Tag Archives: Fighting

Tekken 8 Review

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This is it, it’s time for the final entry in the Tekken saga! Of course the series will keep going at some point but this finally got us to the end of the saga that’s been building up since the beginning. It’s an absolute masterpiece and I highly recommend it. It’s not simply a fighting game, it’s a full on adventure with a great plot and lots of fun characters. Every part of this game was polished to perfection and you get a real rush while playing through it. It’s the kind of game that you just can’t put down!

The game starts off with Kazuya and Jin fighting in the city. Jin is wrecked as per usual and seems to have lost most of his abilities. He will need to regain them quickly because Kazuya has begun his plan to end the world. There will even be one last tournament. The fate of the world rests on Jin’s shoulders and he will have to really contend with his inner darkness in order to measure up to this. Fortunately he is ready, this is what he was born to do. He will be the ones to end the curse once and for all.

If you didn’t play the older games for any reason, there is a whole mode for movies and summaries to recap them all. It even goes far enough to clear up the more ambiguous moments of the first 3 games where everyone had their own arcade mode. So you learn what the true events were. There are also some prequel movies and the first DLC season of stories comes in for free. That’s a ton of story content for a fighting game right? It’s because Tekken’s story is really good so it’s not playing second fiddle to the gameplay. It’s right in the middle of things the whole time.

Throw in the lyrical songs and this is really a cinematic experience. I had to pump the volume up a bit for some of the cutscenes and man do the sound effects go hard. The game also cleverly mixed in a lot of cinematics with the gameplay to show you the character’s thoughts during a fight. It’s all way ahead of its time and I had no complaints here. The story s excellent and the setup for a 9th main installment is handled really well. I’m already hyped for two of the main villains who seem to be getting a big role coming up.

Meanwhile the graphics are naturally top tier here. The energy effects for each of the attacks are great and the characters have never looked more lifelike. It’s not super realistic in the kind of way where it won’t age well later on though. We still have all of the fantastical elements here as well. You never forget that this is a supernatural world and the character outfits are all very dynamic. As another attention to detail, during one of the final fights, the two characters keep changing across the games. The battle lasts for around 5-7 rounds and your moveset will suddenly change from Tekken 8 to Tekken 5, etc. There’s even a quick blink and you’ll miss it easter egg where one character changes his hairstyle to the old look.

I wouldn’t have caught that myself but ages ago when the game came out I remember people raving about it. The game is really an ultimate homage to how far the whole adventure has gone. Everything about the game is actively celebrated here and it’s really nice to see that. That’s never a guarantee after all and it can be difficult to put in easter eggs without them being forced. Well, I can say that this game didn’t have any problem in that department.

Then of course the soundtrack is absolutely top tier. The main theme of the game is excellent but so are all of the stage themes. It’s one of the most complete fighting game tracks that you are likely to see. Then there is really unlimited replay value here. Aside from the story which is already a reasonable length, you can do everyone’s arcade modes and the story dlc. Then you have normal battling, online matchups, etc. You should be here a very long while if you really enjoy the Tekken gameplay and won’t have to stop anytime soon. It is the best game in the franchise and that is always an honor since it can be difficult to keep on climbing to new heights after a while.

Honestly the bar is so high that I don’t expect Tekken 9 to beat this one. Even just because story wise it’ll be hard to surpass this climax. That said, I do expect it to still be elite which is the main thing. A lot of the pressure will be on Reina and how well she can take the helms of the story along with the villain at the end of the DLC who is sure to be a big player. There are a ton of characters and plots to explore so the series can go in a lot of directions from here.

I didn’t really talk much about the gameplay but naturally that is elite too. It’s a 2D brawler and each hit does a whole lot of damage. Generally win or lose, the match is over really quickly. Once one of you starts landing combo hits, it’s curtains. You can play using dynamic controls or a simpler style as well. Each has their pros and cons in the end. It always feels very satisfying when you land a copy but you can also see how this game would be ultra difficult at a high level. There are so many different ways to move and attack that trying to dodge will come down to a lot of reaction times and then just plain ole experience.

Overall, Tekken 8 is a game that you should buy immediately. You don’t even need any prior experience to enjoy this one, just watch all the recaps after you buy this game. It’s the kind of title that you really should not leave to the sidelines. You have to be there and really experience it because it’s rare to see a game at this elite level. Whenever Tekken 9 comes out, I can definitely tell you that I will be getting it day 1. The series absolutely deserves that treatment at this point. It’s just too good to hold off on.

Overall 9/10

Urban Champion Review

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It’s time for one of those Nintendo games that was unfortunately very weak. I appreciate that they were trying to make a fighting game and of course this is very old but it just didn’t really land at all. The game is way too limited and there is virtually no replay value to be found here. The entire time you’re just hoping there is something you may have missed but ultimately that is not the case. Definitely give this one a full skip and you will be glad that you did. It is not worthy of the champion’s title.

