Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (XB360/PS3): Hi, We're Capcom. We Love your Money.

Aside from perhaps Killer Instinct, a fighting game I have always been pretty proud about being good in was Marvel vs Capcom 2. I played the game constantly in the arcade (remember what those were?) and I've whipped many a chump out of their hard earned quarters with the surprisingly simple Ryu, Akuma, Morrigan combo. So I was pretty excited for Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of two Worlds and purchased it in kind. But if there is anything Capcom loves to do, its to rehash the shit out of a game they're released instead of just making a new one. And MVC3 was no exception. I said I wasn't going to buy this, but a combo of peer pressure and trade value drove me to update to....

ULTIMATE MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3: (XB360/PS3)

Essentially, this review can double up for both Marvel vs. Capcom 3 games as functionally they are identical between to the two, sans the addition of the 12 extra characters. I usually start off my reviews with a brief summary of the plot or story, but as is with most fighting games, there really isn't one. Essentially to get any kind of story in this game you have to complete the arcade mode, and the character you land last blow to the final boss with the ending vignette you receive. If you played the first MVC3, none of the ending have changed for the current remaining characters. But its still fun to see some of the crossovers. One of my favorites was She-Hulk's, A character I don't really use, but in her ending she presides over a trial with Miles Edgeworth and Phoenix Wright (now playable). It made me laugh.

It was hilarious at the time, little did I know Phoenix would become playable

One of the biggest complaints surrounding this game is that the controls were "Dumbed Down". If I am remembering right, MVC2 didn't use the Street Fighter control scheme either. The Street Fighter franchise typically used three punch and three kick buttons with a light medium and heavy power. In MVC2 the reduced it 4 buttons and two assist buttons. MVC3 has done away with the punch and kick buttons to make way for a light, Medium, Heavy, and launch button in addition to the assists. This takes out the need to hit strong punch or kick for certain moves. For most of the characters, this doesn't change how their specific move sets play. If anything, its made using people like Akuma more fluid for me. Sure it takes away some of the complexity of the game but it still has some of the other control aspects like the advancing guard, air combos, and tag attacks. many people see this as a detriment, I personally had no issue with it.

There really isn't much variance in the play modes of the game. You have your standard arcade mode, where you just play 8 or 9 fights to the last boss. You have a training mode to play around in and a mission mode to try to learn specific combos. When you beat the game you unlock the ending and soundtrack to the character you won with. But unlike the original MVC3, there are no characters to unlock. I personally have never been a fan of this because it gives the player very little incentive to play by them self they do not have anything to earn by doing it. Then we have the online mode, its basically the same as the Verses mode you can play with a friend at home, but with more lag, people interrupting your arcade mode,  and people quitting if you are too good.

The last thing I guess I should address is the characters as well. On the Marvel side they added: Nova, Rocket Raccoon, Iron Fist, Hawkeye, Dr. Strange, and Ghost Rider. I have heard of 2 or 3 of these guys tops. None of them really made me go ape shit to play as any of them and I've yet to use them for any major length of time. On the Capcom side they added: Strider, Firebrand, Phoenix Wright, Frank West, The Nemesis, and Virgil. Now this line up was pretty stoke about since only one of them I'm pretty unfamiliar with and i never used  anyways (Strider).  While I love the addition of these characters, some of them just don't make sense to use. Phoenix Wright is nothing short of hilarious because none of his attacks are actually attacks. He has a very short range and requires you finding 3 pieces of evidence and hitting them with an objection before you really unlock some of his bigger moves. Frank West, the character I wanted most, as lots of different moves that change as he levels during the match, but you have to hit the camera snap at the right moments to go up a level and for me its been pretty difficult to hit. People like Firebrand, Nemesis and Virgil mesh with this game perfectly though, and combo together very well.

Virgil may be a bad ass, but I call bullshit: Nobody messes the Nemesis up.

Its difficult to rate a game like this because I begin to question their relevance. With online gaming taking a front seat these days in the development of gaming, the one on one fighters seem like a natural fit. But when I play the game online, it doesn't feel as satisfying. I don't get any real enjoyment out of seeing a number next to me name informing me that there's about 1.8 million other assholes who are better than me at the game. It pretty much feels like I am playing the game in the single player mode. Less so in fact because at least in single player mode I can unlock an ending when I win 8 times, I don't get lag from the arcade mode, or have people drop out of the game just as I am about to win. But just as I go to say that you probably could skip out on getting a game like this, I go to a fight night with some friends where we are all playing in the same room. Now the games are tense, heart rate jumps up. I can hear cheering or AWWWS when close match finishes. WAY more fun that playing the game solo. This is why they make games like these, the are intended to be played in a group that's what makes them fun.

