Shoutout for a friend and fellow game reviewer

So, yeah, this is new to me, but I got two shout-outs from another guy who does video reviews that I enjoy watching. The guy I’m talking about is Brian, who hosts his own review show called Substance TV. Each episode he does has three different games of different varieties. I really enjoy listening to him talk about what he likes about the game itself and describe what the game is all about. Another cool thing is that he tells the viewers what to expect if you are looking for the game, like if you were looking to buy the game, he will say how hard it is to find or etc. He is also a nice guy, and I message him from time to time. The link to his website is right below here

Substance-tv.com

If that doesn’t work please tell me and I will fix it.

Special extra long review: Brutal Legend for the PS3/360 review

To be honest, it seems like A LOT of games are leeching off of a super popular game of that genre. For example, how many freaking futuristic first-person shooters have we seen come out since Halo made its debut? How many God of War wannabes have we seen? What about Grand Theft Auto clones? I mean, does anyone have an original idea already? Well, for once, I am actually happy to see a pretty much original idea of a video game. The game I am going to review today is Brutal Legend. When I first saw the trailer for this game, I was amazed. A whole game inspired by metal music? Where do I sign?! Now that it has been a couple of months since its release, and I have picked up a copy for my Playstation 3, I have my full-on thoughts about this game. This might be one of my biggest reviews ever…maybe.

The main story starts us off at a concert for the “metal” band called Kabbage Boy. Offstage though, the band’s roadie who is known as Eddie Riggs, who is voiced by Jack Black, is repairing a guitar one of the band mates destroyed. Now, Eddie is actually known to be the best roadie in the business, who can repair anything, build anything, tune any instrument, and you get the idea. Sadly though, he is the roadie for the worst metal band ever. I might not be a huge fan of metal, but I know metal when I hear it, and Kabbage Boy is NOT metal. After saving one of the band members from a horrible stage accident (caused by the band member himself), a piece of the stage falls right on top of Eddie, hurting him. The blood from his hand then drips down off his hand and onto his awesome-looking belt. The belt, however, has amazing powers since it summons the fiery deity Ormagöden, who cures Eddie, and kills the band that got him hurt. The funny thing is that everyone thinks Ormagöden is special effects. Eddie is then transported to a world inspired by every metal thing you could think of. Eddie escapes the temple he woke up in with the help of a fellow human named Ophelia. Eddie then learns of a revolutionary group that is trying to take back the land that has been oppressed by the demon lord Doviculus and his sell-out lackeys. It is up to Eddie to help lead the revolution and save the land from oppression. It’s an interesting story, and I will talk more about it later.

The game play is a hybrid between hack-and-slash action, mixed in with real-time strategy components. Let’s split this into two parts since this is what the game did. We will first talk about the hack-and-slash action part of the game. Eddie’s main form of attack is an axe called the “ Separator”. This is where most of his melee attacks are from. He isn’t the only thing though that was warped back to the metal world. He also brought along his guitar named Clementine. His guitar is also a big part of the action parts since you can shock people with lightning, blow them up using fire, and play awesome guitar solos. The guitar solos are also very handy. due to all the different effects each solo has. I will list a few of them and their abilities. One of my favorites is the Call of the Wild solo that summons animals to help you fight the enemies. Another one is a ranged attack called the face melter, which, well you guessed it, melts peoples face from a certain range. It really helps when there are a lot of enemies surrounding you. The final one I will talk about is called “Bring it on Home” where you can summon a giant burning blimp that crashes into the ground, killing any nearby enemies. Eddie can also use team up-moves that vary between each different person. For example, if you team up with head bangers, you get to have a defensive ring of head bangers that damage anyone in your way. Another example is teaming up with the Roadies, so you can stealthily sneak past people and send out a booming shock wave to the enemies. You can also use the lightning attack to stun the animals of Brutal Legend and ride on top of them. You might find it silly riding a panther that shoots lasers, but it’s so ridiculous that it’s awesome. Your other main weapon is your car, called the Deuce or Druid Plow. It’s your basic mode of transportation if you don’t feel like riding on top of an animal. You can get upgrades to all your weapons in a relic called the Motor Forge. The funny thing is that the guy who helps you upgrade yourself is none other than Ozzy Osbourne. You can upgrade your axe with fire, lighting, or make it stronger or sharper for more attack power. Your guitar upgrades mainly the effect of your guitar attacks, like in melee combos or making a specific guitar attack stronger. You also gain weapons for your car, like machine guns, rocket launchers, side flames, or mine dropping. You also get stronger armor and a stronger engine, which is pretty cool.