The game really only has two modes. 2 player mode and then single player mode. In each mode, you only have one stage. You have to knock the opponent out 3 times in order to win. When you knock him into a manhole or off the block, then the fight continues with the same kind of background, except they change the store’s name. Yeah that’s not exactly what I would call top budget now is it? I expected better from Nintendo. Both characters are really the same sprite, only slightly color swapped so even that isn’t very original.

The controls are simple as you have a high punch and a low punch. That’s it, there are no other controls here so I hope you enjoyed throwing those shots. Beyond that you just aren’t going to have much left in the tank. I imagine playing with someone else will add a little bit of enjoyment to the game overall but probably not enough to leave a real dent. I don’t think almost any game can pull off the enjoyment factor with a single stage. Pac Man was one of the original games with 1 stage and probably the only one that could pull it off. The thing is…this isn’t Pac Man. It’s definitely not built for that level of success by any margin.

So the graphics aren’t particularly solid, the soundtrack is forgettable….we’re not looking at a very positive game right here. There are no unlockables so there is no replay value. I guess you could say that it’s fun to see the character sort of looking like Mario as he’s throwing punches but that’s just not enough of a hook to get you to play the game. Also you can cheese the main mode a bit by spamming the punch button. Often times the opponent will not be fast enough to block your moves which means you can completely bypass the strategy elements of the game. Not that there is a ton considering there are only two kinds of moves but clearly the intent was there with how the blocking system works. When you don’t move, you block automatically so that’s something to think about.

Overall, Urban Champion is not a good game. It’s one of those titles that you will forget right away because there’s nothing memorable about it. There is no aspect of this game that has held up well over the years at all. I would like Nintendo to consider a modern remake of the game but at the same time there would be little point. Just restart the series from scratch with a whole new name and brand. If you think about it, that would really be the only way to handle this unless you wanted to target the real hardcore fans for nostalgia. Even for free I wouldn’t bother playing this game. There’s just no reason to do so and it’s so limited that there isn’t even much to talk about for this title. Trust me, you’ll know what I mean if you ever decide to play this title.

Overall 3/10

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Review

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It’s time to look at one of the oldest DBZ titles out there. Budokai is a true classic title that doesn’t even have the Buu saga contained within it. So the game goes by very quickly. It’s fun to play through the first two sagas again and the game gives a decent amount of context for the levels. That said, there’s just not a whole lot of battles here. How could there be when most of the characters aren’t even playable? You’ll be done with this in around 2 hours or so.

The gameplay is your classic 2D fighter. You use your close combat moves and energy moves to try and take down all of the health your opponent has. If you play better than your opponent, you will have won the round. There’s nothing complicated or tricky about the gameplay so it’s all about execution. If you lose then you know that you were outplayed. It’s really as simple as that and I can appreciate this. You have to lock in and mix up your combos if you really want to win. You learn more and more combos/attacks as you play through the game.

In general I wouldn’t say that I ever really got too good at learning all of the attacks. I would try to find one or two that would work really well and then I kept on using them. This seemed to be the perfect balance for me. Just spam the Kamehameha and the normal attacks and you would do pretty good. In general the Super Saiyan fighters really had crazy fast moves too. When I was using them I didn’t have to worry quite as much about strategy or anything like that. I do like how you would go back to base mode if you took too much damage though. The enemies would have the same thing happen to them too. I liked that the game was fair about it as others would just stack the deck in favor of the villains which is always a bit iffy.

The hits are satisfying and so I have no problems with the gameplay. Maybe it wasn’t the fanciest out there but this is an older game. Every character does have a combo move that triggers a whole animation with a lot of blows and good background damage. That was definitely a lot of fun. I didn’t get to land a whole lot of them to be honest but each one that I did get was very satisfying. You really have to time the attacks just right in order to land these special moves. Trust me when I say that it’s not easy.

The graphics have that retro feel which works really well here. Everyone is super blocky like an N64 title but the character designs are really handled well and you still recognize them from the show the whole time. Everything is fully voice acted which is always really nice as well. The soundtrack is fun enough, I enjoyed seeing the English theme song even if it’s not one of the all time greats. Everything about this feels like they put a lot of effort into the game back in a time when things weren’t as advanced as they were back then.

You also don’t have to worry about replay value. The campaign may have been very short but there is still the vs mode which is the main reason people would stay playing the game anyway. You can keep having fresh games with your buddies forever since the core gameplay is so solid. It’s why that part of the game is so absolutely critical. If it had not been up to snuff then the whole experience would have been hurt big time. Fortunately that was not the case so that’s why I can recommend this one.

