It is only a matter of time with all the rumors and leaks, but Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is finally confirmed for release on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network sometime this summer. Excitement is at an all-time high as I still play this game from time to time at arcades and never owning a console version (Dreamcast, PS2, or Xbox). Also cool is that an exclusive PSN Demo is coming out this Thursday with six characters playable (Spidey, Strider, Chun-Li, Iron Man, Ryu, and Wolverine) and local multiplayer. Here's the other stuff these new versions will offer according to all the major sites.
Dreamcast version
Online play similar to SSF2T HD Remix
HD upscaling
16:9 widescreen support (4:3 also there)
Custom music/soundtracks for those who hate the original soundtrack (I'm keeping it)
1200 MS Points / 15 bucks on PSN
No character unlocking = Yes!!!!
Exclusive PSN Demo as mentioned earlier this Thursday
I'm gonna take you for a ride online when this comes out. Trailer is below...
Oh yes, it is not a MvC2 blog post without this...
So I came back from the Philippines yesterday - blog about that soon when I have time (???). I might as well try to catch up on what I missed. First up is the music, which is not much other than two anticipated videos.
Kanye West - "Amazing" feat. Young Jeezy... Kanye has done it again with this video showcasing Hawaii and how beautiful (Or amazing as the song is) it is.
Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow" Well they did deliver on the futuristic stuff as they promised (Blame it on the Ayo Technology) and I surprisingly think this video could of been better as it doesn't get u hyped up like the song would at a club or something like that.
That's it for now I guess as I continue to try to catch up with reality.
Okay, not really a retro reviews showcase, but here's some reviews I done earlier in this generation of consoles that I didn't link up here.
Prey (360) - 7.7/10: This long-awaited FPS came out in the summer of 06 and didn't really deliver in the hype. I remembered called this a FPS and Magic Mountain combined into one, but then again that's the case with most FPSs today.
Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess (Wii) - 8.6/10: I remember getting hate by fanboys for this one as it didn't recapture the magic previous Zelda games did by sticking to an old formula that worked in Ocarina of Time. In the end, I think the crowd eventually thought the same way that TP is overrated and it can't top OOT or even A Link to the Past as the best Zelda game.
God of War II (PS2) - 9.4/10: I actually had to borrow my cousin's PS2 just to play this game back in March 2007 and it was indeed worth it. Another brillant game from beginning to end especially in the last years of the PS2. Obviously, I'm looking forward for the third game to end the story with a bang.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (XBLA) - 8.9/10: I missed this wonderful gem when it first came out for the PS1 in 1997 and it was also my first Castlevania game even though I respect the franchise what it is, but never interested in playing them. SOTN is still considered one of the greatest games of all-time by being perhaps the perfect "Metroidvania" game and still a classic among the hardcore crowd.
BioShock (360) - 9.5/10: While I probably got caught up in the hype in this review because it was something else at the time, BioShock was indeed an unique FPS. Even though the sequel is looking too similar to this one according to the first gameplay footage, I'm still hoping it will deliver in the end.
Super Metroid (Wii VC) - 9/10: I never beaten Super Metroid until its re-release on the Virtual Console and it is still indeed an amazing game in the early 90s. Definitely worth playing if you're a fan of games period.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 9.0/10: I would rank this one better than Echoes, but the original Prime is still king even though the Wii controls for Corruption work mostly well. Even though it was a change of pace compared to the previous games, Corruption is still one of the better Wii games around.
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic has been one of the highly anticipated downloadable titles for the Playstation Network. It is made by Tarsier Studios, which consists of former Media Molecule guys that brought us LittleBigPlanet. For those who never played the PC original, Rag Doll Kung Fu is a four player free-for-all fighting game in the vein of Super Smash Bros. and Kung Fu Chaos. It has the charm that LittleBigPlanet along with a physics system that similar to that game in terms of platforming. While a simple free-for-all fighting game seems fun on paper, Fists of Plastic does not really offer enough value to keep players coming back even though it is ten bucks. Instead, this game is somewhat of a disappointment despite some neat ideas to the combat and the special charm.
