Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Me when David Tepper sells a cow for "magic beans".....AGAIN!!!!
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 18:23:47 GMT -5
109. Legends of Wrestling II Legends of Wrestling II is the sequel to the professional wrestling video game Legends of Wrestling. It was published by Acclaim Entertainment and released on November 26, 2002 for both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was then released later for the Xbox on December 5, 2002. Legends II contains 24 wrestlers that were not in the first game, though also excludes Rob Van Dam, presumably because he had recently been signed to a WWF contract. The game did contain Eddie Guerrero, however, who, although unemployed at the time he signed a likeness deal, re-signed with WWF when the game was released. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions included video interviews with many of the legends featured in the game while the European version of the game exclusively included four legends from the United Kingdom: Kendo Nagasaki, Big Daddy, Mick McManus and Giant Haystacks. Within Career Mode, your wrestler will be working for a specific promoter in each area. By winning the belt for that division and successfully defending it, said promoter will become available for purchase in Shop Mode. Note that the World Region is only available after completion of all the American territories. Each territory has between 8-12 storylines chosen at random with a push of a button. Certain storylines may not be available based on the wrestler used by the player. For example, if the player uses Jerry Lawler, the only storyline he can play in the Southeast Region is based on the famous feud Lawler had with comedian Andy Kaufman. Each of the promoters in the game were based on famous real life wrestling promoters. * Belle Jackson (Southeast Region) (Based on Christine Jarrett, mother and grandmother of promoters Jerry and Jeff Jarrett, respectively.) * Hiro Natsuume (World) (Based on Hiro Matsuda, former president of New Japan Pro Wrestling) * Randall Scmandall (Pacific Region) (Based on Paul Heyman, the owner of the original incarnation of Extreme Championship Wrestling.) * Scotty MacDougal (Midwest Region) (Based on Jim Crockett, former owner of Jim Crockett Promotions) * Tex McGraw (Southwest Region) (Based on Ted Turner, former financial backer of World Championship Wrestling) * Tony "The Boss" Pavarotti (Northeast Region) (Based on Vince McMahon, Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment) The game also features a Create A Legend Mode (CAL). Players can create their own custom made characters which can be used for storyline mode as well as exhibition play. The critical response to Legends of Wrestling II was slightly better than that of the original, but still not spectacular; at Game Rankings, the PlayStation 2 version received 59.9%, only a .6% increase from the previous game. The Xbox version was rated highest, garnering a 66.8% (.8% higher than the original), while the GameCube version was the most improved, jumping 5.9% to 60.6%. The Game Boy Advance version was the worst rated, receiving only a 2 on IGN and a 2.4 on GameSpot, generally because the poor graphics and bad a.i. Many critics though did praise the great create-a-wrestler mode and outstanding variety of match types. Many legends who played the game also praised it.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
Crow T. Robot
Me when David Tepper sells a cow for "magic beans".....AGAIN!!!!
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 18:44:20 GMT -5
108. Rogue Galaxy Rogue Galaxy is a science fiction role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game was first released in Japan on December 8, 2005, and later in North America on January 30, 2007. A European release was initially expected in 2006 but after a series of postponements it was released in most European countries on September 5, 2007 and Australia on September 30, 2007. A Director's Cut of the game was also released in Japan on March 15, 2007. This version includes all the added features and improvements of the North American and European localizations. Rogue Galaxy enjoyed critical success upon its initial release in Japan, scoring a 36/40 in Famitsu and an 85 average in Dengeki, two of Japan's most popular gaming magazines. Sales were also very strong for an original intellectual property RPG in Japan, with sales totaling over 350,000 units in just three months. The story begins with Jaster Rogue, a young boy who lived on the planet Rosa as a child. He was raised by a Priest named Raul, who is like a father to Jaster. Jaster's longtime dream is to leave Rosa and explore space. One day a huge beast appears and begins attacking Jaster's hometown of Salgin. Jaster, being an adventurous youth, runs after the beast. He is ambushed by a group of smaller beasts and is aided by a mysterious hooded man. After the battle, the hooded man spots two space pirates roaming around town. The hooded man then gives Jaster his weapon, the Desert Seeker, one of the legendary Seven-Star Swords. The man then runs away along the rooftops. With the Desert Seeker in hand, Jaster is mistaken by the two space pirates as a legendary bounty hunter named Desert Claw. The two soon help Jaster defeat the giant monster attacking the town. After the battle the two pirates—a robot named Steve and a dwarfish masked man named Simon—tell Jaster that their captain, Dorgengoa, wants to hire Jaster as a part of the crew of the pirate ship Dorgenark. Jaster decides to leave Rosa to join the pirates. On board the ship, Jaster meets up with the rest of the Dorgenark crew: the captain's daughter, Kisala, and a mysterious mercenary named Zegram. While passing the Rose Nebula on their way to Zerard, the Dorgenark is attacked by beasts and is forced to crash on the jungle planet Juraika. After examining the damage of their ship, the crew agree that they must find gather an ingredient for Booster Oil in order to leave the planet and continue to Zerard. As their journey unfolds, the crew meet new friends from different planets such as Lilika, an amazon from Juraika, Jupis, a hacker from the advanced planet Zerard, and Deego, an Ex-Longardian soldier from the mining planet Vedan. Eventually Dorgengoa reveals his true intentions: Finding the legendary phantom planet Eden, said to contain vast amounts of treasure and the Immortal Soul, which grants immortality. On their journey, they discover that artifacts known as the Great Tablets are connected to the planet of Eden, along with the Keypieces from ancient kings who ruled specific planets years ago. Secretly, the president of Daytron, Valkog Drazer, is also searching for Eden, his true motive is revealed as the story progresses. Jaster and his party search for the 3 relics of the ancient kings: of Zerard, of Vedan, and of Juraika. After finding all three, the relics are returned to Rosa. Upon arriving, the crew are confronted by an artificial human created by Daytron, named Seed, whose sole purpose is to open the gate to Eden. During the heroic battle, Jaster unleashes a mysterious power that he has been harnessing inside himself, thus defeating Seed. Jaster uses his newly discovered power to open the gate to a labyrinth containing the secrets to Eden. While exploring the Rosa labyrinth, Jaster and Kisala discover that Kisala is actually Princess Irieth of Eden, truly named Le Marie Glennecia or Mariglenn for short. As the party exits from the ruins, they set eyes on Daytron's president, Valkog, attacking Jaster's town Rosa. Raul, Jaster's foster father, attempts to stop the attacking ship but is severely wounded. Jaster runs to his injured guardian, but it is too late. Raul, slowly dying presents a special artifact. The item points him towards the Kuje Desert. While in the Kuje Desert, Jaster and the crew discover the illusionary town of Johannasburg, which was frozen in time and the memories of its inhabitants, changed by a woman named Johanna. The party learns that Johanna placed the spell on the town in order to prevent the villagers from dying of a plague that had spread long ago. Meeting the ghost of Johanna within the town, the party discovers that she is Jaster's mother and also a descendant of an ancient ruler of the galaxy, the Star God. Jaster is forced to fight his mother in order to release his true powers. After proving his worthiness, Jaster and the others run into Desert Claw, who reveals himself as Jaster's father, Mizel. Mizel tells of how he came to Johannasburg and met Johanna. The two fell in love and Johanna gave birth to Jaster. Shortly after, Johanna died from the plague after having left the protection of Johannasburg. Desert Claw left Jaster with Raul, so that he could be raised and find his own destiny. Mizel knew Jaster would be the one to bring peace to the galaxy and save it. Desert Claw tells the crew to continue to Mariglenn, where they will find the answers to saving the galaxy. Arriving on Mariglenn, they learn that the planet has been removed from the entire Wilhelser System to encase the ever growing Rune, as well as an evil entity made purely of Rune, known as Mother. Jaster and Kisala find the king, who is actually Kisala's father, has become a beast and put him out of his misery. Before perishing, he awakens Kisala's Drigellum, an aura made out of the memories of people's hearts. He tells them they must awaken the other Drigellums inside the hearts of Kisala's friends to craft a sword powerful enough to defeat Mother. When the sword is formed, the group enters Mother's lair where they battle her. Upon being defeated, Mother transforms into her true state, in response to which the Star King enters Jaster. The Star King tries to reason with Mother by reminding Mother of her past deeds of when she was a sorceress named Ilzarbella, which was when she worked side by side with the Star King. Mother leaves the Star King no choice and is defeated at the hand of the legendary Drigellum sword. Valkog's ship appears over Mother's lair after the fight. Needing a new host, the Rune drags the ship along with Valkog and his two assistants Norma and Izeland into the lava. With the power of the Rune the ship transforms them into the Demon Battleship, a new host for the Rune. Kisala's mother appears and gives Jaster the Drigellum of Prayer, making a new sword for him. Jaster and his friends split up abord the Demon Battleship in order to take down the ship's weapons, after the final section of the ship is destroyed, the crew escapes from the lava filled plain. The planet Mariglenn returns to its place amongst the other planets within Wilhelser System. The crew and Jaster then parts with Kisala, who has made the noble decision to become the new Queen of Mariglenn. Jaster, Zegram, Monsha, and Dorgengoa sit aboard the Dorgenark after the rest of their friends had returned home. The group then heads off to claim their "ultimate treasure" on the new Mariglenn. The final scene tells that this was the final mission the Dorgengoa Pirates ever pulled off as pirates. Whether or not they took back Kisala is unknown as that is where the story ends, and it is up to the player's imagination to come up with their own ending. Once the player completes the game, there is a new unlocked area called the Ghost Ship where the crew heads to find a secret treasure lost aboard the empty vessel. Inside, Jaster and the others must fight against their old bosses again before facing the strongest boss of all at the end. It's possible this part of the game follows the end of their battle on Mariglenn, hinting that the Dorgengoa Pirates are all together again, however this can be contradicted by the fact that the player can repeat the final bosses of the game after the events on the Ghost Ship. Jaster Rogue is the main hero of the story and the first playable character. His home is on Rosa, a one of the legendary Seven-Star Swords. With their help, Jaster slays the beast and is offered a chance to join the Dorgengoa Pirates. He accepts the invitation and joins the crew as they head out into space. He and Kisala are romantically interested in each other although nothing actually happens romantically between them not counting their joint ability "Fated Passion". He will become the Star King. Jaster has to stop his arch-nemesis Valkog Dranzer and his two assistants once and for all. His main weapon is a sword while his sub-weapon is a pistol. Jaster beheld the Drigellum of Dreams. In the Japanese version, he is voiced by actor Hiroshi Tamaki and in the English version, he is voiced by Will Friedle. Kisala is the daughter of the pirate captain, Dorgengoa, and the only female on board the Dorgenark when Jaster joins. While she has an innocent and cute appearance to her, Kisala is a tomboy and doesn't mind being around rough space pirates. Jaster and Kisala meet for the first time when Kisala saves Jaster from desert beasts on Rosa. Most of Kisala's history is unknown until she and her friends discover that Kisala is the missing Princess Irieth of the planet Mariglenn, known widely as "Eden". When Kisala meets Jaster, she too believes that Jaster is Desert Claw, but was uncertain at first since she pictured Desert Claw to be more rugged. She is romantically interested in Jaster but never tells him her true feelings. Kisala's main weapons are two twin daggers and her sub-weapons are her boots. Kisala held the Drigellum of Kindness. In the Japanese version, Kisala is voiced by actress and singer Aya Ueto and in the English version by Natalie Lander. Zegram Ghart is a bounty hunter who joined forces with Dorgengoa long before Jaster came aboard the crew. Out of all the crew members, Zegram's home planet is never revealed (but a cutscene near the game's end could indicate that it is Zerard). When Jaster joins, Zegram has his doubts that Jaster is really the famous "Desert Claw", but he ignores the facts and starts to bond with Jaster like the other crew members do. While Jaster and friends are often winding up in trouble or need Zegram, he is often seen mysteriously alone communicating with someone. Despite being playable early in the story Zegram actually acts as an antagonist for most of the story as it's revealed later on that Zegram was in league with the Daytron company since the start and his actions caused a fight between him and Jaster. But when they meet again on Rosa, Zegram re-joins them just as they are battling Seed for the final time. It is revealed in his backstory that Zegram's girlfriend, Jane, was killed while saving an innocent bystander from a monster attack, and he has been living with this inside for a long time. He was talked into working with Valkog only because Professor Izel promised him a way to bring Jane back from the dead. After defeating Seed, Zegram realizes that Valkog and Izel probably had no intention of ever bringing Jane back, let alone his pondering of the ethical conflict of reviving the dead. Zegram's main weapon is a sword while he wields a throwing star as his sub-weapon. Zegram's appearance has been described by fans as a combination of Auron, Xiahou Dun, and Jack Sparrow, or the character Ioz from Hanna Barbara's Pirates of Dark Water. Zegram held the Drigellum of Love. In the English version, he is voiced by Steve Blum. Simon Wicard is one of the first Dorgengoa crew members to meet Jaster on planet Rosa. Simon's home planet is Zerard and he is seen as a sturdy short man with a mask covering his face. His true identity isn't revealed until near the game's end when it is found out that his real identity is Sho, who was in a major accident that cost him his face. He joined the Dorgengoa Pirates after that, while at the same time leaving his wife and daughter behind. Simon accepts Jaster right away when he is mistaken for the "Desert Claw". He speaks with a very thick Scottish accent in the English version, and a thick Kansai dialect in the Japanese version. Simon's main weapon is a flamethrower and his sub-weapon is a multi-missile launcher. Simon held the Drigellum of Compassion. In the English version, he is voiced by Greg Ellis. Steve is an android designed by Dr. Pocacchio from planet Zerard. He is the navigator of the Dorgenark. Steve is first met on planet Rosa along with Simon and joins the party along with him. Like the others, he too believed that Jaster was "Desert Claw" due to him carrying Desert Claw's legendary blade. Steve, out of all of Dr. Pocacchio's inventions, is considered his favorite since Steve was the first android of his kind to care for others as well as his creator. Steve secretly carries