Mongo Nation

The definitive version. For real this time.

By Jeremy Azevedo

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is almost complete, and we’ve got some new screens that show just how well it’s coming along!

The hand drawn character art by Udon Entertainment looks so amazing, it sets a new standard for 2-D animation in a video game. To illustrate the difference, here is a picture of the actual in game appearance of Ken Masters, both in the original game and the HD optimized remake:

Notice the difference?

SSF2HDR will be available very soon on XBLA and PSN, and is expected to set records for the longest combination of acronyms ever written by gaming journalists. Anyone who has ever played a fighting game should be excited to get their hands on the definitive version of the title that started it all. For those that haven’t, SSF2HDR presents an ingenious way to expose a new generation of gamers to a classic, combining old-school action with cutting-edge visuals, not unlike a cougar with a really phenomenal boob job.

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A link to the past…?

By Jeremy Azevedo

Konami’s Time Hollow for the DS won’t win any fans over in the action/adventure category, but fans of Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk will almost certainly find it to be a real treat.

Typical of point and click adventures, Time Hollow places you in a mysterious setting and tasks you with unraveling the plot by playing detective over the course of several episodic levels. The anime style animation and writing adds a lot of character to the proceedings, which have a refreshingly sci-fi feel that is grounded in real life. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say it was like a cross between “Quantum Leap” and “Saved by the Bell”.

The game opens when your main character, Ethan Kairos wakes up on his 17th birthday in some kind of alternate reality in which his parents have been missing for twelve years. He also discovers a mysterious gift that allows him to draw holes in time, through which he can alter the past. This mechanic, using the DS stylus as a pen that opens portals in the time space continuum, is both an excellent use of the DS hardware and a great setup for some really clever puzzles.

Throughout Time Hollow, you will be frustrated from time to time by an inability to figure out what to do next. At times, the next step is needlessly vague, and may require you to talk to someone you’ve never even met or find some tiny object hidden somewhere in the environment. However, you will also come to find that everything is related in some small way, and the sense of accomplishment you feel after solving a particularly hairy riddle is quite rewarding.

Again, I can really only recommend this game to people that enjoy story driven adventures, as the pacing is really rather slow. But if you have even a passing interest in science fiction, “Back to the Future” time anomalies, alternate realities and really, incredibly short skirts, you will no doubt have a mind-bendingly good time with Time Hollow.

Score: 7 out of 10
+1 if you are what is commonly referred to as an “Otaku”
-2 if you can’t read

More new console specific characters to be announced!

By Jeremy Azevedo

Ok so we essentially have three pieces of Street Fighter news that we need to get to here:

Number 1: Sakura has been confirmed as a playable character in the upcoming console release of SFIV, with pictures to prove it! This will bring great joy to fans of Japanese schoolgirl upskirt shots… The rest of us will be wondering just how goddamn many characters really need to be included that fight more or less like Ryu…

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Sorry, I still have no idea what “Undiscovery” actually means…

By Jeremy Azevedo

Infinite Undiscovery by Square Enix is one of very few proper RPGs available on the Xbox 360, despite the fact that the system has been around for nearly three years now.

Up until now, I’ve been getting most of my RPG gaming fixes on my DS or my old-ass PS2. Infinite Undiscovery is a huge leap in graphical quality and play mechanics, but the presentation is not quite enough to make me throw out my PS2 just yet.

At it’s best, Infinite Undiscovery is a beautifully animated action RPG with a relatively compelling story that unfolds very slowly and entices you to keep playing. Most of the characters are way cool, except for the two creepy twin children (Rico and Rucha) who are absolutely intolerable in every way. Like, inexcusably annoying, creepy and awful. If someone sees you playing as them, they will laugh at you. Really though, nearly every other character is unique and useful to the point that you will have difficulty choosing who to party up with. And in some instances, you won’t have to: Some battles allow you to roll with your entire posse, which really makes you feel like part of an army instead of a solo adventurer going through an existential crises (like nearly every Final Fantasy protagonist).

Your rad female sidekick/pseudo love interest, Aya.

The voice acting is pretty good, although, as a result of the graphics being so detailed, you can now really see where the English dub doesn’t match up to the Japanese-speaking mouths. I sort of wish I could just hear it in the original Japanese with English subtitles so it didn’t feel like a bad martial arts film or something. If you can get past that, you’ll find the characters have a decent amount of depth to them, even to the point that you actually sort of care about their personalities and motivations more than you would expect, which is very important for an RPG, of course.

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An awesome remake appears!

By Jeremy Azevedo

Square-Enix’s Dragon Quest series has really never been known as a cutting edge, risk-taking franchise. That’s why it comes as such a surprise that Dragon Quest IV, a remake of an almost 20 year-old game, comes off as such a fresh approach to the traditional RPG.

The most fascinating thing about Chapters of the Chosen is that the main quest doesn’t really even begin for several hours. Instead, you play through four short, individual quests, each starring one of the key party members that will eventually accompany your hero in his adventure. This is an incredibly effective way of making you care about the characters when they join your party again later in the game. Instead of being strangers that support your hero, they are co-stars in the story of Dragon Quest IV.

