HD-DVD Review: Dragon's Lair

Happy 25th Birthday Dragon's Lair! With the candles piling on the cake, we take a look at one of Dirk's most recent outings. Does "the game you watch" still hold its merits after all this time?

By nestlekwik

More than two decades ago, the sensation of laserdiscs attempted to sweep the nation and it was no surprise to see video gaming take strides to adapt to this increase in technology. Dragon’s Lair, which acted as an interactive movie to bring unheard of animation and graphical quality to video games at the time, launched an onslaught of laserdisc animation (and later full-motion) titles that briefly spiked an arcade trend. While very few of these titles could touch the quality, appeal and success of Dragon’s Lair, around 40 known U.S. laserdisc cabinets attempted to cash in on the road paved by the game. Now in 2007 as an even newer disc technology arises on the market, the “OG” disc title comes in full circle to shine on a new format.

As stated earlier, Dragon’s Lair plays out as an interactive movie, playing off of the idea brought to us in the beloved “Choose Your Own Adventure” books most of us buried our noses in as a kid. In the title, players assume the role of Dirk the Daring, a knight braving the perils of an evil castle to slay the dragon and rescue Princess Daphne, who is held captive in the slimy clutches of the fire-breathing lizard. The player has no real-time access to the game, but instead uses four directions and an action button to punch in a reaction to a running animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth. The inputs are necessary at key points of the animation – a correct input continues the animation while an incorrect input or lack of input cues a “death” scene which docks a life and restarts the animation from the previous checkpoint.

Digital Leisure is taking the task to roll the classic title in high definition, with an HD-DVD version of the original arcade title, the first game able to output 1080p on the Xbox 360’s HD-DVD player. While the core the game play remains wholly untouched, the animation comes at players in a new light with an overhaul in quality and the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound also comes in as a new bonus for players reliving the classic.

Aside from the bonus materials (also available in 1080p), the only difference made in game play from the original is the user-friendly input cursor, which appears in the lower-right corner of the screen during the timing window of Dirk the Daring’s critical decisions. While the arcade and a few home versions, such as the 3DO, relied on a brutal trial and error process of navigating the game’s situations, the HD version notifies players when they need to make the life or death decisions and indicates which direction or action was executed. While the version allows for unlimited chances at defeating the dreaded dragon and rescuing the princess, the journey comes around this time as much less frustrating than before.

As I approach my “elder” years, it’s great to see the mechanics and ‘80s animation go untouched into the 21st century, building up nostalgic appeal just like many of Disney’s classic movies, of which Dragon’s Lair matches pound-for-pound in animation quality. The game is further pushed ahead thanks to the new output capabilities and it’s excellent to see the short era of the laserdisc and interactive movie games haven’t been forgotten. However, given everything Dragon’s Lair has to offer, it’s clear the release is intended for those who originally played it back in its day as the game’s most glaring setback is its likely lack of appeal from gamers who weren’t around “back in the day.”

When you boil it down, Dragon’s Lair is a game you watch and the lack of real-time elements, in my experience of watching people play the title, is a huge blow to the genre for younger gamers. And while the game displays a decent jump in quality over its original version, the casual gamer today won’t be able to recognize the advancement and may consider the presentation to be poor in quality. Upon watching today’s gamers play Dragon’s Lair, Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp, Space Ace, Cobra Command and the like, it’s hard-pressed that they continue playing after a couple of deaths because the concept is so foreign to them they don’t understand what is going on and with that frustration, $50 might be a tough pill to swallow for this new version of the title.

However, such features didn’t keep gamers from pumping quarters into the 1983 arcade release (to testament to its quality at the time, laserdisc games were among the first to require 50 cents to play – pretty dedicated arcade spending for the early ‘80s) and the previous points aren’t really per say complaints and are no fault of the original developer and Digital Leisure by any means. Any gamer who takes the time to understand and get into the title will find there is a couple of hours to be had with the title. Aside from appeal, I found there were a few instances where the action indicator did not appear onscreen to prompt for an action, but other than that, Digital Leisure pulls a fine rabbit out of its hat for the newest version of Dragon’s Lair.

