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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:10:38 GMT -5
Well, it is time to look back at the system that killed the Dreamcast and lasted way beyond what most people would have thought. And how do we do that? By counting down the 125 favorite games, according to those at the FAN message board. Now there are 8 games that sadly did not make the list so let's first look at those. 133; Shadow Hearts 132. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy 131. Xenosaga III 130. Arc The Lad: Twilight of Spirits 129. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege 128. Dragonball Z Budokai 3 127. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie 126. Ghosthunter
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:15:14 GMT -5
125. Duel Hearts Dual Hearts is an action-adventure game for the PlayStation 2, released in 2002. In the United States it was released by Atlus. The plot begins with a treasure hunter named Rumble learning about a treasure, the Dream Stone on Sonno Island and setting out for it. At the same time, Tumble, who is a magical dream creature called a baku, is summoned by the Dream Queen to protect dream orbs. They both come to the same island and after a strange twist of fate become partners. Bakus can exist both within the dream world and the real world, and Rumble uses Tumble to travel into different peoples' dreams searching for the dream orbs. Most of the dreams become nightmares full of dangerous monsters.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:19:39 GMT -5
124. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu is a 2003 beat 'em up video game released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube consoles. It was developed and published by Ubisoft in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics. It is based the television series The New Batman Adventures and is a sequel to the game Batman: Vengeance. The bulk of the game has the player battling groups of enemies in the style of games like Battletoads and Double Dragon. The story mode, which forms the bulk of the game, can be played either alone or co-operatively, and rewards players for completing levels not only by continuing the story, but also with an upgrades system. This allows players to purchase new moves for their character and other game bonuses. There is also a challenge mode in which players (either cooperatively or competitively) take on groups of thugs without a storyline. The game is played under a time limit, and features co-operative play. It also has 4 different difficulty levels: 'Easy', 'Medium', 'Hard', and 'Dark Knight'. Batman faces a new enemy unlike any he has faced before. This mysterious foe plunges Gotham City into chaos on the night of the anniversary of Bruce Wayne's parents murder. Apart from Sin Tzu, other Batman villains featured in the game are the Scarecrow, Clayface, and Bane. Batman is aided in his quest to save Gotham by Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. One of the main draws to the game was that it introduced a new character into the Batman universe, as Batman: The Animated Series did with Harley Quinn. This new character, Sin Tzu, was created by comics legend Jim Lee. However, Sin Tzu did not gain popularity as a character and was never to be seen again in any media, with the exception of the game's novelization. The game shipped in regular versions with just the game, and boxed special editions that came with action figures for the Xbox and PS2 versions, and a lithograph with the GameCube version. The game received substantial publicity. Many critics found the beat 'em up gameplay repetitive. Game Informer reviewed this game and gave it a 5 out of 10. Game Chronicles, however, gave a more positive score of 7.7 out of 10, saying that "you won’t find a more challenging or visually stunning Batman experience than Rise of Sin Tzu." To help raise even more publicity, a novel based on the game with the same name was released around the same time of the games release date. The novel, written by Devin Grayson and Flint Dille (who wrote the game's script) was told in the first person, with Clayface, the Scarecrow, a Stonegate inmate named Freddie Galan, Bane, a Hispanic thug named Ramon Domingo, Sin Tzu, Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Alfred each providing the narrative at different points. A year-long webcomic was released bi-weekly on DC Comics website, serving as a sequel to events depicted in "Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu".
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:25:28 GMT -5
123. Dead or Alive: Hardcore Dead or Alive 2 delivered one of the most visually stunning and deep fighting games imaginable when it debuted with gorgeous environments, dazzling effects and unbelievable character models. DOA2: Hardcore takes takes things even further as 12 characters seek to win the championship that may just save the world at the end of the century. Your ability to battle using various fighting techniques will determine your character's fate.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:29:20 GMT -5
122. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a construction and management simulation video game for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 based on the novel and film series Jurassic Park. The main point of the game is to recreate Jurassic Park - building a 5 star theme park with dinosaurs, and turning John Hammond's dream into reality. In the park, the player builds paths, amenities for visitors such as, food and restrooms, as well as enclosures and attractions. One must also keep the park safe and secure. The park can be populated with up to sixty dinosaurs, with twenty-five different species available. The player can also add attractions similar to those seen in the film, such as the safari seen in the Jurassic Park film, and additional attractions like a balloon tour and several varieties of viewing platform. The player's main objective is simple: create a theme park/zoo featuring dinosaurs, make it popular, and make it safe. The gameplay functions are very similar to the SimCity and Tycoon game models. It is necessary to build feeding stations where herbivores can get bales of plant feed, while carnivores are fed live cows or goats. However, herbivores become unhappy if they don't have enough trees around them or enough nearby dinosaur friends to socialize with. Likewise, carnivores have an innate desire to hunt other dinosaurs, so even a constant stream of livestock will not keep them happy. Players may also create dinosaurs; in order to create a dinosaur, a significant percentage of the particular dinosaur's DNA is needed. Fifty percent (50%) is needed in order to create a dinosaur; the higher the percentage of DNA, the longer that dinosaur will live unless it dies by means other than natural causes (which, in the game, is old age). To gain a dinosaur's DNA, the player must extract it through fossils or amber, higher quality specimens mean that more DNA is extracted. The player may also dig for fossils using a fossil hunting team to dig in one of the nine dig sites positioned around the world to obtain DNA. There are various dig sites in which the player may search for fossils and each dig site contains fossils from three certain dinosaurs and some of the dinosaurs, like Brachiosaurus, are available in more than one dig site. The chance of finding fossils in the site depends on the quality of the site. There are 6 classifications on the quality of a dig site. These classifications are excellent, good, average, mediocre, poor, and exhausted (exhausted sites are not truly empty, as it is still possible to find fossils, amber and gems there, but findings happen rarely and the fossils and amber are often low quality). More dig teams can be purchased at increasing amounts of money. When a player's dig teams are excavating a site, they occasionally will come across various precious metals and stones which can be sold when collected and can help raise park funds. Attractions help make the park popular, and increase its rating power and income when correctly configured. Attractions must be researched before they can be constructed, and include the Balloon Tour, Safari Adventure and Viewing Dome (The Viewing Vents and Viewing Platforms do not need to be researched.) The Safari Tour and Balloon Tour attractions also allow for the player to "take over" the ride for the purpose of park exploration and photography, but only when a person in the game is using it. The player may also observe the dinosaurs from the Viewing Dome, Viewing Vent, and Viewing Platform by selecting the "View" option after clicking on the building.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:33:44 GMT -5
