PS3
Famicom Dojo
KEEP PLAYING
KEEP PLAYING: Rewind
Powet Toys
Powetcast
Hitchhiker's Guide POWETcast
$20 Game of the Week: Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360, PS3)
by William Talley, filed in $20 Game Of The Week, Games on Aug.27, 2009
When Devil May Cry debuted on the Playstation 2 years ago, it gave a new face to the action genre while providing an old-school vibe. It was like nothing gamers had ever seen before, but at the same time, you got a feeling of nostalgia just like you did when you played Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden back on the Nintendo. Devil May Cry helped set the trend of the action genre for years to come. Its fast paced action, upgradable abilities, and combo-heavy combat system helped lay a blueprint for games like Ninja Gaiden and God of War. The series almost went under due to a lackluster second entry, but a third game redeemed the series, even if it was brutally difficult. Now DMC goes next gen, and also makes its first appearance on the Xbox 360. Although DMC 4 treads familiar territory, it manages to provide a few surprises of its own, not the least of which is an all new playable character.
[Read the rest of this entry…]
Before there was Lord of the Rings (the films, not the books) or Harry Potter, there was Willow. Co-produced by George Lucas and Ron Howard, and starring Warwick Davis (who had previously played as one of the Ewoks in Star Wars Episode VI) and Val Kilmer (long before he played his part in the destruction of the Batman film franchise in the mid 90s), Willow told the tale of a dwarf’s quest to rescue a baby from an evil sorceress queen. George had high hopes of Willow becoming Lucas’s fantasy equivalent to Star Wars, but it met low numbers at the box office and mixed reviews from critics. However, enough fans liked it enough for the film to gain cult status, and Capcom was fond enough of the property to release a pair of games based on Willow, one for the NES and the other for arcade.
Lost Planet, along with Dead Rising, was part of Capcom’s strategy to make an impact on the Xbox 360 market, and it did, gaining critical acclaim for its fast-paced single player campaign and solid online multiplayer. Later on, the game was ported to PC (allowing cross-platform multiplayer with the Xbox 360 via the Windows live service) and PS3, although they received a somewhat lukewarm reaction compared to the Xbox game. A sequel to the game was recently announced, along with a movie (with a screenplay written by writer/voice actor David Hayter), so there is no better time than the present to explore the Lost Planet.
This past week saw the legendary mutant superhero Wolverine return to movie theaters by way of the film X-men origins: Wolverine. Of course, the logical tie-in game hit store shelves as well. Word on the street is that this new game isn’t half bad. That’s a good thing too, as Wolverine’s solo history in video gaming has been less than encouraging. This special maximum letdown takes a look at one of his previous solo endeavors. As an added bonus, this week’s lost classic , included in this article, takes a look at one of his many team up adventures.
Resident Evil 5 is in stores now. Of course, what new sequel would be complete with a look at one of its predecessors, if for no other reason than to see how far the series has come? When it was released, Resident Evil 4 had forever altered everything that we knew about the series in the same manner that RE 5 is doing now. Gone were the tank like controls and slow pacing, and in their place are fast intense action sequences with an almost arcade-style feel. While I have featured RE4 as a previous $20GOTW, this Wii edition deserves a special mention in its own right, as it pretty much can be considered as the definitive version of Resident Evil 4 thanks to all the content it contains. Don’t worry folks, this will be the last Capcom related $20GOTW/Maximum Letdown/Lost Classics I’ll do for a little while, I promise.