The HD-DVD version is matched by an earlier-released version by the same company in Blu-Ray format, meaning, both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners get a chance to pick the best quality version of the classic arcade title yet to be released. This one is definitely meant for the nostalgic arcade goers of the ‘80s, but there is no reason a new generation of gamers can’t get into Dirk the Daring’s original adventure thanks to the addition of an action indicator to ease the pain of trial and error and the boost in animation and sound quality is a huge plus to anyone who can recall the original release. Now if only Digital Leisure would bring me the Cliffhanger game I’ve been dying to see for myself all these years …

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 out of 5

The Nestlekwik Happy Hour Update

We announced our participation with J2Games on June 11, but for those who missed it, here's the deal. Both nestlekwik and MixMasterLar have begun a weekly column on the site, detailing what's going on in our heads at the moment when it comes to gaming. Already pulling in close to 1,100 hits, that makes us about 1000% more successful over there than it does here. Don't worry - GemuBaka isn't going anywhere, but if you want an exclusive taste of what nes and Lar are clamoring about in video gaming, don't hesitate to head over to J2Games and give us a read:

The Nestlekwik Happy Hour Episode 1 (June 7, 2008)
The Nestlekwik Happy Hour Episode 2 (June 14, 2008)
The Nestlekwik Happy Hour Episode 3 (June 21, 2008)

Of course, the newest episode will hit J2Games on Saturday, June 28.

Video Game Collector #10 - Win a Dinner with Nolan Bushnell!

Video Game Collector Magazine has officially announced it will be offering the opportunity of a lifetime for one lucky Atari and video gaming fan: A private dinner with Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell (not his "stunt double" Leonardo DiCaprio) at his newest restaurant in California - uWink - with hotel and airfare included in the package.

uWink takes interactive restaurants one step further with point-of-sale order directly at the table, touch-screen tables featuring games, short videos and movie trailers along with a wide variety of food choices and one winner from our newest contest will be able to experience the innovation first-hand. Winning the opportunity couldn't be easier as all interested parties have to do is check out contest details in either Video Game Collector Magazine Issue #10, shipping Monday, June 30, or on www.vgcollector.com shortly after the release of the magazine.

Readers will also be pleased to know Video Game Collector Issue #10 will the biggest issue in the publication's history with 80 pages of classic goodness and new editors bringing in a wide span of expertise to the magazine: Bill "The Game Doctor" Kunkel serves as guest editor for the issue, Aaron Auzins comes aboard as assistant editor and Joe Santulli of Digital Press joins VGC Magazine as price guide editor.

Issue #10 also features a number of exclusive interviews including with the extremely talented video game soundtrack composer Tommy Tallarico and legendary game designer David Perry along with current Internet celebrity The Angry Video Game Nerd. The issue also features more classic game reviews than ever before, spanning a wide array of consoles and providing honest opinions on some of gaming's most collectible titles. Finally, as always, Issue #10 comes packed with a completely updated price guide and checklist featuring new price listings on classic games and every single retail release up to our editorial deadline for current systems. More people have worked on the listings than ever before to bring readers a guide as accurate as VGC can possibly make it.

The issue will ship in limited quantities starting Monday, June 30 and will make special debuts at the Wizard World comic/culture event in Chicago (June 26-29), as well as at the Digital Press Store in Clifton, N.J., on Saturday, June 28 during the Triple Threat Starcade featuring The Angry Video Game Nerd, PBC Products and Digital Press (2-10 p.m. EST, Digital Press, 387 Piaget Ave., Clifton, N.J., 07011 - see the event forum thread at Digital Press for details). As stated earlier, aside from our subscribers and orders, the magazine will only be available in limited quantities and VGC anticipating the issue will sell out fast. Anyone can visit www.vgcollector.com to subscribe and renew subscriptions and, of course, once shipped, those interested will be able to purchase the issue directly from the site or a number of online and brick-and-mortar retail locations.

