The Three Rs N3twork is a primarily British viral entertainment network, with standings in many niche interests involved in a variety of different groups. Ranging from gaming to adulthood to video creation.
1/10 - "Just, No." 2/10 - "Avoid." 3/10 - "Gamebreakingly flawed" 4/10 - "Not so great" 5/10 - "Pretty Average." 6/10 - "A few nice touches, nothing amazing" 7/10 - "Not brilliant, fun anyway" 8/10 - "A decent enough game, Well worth a look." 9/10 - "A really good game. Highly Recommended." 10/10 - "An absolute must buy, a defining game for the genre."
Hey guys, Mel' here; owner of The Three Rs and (now extinct) 3scapism (amongst other projects). Due to the downfall of the latter thanks to circumstances beyond my (or the rest of The Escapist community's control) I thought it would be a good opportunity to give you guys more content by posting their reviews up here, so all our hard work doesn't go to waste. Hence, over the coming weeks, I'll be pasting (with minor edits) some of the 3scapism reviews from days gone by up here. Here's Syndicate:
Before the original Grand Theft Auto hit the headlines as a glorifier of violence and general bad influence on teens, games like the Ultima series were already allowing gamers the option of random acts of violence on innocent NPCs. Sure, it may have candy coated homicidal tendencies with a fantasy setting, but randomly deciding to walk into a pub and sword the cheerful civilians with not nearly enough consequences to discourage the act was no less malicious (or fun) as running over bystanders with a stolen car. In fact, it was entirely satisfying to engage in conversation with an utter jerk and show your disapproval with a well placed axe before taking the initiative to bequeath all their worldly possessions to yourself. If anything, the Ultima series catered to a far darker level of personal humour as it became my hobby to kill random isolated innocents and carry their body back with me to a small cabin in the woods, which I declared to be my "trophy room". The first trophy in the collection was the poor bastard to whom the cabin belonged.
But as fun as it can be to go on a killing spree armed with a crossbow, spellbook and an army's worth of medieval melee weaponry, sometimes, nothing can truly purge the frustrations of day-to-day life quite so well as open-firing upon a crowd of unsuspecting people, thus making their day decidedly more frustrating than yours.
For a 13 year old kid in the early 90's, this is where Syndicate entered the scene.
The game's layout can be most closely compared to the X-Com series, but everything is in real-time as opposed to turn-based, and cities are vastly populated with urban-levels of inhabitants that you can interact with by either leaving them alone or killing them in cold blood. And the comparison between X-Com and Syndicate becomes really thick once you move away from the action: you'll start with a certain amount of weapons and armour ready to purchase at the start, and new weapons and armour will become available to you either through researching them, or prying them out of your victims' cold, dead hands and THEN researching them. The speed at which you research them is determined by how much funding you apply to the project.
Money for funding and purchases can be raised through taxes in each of the regions that you control. Each region is a level that you must complete in order to take control of it, so the more that you conquer, the more money you make. However, if you tax them too high for too long, they will revolt, and you will have to play the level over again in order to reclaim it. You can also pick up weapons from fallen enemies and then sell them, but the money you make from these means are only helpful early on, and amount to chump change as the game progresses.
A big difference between Syndicate and X-Com emerges in the fact that Syndicate agents are sweepingly generic, the only variable being whether they are male or female, which itself has no impact on the action whatsoever. But instead of having character stats, Syndicate agents are defined entirely based on the armour and weaponry they are equipped with at the time, and each new armour upgrade enhances a respective ability. Improvements to chest armour increases their hit points and the range of their self-destruct radius. Upgrading legs allows the agents to run faster, the heart allows them to run longer, the arms allow them to carry more, and the eye improves their aim.
But the game's depth really kicks in once you start having to micro-manage the agents' abilities within the real-time (but pausable) action. Your agents don't just start aiming better, you have to crank their aiming bar. Your agents run as fast or as slow as you like, based on their speed bar, and their artificial intelligence (allowing them to act on their own initiative) in controlled by the AI bar, influenced by the level of the brain implants you've given them. But, as you set the bars higher, their abilities get tired, and as you set them lower, their abilities recover. In words it sounds complicated, but the execution is perfect.
The game places you in the role of a leader of a team of up to four special agents at a time that are mind-controlled into doing your bidding to accomplish your nefarious schemes in the ultimate goal of conquering the world. You will choose your team from a roster of agents at your disposal that will be sent down to a city with a mission objective, ranging from assassinating a particular target, to killing all enemy inhabitants, to using the Persuadertron to abduct VIPs and escort them safely to the exit point.
Syndicate also has a bit of a Hitman ingredient to it, in that so long as you get your objective accomplished, the game really can't care less how you go about achieving your goals. In fact, at least Hitman used a ranking system to encourage you to kill as few people as possible, whereas Syndicate doesn't shed a single tear if you kill every man, woman and their dog. Wait, that's not entirely true; there are no dogs in this game.
That said, certain actions may prove more beneficial than others. For instance, persuading enemy agents rather than killing them will recruit them to your team, which is quite essential if you're like me, and often enjoy carrying out assassinations in the least subtle manner possible by equipping your character with the best available chest armour, walking right up to your target, and then hitting the self-destruct button. Sure, the number of people who would enjoy that may have decreased since terrorism has become a far more prominent issue in the mainstream media over the better part of the last decade, but when I was 13, it was all good, clean fun.
Another of my favourite activities in the game is to use the Persuadertron during assault levels, gathering as many civilians as I can, and have them gravitate around me as a human shield to absorb enemy gunfire so that my agents don't have to. Then, once the threat is cleared, if I have any shield, I mean, civilians remaining, I hop into a car, run over as many as I can, then have the survivors pile into the vehicle and set my agent to self-destruct. Okay, I know this is quickly deviating from a proper review format, but if you haven't played this game by now, there's a good chance you never will, and I'm taking it as my duty to let you know what you've missed out on.
Now, especially for its time, the graphics were on the cutting-edge of Super-VGA, and as time has revealed, sprite-based graphics (which Syndicate employs) ages a lot less quickly than the innovators of polygons. The only criticisms to the game that I have is that driving in vehicles is cumbersome and very limited in their control (they basically drive along an imaginary rail, so if you miss your turn, you have to take the long way around), and it's humorously awkward to watch as an entire city's population of persuaded inhabitants can all cram into a single car.