Now, let’s talk about the real-time strategy components. The main big battles in the game are called stage battles. This is where the RTS components come in to play. You control Eddie, and he controls all the units. Each unit has their own special task, like short-range, long-range, healing, heavy weaponry, and you get the idea. Each unit has its own ability that helps out in battle. You also get to produce the units from the stage. Your main source of materials to produce more soldiers comes from things called fan geysers. You basically build things around the geysers so the energy from them goes to your stage. The RTS components of the game isn’t like Command and Conquer. It is more on the line of Overlord or Pikmin. You have to be close to your army to send commands. The cool thing is you get to actually team up with your soldiers in the RTS battles, instead of doing just the commanding. The multiplayer section of the game is basically the stage battles. During the game you will encounter three different factions. One is your own army known as Ironheade. The other two are the Drowning Doom, and the Tainted Coil. Each faction plays differently and I like that. Ironheade is mostly an ‘everything’ kind of army. It basically has short and long-range infantry and any other kind of infantry you can think of. This is the faction you will be playing as, and a good one for beginners. The Drowning Doom is a unique faction where it focuses on overwhelming the opponent and destroying the enemy’s vehicles and such. The Tainted Coil is basically the powerhouse of the three factions. It relies on overpowering your opponent with strong infantry and status-boosting infantry. It all comes out with each having different strategies for each faction.

The graphics and art style of the game has A LOT of charm coming from it, as the whole world of Brutal Legend looks great. The character designs are also very creative and the characters are super likable. You just feel so attached to these characters. The only other game that I feel makes you feel attached to the characters in the game is the Final Fantasy series. I also like how animated everyone is. I mean, yeah, they look a little awkward during in game, but in the cut scenes, the characters are very lively and active. The voice cast is huge! It’s filled with famous celebrities. This of course includes Jack Black as Eddie Riggs, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, Lemmy Killmister, Ozzy Osbourne, Tim Curry, some guy called Kyle Gass (part of Jack Black’s band Tenacious D), and so many other people. The music is nothing but metal. All kinds of metal are on the soundtrack to the game. There’s stuff from bands like Motorhead, Dragonforce, Deathklock, Angel Witch, Tenacious D, Sanctuary, Black Sabbath, Mastodon, 3 Inches of Blood, and other bands that comprise this very metal soundtrack. The cut scenes are also fun to watch, and are executed very well.

Sadly, it’s time to talk about the bad parts of the game, but there is very little that is bad about the game. The real-time strategy components of the game are very awkward and don’t work well from time to time. However, I don’t blame the game itself, like how everyone else does. I blame the console limitations, since the 360 and PS3 aren’t as known for having a good RTS collection. Besides, RTS games sell better on computers than consoles. While I hate to agree with other people, I just have to agree that the main story itself is very short, but this is only if you don’t go after every side quest and find every little thing in the game, though you aren’t forced to go through the main story in one sitting. It is set up where you can go off and do side quests before moving on. I also hate how people are like “oh, you HAVE to be a fan of metal to play the game”. WHAT?! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Yeah, I’m not a fan of metal, but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the game. It’s also annoying how people shun this because the same person who made Psychonauts, Tim Schafer, who also made Grim Fandango, made it. They only did this because Psychonauts didn’t sell well. What a horrible and stupid thing to do only because one game didn’t sell well. The good thing though, is that the good parts totally outweigh the bad parts of the game.

Overall, I really REALLY enjoyed Brutal Legend, and I have to say this is going onto my list of favorite games of all time. Even with its RTS flaws, the game is still very fun to play. It’s an outstanding game, and I would buy it if you have a PS3 and 360. I can’t wait to see if Tim Schafer will make a sequel, or make DLC, kind of like how Fallout 3 did with their stuff. Double Fine Productions did a wonderful job on creating a creative and fun game.

This game gets a 9.8 out of 10

Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicales for the Wii review

Personally, I like the rail-shooting genre. I remember going to the arcades and playing House of the Dead many, many times. Sadly though, it seems like a dying breed. A good thing, however, is that many rail-shooters have made it onto the Wii, such as House of the Dead 2&3, House of the Dead Overkill, and Dead Space Extraction. I think it is also cool that Capcom has thrown their hat into the genre, and have released two Resident Evil Rail-shooting games. I am going to be reviewing both of them, but I will start with the first one, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii. Did they do a good job? Or is it just as lame as the other cheap looking rail-shooters on the Wii?