Now the final question is, can you dive into this one without any prior knowledge of the DBZ universe? I would say yes. While the game has to skip a whole lot due to the limited amount of characters, they give you just enough story before and after each fight to know what is happening. I actually think it would be a very interesting way to get into the franchise that’s for sure. Still, this game is so old that by this point I doubt it will be the intro point for anyone.

Overall, Budokai is definitely a really nostalgic game to dive into. It’s pretty nice seeing the retro animation and having the theme song before every story saga really makes it feel like watching the show. It does a good job of tackling the story but is a really short game without a ton of characters to play through. Ultimately there aren’t too many reasons to play this over any of the newer ones. They will all have more things going for them but now I feel like I have really gotten to have more of the full Budokai experience so that alone was worth the trip. I eagerly await seeing what comes next with Sparking Zero although I will have another DBZ review up before then as my gaming marathon continues!

Overall 7/10

King of Fighters XI Review

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It’s time to jump to another King of Fighters title. XI really gets modern in a lot of ways as it just feels newer than some of the others. The gameplay is really crisp and it’s all on point but they definitely do ramp up the difficulty quite a bit here. I was definitely not prepared for the bullet hell final boss where he was just spamming all kinds of attacks. Certainly not a boss for the faint of heart.

The villains are all making their moves during the King of Fighters tournament which makes sense. We fight Rugal’s kid again and in the climax we’re up against more people trying to harness the powers of Orochi. It’s easy to see why they want this kind of power because it seems like it consistently pushes you to near the top of the verse. So that’s an incredibly handy ability to have. Of course the heroes aren’t about to let that happen so easily. As long as there are heroes left to defend the world, Orochi will not be revived without a fight!

Good luck beating the final boss though, he actually did end up vanquishing me this time. So here’s the tough part, he has many different projectile moves. He can shoot these large orbs that move slowly but bounce a lot. Then he has his lightning fast purple energy blasts. If you get close he has an energy uppercut that deals massive amounts of damage. The guy can also teleport so he will suddenly appear behind you and go for a command grab. You must not let him grab you! I cannot stress this enough, if he grabs you then it’s all over. You’re not going to stand a chance here.

You also can’t time him out this time because the rules have changed. Even if you have more health than the boss, he will win when the counter goes down. It seems like the health is based as a percentage since you had 3 characters to his one. There’s really no chance you are going to triple his health though because all of his energy attacks deal chip damage. So what this means is that you are going to have to take the attack to him. Of course we already know that approaching him is not a good idea because of the uppercut so what other options do you have?

Well, one of them is to try and roll towards the boss. You roll under the energy blast and land a sweeping kick. Of course the problem is that he will often teleport away or hit you as you approach. It’s also not so easy to time the energy attacks and when you roll because of how fast they are. So while the plan itself may be good, that doesn’t mean that it will be successful. In the end you may end up getting absolutely destroyed anyway. No matter how many times I fought the guy, I kept on losing.

That’s even including the bonus they give you after losing where the opponent starts with a lower amount of health. It’s not quite the 1/3 health that it used to be but it’s still a good bonus. I don’t get why this gives the boss so much more defense though. In a way it starts to completely offset the advantage of his having low health in the first place so I really don’t get it. Not a great move if you ask me, I wanted to have a way to defeat this guy. Ah well, major props to anyone who succeeded here.

I didn’t really talk about the gameplay but at its core it is the classic kind of King of Fighters gameplay. It’s a 2D 3 on 3 fighter where you beat up on your opponents. The goal is to knock all of them out before they knock you out. You can use various special moves although the button combinations are rather difficult. In most games I can button mash and get the special attacks out easily but not in this one. Usually your best bet is to use an aerial kick and then a sweeping kick either way though. It’s a 2 hit combo that is incredibly hard for the computer to resist.

Meanwhile the graphics are fairly sharp. I’d say they have aged well and the sprite based style is just a lot of fun in general. The cutscenes themselves are also nostalgic with the different images popping in and out. As always the dialogue can be rather quick though so you need to bring your A game. The soundtrack is also pretty good. Not the best one in the series but it does work pretty well in general so it gets a thumbs up.

In terms of replay value, there is naturally a whole lot here. The vs mode means that you can play that part of the game forever and ever. There are certainly a lot of characters after all and fighting games never really have to end. They can keep on going so long as you have someone to play with. If that is the case then you will be in really good hands. The price isn’t bad either, you could buy this online right now.

Overall, King of Fighters delivers with another really fun game here. The final boss may even be the toughest in some ways just because the game removes the option to cheese him via time out. Rugal still feels like the toughest to me but I was ultimately able to beat most versions of him. (Just not the first one) So I suppose KOF 94 will go down as the hardest and this will be in second place. One thing’s for sure, if you’re looking for a challenge then you have absolutely come to the right place.

