Review #788: Soul of the Samurai

 Onimusha before Onimusha.

 Samura protagonist with a Ninja sidekick? Check(It's actually a Ronin, but...). Battle samurai zombies? Check. Pre-rendered backgrounds? Check. No, this ain't Onimusha, this is Konami's Soul of the Samurai, and you wouldn't believe how tough getting a complete copy of this game was, much more one that would ship to Uruguay! Thankfully, it was all worth it, for this as a 3-D action game that's a little bit around the edges, but a whole lotta fun.

 The game sees you playing as either Lin or Kotaro, don't worry, as after finishing the game with either you'll get to pick characters again. And you should really pick the other character, because the only way to fight the true final boss and get a real ending is to play the game with both. Afterwards, each subsequent playthrough on the same file will become a New Game+ in which you keep your goodies. Kotaro is a Ronin that returns to his birth land, only to find out that something is not quite right with the people in the fiefdom, and even his childhood friend is behaving weirdly. Lin is a Shogunate Ninja who finds out about the zombie villagers the hard way, her clansmen being in peril from this threat. The story is pretty underwhelming, but it gets the job done.

 The game is pretty linear, you're always told where you should go. Exploring might yield a few bonus healing items, which come in limited quantities, but sometimes the damage you'd incur on the way might overweight the value of the healing items. That said, both characters can come across an NPC that will grant them 4 bonus costumes each, and their ultimate weapons require a bit of exploring, well, in the case of Kotaro, first you must be able to defeat 300 enemies on chapter 3. Lin, instead, gets Unlimited Kunai should you accomplish the same feat. Contrary to what you might expect from reading that, both characters have completely different storylines, routes and bosses, but they share that one enemy endurance chapter.

 Square is your basic attack, R1 blocks and Circle uses your selected item(Healing herbs or, in the case of Lin, projectile sub weapons too). There's a mana gauge under your health bar that builds up as you deal damage, and you can use super moves with it, you earn super moves by mowing down enemies. Super moves are neat and all, but the best super is the one you start with, mash Square when your health bar is flashing red. Depending on your timing, you can parry attacks or even instantly kill enemies by blocking and pressing attack just before they strike you... like Onimusha.

 Combat rewards waiting. Running towards an enemy and mashing square will probably get you hit before you hit them. The best way to approach combat is to make your way towards your enemies holding down the block button to block most incoming attacks, and after you block counterattack with swipes of your own. Once you get the hang of it and learn to deal with multiple enemies, the game will become much tamer. Bosses, however, will probably murder you until you understand how to battle them. It's a bit annoying how quickly they can deplete your life bar and how much it takes to return to your save file from the Game Over screen, but after you learn how to dodge their attacks and figure out their opening you'll get the hang of it. It probably took me a bit longer than necessary because a lot of times I just had to defeat a boss without using a healing item, I just knew I could manage.

 Lin is probably the easier playthrough, she has 6 chapters instead of 7, and she has an easy to pull off 5 hit combo as well as sub weapons she can shoot from long distance. I mean, you can even unlock unlimited Kunai, which will trivialize most basic enemy encounters as well as her final boss. I just stood rooted to the ground mashing Circle and it could do nothing against me. On the other hand, she unlocks less weapons and a few of her bosses are made up of two-enemy and three-enemy battles that are a bit tougher than Kotaro's man-on-man/creature boss fights. Kotaro is a bit tougher to play as because mashing square won't make his 3-hit combo come out, you actually have to time your presses as soon as each slash ends, and different swords have different timings. But then again, Kotaro can also find a pair of double Katanas, if you fight his optional boss fight in chapter 3, as well as a Iai-striking Katana, so he has a bit more variety.

 My first playthrough with Kotaro took me 1:30 hours to complete, not counting my many deaths, while my second playthrough as Lin only took me 1 hour, once again, not taking into account my deaths. The Final Boss can be beaten in about a minute or less. Needless to say, this is a very, very short game. Thankfully, the game is pretty darn fun.