121. Timesplitters TimeSplitters is a first-person shooter developed by Free Radical Design (now known as Crytek UK) and published by Eidos, and the first game in the TimeSplitters series. It was released on 26 October 2000 in North America as a PlayStation 2 launch game. The game revolves around the concept of travelling through time in a story mode spanning 100 years. The game features a story mode, arcade mode, unlockable challenge mode, and map maker. It was followed by a second game, TimeSplitters 2, released in 2002, thus beginning the series, which includes a third game, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, released in 2005. In June 2007, a fourth game was announced to be in development, titled TimeSplitters 4 but was indefinitely postponed. As a first-person shooter game, TimeSplitters bear several gameplay and presentational similarities to GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, including a similar aiming system and unlockable options through quick level completions. The game's story mode can be played alone or co-operatively with one additional player. Every level in story mode can be played on three difficulty settings; several aspects, such as the enemies aggressiveness and the addition of new areas, can vary in function of the chosen difficulty. Taking place at nine fictional locations between 1935 and 2035, the story follows 18 characters' individual attempts at defeating their own foes and the "TimeSplitters" with whom they have sided. In each level, the player can choose from one of two characters specific to each mission, and must kill enemies as they move through the level to retrieve an object and then carry that object to the exit portal. After a player picks up the object, TimeSplitters, evil mutant creatures, spawn endlessly throughout the level and attack the player. TimeSplitters features a multiplayer mode, known as "Arcade", where up to four players and ten computer-controlled bots can compete individually, or in up to four different teams in certain modes. There are six multiplayer modes and aspects of each mode — such as the weapons and levels available, the winning condition, and managing characters — can be customized to match player preference. Completing the story mode on the easiest difficulty unlocks "Challenge Mode", which provide certain goals on a pre-set map within the time limit. The game contains a level editor, so-called "Mapmaker", that allows the player to create their own level from a selection of various pre-made tiles. Light settings of the tiles can be edited individually and items can be added to the map. The map can be given any one of five themes; these themes change the interior shape of the tiles and their appearance. The player can also play and test their levels in any certain mutliplayer modes, as well as saving them to their memory card. In February 1999, several members of the GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark development team — including David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate — left Rare Ltd. to form their own company based in Nottingham, England called Free Radical Design. TimeSplitters was the first project for Free Radical Design team, and the development was carried out by eighteen people. Graeme Norgate composed the music for TimeSplitters. David Doak, the designer of TimeSplitters, said that the team focused on "action-based gameplay, but there are many other elements" and stated that the game would be "using both analog controls on the DualShock 2 and all of the controls will be fully customizable." The team additionally included a "sign-on" system, which saves individual player profile and preferences stored on the memory card. Because of the PlayStation 2's hardware limitations, Steve Ellis explained that "getting a four-way split screen working at a good frame rate is a problem on any console, and the PS2 is no exception". The team did not use anti-aliasing for TimeSplitters as it would reduce the frame rate drastically. TimeSplitters was released in North America on October 23, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000, as a launch game for the PlayStation 2. As part of the Platinum Range, it was re-released on March 8, 2002. On release, TimeSplitters received mostly positive reviews, holding an average score of 84 percent at GameRankings and 81 out of 100 at Metacritic, based on 46 and 23 reviews respectively.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:35:41 GMT -5
125 Favorite PS2 Games 125. Duel Hearts 124. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu 123. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore 122. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis 121. Timesplitters
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 11:58:00 GMT -5
120. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2, known in Japan as Naruto: Narutimate Hero 2 (£Î£Á£Ò£Õ£Ô£Ï£¥Ê¥ë¥È£ ¥Ê¥ë¥Æ¥£¥á¥Ã¥È¥Ò©`¥í©`£² Naruto: Narutimetto H¨©r¨ 2?), is the second installment of the fighting game series Naruto: Ultimate Ninja. Like some other Naruto games in Japan, this one was available in two covers: one featuring Naruto Uzumaki along with several different characters in the background, and the other with Sasuke Uchiha and several other characters. The game was released on September 30, 2004 in Japan, June 13, 2007 in North America, and October 19, 2007 in Europe. Ultimate Ninja 2 features a similar gameplay experience to Ultimate Ninja, featuring many of the same gameplay elements and geography. The game replaces the arcade-style story mode from the original game with an RPG-esque story mode that loosely covers the events up to episode 96 in the anime as well as a filler arc made up for the game involving a special seal made by Orochimaru. This is the last game to feature support characters until Ultimate Ninja 5 as they were excluded in Ultimate Ninja 3. This time, the support characters are no longer fixed and all characters in the game have the ability to become support characters. There is a total of 32 characters featured in the game (33 in the Japanese version with the inclusion of Doto Kazahana as a promotion for the movie Naruto The Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. The promotion also include two stages from the movie that were not included in the overseas version). All characters have the ability to activate special modes during battle (unlike the original game which restrict the modes to several characters).
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 12:07:20 GMT -5
119. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the seventh game in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The PlayStation 2 version was released in stores on October 11, 2006 while the Xbox version was released on the October 16, with a Wii version released on May 29, 2007 in North America. The game was not released on the Xbox in PAL territories. This game is the last Mortal Kombat for the sixth generation game consoles PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and the first for the seventh generation console on the Wii. It was later released in as part of the Mortal Kombat Kollection on September 29, 2008 for the PlayStation 2. Armageddon is chronologically the final chapter in the original Mortal Kombat storyline. Throughout the Mortal Kombat universe, the warriors were growing too strong and numerous for the realms to handle. The warriors' powers threaten to utterly destroy the fabric of the MK universe. Upon this scene, the Elder Gods demanded a safeguard to be put in place to absorb the kombatants' insatiable bloodlust. In an enormous crater in Edenia, these warriors clashed in a single battle royale between the Forces of Light and Darkness that would threaten to rip apart reality and bring about the Apocalypse. Without warning, a mysterious pyramid rises from the ground, and the tip bursts into flames, attracting the warriors' curiosity to see what it was. The kombatants fought one another to get to the top, while Blaze, the gods' firespawn revealed himself to them. The firespawn was created by Delia, a powerful Edenian sorceress, and the mother of the main character in "Konquest" mode to destroy each fighter that would threaten him in order to save the realms from Armageddon. This would be the warriors' last battle, their last chance to prove that they are worthy of surviving, while many others will die. This will be the final battle for Mortal Kombat, the battle that will determine the fate of the realms. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Armageddon contain 62 fighters (as well as two extra slots for user created characters), the most of any Mortal Kombat or tournament fighter game to date. Only two characters, Daegon and Taven, are new to the series, while Sareena makes her playable debut on non-portable consoles and Meat makes his debut as a legitimate character. Each character possesses two fighting styles (instead of the three previously available in Deadly Alliance and Deception), one hand-to-hand and one weapon. Some of the larger bosses, like Onaga, have only one fighting style available (which does not show up, unless you check the character's movelist). Other characters, such as Smoke and Mokap, do not have a weapon style, but a second unarmed style. Also new to the series is the ability to create a Fatality. These custom fatalities are a constant series of commands that players input until the Fatality ends. This method of performing Fatalities replaces the character-specific Fatalities of previous Mortal Kombat games, where gamers would simply enter one input and view the Fatality cinematically. As the player adds each input, less time is allowed for further inputs and some moves cannot be repeated. There are eleven levels that can be achieved with Kreate a Fatality, lowest being a basic Fatality to the highest being an "Ultimate Fatality". The greater the number of inputs for the fatality, the more amount of koins is gained. The Konquest mode in Armageddon is a combination of the same mode seen in Deception with elements borrowed from the spin-off adventure title Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The storyline centers on Taven and Daegon, two brothers who were put in suspended animation because their mother, known as Delia (a sorceress), and their father, Argus (the Edenian protector god), foresaw a cataclysmic event brought about by the Mortal Kombat fighters. Their awakening leads into the Konquest mode, which in turn leads into the game's standard play. Taven is the main hero that the player controls in Konquest, while Daegon, his brother, is the primary antagonist, plotting with villains such as Shinnok and the Red Dragon Clan to destroy his brother and destroy Blaze to attain total godhood. Certain weapons are available at times in Konquest mode, which appear to handle very much like those found in Shaolin Monks. Various relics can be collected, one for each Kombatant (except Taven, Chameleon, the two fighters that the player can create in the PS2 version, and additionally Khameleon in the Wii version), throughout this mode. Konquest unlocks characters' alternate costumes and other rewards in the rest of the game, while successfully completing the Konquest entirely will unlock Taven for arcade play. Meat, Daegon, and Blaze can be unlocked by collecting enough relics. In addition to the choice of over 60 characters, Armageddon gives players the ability to design and use new fighters in the game. From the number of options, there are potentially thousands of different combinations available. During production, the game offered at least 14 different character classes, which include humans, Tarkatans, Mercenaries, Black Dragon Members, Ninjas, Retro Ninjas, Geisha Assassins, etc. However, after the game's release, only one preset was available to the two genders, Sorcerer to Male, and Tarkatan to Female. Although the clothing of each class is still available, it must be individually unlocked, and cannot be preset. All these presets can be unlocked by unlocking each piece of clothing that makes up that class. The preset will then appear under the preset menu. Players can give their character a unique fighting style, by changing their stance/win pose animation and assigning different (already named) attacks to the buttons on their controller. There is a range of swords and axes (the only weapons available) and special moves to choose from. Most moves and costume items need to be purchased with coins earned in the game's other modes, though some moves and items are available for free from the beginning. The fighters can also be given their own storyline. If a player uses their creation to finish a single player game, they will see the ending that the player designed for them, although the ending will cut off after roughly twelve lines or if the last line consists of one word. They could also be used in multiplayer games and online, using the PlayStation 2's online capability or Xbox Live, although the online service for both versions has been since terminated. The ending that the game shows is the same text that the player inputs as the fighter's biography. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's mini-game is named "Motor Kombat". True to the name, Ed Boon compares it to Mario Kart in the September 2006 issue of Official Xbox Magazine. Each of the characters has a customized go-kart, as well as their own special moves. The Motor Kombat characters keeps their cartoonish "super deformed" style that was introduced in Deception's Puzzle Kombat mode. It also includes style-based fatalities for characters, and deathtraps. The cars are based on the characters' look and personality - for instance, Baraka's car has blades on the front bumper as a homage to Baraka's Blades and Scorpion's Car is powered by a skull breathing fire as a homage to his Toasty Fatality Motor Kombat features online play, as well as off-line support for up to four players (two players in PS2 version) with a split-screen display. In the game, players can knock their opponents into various deathtraps on the courses, like rolling pins stones, crushers, slippery snow caves filled with stalagmites and endless pits. The character roster for Motor Kombat is Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Bo' Rai Cho, Jax, Baraka, Raiden, Kitana, Mileena, Cyrax and Johnny Cage. Armageddon contains every single fighter from the six main fighting game installments of the franchise and their upgrades, not counting the adventure games like Special Forces and Shaolin Monks. Khameleon, a secret character from the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy (not to be confused with the male Chameleon) was absent from the PlayStation 2 and Xbox version of Armageddon. Due to fan demand, she was added to the character roster of the Wii version of the game. The Krypt in Armageddon features an unused concept video for Ermac's bio, which caused rumors to circulate that bios had been created for the game but weren't included due to time constraints. However, Midway, through fansite Mortal Kombat Online, confirmed that no bios had been created. A month later, in a chat event held by Mortal Kombat Online, Ed Boon confirmed that bios would be made available on the Armageddon website. Kenshi's bio was the first to be released, on December 21, 2006, and other bios have been made available since then. As of October 15, a moderator on the Midway forums confirmed that the remaining Armageddon bios were canceled so the MK Team can move further along in the development of Mortal Kombat 8 which would eventually become Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. A "Premium" edition was released in North America for the PlayStation 2, featuring the following content in a steelbook case: a 60-minute bonus DVD with a History of Fatalities movie and new videos for more than 50 characters, an animation cell of the cover art autographed by creator Ed Boon, and also an arcade-perfect version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 included in the main disc. There are 4 package design variations, some exclusive to certain stores featuring different character sets or the Mortal Kombat dragon emblem. The Wii version of Armageddon has a new motion-based control system, along with playability on the Classic Controller and a GameCube controller. It also has a new Endurance Mode, a Wii Remote Training Mode, new menu screens, and Khameleon as a playable character; however, this version does not have online features. Reception for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has been generally favorable with an average critic rating of 78% for the PS2, 79% for the Xbox, and 72% for the Wii at GameRankings. The game was notably praised for including a complete character roster. IGN stated that "the inclusion of 62 total warriors is a massive achievement," while Game Informer said that "nothing really comes close to what Midway has thrown together here." GameSpot praised the Konquest mode, "which was such a low point of MK: Deception, is one of the relative strengths of MK: Armageddon." Reception to the Kreate-A-Fatality feature was mixed. While GameSpot called it "a disappointing replacement to the classics," IGN noted not having set fatalities adds variety to gameplay. The reception to the Kreate-A-Fighter mode was also mixed, where some noted limitations yet with others like GameSpy saying they "haven't seen a character creation tool this robust since City of Heroes." The game's engine was criticized for being built entirely upon that of the previous 3-D Mortal Kombat titles. PSM went as far as saying the system was not innovative. While many of the gameplay flaws in MK: Deception have been fixed (lack of a wake-up game that allows 50/50 attacks upon knocking down an opponent, and the slow jumping system, which prevents players from jumping over most projectiles, infinite combos), new glitches arise with the new Air Kombat and Parry systems. Eurogamer noted that despite the large choice of characters, "much of this number is made up by the huge number of clone characters" and that "so many characters look and play alike." The game won the award for Best Fighting Game at the Spike Video Game Awards in 2006. IGN named it as the Best PS2 Fighting Game. The journal Official Xbox Magazine put Armageddon as the "Xbox Game of the Year" during an issue from 2006. Gaming Target put the game in its "52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006" selection. As well as its counter part Mortal Kombat: Deception, Armageddon was not played at big name tournaments like Evolution Championship Series, but was played at many local tournaments and still seems to have a cult following of sorts. Pakistan also held a tournament for Armageddon that was the biggest Tournament the country had ever seen.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 12:09:56 GMT -5
118. Legends of Wrestling Legends of Wrestling is a professional wrestling video game based on the greatest wrestlers of all time, from WWF/WWE, NWA, WCW, ECW and various independent promotions. It was developed and produced by Acclaim. It was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, then in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox. Hulk Hogan was the spokesperson for the game.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 12:22:56 GMT -5
117. Beyond Good And Evil Beyond Good & Evil is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft and released in late 2003 for the GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and martial artist, who works with a resistance movement to reveal a planet-wide alien conspiracy. The player controls Jade and allies, solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and obtaining photographic evidence. Michel Ancel, creator of the Rayman series, envisioned the game as the first part of a trilogy. Beyond Good & Evil was a commercial failure, but was critically acclaimed, receiving a nomination for "Game of the Year" at the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards. A sequel, Beyond Good & Evil 2, is currently in development. A full HD re-mastered version of the game was released on Xbox Live Arcade in March 2011 and on PlayStation Network in June 2011. Beyond Good & Evil is an action-adventure game with elements of puzzle-solving and stealth-based games. The player controls the protagonist, Jade, from a third-person perspective. Jade can run, move stealthily, jump over obstacles and pits, climb ladders, push or bash in doors and objects, and flatten herself against walls. As Jade, the player investigates installations in search of the truth about a war with an alien threat. In the game's interior spaces, the player solves puzzles and make their way past enemies in order to reach areas containing photographic evidence. Jade's main tools are her Jô combat staff (a melee weapon), discs for attacking at range, and a camera. Jade's health decreases when attacked by enemies, and health can be restored by using fictional food items "Starkos" and "K-Bups". She can also gain extra hearts by collecting PA-1s. If Jade's health is depleted, she will restart at the last checkpoint. Certain stealth segments later in the game will automatically kill Jade if she is detected. At times, it is only possible to advance in the game with the help of other characters. The characters are computer-controlled, and players direct them via contextual commands. For example, the player can order them to perform a "super attack", either pounding the ground to bounce enemies into the air, allowing the player to hit them from long distances, or knocking them off balance, making them vulnerable to attack. These allies also possess a health bar and are incapacitated if their health is depleted. Jade is also able to share some of her items, such as Starkos or PA-1s. In addition to obtaining evidence and completing assignments, Jade's camera