Sorry I’m late this week fans.  I had a few job interviews and whatnot, but here I am.  This week’s $20 GOTW celebrates America’s love affair with 80’s action movies.  You know, the kind with one man against a crime syndicate, shooting up a whole bunch of $!#t.  Dead to rights was a game that came out in the second year of the Xbox’s life cycle.  What’s surprising about it is that it was made by Namco, an Japanese company.  At the time, they had Americanized action down pat.  It would be released on PS2, Gamecube, and PC several months later with new features such as the ability to bypass some of the more annoying minigames.  You play as Jack Slate, a former cop out to clear his name and avenge his father’s death.  Your quest for revenge takes you throughout Grant City’s slums all the way to the top of it’s criminal empire, as crooked cops, businessmen, foreign white slavers (yes you read that right), and even the mayor are wrapped up in the conspiracy.  It implimented the popular “bullet time” gameplay device, something which would be whored out in several other games.  Also of note were the cool disarm moves, where with a button combination and quick reflexes, you could disarm an opponent and kill him with his own weapon.  Your canine friend Shadow also helps out in some of these sequences, hitting up an opponent and taking his weapon for you to use.  As mentioned before the game uses several minigames to keep the action from getting stale.  These minigames involve disarming bombs, participating in boxing matches, and even a gallery-shooting level.  It was followed up with a rather dissappointing sequel last year, and a planned spinoff, “Grant City Anti-Crime”, was cancelled altogether.  Even so, if you love all out balls-to-the wall shooting, you can’t go wrong with this.  It may not reinvent the wheel, but damn if it ain’t fun.

Even though Batman is one of the most prolific names in movies, comics, and TV, his history in video games has been somewhat less than encouraging as of late, as evidenced by the recent Batman Begins game. However, things weren’t always like this. Lets head back to a time when Batman games were *gasp* good.

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Sure you know about the Gradius series, but what do you know of Konami’s other shooter, Axelay?  This SNES shooter showcased some cool mode-7 effects, awesome stages, and had a catchy soundtrack.  Stages in the game were both side-scrolling and horizontal, and there were some kick-ass boss fights, such as the lava man shown on the cover.  You could select you weapons at the beginnng of each level, although some of them had limited ammo.  Some of the people who worked on this game left to form Treasure, which produced the cult classic Gunstar Heroes.  Not a whole lot else to say about this game, so check out the ROM, or pray that Konami brings it to Wii’s virtual console.

In 2003, Nintendo released Warioware Inc, a bizzare and unique pacakge unlike anything seen so far on the Game Boy Advance. It was a collection of ‘microgames’, short games that were to be completed in a few seconds. These games included jumping over a moving vehicle, dodging arrows, wiping the snot from a nose of an anime girl, and even excerpts from classic Nintendo games. There was nothing like it, and still isn’t. When the DS was announced, I suspected that there would be a version of Warioware which would take full advantage of the system’s capabilities, and sure enough, here it is.

Warioware touched makes use of the stylus and microphone for an all new and bizzare collection of minigames. You use the stylus to cut up food, unroll toilet paper, put out fires using a statue of a urinating child, and other bizzare activities. Each set of games is grouped according to thier main function. For instance, Jimmy’s games involve rubbing, while Mona’s involve quick cutting motions. You unlock more stuff throughout the game, including more minigames, and ‘toys’ which show off fun little things you can do with the DS. For those looking for something unique, you can’t go wrong with this. Also, check out Warioware twisted on GBA, and Warioware smooth moves comming soon to Wii.

I do realize it’s called “LEGO Star Wars” despite the fact that I call it “Star Wars LEGO” a number of times in this review…

This little number came out nearly 2 years after the PS2 launch, when PS1 support was all but a joke. As a result, some really good games slipped by, including this. Gundam, one of the biggest franchises in anime, hasn’t had very many good games, making this a real stand out. In fact, I would go on to say that this 2-D fighting game is one of the best games to make use of the licence. You take control of over 30 mobile suits from each major period in Gundam; the one year war, Gundam Wing, and G Gundam. In the story mode, you select one of 8 characters and take them through an individualized storyline based on thier series, complete with mid-bosses and final bosses. Although the character selection and storylines for G Gundam is somewhat dissappointing, (no Sweede Gundam, Schwartz Bruder, or Shining Gundam, and Master Asia remains a good guy but at least there are no major spoilers for the people who haven’t seen the anime) Many of your favorites from UC and After Colony are here, including some really big ones like Dorezil’s big mech and the Neue Ziel. The animation is pretty unique, animating individual parts of the mobile suits rather than the whole. This is a fun game to check out for anyone who likes 2-d fighting games, especially Gundam fans.

Although this is available on the three formats I mentioned above for $20 or less, this is mainly focusing on the Xbox version of the game. Wolfenstein 3-D was the start of two big revolutions in gaming.  It was one of the first games that bought home the actual WW2 experience, complete with zombies, mutant dogs, and a cyborg Hitler.  This is a feat that would not be achieved until years later with EA’s Medal of Honor (albeit with no zombies or cyborgs).  Secondly,  it was the birth of the genre we know as “First Person Shooters” or FPS for short.  Although it had it’s set of issues, (limited weapons and enemy varieties, repetitive levels, etc) this would continue to hold a special place in the hearts of gamers everywhere.Fast forward to 2002.  ID decided to revive it’s top two franchises in the FPS genre, Wolfenstein and Doom.  Return to Castle Wolfeinstein was the first out the gate, with many receiving it better than Doom 3.  Ton console version was even better, packing in several new features such as squad-based Xbox Live play, offline co-op, new prequel levels, and the original Wolfenstein as an unlockable.  Eschewing the silliness of the  past games, ID offers up a deep plot drawing upon the occult history of the Third Reich.  As BJ Blazkowicz, you fight your way to Nazi Germany to stop the resurrection of an ancient scientist.  With several weapons at your disposal, you must fight past Nazis, undead creatures, and evenexperimental  super soldiers.  

For WW2 fans looking for an alternative from the usual “Call of the battlefield of Honor archetypes”, this is a fun game to pick up.

One of the most enduring subgenres of gaming is the Strategy-RPG, or SRPG as I’ll refer to it for the purposes of this write-up. Combining turn-based RPG conventions with grib-based strategy, these games are like a marriage of chess, Command and conquer, and Final Fantasy. From Shining Force on the Sega genesis to Final Fantasy Tatics, this subset of RPGS are easy to pick up and play, yet difficult to master. This week’s $20 GOTY and lost classics will take a look at two entries in this genre.

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