The main story of Umbrella Chronicles is basically a retelling of three games in the Resident Evil series. The three in question are Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 3. The also has another story that takes place in the cold lands of Russia, I think. If you have played any of the Resident Evil games, then you will have no worries about knowing what’s going on.

The game play in Umbrella Chronicles is a classic rail-shooter, where you can control one of two characters during the single-player mode. You, of course, have your pistol that has unlimited ammo, which is good since it would just be impossible to get through the game if you kept running out of ammo for every gun. You also gain other weapons during the game, like machine guns, shot guns, rocket launcher, and you get the idea. Your main form of healing is, of course, green herbs. You can also pick up healing sprays, for when you die, they can bring you back to life, which is pretty cool, since I will talk about the difficulty in just a second. When a zombie latches onto you, you can do a counter-move and knock them back, and killing them from time to time. You use your Wii remote to also pick up items like files and such. You can also play with another person, but you share the same health meter. There are multiple paths, which require another play-through, which is nice since it gives the game replay value.

The graphics for the game look amazing, and the new cut scenes are also very impressive. The in-game graphics are also nice, even if you find a graphical flaw from time to time. The music is very intense, and fits the situations from fighting Tyrant to shooting sharks and zombie dogs. Now, the first Resident Evil is infamous for really bad voice acting, but I say the voice acting in this game is pretty good. Yeah, there are the occasional cheesy lines, but you get the idea. If you’re a fan of the scripts in Devil May Cry, then you won’t mind the scripts in this game. The difficulty is increased in this rail-shooter, which is good since you won’t breeze through this game in a couple of hours, like you would in House of the Dead Overkill.

There are some gripes that I have with this game, though. While I enjoy the game’s difficulty, it kind of requires you to play with two players. The reason why I think this is because the later levels in the game get really tough, especially during the retelling of Resident Evil 3. When you’re playing a rail-shooter you want to feel embraced by its atmosphere. However, there are some things that take you out of it, like when you’re knifing crows, leeches, and zombie vomit. I also hate how a headshot does no justice in this game. I mean, when I shoot something in the head, it better fall flat on its back. While I know every zombie game needs a shotgun, I just hate how it takes so dang long to reload. I have died multiple times due to the long load times with the shotgun.

Even with its minor flaws, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is a fun game and I would recommend buying it if you are a fan of rail-shooters. I will say though, that I would only buy it if I were going to play it with a friend, since I would rather not fight the same giant worm for 2 hours. Now, I will just have to see how Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles holds up.

This game gets an 8.1 out of 10.

Mobile Light Force for the Playstation 1 review

In a way, I think the cover art of a game can pretty much help sell the game itself. Of course, if you see Mario on the cover, you know it’s going to be a good game. The same goes with God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Halo, and a lot of other big name franchises. Even some overlooked games don’t sell well due to the box art looking like the first Megaman cover art. Let’s take a Playstation game for this example. The game in question is called Mobile Light Force. Sheesh, it has a horrible cover, but it happens to be a pretty fun 2D shooter. Mobile Light Force or Gunbird was developed by Psikyo, which is known for working on arcade games, like Gunbird, Cannon Spike (Capcom licensed), Samurai Ace, Zero Gunner, and Dragon Blaze. They are also known for making on erotic title for the Playstation 2.

The main story in Mobile Light Force basically has nothing to do with the people on the front of the cover! In fact, this game’s original title is actually called Gunbird in Japan. The story revolves around 5 characters that are each trying to find a magical mirror that can grant them a wish. Of course, with anything that strong, there is always an evil force trying to prevent you from taking it and such. The story is as basic and as unclear as any story you would normally see in a shooter, but you don’t play the game for a story, so let’s move on.

The game play featured in Mobile Light Force is a top-down 2D shooter, like Raiden. You get to choose from 5 different characters that are all unique in their own way. In a game like this, I would say that this is a “beginner’s shooter”. I say that because you get three different attacks, instead of the main weapon and the bomb, like in most levels. You have your basic laser or rapid-fire attack, then you have a focus attack that is different for each character, and finally, you get the screen-clearing bomb. I think it’s interesting that each character has a focus attack. You basically hold down the square button on the Playstation controller, and then the character will change its pose. When you let go, it will mainly do a strong attack that will only hit enemies in front of you. Some of them can be from cool to funny. For example, one of the characters is a witch-like girl, who has a blue bunny. When you use her focus attack, she sends her blue bunny flying into the enemy. If you use the robot soldier character, then he does a somewhat rocket punch attack that looks like something from one of the giant Japanese robot animes, like Getter Robo. From what I can tell, all the characters’ screen-clearing attack are different, like some kill everything in front of you, and some kill all around you.

