I had a chance to do a small Q&A with the folks over at Gaijinworks/Monkey Paw Games in regards to the Kickstarter for a Collector’s Edition for Class of Heroes 2 , as well as other various topics. I took some questions from the backers over at the Kickstarter page, so click the link to read the answers: 1.- After working on the Sega CD, you’ve been working on releases for Sony consoles and Portables. Any change in that strategy thanks to the sales of the 3DS, and the Wii U being just around the corner? We certainly will consider those platforms, and can’t wait to see some of the new titles and hardware that’s bound to be the talk of the show yet again. 2.- vinsfeld123 ponders: What do you plan to do next?. Will you make changes to the overall plan what changes, and gives this a second go? We’re working on getting BurgerTime World Tour for PC out [ check our review of the PSN release right here ], the Class of Heroes 2 digital version, and we’ll be making a cool game announcement prior to E3 2012. As for another potential Kickstarter, we’re still weighing all of our options at this point. However, plenty of our fans have supported us to try again. 3.- Brash Smith asks: Is a localization and release ofMother 3 a possibility or has Nintendo already shot down that one? Lots of fans ask us for status on lots of games. We can certainly say that anything is possible, and we have a long list of these same types of games we’d like to see. As for Mother 3, you’ll have to ask Nintendo on that one. I would like to thank Gaijinworks/Monkey Paw Games for their time. I’ll have another Q&A in a few weeks, and a review for Vanguard Bandits which will go live next week, so be sure to stick around at PS3blog.net!

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Q&A with Gaijinworks/Monkey Paw Games

In Jurassic Park: The Game – Episode 3, the group looks for escape through the dark maintenance tunnels that connect the park, while being hunted by relentless pursuers. Uneasy partnerships teeter on the brink until simmering tensions explode and the survivors turn on each other. Be sure to read the review for Jurassic Park: The Game Episode 1 to learn about the basics on how to control the game, as well as how the grading system works! You should also check the review for Episode 2 to make sure you remember what has happened so far. I always wonder why people continue to use helicopters in movies and games when we all know they will eventually end up crashing down, probably killing, maiming or hurting someone in the process. Weird, right? After the chopper crashes, Nima, Yoder and Oscar must find a new way to transport all survivors back to safety before the dinosaurs can get the best of them. We come to realize that Oscar is a badass mercenary, instead of your vanilla, plain mercenary. How so? Oscar decides he should STALK SOME VELOCIRAPTORS, waiting for the right time to get the jump on the fast, little buggers. Yes, you read that right. He is using stealth to beat the Velociraptors at their own game, savoring the tension of the hunt. Crazy, right? Well, just wait until you see what happens when he catches up to them! The tension rises as Jurassic Park: The Game – The Depths brings us closer to the final conclusion of our journey. Will everyone make it out alive? Will someone fall prey to the Velociraptors, the T-Rex or another one of the predators that call Isla Nublar home? The characters have grown on us. The story draws to an end, and the dinosaurs are only getting hungrier! Review Pros Cons More action, less interaction Slowdown here and there Rating 81% Published by Telltale Games Cost – $29.99 (Full Season) Disclaimer Total amount of time played: 2 hours This review is based on a copy of Jurassic Park: The Game provided by Telltale Game

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[PSN Review] Jurassic Park: The Game Episode 3