But in this same fight night, I realized something. There are two types of people who play games like this. People like me, who find some characters they like learn some core moves and develop a strategy. Plays the game, has fun with it, and generally enjoys it. Then there is the "Other guy". You know that guy. Has one character he never deviates from. Learns their entire move set. Learns everyone Else's move set. Knows you are going to throw that Hadouken and is going roll forward MP at the 5th frame of the animation which will counter your move, bounce you up and then allow him to string together an air juggle that will deplete an entire life bar. We did a tournament at the fight night and a lot of the games were very close. But this one guy would just participate on another level. I refuse to use the word play. Because that kind of person doesn't play the game, they study it, make it a chore. The execute the game. Personally, I think if you are playing the game that way then you are missing the whole point. Unless you are professional or competitive gamer, you're just a prick to everyone else you are playing with.

I suppose I could give the game a recommendation if you are a fan of fighting games, fan of the series, or just have a number of people over to game on a fairly frequent basis. The fights are fast, flashy, and easy to pick up and play. It's a fairly competent fighting game and it definitely works in a groups setting but unless you are one of "those guys" I can't imagine you will keep playing it after a few weeks. I just rather that Capcom would have waited another few months and put all the characters in the first time instead of charging me an extra 40 bucks for it.

Pricks.

Ico Collection- Shadow of the Colossus (PS3/PS2): A Colossal Return

Considering what a huge advocate of the PS2 I was, it was a wonder I never played Ico. Even more so, considering the size of my PS2 library its a bigger wonder I have never played Shadow of the Colossus. So as a two parter retro review I will be playing the HD remakes of these two titles in the recently released Ico Collection. For the record, playing this disc is what fried my PS3 just before Dark Souls came out. The game I started with first was...

ICO COLLECTION- SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS: (PS3/PS2)

Our game starts off with a scene of a lone man named Wander riding on a horse through various terrains to travel to an alter in an secluded underground shrine in a forbidden land. Upon arrival he undrapes something he brought with him, which is reviled to be the body of a dead girl by the name of Mono. He carefully places the body upon the alter, Wander is attacked by a group of shadowy forms, which he easily dispatches with a shining sword. After making quick work of them, a loud celestial voice(s) booms from the ceiling expressing surprise that he has the weapon. Wander learns that he is speaking to Dormin and tells that he's heard he has to power to resurrect those who have died. He pleads with this entity to restore Mono to life, to which Dormin responds that he can do this for Wander but to be wary of what he asks. The cost of such a favor could be very high, more than he might be willing to pay. But as so many tragic heroes before him he claims to not care and says that no price is too high. He is told to travel the countryside and destroy 16 different colossi that he can find by holding his legendary weapon in the light and in return for doing this he will revive the girl. So with his trusty steed at his side, Wander heads off to defeat the Colossi.

Sometimes, you just gotta make em say I Do.

Right out of the gate, let's get this out of the way. It says Ico HD Collection. Not Remake. So much like the God of War Collection, these are just a pair of PS2 games with a bit of the high definition glean on them. Some of the animations and designs show their age, but ultimately the characters are well designed and the environments have a gorgeous serene appeal to them. Although the horse you ride in the game is the biggest eff'n horse in the history of existence and Wander has more of a frolic rather than run, the graphics and overall design looks great and was not something I noticed after I actually started playing.

Defining the style of game Shadow of the Colossus is somewhat tricky, because it blends together some elements to make up its final product. I would hesitate to call it an action game because I relegate that to more of the spectacle fighters or beat em ups and the action in this one doesn't fit in that traditional concept. I think more accurately it is an adventure game with a strong focus on puzzle platforming. Each stage is essentially broken up into two aspects. At the start of each stage, Dormin informs you of what colossus you are out to kill and roughly where they are found. You take off on your doofus horse and travel the countryside to find the colossus. This isn't exactly a puzzle, but sometimes the locations of the beasts are not immediately apparent. You can hold up your sword in the light to shine beams of light, and the closer to the correct direction you are, the more focused the beams become. There is pretty much zero fighting in these sequences, and no music either. Just the sound of the wind blowing around, some chirps of the birds overhead, and the hoof beats of your steed beneath you. It actually has a pretty calming effect, so instead of raising tension before the monster, its leveling you out so you can approach with a clear head.

