Turn Up the After Burners... The After Burner Climax (PSN) Review

After Burner Climax has been around for four years at the arcades marking a return of the franchise from the old Master System and Genesis days for Sega. It was able to bring the franchise to this current generation of games maintaining his simplicity yet brutal difficulty. It is definitely a true Sega arcade game then and even now with its short fun and the ability to play it with a moving seat and a flight stick as a true arcade experience. After a long wait, Climax finally gets released on consoles as a downloadable game for the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network as it maintains the simple gameplay Sega arcade games have been known for years, but loses that true experience only arcades have.

This is a straight port of Climax as the arcade game remains intact from beginning to end and not much modes have been added in the console versions. There are still three planes to choose from of various colors and you're ready to roll through all the 20+ stages (you're not going to go through all the stages in one run as there are branching paths) in mere minutes as long as you can stay alive. Even though it is still simple to pick up and play locking on at the opposition firing away missiles at will, it is still a brutally difficult game at default settings as you are bound to got shot down numerous times before figuring out when to dodge missiles and enemy patterns. The big addition to Climax compared to past After Burner games is the ability to slow down into Climax mode, which is basically bullet time allowing to quickly lock on enemies during this limited period and taking all of them out. Also in this entry is specific emergency orders, in which there are bonus missions to take out specific aircraft for more points. Completing these will matter on which ending you'll get after a single run through the game, which doesn't take long (more like ten to fifteen minutes). At default settings, the game is indeed hard as I mentioned earlier, but there are EX Options that can be unlocked performing specific things a number of times allowing the game to become easier such as more lives, a bigger cursor, and more. There's also a Score Attack mode with infinite lives where you have the opportunity to get a high score with no EX Options on. All in all, After Burner Climax is still a blast to play on a controller as much as a flight stick at the arcades.

It is also important to mention how beautiful this game looks four years later. The in-game action looks and runs very smoothly at a consistent frame rate of 60 frames per second with barely no slowdown at all. Seeing all the carnage you unleash on the opposition is a great feeling especially when your aircraft is going at ridiculously fast speeds like a true fighter jet. For those that get easily dizzy when playing, this game may not be for you especially with a game going so fast along with all the barrel rolls your aircraft will do to avoid enemy fire just like the arcade experience of the moving seat. As for the music, it is your classical Sega-like rock music you expect out of their arcade games, which is good for the most part, but the in-game chatter of your comrades can get a bit annoying telling you to brake and such. If you don't want the default music on, there is an option to turn on the After Burner II music straight up from these days for old-school purposes along with that "fire" sound effect every time you fire missiles.

After Burner Climax is one of those arcade games you would want to play in short stretches as a normal playthrough would take less than fifteen minutes at the most. Since it is that short, it is always to nice to play here and there unless you're willing to go after those high scores to climb up the online leaderboards on score attack mode. At first, the game will be difficult to complete in one go as the EX Options does make things way easier to rack up a high score and stay alive. Even four years later, the game still looks great and arguably better than most retail games out today since it is Sega AM2 as they know how to make the arcade experience as smooth as they can especially with 60 frames per second even when going as fast like a true fighter jet. If you want classic arcade style gameplay, then there is no hesitation to buy After Burner Climax at its ten dollar price tag.

Score = 8.5/10

Pros:

• Classic arcade-style gameplay (feels like a true Sega arcade game)
• It looks and runs beautifully at 60 FPS when at the aircraft's fastest speeds
• EX Options make the hard game easier for those that can't pass it in default settings

Cons:

• The game is really short (10-15 minutes), so after numerous playthroughs in one session, it can get old, so its better to play it in short stretches
• The in-game chatter can be annoying hearing them every second

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 officially REAL...

What is now a dream for ten years is now a reality as the rumors are put to rest with Marvel vs. Capcom 3 being official. The teaser trailer shows off the Marvel and Capcom logos (teasing other characters in the video?) and then it goes off comic-booky style with Ryu, Wolverine, Morrigan, Iron Man, Hulk, and Chris Redfield from the Resident Evil franchise. The last clip shows off the gameplay engine which is more Tatsunoko vs. Capcom like with the visuals as the engine is based off Capcom's MT Framework. Now the wait begins for this highly anticipated title...

Twice the Old School in a Fantastic Package... The Final Fight: Double Impact (PSN) Review

Note - I had footage of me playing these games, but I guess it didn't turn out well. Here's my video in case y'all still want to see it.