The first Grand Slam Tennis was originally planned as a PS3 release but EA faulted on its first service, and it never saw the light of day. EA are back with their second try with Grand Slam Tennis 2 which has a few things in its locker: Total Racquet control, tons of official licenses, and full Playstation Move support if you’re feeling active. Now if we could have quiet please, we’ll get started on this review. Grand Slam Tennis 2 employs a control scheme called Total Racquet that allows you to move the right stick in a manner similar to that of a real racquet. It’s a method seen before in EA’s NHL series to control the players’ stick, and to an extent in FIFA when executing skill moves. By pulling it back and forth and then aiming it where you want the ball to go, for example pull the stick backwards then follow through upwards for a topspin shot with the speed of movement determining the speed of shot, you can have more control over your shot. You can also slice shots by reversing this action and hitting the ball away and to play a flat shot you just push the stick forward. All of these movements are in the direction you want to play the ball so there is a lot of flexibility but I found it unreliable when it came to the crunch. The same can’t be said for Move as well which makes serving tedious to time and still relies on buttons to play different types of shot. I was hoping I could slice shots with a cutting movement to create spin or even having to do a backhand swing to play backhand shots but you can just swing the same way each time. It makes it easy to get into but hard to execute the shot that you wish. Ultimately after trying these two control schemes I reverted back to the arcade button layout as it provides a greater sense of timing and precision. On the court, GST 2 plays a good game of tennis with fast action and tactics coming into play allowing you to cultivate your own play style whether it is power shots from the baseline or volleys at the net. Playing against different players forces you to adapt to your game resulting in you needing to change your tactics to overcome them. You can play as 23 different pros that are evenly split between current to old pros including Novak Djoković, Maria Sharapova and Pete Sampras. They don’t just look realistic, they also benefit from some custom animations, so McEnroe does his little hop, Nadal flails his arms everywhere and Federer serves in his graceful manner, which all helps to bring out the personalities of your opponents who have their own unique play styles too. Notable absences include Agassi, Caroline Wozniacki and Sue Barker(!), but fortunately internet whizz kids have created missing pros, which are available to download in the create a player section, making their absences bearable. Naturally, there are 738 versions of Anna Kournikova, along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Whitney Houston, which kinda brings a whole new meaning to My Love Is Your Love when used in Tennis. The multi-year spanning line-up results in a bizarre career mode where the likes of Boris Becker and Andy Roddick fight it out for the US Open title. It doesn’t quite feel right considering EA have made a point of featuring all the major Grand Slams, and I fail to see what makes them more realistic than Virtua Tennis. At least that has Laura Robson even if she is rubbish. I mean only 4 current women’s tennis pros? I’m pretty sure the women’s Grand Slam tennis finals don’t start at the semi-finals. There are fictional players to make up the numbers, but it still feels week compared to the thousands of licensed players in other EA Sports’ titles. Career Mode has taken a nod from the FIFA series “Be A Pro”, allowing you to import your own face, even accessing that same photo you uploaded for FIFA 3 years ago when you had that rubbish beard that you still regret. Fortunately, you can always reupload your photo sans the it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time facial hair and acne. It’s great to see it seamlessly integrated, as I had my pro on the court in a matter of minutes, and there’s no doubting the appeal of seeing your smug face celebrating a backhand winner against Nadal. Your aim is to climb the ranks and become the world’s number 1 by gaining XP throughout your career, and each match has specific goals to boost your score, such as 5 backhand winners or win a point after a rally of 10. Interestingly, your XP can also be lost if you fail to win a match, making every match count. The 10 year Career mode pans out as you’d expect with you spending the time between Grand Slams training, taking part in minor tournaments, and buying new items from the shop like sweatbands (yay!). Training is available between each event and aims to improve a couple of you stats categories from Power to Accuracy and Speed (these pretty much entail you hitting the ball a certain way to a particular area of the court whilst McEnroe shouts at you). There’s little margin for error, meaning not only does it punish you by awarding no upgraded stats, but it also stops you from training again until after the next tournament. It’s a frustrating affair in that it doesn’t improve you helping to work at the weaker areas of your game, and you end up just being rewarded for what you’re already good at. There’s also little doubting that the training is less fun than Virtua Tennis 4’s mini games. Granted, Murray may not warm up for Wimbledon by chasing chickens around a court, but then again he also doesn’t play Bjorn Borg in the final… Other than career mode, you can relive classic tennis moments with the ESPN Grand Slam Classics challenge mode, placing you in the middle of iconic matches: you either recreate history or change it. The classic players make sense in this mode, as you get instantly stuck into epic tennis matches, playing against the best players ever. There’s some decent multiplayer too, with not only head to head matches but online tournament mode where you face other players online to win the cup. Bafflingly there is an online pass, but it is not necessary for online play, and without redeeming my code I didn’t come across any content unavailable to me, so why it’s present is beyond me. Commentary is provided by Pat Cash and John McEnroe, and is limited at best. They’re both seemingly obsessed with shots from the back of the court whilst constantly repeating themselves. The crowd do a great job of building up atmosphere by quietening down before each service, yet still containing the odd twit who shouts if the player takes too long. They also grow more excitable as a rally progresses, and give extra applause for a well won point which is a great touch. Grand Slam Tennis 2 does a grand job of simulating tennis with highly detailed players and stadiums, with a novel total racquet control scheme which remains simple enough to understand it in no time. It may lack the fun of Virtua Tennis 4, or the simulation depth of Top Spin, 4 but it finds a good middle ground offering up licensed tournaments and a great challenge mode. Without being too difficult for newcomers, Grand Slam Tennis 2 is a great recommendation for Tennis fans who don’t like their wacky minigames, but want a tennis game that is easy to pick up and play. A game winning second service, but EA still has a little way to go to become a match winner. Review Pros Cons Licensed tournaments Simple yet deep gameplay Be A Pro Classic challenges No fun minigames/training Time travel tournaments Total racquet is a bit naff Rating 70% This review is based on a copy of Grand Slam Tennis 2 provided by EA