 Soul of the Samurai is a game barely mentioned nowadays, which is a shame, because it's REALLY fun. I searched around to see how it scored back in the day, because I couldn't fathom why nobody ever mentioned this game, and one of the lowest mainstream reviews I could find was Gamespot's, who disliked the game because....it wasn't Tenchu? Alas, Soul of the Samurai is great because of what it is, and not because of what it isn't: a fine action game that did Onimusha before Onimusha did Onimusha.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #787: A Way Out

 No way outta this crime thriller cliche storm.

 In modern day gaming local co-op is pretty much a thing of the past unless you look into indie titles or inside the Switch's library, which is why A Way Out is so special: You can only play it with another person. It's a narrative focused game that has the screen split between both players 95% of the time.

 The game follows inmates Leo and Vincent, who quickly join up together in order to escape from prison. But that's only half of the game, it turns out that both characters were wronged by a man named Harvey, so they team up in order to bring him down. I've read complaints about the voice acting, but the main characters were really good, Leo sounds like a generic Italoamericano you see in crime movies, while Vincent plays the more stern type that can play off Leo's more excitable nature. The characters play well together, and the story itself is well paced and a decent popcorn movie-type analogue. Heck, we even get a few slower paced sections to develop both main characters, so they really grow on you. Which makes the endings all the more tragic, for you see, there are two endings, and both are bittersweet.

 The game is made up of various chapters, each one having a main objective: You might have to muggle a wrench out of the crafts ward, you might need fix a car or you might have to escape from the police. There's a ton of variety here, sometimes you'll be solving simple puzzles that require both characters working in tandem, sometimes one character will drive while the other shoots and the final chapter of the game is a very basic third person cover-shooter shootout. There's plenty of variety which keeps thins interesting. Most chapters have slower paced parts in which you can interact with npcs or objects around you. You can make small talk with characters, each character gets their own different conversations with the same characters, and most of the time you can pick what you want your character to tell them. Usually it amounts to nothing more than a different response, but in a few chapters it might produce slightly different results. Plus, there are many small objects you can interact with just for the fun of it. In the hospital you can play 4-in-line with the other player, there are a few dart boards in a few locations, compete for who can do the most pull ups, play a rudimentary arcade machine.... not to mention objects that are there just for interactivity's sake, like sanding wood. You can do it, you don't even get a line of dialogue for doing it, but you can do it if you want. And it's amusing, because both characters can be doing completely different things at the same time, you may be interacting with stuff around you just for kicks while the other player interacts with NPCs just because, it's very amusing.

 Besides all those little interactions you can do or skip, there are many times in the game in which both players will have to agree on either Vincent or Leo's way. While the end result will always be the same, how you get to that result will change. Very early in the game you have to decide whether to listen to Vincent and go through very simple, non-deadly platforming or agree with Leo and steal a car to drive through the bridge. Widely different playable sections, but the end result is the same. So, y'know, it's fun, and it adds replayability just to see what you missed.

 Puzzles in the game are very easy to figure out, and the few shooting sections don't pose much challenge, since health regeneration is very generous. But the entire game is not about challenge and overcoming odds, it's about following an interesting, even if very cliched, narrative, while working with your partner. It's a lot of fun.

 A Way Out is a very fun time, and while I applaud the developers for making a such a good co-op game, it's almost a shame that you can't play the game by yourself, I mean, it kinda sucks having to depend on someone else every time you feel like playing A Way Out.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #786: Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter

 Capcom does it again! This is how to make a game on the cheap!

 You thought the previous game was lazy? How naive could you get? Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter is here to show you how to make a 2-D fighting game on a 10 buck budget. Amount of new sprites? A big fat 0. Unless you're in Japan, in which case you get the joke character Norimaru, who is neither Marvel or Street Fighter. There is, however, Cyber Akuma, but he is a just an Akuma edit. Well, how large did the roster get with the new Marvel characters? None. It's 17 characters again, for all intent and purposes, this is just a remixed character roster. At least we get new stages, right? Right? Nope, it has the same backgrounds from X-Men VS Street Fighter, although edited to look slightly different: More character cameos, different time of the day, etc. Even Apocalypse returns as the final boss, even if Cyber Akuma is the final battle in the Arcade Ladder. This game is whole new level of lazy.