During the course of the adventure you will visit nearly every kind of terrain type,
 each providing a different aspect to the battle

Which is good, because each battle with a colossus is a puzzle in and of itself. Each of them pretty different from the rest of them each with their own individual nuances and weaknesses. You can shine your sword on them to discover where their weak points are, and although you have a bow, you almost always have to climb upon the beast and attack with the sword. They start off simple enough, with the beasts having a fairly noticeable point to grab and climb by their feet, but as you progress some of the monsters are constantly in flight, or barely come above water or sand, forcing you to figure out how to antagonize them enough to come after you and expose a weakness. Once you start climbing the grip gauge mechanic starts moving, showing you exactly how much strength you have to hang on. It diminishes gradually as you scale their hide but as your advance upward the colossus will begin to flail around to try to fling you off. If you try to move while they are doing so the grip gauge depletes even faster. If your grip runs out or you let your finger slip off the grip button, you'll be sent flying off their back straight to the ground and will be forced to try again. The whole concept really does a fantastic job of increasing your tension as your eye constantly is checking that lower corner of the screen, making sure you have just enough grip to land that last stab, praying you have just enough to hang on to the end. I would try to hold off until they would stop flailing to try to let go of the grip and ride their shoulders to recharge the grip for as long as possible, sometimes it worked, sometimes I would groan having to scale back up again (colossus #15 was a particular pain in my ass for this because it was difficult to get to the top of his head, and the prick wouldn't stop flailing long enough for me to plunge my sword in. The fight took almost 3 fucking hours). As you scale around you will have highlighted crests to signify their weaknesses and instead of just hitting the button to stab, it starts to charge its power, so you can gamble holding on a bit longer to do that much more damage.

Sad thing is, this isn't even one of the bigger ones.

Jump on the item they are swinging around the most.... Makes total sense.

What makes this string of battles so incredible is nature of the colossus you are fighting. Colossus #5 (The Avian) is a very large bird colossus, circling over a lake. As you swim you will find three broken stone pillars in at the surface of the lake that you can climb on. Standing on them will cause the bird to swoop at you, if you time it right, you can leap onto its back and grab on. Then some impressive camera work pans around to show the bird taking flight higher, and begins to spin and twist to try to shake you off as you scale to its wings and tail. watching the world flip and turn beneath you coupled with epic classical score behind it all builds to this incredible movie effect. Each fight is very original to itself and is memorable in its own way. This is fantastic because I've felt video games have been going away from boss fights to just make you fight waves of regular baddies, or just fight a enemy that just requires them charging into a wall and then punching them. It made me happy because I don't have to deal with the game aspect and just get boss fights.

The controls are functional, I suppose. Everything in the control in this game seems a bit loose. When I am scaling and trying to jump from ledge to ledge it sometimes takes 2 or 3 tries to get the asshole to jump the direction I want him to. The grip gauge never seems to last long enough for me, you can increase it by killing white tailed lizards as you travel the map in this game is enormous, and finding them is very needle in haystack like. Ultimately, the most of my biggest complaints come from having to ride that fucking horse. I don't remember his name, but for the sake of this review he should be called Boxer, because his stupid ass should be sent to the glue factory, (yes, an Animal Farm reference, Eff you). This stupid animal you have to call for like 3 or 4 times before he actually turns around. Every time I would try to mount him I would jump like 5 or 6 times in place trying to trigger the climb up animation. When riding him even mashing my X button he would never seem to pick the pace more than a casual trot. Yanking on the reigns one direction or another would eventually make him turn like 10 gallops after I missed my turn. Multiple times he'd glitch to stop from going over a cliff but then refuse to back up or let me jump off. And the worst of all in a particularly precise battle, he would hit a rock small enough to step over and would come to a complete stop. Since I'm using my bow facing the other direction, I would have to wait the like 4 minutes it would take the turn the dumbass around so I can try again. Or more or more accurately I would be mowed down by the colossus and lose a big chunk of health. That stupid animal was more frustrating than the fights.

That aside, I think the aspect that really made this game feel great was the way it told a story without dialogue or cut-scenes to characterize everything. The whole thing has this very independent movie feel to it. You start the game with the normal "save the princess" mentality but as you fight you start to feel that these Colossus aren't exactly evil or even bad.. Most of them are just minding their own business, doing nothing. Not even harming the area around them. Then as you fight them it doesn't feel like they are attacking you as much as they are defending themselves. Even their death sequences have that effect. When you strike the deathblow everything slows down to slow motion as you watch the Colossus collapse in a heap as a very sad sounding melody plays instead of some victory music. As each one dies a black poison escapes their body and possesses itself within Wander. As you play on, He becomes more and more scarred, worn, and almost undead looking. With each fight I felt more sympathetic to the Colossi, and that Wander's goal had become selfish rather than noble. The only real dialog heavy cutscene comes at the end of the game where all the truths are revealed. It was incredible well done.