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[PS3 Review] Grand Slam Tennis 2

In a well established, post-apocalyptic theme era, I Am Alive proudly presents itself as a psychological survival horror game, with emphasis on the psychological part. While I Am Alive’s unique concept distinguishes the game from other titles in the genre, some poor executed decisions made my walk-through a “displeasing experience”. [Story] Set in a fictional American city called Haventon, most of the human civilization were wiped out during a catastrophic event, covering the world by clouds of toxic dust, and thus making it barely habitable. You assume the role of an unknown man in his journey to reunite with his wife and daughter. The hazardous environment is your biggest enemy in I Am Alive. Ubisoft has also created a genuine feeling of tension in the sections you meet other survivalist, whom will either: A: request your aid, B: point a gun in your face, or C: simply attack you for the goods you are carrying. However you react to these encounters, the choices you make will affect your, and others’, survival . The first thing you will notice when playing I Am Alive is the colors. Everything is tuned down to grey, red or black. The ruins of past civilization adds a depth of reality to the overall experience. Ubisoft managed to create a unique atmosphere in I Am Alive, but my anxiousness to explore the environment was shattered by the limited exploration the game offers. Buildings, cars, bridges … etc, are only created as parts of the environment in a sense that you can explore a little and interact with a few . The graphics are not the prettiest I’ve seen. Given the time spent on the game, nearly 3 years since 2008 E3, makes you wonder why characters have no facial expressions, or why everything lacks polish and look somehow .. unfinished. Even the commonly polished cut-scenes are not commonly polished in I Am Alive . I should mention that Darkworks , known for games such Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare and Cold Fear, was in charge of development from 2008-2010. Ubisoft Shanghai took on the project from 2010-2011. Personally, I loved the 2008 version the Paris based studio Darkworks had. If you are wondering, in 2011, Darkworks was placed into compulsory liquidation and was closed, but their 2008 E3 trailer will always be the “I Am Alive” version I’ve always wanted. [Gameplay] How the media portrays the protagonist VS. What your character actually looks like My biggest upset with this game is the poor controls . They are either slow, delayed, or unresponsive. When you are climbing a 20 story building, hanging from a small pipe (come to think of it, I wonder why skyscrapers have pipes), you’d expect to have a level of control over your environment. What you get is the most frustrating climbing system I’ve ever encountered. Pulling my character up a ledge was my biggest challenge throughout the entire game. When you run out of health or stamina, you will obviously fall to your death and restart from the last check point. In I Am Alive, you can’t save your previous progress. You can restart the last check point, but it could be somewhere far behind your current progress. There is no actual method to tell where in the timeline the saved point was. Also, you have only 3 (Rewinds) from the last checkpoint. Rewinds are actually collectible throughout the game, or acquired by doing favors for strangers. Think something like an old school platformer, 3 lives left. When you run out of rewinds, you will have to restart the game from the last saved point. That could be anywhere from 2 minutes back, or the entire time you spent climbing up a building to reach an objective. There is no actual way to tell. In I Am Alive, you can’t jump! There is no actual button for jumping. There are certain areas you can access and others you can’t. Say if you are standing near an object you can climb, like a wall or a fence, pressing X will make your character jump and climb this object. I find it annoyingly strange that you can’t get on top of a car or climb small walls if there is no purpose of doing it. If it is not part of the story, you simply can’t do it! The developer introduces a new concept with the Stamina meter . Everything you do will affect your stamina meter. Running, climbing, being exposed to toxic gas, getting shot at, getting stabbed, hanging from a ledge; every action you make will effect your stamina meter. In some cases, the meter will refill when you rest. In other cases, some items are required. Items you can find by exploring a little more, such as bottles of water, food cans, pain killers, soda .. etc. You can access your inventory at any given time, check out the items you have collected and select the one you think fits most for your particular situation. Your resources are very limited . Getting to one of the objectives can be undeniably challenging During my play-through, I had many encounters with strangers in need. Some will ask for particular items, such as fresh fruits, cigarettes, water, and pain killers. You can always come back once you acquired the needed item. Strangers will grant you rewinds and access to some goods, which proved to be useful in many cases. The soundtrack of the game is annoying. It is not realistic, authentic or related somehow to the actual story. It is simply annoying. When you are presented with a situation where your stamina is running out, and you will encounter many of these, the game makes a noise to indicate that your stamina meter is running low. In my 20 years of playing video games, I haven’t ever turned any game volume down because I was annoyed. I am not bashing on the work of the sound artists, but man, what were you thinking? There are a few unique concepts to explore. The psychological act of pointing a gun at someone and witness their reaction was somehow .. satisfying! You won’t find much ammo for your gun, but once you do, you will have to use them wisely. Other survivors in the game will be intimidated if you point a gun at them. Some will ask you to “take it easy .. man”, while others will challenge your morality and ability to actually fire your gun. Making your decision based on the facts you are presented with can make a big difference. For example, I was presented with a situation when three strangers attacked my character because “I stepped into their territory”. I had only one bullet to use, so I aimed at the most intimidating character in their group, who happened to be the big guy, and fired my pistol. The remaining two characters attitude changed into fear and they decided to put their weapons down and I was able to pistol-whip them unconsciousness without them knowing that my gun was empty. [Final Thoughts] Although “I Am Alive” poses some unique ideas, the game still falls short in all other areas. Since the 2008 E3 trailer, the game had lot of potential to stand among other great titles in the genre, but came out somehow disappointing. You can clearly tell that it was rushed for release by the publisher regardless of some major improvements that could have been done to the gameplay. If you still want to experience the story and the intense atmosphere, I would suggest that you wait for a price drop. Review Pros Cons Intense Atmosphere Some unique Ideas Poor Controls Aggravating soundtrack Feels Unfinished Disappointing Rating 65% Price on PSN is $14.99 Disclaimer This review is based on a PS3 copy of I Am Alive developed by Darkworks (2008–2010) and Ubisoft Shanghai (2010–2011) and Published and provided by Ubisoft.

