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This week 2/16/08
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This week we are officially out of the post-holiday doldrums, with many great titles for the 360, PS3, PSP, and DS. As such, I have two awesome picks this week.
Street Fighter IV's Sakura in a DLC-purchasable Ryu costume
Pick of the Week (tie):
Street Fighter IV (360, PS3):
The long awaited sequel to the Street Fighter series seems to both deviate from the expected and yet still look and feel like a Street Fighter game. The initial skepticism over the "3D modeled characters in a 2D space" look has given way to reviews that exclaim that it all somehow brilliantly works.
The game's lineup is a cattle call that draws on not only the classic Street Fighter II games, but on the successful Alpha series and the sublime Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Along with the returning cast, four new interesting characters have been added to the roster ranging from the Vice/Shermie-look alike Crimson Viper to the ode to El Santo that is El Fuerte.
Early reviews from either the Japanese arcade or American grey market cabinets indicate it plays very well and with the training feature that goes beyond just being a test platform for practicing moves (and counting frames), into teaching players how to perform combos and other such techniques that are crucial to go from button masher and occasional 2-3-6er to formidable opponent either at the arcade or, more likely, online. Fighting game fans and folks who nostalgically recall playing Street Fighter II back in the day should play this new incarnation.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS):
The DS port of the classic SNES RPG that, like another fifth iteration of a well-known RPG series (Final Fantasy), did not make it to US shores the first time around. Or the second time when it was released as a port for the PS2.
This time, finally, North America gets its hands on one of the series best titles and the connecting game between IV and VI, which take place in the same "universe", much like DQ I, II, and III.
Dragon Quest V is unique in RPGs since it takes place over twenty years of the main character's life, in which he gets married and has a family. In the game the Hero travels with his father as a child and, later, goes on a quest to find the whereabouts of his mother, who has a mysterious past and is not dead as was presumed by the Hero since childhood.
While the Dragon Quest Series is well known for being conservative as far as game design revisions go, DQV offered a system of monster taming, where the Hero can recruit monsters (or, if the monsters asked, invited them) to the party.
Also important to DQV is the marriage system. As part of the story, the Hero chooses one of three (in the SNES version it was two, but the DS Port added a third option) women: Bianca, a childhood friend and tomboy, Nera, a girl who becomes proficient in magic, or her needy younger sister Deborah.
This new DS port has added, as well as a new bride, various additions made to the PS2 port including the capacity to have 4 members in your party at once (up from the original's 3) and a collection sidequest.
Needless to say, Dragon Quest and RPG fans should consider adding this to the already voluminous queue of great RPGs to come out this year.
Also This Week:
- Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer (PC)
- Battle Rage (Wii)
- Disney Sing It! High School Musical 3: Senior Year (PS2, PS3, Wii)
- Dream Day Anniversary (PC)
- Evasive Space (Wii)
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (360)*
- Martial Arts: Capoeira Fighters (DS, PS2, PSP, Wii)
- Moomin The Mysterious Howling (DS)
- Noby Noby Boy (PS3)*
- Penumbra Collection (PC)
- Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (PSP)
- RacePro (360)
- Roogoo (DS, Wii)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (PC)
*Also great choices this week!
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