Capcom knows how to do old-school right in this current generation of consoles especially on the downloadable services like Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network from Bionic Commando Rearmed, Mega Man 9 and 10, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Their latest downloadable offering is Final Fight: Double Impact, a fantastic retro package that consists of the early 90s beat-em ups Final Fight and Magic Sword. These two games were great brawlers in the arcades during the early 1990s and these two together are still blasts to play today. For what you are paying, there is plenty of retro goodness with challenges, GGPO-like online play, and lots of fanservice for fans of the games as well as Capcom in general.

Final Fight is the star of this package as it is the arcade version from beginning to end. If you don't know the simple story to this classic, something is wrong with you if you're around in the 90s that skipped on it. Anyway, Metro City Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter, Jessica, gets kidnapped by the Mad Gear Gang as it is up to him, Cody, and Guy to save her. Since it is an old-school beat-em-up, the game is obviously not that long, but definitely a coin guzzler at the time. Good thing there is unlimited continues, so its easy to breeze through as an experience, but players would be pushed to play through it without continuing. Each character has their advantages and weaknesses as Guy is faster, but does not produce much damage, Cody being the middle ground, and Haggar being slower, but can produce more damage especially when grabbing enemies pile driving them at will. Final Fight is still as good as it was back in the day being simple to play, but hard to master beating up the Mad Gear Gang. Magic Sword is the other game of the bunch and while it may seem like an odd addition to this package, it is actually also as fun as Final Fight, but in a different fantasy-like setting. The simple goal in this game is you have to transverse through a castle of 50 floors to save your land from evil hands with a choice at the end of going with the good or evil ending. Unlike Final Fight however, Magic Sword is a little more chaotic with lots of things going on screen with your hero character and minions that have to be freed by various keys. The different helpers from giants, wizards, knights, and ninjas provide a good hand for a temporary time, but your sword is still your main weapon especially with various magic spells being used depending on which minion you have following you. Double Impact has specific challenges for both games giving them more replay value where you have to do certain objectives to unlock things in the Vault from getting a certain score in a level, finding the secret rooms in Magic Sword, and so on. Unlockables on the vault range from fan art of the games, Street Fighter comics, and even the Final Fight episode of the Street Fighter cartoon that was on the USA channel in the 90s.

Being that Double Impact offers the arcade versions of Final Fight and Magic Sword, Capcom and Proper Games definitely did a great job of recapturing the arcade experience. Co-op can be played either locally or online with obviously another player. Recapturing that arcade experience allows for drop in drop out play just like you're slipping in quarters back in the day. If you're worried that the online will be laggy, don't be since the network code is based off GGPO, the infamous code used to play old fighting games on the computer. With GGPO, you are pretty much getting lagless gameplay as it performs better than most network codes out there. Hopefully, more games use this code as it is just a start for its console appearances. Surely, it is always better beating down the opposition with another person as much as playing them alone trying to complete challenges. The online experience, however, can be perhaps mixed as someone would leave the game right off as you join as if they forgot to change their settings of how people would join your game either by anyone, invite only, or none at all. Also, players are just willing to do challenges for specific levels or just go straight to the end of the game, so it could be rare to find another random person to play a whole game with you meaning its best to play these games with a friend that is willing to go all the way.

Graphically, the two games are arcade perfect, but it depends on the customization of how you want the games look. On default, there is the cabinet mode where the actual arcade cabinet is the border for the games. There is also options for widescreen, no cabinet, and filters as seen in the downloadable release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 last year. For this new release, the soundtracks are remastered for both games and they are arguably one of the better remade soundtracks for any old-school game in recent memory as it sounds modern while maintaining that old-school feel. The other sound effects of hitting, item grabbing, etc. remain unchanged from their original releases.

Final Fight: Double Impact is another great example by Capcom of how to treat your old-school games right as other publishers and developers around that time should take notes. The arcade experience has been recaptured to the best of their ability with drop in/drop out play, great network code thanks to GGPO, and enough replay value to play the games numerous times with the challenges to unlock goodies on the vault. The remastered soundtracks for both Final Fight and Magic Sword are also another highlight of this package even though there is an option to play the original music instead. Sure, after unlocking everything in this release, there isn't much to do and playing these games too much in a single day can get draining and repetitive even though they're both short beat-em-ups. For ten dollars, you can't go wrong with Final Fight: Double Impact if you still love the old-school and you're a Capcom fan seeing all the references used in the games that have followed them especially in Final Fight.

Score = 8.5/10

Pros:

• Two great beat-em-ups in one package
• The arcade experience has been recaptured with drop-in/drop-out online play
• GGPO network code lives up its name for this release
• Remastered soundtracks are among one of the better remade soundtracks today

Cons:

• After unlocking everything in the vault, there isn't much to do other than play them for nostalgic reasons.

