So MTV gave us an ABDC special to hype up for this year's Video Music Awards, which could be likely crap - Live blog of that craziness when that happens. Anyway, let's recap today's ABDC show of five of the top crews from the top 2 seasons competing for a VMA slot doing the nominated videos for Best Dance Video and 25k for their favorite charity.
Actually, the show started off with a performance by Jabbawockeez and SuperCrew, the winners of the two seasons, and it was sick. The number is a collaboration of the two crews and Shane Sparks and it is just awesome seeing these winners do their thing together.
The competition started off with Irvine's very own Kaba Modern doing "4 Minutes" by Madonna and Justin Timberlake. Right off the bat, the conveyor belt they used is true to the video and plus its your typical Kaba performance of isolations and MTV cameras following Yuri around. Good thing they're not letting their success of traveling worldwide performing everywhere get into their heads because they're still doing their thing.
Next up is BreakSk8 doing Ne-Yo's "Closer" and they also ripped it. It feels good that they are still doing their thing showing that skating and dancing can mesh pretty well together. Like Kaba being true to themselves, BreakSk8 stayed true to their style with various b-boy moves on skates and being accurate to the video from the outfits to the chorus moves.
So Real Cru continues to do their thing as well fresh off their loss to SuperCrew last week at the Season 2 Finale. At least their hunger for winning was still in for this little competition doing Chris Brown's "Forever." Nothing really surprising from this performance since the ABDC audience is pretty much used to their style already of crazy hand illusions and bringing the "Explosion." Plus, we finally to see So Real and Kaba dance in the same show since everyone says they're the same, but there are noticeable differences with their styles.
Once again, Fanny Pak continues to amaze with their creativity and crazy concepts for their performance of "When I Grow Up" by the Pussycat Dolls. From the beginning, you just expect randomness from them, but the whole thing still came together with the baby carriages to the various outfits they were wearing just like the song of what they want to do when they grow up. This is hands down my favorite appearance of the show today.
Last up is Status Quo and no wonder they disappeared after Season 1 because of drama and their egos going off. Yet, they still managed to do okay doing "Damaged" by Danity Kane despite getting a song they don't like and doing LOTS of flips at any moment. I hope they stay broken up and MTV could of replaced them with Boogie Bots. This performance was the worst one compared the rest of the competition.
So the judges picked the top three crews to have a shot of being in the VMAs and I agree with who they picked.
Fanny Pak
Kaba Modern
So Real Cru
After that, people vote for the top 2 they want to face off at the VMA pre-show and then the winner gets the 25k for charity along with being in the award show as presenters. Its pretty obvious Fanny Pak gets in as one of those two, but it can be a toss up between Kaba and So Real for the other spot. Overall, this ABDC special is pretty good with great performances and shows how why the show is successful. Good thing Season 3 is in January, but the tour should be cool with the lineup of crews in.
According to Capcom's Unity Blog, they announced a multi-year deal of games to have the GGPO netcode. For those who don't know, GGPO has been the saving grace for fighting games on the PC for playing online which is usually for 2D fighters like the Street Fighter games (Super Turbo and Alpha 2 are favorites). The article stated that the head of GGPO stopped by the Backbone offices to consult about the online netcode for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Capcom getting the multi-year license of GGPO for future games like the console versions of Street Fighter IV and other games is a good thing for the fighting game community that wanted near-perfect online play for their matches. This is another reason why Capcom has been perhaps the best Japanese based publisher / developer now delivering on solid products, listening to the fanbase, being one of the ambassadors for downloadable games (Bionic Commando Rearmed), and bringing back the franchises people care about (Strider could be next). Imagine the possiblities with GGPO on Capcom's side, they could finally release my dream of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 HD Remix with lagless online play if they could get the Marvel rights back. To celebrate another victory for Capcom fans, I posted another Street Fighter IV match with Ryu and Dhalsim (the Dhalsim is pretty good using the telports to his advantage).
Slightly off topic but SF4 related: Check out the blog links here for The Street Fighter Blog for more on my most anticipated game with new footage of playable Akuma with two versions of his Raging Demon as his super and ultra as well as his ending possibly hinting Gouken as another secret boss / playable character.
TNA Impact is on less than a hour here at the West Coast on Spike and I have been on the fence for the TNA game, which comes out September 9th. I understand this first TNA game from Midway wants to establish the engine and gameplay for future games if they plan on doing that which seems likely. The thing that is making me skip this (I do love TNA better than WWE lately despite its crappy storylines, their roster is better) is the lack of content for the final game, hence why I made the point earlier of Midway establishing the foundations and then adding more in future games. The only way I think it will compete with the Smackdown games is the roster itself. I would rather play as Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Kurt Angle, and so on compared to Batista, John Cena, Triple H, and so on with the WWE. The lack of modes is the start of what is missing from TNA Impact as well as missing signature moves like Kurt's Ankle Lock and Sting's Scorpion Deathlock (word from the streets). Also, the presentation is also not to par with the Smackdown games especially with the short enterances for the wrestlers (at least their music is accurate). Hopefully the gameplay shines from everything else when the game comes out in two weeks. Here's the commercial as well above.
So Rush's "Moving Pictures" album still has not come out for Rock Band as Harmonix said they will delay it for a bit. On the other hand, more albums are announced as DLC for Rock Band 1 and 2 which is likely for the remainder of the year from Entertainment Weekly and some of these I would buy in a heartbeat (Story is at Joystiq).
Foo Fighters - "The Colour and the Shape"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Blood Sugar Sex Magik"
Jane's Addiction - "Nothing's Shocking"
Megadeth - "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying"
Stevie Ray Vaughn - "Texas Flood"
No Doubt - unannounced album, but likely a greatest hits compilation.
Yes at Foo Fighters, RHCP, and No Doubt, but we'll see on the others. One of the songs from the five confirmed albums are in the Rock Band 2 disc, so at least players on the fence of buying those albums can play "Everlong," "Give It Away," "Peace Sells," and "Mountain Song" to see if they like it.
UPDATE - Even the free songs for Rock Band 2's launch are pretty good (from NeoGAF and the RB forums).
Honest Bob - Tatooine
Against Me! - Stop!
Static-X - Push It
George Thorogood - Bad to the Bone
Blink 182 - Dammit
Free - All Right Now
Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
Hot Hot Heat - Bandages
Bad Religion - Suffer
Turbonegro - All My Friends Are Dead
The Haunted - Shadow World
Pennywise - The Western World
Rancid - Fall Back Down
Sublime - Santeria
Taking Back Sunday - What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost
The Breeders - Cannonball
Sepultura - Refuse/Resist
Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise
Speaking of Rock Band 2, here's a preview of pretty much the last tier of songs on guitar and vocals on Expert.
