It's time to run down the list of GameCube games on Metacritic. It's fun and brings up memories and helps me decide what stays in my collection and what I need to pick up. Here goes.
I only have a few here I put on my must-play list, but I like to look at everything anyway and perhaps try something new if I can find it for cheap enough. Remasters are also of interest since sometimes they vastly improve the experience. So this is Metacritic's top PS2 games 26-50 with comments.
I'm going down the Metacritic list for PS2 and seeing what might be worth trying out. Journey along and see the sights.
It's been an interesting week trying to work down the metacritic list for '95-'99, grinding for Game Pass Rewards points and beating Diablo IV. Details follow.
I'm something of an anomaly when it comes to fighting games. Okay, I'm something of an anomaly when it comes to a lot of games. Anyway, a new version of my favorite fighting game of all time was released last week. I speak, of course, of Sega's Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, which came out on PS4 and is currently free to PS+ subscribers.
Nintendo has made a lot of money off of the miniaturized editions of the NES and SNES. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, especially when the games are really good. A N64 Classic Edition is seen as the logical next step, although there are rumors that a Game Boy Classic Edition is in the works next. But to be honest, I'm not too enthused about a N64 Classic. I would personally much prefer a Gamecube Classic Edition myself.
Jazz Jackrabbit headed to GBA this year, but I still remember playing it on PC at the neighbors'.
I spent a lot of time playing SoulCalibur II on the GameCube during that era. It looked pretty, played well, and featured guest characters that were appealing – especially Link. SoulCalibur II HD Online pays a nice homage to its original port, and it stands up quite well. The fighting remains tight, and the game remains visually pleasing. Unfortunately, the slim online offering makes this one a tough sell especially if you still own the original.
I honeslty dont know how to feel about this game. If any of you played Soul Calibur 5 and you remember how cut down it was in content for offline mode then you might feel like I do. SC5 was my biggest disappointment of 2012. I normally dont have disappointments either, even if a game isnt excatly has I pictured it but still good I let it slide. I refuse to let the injustice that was SC5 slide. I hated that game and at that moment I was severally upset with Namco and Project Soul for releasing such a poor excuse of a game. The only decent thing about it was the create a character system. However one reedeming thing can not save a game especially if you spent 80 bucks for the damn thing. I bought th Limited Edition set and it was my biggest regret money wise. I wish I had not spent a cent but 60 would have made me feel better. Ladies and Gentlemen SC4 was better then SC5. Were suppose to go forward, not backwards. You wanna know why it happened? Multiplayer/Online play. Multiplayer mixed with Online Play are becoming 2 of the most scariest words to gamers now. Games are becoming solely based on if people will have fun online with others instead of what originally made them fun. Now dont get me wrong, I like playing games with people. I dont mind playing a 2 player game but there is a difference in ruining a single play experiance like story and stuff like that to make muiltiplayer the biggest thing ever. So many game developers are going this route and it was a sad day on earth when SC5 did that. The Last Of Us gives me hope though, they havent said barely anything about the multiplayer mode, they have only given us the story side to the game and it is a breath of fresh air to see that. Anyway, If there is a new SC in the making, Ill prolly wait till after it releases to get it and see what it is said about it. I dont think I wanna waste money on it if it isnt a improvement.
As usual, resident PixlBit fighting game expert, Jon “JD” Lewis, has done an excellent job reviewing Street Fighter X Tekken when it released some months ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. After a short delay, the game has finally made its way to the PlayStation Vita, where I finally had an opportunity to check it out. Sadly, much of what JD complained about back then still persists today, especially the oft-laggy online mode and the slightly misguided gem system.
In the beginning of the previous decade, the fighting genre saw a decline in popularity. The genre had become overpopulated and stale and much fewer titles were released. However, the original SoulCalibur stood out as one of the absolute best. The Sega Dreamcast's killer app has been ported to the XBLA and is still one of the best games of its genre and a title every fighting game fan should own.