 Although, to be fair, they did take a few short steps forward. Let's start with the roster, Charlie and Cammy got replaced by Dan and Sakura, which means that half of Capcom's 8-character roster is made up of Shotos, more if you count Sakura. Her fireballs go diagonally upwards at least. The only returning characters from X-Men are Cyclops and Wolvie, the rest got replaced by Omega Red(From X-Men COTA) and the rest are various picks from Marvel Super Heroes(Captain America, Hulk, Spider-man, Blackheart and Shuma-Gorath). I don't like this roster as much as the previous one, to be honest. That said, this game was the first to introduce hidden bonus characters. Charlie returns as 'Shadow', a secret character, so there's at least 8 different movesets, but he is also joined by Cyber Akuma(He is very hard to unlock though), Armored Spider-man(Spidey with Super Armor), Mecha Zangief(Zangief with super armor and can't block), Evil Sakura(Sakura with a few of Akuma's moves), Mephisto(Red Blackheart, his attacks have a cosmetic fire effect) and US Agent who is just a black recoloring of Captain America. Everyone but Cyber Akuma and Charlie are almost identical to their counterparts, Mephisto and US Agente being the worst offenders, but it's a neat, cheap addition to the roster

 Once again, this is not a straight port from the Arcade: There's no Tag system and missing frames, because the PS1 couldn't handle a straight port. Gameplay remains pretty much the same, 6 attack buttons, 3 punches and 3 kicks of varying strengths, special and super moves, aerial combos, and the Variable Counter and joined Super with your buddy returns. There's a new element to how you fight, pressing medium punch and medium kick will summon your selected buddy to perform a quick attack before going away. Somehow, Capcom managed to polish the game's performance once again, slowdown is pretty much gone save for some Super Moves. This means that you can finally play as Blackheart without killing the framerate! It's pretty smooth, which is pretty nice. Another neat touch, is that finishing a fight with a Super will plaster the name of said Super Move on the screen, while the background starts flashing and the announcer screams "HYPER COMBO FINISH!", but it gets better, if you finish the fight with the combined super you'll get a combined Super name! "MESSATSU OPTIC BLAST!", "ARMAGGEDON HADOKEN" and the such! It's pretty amazing. The announcer feels more hype than in the previous game, which, once again, is a very small but welcome new addition.

 Arcade, Versus and Training modes return, Survival is gone, but in its stead we get two new modes: Hero Battle, which is a team battle in which one player can only use either Marvel Super Heroes or Street Fighters, while the other player/CPU is stuck with characters from the other universe. And Crossover mode, which is pretty much a demo of the Arcade game, for you see, it plays just like the Arcade original with the tag-system kept intact.... at the cost of only being able to play mirror matches. It's just a novelty, but I guess it's a decent taste of the real thing. I preferred Survival over Hero battle, but what can ya do?

 Honestly? I prefer X-Men VS Street Fighter, if only because both games play pretty similarly to each other, but the former had a much better roster. That said, I won't deny this game its praises: The hidden characters, while cheap, are a nice bonus, the announcer makes things feel more exciting, the framerate has been ironed out and the Crossover mirror match mode is not a bad addition.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #785: Mobile Suit Gundam - Journey to Jaburo

 This one might be a Zaku.

 Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo might be as basic as third person action games can get, but it has a very special place in my heart: It was my first proper introduction to Gundam outside Gundam Wing. I LOVED this game, I remember being stuck on mission 3 for the longest time, and then spending countless mornings replaying the Tactics mode. I really liked this game, and while it hasn't aged very well, it still has its charm.

