Posts Tagged ‘brawler’
Atlus bringing Kenka Bancho 3 to US, needs help naming it
Atlus has recently secured the publishing rights for Kenka Bancho 3, a PSP title that follows a high school student in Japan brawling with, well, everything. Sounds great, right?
It is, but Atlus doesn’t know what to name the US version of the game and has looked to the community for help. The publisher has set up a website, here, that will let visitors choose what they want to game
Of course, it’s only a survery so the chance that you’ll directly influence the game’s US name are slim.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Game Review–Cartoony Brawler With A Dash of Humor
There have been a lot of Spider-Man games over the years, and it’s never really much of a surprise to me when a new one shows up on the shelves. In fact, it’s such a non-surprise that pretty much every time I DO see one, I end up sighing piteously before wondering if I should give it a try. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t found good Spider-Man games before, and it’s not like I haven’t played the most godawful crap with that red and blue freak of nature stamped boldly across the front of the box.
And when I took a run at Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, now available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC, as well as for scads of handhelds and last-gen systems, I was downright surprised. See, the basic plot of the game looks like your normal run of the mill class X beat-em-up. And when you actually sit down to play it, that’s exactly what you get. But it’s the little things that make all the difference.
See, in Spider Man: Friend or Foe, you’re going to be taking on a series of villains in the standard Spider-Man vein. You’ll be going to Tokyo, Egypt, Nepal, and even Transylvania in pursuit of what are called Phantoms, beings that are a combination of hard-light holographic projects (think Star Trek: The Next Generation’s holodeck technology) combined with, of all things, the Venom symbiote. But these symbiote / hologram hybrids aren’t here on vacation–they seem to be interested in taking over the planet. And to do so, they’re taking over the minds of some of Spider-Man’s most feared villains, including Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, and even, somehow, Venom himself.
Interestingly, you can probably figure out who’s behind all this, if you know anything about the Spider-Man universe: who’s the only villain you’ve ever seen who handles holography as both weapon and method of disguise? Yeah, I know–really only obvious in retrospect, but still kinda obvious when you think about it.
Aside from that, you’ve really got to hand it to Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, because while they did make a fairly derivative sort of game, they infused it with a cartoony charm and a sense of humor that’s all its own. Yes, of course, Spider-Man himself will crack wise throughout the WHOLE GAME, almost nonstop…but he won’t be the only source of humor in this game. For instance, the SHIELD helicarrier’s computer will have a really choice line about how, while Venom is a pretty nasty way to die, there are worse—including wasps with laser-guided missiles. See? Funny! It’s fantastic to know that games can still introduce humor into otherwise lackadaisical brawlers.
It’s not a huge game, nor is there a whole lot to do, but a couple days’ rental will be terribly entertaining. If you like your games packed to the gills with action, and not a whole lot else, then you’ll have an absolute ball with Spider Man: Friend or Foe. But if you like complex and thrilling titles, well, the vicarious thrill you’ll get from this won’t be near enough.
The Lord of the Rings Conquest Game Review–Button-Mashing Orc-Kicking Fun
It’s admittedly rather strange to be thinking about The Lord of the Rings in terms of a button mashing beat-em-up brawler, but with recent Electronic Arts release The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, I have to do exactly that. And even more strangely, I find I’m not disappointed.
Now, I’ll be honest. I fell asleep briefly while watching The Lord of the Rings in theatres. I found it that dull. But by the time The Two Towers and The Return of the King came out, I actually found myself enjoying those. Why, you ask? What was the key difference between the dullest movie I’ve seen since I was forced to watch While You Were Sleeping and two sweet fantasy action flicks? Simple—ACTION.
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, now available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Nintendo DS, focuses on the action aspect of things, and I find this unusual departure welcome. I also find it downright awesome, while I’m thinking about it. Anyway, what it’s about is basically the exact same stories that were going on in the movies, only without spending all the screen time focused on the hobbit. You’ve got all the various wars and battles within the wars, including the one where Sauron lost his ring finger and Gandalf fried him some Saruman. You’ll get to play as just about every part of every army that was ever featured in any Lord of the Rings series ever—you’ll get to choose between sword-slinging warriors, bow-toting archers, lightning-chucking mages, sneaky little scouts, and a legion of heroes including Gimli the dwarf and Gandalf himself. You’ll even get to go so far as to play the other side of the fence, and play as Uruk-Hai, a Balrog, , a Troll and more besides.
There are a LOT of options in this game, which is really just one long beat-em-up, and I find that this makes for a surprisingly rich experience that you can tailor to your individual style. You can play the sniper route, or go tank, whichever you prefer. And playing as one of the heroes is extra fun—I loved the close-range wizard’s duel I fought with Gandalf against Saruman. We’re in a room the size of the average multiplex movie theatre (one screen’s worth) and we’re hurling lightning at each other like it’s NOT an incredibly stupid idea to be in a small enclosed room with THAT much electricity. Seriously—the sheer amount of ozone in that room should’ve SUFFOCATED us both long before either of us managed to electrocute the other.
.But anyway—it’s still kind of a thrill, to rush into those clouds of Orcs and Uruk-Hai and suchlike, your sword on fire, shattering the horde. Or just sinking wooden shafts into their heads from fifty yards out, either way.
I’m actually rather happy with the time I spent in with The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. It’s nice to see that a series so renowned for deep adventure and downright literary overtones can sit back, relax, and let its hair down, if only for one game.
Watchmen Minuteman Arcade Game Review–A Clever Dose of Retro Tie-In
You’ve got to hand it to the retro gaming concept–while over at Newgrounds, I dug up this clever little tribute / marketing ploy for the recently released Watchmen. It’s called Watchmen: Minutemen Arcade.
The really interesting part about this title is that you play it like an actual video game in a diner, released by Veidt Industries. The game itself is basically a Final Fight-style sidescrolling fighter, where you get to play as either the original Nite Owl or the original Silk Spectre. You roam the streets of New York pounding a whole bunch of similarly-dressed thugs and eventually working your way up to a none too difficult fight with Moloch himself.
As a game, it’s not much. But as a concept, it’s kind of nifty. It’s the kind of thing that could be fairly easily included as a DVD-ROM option, or maybe even as a straight DVD option. Considering you only have maybe seven buttons to work–punch, kick, jump and move in four directions–a DVD remote could probably handle it. Anyway, give it a try–the price is right, and it’s a sufficiently nifty concept to entertain for at least a few minutes.