Overall 7/10

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Review

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It’s time for Xenoverse 2, one of the most well known games in all of Dragon Ball. That alone is a very impressive feat because there have been so many huge games over the years. Basically what happened is that the game has a ton of DLC updates and they have been going on and on for years with no end in sight. So at this point some people have basically grown up alongside the game which is super impressive. With the game being ported over to the PS5, I knew it was time to dive right in!

The basic plot here is that villains have returned to cause a bunch of trouble with the timestream. I’m not talking basic troubles either but end of the world type stuff. Mira and Towa are going to make it so that evil wins the day. Trunks and Terry from the first game are possibly in over their heads so that’s where Terry Jr comes in. He is ready to help save the day and show off the true powers of a Saiyan elite! You have the option to pick from a bunch of different races but of course I was going to go with the Saiyans. They’re always the best after all! There’s a lot of special dialogue you get from the characters too for being a Saiyan although I imagine that’s probably true for the rest of the types as well.

My only issue with the story is that it goes a bit too linearly. This was my slight problem with the first game too. Naturally the villains decide to mess with the Saiyan Saga first, then Namek, then Androids, then Buu, etc. We follow DBZ through the 2 DBZ-Super movies in a row without going out of order once. Considering that the game is about messing with the timeline and everything, it feels like the game jus plays it way too safe. I’m always glad to see Mira show up with the other villains to break things up but it’s really like reliving DBZ with some new elements as opposed to it being a completely new story.

I love all the classic DBZ content as much as the next guy so I still have a blast the whole time but it just feels like a wasted opportunity considering how many expanded villains and scenarios you could pull off with the timeline going crazy. Without a doubt this could have been as crazy as Dragon Ball Heroes. Ah well, I did really appreciate that you get to see the avatar from the first game return. That was a cool attention to detail and a reminder on the strong continuity between the two games.

Naturally the gameplay is a real blast here. It’s a full 3D fighter with a ton of characters and you get to really test out all of their moves. For your avatar you can naturally change the moveset up a ton. So feel free to try out all of the special abilities until you find one that you like. It takes a while to unlock the transformation into a Super Saiyan but in the meantime you still have plenty to work with. There is also a level system so make sure you get those level ups promptly.

The hub world is so huge that you might even find it to be rather intimidating the whole time. There are so many side missions and bonus content to tackle there that you barely know where to start. There’s over 100 Parallel Quests, different instructors, etc. They just keep on coming over and over and over. The trickiest part is when the game randomly makes this part of the story like getting 15 badges. That took a while because I never bothered with that at all. So I would recommend doing some side content early on to start building up your stash and getting that ready. Likewise with the instructor trainings to get Super Saiyan 2 or you will have to do a whole lot at once.

You can tell that the devs really wanted you to go ahead and play through a bunch of the content that they set up. I definitely get it, they worked hard on that. At the same time, it does feel rather forced which I do have to admit here. Just let me continue the battles! The gameplay has dramatically improved from the first title though. The hits link up way better and now there’s an actual reason to use special techniques as opposed to just punching everyone into oblivion. I really appreciated that since in the first game I did find it weird how weak the energy blasts were.

A sequel should always improve upon the original and that’s exactly what Xenoverse 2 did. Naturally the same is true for the graphics which are a bit sharper and look great as you would expect. Then you have the soundtrack which was a big jump up. The ost is incredible with a whole lot of big rock themes around every corner. A good soundtrack can also help to make the story events themselves more impressive as well so that’s a nice ripple effect. I had to Youtube a bunch of the themes right away after hearing them. They were too good to pass up.

Overall, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is really the complete package. There’s just so much content to play around with here. It’s extremely impressive and the gameplay is top tier. While the story could have been bolder, I definitely still enjoyed it a lot. Whenever the game would switch from a cutscene to a fully hand drawn scene I also felt the extra hype there. You can bet that I would be lining up to buy Xenoverse 3 immediately on day 1 as soon as it comes out. You just can’t miss out on content like this.

Overall 9/10

The Last Blade 2 Review

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This is a fighting game that I had definitely never heard of before but it sure is fun. You feel like they put some extra effort into this title relative to the average fighting game. For starters there are some fun illustrations here for the story aspect. There is a real ending when you beat the arcade mode. Not just a quick picture or something but a true story. The opening is good as well and I really liked the vibes here. The characters all have great designs and movesets.

I never played the original Last Blade but the fact that this one continues after the first title is a good thing. You can feel the continuity here all the way through. The lines and twists would hit harder if you had any kind of context for them but I’m still glad to see them around. The game has vs mode aside from arcade of course but there isn’t a ton of content here. So the story that we do get really goes a long way to making the game be more memorable. The genre has a lot of competition and even back in those days there were always a ton of games being churned out left and right. So what that means is that you needed to try hard in order to stay ahead of the curve and that’s not easy.