 The game is made up of two modes: Story Mode and Tactics Mode, which is unlocked after finishing the Story Mode. The Story Mode is incredibly brief, being made up of 9 short missions, most of which can be beaten in about 5 minutes or so. It kinda sucks, but the presentation is fantastic, not only are the graphics pretty decent, considering how early in the Playstation 2's life it was released, but it also has a ton of clips and stills from the show. It is a passable adaptation of the story, from beginning up to Zeon's assault on Jaburo. I mean, you'll probably need to be familiar with the original series or compilation movies to get the most out of it, but the anime clips are very neat. Tactics Mode, however, is divided into Federation and Zeon, each mode has 3 6-8 minute long missions(I'm not sure if the difficulty is random or if it's tied to which suit you are using), but, as mentioned inside those cheeky parenthesis, you can pick from various Mobile Suits that you unlock the more you play. By the end you'll have played each mission about 10 times or so, but unlocking new Suits is fun... even if they are all pretty similar.

 What really brings down the game is how unresponsive and awkward are both movement and controls. You have to use the directional pad to move around, which is very clunky and turning takes forever, R1 and L1 can be used to strafe, which also feels odd, and dashing is done by double tapping any direction on the DPad. Trust me, you'll often times find you dashing by mistake. Square is used to slash or shoot, but you have to swap weapons with triangle... which is impossibly slow. Heck, sometimes when slashing you might cancel your first slash with another slash, which is just weird. If it helps, you can think of these poor controls as adding to the realism of piloting a Mobile Suit. It didn't help make them any less unbearable, but hey, maybe it could work for ya. One mild annoyance is that the only way to get a proper Radar is by pausing the game.

 I'll admit liking this game is tough, but listen, as someone that really likes Gundam I think there's a little fun to be had here. I found the story mode very appealing thanks to all the anime clips, and Tactics Mode was shockingly addictive, I didn't think I'd stick so long with it, but I did, and I don't regret any minute spent in there. So, that's my verdict, Gundam fans may want to give it a look, otherwise don't bother.
 5.0 out of 10

Review #784: Sega Classics Collection

 It's Sega.... on a budget!

 Sega Classics Collection is not yet another of Sega's various recompilation of their games. I mean, it is another compilation, but instead of reuniting its Arcade classics, it actually reunites a series of Japan only stand-alone releases of low-budget 3-D remakes of a few of their Arcade games. And I'm not kidding when I say low-budget, the graphics look like something out of a Playstation 1.5 and the gameplay can sometimes feel a bit janky. That said, these were very basic Arcade games in the first place, so even at its worst not much is lost. If you're up for alternate but not alienating takes on Outrun, Space Harrier, Columns, Bonanza Bros, Virtua Racing, Monaco GP, Tant R, Golden Axe, Fantasy Zone and Alien Syndrome, well, look no further.

 Outrun

 I really like Outrun. I mean, Outrun 2006 on PS2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I won't lie, this Outrun remake is a big part of why I sought out this collection. And I'm happy to report that it's pretty dope!

 Outrun is not your average racing game, but rather, it's a driving game of you against the clock, you're constantly driving forward trying to get no the next checkpoint, and get a time boost, while avoiding curves and traffic. You get to pick different routes in between checkpoints by taking picking either the right or left fork at the end of every 'section'. This remake is more than just skindeep, but alongside 'Arcade' mode, that plays like the original, we also get Time Attack and Arrange. Arrange is what really matters, and I suggest jumping straight into it, for you see, it adds a completely new set of zones, heck, it adds MORE zones, for you see, a run in Arcade Mode lasts 7 sections, and it also adds Rivals to compete against, like Outrun 2006.

 While I managed to get into, and wound up loving, the drifting system in Outrun 2006, I'll admit that I've never been too good at the original Outrun. Thankfully, this game adds way to tweak the experience to your liking, you can select difficulty settings and increase your starting time. I think this is the first time I've ever managed to finish Outrun, and thanks to this, you can turn the game into a very chill experience, which is something I really liked. While you can pick any of the original music tracks to race with, you can also pick from 3 new remixes. The only issue I can think of with this Remake is that sometimes the camera angles are too low, so it gets a bit hard seeing any traffic in front of you.