a data replica of Mark, his creator's deceased son, which can only be seen when on a virtual transmission with the doctor while in Sleep Mode. Steve's main weapons are his robotic fists and his sub-weapon is two miniature satellites. Steve held the Drigellum of Desire. In the English version, he is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. Lilika Rhyza an amazon from the planet Juraika, Lilika is the only other female crew member to join. She meets Jaster, Kisala and Zegram when their ship crash lands on Juraika after engine trouble. Although no one from Juraika will listen to outsiders, Lilika sees Jaster and his friends differently and helps them get into Burkaqua Village. She is the only crew member to have a little sister, who lost her sight after a vicious beast attacked and killed their mother long ago. When Lilika must sacrifice her sister to the Star God, she discovers that their "god" is really the same monstrous beast that attacked them when they were children. Lilika joins Jaster and Kisala in killing the beast to protect her sister. After killing the beast and saving her sister, she is "banished" from the village for "interfering with the ritual of the Star God". In truth, the chief sent her out in hopes of her learning what path their people should take. Finally free, she joins the Dorgenark Pirates after the ship repairs are complete. Her main weapon is her bow and arrows while her sub-weapon is a hatchet. However, her bow uses her sub-weapon ammo. Lilika beheld the Drigellum of Courage. Jupis Tooki McGaniel is the only playable character who is first fought as a boss in the Starship Factory on Zerard. Jupis is a lizard-like alien known as a Granshee. Awhile ago, he was a great scientist and genius who devoted his entire work to science when working for Daytron. His assistant, Tony, got him involved in an accident while working on a theory that could revolutionize time/space energy. But his data was lost when coffee was spilled on the system and Jupis took his entire frustration out on Tony. He was then fired and went slightly insane. He later takes over the Starship Factory and gains control of all of the machines within the factory. It was only through the combined efforts of Jaster, Lilika and Steve that he is finally defeated, even when fighting with his giant robot Johnny. He tries to make his escape when the police come in to capture Jupis. With nowhere to go, Jupis escapes aboard the Dorgenark and becomes a crew member. Jupis' main weapon is a spear while his sub-weapon is a disk launcher. Although he joins the party before Deego he is the last character whom the player can control due to the fact the story moves on to Vedan before Jupis can be controlled. Fans have likened Jupis to Jar Jar Binks from the Star Wars universe, as at first he seems like a bungling, gimmicky comic relief character...although he seems to shed this character stereotype as the game progresses. Jupis beheld the Drigellum of Pride.In the English version, he is voiced by Ben Diskin. Deego Aegis is the final playable character to be recruited to the team. Deego comes from the planet Vedan, which is a large industrial mine planet. Deego is an ex-military man and he looks like a well muscled boxer dog with a robotic arm. He retired from the Longardian army and is usually seen hanging out at Angela's Bar, owned by his friend, Angela. His other friend, Gale, had joined up with the Morarty Family, a crime organization that controls all of the city of Myna. After Angela's bar is burned down by Junia, the son of Zax Morarty and lackey of Gale, Deego joins Jaster and Kisala's party in order to punish Gale. They manage to reach the bottom floor of the mines, where Deego confronts Gale in a final showdown. After the battle, he discovers that Angela is trying to leave Myna. He manages to catch her and reveals how he really feels about her (she wanted to leave so Deego could learn to stand on his own two feet again). With Angela remaining in Myna and his friendship restored with Gale, Deego joins the Dorgenark crew. His main weapon is a giant axe while his sub-weapon is an arm-mounted machine-gun. Deego is noted for receiving the Officer's Coin shortly after he helps the party fight Gale, which is an item that cannot be used to unlock an ability until almost the end of the game. Deego beheld the Drigellum of Friendship. Desert Claw is only a temporary character during the first part of the tutorial stage on Rosa who joins Jaster at Level 20. He is known as "Hooded Man" during this stage as Jaster doesn't discover who he is until after he leaves. Desert Claw just so happens to be Jaster's father (which you find out near the end of the game). Desert Claw cannot be played by the player, he has no Revelation Chart, he cannot have his weapons and clothing changed and he cannot be accessed after the tutorial. The game's engine features a continuous environment with no load time and battles taking place in the overworld in real time. The graphics bear a resemblance to other Level-5 RPGs, most notably Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2. The game includes a travel system which is used to relocate to another planet. In order to advance to further levels or planets, the use of the battleship is needed. To do so, however, the player must get their Galactic Travel Visa renewed on Zerard. Until this is done, the player cannot choose which planet to go to. Once that is done, the player can return to the ship and use the "map screen" to travel to the other planets that are a part of the game. Using the teleporter will offer easy return to the ship. Groups of enemies randomly appear while the player roams around the environments. The player has the ability to run out of the battle zone to escape from the battle at anytime. Combat is handled very much like in a Western RPG; enemies roam the playing field and there is no transition between battle and exploring the game world. The player controls a single character, but can change the other party members attack patterns using the team command function. In addition, the player can switch between characters and access their skills on the fly. The game is paused when the ability and item windows are opened during battle. Each character has a certain amount of points they can use until they cannot perform an action until the bar replenishes. This is represented by a blue bar at the top of the character icon. At the start of a randomized battle, the names and amounts of the enemies appear in the middle of the screen. When every enemy is killed, a window will pop up showing the player how much character and weapon experience was gained, what items were collected and how much currency was received for the battle. Keeping in tradition with Level-5's Dark Cloud series, some areas contain puzzles. These can range from the mundane fetching of a key that matches the lock to more exotic, such as freezing a waterfall and then using created platforms in order to climb it. Unlike Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2, the dungeons are not randomized. There are many different enemies that can be encountered in a dungeon. There are also treasure chests scattered around the worlds, wielding treasures, booby traps or maybe a strong enemy called a Mimic. Many of the puzzles encountered involve "Thinking Circles" - areas with a question mark where the player directs the characters, is informed of a situation there, and then attempts to select the right item from the inventory to address the situation. Doing so unlocks other parts of the dungeon, summons important bosses, and so forth. Dungeons in Rogue Galaxy are notably long affairs, and may have odd and specialized enemies in them requiring the player to determine the best way to deal with them. The Insectron Tournament is a completely optional mini-game (which is the perpetual successor to Dark Cloud's fishing aspect) where the player pits up a team of his collected and trained bugs against opponents in a chess-like board, turn-based combat. Bugs can be acquired in each of the worlds by setting up traps and using food items as bait. Some are more powerful than others. The insect system is almost identical to the fish tank system found in Dark Chronicle, however there is a longer time period in which insects mature. In order to increase the attributes and level of the bugs, food and other items must be used. Each match costs a bit of money to participate in. The battle system during a match is set up somewhat like a chess game. Experience is gained when your team of insectrons are victorious and special items are given if all the competitors in the ranking are defeated. Though optional, it is a good idea to obtain these items, as they will assist the player in their adventure. At a certain point early in the game, the player's characters get access to a reconfigurable factory. This Factory is a sort of successor to the Dark Cloud series' Georama gameplay. They then are able to find blueprints by talking to NPCs in the game (who have orange or blue icons over their heads). Using the blueprints, the player can set up factory equipment and raw materials to make new items. Upon completion of the item, the party gets a "sample" and the item will be available in certain stores in the game. The factory layout is essentially a 2D flow-puzzle where the player lays out equipment and conveyor belts, hooks up power cables, and attempts to make sure the right materials are processed properly, and combined at the right time in the manufacturing process. Consideration of the materials used, how they are processed, and the time it takes is required for success. However, the materials used are not lost if the player sets the assembly incorrectly. The game also features a Weapon Synthesis system similar to the Dark Cloud series, albeit in a simplified form, which can be used to create powerful and effective weapons. All weapons gain EXP from battles until they reach a level where they are "Maxed" and can be synthesized along with another similar weapon to create an even stronger one. This is accomplished by the use of "Toady", a strange frog whose exposure to the mysterious substance Rune has given him the ability to swallow weapons and regurgitate a new weapon. Toady can also analyze weapons and make suggestions for combinations, and will helpfully warn if a combination he's attempting to digest will give useless or negative results. He can only combine two weapons of the same kind. After a weapon is "Maxed" on its experience, it continues to gain additional damage in specific "elemental" categories - fire, ice, lightning, wind, and holy. These can improve to a limited degree. When the experience and the elemental damage is at maximum, a weapon is considered "Mastered" and cannot be improved further. Improving these stats can mean a more powerful weapon is produced when Toady is used. All playable characters possess two weapons: primary and secondary. The majority of the characters have a close-range weapon set as primary, while long-range weapons will be their secondary. However, Lilika has the opposite set up, and Kisala has no ranged attacks. Combining weapons is no different among characters. Each character has his/her very own revelation chart. These charts are the key to leveling up the characters in the game. The chart has unlockable AP commands and upgrades that make the team stronger and allows them to gain more abilities. Each character starts out with an empty box with an outline of an item. By choosing the correct item needed, you will be able to fill the slot, thus unlocking the AP command. Once a slot is filled, one or more are opened up. Composed by Level-5's chief composer, Tomohito Nishiura, Rogue Galaxy's OST is reminiscent of games such as Skies of Arcadia and Star Ocean. The title's ending vocal track, "Dreaming My Way Home", is composed by Nishiura and written, arranged and performed by Barbara Kessler. A 10-track arrangement album entitled Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange was also released in early 2006, and featured contributions from numerous popular video game composers including Yasunori Mitsuda, Kenji Ito, Yoko Shimomura, Motoi Sakuraba, and Noriyuki Iwadare. Due to its success in Japan, Level-5 opted not only to localize Rogue Galaxy for North America and Europe, but to add a significant amount of new features and content, and address any complaints concerning the original version. These improvements, which feature in both the North American and European versions of the game, and the Japanese Director's Cut, include:[3] * The game now uses a double-layer 8.5GB DVD to play instead of a standard 4.7GB DVD the Japanese version used. This allowed smoother, better looking graphics and additional data to be added into the game. * A sixth planet, the water world of Alistia. While it is separate from the main story arc, the planet includes its own sidequests and special items, and helps flesh out some of the characters. However, it is only available after obtaining a key item in Chapter 8. * Toady's Analysis of weapons, which became much simpler to use. * The Burning Strike system. Players now collect Burning Chips during battle, which allows them to store power and execute their Burning Strike when they want to. Also, the Burning Strike system in the Japanese version had a completely different layout. In the Japanese version of the game, it had a much smaller window that had a line to which people could input the commands for a Burning Strike attack, which is more reminiscient of the line timing system of games such as the Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, and the Guitar Hero/Band Hero/DJ Hero musical games, among many other titles in this other video game genre. In the USA and other versions of the game (including the Japanese Director's Cut), there are full animations of each character as they perform each Burning Strike attack and they vary between their five-hit, seven-hit, and nine-hit Burning Strike attacks. Also, the buttons that are used to initialize the Burning Strike attacks now spiral into the bottom of the screen as opposed to merely being on a line as is the case in the original Japanese version of the game. * The layout and visual design of several dungeons and planets was altered and improved, making them more visually appealing. Affected areas include Rosencaster Prison, the Gladius Towers, the Daytron factory, Rosa's desert town, and Rosa's Labyrinth. * Additional content within the Insectron Tournament sidequest. Main difference is that two species of Insectrons, the Bomber Snail and the Spidan, have been added, each with 8 types of Insectrons per species. * Each character (except Jaster) has two new types of weapons, thus increasing the number of weapons in the game by 140. * Each character has 4 bonus costumes, except for Kisala and Simon, who each have 5. The difference in defense is small, but each character's clothing changes according to the costume they wear, even in cutscenes and in battle (except during the pre-rendered cinematics and when on board the Dorgenark). Some sidequests even require certain outfits. * Improved and expanded battle animations. * Over 2000 lines of additional voiced dialogue. * Making it easier to damage enemies, as the formula for attacking has been modified. * Every character gets three extra abilities to their Revelation Flow, except for Lilika, who has 4. Some characters also come with abilities that only work if certain characters are in the main party with them. For example, Lilika and Kisala have a combination ability called "Star-Linked Venus", and Jupis and Steve get a combination ability called "Black Hole". Jaster has two called "Supernova", which works when he, Kisala and Zegram make up the party, and "Fated Passion", which is for Jaster and Kisala and is considered the ability born from their love for each other The game has received generally very positive reviews, scoring 83/100 on MetaCritic, indicating generally favorable reviews, which include an 8.0/10 from GameSpot and an 8.7/10 from IGN. Rogue Galaxy was the top-selling video game in Japan during the week ending December 11, 2005 with approximately 237,631 units sold, barely beating out the popular Mario Kart DS. Famitsu reported that by the end of 2006, the game had sold 356,192 units in the region. The magazine also noted that Rogue Galaxy: Director's Cut was the 403rd best-selling game in Japan during 2007, selling 29,457 units.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
Crow T. Robot
Me when David Tepper sells a cow for "magic beans".....AGAIN!!!!