can be used to take pictures of animal species in exchange for currency and scan objects to reveal more information about the environment. When the "Gyrodisk Glove" is obtained, Jade can attack enemies or activate devices from a distance using the camera interface. There are also various minigames and sub-missions offered by NPCs scattered throughout the world. A hovercraft is used to travel around the world, and also used for racing and in other minigames. Later, the spaceship Beluga is acquired. The hovercraft can park on board the spaceship. Both vehicles require upgrades in order to reach new areas and progress through the game. Upgrades are purchased using pearls that are collected throughout the game. Pearls can be gained by completing missions, exploring areas, filling in the animal directory or by trading credits for them. The vehicles have a boost ability, and can be repaired using a "Repair Pod" if damaged by enemies. The main city serves as a hub, allowing the player access to the various areas that must be explored in order to expose the conspiracy. Jade can earn credits by defeating enemies, taking pictures or completing assignments, which can be used to purchase additional items for both Jade and her vehicles. Beyond Good & Evil takes place in the year 2435 on the mining planet of Hillys, located in Sector Four, a remote section of the galaxy. The architecture of the city around which the game takes place was designed with a rustic European style. The world itself combines modern elements, such as e-mail and credit cards, with those of science fiction and fantasy, such as spaceships and anthropomorphic animals coexisting with humans. The once-peaceful planet is under siege by aliens called the DomZ that abduct beings and either drain their life force for power or implant them with spores to convert them into slaves. A military dictatorship called the Alpha Sections takes power, promising to defend the populace. However, the Alpha Sections seem unable to stop the DomZ despite its public assurances. An underground resistance movement, the IRIS Network, fights the Alpha Sections, believing it to be in league with the DomZ. Beyond Good & Evil's main protagonist, Jade (voiced by Jodie Forrest), is a young photojournalist. She resides in an island lighthouse that doubles as a home for children orphaned by DomZ attacks. Pey'j (voiced by David Gasman), a boar-like creature, is Jade's "uncle" and guardian figure. Double H, a heavily built human IRIS operative, assists Jade during missions. He wears a military-issue suit of armor at all times. Secundo, an artificial intelligence built into Jade's storage SAC, offers advice and "digitizes" items. The main antagonists are the DomZ High Priest, who is the chief architect of the invasion, and Alpha Sections leader General Kehck, who uses propaganda to gain the Hillyans' trust, even as he abducts citizens to sustain the DomZ. Jade and Pey'j are care-taking the children of Hillys orphaned by the DomZ. When Jade runs out of money to run the shield that protects them, she finds a photography job, cataloguing all the species on Hillys for a science museum. She is recruited by the IRIS Network, which suspects that the Alpha Sections are behind planet-wide disappearances. Jade's first target of investigation is an Alpha Sections factory. She discovers evidence of human trafficking orchestrated by the DomZ under the Alpha Sections' authority. Along the way she rescues Double H, who was kidnapped by the DomZ and subjected to torture. Pey'j is abducted by the DomZ and taken to a slaughterhouse that is to be launched to a lunar base. After failing to extract Pey'j from the slaughterhouse in time, Jade learns that Pey'j was, in fact, the secret chief of the IRIS Network. It becomes clear that the Alpha Sections are being possessed and manipulated by the DomZ. Using the Beluga, the ship Pey'j used to travel to Hillys, Jade and Double H go to the DomZ lunar base. There, Jade finds Pey'j dead, but a strange power inside her brings back his soul, reviving him. After rescuing Pey'j, transmitting her final report, and sparking a revolution, Jade confronts the DomZ High Priest. She learns that her human form is the latest container to hide a power stolen from the DomZ centuries ago. It was stolen hoping that the High Priest, who must have spirit energy to survive, would starve to death. But he managed to find a substitute energy in the souls of all those kidnapped from Hillys. Using the power, she is able to defeat the DomZ High Priest, though nearly losing control of her soul in the process, and revive and rescue those that have been abducted. In a post credits scene, a DomZ spore grows up on Pey'j's hand back on Hillys. Beyond Good & Evil was developed by Michel Ancel, the creator of the Rayman video game, at Ubisoft's Montpellier studios in France. The game was developed under the codename "Project BG&E", with production lasting more than three years. A group of 30 employees comprised the development team. Ubisoft's chief executive officer, Yves Guillemot, fully supported the project and frequently met with the team. After years working on Rayman, Ancel wanted to move on to something different. He recalled that the goal of Beyond Good & Evil was to "pack a whole universe onto a single CD—mountains, planets, towns. The idea was to make the player feel like an explorer, with a sense of absolute freedom." The second goal behind Beyond Good & Evil's design was to create a meaningful story amid player freedom. In an interview, Ancel said that the linear nature of the gameplay was necessary to convey the story; player freedom was an experience between parts of the plot. He also strove to create a rhythm similar to a movie to engage and delight players. The game drew on many influences and inspirations, including the Miyazaki universe, politics and the media, and the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In creating the lead character, Ancel's wife reportedly inspired the designer, who wanted to portray a persona that players could identify with. The game was first shown publicly at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it received negative reception. Originally more "artistically ambitious" and resembling games like Ico, the game was substantially changed in order to make it more commercially appealing. Jade, originally a teenage girl, was redesigned to be more powerful and fitting of her job. The game was also shortened by removing long periods of exploration due to Ancel's dislike of this aspect of gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The development team was "demoralized" by the changes, with Ancel commenting that the finished game resembled a sequel more than a reworking. Prior to release, playable previews of the game were offered in movie theaters. The soundtrack of Beyond Good & Evil was composed by Christophe Héral. Héral was hired by Ancel to compose the soundtrack of Beyond Good & Evil due to his background in film. Hubert Chevillard, a director that Ancel had worked with, had also worked with Héral on a television special, The Pantin Pirouette, and referred him to Ancel. Héral was assisted by Laetitia Pansanel, who orchestrated the pieces, and his brother Patrice Héral, who performed some of the sound effects and singing. The soundtrack incorporates a wide variety of languages and instruments from around the world. Mainly Bulgarian lyrics were chosen for the song "Propaganda", which plays in the game's Akuda Bar, to allude to the Soviet propaganda of the Cold War. It uses a recording of a telephone conversation by Héral with a female Bulgarian friend to represent the government's control of the media. It also incorporates Arabic string instruments and Indian percussion. A song called "Funky Mullah" was originally planned to be used in the Akuda Bar, but it was replaced by "Propaganda" because Héral decided that its muezzin vocals, recorded on September 8, 2001, would have been in bad taste in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "Fun and Mini-games", a song that plays during hovercraft races and other mini-games, includes Spanish lyrics. The lyrics for DomZ music were created from a fictional language with prominent rolling "r" sounds. The crashing metal sound effects of "Metal Gear DomZ", music played during a boss fight, were recorded from the son of Héral's neighbor playing with scrap metal. The voices in the city of Hillys were also recorded by Héral himself. The music has never been published as an album, though it has been released in its entirety as a free download by Ubisoft. The soundtrack is featured in the Video Games Live international concert tour. Beyond Good & Evil received generally positive reviews on release. On the critic aggregate web site GameRankings, which compiles video game review scores into an average, the various versions of the game have scores ranging from 83.2% for the PC version to 88.2% for the Xbox version. On Metacritic, the game has scores from an 83 for the PC version to an 87 for the GameCube and Xbox versions. Prior to its release, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine and PlayStation Magazine praised the game's showing at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo and described it as one of the best titles on display. The game's graphics were generally well received. In reviewing the GameCube version, Game Informer wrote that "Every moment of Beyond Good & Evil looks as good as a traditional RPG cutscene" and that the game's effects and character animations were "amazing". Jon Hicks of PC Format wrote that while some effects were excellent, the game's otherwise unspectacular graphics were unwelcome reminders of the game's console roots. 