 Overall, and I'm writing this before playing the next 9 games, I'll claim right here and now that this collection is worth it for this game alone. I don't care if what comes next is garbage, this is a very neat version of Outrun to own.
 8.0 out of 10

Columns

 I'm too slow in the head for this game, I don't feel any shame in admitting that. It's a bit like Tetris, since you have things coming down, but what actually falls are columns made out of three gems. You can press buttons to shift the order of the gems, your goal being to make vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines between gems of the same color. As you play the game and score higher, the gems will start dropping faster. I'm really bad at this game, which probably tinted how much I actually enjoyed it.

 The game can be played in Endless, VS Player and VS CPU, but you can also pick between two HUDs for Endless mode. There's the classic look to the game, which is very basic and a bit rough, just like it used to be, but there's also the new HUD that makes everything sleeker and prettier, now gems actually rotate on their spots, which is just a cosmetic visual effect, but adds more life to the game.

 I won't lie, I don't care about Columns. I'm not good at it, but the game doesn't interest me enough to want me to get good at it. Still, for what it's worth, it's not a bad take on the falling blocks type of puzzle games, and it has value in this collection since it adds something different from the rest of the games.
 6.0 out of 10

Tant R

 I didn't know that this game existed, but... it's Sega's very own WarioWare, for you see, this is a minigame collection. At first I didn't really like it too much, but it quickly grew on me. There are about 20 different minigames and they are rather fun, things like sharpening pencils by rotating the analog stick, put on the brakes on your car at the right time, figure out in which coffin Dracula is hiding through hints, stop a timer at the right time, put an 8 block picture in the right order and the such. It's not as bonkers as WarioWare, but I'm sure that for its era it was quite wacky. You can play the main game with another player, or play Free Mode with either 2 or 4 player, which is pretty neat.

 As far as the remake goes... I think they sharpened up the 2-D sprites, but not much work was put on sprucing up the presentation. Regardless, it's a pretty fun game for a short while.
 7.0 out of 10

Bonanza Bros.

 Bonanza Bros is actually somewhat hidden with Tant R, and is yet another game that keeps its 2-D look, heck, I don't think they changed it much. Regardless, it's a fun light stealth game in which you must infiltrate buildings and steal their valuables before escaping. You can hide on back planes, shoot to stun enemy cops or smash them on the wall when you open a door they are standing next to. By your lonesome it's a bit average, but with it's a fun time when played with another player.
 6.5 out of 10

Virtua Racing

 A racing game that I sorta kinda maybe think it looks better than the original, but not by much. It offers Arcade, Grand Prix, Free Mode and 2P, as well as 6 different tracks. The game is sorta fun, but I'm not a fan of the checkpoint system, for you see, while you have to run a certain amount of laps, you're also against a timer, and you only get time by passing checkpoints through each lap. It's weird. It's fun at times, but overall, pretty forgettable.
 5.0 out of 10

 Monaco GP

 Finally we're back with budget 3-D remakes! This is a top-down driving game that offers three modes: Arcade, Grand Prix, Time Attack and Versus Player. The game can be played in both Original and Classic modes. Original is very straightforward, the road might twist or curve a bit, but for the most part, you're moving in a straight line. Classic adds proper curves, but you must turn your car with the shoulder buttons, which is pretty original. You can also jump and grab power ups. The game is a bit boring, but the biggest issue is the framerate, any time there are more than two cars on screen at the same time the framerate will take a hit.
 4.5 out of 10

Fantasy Zone

 This remake is actually quite pretty because we get cellshaded models for the player ship and the enemies. It has three modes: Normal, Arcade and Challenge. Regardless, all modes have the same objective: You, as a flying ship, find and destroy big enemies until the boss arrives. Enemies drop coins that you can use to purchase temporary power ups. The main difference between Normal and Arcade seems to be that Normal doesn't have a story but has bonus rounds after bosses. Challenge Mode lets you pick from any stage, and purchase power ups for use in Normal and Arcade modes.

