Video game review thread (cd, albums, Genesis, effects, 90s)

[Sparky]

its more likely to happen now then ever. Square has already given up on going-solo with the ps3.

And the wii is now the best selling console in the world right now, so its looking good.

Oh and i will say this on squares behalf-kingdom hearts ****ing pwnt :P

not a ff game though

[Fallal]

Shadow of the Colossus.

This game is so simple yet one of the most deepest games out there. Fighting giants to save a loved one only to have to pay a huge consequence for it. So sad and I recommend everyone to play it.

[CAPTAIN CAVEMAN]

^word, i rented that game once. it was sick.

[ZeppelinAir]

FF12 is pretty sweet, it has the more middle ages feel to it though, i prefer the more well modern feel ones like FF7, FF10, FF12, Dirge Of Cerberus isnt to bad, the cut scene graphics a amazing and it puts to gather a good story line with the history of Vincent.

But Seriously if you want sad, play FF10, my sister always watched me as i played and the ending was sad enough to make her cry, sure she is only ten, but she one of them who likes to pick fights and is not afraid to punch someone

[boo boo]

The classic NES Final Fantasys were much more medieval and D&Dish. Easy to say, the series has evolved quite a lot since then.

[ZeppelinAir]

have any yall tried the Ace Combat series? great story lines and graphics, good voice acting and soundtrack. if you havent tried it, give it a try, it may be a fighter planes game but it has some amazing story lines and everything else i mentioned

[boo boo]

I'm bored as all hell, so....

Bump.

Gunstar Heroes

Developer: Treasure Co. Ltd
Publisher: Sega
Platform: Sega Genesis
Year: 1993



Rating: 10

This is without a doubt one of the greatest run and guns ever made, and on a personal level I think this is better than any Contra game.

The story is set on planet Gunstar 9, which for generations has been protected by the Gunstar family. Many years ago the world was saved from Golden Silver, a powerful android from a far away galaxy that wanted to suck Gunstar 9 dry of resources. After he was defeated, the 4 mystical gems that were his power source were extracted and Golden Silver was imprisioned on one of Gunstar 9s moons.

Now in the present, an evil dictator named Smash Daisaku (who looks an awful lot like M. Bison from the Street Fighter series) kidnapped one of the members of the Gunstar family, Gunstar Green, who was brainwashed into becoming one of Daisakus minions. With Greens help Daisaku stole the mystical gems and sets out to revive Golden Silver once again. Its up to Greens younger brothers Gunstar Red and Gunstar Blue to save the day.

Basic gameplay is similar to Contra. But there are many things that make this game stand out. The customizable weapons system is a real treat. You have 4 basic weapons to choose from, but as you earn power ups throughout the game you can combine two of the basic weapons to create a new one, giving you a total of 14 unique weapons. You have two characters to choose from, both can shoot in 8 directions, Red can shoot while running but he can't shoot diagonally without moving, Blue however is a fixed shot and can't shoot while running (making the game considerably more dificult). You get to choose from the first 4 levels and can play through them in any order, like Mega Man. Other cool features that makes this game different from most run and guns is melee combat, you can tackle enemies and throw them, you can also slide, skid, pick up and throw items and do different jumping attacks. You have a life total caculated in numbers, so you don't have to worry about dying from one hit, but unlike most run and guns one life is all you get, dying sends you to the continue option screen, when you continue you start from the last invisible check point you've been to. Theres different difficulty levels to choose from, making this an engaging game for people of all skill levels.

The levels offer many unique twists on the typical run and gun formula, you'll be riding mine carts one moment and playing a giant board game the next. Theres even a shoot em up level. One of the coolest things about Gunstar Heroes are the boss fights, which are truly bizzare, and believe me, theres a LOT of them. You'll take on everything from a transforming mecha to a giant clown face to a midget to a steroid pumping dude on a Helicopter.

The graphics really enhance the experience as well, the sprites look great, and many sprites often fill the screen at once and all the animations from the characters to explosions and other effects really pushed the limits of what the Genesis could do. The bosses were especially impressive for the time, as they were made up of multiple sprites which results in extremely fluid animation that almost looks 3D.

