Street Fighter IV Round 2 Arcade Fightstick Tournament Edition Review

 

Over the last few months, I’ve learned a lot about arcade fightsticks. Most notably, the difference between an entry-level fightstick and a premium one. Having two fightsticks wear out in a matter of months and one break within an hour has made me weary of ever buying an entry-level fightstick again.

On the other side of the coin, I’ve found that playing fighting games on a premium fightstick is a beautiful thing. I love my first-generation TE for the weight, sturdiness and responsive input mechanisms. I’ve used my TE for well over 100 hours and it still feels as good as new.

When my PS3 Hori fightstick died and the Round 2 fightsticks went on sale, I did not hesitate to pick one up.

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Early Impressions of Plants vs. Zombies on XBOX 360

 

Having first played Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad, I had no doubts going into the XBOX 360 version that this was going to be a good game. However, I did have a few concerns about how the game was going to control. The game lends itself perfectly to touch screen controls, which just isn’t an option on the XBOX 360.

I was also curious about the multiplayer aspects that PopCap Games incorporated into the title. Would multiplayer just be tacked-on or actually add something meaningful to the mix? My brother and I played through a quarter of the game recently to find out.

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Update: Hori Tekken 6 Limited Edition Fightstick

When I bought this stick almost two months ago, I figured that it would work out just fine as a casual stick to play Street Fighter with. I initially planned to use it only for when I play my coworkers on PSN, which I figured wouldn’t be much at the time.

Well, it ended up being a lot. As in, over 100 hours a lot. Has it withstood the crazy amount of stress I’ve put it through during these last two months?

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Early Impressions of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

As much as I loved Assassin’s Creed 2, I cringed when Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was announced. By the sounds of it, this game exhibited all the signs of a dirty cash-in. For one, this wasn’t called Assassin’s Creed 3. Two, Ubisoft planned to make this game in only a year. Three, and most alarming, Ubisoft announced that this game would feature multiplayer, a feature that nobody asked for from this series.

I’ve warmed up to it enough to pick it up on launch day, but I’m still a bit skeptical. Is Ubisoft treating Assassin’s Creed: Botherhood as a real game? Or is this just another title to slap the franchise name on?

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Review for Scott Pilgim vs. The World: The Game

 

Timed coincidently with the DVD release of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the price of the downloadable game was slashed by 50% on XBOX Live. By the time you’re reading this, you’re too late to take advantage of the deal, but I was quick enough to snag it.

Whether you pick it up for 400 or 800 Microsoft points, you’re getting a pretty good beat ’em up.  That is, if you’re still looking to play this style of game (and are willing to put up with some annoying quirks).

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Review of Street Fighter II on Capcom Arcade

I have been excited for the release of Capcom Arcade ever since the iPhone app was announced. It’s a freemium application that allows players to play classic Capcom arcade games either by using up the 3 free tokens you get every day, buying 10 tokens to use at any point for $1 or buying the game to play without limits for $3.

Being able to sample Ghosts & Goblins, 1942 and Commando is great, though I have no real interest in playing them in depth. However, there was no doubt in my mind that I needed to buy Street Fighter II, which is also available with Capcom Arcade. Even though Super Street Fighter IV is on the cusp of being my favourite Street Fighter game of all-time, nothing will ever touch the nostalgia I have for Street Fighter II. Considering how awesome Capcom handled Street Fighter IV on the iPhone, I was expecting nothing less than the same treatment for this timeless classic.

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Early Impressions of Killzone 2

 

With the Killzone 3 beta having recently started, me starting Killzone 2 is either just right or horribly late, depending on how you slice it. I must confess that I had little interest in this game going into it and only bought it because I was able to get it for really cheap alongside Infamous.

All I knew about this game going into it was that it was hyped to be a Halo or Call of Duty killer. I still dislike the Halo series, but I really enjoyed the Modern Warfare games. I haven’t played nearly enough to say one way or another, but from what I’ve played so far, it appears to have a lot of potential.

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Just Dance 2 Review

When Just Dance first came out, I did not expect it to be the smash-hit that it ended up becoming. It won millions of people over with its great concept, song list and it was fun to play. Even though I had some problems with the game’s design as far as how it reads inputs, most people were too busy doing the MC Hammer dance.

Though I didn’t purchase the first game, I played enough of it with my girlfriend to know that I would probably have fun with the sequel. On launch day, we both went to her local Best Buy and bought our own copies. Does Just Dance 2 serve up the goods, or does it just get served?

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Early Impression of Rock Band 3

 

Earlier this week, my brother and I picked up a copy of Rock Band 3 alongside a Rock Band 3 keyboard. In the past, Rock Band launches have been monumental to us. For the first game, we pre-ordered our bundle four months in advance and were at the store just as the courier dropped of the shipment of Rock Band bundles. For the sequel, we lined up at a Walmart before midnight to get the game as soon as possible.

For the third? I kind of just went to the store and picked stuff up. I can’t speak for my brother, but my interest has waned dramatically in the genre. However, Harmonix is one of my favourite developers, Rock Band is one of my favourite game series and I get the impression that they’re trying to make this the ultimate music game.

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Final Thoughts: God of War Review

After one weekend of grinding through and a number of days slowly chipping away at it, I have completed God of War. Yes, I’m years late to the party, but I’m glad to have caught up. Before I start working my way through God of War II and III though, I just wanted to document my experiences going through the final portions of the game. If you’d like to see my earlier impressions of God of War, check out my previous posts.
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