Japan has the Amusement Show every year where people show what's next for Japanese arcades (sort of like E3 or Leipzig GC for the arcades). Some of the highly anticipated games will be there along with some surprising additions like Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion (aka Tekken 6.1) being shown for the first time at this year's show. Great, Tekken 6 is already out for a year and another version is already planned for late 2008 release. Could Bloodline Rebellion be the PS3 version of Tekken 6? Seems likely at this point and I hope so because I don't know if U.S. arcades would double dip for BR especially how expensive the official cabinet for Tekken 6 was.
King of Fighters XII (pictured on this post) is expected to be one of big games shown at AM 2008. It was announced nearly a year ago at the same show (or Tokyo Game Show). The new graphical art style is already pleasing fans as this one could be the best looking 2D fighting game now giving BlazBlue some competition. Of course Sega has new arcade games to show as well like a new House of the Dead and other sports games that would never appeal to the U.S. audience. The Amusement Show at Japan is sometime next month before TGS.
EA's Facebreaker is out next week and more celebrities are putting their faces in the game asking to be owned. Here's Heidi and Spencer from The Hills on the game in this clip. For a crappy game like this (early reviews at magazines think so), getting celebrities in the game thanks to camera support for 360 and PS3 is pretty desperate. If this is EA's way to sell Facebreaker because the actual game sucks (play the demo and see for yourself), then it would likely bomb and you would rather wait for a proper boxing game with Fight Night Round 4 next year.
Off-topic: I beaten Castle Crashers already today (the game came out today) doing it solo. Various forums seem to say the online is pretty much busted, so I'm not going online till tomorrow to see for myself if they are right. Review of this hopefully in the weekend.
Kanye's new video for "Good Morning" has surfaced and it is a nice little animated clip. At least the time of this post fits for the East Coast rather than where I'm at now since it is already Wednesday there.
Yeah, this movie is real and the original cast is pretty much back (At least the mainstays of the first one that popularized street racing for the masses). Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Michelle Rodriguez return to what made them famous, which is the Fast & the Furious franchise. Honestly, I never watched Tokyo Drift (maybe I should??), but hopefully this one will be good as this movie is out next summer at theaters.
For some odd reason, I came up with a idea for Rock Band DLC (A return of sorts for my wishlist) and these picks may seem dumb, but who cares.
Katy Perry - "I Kissed A Girl"
Yeah, I picked this song - Whether you love it or hate it, its hella catchy, people would sing it, and the mainstream audience would buy it as DLC (Don't know about who wants to play guitar or bass on this). Actually, come to think of it, a karaoke game like Lips or SingStar would be better I guess (I think its in EA's Boogie Superstar).
The Ting Tings - "Shut Up and Let Me Go"
I still love this song a lot and it was mentioned on the NeoGAF Rock Band thread as a suggestion. I won't mind it because it is also fun and catchy.
Rock Band 2 is like less than 3 weeks away (for 360 folks). Check out last week's 1UP Show for more on that - with footage of "Today" and "You Oughta Know." I still think RB2 has the better setlist on the disc than RB1 - At least there are more songs for the current generation of kids they would rock out to compared to RB1 (Even last weekend at a family party, all I heard when Rock Band was played were the All American Rejects songs mostly).
Note: This review is for the Arcade version of Street Fighter IV. When the console versions come out, the review then will be slightly altered if any changes or additions happen. Also, this is the first time I post match videos in the review instead of screenshots.
Street Fighter IV felt like a dream that became a reality when it was announced last fall. After years of waiting and waiting, it is finally out over at Japanese arcades and certain locations of the United States. The last significant Street Fighter game, 3rd Strike had, was a success among the tournament crowd of fans, but it failed to reach the mainstream audience the way the Street Fighter II games did back in the 1990s. This fourth game Capcom is putting out hopes to recapture that magic SF II while keeping the depth 3rd Strike, and I truly believe they succeeded. It feels like Street Fighter II for the 21st century in terms of fun gameplay, gorgeous graphics under a new engine, and amazing depth with its new saving attack system. There are a handful of games I can't stop playing and looking at because it is still amazing. That is how I feel with Street Fighter IV and it is an early contender of mine for game of the year even though it is the arcade version.
Capcom wanted players that skipped the Street Fighter III series of games to come back to this fourth game by bringing back the simplicity and the familiarity from Street Fighter II and it worked. In terms of familiarity, all twelve characters from Street Fighter II are back in this game since the storyline takes place between II and III. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief, E. Honda, Blanka, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison are all in SF IV with the same signature moves with some new tricks. Other than those twelve fighters, four new ones are introduced in Street Fighter IV. Crimson Viper is the new female in the game with electric moves, flying flame kicks, and a ground pound attack. Abel is a mixed martial arts expert that plays like a combination of Fei Long and Zangief in terms of grappling skills. El Fuerte is the masked wrestler with high flying acrobatics and speed moves. Lastly, Rufus is a fat American who has a nasty beef with Ken. The final boss in Street Fighter IV is Seth, who reminds me of Urien's appearance wise that has most of the characters' special moves and some of Urien's attacks from 3rd Strike. There are also secret bosses such as fighting Akuma or Gouken (Akuma is playable, but Gouken will be in the console versions as will Seth) in the end if you performed well in the single player game. As of now, there are nineteen characters in the arcade version Street Fighter IV. The lack of female characters (Chun-Li and Viper are the only ones) is a little disappointing, but there are plans for more characters in the console versions with Sakura, Gen, Cammy, Dan, and Fei Long.
In the arcade version, there are three playable modes. The arcade mode is the standard eight stage run through of fighting various characters and then culminating against Seth. Before fighting Seth, there is a rival battle pending on which character you use such as Sagat fighting Ryu and Guile facing Abel. With my time on the arcade mode, the difficulty is not that bad as the computer A.I. can give you a fight at times especially when you're in the later stages. Of course, the difficulty can change pending on the machine. There are endings for each character after you beat the game, but they will be in anime for the console versions. Beginner mode is an easier version of arcade mode designed for newcomers to the game who want an easy start towards getting good. Trial mode is basically a practice mode in which you have a time limit against characters to try out some combos and learning some of the supers (As of November 2008, beginner and trial modes are out of the arcade versions I played). Every Street Fighter IV arcade setup so far has two machines for two players that link up for versus matches which is at least a better experience other than being stuck with one machine causing players to be too close to each other.