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[PSN Review] I Am Alive

The Day is finally upon us when Demon’s Souls’ servers will be shut down. No more extensions by Atlus. May 31st will be the last time you can invade someone’s game and destroy them right before their boss fight. Atlus VP of Sales had this to say in an official statement sent to Game Informer: On October 6, 2009, North American gamers’ expectations of what an online roleplaying experience could be were forever changed. With Demon’s Souls, gamers received a title of breathtaking scope and vision, a project built on experimental cooperative and competitive multiplayer concepts, offering users both direct and indirect methods of communication and interaction. Elements of every connected player’s single player world carried into the worlds of others, sometimes as nothing more than an echo or afterimage, and other times in the form of an alliance or invasion. With countless hazards to memorize and plan for spread across each of the game’s sprawling dozen-plus worlds, the ability for players to leave hints—or, potentially, deceptions—and to view the final moments of other adventurers’ lives, created an unprecedented form of RPG crowd-sourcing that remains revolutionary to this day. . When subtle interactions were insufficient assistance, players could call across dimensions for assistance, pulling the weakened spirit forms of other adventurers—unable to communicate using conventional voice chat in order to preserve the game’s intense atmosphere—into their worlds to help them defeat the game’s unforgettable boss monsters. Other less altruistic spirit form users could invade the world of living adventurers and try to revive themselves by quite literally stealing that life from another. All of these online elements, all of the ways in which gamers would interact with each other, served to enhance and complement the core game and were designed so as to neither diminish nor distract from the experience and thrill of simply playing the game. . It has been a tremendous honor and privilege for all of our staff at ATLUS to have been involved with so innovative and groundbreaking an interactive entertainment experience. We poured our heart and soul into every facet of our involvement with Demon’s Souls, particularly the title’s memorable Deluxe Edition, which served as the only avenue through which to purchase the game’s official strategy guide. It was also of the utmost importance for us to sustain the game’s online experience as long as possible, even beyond the point at which sales could help to offset the expense. Regrettably, the online servers cannot be sustained forever and now the end draws near. . Thank you to the unparalleled passion and support of the Demon’s Souls community throughout these last two and a half years. The online adventure may end soon, but the memory of it—just like that of every boss strategy, every level floor plan, and hidden secret—lives on in the gamers for whom the game was so special. I have to applaud Atlus for keeping the servers alive this long. Luckily, Demon’s Souls can be completed to 100% offline. You just wont have the uneasy feeling of Black Phantoms invading, but is that really a bad thing? Source: GameInformer