Posts: 43,314
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 18:47:49 GMT -5
107. Maximo: Ghosts to Glory Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (also known as just simply Maximo in Japan and Europe) is a 3D hack and slash platform game developed by Capcom for the PlayStation 2. The game is based in the Ghosts'n Goblins universe and features original character designs by Japanese illustrator Susumu Matsushita. It is a part of PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits. In 2011 the game was re-released on PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3. Maximo is an attempt to merge the Ghosts'n Goblins universe with illustrator Susumu Matsushita manga artwork. The title was originally planned for Nintendo 64 but was delayed for several years and transferred for Dreamcast and later PlayStation 2.[2] The concept was created by Capcom Digital Studio head David Siller who wanted to bring back "old school" game play. The game was produced by Mark Rogers and designed by David Siller, Bill Anderson and Scott Rogers. Jonathan Casco was the art director. The artistic team placed special emphasis on the design and rendering of the characters, as well as putting a great deal of work into the environmental effects. The game's music, which varies from stage to stage, includes orchestrated remixes of the tracks found in Ghouls'n Ghosts and Ghosts'n Goblins composed by Tommy Tallarico. Maximo was presented in E3 2001 and released in the end of the same year in Japan and in early 2002 in United States and Europe. Maximo takes place in a dynamic, fully 3D world. The character is controlled by the player and can move freely within areas by running, jumping, crouching, and performing other various motions. Gameplay revolves around defeating large numbers of enemies, which can be accomplished by attacking with a sword and shield and combos and special moves. Like in the Ghosts series, Maximo fights wearing armor. If he is hit, he will lose corresponding pieces of armor and eventually be reduced to wearing his boxer shorts, with another hit resulting in him losing a life. If Maximo loses all his lives, he can continue by giving Death Coins to the Grim Reaper. However, every time he loses all his lives, the required cost for a continue increases. The game is split in 5 major worlds: The Boneyard, The Great Dank, Graveyard of Ships, Realm of Spirit and Castle Maximo. Each world has four stages to beat and a boss battle. In a world, the player enter on a first mandatory stage and then moves to a portal stage with entrances for other stages in that world. Those portal stages offers options to save, travel to other worlds and buy health and food. Some enemies also appear in portal stages. The game also has many references to Ghouls'n Ghosts gameplay elements, such as the ability to crush graves and the hero being attacked by spells turning into animals. Maximo was well received, though criticized for being difficult and inaccessible. Saving is restricted to predetermined points and certain levels present obstacles that some have declared too challenging to overcome. The reviews were mixed, portraying the difficulty of the game. Ghost to Glory achieved PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits status in the United States selling more than 400,000 units in North America. A sequel, Maximo vs. Army of Zin was released in 2003 with better critical reception. IGN ranked Maximo at #6 of Top 10 hardest games of PlayStation 2. The future of the series is unknown. Capcom not commented or announced any new plans for Maximo. Leaked artworks confirmed that a third game began in production in 2004 but was eventually cancelled.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 19:01:20 GMT -5
106. Silent Hill 3 Silent Hill 3 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It is the third installment in the Silent Hill series and a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game. It was released in May 2003, with a port to Microsoft Windows released in October of the same year. A remastered high-definition version was released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 on March 20, 2012. Set seventeen years after the events of Silent Hill in which Harry Mason defeats the god of the town cult and is given a baby girl to care for, Silent Hill 3 focuses on Heather, a teenage girl who finds herself being drawn into Silent Hill's alternate reality. She discovers that the cult plans to use her to birth their god, and becomes caught in a conflict within the cult. Silent Hill 3 was mostly well received by critics, especially in its presentation, including the environments, graphics and audio, as well as the overall horror elements and themes that are continued from past installments. Gameplay in Silent Hill 3 resembles closely that of its two predecessors, the three main gameplay elements being combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. Combat, as exploration, takes place in third-person view, with the player able to equip weapons found throughout the game. Heather may also block and perform side-step maneuvers to avoid enemies. As a series staple, the flashlight and radio return, the latter of which crackles when monsters are in proximity. Players can set the difficulty of both the combat and puzzle elements of the game separately. In the case of the puzzle difficulties, there is a large difference between the "medium" difficulty level and the "hard" difficulty level; one of the puzzles on the "medium" level requires only simple pattern recognition, while the "hard" difficulty level version of the same puzzle requires knowledge of Shakespeare plays to complete. The game also features unlockable weapons and costumes. Silent Hill 3 is set in the fictional universe of the Silent Hill series. Seventeen years before the start of Silent Hill 3, Harry Mason defeated a god brought forth by the resident cult of Silent Hill and at the ending, was given a baby girl to care for. The protagonist and player character of Silent Hill 3 is Heather, the teenaged adopted daughter of Harry Mason. Claudia Wolf, the cult's priestess who plans to bring about a paradise on Earth, serves as the game's antagonist. As Heather attempts to unravel the reasons why the cult of Silent Hill is pursuing her, she encounters a private investigator named Douglas Cartland; Vincent, a member of the cult who detests Claudia; and Leonard Wolf, Claudia's abusive father. At the beginning of the game, Heather awakens at a shopping mall. Before she can leave the mall, Douglas Cartland confronts her, claiming to have information about her birth. Heather evades him and discovers that the mall is mostly abandoned except for monsters. She encounters Claudia, who hints about Heather's fate. Heather finds herself in the Otherworld version of the mall—monster-filled and decaying— and is eventually transferred back to the original shopping mall where she encounters Douglas, who confesses that Claudia had hired him to find her. Heather leaves the mall and resolves to take the subway home. Having arrived at her residence, Heather discovers that her father has been killed by a monster under Claudia's orders, who tells her that she will be waiting for her in Silent Hill and leaves. Heather resolves to go to Silent Hill, intent on killing Claudia. She meets with Douglas in her apartment and accepts his offer to drive her there. On the journey there, Douglas explains that Vincent left him a message, telling them to look for a man named Leonard, while Heather reads a memo left by her father before his death, which reveals that she is the baby girl that was left to her adoptive father, Harry Mason, at the conclusion of the first game, after he defeated the god birthed by Alessa Gillespie. Claudia seeks Heather to birth the cult's god, since Heather is Alessa's reincarnation. Upon arriving in Silent Hill, which is abandoned and fog-shrouded, Heather checks Brookhaven Hospital for Leonard. After discovering that Leonard is Claudia's father, Heather meets a transfigured Leonard, who attacks her after discovering that she is not a cult member; Heather defeats him. She eventually meets Vincent, who directs her to a church via a local amusement park, purportedly at Douglas' request. Upon arriving at the amusement park, Heather is transferred to the Otherworld, where she finds Douglas wounded. She reaches the church and confronts Claudia, who kills Vincent. After swallowing a substance within a pendant that her father had given her, Heather vomits out the deity in fetus form. Claudia swallows the fetus and dies after birthing the deity; Heather then fights and defeats the god. Three endings appear in the game. The "Normal" ending, which is the only ending available on the first play-through of the game, sees Heather and Douglas survive. The "Possessed" ending sees Douglas having been killed by Heather. The "Revenge" ending, which is a joke ending accessible by performing certain in-game actions, sees Heather talking with Harry, and UFOs blow up Silent Hill. Silent Hill 3 was created by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. Development on the PlayStation 2 version began after the release of Silent Hill 2, and was carried out almost simultaneously with development of another Silent Hill title that was intended to explore a different direction for the franchise and not be part of the main, numbered series; known as Room 302, this game would eventually become integrated into the main series as Silent Hill 4: The Room. The development team for this iteration was smaller than that working on Silent Hill 2, with around 40 people working on the game, made up of the core team from the second title and some newcomers. A smaller group of Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo staff later developed a port for Microsoft Windows. Like all Silent Hill games, one of Silent Hill 3's influences is the film Jacob's Ladder: one of the subway platforms is named Bergen Street Station, the station Jacob was inquiring about at the beginning of the film. The developers also cited horror writer Stephen King as another of their influences. Silent Hill 3 incorporates references drawn from real life actors and actresses. The creators originally named Heather "Helen", but it was dubbed too old-fashioned and changed. It was later decided that the character would be named after voice actress Heather Morris who voiced the protagonist. Heather was modeled after French actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Vanessa Paradis in several rough sketches. Douglas Cartland's name came from American actor Douglas Fairbanks. The developers stated that his name "just seemed to suit him" and that there was no true connection to his namesake. During the sketching process, his character was modeled after actors Giancarlo Giannini and Ian Holm. It was noted that even during the concept designs that Cartland was designed as a middle-aged detective. Claudia Wolf's character was considered the most difficult to design. Early sketches revealed that the creators wanted to dress her like a holy woman, and at one point she had a shaved head, with her body covered with tattoos. Eventually, the creators decided to model her on Julianne Moore, and then remove her eyebrows, so that the appearance was slightly skewed. She was first named "Christie", but it was deemed too "cute" and the character was eventually named after actress Claudia Cardinale. Vincent's name originated from actor Vincent Gallo in connection with his unshaven look. Early designs were based on actor Ethan Hawke and focused on capturing a look of "derangement and moodiness." The soundtrack for Silent Hill 3, composed by Akira Yamaoka, was released in Japan on July 16, 2003, and in North America on August 6, 2004. The song "You're Not Here" was included in the PS2 port of Dance Dance Revolution Extreme. It is also included in the Silent Hill Experience UMD media pack. The game's soundtrack is the first using vocals prominently. Most of the vocalized tracks are performed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (credited as Melissa Williamson). One song features vocals by Joe Romersa. A film adaptation of Silent Hill 3, titled Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, is was released on October 26th, 2012 by Open Road Films. The film is a sequel to the film adaptation of the first installment in the Silent Hill series. Silent Hill 3 received positive reviews, garnering an 83.79% rating at Game Rankings for the PlayStation 2 version, and a 70.42% rating for the PC version. Its Metacritic rating for the PlayStation 2 version is 85/100, while the PC version has a rating of 72/100. The PC version fared less well, with some reviewers drawing unfavourable comparisons to other combat-based games found on the PC platform, while others highlighted some technical issues, such as poor gamepad support. Positive reactions were given to the general horror and atmosphere of the game, including "truly horrifying sections," it "packs some genuine scares" and "the feeling of eeriness and doom is almost overwhelming." The story told as part of the atmosphere was also received positively, making for a "satisfying, coherent sequel," although its status as such meant that "it may be a little tough to follow for people who haven't played the first game", despite "a laudable effort to help people catch up." In addition, the graphics, audio and production values were all credited with adding positively to the atmosphere. Negative criticism largely stemmed from the lack of any innovations in gameplay; the game "doesn't do anything major that the series hasn't done before", "does little in term of innovation" and "doesn't offer much beyond the other titles in the series." Also criticised was the game's camera and control system which, despite having been improved from previous games, was described as "awkward, disorienting, and motion sickness-inducing." Some criticism stemmed from the length of the game, as it "can be easily beaten in a handful of hours." In their retrospective review, Honestgamers.com wrote "What began as uncommon brilliance on the PlayStation, has degraded into a convoluted and senseless exercise in flexing visceral muscle while offering less and less in the way of engaging play. And the downward spiral began here", though that same review also praised the quality of the visuals, sound and music stating "it’s a work of art by PS2 standards." Silent Hill 3 sold over 300,000 copies by November 2003. The game also topped sales charts in Japan upon its release.
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Post by Bishblast on Dec 3, 2012 19:11:31 GMT -5
Bookmarked for when I get a new PS2.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Me when David Tepper sells a cow for "magic beans".....AGAIN!!!!
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 19:15:57 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) 110. Burnout 3: Takedown 109. Legends of Wrestling II 108. Rogue Galaxy 107. Maximo: Ghosts To Glory 106. Silent Hill 3
Clues to Next Five Games
* A-Rod is on the cover as part of a team he is no longer with
* Drifters, Prophets, & Demons in Filgaia
* Jakob Project
* Rockport City Police hate street racing
* Star Power
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 21:02:52 GMT -5
105. MLB Slugfest 2003 MLB SlugFest 2003 uses advanced motion capture technology to clearly detail each player's facial expressions and reactions. The animations are so precise, gamers can view players on the field chewing gum, talking to one another and cheering for their teammates. While at the plate, gamers can dig in and unleash a mammoth blast clear out of the park. To add to the authentic baseball delivered in MLB SlugFest 20-03, five-time MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez will appear on the package cover and other advertising materials for the game. Entering his seventh full Major League Baseball season, the Texas Rangers shortstop also consulted with the development team on the game. Also stepping up to the plate is Roadrunner Records' recording act Dry Kill Logic, which recorded a hard-rockin', new millenium version of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' to accompany the game's aggressive attitude and extreme-style play.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Me when David Tepper sells a cow for "magic beans".....AGAIN!!!!