The fighting mechanics for Street Fighter IV is divided as it is 60% Street Fighter II and 40% 3rd Strike. As long as players have Street Fighter II skills, they can still pump out wins using specials, supers, and simple three or four-hit combos of a jump kick, low punch, to a special move. The 40% being 3rd Strike resorts to the spacing, pro tactics, and mastering the saving attack system. Throws are done the same way as 3rd Strike by pressing both jab and short kick. The saving attack system is the most important addition to Street Fighter IV being both simple and deep with multiple uses. The focus attack is an ink strike that if fully charged and hits your opponent, they get stunned allowing for a free hit or two(demonstrations of it are in these videos I put up). It also a parry of avoiding attacks like 3rd Strike when timed right against projectiles and other moves. Parrying moves does your health meter to heal slowly if you're already damaged, but you will lose that ability if you get hit and try it again. It is also used to cancel special moves which could lead to devastating combos. The focus attack is a great example of being easy to learn, but difficult to master and if mastered, you can truly own the competition.
There are two meters on the bottom of the game screen during fights. First is the EX meter in blue and when maxed out, you can do a normal super move like Ken's Shoryu Reppa and Bison's Knee Press Nightmare. The EX meter is also used for EX specials, which return from 3rd Strike. These EX specials are better versions of special moves for multiple hits such as fireballs hitting twice. The green meter is called the revenge meter. This thing works like K-Groove from Capcom vs. SNK 2 in which the more you get hit, the meter glows up in red or orange in which you can do Ultra Combos. The Ultras are basically more devastating versions of the normal supers that add some dramatic effects and also deal tons of damage. Once you're caught by them, you're pretty much screwed especially when they're used in a Focus Attack combo seen in these match videos I posted. Each character has one normal super and one ultra combo which is good enough since most of the Ultras are pretty cool to look at and used with good priorities. Add those two meters and the saving attack system and you got a surprisingly deep fighting game with Street Fighter IV even though you can still get away with Street Fighter II tactics.
For the arcade version, there is a card system like other recent fighting games of using a certain character to track wins and losses. As long you keep winning, you gain more money towards buying new outfits, which is the customizable element for Street Fighter IV. As of now, no U.S. arcades that have the arcade use the card system yet, so it is only for Japan. Usually these new outfits are basically alternate colors for their signature outfits that don't detract from the overall performance (This ain't no Tekken 6 or Soul Calibur IV-like customization). Capcom keeps it nice and simple since these characters are very iconic to gamers' eyes. However, each character has one alternate outfit that slightly alters their appearance, but keeps it faithful to the character. Examples are shirtless Ryu, Guile wearing Charlie's clothes (or Nash from the Street Fighter Alpha games), battle damaged M. Bison, and my personal favorite Zangief as Haggar from Final Fight (At least there's a Final Fight reference in this game like previous Street Fighter games with Guy, Cody, and Hugo). These customizable elements are also likely making it to the console versions, so U.S. players don't need to worry about missing that feature.
On the graphics side, Street Fighter IV looks amazing. The new engine is excellent especially for the animations. Speaking of the animations, all the special moves are what you know and love from previous game with fireballs looking like fireballs, and son. What is specifically amazing about the animations are the facial expressions. If you have been looking at screenshots and videos for the game, most of the characters truly feel the pain when they get hit and most of them are pretty funny too especially when a character starts an ultra and the opponent has an "Oh Crap" look on their face. The stages themselves look amazing too from jungles, temples, airports, and seaports. It is kind of unfortunate that there are not enough stages thinking that Capcom might bring it back the number of stages to each character having one, but 3rd Strike also had a lack of stages to fight at too. While the fights are going on at these locales, stuff also happens on the backgrounds with low riders going up and down, to people shopping at the China shop level. The characters themselves look great despite the art style being criticized by fans when the game was first shown. The art style truly works in the game fitting to the theme along with the whole notion of ink when doing focus attacks. Graphically, Street Fighter IV is one of the better looking fighting games now with 2D gameplay and 3D backgrounds despite full 3D fighting games looking better, but on an artistic end, Street Fighter IV beats them on that end.
On the sound department, Street Fighter IV delivers as well. The Japanese voices sound great compared to the English voices heard on some trailers because it just fits their personality more and most fans are used to their voices by now in previous games. On the music side, the soundtrack is another good one with themes that fit to each stage. For the rival battles, your opponent's signature music gets played such as Ryu's when fighting him as Sagat, which is a nice touch. These signature tunes are remixed versions of the original game's versions especially Akuma's new theme when you fight him. The other sound effects are also great with hits sounding like they truly hurt, specifically the Ultra Combos. Then again, the announcer is better than previous games, but he can be annoying at times, which reminds me of Alpha 3. Other than that, Street Fighter IV has great sounds to satisfy even the hardcore crowd.
Is Street Fighter IV truly the second coming of the fighting genre and a stepping stone for the arcade scene to return? I truly believe so for being a second coming for the genre and the series going back to its SF II roots. As for bringing back arcades, it is for now at Japan and the certain spots of the United States have sparking up crowds of 20 to even 40 people waiting to play the game or just watching something crazy happen. Sure, the game's popularity at the arcade will die down once the console versions are closer to release, but if you really want the true competition against the best and not any scrubs that would spam moves, the arcades are there for that to happen. Even though it plays more like Street Fighter II, there is enough depth for 3rd Strike players to jump in and enjoy. The saving attack system is a great concept for a fighting game like this with tons of uses from parrying to cancelling. Using that system to your advantage can lead to devastating and amazing looking combos that look like they can't be done, but they can especially leading towards Ultra combos. The new graphics engine is amazing on both a technical and artistic aspect with funny facial expressions and great animations for the moves. All of this was a dream a couple years ago, but it is now a reality and Street Fighter IV is truly the second coming of Street Fighter II for the modern era of gaming.
Score = 9.5/10
Pros:
Gameplay feels more like Street Fighter II, but still has some 3rd Strike in it that appeals to both the casual and hardcore crowd.
The saving attack system is an amazing addition with tons of depth.
Amazing graphics both technically and artistically.
Great soundtrack with signature tunes at certain moments
Has that addiction of being amazing every time you play it and watch it in action.
Cons:
Lack of female characters (only two in the arcade version), but more characters will be added in console versions.
Lack of stages as not of all of them are in rotation for versus mode (More could be added in revisions or console versions).
High tier characters like Sagat can dominate, but check Street Fighter related sites like the Shoryuken forums for a tier list.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom finally gets Mega Man in the game and it is surprisingly his Mega Man Legends version, which made fans go nuts. Looks like the roster keeps getting better and better as time goes on I guess. Who knows who's left for Capcom to reveal on their side and on Tastunoko.
Even Justin Wong, the king of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, already has this game on lockdown too with those Ryu combos and more.
I'm 2 for 2 on America's Best Dance Crew with my pick SuperCr3w winning Season 2 (I also called JabbaWockeez on Season 1). It felt like vindication that millions of voters (39 million votes) did indeed choose the right crew to win (No respect to So Real Cru) as I feel like busting out the SuperCr3w sign now. B-boys finally got their respect they deserved with this season. Man, I'm so proud of Da Knock, Ronnie, Rockadile, Ben, Murda, and Vex as they busted their ass to win this title. Hopefully Season 3 will be good, but after these two seasons with Jabba and SC winning, who's left to bring the pain that these two crews unleashed on the dome.
