Dreamcast Review: Confidential Mission

Arguably seen as the last console to give light guns a chance, the Dreamcast had its share of rail shooting titles that made use of the various console pistols that were available for it. A lot of these favors were due to the fact SEGA was riding on the final waves it had made in the ‘90s with Virtua Cop and The House of the Dead before the genre took a short fizzle while the world became enamored with first person shooters. For a time it seemed every other arcade effort from SEGA was a light gun rail shooter that used one of the two aforementioned games as a foundation and luckily for Dreamcast owners, a good chunk of these titles made it to the white-box underdog. Among the last batch of black-labeled releases SEGA pitched out to the system is perhaps the most obscure title to bank off the long-running Virtua Cop series – Confidential Mission. Dropping the goody-goody law enforcement gimmick for a sauve, hi-tech spy shtick, Confidential Mission strays from the path a bit, offering a shred of innovation that would make its way into other SEGA shooters even if, when you boil it down, players are basically still playing Virtua Cop.

As a SEGA shooter, Confidential Mission follows all of the same clichés and practically a carbon copy setup as any other game it has ever produced in the genre since Virtua Cop. We have a male and female character, which allows up to two players to blast and reload, all the while protecting the innocent as they track down bosses over three stages: Seriously, that describes nearly every light gun game SEGA has made since 1994, with most even falling in under the three stage department. Confidential Mission introduces yet another SEGA three-letter acronymed organization in the Confidential Mission Force (CMF), with players assuming the roles of Howard Gibson, the most blatant imitation of James Bond ever, and the deadly Jean Clifford. The duo’s latest mission has them tracking down a man known as Agares, who has hijacked a satellite that can nuke any global coordinate he chooses … sounds a bit like a certain movie from 1995 starring Pierce Brosnan that was later made into a legendary first-person shooter …

Typically for a SEGA arcade shooter, the story is just “there” and is never really explained in detail. The beginning of the game spells out the aforementioned scenario and players are immediately dropped into the first stage museum level to find information on Agares’ plans and whereabouts. The rest of the story is thrown out in bite-sized cutscenes that hardly flesh out any characters or plot and are filled with painfully cheesy one-liners.

Unlike many of the other arcade-to-home transfers, however, Confidential Mission actually gives players a lot to do, even if it is crammed into the confines of three arcade levels. Obviously, players can tackle the straight-up arcade port of the title, but two players can also test their trigger fingers with a partner mode, which paints enemies red or blue – only player one can kill red enemies while the blue enemies have to be downed by player two. Even though the mode may seem mild, it is a true test of teamwork and serves up a good challenge to players that think they have the game down. A single player can also visit the Agent Academy, which is filled with quick challenges that pit players against the clock. The mode throws out a variety of tasks that involve justice shots, protecting civilians, shooting in patterns and more. If players can clear out 18 challenges, a much-more challenging “another world” mode opens, which remixes the positioning of the arcade mode elements, while adding in more enemies and civilians at random positions and even adding in a few more scenes exclusive to the mode. On top of that, clearing out the remixed mode adds super-difficult challenges to the academy and dedicated players will unlock various other features such as the ability to disable all HUD information and toggling other game settings. Compared to other rail shooters by SEGA, the new modes actually change up the gameplay experience and while the offerings don’t jam the disc full of content, there is a deceptive amount of items to toy with here given the genre and ported-over origin of the title.

Visually, Confidential Mission is nothing to write home about; the graphics do their job, but nothing more to wow the player. While the title brings the arcade straight into the home, looking at other titles in the Dreamcast library, it’s easy to see the system isn’t being put to its full use with Confidential Mission. The environments measure up well for the most part, with notable segments such as the museum’s evolution and Egyptian exhibits, but the characters are just an eyesore to look at, most specifically when you can see their face. The faces remind me of the static slapped-on scans of the Nintendo 64 era and the fact that there is no animation for the characters’ faces when they talk just looks petty when even a game like Ready 2 Rumble could muster up some respectable facial animation. Most of the characters’ movement animations look off as well, most notably whenever one dives, rolls or jumps – it comes off as slow and floaty like they are fresh off the original Virtua Fighter roster (well, okay, it’s not quite that bad). Nearly everything in Confidential Mission looks awkward and fails to utilize the Dreamcast’s power, but given SEGA’s rail shooter track record, the graphics in these games have done little to evolve since the ‘90s. You do get a few slightly impressive rendered scenes and everything does its job, but when a player views an in-game object up close, it’s a potentially cringe-inducing experience that will remind some of their Nintendo 64 days.

As generic as Confidential Mission’s audio is, I would have to say the title has what I would consider among the best sound offered a home SEGA light gun shooter up to its release. That’s not really saying the sound is superb, but I’ll take a mediocre performance over wishing I didn’t have eardrums any day. When you talk about sound in a SEGA game, the biggest bull’s eye to shoot negativity at is always the voice acting, but Confidential Mission nails a solid performance in a handful of areas. Unfortunately for anyone, one of these areas wasn’t the main characters as they feature the most uninspired, wooden performances that lack proper timing since The House of the Dead 2. What actually steals the show in this title are the vocals of the first boss and Agares, which is not to say they qualify for an award, but finding respectable voice acting in a SEGA arcade game is like finding a needle in a mountain of hay. You also get some quality civilian screaming and baddie death grunts along with the constant barrage of your firearm firing and reloading. A lot of the music sounds like it would have been better placed in Virtua Cop, with its funky movie detective/cop-type feel, but it is still easy on the ears even though it commonly gets lost in the action. Unfortunately, just like its graphics, Confidential Mission’s sound is about as average as it gets, leaving players knowing their Dreamcast is capable of much more.

Thankfully, though, this is where things start to get better for Confidential Mission – in short bursts, it’s just plain fun to play. The title makes no effort to hide its Virtua Cop origins, as Confidential Mission features pop-out enemies that target the player with a reticule that blends from green to red as they lock on and prepare to pull the trigger. Similar to just about any game ever released in the genre, players remedy these villains by aiming and firing and reloading when necessary. To enjoy the game properly, players will have to invest in a light gun, but players can also man a standard controller or even the Dreamcast mouse. While the light gun gives the player the most freedom of movement and emulates the aim of the game more appropriately, cursor speed settings still make the use of a controller bearable and, perhaps, button mapping the reload function as opposed to shooting offscreen may make things even easier for the player. Then again, if your light gun has an auto-reload feature, you’ll still get the upper hand there, but the point is, no matter how you control Confidential Mission, there is enough options available to make it playable and through proper calibration, the light gun never fails to please. You fire at the screen to dispatch enemies or off it to reload, so, rest assured, no one will have issues with the controls.

Just like in Virtua Cop, Confidential Mission is measured in its mindless reaction shooting, but, thankfully, there are a handful of additions that elevate the title beyond a mere carbon copy. The most obvious addition is in the quicktime challenges that affect the flow of the level’s gameplay. These challenges often get to show off the spies’ gadgetry to remind us we’re playing a James Bond-esque shooter and offer up a satisfying variety of tasks – players try to use adhesive bullets to plug up a poisonous gas vent, a grappling hook is used to cross buildings and more. While players always end up at the same location, passing or failing these events determines how they get there and, often times, failing results in a bit of an extra fight against more enemies. These events break up the twitch shooting nicely and have proven to be such a welcome addition that SEGA still uses the mechanic in its newest games such as Ghost Squad and Rambo.

Confidential Mission also throws in a bit more item hunting than some of its SEGA-spawned brethren, giving players a lot of incentive to shoot even the things that don’t move. While these points and their resulting rankings were more suited for the arcade’s Internet ranking mode, there are a lot of goodies that can yield extra firepower and health tucked away in the game as well. The title also has two endings to see, depending on your performance at the end, but most of your time is going to be spent in the Dreamcast exclusive modes that really mix the gameplay up a bit. There are some challenging, lofty goals to aim for in order to uncover the game’s extras, but while the replayability hangs up there a bit, this is definitely a title players will tackle one gameplay at a time instead of spending hours on end on the light gun. In that regard, however, a blast through the game’s main mode will only hold a player over for about half an hour, but that makes it perfect for a pick-up-and-play title for one or two players.

The spy skin gives Confidential Mission a bit of a fresh spin even though it is basically a blatant mash of Virtua Cop’s gameplay with 007 Goldeneye’s plot premise, but the sauve attitude and hi-tech gadgetry is what makes the game appealing, moreso than the endless army/zombie/police shooting games in arcades. Even though Confidential Mission does a lot of borrowing, there are some great gameplay moments such as sliding through a tube while fighting off turrets, fighting while undercover as a chef or attendant and blowing away snowmobiles from the top of a moving train. The game is a cliché to end all clichés, but in quick bursts, anyone who enjoys rail shooters won’t regret a bit of time spent with Confidential Mission.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

Confidential Mission is yet another arcade to Dreamcast port that fails to use the power of the system, but, still ultimately delivers with potential fun and a few genre innovations that have stuck with today’s SEGA shooters. The graphics border on polished 64-bit quality and the sound is forgettable even if its decent by SEGA rail shooter standards, but the gameplay gives players a quick burst of pure arcade goodness and the Dreamcast exclusive modes will give players a reason to come back every now and again. By no means is Confidential Mission among the greatest titles on the Dreamcast, but along with The House of the Dead 2, arcade fans will have enough on their hands to get nostalgic over a time when games came to the console from arcades instead of the other way around.

