Also Today in the World of Games... (4/12/11)

Reviews started to roll out to the internets throughout the day for SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals as most of them seem to be in the 7 range, but some sites had lower scored reviews filled with disappointment. Honestly, I had a good time with the multiplayer beta, which is ending tomorrow despite its flaws of not getting into games and whatnot. It brought me back to the time before Call of Duty/Halo took over the online shooter world and SOCOM was the dominant shooter on the PS2. Some would say the franchise was the first console shooter that got things right from clan support, lobbies that were okay for the time till Halo 2 brought in matchmaking, fun maps, and more. It felt good to back in the groove again since I was pretty good at SOCOM 2 for a short period. I was disappointed with SOCOM 3 though distancing away from what made SOCOM 2 amazing being too big and vehicles weren't clearly designed to be in a SOCOM game. It seems to be that SOCOM 4 is getting back to what made the first two games great while keeping the 32 max player limit in SOCOM 3, but it looks it didn't offer anything new enough to make itself competition against the online shooter juggernauts. I'm pretty sure the SOCOM fanbase will still enjoy it for a while even though they're not fans at the same new changes especially the cover system. I don't think Sony & Zipper completely dropped the ball with SOCOM 4, but it looks it could of been way better than it should of been.

Nintendo also had some announcements today regarding their Q2 lineup as the headliners are the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS and Wii Play: Motion. Zelda OOT 3D is shaping up to be the major reason people are getting 3DSs around that time since that's out on June 19. It has Master Quest in as well, so this is pretty much the ultimate version of OOT Nintendo is finally releasing after its re-releases on Gamecube and the Wii Virtual Console. Wii Play Motion is just another mini-game collection and like the original game, it is bundled with a Wiimote (now the Wiimote Plus). I expect this is sell a million copies easily and arguably could of best selling game of the year if magic strikes again for Nintendo. Then again, a lot of people have fallen off the Wii bandwagon and waiting for Nintendo to announce something new because other than Zelda: Skyward Sword, I have no reason to play my Wii at all. Sometimes, I wonder if its worth keeping still, so who knows with that.

Mortal Kombat HYPE has begun!!!!

Mortal Kombat is out next week and the HYPE has begun with the launch of the webseries titled Mortal Kombat: Legacy today. For the first episode, it is a good start of what to expect and it is a webseries, so there are limitations. Jax, Sonya, Stryker, and Kano are featured in this episode, but more of your favorites from the games are in future episodes. Let's just hope this as a whole succeeds to the point they start talking a movie again. I am taking a break from Marvel 3 to go nuts with MK as I try my best to get pretty good (tourney-good) for upcoming events. There's a national tournament next month at Vegas which I'm pretty sure signups have been done (oh well). Of course, Evo is having this game as well. Its a pretty good time to scream out MORTAL KOMBAT right now since its truly back.

The Other Stuff from Captivate...

Okay... other than the fighting games that got me HYPE (No MvC3 DLC stuff lol), there were other games Capcom showed off last week.

Dragon's Dogma is a new IP made by known action game developers from previous Capcom games. It still looks pretty early, but looks like they want to tap into the western RPG market. I'm not sure what to think of it now, so hopefully we get more info at E3.

Oh hey, another Dead Rising game... Capcom is really banking on this franchise these days now (is this the new Mega Man for them?), but who knows if this new game is too soon off last year's Dead Rising 2 & the prologue/epilogue downloadable games. Anyway, Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is basically if Frank West was the protagonist and not Chuck Greene in Fortune City. With Frank on the field, means a different game according to Capcom, but not by much to me. Its still Dead Rising at its core and some improvements are being made from what Blue Castle learned from the flaws of the original DR2. Off The Record is out this fall and we'll see if the world is not sick of Dead Rising yet (then again the long wait between 1 and 2 is something, but 2 games in the same setting = oh boy).