Gaming for April 2010... A Quickie

Just wanted to mention my gaming plans for this month and surprisingly its quite stacked for me.

• Final Fight Double Impact (April 15 on PSN)
• Skate 3 Demo (April 15 on PSN)
• After Burner Climax (April 22 on PSN)
• Super Street Fighter IV Launch Party on April 23?
• Obviously... Super Street Fighter IV (April 27)
• UFC 2010 Undisputed Demo at the end of the month?

Expect reviews of Final Fight Double Impact, After Burner Climax, and of course Super SF4 soon as well as UStreams of all this stuff too. In the meantime, here's a superb After Burner Climax run on the arcades below.

Video Roundup for 3/31/10 aka Happy Birthday to Me...

Today I turned 23 years old and still feeling the same... I would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes and greetings on Twitter, Facebook, and messaging my phone too.

Anyway...

Today, a new trailer for Super Mario Galaxy 2, my most anticipated Wii game this year, was out for the interwebs showcasing the powerups that will be in the game. Some from the last game like the Bee Suit, Fire Mario, and the Starman return, but the new ones are neat stuff from Rock Mario, which is like a flashback to the Goron Mask in Zelda: Majora's Mask, and yellow Yoshi providing light for hidden paths, which is similar to the Lens of Truth from the N64 Zelda games as well. Its nice that Nintendo is referring to their past even from other games to incorporate into Mario games today. Sure, the decision with the new hub may scare off hardcore fanboys, but I don't care because I know Mario Galaxy 2 will be still be amazing being another contender for my game of the year.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is not the only Nintendo game everyone is buzzed about at the moment as a new gameplay trailer for Metroid: Other M was revealed yesterday as it finally shows footage that we can figure out what this game actually is for once. Team Ninja's take on the legendary franchise is still definitely interesting stuff as it shows in this video of Samus battling enemies in 2.5D and first person at any time. The simplified controls of just the Wiimote sideways remains to be seen in the final game if it was the right call. Of course, the story's presentation may suck since Nintendo and Team Ninja are not really going to make it epic and all, but the gameplay will be the make or break deal for me. I'm still buying it regardless because its Metroid and I don't see it being a disappointment.

And of course, it wouldn't be a gaming blog post here without mentioning the game that will be the most of my gaming life in 2010, which is Super Street Fighter IV. This is footage (of about a hour and a half) from yesterday's 1up Game Night where Richard Li of 1up, Haunts of iPlayWinner.com, A_Rival, and Magus1234 (NorCal SF players) were playing casuals with some of the characters. Of course the level of play is expected to be high level stuff as things were being very noticeable. I'm surprised like most people that T. Hawk is way better than people thought and could be a beast in the right hands as A. Rival put on a great display of what he can do with that much power and damage (Standing RH is just disgusting stuff). Also impressive on this video is the potential of Cody (played by Haunts) to the point I would use him as a possible main. I just like his options and style especially rushing down doing BnB combos as well as easy ultra setups. Juri is also expected to be pretty good despite her learning curve like some characters in the game with her rushdown game as well as her defensive options. Dudley is shaping up to be too good once close doing his crazy sheninegans. I'm not sure if I would use Dudley seriously since the Dudley army might be too much in numbers when the game comes out as everyone would use him because he is a dope character that is also one of the best characters in the game with so many options. I also like Ibuki being a vortex-like character with her own options, but I just don't see myself using her that much. Anyway, enjoy more high-level Super SF4 nonsense, but I seriously want to play this now!!!

March 2010 Music Roundup aka "The Raymond vs. Raymond" Edition

This music roundup only features the new Usher album, Raymond vs. Raymond. After his last album was somewhat of a disappointment with only "Love in This Club" as the only smash hit from there, it seemed like Usher was maybe trying too hard to recapture the magic he had with Confessions. I feel like that his new album, out next week, is way better than last one, Here I Stand after a few listens due to more potential of hit singles. Sure, this album has been through major Internet leakage ever since earlier this year which has been putting the album through constant delays till now, but now that is out, most of the leaked songs have been cut into the final product, which is good. Anyway, Usher's latest is filled with bangers from his current hit single, "Hey Daddy" (Daddy's Home) and good thing the Piles verse got cut out in the final album, his new single, "Lil Freak" featuring Nicki Minaj (music video that got premiered on BET last night is above) as Nicki is still always her crazy self as I think she is like this generation's Lil' Kim the way she has been hyped up lately, and "OMG" featuring and produced by Will.I.Am. The album definitely starts off right with "Monstar" as a great opening track. Other standouts to me are "There Goes My Baby," "Mars vs. Venus," "Okay," and "Making Love" (Into the Night). I felt the middle part of the album goes a little off after starting up on a high note, but the last songs put it back into top notch quality people expect out of Usher. This ain't going to be as good as Confessions or even his earlier albums, but Raymond vs. Raymond is definitely a step in the right direction again for one of my favorite artists.