No need to do the recap of the whole episode, but obviously the West Coast performance was banging crazy with SuperCr3w, Supreme Soul, and Fanny Pak doing an E-40 song. It was still nice to see the other crews do their thing, but West Coast still killed it and expect them to have another big showing next season.
Once again, congrats to SuperCr3w for winning and I need to buy one of those shirts soon since they sell out fast online. If anyone enjoyed those ABDC episode recaps throughout the season, I'll do them again next season since it is my favorite TV show despite all the BS and I think MTV needs to change it up again next time especially with the voting.
Namco Bandai has been a big supporter for Xbox Live Arcade ever since 2006 releasing their classic games as arcade ports on the service. The quality varied with those releases pending on how good they were during the golden era of arcades. Namco's breakthrough hit on Xbox Live Arcade was a remake with Pac-Man Championship Edition last year making Pac-Man cool again with competitions for high scores under time limits. Now Galaga is next on the remake trail with Galaga Legions, which resembles more of the later old school Galaga games than the original, but with redone graphics for the current generation. While it may feel like the weakest game out of the Summer of Arcade lineup, this new take on Galaga is worth checking out for fans of the original and shumps looking for another decent challenge.
Galaga Legions is split into two modes, which are Adventure and Championship. Adventure Mode is a standard run through the game's five areas of four stages trying to survive and blast through wave after wave of enemy ships. Gaining a 1up is different compared to other old school based games as you gain an extra life before the last stage of an area, which is helpful against the boss sets at the end of the area. Once you run out of lives, you have to start over from the beginning of the first area and try again because this Galaga can be difficult at times with the insane enemy movement patterns especially in the later areas. Championship Mode is basically the competitive mode for high scores as you can select either of the five areas separately and go for the highest score possible before losing all your lives. There is also a replay mode if you want to see your last game and a tutorial for beginners. Other than that, there's not enough variety in the modes compared to Pac-Man Championship Edition, but the ones available will keep players busy till they are beaten or going for high scores.
The core gameplay is still basically the same of shooting down enemy ships, but the new twists make the game more interesting and a little deep too. New to Legions is the ability to deploy satellites, the sides of your main ship, by flicking the right stick to a direction of your choice. These things can save you once you're about to die or trapped in a corner if used right. Especially when the game tells you the next wave of enemies' movements for a second or two, it is enough time to plot out satellites to take down numerous ships. The areas themselves usually start out slow with the number of enemies on screen, but the action ramps up pretty quickly after that and unexpected spawning of enemies can lead to frustrating deaths too. There are certain enemies you can take out that will cause a chain reaction destroying the whole set and the game's multiplier system factors in on that aspect of taking out the normal ships and then taking out the leader ship for more points. In addition, there are times you may be overwhelmed of a huge wave of enemies especially near the end of an area and moving to the wrong part of the map will also lead to another lost ship. With the insane numbers of enemies on screen, you can move freely throughout the map compared to moving left and right in the original Galaga even though your main ship only fires up, which means your satellites have to do some work too. Also appearing once a level is a black hole to shoot down to capture some of the enemy ships to your side, which are very beneficial in tight spots too, but they are lost if they are hit by an enemy ship. The gameplay mechanics introduced in Legions are fun to mess with and satisfying when used right trying to survive.
Graphically, Galaga Legions looks stunning with the style provided in the game. The action rarely slows down when hordes of enemies are trying to kill you. The graphical style does remind me also of Pac-Man Championship Edition with the look of your ship and enemies. There are also a number of skins you can play through other than the default skin like the Ancient one and the Vintage skin, which everything looks like the original Galaga with the new glow. The menus themselves are in the typical Namco XBLA tradition of the same font and I hope Namco changes up their menu design in future games because it is getting a little old for me, which seems nit picky for their presentation. The sound design is also fine in Legions with remixed themes that fit the space atmosphere, but nothing really memorable compared to Pac-Man C.E. unless you're a hardcore Galaga fan.
For 800 Microsoft Points (ten dollars), Galaga Legions is worth downloading if you ever liked Galaga and its sequels. This is actually a great take on one of the recognizable old school shooters with its new additions and great graphical style. The modes available are good enough to keep players busy racking up high scores and will provide a decent challenge trying to memorize enemy wave patterns while using your assisting satellites to your advantage. However, I would like to see more modes that spice up the gameplay a bit. Leaderboards and achievements, which are pretty straightforward of game progression, are present in Legions to push players to compete against others online. While it is not as amazing as Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions is still a successful take on a classic game and I hope Namco continues to pump out new takes for their other classic games like this in the future.
Score = 8/10
Pros:
Great graphical style reminiscent of Pac-Man C.E.
Gameplay additions are worth it with the deployment of satellites and black holes.
A decent challenge for veterans of the series
Can be addicting with racking up high scores in Championship mode.
Cons:
More modes that spice up the gameplay would have been cool.
The menu design is getting a little old to me.
Players may be overwhelmed of the insanity of enemy waves cluttering up the screen.
Rare instances of slowdown (usually when your ship blows up).
In this special edition of the Music Game Corner, the Dragonforce DLC for Guitar Hero III is the highlight of this post and if you like hard songs while fun to play, you're in luck with this pack of three songs. Keep in mind someone may FC them in a week or a month.
Today, a demo came out for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on Xbox Live Marketplace (later today on Playstation Network) as a taste of what is to come in a month since is the most anticipated Star Wars game on the current generation of consoles (After that, it is the KOTOR MMORPG). For almost a GB, you're in some Empire-like facility to hunt down a Master Jedi as Darth Vader's "secret" Apprentice, or just call him Starkiller. The demo itself seems like an early build because it is not as polished as it should be (Hopefully it is in the final game). There are technical issues if you're crazy about it from the cutscene stopping for a second or two to load up and others that people noticed. The camera is also something to worry about because it can be bad at times as you try to center it a lot with the right bumper (that's also the lock-on) or using the right sticks. Other than that, I enjoyed the demo after playing it twice on the Normal difficulty there, but it doesn't mean it is worth my purchase yet (I guess so since it is Star Wars).
