XZero
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I'm hoping this is true. I just bought a PS3 back in May. The only disappointing thing (literally the ONLY disappointing thing compared to the 360) about it was that it didn't have this game. Now it [probably] does, and I'm happy.
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So, where they saving all of their good music until MMZ2?
Playing through the whole of the first game without a memorable tune, and now right off the bat the soundtrack pulls a paradigm shift and becomes great?
Huh.
It looks like Z2 is formatted much more like a traditional X game as opposed to 1, now.
I disagree in part about the music. I think Neo Arcadia's theme is quite memorable. Generally, though, no disagreement: Z1's music is good, but forgettable. Z2 is an improvement, but Z3 and 4 is really where the series thrives musically. Zero 3 has some of the best, most memorable music in the series.
In terms of the formatting, Z2-4 are traditional X games, though there is a noticeable increase in Zero 3 in the level count.
Also, Tinus, don't know where you are, but you can probably import from America pretty easily if you want to play this set. No region locking on the DS =)
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You know, I never really thought about the karate/kung fu thing, but now that I am, I'm pretty sure they were saying kung fu. To be honest, I'm not completely aware of the difference, so I guess I didn't think about it much.
And no, Jackie Chan can't replace Mr. Miyagi, and everyone sort of acknowledges that fact. Chan does do a pretty solid job in the role, though, so while he isn't nearly as memorable as Mr. Miyagi, it's good for what it is.
The music is kind of a mixed bag. The instrumental BGM has a very Chinese feel and is just really well done. I didn't pick up on any themes, but it generally felt appropriate. No real magical quality to speak of, but the score works. There are a number of vocal tracks, however. A couple of rap/hip hop tracks in the background here and there. I don't like rap at all, but it wasn't obtrusive here. There is one scene, and no, this isn't a spoiler, where Dre (Smith) and his girlfriend (whose name I never picked up on) are in an arcade and play a variation of DDR. She dances to Poker Face by Lady Gaga, which I'm only familiar with due to South Park. So in sum, the instrumentals were appropriate and pretty solid, and vocals were inobtrusive, but nothing special in my opinion.
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So I saw a pre-screening of Karate Kid last night and wanted to give some impressions.
First and foremost, it actually didn't suck. I really expected it to, but it didn't. The acting was pretty good, the fight scenes were exceptionally well-done, and Jackie Chan is awesome. Jaden Smith does a pretty good job in his role, and he interacts well with the other characters.
The cinematography is beautiful for the most part. Lots of what I think are location shots in China, panning camera movements, and great focus throughout. The only downside is that the camera shakes way too much in the end of the movie during the final tournament.
One odd thing I noticed about the movie was the abundance of white kids in the school that Smith's character attends in China. I counted at least 7 or 8 in one scene alone, all walking through the background. It kind of takes you out of the scene when you start thinking about how obscure this is. It's also weird (and unexplained) that the first friend he makes is a white kid who speaks perfect English . . . in China. Completely out of nowhere. The movie doesn't really explain any of this, and it's very noticeable.
My biggest problem with the movie is its ungodly length. At about 2 and a half hours, it's a good hour or so too long. The plot takes a while to kick in, and it just gets going too slowly. The training montage didn't take place until about an hour and a half in (or longer, I lost track of the time). The plot elements were all in place and handled well, but the pacing just dragged. The tournament in the end was the best part of the movie in terms of pacing, but sadly, it was only 20 minutes or so.
Overall, Karate Kid is a decent remake. Not having seen the original in ages, I couldn't say whether there were any references to it or not besides adhering to the plot. It could have been better if it were shorter, but generally speaking, I was actually pleasantly surprised.
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Just so you guys know, GameStops won't reflect that they have it when you check their inventory online until tomorrow. Unless you called and confirmed, most stores probably have it right now, as it was a middle-tier release that shipped several copies to each location.
That said, I grabbed mine and played it a bit. Here's the initial breakdown:
+ Custom controls
+ Beautiful artwork displayed on bottom screen during gameplay, regularly updated
+ Decent extras
+ Music sounds nicer coming through the DS speakers, though it's still just the GBA soundchip
+ It's Mega Man Zero 1-4 for a reasonable price. Those games, especially 3 and 4, are easily some of the best original GBA games ever released
- Top screen displays in the exact same pixel ratio as plugging in the GBA games
- At least initially, the only way you can play the version that lets you do 1-4 as one big game is also the "Easy Mode," which is really easy.