It took me a while to get back to this game after it fried my PS3, but I am glad that I did. It definitely lived up to the hype and I'm looking forward to getting into the time trial modes when I get a chance. But first? Ico.

Uncharted 3 (PS3): The More You Know ====★

In the early days of the PS3's life, owners of the system didn't have much to grab at for original content, or more accurately content in general. So when a game like Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was announced, I gave a sigh of apathy. I didn't like the Tomb Raider series and this new franchise seemed to be a copy paste of it with less boobs. But with nothing better on the horizon, I lethargically reserved the game just so I'd have something on the console. What I received was a fast paced 3rd person shooter with excellent characters, superb voice acting, and some of the best storytelling I've ever seen in a game. On top of all that, the game was blast to play. This caused me to jump on getting Uncharted 2: Among Thieves without even a second thought. Not only did I receive what I got from the first, they did an even better job with it. So one year later, here we are again with another of Nathan Drake's adventures in......

UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE'S DECEPTION: (PS3)

The game starts off with our now iconic protagonist, Nathan Drake, walking with old sidekick Sully to what appears to be a seedy bar to make an exchange. A well dressed British man named Talbot opens a case to unveil a buttload of money and in exchange he is handed the ring that hangs from Drake's neck. As the British man authenticates the ring Drake inspects the money. We find that the ring is legit but the money is not. They try to take the ring back and bar room brawl breaks out where you then take control of the game. You find out that the ring belonged to Francis Drake, and it works as a key to a decoder which will unveil the secrets connecting Francis Drake to Lawrence of Arabia, and why his voyage took a six month detour. The goal is made that you are trying to find the "Atlantis of the Sands" and a valuables it holds.

Marlowe rubbing salt in the wounds sustained from the bar fight.

Essentially the play in the Uncharted series is virtually unchanged from previous two games. The hand to hand combat feels even more dumbed down in this one. In the first game you had a few options: Square five times for a quick combo, Square Triangle Square for a brutal combo, Punch gun combo. It was simple, fast, efficient. In the 2nd game they took away the ability for brutal combo but the 2nd game it still played pretty fluidly. In this current version, it feels more like aimless button mashing. It still works but in the very first combat sequence I was already feeling a bit bored with it. The grab move never seems to push the way I want it to go. They changed the Triangle to a counter and it seems to work fairly well, but that might be because the attack telegraph is retarded long even on the games hardest difficulty. They also have a run and melee thing were if you are blind firing on a guy (shooting without aiming) and hit the melee when you close in, it switches to a short cinematic kill. I found this to be the most effective as I played.

The gun combat feels the same yet different. Functionally, the buttons and engine are the same as before. If you played either of the other two games nothing about the game will seem foreign to you.  Shoulder up with the L1 button, Fire with R1, Reload R2.  Its the same run and gun, cover based 3rd person shooter that has worked in so many over these games before. Yet as I played through the game something just didn't feel right.  As I would play through the game it dawned on me that I would have to hit them with an pretty large amount of bullets before the enemy would drop. On more than one occasion I would land what I could clearly see was a well placed head shot and yet the enemy would still not fall. Sometimes it would take 2 or 3 shots to the head before some enemies dropped. The other big thing that bothered me is that the movement controls did not feel very tight this time around. Several times I would try to run my way for cover only have to Drake bobble step right into a wall or miss my turn completely because he was doing some over the top stagger animation. I would try to move from ledge to ledge while hanging but I'd really need to shove on the controller to get him to put his stupid hand up so he would make the right jump instead of just jumping in place. Some other glitchy things kinda bothered me too. There would be an occasional instance where I would be playing the game and then the music would just cut at random, then seconds later would continue on. There were jarring and was surprised to have that happen. Naughty Dog usually polished the hell out of the game.

I was wondering if I was just seeing the older titles through rose tinted glasses, so to make sure, I put in both of the previous titles. The graphics were not as detailed as the 3rd, but the games animation moved faster, the controls were much tighter, and when I hit a clear headshot the enemies dropped. It almost feels like the game sacrificed some of its playability to look nicer...

