When this game was first announced, I immediately wrote it off as simply one of those erotic Japanese games that never make their way to my country. There’s a market for those types of games, but they’re not for me. However, the more I read about Catherine and its premise, the more I was intrigued to learn more.
With the demo out now on XBOX Live and PlayStation Network, I gave it a shot.
Split/Second was one of two high-profile arcade racing games to hit the market in May 2010. The other was Blur. Both Disney and Activision had high hopes for their respective racing games, with visions of turning them into the next big racing franchises. However, despite positive reviews for both, neither game sold very well, which led to the demise of both studios that made Split/Second and Blur. Despite my issues with Blur, I thought it was a shame that game and its’ creators suffered the fate that they did, as Blur was a pretty good game. I’d say the similar things about Black Rock Studio and Split/Second. This is a pretty good racing game that, unfortunately, a lot of people overlooked.
For a few days, I was on a roll with Split/Second. I was really enjoying the progression through the career mode and I thought this wouldn’t end like my experiences with Burnout Paradise or Blur, where I hit a figurative brick wall. In both games, I hit a point where I needed “x” amount of points to move onto the next set of challenges, yet I couldn’t muster up the skills to make the necessary progress. At first, I was finishing second or third in my Split/Second races, which was enough to get me to the next episode. However, my lack of perfection eventually caught up.
Out of nowhere, SNK released King of Fighters i-002 for the iPhone. Until it hit the iTunes store, SNK hadn’t even acknowledged this game’s existence. Because of the flash announcement and release, it’s really hard right now to find any sort of impressions on it. As curious as I was to try it out, I was initially weary on picking this up immediately, as $7.99 seemed like a lot to gamble on for an iPhone game, especially when I just bought Street Fighter IV: Volt for $0.99.
However, out of my own curiosity and my desire to inform anyone interested in picking this game up, I decided to pony up the funds and give it a go. Does King of Fighters have what it takes to topple the Street Fighter IV series of iPhone games as the king of fighting games on the platform?
Over the past few days, I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Street Fighter IV: Volt’s online multiplayer. I’ve been doing so because I want to unlock Akuma, which can be done either by playing 100 online matches or beat the game with all 18 characters. On paper, 100 online matches is easier to complete than 144 matches against the computer. Boy, was I wrong.
In a world where most games strive for realism and violence, Kirby’s Epic Yarn is a joyful rebellion. Everything about it, from the amazing fabric aesthetic to the way its gameplay has been designed, feels like it was strategically built to keep a smile on your face from beginning to end. I can’t speak for everyone’s experience with Kirby’s Epic Yarn, but it had me grinning the whole way through.
Street Fighter IV for iPhone is hands-down the best fighting game available on iOS. You could even make a solid case for it being one of the best iOS games, period. Despite my initial thoughts that it would suck, it won me over in a big way. Up until the release of Volt, Street Fighter IV on the iPhone has been a near-daily ritual of mine.
While Capcom made a number of huge updates to the original, they’ve decided to release a new app this time around. I would have much preferred paying for this as an add-on to the original, but I can’t complain too much when I was able to get it on sale for $0.99. Regardless of what you paid for it (and/or if you have the original), is Street Fighter IV: Volt worth a purchase?
One of the most recent developments in DLC is the idea of paying for a set of content up-front and receiving a discount on the set rather than buying the components of the set separately. From a business perspective, this makes a lot of sense, as it’s a lot easier to ask me for $15 now rather than four payments of $5 spread out over 8 months. It also makes sense from the player’s perspective, as we get stuff at a discount.
Case in point, the Mortal Kombat Season Pass. There are four DLC characters scheduled for release at $5.00 each. However, if you buy the Season Pass up-front, you’ll get all four characters for $15, which is a savings of $5.
The new Mortal Kombat in my eyes was a pretty fantastic game with one fatal flaw (no pun intended): crappy online play. It would take forever to get matched up with anyone and if you did get into a match, it was always a laggy mess. At Mortal Kombat’s best, it was as laggy as Super Street Fighter IV’s worst. As much as I wanted to deep dive into the world of Mortal Kombat online play, it was an unplayable mess. Without good online play, I had basically no one to play against.
If you’ve been disappointed in Mortal Kombat’s online play to date, I’ve got good news for you.
With fighting games experiencing an upswing in popularity, there are a lot of new players getting into fighting games and fighting game veterans taking on new games. With any new fighting game you take on, whether that’s a mainstream hit like Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat, or a more niche title like Arcana Heart 3, comes a learning curve that’s usually steeper than that of most other video games on the market. Playing against the computer or playing with your friends of similar skill is fine and dandy, but if your goal is to play these games on a competitive level against anyone is going to take some smart training and elbow grease.
The good news is, a lot of the knowledge you’ll learn in one game is transferable to the next, which makes learning fighting games as a whole a task that’s not as daunting as it seems on the surface. It also makes it possible for someone like me to write a somewhat-one-size-fits-all guide to fighting games that you can apply to any fighting game you play.
I’m not sure how far I’ll go with this series of posts, but for my first attempt at this, let’s talk about fighting games from a defensive perspective. More specifically, how to deal with cross-up/cross-over/cross-under attacks.
In Third Person 