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 21:17:13 GMT -5
104. Guitar Hero Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in Australia. The game's development was a result of collaboration between RedOctane and Harmonix to bring a GuitarFreaks-like game to America. The game features a guitar-shaped controller (resembling a miniature Gibson SG) that the player uses to simulate playing rock music. The gameplay is similar to GuitarFreaks, in that the player presses buttons on the guitar controller in time with musical notes that scroll on the game screen. The game features covers of 30 popular rock songs spanning five decades of rock, from the 1960s up through 2005, in addition to bonus tracks. Guitar Hero became a surprise hit, earning critical acclaim and winning many awards from major video game publications, and was considered one of the most influential games of the first decade of the 21st century. The game's success launched the Guitar Hero franchise, which has earned more than $2 billion in sales, spawning several sequels, expansions, and other game-related products. The gameplay is similar to other music and rhythm video games, in that the player must press buttons on a game controller in time with scrolling notes on the game screen to complete a song.[1] The basic mechanics are based on Konami's GuitarFreaks.[2] In the case of Guitar Hero, the player may use either the guitar peripheral (a 3/4-scale reproduction of the Gibson SG guitar as bundled with the game, or a third-party version) or a standard controller to play the scrolling notes.[1] The guitar peripheral has five different-colored fret buttons near the nut of the guitar neck, and a strum bar and a whammy bar on the body of the guitar. The peripheral also has other buttons in order to navigate the game's menus. Music is displayed on screen through a series of notes, matching in color and position to the fret buttons, that scroll down the screen on a fret board. To hit or play a note, the player must hold down the fret button corresponding to the note shown and toggle the strum bar at the same time as that note passes a marked area on the screen. Faster series of notes may be played on the guitar controller using hammer-on and pull-off techniques where the player does not need to strum each note. The game supports toggling the handedness of the guitar, allowing both left-handed and right-handed players to utilize the guitar controller. A player using the standard controller simply presses the buttons that correspond with the displayed notes as outlined in the game's manual. The player is awarded points for correctly hitting notes, chords and sustains. The player can also increase a score multiplier by playing a series of consecutive notes successfully. A "Rock Meter" tracks the player's performance based on success or failure of hitting notes, and if the meter drops too low the song will prematurely end in failure for the player. The player can also earn "Star Power" by playing a series of glowing notes perfectly and using the whammy bar during sustains. Once the Star Power meter is filled at least halfway, Star Power can then be activated by briefly tilting the guitar controller vertically, or by pressing a specific button on a standard controller. Activating Star Power will double the scoring multiplier and makes it easier to increase the Rock Meter by playing correct notes. Thus, players can strategically use Star Power to play through difficult sections of a song they might have otherwise failed. Guitar Hero's main mode of play is Career Mode, where the player and in-game band travel between various fictional performance arenas and perform sets of four or five songs. Completing songs in this mode unlocks the songs for play within the other game modes. Players can choose their on-stage character and their guitar; these elements have no effect on gameplay but affect the visuals during the performance. In Career Mode, players can earn money from their performances that is redeemable at the in-game store, where bonus content, such as additional songs, guitars and finishes, can be unlocked. Quick Play mode allows the player to play any unlocked track, selecting the difficulty, the character, venue and guitar. After successfully completing a song in either Career or Quick Play mode, the player is given a score and a rating between three-five stars, depending on his or her overall performance. Multiplayer mode offers two players the chance to compete against each other on the same song. Two fret boards will appear on screen, one for each player, as they alternate playing sections of the song in a dueling manner. The player with the highest score at the end of the song wins. The four difficulty levels for each song afford the player a learning curve in order to help him or her progress in skill. The first difficulty level, Easy, only focuses on the first three fret buttons while displaying a significantly reduced amount of notes for the player to play. Medium introduces a fourth fret button while adding more notes, and Hard includes the final fret button while adding additional notes. Expert does not introduce any other frets to learn, but adds more notes in a manner designed to challenge the player. According to Ron Kay, a developer with Harmonix, the idea of Guitar Hero was directly inspired by Konami's GuitarFreaks arcade game, where the player used a guitar-shaped controller to interact with the game. At the time, GuitarFreaks had not seen much exposure in North America. RedOctane was making dance pads for games like Dance Dance Revolution for home consoles and also operated an online video rental service similar to Netflix. RedOctane's Kai and Charles Huang recognized the popularity of GuitarFreaks in Japan through their rental service, and planned to create guitar controllers to bring the game to North America. The Huangs raised $1.75 million for the effort, despite being turned down by some investors who "thought [the idea] was too weird". Greg Fischbach, one of the founders of Acclaim Entertainment, noted, regretfully several years later, they had passed on Guitar Hero, questioning "Who's going to buy a peripheral like that?" The Huangs approached Harmonix, who had previously made music video games such as Frequency, Amplitude and Karaoke Revolution about making a guitar-based video game for those controllers. With a budget of about one million dollars (which Kay noted was "pretty tiny for a video game"), the two companies worked together to develop Guitar Hero. Kay noted that "No one had any notions about it being a massive success; we all just thought it would be fun to do." Harmonix's president Alex Rigopulos also claims that former Microsoft vice-president of game publishing Ed Fries indirectly influenced the game's creation, who had previously told Harmonix when they were pitching Frequency to Microsoft that no music-rhythm game would succeed without custom hardware for it, prompting Rigopulos to investigate the Guitar Hero opportunity when it arose. The team quickly recognized that "the controller really was the kind of magic sauce for what we wanted to do". They identified three aspects of gameplay that they felt made the game stand out. These aspects included the note-matching aspect and the showmanship created by the use of the whammy bar and tilting of the guitar within the game. The third key aspect was the use of Star Power "to provide a little more depth to the game — some replay value, some interest for people as they were playing beyond just hitting the notes". Harmonix used third party controllers made for GuitarFreaks that were already on the market for development of the game until RedOctane had prepared prototypes for the Guitar Hero controller. The controller initially had pressure-sensitive fret buttons to mimic the playing of a real guitar, but the idea was dropped as it made the gameplay too complex. The idea of using the whammy bar to boost Star Power, in addition to altering the pitch of sustained notes was only realized about a month before the completion of the game. The team had spent "precious development time and resources" into creating a free-style model that would have allowed players to improvise during songs but ultimately cut it as they could not work the feature into the existing gameplay. "Gem tracks", the pattern of notes for a song, were developed by a team in Harmonix, taking usually a day to develop the tracks for one song. Tracks were designed to include key notes to "make [the player] feel as if [he is] a brilliant musician". Software algorithms were used to assess the difficulty of the tracks, and the quality assurance team helped to rebalance the tracks for accuracy and difficulty. The software also allowed Harmonix to quickly make changes to the set list or to recreate the tracks for a song to make sure the overall difficulty of the game was appropriate. At the onset of development, the team did not have any idea of what songs would be present in the final game. Kay noted that "We wanted 30 or 40 songs for the game and put a hundred on our wish list." The game was to focus mostly on hard rock songs, but the team was limited by what could be licensed. The team also felt "morally obligated" to include older, classic rock songs like The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" to the younger target audience of the game. Harmonix had to modify the track list throughout development as certain songs were introduced or removed based on licensing issues, requiring the team to repeatedly balance difficulty and popularity of the track list. WaveGroup Sound were used to create the covers of the licensed songs provided in the game. Marcus Henderson of the band Drist provided many of the lead guitar tracks for the covers. WaveGroup Sound also went to efforts to try to recreate effects for some songs. In the case of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", the team learned that the vocal effects were created by having Ozzy Osbourne sing from behind a metal fan. The team sought out the same model of fan through Craigslist to generate the same effect in the game's cover. Many of the bonus songs were from groups that Harmonix employees were part of or knew. Additionally, a "Be a Guitar Hero" contest was held allowing bands to submit their own song to be included in the game. The winning song was "Cheat on the Church" by Graveyard BBQ. Black Label Society's song, "Fire it Up", was included two weeks before the game was completed at the request of Zakk Wylde. The final song list was set very near to the shipping date. Guitar Hero started with "super-basic Pong-style graphics" for the game display. The final game art was led by Ryan Lesser, using the art team's involvement in the music scene. Based on the experience from Frequency and Amplitude, the team realized that "people don't necessarily relate to really abstract visuals", and included the depictions of live performances as previously used in Karaoke Revolution. House of Moves were used to assist in creation motion capture for the on-screen animations. The appearance of Star Power was made to resemble electricity, both to reflect the use of the electric guitar as well to conceptually demonstrate the excitement of the performance and the virtual audience. Guitar Hero was initially released to retail stores in a bundle that packaged the game disc and a Gibson SG guitar controller, priced at $69.99. Since its release, stand-alone copies of the games and the guitar controller have been released, including both RedOctane and third-party controllers from TAC and Nyko. MadCatz, another controller company that has produced guitar controllers, was set to initially be part of the game's development, creating a version of the game for the Xbox, but had to pull out due to a lawsuit by Komani; MadCatz's Darrel Richardson stated they had to pay $300,000 to get out of their contract with RedOctane. Guitar Hero features 47 playable songs, 30 of which are "main setlist" tracks that are covers of popular songs. Featured tracks include "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand, "Spanish Castle Magic" by Jimi Hendrix, "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne, "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, "Crossroads" by Cream, and "Fat Lip" by Sum 41. All cover tracks are credited on screen with the phrase "as made famous by" (e.g., "'I Wanna Be Sedated', as made famous by The Ramones"). The other 17 songs are master recordings selected from indie groups. Guitar Hero received very positive reviews. IGN praised the "fantastic soundtrack" and "great peripheral", further commenting that mini-Gibson SG controller "is what makes Guitar Hero, rather than what breaks it". GameSpot echoed these sentiments, stating Guitar Hero had a "great guitar controller" and "killer soundtrack" and was possibly the "best rhythm game ever made". Many reviews praised the game's gradual learning curve and difficulty approach through the song tier progression and the difficulty setting for each song. Play said the game "gives bedroom air guitarists a chance to live out their rock 'n' roll fantasies". GameSpy's review commented on the length of the songs, in that "once you hit the three minute mark or so, things start to feel 'too long'". Eurogamer said, "the lack of international star quality about the roster of songs and the absence of the original artists is perhaps the only thing that may detract from the package from an importer's perspective" and "it would have been truly amazing with a better track list". Shortly after release, Guitar Hero became an unexpected hit; it was the second-highest selling PlayStation 2 title in February 2006 according to the NPD Group. Game sales amounted to $45 million in 2005. Since then, the game has sold about 1.53 million copies through December 2007. The success of the game has spawned a one billion dollar Guitar Hero franchise, including four sequels on several seventh generation consoles, seven expansions, a mobile phone-based version, and a portable version for the Nintendo DS. Harmonix no longer is involved in development of the series, due to its acquisition by MTV. Harmonix has since developed Rock Band using designs similar to those that based Guitar Hero's success. The game and its sequels have created interest in young adults and children in learning how to play a real guitar, and has been considered as a "cultural phenomenon" that has created a significant cultural impact. At the end of 2009, several journalists, including Wired, G4TV, CNN, the San Jose Mercury News, the Toronto Star, Inc., The Guardian, and Advertising Age, considered Guitar Hero to be one of the most influential products of the first decade of the 21st century, attributing it as the spark leading to the growth of the rhythm game market, for boosting music sales for both new and old artists, for introducing more social gaming concepts to the video game market, and, in conjunction with the Wii, for improving interactivity with gaming consoles. Guitar Hero has won several awards. In IGN's "Best of 2005", the game was recognized for "Best Music Game", "Best PlayStation 2 Music Game", "Best Licensed Soundtrack", "Best Licensed Soundtrack for PlayStation 2", "Best Offline Multiplayer Game", "Best PlayStation 2 Offline Multiplayer Game", and "Best Gaming Peripheral" (for the Mini Gibson SG controller). GameSpot also recognized the game in its "Best and Worst of 2005", awarding it honors for "Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game", "Most Metal", and "Reader's Choice – Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game". The Game Developers Choice Awards honored Guitar Hero for "Excellence in Audio" and "Excellence in Game Innovation". The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards honored the game with awards for "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering" (tie), and "Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack". Guitar Hero also won "Best Soundtrack" at the 2005 Spike TV Video Game Awards.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 21:22:49 GMT -5