Xbox 360 Review: Raiden IV

I’ve already disclosed my relationship with the Raiden shooter series in our preview of Raiden IV. After 10 years of silence between my treasured longbox The Raiden Project and Raiden III, the industry has been rather kind to the shmup genre as of late. While Gradius and Salamander are what pulled me into the shmup scene when I was younger, I would have to say Raiden is what hooked me on the genre after I was exposed to its attention to detail, memorable music and satisfying challenge. However, a lot has changed since 1990, as we move from pumping quarters into a stand-up cabinet to spinning a disc around in our Xbox 360s. After nearly 20 years does Raiden still have the punch needed to keep it at the top of the genre? Thankfully, yes, it does, but its means of achieving this definitely isn’t suitable for everyone.

Oddly, Raiden IV has no story to speak of. The instruction booklet fails to humor us with the typical alien war scenario that banks on the might of a single ship to take down an entire enemy armada, but given how cliché and drab this has become, perhaps it serves as a sign that UFO Interactive understands that fans of this genre know what the game is about coming in to the experience. I’ll take a stab at crafting the scenario, though, and state that players once again man the Raiden series of ships, the Fighting Thunder ME-2, in order to fight off an alien menace to Earth – a red crystal being launched into space in order to power up an ultimate weapon of destruction in space. The stages do transition about halfway through to showcase the entry of an enemy base, the launching of a craft into space and players tracking down the parts of the craft, so if you look hard enough, there is some semblance of a story, but most players aren’t going to dig that deep beyond the sparse CGI videos that attempt to convey a plot.

On that note, recently, I came across a situation where it took me a couple of days of sending messages back and forth on a community site to explain to someone that the Seibu-originated Raiden series had nothing to do with Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid series, so maybe I do have to step back for a second and explain this whole ordeal. The original premise of the series put forth a storyline taking place in the year 2090 where a ruthless alien race has targeted Earth. After putting up a desperate fight, humankind is able to salvage a destroyed alien craft and replicate its technology to create the Raiden Supersonic Attack Fighter.

Strangely, through five games in the main series (the third game in the series was an upgraded Raiden DX if you’re wondering “what’s up” with my counting), this is the only one that even attempts to tell a story, which is a disappointment when compared to an Xbox 360 shooter such as Cave’s excellent, Japanese-only Death Smiles, but I’ll make up for it with historical context. Raiden in Japanese literally equates to, “thunder and lightning” or a, “thunderbolt;” a fitting name attributed to a god of those two elements in Japanese mythology. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy manufactured Mitsubishi J2M Raiden fighter plane (for your bonus Metal Gear Solid tidbit, Allied soldiers referred to these planes with the codename “Jack,” which is Raiden’s real name in the MGS series), after which the Raiden Supersonic Attack Fighter is presumably modeled after, albeit in modernized form.

Now that you no longer have an excuse to be unfamiliar with the Raiden shooter series, let’s break down the game’s contents. It is to be expected that many players will assume that Raiden IV, being a port of an arcade title, will be nothing more than a bare-bones transition of the five-stage original game. Thankfully, this is not the case, but when you boil it down, these features are par for the course with any home shooter port: You’ll find an arcade-perfect mode, an original mode, a boss rush and score attack. On top of this, however, you’ll find a few unique features in the online ranking mode and the dual control mode that puts the control of two ships into the hands of one player via dual along controls. To be fair, however, the dual mode was introduced in Raiden III and the online ranking mode has the same gameplay as the other modes but it regulates players to default settings and prohibits continues to promote fair competition. Raiden IV does give players a lot to do if they want to experience some variety in the way they play the main course the title offers up, but a lack of online gameplay and originality does take the overall offerings down just a notch.

Once a player dives into these modes, though, instincts will no doubt take over as fans of the series will know what to do and the simple, two-button control scheme is easy enough for anyone, but regardless of your skill or Raiden familiarity, it’s not hard to understand the concept of “don’t die.” As is typical in this genre, that is far easier said than done, but players do have a scope of tools that haven’t changed in large since Raiden II – players can command a wide-spread Vulcan gun, a narrow, but powerful laser and players can choose to have the purple power-up award them a weak, but homing plasma stream and a branching, arching proton stream. These weapons can be powered up and supplemented with bombs as well as missiles that have various guidance and explosion properties. Pretty much everything from Raiden III is carried over with very few tweaks here and there, so there is really nothing too unfamiliar here.

The controls are as tight as one would expect from a game in the genre and, as stated earlier, are simple in nature. However, there are a few factors that deviate from the mindless shooting such as laying off the fire button for a brief time to allow your sub weapon to charge for a double dose of fire that awards the player bonus points and smart players will switch to different main weapons throughout the game as there are clear instances where one weapon is more efficient over the other to promote a little in-game strategy – the spread of the vulcan cannon is great when transitioning to outer space in stage four and the armadas in stage six are easily taken down with the plasma stream, for example. Still, player reflexes will prove most valuable when the screen is littered with enemy fire and with the speed of enemy fire increasing on the later difficulties, it won’t be hard for the player to become overwhelmed and hastily chasing power-ups will most likely find the player reduced to ashes. Luckily Raiden IV has a very robust difficulty set that even features a practice difficulty where the enemy ships don’t even fire, but where is the fun in that? Even the very easy setting will prove to be a challenge for most players, but the solid shooter foundation in Raiden IV will no doubt have them coming back for more every once in a while. For masochists, there is, of course, the ultimate difficulty and there is a decent spread in between, but this doesn’t help the balance progression at all as the enemies will start throwing everything they have at you as soon as the third level.

Watching the top replays, a lot of success in Raiden IV hinges on memorizing the enemy patterns (which differs very slightly in the Xbox 360 mode compared to the arcade mode), which will no doubt keep interested players glued to the game for quite a bit. If the enemies can’t make it on to the screen, they can’t fire at you and this is where the brilliance of the returning flash bonus feature comes in, rewarding players with bonus points for taking out enemies as soon as possible. If a player scores a 5.0x bonus, that means they have destroyed the enemy as soon as it entered the field, letting players know they are in the best position for that given situation. In order to ease the frustration of defeat, dedicated players will be rewarded with extended continues and level selects, so it isn’t unfeasible to clear the game in most cases and it really encourages players to give the modes one more shot. Also, once you get into the genre, it is quite compelling to see how far you can get into the game with just one ship or one credit, so it’s most likely that if you enjoy your first go with the game, you’ll come back for a little more punishment, but it is also easy to say that a good portion of gamers will be too intimidated by the difficulty.

As fun as the game can be, however, Moss did take a few shortcuts with the game, which is most notable in how the progression is set up. The Xbox 360 mode does reward players for their purchase a little by adding in two new stages to the original arcade lineup, but in Ghost ‘N’ Goblins fashion, players will have to tackle the full seven-stage spread twice to reach the true final boss. This comes across as a cheap way to extend the longetivity of the title, but at least during the second playthrough, the bullet speed increases and the bosses get a few minor upgrades to keep players on their toes. Also, with no real story to the game, it becomes hard to care about the small cutscenes that occur after the seventh stage, so even though it won’t bother fans of the genre too much, the game’s progression is a little shaky, acting more like a throwback to retro titles as opposed to taking advantage of what can be done on the Xbox 360. Also, this new installment is pretty much Raiden III with a fresh coat of paint, meaning very little has been done to advance the series, let alone the genre. However, when you boil down the gameplay, Raiden IV does what is expected out of a shmup and anyone who has interest in the genre will no doubt find a satisfying playthrough with the title.

The presentation in the title is serviceable for the Xbox 360, remaining on par with a lot of what has been released on Xbox LIVE Arcade. While the detail isn’t extravagant in the title, it is definitely in the style of Raiden and, as always with the series, there are some key attentions to detail that do pop out on occasion. Most notably is the game’s use of lighting – explosions are glaringly bright, you can see particles flowing in your ship’s laser and the proton/plasma beams spark with electricity – and if you can somehow pay attention to subtle effects, there are different enemy kill animations that range from an outright explosion to their ship shorting out and crashing to the environment below and enemies destroyed over water result in the craft splashing down, especially the stage three boss where the huge craft creates a wake in the water.

The enemy fire doesn’t nearly have this same pop and the orange colored bullets can get lost on a few of the environments (which why a lot of games in this genre are heading toward vivid green or pink bullets), but you do still get a handful of unique spray patterns, such as the rings spewed by the stage six boss. The menus and transition screens are also a bit lively and give players very adequate visuals to carry them from one menu to the next. Also, while some of the enemies and environments do not have great detail, players can view models of each enemy in a gallery mode, which does provide a bit more detail and scale for the player. Perhaps the most glaringly negative aspect of the title is in its few CGI sequences, that get the job done and are perhaps trying to provide an animation, cell-shaded style appearance, but the lack of detail on anything other than the ME-2 and the slightly jerky animation make these entirely skippable.

Going on to more positives, though, Raiden IV features some quality sounds, which I would wholly expect from the title as the music and sound was one of the aspects that originally engrossed me into the series. While the music is nothing revolutionary, maybe intending to reflect the style of music common to classic shooters, it pushes the action along with some catchy melodies, with a portion of the tunes actually being remixes of classic Raiden themes. These will probably go over the heads of most players, but I just can’t be mad at the game over screen with that recognizable jingle ringing in my ears. As players mow down enemies, they’ll hear impressive booms from the explosions with the bigger enemies and player bombs providing some really deep, satisfying explosions. Outside of this, players will hear a lot of generic weapons sound effects that are pretty subtle, so it’s possible players will lose track of these effects among the intense action. The explosions and music definitely take center stage audibly, though, so the basic sound effects are no huge loss.