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Demon’s Souls Servers to be Shut Down Next Month

Welcome to a brand new era of rhythm! Let Vibes take you on a heart-pounding, button-bashing journey through a huge variety of music tracks. Your accuracy, timing and finger speed will be taken to the limit in this unique test of rhythm. Follow the pattern of music and chase the big combos and high scores! Amaze yourself by beating all the difficulty levels which push your fingers to breaking point! Do you have what it takes to become number one? From the trailer, you can tell that icons appear at the edge of the screen, making their way towards the center of the screen. You must use the analog stick to aim the center arrow in the direction of the incoming icons, so you can press the corresponding button to hit said icon. In case yo run into an icon with a tail, you must press and hold the button until the trail is over. Pressing the button to early or two late will not give you the best score possible, nor will it help you regain some of your lost health. There are 13 songs available in total which is very impressive considering this is a minis release. 5 songs are available from start, and as you complete them you will unlock the rest. How varied are the music selections? You have Pop, Hip Hop, House, Emo, Classical, J-Pop, Psychobilly, Rock, Trip Hop, Latin, Punk, Electro and Indie songs for this game (one song per genre), which is sure to please all music game fans. At first, you can only pick the first difficulty option for each song, but you will eventually also unlock the next two difficulty settings to increase replay value. Just be warned that the higher you go, the more focused you need to be. This is the reason why Headphones are must when playing on PSP/PSP Go/Vita. Being able to clearly listen to the music while playing makes a huge difference. If you play on the PS3, just crank up the volume and dive into this trippy journey! As other music/rhythm games have taught us, we can’t miss too many icons or it’s game over. The upper right has your lifebar, and it lets you know how good/bad you are doing depending on color (Green, Orange, Red, Doomed). Vibes is a fun release that brings something new to the music/rhythm game genre. 13 tracks with 3 difficulty settings add to the overall replay value of the game, and the great music selection will keep you coming back for more. Review Pros Cons Great music Easy to understand controls Can get very hectic at higher difficulties Rating 81% Cost – $5.99 Disclaimer Total amount of time played: 4 hours. This review is based on a PS3/PSP copy of Vibes provided by Laughing Jackal.