 Overall? It's a bit boring and it froze on me once.
 4.0 out of 10

Alien Syndrome

 The surprise wonder of this collection, I had played the original Alien Syndrome on one of Sega's other game collections, and I didn't really like it. But this one? This one is pretty good. It's a very basic top-down shooter in which you play as a space soldier thing that visits various spaceships, and after your character sets up the bomb, must rescue a minimum amount of alien prisoners before you can get to the exit, while under the bomb's time limit, and fight the boss. A better idea would've been to set up the bomb AFTER rescuing everyone, but I guess our hero fails to plan ahead. It can be played with either 1 or 2 players.

 It's a very simple game, but it's very fun. There are a fair amount of weapons you can collect, such as bombs(useless), homing rockets(USELESS on the third boss, I had to restart the level), flame missiles(really good), a flamethrower and a laser(best weapon in the game). You can also collect option bits that will hover around you, shooting when you do, but you can also press another button to make them explode for tons of free damage. You can shoot ahead of you with X or shoot in a locked direction, allowing you to strafe, by using the circle button. It's six stages short, with a seventh boss at the end, and although it has a few framerate issues.... as a whole, it plays relatively well. I swear, I didn't expect it to be this much fun, but this game was a pleasant surprise.
 7.5 out of 10

Space Harrier

 The bad news? It's a very ugly version of Space Harrier. The good news? It's just as addictive. So, you know the deal, it's a third person endless runner(or flyer in this case), constantly moving forward. Sadly, you are harassed by incoming enemies. Thankfully you can fly around the screen and shoot them down. This version adds a few new novelties: Aside from mashing the Square button to shoot, you can hold down X to shoot a weak, homing laser as well as collect bombs that clear the screen from basic enemies and deal damage to bosses. Supposedly, R2 is rapid fire but it seems to need a cooldown period or something? It's not reliable. Just mash square. There are also floating power ups that I've no idea what they do, but the floating B is a protective shield.

 I hate the main character's redesign, and at first I hated the fact that they removed the running animation.... but it's still there, you just need to play on a flat stage. Stages and enemies are a bit drab and boring when compared to the original, but after stage 7 it gets a bit prettier. While there are no continues, which is a bit harsh at first, after you reach stage 6 you can start a new game from there. You can turn off Fractal mode for simpler graphics on the floor, and maybe you should, it's more colorful that way. Regardless, it's pretty faithful to the original game, but, in my opinion, the added gameplay mechanics don't amount to much and the new art style leaves a lot to be desired. It's not ugly due to technical reasons, but merely purely artistic ones.
 6.0 out of 10

Golden Axe

 The other reason I purchased this game. While I've always loved beat'em ups, I always thought Golden Axe was very lame, however, I used to own a copy of the Japanese release of this game, under the Sega Ages label, so I kinda had to get it back! And that's how I discovered this collection. That said and done, by the time I finished the game I have to admit that I had a fair share of fun with it.

 The game offers a single/two player mode campaign, a VS battle against another player, and Time Attack and Survival offerings for single player. I think the campaign is a bit longer, because I don't remember having to go underground in the original. Regardless, the game feels as stiff as the original, while also feeling cheaper, floatier even. A few changes to the original were made, for instance, now you can earn magic points, for screen-clearing magic attacks, by defeating enemies, and we also get an overpowered back-slash that's SO good it even hits enemies in front of you. On the same token, rideable monsters are pretty much useless in this game because their animations are too slow and their attacks leave you open for way too long. The most common rideable beast turns around every time you press attack, which is a huge handicap most of the time.

 I've always disliked Golden Axe because even by beat'em up standards its too repetitive. There are no fun weapons to pick up and use, the monsters you can ride are more of a handicap than anything and it has about 5 different enemy types in total. The music, however, is downright amazing. My other big gripe with the game is something that they kept very true to the original: How cheap it is. Enemies love to surround you, and as soon as you start pummeling someone, an enemy will rush towards you and kick you in the back. Sometimes a new enemy might spawn behind you as you slash an enemy, and you are too slow to either jump or try to move sideways. It's too stiff. A few enemies seemed to have had a bit of trouble navigating the new third dimension, which sometimes works in your favor, as they get stuck leaving you open to finish off a few baddies. As with most games in this collection, it has a few framerate issues.