A lot of players will probably question the value of the title as it comes off the heels of Valcon Games’ Raiden Fighters Aces, which packs three full Raiden Fighters releases onto one disc, but you really can’t blame UFO Interactive for what Moss developed in Japan. It is clear that UFO has stepped in as a service to fans of Raiden and the shmup genre in order to provide them with a U.S. version that didn’t cost them a $75 import on top of a nearly $300 import system to play it on. While the average gamer might question the package, it seems UFO has a clear, intended target, and for that audience, Raiden IV is an easy recommendation. The title can be further extended for a paltry buck a piece to play as the series’ trademark Fairy as well as the original MK-II Raiden ship and both have more weapon variation than one might imagine. Sure, it would have been nice to have the extra ships on the disc or have DLC that extended the game with more levels, but the extra ships aren’t necessary to enjoy the game and they are excellent fan service to anyone familiar with the series. There are also some challenging achievements to reach for in the game, which will keep shooter fans striving for perfection in the title, however, it is a bit disappointing that the achievements discourage cooperative play with another person.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

While there are some weak spots that can’t be ignored in Raiden IV, as a shooter, the title excels in all of the areas it should – solid presentation stacked on top of intense and satisfying action. UFO Interactive is clearly catering towards fans of the genre and series with this installment and these gamers will no doubt enjoy their time with the title that now graciously comes at about half the price as the imported version. However, it would have been nice to see the series advance the shooting genre a little more as opposed to merely extending what players found in Raiden III and a few omissions such as online gameplay really prevent the title from being much more than an arcade port. Casual players will no doubt be intimidated by the difficulty balance even with practice and very easy modes and, unfortunately, Moss extends the replayability with a cheap repetition, but, overall, Raiden IV does what any shooter fan will ask of it. People unfamiliar with the series might want to approach with caution, but fans of the series and franchise should be able to pull a good amount of fun out of this sequel.

Dreamcast Review: Rent-A-Hero No. 1 (JPN)

It’s no secret that when it came to SEGA’s systems, the U.S. got boned on a ton of the company’s obscure and unique game titles. One of the company’s offerings that has a solid fanbase was the Rent A Hero franchise. It even, made an appearance in the wacky Fighters MegaMix for the Sega Saturn, but unlike the never-before-seen instances in a game such as Super Smash Bros., no attempt is ever made to explain Rent A Hero or garner fan interest in the series. Aside from guest appearances in character (Fighters MegaMix) and spirit (Samba de Amigo), the character did enjoy two full-featured game releases – Rent A Hero on the Megadrive and Rent-A-Hero No. 1 on the SEGA Dreamcast. On top of that, the Japanese Virtual Console has featured the Megadrive version since 2007. Back in 2004, it seemed like the Dreamcast version finally had a shot at a U.S. release via a release handled by Cool, which ported the title to the Japanese Xbox after SEGA collapsed as a hardware developer. It just wasn’t meant to be, though, meaning the only way for players to get their hands on the full Dreamcast title was through the means any red-blooded Dreamcast owner took part in – they imported the Japanese version.

If Rent A Hero was such a great title, wouldn’t more people have played it and wouldn’t SEGA have given it more of a chance to release in the U.S.? Why couldn’t Nintendo release the imported Rent A Hero on the Virtual Console? Well, most likely, it stems from the language barrier presented by the game. While most of what Americans get to see makes the title seem like a no-frills action title, Rent A Hero, is more of an adventure, requiring players to embark on fetch quests and investigation before they get to the meaty parts where they just rock the faces of injustice with cybernetic fists. Now don’t misunderstand this – the fetching and investigation do not go anywhere near the degree of that found in Shenmue, so don’t walk away just yet. Rent A Hero is more of an adventure-like RPG (in fact, the original Megadrive version used the Phantasy Star III graphics engine), where instead of participating in random turn-based battles, players engaged in hand-to-hand combat. With this, players will be talking to a lot of people, meaning there is a lot of dialog to translate, but the game’s inherent humor, somewhat to the degree of SeGaGaGa toward the end of the Dreamcast’s life, gives the title some legs to stand on and creates a unique, quirky identity to the title, which also allows it to poke fun at SEGA itself among other references.

While both versions of the game share a similar story, the Dreamcast version presents players with the opening premise: Taro is new to the neighborhood as his family has just moved in after his father receives a job in town. The game kicks off with Taro directly in the middle of a housewarming party, which involves the family’s neighbors, including a portly fellow who is eating the party’s food faster than Taro’s mother can prepare it. In a pinch, Taro’s father prompts him to order some takeout food and when he makes the phone call, a mysterious person claims Taro has won a promotion that discounts his dinner and throws in a free prize that is still in its testing stages. Anyone that understands the concept of foreshadowing should gather that when the package arrives, it ends up being the game’s trademark hero suit. At this point in time, in a desperate attempt to liven up the party, Taro’s father has donned a Godzilla-type costume and when he spots Taro fashioning his new super hero suit, he gloats and challenges Taro into a staged fight to entertain the guests. However, after Taro throws a light, playful jab, the power of the suit sends his father flying across the room, smashing him into the wall. From this point on, Taro realizes the suit isn’t just a toy and the events that unfold from here will shape him into a true hero if he can handle the responsibility.

While the story premise is fantastic and becomes much more involved while the player gets into the more serious missions, everything unfolds in text form, which means if you don’t understand Japanese, a good majority of the game’s content and charm will be entirely lost on you. Admittedly, I will say my Japanese is extremely far from fluent and there was a good bit of context I had to look up, meaning players may miss out on a few extras by not being able to read the questions there are being asked in a few of the game’s scenarios. However, this isn’t to say this a fault of a game developed in Japan, it’s just the standard U.S. player will most likely be turned away from the experience or become quite confused as to what they are supposed to do next and without a concept of dialog, players will miss out on the game’s humor and charm.

By accepting the responsibilities of the hero suit, Taro has now officially become the Rent A Hero and the game plays out appropriately based on the title of the game – along with the suit, the Service Café (or SECA to throw out an obvious reference) has delivered a SECA Creamcast (there’s two references) to Taro, which he uses to log onto an online interface to check for people looking to hire him for his services. As a rookie, though, he isn’t going to receive very many high-profile missions until he earns the trust of the city. This means players will get their feet wet handing out promotional pamphlets, delivering a love letter and delivering take-out food while maybe getting to take a few harmless punks until requests that ask you to protect deliveries or assist the police with criminal matters. The game follows a nice, logical progression with tasks that increase in difficulty as the game goes on and the earlier missions really allow for the player to get a grasp on the controls. Even without Japanese knowledge, the Creamcast interface is pretty straightforward and easy to use and players shouldn’t have any troubles launching any of the games missions. A lot of variety is involved with the missions as well and there are a chunk of optional missions that will provide Taro with cash, which become important when he becomes an official Rent A Hero and must pay a rental fee on the suit and purchase other items that will make him stronger.

The game’s controls are extremely straightforward and if you’re a seasoned SEGA connoisseur, the fighting engine will feel all too familiar to you. Players can do the basics such as initiate a single-button combo string, jump and block, but the variety in Taro’s moveset stems from a separate button that players hold down until a charge meter reaches the desired position for more powerful attacks – yes, this is the scheme used in Spikeout, a SEGA game that actually did release notably in the U.S in 2005 for the Xbox, even though low-key arcade versions of the title had been pumped out in the late ‘90s.

While the control scheme is simple, this also means there is very little variation in what Taro can do in a fight as any new techniques learned must be swapped out – you can only have one combo and a handful of charge specials at any given time. This will really turn away fighting enthusiasts who are now spoiled by Virtua Fighter-sized move lists and it doesn’t really help that the fighting mechanics are slightly broken. Rent-A-Hero No. 1 tries to balance out the heavy-hitting techniques a little by having them drain the battery of the hero suit, but when players get low, they can use their cash to purchase more batteries (which turns into a gratuitous plug for Sanyo). However, if you’re keen on exploring every inch of the fighting mechanics, these broken mechanics really work in your favor, providing some really ridiculous juggles and cheap repetition tactics with moves that require no battery usage. While I’m sure it was unintentional on the part of SEGA, the fighting can get a little crazy if you mix and match your moves correctly, but, otherwise, the enemy AI does tend to be a little on the lame side, merely charging in fist-first to try and land their predetermined combo on you before you can pull off a move. This makes sense when Taro is taking on a group of thugs, but it comes off as cheap AI when it’s mano-a-mano.

However, when you boil it down, each button does what it is supposed to do with great accuracy. There are a few hiccups in having to double-tap a direction to dash while in the middle of a fight and some camera angles do not put your fight in the greatest perspective, but, overall, the fights are well done for what players are given, which, admittedly isn’t much. Most of the fun in the game revolves around the campy humor and references the game throws around, which occur outside of the battles. The control scheme differs just a tad of difference while not in battle, but this mostly revolves around interacting with the environment and alternating between Taro and his Rent A Hero form. On paper, switching forms doesn’t sound like a big deal, but people in environment will react to you differently depending on which form you are in, giving you different dialog bits and sometimes the storyline calls for Taro to be in a specific form.

