The Onimusha series was rumored to have started off as an N64 Resident Evil game with samurai instead of Zombies. Obviously it managed to make a life of its own on the PS2 (along with the enhanced Xbox version of the original). Around the time of this release, there were 2 prior games, a Game Boy Advance strategy spin off, and a Smash Brothers-esque PS2 spin-off. A sequel was released last year which is also garnering critical acclaim.

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With the turn of the new year having come and gone, Midway games has alot to celebrate. Its newest title of one of the greatest fighting franchise in gaming history, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has achieved many award-winning goals like it’s predecessors before it. In reaching the mark 1 million copies sold just last week, and a port to the Wii system by April of this year to join its releases on the PS2 and Xbox systems, the Mortal Kombat name has certainly a lot to boast about.

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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Apocalypto, the Mel Gibson directed epic about a Mayan tribesman who is captured and seperated from his family. This was perhaps the most graphic and violent movie I’d seen in some time, and the fact that it was presented as historically accurate it shook me more than the same level of graphic violence does nightly in various video games.

I felt that same shaken feeling after Children Of Men. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Before creating the Playstation, Sony was a 3rd party developer known as Sony Imagesoft. The company’s primary purpose was to develop games for the 16 and cd-based systems of the time. Besides a bunch of crappy licenced games, they put out a few gems, one of them is thie little-known SNES title Skyblazer. It took bits and pieces of other games such as Castlevania, Zelda, and Mega Man and combined them with a Southern Asian-inspired atmosphere to create an identity all on it’s own. While you play as the typical hero in the typical “save the princess” story, the gameplay differences make up for what the plot lacks in originality tenfold. You move on an overworld map, which soon gives you choices in which way to go next. As you progress through the game, you’ll gain new abilities, almost like an RPG. Mode 7 flight stages and some cool boss battles also help break up the action. With Sony Imagesoft being absorbed into 989 studios, there is zero chance of it coming to virtual console, so be prepared to spend some bucks on Ebay hunting this down.

Waaaaay back while this site was still on Blogger, I featured this game’s predecessor. Midway Arcade Treasures 2 adds in more retro goodness from Midway and Atari. This collection seems geared towards fighting games, as Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 are on here, being joined by Pit Fighter and Primal Rage. Also on this collection are APB, Wizard of War, General Carnage, and more. These games vary in terms of quality, but they all come with cool developer interviews and promotional material. Overall, this is a fun game to pick up if you long for the old days of gaming.

In 1993, Taito published a Neverland-developed RPG known as Lufia and the Fortress of Doom. It told the story of a group of heroes and their battle against a group of demon-gods known as the Sinistrals. The game was noted as being an RPG game for beginners. While It wasn’t a terrible game by any means of the imagination, it didn’t do a whole lot to set itself apart from other RPGS of that period. In an era that would soon include Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy 6/3, Secret of Mana, and other heavyweights, this would quickly caused it to be overlooked. However, one good thing it did, was to open with a playable flashback sequence depicting the defeat of the Sinistrals 100 years earlier. In fact if you just bought the game brand new, it would start as soon as the game loaded up, and the title screen would show up after this sequence. In 1996, near the end of the SNES life cycle, Natsume would publish a sequel that would show the events leading up to that point.

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I’ve never really been into racing games. The only reason I have this game is becuase my brother bought it for me as a christmas present. Once in a blue moon however, I have the itch for some racing action. For the most part Ridge Racer’s acrade-style action did it for me, but during the Playstation 1 era, there was one game that caught my attention becuase of it’s heavy handed approach to racing: Gran Turismo 2. I would spend hours trying to attempt the challenges and unlock all the cars. Now 7 years later, I got a racing simulation that was just as fun, and it took full advantage of Xbox Live.

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This review is a bit late but not nearly as late as this second issue of the Gargoyles comic which was an absurd 4 months behind schedule!