For full details on Issue #10, visit http://www.myspace.com/vgcmagazine now or www.vgcollector.com on Monday, June 30.

Gettin' Around: A Word for Our Affiliates

Both Lar and I have been busy, spreading the word of gaming in any way we can, regardless of whether or not it is right here on GemuBaka.

First up is J2Games, a mix of Jay's awesome gaming store and the editorial musings of some of gaming's elite such as "The Game Doctor" Bill Kunkel (the legendary one), Rob Hardcore (of Hardcore Gamers Unite!) and Abbie Heppe (formerly of Tips & Tricks) [and *coughnestlekwikcough*]. Freshly added to the editorial listing is The Nestlekwik Happy Hour, a back-and-forth volley of more than you care to know about games from nestlekwik and MixMasterLar.

Florida's elite clashed at a local arcade, bringing MixMasterLar aboard for the UAV Jammer's first on-location radio show. Lar shares my bastardly Galaga secret, talks fighters and more. With new staff added to the site, lend an ear to the gamers as they have a freshly squeezed show #4 posted.

Budding site We the Gamers has re-launched, putting forth a site about games by gamers for gamers. I fully support the community-based gaming sites, so give this one a spin and enjoy the new features as they are added. You'll be able catch exclusive nestlekwik blogs on the site as well.

Finally, if sexy=imports and imports=Play-Asia.com, then it's simple transitive relation that Play-Asia.com=sexy. Head to
Play-Asia.com - Your One-Stop-Shop for Asian Entertainment
and keep checking the very bottom of this page to see the newest additions to the site's inventory.

Playstation 2 Review: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Bordering along the lines of Star Wars in terms of a trilogy being re-told to us en mass, Atari lets the fistacuffs fly once again as Goku and company take their final Budokai Tenkaichi outing on the Playstation 2. Thankfully, even though the story has not changed an ounce since the series' original foray with Dragon Ball Z Budokai roughly five years ago, does the game play still measure up?

By nestlekwik

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 once again feeds us all the key points and fanservice moments heralding from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series (which is divided between Dragon Ball, Goku's childhood, and Dragon Ball Z, the continuation with adult Goku, in the United States), concluding with the anime-only Dragon Ball GT. Unfortunately, this means we are once again pitted with the same details from previous games, but, thankfully, a few changes narrow down the tedium of DBZ BT2, cutting down the time spent in the story. With the change, players will find much more time to dive into a number of other modes exclusive to the newest installment.

Since the story mode has been cut down to size, this also slightly shifts the methods of unlocking characters, as most of the pivotal characters one would expect to be in a DBZ title are available from the get-go. Fortunately, this makes Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 the most playable out-of-the-box title in the franchise yet if bashing a friend's face in is the first thing on your mind after unwrapping the game's plastic. Through the trials and tribulations of game play, players will unearth 150 playable characters and character variations through a beefed up number of stages and modes.

Unfortunately, though, it's hard to see the newest entry as more of an update to Budokai Tenkaichi 2 rather than a stellar new title. While the title has some of the best presentation and fan service quality on the market, the core game play is starting to feel quite dated and dry and the Playstation 2 version offers little variation in its multiplayer in comparison to its solo offerings.

To its credit, DBZ BT3 cuts out all of the detail crunching and fetch exploration from the previous title, making the game's Dragon History story mode a little less of a chore to play. Instead of going through every single encounter, multiple faceoffs and the reciting of every last letter of dialog ever spoken in the anime series, fights are broken down to their key components, giving players the option to hit R3 when prompted in a fight to trigger the next story sequence instead of completing an entire fight just to do it all over again. BT3's story mode also allows for some leniency, not binding a player's progress down to the official story canon. If a player is skilled enough to beat down the mighty Nappa with the tiny Choatzu in the Sayin Saga, Nappa is actually done for and players get to see a short "what-if" dialog as if the scenario actually happened in the series. While sometimes the story event progression is mandatory in a fight, the ability to slightly change the story is a huge breath of fresh air from the inane progression of the previous installment.