For the most part, players accept a mission, talk to the person hiring Taro, carry out whatever task they desire (which is most often ensuring the safe delivery or protection of something), rough up any goon that gets in your way and get paid. Even though the game does give players some freedom in deciding what to do and offers a number of different areas to explore (with other areas of city accessed by train), the title’s progress is extremely linear, but players will still be able to sink a handful of hours into it. The best way I can describe Rent-A-Hero, really, is that it is a short attention span Shenmue: There’s plenty of fighting to do, but you’ll have to do a fair share of footwork, fetch questing and conversation to get there. As I alluded to before, it’s not nearly as drawn out as it is in Shenmue, but anyone looking to try and get into this title should be aware that is equal parts adventure to the amount of action. This could really turn away a lot of players, most obviously because of the language barrier, but anyone that sticks with it will find it to be a fairly satisfying adventure.

I’ve often heard stories about Rent-A-Hero No. 1 being a low-budget title for SEGA and if this shows anywhere, it is definitely in the title’s animation and sound. While the graphics and character models are very typical of any SEGA release for the time, the animation is hardly on par with other titles on the system. Of course, the Dreamcast can do better than the graphics presented in Rent-A-Hero No. 1 and they are passable, but the animation is noticeably lacking during most of Taro’s actions, even in his general running animation. There is no voice acting in the entire game aside from some battle groans and grunts, so the game puts the characters through some ridiculously overexaggerated animations to convey the action of conversation. Players will also probably notice all sorts of clipping and pop-in quirks with the game as well. Although these do not tend to occur during fights, they add to the group of nagging elements that are extremely visible throughout the title.

The audio in Rent-A-Hero No. 1, however, has got to be the lowest point of the title. There is no voice acting to be had in any part of the game. While it is fairly understandable that with the expansive amounts of dialog featured in the game, the disc probably wouldn’t be able to contain full voice-overs, having important cutscenes and critical story points pop out with some voices could have taken the game a long way. Overall, the music is pretty uninspiring as well, save for the classic Rent-A-Hero theme that belts out after the first scenario (with the accompanying video providing references to the game’s Megadrive release). A lot of the sound effects are just as serviceable and get the job done, but more effects and some variation would have went a long way for the title. Most of the game’s audio gets the job done, but the real offender overall is in what is missing from the title – a little more in the elements of voice, music and sound could have went a long way here.

Even though this Dreamcast entry is essentially a remake of the original Megadrive version, it does take its own liberties, such as introducing Rent-A-Hiroko (your female “sidekick”), arranging the dialog to bring the references up to date (Ms. Naomi, for example), so if you have for some reason played the original title, there is a whole lot more to experience in this title. Rent-A-Hero No. 1 definitely carries the allure of a character U.S players could never get their hands on (unless you are an Xbox pirate with the scheduled domestic release that got canned; it was reviewed by a few outlets so there has to be some copies floating around somewhere) and it is one of the more quirky titles on the system, which makes it a relatively appealing game. The fetching and language barriers will probably be the biggest detractor for U.S. audiences, however, but with all of the guides available online, if you’re looking for a unique experience, Rent-A-Hero should fit the bill, even with all of its shortcomings.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

While you’re going to have to know a decent amount of Japanese or have a guide by your side to fully understand Rent-A-Hero No. 1, the title is another example of SEGA of America hesitating to pull the trigger on a U.S. release of a quirky and original concept. That being said, the title does have its share of issues such as its barely serviceable visuals, lack of quality sound, severely broken and repetitive fighting mechanics and sometimes slow pacing. However, the story and dialog is a good bit entertaining and filled with references to SEGA and the title really banks on its humor and charm. Even though the fighting is broken, it does allow for some customization and those who tinker with it will be able to go to town with some impressive juggles. There is very little deviation from the linear game progression, but the wide variety of tasks and characters the player runs into – from your female counterpart to who eventually becomes your archnemesis – are interesting, even though there is no spoken dialog. This title is above average in every single way, but its not hard to see from its originality, quirky nature and inaccessibility in the U.S. why it has a cult following.

PSP Review: Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner

While it's hard to compare Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner to Pokemon, the newly-released Atlus title brings a number of features from Nintendo's classic RPG over to Sony's PSP. Thankfully for players, the game does more than copy and paste and brings a serious, anime-style tale that unfolds through the interesting management of monsters raised by the in-game characters.

Monster Kingdom initially details the ongoing adventures of Vice, who spends his time tracking down a specific winged Abomination (the most powerful of monsters who control other monsters) that killed his mother. Spending his time as hunter, making money by carrying out monster hunting tasks, Vice has the unique ability to utilize monsters with being trained as a jewel summoner. With only a monster jewel left to him by his mother at his helm, he eventually becomes mixed in with a quest that involves a lot more than just him.

Shortly into the game, Vice unwilling joins The Order, a sort of university that houses and trains jewel summoners. There Vice can partner up with two more comrades of the player's choosing, allowing parties of up to three monsters at one time. While each character comes equipped with a default monster, players can capture more monsters through the use of jewel shards and keep up to nine monsters on hand at one time.

The monsters in Monster Kingdom each have an elemental characteristic, with which players have to match up with an appropriate shard to capture when weakened. For example, a baby Kirin is a thunder monster and can only be captured through the use of a thunder shard. Not only do the elements demand specific shards to capture, but they also detail the strengths and weaknesses of each monster – an ice type monster isn't going to like a fire-based attack too much.

Since three party members can tow three monsters each, ultimately, your party consists of nine monsters when you enter battle. The catch, however, is the fact the monsters' souls are bound with the character that controls them. When a monster takes damage, the controller feels the pain too. The strategy of what monster to use becomes even more crucial through this system as merely changing a monster doesn't bring a character's hit points back up to max.

The most straightforward way to power up monsters is by defeating enemies and gaining experience in typical turn-based RPG fare, but the game's unique analgamy lab features really allow players to get down and dirty with fine-tuning their monsters abilities and stats. The game's lab technicians have different abilities that allow you to fuse jewels with other items and use gained ability points to raise stats and abilities in any manner.

By infusing monsters with different elemental quartz, they can learn abilities outside of their element that they would never learn otherwise. For example, a wind monster can now have fire attacks, an option that allows monsters take advantage of multiple weaknesses. By using gained AP, players can artificially raise experience points to boost monsters faster or use them to raise specific attribute levels such as strength, agility or defense or even raise the levels of specific attacks and actions.

Monster Kingdom features a large cast, each featured in large, well-drawn anime-style figures. The characters are all very unique (aside from the ones that appear in multiple towns) and show off a huge amount of detail. Dialogue is a huge part of Monster Kingdom and you'll spend a large amount of time looking at the close-ups of the characters speaking. The backdrops, for the most part, are also well done and are unfortunately covered most of the time by the characters.

By far, Monster Kingdom is one of the most impressive titles I've seen presentation wise on the PSP. Not only are the characters designed and presented well during dialogue, all of the text, which furthers the game's storyline is fully voiced-over. No small feat for a portable since there is a lot of text. While when the characters are in battle or traveling in a dungeon level, some of the models can look a bit on the jagged side, Monster Kingdom does quite a good job of bringing console-style RPG presentation to a portable system.

Audibly, the game features sounds and music very typical to RPG dungeon games. The music fits each scenario appropriately with a number of different battle themes to reflect the severity of the current battle. Much like Pokemon, each of the different monsters in Monster Kingdom have their unique calls and each of their attacks are accompanied by a sound effect most suited to the attacks element. Outside of battle, the game's voice acting is surprisingly well done for the most part, with each of the main characters receiving very befitting voice talent.

Some players may be turned off by the huge amount of dialogue though, which takes up a huge portion of the game. With the story progression and linear battles at the beginning, Monster Kingdom doesn’t go anywhere fast in its waking moments. The over world maps are all point and click navigation so there are no random battles while traveling from town to town, adding more to the linear nature of the game. It should be noted to those interested in picking up the title should have a little bit of patience in order to tough out the introduction and move on to the meat of the quest.

With all the sounds and voices in the game, there is a lot of disc access and while there is little loading to be scene in the transitions between battles and scenes, the access can interrupt dialect and fights. Every time I got into a battle, almost every first hit led to a delay while the game loaded before the damage dealt was displayed. While the access merely leads to hiccups in the game, it is extremely noticeable and happens rather frequently.

The story, while full of its RPG cliché moments, is a refreshing change of pace for games in the monster-breeding genre. Coming from Cozy Okada, creator of the Shin Megami Tensei series, Monster Kingdom is a tad darker and more mature than most of the games in its genre. While there's no huge twists or surprises in store, the story accompanies the game appropriately and makes for interesting play through.

In addition to the single-player story mode, players can also locally link wirelessly with others to utilize a couple of options. Through wireless connectivity, multiplayer battles become accessible and the option to trade monsters is available outside of the battlefield. While the modes don't exactly add a huge amount of substance to the title, they make use of the PSP's wireless functions and give players not only something to do with other players but it also allows access to stronger monsters.

While Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner breaks no barriers in the RPG genre, it lends a number of unique and satisfying additions to the monster breeding genre to warrant giving it a look. The tale is expansive for a portable game and offers a lot of adventuring and customization to players. For those who really get into the monsters they raise in similar RPGs, Monster Kingdom will allow them to have a ball with the number of fusion and ability options available to those who take advantage of it.