However, the most annoying aspect of the entire game is a sound issue. Overall, the sound is good, at least for its time. The music is subtle but sets the tone, the sound effects give nothing to complain about, and in basically, in terms of quality alone, the sound holds its own as one of the game's strengths. The problem emerges with the fact that every time you click the mouse button on anything - ANYTHING - a voice saying "SELECTED!" is played. You select an agent to control? "SELECTED!" You select a weapon for them to equip? "SELECTED!" You choose which mission you want to play? "SELECTED!" It's a good thing that the game is a good source of venting, because the constant playing of the "SELECTED!" sound byte contributes towards your NEED to vent.
Overall, though, the game is amazing, and one of gaming's most overlooked innovators of violence. The levels get to be quite challenging at times, especially depending on how you choose to play them, the micro-management of your agents, and the management of your economic resources, and it all comes together in a solid gaming experience that can not only be fairly long, but with loads of replay value that will keep you coming back to play your favourite levels over and over.
I don't like giving numeric values to game reviews, so I'll just mention that I probably spent more time playing Syndicate and its expansion, American Revolt, than I have spent playing all the Grand Theft Autos, combined. Granted, I have yet to play through a GTA game's story mode, in favour of just amassing weapons and seeing how long it takes for the police to finally take me down.
((I just saw DWs post on Diablo 3 when I had finished writing this. But I don't care! It took me time and effort, so I'm going to post it anyway!))
With everyone else on the site playing various games, I decided I'd look into new ones coming out. And to my surprise, what did I find? (the vid's 20 minutes long, so make sure you've got time).
The new Blizzard-developed Diablo game looks set to be a riot. Just like the previous Diablos. On an interface level, the game has been simplified in many ways. For instance, the selecting will be done almost entirely by mouse, meaning less hunting on the keyboard. Another example of this is the new idea that, rather than being given 10,000 variants for your character, your choice will be limited to a class, and a gender. I don't think this sounds like such a bad idea.
However, beneath it all, Diablo seems set to be one of the most complex RPGs to date. The game is going to use various 'random' generators to make the gameplay different on every playthrough. This randomness streches to loot, scripted events and monsters. Meaning, on your first play through, you may encounter a series of monsters in a wooded clearing. In the same wooded clearing, but on a different play through, you may well encounter a caravan needing escorting.
Diablo III will also develop on the previous pitiful conversation system. The system used to consist of a series of complicated responses such as... 'Hey!' and 'No'. However, Diablo III, Blizzard have said, will have a much more immersive conversation system, where what you say will have some effect on what happens.
This announcement just came yesterday, so the liklihood is more details will be announced soon. Keep reading.
For our 100th post here at DW's, A couple of Big stories.
Firstly, The one everyone has been waiting for for absolute years, Blizzard reset the Diablo2 ladder. That was exciting enough and prompted many people to start playing, turns out that it was just a clever ruse.
A ruse you say, for what?
Oh, just a little game called diablo 3. For a just announced game, the teaser site is suprisingly detailed, There are two character classes [Barbarian and Witch doctor], and a ton of screenshots, trailers and videos about the game, its pretty clear blizzard have been working on this for a while, but anyone could of told you that, as speculation was rife as to a diablo 3 last year.
Frankly, as a big diablo 2 fanboy a couple of years back, i'll have another game to obsess about before its release.
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Secondly, 3scapism, our sister site has shut it doors. Big deal you might say, but what does it mean to you?
Well, all of the quality output that you would previously miss on the 3scapism is now posted here, think of it like a big machine, churning out twice the output of quality content, and well, your getting suitably close. this is the biggest thing thats happened to DW yet, and it certainly is exciting to announce on our 100th post!
For our 99th post, I'm merely going to post the battlefield TV spots.
This is more of a normal trailer, it's notable for "Haven't they got guys trained for that?" "Well, yeah, but those guys are too expensive to waste."
They are frankly, amazing, I had a fair few sniggers as I realised what games they were spoofing in these following trailers.
Mocking Rainbow Six Vegas...
Mocking Metal Gear solid..
Mocking the Gears of War TV spot.
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Pretty moving pictures aside, since playing the Beta of this game back in April, I've been well up for taking the full game for a spin, and it launches this Friday.
Since the beta, there's been a lot of talk about the "micro transactions" to buy certain guns in the game, and while i disagree with it solely on the idea that someone willing to pay shouldn't have an advantage over someone who won't, or can't, its an academic difference seeing as EA quickly removed it. However, the fuss has remained. This is a similar shit storm to the one conjured up by Oblivion's various small additions, like horse armour. And it got me thinking.
The games buisness is just that, A buisness, and however much we love to get free stuff, you have to face the fact that somewhere, somehow, someone has to get money out of this. In my opinion, Map Packs are okay, Camo packs, or character customisation packs, they are okay. But Weapons and armour? No. Too far.
Single player content is all fine. After all, they have the right to offer said items, and we have the right to turn down the items, but when those items threaten to divide the community, like Ghost Recon's map packs did, they shouldnt be allowed. Xbox live is one big community, and for developers to change fundemental aspects of this, by seperating us by money, there's a big flaw.
So, playing through Alone in the Dark has been mostly enjoyable, except in the past 20 minutes the difficulty curve has politely bent me over and submitted me to a demoralising inspection of my gaming ability. :[
Still, at this rate the game should be finished in friday in time for me to get Battlefield: Bad Company on the Saturday.
I sunk a few hours into Lord Of the Rings Online today, day one of the free trial, and got myself past the instanced tutorial.
So far, it's a nice change from WoW. If you have ever played WoW, it's pretty similar stuff. A lot of the earlier quests involve talking to people a LONG, LONG way away, which is slightly irritating, but there'sa lot of nice touches. You can earn titles to display, such as "Watcher of the Roads" "Man of Rohan" you know, typical fantasy stuff. And the world, obviously is a lot more interesting and authentic then World of Warcraft. I found myself somewhat irritated with the lack of seriousness in World of Warcraft, and how everything was humorous, sometimes I just like MMO's to take themselves seriously, and LOTRO certainly had that, by the end of the tutorial instance maybe 10 minutes in, I'd been rescued from a jail by a ranger, rescued two hobbits, one with the surname of Baggins, and then watched the ranger get stabbed in the chest by a Nazgul.
I made a Female Human Champion from Rohan, on the Snowbourne server, called Darkwingstalker, just in case I take this up for the long term, which might happen.
To sum it up, it's an 8 gig download, then a couple of patches, but if you fancy a change from WoW, or you're a Lord of the rings fan, you should give it a go, you can get the free trial here
Fancying something different, I've signed up for a 7 day free trial and I'm downloading the client now. It's got a rather impressive 8.2gig download, but according to a few friends "it's worth it". Looking across the classes and skills as it downloads, it looks like they've made the remarkably silly move of splitting tank and DPS into two classes, which worked against City of Heroes aswell.