Much like in DBZ BT2, fans of the series will also get a more hands-on glimpse of fleshed out "what-if" scenarios such as "what if Android 16 traveled back in time to kill Goku as a child," or even going as far as pitting Toriyama's Arale of his original work, Dr. Slump, against Goku, putting a lot more of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT onto the table than its predecessor. Outside of the game's story mode, the obligatory versus and tournament modes make a return but for the first time, players can tackle a number of challenge scenarios and raise a character in a mode where players have 10 days to make choices that randomly alter stats and items (a la Monster Rancher) before an enemy arrives.

While the additions are welcome, indeed, and give a solo player a lot to dive into, the lack of modes and an absence of online play really dock the heat of mano-a-mano battle. Versus mode pits two players in a vertically split screen, making it occasionally tough to tell what is going on outside of your character's tunnel vision. The game still retains its fighter password system and a new disc fusion allows owners of Tenkaichi and Tenkaichi 2 to unlock bonus content, but the Wii's online multiplayer is what the Playstation 2 has needed for the series for some time now.

The game's glaring weakness, though, still lies in its overly simplistic fighting engine. Game play allows for characters to fly at will, dash at high speeds, power up, block and attack. While in reality only the attack button is necessary in the game, a huge number of offensive and defensive options become available when buttons are pressed in certain situations. Ki attacks, throws, teleportation attacks and defenses, guard crushes and ludicrously punishing special moves round out a fighter’s arsenal along with the standard Budokai combo strings. With so many characters, however, many of the special moves and combo strings are repeated and a lot of the secondary characters lose some luster. Special moves involving rushes into automatic combos are still a little on the cheap end but due to more defensive capabilities; there is more leeway to allow players to avoid them.

While the game play might be too shallow for fighting enthusiasts to sink their teeth into, though, the game is made and designed for fans of the series and it definitely won't disappoint. The series retains its stellar presentation and ups the ante of cell-shaded graphics on the system while carrying over every anime voice actor - English and Japanese - accompanied by sound effects ripped straight from the anime. As always, the menus and interface are chock full of Dragon Ball characters and bring fans of the series a top-notch presentation that is sure to please.

Overall, while Drgon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is too much of the same in the realm of game play and continues to lack online play, it still provides a satisfying conclusion to the series on the Playstation 2. The newest installment removes a lot of footwork of unlocking items and allows players to enjoy more of the game straight out of the gate. However, there is still a ton to do with customization, options and single-player modes, making this entry an acceptable $40 purchase. Although it is clear the Tenkaichi series has worn its welcome, you'll be hard-pressed to find an anime-licensed title that packs a bigger punch than Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

GemuBaka Review Score: 3 out of 5

Preview: Prizefighter billed as "The Peoples' Game"

The king of hype hypes his own game. Along with 2K Sports' Matthew Seymour, a 2K Sports telephone conference unveiled everything you could possibly want to know about 2K's first dive into the pool of the sweet science.

by nestlekwik

Deciding to step into the ring of video game boxing, 2K Games picked up the UK-based Rage team, now known as Venom Games, creators of the Rocky and Rocky Legends titles, to give gamers a taste of real boxing. From the humble beginnings of three straight days of talks with legendary fight promoter Mr. Don King, 2K Sports Executive Producer Matthew Seymour was able to weigh-in the Xbox 360 version of Don King Presents Prizefighter for us during a phone conference today.

According to Seymour, Prizefighter will be the boxing game with the pride in realism accredited to 2K Sports' name. Citing massive involvement from Mr. King, Prizefighter aims to not only nail down what happens inside the ring but also outside it. The title's biggest hook comes in form of the career mode's documentary approach - live-action footage details your characters rise from chump to champ (or chump to even bigger chump for losing boxers) as the game also weighs on the player's decisions with money and media fame.