- Easy mode is possibly easier than Mega Man Zero 4's; you die, but your life count never decreases. You also start with all Cyber Elfs, max health, and full E-Tanks
From my time with it so far, here's a brief list of missed opportunities:
* Updated graphics. The DS is capable of so much more. The Zero games were all nice to begin with, but seriously, the sprites could have been redrawn and updated a bit
* Updated soundtracks. They have 4 full albums out there arranging EVERY LAST TRACK from these games, along with voiced drama tracks. On a DS card, there is no reason that these things could not have been used instead. No reason whatsoever.
* Increase the screen size. If I wanted to play the GBA versions, I would. They could at least have had an option to stretch the screen to take up the full top screen of the DS
* Uncensor Zero 1. Mega Man Zero 1 had some censoring concerning the blood. It was unnecessary then, it's unnecessary now.
All of these points aside, here's the reality. It's Mega Man Zero 1-4. Any self-respecting Mega Man fan has played these already, and if you haven't, get it. Even if you have, it's probably worth the price of admission, but it'll probably drop to $20 in the upcoming months. When it does, you owe it to yourself to buy this collection and relive the Zero storyline. It's really that good.
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Comes out today, getting it on my lunch break. I'll play it a bit and let you know tonight how it is.
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Got it yesterday and love it. It's probably one of the best games I've ever played. I have about 20-25 stars at this point. The graphics are, like the first one, beautiful (if a bit dizzying). The music received a huge boost in the number of orchestrated pieces this time around, and it really helps.
Anyone with a Wii who doesn't own this game needs to check it out.
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Hey, The Author, just out of curiosity, did you happen to discover this as a result of viewing the Nostalgia Chick's video on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses?
Oh, and for the record, Cartman's version of Poker Face is substantially better than Lady Gaga's version.
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I know Sean Schemmel was recently in Texas recording for a video game, presumably Raging Blast 2. What they really need is a game that is functionally like Budokai 1 to the extent that it has full cutscenes, but closer to Budokai Tenkaichi 2 in terms of the length of its story mode and the general number of battles fought throughout it.
The one nice thing about DBZ video games is that until now with Dragonball Kai, they were the only domestic DBZ products to feature an accurate and well-voiced dub completely through.
I never played the first Raging Blast, but I did play all of the games before it (Budokai 3 was the best, in my opinion; Infinite World was the worst, not counting some of the portable games). Basically, a DBZ game needs fun and functional controls, a solid 1-player story mode with tons of characters and voiced cutscenes, and a nice array of incidental options including a multiplayer mode.
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Souce:
I don't know about everyone else here, but I like it. It's a good piece and enough of an arrangement to qualify as a ReMix I think. Nice work on the various instruments, and atmospheric sounds add a nice touch. Don't have much to be constructive about, so I'll just say that I think it's pretty good.
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You've got some music on this album that is very reminiscent of some of my favorite new age composers, like David & Diane Arkenstone, Ray Lynch, and Vangelis. Loving it!
EDIT: You, sir, have a sale. Glad to see you have this on iTunes!
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Others here can probably give you something a bit more constructive to help you get this on OCR; I really just logged in to tell you that I enjoyed it.
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A lot of times, the line between casual and hardcore blurs. Halo is probably a good example. It's hardcore when it needs to be, but casual when the situation is right (such as during a party).
I think dividing games up into hardcore and casual overlooks a lot of the nuances of individual games. Is Final Fantasy VII casual because it had wide appeal? And to that end, is World of Warcraft a casual game due to its general accessibility (I'm assuming on this one; never played WoW myself).
It seems the problem with these categories is that casual is too narrow and hardcore is too broad (despite the fact that it seems that many more casual games are being released these days). Casual is basically any Wii shovelware, most kids movie-tie-in games, and anything else intended to have that grandma appeal. In other words, the epitome of a casual game is actually Toy Story: Midway Mania.
On the other hand, hardcore games include basically every genre out there. God of War is hardcore, and so is Final Fantasy XIII. But other games are also hardcore under this classification; basically anything released by NIS America (Mana Khemia, Atelier Iris, etc.) is hardcore because they have little grandma appeal. At the same time, so is Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Galaxy, Metroid, and Zelda. In other words, any game that foregoes cheap gimmicks likely classifies as "hardcore" whether or not it actually is.
