PixlBit

I want to know who thought running into enemies to attack was a good idea.

I get the distinct impression that Nihon Falcom wasn’t too happy with the DS remake of Ys I & II, Legacy of Ys: Books I & II. The two games have been remade once again, this time on the PSP by Nihon Falcom, the original developers of the series. Having played the TurboCD version of the games, as well as the DS remake, I can safely say that this PSP remake is the truest to the original titles; however, its return to form has excised my favorite improvement introduced on the DS: 2D Zelda-like control.

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Four iterations deep and the Virtua Tennis series is still going strong.

Virtua Tennis has been going strong at this point for over a decade. Having played every game in the series, it’s clear that the gameplay has not evolved much, but that’s because the fundamentals that were introduced in the first game were so solid they aren’t in need of much more than slight tweaks. Instead, Sega has continued to make the game more fully-featured to help draw in new players. Virtua Tennis 4 is impressive in scope, offering a huge variety of mini-games within the main quest, a solid selection of real life tennis superstars, and a motion control centric mode that works surprisingly well with the PlayStation Move controller.

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This metroidvania game puts an extremely compelling spin on the tried-and-true formula.

Metroidvania games are unquestionably some of my favorites. While there aren’t too many produced outside of the titles from where the subgenre name is lifted, they are often a treat when they become available. Outland is no exception to this rule, offering up a 2D platformer that places a far greater focus on its action elements, requiring players to master movement, attacking, and timely switching between a light/dark mechanic.

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Easily the best work of Suda51 thus far, but it’s still rough around the edges.

Shadows of the Damned is clearly Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture’s most polished game yet. Whether it’s due to the influence of Shinji Mikami as the creative producer or due to some maturation of Suda51’s style and execution is unclear, but the 10 hour romp through hell is chock full of style, humor, and solid gameplay that trips only slightly along the way. While Suda51’s previous titles can be a bit tough to get into for the average player, Shadows of the Damned is much more accessible and will likely appeal to a much greater audience – assuming they can tolerate the never ending onslaught of penis jokes.

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Is it to much to ask that they play "Touch" just once?

I was more than a little excited to get my hands on Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Most of that came from a deep curiosity to see how High Moon Studios tried to improve upon last year’s Transformers: War for Cybertron, a game that I felt had the needed components to make a really solid game but just failed in the execution to deliver a complete experience.

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