Game Reviews (101)
2009 is arguably the year of the fighter, featuring releases for games like Street Fighter IV and BlazBlue. Now it's Tekken's turn with Tekken 6, the newest version of this notable 3D fighting game series. With such a large roster of fighting games available already, does Tekken 6 still deserve some shelf space?
Square Enix's beloved franchise is back and has landed on the Nintendo DS. The Kingdom Hearts series is a collaboration of characters from one of the biggest animation studios of all time, Disney, and one of the most popular RPG production companies, Square Enix. When these two companies combine, it's like magic. While Disney's games are pretty dismal, with the help of Square Enix, Disney characters can make an appearance in a deep RPG as well.
Flying Red Barrel ~Diary of a Little Aviator~, released for download on September 29, 2009, is Rockin' Android's latest foray into the bullet hell genre. With colorful graphics and innovative scoring mechanics, this shoot 'em up certainly does not disappoint.
Hot off the release of Suguri: Perfect Edition, Rockin' Android presents QLIONE (Qualia), a new game that can best be described as a combination of a bullet hell shooter and puzzle game. Can Rockin' Android deliver another surprise hit?
Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy takes place 15 years after the first game, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis. Much has changed, including the famed Al-Revis Academy's budget. In a desperate attempt to revive the school, Marta Silweste is appointed as Chairman and enacts new policies including accepting nonalchemists. To much applause, the school prospers and at the height of the Chairman's influence, proposes to rid the academy of alchemy classes once and for all.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a new PSP fighting game developed by Square Enix, featuring characters from the original Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy XI. Having developed fighting games in the past like Ehrgeiz and Tobal, Square Enix is no newcomer to fighting games, but how well would it fare after such a long hiatus?
Na, Na, Na...The nostalgic music plays as this new, yet familiar game starts up. Katamari Tribute is the newest game in the Katamari series for the Playstation 3. The King of the Cosmos has been hit on the head by some celestial body and now suffers from amnesia. During the accident, the King has also made a mess of things in the universe and now it is up to you to clean it up. To help fill the void of “cluelessness” in the King of the Cosmos, the Prince and his cousins, played by you as always, decide to build a robotic King of the Cosmos, who gives out missions to complete.
The first high definition 2D fighting game, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is the spiritual successor to Guilty Gear; it features the same producer, designer, and music composer as its predecessor. Can it compete against other fighting games like this year's Street Fighter IV? Read this review to find out.
Rockin Android, a company based in Los Angeles, specializes in licensing and publishing niche genre games. Recently, they were at Anime Expo 2009, showing off this game at the booth. We thought it looked interesting and checked it out. Suguri Perfect Edition includes both Suguri, a side scrolling shooter, and Acceleration of Suguri, the multi player expansion set that will give players a completely new experience.
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Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? is a refreshing new title (literally) published in the United Stated by NIS America. The game forgoes sophisticated polygons and adopts classic retro sprites. You play as the God of Destruction, and have been summoned by the Overlord to help him rid the wannabe heroes who have been sent to capture him in his lair.
Finally, I get to play against people in Resident Evil 5 online. Wait, its not on the disk, you mean I have to pay more money? Well this will make some people angry.
Capcom has released the first downloadable content for their latest edition of the resident evil franchise. This downloadable content, set at $4.99 available for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360, is just another way for Capcom to get a little extra money into their already deep wallets.
Mana Khemia: Student Alliance is a port of a Playstation 2 (PS2) game made by Gust updated for the Playstation Portable (PSP). Gust is famous for developing the Atelier Iris and Ar tonelico series with their games published by NIS America in the United States. Can this port live up to other PSP RPGs and its original PS2 big brother?
A straight port of the arcade game, Gundam vs Gundam for the PSP brings over the arcade experience to a handheld. Like any arcade game, this game starts off quickly, prompting the player to choose one of the 37 mechas (called mobile suits in the Gundam universe) available, four of which are exclusive to the PSP. These range from the original RX-78 to the new (at least at the time of the arcade game’s release) Gundam Exia. After that, the player is treated to a short CG sequence modeled after the show’s own opening with its opening music as well. That part should be a real treat for any Gundam fan.