Either way, I'll let you know how I get on when give it a crack. This is a time of great MMO turmoil for us, as DSF is also considering a trial on Age of Conan.
So, I picked this game up today, and i've played through the first 2 of 8 chapters.
This took about an hour. So i'm unsure how long the game will last, but thats the sort of stuff I can cover in a review.
The opening sequence was pretty decent, and It was genuinely pulse pounding stuff trying to escape from the collasping building you start in, the driving wasn't terrible considering its a survival horror game, and it was nicely tense.
The highly promising combine/use combat system is all present and correct, but for some reason my coat is full of batterys and sticky tape and not much of use. This wouldnt be a problem, its just that my trusty pistol is about as damaging to these creatures as a large stuffed animal to the face, and so I felt just a little hopeless.
On the flipside, when I managed to kill one of the monsters in one hit because i had the forethought to set light to my fire-axe for one almighty blow, well. it was satisfying. but at this early stage of the game the most lethal attack I can do is wave my lighter at them and look stern.
I suppose this is good, I mean, it IS survival horror, and not "KILL EVERYTHING WITH FIRE" horror, but I dunno, maybe Resident evil 4 has spoilt me a little.
If you've not heard of spore yet, then you've probably been living under a rock for a few years. What you might not have heard however, is that they have released a trial of the Creature Creator which you can get here. As this is the free version, you're a little limited to the amount you can use to create your "creature" of sorts, but even with the limited tools I had to work with, I churned out some impressive creations.
I've been told its great to put your kids on, but I wouldn't trust anything under the age of 16 on my laptop, so I'll have to just nod slowly at that possibility and tell you that, you OWE yourself to give it a go, it practically comprises a game in itself. It's a clever move from EA, in that I want to buy the game now, because the creatures in themselves are so entertaining, and dare I say it, endearing. And a competition of sorts: Name these two creatures, and the funniest, most fitting names will get your names up in lights. Competition runs till the 26th of june, Email all suggestions to Darkwingstalker@googlemail.com
As promised, here is my article about Sonic the hedgehog, From January. everything from here on in is unedited.
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So, Yesterday i had a bit of a blast from the past.
i went to a friends house, and as for gaming apparatus, she only had a gamecube. Now, I have had my Xbox360 system for almost a year now, and i was hungerering for some photorealistic graphics.
That was until she pulled out a copy of "sonic mega collection" from somewhere, and loaded it up, and i fell in love all over again, The blistering speed, the simple controls, The fact that 6 of us were crowded around a single gamecube controller, playing the classic "one life each" gameplay that i remember from my early years, It was brilliant, we fired through sonic two.
This got me thinking though.. Why are games not like this anymore?? with all the photoreal graphics, and the Realistic physics, what happened to a game simply being fun?? We had 3 girls present and they were playing sonic almost as much as the boys, in fact, they were positively clamouring for their turn to chuck sonic headlong through the levels,
later sonic games lost the feel, speaking from my days as an 8 year old with nothing but a megadrive and a copy of sonic two, i can safely say i appreciate the gameplay, I remember practically going into overdraft so i could get sonic 1 on the xbox live marketplace the day it was released, and to this day, i've played it more then practically every game i own.
Sonic adventure on the dreamcast made an effort to make sonic more involving, and succeeded, to be honest, in little more then to make a joke of the franchise, The great sonic games of the Megadrive era are nothing more then faded memories in the heads of people like me, and the thought scares me, hell, i'll go out on a limb and say that mario games are equally as unforgettable, but they have been long forgotten in their original forms, Hell, sonic was all about running through levels in under a minute, dodging spikes, springs and everything the dreaded eggman could throw at you, and everyone loved it, And from the looks of last nights playthrough of pretty much every game on that collection, they still do, So... The point i'm making in this editiorial, is, maybe sega, or whoever the hell owns the sonic brand now, should make a game just like that, Not another "sonic the hedgehog" travesty for the xbox360., with voice acting and a "seriously serious" storyline, but just a simple "get from point A to point B" game trying to recreate the feel of the original platformers, because, in an age where the launch line up looks like a who's who in Violent bloody warfare, or long winded japanese RPG's, a simple, addictive game that all your friends could enjoy would be a real eye opener.
I haven't played much recently to blog about. I can't talk about Endwar, and Alone in the dark doesn't come out until tomorrow, and I'm unsure as to whether I'll be purchasing it. While it looks like an amazing system, I don't generally get on very well with Survival horror games, So I'll probably play it elsewhere before making my decision.
Today I was at a friends house, and I saw she had a copy of Crash Bandicoot. This is a game I haven't played in years, so me and Darkshadowfang set about hammering it.
One thing surprises me.I remember getting this game for Christmas 1996, and to be honest, for a game that's 12 years old, its aged brilliantly. Aside from the obvious lack of Analogue support, and the fact that psone controllers feel like little toys after using an Xbox 360 controller, it's still an amazingly addictive game.
I'm informed you can download this game via the PlayStation network, and play it on both the PSP and the PS3, and its well worth a visit. Crash bandicoot was one of the earliest 3d platforming titles, and although its not really "true 3d" in that you always head in one set direction, it really helped the genre. On top of that, it gave the PlayStation crash bandicoot, and he was a very able mascot until Sony turned him into a cash cow with the release of Crash Bash, and Crash Team Racing, which might have borrowed slightly from Nintendo's handling of Mario. maybe. This was interesting to me because, I wrote an article on sonic not a great time ago [which I'll now post here when i dig it up], which praised the simple, one life each style gameplay of the original sonics, and I feel Crash 1 and 2 captured this perfectly. Not 3 though. 3 had an APPLE BAZOOKA. Way to scrape the barrel Naughty Dog. Need more convincing? Naughty Dog created the original 3 Crash Bandicoot titles, Crash Team Racing, which wasn't too bad, and then went on to create the critically acclaimed PS2 series Jak and Daxter. So hey. Give it a go if you get the chance. It's still brilliant.
After reading a particularly interesting article on the biases of reviews, it got me thinking about the best reviews to read. Personally, I usually trust the judgement of Gamespot. This doesn't mean I think they're unbiased: I think that would be impossible. But they do tend to put out good reviews. Detailed reviews with fair statements. I've tended to find that their views match up to those I find whilst playing through the game. For instance, their review of CoD 4 seemed fair and just. But, despite this, I often find myself disagreeing with reviews given on Gamespot: two examples that leap out include Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed.