The gameplay of Force Unleashed is pretty simple if you played any action games in the past few years and plays like recent ones too like God of War and Devil May Cry. Even on the normal difficulty, you can breeze through the demo without dying if you're not careless. After all, the game is called The Force Unleashed, which means you have to use Starkiller's force powers a lot. At least it does a good job of making you feel like a badass of using them and your lightsaber skills as well. The controls are also pick up and play with Force lifting being the right trigger and other powers like Force pushes and Force Lightning are on the face buttons. With the Force lift, things can get a little too complicated (likely for casual players) of using both analog sticks to manipulate an object's movement. Dodging is remiscient of the Devil May Cry games of using the lock-on and then using Force Dash (left bumper) or just jump around to avoid enemy fire. The demo wants you to test Starkiller's abilities and they delivered on that front as it concludes with an AT-ST battle (not an actual boss battle) that is finished by an quicktime event (Another staple of recent action games of buton presses and then magic happens).
Presentation-wise, it is typical Star Wars as everything you see and hear in the game is faithful to the series (even the soundtrack in which I don't know if John Williams cooked up original material just for this game). The Force Unleashed is out on September 16th and expected to a big sales hit because of Star Wars fans for all ages (the kids sure loved it when I saw it at Comic-Con last month). Who knows if the game will have critical success too (OXM already reviewed it and the new EGM out next week for subscribers has a review there too), but at least this will be better than The Clone Wars movie and also the prequels.
Tiger 09 is out next week and here's the commercial answering the question from last year's game whether or not the "Jesus Shot" can be done in real life. Looks like Tiger says yes in this clip.
Over at Europe, the Lepzig Games Convention is happening now and there's some new footage for the upcoming releases.
Since I'm still on a Bionic Commando mood (Rearmed is still amazing!!), here's the newest trailer for the 3D game now with old-school Capcom intro music (also in Street Fighter IV too), the orchestral BC theme, and new gameplay of single-player and multiplayer. Thanks to Rearmed, this game has crept to my top 10 Most Wanted list and I think it will be awesome.
The highly anticipated Heavy Rain makes another showing at Lepzig after its closed door appearance at E3. This new trailer is actually looking amazing as it demonstrates the quicktime events that the developers had used with their last game, Indigo Prophecy. Expect this one to be one of the big hits of 2009.
Another year and another Need for Speed game, but this time it might be good since the last good NFS game to me was Most Wanted. NFS Undercover comes out on November 18with more intense racing and great FMV looking cutscenes starring Maggie Q (Mission Impossible III, Balls of Fury, Live Free or Die Hard). Doesn't mean I'll buy it, but since EA Black Box said they had more time with this one compared to Carbon and ProStreet, Undercover might bring back the series to greatness.
Another EA game ramps up the talent of actors and actresses, this time with Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. The cast is almost a who's who of actors we seen in TV shows and movies. Try to see who can you recognize from this trailer, its madness.
360 fan favorite Dead Rising (I liked this game too) is coming to the Wii with motion controls and graphics based on Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition. Supposedly, the save system is fixed and other changes are there too. I won't mind playing Dead Rising again if the controls are good enough, and plus Wii has pretty much nothing I'm looking forward for except MadWorld.
Speaking of MadWorld, here's the newest trailer and yes, this game is almost the saving grace for Wii owners who were disappointed by the lack of Nintendo games for the upcoming year (Animal Crossing, Wii Music). Sure, this game is violent as hell with the Sin City-like style and lots of blood, but another game like this is needed on the Wii even though more controversy may spark.
A new level is shown for Mirror's Edge to prove the game is not all skyscraper jumping, where Fayth tries to escape a facility with snipers trying to take her out. Yesh, people will be skeptical of the first-person experience and the red path of here's the way to go thing, but this game could be something special and another of 2009's games to watch out for.
Fallout 3 is out on October 28, a week after Fable 2, which means RPG fans will be busy for the rest of the year, but I'm surprised how close those two are from each other release-wise which may cause fans of the genre to pick either or, but might as well get both since they are great RPGs. They might as well play the hell out of Fable 2 and then go crazy with Fallout 3.
The new Prince of Persia is looking good as always with this new seven minute clip of the same level seen at E3 and Comic-Con.
The big two music games are at Lepzig for the GC and new footage and previews have rolled out for Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2.
Maybe "Beat It" is going to make me buy GH World Tour after all (at least just the game). IGN has other videos with "Everlong," Coldplay's "Shiver," and Linkin Park's "What I've Done" (Yeah kind of a bad choice for a LP song for GH WT compared to RB2).
Rock Band 2 is out in less than a month for 360 (The game only) and the previews will roll out later in the week from Lepzig, but GameSpot has their preview already up with new footage.
I decided to skip this week's DLC for Rock Band with Duran Duran and Devo even though it seems to be a good week with "Girls on Film" for example.
Dragonforce DLC is out tomorrow for Guitar Hero III and I actually traded in my disc already since I don't think any upcoming DLC will make me play that game again and might as well wait till World Tour.
More Lepzig updates for the next couple of days and my Galaga Legions review maybe tomorrow (Yeah, it is the weakest of the Summer of XBLA bunch, but it is still a good game and a challenge as well).
With my Internet being down the whole day till now, I at least beat that damn Tower of Lost Souls on Soul Calibur IV today as well as getting two more achievements. Now on to the topic at hand...
I'm looking forward to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts as Microsoft / Rare announced the official release date for November 14 over at Lepzig. The crazy twist is that the game costs 40 bucks and it comes out a week after Gears of War 2. I'm a little hesitant to buy this game since it is released to close to Gears 2 (the first Viva Pinata suffered that fate), but I guess not a lot of people will buy both these games because of the fact they're two completely different games. The deal gets sweeter with the pre-order bonus of getting the XBLA Banjo-Kazooie two weeks before its release for free. That's actually cool to me and I might do that soon.
After 20 years of waiting and begging, the Bionic Commando franchise is coming back in a big way. This is all in part of Capcom's remake renaissance with such games like Street Fighter IV, Mega Man 9, and 1942: Joint Strike. Bionic Commando Rearmed is the official console remake for the NES version of Bionic Commando with some tweaks and additions (Yeah, it was sort of remade on the Game Boy). If you don't remember, Bionic Commando was truly an innovative game for its time revolving a grappling hook and no jumping at all. Even its crazy story is still as memorable as it was in the late 1980s. Developers should take note of Rearmed because this is how a remake to a 2D game is truly done. Grin has definitely made Bionic Commando awesome again with Rearmed and the upcoming sequel for hardcore fans and even newcomers who never played the original like me.
The story of Rearmed is the same as the original. Your goal as Nathan "Radd" Spencer is to rescue Super Joe from the Imperials and eliminate their leader, Master D (or Hitler if you want to call him that). The game is structured in an overworld map full of areas to swing around defeating bosses and obtaining more weapons along with FSA camps for more items required for the trip. Some areas require certain items to go through as it is not an linear approach as you can back and play the same levels again if you missed any secrets or going for certain achievements. Also in the map, there are trucks that drive around and if you bump into them, you initiate a top-down shooter sequence set in the desert, snow, or the jungle taking down soldiers and big turrets. These break away from the normal action well, but be prepared to do these a lot if you're going back and forth in the map. Absent in the NES version is a new final area (in the Game Boy remakes), the Albatross, which is an airship containing the "Ultimate Weapon" that the Imperials would use to destroy everything.
