For the life of me, I don’t know why EA decided to call this a Command and Conquer game. It has nothing to do with Tiberium, the conflict between GDI and NOD, Kane, or even the alternate universe of the Red Alert games. Heck, it doesn’t even have C&C’s trademark cheeseball live action FMV cutscenes. It shares more in common with Blizzard RTS games such as Starcraft and Warcraft than any previous C&C game. It’s pretty much as if EA wanted to show off its new Strategy Action Game Engine (SAGE), and couldn’t think of a better name for the game than its classic RTS franchise. This game is more like what would have happened if Blizzard made a Starcraft game and set it in the modern era. HOWEVER (and this is a big however), if you’re a fan of RTS games, then you should not ignore this title. It’s the first C&C (after the FPS Renegade) to be fully 3-d, and it adds several twists to the gameplay to set itself apart from other RTS titles. It might not be a ‘true’ C&C game, but it’s worthy enough to stand alongside the rest of the series.
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Today is the 4th of July, where America celebrates its independence. There are few things that symbolize America more than the defenders of the old west, the cowboy. Okay, there is apple pie, but to my knowledge, there haven’t been many video games made about apple pie. Anyway, in honor of America’s birthday, this week’s $20 GOTW and Lost Classics will take a special look at some classic 8 and 16-bit games taking place in the wild wild west. So saddle on up, and mosey on down to your favorite game shop and seek out these games pardner!
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We love SNK and Capcom for their contributions to the 2-d fighting genre, but right now, it’s Sammy’s Guilty Gear series that is the reigning champion. While SNK continues to make use of its aging Neo-Geo hardware and Capcom continues to remake versions of Street Fighter II, Sammy’s Guilty Gear sets itself apart from the pack with its cast of zany characters, beautiful graphics and animation, unique fighting system, complex backstory, and 80s Rock ‘n’ Roll inspired atmosphere. Guilty Gear XX, which is the third game in the series, is no different. However, Guilty Gear’s developers share one unfortunate aspect with Capcom and SNK; namely the tendency to re-release versions of their games which add just a few small tweaks. In fact, there are currently 5 iterations of Guilty Gear XX, and #Reload is only the second. #Reload adds several tweaks and alterations to character’s move lists in order to balance the gameplay. This entry is also notable for the fact that it’s the first appearance of the series on Xbox, and this version of the game is the first entry in the series to feature online play. Online play is also available on the PC version thanks to fan-created modifications.

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A few months ago, I did a special on the first half of the Final Fantasy series, where I briefly touched upon this iteration of the series. With Final Fantasy IV hitting the Nintendo DS shortly (as evidenced by aDam’s video review of it below), hardcore FF fans will want to check out its predecessor as soon as possible. This remake is the first and only international release of Final Fantasy 3. It blends together what made the original version of the game unique with some new innovations that help keep it fresh for today’s gaming audience.
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This week, Metal Gear Solid 4 hits the Playstation 3. As Metal Gear Solid 3 was a tale set in the past, this makes MGS 4 the long awaited follow up to the events of MGS 2, which was released almost 7 years prior! As such, series newcomers will want to check out the franchises past entries. While Metal Gear Solid 2 may have gotten a bad rap for a few key issues, (most notably the complex plot and the fact that you play as someone other than Solid Snake for a majority of the game) Metal Gear Solid 2 is still every bit a classic as any other game in the series. While the original version is still available, players will want to grab this special edition which contains several hours of new content and marks the first and only time that Metal Gear Solid has appeared on a Microsoft console.

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We have a new Hulk movie coming out this summer, and Sega is supplying us the prerequisite tie-in game to go along with it. Here is hope that it’s good, but with the flop of the recent Iron Man game, Marvel fans may have to prepare for the worst. However, there is a bit of hope for it, as preliminary screens indicate that the game resembles this 2005 classic from Radical and Sierra. That can be considered somewhat of a good thing too, as Ultimate Destruction was the first really good Hulk game. It helped bring players into the role of the Hulk the same way that Activision’s Spider-man 2 video game did. It (along with Scarface:The World Is Yours which came a year later) also proved that Radical entertainment was adept of creating good open-world experiences that weren’t rip offs of Grand Theft Auto.

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In the world of 3-d fighting, there are two kings: Namco (Tekken and Soul Calibur) and Sega’s AM2 (Virtua Fighter). Tecmo’s Team Ninja and its Dead Or Alive franchise is closely behind the two, and is quickly gaining steam. Although Dead Or Alive has been criticized for it’s more simplistic play mechanics and heavy focus on the female form, it has earned praise for it’s envelope-pushing graphics, gorgeous backdrops, awesome looking player models, and robust online system. While DOA may not be a huge innovator in the fighting world, Team Ninja’s fighting franchise becomes deeper and more enjoyable with each iteration, and the series’s first appearance on the Xbox 360 is no different.

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Double Agent is the fourth entry in the Splinter Cell series and the first to hit the new generation consoles. Ubisoft Shanghai has taken some bold new steps with the formula, not the least of which is having series protagonist Sam Fisher juggle his loyalties to both Third Echelon and the terrorist organization which he is tasked to infiltrate. While there are some missteps in this new direction, Double Agent still manages to bring the series into the next generation with style.

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