ABDC Season 2 Episode 9 Recap

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.

Street Fighter IV at Super Arcade!!!!

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.

Remembering the 90s X-Men cartoon

This is a montage of awkward moments of the 90s X-Men cartoon. Yeah, there's some weird stuff in this clip I guess.

Evo 2K8 Footage of Street Fighter IV & Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

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.

The Legend Will Never Die.... The Soul Calibur IV Review

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.
  

Bionic Commando Rearmed Hype Fest Part 2

Today on the BC Rearmed Hype Fest, here's some gameplay clips courtesy of IGN. I wished I could put up the 1UP Show Segment regarding this game here too, but I don't know why Gamevideos' embed links don't work anymore for me.

Music Video of the Day (08/08/08) - Everyone Nose Remix

Looks like Hype Williams has done it again with this video for the Remix of Everyone Nose. This song just pumps me up for the day already.