Then there's new Asura's Wrath stuff, which isn't much I guess, but a new trailer is good enough. It still looks cool and the protagonist is a crazy dude trying to defend a big finger from smashing the earth.

There's also Resident Evil stuff with Operation Raccoon City and the 3DS games too, but I'm letting the new games shine here. This year's Captivate seems to be a good event as Capcom fans have a lot to look forward to.

Street FIghter X Tekken Captivate Blowout...

The big highlight for Captivate, Capcom's Miami press event last week, for many is new Street Fighter X Tekken stuff and as promised, Capcom delivers on that end. The core gameplay seems to be now established being 2D a la Street Fighter, SF controls, and a Tekken-like juggle combo system. Surprisingly, the Tekken-like combos transitioned pretty well to this so far along with the tag combos since this is a 2v2 fighting game, but still one on one. The character roster so far is...

Street Fighter

• Ryu
• Ken
• Guile
• Abel
• Chun-Li

Tekken

• Kazuya
• Nina
• King
• Marduk
• Bob

The Street Fighter stuff seen in the gameplay clip above is EX moves, supers or ultras (Whatever Capcom goes with), and the SF4 style of art in which that engine is getting some graphical improvements even though it looks nearly the same, but a little better. Good thing the preview build was playable and impressions from those who were there are loving it so far. Who knows if the Tekken-like juggle system will be a key factor in gameplay as you can get by okay with Street Fighter fundamentals, but its a new game to learn and I'm pretty sure the FGC folks will be the necessary adjustments to do well at tournaments. Street Fighter X Tekken is still ways off, but I'm pretty excited again after seeing all of this.

SSF4 Arcade Edition News from Captivate...

The Captivate embargo is expected to be up at 8 am PST tomorrow, but things are slowly popping up on the interwebs. The Arcade Edition DLC leakage continues with this pic of someone downloading it on Xbox Live (assuming its the Partner.NET service), which contains the download size being around 674 MB. That's a lot if your small 360 Hard Drive is filling up, but for an update that substantial with loads of new content, it makes sense adding in the new characters, intros/endings, balance changes, and so on. The download size should be around the same for PS3 owners and wait till tomorrow morning if Capcom announces pricing for this thing, which I'm expecting in the 10-20 dollar range. 20 dollars is probably pushing it, but for a big update, I can see Capcom doing that. 10 dollars may seem like a bargain and hopefully the right price. 15 bucks though seems to be the sweet spot since its pretty much a new game at this point even though its SSF4 at its core. We'll find out tomorrow morning I guess.

BIG UPDATE

Enough blabbing, here we go:

DLC out on June 7 (1200 MS Points/15 bucks on PSN = called it!) - Also, its out on E3 week... plus Revelations/CEO that weekend. CEO confirms they'll use AE, but no word from the Level Up/Tournament Legacy crew whether or not they'll use AE (They better now if Evo is doing it and even CEO)

Retail version out on June 28 (smart of Capcom to have that option)

PC version out on July (yay for PC fans... also mods!!!)

Evo just confirmed they'll use AE... yay!

What I Wanna See for Def Jam Rapstar 2

There hasn't been any DLC released for Def Jam Rapstar for almost two months now and I have a feeling Konami/4mm Games is working on the sequel assuming it did well enough sales-wise (I sure hope so). Anyway, if Def Jam Rapstar 2 exists, I'm expecting a better game filled with content since the original established a pretty good foundation of what karaoke games should go with from now on. Here's a bullet point features list of what I want to see (soundtrack after this)