Since its premature announcement last E3, fans have been curious about the fate of the next iteration in the extremely popular Super Smash Brothers series. During Thursday’s Nintendo Direct presentation, Smash fans were spoon fed a little more information. Namco Bandai, the company behind a wealth of series like Tekken, SoulCalibur, and Tales will be partnering up with Team Sora to bring fans the latest in the series.
First and foremost, no, this isnt a count down of what I think are the "Hits" of this year, but rather a list of games that I have not completed that I want to over the course of the year. Its a daunting list, but I think that I'll be able to chop off some games from my seriously large backlog. Lets get started:
Okay, to start with a clean slate, I'll update on the games I mentioned I was playing before. I completed Vigilante 8 Arcade and got all the achievements except one for 10 victories in online play because no one is online. Once again, screw all the negative review scores, this is a lot of fun and plays just as good as the originals. The lack of content is disappointing but the controls are better than the original. Plus you have the option to go back to the original controls in case you don't like the new ones. At $5 or 400 MSP, it's an easy buy. I also finished Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and I really enjoyed it. It isn't a deep game and it was rather short at seven hours or so but if you like the Prince of Persia series, this is an easy buy. The final boss fight is also really awesome with some impressive set pieces and graphical effects. The ending is disappointing but I didn't really expect much. This game is better as enjoying what you're currently doing rather than what you're working towards. I also completed the Fable III DLC and basically, I can't really recommend it. It's too much for what you're getting, which is about two to three hours of content (that's both DLCs combined) and some extra achievements that you may not get because its glitched. Seriously, I should have 60 more points than I do right now.
A quick look on Metacritic and from my knowledge of game releases from the first quarter of 2012 and I've noticed a noticable set of titles that have been less than good. That's not to say there have been nothing but bad games released recently but for the most part, the most critically acclaimed games from January to March 2012 have been the expected ones, like Mass Effect 3. Many games that were resonably high profile have either underwhelmed (SoulCalibur V, Twisted Metal) or just failed completely (Ninja Gaiden III, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City).
The new hotness in fighting games has to be the guest character. This is nothing new, but in recent years it has become a major feature of the fighting game. We famously had Star Wars invade SoulCalibur, Freddy Krueger pull the Mortal Kombat cast into his boiler room, and this week sees Street Fighter x Tekken release with a plethora of guest characters, most of which will be PlayStation exclusive. Not to be outdone, Tecmo is jumping into the fray for Dead or Alive 5, but the first guest announced is probably the last thing anyone would guess.
This generation has been extremely kind to the fighting game enthusiast. Not only have we seen the rebirth of franchises such as Street Fighter, SoulCalibur and King of Fighters, but we have seen things happen that were previously unlikely for the genre. Nobody thought we would see Marvel vs. Capcom 3 after 10 years, yet last year we got not one, but two different versions of the long-awaited sequel.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is an updated version of the original Continuum Shift that was released in 2010 with extra content. I myself am a big fan of the fighting game genre but I've yet to play a BlazBlue title. Although I was initially not impressed, as I continued to play, the game opened up and I was rewarded with a complex, but gratifying combat system, an intriguing story mode and a colorful cast of combatants.
SoulCalibur has long held a special place in the hearts of fighting game fans. The combination of weapon based combat combined with exaggerated, yet memorable characters was a welcome change of pace from the Tekkens and Virtua Fighters of the day. While never accused of being the deepest of fighting games, its trademark accessibility assured that both the core and casual fighting fans could enjoy their time in the ring.
Namco Bandai has announced three downloadable content packs for the upcoming SoulCalibur V. Each pack will cost $1.99 or 160 MSP and comes loaded with "exclusive new customization items and music that players can then unlock in-game." The details for each pack are as follows:
It’s been four years since the last SoulCalibur was released and a lot has changed. The fighting genre has seen a revival and the market is a lot more crowded than before. So when the sixth installment was announced in May 2011, fans of the series knew that business as usual would no longer be enough. The new SoulCalibur V would have to make substantial changes in order to differentiate itself from the other big titles in the fighting genre as well as evolve from its previous iterations in the series.
