Sunday, April 30, 2017

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (PS3)

I've never really been a big fighting game fan.  Sure I've played some of the bigger titles like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.  Even some niche titles like Nitroplus Blasterz or Blazblue.  This game was one of the first games that kind of got me interested in the genre as a whole.  For some reason, it really clicked with me.

This is a game starring characters from the Marvel universe pitted against characters from popular series made by Capcom.  I had never played the first two games because frankly, I never knew they existed.  I never really followed fighting games after I got hooked on RPGs in my teen years.  When I found the genre again in college, this was refreshing.

The game is very complicated in terms of coming up with combos and learning match-ups. See, each character is unique.  They all have strengths and weaknesses.  Sure some are obviously higher tier characters but when you aren't playing in tournaments or in ranked matches, it is fun to experiment with different setups.

There are lots of other modes in this game than just the typical VS and online matches.  The arcade/story mode is actually well done, with each character having a unique ending.  I enjoyed working my way through the roster and learning about characters from both sides of the house that I had never heard of before.

Fighting games are an interesting genre to me.  They are fun to pop in for a short while, get some stress out, and move on.  This game lends itself to this type of gameplay.  Although, if you want to be any good at the game, you have to practice, learn moves, memorize frames, etc.  There is a huge amount of depth to this game and anybody who learns the ins and outs of this will be rewarded.  For me, the reward was seeing some of my favorite characters and some new faces battle it out in combat.  I mean fans of both Capcom and Marvel have always wondered who would win in various battles and now they can.  Definitely worth picking up if you like Marvel, Capcom, or fighting games in general.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed (PSVita)

Growing up, I was never really a Sonic fan.  One of my siblings had a Sega Genesis but we never used it much.  The games were expensive and Super Mario World on the SNES was still so much fun.  As I got older, I didn't play Sonic games much either.  This is probably one of the first that I played and it isn't really a Sonic game.

This is Sega's answer to Mario Kart and honestly, Mario Kart is much better.  The racing is solid but floaty at times.  Switching between the different forms of vehicles is an interesting concept at first but can be jarring when moving from land or water to flight.

The cast of characters run the gambit of successful Sega franchises.  Most of them I didn't know, seeing as how I never had Sega consoles growing up. Sure Sonic and his ever growing crew of friends are easily recognizable but some of them, I still don't know.  I also don't understand why Wreck-it Ralph was in this.  I guess they needed a tie-in somewhere but it just seems kind of odd.

This game isn't terrible.  It has some interesting concepts and the racing is solid.  But I still enjoy Mario Kart more.  There is just something about it that makes it seem much better.  It is so much simpler and yet there is still a lot there.  The items are recognizable and the characters were ones I grew up with.  Plus, this is the only game I have ever played on my Vita that has caused it to hard crash.  A hard enough crash that the Vita asked me to send an error report to Sony.  I have never had a Vita game do this and this is the only time I have ever seen it since.