The main modes in Fists of Plastic are a standard free-for-all mode and a challenge mode testing your skills in the game earning medals and unlock more stuff like characters and extra outfits for a customized character. Even though the combat seems simple at first with punch, kick, jump, and block buttons, the advanced tactics, especially the ones that require Sixaxis motions, have a steep learning curve and will take players some time to master them effectively, but at least the challenges are there for players to practice those skills. Other than the punching and kicking, there are items and weapons to use, which are similarly used in Super Smash Bros. to throw at opponents and cause more damage. I appreciate the effort that the developers took with the Sixaxis controls such as tilting upside down to recover health while losing magic, shaking the controller to use a lightning ball, and tilting it towards a certain direction for a lunging attack, but since they are motion controlled, at times they do not feel precise and could be frustrating when things get chaotic. The challenges range from a basic survival mission, target practice that you have to keep a combo alive for higher scores and medals, and so on. The standard free-for-all mode is just a quick match offering that consists of a normal deathmatch, king of the hill, capture the fish, and dodgeball. The non-deathmatch modes do offer the game a little more variety, but it is just a small twist to the core fighting. The character creator also does not do anything special other than dress characters up in different clothes with no effect to the action. Even though Fists of Plastic can be played with up to four players locally, there is no online multiplayer at all present and it is indeed a bummer since games like this demand something like that. The only online support in this game are just leaderboards for the challenges.
The game itself looks fantastic running at a smooth 60 frames per second with no sense of slowdown. The characters actually do feel like rag dolls and this game heavily relies on physics for the game to function effectively. Even though these characters feel somewhat generic to the theme, their charm does set them apart from other games like this. The sound is also remarkable stuff especially the soundtrack having that similar style LittleBigPlanet had. Fists of Plastic is arguably one of the most polished games on the Playstation Network representing a certain graphical style and great sound.
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic is still an enjoyable time if you like free-for-all brawlers and have local friends to play this with. There is enough simplicity there to go pick up and play, but the advanced skills do in fact have a steep learning curve to master. I like the fact that some games like this are taking an effort to have effective Sixaxis controls as there are neat ideas how they are implemented in the combat, but they can be imprecise at times when you need them the most especially in the challenges. While the game looks stunning and charming, it is unfortunate that it has no online multiplayer at all, which hurts its replay value, but hopefully it can be added in a future patch if the developers are able to add it in effectively. For ten dollars, Fists of Plastic is still a good game and worth checking out, but it could have been so much better with more content than the initial package.
Score = 6.5/10
Pros:
Great graphical style running at 60 FPS with no slowdown
Filled with charm from the characters to the soundtrack like LittleBigPlanet
Neat ideas with Sixaxis controls
Still a fun game to have around to play with local friends (if you have more than two controllers).
Cons:
Not enough replay value - Lack of modes
Advanced tactics require a steep learning curve to master them effectively
Sixaxis controls can be frustrating when you need them most
Remember when the first Mortal Kombat came out and shook the video game industry up a bit in the mid 90s? These were the good old days when arcades were still relevant and it is about the gameplay and graphics before it went 3D. Randomly, I watched the first Mortal Kombat movie again today and reliving some of my 90s childhood. I did watch this and the sequel, Annihilation, at the movie theatres when they came out and while the sequel is somewhat of an abomination, the first movie is actually still good to this day. Honestly, it is still the best movie based on a video game ever.
Mortal Kombat pretty much satisfied both the average movie crowd and fans of the franchise when it came out in the mid 90s by being perfectly accurate to the game with the characters, their personalities, the fight scenes, and the story. Pretty much all characters from the first game were in this movie from Liu Kang, the main character, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Raiden, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Kano, Goro, and Shang Tsung while some characters from MK2 were in as well like Kitana, Reptile, and Jax. If u have seen this movie, you can tell it is pretty accurate to the first game in terms of story from Liu Kang's quest for revenge against Shang Tsung, Sonya's goal to kill Kano, and so on. While some fight scenes could have been better, the fight between Liu Kang and Reptile (video of that above) was the best one of the movie.
I would also like to mention the awesome soundtrack for this movie too, which brought us the Mortal Kombat theme and other techno songs like the one played during the Liu Kang/Reptile fight. It was such an energetic soundtrack that makes u want to beat up somebody and also can be played at random raves.
While recent video game based movies suck (Max Payne, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li), the first Mortal Kombat movie is arguably still the best movie based on a game because it flat out didn't suck as bad as other movies. It actually felt like a video game done right from the action as it was accurate incoporating the characters' special moves from Liu Kang's Bicycle Kick, Scorpion's Spear, and Cage's Split Punch to the balls. If any upcoming game-based flick is coming soon, they should learn from Mortal Kombat of what to do right and please the fans.