Right off the bat, presentation comes across as Monster Kingdom's ace in the hole and it really makes the game come alive. However, once you boil down the actual game play, the title is, at heart, wholly similar to just about any other game in the same genre. Regardless, Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner will give PSP RPG or monster breeding fanatics a lengthy title with plenty of artistic flair.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

PS2 Reivew: Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power

Koei’s simulation titles might not be for everyone (and in some instances arguably repeat themselves over and over) but you can always depend on their quality of execution. If you enjoy the targeted genre, whether it is tactics or action, these titles always fit the bill and respectably, the company always returns the favor with extended titles in those series. The Playstation 2 continues to see love from Koei, releasing a title, Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power, that fills the current 2008 strategy void on home consoles and fits the bill for any gamer who likes a little thinking with their gaming.

Of course, domination is no easy task and players will be knee-deep in management in order to build up a thriving land in order to raise the means necessary to form alliances, crush enemies in battle, and balance foreign relations, all while keeping the people under your current rule happy and willing to give lives for the good of the nation. While the course of the game boils down to three key elements - gold, food, and troops - maintaining that triad of lifeblood is deceptively deep and comes packaged with a ton of other sub-elements such as officer loyalty, flood protection, and construction just to name a scant few. No matter how you boil it down, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rise to Power is 100% strategy and anyone who even remotely enjoys strategic elements and management will find a lot to love in this PS2 update of the series which dates back to the days of the NES.

Decisions need to be based on the aforementioned key elements in order to ensure survival: gold is needed for construction and relations' gifts, food is needed to keep the troops battle-ready, and troops are needed to attack and defend territory. In most cases, building up one of those elements negatively affects one or more of the others, so being a successful ruler depends on the player’s ability to balance out those assets all while not using means which anger citizens or other rulers. Facing off against other daimyos’ actions and fixing the aftermath of random “acts of god,” continually keep players on their toes and should create a unique game play experience almost every time the game is played.

Fortunately, foreign rulers aren’t too keen on allowing another daimyo to just come in and claim their land, so players get to put their troops to use and engage in a real-time 3-D battle engine that operates like many of the popular RTS titles on market. Battles allow for up to 24 units simultaneously (12 per side), allowing for some major-scale battles if players have the means to pump a massive amount of troops into war.

If you think the strategy stops on the battlefield, you’re dead wrong. Troops can be assigned to spearman, cavalry, cannon, rifle squads, and more, each featuring a distinct quality that is extremely useful in some situations and not so great in others. Destroying enemy foundations is a key element of battle as well. Players select squads and direct them in a “point-and-click” fashion in an attempt to either eliminate the opposing leader or completely siege their enemy HQ; however, players must keep a sharp mind because the enemy will be aiming to do the same.

The title allows players to tackle seven different scenarios that begin in 1551 and go as far as to the years following Nobunaga’s death in 1582, so there is definitely no shortage of game play. The title also features an officer creation mode to place custom elements into scenarios and a very detailed tutorial mode will shape up newbs into warlords in just a short time, so while on the surface the game is nothing more than continual reading and menu surfing, the game has a lot of content and depth buried underneath it.

If you’ve ever played any Koei simulation title on the Playstation 2, you’ll know what to expect in the game’s presentation. The character stills all come across as majestic and vivid and the menus are full of small details that make the text a little more bearable to surf through for hours on end. Aside from buildings and foundations, though, the battlefields and maps do lack any sort of detail. While understandably, due to the “eye in the sky” view of the camera, the people look like working ants, generic environments for the most part aren’t much of a treat for the eyes. Thankfully, the management and battle situations should be enough to take your mind off of the sights and hook it with the title’s game play.

The sounds could have been pulled from any other Koei simulation title, but they are used when necessary and bring in the essence of battle to your eardrums. The prologues to most of the game play elements feature some nice narrative so it’s sad to see spoken dialogue is for the most part omitted from the main game play. Thankfully, a powerful score moves the game along and provides fitting accompaniment whether the player is managing territory or in the heat of war.

Overall, the controls are exactly what you would expect from a game based on menus and the scope of controls carry over nicely to field navigation, which is easily handled by the analogue sticks. While occasionally it can be tricky to pinpoint exact locations on the battlefield (especially when you’re trying to select a moving army), a go at the tutorials will have players managing the controls second nature.

While the title probably won’t sway the minds of gamers who don’t go out their way to play strategy titles, it hammers out everything a strategy game should be and contains enough scenarios and random elements to keep players glued to it for quite some time. Koei brought in its big guns for Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rise to Power in producer Kou Shibusawa and composer Kosuke Yamashita and it really shows in those elements of the game. With a few minor issues aside, the title should prove an engrossing entry into the strategy field and a welcome addition to Koei’s long line of simulation titles.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Classic Interview - Dennis Lee on Elebits

I actually thought Elebits for the Wii always had a ton of potential and I did thoroughly enjoy the series' debut on the system. It's always had a bit of appeal with me, which is probably what drove me to seek out this interview back in 2006:

Hide and seek makes its way to the Nintendo Wii in Konami fashion on Dec. 12 when Elebits hits the shelves. Konami's Wii debut will have players fishing around various environments in pursuit of Elebits, creatures who create the world's energy, in single-player and multiplayer game modes.

Using the Wii Remote, players will take their place at the helm of a capture beam that will allow them to alter the environment in order to uncover Elebits or lure them out of hiding.

Finding Elebits gives the capture beam a bit of a charge and upon leveling up the gun's power, heavier items are able to be lifted to find even more Elebits.

For the releases of the game in the United States, Dennis Lee of Konami was able to take a few minutes out of his schedule and explain everything Elebits has to offer as well as give insight on what it is like to develop such a unique concept.

Aaron Auzins: Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to answer our questions. First off, could you introduce yourself to our readers and briefly explain your involvement with Konami?

Dennis Lee: Hi Aaron, my name is Dennis Lee and I'm a group marketing manager with Konami. I'm in charge of all marketing activities for a number of Konami titles, one of which is Elebits.

Aaron: Of course, Elebits is the first title for the Nintendo Wii from Konami. How long did it take to put together Elebits and how does beginning development for a title before a system is even launched differ from other titles the company releases?

Dennis: Developing a launch title for the Wii is inherently different from creating a game for other new systems because you have to get up to speed with how the controller works and how to integrate it into your game.

You can't necessarily fall back on your experience with other platforms because they don't always apply with the Wii. It's definitely been a great experience for the developers to start working with the Wii early, because they have been able to learn the system and all its quirks and also create an amazing new game at the same time.

Aaron: What has it been like developing a title from the ground-up that utilizes the functionalities of the Nintendo Wii remote controller?

Dennis: As I mentioned in the previous question, the controller is what makes the Wii so unique, and this philosophy carries over to the development side as well. There are just to many ways to utilize it, the developer has to make some tough decisions about what works best and what feels right in the context of the game.

With Elebits, the team has created a control scheme that uses the pointing capabilities of the Wii controller, but doesn't try to do too much with it to the point where it is cumbersome to control. The game really espouses Nintendo's belief that games for the Wii should be intuitive and easy to control.

Aaron: Elebits comes to the new system as one of the few new properties on the Nintendo Wii. How did the unique concept of the Elebit creatures come about?

Dennis: Since the Wii is a new system that is so different from all the other consoles, it made sense for us to have our first game be a new property that is totally different from something we had ever attempted.

The development team really wanted to create some memorable characters that would stick with people, so they made them very cute and also gave them distinct personalities so it's easy to believe that they could be a part of the world with humans.

Since Elebits are the only source of energy in the game's world, there's an indirect reference to some of the energy issues our society is facing that is presented in a very thoughtful way when you play the game.

Aaron: What kind of game modes can we expect from Elebits? Will it utilize the system's online capabilities in any fashion?

Dennis: In addition to the game's single player story mode, there's an edit mode where players can create their own stages, a challenge mode where you try to fulfill certain puzzle-based objectives and a multiplayer mode in which up to four gamers compete to collect the most Elebits in a certain amount of time.

While Nintendo's WiiConnect24 service isn't yet up and running, Elebits does support the service. Players will be able to share levels they have created in edit mode with their friends and also trade screenshots, adding a very impressive dose of replay value to the game.

Aaron: How will the game unfold in the single-player mode? Are there unlockables and secrets for players to uncover throughout the game or anything else to encourage multiple plays through the game?

Dennis: The single player story mode has more than 25 different stages. The player will be given a rank at the end of each stage, from C to S (the best). Depending on what rank they achieve, they may be able to unlock additional items to use in edit mode or a new challenge mode stage.

You can also unlock background information on each of the Elebits as well as information on each of the objects you have interacted with. The challenge mode stages really test your skills with the Wii controller, so you'll definitely want to unlock each one.

Aaron: The game will be for up to four players at the same time. How will the multiplayer aspects pan out for a group of Elebit hunters?

Dennis: Up to four players will be able to compete simultaneously in the game's multiplayer mode, competing to see who can collect the most wattage in a given amount of time.

Everyone's cursor is on the same screen, so players can decide how often they want to change what player has control of the camera. The action can get amazingly frantic in multiplayer mode, with objects flying all over the stage and capture gun beams shooting in every direction. It's a great change of pace from the single-player game that puts the players' reflexes and aim to the test!

Aaron: What types of environments will players be able to seek through during the course of the game? How will the environments change and what kind of interaction can be had as the players capture Elebits?

