• 29Sep 07

  Top 5- Games Hurt By the Next-Gen

  Whenever a new generation of systems comes by, it seems that some series don't make a natural change into the new systems, either due to new capabilities (2D into 3D, for example) or due to developers trying too hard to utilize something not meant for a particular game (motion controls). Here's my Top 5 list of Games Hurt By the Next-Gen...

  5) Mega Man (Mega Man Legends)- When every Mega Man fan heard the prospects of a new Mega Man game coming out where it was a fully fledged RPG, most of us were rejoicing. I mean, finally, we'd get to play as Mega Man in a way that we get to interact with all our favorite characters! Oh how sadly disappointed we all were. It was probably our overly high expectations, but even though the game was a solid experience, somehow (at least in this gamer's opinion), the game just wasn't as engaging as the Mega Man games of old.

  Maybe it's because of my general impression of that 3D era, but the game felt very empty. Like you were spending 5 minutes running and seeing maybe a couple enemies during that time. Nothing like the 2D side view action game where if you dared back up too far, that enemy you blasted 2 seconds ago was back again with all his friends.

  And if you don't agree with me on Legends, I think anyone would agree with me that Mega Man X7 and X8 weren't nearly as good as the 2D MMX counterparts.

  4) Street Fighter (EX series)-No, I'm not picking on Capcom, they really just have been around long enough to be through generation changes. Street Fighter was and is still considered the pinnacle of fighting games (at least in North America, I prefer KOF myself). There was a large & diverse cast of characters, which went through many different games getting subtle changes to perfect the balance and usefulness of each character. And during the late 90's to 2000 the series saw the highest of highs & the lowest of lows. Street Fighter 3 finally provided an upgraded experience with a completely revised cast and at it's end, what is considered by most the current champion of 2D fighting games.

  But the team over at Arika had another monster brewing, bringing the series into the world of 3D with Street Fighter EX. Taking the Street Fighter design and using new 3D models, Capcom turned it's nicely detailed 2D characters into.... well, walking blocks. While this was more of a limitation of the system at the time, this still detracted from the overall feel and the game somehow felt slower and less refined, overall. The same fate would happen to KOF, but at least without the blocky characters (except for Mai's Morgan Webb like jawline)

  3) Bomberman (Bomberman Zero)- It's such a simple game that screwing it up almost seems to take work. You take n overhead 2D game which is like a giant map/puzzle game. It works great, is a fun party game, and has plenty of charm. But some felt that this formula was tired, which it very well may be. But taking a charming game, making the guy look like he ate half of Barry Bonds steroid stash (Oh snap!), and mearging the games environment with what appears to be the post-robot takeover Earth from Terminator, and giving a third-person view of a giant map really just doesn't make sense as a way to revolutionie the series. Way to vomit on your own series, Hudson!

  2) Final Fantasy (FF7 and beyond)- I really need a flame shield for this one. Final Fantasy was, even on the limited hardware of the NES and SNES, truly a beautiful game to behold.But somewhere along the way, the series really lost the hold on the story lines of old, with a group of truly interesting stories and instead, with the success of FF7, began to become too formulaic. Gone were all the creature like characters, the main characters that looked like their actual gender, and instead an overly harsh lean on the whole lover's triangle realted story lines. While FF7 was arguably the pinnacle of the series, it's success ultimately is the reason the series has become stagnant and formulaic.

  1) Sonic (anything past Sonic Adventure 2)- Kind of hard not to see this one coming, eh? Sonic was quite arguably just as much fun as the Mario 2D games, even though it took a completely different approach to the 2D platforming genre. But the move to 3D, where a system constantly has to deal with camera angles, draw rates, etc. really took the wind right out of Sonic's sail. He could almost be called Sluggo now (Sluggo the Hedgehog is not realted to Sluggo the Bulldog). And it seems that as the series continues, things are just getting slower, peaking with the new Sonic game on X360 and PS3 which actually has 5-10 second load times for 2-5 second video clips. I mean WTF!

  • Posted Sep 29, 2007 5:45 pm PT
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• 13Jul 07

  E3 Impressions- Conferences Over, News is all out now

  Ok E3 (or the retarded step child of the former E3...) has wrapped up, all the companies have shown there wares. Here's my take on it...

  Microsoft- I actually got a chance to watch the conference for MS live on G4. And as I had predicted to a couple friends, they basically spent a third of it to talk about Halo 3. Look Microsoft, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE already knows Halo 3 is coming. It's already going to sell out no matter what. So why send so much time on it. Maybe because everything else you have is pretty mediocre or shared with a competitor?

  Obviously, I was unimpressed. Granted, they've got some good titles for this year coming, but I still think that MS' game diversity is severly lacking. It's great to see some more RPGs coming (Mass Effect leading the way), but seeing titles from X360 worth having continuously leaking over to the PC is also disappointing. Oh and Scene It? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

  Nintendo- Over time, I've actually found Nintendo to be the most disappointing out of ALL of the major 3 for E3. It seems that Nintendo has given up on the real gaming crowd, in favor of trying to expand there market with gimmicks. I don't think that the basic form of the Wii is a gimmick, in fact, I love the whole Wiimote aiming system & motion controls. But a plastic gun case & plastic wheel get set up as big items? Who cares! And hardly anything new game on games. We knew about those big 3 titles, all Nintendo did was settle the dates. So? Do you have anything PAST 2007 to look forward to? Or more than 3 games for this year?

  But the worst offense was the WiiFit pad, hands down. This thing is one big gimmick. Infact, it's basically just a wireless bathroom scale hooked into your Wii. I'm already calling it the worst Nintendo device since Virtual Boy, purely for it's offensiveness to gamers, being sold along side what is suppose to be a gaming console.

  Sony- Easily the ones that won E3, but that was more to weak competition. They did a great job of focusing in on the amount of titles to look forward to this & next year (unfortunately, too many are next year...) , plus the new PSP Slim, for the small physical changes, sounds great, being faster and longer lasting. It's not all positive though...

  The late breaking news of the 60GB price drop just being to move out the old with a switch to a $600 only system (with only backcrapability) is a shame. It completely runied what was a mostly positive Sony E3 for me. And given the overall quality of PSN so far, I'm really quesitoning how smooth the Home roll-out will go and how well it will function, as good of an idea as it is on paper.

  • Posted Jul 13, 2007 8:21 pm PT
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• 30Dec 06

  Now on XboxLive (Silver)

  
  
  Add me as a friend if you want (I know usagi704 already has )
  
  I only have one complaint about X360... well, not a complaint, just an amusing observation. Why does every damn game have some stupid little achievement for seemingly turning on the game? It's always some goal that is SO easy, like beat the first sub-boss or beat the first round. This is like classes where they give every kid a damn Gold Star, just for trying. Are people that insecure as they need to be coddled while they shoot the bloody hell out of things?
  
  • Posted Dec 30, 2006 3:59 pm PT
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