• Better career mode... perhaps artist-specific, theme-specific (Young Money, West Coast for ex.) or decade-specific setlists rather than the standard beat a few songs and move on to a harder list. The challenges are fine like the timing and multiplier ones, so keep them. Come to think of it, take a Rock Band-ish approach as you travel the country to become the #1 Rapstar as you visit various cities and their style of hip-hop/rap (Examples being Kanye in Chicago, Snoop at LA, T.I. & Ludacris at Atlanta, etc.). The more stars you collect allows access to more cities... kind of unoriginal, but it makes sense for a game like this.
• Will we see a M-rated version? I don't think so. The radio edits are fine enough and we can keep curse our way through them just to have fun when the blank words come out.
• Actual online battles - There wasn't any actual online play in terms of head to head competition, but they better add that in. Perhaps even spice in the career-based challenges for more multiplayer modes. All of a sudden they'll force in online MP achievements/trophies, which usually sucks.
• The community portion - I like the whole share/upload business of our performances to the Rapstar website and they should continue that, but let's see if they add Twitter/Facebook integration since that seems to be the new gaming trend now. Plus, it makes sense for a karaoke game so more people like your FB friends/Twitter followers can watch your sheninegans in the rap field. Of course YouTube integration would be nice too, but that would be pushing it. Then again, all of this still requires a camera in which I don't have a Playstation Eye, but that can change once I get a Move bundle if my most wanted game of the year Child of Eden supports it and perhaps even 3D too.

Okay, that's just the basics of what I want to see for a Rapstar sequel. There's probably more I can think of, but not at the moment. Anyway, the bigger picture for the sequel is the soundtrack. They better let you import the original Rapstar on-disc songs and the DLC for at least a minimal fee (free surely would be nice, but I can't see them doing that). The original's soundtrack had the obvious hits, but there can some that were missing as let'see if Rapstar 2 capitalizes on that. 50/60 on-disc songs for the sequel should be a good number. (Note - some from my Rapstar DLC wishlist will return)

• The Game - "How We Do" feat. 50 Cent
• Lil Wayne - "6'7'" feat. Cory Gunz
• Dr. Dre - "Kush" feat. Snoop Dogg & Akon
• Wiz Khalifa - "Black & Yellow" (obviously lol)
• Far East Movement - "Rockeeter" feat. Ryan Tedder (since G6 was Rapstar DLC, I can see them doing it - who cares if its too poppy)
• B.o.B. - "Nothin' On You" feat. Bruno Mars (same reason as Rockeeter)
• Outkast - "B.o.B."
• E-40 - "Tell Me When To Go"
• Too Short - "Blow the Whistle" (What's my favorite word?)
• 2Pac - "California Love" feat. Dr. Dre
• Snoop Dogg - "Who Am I (What's My Name?)"
• Snoop Dogg - "Drop It Like Its Hot" feat. Pharrell
• Ludacris - "My Chick Bad" feat. Nicki Minaj
• Ludacris - "Southern Hospitality"
• Jay-Z - "Can I Get A..." (Will they finally Jigga in the game?)
• Jay-Z - "Big Pimpin" feat. UGK
• Nicki Minaj - "Moment 4 Life" feat. Drake (I guess)
• Flo Rida - "Club Can't Handle Me" (won't be surprised since "Low" & "Right Round" were DLC)
• T.I. - "Bring 'Em Out"
• T.I. - "Why You Wanna"
• Busta Rhymes - "Touch It (Remix)" (Yup)
• Lupe Fiasco - "Superstar" (also seen in Lips I think)
• Kanye West - "Good Life" feat. T-Pain
• Drake - "Forever" feat. Lil Wayne, Kanye West, & Eminem
• Kanye West - "All of the Lights" feat. Rihanna (If they're crazy!)
• Kid Cudi - "Day & Nite"
• Cali Swag District - "Teach Me How to Dougie" (I like to see a dance movement themed setltist lol)
• Lil' Jon - "Snap Your Fingers"
• Pitbull - "Hey Baby (Drop it to the Floor)" feat. T-Pain (only if they do a club rap themed setlist lol)
• Chris Brown - "Look At Me Now" feat. Busta Rhymes & Lil' Wayne (yes Chris raps here, so it counts)
• Craig Mack - "Flava In Your Ear (Remix)"
• G-Dep - "Special Delivery (Remix)" (this song was sick in its day lol)
• Missy Elliott - "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)"
• Missy Elliott - "Work It"
• Mobb Deep - "Shook Ones (Part II)"
• Mobb Deep - "Quiet Storm"
• Nas - "If I Ruled The World"
• Juvenile - "Back That Thang Up"
• Nelly - "Country Grammar"
• LL Cool J - "Doin It"
• YG - "Toot It and Boot It"
• Young Jeezy - "Go Getta" feat. R. Kelly
• Rick Ross - "BMF" feat. Styles P
• Notorious B.I.G. - "Hypnotize"
• Fat Joe - "Make It Rain"