1UP.com and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, however, cited glitches such as frame rate as irksome because the game did not appear to tax the console's hardware. Edge commended the game for its storytelling and design, but criticized its plot as unable to "match Jade's initial appeal", becoming "fairly mundane" without "the darkness and moral ambiguity suggested by the title", and Jade's everyman appeal being undermined by the revelation of her "mysterious hidden identity". Dan Toose of Icon Magazine called the game's setting "dark, baroque and earthy, a far cry from the squeaky-clean action of the Final Fantasy games", describing the game as "a very European take on the role-playing genre" and "one of the best adventure games in years". Star Dingo of GamePro commented that the game was a "jack of all trades, master of none" that "never really lives up to its title", adding that its vision could have been more focused. Among complaints were control issues and a lack of gameplay depth. Game Informer's Lisa Mason wrote that the game's controls were serviceable, but simplistic, and that she wished she could do more with the character. PC Gamer's Kevin Rice found most of the gameplay and its exploration refreshing, but called hovercraft races "not much fun" and felt combat was the game's weakest element. Edge called the gameplay interaction "hollowed out" as an unintended consequence of Ancel's attempt to streamline the game. Beyond Good & Evil was not a commercial success. The game saw poor sales upon its release in the 2003 Christmas and holiday season. Retailers quickly decreased the price by up to 80 percent. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine staff attributed the poor sales of the game—among many other 2003 releases—to an over-saturated market, and labeled Beyond Good & Evil as a commercial "disappointment". In retrospect, Ancel noted that consumers at the time were interested in established franchises and technologically impressive games. Coupled with the amount of "big titles" available, he stated that the market was a poor environment for Beyond Good & Evil and that it would take time to be appreciated. The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine staff further commented that the lack of marketing from Ubisoft and the game's odd premise naturally reserved it to obscurity. Part of the disappointing sales stemmed from Ubisoft not knowing how to market the title, something that Ubisoft North America CEO Laurent Detoc labeled as one of his worst business decisions. At the time, Ubisoft's marketing efforts were more focused on the release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Ubisoft's former North American vice-president of publishing, Jay Cohen, and its European managing director, Alaine Corre, attributed the commercial failure of the game to a lack of marketing. "The game play was there, the technical excellence was there but perhaps the target audience was not there," Corre told the BBC. The game was intended to be the first part of a trilogy of games, but the game's poor sales placed those plans on hold at the time. Beyond Good & Evil was nominated for and won many gaming awards. The International Game Developers Association nominated the title for three honors at the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards: "Game of the Year", "Original Game Character of the Year" (Jade) and "Excellence in Game Design". Ubisoft titles garnered six of eleven awards at the 2004 IMAGINA Festival in France, with Beyond Good & Evil winning "Best Writer" and "Game of the Year Team Award". The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the game for "Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development" at the 2004 Interactive Achievement Awards. In IGN's "The Best of 2003", the PlayStation 2 (PS2) version won "Best Adventure Game" while the GameCube version received "Best Story". Beyond Good & Evil's audio was also recognized. The game was nominated for the "Audio of the Year", "Music of the Year", "Best Interactive Score", and "Best Sound Design" awards at the second annual Game Audio Network Guild awards. It was similarly nominated for the "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" and "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design" awards at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 2004 Interactive Achievement Awards. In 2007, Beyond Good & Evil was named 22nd-best Xbox game and 12th-best GameCube game of all time by IGN. Game Informer listed the title 12th on its "Top 25 GameCube Games" list. In another list, "Top 200 Games of all Time", Game Informer placed the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube versions of Beyond Good & Evil as the 200th best. The Official Nintendo Magazine ranked it as the 91st-best Nintendo game, while Nintendo Power ranked it 29th. Nintendo Power placed the GameCube version as the 11th-best GameCube game of all time in its 20th anniversary issue. Destructoid ranked the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions as the 6th-best game of the decade. GamesRadar placed it as the 70th best game of all time. Ancel stated his desire to produce a sequel to the game. Ubisoft announced at the Ubidays 2008 opening conference that there would be a second game. A sequel, tentatively titled Beyond Good & Evil 2, is currently in development. Development was temporarily halted to focus on Rayman Origins.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 12:24:56 GMT -5
116. Dragonball Z: Budokai Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, released as Dragon Ball Z (¥É¥é¥´¥ó¥Ü©`¥ëZ Doragon B¨ru Zetto?) in Japan, is a fighting game released for the PlayStation 2 on November 2, 2002 in Europe and on December 3, 2002 in North America, and for the Nintendo GameCube on October 28, 2003 in North America and on November 14, 2003 in Europe. It was the first Dragon Ball Z game to be released in all Europe and aside from specific releases in France, Spain and Portugal like it was with the earlier games. The game was released in Japan by Bandai on the PlayStation 2 on February 13, 2003, and on the Nintendo GameCube on November 28, 2003. It was developed by Dimps and published by Atari. The game follows the Dragon Ball Z timeline starting with Goku and Piccolo's fight with Raditz up to Gohan's final battle with Cell with a total of 23 playable characters. Features included in the game were a story mode, a versus mode, a tournament stage, a practice mode, and an items shop which allowed the player to purchase various customization abilities using money that was gained through the various challenges in the story mode and tournament victories to customize and make the most powerful warriors. The story mode also included a few "what if" episodes to play, retelling iconic events in the Dragon Ball history with a few twists. A cel-shading effect was added to the graphics in the GameCube version. The North American versions feature English voice acting from the North American Funimation dub, while the European versions feature the original Japanese voice acting and several European languages text translations.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 12:38:08 GMT -5
125 Favorite PS2 Games 125. Duel Hearts 124. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu 123. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore 122. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis 121. Timesplitters 120. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 119. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon 118. Legends of Wrestling 117. Beyond Good And Evil 116. Dragonball Z: Budokai
Here are clues to the next five games.
* Beginning of a trilogy that centers around Shion and KOS-MOS
* Clone Zero is the final boss
* Jivatma is the final boss
* One of the games that caused Acclaim to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
* The 2 new characters are Vanessa Lewis and Lei-Fei
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 15:10:08 GMT -5
115. Showdown: Legends of Wrestling Showdown: Legends of Wrestling is a professional wrestling video game and the sequel to Legends of Wrestling II released by Acclaim Entertainment for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2004. A version of the game for the Nintendo GameCube was also planned but was canceled. Showdown is the third game in the Legends of Wrestling video game series. A significant coup for Showdown: LoW was the inclusion of Ultimate Warrior who had been in legal disputes with WWE and successfully had his likeness excluded from WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain the previous year. The theme music in the last two games was composed by "The Mouth of The South" Jimmy Hart. Hart appears as a manager in all three games. He also composed some of the theme music for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment. A cover of "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot was used in promo videos for the game and the instrumental is played at the main menu and Create-a-Legend screens. Showdown: Legends of Wrestling was greeted with much derision from critics upon its release. Consumer reaction was negative too, though not excessively so, primarily tempered by the stellar roster available in the game. The inclusion of former WCW commentary team of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Tony Schiavone, and "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko was welcomed. The commentary system turned out to be a failure, however, being unsophisticated and repetitive. It has arguably the best roster of popular 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s pro-wrestlers, including many 'legends' who didn't appear in the first two games. The game was riddled with many serious bugs, glitches, crashes, and lock-ups. This suggested that Showdown: LoW was a rushed product with little attention to quality assurance (game testing) on Acclaim's part. Other major negative aspects of the game are terribly lacking opponent AI, sluggish character movement, and clumsy game controls. Errors and omissions in the accompanying instruction booklet compounded this. The game's box also advertised commentary from Jerry "The King" Lawler which also was omitted from the game. Some minor new features included a tribute to deceased legendary wrestlers as well as a tutorial fully narrated by Bret Hart. Another major point in the game's favor was the inclusion of many famous arenas used for pro wrestling and many other sports. They included: * Madison Square Garden in New York City * Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan * Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan * The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia * Cow Palace in San Francisco, California * The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts * Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan * Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina * Skydome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee * Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas * L.A. Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California * Wembley Stadium in London, England * Moscow * Dory Funk's Gym * Legends Colosseum in Austin, Texas
