Virtua Fighter 4 Kicks the Competition

If there was any title that propelled me to purchase a Saturn as early as I did, it was the original Virtua Fighter. Upon seeing it, I was immediately enthralled by the smooth animated, yet blocky looking, action. Little did I realize that when I played it the combat system would be vast. However, there were certain individuals with no particular taste whatsoever, and ended up shunning it because of how it looked, or they complained about it being too hard. As far as they’re concerned, I can just tell them to get lost and go back to shallow titles … Continue reading Virtua Fighter 4 Kicks the Competition

NFL 2K2 is Fun, Yet Lackluster

Sega Sports NFL 2K2 on the Xbox looks great, far better than when the series was on the Dreamcast. Unfortunately, the game can’t quite live up to the depth of play we have come to expect from their main competitor, Electronic Art’s Madden 2002. Before any new Sega fanboys cry out foul about me giving this game an average review, let it be known that I am writing this as an unbiased reviewer. I do admit that while I owned a Dreamcast, I was one of the biggest Sega fanboys on the planet, and like many of them, was heartbroken … Continue reading NFL 2K2 is Fun, Yet Lackluster

World Series 2K2 Cracks a Homer

Finally! Sega Sports has come back to World Series Baseball. And this year’s game is running the bases in a whole new way. Visual Concepts knows they dropped the ball with World Series 2K1 and so this time round they’ve gone with a completely new gameplay engine that has a bit of a learning curve, but with a little practice is sure to gratify most loyal fans of the WSB series. It just further goes to show that when gamers talk…Sega listens. It’s no secret that last year’s version of the game had many "issues" ranging from poor control or … Continue reading World Series 2K2 Cracks a Homer

MSR: Majestically Superb Racing

Metropolis Street Racer follows two trends in gaming. The first is that this is the latest in a dominant series of Dreamcast racers (Sega Rally 2, Sega GT, the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, Ferrari F355 Challenge, Test Drive Le Mans, etc.) The second is that like many other great titles (Starcraft, Half Life DC, etc.) it is constantly delayed. What was supposed to be launched in the spring of 2000 just came out late January 2001. I had a taste of MSR at last year’s E3, and once again on a demo disc last November. Both were quite uneventful, as … Continue reading MSR: Majestically Superb Racing

Phantasy Star Online is Ultima for Console

Ok, it’s no secret to anyone out there; I don’t like RPGs! I do not see how anyone can sit there for hours on end watching FMV look-alike characters getting slaughtered by opponents who use the cheap all out attack (cough, Super Nova, cough, Final Fantasy series, cough) over and over again. Not to mention that I hate having to stay in one small area all day beating foes that cheaply pop out of nowhere in order to get a high enough level to beat a boss. I will admit that some RPGs I do enjoy (Grandia 2 instantly comes … Continue reading Phantasy Star Online is Ultima for Console

Dreamcast Q3A-Fragging Heaven for High Ping Victim

As a veteran of Quake 3 Arena on the PC, the term "Low Ping Bastard" comes greatly into play. LPBs, as they are commonly known, have the luxury of playing games such as Quake 3 behind the safety of a T1 line, meaning that they can easily pick off sorry 56K modem users without any trouble whatsoever. LPBs claim that it’s their skills that win, and not their connection. That is obviously not the case. Take a look at all the killboards on any server. No matter whether the server is based in Washington, DC, or in San Francisco, CA, … Continue reading Dreamcast Q3A-Fragging Heaven for High Ping Victim

Shenmue: Vast World, Vast Game

I want to make something perfectly clear right now…YU SUZUKI IS A GENIUS! Forget Miyamoto or that guy who designed Final Fantasy…Suzuki-san should be walking away with the AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award with all the stuff he has developed. His resume is filled with many exceptional titles: Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, Virtua Racing, Daytona, Virtua Fighter, and Ferrari F355 Challenge to name a few. With so many great titles on his wing, I can only wonder why he has not received as much credit as he deserves. Now with his latest venture into gaming, Suzuki-san is diverting away from … Continue reading Shenmue: Vast World, Vast Game

Madden Crushed by NFL 2K1

As one of the Dreamcast’s launch titles, NFL 2K came away as the runaway hit of the system. It was so good in fact that GiN gave it the title of Best Sports Game of 2000, being the only other game (besides the godlike High Heat Baseball series) to beat out EA Sports for this title. There were some small problems that prevented it from being the be-all, end-all of football games. The running game was pretty weak (usually getting gains of only 3 yards, 10 yards if you’re lucky), and aside from the season and fantasy modes, there was … Continue reading Madden Crushed by NFL 2K1

Space Channel 5 is a dance party

Sega’s first attempt in the dance/rhythm genre comes right off their impressive showing at E3 last month. Space Channel 5 was hyped by Sega with an elaborate setting, complete with cage dancers, future-retro backdrops, and an LED display simply stating "Launching June 6, 2000!" After seeing this display, I started to gain interest in the title although the dance/rhythm games don’t really appeal to me. Granted, I went through both Parappa and Bust-a-Groove on the PlayStation, but they were finished in only a matter of hours, resulting in a short, shallow experience. I had a gut feeling that Sega would … Continue reading Space Channel 5 is a dance party

Resident Evil: Code Veronica rocks

Capcom’s Resident Evil series on the PlayStation is one series I could do without. To me, it was just one long tedious trek through flat, boring backdrops, while waiting forever for each stage to load in during that boring "opening door" sequence. And if that isn’t enough, I was not a fan of that God-awful voice acting that many other players would consider fitting for the series. To me it was just cannon fodder for a computer game of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Resident Evil 2 was the only game in the series that I actually sat through in its … Continue reading Resident Evil: Code Veronica rocks