Dennis: The game begins in the main character's home, but you'll also make it outside the house and explore different areas throughout the city. There's a lot of variation in the levels and even a major twist about halfway through the game that I don't want to spoil.

Players can interact with different object as they collect more Elebits and wattage. For example, players can put a turkey in an oven, turn it on and watch as Elebits pour out at the temperature increases.

There are a lot of great puzzles like this throughout the game for the player to figure out that push the game's interactivity in some really fun ways.

Aaron: What was it like for you to work on the company's first title for the Nintendo Wii? What are your impressions of the system?

Dennis: From my impressions of Elebits and some of the launch titles, the Wii is a great new system. Nintendo has delivered on its promises to create an entirely new gaming experience and I look forward to seeing what new properties and game play mechanics emerge as a result.

Elebits is one of the first games that was created from the ground up for the Wii so I hope people get a chance to try it and find out what the system can really do from a creative standpoint.

Aaron: Once again, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about Elebits by Konami for the Nintendo Wii. Good luck to you and your team as the title releases Dec. 12.

Dennis: Thanks Aaron. I hope you and your readers enjoyed learning more about Elebits.

PS3 Review: The Beatles: Rock Band

It only took the better part of a decade, but, now in 2009 video gaming is finally home to one of the most lucrative and sought-after catalogs of music in modern history. The inclusion into video games was undertaking that was nearly 50 years in the making, with the band originally performing in its five-piece ensemble starting in 1960, but Beatlemania was finally captured by Harmonix with The Beatles: Rock Band, immortalizing the fab four members that carried the name from 1962 onward in a familiar digital format. Given how difficult it was to procure these rights, one would have to assume Harmonix would put every ounce of effort it could into doing the source material justice and, thankfully, the end result should be enjoyable for anyone while serving up a once-in-a-lifetime interactive experience for any Beatles fan.

I’ll just start off by stating up front that I am not the biggest Beatles fan in the world. I appreciate the band’s music and mostly prefer its earlier material, but I am far from being a Beatles fanatic. On this grounds, I am able to look at the game a little more objectively, but, let’s be honest – what we have here is a brand new presentation with Rock Band 2 running under the hood. With this, obviously, the hook of The Beatles being featured in the game is the major draw here and for fans of the band will no doubt be the target audience for the title. However, looking at the title from a pure music gaming focus, the stranglehold placed on the likenesses and content of the game really put forth a good group of limitations that are hard to ignore for those not as enamored with the band and want to enjoy a new rhythm-based game title.

Eschewing the company’s standard of releasing handfuls of content at reduced prices, The Beatles: Rock Band storms in as a full offering, demanding a meaty $60 from your wallet, but, given we won’t see Rock Band 3 this year, it’s hard to suggest that Harmonix is milking the franchise. What players will receive is a stripped down Rock Band 2 experience, customized to accommodate The Beatles, which means features that players are normally accustomed to are absent from the title. The character creation tools are given the boot, which will probably upset some, but, for me, it is a godsend – I can finally just jump into a game without having to wait around because somebody decided they wanted to change the shoes their avatar is wearing. While players can still fail songs, The Beatles can never be booed and the band’s in-game tracks and material cannot be ported over to any other Rock Band offering, which shows the power Apple Corps. holds over Harmonix. A bunch of these omissions come across as minor gripes, as it is a miracle Apple even allowed such a game to come into fruition, however, this serves as another example of how spoiled Rock Band fans will hit a brick wall when the features they expect to see in every installment are absent in The Beatles: Rock Band.

Another question has been popping up in regard to the title’s value. At $60, Rock Band fans, which we no doubt have on a site dedicated to music gaming, may be wondering why they are only being presented with around 40 songs when Rock Band 2 easily doubled the offerings at the same price. If you were to consider each track as a DLC offering at $2 a piece, there does appear to be an evident value in the content, but the shilling of future DLC packs at an extra cost might disinterest some fans and the audience the game is trying to reach out to might not be frequent gamers, tasking them to put down around $300 for a full experience. Obviously, there has been much debate on the game’s value, but the attraction merely hinges on how big of a Beatles fan a potential buyer is.

Cracking into the actual game itself, players will have a quickplay mode and a career-based mode along with a few training features that can isolate the drum and vocal gameplay bits. Everything outside of the career mode works just like any other Rock Band entry, but it is sad to see the creativity of the career mode nerfed so much in The Beatles: Rock Band. This Rock Band iteration merely puts players into chunks of songs with the only “career” additions coming in the form of stylized cutscenes that depict the current phase of the band’s career and dictating the players’ song choices according to what songs the band had crafted at that moment in time. Harmonix creates some cheap replay value for the mode in opening up challenge segments that are nothing more than performing the aforementioned song chunks in a continuous setlist. Also, since the mode amounts to just playing the game’s song catalog, players will blow through the mode in a handful of hours with very little reason to come back to it. The mode still lets you jam to the band’s trademark songs, but the void of innovation and cycle of repetition really makes this entry’s career mode pale in comparison to Rock Band’s previous efforts.

That being said, however, stars earned in career mode go toward worthwhile unlockables for once. Instead of unlocking uninteresting avatar clothing, The Beatles: Rock Band instead unloads exclusive, never-before-seen photos, videos and sound bytes that will fascinate fans of the band and possibly intrigue casual players (I found the Christmas vinyl montage to be quite interesting, actually).
Looking at the gameplay itself, there is only one innovation to see in the harmonized vocals, which allow up to three people to grab a mic and sing simultaneously during a song. The feature works similar to the standard vocal setup, with each pitch determined by colored bars that anyone familiar with how Rock Band operates should be able to naturally follow. This does add a deceptive amount of interesting moments to the gameplay, letting an additional two players get in on the standard gameplay or challenging more dedicated bands to sing and play instruments simultaneously. Outside of this mechanic, however, players are getting Rock Band 2 pound for pound, although a number of the personal freedoms are taken away in order to wholly preserve The Beatles’ content. The overdrive drum fills are replaced by a single green note, misplaying the guitar does not result in a change of pitch and the beginning and ends of songs don’t allow for players to lay into the drums a little. In all, a bunch of minor changes add up to really limit the player in comparison to other Rock Band titles, which is disappointing considering the caliber of quality seen in those titles.

I don’t mean to cast a thunder cloud over everyone’s opinion of the title, though, as the fact the game is essentially Rock Band 2 with a fresh coat of paint means players are getting the foundation of what is arguably the greatest music gaming engine available on the market. Anyone who has had any shred of fun with any of the series’ other installments will continue to do so with The Beatles: Rock Band, with the only determination of enjoyability being the players’ opinion of The Beatles. Even on that note, however, fans of The Beatles might question the song selection slapped into the game, which does omit some classic and notable songs. With the source band and choice of songs included in the title, much of what is encompassed in The Beatles: Rock Band will boil down to subjective, personal tastes that I couldn’t fairly assess in a review. What I can look over, however, is how the tunes are implemented.

Audibly, the title is just as superb as any other Rock Band title – the songs ring through in high quality, which is most likely due to the fact the songs have been remastered, much like they were for the band’s audio CD release that hit stores, also on Sept. 9. The title also enjoys a number of other audible touches such as the crowds going bananas during the band’s touring years and the realistic mode toggle that has the crowd drowning out the band with a symphony of screams are quite interesting diversions and well implemented. With the manner the songs are implemented, though, it should be mentioned there are very few challenging segments to be found in The Beatles: Rock Band’s gameplay, even on the expert difficulty, which may disappoint band game masters, however, on the other side, the ease in difficulty allows for casual players to enjoy a wholly accessible game title. Fans of the band probably won’t care either way, but if you’re looking for the next challenging guitar solo to test your skills, you won’t find it in The Beatles: Rock Band and this may alienate some longtime players that have little to no interest in the band.

On the other side of the presentation, the graphics do the game justice as well. The graphics arguably take a step back with some fuzzy visuals and jaggies, but, somehow, the pastel-laden animated fab four works quite well, which is most likely due to the significantly pumped up animations given to the band. The close-ups of the crowd also give the visuals some juice with a variety of emotions ranging between 1960s girls going nuts and screaming in tears to street goers looking up solemnly to the top of the Apple Corps building, knowing this is the last time they will ever see The Beatles publically perform. For the most part, these animations really lend to the visual appeal of the title, showcasing amusing animations inbetween career sets and creating trippy, creative (although potentially distracting) “Dreamscape” sequences to compliment the band’s studio years. The game’s environments are also very well crafted, accurately reflecting the current time period with clothing fads, 1960s television presentations, hair trends sported by the band members throughout the decade and, of course, the Dreamscape sequences create plenty of interesting environments. If you look closely, you’ll find some graphical snags, but most players will be too wrapped up into the world of The Beatles to notice and, overall, the title is a treat to the eyes.

Overall, the game may rely a little too much on its source material, however, as players that have no interest in the band or are looking for a challenging outing to test their skills should more likely turn to Guitar Hero 5 for a more suitable modern experience. With the advancements made to Guitar Hero 5, the impression is given that The Beatles: Rock Band has done little to advance the series, however, this will probably not matter very much to the game’s target audience. When you put The Beatles to the side for a moment and look at the game as a whole, there are some very evident downsides to the way the game plays out, but, thankfully, the pros far outweigh the cons in this entry.