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 15:20:43 GMT -5
114. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2 and the first title in the Xenosaga series. Der Wille zur Macht, "The Will to Power", is a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's posthumous collection of notes and unused aphorisms, which was intended to become his magnum opus. While supplies lasted, players who pre-ordered Episode I received a limited-edition artbook featuring original art from the game. Episode I begins the trilogy that centers around the characters Shion and KOS-MOS. A young woman employed by Vector Industries, Shion aided in the creation of the battle android KOS-MOS and is present throughout much of the game. During this game, the U-TIC Organization attempts to steal one of the powerful Zohar Emulators, sources of energy used by humans. Episode I was written and directed by Tetsuya Takahashi, director of the PlayStation game Xenogears. The Xenosaga series is often claimed to be a spiritual prequel to Takahashi's earlier game, although the game's creators deny any real connection. In Episode I, the player controls a party of up to three characters, one of which represents the group on the map screen. Players progress through the story by crossing areas and fighting various enemies and bosses along the way. Enemies are not encountered randomly; they patrol fixed locations on each map.[1] When the player touches an enemy, he or she will enter a battle. Like most RPGs, battles in Episode I feature turn-based combat, which involves a numeral system that determines health (Hit Points), magic/mana (Ether Points), and damage. Status effects are common in Xenosaga, and feature both beneficial and detrimental effects. Benefits include increasing damage or defense, while detriments include falling asleep or being poisoned. Characters gain experience points after each battle and when a character obtains a certain amount of points, he or she levels up. When a character rises in level, his or her statistics increase accordingly, although there are other ways to increase them. Episode I introduces several new features during battles. When a party member attacks, his or her "Boost Gauge" increases. If he or she attacks on a specific turn, this increase may be furthered. When the gauge reaches at least Level 1, that character may use the Boost command to "Normal Boost", which usually results in he or she immediately receiving a turn in battle directly after the present character. However, the enemy may use a "Counter Boost" to override this normal one. Each character can attain up to three Boost levels in one battle. During battle, players can board mechs called A.G.W.S.. Although the A. G. W. S. units generally feature special attacks and higher statistics, they are limited in turns, ammunition, and actions (for example, a character may not use any healing ethers or items when he or she is inside an A. G. W. S., also the A. G. W. S. will retain damage after the battle that cannot be restored normally).[1] This system is similar to the "Gear" battle system from Xenogears. When attacking an enemy, a character may initiate a string of different attacks. However, the number of attacks that may be used is determined by the amount of Action Points (AP) that the character has stored. Characters usually obtain four AP at the start of their turn, but they can also save up to six unused points. There are items which can increase the normal 4 AP to 5 or even 6, allowing more actions to be performed. Different actions take different amounts of AP. In addition to monetary and experience awards after each battle, characters will obtain Ether, Tech, and Skill points upon completing a battle. If the battle ends on the "Points Boost" turn, even more points will be rewarded. Ether points can be spent to obtain new Ether, or character-specific magical spells. Tech points are used to either increase stats, such as attack power, Hit Points, and dexterity or to improve the power and usefulness of Tech attacks. Finally, Skill points can be used to obtain special commands, status attack guards, or other features. During battle, each character's health is displayed at the top of the screen. Episode I features no universal world map, but the player can travel to several regions of the game through the EVS (Environmental Simulator), a location replicator/virtualizer also seen in Episodes II and III. Other features include an in-game database, several mini-game "plug-in" systems that can be accessed from Shion's portable UMN console, and an e-mail system that allows players to make playful decisions that have little significance to the main plot. Episode I, 2, and 3 includes a treasure hunt side-quest, in which the player may find decoders for eighteen locked doors scattered throughout the game. The doors lead to various treasures and skills. The game map features a small radar that detects the locations of enemies and allies. Episode I mainly serves as an exposition for the characters and the developing plot. After Dr. Matsuda discovers the Original Zohar in 20xx AD in Turkana, Kenya, the focus shifts to the transport of a Zohar Emulator aboard the Galaxy Federation starship Woglinde. The Zohar Emulator was discovered in the wake of the disappearance of the planet Ariadne. The Woglinde is also the current location of Vector Industries' KOS-MOS development project headed by Shion Uzuki. The project proceeds through a test experiment on the battle android KOS-MOS, during which a mysterious young girl (Nephilim) is encountered. After the test, Shion has another vision of Nephilim while investigating the Zohar Emulator. Eventually, the Woglinde is attacked by a group of Gnosis who are after the Emulator. This attack is partly orchestrated by U-TIC Organization operatives Vanderkam and Cherenkov, who wish to acquire the Emulator for their boss, Margulis. During the attack, KOS-MOS is activated suddenly, the Gnosis escape with the Emulator, Shion and Cherenkov are touched by Gnosis, and the U-TIC operatives escape (sans Cherenkov, who joins up with Shion and crew). Federation Lieutenant Virgil is also shot by KOS-MOS in a friendly fire incident and dies. After the Woglinde is destroyed, Shion, Cherenkov, Allen Ridgeley, and KOS-MOS are rescued by the Kukai Foundation's Elsa starship, which was investigating the ruins of the Woglinde as potential salvage. On the starship, the group encounters a mysterious boy, chaos, before asking Captain Matthews to escort them to Second Miltia. Meanwhile, Margulis explains the significance of U-TIC's plan to recover the Original Zohar from Old Miltia. Thereafter, Vector's CEO, Wilhelm, is shown ordering Red Testament to "gather the necessary factors". Cyborg Ziggurat 8, nicknamed Ziggy, is assigned by the S.O.C.E. to rescue the 100-Series Realian Prototype, MOMO, who was kidnapped by the U-TIC Organization because she carries the Y-Data, which contains the steps to finding the Original Zohar on Old Miltia, among other information. The S.O.C.E. then orders Ziggy to bring MOMO to Second Miltia for extraction of the Y-Data. Ziggy reaches the U-TIC headquarters (Pleroma) and rescues MOMO. However, the duo is chased by U-TIC operatives in hyperspace until they encounter the Elsa. The two parties meet, defeat the pursuing U-TIC forces, and decide to join together on their journey to Second Miltia. During this incident, the never-aging U.R.T.V. unit, Jr., is attacked by a U-TIC battleship while investigating the Woglinde wreckage for any signs of the Zohar Emulator. His group is unable to find the Emulator. After stopping at the Dock Colony, the Elsa runs into the Cathedral Ship, a planet-sized Gnosis created from the missing planet Ariadne and made complete with the Zohar Emulator taken from the Woglinde. While escaping the Cathedral Ship, Cherenkov mutates into a Gnosis and is killed by the party (from having been touched by one from earlier, though Shion was also touched by one and shows no ill effects). The Elsa and the party are rescued by Jr. and his Durandal starship, which was passing by in search for the Emulator. Jr. apprehends the Zohar Emulator from the destroyed Cathedral Ship and explains that he now has the twelve Emulators, but that the Emulators only contain a fraction of the power that is housed by the Original Zohar, trapped on Old Miltia. Jr. takes them back to the Kukai Foundation, where the party is introduced to Jr.'s fellow U.R.T.V. unit, Gaignun Kukai. The Galaxy Federation files charges on the Kukai Foundation for the destruction of the Woglinde based on a U-TIC-created forgery combining the battles between the Woglinde and Gnosis and between the U-TIC and Durandal. In order to prove their innocence, Shion Uzuki leads an Encephalon dive to into KOS-MOS's subconscious to retrieve an encrypted and verifiable recording of the Woglinde's actual destruction by the Gnosis. In the Encephalon, Shion and Jr. navigate a world based on childhood memories from the Miltian Conflict. The party meets Febronia, Febronia, who explains that a time will come where KOS-MOS will encounter the wave existence known as U-DO. She then requests that Shion free her sisters from their captivity. Febronia also states that all factions involved must travel to Old Miltia. U-TIC realizes that their plot to distract Kukai and Miltia in order to apprehend MOMO has failed, so they dispatch Jr.'s brother and fellow U.R.T.V. unit, Albedo, to formulate his own strategy. Albedo decides to activate the Song of Nephilim, which generates a Gnosis attack around the Kukai Foundation. In the confusion surrounding the attack, Albedo kidnaps MOMO and brings her to the Song of Nephilim. Shion and the party go to the Song and defeat Albedo, but before escaping, Albedo