With a vintage vehicle slated to roll off the line in two short weeks, Mega Man hype has hit a fever pitch. At least it has with me. Whether you celebrate with me or not, I’m starting early by revisiting the Blue Bomber’s other classic series, gathered (in large part) in Megaman X Collection. In reimagining their strongest-selling action series for the Super Nintendo in 1993, Capcom wound up creating an entirely more vicious, theatrical, and sophisticated animal. Unfortunately, it sort of broke loose and went on a rampage of mediocrity after X4–but, having come out before the PS2’s X7 and 8, the Collection only goes up to X6 anyway. That’s a lot of guaranteed good… seriously.The games paint a picture of humanity’s greatest hour, as a robotic race of ‘Reploids’ emerges to be tasked with all the hard menial labour we so want to escape, and with generally helping people. Early on, the series echoes Asimov’s short stories and foreshadows the dangers of mass production and free will among robots, which leads to an epidemic of virus-infected, ‘Maverick’ reploids. Later, I feel the creators lost sight of the most novel aspects of their creation and, most famously, just killed Zero off in every game to be brought back later. TOO much drama.The games are old, the graphics 16- to 32-bit 2-D. But like all Capcom efforts, they were well-executed at the time and remain the best-in-class today. They threw in the Rockman X3 CD audio and anime cutscenes for this release, and of course the later Playstation releases offer more where that came from. It’s all, uh, mega-rockin’. Plus there’s that crappy racing game that had previously only appeared in Japan and Europe to add some value to this package–but really, that’s what first, second, and third are for.

Gasp, shock, and amaze! X-Men Legends, released in the midst of the film trilogy, features an original story when it could have easily just retold the mysterious origins of Wolverine… or alluded to them some more. Early on, the 4-player role-playing game takes as its central character a blonde New Yorker named Allison, and as its mission to find out why the Brotherhood so badly wants her in their ranks….Okay, so maybe you do start as Wolverine. But you’ll quickly collect your fellow Mutants from Xavier’s Mansion, after which time the game lets you swap between your chosen four at any ‘X-traction Point’. The gang’s all here: Storm, Iceman, Beast, Gambit… even Cyclops, who was voted the least likable X-Man in a poll conducted for this post. 2 whole people agreed. Anyway, there’s stat upgrades with every level up, armor and item drops, and a slightly-skinny skill tree that represents all the best of homo-superior’s powers. To earn your keep, you’ll have to fight a pretty steep difficulty curve with all your button-mashing might, but there are the special moves and various combos to keep combat interesting.Legends adopts the at-the-time popular cel-shaded style in honor of its comic book roots, but to the effect of making the small character models look grainy and not…meshed with the big locales. It’s not a big issue, especially when they procured the voice-acting talents of several screen actors–even Patrick Stewart to renew his film role as Professor X. X-Men legends is fun alone or with company, and certainly offers a lot for fans of Marvel, superheroes, Marvel Superheroes, and action-RPGs alike.

I admit, coverage here has tended heavily toward the most pick-up-and-play of titles. Today’s suggested gaming material ought to satisfy the want of blog and blog-readers’ alike for a game longer than a television commercial. It comes, after all, from a very cinematically-inclined developer. 

A tale of two warriors, tens of tournaments, tons of weapons and innumerable recruits, LucasArts’ turn-based strategy RPG, Gladius, equates to watching a Star Wars film somewhere between 20 to 50 times. While it boasts an original cast, setting, and storyline, Gladius’ battle system is greater still, built for solid, tactical appeal. As one would expect, sharp visuals (quite so by 2003 standards) and a blockbuster-scale soundtrack round out the package.

The Cube certainly had a dearth of RPGs relative to its competition. Amongst these shiny few, Baten Kaitos stands out–not only as an RPG for the Nintendo box, and not only in being an outstanding RPG, but as an original title that warranted a prequel regardless that, at that point, the hardware was at its life’s end. People gravitated to Baten Kaitos for all kinds of reasons (desperation, mainly), but then, discovered that they might like desperation, if only Namco and MonolithSoft could solidly fill it.