 I won't deny that the game had its ups and downs, but I think most of the fun I had with this game stemmed for the nostalgia I had for this remake. I have a ton of fond memories of playing through this very version of Golden Axe with my friends in highschool, so that might have tinted my enjoyment of the game.
 5.5 out of 10

 Sega Classics Collection is quite a mixed bag, some games are fun, some are dated and some are just dull, but at least we get a nice variety of genres, and I like the fact that most of this games are alternate takes on classic games. If you're into driving games or Outrun you'll probably get the most out of this collection, I mean, I was so content with the Outrun remake that the rest of the games could've been garbage and I would've been just as satisfied.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #783: X-men VS Street Fighter

 Capcom are gonna get their time and money's worth out of that Wolverine sprite.

 "How lazy can we get?" was the question Capcom was trying to answer with X-Men VS Street Fighter, a game they made by grabbing those beautiful Street Fighter Alpha sprites and pitting them against their beautiful X-Men: Children of the Atom sprites. Out of the 17 total characters, only 3 are complete new sprite sets: Sabertooth, Rogue and Gambit. Apocalypse too if you wanna count Arcade Mode's final boss. To be honest, I never spent much time with this game. I played it once or twice in the Arcades, but by the time I got a PS2 I was too busy with Marvel VS Capcom and Marvel VS Capcom 2 to care about this one, as once I got my hands on a copy of the game I just gave it a few cursory plays. And.... that might've been a mistake, as having delved deeper into this game... I quite liked it.

 First things first, when talking about the PS1 port of X-Men VS Street Fighter one has to acknowledge that this is a very different game from the Arcade original, as the PS1 just couldn't handle the game as a whole, so the whole tag mechanic got completely axed. Think of this as a simple 1 on 1 fighter, because that's what it's turned into for this PS1 port. If you can live with that, as well as the cut animation frames from every character, then you just might find a fun little fighting game on PS1. Plus, from the get go we get Arcade, VS(player), Training and Survival, as well as the aforementioned 17 character roster, so we're already getting a much meatier game than Marvel Super Heroes before it. I also quite like the roster selection and the fact that it's limited to just X-Men and Street Fighter. Once again, and like most games of its era, there's no in-game moveset.

 While the tagging system is gone, making this a 1 on 1 fighting game, you still get to pick a partner, and they can be used with the games two main new mechanics: Variable Hyper and Variable Counter. By pressing reverse quarter-circle-forward + Punch+ Kick when you bock an attack, your ally will jump in, consume an energy gauge, and hit the enemy with a special move. Variable Hyper is simply pressing quarter-circle-forward+Punch+Kick which will make both you and your ally use your Super moves, at the cost of two energy bars. If there's anything to complain about is that some characters' supers don't synergize well with each other, like Akuma and Sabertooth, and since the tag mechanic is gone... it kinda makes some teams downright useless.

 The rest of the game is pretty much what you'd expect, 6 attack buttons(3 kicks, 3 punches), special moves, super moves, aerial combos, dashing, the whole gamut. Loading times are pretty tolerable, and there's not as much slowdown as there was in Marvel Super Heroes. A few super and special moves will tank the framerate, like Magneto's special Beam, but as a whole it's quite playable, as long as you don't expect a perfect arcade conversion. Which you shouldn't.

 Just like Marvel Super Heroes before it, and any Street Fighter Alpha game, this is an incredibly gorgeous game, sprites are big and beefy, and very colorful to boot. The music is sublime, and the stages are very eye-catching, I's say it has some of the most memorable fighting game stages of its era, like the Police raid that breaks into the sewers. And looks aside, despite having some framerate issues every now and then, the controls are responsive, and the game is quite fast and snappy, making for some great looking fights that are fun to be a part of.