I’m surprised you don’t see this game series around more nowadays since I feel like the game would do well. It had that anime feel to it and the actual gameplay is fairly fast paced. It’s your classic 2D fighter all the way through and the characters deal a whole lot of damage. So if you take the wrong combo you will be knocked out almost instantly. Of course by the same token that means you just need to land a good hit and you will be the one claiming victory. So definitely don’t give up, if you strike hard and fast then you will always have the ticket for victory. The game is really about proper spacing so you definitely need to be careful when you throw a strike.

I approached the title with my usual button mashing style which I have to admit worked rather well here. Most opponents are just unable to stop my combos but some matches did take me a while. I will always stand by the fact that games were simply way more difficult back in the day than they are now. Games in the present could mostly be blasted through at any point but for the older ones you really had to work at it. Easy mode itself could be a little difficult at times.

The graphics are pretty good like I mentioned earlier with the illustrations. The soundtrack isn’t very memorable but you win some and you lose some. The writing is also where the game really stands out, there are a lot of great lines here. The characters really have no chill and will deliver some of the biggest verbal smackdowns that you have ever seen. Seriously I was impressed but also a bit nervous at just how hard these guy went. It’s the kind of dialogue you won’t see as often nowadays because it can tow the line but I think it works out since these guys are villains. It also gives you an incentive not to lose. If you lose then you’re just going to have to put up with that.

Overall, The Last Blade 2 is a pretty fun game. It’s always cool to find a hidden gem inside the PSN+ like this. It may not be a title that changes everything that I ever knew or anything like that but it’s fun which is the important part. I always enjoy fighting games quite a lot so this is another one that I can then add to the list. If there was to be a new game for the series on PS5 or something I would definitely check it out. This setting with full blown cutscenes and everything would be absolutely intense! I know that’s probably a longshot though but either way I would recommend checking this game out at least. It’s a real blast.

Overall 7/10

Tekken 2 Review

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It almost feels a bit strange to be playing Tekken when it looks so retro like this. I’m used to the big and bold plots and all of the electronic music hype. This one still does sound really great to be sure but it is rather basic. You’ll be playing arcade mode and that’s about it. I suppose you can’t ask for much more out of the PS1 era though. That’s just how things were back then. The game’s difficulty is impressively high as well.

When you boot up the game you are given the options to go with arcade mode or multiplayer mode. There might be a practice mode as well but I’m not sure if I saw that there. Either way your main time will be spent across these two modes. The Arcade mode is a classic of course. You go through 10 levels as you beat up on a bunch of opponents and get to see a little ending. It’s good fun but like I wrote earlier the difficulty level is really unforgiving. A few hits are enough to take you down for the count.

The opponent is also really good at creating distance. While I was fighting him, the a.i. would always maintain a perfect distance to dodge my attacks while immediately countering. It was definitely not something to be underestimated. So I actually went ahead and tried on easy mode as well and let me tell you that this was no picnic. The computer was still extremely difficult to defeat and had a lot of tricks up their sleeve. I was definitely taken off guard there. So it’s fair to say that the newer Tekken games are absolutely easier. They have not retained the incredible difficulty jump.

I played through Tekken 7 recently after all and it was nowhere near this tricky. The final boss was super tough, that part is true but it wasn’t the whole game the way that Tekken 2 is. That’s a whole other monster right there. The graphics are also good. Again they are dated, but in a fun way. The blocky style is fun and the game still went out of its way to have a full opening and everything. There are a lot of good attack animations all the way through. Then you have the soundtrack which is really good. It nails the electronic feel that the newer games have and that was probably a very rare thing for back in the day.

The replay value is really as long as you have someone to play with. This isn’t the kind of game that you stick around to just play single player for very long. I suppose you could do arcade mode with every character but there aren’t a ton of them so that won’t take you very long either. You’re here for the combat and the gameplay is on point as always so there is no problem there. You have your various moves plus the throw. What has always separated Tekken from the other fighting game titles is how much damage you deal. You can completely eliminate someone in just a few moves which is always insanely impressive. Just memorize a combo for any of the characters and you will be leaving your opponents dazed.

A big part of the combat is really about memorizing each character’s options. That is how you can dodge in time while landing counter blows of your own. Otherwise you will really just be guessing a lot. Reaction times are also very important to be sure because someone could just button mash and still do well if you aren’t able to react to their random moves. Tekken is definitely a game that really tests your skills and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There aren’t really any gimmicks here, it just comes down to you and your opponent’s skills. Do you have what it takes to bring them down?