The music is amazing by Genesis standards and really uses the consoles sound chip in ways no other games for it ever did. It was composed by Norio Hanzawa who has composed for many other Treasure classics as well.

Gunstar Heroes has a lot to offer and while Treasure has gone on to make many more imaginative games like Mischief Makers, Banghai O, Ikaruga, Guardian Heroes, Sin and Punishment as well as other Genesis classics like Dynamite Headdy and Alien Soldier, this game is still considered to be their crowning achievement, and rightfully so. This is one of the most impressive Genesis games you'll find, everything from the lush graphics to the cool soundtrack. If you've never played this game you have a chance right now, currently this game is available for the Wii's Virtual Console service. So if you own a Wii and have some Wii points saved over, get it.

This game also has an excellent little known sequel for the GBA called Gunstar Super Heroes, which is worth picking up as well.

[boo boo]

Revived.

Street Fighter II

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Arcade, SNES, Genesis, various other consoles
Year: 1991... but there have been many updated versions released since



Rating: 10

The lifespan of fighting games can best be devided into 2 main eras. Before and after Street Fighter II.

Most previous fighting games were very simplistic, basic attacks like punching and kicking and very little in the way of combos. They were also more common on PC and consoles than at the arcade. The original Street Fighter was one of the early arcade fighters which introduced many features that would be adopted into later SF games and fighting games in general, but it had very stiff controls and thus was not a very popular game.

It's sequel however was not only a huge success, it opened the door for countless imitators, giving arcades a second chance at life as fighters began to replace shoot em ups and beat em ups. It's still considered the defining game of it's genre, and for good reason, it still stands out as one of the best.

The basic story is simple. M: Bison is the evil underlord of a secret crime organization called Shadaloo. Looking for new talent to join his army. He hosts an international fighting tournament, pitting fighters from all around the world against each other in one on one matchs.

Unlike the first Street Fighter where you only had one character to choose from. Street Fighter II has a very colorful cast of playable characters.

Ryu and Ken, two karate type dudes with the same movesets.
Chun Li, a Chinese crimefighter and the first female to be featured in a fighting game.
Guile, a rough and tough American soldier.
Blanka, a monstrous creature from Brazil who can generate electricity.
Zangief, a huge Russian wrestler.
E. Honda, a Japanese sumo wrestler.
Dhalsm, an Indian spritualist who can spit fire and stretch his limbs like rubber.

In the main campaign you had to fight all the opposing characters, the lineup constantly changes after each play. After you defeat them you must face off against the 4 bosses, who were unplayable in the original SFII.

Balrog, a Las Vegas boxer.
Vega, an androgynous masked warrior from Spain.
Sagat, a ruthless Muay Thai fighter from Thailand.
And finally M. Bison himself.

The gameplay is simple. Each character has their own stage, set in different countries from around the world. Every character except Ryu and Ken have completely unique movesets and abilities. Characters have different stats based on their speed, agility, stamina and power. For example Chun Li is weaker than others, but faster and more agile than other characters making her a great "hit and run" character, while Zangief is slow and his massive size makes him a large target but allows him to attack from a greater distance and his attacks pack plenty of power.

The matches are devided between seperate rounds and are won by best two out of three. Characters are given a stamina meter, first person to lose all stamina loses. There's also a time limit, when it runs out, whoever has the most stamina left wins, opponents can also KO each other at the same time leading to a draw, if theres still a draw after three rounds, the match will start over, if the fight goes on for 10 rounds the tie will be broken through a sudden death match. Later versions of the game reduced the amount of possible rounds to 4.

The controls are simple yet deep. An 8 directional joypad and 6 buttons, 3 kinds of punches and 3 kinds of kicks (Balrog is an exception, he's all punches). You can block attacks by simply moving the opposite direction your character is facing. You can also jump and crouch, allowing you to do different attacks. There are also throwing and grappling attacks that can be performed when close enough to your opponent. In addition to all the basic attacks, there are also special moves that can be peformed by imputting different combinations of the joystick and one of the attack buttons at the same time. Giving your characters tons of attacks to chose from.

The main 1P mode has you fighting all 8 playable characters and the 4 bosses. In between every 3 matches are bonus stages, where you perform tasks like destroying cars, walls and barrels within a time limit to rank up more points.

