The makers of Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies are back! Sort of. From PopCap Games 4th and Battery division comes Candy Train, a universal app for the iPhone and iPad that is free as I type this. I’m not sure if that’s going to change by the time you read this. In any case, if you have either of those devices and the app is still free, you don’t need me to give you a review. Just go grab it already and come to your own conclusion. If you’d still like to hear what I’d think, then I’m not stopping you from reading my review, either.
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Novril’s MS Paint Guide on How to Beat Phoenix
YouTube user Novril is back! I loved his first MS Paint video guide on how to beat Sentinel, and this time he’s back with a great guide on how to beat Phoenix. It’s comforting to see that much of the Phoenix knowledge I wrote about a few months ago is in here, but he also has some great strategies I wasn’t aware of until watching this video.
Also, the MS Paint style and charm are pretty funny. I’m looking forward to newer installments of this series, as I think the world needs a guide on how to beat the over-powered Yun and Yang in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Anyway, click through to see the Phoenix video and share your appreciation with Novril if you enjoy this series!
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Review
The Street Fighter IV series has had an incredible run. Having single-handedly bringing the genre back from the dead, Capcom rode the wave of success by releasing Super Street Fighter IV, which was an excellent update to the original. In fact, Super Street Fighter IV was so nice, I bought it twice. Now, Capcom is closing out the Street Fighter IV series with Arcade Edition, which is available now as DLC for Super Street Fighter IV owners for $15, or as a separate disc for $40.
In a time when with new fighting games such as Mortal Kombat and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 are stealing the spotlight, is the latest iteration on the Street Fighter IV worth your time?
Out Now – Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
Though the eyes of most gamers are focused squarely on E3, the fighting game world gets a major release today. If you own a copy of Super Street Fighter IV, you can now purchase Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition as DLC for $15. The update will feature four new characters (Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu and Oni), new balance changes and a number of major upgrades to the replay channel.
Review: X-Men Arcade for iPhone and iPad
Hot on the heels of the release of X-Men: First Class comes the return of X-Men Arcade. Earlier this year, it made it’s return on XBOX Live and PlayStation Network, which I reviewed when it came out. This time, it’s out as a universal app for the iPhone and iPad. Though a lot of what I said about X-Men Arcade initially still stands for this port, the iOS version does have some perks and quirks worth noting in a separate review.
Mortal Kombat Review
It’s been a while since Mortal Kombat was relevant. Say what you will about the series’ consistently good sales, but when the genre fell out of relevance with the mass market, Mortal Kombat did, too. However, when Street Fighter IV single-handedly revived the genre, it was only a matter of time before Mortal Kombat came roaring back. And roar back it did. You, as gaming consumers, made it the number 1 selling game in the US in April, selling over 1 million copies.
Is the latest in the MK series a return to form? Did it sell solely on hype? Or does it take the series to the next level?
L.A. Noire Review
There are going to be a lot of people who will buy this game, thinking that they’re picking up Grand Theft Auto: 1940s Cop Edition. If the commercials or your expectations led you to believe that this would be that type of game, you’re either going to be pleasantly surprised or horribly disappointed. If this isn’t a Grand Theft Auto variant, than what is it?
Impressions of Mortal Kombat’s Story Mode
Historically, fighting games have done a poor job of providing a good single-player experience and a horrible job at telling a story. Even 20 years after the release of Street Fighter II, the majority of fighting games simply boil down to fighting opponent after opponent, until you’ve beaten everyone in your path and receive your character’s ending. This does not make for an interesting one-player experience, or add any context to why you’re fighting opponent after opponent. To be fair, the BlazBlue series has tried to expand its single-player experience with a story mode, but that game’s story is so poorly written and presented that only the hardest of hardcore anime fans would find any redeeming value in it.
With that said, Mortal Kombat’s story mode is a breath of fresh air. It’s presented in a way that makes perfect sense to the mythology of the series and to the player in control. What makes it so great? And what could have been done better?
Let’s Talk About Duke Nukem Forever
I remember first reading about Duke Nukem Forever in EGM magazine back in 1997. That feels like it was a lifetime ago for me. While this game was going through development hell, I hit puberty, graduated college on two separate occasions and have worked six different jobs before settling into a stable position in the digital advertising industry. It’s crazy to me to think that 14 years later, this game has officially gone gold and is supposedly coming out in a matter of days.
Early Impressions: Mortal Kombat’s Fighting Game Mechanics
When you think about Mortal Kombat as a series, you think about blood and fatalities. Do you think about it’s rich and deep fighting game engines? Probably not. Mortal Kombat has traditionally, been a fighting game series built primarily on style over substance. For Midway/Warner Brothers, this lead to consistently good sales throughout the series history among more casual fighting game fans, but the hardcore have pretty much shunned it. Case in point: Super Street Fighter II Turbo is still being played at major fighting game tournaments this year, while the entire Mortal Kombat scene has virtually never had any sort of tournament scene to speak of.
I loved Mortal Kombat I-III, but having grown into a hardcore fighting game player these last few years has really coloured my perspective on those games in hindsight. I can still have a ton of fun playing the Street Fighter II series games of the same era, but those early Mortal Kombat games just don’t have the depth of gameplay to hold my attention nowadays. With that said, Ed Boon, the creator of Mortal Kombat, said this new one was aiming to cater to the hardcore crowd. I’ve only spent a few hours with it playing the story mode, tutorial and some versus matches with my coworkers, so it wouldn’t be fair for me to pass final judgment about the game now. But what I can tell you about are my experiences with the game so far, is that from a gameplay systems perspective, this is probably the deepest Mortal Kombat ever.
In Third Person 