successfully searches MOMO for the Y-Data and extracts an incomplete copy. Afterward, the Blue Testament appears and demands that the party travel to Old Miltia. The Song deactivates and the Gnosis attack is thwarted. However, Albedo summons Proto Merkabah, the space station created by Joachim Mizrahi, in an attempt to destroy Second Miltia and the Kukai Foundation. Albedo quickly destroys the entire Federation fleet in the region with a single salvo. He then prepares to fire on Second Miltia. This does not adhere to the plans of U-TIC, but the Blue Testament, revealed to be the previously-killed Lt. Virgil, decides to let it continue. Inside Proto Merkabah, the party encounters Albedo, who summons a Gnosis to "test" the party and to buy Albedo time to escape. Albedo sets Merkabah on a collision course with Second Miltia, which the party stops by breaking the space station into thousands of pieces. However, during re-entry, the Elsa's heat shield begins to disintegrate. KOS-MOS' and chaos's combined powers form angelic wings to prevent the Elsa from being destroyed. Meanwhile, Albedo discovers that the Y-Data is protected and tells U-TIC that MOMO will have to connect to the U.M.N. before he can retrieve the rest. While these events are transpiring, Wilhelm stares at his Compass of Order, understanding that his plans have started in full motion. Episode I was designed by Tetsuya Takahashi, director for both Xenogears and the rest of the Xenosaga trilogy. Many other developers from the Xenogears team joined Monolith Soft and the Xenosaga world is loosely based on that game. When Xenosaga was first announced, it was supposed to be a six-part game series, spanning three consoles and several years. Episode I's soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Mitsuda sampled Ralph Vaughan Williams' Greensleeves and wrote several new songs. Two versions of the game's soundtrack album have been released, as well as a single for the main theme of the game, "Kokoro". During cut scenes, voice actors act out much of the game's dialogue, with over fifteen hours of cinematic cut scenes. Episode I dealt with the censorship of several cutscenes in the North American release of the game, a majority of which take place during a confrontation between the game's main villain and another character. This was done presumably to avoid any possibilities of the title receiving an ESRB M rating. A scene involving an arm being snapped was softened for the North American version. In another scene of noticeable censorship, a character draws out a knife, which he uses to cut off his arm and head. For Western release he simply rips off his limbs without the use of a knife. A scene where a character draws out information by "reaching inside" another character was also altered; instead, he simply puts his hand over her face in the North American version. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht received praise from critics, earning a generally favorable 83% on Metacritic.com. Most critics enjoyed the well-developed plot and characters, but argued that the long cut scenes ruined the pacing of the game. Episode I was given GameSpot.com's "dubious honor" award for the "Most pretentious game of 2003". GameSpot did however praise the game in their review, scoring it 8.1 out of 10. Critics agreed that the game's strongly developed characters were a highlight. GameSpot.com's Greg Kasavin wrote that "Despite the amount of time you'll spend with all these characters, Xenosaga isn't very heavy on character development, but its cast is endearing nevertheless." Noting that the game's characters do not stand out for costume design or weaponry, IGN's Jeremy Dunham said that the cast is "possibly the most realistic portrayal of protagonists we've yet seen on the PlayStation 2" and that "the depth of each personality is so vast that it's akin to that found in modern literature." The game's plot found more mixed reviews, although it gained much praise. Kevin Jones of GamingAge.com stated that "Xenosaga has that extra special something that has been missing from RPGs for the last couple of years, an enthralling, profound story that leaves you truly wanting more." Jones believed that the character designs and animation styles in Xenosaga were not up to par with expectations, though. Dunham explained that the game's complexity would be too intimidating or "inactive" for casual gamers, but "For those of us who like this sort of thing, however, Xenosaga is a deeply enriching thrill ride towards the cosmos." Christian Nutt from GameSpy disliked the length of the game's reliance on cutscenes, claiming that it slowed the pacing of the game. Critical reception of Episode I's gameplay was mixed. GamePro's review criticized the complexity of the battle system mechanics, including the A.G.W.S. battles and tech point system, later admitting that the "strange tweaks Xenosaga makes to the standard system are pretty intriguing". Dunham warned players that they must stay "open-minded" about the seemingly small percentage of actual gameplay compared to the number of cut scenes, stating that "there's plenty to do, despite what you may have heard elsewhere." He praised the combination of attacks and Tech attacks the players have the ability to use and the mini-game Xenocards.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 15:26:29 GMT -5
113. Virtua Fighter 4 Virtua Fighter 4 is a fighting game by Sega. It is the fourth game in the Virtua Fighter series. The game was first released in arcades on the NAOMI 2 board in 2001. A port of the game, as well as that of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution under the budget-priced "Greatest Hits" label, appeared on the Sony PlayStation 2 in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Returning characters* Akira Yuki * Pai Chan * Lau Chan * Wolf Hawkfield * Jeffry McWild * Kage-Maru * Sarah Bryant * Jacky Bryant * Shun Di * Lion Rafale * Aoi Umenokoji * Dural New characters* Lei-Fei: Born; March 15, 1975 * Vanessa Lewis: Born; October 26, 1969 * Brad Burns (Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution/Final Tuned only): Born; December 9, 1972 * Goh Hinogami (Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution/Final Tuned only): Born; January 14, 1978 A unique feature in Evolution was the ability to play in a tournament quest mode, where the concept was that the player was competing by traveling to various arcades, as opposed to role-playing as the player's chosen fighter. This mode was very popular due to the ability to buy cosmetic items to customize a character, as well as the ability to name a character. Many players of fighting games have unique styles; with the combination of various items allowing for vastly differing appearances a new depth of uniqueness was added. In addition, Sega took the top tournament players from the arcade version, and captured their style of play for the AI of a player's opponents for this mode. For example, playing against one Wolf character would be very different from playing another, because the actual player that character's AI was programmed to mimic had a unique play style. Virtua Fighter 4 introduced a comprehensive training mode. The mode consisted of an encyclopedia of fighting game terms, complete character command list walkthroughs, tips on all of the game's mechanics, recommended character combos, alternative options for failed combos, detailed command input timings, slow motion for frame counting and timing, and other useful training tips. VF4's training mode consists of three sections: * Command Training- A complete run through each move, one-by-one. The command for the move is displayed and the player executes the command--moving to the next one. VF4 allows the option to skip the current command, view the move (computer controlled), enable advice. * Free Training * Trial Mode Virtua Fighter 4 became much more streamlined and user friendly than its predecessors, while expanding on old ideas and adding new techniques. The evasion system was revamped from Virtua Fighter 3, the evade button was removed, and evades were split into two types, successful and unsuccessful. When evades were not performed with the proper timing, they were unsuccessful leaving the fighter vulnerable. The evade + throw escape option select, which was an advanced technique discovered in Virtua Fighter 3, was expanded upon. Virtua Fighter 4 allowed the player to escape as many throws as they could, and lengthened the window for performing a successful throw escape during an [unsuccessful] evade. A new move type called a Sabaki was added; an attack that also doubles as a reversal versus one or more move types. The two new characters, Vanessa Lewis and Lei-Fei, had moves that employed these properties significantly more than the returning cast, and were quite experimental for Virtua Fighter characters. Vanessa Lewis is a black Vale Tudo/Muay Thai kickboxer with two completely separate moves sets that can be switched between on the fly, and Lei-Fei, a Shaolin monk, employs many stances that flow into one another. Taka-Arashi, one of the new characters added to Virtua Fighter 3, was omitted, apparently due to the developers not being able to make him work properly with the Virtua Fighter 4 system mechanics. The fighting arenas reverted back to the old Virtua Fighter style of flat and square, as opposed to Virtua Fighter 3's wild and undulating stage designs. The reason behind this was to make the game less random, and more balanced and competitive in nature. Walls, however, were kept and expanded upon with a wall stagger/juggle system and several wall types including high + unbreakable, low + breakable, and low + unbreakable + open corners. On release, Famitsu magazine scored the PlayStation 2 version of the game a 37 out of 40.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 15:31:06 GMT -5