This game is best for it's multiplayer, in which you could choose the stage you fight in.

SFII for it's time was one of the most well presented arcade games there were, the graphics were stunning, the character sprites were colorful and gorgeous. And the music was awesome, each character had their own memorable theme.

The game was a huge success, it's first home console port was for the SNES, which was a big hit and helped increase SNES sales. The game was so popular that only a year later Capcom released an updated version called Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, which would be the first of many. This version made the 4 boss characters playable, so you could now play as Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison. Giving you 12 playable characters. It also allowed two players to play as the same character, and the tournament now pitted you against all 12 fighters including your own character. Characters were also more well balanced and some of the stages were redrawn or recolored.

In 93, Capcom made Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting. This version had all the same features as CE, but it was notable for increasing the game speed considerably, it also gives some new techniques to some of the characters. Such as Dhalsms abillity to teleport and Chun Li's new projectile attack which was similar to Ryu and Ken's Hadouken attack. This version was later ported into Street Fighter II: Turbo for the SNES.

In 94, yet another revised version was made. This one was called Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. It introduced 4 more characters.

Fei-Long, pretty much this game's Bruce Lee type fighter.
Dee Jay, a Jamaican kickboxer.
T Hawk, Native American and another tank type character, like Zangief.
Cammy, a British secret agent/hot blonde chick in a green leotard. Does it get much better than that?

This version had the graphics and sound completely reworked. It was the first SF made for the CPS2 hardware, as opposed to CPS1 like previous versions. It also had a new scoring system. You could earn extra points from multihit combos, counterattacks and being able to defeat your opponent at the beginning of the match before taking a hit yourself. There was also a new mode called Tournament Battle, which allowed up to 4 different arcade machines to connect, allowing for an elimation match for up to 8 players.

The game lacked the speed of Hyper Fighting, but it's tournament battle mode, reworked graphics and sound and new characters (ok, Cammy is the only really memorable one, but she's one of my faves) made it superior to every SFII before it. This game was ported to SNES as Super Street Fighter II, which had a code that allowed you to increase the speed of matches like Turbo did, and to Genesis as Super Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition which included a special 5 on 5 group battle mode.

The best and final arcade version (not including a recent Japan-only version) was Super Street Fighter II Turbo. This games attracting new feature was the introducton of "super combos", there was one for every character. The super combo was a powerful move that can only be performed after a character fills up his/her "super combo gauge" from doing standard attacks. Other features include new combos for attacking your enemy mid air, you could also escape from throwing and holding attacks. The game also reintrodued the speed from Hyper Fighting, this time giving you the option to pick your speed, with 4 to choose from. Another feature was Akuma, a brand new character who is the secret Final Boss for 1P mode and could be unlocked as a playable character.

So the lession here is GODDAMN does Capcom know how to milk a franchise or what? Street Fighter II has countless arcade and home port versions, we're talking at least 30 of them. But this game is so great and so popular that fans of the game don't seem to mind buying the game over and over as long as there were new goodies in store, and indeed there is quite a variation between each version of the game. Because there are so many versions of this game it's a constant debate between fans over which is the best. For my money SFII Turbo is the best.

Whatever version, you can't call yourself a true fighting game fan unless you've played/owned at least one of them. SFII is still considered the holy grail of fighting games for many reasons. It's simple but fun gameplay, it's deep controls, it's wonderful characters and it's at the time state of the art graphics and music. This is easly one of the top 10 greatest games of all time. And I never tire of playing it. Even for the single player.

I love fighting games because there's nothing quite as satisfying as getting to beat the sh*t out of someone, and what SFII excells at is that unlike a lot of the competing games that tried to outdo it and a lot of todays fighting games in general, SFII never makes fighting more complicated than it should be, it can be challenging but the learning curve is quick and easy.

A true definition of the word "classic". As a fan of the series I am insane with anticipation for Street Fighter IV.

Rest assured I'll have to set up a tent at my local pizza place.

[Subterfuge]

^ I used to have so much fun playing that game. By the way has anyone ever played Shin Megami Tensei Lucifer's Call/Nocturne?

[Fruitonica]

My brother in law used to have one of the SF2 arcade machines. It was awsome fun. I've got to ask him what happened to it.