With the production of the title being all said and done, Harmonix has done well in crafting an experience that any true Beatles fan cannot be without. However, the game limits creative freedoms, provides an extremely shallow and potentially dissatisfying career mode, a lack of difficulty and features a handful of other minor downsides, which may eat away at the interest of music game fans that have little to no interest in the band. That being said, however, it can’t be denied that The Beatles: Rock Band is a very well crafted game overall. The main debate to be had with the title really lies in personal tastes – the player’s opinion of The Beatles, the choice of songs included/excluded, etc. – since the game is built upon the solid foundation of Rock Band 2. I would suggest to anyone on the fence about the game to review its content and if you feel the pros outweigh the cons, I could recommend picking up the title without hesitation.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

PSP Review: Beaterator

Every once in a while Rockstar will take a break from its proven franchises to take a unique genre in a new, ambitious direction. This is perhaps when I enjoy the company the most as evidenced by the stellar outing the company enjoyed with Rockstar Presents Table Tennis on the Xbox 360 – the releases seem to come out of nowhere, but in typical Rockstar fashion, a lot of thought is put into the release and it stands out among the crowd. The most recent example of this comes courtesy of Rockstar Leeds and Beaterator, which, in collaboration with Timbaland, has released to the Sony PSP.

Right up front here, I’ll want to stress that Beaterator isn’t a game, at least in the traditional sense, but rather, it is an application that serves as a tool to allow its users a streamlined mean in creating music on the PSP. This might turn off people expecting to find a new DJ Max-style game or such on the system, but don’t walk away just yet as anyone interesting in piecing together their own music can still pull fun out of the title even if Beaterator is more of a tool. A gamer’s mileage will definitely vary with this one, but that is entirely dependent on how much patience one has and how much they are willing to put into this title.

Beaterator revolves around two modes, but, surprisingly, both are very robust. The live play mode serves as the entry gates for getting into the title – it is much easier to use and while it doesn’t give users as much freedom and customization as there is to be found in the studio mode, there are still a number of options and functions to utilize with easy-to-understand button icons that are situated around the virtual Timbaland. Users can even record sessions from the live play mode and paste them as loops into the studio mode for tweaking and customization, doubling the usage of the feature. In this initial mode, while there isn’t much to it, it’s easy, accessible and users will be able to pump out some decent tunes in no time flat.

Once users roll over into the studio mode, however, Beaterator becomes a different beast, reflecting more of what you would expect to see in an eJay studio or any other PC tool that costs more than Beaterator. Users will be menu surfing through a string of complex options, which will no doubt intimidate some. There are tutorials tucked away in the game, but given the simplistic PSP layout, users will find the menu navigation to be a tad bit clunky as opposed to a similar mouse-and-keyboard setup that allows commands to be quite spread out when compared to a cramped PSP screen. Navigation and complexity aside, though, the user is given a number of impressive tools that dictate a mass of musical functions that even allow users to control settings on individual layers.

As an application, the modes offered weigh heavily on the quality of the overall package and, thankfully, Beaterator pulls through on these offerings. You can spend 15 minutes in live play fooling around or 15 hours mulling over every single detail of a creation in the studio mode, which tells me Rockstar Leeds understands how to craft a title fit for a portable system. That being said, however, there are some nuances to be had given the limitations imposed by the PSP’s layout that hamper the controls and the nature of the title and its depth certainly won’t be for everyone. Even so, Beaterator meets the goal it set out to accomplish, giving players a solid music application on the system and rewarding dedicated users with the fruits of their own labor.

With the game’s online functionality in tandem with a PC, users can share that fruit with other users, building a sense of community that is missing from the portable system outside of any game with Monster Hunter in its title. With Rockstar planning to host contests and highlight feature submissions, these motivations will intensify the dedication of serious users and if being able to endlessly create your own music doesn’t serve as replayability, this certainly fuels the fire a little more. If you can get lost in music like I can, it won’t be hard to get pulled into the community and it’s hard to put down the system until you finish a song or get a section of a song just right. It also helps that Beaterator is a one-of-a-kind title on the system right now, as while it is hardly the first console creation tool and definitely not the first on the PC, the online functionality and live play mode really brighten the appeal of the title, especially for music fans.

Honestly, while using Beaterator, users will be staring at a lot of menus in the studio mode, making the appearance of the title a standard affair. As a tool, this is generally forgivable as what is provided for users isn’t bad, it just does its part in giving players some visual feedback on what is going on and nothing more. You do get a few videos and Timbaland avatar moments that stand out, but, clearly, overall, the sound takes the full presentation stage in the title. Surely, not every user is going to agree on what genres, instruments, etc., should be represented but there is a healthy mix of samples provided in the game with a chunk coming straight from Timbaland himself. While some users might not find some of the samples useful, the samples do what they should and ring through pretty clearly (although this is definitely a title where headphones or earbuds are a must). You’ll also get a number of standard clicks and such for the menu navigation, but, as expected, the audio is where Beaterator truly shines.

That being said, though, there are some disc access quirks with the title. Samples can take a bit of time to load up, making the previewing process a bit of a pain. I also occasionally received messages stating the title couldn’t locate a sample on the disc and then played or loaded the sample anyway. These are just a few setbacks I encountered with the sound’s implementation, though, as I found the title’s sound to be very solid and I was able to create a few decent tracks just through goofing around and then tweaking the sound in the studio mode. Relying on loops and electronic production, the samples revolve around electronic genres such as D&B and U.K. garage and dabble into others such as hip-hop. Typically, I always make a point to say that tastes in music are subjective, but, perhaps this is one of the few cases I can say if you don’t like the music in the title, it’s most likely your fault for creating it. On that note, however, if you are a hater of the pre-made loops, Beaterator gives you tools to create your own loops as well as to import various sounds. The depth is great, however, again, the only thing holding users back from creating a masterpiece is their patience with the software’s complexity.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Beaterator is a cheaper alternative to the great PC music creation tools, yet it still manages to hang with those offerings in terms of customization and content. Gamers will have to know straight up, Beaterator is a tool as opposed to a “game,” but those that stick with it will be able to make satisfying compositions, even if the title is a bit difficult to work with due to the PSP’s layout. The community features for the title will have dedicated users going on the application for quite some time, meaning anyone serious about creating music will get their money’s worth here. The live play mode allows users to jam for a short time, while the studio mode can keep players wrapped up for hours, making it a perfect portable music tool. The title has a couple of setbacks to iron out, for sure, but Beaterator easily hangs with the best of the bunch in the console/handheld music creation group.

XBLA: 0D Beat Drop

Seemingly out of nowhere, Arc System Works has shifted from “That Guilty Gear company,” broadening its horizons with a handful of rhythm gaming installments, a good many of them actually hitting the United States courtesy of Aksys Games. While some of those titles seemed more like attempts to jump on the Rock Band/Guitar Hero bandwagon (Drum King, Rockin’ Pretty), last week 0D Beat Drop fell into our laps giving us something outside of the ordinary. If you can imagine a smashing of Puyo Puyo and Every Extend Extra Extreme with splashes of the face button timing-based rhythm genre, you have a very good idea of what to expect. In that regard, it could be said that 0D Beat Drop borrows from such influences a little too much for its own good, but, still, the end result is a satisfying and engrossing experience.

The formula I laid out above can explain the title in a nutshell: You take puzzle piece connection mechanics of Puyo Puyo, implement the graphical presentation and BPM analyzer of a Q! Entertainment game (E4, Lumines) and prominently feature music which dictates the overall gameplay. At face value, 0D Beat Drop might seem a like a confusing and intimidating game, but once a player dives in and gets a grasp of the mechanics, that is actually pretty far from the truth. To clear pieces from the playfield, players have to line up at least three of the same icon, however, actually removing the pieces from the game can only be done by performing a beat drop, which is done by pressing the X button in time to the beat of the music. When you see that the other face buttons rotate the active piece and the analog stick or d-pad maneuver the pieces, anyone who has played a puzzle game will know exactly what to do. In fact, the simplicity of the title could potentially be one of the game’s biggest hooks.

To create value for your $10, this simplistic gameplay can be enjoyed in a span of modes that pit single players against one-on-one gauntlets of CPU players, teaming up with a CPU to take on two other computer-controlled players or tackling a series of four-player battle royales. The single-player modes also allow players to attempt a series of trails (clear “x” blocks simultaneously, obtain a “x” chain, etc.), tackle a target score as fast as they can in time trial or load up a song of their own via the hard drive or Xbox 360 compatible music device to jam to. Obviously, though, the real meat of the gameplay is in facing off against human opponents (or in the case of co-op, teaming up with a friend) in the same one-on-one and battle royale formats. While, unfortunately, players can’t share their streaming mp3s analyzed into the game, multiplayer modes do encompass both offline and online features, rounding out a very robust range of options for a downloadable puzzler. You could view these modes as standards for the genre and state that little changes between the modes aside from the number of players involved and where attack pieces are sent, however, as it stands, 0D Beat Drop offers more features than some full-priced retail discs.