The graphics are pretty cool. First of all, this game was made in 1994 for the arcades, and then 3 years later, ported over to the Playstation and Sega Saturn. Overall though, the graphics still look nice. Everyone is well-detailed and unique. The animation and detail on the enemies are also well-detailed and random. The music is pretty standard for a shooter, but there is a section in the options menu where you can listen to all o the music in the game, so it isn’t bad. It’s something you would hear in games like Raiden or Gradius. I also like how every character is different, and it gives the game variety and some replay value.

Mobile Light Force does have some faults though, that keep it from being better known. First off, I HATE the cover art. Yeah, the cover art for Gunbird looked anime-esque and it probably wouldn’t have sold well with the original cover, but they should have stayed with the original name and cover art. I mean the American cover art looks like something from a Charlie’s Angels movie or something. No wonder why no one knows about this game, because of the stupid cover art. By looking at the cover art, you can tell that the game would be horrible, but not Mobile Light Force. It’s that kind of cover art that sucks, but the game is actually fun. The game is also pretty short. Well, I think it’s short, since I maybe have gotten really good at these kinds of games. The difficulty is really easy in the beginning, but you can adjust it to make it harder, but all in all, I still think it’s a little on the easy side. I also don’t like how they took out the story and the ending to the game. I don’t know if it would have made sense or anything, but at least keep it in the story, so we can see something silly or something. It would be more enjoyable than what we get here in America. The final complaint comes from the game’s name. What was wrong with Gunbird? The weird thing is that this isn’t the only time they will name a different game with a different name. There is actually a sequel called Mobile Light Force 2, but the real name of the game is actually called Shikigami No Shiro, and it’s not even made by the same company. What was the big deal with these two games? I swear, if I find Mobile Light Force 2, I will review it, but I do want to own it and play it also.

Overall though, the game is pretty fun, and it is also very fun with two players. I would say, pick this game up for a few bucks. This is one of those games that you can play in short spurts and have fun with it. I just wonder what happened to Gunbird 2.

This game gets a 7.9 out of 10.

Pokemon Puzzle League for the Nintendo 64 review

Let’s face it, puzzle games are downright addictive when it comes to game play. We have so many puzzle games like Tetris, Tetris Attack, Bejeweled, Henry Hatsworth, and you get the idea. My favorite, of course, is Tetris, since I have never played Bejeweled or Henry Hatsworth. I have, however, played what I think is one of the best puzzle games and one of the best games on the Nintendo 64, Pokemon Puzzle League. Yeah, you can say it’s Tetris Attack with a Pokemon brand slapped all over it, but if you know me, I am not playing this for the Pokemon brand, I am playing this for the puzzle game play. How does it stand up to today’s standards of puzzle games? Is it still a gem that is worth playing? Or is it just not cut out for a new generation of puzzle gamers?

The story takes place in the world of Pokemon, where Ash and his buddy Pikachu are relaxing by a pool, taking a break from all the Pokemon battles and such. I would be tired too, if I did the same darn thing for over 10 seasons in a cartoon show. Ash receives a call from Professor Oak, who tells Ash that there is a Puzzle League championship going on in a puzzle village where the whole game will take place. Of course, Ash who can’t refuse a challenge, rushes on down to the village and begins his trek to become a Pokemon Puzzle League master. The story is, umm, well, REALLY stupid in my opinion, since the Pokemon brand is just there to fill in the void that is missing from the other areas of the game. Either way though, it works just fine, and it doesn’t get in the way of the game play.

The game play featured in this game is basically the same puzzle formula found in Tetris Attack on the Super Nintendo, where you need to match three or more blocks with the same color. If you get more than three blocks of the same color put together, then you will make a big block appear on the opponents side of the screen where the only way to get rid of it is to make three or more blocks match and is touching the big block that is on top of you or your opponent’s puzzle screen. The big blocks can get bigger, depending on how many combos you actually make. In the one-player mode, you will be fighting against multiple people, mostly characters and the gym leaders from the first generation of Pokemon series, with people like Brock, Misty, Erika, and Giovanni as gym leaders along with the others from the first game. The spa service pins you against Team Rocket and the multiple challenges of getting all the blocks below a certain line. The Time Zone puts you against a 2D or 3D puzzle for two minutes, and your goal is to make as many points as you can. Marathon-mode puts you against an endless 2D or 3D puzzle, and your goal is to play as long as you can. Puzzle University is where you go through a mode with different challenges to make all the blocks disappear with a very limited amount of moves. This is one of the harder modes in the game that really flexes your brain muscle. Of course, with any puzzle game, it is much more fun to play it with a friend so there is a two-player mode where you play against a friend as you choose one of the different trainers for each player and, well, do a puzzle game and try to get the other person’s blocks to hit the top of the screen.