Despite the unique approach to storytelling, not mush else about DQIV is terribly modern. The combat and exploration is as traditional as it gets, although some characters (the merchant Torneko in particular) do have some very interesting and unpredictable abilities. Sqauae-Enix opted not to do a full graphical update like they did with Final Fantasy IV earlier in the year, instead choosing to stick with old-school 2-D sprites set against a partly 3-D background (which also does a great job of incorporating both screens). If you’ve ever played a Dragon Warrrior game before, though, you would probably agree that this was a good choice. This series has always been known for it’s colorful and memorable character and enemy designs, and this game certainly lives up to that reputation. Read the rest of this entry →

Worth saving?

By Jeremy Azevedo

Most of the complaints that I hear to do with Konami’s “Lost in Blue” series in general have to do with the amount of maintenance that goes into just keeping your characters alive, and how it puts a damper on exploration. These are perhaps people that don’t know how to get out of action game-mode and relax a little.

Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked does have it’s share of faults. The graphics are a little underwhelming. As with most games on the Wii, I’d really rather see 2-D or cel-shaded graphics, as 3-D models just tend to look a little janky on the system regardless of what game it is. And it’s a little weird how the characters inexplicably belt out one in ten lines of dialogue. What’s the point? I don’t understand why all of the dialogue isn’t spoken at this point. And of course, the most glaring problem is the fact that, right from the outset, your characters are constantly starving to death. Which does, indeed, inhibit exploration. Seriously, you have to eat like fifty coconuts a day just to stay alive. It’s retarded.

They look skinny, but apparently host stomach parasites with the appetite of ten fat guys.

Here’s the thing, though: Lost in Blue is not meant to be rushed through. That you characters require constant maintenance should tell you that the way to get ahead is not to rush blindly into action with empty pockets, but to take your time and prepare. If you imagine what it would be like to be stranded on a desert island, it probably wouldn’t be all about fighting wild boars with your bare hands and swinging from vines like Tarzan, but rather, taking the time to build up your supplies and ensure your continuing survival. Cute as it seems, Lost in Blue is almost sim-like in the way it embraces this idea.

The proper way to enjoy Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked is at a leisurely pace. Before going out to explore the island, you really have to take a day to gather supplies, pack a few lunches, make sure your tools are in order and that you have a back up supply of water. It’s not exactly an action packed experience, but it is relaxing and most of the mini-games are actually pretty fun and make good (but not obtrusive) use of the wiimote. You’d be surprised how much further you get with a little pre-prep, even while dragging your dead-weight partner around with you. Really, that broad isn’t good for anything more than an extra inventory bag.

The rare and mysterious singing/clapping jungle pandas.

Protip: Early in the game, you will have a strong urge to punch this game in the face. This is because you need like 100 vines in order to progress and there don’t appear to be any around. This will feel very much like bullcrap to you, but I will save you an aneurysm and tell you what to do. After you fight the boar, you will be able to push a rock. You have to have Lucy with you (but then you sorta always have to bring her with so that almost goes without saying). A little further ahead, you will find a cooking utensil. It’s in a craggy area near where you find some crystals, and you can even make a shortcut back to basecamp near here. On the way back, you will be attacked by an ox, which triggers a minigame. After completing this, you will be able to access a forest with all the vines you need! As long as you always keep a stock of ready made lunches and firewood on hand, the game is a lot easier from this point on.

Rating: 7 out of 10
+1 if your favorite TV show is Lost
-2 if the you loved Devil May Cry but hated The Sims

Vampires, ninjas, mutants… And it’s not even Halloween yet!

By Jeremy Azevedo

There are so many rad games coming out this month that I’d recommend taking out a small business loan, if I didn’t already know that all the banks were more or less seeking loans of their own…

Now you might ask yourself, “So how are we supposed to afford all these must-have games, then? How are we to get our FIX?!” Thank goodness for the world’s oldest profession, prostitution! Now there’s a cash-generating job that’s 100% recession-proof (Not to mention tax-free)! So tape up your junk under that mini-skirt and head down to the docks for some “hustling”, you nerds!

Dead Space

System: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release Date: 10/14

Imagine if you will, that someone has managed to combine the visceral thrills of Doom with the psychological terror of Silent Hill… That rare combination has given birth to Dead Space, one of the most genuinely scary games any of us may have ever seen. If you are a big wuss, play this one alone in the dark at your own risk, or at least wear a diaper.

NBA Live 2009

System: Multi-Platform
Release Date: 10/8

NBA Live 09 would be just another basketball game if not for one very exciting new feature: Dynamic DNA. Dynamic DNA allows the programmers at EA to build each player as an exact replica of their real life counterpart right down to details so minute that the are almost retarded. Not only that, but the stats are constantly updated each and every day via Xbox Live based on their real life performance. It’s amazing, it works well, and it changes the game for future sports releases in a significant way.
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Feminism? In my video game tapes?