Last night was an amazing night as I was at Street Fighter Bar Fights inside Jake's at Pasadena along with nearly 300 other crazy people to witness some amazing Street Fighter IV action among SoCal's best players. SoCal SF4 ambassador Ryan "Gootecks" Guiterrez put this whole event together spreading the word out to the community to come to this special event. Dogface from the Dogface Show was MCing the event and I chatted with him for a small conversation before the thing got started. The place was really packed and at max capacity as long it felt like an oven being inside watching all the madness in the main area, but it was hella worth it. As I thought A.I. Ranbat 2.1 was the best time I had in relation to Street Fighter IV, SF Bar Fights easily tops that as it was full of HYPE!!!
There will be a DVD of this whole event out sometime next month, but here's some YouTube footage and results from the amazing night.
Sanchez (M. Bison) defeats Bebop (Vega) 3-2. This first match definitely set the tone for the rest of the night as two of the hypest people I met put up an entertaining match. Later on, I was hanging out with them and Luka (The hypest man I met u could hear him everywhere) to spread the hype even further. During the Kai vs. Gootecks match, I had some first hit bets with Sanchez and that was fun stuff.
Keno (Balrog) & his mystery partner Fuson (Guile) (aka Team Video 94) defeated Dae (Chun-Li) & Bustabust (Abel) 3-2 (Team Denijin Arcade)
This team match was also hella fun as Dae took off his shirt as expected and played the whole match like that. Bustabust has the best Abel I seen personally as Fuson has currently the best Guile I seen too. Keno's Balrog was pretty much on last night as he had a 20+ win streak earlier at casuals and stayed that way during the match. In the end, Keno also took his shirt off and hugged Dae for a good game.
Another awesome highlight of the night was a random game called Roseball. This game is pretty simple as one Rose starts it up with a Soul Spark and other Rose reflects, so on. Watch this video above to see this awesomeness and as Kai said, "It is the greatest game ever!!"
Bobino defeats Ken I 3-2 in a Rufus mirror match. This one also went to the wire as it was full of Messiah Kicks and dive kicks.
Gootecks (Balrog) defeats Kai (El Fuerte) 3-0. As people like me, Sanchez, and Bebop were screaming "Teach me the infinite Kai!!!" Kai's Fuerte put up a good show and it is always fun to see an awesome Fuerte player in action even though Gootecks pretty much was in control. As mentioned earlier, me and Sanchez were at first hit bets and let's just say always bet on Balrog. As u can tell from this video, the HYPE is starting to go to epic proportions.
Paul "SoMuchDamage" (Sagat) defeats Mike Ross (E. Honda) 3-1. Another entertaining match as Paul's Sagat is one of the most patient and old-school style Sagats I have seen & u all know Mike Ross is the best Honda player in the West Coast. Obviously the Honda/Sagat matchup is not good for Honda obviously, but Mike did what he could. Sanchez, Bebop, and Luka (the tall dude raising his hands in the pic above) were obviously rooting for Paul and u would hear "Mike, go back to Marvel" or random Sour Skittles comments during the match. Next time, I should bring buy some Sour Skittles from a vending machine to make things more interesting if that joke is still relevant (HYPE has entered its peak at this point).
The main event of the night: Combofiend (Balrog, Viper) defeats Edma (Ken, Balrog) 5-2. This lived up the hype as these two guys are at a league of their own. Edma (pic of him above) has indeed the sickest Ken out now doing amazing link combos to EX hurricane kicks while Combofiend (pic of him below) does have the best Balrog now despite SoCal being known for the Balrog army these days in the SF4 scene. Edma did perfect Combo once during the match and the place went nuts.
And that was Street Fighter Bar Fights in a nutshell. It was such an amazing night and lived up to the hype. It was nice hanging out with the community chatting up a bit with players like Mike Ross, Sanchez, Bebop, Luka, Keno, Bobino, and other new faces that showed up. Thanks again to Gootecks for making this event happen and I'm looking forward to Bar Fights #2 soon.
Seriously, if u live in SoCal and love SF4 a lot, u should of came to Street Fighter Bar Fights. U missed out!!! It was just too HYPE!!!
UPDATE - This post has now better footage courtesy of YouTube user striderzer0 showcasing the HYPE up close and personal.
As u can see on the right side with the links to reviews and various lists, I added a new feature to this blog, which is not really original called "Top 10 Songs I'm Blasting." Basically, this may substitute for the music roundup blog posts, but it is pretty much a typical top 10 list of my favorite songs currently. As expected, the list currently features some hype songs that make me go nuts whether driving or whatever else. I blame that one fateful night if those know what I mean why I started to enter this club music phase (Also the Power Party Mix at noon on Power 106).