So there, in one paragraph, I've listed one game I agree with Gamespot on, and two that I do not. So why, you may ask, do I keep going back to gamespot? Laziness for one. I just simply cannot be fucked to go and find a place that reviews as well as gamespot does, and also feels the way I do about games. The liklihood is (with free will and all that crap) that I'd actually have to hunt for a review for each individual game in order to find a review that I agreed with. There is one pretty fundamental flaw in this plan: you read reviews to decide on whether you should buy a game; and you can only pass judgement on a game you've bought, so you can't disagree or agree with a review unless you've actually bought it... in which case the review is of little use anyway.
So we must, it makes sense, have a place to go and read reviews that is a good faithful area to return to. As I've already mentioned, Gamespot has detailed reviews which, in many cases (but not all Assassin's Creed) do not overemphasise the good, or gloss over the bad. Or, of course, vice versa.
And yet, even with this, we have a problem, because 'good' and 'bad' are things determined by me. Well... for you, it's determined by you, but you get my point. The only thing that I can see for sure in Gamespot is that it is detailed, because what is 'good' and what is 'bad' may be different for me than it is for them. In a game, I think there should be a solid storyline, while the reviewer may put more of an emphasis on multiplayer. Neither of us are wrong, but neither of us will agree. So in which case, how can I read the thoughts of another person and say 'This is a game I will enjoy'.
This comes back to the question 'how do I choose what sites to read reviews from?' And the key word here is 'sites'. The best way to decide what games to buy is to read reviews from many different sites so you can, essentially, get the 'whole picture' as it were, and decide whether this game is worth buying. One site will write with one bias, and another with a different bias. Read altogether, hopefully I can see through these biases and see the game for what it really is. Then, I can apply my own biases, and decide whether this a game I will enjoy.
But don't forget, there are certain reviews you can skip over. A review should be detailed and at least attempting to be neutral. And remember, if you ever want perfectly unbiased, factual, and completely correct and never wrong material, come back to DWs!
Due to my fellow contributors being otherwise occupied, I’ve taken time out from MGS4 to give a little news on a few games coming out in the near (and far) future.
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe A couple of months back DW posted a few trailers on this game, and since then a little more info has come out on it. Apart from Batman (in the trailer) and Superman there haven’t been any other confirmed DC characters, but the co-creator of Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon, has said that if you think about the top five from the DC universe, you’d probably be right that they would appear in the game, as well as supervillains being included too. This is getting me thoroughly excited as well now, and I'm also gunna be keeping a close eye on this game too, as the idea of (possibly) playing as The Joker is a very intriguing one. The Mortal Kombat characters will be the most iconic stars, so this includes Scorpion as well as Sub Zero. The game is due out some time in autumn, so we’ve got a while to wait yet.
GT5 As far as im aware there hasn’t been any coverage on this game on the blog, so this is a first! After GT5 Prologue’s just above average scores since its release, it has been confirmed that there is a new GT5 Prologue being released at the end of the year with more content on it, such as Damage being added, allowing you to smash your car to shit, and the online content getting more variety, as well as more cars and tracks. Unfortunately for people looking forward to the finished version, that isn’t planned to come out until towards the end of next year! So unlucky there really. But there is going to be a massive range of cars and a whole new range of tracks to choose from in the finished game, and as I've mentioned a second Prologue is coming out, so hang in there GT fans!
Prince of Persia Now the new POP game looks very interesting. Graphics are cel-shaded, to give it a more comic feel, and lighten the tone from previous dark POP instalments (I’m looking at you Warrior Within), and there have been hints to a new combat system in this game, as well as massive increase in speed thanks to the Prince’s mysterious metal gauntlet. Also this isn’t the same Prince from previous games, but a different guy, although there is a good chance this is just another version of the Prince we know. The game also uses an updated version of Assassin’s Creed’s engine, so the areas you traverse are going to be MUCH bigger. Having played the first two games of the series and enjoying them a lot, this new one is looking rather swish, so expect some more news on this one at a later date.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII For me it’s a shame that this game is coming out when it is (June 20th, so 3 days people!) because im obviously not going to spare it any attention for a while thanks to MGS4, but I really like the FF series, and FF7, so I felt it was worth a mention here. Also there is a lack of PSP related info on the blog too, but I'm not really that surprised.
Anyway this game is receiving generally positive reviews and looks pretty good, even on the small screen. The game is huge (main story plus over 100 side missions) and plays very much like FF12, with the combat being almost real time. Materia is also back again (yay!) but you can’t make changes during battles (boo!), and there is a new combat feature involved called the Digital Mind Wave, a fruit machine-like system that gives you special magic attacks or special moves etc as the reels spin. One thing I'm looking forward to is seeing old characters like Cloud, Zack, Sephiroth, Aerith (or Aeris) and the Turks coming back, as well as getting to know more about that red-haired git Genesis (those who played Dirge of Cerberus will know what I mean). I’ll be getting this later in the year for sure.
And a quick note for all you Brawl fans, in case you've somehow forgotten or been asleep for the past year, the game comes out on the 27th, so not long to wait now!
In a word: awesome. That’s how I can only describe the behemoth that is Metal Gear Solid 4. The game that myself and so many fans included have been waiting for since the teary eyed salute at the end of MGS3 is here. And it was definitely worth the wait!
Of course my wait was a little more pro-longed, by a whole day, thanks to the postal service and my lovely job (in turn making this post a little later then planned) but that just increased my excitement for when it was finally in my hands. Placing the game in the machine, I was treated to 8 minutes of update time while I watched Snake chain smoke in the background (looking as cool as ever I might add) with the game itself telling me about how to look after the disc and about health risks when playing the game and such. And then once Snake said the words, “Kept you waiting huh?” the game really began. Needless to say I was close to wetting myself, dignified of course.
Going on to the start menu, I decided to try out the virtual training before stepping into the game, and testing out how Snake handled. And he handles very well, with nothing really changing in controls except for using the R1 button to kill. I tried out the CQC techniques, aiming the guns, throwing the grenades and generally tearing the shit out of the non-responsive blank orange humans (cannon fodder) dotting the area.
Then I decided it was time to start the game in earnest. Selecting the Solid Normal mode I started a new game and it began in the Middle East, with Old Snake riding in a truck looking very Assassin’s Creed with a load of militia ‘buddies’. I won’t reveal anything about the story for those who don’t want spoilers, so don’t worry guys!
Then hell breaks loose, and the Praying Mantic PMC pops up and starts shooting at the militia, and I found myself in the middle of a fire-fight with only my knife handy, wondering what I should do. Few kick-ass cut scenes and some running and sneaking about later, things really hotted up when I heard distant mooing in the background, and anyone who’s watched the MGS4 trailers will know that that signals the coming of the Gecko’s. After half an hour I was breathless with excitement at all the new innovations and techniques put in, for instance I was doing the worm past Praying Mantis bad boys, and also how much more aggressive the AI is when they actually find you. And of course there was the Octocamo, which is ingenious I might add! The threat ring implemented in place of rumble also works extremely well and is very handy. And what about how the game looks you might ask? It’s a complete visual treat and the best looking game out at the moment.
Hell I’d even say it’s the best game out at the moment, but I have to complete the game before making that assessment. So now I’m going to stop typing this and pick up my controller again, and next time you hear from me it will be on this game’s review written by a very satisfied gamer, because I believe this game is going to satisfy me immensely. And that’s not a word I use lightly either.
Being a big fan of the Star Wars: Battlefront titles, [but who wasnt?] I was really excited when I found out they were making a new project, but nothing could of prepared me for this.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:
Yes, that's right. According to Pandemic Studios
"For fans, Lord of the Rings: Conquest gives you the most action packed experience set in the [LOTR] universe. You have a fully realised fantasy battlefront with the ability to engage in melee combat, ranged combat, ride creatures, control siege equipment, play as giants and make your own choices on the battlefield." Looking at the hallmark of the battlefront games, it's hard not to get excited at the prospect of running around a battlefield cutting people to shreds. To add to the package, it's been announced you can control all the races. I figured, yadda yadda, elves, dwarfs, orcs. What I didnt expect, was Hobbits, and what I REALLY didn't expect, was a balrog. Yep, balrogs are playable. Conquest is due to feature two campaigns, one good, one evil, and will feature 4 player co-op both on and offline, and a nice 16 player online mode.
I have a few reservations about how well melee combat will work online but eh, it's got a fucking balrog in it. Who cares?
Two new Xbox originals have been announced: Guilty Gear XX #Reload and The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning.
These games will be available on June the 16th for 1200 MS points on the Xbox 360 marketplace. Guilty Gear XX #Reload is the refined version of Guilty Gear XX. Think of it in a similar vein to Ninja Gaiden Black's revision of Ninja Gaiden. It revises many moves, and is considered the defining version. Having not played it, I'm in no position to judge, but as 2d fighters go, it's suitably well respected. As for Spyro? well. It's the less then critically acclaimed reboot for Spyro, taking the emphasis away from the platforming I personally loved in the original Spyro the Dragon. Regardless of this, it received a fair few awards back in 2004, although it was heavily criticised for being too linear.
And that's it. If any of those are your bag. June 16th.
Today, in gaming news, it was ruled that the owner of site MrModChips, should not be incarcerated for the selling of those technological marvels they call 'chips'. The site also sells pre-modded consoles. Basically, for those of you that don't know, 'modding' a console involves installing a small chip into your console in order to circumvent security measures, in order to perform certain activies (which are perfectly legal) such as to create back ups, or play imported games. However, the issue of modding comes from the fact that a modded console can be used to play games that are purchased, for instance, downloaded and burned onto a dvd. Of course, it's just a few bad eggs that do this. A couple of years ago in Australia, a similar case occured, and the defendant was found not guilty because the chips could quite easily be used for legal activties, and not copyright infringement.
But this raises an interesting point--and one that can be seen further in Peer2Peer downloading. The action itself is not illegal, but can lead to illegal actions, most notably copyright infringement. Because of this, it's incredibly difficult to enforce copyright laws where the actual means of infringing them is legal. People who mod consoles in order to play illegally copied games cannot be, because of the nature of the chip, and the way it works, easily differentiated from those who use the chip for backups. So how can copyright infringement be avoided? The big companies certainly want it to be.
One way, it strikes me, would be to get rid of the need for backups and imported games (or at least region coded games). If this happened, then mod chips could be completely illegalised, as the only activity they could be used in would be illegal activity. There are a couple of difficulties with this though. Of course, the removal of a distinction between PAL, NTSC and NTSC-J is one solution to the imports idea. They're not needed in today's world, but, of course, this would cost money, and if there's one thing that big companies hate more than losing money, is actually having to use it. However, discs will always be fragile, until they're redesigned, and so backups will be made. Of course, a more robust solution might be possible, but guess what that needs? Any ideas? It needs R&D. R&D requires researchers. And they require... yup, you guessed it: money. Again, big companies would much rather just convict everyone that moves, instead of spend money on the problem.
Now, there are those of you out there who are saying that 'copyright laws are just another impeachment on our freedom', and that we should just be able to copy games and play them as we please (and that's why we have Linux). But I'm very much a capitalist, I think that if you justify not paying for something because copyright laws are against your religion or whatever the hell you're saying, then you should listen to that four letter word of what is coming out of your mouth. Copyright is necessary to protect the profit motive of modern society, people put hours into designing top notch games because they get paid for it. If you don't pay for your games then those designers don't get paid, and then you extend it, to a point where no one gets paid. Sure, some of it goes to big fat cats, but essentially, no matter how much money the company makes, they're still going to take the same cut, so essentially, it's just the little guy that's losing out. I'm not having a go, I'm just saying, if you're going to do it, don't try and justify it to yourself, just accept what you're doing is wrong, and then, if you still must, get on with it.
Anyyyyway, for the moment, we have to accept that console modding is a good thing essentially, and that it can be used for very useful purposes. Like P2P, which can be used to share files that one person has created, with other people, modding is not a morally wrong activity, but it can lead to illegal actions. I may be a capitalist, but I'm also a moralist, I think that we have a choice to choose our own decisions, so whilst copyright infringement is wrong, I don't think that people can be discriminated against if they use something which leads to copyright infringement in some cases. That is why today's ruling for MrModChips was a good day for gaming, and a good day for civil liberty.
This review was a long time coming, and I'm breaking one of my own rules by reviewing the game before I've completed it.
Either way, here we go.
Ninja gaiden is from the lovely fellas at Tecmo who produced the Dead or Alive series, you know, the one with the boobs bouncing everywhere. The first Ninja Gaiden was the hardest game on the Xbox, and also regarded as the best action game on the platform. So obviously, when it came to the sequel, there was quite a bit to live up to.
The game is heavily styled: think a blood soaked Ninja edition of Devil may cry 4, and you're halfway there, limbs fly off in all directions and walls get sprayed with arterial blood as you hack your way through the levels, and its all alot of fun. You feel really cool bouncing off walls, and cutting off arms and legs.
There's a wide selection of weapons for the job, and I am really enjoying the game, despite wanting to chuck my TV out of the window because of some of the bosses [YES I'M LOOKING AT YOU ELECTRO FISH], but by and large its a nice challenge, without being too frustrating. The characters looks very Japanese, with a CIA agent wearing barely anything but a smile and a pair of over sized handguns, and the level design is a little.. confusing. A few times I had to stop and retrace my steps because I'd gone the wrong way, but as Darkshadowfang tells me, "I have no sense of orientation". This is true.
Interestingly enough, this game practically vomits Gamerscore all over you if you play it, little 5g chunks for mastering the "Reverse wind" or "Swallow". Not a big deal for me, but still a nice incentive to keep playing, if one were needed.
Mainly, I was attracted to this game for the difficulty. The first one remains the only xbox game I couldnt beat [I really tried], and I fondly remembered the first level being ridiculously fun, before the first boss being ridiculously, insanely difficult. And of course, Ninjas. The second game lived up to this well. The game engine was fluid, and it is alot of fun. The difficulty seems to have been dialed back for the sequel - which I could argue was a good thing as I never surpassed the second level of the first gaiden. All in all, I really enjoyed the game. My main complaint, was that the difficulty curve as you fought the bosses was abit much. Well, when I say abit much, it was like having a lovely stroll in the park, followed by you single handedly trying to climb out of the inside of a volcano while doused in petrol. Aside from this its proving to be a rather enjoyable venture, and although I doubt what future it has on the gameshelf after i've finished it the once, it's proven a blast so far.
You may have heard about the merging of the two big super-developers, Activision and Vivendi Games (Parent company of Blizzard). Today, it was announced that the two would hold a shareholders vote on July 8th to decide on whether the merger should go ahead. The outcome looks likely to be a 'yes'. So what will this mean for 'great' games like WoW (Blizzard) and Guitar Hero (Activision)?
Not a lot really. The venture of Activision Blizzard will have the company valued at $18.9 billion (that's a lot of dollar kids). The controlling interest will be that of Vivendi SA, but, supposedly in the ideas of fairness, the CEO will be Activison's current CEO, Bobby Kotick. However, the running of the two companies will be virtually the same as it remains now, simply with bigger political and financial power.
Activision is the company responsible for bringing you games like guitar hero and CoD, whilst Vivendi is a French owned company that is the parent of Sierra games and Blizzard and brought WoW into the world, along with Starcraft. Anyway, that was some business news for you, and here's something I found very entertaining. Read on WoW lovers.
well, i applied for the beta maybe a week ago, i figured it was a long shot that i'd get in.
Hello, Jake Tucker
We're pleased to inform you that you have been selected to participate in the Tom Clancy's EndWar Private Beta. You now have access to the full EndWar Beta website at www.endwarbeta.com and can begin posting on the forums.
Unfortunatly, i just had to agree to a lengthy NDA before it would let me on the site, so all i'll be able to tell you is if its any good or not.
The Ao2 free content I talked about here is now available for free on the European marketplace. Still doesnt ring true for EA. I'm considering borrowing a copy of army of two so I can play the new end mission.
The Battlefield: Bad Company demo came out while I was away playing Ninja Gaiden 2, and so iImissed it. From what I'm reading its got major connection issues. I managed to get into the original Beta well back in april, and I enjoyed it. Although, there was the occasional lagspike. I hope this gets ironed out before its release, Because if it launches with lag all over the place, it'll put alot of people off [me included.] otherwise, I'm still pretty eager to pick it up, I like class based FPS, what can I say.
Firstly, it's my birthday today. I am now 19. Yay.
Point the second? I just wrote a big long blog on ET: Quake Wars and the computer erased it. So I'll have another crack tomorrow.
No real point to this post, just wanted to apologise for a total lack of posts today.
But, while I'm here:
This game looks absolutely amazing, the combat is really clever, and the system theoretically allows unlimited combinations.
My only hope is that it doesn't pull a Condemned "EVERYTHING IS USABLE" and then it turns out you can use the same bit of 2x4, just stapled to different walls. Also, the enemy look genuinely quite scary in this tech demo, and I'm eagerly awaiting a play of this game on June 20th. It'll have to be special to warrant purchase though, this is a summer of brilliant games after all.
Well I am quite into Dragonball Z Seeing DWs first look at the game and his ignorance of the DBZ universe made me want to kill him, but since then he has had the courtesy to watch the series so i don't want to kill him and is now currently most of the way through the Saiyan saga, anyway enough of me ranting at DWs lack of expertise in the DBZ universe (for want of a better phrase), on to the game.
Now I have played Budokai 2 and Tenkaich 2 and 3, so i do have a lot of Dragonball Z gaming experience, though I am now so used to flailing around like a retarded Seal with the Wii remote, now I'm going to have to concentrate for this review as DW is currently sitting next to me getting ever more irritated with a giant silver electrified ninja snake with cannons attached to its head on Ninja Gaiden 2.
When i first started playing burst limit i must say that i was and still am very happy with the way it keeps to the storyline, the problem with this though is though they do very very well on keeping to the storyline they miss out huge chunks of the story line, maybe because they don't have the 160 characters that Tenkaichi 3 had, this does work as a blessing and a curse, you don't have to do all the mindless filler episodes where they are "waiting for the saiyans," which would probably have made me fire it out of a cannon into mount doom because i would have died from boredom. But this does have it's down side, i mean i personally wanted to exterminate every member of the Ginyu force myself, but the only ones that are in the bloody game are the Captain and pants on head retarded Racoome, evidently this would not be the case.
The in game Cut scenes are really very very good, they look good, they also view almost exactly the same as original episodes, some of the voice actors appear to have been changed, but that's no biggy i don't really care as long as the dam thing looks good.
Dw and i both also have a criticism, we both loved the combat, well as much as you can love mindless button bashing combat, which aside from the tutorials is 90% of what I'm doing with the occasional thing I meant to do making me very happy, because sending Nappa flying across the map with a kamehameha wave you meant to do is very satisfying, but once again i have digressed the thing DW and i hated about the combat is that they have added these things called "drama pieces," now the tutorial said you choose them before the beginning of the fight, in single player you are given no such option, making me pull a very angry face. Then i became even more enraged, as did DW when we saw how badly they break the flow of combat, your happy helping yourself to a Freiza sandwich and then suddenly out of nowhere the game will go into cut scene mode, he will deflect one of your attacks or send you flying, at this point i thought to myself "how the hell did you do that when i just sent you flying across the whole bloody map."