The Blue Bomber Continues to be at its Comfort Zone... The Mega Man 10 (WiiWare) Review

Mega Man makes its glorious return to its 8-bit roots with Mega Man 9 back in 2008. Capcom made the right call going back to what made those games great in the first place being 8-bit rather than try to hang with today's crowd of using 3D backgrounds. While it is still as challenging as previous games, it still was successful being on the downloadable game services recapturing the nostalgia as well as bringing new players into the fold. It is no surprise that Capcom continues to ride on the success with Mega Man 10 continuing to stay true to the classic formula with a new slate of robots to defeat as well as messing with new weapons. Even though it is still a solid game worthy of the franchise, this one feels a little more experimental, but not as crazy as the later NES games. It is not the best one in the franchise, but Mega Man 10 is definitely not the worst catering to both casual and hardcore players.

Mega Man 10's story is pretty simple as a virus called Robenza is spreading making all robots sick and it is up to Mega Man to save the day once again even though Dr. Wily may seem he is not behind it at all, but you can take a good guess what happens especially if you have been playing these games. The core formula stays the same with another cast of eight robots to defeat at any order even though the recommended order this time seems more logical to figure out than past games, especially Mega Man 9. With this new entry, two difficulties are offered at the gate with the default normal difficulty, which is still the way for purists. The other difficulty is an easier one for casual players that think these games are still too hard. They are still intimidating to play with especially for newcomers, but those that have experience with classic games are sure to take on the normal difficulty as expected even though it still provides a decent challenge. Also unlocked from the start is the ability to play as Proto Man, Mega Man's brother, but expect the experience to be quite different as Proto Man takes more damage when hit, has the slide, and the charge shot ability. Those that want to spike up the challenge would go with Proto Man, but Mega Man is still the safe choice to go with.

As far as the core formula is concerned, there are still eight stages to transverse with their own separate twists such as a sandstorm in Commando Man's stage, the return of disappearing blocks in Sheep Man's stage, and incoming traffic in Nitro Man's stage. The level design is still fine catering to the theme of the robot, but it has been better in previous games. Only certain weapons after defeating bosses are quite useful such as the Water Shield, the Commando Bomb, and the Triple Blade in more situations compared to others besides using them to figure out the weak point of a certain boss. As mentioned earlier, the boss order is a little more easier to figure out, but it does not mean it is a cake walk. Enemies and obstacles are willing to ruin your experience in frustration especially in Hard mode. More replay value is there with time attack mode, along with online leaderboards and replays, various challenges that test your skills, and upcoming downloadable content. Even though it is not as hard as other games in the franchise, Mega Man 10 is still provides a decent challenge for any player, but the classic gameplay is still as solid as it was before.

As expected, the 8-bit graphics in Mega Man 10 still work really well as there is no need to spice things up. It is simple as it gets with colorful levels of varied themes as well as different concepts meshing together such as the sandstorm mentioned previously. The WiiWare version remains as the best looking of all the versions since the 360 and PS3 versions have a border surrounding the gameplay as well as a filter issue if you even notice the differences. The soundtrack is not as good as previous games as it seems like they were still experimenting with establishing different sounds to have new background music, but at least they are willing to take chances with it. Mega Man 9's soundtrack remains as the best since the NES days as it feels close to those glorious days compared to 10. The sound effects also remain the same for franchise standards.

Mega Man 10 feels like the franchise is playing safe even though it is still a solid entry. It is not as good as some games in the franchise, but it is definitely not the worst one. It seems like they are trying to take things in a different direction even though it retains that same classic feel. The increase in replay value with more modes to play through besides the main game does make overall package more worthy of the ten dollars even though there is downloadable content coming in a matter of weeks with new modes and even a new character to play as. For fans of Mega Man and classic gaming, this is still worth it to have in your collection as this generation of consoles still leaves room for these type of games on their rightful spot, the downloadable game services. I am still interested, however, where Capcom goes next with the franchise though whether they continue to ride on the success of this old school approach or not.

Score = 8/10

Pros:

• Retains the classic 8-bit feel from the gameplay and the graphics
• New cast of robots to defeat and weapons to mess with
• More replay value with various difficulties, challenges, and time attack
• Still a solid entry in the franchise

Cons:

• Not as good as some Mega Man games, but definitely not too bad
• Soundtrack could of been better