More often than not, female protagonists in video games tend to exist as little more than a shameless attempt to rope in young male audiences looking for cheap thrills (Much like the banner image I used above for this article).But what about those female heroines that transcend the basic law of jiggly tits=$$$? No really, I’m being serious… I’ve even gone so far as to compile a list of the top 10 gaming heroines that are more famous for their contribution to the artform than they are for their propensity for up-skirt cinematography.

Ms. Pac-Man (Ms. Pac-Man)

You may have thought that Ms. Pac-Man was nothing more than regular Pac-Man with a bow on his head meant to rope female gamers into playing arcade games, but you would be very wrong sir (or madam). Whatever Pac-Man could do, Ms. Pac-Man could do faster and better. Most old school arcade enthusiasts will tell you that Ms. Pac-Man is just quite simply a smoother and more enjoyable experience than her male predecessor.

Jade (Beyond Good And Evil)

Not many video games star a female journalist struggling to uncover a worldwide military conspiracy using stealth and photography. Jade is probably the best example of a female protagonist being treated with the same respect as a male lead, in one of the best and most under-rated games of all time. Her uncle is a humanoid pig, which is kind of a turnoff, but they’re technically not blood relatives so at least there probably wasn’t any pig-lovin’ in her direct line of lineage. Read the rest of this entry →

Cutting edge or edge of your patience?

By Jeremy Azevedo

One thing that I dislike about racing games is that they tend to always be about “underground” street racing or high-performance track racing.

Not since Midway’s “Super Off Road” have I played a really decent dirt track racer. I’m sure that there have been many, but Baja: Edge of Control is the first I’ve played in quite some time that wasn’t a bare-bones arcade-y affair or an overly technical simulation.

Baja: EOC starts out a little mixed… The difficulty seems incredibly unreasonable at first, and there is no information given about the various cars that you have to choose from other than what they are called and what paint jobs are available. There isn’t really anything resembling a tutorial, and even on the easiest setting the other cars on the track blow you away by a wide margin. Even after upgrading my car to it’s maximum potential, I still struggled to place in the early races. And then something just clicked. Once I got the hang of managing my speed around turns, popping the clutch for an acceleration boost after a powerslide and pre-loading my shocks before a jump, it was a whole new game. What I’m saying is that the learning curve is a real motherf**ker. Read the rest of this entry →

Capcom shoryukens the rumors once and for all..?

By Jeremy Azevedo

Any Street Fighter fan worth his or her weight in hadoukens should remember the classic 1992 EGM prank about unlocking Ryu and Ken’s legendary master “Sheng Long” in Street Fighter 2…

While it turned out to be an April Fool’s joke, gamers have (for some unknowable reason) never been able to banish Sheng Long from their imaginations.

The original prank in all it’s nerd-busting glory:

Now we have word that Sheng Long will finally make an appearance as a secret playable character in Street Fighter 4! Is this some kind of Japanese “September Fool’s” prank or the ultimate fan service? We have uncovered some official looking art, as well as received this suspiciously mischievious comment from SFIV Project manager, Natsumi Shiozawa:

Hello everyone!
Its been so busy here lately, I’m beginning to become a bit absent-minded here.

Today, I am glad to introduce you to a Hidden Character in Street Fighter IV.
Actually, I wish I could formally announce this information, but I can’t show that much yet so this will have to suffice… sorry!

Feast your eyes on this!
This is one Street Fighter IV’s Secret, Unlock-able Characters, Sheng Long!

Though… it’s been blacked-out and a little hard to see.
(I’m the one who blacked it out.)

(Cont’d)

Basically, you can see his long hair tied-up, his bulging muscles, and what he’s wearing. You get the idea.
Looks pretty strong, huh?
He should be! After all, Sheng Long is Ryu’s…
You’ll have to wait until an official character announcement is made for more information.

However, since this I did post this with the title “Secret Unlock-able Characters”, I couldn’t post this without telling you guys something.
For now, I’ll give you a hint on the whole “secret unlock-able” part.

1. Select Ryu as your character.
2. Win every round with a perfect until the last boss fight.
3. During the boss fight, perform a Shoryuken…

Oops, I’ve said too much!

Those who are quick to catch on should be able to do this no problem.
However, since the legendary character Sheng Long is about to come out, I won’t get away with this that easily…
But, this isn’t the game’s only secret though.

From the beginning, Sheng-Long hasn’t been the only planned secret character.
As I wrote the other day, the release is approaching its final stretch and I will be bringing you as much new information that I can.
What?! There’s going to be a special update?!

Don’t miss it!

Hmmm… Seems a bit fishy…

The image above is supposedly a leaked screenshot of Sheng Long, even though any idiot can see it is just a sloppy re-coloring of Ryu by some junior-level photoshooper…

So what do you think? Is this for real or have we been duped again? As awesome as this would be, my own personal bullshit meter is leaning hard toward the latter…