The original Bionic Commando was one of the hardest games for the NES. Rearmed is slightly more forgiving, but still a difficult game especially for newcomers. The grappling gameplay is still as awesome as it was back in the day with great execution. You get a sense of satisfaction of swinging through a difficult section after dying multiple times, but the frustration does kick in since some moments in the game especially in the final areas require perfect timing. The controls also factor in the frustration as well as there will be some times that either the left stick or d-pad didn't perform the right direction you wanted it to which would likely lead to deaths. Despite that, the game controls beautifully with the shooting and swinging. The combat got significantly better as you can switch weapons at any time instead of stacking from the original. Sure, you can still rely on the Bazooka especially against bosses, but other weapons like the shotgun, vector cannon, and the machine gun still can put the hurt on the Imperials. The lives system is changed to be more forgiving as you start with three lives at an area and if you lose all of them, you just start over at that area from the beginning, which is not bad considering most of the areas except the Albatross are pretty short at times. On harder difficulties, the enemy's A.I. improves drastically for a even difficult game as they fire shots more frequently, go to cover faster, and you receive more damage for getting hit.
The boss battles in Rearmed are also still as great as they were from the original even though you face most of them twice with the second time being a different twist to the fight. The communication rooms also return along with the hacking mini-game of controlling a ball to its goal of the green box. These mini-games are not that really difficult, which add a puzzle element to the game. After they're hacked, you get to hear what enemy soldiers say about the boss of the level you hacked it from or other things. The dialogue in this game is way better than the original in terms of translation, but Rearmed does make fun of the original's translation during the cutscenes which is a nice touch if you played the original to death.
Other than the main game, Bionic Commando Rearmed has other modes to challenge the player along with multiplayer modes. The Challenge Mode is basically a whole bunch of obstacle courses that will test your grappling skills. These challenges start easy, but get way harder as you progress through them requiring perfect timing and skill. Leaderboards keep track of your times doing these courses along with the main game's completion and stage times / scores. Another of Rearmed's cool features is local co-op for two players through the main game. Grin handled the co-op well increasing the bosses' A.I. requiring some teamwork, being fast-paced, and it goes to splitscreen if you and your partner are far from each other. The splitscreen could be handled better in the top-down sections, but it is tolerable. The competitve multiplayer that is meant for a party atmosphere as Grin pointed out is also a nice distraction from everything else as up to four players can play deathmatches and an unique mode as the only way to kill your competition is making them fall to a bottomless pit. It would have been cool if both the co-op and the multiplayer are both online, but it is understandable.
Graphically, Bionic Commando Rearmed is one of the better looking downloadable games on Xbox Live Arcade. Everything has been redone from the original with new art and animations from the characters and enemies. There is at least some balance of the environments between indoor and outdoor even though there will be more indoor areas in the last half of the game. The swinging animations and explosions look great too. The only flaw with the graphics are that there is screen tearing in some levels. Capcom and Grin definitely kept the presentation as old school (8-bit) as they can specifically with the sound. The remixed soundtrack is arguably the best soundtrack I heard for a 2D remake or one of the best soundtracks for a downloadable game. It definitely feels old-school with 8-bit sounds, but still modernized with the electronica for the current generation and good thing Capcom decided to sell this soundtrack on iTunes because it is amazing. The other sound effects also sound great too with the weapons, grappling, and the minimal voice acting.
Bionic Commando Rearmed is an amazing old-school game just like the original. It is fully faithful to the NES game along with the tweaks and additions for people who never played Bionic Commando. It is still as hard as it was in the 80s, but a little more forgiving with the health meter and the tweaked lives system. There are plenty of secrets to be found to increase the replay value for the main game along with leaderboards, achievements, and harder difficulties that change the game drastically. Challenge Mode is a great idea that utilizes the swinging mechanic through difficult obstacle courses. The co-op and multiplayer are also nice additions even though it is not online. The graphics have been completely redone for the current generation (feels almost 2.5D), an amazing remixed soundtrack, and unlockable content for the 3D Bionic Commando makes the package more complete. For ten bucks (800 Microsoft Points), you get a lot of game in it which is surprising and almost a steal. Despite some minor flaws, everything else that is good outshines them. Bionic Commando is officially back and here to stay for a while.
Score = 9.5/10
Pros:
Main game is still amazing as it was in the original with the satisfying conclusion.
The swinging mechanic is very satisfying especially during difficult sections.
Challenge mode is a great idea of utilizing your swinging skills.
Co-op and competitive multiplayer are fun additions to the full package.
Lots of replay value trying to unlock secrets and content for the upcoming 3D game.
Cons:
Controls can be frustrating at times.
Co-op and multiplayer not online
Some screen tearing that is very noticeable in some levels.
I'm going to Super soon to play more of it, but let's finally talk about Akuma in Street Fighter IV.
It was inevitable and now it is official that Akuma is in Street Fighter IV. For now, he seems to be the secret boss after defeating Seth and not yet confirmed to be playable yet, but likely he will be soon at least at Japan. Some speculate that Akuma can be unlocked as the last boss or even a playable character after a lot of playtime on a specific machine. Anyway, here's some footage of the last boss fight as Akuma gets owned by Abel and Ken (at least he did the Raging Demon, his Ultra, during the Ken fight).
If anything crazy develops over at Super for me, this post will be a combined post of Akuma and that.
A Championship Showdown for the ages..... Oh, its just the top 2 teams in America's Best Dance Crew going heads up in three different challenges hopefully to please more voters. I got my finale and it delivered on what I expected out of them even though Fanny Pak also deserved to be top 2 too.
The first challenge is some World based one as the crews have to dance to numerous styles throughout the world like African and Latin. SuperCrew went first and delivered a solid performance as expected despite not being in their comfort zone. I love the song choices with PitBull, Sean Paul's "We Be Burnin," and another song I already forgot.
So Real Cru, however, had a disappointing start for the night with their world dance routine. Nothing really memorable in their first piece as it felt sloppy from beginning to end. At least they have 2 more to redeem themselves.
The Dance Craze challenge was next as SuperCrew focused on their S symbol for their craze of doing it in the clubs. Otherwise, it is a typical performance from them with their b-boy antics as it could have been better.
So Real did redeem themselves in their dance craze performance and starting to show that they represent the Dirty South (Ahhhh... Asians with grills on their teeth). The signature Explosion and the Hulk Hands are also great for the routine. If you are keeping score now like JC, the game is tied with the Last Chance challenge next.
The last challenge is like last season's where the two crews have bust out to a custom track using their signature moves and style to show why America should vote for them.
