Sometimes, some of the reviews I have up here were perhaps underrated or even overrated after posting them. Maybe its time to revisit this year's games so far in a "Then and Now" feature in preparation for my Game of the Year feature posts.
Omega Five (XBLA)
Then: 8/10
Now: 7.5/10 - This was a great 2D shooter to start out the year on Xbox Live Arcade. It was short and sweet being a hour game (even two hours), but having four characters that play differently (okay two of them were basically the same, but still different in other ways) did spice up the gameplay a bit. At first, being a 2D shooter means it will be hard and it is when playing for the first time, but once you learn patterns and strategies for weapons to use, it is actually one of the easier 2D shooters in a while. After getting all 200 achievement points, there's nothing else to worry about unless you feel like tackling the harder difficulties and that game can be hard along with competing for high scores.
Burnout Paradise (360)
Then: 9/10
Now: 9.5/10 - Thanks to lots of replayability with downloadable content Criterion has been pumping out throughout the year with more freeburn challenges, bikes, the upcoming island, and the Party Pack re-release in January, Burnout Paradise is arguably my favorite racing game of the year. I do want to play Midnight Club: Los Angeles,maybe Need for Speed Undercover, WipeOut HD, and Motorstorm: PR, but Burnout continues to be amazing even in November of this year. Its seamless drop-in and drop-out online world began a new trend for this generation of games. Of course, no race restart still remains Paradise's biggest flaw until Party Pack re-release, but Paradise City is still a great place to drive and cause havoc.
Rez HD (XBLA)
Then: 9.5/10
Now: 10/10 - Yeah, Rez is surprisingly my favorite Live Arcade game of all-time likely till SSFIIT HD Remix comes out. That game is just something special and especially never playing the original on PS2 and Dreamcast to witness it in its true glory. Even today, I still feel playing Area 5 (not counting the boss rush in the end) because of the Adam Freeland song, Fear, and I still get better at it on score attack every time I play it, which is crazy. Rez is just pure perfection on Xbox Live Arcade and I wished more people played this to appreciate its awesomeness.
Devil May Cry 4 (360)
Then: 8.5/10
Now: 8/10 - Devil May Cry 3 is one of my favorite PS2 games (both original and special editions) and the fourth game didn't really live up to the hype as I hoped. Sure, it still has the core DMC action with Nero and Dante, but I guess I didn't feel compelled to beat it on harder difficulties (Beaten on Easy and Devil Hunter). Plus, the repetition of boss battles and going backwards when being Dante is DMC4's biggest drawback in being as good as the third one and even the first game.
Tekken 6 (ARC)
Then: 9/10
Now: 9/10 - I still enjoy Tekken 6 and its gameplay additions like bound and rage, so I hope Bloodline Rebellion makes the right changes with these new systems and the new characters Lars and Alisa being fun characters to play as. Yeah, it is not a huge leap over Tekken 5 DR with the core gameplay of being combo-driven, but I still believe T6 is indeed Namco's better fighting game not taking huge risks and making silly decisions like they deal with the Soul Calibur franchise. I guess I prefer Tekken's simplicity over Soul Calibur's depth.
Part II of this feature will be soon (maybe tomorrow).
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