Zeruel

At first, the game animation seemed out of place which hi-res images over now-clunky framerate, but the more I played it last night, the more the visual style made sense. I started to notice the little things like the vapor trail behind the hadokens. The team behind this game said from day one that they were not going to change any of the animation frames, just give the game a new coat of paint.

There's alot to like about Street Fighter HDR if you played more SF than you care to admit back in the day. If you bought a C&L Controls joystick for your SNES, had or knew someone who bought SF2 for the Super Famicom, or skipped school to play the game in the arcade, then welcome home.

Being a player of XBLA Hyper Fighting back in the day, the online play for this title has been significantly improved. Compared to Hyper Fighting where Blanka was able to seize an online advantage with his quick jump arch, I felt that the majority of my losses were based on mistakes I made in the match and not because the lag makes it impossible for me to react. It may come across as a small thing, but I like having the ability to perform a Hadoken and have it come out with near immediacy. I can actually counter a high-low game online like I would in real time.

Other online improvements of note: 6 players in Quarter matches. Online tournament mode (single elimination - max 8 players). A visual of the energy meters and current round if you walk into a match in progress. PING readings of opponents (yay!).

People have been complaining about Ken's overpowered juggling Strong Shoryuken. If a Strong DP hits the opponent in a close anti-air, then a second Strong DP can be tagged on upon landing, landing an additional two hits that usually leaves the opponent dizzy. You can also combo the Strong DP into the Shoryureppa, which brings you near Touch Of Death status. While I do have some issues with the changes to Ken, I am going to wait until the full game comes out before I make an overall judgment. Right now, playing this game is like playing chess with all pawns that have new features. The Ken pawns can take out multiple pieces from the opponent in one move. The Ryu pawns can say they made a movement when they didn't. At the end of the day, you need to have the complete set of pieces to play a real game of chess. You will need the same when it comes to playing Street Fighter.

Only other thing of mention is the semi-consistent freezing. I have no doubt that this will be addressed by the time the Beta concludes.

Ninja Gaiden II focuses on the core concept that makes hardcore gamers take notice of the game - its semi-deep combat and movement play. Being a Street Fighter player, I appreciate a game that has a combat system with some layers of depth. I also enjoy games that allows a player to have something visually entertaining for others to watch. Good Ninja Gaiden fighting very reactive, just like watching two expert players go at it in Super SF2 Turbo.

At first, I thought that some of the enemies Ryu will be fighting in NG2 looked a little ridiculous too. Then, thinking back, I recall that the older NES Ninja Gaiden games had tons of weird enemies (aliens, FLYING BIRDS, giant insects etc.). Maybe it's some sort of semi-homage to older games and their over the top enemy assortments? No matter what, the game throws ALOT of various enemies at you.

I played this game back in the day. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that great either. Original idea for the time yes, but I feel like this is another title that has overstayed its welcome on the "bring this from Japan to the US" train.

Seriously, who is buying this game? All of the Gamestops, Targets, and Walmarts in my neck of the woods have Singstar blister packs starting to cake with dust. Even my music gaming friends say that no one plays it in the states. Are my friends telling me the straight shit or are they smoking crack?

As someone who's actually played the wheel, I have to disagree with Zack here. I grew up on racers like Outrunners, Final Lap, and Daytona. I prefer the wheel over the nunchuck + remote scheme. I'm not a Nintendo Fanboy either - just like good games.

I'll have to write more later, as I'm going to go and play a few more matches before I hit the hay. =P

added

added

3394-3221-7817

I added Regg, kalief, and mike s 923. let's get a game going! :)

I can't believe this. I mean seriously, the guy is Asian, and we all know that they invented videogames.

(HEAVY SARCASM - I know gaming history and I'm not culturally ignorant, so don't get on your high horse now hypocrites. Thanks. :))

I'll say it again...

This game has taken eight years to come out, coming on nine. I'm tired of hearing the excuses of switching platforms, switching engines etc. By the time the game does come out it will be outdated in terms of gameplay.

And for Christ's sake, stop bringing up Eternal Darkness. You sound like the 30 year old guy at the bar who still brings up how he got with the homecoming queen his sophmore year. They lucked out then, and that's all they really have in their portfolio.