It's all about Fan Service. Service, Service, Service!!!

• 8Oct 08

  Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion...

  Well, Sony seems really kicked in the nuts now, with pretty much one of the pillars of their exclusive content now fair game. Well, that's their problem. In my opinion, I don't really care about the matter. I'll be getting it on PS3, even though I own an Xbox360 as well, since I am wary of the 3RL crap with MS's box (that goes for everything else, not just T6). The only reason that I'll be getting a 360 version is if it turns out to be markedly better than the PS3 game (which I can't see happening) or if it gets exclusive content like new characters OTHER THAN Alisa and Lars.
  
  I think this pretty much rings the death knell for 'console exclusives', which is probably a good thing in any case. But then, I think that was already made apparent with Final Fantasy XIII's jump to multi-console.
  
  Anyway, the biggest gripe I have is with the freakin' Fall 2009 Release Date. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME??? That's pretty much a year away! My Gosh. I love Tekken to pieces but come on... this is a serious bit of excruciating wait. I am going to pray every chance I can that this gets bumped up forward eventually. I can count myself lucky that there are Tekken 6 arcade machines where I live but man, it's pointless to play Plain Jane T6 now (I really hope our arcade upgrades to BR). I guess I'll have to make do till then with Soulcalibur IV, Fallout 3, Streetfighter IV, Tombraider Underworld and whatever else. But darn, Tekken is Tekken and that's the game I want. Unless Sega suddenly brings out VF5R for consoles too. Now THAT would be freakin' cool too.
  
  Here's the start of a long wait. To Fall 2009 then...
  • Posted Oct 8, 2008 11:29 pm PT
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• 2Aug 08

  Soulcalibur IV: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

  After a week or so with this game, here are my condensed thoughts...
  
  THE GOOD: Freakin' beautiful graphics. This game is right up there with Tekken 6 and Virtua Fighter 5. Character models are huge, lavishly-detailed and gorgeous enough from head to toe to be stripped down to their underwear and still look bad-ass. Stages are full of cool details and atmosphere like the ominous circus of the Phantom Pavilion to the marching armored knights in the Ostreinsburg Throne Room. Even the menus look great and have that fantasy-swordfighter feel right in every frame. The animations are smooth as silk, with moves, attacks, combos and throws executed in grace and power. The Gameplay is still 100 percent and solid Soul Calibur, but made even deeper with more Guard Impacts and the new addition of skills and stats coming into play, and the somewhat controversial Critical Finishers. There's TONS of Fan Service and Extras, which ties into the awesome Character Creation Mode which has been much improved over the previous game. Now not only can you put together your own crack warrior, you can also fool around with the main cast's wardrobes for some new looks to old dogs. Tower of Lost Souls takes the place of the previous games' Mission modes, throwing you against floor after floor of tough enemies and hidden objectives to figure out and accomplish for various prizes.
  
  The Character Creation though is perhaps the best part of SCIV. The character classes from SCIII are gone, but really, they were mostly all for flash and had little balance or cred for serious play. This time around you can fool around with character height and muscle mass, from petite to statuesque, soft to ripped. Voices depth can be tweaked, from sultrily low to anime-high. However, it's not total- you can't create morbidly obese characters (no Bobs or Rufuses here) since apparently everyone in the SCIV universe is fit and trim, with just varying levels of big boobness. THE BAD. While new character Hildegarde Von Krone is pretty awesome and a great addition to the SC mythos, she and new end boss Algol are the only actual new characters. Most of the newcomers are actually clones or skins of existing fighters- all of which are female fighters designed by some of Japan's famous manga artists. These fighters, which include anime-looking alien witch Angol Fear, demon girl Kamikirimusi, elven fencer Scheherazade, demon-possessed katana-wielding Shura and mechanical assassin doll Ashlotte, have their own stories and endings, but for the most part are just there as filler. I would have much preferred if they had their own unique move sets instead. The Star Wars character cameos aren't necessarily bad- but I just feel there was too much emphasis on them. Darth Vader appearing in the ads and trailers as well as the opening cinema was just a bit too much.
  
  In terms of gameplay and modes, I kinda found the single-player game a bit sparse compared to previous Caliburs. Story Mode is easy and can be cleared completely on both Normal and Hard in a couple of days. While Tower of Lost Souls should last you for a long time, where are the dedicated Time Attack, Survival and Team Battle? Where's the Battle Exhibition Theater where I can set up and watch CPU vs CPU duels?
  
  THE UGLY. Well... certainly NOT the babes! Heheh. Well, probably the worst things I've found in Soulcalibur IV are that there are too few stages, and most of them are a bit too small- ring outs are frustratingly common. I would have liked more sealed stages or so. And while I enjoyed Story Mode's more condensed, brief incarnation and the cool realtime cinemas, I miss the deeper, branching stories in SCIII's choose-your-own-adventure Story Mode. There could have been more options for faces and stuff to use in CAS as well.
  
  But darn, as I said... little nitpicks. For the most part, this game is pretty awesome... the game is the latest and greatest Soul Calibur yet, and I hope that despite some of the endings, this tale of Souls and Swords continues on. Hopefully another Calibur, or a sizeable upgrade appears still on this generation of consoles.
  
  Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to playing some more SCIV...
  • Posted Aug 2, 2008 11:35 am PT
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• 28Jul 08

  High Calibur Fighter

  I've had the distinct pleasure of having a copy of Soulcalibur IV for the PS3 since Saturday, and it's been a blast. What can I say? In terms of looks, the game is easily one of the most graphically-impressive PS3 games, and is certainly in the league of it's contemporaries, Tekken 6 and Virtua Fighter 5. The characters looks positively SOLID this time around, with wonderfully detailed models, realistic cloth and armor and silky-smooth 60 FPS animation. So far I've been having so much fun wtih the surprisingly engaging Story Mode, but really... the most fun I see myself having is with the game's much-improved Character Creation and Customization. Much improved in that you can now mess around with the main, established cast of fighters as well, though mainly only with their costumes (you could only tweak a few colors before in SCIII) as well as create your own bad-ass blade warrior from scratch. But of course, what this all means is, well, you can strip down the fighters to their underwear or have them fight in bikinis! Wahaha! Yeah, it's a bit pervy but damn, it's fun. And well, the graphics have improved to this point where the character models really are damn hot. Man, the DOA babes have nothing on the SCIV babes. Seriously though, the game is tons of fun. I haven't even gotten too far into the Tower of Souls mode, and there's surely a lot of hours needed to invest in the game to get really good or at least competent with any one fighter. So far, what have I found out as well? Darth Vader sucks. Nah, he's fine but he's slow, but darn- his moves aren't impressive save for the Force stuff, and he really just pales in comparison to his more nimble and flashy student, the Apprentice AKA Starkiller, whom you unlock by beating Arcade Mode with the Sith Lord. Both of these Star Wars alum however are nothing to any of the SC fighters. Really. Anyway, I'll probably put up a review soon. I'll put more hours into the game, but this is surely a winner. Virtua Fighter 5 finally got kicked off the throne for the PS3's best fighter, finally. Now, let's see how Tekken 6 PS3 will do in the future... Heh.
  • Posted Jul 28, 2008 3:34 am PT
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