So to end my little analysis, I don't think these words are ever truly used appropriately because their scope is either overinclusive or underinclusive (or sometimes both).
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That was possibly the most awesome thing I've ever seen. The music and the dancing were almost entirely in sync! Seriously great job!!!!
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I'd be all over a remake. I'm playing through Crisis Core now, which is good, if a bit repetitive with its missions. FFVII was the second RPG I played, not counting Pokemon Blue. It came after Super Mario RPG back in 2000-01. I played it for 2 months on my parents' relatively new computer. It was also the first game soundtrack I ever ordered from Japan, and I still remember the chills I got from hearing "Birth of a God" playing on the CD for the first time.
As far as a remake goes, if they do a project like that (which would be a HUGE investment of time, resources, and talent in general), I would expect a completely remastered score with orchestra and guitars like they did with Crisis Core and Advent Children, every line in the game must be voiced well, even the minor NPCs, and the whole thing needs to be on a heavenly level graphically. In other words, if they can't make it perfect, there's not much reason to make it in the first place.
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Big Mega Man music fan here, so I'm very familiar with the source material. In my opinion, the whole thing sounds like an intro or a buildup to something huge, but then never takes off. Even if you're just relying on two instruments (piano and strings), your arrangement can still be powerful while remaining subtle. The bulk of the track strays so far from the source material, something that would ordinarily be fine for an intro, but by the time it gets back to it, you're basically done already.
I would recommend shortening this to about 15 seconds, then really getting into the source material with the strings and piano varying things up. The samples aren't the best (very midi quality), but an improved arrangement can trump bad samples any time.
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This reminds me very much of a Weird Al parody. Brilliant!
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I don't play many online games, but 12-year olds are uniquely annoying by their very nature. They have an inherent immaturity about them, not wholly their fault because it results from puberty and the basic age, but at the same time, this isn't something that's forgivable uniformly. I'm hugely in favor of age group-based multiplayer experiences for those who wish to play with people their own age.
That said, when I play something like Mario Kart Wii or a game that doesn't use chat or team leader positions, the fact that someone's 12 is immaterial. So I guess it boils down to the level of interaction you have with the player. If the interaction is purely in-game and digital, I think most people would agree that there's no problem with playing with 12-year olds. If the interaction is enhanced and more fully realized by the inclusion of voice chat or anything similar, the problems begin.
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Sixth grade.
I get Banjo-Kazooie
.I save it for the next snow day, and play it for hours, getting 100% on Mumbo's Mountain, Treasure Trove Cove, Clanker's Cavern, and Bubblegloop Swamp. I finally decide it's time for a break and get up from my chair and start to save the game. (Not sure why I didn't save it till then.)
I accidentally kick the 64.
The game freezes.
Aw, shit.
Any takers?
I'll take this one. I got Banjo-Kazooie on its release day, a Tuesday in June. I play it for the rest of that week and get all the way to Click Clock Woods. The following Monday, I turn on the game in the morning and apparently bumped the Z button on the controller. I didn't realize this, and I didn't realize that its effect was to bring up a delete option for the saved game. I did what I normally do when loading a saved game (quickly press A until I get into the game), and next thing you know, I'm staring at an empty save file. I almost cried.
Another "oh, shit" moment that's perhaps a bit less depressing was during Mega Man 9, Wily Stage 2 (or 3, I think it's 2). The first time I was in the area where you're in a bubble and have to make it to the top of the spiked shaft, I made it without a problem. I ended up dying and had to do that part again. The second time, I get right to the top and apparently was in a different position than I was in the first time. A little grabber robot comes down from above just before reaching the top, grabs me, and very quickly plunges me into the spikes to my right. It was actually funny because it was so fast and over the top that you can't even be upset by it.
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Snagged this (in the sexy Collectors' Edition box w/soundtrack CD and cards) and the guide the other day. I never owned Lunar on the Saturn, and I have only Lunar 2 on the PS1. I got the Ubisoft GBA port a couple of years ago, but it didn't do it any justice.
I'm not too far into this one, but it's pretty good. Since this is the only version I've played with acting, I have to say that the voices do seem fitting, but I never heard the Working Design dub, so I don't know. It's standard RPG fare, but I'm liking it.
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Here's some information for those starting out [CAUTION: Major spoilers ahead]
..........SPOILERS............