Overall, Tekken 2 is a pretty good fighting game. It may be more on the basic side but back in the day that would be the case for all of these titles. It’s definitely a fun blast to the past to see all of the characters back in their earlier days so that’s enough of a reason to pop this one back in and play a few rounds. I don’t see you sticking with it for very long like one of the newer ones but it does age well as a novelty title. If you are able to get your hands on this one for free or for a good price then it’s worth the playthrough.

Overall 7/10

Override: Mech City Brawl Review

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This game didn’t make too many waves when it came out to be honest. It was around and then just as quickly as it came out, everyone forgot about it. The main problem is that it just didn’t really have a big hook to it. No singular reason why you would play it over some other mech game or anything like that. Still, the sequel brought in Ultraman so I figured…okay let me give this one a shot so I can go play the sequel soon and in the end it was pretty good.

The game actually does have a brief story mode even though there really isn’t much to it. Basically you have to help protect the world from alien invaders that are trying to take over. The only way to beat them is with your giant mech suit that has a ton of power at its disposal. Sounds easy enough, but you are outnumbered. You’re also a rookie so nobody takes you seriously yet. Can you defy the odds and save the world?

You’ll have the game beaten in a matter of hours so don’t worry about any of that. This is definitely not what I would call a really hard game at all. Just keep on punching the enemies away and the game will be over before the difficulty can really spike up at all. Considering that this is a PS4 title I do think they could have done more with the voice acting and budget to make this feel like a modern game. Because otherwise it just doesn’t really feel like it unlocked all of the latent potential. You could have made this game on the PS2 and it would be about the same.

The gameplay itself is fairly basic. You have your standard hits, power blows, and a super attack. Some attacks are so weak that you will never use them though. For example the main character has an energy blast, but it is slow and short range. What’s the point of an energy blast that is short range? I play long range fighters in fighting games for the spamming potential. That’s what I live for but if I can’t even do that then I’m absolutely going for the close range fighter all the way. There wouldn’t be much point in doing anything else at that point.

The gameplay can also be a bit slow. I’d say that using robots isn’t really an excuse for that either because I’ve seen plenty of faster ones. This game definitely could have stood to speed things up a notch but this is starting to sound negative for the gameplay so let me just clarify that the gameplay is still solid. I did have a good time with it because in general I love combat gameplay. You really can’t go wrong with it. It may not hold up against some other titles but I was still having fun. The game is also so cheap nowadays that it makes the value go up.

What this title really needed though was a larger cast, more modes to play, and a longer story. Throw those elements in and we’re talking about a whole new adventure at this point. If I bought this on opening day then I’d be super sad but buying it now, well it works out pretty well. The graphics are pretty decent. Nothing amazing but they’re fun and remind me of the old Godzilla Gamecube title. I also like how you can destroy just about every part of the city just by walking around. It helps show you the true scale of just how absolutely massive these robots are. Everything in their way is basically begging to be destroyed. The soundtrack’s more on the forgettable side though so don’t really worry about that.

In terms of replay value, this is mainly a multiplayer game so of course right off the bat that’s a ton of replay value. Just find some friends who enjoy the game and you can have fun playing against them for a while. Additionally you can work on getting the Platinum. I didn’t really look into how difficult that would be though. It all depends on if they included any online trophies or not but without a doubt it will add onto your overall playing time too. It’s why I still love trophies as a concept.

Overall, Override Mech is a pretty fun game. It’s not particularly ambitious nor does it have the sheer volume of content to compete with most mech titles but it’s a quality title. I always like seeing a new IP try to get out there and survive. This one at least does that and evidently did well enough to get a sequel. Unfortunately that one got rid of the stakes in the story although I’m very early on so that could change. At the end of the day if you like mecha fighting games then you should definitely pick this one up. Trust me you won’t regret it. This is the kind of game that you need to dive into especially when you see the low price.

Overall 7/10

Creed III Review

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It’s time to end the Creed trilogy. Well we may get more films but for now it’s a trilogy at least. The trailers for this one were pretty fun but the whole time I kept thinking that this should be the easiest victory for Creed by far. Could the film convince me otherwise? No, so on a power level standpoint I was a bit iffy about how the fights went down but either way this is a quality film.

The movie starts off with Creed winning another championship and deciding to retire while on top of the world. Things have really been going well for him but then one day his childhood friend Dame shows up. The guy had been locked up for many years due to something that happened in the past but he wants his chance to be a boxing pro. Creed lets him have that chance but the guy fights dirty and immediately rises to the top and tries to make Creed out to be the bad guy. Everything Creed has built is now at risk of being destroyed so he will have to enter the ring one more time. Can he manage to defeat Dame?