Speaking of, the graphics in this case definitely appeared to be much more cleaned up and defined. Especially in some of the cutscenes. I played this game pretty much start to finish on a bitchin' 62' LED TV with a digital smoothing setting. The game was borderline lifelike and was definitely very impressive, with most of the characters getting a very detailed graphical overhaul, with the exception of Chloe (Naughty dog's Eff you to the Lara Croft character) who's new bigger hair makes her look a bit cartoony.  Aside from that little issue the graphics in this game have never looked better. Elena's eyeliner was a great touch guys.

Elena tries to provide reason but usually ends up right in the fray.

Naughty Dog actually assumes you have a brain this time around too. In this one when you have a puzzle to solve it doesn't just give you the answer outright like it has in previous games. Or at least not immediately anyways.

There is Multiplayer as well but really I didn't find it all that interesting to cover. You get two teams of 5 and you play the standard multiplayer fanfare. Death match, team death match, capture the flag (plunder). You get base equipment but as you level up you get money to unlock new weapons and attires for your character. I played it for a little but online multiplayer never seems to do much for me. There is not level matchmaking so you get thrown in with noobs and vets alike. Usually it will randomize the teams per game to keep things fair but sometimes a clan will get together and just mows through new players. It was a bit of turn off for me. I suck at the multiplayer games. The one plus is the people I played with were pretty cool. One game some loud child was in the game, so of course I quit immediately.

Don't be mad, I brought Subway! (There are no in game advertisements. Thank god)

Why don't the online services provide something for this. You have to put a date of birth in the online account to activate it. Why the fuck cant they make a filter so I can choose to not play anyone under the age 15. Nothing ruins a game experience for me like racist little shitdicks screaming obscenities into their stupid headsets because they can do it anonymously. Parents? I got a news flash for you, if you don't want your children to be subjected to offensive games, don't let them play games online. The worst thing that can be found in a video game is the horrible shit that comes out of a kids mouth. Children are the fucking worst and will always be worse than their teen or adult counterpart.

Playing someone under the age of 12. Yeah, Feels like that.

Ok, got that out of my system, back on topic. The storytelling is still this franchises strong point. I loved how they went with the villain this time around, instead of the usual gun toting psychopath we have Marlow. Marlow is an older woman who is cold, calculating, and definitely a cerebral opponent.  She has a very ominous way of bantering with the heroes. She has that villainous politeness about her that makes every thing she says sound like you are eff'd. It was a refreshing change from the normal types like Eddy, Novario, or Lazarevic.

But even the new characters and great story telling something still bothered me. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: Drake treks through a jungle and find a series of ruins. Elena gets mad a Drake because they disagree if they should continue or not. Drake and Sully find a treasure or clue they are looking for only to have it taken away by the villain immediately after. They learn what they are after is evil or an evil power that Francis Drake tried to hide. Drake escapes from a ruin or temple from burning or sinking into the ground. In addition to that this game really tries to go over to the top in every level. With the exception of the snow level, the game takes place in pretty much every setting they can squeeze into the game. You go from a bar, sewers, to a jungle, run down manor, ruins, a marketplace, ship graveyard, and so on. Each level with its own incredible Hollywood blockbuster action sequence. I understand that its an action game, but when you cram things in as much as this does, it causes a little bit of an overload and I feel the impressiveness of a scene is diminished because of the not stop onslaught of scenes of this nature.

Drake never learns his lesson to stay off Planes.

Now, don't let this stream of complaints make you think this game wasn't great. I literally played the game from start to finish in a single sitting. None of the complaints were something that affected my ability to enjoy the game. The game has a familiarity at this point and the story is very compelling. Nathan Drake and the rest of the cast of characters are really what make the game so successful and with each passing title the characters have more life and nuance to them. They do a wonderful job of spacing the game out in the timeline so you have to take bits and pieces of dialogue to try to figure out what happened between the two games. The game has a pretty good pace to it and it goes just as long as it has to for a game of this type. My initial play through was about 9 hours. The only thing I fear is actually something said in one of the bonus features: "Where Do we go from here?" How many treasures can Francis Drake have hidden? How many more daring escapes can Nathan possibly get out of? Look, the bottom line here is that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is another incredible addition to this franchise, and if you own a PS3 you would be doing yourself an injustice if you didn't play it. My fear is that this game is not preparing itself for longevity, and is starting to show signs of repeating itself. They are still fun for now, but they are going to really need to reach to come up with something new for a 4th installment.