112. King of Fighter 2000 The King of Fighters 2000 is a 2000 competitive fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms. It is the seventh installment in The King of Fighters series for the Neo Geo, as well as the final one produced by SNK before the bankruptcy. The game was ported to the Sega Dreamcast (in Japan only) and the PlayStation 2 in 2001. The stand-alone PlayStation 2 version of the game was released in North America in a two-in-one bundle with its immediate sequel, The King of Fighters 2001. The Neo-Geo and Dreamcast versions of the game were also included in The King of Fighters NESTS Hen, a compilation released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The gameplay is based on The King of Fighters '99 and expands on the "Striker Match" format introduced in that game. The game now has an Active Striker System, which allows the player to summon the Striker member during any situation, whether the player is attacking or being attacked by the opponent, allowing the player to use their strikers in combos. Additionally, the player can now replenish Strike Bombs by either losing rounds or taunting the opponent (at the expense of one filled stock of the Power Gauge). The player now has two choices after selecting the Striker member of the team. The player can choose to use the regular character or an alternate character officially known as Another Striker, a character used exclusively for striker attacks. These alternate Strikers are characters from previous KOF games and other SNK franchises (such as Fio Germi from Metal Slug 2 and Duke Edwards from Burning Fight), as well as alternate versions of characters in the game such as Iori and Robert. There's also another set of alternate Striker characters known as Maniac Strikers, which are selected in the arcade version by inputting specific codes for notable characters only, such as "Neo&Geo", "Cool Choi" and "Smart Chang". The console versions includes additional Maniac Strikers by completing a certain number of matches in the "Party Mode". After the incident at the previous tournament, the commander of the Ikari Team, Heidern, is determined to figure out the objective of the NESTS cartel so that he can stop them from achieving their ruthless ambition. A fellow commander and long-time friend of Heidern, named Ling, tells the veteran fighter that KŒ and Maxima were once operatives of NESTS and that they may hold the key to locating the whereabouts of the mysterious organization. Using this information, Heidern decides to focus his efforts in using the next KOF tournament as a way to lure both KŒ and Maxima out so that they can be captured and interrogated into telling the authorities about the NESTS cartel. Unknown to Heidern, however, Ling has his own agenda. The Hero Team from the previous game was split into two, with KŒ and Maxima now joining forces with female agent Vanessa and Mexican wrestler Ramon, while Benimaru Nikaido formed his own team which consisted of Shingo Yabuki, agent Seth, and assassin Lin. The Fatal Fury Team replaced Mai Shiranui with Blue Mary, while Yuri Sakazaki left the Art of Fighting Team, with King taking her spot. Mai and Yuri returned to the Women Fighters Team, this time being joined by Kasumi Todoh and high school student Hinako Shijo, who uses her own Sumo Wrestling style. Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami once again returned as Team Edit characters. A third Team Edit only character also appears in the form of Kula Diamond, a young girl genetically engineered by NESTS to be the "Anti-KŒ".
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 15:34:42 GMT -5
111. KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (aka King of Fighters 2006) KOF: Maximum Impact 2, released in North America as The King of Fighters 2006, is a 3D competitive fighting game produced by SNK Playmore and released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It is the sequel to The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, which itself was a spinoff of The King of Fighters series. Many contended that the illegal fighting tournament in Southtown was sponsored by the gangland syndicate "Mephistopheles" to achieve the annihilation of their rivals and procure some operating capital. After its "King," Duke, suffered defeat at the hands of Alba Meira in the finals, he and his organization vanished from Southtown. Meanwhile, the media, firmly under Duke's control, released a fusillade of sensational exposés based on information from confidential sources regarding their former oppressors. In spite of this new torrent of "information," almost no one knew that an even larger entity had been pulling Mephistopheles' puppet strings. The truth behind the Addes organization name was only known throughout the dark recesses of the underworld. No one really had an inkling as to what this organization truly entailed. Now, another of Addes was to reveal a new battle royale. Invitations in white envelopes were sent to the world's mightiest, who will find the call to the battle by Addes irresistible. As stated in Alba Meira's private novel by Akihiko Ureshino on the official KOF Maximum Impact 2 site (which serves as an official follow up to the story of KOF Maximum Impact 2), Alba was in fact the one who defeated Jivatma and Luise. Soiree was kidnapped as a result of that and Alba has not seen him since then. The game was nominated to the "PSXE's 2006 Game of the Year Awards" in the category Best Fighting Game, but it lost to Tekken: Dark Resurrection. Greg Kasavin from GameSpot ranked the game as good, giving it a score of 7.3 over 10. He commented while the game was highly improved from its prequel, it had many issues. Use of 3D graphics, although being praised to for being "good in most cases", they did not make changes to fights in comparison to 2D games from the series. However, he praised the variability of playable characters with different moves as well as their alternative costumes. 1Up.com reviewer Richard Li rated the game as B+. He also praised the use of alternative costumes, commenting they "make even the most seasoned fan chuckle." He praised the mechanics from fights by saying they are much better from the first Maximum Impact, allowing the players to use new tactics to defeat his/her opponent.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 15:52:26 GMT -5
125 Favorite PS2 Games 125. Duel Hearts 124. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu 123. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore 122. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis 121. Timesplitters 120. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 119. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon 118. Legends of Wrestling 117. Beyond Good And Evil 116. Dragonball Z: Budokai 115. Showdown: Legends of Wrestling 114. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht 113. Virtua Fighter 4 112. King of Fighters 2000 111. KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (aka King of Fighters 2006)
Here are clues to the next five games.
* Allowed Trash Truck for use in the Crash mode
* Based in the Ghosts N' Goblins universe
* Harry Mason's daughter goes to the town that her father went to so many years ago
* Promoters in the game are based on real life famous wrestling promoters
* Top-selling game in Japan on the week of December 11, 2005
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 18:20:24 GMT -5
110. Burnout 3: Takedown Burnout 3: Takedown is the third game in the Burnout series of video games. Released on September 7, 2004, developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts (the first Burnout game EA published), the game drew critical acclaim and a large fanbase. There are five game modes, including two race modes and three crash modes. Before play starts, players choose their vehicle based on its speed and weight. In the race modes, the player gains "boost" by driving in the oncoming traffic lanes, narrowly avoiding traffic, drifting around bends, getting air time, and by causing competitors' cars to crash (called a "Takedown"). In "Race" mode, the object is to win the race around the track like a standard racing game, while in the "Road Rage" mode, the player must takedown a set number of computer-controlled opponents. In the "Crash Junction" mode, the player is not racing opponents on a track. Instead, in each crash attempt, the player races at high speeds towards an intersection and tries to do as much monetary damage to the vehicles there as possible, while collecting cash and multiplier bonuses. In any mode, medals are awarded for achieving certain scores. These medals are used to unlock hidden tracks and vehicles. Burnout 3 features 173 different events in the offline mode, and 67 cars to unlock, including a City Bus, Truck Cab, Fire Truck, and a Trash Truck for use in the Crash mode. There was also an online mode where up to six players could compete in a race, and eight players could compete in a Crash event. In online races, aggression was lowered down when compared to Single Player. Racers must focus on good drifts and avoiding traffic, not just takedowns, in order to win. This gave the online mode a different feel from Single Player. There is a racing variant known as Road Rage where players are divided into two teams. The blue team receives a three second head start and must drive a certain number of miles without being eliminated by being taken down. The red team attempts to takedown the blue team before they reach the finish line. On April 15, 2010, EA pulled the plug on the online servers, shutting them down for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game. Xbox Live for the original Xbox was completely shut down on the same day. The soundtrack for Burnout 3: Takedown features 44 songs, which includes "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" by My Chemical Romance, "Breathing" by Yellowcard, "This Fire" by Franz Ferdinand, "Saccharine Smile" by Donots, "Always You" by Amber Pacific and "Memory" by Sugarcult. "Lazy Generation" by The F-Ups is the game's opening song. Songs are played through "Crash FM", the game's radio station with commentary from DJ Stryker from alternative radio station KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. Alternatively, Burnout 3 supports user created soundtracks on the Xbox with the usage of the Xbox hard drive. Burnout 3: Takedown received favourable reviews on release. On aggregate review website Metacritic, the game attains overall scores of 93 out of 100 and 94 out of 100 on the PS2 and Xbox, respectively.
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