"There's pretty big competition out there," noted Seymour. "We really wanted to differentiate ourselves. Prizefighter offers a huge, dramatic experience that focuses on your career and tells that story through live-action sports documentary. I'm surprised no one has ever tried this. You always see it during the Olympics, on ESPN and in [movies] and those are all cool and hip documentaries. But in video games, it has never been done."

Most of the touted realism of the career mode stems from stories and input as told by Mr. Don King and those who have worked with him. Seymour detailed how the team jotted notes from boxing history and took a look King's titanic boxing library to garner inspiration for Prizefighter. During the course of the career mode not only will players engage in the sweet science, but through those shared stories, players will also have to balance training with promotions and social temptations.

"People always read about athletes and what they do [outside of the sport]," said Seymour. "It's part of being an athlete and some of them fail. We also want to bring those stories to the table. Temptations are not always bad as the more you're seen with beautiful women, the higher your media profile is. When you're in the ring with a high profile, you have more crowd support and with that support the more adrenaline you have and more signature punches you can throw. It all feeds back into the ring."

As players start winning, specific examples of "temptations" that might start ringing your phone include 2007 Penthouse Pet of the Year Heather Vandeven along with video vixen Bria Myles, who also play full roles in the documentaries. With the mode looking to whittle away at least 15 hours of player's time, Seymour still wishes his team could cram even more into the experience.

"Don has been promoting for more than 30 years," he noted. "How do you possibly implement all these fantastic stories? Probably the hardest part was not having enough time and people to put in everything we wanted to."

Mr. Don King does more than put his face on a game cover in Prizefighter as he is the focused star of the title's documentaries and has worked with 2K to provide full voice-over work for his appearance. He has been shown the progression of the development cycle and also gave plenty of input on which licensed professional boxers to feature in the game. In the end, the result was very pleasing as Mr. Don King himself rang into the conference to lay claim that Prizefighter is "free of imitation; a game of reality," making 2K's initial effort "a peoples' game."

"The game exemplifies life," declared King. "The game is the truth and the truth will set you free ... I revolutionized the sport of boxing ... I brought in the attraction and made it the most important factor; money was not the primary factor, the atrraction was and that put it in the proper prospective ... [Prizefighter] is the emulation and imitation of life. That makes me game unique, rare and wonderful from other games. You have to go through the struggles, pain and sacrifice to get the gain. The delivery of the game is based on the real-life process of what happens. We're not making up wishful thinking; what you see is what you get in life; doing it when others are saying you can't. That attitude is in the game because it is the truth. The lessons of life are in the game - you are doing it as it is and always has been."

Rounding out the presentation will be television quality broadcasting with play-by-play commentary from Jim Lampley and color commentary - a first for any boxing game - by Emanuel Steward, fresh from the box at HBO.

"Jim is a fantastic commentator and you have to have a well-mannered color commentator so who is better than the top HBO boxing commentators?" he explained. "We gave them a call and Jim was already aware of the 2K titles and of the quality commentary found in World Series, NBA2K and NHL2K. [Emanuel Steward] got a kick out of the fact this is the first boxing game with a color commentator."

With the support of some of boxing's best and the deep career mode, Seymour is confident the title will appeal to those who don't follow the sport. With lots of unlockables and quick, fast, accessible mechanics and controls, he explained the game ties into what casual players already see in movies or on television.

"The career mode can definitely be played casually," he noted. "They love the boxing drama and movies and these people can take part of this experience by playing the career mode. The mode offers different experiences or ways to feel satisfied for different people."

While the career mode is definitely the heavy hitter for the title, 2K Sports is also adding in robust exhibition, local multiplayer and online modes. For online modes, players can keep a stable of five creations in differing weight classes and attempt to climb through the leaderboards where defeating higher ranked players catapults your status online. Each weight class has its own board in exhibition fights and real-time 8-man round robin and single elimination tournaments also have their own separate rankings. While no downloadable content or spectator modes are planned, Seymour noted while changes to the Xbox LIVE demo submission process, the demo has been delayed, a demo will be released to give players a taste of Prizefighter.