103. Wild Arms 3 Wild Arms 3, known in Japan as Wild Arms Advanced 3rd, is a role-playing game developed by Media.Vision and Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console, and the sequel to Wild Arms and Wild Arms 2. Sony released it in Japan and North America in 2002 and Ubisoft published it in Europe in 2003. It is the first game in the Wild Arms series in which all party members are able to use ARMs. It was also the first console role-playing game released in the United States to use cel-shaded animation. It replaced equippable armor and weapons with 'Personal Skills' via Guardian (Mediums) invocation. The game takes place on a version of the planet Filgaia (see Wild Arms series) that is desertic to the point of having even its seas made of sand; supposedly the result of an ancient war. Four adventurers, known as 'Drifters', find themselves chosen to wield the power of the planet's spiritual protectors, The Guardians, to stop a prophesied but unknown menace to their world. As they adventure together, they are opposed by other drifter teams, from a trio of fanatical scientists called The Prophets, and from the "Demons" of Filgaian legend, eventually making startling discoveries about their world's true history, and their personal connections to it. Playable characters* Gallows Carradine is a 24-year-old Baskar native seemingly intent on escaping his hometown and priest bloodline by working as a low-rent Drifter bandit of some sort. His grandmother, Halle, gives the party hints and direction throughout the game, while disparaging her "useless" grandson. Gallows' younger brother Shane is a dream-seer for the tribe, and his predictions are known to always come true, his latest vision was of a "Blue Menace" who would seek to destroy Filgaia, eventually revealed to be Siegfried. His ARM is a sawed-off shotgun, and the only of the four main characters' weapons that is never discussed in the plot. * Clive Winslett is a 30-year-old cool-headed bounty-hunter with a soft spot for his family, consisting of his wife, Katherine, and their young daughter, Kaitlyn. Clive is tormented by an event in his past in which his mentor, Professor Berlitz, was killed during an excursion to delve into the mystery of Filgaia's past. Berlitz sacrificed himself to save Clive, whom his daughter Katherine was engaged. Clive's ARM is a sniper rifle, which was one of many inventions developed by his mentor. * Jet Enduro is a cold-blooded boy who suffers from amnesia and who lets nothing get in his way. It is learned at Leyline Observatory that Jet's original name was "Adam Kadmon" (which refers to "Primal Man" in Kabbalah), as stated by Werner Maxwell. His ARM is a machine gun, and unknown to Jet, it was designed to be usable only by him. He has a connection to Virginia's father Other charactersTwo teams of drifters oppose the heroes: one formed by Janus Cascade, a ruthless but charismatic bandit, and his lackeys, Romero and Dario; Janus later reveals himself to have been working for the Prophets. He is the villain for the first and second parts of the game. The Prophets inject him with something called Gias, which allows them to keep tabs on him, and punish him for failure via an electric shock. Janus ultimately attempts a not-too-subtle betrayal against the prophets, but it is revealed he was intended to be sacrificed by Ziegfried, to allow the demon to have a corporeal form. The other drifter team is composed of Maya Schrödinger, her brother Alfred, their stylish afro-ed bodyguard, Todd Dukakis, and a mysterious cat named Shady. Maya feels a rivalry with Virginia, and both helps and hinders Virginia at times. Maya has a unique ability among Filgaians to absorb information from books and allocate it to battle techniques, hence her Calamity Jane persona, she also appears as a witch and martial artist as well. Alfred is an explosives expert who always uses his trademark bombs. Todd however, eschews firepower in favor a sword, the Black Fenrir, used by Jack Van Burace of the original Wild ARMs along with a few of Jack's techniques. Todd mentions having learned the "Flash Draw", or iaido, techniques from Maya and Alfred's father, whom Todd repays by protecting his master's children after the man died. Shady was apparently summoned by a Schrödinger of a previous generation, and subsequently locked in a box for some reason. Maya found it in her family's estate and released him, earning his loyalty. Note that it is never explained what exactly Shady is, besides "Cat (?)", in game. This is a reference to Schrödinger's cat. The Prophets are a trio of scientists Leehalt Alcaste, Melody Vilente, and Malik Bendict who are obsessed with restoring Filgaia's decaying environment; unfortunately they don't care who suffers as a result. Each also has a personal agenda, Leehalt wants to rule, Melody wants to retain her beauty, and Malik wants to resurrect his dead mother. Following the advent of Siegfried, the trio gain more demonic forms. They are villains for the second and third parts of the game, and each demonstrates the ability to summon monsters at will, often resulting in a boss-battle for the heroes. A golem named Asgard is made by the prophets. He eventually gains feelings and personality, due to the way he was programmed to absorb data from every battle. His name is a reference to the "Earth Golem" of the first Wild Arms, as its name was Asgard in the Japanese version, and the PS2 remake, Alter Code: F. The mythical dragon, Lombardia allies herself with the party after they decide to look into acquiring aerial transportation. She joins them under the condition that she will be able to fight once again, and quench her thirst for battle. Lombardia's transformation into a jet-like form has likened her to that of the Transformers robots. The Metal Demon Zeikfried from the first Wild ARMs game returns, though his name is changed to Siegfried. He is the villain for the third part of the game, after he is revived by the Prophets at the Yggdrasil facility. He is also referred to as the "Blue Menace", of Shane's dreams. He acquires the three shields collected by Janus earlier, "Andro", "Crio" and "Hieraco", and applies their power to the prophets, making himself three new demon followers, akin to Alhazad, Harken, and Belselk of the first game. A Dream Demon named Beatrice appears near the end of the game, and is the villain for the final part of the game. Contrary to the way she apparently shows up out of nowhere, she can be seen as a random NPC in some of the game's towns, but is never able to be addressed as she will be gone if the party reached where she is. Beatrice ultimately reveals herself to be playing the role of the great manipulator, as every major event in the game can somehow be attributed to her. She is responsible for Shane's "dream sight", as well as guiding Lamium, the chairman of the members at the Ark of Destiny. She had used members of the Council of Seven to attempt to sabotage the Yggdrasil and create her Filgaia ten years prior, which led to the defoliation of the planet, after which she subsequently removed everyone's memory of the event. Her ultimate goal is to build a "new Filgaia", and propagate a new lineage of demons there. Strangely, after she is defeated at the end of the game, her voice is still heard, hinting that she may not be through with Filgaia after all. The game continually makes references to a group called the Council of Seven, a team of scientists who, ten years prior to the start of the game, were conducting experiments to restore the pulse of life to Filgaia in a facility known as the Yggdrasil. Unfortunately, the experiment went awry and did the exact opposite, sucking most of the remaining life from the planet, leaving most of it an expansive desert. Notable members of this group are each of the Three Prophets, as well as Virginia's father, Werner Maxwell. Rounding out the group were Jet's adoptive father/creator, Elliot Enduro, as well as Pete Inkapilia, and Duran Bryant, whom little is revealed about, but their notes detail that they were repeatedly visited by Beatrice in dreams. Virginia's mother, Ekatrina, was also working with the Council at some point in the past. While never alluded to outside of a few books in the game, and never affecting the plot, Wild Arms series' staple optional boss, Ragu O Ragla, appears once again as the ultimate boss of The Abyss optional dungeon. He is described as the King of the Monsters, and so terrible that he was sealed in the depths of The Abyss, so he would never return to savage Filgaia. He is fought in two battles in this game, once at floor 100 of The Abyss, and once again, stronger, when he blocks the parties exit from the area back on the first floor. The battle graphics have the same background effects as the last two games but this time, the camera can turn 360 degrees around the "battle room". Also, the characters can run while battling. As in the past two games, the characters have a turn-based system, but this can be modified on a battle-by-battle basis. The player must ask for information or find it another way. Afterwards, the map, which the player must buy, is used to find the correct zone. On release, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 32 out of 40.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 21:31:45 GMT -5
102. Need For Speed: Most Wanted Need for Speed: Most Wanted (commonly abbreviated to as NFS: MW or just Most Wanted) is a racing video game developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It is the ninth installment in the Need for Speed series. The game features street racing-oriented game play, with certain customization options from the Need for Speed: Underground series. The game is succeeded by Need for Speed: Carbon, which serves as a sequel to Most Wanted. Most Wanted has been released for Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and is the first Need for Speed game released for the seventh generation console, the Xbox 360, as one of the system's launch titles. A mobile phone version of the game was also released. Another version of Most Wanted, titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5–1–0 has been released for the PlayStation Portable. In May 2012, the PlayStation 2 version was released on the online virtual market, PlayStation Store, for the PlayStation 3. On June 1, 2012, a reboot of the game, also called Need for Speed: Most Wanted, was announced by the British developing team Criterion Games. Most Wanted is like other Need for Speed games, where the player selects one car and races against a time limit or other racers to reach a destination. Police chases have once again been integrated into certain racing sessions, in which the police employ vehicles and tactics to stop the player's car and arrest the player, like Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, and Need for Speed: Carbon. As players take control of faster cars and increasingly rely on nitrous oxide speed boosts, the oxide meter now refills automatically for the first time since its introduction in Underground, and driving sequences become fast-paced and intense similar to the Burnout series. Three distinct regions are offered in the city of Rockport, along with cycling weather. Racing events take place between sunrise and sunset, unlike in the Underground where the events took place at night. A Grand Theft Auto-like Free Roam mode is provided as in Need for Speed: Underground 2, but is still limited to Career mode, as well as pursuit-based events in other modes. Brand promotion from Underground 2 still continues strongly, with Old Spice and the presence of Burger King restaurants, Castrol oil, Axe Unlimited and Edge shaving gel. The Cingular logo is still visible in the game's wireless communication system. Performance, body and visual parts that can be bought in the game are also from real life companies. However, Best Buy stores did not return from Underground 2. The game provides players with three game modes. The Quick Race mode allows the player to select a car and an event and immediately start racing. The available cars and events are unlocked as the player progresses through the storyline in the Career mode. Achieving goals by winning races and performing a number of actions, dubbed "Milestones", during police pursuits, as well as a minimum Bounty are needed to advance in the storyline and race against any of the mode's 15 Blacklist racers. In the Xbox 360 version, the player is awarded with achievements each time a Blacklist opponent is defeated. Career mode introduces a new feature – the ability to win a Blacklist opponent's car ("pink slip"), bonus functions, extra cash or car parts and decors, after defeating the opponent in question. These come in the form of six markers – the rival's pink slip (which is concealed as a bonus marker), two bonus function markers, and three custom backroom parts markers of which there is a body part, visual upgrade, and performance marker ("Junkman Marker") that the player can select – of which the player can choose only two. New cars and parts are also unlocked as the player progresses through Career mode by beating Blacklist racers. In addition to the Quick Race and Career modes, there is also a "Challenge Series" mode involving 69 progressively difficult challenges where players are required to successfully complete Tollbooth races and pursuit challenges, such as tagging a number of police cars. The pre-tuned cars used in each Challenge is fixed, ranging from mostly Career cars with poor handling to traffic vehicles such as a dump truck or police cars. Additional bonus cars may be unlocked as the player progresses through Challenge mode. In terms of actual variations of races, Most Wanted inherits several racing modes prevalent in its Underground predecessors. The game's four existing modes: Circuit races, point-to-point Sprint races, lap knockout races and Drag races, remain largely unchanged since the first iteration of Underground, while Drifting, Street X, Underground Racing League tournaments and Outrun racing are removed. Meanwhile, Most Wanted sees the introduction of two new racing variations, which places emphasis on speed. The first mode is known as "Tollbooth," where a player races alone to designated checkpoints along a point-to-point route before time runs out; the more time a player has as they reach a toll booth, the more time they have to arrive at the next one. The second mode, dubbed "Speedtrap", sees racers competing with each other to get the highest accumulated speed record at multiple traffic cameras. At a speed trap/traffic camera, players accelerate their car to aim for the highest possible speed. Accumulated speed is reduced over a period of time after an opponent crosses the finish line first. Most Wanted features pursuit evasion in the game for the first time in the series since Hot Pursuit 2. In Career mode, police pursuits may occur during a race or during free roaming through the city, depending on the frequency of the police units in the area and traffic offenses players have committed. The player can initiate a pursuit immediately from the game's safe house or menu by choosing an unfinished Milestone or a Bounty challenge. Pursuits can also be initiated by selecting an appropriate Challenge in the Challenge Series mode. Traffic offenses committed by the player are known in game as Infractions. These include speeding, excessive speeding, reckless driving, driving off roadway, damage to property, hit and run, ramming a police unit, and resisting arrest. The system is significantly more complex than its previous Hot Pursuit incarnations. The manner in which the police handle a player is now determined by the "heat level" of the player's current car. Heat levels, which increase with the length of a police pursuit and the amount of damage caused by the player during the pursuit, add a twist to the pursuit. The higher the car's heat level, the more aggressive the police units are against the player, employing additional tactics and tools, such as roadblocks, spike strips, police helicopters and heavier and faster police cars such as police SUV's. In Career mode, pursuits are integrated into the game in such a way that it is necessary to participate in pursuit in order to be able to challenge Blacklist racers. The player must complete Milestones which involve committing at least a specified amount of traffic offenses or pursuit lengths during a pursuit, and collecting an amount of Bounty, a form of credit accumulated as players continue to evade the police or damage police units. A car's heat level may be reduced by changing the physical appearance of a car by changing body parts or paint color, or by using another purchased car with a lower heat level to race in the streets. If a car is not being used by the player its heat level will slowly lower over time. Rap sheets, with records such as the player's infractions, cost to state, deployed tactics and pursuit lengths, are also available for viewing by hacking into police records. Players are provided with several additional features which are useful during pursuits. The Speedbreaker, provided within the driving interface, slows down time similar to bullet time and momentarily adds weight to the player's car allowing it to become more difficult for other vehicles to push around, and induces a drift. This allows the player a limited amount of time to quickly maneuver the car out of difficult situations, or assess an escape route through a road block or spike strip blockade. Another feature in Most Wanted are Pursuit Breakers, road-side objects which are designed to collapse when a player uses their car to knock down its support, either damaging or disabling following police cars (which can be visually seen in many cases). In one example, if a player smashes through a gas station, the roof of the station falls potentially crushing police units following them. Pursuits in the game are split into two main parts. The first part, which is the actual pursuit itself, occurs when the player is being actively chased by police. The second part, known as the "Cooldown" mode, occurs when the police have lost sight of the player and are conducting a search for him/her. During this period of time, the pursuit and its corresponding timer are temporarily paused and a Cooldown bar is enabled, which will slowly fill up as time passes. Once the bar fills up completely, the player is considered to have evaded the pursuit. Conversely, if a police unit spots the player, the pursuit resumes. To evade the pursuit, it is necessary to enter Cooldown mode first. This is accomplished by getting a certain distance away from the police or by disabling police units. Cooldown spots, areas in the world usually not seen from the street or helicopters, can be used to hide from pursuers and aid in the player's escape. If the player finds a hiding spot and stops they will spend significantly less time in Cooldown mode. There are a wide range of cars available for the main Career mode of the game. Cars such as the Fiat Punto, Audi TT and Cadillac CTS are only seen in Most Wanted and tuners return from Underground 2 (e.g. Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7 and Mazda RX-8) but SUVs do not return except as non-playable police vehicles. Exotics like the Lotus Elise, Lamborghinis, Porsches make their first appearance since Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 and classic muscle cars featured in the Black Edition (e.g. Chevrolet Camaro) are new to the series. As the game progresses, better and faster cars are unlocked and races get faster and more intense as the player makes his/her way through the game. Cars must either be purchased at car lots or won by getting the pink slip to a Blacklist Racer's car, as detailed in the Modes section. Cars can be purchased at car lots in stock condition with no enhancement whatsoever. Not all of them are available or affordable for purchase at the beginning stages of Career mode and must be unlocked by defeating a certain Blacklist member. While the game features police cars, Most Wanted does not allow players to play as a pursuing police in chases. However, players may drive several police cars in Challenge mode, but are solely used in checkpoint races and police pursuits, where the police are still pursuing the player. As in the preceding Underground installments, the performance and physical appearance of the player's car can be extensively modified, but options for exterior and interior modifications have been significantly reduced to only the essentials. The customization of side mirrors, lights, exhausts and individual body kit pieces were dropped from body customization. However, instead of individual body kit pieces, up to 5 whole body kits can be chosen, some of which widen the car's stance. The "Car Specialties" customization (including neon, nitrous purge, hydraulics, spinners, doors, split hoods, and trunk audio) have been completely eliminated with the exception of window tint and custom gauges. Paint customization is limited to the main body color (with mirror, exhaust, spoiler, roof scoop, and brake color options gone). Unlike the Underground games, visual customization is used to lower the car's "heat level", instead of increasing the car's "visual rating". Additionally, players are allowed to assume a sleeper appearance (leaving the exterior of the car unmodified or barely modified) for cars without penalty in Most Wanted. The player arrives in Rockport City, driving a racing version of the BMW M3 GTR. Following Mia Townsend (played by Josie Maran), the player proves his driving prowess as he is pursued by a veteran police officer named Sergeant Cross (played by Dean McKenzie), who vows to take down the player and end street racing in Rockport. Races seem to be in the player's favor until a particular group of racers, led by the game's antagonist, Clarence "Razor" Callahan (played by Derek Hamilton), sabotages and win the player's car in a race. Without a car to escape in, the player is arrested by Cross, but is later released due to lack of evidence. Mia picks up the player and then informs the player about Razor's new status on the Blacklist, a group of 15 drivers most wanted by the Rockport Police Department. She then helps by assisting the player in acquiring a new car and working his way up the Blacklist. Rivals are defeated one by one, and the player is rewarded with reputation, new rides, and ride improvements with every Blacklist member taken down. As new boroughs are opened up throughout Rockport (Rosewood, Camden Beach, and Downtown Rockport), Mia also sets up safehouses for the player to lie low in, in exchange for placement of "side bets" on the player's races. The blacklist 15 represent the best of the best and the most wanted racers wanted by the cops in Rockport. The names and cars are listed below but the required amount of races, milestones, or bounty, [including blacklist races] are not shown but each show how many you have to do to beat them. The catch is that you have to win all of them, not the majority of the races. The final challenge for the #1 spot on the Blacklist puts the player in a race against Razor, for 5 rival races, with the player emerging as the victor, thus reclaiming the BMW M3 GTR . When Razor refuses to relinquish ownership of the car and attacks Mia after she confiscates the keys from him, she subdues him, while revealing herself to be an Undercover Cop. Mia throws the keys to the player, and tells him to escape the incoming police force. Razor is taken into custody and the player is pursued by the entire Rockport Police Department's Federal Undercover Vehicles under the command of Cross. The player manages to slip away from Cross and the cops and abandons Rockport City by launching the car over an old broken bridge pointed out by Mia. After the player's escape, Cross brings up the player's rap sheet and adds him to the National Most Wanted List. In addition to Razor, the entire Blacklist is arrested with the "help" of the player. Need for Speed: Most Wanted 'Black Edition', a collector's edition of Most Wanted, was released in celebration of the Need for Speed series' 10th anniversary and in conjunction with the release of Most Wanted. The Black Edition features additional races, bonus cars and other additional content. The Black Edition also comes with a special feature DVD that contains interviews and videos about the game. The Black Edition was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the United States and Australia; only the PlayStation 2 version of Black Edition was released additionally for Europe. The cutscenes in the game are live-action videos shot with real actors and set pieces, and CGI effects are added to car exteriors and environments for extra visual flair. The videos are presented in a significantly different style from the Underground series, and this presentation of cut scenes is used again in Carbon and Undercover. The depiction between all of the versions graphics-wise is not the same especially on portable versions. The Microsoft Windows version varies by hardware and can look better compared to the console versions. The recommended hardware or above has a similar frame rate to the Xbox 360 version. The game makes heavy use of the HDRR and motion blur effects to give a more realistic feel. Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5–1–0 is a PlayStation Portable port of Most Wanted, released on the same day as its console and personal computer counterparts. Similar to Most Wanted, Most Wanted 5–1–0 features a similar Blacklist 15 listing and Career Mode, with the addition of "Tuner Takedown", a "Be the Cop" mode not featured on Most Wanted. Most Wanted 5–1–0 lacks many elements of its other console and PC counterparts, like cut scenes, a storyline and a free roam mode, and contains minor differences (including listing the real name of a Blacklist racer rather than his/her nickname). The title of the game is based on the numerals "5–1–0", which is the police code for street racing. Most Wanted, like the Underground series, avoids the use of major vehicle damage on all racing models, with only scratched paint and heavily cracked windscreens comprising the whole of the racers' damage modeling. Police cars, however, are subject to extreme physical body damages. They can be immobilized if they flip over or have been heavily damaged by "pursuit breakers" and/or the player's car. EA ceased support to the Windows version of the game very early in its life cycle. The latest patch for the Windows version (1.3) was released on December 6, 2005. Need for Speed: Most Wanted has received positive reviews. It has an aggregate score of 82 out of 100 on both Metacritic and GameRankings. GameSpot, who gave the game an 8.4 out of 10, praised the game for its "sharp graphics" and "outstanding sound effects", but criticized the AI for being "too easy at first, but too hard later on". Most Wanted was a commercial success; it sold nearly six million copies worldwide. IGN gave it an 8.5 out of 10 "great" rating, praising almost every element of the game. Praise was given to the map design, described as "a crazily chromed out, sepia-tone landscape of industrial structures", car modeling, saying "The car models are especially sleek looking too", the car line up and the return of exotics. Particularly strong praise was given to the police system, saying "The cops are never that smart, but they continually grow in aggressiveness and numbers." and "they add that very necessary component of challenge, annoyance, and heat that makes this game so fun". Praise even went to the cut scenes and their casting, which usually falls victim to critics, saying "this mixture of animated, highly colored FMV characters and stylized backgrounds is both imaginative and refreshing". On April 18, 2012, South Africa-based online retailer BTGames, the retailer that listed the existence of Jak and Daxter Collection, listed both Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 and Dead Space 3 for pre-order, hinting that a possible sequel is in the works. The Most Wanted reboot was officially confirmed on June 1, 2012 on the official website and Facebook fan page. EA presented the game at their E3 live press conference on June 4, 2012.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 21:37:10 GMT -5
101. Megaman X8 Mega Man X8, known as Rockman X8 in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 console. It is the eighth game in the Mega Man X series and the most recently released game in that series. It was first released in North America on December 7, 2004. The PS2 version, as well as a PC iteration, were released in Japan and Europe the following year. The plot of Mega Man X8 focuses on the abduction of a next-generation "Reploid" from the construction site of a space elevator, and the subsequent pursuit of his captors. During the course of game play the motivations of these captors comes into focus, and it is up to the heroes, led by Mega Man X, to stop them. The gameplay of Mega Man X8 is similar to the other games in the series, in which the player must complete a series of stages. Defeating their bosses will earn that player character its special weapon. Although Mega Man X8 uses 3D graphics like Mega Man X7, the development team chose not to opt for 3D gameplay. The game was met with a mixed critical reception. The story is set during the late 21XX. The Reploid rebellions across the past years continue, seemingly with no possible solution. To escape these troubles, mankind has begun the next generation of research and development by constructing an orbital elevator able to take equipment and handwork to the moon which they seek to colonize. This operation is labeled as the "Jakob Project", with the orbital elevator bearing its name, and a Reploid named Lumine is placed in charge of the project. As another part of the project, an advanced generation of Reploids is dispatched to the moon surface in order to work on the project. These New Generation Reploids are able to use DNA data to change their shapes. They are the perfect workers because they can change their shape according to a task, and have subroutines built in to prevent them from going Maverick. (In Mega Man X7, it was revealed that Axl is the first of his kind, a prototype next-generation Reploid.) Everything seems to be running smoothly until Vile, who has apparently been resurrected from his earlier defeat in Mega Man X3, kidnaps Lumine for unknown reasons. It becomes the Maverick Hunters' mission to rescue him. However, what the Hunters do not know is that Sigma has returned. Contained on every single copy chip in these robots is Sigma's own DNA, meaning that the next-generation 'Maverick-Proof' reploids are in fact able to go Maverick. Sigma seeks to remove the "old generation" and repopulate it with his "children". When Sigma is defeated in his palace, Lumine steps in to take the entire operation over and kill the Maverick Hunters. Lumine gloats to the Hunters that, in order for evolution to take its course, he and his fellow new-generation Reploids must destroy both humans and "obsolete" Reploids. After a massive struggle, Lumine is defeated. When Axl walks up to Lumine's body, however, he is shocked as a tentacle springs from it and damages the crystal on his head. As the three different characters ride back down the Jakob Elevator, Zero wonders if he no longer has to fight now that Sigma is dead for good, while X ponders Lumine's words on evolution. Axl is unconscious, but his shattered crystal can be seen glowing with a tiny fragment of a crystal shard. Gameplay in Mega Man X8 is similar to previous Mega Man X games. After an introductory stage, Mega Man X8 presents the player with a choice of 8 stages, with a Maverick robot serving as the stage boss. After defeating the 8 bosses, a series of fortress stages open up for the player to complete in linear progression until the final boss is defeated. This general format is the template of all X series games. X, Axl, and Zero have character-specific attributes to assist them in navigating the terrain and defeating enemies: * X can find and equip individual body parts, obtained from capsules hidden by Dr. Light. He can equip any combination of previously obtained armors to a "Neutral Armor," a new addition to this game. As X defeats bosses, he gets special weapons which have a limited supply of ammo, just as in previous games in the series. Unlike in X7, X can only fire his shot in a straight line. * Axl has the ability to fire his gun in any direction, hover and glide horizontally for short distances, and stick in place on a wall as long as he is firing. He also has a 'Copy Shot' which allows him to assimilate the DNA of certain enemy reploids and take their forms and abilities for a short time. By defeating bosses, Axl gains new types of guns which have unlimited ammo. Unlike in X7, Axl can rapidly fire his guns. * Zero uses many different short range weapons and is the only character that can double-jump, but in this game Zero moves slower than X with armor - what was never been in any other series. He learns new attack techniques by defeating bosses, some of which change depending on which weapon he has equipped. Mega Man X8 was developed by Capcom Production Studio 1. The game's direct predecessor, Mega Man X7, was the first entry in the Mega Man X series to feature full 3D graphics, as well as 3D gameplay. However, as stated by Capcom producer and original Mega Man illustrator Keiji Inafune, the development team chose not to pursue 3D gameplay for Mega Man X8 simply because of its graphical style. Inafune himself was not involved in the production of Mega Man X8, although the game's art designers did consult with him before changing the overall style of the characters. The game's main illustrator, Tatsuya Yoshikawa, was responsible for designing the protagonists, the Maverick bosses, and the newer ancillary cast. Yoshikawa took into account what the characters may resemble if they were toys, and even imitated the joints of Revoltech figures. The musical score for Mega Man X8 was co-composed by Yuko Komiyama, Naoto Tanaka, and Shinya Okada. The 51-song Rockman X8 Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on April 13, 2005 by Suleputer. The Japanese opening theme is "Wild Fang" by Janne Da Arc; the band had previously done television advertisement themes for Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Battle Network 2. However, the theme was not included in the soundtrack and was even omitted on the game's localization in English. Mega Man X8 received a mixed reception. It was generally praised for returning to a more classic style of Mega Man gameplay and removing the criticized gameplay elements of Mega Man X7. IGN praised the game for its mixture of 2D and 3D, and its camera system, saying "Thankfully the transition from one plane to another is pretty seamless and isn't the bothersome chore that switches in X7 were. It's an easy and totally acceptable gameplay method and one that should have been used in 2003 to begin with." On the other hand, GameSpot criticized the game for its level design, which often made the game extremely frustrating to play. They also derided the story, remarking that it "dabbles in a lot of nonsensical anime-style ramblings about things that are of little importance to the actual game." According to Famitsu, Mega Man X8 was the tenth best-selling game in Japan during its week of release at 14,927 units. A total of 35,546 units were sold in the region by the end of 2005.