I’ve played BK 1 & 2 in reverse chronological order, but no matter which is your first, you’ll discover that much of the material–from entire towns to world maps–remains exactly the same in both. Rather than a case of lazy recycling, I find the similarity an incentive to play both. The visual offerings aren’t to be scoffed at, and the battle system in 1 will prove entirely new to players of the second release. The music, and naturally the scenario, are also entirely different.

Baten Kaitos is the perfect prelude or follow-up for fans of the series, and RPGs at large.

Now leaving Corn Central Station. Next stop in all the FF brand’s unchecked
diversification: four-player support. Which of Square’s caravans was ever built for four, you ask? Why, Crystal Chronicles–if you count its real-time combat, low-direction delivery, and script-free adventuring scenarios as authentic to the vision of FF, that is.

As part of a series whose image is chameleonic at best, anyway, Crystal Chronicles kind of fits right in. Sort of. Maybe? Well, as a standalone experience, it’s got the same qualities that endear FF to the hearts of so many: visual splendor, auditory bliss, a cast cuter than a Moogle’s button nose… but I digress. Your party sets out in a caravan to recoup a cup-full of Myrrh, the lifeblood that wards your town against the Miasma of your sickly planet for a couple more years. Every path leads to this ultimate goal, on a road fraught with the perils of puzzles, monsters, familiar bosses, and the co-operative hand-offs of the Chalice. Trust me, distributing the task of carrying the thing between four people can be the deadliest prospect of all–you really have to co-operate.

The lure here is the use of the Game Boy Advance as the main input and interface device. It frees up the screen of maps, menus, and most textual display, and creates a feeling of personal ownership, like peering into the pack you would carry on such a quest. It also means you’re required to own the portable in order to play, but you can, naturally, also find just such a portable here… but that’s another post for another day.

One of 2003’s–and indeed, the last console generation’s–top-rated games overall was Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Not so much a revival of its age-old PC namesake as a reinvention of it, Sands of Time was handed to Ubisoft Montreal to be brought, scimitar-slashing, wall-running, and pole-vaulting, all the way into a new age.

Sometimes lovingly abbreviated to PoP (possibly appended with SoT now that there’s three), there’s nary a crack in the platforming action on the whole, nor in the professionally-executed visuals and audio on any given hardware (although some scratchy-making compression surfaces in the Gamecube and PS2 versions). But more than anything, the ability to turn those titular sands back–to the moment before that missed leap of faith, or before you caught that dagger with your face, or before any death you would have rather defied–was PoP’s most touted feature. When we’re talking about trapeze artistry in a sultan’s crumbling palace, dealing with newly-undead guards en masse, and mind-bending puzzle-solving as the primary makeup of the game, we’re talking about one handy rewind.

Prince of Persia takes the fairy-tale quality of a pre-modern Middle East and produces a rock-solid experience with affable characters, a wistful plot, a rockin’, sitar-happy soundtrack, and great gameplay.

While I’m a bare initiate into the world of pen-and-paper games, they and the video variety cross paths often enough for some knowledge to rub off on me through sheer exposure. Just so happens, I’ve gotten to know more about a little game called Hunter through its 2002 cross-platform incarnation, Hunter: The Reckoning. Whipped up by the supposedly most successful outfit outside of D&D, this game trades the genre’s usual medieval colours for the pop-mythos of werewolves, vampires, and the other staple members of the devil’s bestiary. Not only that, but they’re coming straight from the pen–they were bad in life, you see, and in death, they supply fodder for the Hunters (that’s you), whose objective it is to rid the world of its vengeful repeat visitors. In the translation to a video game, White Wolf Studios has taken Hunter down a most appropriate route: mission-oriented hack ‘n slash, with selectable characters for one-to-four players. At its heart, it’s a button-mashing massacre, but Hunter keeps from getting stale with separate combat systems for melee, ranged weapons, and magic skills, the acquisition of stats with experience, and regular cinematic interludes delivering a mature and imaginative plot.Semi-mindless fun, especially with a partner in tow, Hunter is sure to please fans of Diablo and its ilk, but beware: killing is a known issue with the undead. A game best played knowing you’ll get your ass beat.