During game play, players can use their own creations or select from 40 licensed boxers, 10 being legends, and slug it out in 22 different fight gyms or arenas. Punches are mapped to the face buttons with the right stick used for defenses but step-around punches, "killzone" shots fueled by adrenaline and signature punches will really fire up the bouts. Players can be saved by the bell with the three knockdowns in a round rule in effect but there will be no stoppage from cuts, clearing up a rumor that 2K would not be featuring real-time damage in the game.

"Blood, bruising and deformations are included," assured Seymour. "We're not going to pull any punches, pun intended, on stuff like blood. The difference is we didn't get all focused on it like competitors. There's no slow-mo blood because we're no about it that; boxing is about what happens in the ring. We didn't get all hung up on it and hype it so that may be why the rumor started."

Speaking of competitors, Seymour is well aware 2K Sports is entering a domain dominated by EA Sports with its Fight Night franchise. Nonetheless, he weighed in with his thoughts on the competition and feels Prizefighter go will toe-to-toe with the long-running series.

"Fight Night Round 3 is a beautiful game and it is fantastic in a lot of areas but with a launch [window] title (on 360;PS3), you can't get everything right the first time," he stated. "It was a bit short in the career mode and we knew we could deliver that. The single-player career is very important. At the end of the day your friends go home so what are you going to do? You want to play and become the heavyweight champion of the world."

About the product placement in Fight Night Round 3: Seymour wasn't too big of a fan of the move.

"That was a little bit of an overkill," he noted in regard to The King making his way into the game. "The bottom line to me is it's about keeping it real and the integrity of the sport. There's more than Everlast and Burger King in the world. We got [nearly] all of the boxing licenses you'd normally see such as Lonesdale, Grant, Compubox ... it's all a part of Prize Fighter and 2K sports. We all got a chuckle out of [The King], but we're keeping it as real as possible."

Looking at EA's future endeavors, Seymour doesn't believe the company's upcoming Facebreaker falls in the same genre as Prizefighter or even Fight Night.

"Facebreaker isn't a boxing game," he put bluntly. "It's a hybrid. It's a crazy fighting game that has elements of boxing in it but it looks potentially a lot of fun. 2K is about integrity to the sport itself. We're all about bringing you the ultimate experience and part of that is having this career. We're going a little further where indisde and outside the ring are equally important."

How will Prizefighter fare when it enters the ring? Find out next week when the game releases in the U.S. and Europe.

Preview: TOMY Dishes Details on Path of the Ninja 2

Can the orange-jumpsuited ninja hold up for another round of RPG gaming? TOMY is putting Naruto to the adventure test with the development of Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2.

By nestlekwik

Skipping over Naruto RPG 2 from Japan to move on to part three, TOMY is swinging for the fences with Naruto Path of the Ninja 2. While the original U.S. Path of the Ninja title was originally developed for the Game Boy Advance and bumped to the DS, Path of Ninja 2 exudes 100 percent Nintendo DS in its features - touch screen functions, wireless sharing and game play, Wi-Fi and more. It may seem like a confusing move to skip out on part two, TOMY knows Naruto fans and wants to provide them with a new experience instead of back peddling through a story they already know.

The biggest hook for Naruto Path of the Ninja 2 is in its original story, scripted exclusively for the game. The story is penned by a freelance writer in Japan who is close to the series and has been contracted by the company in the past and pits players against ancient beasts that are poisoning the land. At the beginning of the title, a group of rogue ninjas unleash the demons from their ancient bindings and, of course, it's up to Naruto and the extensive cast of the series to put an end their attack. Those who follow the series can also place the story along with the series canon as Path of the Ninja 2 occurs when Sasuke leaves the village to train and pull power from Orochimaru.

"Path of the Ninja 2 is very close to the original story from the series while still being original," noted Glenn Stotz, product specialist at TOMY Corporation. "While you still encounter key enemies from the television series in flashback form, everything will be new and exciting for the player."