The other thing i will say about it, is it has a difficulty curve so steep i had to get Spiderman wall crawling abilities to overcome it, especially when the CPU blocks every bloody move you do and you can't get a word in edge ways.
Overall though i am pleased with the game and after this am going to go and play it some more, but here is my advice, if you loved Budokai, buy this game you will really enjoy it, but if you preferred Tenkaichi you will probably still enjoy it if you are a DBZ fan as it adheres to the storyline so very closely, but it will never compare trust me.
The experience of video games varies from individual to individual. Some gamers play a couple of hours a week, and others play a couple of hours every couple of hours. But I'm sure you already know that (unless you're the latter, then you might be unaware that the former even exist). So how can we possibly put any definition on a group of people ('gamers') that vary in their habit so much that they can't be put in the same time bracket, let alone under the same banner. Look at the example of nations: a person from a country will be a member of that country for their entire life, so we can, with reasonable accuracy, call them 'Swedish' or 'Mongolian' or 'Martian'. However, in these groups there are exceptions, and these exceptions have names of their own 'ex-patriates' etc.
This leads me to believe that there must be other categories next to 'gamer' that can be used. Xbox Live attempted to class this as 'Recreation', 'Underground', 'Family' and 'Professional'. But this did not work. And it didn't work because the majority put themselves as 'Recreational'. And yet, this number of 'Recreational' members varied so much in how often they were gamers at all. I classed myself as recreational, and I play for a couple of hours a day. My friend is also recreational, and plays a couple of hours a week. So Xbox Live missed the mark here.
You can't, as Microsoft attempted to do, define a group by the way they believe they play. A far better system would be to put a timer on the account and then you take an average of time spent on the account per week--this is then attached to the account so other people can see just what 'kind' of gamer this gamer really is (and mock/admire them suitably). GTA had the right idea. In the stats, its possible to view your 'Addiction Level'. Something which is, apparently, 'Spiralling Downward' for me. Naturally, this doesn't define my gamer characteristics, in the way 'addict', or 'healthy habit' would, but it gives the same idea.
It seems to me that all gamers come under three categories (categories they can't possibly put themselves in... because they'd lie): hobbyist, (the kind of hobby that stamp collecting would be considered) addiction (the people that say 'I can quit sure', but never could) and cult (they're aware they have a serious problem [more so than the addicts], but if you try and tell them they should do something about it, their eyes glow red and they pull out a level 43 scythe). People might be able to give up for a couple of months in the addiction stage, but they'll always return. I'm not saying to be in the last two categories is a bad thing. It's not like heroine which actually has a truly detrimental effect, but I think everyone needs to understand (those outside the gaming circle more than any) that there's not just 'gamers'. A disgusting stereotype ranging from people with glasses and long greasy hair to people who own a mobile phone with Snake II on it.
The opening screen to this demo is awesome, with its wailing guitars and speeding cars. I felt more manly just for seeing the screen.
I hadnt heard anything about this game before I saw the demo, and when I got to the main menu I selected "Cases" and a normal difficulty setting. Not really so used to having Cases on a racing game.
See that trailer? ITS LYING. its nowhere near that exciting. Plus every now and then as your driving, you go into a cutscene of you smashing into a car and it setting on fire. YOUR SUPPOSED TO BE THE POLICE! where in the police driving handbook does it tell you to aim for innocent fatalities? Jeez. anyway.
The graphics were pretty bad, and the car handling felt way too off for me. I know I complained about it being too twitchy on GRID, and here was the opposite extreme. it felt way too "light", Despite all the issues, I played it for a few goes, and had a bit of fun with it, in spite myself.
The engine was pretty bad, and the cases reminded me of Felony 11-79 a game which was dated when it showed up on the PSone. It's nice to see something different to the norm tried. But it seems to have fallen flat in the execution. Not a hope in hell i'm buying this one at launch.
oh yeah, and I have played the ninja gaiden demo, and it is good. I'll be picking up the game tommorow.
Ninja Gaiden II This is my pick of the month for the 360. Following from the previous game called, believe it or not Ninja Gaiden, you play as a Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, who is on a mission to avenge his clan (original) and save the world from destruction (not quite so original). Ninja Gaiden is a critically acclaimed game that I personally enjoyed, with fast paced gaming that is a little more complicated than simple button bashing. Ninja Gaiden II looks set to build upon this sturdy base with an enhanced battle system and a completely innovative health system, being a hybrid of the traditional 'health bar' style and the more modern 'regen' system. This, all in all, looks like a very worthwhile game from a trusted group of developers (Team Ninja), and one that I will certainly be keeping an eye on. Platforms: X360 Release Date: 06/06/08 Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit I've played the original DBZ fighting game, and I was not too impressed, saying this, I was never a fan of the DBZ series. However, for an in depth look at the pros and cons of this game, I direct you to DW's First Impressionson this game. Platforms: X360, PS3 Release Date: 06/06/08
Sports Island Another example of how Nintendo is attempting to change the face of gaming. Sports Island is a third party, and more in depth version, of Wii Sports. It includes 10 different 'disciplines' of which a couple of examples are Badminton an Basketball. However, the question for its popularity will be whether it can live up to the simplicity of Wii Sports. Platforms: Wii Release Date: 06/06/08
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots This is, of course, my pick of the month for PS3. This is the last episode in the Solid Snake saga, and is set to be monumental as such. With visually stunning effects and a grand amount of innovative technology, MGS will be a game for even non-Playstation owners to watch. For those of you already interested, I don't need to remind you of the basic storyline, and we can see included Metal Gear Online for those of you who like your 'social gaming'. I can say that we should all be watching this space. Platforms: PS3 Release Date: 12/06/08
Sid Meier's Civilisation: Revolution Turn based stratey at its very best. With Sid Meier somewhere in the title, this is guaranteed to be a classic game, though a questionable choice to not go on the PC, where the traditional fan base lies. If you're not a purist, and don't believe that Strategy should be confined to the mouse and keyboard, then give this game a go, it has the potential to be another great game in a long list under this franchise. Platforms: PS3, X360, DS Release Date: 13/06/08
Sins of a Solar Empire This looks to be an interesting sci-fi strategy game. It involves building an empire, and destroying other empires in order to further your own gain. Of course, its been done before, but never really to the extent that AoE managed. Could this be the AoE of the stars (and I don't mean SW: Battlegrounds)? Only time will tell. Platforms: PC Release Date: 13/06/08
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith The first time this franchise has been brought to an individual band, and Aerosmith is decided on. Not sure what to say about this. I guess we can expect GH3 with all Aerosmith songs. Good if you really like Aerosmith, not so great if you don't. This really needs some big fundamental changes in it for me to consider it worth buying. It should be stressed that this game is not GH4, and so will probably just be the GH3 interface again. Platforms: PS3, X360, Wii, PS2 Release Date: 13/06/08
Ferrari Challenge This is the official Ferrari game. All real cars, and all real tracks. This looks to be the best racing game of this month, if you're an enthusiast, and if you're not, it might be worth a look in if nothing else here tickles your fancy. Unlike other genres, 'official' driving games don't tend to be that poor, so don't let the 'Ferrari' label necessarily put you off, this could be a good game. Platforms: PS3, Wii, DS Release Date: 20/06/08
Battlefield: Bad Company This looks impressive, as can be expected. The storyline looks a bit whimsical... set in the 'near future' during a 'eurasian conflict', not the most original of scenarios. But the gameplay looks solid, taking part half way between squad based and trad-Battlefield play. The online will be up to 24 players, and looks set to improve on previous Battlefield games. This may give MGS a run for its money in sales on the PS3 this month. Platforms: X360, PS3 Release Date: 27/06/08
Super Smash Bros.: Brawl This is my pick for the Wii this month. For those who haven't played this series, explaining it would be pointless because it would just come across as a simple beat-em-up game. But it's so much more than that. Super Smash Bros. is an opportunity to get inside the minds of Nintendo characters and really understand what makes them tick... and then get them to kick the arses of other Ninty characters. Great fun for fans of Nintendo, and more sceptical people. Even if this game only changed the stages of the previous game, Melee, it would still come out great. Platforms: Wii Release Date: 27/06/08
Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy Not based on any of the films, but instead one of the books, the demo of this was not looked favourably on by DW, in his First Impressions, which is a shame, because I thought it looked quite good till I read the preview. Platforms: X360, PS3 Release Date: 27/06/08
This looks to be a good month for gaming, with MGS, Super Smash Bros. and Ninja Gaiden II. You can expect reviews for the best games here. I know that the review for DBZ and Ninja Gaiden will be up hopefully this weekend. Keep reading.
Melaisis being lovely has deemed to give me his steam log-ins so I could try out "whatever I like"
I thought this would contain a choice of Audiosurf and trackmania.
Yeah, try like 30 games. Including my all time favourite game Deus Ex.
This amounts to a gigantic and public thank you to melaisis, and a statement of intent that I plan on hammering as many games as possible during the evenings.
I've spent a ton of money on the Xbox arcade, and I keep an eye on the upcoming titles, I think its a brilliant idea, and it saves me having to dig out my retro consoles for a crack at Contra or Sonic 2.
5: X-Com: Enemy Unknown/X-Com: Terror from the deep.
This has been my guilty pleasure for absolutely years. When I was 11 I was given an old PC by my uncle.
Installed on it was this gem. Its depth of gameplay and teeny tiny size [16MB on my harddrive right now] make it a natural choice for the Arcade.
X-com mixes too genre's of game. Firstly, you are in charge of managing "X-com" the agency, Formed to combat an alien invasion. To this effect you research weapons, build base facilities, and hire soldiers for the m ore exciting bit. When you get the call. Here's where it gets interesting. You dispatch a team of soldiers to the "disturbance" [be it a landed UFO, a crashed UFO or even an attack on a town] and investigate. This is the most exciting bit, slowly taking the team across the area. From the start, your made to outthink your opponent, after all, they have superior weaponry, and often superior numbers. This bit plays alot like PS one classic Vandal hearts, crossed with an "Aliens" mentality. I still play it today.
4: Excitebike
I'd like to be clear here. Not Excitebike 64, god no. The original. Excitebike was a nes game I practically grew up on, Simple gameplay, and an addictive quality trying to run through the levels as quick as possible.
I know this wish is practically redundant now, After all you can buy excitebike on the Wii's Virtual console last year. But fuck it, I want it anyway. I don't have a Wii, but I want excitebike for my 360. Chuck in the ability to share your created tracks with other people, and obviously a multi player, and you have a quick and easy, addictive classic, that would basically sell itself. I mean, look at the little guy. He's having the time of his fucking life!
Plus you know, if it was released I could get achievement's for the entire summer spent repeatedly practising those same damn tracks again and again and again.
3: Unreal Tournament
Hell, if they can release Quake 3 arena for the arcade, how about the better game? Unreal tournament is abso-fucking-lutely amazing, and while there are alot of games since that have improved upon the classic gameplay, including but not limited to the forthcoming 360 "Unreal Tournament 3" but hell, I liked it, I liked the original weapons, The fastpaced FPS and the unstoppable carnage that you could drop into at any moment. Pretty much every PC gamer has enjoyed this game at some point, and it was the first game I ever played on LAN. No screenwatching for the win!!
Plus, the Biorifle was fucking amazing.
2: Revenge of Shinobi
Its ridiculously insane how good this game was.
Firstly, it was a top notch platformer
You had ninja powers! Including, the ability to self destruct, and jump stupidly high. All ninjas should have this ability.
In the original Cart, you fought against Batman, Spiderman, and Godzilla as bosses.
You were a ninja.
Ninja throwing weapons
Now, if your not excited because of those 5 simple points, your probably not a gamer anyway. And it would fit really nicely in with the Sega Classics collection already on the arcade, no?
1: Goldeneye
Another Virtual console release, although nintendo commited the ultimate sin and didnt include online multiplayer. If ever there was a game that cried out for online multiplayer, Goldeneye was it. this game was without a doubt the best FPS of its generation, and it pretty much conquered my inherent hatred for the N64 and its ridiculously stupid controller. this paved the way for me to play classics like perfect dark, and conkers bad fur day, Funnily enough both rare titles. So eh, well done goldeneye.
Why should it be an Xbox live title? Well, the map design was amazing. the single player wasn't so bad itself, The golden gun was funny as hell, and so were the variety of mines you had to play with. But the main reason I want this game? Online multiplayer. It was addictive as hell, and I absolutely loved it but I didnt have much chance to play it at full capacity, 4 people dashing around the facility bullets whizzing every where. When the rumours went around not so long ago that this was coming to the arcade, I bought 1200 points which are still on my account today, on the off chance that it'll one day release, even now, I hold blind faith that it'll just appear one day despite the multiple statements that it'll never happen.
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