Altered Beast was Sega’s showcase game for the Genesis debut, doing its best to attract extreme-minded 90s teens with its muscular protagonist who could transform into kick-ass werewolves and dragons. Although I was smack dab in the middle of the game’s focus group at the time, I was dorkier than Sega ever imagined and wasn’t interested in the least. With M2’s 3D conversion of Altered Beast hitting the 3DS, I figured it deserved another chance, and boy am I completely indifferent about my experience.
Nintendo made many an inner child quite happy this morning by announcing that the main series’ first official foray into 3D will arrive this October in the form of Pokemon X and Pokemon Y.
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is the kind of game that appeals to a very specific audience; an audience that already has unconditional love for the source material, which allows them to overlook the obvious shortcomings of this handheld iteration. Though there is evidence that suggests that the developers treated this game as more than a simple port, their efforts will likely go unnoticed by those not previously indoctrinated.
The 3DS version of Snake Eater has been moved around quite a bit since its announcement at the 2011 Tokyo Game Show. Originally scheduled for a December 2011 release, the game was pushed back to March 8, 2011 in November to iron out some bugs and prep the game to be compatible with Nintendo’s Circle Pad Pro. Now the date is shifting again, but this time it’s going in a much more favorable direction.
The Tekken franchise has a lot going on at the moment. Tekken Hybrid was recently released and the popular fighting series finally gets to put up against rival Street Fighter series in Tekken X Street Fighter due out next year. Perhaps lost in all this Tekken news is the development of Tekken 3D Prime Edition which is coming exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS and now has a release date.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but until now, I've never played Cave Story. Not for free on the PC, nor for the low price of admission on the Wii or the DSi. It's always interested me, but I just never got around to playing it. Cave Story 3D has changed that for me, but in retrospect, I don't feel as if I was missing all that much. Unquestionably, Cave Story is a solid game and that's made all the more impressive by the fact that a single man, Daisuke Amaya, created the game himself. While impressive, this doesn't make up for the fact that the game is a bit rough around the edges.
Pac-Man has a lot going for himself, but most of it just isn’t in this game. The best point of the cartridge for older gamers will probably be portable versions of classic Pac-Man, Galaga, and Dig Dug. While there are a few saving graces to Pac-Man Party, the problems outweigh its finer points. After a few games in party mode, it becomes apparent that the game could have used a few more months of polish.
The port of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater to the Nintendo 3DS was originally set to be released this December. Then it was announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2011 that it had been delayed to "early 2012." That's an ambiguous term, but now we have a actual release date.
Those of you looking forward to next year’s release of Resident Evil Revelations will have to fork over a little more cash than you may have expected. Today Capcom announced that the 3DS exclusive will be selling for $50 - $10 more than the average cost of a handheld game.
Gamers that shelled out money for a 3D setup will be glad to hear that Assassin’s Creed: Revelations will support 3D output on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Last year, I had my first taste of the Samurai Warriors series and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. While heavy on the hack ‘n’ slashing, the game still provided for a bevy of interesting objectives and some frantic pacing as you rush about the level to meet all of the expectations. Not only were the objectives varied, but the experience was dynamic. New objectives were presented each time I went through the level, changing and morphing based on the state of the battlefield. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles falls very much in line with its predecessors, with improved graphical fidelity and a fully-voiced presentation.
Straight after the Sony press conference today, I was able to go, hands on - or more accurately - eyes on, with the PlayStation branded 3D TV. The TV as you have already heard is 24" and will be offered at release for $499. It's clear from the set up here, which is strewn with beer cans and looks like a frat house, that the TV will be marketed at college students.
Picture Super Mario Bros. 3 and put it in a 3D Mario game, and that’s about what it felt like. There were some major changes though, things you definitely need to know about before you can call them the same thing.
Alright, let’s address the elephant in the room: Rayman 3D is a cheap cash-in port of the Dreamcast version of Rayman 2. No, the game has not been enhanced in any meaningful way other than the addition of stereoscopic 3D - and no, it doesn’t in any way actually enhance the gameplay. Yes, at times, I even encountered a few instances where the game completely froze up, thus forcing me to hard reset my 3DS. All of this aside, Rayman 3D is still an enjoyable experience - one that has lost some of its luster over time. Thanks to the circle pad on the 3DS, the game controls like a dream, and the 3D, while nothing significant, adds some nice visual flair, giving the game a bit of extra charm. All things considered, this release of Rayman 2 is the definitive one.