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[minis Review] Vibes

It all started on Christmas day of 2010. While most families were enjoying the holiday(s), I decided I would go and play a game on my PS3. Sure, I didn’t get anything new that day, but Gran Turismo 5 was calling my name, and I had to get ready for a tournament we were going to hold the following day. Well, upon hitting the power button, the worst case scenario had happened. I received the tone of death, followed by that dreaded flashing yellow light. Keep in mind, I was way out of warranty by this point, as I own an original 60GB model (but I had upgraded to a 500GB hard drive by the time this happened) and had it for a few years already. This was most disheartening. I researched potential causes of the issue, and soon drew the conclusion that it had to deal with some of the solder joints on the RSX (the graphics processor) essentially melting away, because Sony had used a lower quality solder to mate the RSX to the circuit board. I looked around for any services that would deal with this. There were a few on eBay that would do it for, I believe, $90, but people were complaining that they had the money taken out, but never received their console back. I wouldn’t trust that kind of service posting anyway. It sounded way too shady. That’s when I discovered Gophermods . After having read a number of their reviews (and how Tosh had gotten some success by having service done to his console, albeit it was just reflowing the solder joints with the old solder). At the time, among other services, this was the most popular, though, and you get a free 6 month warranty. Looking at the services they were providing, upon suggestions from some forum posts I read online, a reballing with higher grade solder was the solution. Unfortunately, at the time, the reballing service from Gophermods had been announced in August of that year, but it was still unavailable (some people even question whether it ever would be). Still, I had faith in them, and decided to wait, especially with the promise that they would have a 1 year warranty on the service. Instead of a simple resoldering (which was cheaper at $70 and is often called just a temporary fix), I opted to wait for the reballing service to become available (which was $140). And wait I did. The service wasn’t available until, I believe, February of 2011. Keep in mind, the $140 is a little pricier than the “fix” Sony provided, but you get to keep your system (they will also send you your game back if you had one stuck inside; they’ll also replace it if it does, for some reason, get lost), hard drive, everything. The only bad part about the service becoming available was the fact that so many other people were wanting it, they had a waiting list. I was still one of the first to receive the service, though, so it wasn’t long after they had the service go live that they contacted me and I sent the system out for repairs (usually, the turnaround for their services is 24 hours; reballing the RSX had an up to 72 hour turnaround if I recall correctly). Between shipping my console out and getting it back, it was relatively quick. Quite similar to the turnaround you get when you ship out your 360 for a replacement after receiving the Red Ring of Death (I had dealt with a couple of those so I know). It might have been even quicker. Anyway, after getting the console back, I plugged everything back in, started it up, and it ran like new again Here it is, April 2012. More than a year after I had my PS3 service performed. How did it hold up? Well, the system still runs perfectly. Sure, it often gets dust buildup on the vents (since there’s a lot of dust out here), but that’s besides the point (heck, Gophermods will even clean the system when they receive it). I would get an occasional game freeze, but that’s totally unrelated. I haven’t had any hardware failures or anything of that sort at all since the repair. Was it worth the investment? Definitely. Was it worth holding out until the service was available? I think so. Now I get to sit here and enjoy my 60GB the same way I did when I got the system. Yes, I sometimes get the urge to play old PS2 and PS1 games. That is what makes this repair worth the cost. That, and I don’t particularly trust myself enough to be able to do it myself. If you ever need your PS3 serviced, I would definitely recommend checking these guys out.

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[Service Review] Gophermods RSX Reballing – 1 Year Later

This morning was just like every other morning. Then, it happened. No one knows where they came from, or what they are. But we all know that nothing will ever be the same. Now, your only chance for survival is to outrun the destruction of your city… with just one button. Run for your life! Canabalt PlayStation minis trailer from Beatshapers on Vimeo . When you wake up to a robot invation, you can only do two things: run, and run faster! Canabalt hails from the year 2009 (yes, that does sound like a long time ago), and it was the start of the auto runner craze. What is an auto runner? It is a game on which your character runs automatically (get it?) without any outside input. You usually only have control over him with a single button that allows him/her to jump. Other games have added a double jump, or even another button to allow you to fire ( heeeellooo One Epic Game! ), but the basic concept is still there. Canabalt is all about running until you die, always hoping to escape the madness that is brought by GiantKillerRobotsTm, when they decide to invade somewhere. You will need to jump from building top to building top while avoiding any obstacles that might make you sit down for a cup of coffee with the Grim Reaper. The more time that your character spends running, the faster he will continue to run. This is great when you want to outrun an off-screen menace, but it is not that great when you’re trying to make a precise jump over then void that is imminent dead. By hitting small obstacles, you can slow down a bit, but you must be careful to not slow down too much, or else you won’t be able to make the next jump. A bit of a Catch-22 since you can’t see how big the next jump is if you’re going to slow, but going too fast means you could jump OVER the whole building, falling down to the far, far away land of concrete floor. You must also avoid “death from above” objects, that are either missiles or discarded arms from the GiantKillerRobotsTm. Hitting those will bring you to a halt, and your game will be over in a flash. Why? Because you’re crashing into a very hot piece of metal that is bigger than you, and when you combine human flesh with hot, smoldering metal… Some buildings are just waiting for you to set foot on top of them to start crumbling down. Guess all the pigeons on the rooftop were not heavy enough to destroy the whole thing. But the pigeons sure look nice when they fly away, trying to avoid you at all cost. Canabalt is a small and minimalistic game that you should definitely add to your collection. The Auto runner extraordinaire is still fun after all these years, and you can now enjoy it on your PS3, your PSP or your Vita. How far can you run before you just can’t run anymore? Review Pros Cons Great art and music One button controls Random levels are not for everyone Rating 80% Cost – $2.99 Disclaimer Total amount of time played: 3 hours. This review is based on a PS3/PSP copy of Canabalt obtained from Beatshapers.

Continued here: 
[minis review] Canabalt

Shienryu is a classic vertical-scrolling Arcade shoot’em-up that was faithfully translated to the Playstation with good flair and fun back in 1999. You’re captain of a sleek space craft out to defend the planet against a horrific enemy. The game can be flown alone or with a friend for added power (and laughs!). You’ll face off against towering alien mechs and endure a bedlam of bullets that will test your steel. Warashi developed the game with stunning arcade graphics and gave intricate detail, which makes this shooter a wonderful play even to this day. The amount of particles on the screen and their effects in the background as they fall to the ground is superbly displayed. The variety of power ups and weapons give the game much diversity and increase its longevity. Shienryu one of those great shooters you go to again and again cause its so much fun to shoot the living piss out of every mech coming at you. If you don’t laugh as you blast the Red Octopus boss in stage 3, then you really should have your humor bone honed. It’s a game that will surely keep your fingers tapping and your heart racing. A brilliant arcade classic. As has been the case with other PSOne Imports, all menus and text is in Japanese… which really isn’t much of a problem with Shienryu since we can all understand that we are good, every other ship/vessel/tank is bad, we move with the D-Pad, Shoot with Circle or Square, and we can use X to unleash a powerful Smart Bomb that changes depending on the weapon you have equipped at the moment. This shooter is part of the “one hit and you’re dead” genre, so you must be extremely careful when dodging all the bullets that will be flying towards you. Not as crazy as “bullet hell” shooters, but still a humbling experience. By now, you know the drill: Make your way to the end of the level, after shooting hundred of enemies while collecting power-ups that increase our your speed, your firepower and your Smart bombs, and hope that you can quickly understand the attack and movement pattern of the huge boss that is trying to stop you from making it to the next level. If you’re too slow, if you can’t understand the pattern and if you’re completely destroyed and run out of lives and continues, you make the most of what you’ve learned so far, and try again from the start. And this is just how I like my shooters. To make it even easier for everyone to understand how the game works, here is the list of all the Power-ups and Weapons you will run into during your experience: Power-ups Weapon Power (red square with a P in it) Increases your weapon power by one level. There are three levels of power for each weapon. Collecting a power increase while at maximum power will allow you to carry upgrade-levels over to your next life. Collecting one once your next ship reaches maximum power gives you 5000 points. Ship Speed (blue square with an S in it) Increases your ship’s speed by one level. There are three levels of speed. Collecting one once your ship reaches maximum speed gives you 5000 points. Super Power (moving, flashing square with a P in it) Upgrades your ship to full weapon power and speed, and gives you a shield that will protect you from a single hit. Bomb (shifts between a red B and a bomb icon) Increases your bomb stock by one. You gain a bonus for unused bombs at the end of a level. Bomb effect changes with current weapon. LEDs (look like little poles with a red or blue light on top) Cashed in for bonus points at the end of the level. 1 blue LED is worth 10 red LEDs. 1UP (1UP in text) An extra life. Weapon Panels (red, yellow or blue panels with a circular eye-design in the middle) Changes your weapon. Red swaps you to the Vulcan Guns, Blue swaps you to the Homing Lightning, Yellow swaps you to the Missiles. Collecting a Weapon Panel of the same sort as the one you’re currently using is worth 5000 points. Weapons Vulcan Guns Fires bullets forward in a wave pattern. Number of bullets and width of wave-pattern increases with power-level. At higher levels, also fires energy balls. Bomb Effect Wide-spread laser that gradually narrows. Lightning Fires homing lightning that deals continual damage before vanishing. Amount of damage dealt and number of bolts increases with power-level. At higher levels, lightning will arc from one target to another. Bomb Effect 5 large lasers firing directly forward from near the ship. Missiles Fires missiles in a forward formation. Number of missiles fired increases with power-level. At higher levels, homing-missiles are fired out to the sides. Bomb Effect short-range explosives surround the ship. Right from the start, you can decide to play the game on normal mode (Shienryu option on main menu), on Easy mode (second option), Hard mode (third option) OR you can select the last option in the main menu to have access to the extra modes menu. What does this special menu hold? Let’s mention some of them, as to not ruin the whole surprise! First up is Jienryu which answer the age old question: what would happen if I played a vertical shooter on something less powerful than a Dremcast VMU? And the answer is simple: You would have a lot of fun while playing a game that is even harder than the Shienryu itself. Without any powerups, a constant stream of enemies, and a huge boss at the end that can deplete your extra lives stock in 10 seconds, you will really need to focus while playing. Did I mention that after defeating the boss you start again but now all enemies shoot at you and the also move faster? Second extra mode is Stingy Mode, in which you only have the one ship and one bomb to complete the game, you cannot continue after you’re killed, and there are no power-ups. The enemies also only give you a single point when destroyed, so good luck with reaching a high score! Another option is playing Merciless Mode, a bullet hell version of Shienryu that puts other bullet hell games to shame. Enemies fire fast, homing bullets, they pack every single inch of the screen, and are out to get you. If you think that Hard mode was too easy, you can take this for a ride and see how good you really are. Shienryu is a great port of a Japan only arcade game that most of us had probably never heard of before. MonkeyPaw Games has made it possible for us to enjoy this game either on PS3 or PSP, and thanks to the fun gameplay, extensive levels and extra modes included in the release, I can completely recommend this to all shooter fans. Review Pros Cons Polished 2D Shooter Fun extra modes A bit of slowdown on PSP Rating 89% Cost – $5.99 Disclaimer Total amount of time played: 4 hours. Game was completed before writing this review. This review is based on a PS3/PSP copy of Shienryu provided by MonkeyPaw Games