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Seth Drakin of Monster Crap
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 3, 2012 22:03:44 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) 110. Burnout 3: Takedown 109. Legends of Wrestling II 108. Rogue Galaxy 107. Maximo: Ghosts To Glory 106. Silent Hill 3 105. MLB Slugfest 2003 104. Guitar Hero 103. Wild Arms 3 102. Need for Speed: Most Wanted 101. Megaman X8
Tomorrow, we find out who cracked the Top 100
Clues to Next Five Games
* Compilation of the first six games in the battle against the "Maverick" robots
* Create a Championshop Mode is now available
* Dragon Adventure plays like a board game
* Limited copies of this game featured the game's cut scenes cut into a three and a half hour feature film called Existence
* Pierluigi Collina has a whistle in his mouth and is pointing at you
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 10:44:35 GMT -5
100. Pro Evolution Soccer 3 Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (also known as Winning Eleven 7 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 in the US) is the third installment of Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer football video game series. It is also the first in the series to be released on PC. The cover features famed referee Pierluigi Collina. New Features are: * New graphics engine. * Improved gameplay, control, ball physics, animation and AI. * New Shop mode, where points can be traded in for hidden items. * Master League expanded to four divisions, with tons of new players. * For 1-4 players (multitap required for 3 or 4 players).
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 10:49:35 GMT -5
99. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence Subsistence was released in Japan on December 22, 2005, later in North America on March 14, 2006, in Europe on October 6, 2006 and in Australia on October 13, 2006. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence continues the Metal Gear Solid series tradition of follow-up enhanced, international version releases. While previous releases, such as Metal Gear Solid: Integral and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance included skill challenge missions and/or side story missions, Subsistence eschews the extra single-player missions to include updated versions of the series' first two games, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), a brand-new competitive online mode, and a fully 3D, user-controlled camera in the main portion of the game. Subsistence's online multiplayer component, titled Metal Gear Online, consists of five tournament-style game modes, each with a capacity of up to eight players. This mode pits players, each playing as a generic soldier against each other in deathmatch battles and variations of capture the flag, using stages, items, maneuvers, and units (such as the KGB, GRU or Ocelot Unit) from the main game. Depending on server settings, each round the highest-scoring player in each unit automatically assumes the role of one of the main characters (or Reiko Hinomoto from Rumble Roses), along with unique abilities and/or items. For example, the highest scoring player on the GRU team would assume the role of Major Raikov, leader of the GRU, next round. Konami's Metal Gear Online service for the PlayStation 2 closed in Japan on December 26, 2006, followed by in North America on April 2, 2007 and in Europe on October 30, 2007. There is currently an online community dedicated to the revival of the original form of Metal Gear Online, called Save MGO. In addition to the older games and the online mode, Subsistence includes many minor features common to international version releases. It includes the downloadable extra camouflage and face paint designs and "Snake vs. Monkey" stages previously exclusive to the European release, the European Extreme difficulty level, parody cut scenes and trailers from the official website, and connectivity with Metal Gear Acid 2. The Japanese version also includes a URL for a hidden website that allows the download of OtaClock, a PC and Mac clock program that features Metal Gear Solid series recurring character Otacon. This website is now publicly available. "Limited Edition" copies of Subsistence also include Existence, the game's cut scenes edited into a three-and-a-half-hour feature film with additional scenes and remastered sound. The North American "Limited Edition" package was only available to consumers who pre-ordered it before the game's release. The three disc edition is the standard release of Subsistence in Europe to make up for the title's lengthy delay. A bonus documentary DVD video titled Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1 was bundled with pre-orders for Subsistence in North America and with the European Platinum reissue of Snake Eater released in Germany on March 23, 2006. The disc includes a five-part, 30-minute featurette about the entire Metal Gear series interspersed with an interview of Hideo Kojima, as well as trailers for various current Metal Gear games. Subsistence received marginally higher review scores than the original Snake Eater, averaging 94% on Metacritic. Reviewers commented that the introduction of the 3D camera removed the "only grade-A problem" and makes the gameplay feel "less restrictive and more natural." The online mode is considered "impressive for a PS2 game", though "MGS3's distinctive gameplay conventions do not entirely lend themselves to the online action-gaming experience." Subsistence received IGN's award for "best online game" for the PlayStation 2 in December 2006. Ultimately, this edition sold over 1 million copies worldwide.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 10:52:19 GMT -5
98. Dragonball Z: Budokai 2 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, released as Dragon Ball Z 2 in Japan, is a fighting game based upon the popular anime series, Dragon Ball Z. Budokai 2 is a sequel to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and was developed by Dimps and published by Atari for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in North America on December 4, 2003, and on the Nintendo GameCube on December 15, 2004. The game was published in Japan by Bandai, and released for the PlayStation 2 on February 5, 2004. The game's features include a tournament stage, versus mode, and an item shop. The story mode in the game is known as Dragon Adventure, and plays like a board game as the player assembles a team of Z-fighters to challenge the various enemies in the series starting from the Saiyan Saga up to the final Kid Buu Saga. The game has a total of 31 playable characters including fusions of different fighters, and Majin Buu's various forms. The Japanese version of the game added several new costumes, as well as a new stage in the game's story mode. Some of the added costumes were added to the North American release of the GameCube version. Once again, the North American versions feature English voice acting from the North American Funimation dub. The European PlayStation 2 version also features it, while the later European GameCube version switched back to the original Japanese voice acting because of negative feedback from most European Dragon Ball fans which were used to the Japanese dub since the 16-bit era.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 10:59:52 GMT -5
97. Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 is a professional wrestling video game released by THQ and developed by YUKE's Future Media Creators. The game is based on the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It is the eight installment of the WWE SmackDown! series and is the successor to 2005's WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 and was succeeded by WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. On March 31, 2006, THQ, YUKE's and WWE officially confirmed the game. The game was released in November 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 consoles and was released in December 2006 for the PlayStation Portable system. The game introduced a few key new features including an analog control system, interactive hotspots, and fighting within the arena crowd. The game also included several improvements on the previous game's existing match types and modes. The Xbox 360 version was the first game in the SmackDown series to be published on a seventh generation video game console and the first SmackDown game to be released on a Microsoft console. It is also the first game to be released outside the PlayStation consoles. THQ said they would bring a more realistic fighting experience with a new, but old analog control grappling system, enabling the player to throw their opponent anywhere they want with in reason, in contrast to previous preset animations. In the new system, grappling moves are now affected by analog control, in contrast to the button-based system from preceding games. Much like the previous game, one can also move around the ring by analog control instead of using the D-pad. An option to switch to the previous control layout is also possible. The chain reversal system has also been improved and now involves grapples as well as strikes. The Category 1 and Category 2 movesets are determined by your weight-class now, so lighter wrestlers have access to martial arts or lucadore move-sets, while heavier wrestlers have access to more power moves. In addition, a wrestler can only lift up or hurt with certain strikes, wrestlers one weight class heavier than them or less. A lot more interactivity in the arenas is also present such as fighting within the crowd. Signs and objects from the crowd can be used to beat down the opponent. One major feature is the inclusion of environmental "hotspots" such as the ring ropes, steel steps and scaffolding which players can interact with. The PS2 version however has a restriction on crowd fighting and interaction for specific match types. The graphics have also improved with each superstar consisting of 20,000 polygons for the Xbox 360 compared to the total of 500 from the PS2 version of the previous game. Sweat from the wrestlers has now been included in the Xbox 360 version of the game. The game's audio system has been overhauled and features new sound effects in Dolby 5.1 as well as the inclusion of new crowd chants and grunting from the wrestlers. Cory Ledesma, creative manager of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, confirmed that the game has no new match types. However, there are improvements in existing match types. The Money in the Bank variant to the ladder match is now added and all ladder matches feature more flexibility in placing the ladders. The player now has to use the analog sticks as hands and arms to retrieve the match's prize. The Tables match has also undergone a complete overhaul, requiring players to build up momentum for a finisher and damage their opponent enough before being able to put them through a table, and making one of your opponents limb red. This also marked the first game since WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth to not feature a diva-specific match stipulation with the Fulfill Your Fantasy match from the previous game removed The Create-A-Entrance mode has been improved with a new preview mode. As well as instantaneous previews of the entrances when the player makes a change, one can also specifically set the timing for camera angles, pyrotechnics and other effects. Despite the Xbox 360's hard drive and MP3 capabilitiy, the game is unable to recognize any music you may have saved onto your hard drive like previous WWE games for the original Xbox did for custom entrance music. There is also a Create-A-Stable Mode which allows you to make a tag-team, alliance, or a stable with up to five members. This also allows you to come out in the same entrance as your teammates unlike many other WWE wrestling games. Inspired by John Cena's custom spinner championship belts, the ability to create belts with spinning centerpieces in the returning Create-A-Championship mode is now possible as well as the player's ability to manually spin these belts during an entrance. The championship belts from the previous game are included in this game in addition to created belts. These include the belts used by WWE in 2006: the WWE, World Heavyweight, Intercontinental, United States, World Tag Team, WWE Tag Team, Women's and Cruiserweight championships. Stone Cold Steve Austin's "Smoking Skull" belt and the nWo's version of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship has joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Championship and the WWE Hardcore Championship as classic belts that can also be won and defended in the game. The official demo for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on September 28, 2006, containing a No-DQ match between Triple H and Kane.[10] Like the previous game, the game was released on the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable. While the series has traditionally been exclusive to the PlayStation series of consoles, this game was released on Xbox 360 after a series of lackluster wrestling games THQ released on the original Xbox. This is the first time a game in the SmackDown! series is featured in two different console generations. A PlayStation 3 version was also planned but has been cancelled. The developers publicly announced that they would rather concentrate their resources on other game systems; however, next year's SmackDown! game is planned for release on the PlayStation 3. There was also consideration over releasing the game on the Wii as the game's developers were waiting to learn more about the system. However, during a video interview, creative manager Cory Ledesma announced there are no plans for SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 to be released on the Wii. A special edition of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 for the Xbox 360 will also be sold for a limited time at EB Games and GameStop. This version will feature the game in an aluminum case along with a bonus disc from The History of the WWE Championship DVD boxset and a copy of The Ultimate WWE Trivia Book. Though gaming critics have rated this less than series' previous release, reaction to this game has been generally positive. The game currently has ratings of 82.4%, 80.8% and 78.3% on Game Rankings for the Xbox 360, PS2 and PSP versions respectively. There is some criticism over glitches featured in the game, such as commentary (such as a chair shot being referred to as a Stone Cold Stunner, and the commentators talking about wrestlers who aren't in the match) as well as ring announcing problems (such as the announcement of only one member of a tag team in some matches or Tony Chimel announcing in the ring to Lilian Garcia's voice). Also, there are some game-breaking glitches present (which can possibly stem from the game's collision detection issues), with wrestlers able to skip climbing an occupied ladder, making the Money In The Bank match extremely difficult. For example, if one wrestler is on top of the ladder, another wrestler may suddenly superplex him, without even climbing the ladder. However that would only happen if the player has a stored finisher, meaning that the suplex is the ladder finisher. If a wrestler receives a Controlled-Drop Suplex onto the table, he may somehow land between the two announcers, and the crowd.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 11:04:43 GMT -5
96. Megaman X Collection Mega Man X Collection is a compilation of video games developed by Capcom. It was released on January 10, 2006 exclusively in North America for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2 platforms. Mega Man X Collection contains the first six games in the Mega Man X series, which originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and made its way onto various 32-bit consoles and PC. The plot follows the protagonist Mega Man X and his partner Zero as they battle Sigma and his army of "Maverick" robots. All six games are action platformers in which the player traverses a series of stages and gains the special weapons of defeated bosses. In addition to these games, Mega Man X Collection includes unlockable artwork and music relating to the series, as well as Mega Man Battle & Chase, a racing game based on the original Mega Man series that was previously unreleased in North America. The compilation is a follow-up to Mega Man Anniversary Collection, another compilation of ten games in the original Mega Man series previously released on both platforms and the Microsoft Xbox. Critical reception for Mega Man X Collection has been average to fairly positive. Reviews have noted it as a competent portfolio of games of varying quality, but have expressed negative comments regarding its lack of additional content. Mega Man X Collection was first announced by Capcom Production Studio 1 producer Tatsuya Minami on February 1, 2005. The anthology was formally announced by Capcom's North American division on May 18, 2005 with a projected release date for that autumn. "Building upon the success of Mega Man Anniversary Collection, Capcom now delivers an even more incredible compilation of games from our premiere video game icon," stated Capcom's director of marketing Todd Thorson. "The Mega Man X series of games has revolutionized the long standing Mega Man franchise. Combining them in a comprehensive package is simply a fantastic value." Mega Man X Collection was showcased at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that summer, but was not released until January 10, 2006. Mega Man X Collection contains the first six games in the Mega Man X series. Mega Man X and Mega Man X2 are based on their appearances on the SNES. Mega Man X3, also originally on the SNES, is based on its 32-bit update for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and PC. The remaining three games are based on their PlayStation renditions. All of the games now use save files, including the first few titles that originally used passwords only, though upon loading save data, the player is still greeted with the old, fully functional password entry screen, complete with the correct password to access the saved game. Mega Man Battle & Chase is a game that is unlocked after completing the first three games. It is a classic series kart-racing game previously unreleased in North America. Mega Man X Collection also contains unlockable artwork and music. Unlike the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, which had different unlockable content depending on the version, the PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions are identical. List of games are: * Mega Man X (1993) * Mega Man X2 (1994) * Mega Man X3 (1995) * Mega Man X4 (1997) * Mega Man X5 (2000) * Mega Man X6 (2001) The version of Mega Man X3 included is based on the PlayStation version instead of the Super NES version. Also included is an unlockable Mega Man Battle & Chase, making it the first time this game was made available in North America. Critical reviews for Mega Man X Collection have been generally positive or average. GameSpot gave the compilation a 7.2/10 and praises the first two Mega Man X games, saying they "are just about on par with some of the better games in the original Mega Man series". However, they comment that X5 and X6 "just aren't very good at all". They conclude by saying the compilation "will please the series' longtime fans, and serves as a good primer for those who never had the opportunity to check out these games back in the day". IGN gave the compilation a 7/10, stating "While its overall game quality and list of extras isn't nearly as consistent or flashy as its Mega Man cousin, there's still a lot to like".
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 11:21:51 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) 110. Burnout 3: Takedown 109. Legends of Wrestling II 108. Rogue Galaxy 107. Maximo: Ghosts To Glory 106. Silent Hill 3 105. MLB Slugfest 2003 104. Guitar Hero 103. Wild Arms 3 102. Need for Speed: Most Wanted 101. Megaman X8 100. Pro Evolution Soccer 3 99. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence 98. Dragonball Z: Budokai 2 97. Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 96. Megaman X Collection
Clues to the next five games
* Bogon Galaxy
* George Lucas' classic trilogy done in the form of a children's toy
* Introduced Tales of Souls
* Introduction of Christie Montiero
* The name for a group of assassins
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 12:27:18 GMT -5
95. Soul Calibur 3 Soulcalibur III is a fighting game produced by Namco as a sequel to Soulcalibur II and the fourth overall installment in the Soul series. It was originally released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. An improved arcade version, Soulcalibur III: Arcade Edition, was released in 2006. The game includes new modes such as Tales of Souls, an interactive story-driven mode comparable to Edge Master Mode from Soul Edge; Character Creation, in which players can create custom characters from 13 total occupations, with multiple weapons and fighting styles; and Chronicles of the Sword, a real-time-play mode that allows players to take their created souls through adventures of their own. The game also has the largest character roster — 24 characters playable in Tales of Souls mode and an additional 18 playable in all other modes — and largest battle stage selection in Soul series history. The Character Creation Mode allows the player to choose from several classes, clothing and armor, and physical features. Most of the classes can use up to five disciplines, three of which are unique, and two of which are "Soul of ..." disciplines: an exact replica of a main story character's moves. The created fighter's personality can be altered, which influences their quotes and their actions during battle. However, the personality is chosen by the equipment the character wears, and not directly by the player. The Soul Arena is a mode that allows both the eight-match Quick Play (the standard Arcade Mode of the game), which is light on story and allows a speedy confrontation with Abyss, as well as the pre-defined Missions which include variations on the standard matches. There is a World Competition mode created to simulate tournament rounds (of either eliminations or Round Robin) against the CPU. The Tales of Souls mode is presented as a book, narrating the selected character's story in detail during various chapters. The player can input button combos when an icon appears in the top right-hand corner during cut scene movies. The cut scenes can have different outcomes depending on whether the player successfully inputs the sequence. During movies that precede a battle after the cut scene ends, not inputting the code could result in the player starting the subsequent battle with a disadvantageous effect. Although Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Dead or Alive series all supported online play, Soulcalibur III does not. The game's producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama said "At the current time, the online infrastructure is extremely different between countries, and there are people that can not enjoy network gaming. We've decided to concentrate on improving the game's offline content and its characters so that people all over the world will be able to have fun." The main three new characters in the game are Tira, Zasalamel and Setsuka, all with totally different fighting styles than other series characters. Nearly all characters who have been featured in a Soul series title in the past return, except for Inferno, Necrid, Seong Han-myeong, Edge Master and the console-exclusive Soulcalibur II guest characters (Heihachi, Link, and Spawn). Soulcalibur II's mimic character Charade does return in a non-playable form, as do the generic Lizardmen. Unlockable characters include personnel in the Chronicles of the Sword, opponents from the Tales of Souls mode, and the weapon, armor, and item shop owners. Chronicles of the Sword is a one-player mode. The objective is to make a character using the custom character creation system and play it through a story. It begins with the player starting out as a rookie commander for the Grandall Empire. There are 20 chronicles, or levels, each one getting harder than the last. The basis is the player's troops are minimized and they move like board game pieces. The player must fight the enemies and take their strongholds scattered through the level. When two enemies on the map are fighting, the player could have them slash each other on their own or duel it out Soulcalibur style. Winning the chronicles results in a certain amount of gold, depending on how well the player did. As the characters fight, they gain levels, and become stronger. Sometimes the standard characters may be found in strongholds or standing and they are always level 60 (Olcadan and Abyss, however, do not appear). As the story progresses the player also gain some pre-made characters that can be controlled. The plot places the player's character in the role of a young cadet of the Grandall Empire, who is chosen to lead the war against its neighboring countries, Halteese and Dalkia. As the player proceeds in their campaign, taking territories and forcing enemy troops back, they start to realize the true meaning of war and the reason they fight, eventually discovering the true enemies of their country. Throughout the chronicles, the player gains many rewards. Most character's ultimate weapons (the weapons with four effects) are obtained throughout the story. The player can also unlock more armor, faces, disciplines, etc. for custom characters. If the player starts Chronicles of the Sword after certain weapon disciplines have been unlocked, the character may use those during battle. This game takes place shortly after the events of Soulcalibur II, meaning that the year is still 1591. The amount of time is not specified, but taking into account the various characters' profiles, a minimum of four months has already passed (one month Xianghua needed to carry Kilik back to his master's hermit, three months that took Kilik to surpass his master's training). The wicked Soul Edge survived its fated encounter with the wielder of Soulcalibur, Xianghua, and restored its control over the body of Siegfried Schtauffen, turning him back into the Azure Knight Nightmare. Four years later, Nightmare was about to restore Soul Edge, when suddenly a man named Raphael appeared, intending on taking Soul Edge. Nightmare defeated the attacker, but was distracted by Siegfried's latent will trying to restore his body. Using the distraction, Raphael pierced Soul Edge's eye, giving Siegfried the edge he needed to break free from Soul Edge's control once again. After waking up, Siegfried found the holy sword, free from its entrapment within the wicked sword, and out of instinct used it to pierce Soul Edge. The result led to both swords sealed together in a fateful embrace, an "Embrace of Souls". Siegfried took both weapons and started a quest to find a definitive way of sealing Soul Edge, but memories of his slaughters, plus the attacks of those resentful of the Azure Knight, drove his mind towards insanity. Unbeknownst to him, the evil soul of the blade escaped and obtained a temporary shell, starting a new killing spree to strengthen himself while seeking its body, Soul Edge. What neither of the two warriors knows is that a man behind the scenes is controlling their steps, searching to end an everlasting curse. And that many other warriors ventured in search of the blade as well. A soundtrack for the game was released as Soulcalibur III Original Soundtrack - Legend of Sounds. The game has generally received positive reviews with an aggregate score of 86/100 on Metacritic. IGN who gave the game a 8.5/10, praising it for its "stunning environment" and "charming characters" but thought that the game could use more diverse sound effects. GameSpot praised the "fun, fast-paced gameplay" but criticized the lack of online play.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Dec 4, 2012 12:30:41 GMT -5
94. Tekken 4 Tekken 4 is the fourth main installment in the Tekken series. It was developed and published by Namco. It was released as an arcade game in 2001 and on the PlayStation 2 in 2002. It is succeeded by Tekken 5. Tekken 4 introduced significant new gameplay changes from the previous games in the series. For the first time, it allowed players to maneuver around an arena interacting with walls and other obstacles for extra damage. These "environmental hazards" in turn allowed players to juggle opponents for consecutive combos and allowed the designers to implement a "switch maneuver", which let players escape from cornering and throw the tide in their favor. Also, the game engine had been tweaked to be more focused on the environment, causing the characters to move more slowly and fluidly than in Tekken Tag Tournament. Finally, the game introduced a brand new graphics system, that featured increased lighting, dynamic physics, and smoother surfaces. Four characters have their own boss characters: Kazuya and Hwoarang face Jin, Lee faces Combot, and Heihachi faces Kazuya. In addition, Tekken 4 featured unusual costumes for the returning characters, and replaced the recurring minor character Mokujin with a similar one, Combot. Combot was not included in Tekken 5, with Mokujin returning, and the costume changes in 4 were also largely discarded. Tekken 4 includes a beat 'em up minigame available from the outset called Tekken Force. Similar to the previous minigame found in Tekken 3, it presents the player with an over-the-shoulder perspective as they fight wave upon wave of Heihachi's Tekken Force through four stages, eventually facing Heihachi himself. The player can pick up health and power-ups while they fight waves of enemies. In the minigame it is discovered that the Tekken Force possesses different ranks in the organization, evident in different amounts of stamina, strength and skill. Two years after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Heihachi Mishima and his scientists have captured samples of Ogre's blood and tissue to splice with Heihachi's genome, in order to make him immortal. The experiment fails, since Heihachi lacks the necessary Devil gene. Heihachi searches for his grandson, Jin Kazama, who does possess the Devil gene. Meanwhile Heihachi learns that the body of his son, Kazuya, who also had the Devil gene and whom Heihachi killed by throwing into a volcano twenty years ago, is stored in the labs of the G Corporation. Heihachi sends his Tekken Forces to raid G Corporation and retrieve Kazuya's remains, but the mission fails when the Force is wiped out by none other than Kazuya himself, who has been revived by G Corporation. Meanwhile, Jin is unable to be located. Unknown to Heihachi, Jin went into a self-imposed training exile in Brisbane, Australia to unlearn the Mishima karate style and master traditional karate, loathing anything to do with his bloodline. In an attempt to lure Kazuya and Jin out, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4, with the ownership of the Mishima Zaibatsu being the top prize, believing both his son and grandson will come to him for their own vengeful reasons. They do so and at Stage Seven, where Jin and Kazuya are scheduled to fight, Jin is ambushed and captured by the Tekken Force. Kazuya is declared the default winner of Stage Seven and meets Heihachi at the final stage. The father and son clash in battle once again with Heihachi emerging the victor. After the fight, Heihachi leads Kazuya to Hon-Maru, a Mishima Dojo in the woods where an unconscious Jin has been chained. There, Devil takes over Kazuya's mind and tells Heihachi that he has come to extract part of the Devil Gene he lost into Jin, after Kazuya was thrown into the volcano. As a reward of taking him to Jin, Devil knocks Heihachi out of the room with his telepathic powers instead of killing him, then attempts to absorb Jin's Devil gene. However he is prevented from doing so by Jin's maternal bloodline, that of Jun Kazama. Kazuya suddenly overcomes Devil and regains control of his body, subordinating and merging Devil to his control. Kazuya decides to kill Jin anyway, in order to absorb Jin's Devil gene and become even more powerful. Jin has visions of Kazuya taunting him until he awakens to his father's command. In an uncontrollable rage, Jin attacks Kazuya, knocking him into unconsciousness. Heihachi recovers and prepares to take advantage of the exhausted Jin by defeating him in battle, but Jin overpowers Heihachi as well and prepares to kill him, as the Devil gene begins to consume his mind. Jin almost delivers the final blow, but the memory of Jun stops him and he releases Heihachi in her honor. Jin, in an almost Devil form with feathery black wings, flies away through the Hon-Maru roof. Despite receiving an average of 81% at Game Rankings, Tekken 4 stands as the least critically successful game of the Tekken series. On release, Famitsu magazine scored the PlayStation 2 version of the game a 36 out of 40. Edge reviewed Tekken 4 in their June 2004 issue, awarding six out of ten. The Edge review highlighted Tekken 4's experimental and pretty nature, and that overall it is a more solid and thoughtful proposition than its predecessor, but concluded that the game feels "over-familiar and curiously uninspired."
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