The hand drawn graphics in the game are really well done and don’t look pixilated. One of the most shocking things is that this game has something that most N64 games don’t have, Full Motion Video! How many games on the Nintendo 64 (good games) have Full Motion Video? The only two that I can think of is the Nintendo 64 version of Resident Evil 2 and the Japanese Evangelion game. It looks good on the cartridge though and I think they could have done more of this, though I bet it was hard enough to do this on the Nintendo 64. The game play is fun and addictive, since if it weren’t, it would be downright tedious and boring. The music is also well done, with instrumental tunes of the past Pokemon series really fitting in with songs from the anime and the first movie, along with songs from the season where Tracey joined Ash and Misty. There is also a decent amount of voice acting, even if it is just small quotes and such, but I like it even when it gets annoying later on in the challenge. The difficulty is really ranged. Sometimes, the puzzles and the battles can be ‘easy as that’, to being really, really hard. Overall though, it gives the game replay value to see how good you can get at it.

Now, it is time to talk about the bad parts of the game. The bad parts, though, come from the fact that the game is a puzzle game. Some of the later challenges can get downright hard, and it isn’t fun unless you’re a master of the puzzles in the game, kind of like how Samurai Shodown is really hard if you’re not a master of the combat system in the game. Another thing is that if you are a fan of Pokemon and not a fan of puzzles, since well, you want to see Pokemon battle, you will probably be bored out of your wits, doing the same thing over and over again. In this regard, as a reviewer, I can’t really hold it against itself since it is a puzzle game and you’re supposed to do puzzles.

All and all, Pokemon Puzzle League is a really fun puzzle game and it comes highly recommended to casual players and people who are into puzzles. You can get a good price for the cartridge form of the game, but you can easily spend over 1,000 points on the Virtual Console. This is a fun puzzle game, even with the Pokemon brand on it. I say, go pick up a copy and flex that brain.


This game gets a 9.5 out of 10

Retro Saga part 27: Ninja Spirit for the Turbo Grafx 16

It seems like I need to do more reviews on ninja games. The only ones I have reviewed are Mini Ninjas, which was great, and I-Ninjas, which I thought was garbage. I do have Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on my list of games to review in the future, but for now, let’s take a look at a pretty good ninja game called Ninja Spirit. The original console that the game was on was the Turbo Grafx 16, but I am playing it on the Wii Virtual Console. You can bash me for not playing the original version of the game, but hey, I don’t have the time and money to go buy a Turbo Grafx and to find a good condition version of this game, so keep those comments to yourself.

The main story takes place in Feudal Japan, where a young ninja’s father was murdered by a half-man half-beast creature. Now it is up to that young ninja to go out and take revenge on the creature that killed his father. It’s your basic revenge plot, but like I said in past reviews, it’s only there to help get you from point A to point B.

The main game play featured in Ninja Spirit is an action plat-former, where you control the main ninja character and go through level after level of ninjas, monks, samurai zombies, and even killer frogs. Your ninja is not ill-equipped though. Your ninja can use a sword, shurikens, bombs, and a kunai-like weapon. This makes it so you can choose your playing style, like if you’re a close-range fighter you would use the sword, or if you were a long-range fighter you would use the three other weapons. There are a decent amount of power-ups in the game. You get a power-up to upgrade your weapon to make a fire shield float around you, a power-up to clear the screen of enemies, and my favorite one, the blue orb that gives you a shadow ninja that follows you around. This is where Ninja Spirit is creative. You can have up to two shadow ninjas with you that will use the same weapon you are using, and attack when you attack.

The graphics in the game are pretty impressive for the time that Ninja Spirit came out. All the details in the background and characters were all very detailed, and I still think they look interesting, even by today’s standards. I think that this game has aged well, even though a new bar has been set for 2D games of today, with games like Castle Crashers, Odin Sphere, and Muramasa The Demon Blade. You could argue as to why I didn’t put down Splosion Man and New Super Mario brothers Wii, but I didn’t put them down only because they are more on the line of 2.5D graphics. The music is also very ninja-like, and it is fun to listen to when you need a break from the game itself. I also like the weapons you can use, since it gives the game replay value in the form of playing the game differently each time. The difficulty is just right. Enemies are easy to kill, but the screen can get frantic when there are a lot of them on screen, and you will need to keep moving or else you will die in that spot. You do have 5 hits, but be careful of bigger enemies, since they can kill you with one hit.