 Fact: The Arcade version is infinitely better. No framerate issues, better animation with no cut frames and the game-changing tag mechanic. It's a better game, period, end of. However, taking the limitations of the Playstation in mind, I think that what we have here is very fun, and I find it so interesting to have a one-on-one version of this game. If you can accept that this game will never be as good as the Arcade version and that its framerate issues keep it from being competitive... I think you'll find a rather fun  fighting game in here.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #782: Kong - The 8th Wonder of the World

 I wonder if any gorilla got hurt during the making of this game?

 While I know I even owned King Kong on VHS back when I was a little kid, I've never been too fond of the character, so even if Peter Jackson took a swing at the franchise hot on the heels of Lord of the Rings I just didn't care. Not that that would stop me from giving Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World a try! I'm not too sure of how I came about it, but I saw either a video or a screenshot of three playable characters on-screen at the same time and right then and there I knew that I had to play it.

 This game is a very brief adaptation of the movie by the same name, taking form of a puzzle/adventure game not unlike something like Zelda, but much, much worse. You're thrown into Kong's Island and must adventure threw the land following various objectives, at first, you only get Jack and Carl, who must rescue Anna from the villagers, and once that's done you get your full 3 member party. If you decide to explore instead of going from objective to objective, you might find a few collectibles that permanently upgrade your characters' lifebars, so there're rewards for going off the beaten path. Every now and then you'll get to play as the big banana itself, King Kong, but his short stages take the form of decent, but unremarkable, beat'em up sections.

 Each character has their own set of tools: Jack is the ONLY one that can attack, and he can do so with a Machete, a Rifle or by throwing javelins, the latter that can also be used to trigger levers from afar. Carl can push and pull certain objects, throw grenades(to crack rocks or defeat man-eating plants) and use a torch to light other torches. Anna... Anna follows gender tropes to a tee, being able to use a herb to heal the party, use another type of herb to heal villagers, use a hookshot or.... scream for Kong. Yes, one of her 'tools' is a scream. To add insult to injury, the couple of times you must summon Kong with her screams, you need to hide immediately before he arrives, lest he kidnaps Anna and you have to go fetch her again. Or, y'know, load your savefile before screaming. You can swap the character on the lead with the L button, or separate the party with select, as sometimes you might need someone to stay over a switch so that another character can go do something across a bridge or somethin'. Each character has their own health bar, and even the character you aren't playing as can get hurt if he or she touches an enemy, but its game over if anyone dies.

 At first the game seemed really amazing, the puzzles were fun, finding collectibles was rewarding and it even had a light crafting element! But.... it quickly went downhill after I cleared my first temple. The fun crafting element? Eventually became dumb, because Torches, Grenades, Hookshots and Javeling all run out, so you must keep crafting them, which means cutting down plants and pots every single time because your puzzle-solving tools actually run out. I mean, to be fair, the dungeons/temples are the game's high points, they are very, very fun. If the game was only made up of these it'd be an easy 8, but alas, we've also got to contend with the Island itself....

 So, why did the game go downhill after I cleared my first Temple? Because I realized the map is downright useless. You can check the map while traversing the menus(Start, then L button, then select) and it'll show an X on the area that you need to reach. Problem? The game doesn't tell you how areas connect, so even though the X is to the right of the area you are standing in, you might have to approach that X from above or below, it's a gamble to be honest. Some areas have like five different entrances/exits so you'll never know just how to reach whatever zone you want to reach. Maybe you didn't see an exit? Maybe I have to go below before and get to the area through another route? I don't know, the map won't tell me. The map is useless. All this needless meandering through the Island quickly sapped me of any and every enjoyment I was having. What's even worse, the jungles sometimes has endless enemy respawn nooks and crannies, nooks and crannies you need to walk through, so you might take damage because the enemy immediately spawned next to one of your characters.

 Man, Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World has been, easily, the worst disappointment I had this year. The game started off SO promising, and to be fair, every temple you visit is fun to figure out. Pushing rocks to cover air drafts so that you can carry a lit torch without it getting blown out, figuring out how to get from one point to the next, etc, etc is very fun, it's just that getting to those really good parts requires going through some awful, awful parts. Sadly, this game is a case of the bad vastly outweighing the good.
 4.0 out of 10