My soccer expertise may extend only as far as putting the spotted sphere into the netted receptacle, but I do know a fun game–better, apparently, than TopTenREVIEWS.com, and whatever reviews they pulled to get the mediocre average score seen here. The beauty of FIFA Street 2 is, someone like me can get out of it the same value as someone who posesses vast knowledge of line-side violations and player formations, or of the 320 professional ballers who make up the roster. (I don’t even know whether I’ve embarrassed myself in writing that sentence… )

This is not authentic football (yes! I know one F), and with no aspirations to that end, I have no problem understanding the self-evident truth of FIFA Street 2. EA BIG! has made it easy-to-play, pared it of anything but the primordial rules of competition, and given you the stats you need not to choose a crappy team (or purposely do so to equalize an uneven multiplayer playing field). Video tutorials and training modes ensure that you get a handle of Passing, Shooting, Tricking, and the rest, which mostly comprise single button presses and only ask that you do more complicated maneuvers for your own enjoyment. The graphics give national flavour to the venues, and as always, the players look and move pretty good. Character Creation and court customization can go a long way to making the Street games more fun–but like choosing a blue ball on the Amsterdam court, you’ll lose sight of the real fun if you tamper too much.

Just be sure to enjoy the beautiful game in 2, because apparently the recently-released third FIFA Street sucks.

…but you can by the A/C as you play SSX3

If the recent heat has rendered you slow as molasses in the race for the nearest shade this summer, well, that’s too bad. For those of us who lack a pool or the willingness to use one, nothing can prevent spontaneous human combustion outside of precious air conditioning, its uncaring hum a cruel mockery as you cast longing glances at the wavy mirage-world outside.

If you’d like to command the winter from your TV set, however, check the false sub-zero forecasts and strap a board on your feet for a perfectly frosty run in SSX3. If you’ve never touched a sports game, let alone the implements of said sport, such an illusion may also hereby be granted: SSX3 makes mad tricking skillz effortlessly yours (provided you can sightlessly navigate the controller and press quite a few buttons at the same time–you’ll learn). Freestyle and Race with fluid ease, the big thrills of big air, and frequent visual fireworks (literally) to the tune of the Chemical Brothers and The Ceasars, then dress up your character to your fantastic fancy so that they might freeze their rear as you cannot. It’s a graphically-adept retreat from reality, made proudly in Canada, land of ice and snow and insatiable summer thirst alike.

Differences between the Gamecube and Xbox version include full music tracks and graphical upgrades in the latter; similarities include the same kickass game.

I know Nintendo understands the sacred place of its first formula-racing franchise in the history of gaming, even if the SNES original was more or less a glorified tech demo. I know because ever since the brilliant F-Zero X for N64, they have made repeated reference to it in other, more widely-beloved franchises, keeping their comic book-styled speed demon low, but clearly visible on the radar. Just look at the recent Wii outings of two heavy-hitting properties (trying to avoid spoilers here) for abundant reminders of the Falcons, Captain and Blue.

It’s my understanding that the sales numbers for F-Zero GX were staggeringly low–not high, as one might expect of a development handled with every conceivable respect for quality. The modest movement of these slick units could have been ’cause GX was a vicious and exacting challenge, only well worth mastering to the dedicated pilot and technician. Adrenaline ran high as there were consistent awards and milestones as you came to reign over each crazy-fast circuit, added to the fierce thrill of besting 40 other racers instead of a paltry 8 to 12 each time. In F-Zero, if you’re looking to take someone out, you have to be the better pilot and ram them to pieces–nothing short of a completely skill-based endeavor will net you victory.

I ardently hope Nintendo, with whatsoever help they may require, will succumb to the power of its own suggestions and continue this series on Wii. But in the meantime, we can always see what a feat of game design looks like by popping in F-Zero GX.