Now, it is time to talk about the bad parts of Ninja Spirits. While I enjoy the frantic pace of the game since it keeps me moving and such, it can get a little too hectic for me in my opinion, and it feels like you have no downtime. I do enjoy that there is the harder arcade mode, but since the pc engine mode is a lot easier, I don’t see why they add the harder mode, but I guess I think the pc engine mode is hard enough on its own. I also wish they had added a bigger health bar, since bigger enemies can take your health with one hit.

Overall, I did enjoy this game, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good game. You could find it for the original console, but it’s easier to pay a few points off the Wii Virtual Console. I just wish they would make a sequel to this game, since it seems like it would be a fun franchise.

This game gets an 8.8 out 10

Rival Schools for the Playstation 1 review

You know what kind of TV shows I don’t like? I hate the shows you see on the CW since it seems like EVERY show that’s on there is about a bunch of spoiled, whiny white kids with problems. To be honest, I don’t care for shows like that, since like I said, they’re all the same! You could argue that they are different, but tell me one that doesn’t have a 22-year-old, acting like a 16-year-old, and has issues with love and relationships. Why can’t theses shows be like, I don’t know, umm, Rival Schools for the Playstation 1? Since we are on the subject, this next review will be the first ever Playstation 1 game review on my blog, and the name of this game is Rival Schools or Rival Schools United by Fate, if you wanted the whole English title.

The story revolves around different high schools, and one day, something happens to all the schools. One of the incidences is that people have disappeared. Other stuff is like other students getting injured and one of the character’s mother disappearing. So, different students have dispersed from their schools to find out who is behind all these strange incidences and save their own respective schools. It’s interesting, since it’s just not one school beating up on other schools.
The game play is a tag team 2.5D fighting game. The 2.5D is kind of like Capcom’s Street Fighter 4. You can choose from a good list of characters, each from different schools. Of course, this isn’t your Dawson’s Creek group of kids. Let’s just say the students and teachers are very unique and are always fun to get to know. The fighting system is a lot simpler than Virtua Fighter 5 or Street Fighter 4. Each combo is successfully put down for each punch and kick. You can also pull off two super moves for each character, just by pressing either L1 or L2 on the controller. You can also pull off team-up moves with your partner, and they range from a group beat down, or support and healing, and you get the idea. It’s always interesting to see which combo your team has. There are also a lot of stages, so it isn’t so repetitive, and you aren’t fighting in the same place twice.

The graphics by today’s standards have aged a little, but I think it looks nice still. I mean, yeah, if you look up close, you can see all the pixels, but it isn’t as bad-looking as the first Virtua Fighter. The music is also very Street Fighter-like, and is lively and fun to listen to. A great thing Capcom did was to keep the Japanese voice-over in the game since, well, I think it would have been horrible to put in English voice-overs. Another cool thing is that there is an anime-like opening and ending, and for a Playstation game, they look nice. They kind of remind me of the animated sequences in Tail Concerto. I also like all the unique characters and what their goals in the story are. It’s nice, since not one person acts like the other. The color pallet is also very nicely used, and has an anime/Street Fighter Alpha-esque look, and it fits the game, I think. The game also comes with a second disc, where you can unlock four new characters and go through the Playstation form of Rival Schools, and other stuff like mini-games and photo galleries.

This is a fun fighting game, and there is only one thing I could say that I don’t like about it. The controls in the game are perfectly spot-on, and I like the fluid fighting system, but the only thing I hate about the controls is the required control of using the D pad to move around. It’s awkward as heck sometimes, and it becomes a pest later, when you’re fighting the teachers from Justice High later in the game due to the teachers being tough. I have played Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo with a D pad and it’s the same thing, awkward. I wish there was a control option where I could use the joystick or something on my controller.

Overall though, this is a fun game, and I would recommend buying this game for anyone who is a fan of fighting games. It’s not going to be easy though, since it is hard to find. I had to pay around 40 dollars for my copy and it can go higher. I also wish Capcom would make a sequel to this game. I know there are a lot of rumors coming out from Capcom about bringing back some of their old games, but we will have to wait and see.

This game gets a 9.8 out of 10