No matter what mode the player is in, though, the premise is the same - players launch gameplay with an accompanying piece of music, with the BPM analyzed and displayed in the form of an equalizer that pulses from the bottom to top in time with the current tune. At first, music game purists may scoff at the lenient timing window to active a beat drop, which, at the beginning encompasses roughly half of the equalizer. However, as players beat drop, successive drops accumulate a combo meter that awards more points to the player and sends more attack pieces to the opponent in the appropriate modes. As the combo meter builds up, the beat drop timing window gets smaller and smaller until it is nothing more than a tiny sliver at the top of the equalizer, really testing the player to flawlessly hammer out drops in time to the beat. Thankfully, the combo doesn’t reset if players opt to not beat drop and place pieces down on the field manually, allowing players to set up some nasty chains and links that will send the maximum amount of garbage over to the opponent. While the system sounds like a gimmick at first, the mechanic is implemented quite well and in tandem with beat dropping offers some sound risk and reward strategy – you can save your combo and build up a great attack, but, at that same time, opponents can send over garbage and ruin your plan.

0D Beat Drop controls naturally and operates just as well as any other popular puzzle game, which is a godsend when your opponent has your playfield filled with garbage pieces. When you toss in the fact that only a few buttons are used to play the title, the game is a great pick-up-and-play title that should appeal to anyone who has enjoyed a title such as Tetris or Puyo Puyo in the past. The span of modes can keep anywhere from one to four players occupied for some time and while the gameplay is extremely fast-paced and versus games can end in a flash, this does make for a great party feel where players can pass the controller around without having to wait forever for another go. That being said, with the frantic gameplay, some of the attacks can feel extremely unfair, with garbage piece totals easily reaching a total of hundreds. This is sort of remedied by allowing for a fever drop that depletes your combo meter if you beat drop after allowing more than 40 garbage pieces to fall on your playfield. The fever drop changes the colors of some of the pieces on the playfield and results in a mass clearing of your field. However, these attack pieces easily allow the opponent to immediately activate a fever drop in return, effectively creating a wacky balance in the gameplay. In the long run, however, skilled players will still be able to go back and forth and the simple nature of activating the fever drop gives less skilled players an easy means to stay competitive.

Surrounding all of the action is a rather impressive presentation, from which the appeal of the title draws heavily. Obviously, music is a huge portion of the game and on this front, 0D Beat Drop doesn’t disappoint with a small collection of varied electronic tunes that range in BPM values, along with featured material from the Japanese act Sweet Vacation. In reality, the song collection explodes when players use the BPM analyzer feature, so not enjoying the content provided by Arc System Works isn’t an excuse for players. Of course, these songs ring through in great quality and do not get drowned out by the gameplay, which features the now-common sound effects of shifting and rotating the puzzle pieces and the booms of pieces clearing off the playfield. It’s all easy on the ears, yet, somehow, it remains prominent and noticeable even amidst the most feverish puzzle session. The graphics seem like they were pulled straight out of Every Extend Extra Extreme, with the brightly-colored digital overlays and equalizer-influenced meters. Also taking a page from Lumines, there are a number of background and puzzle piece skins to choose from to mix up the scenery. While the visuals do appear to be heavily borrowed in concept, there are a variety of interesting skins to see and the use of color really make the visuals pop from the screen. Huge chains and fever drops litter the screen with explosions of light and are extremely pleasing to the eyes. Integrating with the Xbox 360, 0D Beat Drop does allow for players to use their Microsoft Avatars as in-game characters and while they may look a little out of place among the vivid visuals, their animations add to the victories and defeat encountered in gameplay.

Overall, 0D Beat Drop may not be the greatest puzzle game on the market, but it definitely hits toward the top of the list of offerings on Xbox LIVE Arcade. The rhythm aspect gives the title a hook to separate itself from the “match three” and other general puzzle games flooding the market and with the breadth of options available in-game, 0D Beat Drop is a very worthwhile purchase given its price of admission. There are a lot of obviously-borrowed elements, some odd balance issues and overly-difficult CPU characters in some cases, but with a few friends, it’s very easy to look past the title’s minor issues and put some quality multiplayer time into it. When you factor in the ability to load your own songs into the game, the replayability is amped up considerably and leaves players with a mean to expand their song selections and find tunes that they enjoy the most. While this release was easy to miss in the shuffle of a couple of big weeks at retail, we definitely recommend going back to this puzzle-rhythm fusion.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

PS2 Review: The King of Fighters 2006

It seems a decade of King of Fighters wasn't enough for the flagship SNK series as the franchise now enters its 2006 installment. The last time KOF entered the PS2 arena, the series evolved into the third-dimension, with the lackluster Maximum Impact. And while 2006 improves upon the previous iteration, it still limps away from the fight.

The most notable improvement in King of Fighters 2006 is the bump in the number of features - the roster nearly doubles, new fighting mechanics are introduced and new single-player modes are added.

The entire cast of Maximum Impact makes an encore performance and are joined by four new characters, and 14 unlockables, which are playable in story, versus, mission, survival and, of course, versus play modes.

In the midst of game play, SNK Playmore has implemented two new fighting mechanics that cover both the offensive and defensive sides of the coin.

Super cancels allow for your character to interrupt the final animations of a special move and combo straight into a super maneuver and allow for extended and even more damaging combos. The second addition comes in the form of parries and allows players to turn the tides on overly aggressive players.

While the additions give the game play a little more depth, overall, the game still feels much like the previous edition and falls into the trap of throwing a 2-D game into a 3-D engine. Jump attacks and sidestepping still feel a tad clunky and I just feel like I'm playing Street Fighter EX all over again.

It's not to say King of Fighters 2006 is a bad game, but on the PS2, it hardly matches up against the competition (or even the recent Japanese SNK Playmore released Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum).

Graphically KOF 2006 gets the job done in the hand-drawn 2-D to rendered 3-D transition. The character models, while not as detailed to the degree of a game like Tekken 5, are nicely done and bring the fighters every recognizable characteristic straight from their 2-D romps. Overall, the game animates nicely and runs at a constantly smooth rate with flashes of pizzazz emulating from special and super maneuvers.

Almost all of the environments are fairly generic but do feature some nice subtle touches in the damage to the ground and arena walls. However, the environmental damage strangely doesn't carry over to all the stages. If you can smash the cement with a bone-breaking throw, why wouldn't you be able to do so in a different stage with a concrete surface or even the marble in the mansion?

Perhaps the titles biggest drawback is in the sound department. First, I would like to write a 10-page thank you letter to SNK Playmore for including the original Japanese vocals, but I'll save that for a different time. The selection will spare players from perhaps some of the worst English voice acting that could possibly be conceived.

Aside from the dangers of the game's English (the menus aren't even free of typos), everything else is standard fare. The music lacks the drive to fuel fiery fights and is easily forgettable, plus the sound effects could have been easily ported straight over from any previous King of Fighters game.

Fortunately, the game's strong suit is in its game play, which tries to keep a balance of satisfying longtime fans of the series while keeping a pick-up-and-play feel for those new to the series. All of the characters feature a surprisingly beefy set of signature, special, throw/hold, super and combo moves aside from their standard punches and kicks. Not only have the characters carried over every single one of their special moves from previous games, but 2006 also gives them new moves into the mix.

The 3-D element also includes the ever-popular "dial-a-combo" maneuvers. By stringing together mapped out combinations of punches and kicks, characters will execute a barrage of attacks in succession. The pre-determined combos end in a brutal punch or kick that sends the opponent flying, but players can throw in a special or super move in at any time before the finish of the combo and dish out even more punishment.

Players will need quick fingers to execute high-hitting combos, as the game play in 2006 is fast and furious. True to the series, matches are brief and brutal running at a speed almost comparable to the classic Street Fighter II Turbo fights. Everything definitely has a classic feel and runs as one of the fastest fighting games on the Playstation 2.

Even though there is no online fighting option once again, the mission modes will give those looking for a fight a run for their money. Not only does the mode extend the single-player experience, but it also uncovers a number of unlockables including clothing options and stages apart from the slew of hidden characters.

The hidden characters range from additional King of Fighters characters to those tossed in for some fan service to those who follow SNK - Hanzo from Samurai Showdown, B. Jenet from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Fio from Metal Slug and more. While, unfortunately, the secret characters do not feature their own segments and endings for the game's story modes, they give players a lot of incentive to dig around in the game.

Obviously the most glaring omission from the game is the three-on-three team-based combat the series was founded on. Even featuring two-on-two battles would be a step in the right direction for the 3-D installments.

The game still feels a tad unbalanced in areas with some questionable super moves executed by the characters. While the level three super moves should be extremely damaging compared to the lower level moves, the damage scaling limits how effective the characters' ultimate super moves should be.

If a level one super does about one forth the damage and a level three super does roughly one half damage, isn't it more effective use three level one supers?

Some characters have horribly unbalanced level three supers, most notably Nagase's were she just turns invisible, and some supers such as Mignon Beart's projectile-based attack take forever to execute and just require a simple sidestep to avoid. While most of the long-time characters balance pretty well, the 3-D additions most notably fall victim to balancing.

There seemed to be a few other game play nuisances that went overlooked such as the inability to move your character into a position of your choice prior to the start of round one. However, before rounds two or three (or higher if you change the options), characters can freely move around before the round commences. The game, much like Mortal Kombat, also has some rough crossovers during jumping attacks.

Overall, however, the game play is solid and still maintains as much of the classic feel of the series SNK could capture in the extra dimension of game play. King of Fighters 2006 offers players a large number of characters old and new as well as numerous one-player modes to keep the game going just a little bit longer.

While it doesn't compare to the Playstation 2's other top-selling 3-D brawlers, King of Fighters 2006 marks the series' most impressive entry onto the system and adds enough to the mix to provide an even stronger basis to work from in future editions.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5