1) Start with Sheep Man, whose stage is fairly easy. The boss fight is easy once you learn the pattern.
2) Next, take out Pump Man. Fire Sheep Man's weapon so that the lightning beam will be in front of Pump Man when he jumps forward. A few hits like this will kill him.
3) Solar Man is next, who takes tremendous damage from Pump Man's weapon.
4) Move on to Chill Man. Kill him with Solar Man's weapon. Chill Man runs back and forth, but rarely jumps, so keep the shots low and he'll frequently get hit.
5) Chill Man's weapon works great against Nitro Man. Make a spike strip in the arena as Nitro Man charges back and forth to hit him. You can also freeze him by hitting him (as opposed to his projectiles). Stay on top of him, but be careful to dodge the spike wheels he throws.
6) Next, fight Commando Man. On your way to his lair, use Rush Jet to move past the sand storm. If you get to the very top of the screen, you may actually avoid being slowed down by the storm. Nitro Man's weapon obliterates Commando Man very quickly, but you have to stand near him and spam him to avoid taking too much damage from his weapon.
7) Blade Man's next. His attacks are difficult to dodge, so keep moving. Use Commando Man's weapon to shoot him from a relatively short distance away. If you're standing too far away, when you start to move, you'll change the direction of the missile, and will often miss Blade Man.
8 ) Strike Man's last, and he's ridiculously easy. The Triple Blade obliterates him in no time.
9) Wily 1, Miniboss 1: Use the arm cannon for maximum effect. When the enemy becomes Woodman, shoot, jump over the leaves, and shoot again. When it's Gemini Man, shoot, jump over the beam, and keep shooting and moving. Finally, when it's Elec Man, only jump over the low beams (the high ones pass over you), and shoot from the ground.
10) Wily 1, Miniboss 2: Flame Man is weak against Pump Man's weapon, Ring Man is weak against Blade Man's weapon, and Napalm Man is weak against Strike Man's weapon.
11) Wily 1, Boss: Just use the arm cannon. There may be weaknesses, but it's easier to use the arm cannon against these three.
12) Crab Boss: There are two whisker things on its face, and those are the targets. Take out the claws to make the fight easier. Begin by shooting the claw near the ground, then destroy the lower whisker. The upper claw is more difficult to destroy, but it's not necessary. To dodge the projectiles, just run away from, then toward the crab.
13) Wily Stage 3 Tip: in the two sections with the moving platforms, there are two places that are basically safe to stand. For the first one, move the platform about one full platform length away from the left wall. You'll still need to make small adjustments, but you should largely be out of the line of fire. For the second, it's the same place on the opposite side of the room.
14) Block Monster: When the blocks are first forming, stay toward the left side of the stage. This seems to be the easiest place to dodge. When the eye emerges, I typically use the blade weapon because it shoots at an angle and seems to do some good damage. Be careful during the second phase of the fight, as the eye emerges from the left side of the screen. Same applies to the third phase.
15) Teleportation order is as follows: top-middle: Solar Man; top-left: Blade Man; Left: Chill Man; Bottom-left: Nitro Man; Bottom Middle: Strike Man; Bottom-Right: Pump Man; Right: Commando Man; Top-Right: Sheep Man (same as the stage select screen)
16) Wily 1: After some practice, you can get through this fight without taking a single hit. The Solar Man weapon works effectively, but with good timing, the arm cannon is just as good. The machine fires a missile at a low level, then one at a higher level. If you get hit head-on from one of these, you take a lot of damage. They also emerge at different speeds, but it's easy to see them coming. If you must take damage, get hit by a small missile coming from the top of the machine, as that's the lowest damage-causing thing on screen. Aim for the skull face.
17) Wily 2: Move left and right on the floor until the machine lands. This allows you to dodge the spinning beams. When it lands, stand under the "head" to avoid the lightning. If you get encapsulated, quickly shoot to get out of it. Again, the skull face is the target. This time it's weak against Pump Man's weapon. This battle takes some patience, but if you're careful, it's not nearly as hard as it seems.
18 ) Wily 3: As you go through Wily Stage 5, there are lots of powerups, so be sure to grab those. Wily appears with a clone each time. The real Wily is flesh-tone. The clone has a little triangle-symbol on his forehead and is slightly darker in tone. Hit the real Wily with Chill Man's weapon (this is the easiest time in the game to use it because the gravity lets you jump all the way to the ceiling). It doesn't take too many hits; just make sure you're hitting the right Wily to speed the battle along. Once you've destroyed him here, you've finished the game.
