, only a bit different. The last boss is a bit different too, but once again, repetitive and boring, since it's very easy, but takes too long to defeat.

 Gladiator Sword of Vengeance is a mixed bag. The basics are competent, stages are vast, pretty and fun to explore, with a lot of rewards waiting to be earned. Combat is very simple, but I'd lie if I said that I didn't have fun most of the time. But it falls short in other areas, combat needed more polishing and more depth, replaying stages or segments shouldn't have been such a pain, and the bosses desperately needed more creativity. It's a decent weekend game, if anything, one that's easier to remember as a huge waste of potential.
 6.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Gladiator - Sword of Vengeance

 Before God of War there was...

 Gladiator - Sword of Vengeance, before God of War took us to ancient Greece, Sword of Vengeance had as slicing and dicing in ancient Rome. I used to play this game back when I was younger and I actually liked a lot, but as I grew up I always wondered why people forgot about it.

 And I think I kinda, sorta get it. By today's standards the game is pretty dated, combat consists of 3-hit combos, no juggles, no linking, no nothing fancy and dandy that other, future games would implement. But still, I must insist that at the time of its release it was pretty dope, even if less involved that Devil May Cry.

  Well, I'm midway through the first level, and it gets better the more power ups you unlock, so here's to looking forwards to what the game can offer!

Review #456: X-Men - Mutant Academy(Playstation)

 It features costumes from the movie, in case you didn't read the overexcited note on the game's cover.

 X-men - Mutant Academy came out of the left field when the X-Men movie came out, as sort-of a tie-in game. Sort of, because despite featuring costumes from the movie, sorta, it has nothing to do with it, and it's a 2-D fighting game of all things!

 The game offers a few different modes: Arcade, Survival, Training and Versus Player, which are all self-explanatory, as well as a 'Academy Mode' that teaches you every move your character has. And you might as well go through it, since there's no in-game movelist and the booklet is no help in this regard. There's 10 characters in all, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Phoenix, Gambit, Beast, Magneto, Mystique, Sabertooth and Toad, each character featuring their comic book costume, an unlockable alternate costume as well as a costume based on their looks from the movie, Gambit and Beast gaining entirely original outfits, since they didn't appear in the movie. By the by, finishing the game rewards you with a 15 second long CG movie... which are used in the opening movie, so it's a bit of a waste. The Outros for clearing the Academy Mode with every character are very short and unrewarding too.

 The game runs on the very popular 6 button set-up, with three punches and three kicks of varying speed and strength that can be used to string combos together. Characters can also block, by holding back on the joystick, perform throws and use counters, although you only get three per round. The combo system works well enough, but each character only gets about 3 special moves and 3 super moves, which is very lacking. I also felt like the controls, when it came to inputting special and super moves, sometimes were a bit unresponsive.

 The game has a very original set-up in how Super moves work. By dealing damage you build energy on a three-tiered gauge each tiered tied to a different super move. Each tier requires more energy than the next, the weakest super being a simple super move, the second tier being a 'Stringed super move', which lets you boost its damage by pressing the appropriate directions on the D-Pad and lasty, the Xtreme Move, which is the strongest super and... is just another simple super, but one that deals major damage, most of the time anyways. You can transfer energy between tiers, which is brilliant, but in order to perform the Xtreme move... first you have to mash the X button to form an X on the gauge. Seriously. It's pretty idiotic considering that the X is a weak kick, so they expect you to mash X as you press other buttons? When the enemy lies down? What's the point of this mechanic? It's the only blemish on an otherwise great idea.

 And that's Mutant Academy in a nutshell, a good but unremarkable game. It adds some fantastic ideas to the fighting game genre, specifically how you can manage the energy gauge, but it's a bit lacking in other areas. Characters could've used more moves, the fighting could've used some more oomph behind it... and then there's the fact that Mutant Academy 2 makes it completely obsolete.
 6.0 out of 10