And more...

Streets of Rage Remake Version 5 - The Best Fanmade Game Ever?

After eight years of hard work, Streets of Rage Remake is finally done and the final version has been released as of earlier this week. As a fan of the franchise, I have been looking forward for a while when Bomber Games were finally able to finish it. This is one big complete package of the best of the Streets of Rage franchise compiled into one big game with somewhat an original story. Well, not really with the original story of Mr. X and his Syndicate are up to no good as its up to Axel, Blaze, Adam, Skate, Max, and Zan to the save the city from corruption. When Bomber Games claimed there are over 100 areas in the game, they weren't joking, and it makes sense since you get to select a starting path (Four of them) to beat up dudes. Two of them will be familiar as there are the first games from the first two games while the other two are original paths mixed in with some Streets of Rage 3 stages. Then there's the multiple branching paths to take which encourages multiple playthroughs of the game, which is great seeing which path leads to a certain boss or an area just filled with unexpected stuff. For example, there are vehicular sections in the game as you're on a bike or a little boat beating up dudes. However, these sections are pretty sketchy as you will have a hard time coming out of then alive at first, but eventually figure out tactics to lessen the damages. These multiple paths also mean multiple endings, which are the various endings from the three games remade in a new visual style.

Streets of Rage Remake encourages replay value like no other compared to any other beat-em-up in existence. There's the six various characters playable at the first with Axel spamming gran uppers like no one's business, Adam getting buffed up in the stats department (now my go-to), and so on. There are characters to buy as well in the shop after beating the game once along with cheats, bonus modes such as survival and boss rush, and extras. The customizable options are also stacked as you can play the game at the default SOR3 style o even the classic SOR1 style with no special moves at your disposal. New to this remake I believe are star moves in which the more stars you have, the better your dash attack is. Adam, for example at two stars has a Balrog-like dash punch, but adds in an uppercut with three stars, which does a good amount of damage. This also encourages staying alive keeping the stars as if you die, you lose a star. Police attacks from the first game also make a return and of course useful in tight situations and against bosses in their limited use. The difficulty also ramped up for this final version as it can be hard especially at the final stretches when at it alone. The enemy AI is smarter and bosses are willing to counterattack too. The game does get easier with another person around joining in on the fun and even a AI-controlled buddy in which you can dictate its behavior (being balanced, aggressive, stupid, etc.) at the start of a playthrough.

Graphically, Streets of Rage Remake is modeled after the second/third games, so its nice to backgrounds from the first game remade in the later games' format along with seeing original settings as well. The characters have also been redrawn to fit that style too. The amazing soundtrack though is something special. All of the tracks from the various games have been remastered as it is just awesome listening to the tracks being modernized in a way Yuzo Koshiro, the franchise's composer, would of thought of if Sega wants to bring to properly bring it back. Then again after the amazing job Bomber Games did with this homage to a classic franchise, it is probably for the best Sega never touches it again even though they seem to be aware of this version's existence and requested for the download links to be taken down for now. Bomber Games also mentioned today that they will patch it up soon toning down the difficulty to make it easier to beat it alone.

Whenever you have a chance, play this game as soon as you can if you love classic beat-em-ups especially this franchise. This is retro gaming and fanmade games done right as hopefully Bomber Games get the props they deserve.