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[PSOne Review] Shienryu

Sumioni is a game developed by ACQUIRE Corp. and published by Xseed Games for the PlayStation Vita. In Sumioni, you control an “Inkdemon” by the name of Agura, who was summoned to save Japan from being destroyed. Agura is a very lazy demon and really did not want to do much more than go back to sleep, but he was coerced into helping by two other demons that follow him on his adventure as summon spells. This game is a 2D side-scrolling platformer in its base gameplay, but there are some interesting twists that make this game more enjoyable. Being an “Inkdemon,” you have the power of creation and arts through using ink. The basic use of ink is drawing a platform to stand on, jump over large objects, and to reach power ups that are out of your reach. This is done simply by drawing a line with your finger using the PlayStation Vita’s touch screen. If you draw an excessively long platform, your power will be increased for as long as you stand on the platform. Another use of ink is setting things on fire or causing a cloud to rain down lightning from above. This is done from the arts screen, which is brought up by hitting the left shoulder button and also pauses the game. You draw over what you want to set fire to, or hit with a lightning bolt, then hit the left shoulder button again, which will activate the technique. All of this uses ink from a meter that can be refilled by finding ink wells or by rubbing the back of your Vita quickly while standing still in the game. Each level completed results in a 3-star rating. The higher the rating, the further you delve into the world of Sumioni to see one of its 6 endings, however, the game fails at delivering any depth whatsoever. There are many aspects to the game, that I consider lazy, that did not take advantage of any of the Vita’s strengths. My first run through took a total of 41 minutes, and that is with watching 5 minute scrolling texts plot stories at the beginning and throughout the game. You can go back to other levels and try to attain a high star rating to lengthen the game to see a different ending, however, the levels are insanely short (some are about a minute or two long) so its not like you missed much. To me, this game could have been so much better, but it ended up being nothing more than a very expensive ($20) IOS game. Again, the concept of the game is amazing, the art is beautiful, but the overall delivery failed. I just believe this game could have been so much more than what it ended up as. Review Pros Cons Great concept Unique Artistic Extremely short game Levels can be beat in under 2 minutes easy Very Expensive Rating 65% This review is based on a copy of Sumioni: Demon Arts provided by XSEED Games, and it was completed before writing this review.

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[Vita Review] Sumioni – Demon Arts