Impressions: Inazuma Eleven GO2 – Chrono Stone Neppuu/Raimei

SPOILERS AHOY! You have been warned. There is also an expected familiarity with the characters and story so I’ll apologize if I speak as if there’s an understanding of what’s going on already.

Inazuma Eleven GO 2

Inazuma Eleven GO 2 has been one of my most anticipated games of the year. Whenever there was new information about the game, or a new video was out, I would be there taking it all in. Following the Anime has only been fueling my intense desire to play this game and when it finally came in the mail, I couldn’t stop. I went so far as forgetting to eat dinner one night.
Continue reading →

Inazuma Eleven GO 2: Chrono Stone

Image

I got my copies of InaGO2: Chrono Stone Neppuu and Raimei today. Once I beat one of the games, I’ll be doing an Impressions for it. I’ve been playing for the past five hours so for now I’ll say, it’s fun. Some of the new mechanics take some getting used to and there are some framerate issues at times, but still good.

Sailor Moon RPG

Sailor Moon

As previously mentioned on this blog, there is going to be a reboot of the Sailor Moon franchise coming to us next summer, and hopefully there will be a revitalization of the franchise in other media, particularly in gaming. Until now, a majority of the Sailor Moon games have been beat ‘em ups, or fighting games, safe for Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story (an 8-bit RPG), and never got international releases despite Sailor Moon’s global fanbase. In order to build upon the momentum of the upcoming Anime reboot, I think that a good throwback to classic gaming as an RPG would be the way to do it.

Much of the current fanbase, within Japan and globally, are those who grew up on the series and likely also have fond memories of classic RPG’s such as Final Fantasy. They can capitalize on this sense of nostalgia that we all share and bring back the fans that may have slipped the cracks or haven’t heard of the new series. Of course, an RPG is not the only way they could take the series. As I said before, many Sailor Moon games have been beat ‘em ups or traditional fighting games so that path is available as well, but I think that an RPG would be the best way to utilize the characters, the setting, and the story. (I admit I am slightly biased since I prefer RPG’s. Sue me =P)
Continue reading →

Street Fighter X Mega Man

One of the biggest news stories from this past weekend was the revelation of a new Mega Man game that mashes up two familiar franchises in an unexpected way. It’ll be released on December 17th, 2012, for free on PC. Check out the trailer below:


I think it was a very smart idea to bring the Street Fighter characters into the Mega Man universe as opposed to the other way around. We’ve all seen the reverse before, bringing Mega Man into a fighting game (see Marvel VS Capcom 2), but it is much more intriguing to take characters that have been fighting mainstays for decades and translate them for a fundamentally different game. It’s especially difficult to take the characteristics that made them so unique in their native game and maintain a good balance between what’s identifiable and what fits in the Mega Man universe. Given what we’ve seen in the trailer, I’d say that they did a good job.
Continue reading →

Mobile Gaming

angrybirdsstarwars

It seems these days that mobile games are all the rage. I don’t know if Angry Birds started the trend, but it sure as hell made it widespread. I enjoy those games from time to time. The first time I played Angry Birds, I loved it. When they decided to release an Angry Birds Star Wars, I fell in love with it even more. The only issue is that I play them for an hour or so after buying them and I never go back. I realize that I am in the minority here, and I’m not saying the games aren’t fun, just that I don’t enjoy games for the same reasons that people that others do.

For many mobile games like Angry Birds, the gameplay is fun and addictive, but they’re time-wasting games designed for the sole purpose of engaging someone in an activity during which their time would otherwise be spent doing nothing. That’s not how I like to game. If I were killing time on transit or what have you, I’d rather spend it checking e-mails, social media, or reading up on the latest in gaming news. When I play games I tend to do so for an extended period of time. I prepare myself for a prolonged experience, and I’m more interested in the story and characters than the gameplay itself. I will say, however that fun gameplay elements help keep me interested and I am not above playing a game that has really fun gameplay, but below average or irrelevant story (see Kingdoms of Amalur).
Continue reading →