SuperCrew did another James Brown song and they killed it again with b-boy moves as three groups of 2 took turns doing crazy moves as always. So Real performed to that Lil Wayne song that is always on the radio now and arguably had the best performance of the night treating it like a battle. After that challenge, it is a toss up who won that one.
Now it is up to the voting and hopefully people get it right and vote for my #1 pick SuperCrew. I called it from the beginning and they should win and I wouldn't mind So Real winning it either at this point since they actually stepped it up for the finale.
Yesterday, Street Fighter IV is finally out in the United States courtesy of Super Arcade at Walnut, CA (Tekken 6 is also there). After reading about it, I was hella excited to go today to mess with the game and indeed I did for four hours. Good thing I came early (it got crowded around lunch time) because this game is still amazing and fun even after four hours of winning, losing, and watching others. Unforuntately, the owner of Super didn't get the official cabinet Capcom used at the L.A. event last month, San Diego Comic-Con, and Evo 2k8 as he at least got the boards necessary to play the game. It is in one of those Japanese-like cabinets you see at Japanese arcades (Astro City to be specific) as like Capcom's setup, two machines have the play for link matches to between with two separate players instead of being cluttered to one screen (The same thing is for MvC2, SFIII: 3rd Strike, and Tekken 5 DR over at Super). Being those cabinets means the game is not in HD compared to Capcom's official cabinets, but it still looks and plays beautifully. Like Tekken 6 there, Street Fighter IV costs 50 cents to play, which is not bad and it could be more expensive in other places if they have the official cabinets.
Three modes are selectable from the gate: Arcade, Beginner, and Trial. Arcade mode is the standard run-through of stages and then facing off against the final boss, Seth. Beginner and trial modes seem straightforward, so likely they won't be played. For the first couple of weeks, the single player game run won't likely happen as versus matches are bound to happen against great competition throughout the day. All 16 characters that have seen to death are playable with the original 12 for Street Fighter II to the four newcomers: Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus. As expected the hardcore crowd, high-tiers and shotos run the show as Zangief and Rufus can be unstoppable to beat pending on how good the guy is with them (Easy double-digit win streaks win those characters). Ryu and Ken are obviously played a lot, so I decided to use characters that the others won't likely use, which are Sagat, Blanka, and Guile. For now, Sagat is my best character when the switch is on for me doing Tiger Uppercuts, Tiger Knees, and doing his Ultra on time. Blanka and Guile are good enough #2 and #3 characters for me even though I won't use their Ultras as I would stick with their EX specials. Since the game is out for two days at Super, no one has mastered the Focus Attack and all of its uses, but likely in a week or two, I expect the good players to learn to parry well like 3rd Strike. The Focus Attack is what it is as advertised in the videos so far as a stun strike when fully charged, a cancel, and a parry. Learning how to capitalize with the full blown Save Strike is the tricky part as I couldn't nail the combo I wanted to with Guile and Sagat (For example: Sagat would use his save strike and usually follow with an EX Tiger Uppercut). Along with the Focus Attack, not a lot of players have mastered the cancels yet either, but expect that to change in a week as normal players to go to Super are still learning the game. Also absent besides the HDness is the card system that Japanese machines have for character customization (pretty much different colors of their standard outfit and their crazy alternate costume) and tracking wins and losses.
Even you are new to Street Fighter IV, if you have veteran skills from Street Fighter II, you'll be fine here and pull off wins that way. In addition, hardcore 3rd Strike players feel right as home too with throws staying the same from that game (Both jab and short), EX specials the same (Both punches or kicks when doing special moves), and Focus Attacks (Both strong and forward). Capcom delivered on the promise that SF IV is a return to the SFII scene for many players that never play SFIII as it is still fun for even the casual player, but also deep for the hardcore player that will master Focus Attacks and cancels. From my time there, at least all the characters got played at least once especially guys like Dhalsim and Balrog, which rarely get used over at Japan and other events the game was shown off. The sticks and buttons feel fine for now over at Super, but be prepared to deal with them maybe being broken after a while, but for a game as big as this, expect it to be fixed as soon as possible. Good thing if I have to wait a long time to play SF IV, there's still Tekken 6 even though that game's popularity over at Super has worn off (MvC2 and the racing games like Initial D Vol. 4 and Maximum Tune 3 still get heavy play time.
Likely I will go again on Friday, we'll see what happens. There are certain games that you can't stop playing or watching because it is so awesome which is how I feel now with Street Fighter IV. Expect a review of the arcade version by the end of the month as I still need to play single player and mess with more characters like the new ones.
So Evo 2008 happened last weekend at Las Vegas (Inside the Tropicana Hotel and Casino). Other than the big tournaments like Justin Wong winning Marvel vs. Capcom 2, John Choi winning Super SFII Turbo and Capcom vs. SNK 2, the future for the genre had its presence there with Street Fighter IV, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, BlazBlue (the new Arc System Works fighter), and Super SFII Turbo HD Remix.
Here's a Rufus mirror match for SF4 featuring Capcom's very own Seth Killian against Nuki, a SF veteran throughout the years.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, on the other hand, is the next versus game that Capcom is doing which will not likely have a Stateside release pending on licenses. In this clip, it seems that Chun-Li is one of the best characters in the game so far (No surprise) and Alex (when close) can be very dangerous.
UPDATE - Looks like Street Fighter IV is already out at the arcade I play Tekken 6 at, which is Super Arcade at Walnut. I'm going to check it out tomorrow and hopefully it is not as crowded.
Some would say that the Soul Calibur series has been on a downward spiral since the first game on the Dreamcast in 1999. It already established itself as a premier fighter among the competition with its deep weapon-based combat, beautiful graphics, eight way runs, and cater to both the hardcore and the casual gamer. While the sequels, Soul Calibur II and III, had commercial success, there was some disappointment among fans about some of the decisions Namco has made with the franchise during those years such as including guest characters, no arcade version for SC3, and the last game being a PS2 exclusive. Soul Calibur IV has finally arrived for the current generation of consoles (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) with hopes of capturing the same commercial success of the second game including Star Wars characters while maintaining the same fighting system we come to expect to be great. On the gameplay side, it succeeds on that way of the fact the fighting is still deep and fun to play with despite disappointing single-player modes and surprisingly good online multiplayer.
Fighting games are not really known for having good storylines, but at least they are excuses for the characters to meet up and beat each other up. Soul Calibur IV is no different continuing their same storyline regarding the two huge swords, Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. A new character is introduced this time around, Algol, that has both these swords in some capacity even though Siegfried and Nightmare, the series's main characters, still have the swords in hopes of vanquishing each other for whatever reason. The other characters, however, just have their own excuses to go after the swords and often have lackluster endings in the story mode. Speaking of the story mode, it is one of my disappointments regarding the single player modes for Soul Calibur IV. It is too short (only five stages) of random fights with a mini-boss against a bonus character, which are the special ones that were influenced by anime, and a last fight against Algol, Siegfried, or Nightmare pending on the character you chose. Even the story itself for the characters is told in a lazy way with slowly progressed text at the start of the run to an ending cutscene. If you're hoping that this Soul Calibur will get it right for the story, you will end up disappointed, but of course fighting games are more about the fighting itself rather than the storylines.
The gameplay still shines in Soul Calibur IV, which will please fans. While some of your favorite characters might be buffed or nerfed pending what Namco has done with them, most of them are still a blast to play with. Pretty of much all of the characters from the last game return like favorites Mitsurugi, Kilik, Taki, and Ivy. The lack of new characters designed specifically for the universe is disappointing too with only Hilde and Algol being the newcomers. Namco hopes that the addition of Star Wars characters will bring more sales to the game for both versions (Yoda on 360, Darth Vader on PS3, and The Apprentice from The Force Unleashed on both versions) and they succeeded on that, but the execution of them being in the game feels too awkward just like in Soul Calibur II with Link, Spawn, and Heihachi. Yoda's small size is his advantage which makes him broken since he can't be thrown or get hit high. Darth Vader and the Apprentice make a little more sense for a fighting game for their height, lightsaber skills, and their force powers. Speaking of the force powers, the Star Wars characters have a limit towards using those powers as a blue meter is used for the Force. A new addition for this sequel is leveling up the character's fighting style just by playing as them lots of times and winning fights, which will affect which skills they will have for the Tower of Lost Souls and the character customization that will be mentioned later.
The fighting system is still fundamentally the same with some new additions, but they are rarely used unless something crazy happens. Just Impacts are another form of Guard Impacts and can be used right in certain situations. The big new additions to the gameplay is the Soul Gauge and Armor Damage. At any point during fights, your clothes can get damaged and lose your armor which is a neat idea that fighting games never really implemented much. As you lose armor, the more damage you will take. The Soul Gauge is what also causes the one hit kills, aka Critical Finishes, to occur. If the Soul Gauge is flashing red, your character is in danger of getting Soul Crushed which will often lead to Critical Finishes if you time all your button presses. These one hit kills rarely happen in a fight, but it can happen if the opponent blocks too much not using timed Guard Impacts. Some of these Critical Finishes can look devastating or awkward pending on the character. Other than that, you can still deplete the opponent's health or take them out of the ring for victory.
Other than the story mode, the disappointment of single player modes continue with Arcade Mode the Tower of Lost Souls. Arcade Mode is a tradition for console fighting games being a standard eight fight run through while being judged on time, health, and other things. Also a tradition is the training mode for players to practice their moves. The tower is the other serious single player being a decent challenge for even the hardcore Soul Calibur players as it gets incredibly difficult later in the Ascend mode. Descending the tower is more of a survival mode as you use two fighters and you can switch between them at any moment during the fight which could lead to some interesting combinations that remind me of Tekken Tag Tournament. A customized character is pretty much required to tackle The Tower of Lost Souls whether it is one of the existing characters or a new one from scratch. With the character customization, Soul Calibur IV offers the best customization regarding wardrobe and messing with stats and skills. You can have a good looking custom character, but it is likely to not have good stats or skills. On the other hand, a meshed up character of the best clothes can have balanced stats.
The online multiplayer is perhaps the most anticipated addition to Soul Calibur IV and surprisingly performs well. Of course, it depends on your internet connection if any lag will occur. Usually at a ping of four and five, the matches go way smoothly, but will slow down like crazy if it is three or less. The standard affair of ranked and player matches are there in normal versus or special versus modes that apply the skills in the fights. What will keep players going in the online modes and motivated to climb up the leaderboards is the level up system. As long as you win fights consistently, you will level up quicker. Once you're at level 20 or beyond, it is a more serious playfield of great players or even tournament level players that play the game seriously. Other than that, be prepared to deal with scrubs and newbies that will spam certain moves or characters to get a win any way possible. Especially frustrating is people using Yoda online since he is a broken character right from the get go, but usually online players seem to pick Kilik, Mitsurugi, Taki, and Siegfried the majority of the time.
Graphically, Soul Calibur IV looks great with some beautiful environments where the fights take place. From Egyptian themed cages, pirate ships, the Death Star, throne rooms, and a throwback underground stage, the stage variety is there with most of them being open for ring outs while others are completely closed. The only instances of slowdown I witnessed are usually when the finishing blow happens and it says K.O. on the screen as it just felt weird at times. The characters themselves also look great with some amazing models of accuracy for at least the cool looking ones. Sure, you can make a case for the over boobage of some of the females on the roster like Ivy and Taki as SC4 takes it to even Dead or Alive level or maybe they surpassed it. What's even awkward is that some players' custom characters are barely clothed (even worst than some of the existing females) as some will only wear underwear, but I guess that's what they want. The cutscenes seem fine being real-time with no CG happening.
The Soul Calibur franchise is also known for amazing great orchestral soundtracks and number four still delivers on that front. While previous games had better tunes, this sequel's soundtrack is not that bad and at least better than the console fighting games out now. The voice acting, however, is pretty bad on English as the Japanese voices with subtitles sound way better and makes sense for the game. At least the announcer is okay as expected. The sound effects are also impressive with sword clashing while most of the sounds are the same from Soul Calibur III with stuns, impacts, and more.
As a fighting game in 2008, Soul Calibur IV does keep the genre alive being one of the forerunners of some renaissance with more highly anticipated fighters coming soon. It keeps the franchise on good terms with its deep fighting system, memorable characters, great graphics, and good online multiplayer. The single player modes are my ultimate disappointment with the game along with the addition of the Star Wars characters. Plus, the storylines feel more like a waste rather than an excuse that drives the characters to go after the Soul Edge or Soul Calibur. Fans of the genre and the franchise will get enough replay value out of it learning their favorite characters again, clashing against the best online, and racking up the honors (also achievements on the 360 version). While it doesn't bring back the magic the first game had on the Dreamcast, Soul Calibur IV is a close attempt of returning it to its glory. Since the game already sold two million, I guess the legend will never die after all.
Score = 8/10
Pros:
The deep fighting system is still as great and fun as ever.
Perhaps the best character customization so far for a fighting game.
Surprisingly good online play with minimal lag at high ping.
Great graphics and sound.
Cons:
Single player modes like Story and Tower of Lost Souls are a huge disappointment.
Star Wars characters feel out of place in the game being a marketing ploy for Namco to sell more copies (Yoda sucks since he's broken).
The English voices are awful (Stick to the Japanese voices).
The storylines are more of a waste rather than an excuse.
New gameplay features like Critical Finishes are rarely seen.