All right so lets put this into perspective here. Dame has been in jail for over 10 years. Yes he could still stay fit and everything but that’s 10 years of no boxing experience while Creed has already been known as a prodigy and quickly became the heavyweight champion of the world. You mean to tell me that in a few months Dame was able to get up to world champion level and give Creed a good fight? This isn’t Dragon Ball Z, I had a hard time believing this for a minute. I think the kind of story they were trying to tell here is a solid one about old friends leading you into trouble but there should have been more of a nerf to Creed to make the fight fair. His shoulder was a little banged up so I think maybe saying his leg was weak too could have worked.

Then we see how Creed has to rely on his mind to win the fight rather than brawn. It would tie in really well to the speech he gave his daughter too. As it stands though, I just didn’t buy into the power levels. Additionally you have to remember that Dame was fighting super dirty but the refs were missing every dirty hit. You mean to tell me that they continued to miss these hits in all of the fights after the opening one as this guy rose to the top of the ranks? Nah not in today’s world with constant 24/7 coverage, highlights and re runs. It’s just not happening so he should have been kicked out long before this was an issue.

A lot of convenient things had to happen in order for this confrontation to occur. Of course once we get to it, the actual fight was definitely really solid. We got a lot of solid moves here and the combat itself was really fast. You got to see just how fast the champs are in the ring. We even get a moment in the fight where it’s just the boxers and the audience fades away so you can focus on the moves. Neither fighter was pulling their punches and you are watching Creed for the actual boxing after all so if the fight’s good then you’re good.

Creed is a good main character here as you would expect. He can shut down a lot when his wife is trying to talk to him which can be annoying though. In a lot of ways he makes the situation a whole lot tougher than it really needs to be in this case. That’s the only reason why I would say he did go down relative to the last two films. It just felt like the old him would have confided in her more or at least would have done a better job of hiding his worries. He’s not helping anyone by stressing her out and staying silent. There were so many ways that he could have handled the situation considerably better than how he did. Instead he just made Dame’s job a lot easier in many respects.

Low key what would have been satisfying would have been for Creed to call his lawyers and just tell them to put a smear campaign against Dame. Point out all the cheating in the matches and get him suspended. Then Dame would always believe Creed did this but would have no proof. Boom you’ve just gotten your revenge without ever having to get into the ring. Of course that probably wouldn’t sound as appealing to Creed but it is an interesting plan of attack.

Bianca does well here and is trying to be there for Creed no matter how many times he tries to pull away. She was perhaps a bit oblivious when it came to Dame like inviting him over to the party when Creed was clearly not very comfortable but at the end of the day I still put that more on him for not saying anything. There’s only so much you can figure out on your own.

Then for Dame, well I can’t say that he’s too likable. He comes across as very entitles and super ungrateful almost from the jump. Creed does a whole lot to help him out, including even crossing some lines to get him opportunities that he shouldn’t really have yet. He’s doing everything he can and Dame still thinks it’s not enough and keeps bringing up the past. He seems like someone who will never be satisfied and then as soon as he starts to rise up he turns on Creed.

The guy was just using Creed until he could stand on his own and then start to backstab him. It’s a really bad look for Dame all the way through. Based on what happened in the past of course he could be a little resentful of how things played out but he shouldn’t even blame Creed. Dame made his choice to help which was good but then you have to live with that no matter how it turns out. Blaming someone else for your own actions is always something that you should just not do.

I also thought that the film went too easy on Dame by the end. Yeah he had a tragic backstory but it doesn’t change what he did in the present. He seriously injures different characters and does so intentionally. So by the end you really want to see him get beat and then preferably taken to jail. Instead the ending i played off more in an emotional way, like he’s change now and everything. It just feels too soft and isn’t very satisfying as far as endings go. I think that could have been a little smoother.

Meanwhile I liked Chavez but since you knew that he was doomed the whole time, his scenes didn’t hit as hard as they could. The guy just never looked super impressive which is a big issue. He is technically one of the strongest in the world right? So lets see that. Instead it just felt like the guy was a decent boxer and that was really it. If the series keeps going with more films I think it should start sowing the seeds for more characters to expand the verse. Open up the boxing world a bit because it just feels a bit too small right now if this guy is one of the best.

On the negative side, the soundtrack was considerably weaker than the first two films and probably the weakest in the Rocky franchise. You don’t have a lot of songs that pump you up the way that the old ones did. For the final battle when both competitors were walking into the ring, that’s usually when you get the really exciting songs and that didn’t happen here. Neither song got me particularly pumped. It’s not really my style of music in a sense but you should still grab a good variety of solid songs for a title like this.

The film definitely gets dramatic with several twists here and at least one supporting character not looking so good here with the secrets that she was keeping. In a lot of ways you could say that a moral here was in how keeping secrets will always backfire in the end and put you in a bad spot. It’s best to just tell people what’s going on and defuse the situation before it gets too serious.