With a jump to full Nintendo DS development, the team has been able to do more than just update graphics and sound. In a massive jump to the playable character roster, players can wrap their hands around 30 characters from the Naruto universe as opposed to Path of the Ninjas's meager seven. Thankfully, with such a number, those who hover over the progress of the game to see whether their favorite ninja is included can put their minds at rest.

"What characters doesn't it have?" remarked Glenn Stotz. "The choice is 30 versus seven from the original game. There is a ton there. For playable characters, 30 is a big number. Everyone is in there ... [and] the number of encountered characters is even larger."

Amid game play, players can also manage up to four ninjas at a time, managable from an out-of-battle menu, with one acting as an inactive member. Players also get their choice in naming a squad leader, which alters the stats of that character - Naruto's attack power rises but his defense lowers and Sakura regains health outside of battle for example.

What would Naruto be without its trademark jutsu? Stotz has confirmed the jutsu will make use of the touch screen in order to make them more effective, requiring sylus rotations or rapid rubbing on the bottom screen. To lend a bit of real-time feel to the battles, players can execute substitute jutsu by tapping on the screen during a defensive time window to avoid damage or even counter attack. With the move to the DS, players are also promised more intense cinematics resulting from jutsus and action sequences.

Outside of battle, though, players will also have to manage new ninja tags and points that grant the characters abilities they wouldn't normally have. By attaching ninja tags and using ninja points, players can have their characters execute new jutsu and build resistance to certain elements and attacks. With a combination of such elements, Stotz notes the game is quite strategic.

"There are tons of strategic elements in single- or multi-player modes," he said. "It's a big game of chess - you have to know what to do in battle but you also have to know how to prepare for it. With the new battle elements and features, the complexity is there if you want it to be and I'm sure players will enjoy it more if they get into the complexity."

With the said multi-player mode, players can take on another human opponent, pitting their four-ninja squads against each other in RPG combat. Not only can players play multicard wirelessly, but Path of the Ninja 2 allows gamers to play anyone in North America with a copy of the game and Wi-Fi. Currently, Laura Yoshioka, director of consumer software at TOMY confirmed there would be friend code and random matchmaking, but also noted a number of possible online features are at this time pending with more news being made available in the next few months.

"Wi-fi pretty much makes the game play infinite," noted Stotz. "Fighting another human is like fighting a really hard enemy. It's something AI can't reproduce and nothing is scripted. It's challenging and I think that is appealing to RPG fans. If you're looking for a really good challenge, multiplayer is the way to go."

Even if you don't know anyone with a copy of Path of the Ninja 2, players are able to wireless zap a buddy a short demo of the game. Other notable additions to the series include one new music track played during battle sequences just for the U.S. version, variable paths and side quests, along with a few alternative modes.

While, seemingly, Naruto might be viewed as being better suited to a fighting game, Stotz noted the strategic link makes perfect sense for the series.

"In Naruto's story, the characters are always with a teammate," he explained. "It's always about teamwork. With the combo jutsu and character protection featured in the game, it truly embodies the series."

While it's safe to say Naruto still has quite future in U.S. games, TOMY is being quite tight-lipped about future releases, not even making mention of its recently-announced Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 for the Nintendo Wii. With TOMY handling Naruto games for the Nintendo format in North America, Yoshioka confirmed TOMY has no plans to bring Naruto RPG 2 stateside and the RPG format will most likely never spill over into home systems as the company feels "the Nintendo DS is the best format for RPGs."

With such a diverse feature set, Stotz is confident even gamers who are not fans of the series will be able to enjoy Path of the Ninja 2.

"The strategy is immense and the character are so accessible, it's really fun to find out who the characters are and find a favorite if you aren't a fan," he noted.

Currently, the game is expected to ship to U.S. stores on Sept. 23.

Playstation 2 Review: Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection

It was once told to me, "Great games just automatically make great collections," but Kojima’s team makes the hardcore wonder hard about the truth in that statement.

By MixMasterLar

The home consoles about 20 years ago used to be filled to the brim with fast-paced shooters and really clunky sports titles. Most everything that involved guns or shooting, especially, was more like one guy just running and shooting against all odds like he owned the world. