SteelAttack said:

edgecrusher said:

Steel is a Viva Pinata slut

Seriously, it's not even funny. I watch the TV series at least once every six months, and would seriously considering buying a Kinect if there was a VP game for it in the works. o_O

Really? Because I could never quite get into it. What on earth sells you on the thing?

Congrats Bugs!

The second I heard of King of Fighters XIII, I started to get cautiously excited. I was excited because I loved the art style, colors, animation and graphics of XII. I was cautious, though, cause XII lacked any and all game modes of modern fighters, having the most basic, bare-bones, single-player and somewhat broken online. When I heard Atlus was publishing and financially backing XIII for SNK/Playmore I started to get hopeful... Then I saw it had an 'Arcade Mode' and a 'Challenge Mode' and a 'Tutorial Mode' and an 'Online Mode, and a 'STORY Mode' ... and I got REALLY excited! They seemed to correct everything that was wrong with XII...

...oh! ...and BOOBIES!

I put the money down months and months and months ago for it.

Something's changed though...

When I realized I needed to pick it up today, I felt no pangs of excitement. I actually would have rather not driven thru the rain to the store... Months of anticipation and once the day arrived, I felt nothing. I don't know what it is. Maybe I am too engrossed in too many adventure style games to be bothered with a mindless one on one fighter? Maybe modern fighters have gotten to be too technical...? "Guard Crush into a Super EX Move to a Forward Roll to a Guard Cancel to a Desperation Move!" Uh... wut? Count frames... huh?

I seemed to have lost any emotional attachment to any fighters maaaaybe with the exception of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3... That one is just too over the top. You can get away with mashing and just having fun... and it's not the most technically advanced fighter out there. Dozens of Marvel / Capcom references throughout doesn't hurt either, I guess. I look at Mortal Kombat and/or Street Fighter now though, and I feel completely burned-out. KoF never stood a chance!

I had to pick it up. I don't like backing out of a pre-order, and I was hoping it was something else that was bothering me... but I played and played... and nothing... The graphics are nice. All of the new modes are (finally) a big bonus, but I couldn't help but think as I played: "I could be playing Zelda right now."

The me of 15 years ago would be angry at my apathy towards one of my former favorite genres... How many times has a Street Fighter game been my GOTY? Definitely NOT this year, despite having some awesome games with a certain forumite that will go un-named... and Robio too... but I think I am done for a while. I'm not giving up on it entirely yet... and I am still HEAVILY anticipating Street Fighter vs. Tekken in the New Year, but for now...

...

Meh!

Already past the 4th dungeon in SS, the boss in that one was great, as was most of the dungeon, except a room or two. All the items in the game are great and have varied uses and effects even outside their particular boss/puzzle purpose. You actually have to use items all over the place instead of just in a single dungeon, and the new radial menu selection (instead of having to set just 4 items on the dpad and keep switching them out) works like a charm for that end. The primary controls are sublime, outside the annoyance for the pointing function I've mentioned, and a particular type of unlocking puzzle mini game for the boss doors that works well but is a little annoying to wield. Still, amazing motion controlled games like this one, WSR, Red Steel 2 and any half decent FPS that made its way to Wii make it extremely disappointing to know Nintendo's next home system doesn't even try to evolve in this direction and instead goes back to a traditional dual analog setup + touch screen for the most part. Sony will hopefully carry on with the Move and partially make up for that. This is shaping up to be the best 3D Zelda yet for me, outside keeping OoT on a pedestal due to doing many things before everyone else. Speedy start too, nothing like TP's. The upgrades system is simple but effective and alongside certain other items gives a use for all those rupees you tend to pile up in these games. It's definitely of the jaggiest Wii games (even on SDTV) but the art design is enough to get past that. There are a few low points though, some bland areas here and there, or badly animated scenes, but not many, and brief. I wish the sky had more than Skyloft but we can't have everything, a few more side quests and things open up as you play at least. But the game certainly feels very Metroid-like and very condensed instead of attempting to have an open world or whatever, since in the sky you basically just travel to other lands outside minor side tasks and said lands all have environmental puzzling and challenges like a dungeon even before you actually enter one. The world design is really great, I love how you make shortcuts for yourself as you go through an area making later runs much speedier and very easy to get straight to the newly accessible areas after getting new tools/abilities. There's some filler type content that might get annoying if it repeats though, Silent Realm trials in particular, though the first and only one I had to go through so far was sort of neat, like shoving Super Mario Galaxy style environmental challenges in Zelda, and there shouldn't be more than three or so of them going by the story told so far. I also heard you have to beat a particular boss like three times, that's another bad decision if the fight remains largely the same, I've already fought it once and that first time was cool though, and if it's the same it won't take long at all the next couple times so that's something. I'll have to play this game again a few years from now, hopefully on Dolphin with a fancy new PC by that time, I think it will age very gracefully outside a few minor annoyances, similarly to Wind Waker, but better. </gush (screw paragraphs)>

bugsonglass said:

Thank you guys so much.  Thank you.

Hey, you forgot to quote me.

Penis.

Agnates said:

Already past the 4th dungeon in SS,

Check the thread, a lot of us are playing it with you.

I don't find the graphics that jaggie although it was jaggier on one SDTV compared to another.

I don't like the way Faron Woods looks. I'm near the end of the 5th dungeon. Loving the game, not sure I like having to revisit old areas instead of discovering new ones.

Famitsu review details

- Mario Kart 7 (10/9/9/9, 37 points): The point winner in this week's issue was a pretty predictable one. "The game's made so you're always able to stage a comeback, making it approachable and enjoyable for anyone," Famitsu wrote. "Competing for time is also exciting, and there's more than enough room for hardcore play here. The Community feature makes netplay a lot more accessible than before, and finding opponents via Street Pass is also impressive. It's really exciting to think how the community's going to unfold."


"There are a lot of changes here, but play it and it's definitely still Mario Kart," another reviewer said. "That goes to show how complete a game it's become. It's accessible enough that even new players can enjoy it, and when you get into it, you really get into it."


- Sonic Generations (8/9/9/9, 35 points): "It's not particularly novel," said one writer, "but the high speed and exhilaration the series offers is definitely here. The graphics are nice, and the classic and modern styles offer two different ways of enjoying the game. There's a lot of bonus material, too, which I like."


"The sense of speed, which outclasses a fair number of racing games, combines with the nimble camerawork to provide an addictive experience," another added. "You do need a certain amount of ability to play it the way it was meant, though, so watch out for that."


- The King of Fighters XIII (8/9/8/9, 34 points): "The game's been rebalanced from the arcade," Famitsu commented, "and I get the impression there isn't as much of a strength difference between the characters any longer. The battle system is a little complex, but the hands-on tutorial guides you through all the gauges and makes it accessible to beginners. There are ten different colors for each character, and you can customize further from there, which is neat."


"It's not just a simple arcade port," another writer said. "It's packed with extra features for the console. Among them, I like the story mode (which goes into a lot more detail than the arcade version) and the Trial mode, which lets you practice the combos for each character. Recommended for fighter fans in general, not just fans of this series."


- Tekken Hybrid (9/8/8/8, 33 points): The combo pack -- featuring an HD remake of Tekken Tag Tournament, a cut-down version of Tekken Tag 2, and the Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3DCG film -- receives a more-or-less warm reception. "Being able to play the old Tekken Tag Tournament in HD is a boon for fans," one writer said. "The original game was a pretty complete package, so even new players should be able to enjoy it. Tekken Tag 2 Prologue has only four characters, but it's nice to get a chance to play the latest arcade game at home, at least."


"The HD remastered Tekken Tag is a nice package and made me realize how great a game the original was in the series," another added. "Prologue is probably better thought of as a demo version, though, and it's probably best to think of the movie as the main part of this package -- the action scenes are excellent and it's really fast-paced overall."


- Assassin's Creed: Revelations (10/10/9/8, 37 points): "The difficulty is on the hard side," one reviewer began, "but the world setting, story, and graphics are all top-notch. There are no major changes to the gameplay, but the new tower-defense bit is pretty fun. You can also use explosives as a kind of feint tactic now, which makes it even easier to be more assassin-like in your play style."


"Some parts of the same seem unfair," another reviewer countered. "For example, you may be doing the right thing in a quest, but you fail anyway because the target search is too strict. The story is more than satisfying for series fans, but if you're starting with this game, then you'll want the special edition in order to understand the story."

Oh shit.....yes congrats on the niece man. I have one myself....she is 18 now. It weirds me out just thinkin' about how much time has passed since she was born. Its almost like having your own kids.

Bulletstorm dev to make Gears of War prequel trilogy?

This makes me sad if it's true. I want a Bulletstorm 2.