Overall, Creed III is a solid film as you would expect. The fights deliver the way they always do and the story is good. Where the film gets held back a bit is in part due to the underwhelming music but also that the plot doesn’t hold up as well as the others. Creed is borderline out of character with how many secrets he is keeping and keeping Bianca at bay. If he doesn’t do that then this film plays out very differently. Additionally Dame just isn’t the big threat that the film wants us to believe he is which is another big issue there. Watch this for the fights and enjoy the action but I don’t think it’ll have quite as much replay value as the first two.

Overall 6/10

Double Dragon Review

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Double Dragon is a film that opens with its best fight scene right off the bat. That means you start off strong which is good but the huge downside to doing that is it means the rest of the experience is going downhill. Now granted, I did enjoy the film. It’s not great but I thought it was decently good. You are just surprised that the rest of the films aren’t as good as the opening because that showed you exactly what kind of potential this film had.

The movie starts off with Billy and Jimmy fighting against another pair of fighters in a martial arts tournament. They are doing well but unfortunately Billy makes a huge mistake and gets cocky which costs them the match. So they head home in disgrace and are then attacked by an enemy gang. See, this film takes place in the “future” which is the past at this point but the world’s not doing so hot. This is basically a dystopia as there is smog everywhere and a lot of acid all over the place. It’s really not safe after dark but Billy and Jimmy are rebels like that. They barely make it home where Satori lets them know about the dragon medallions. It’s rather sudden but they have to keep their half safe before the villain Shuko can get it or the whole world will be in trouble. Can these two teenagers man up and save the day or are they about to get absolutely rocked?

So like I said the opening fight is the best part of the movie. The fight scene actually has a lot of choreography to it and you can appreciate the stakes here. Nobody wants to lose in a tournament setting and Jimmy was actually doing really well until Billy ruined it for him. The fight had good music as well and with the film being based on a beat em up type game this is what you would expect. Unfortunately there are very few actual hand to hand battles after this and none of them are quite able to measure up.

Instead we have a lot of chase scenes and humor subplots but they don’t hit as hard. On the car chase I can at least appreciate the high tech gizmos that come into play with it but it doesn’t really stand out much. Then for the humor it’s often hit or miss. I like a lot of the puns and dialogue that the film is going for but some parts are just too outlandish and dragged out. For example one of the villains is named Bo and after he is defeated the villains decide to turn him into a huge Hulk type monster.

Now he’s nearly braindead and it seems like a rough fate for the guy but based on the music and scenes this is supposed to be funny to an extent. I’d say that the film definitely got lost in the sauce on this one. Any scene with Bo quickly became painful after this. You just did not want to see that guy at all and it’s not like he was a great villain before that but he definitely got even worse afterwards.

Then there is this whole subplot about Marian trying to unite the gangs and having what I guess you could equate to a nicer gang. They’re still vigilantes but they’re not so bad. With the police being extremely ineffective in this film as her own father the chief was nervous the whole time you do want this group out on the streets but it was a bit of a boring subplot. You were just waiting for the main characters to take the stage again.

The film does pick up again in the climax for the battle against Shuko though. We actually get to see the power of the Medallions in action and that also means that we have some more hand to hand fights at last. This does bring up some power level issues though because the medallion is supposed to be a big deal. It can even end the entire planet after all so what are two teenagers and their fists going to do about it? Well, at it turns out they can apparently do a whole lot about it. Kind of an odd way to dehype the object right?

Basically it can split you into shadows and has some other vague abilities including the ability to control someone else’s body but Shuko looks way too unimpressive. I just don’t buy him losing to the characters like that. Now I will say one hype thing about the climax is that we do get the iconic costumes at last. The costumes look really good too so the effects team held nothing back here. They should have given the heroes those costumes from the start but this was still a good way to end things. It showed you a bit of promise on how things could have been.

The movie tries to really nail the bantering dynamic between Billy and Jimmy but you just don’t feel like it works. There aren’t enough scenes of them actually being pals so it feels like they low key just don’t like each other. Even by the very end of the film one of the brothers tries to run away with the girl and ditch the other one only to be outsmarted by the guy already being in the car. It’s of course played up as a funny ending but yeah they spend most of the film being at odds with one another. The sequel probably could have fixed this but that’s not really in the cards.

Overall, At the end of the day Double Dragon isn’t a great film but it’s a pretty fun one. It’s a very old school title with a lot of campy action and witty banter. While not all of the film’s humor lands, I’d say that enough of it does. The villain has a classic base and the effects hold up well so you will appreciate the scenery behind him. The world isn’t very well thought out and it’s not super memorable but the film did try being grand here. There’s just enough unique elements about the film to make you want to keep coming back. I dare say there is a good amount of replay value to be found here although a modern remake could likely execute on the game’s premise way better. This could and should be an elite film just based on the game so I need the next one to focus on the fights a whole lot more.

Overall 6/10