...........END SPOILERS.............
Overall, this was a really good game. Some of the tracks (Nitro Man, Solar Man, Wily Stages 1 & 2, and Sheep Man in particular) are really good. The stages are well-done, and though it can be frustrating, the game is ridiculously fun for old-school gamers. It's a real treat!
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I swear to god, I hate commando's sandstorms.
EDIT: Nevermind. Figured out that using Rush as a reference to where it is safe to stand helps out so much.
Rush Jet helps, too.
I finished this last night (about 3 hours of gameplay, a good chunk of which was dedicated to figuring out the boss order). Lots of fun, if a bit short. I like the Mega Man 2 formula, but a second castle would have been nice. Also, the last boss was surprisingly easy once you figure out what you need to do and where to stand.
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You're on the right track. But I think what's happening is this...
Core gaming (and I don't care what people think), is on the decline. All these games that are for the "hardcore" fans, are being put out quickly for one reason, they don't sell. Compare the first Mario Galaxy's sales with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, NSMBW outsold it in 45 days, Mario Galaxy only got 4 million in America after two years, the market is telling Nintendo something. What exactly? They like 2-D Mario better. And to be honest, I'd like to see more 2-D Mario with the production values of Galaxy put in!
Metroid: Other M, is starting to bother me. Some of the voice dialog I've read sounds mediocre. And this game is far from what Metroid is about. I don't care about Samus' past, I want to see more of her future, but they screwed that up with Fusion. Granted, I'm willing to give this game a chance, but I'm only renting it. I may only do the same with Galaxy 2.
I believe that Nintendo is getting a wake up call that they need to get back to what made games good, and why people play them. From what I've heard lately, it seems that they're going back and researching as to why the original games were so good in the first place. This isn't about the "casuals", this is about the values of games. The expanded audience as some have called it, don't care about every game having an epic sweeping storyline, or a bunch of voice acting, orchestral music score (though those things are nice). Gaming for them is about one thing, fun. And I'm increasingly beginning to feel that way...
Definitely a valid point, and I will never disagree that gaming is solely about fun. Production values and everything that goes with them are nice additions for the hardcore, but without being able to say that you had fun playing a game, it's pointless.
I think there is another element to it, and it's really the logical conclusion of both of our arguments. I say that Nintendo's putting them out in too small a window, and you say that the direction that games tend to be going, at least based on sales figures, is away from ridiculously high production values and back to the core focus of being fun.
It seems to me that the risk out there is that Nintendo's gaming will put itself back in the 2002-03 rut. In August of 2002, Nintendo released Super Mario Sunshine, definitely not the best Mario game, but a good game nonetheless. In November, it released Metroid Prime. Finally, in March of 2003, Zelda released. It's almost the exact same overarching time period in terms of months that we will probably be seeing for the Mario, Metroid, and Zelda titles this year, except that now they all release in 2010 because there's a 3-month head start.
So what do they do next year? Well, what this means is that Nintendo, in 2011 and 2012 in particular, will have to put out more games that are just as fun as New Super Mario Bros. I personally leveled some criticism at NSMBW, not because it wasn't fun or anything like that, but because it had some obvious missing elements (if you can play 4-player, put better characters in, for example). But going back to what they did after Zelda came out in 2003 on the GCN, ... they didn't do much, besides hosting annual Mario Parties.
And this is where it all comes together. If they're kind of rushing their big titles out now because they know that there's no way any of them top New Super Mario Bros. Wii, then next year they basically have no choice but to release another game of NSMBW quality (whether it's a sequel or otherwise). Nintendo's track record on this sort of thing, unfortunately, is not too good. So if it's a return to fun games that's coming our way, I'm happy. I just don't want to see Wii Music 2 next year because we wasted all of the good games this year.
... actually, I don't want to see Wii Music 2 ever...
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I guess I should qualify that with the fact that I'm the type of gamer that buys games 4 years after they come out with rare exceptions
also I don't have a wii
Fair enough
Transformers: War for Cybertron issues
in General Discussion
Posted
I have the PS3 version and it froze on me during the third stage with all of the trains going by. Completely locked down my PS3. I haven't tried the online play yet, so I don't know if there's a problem with it.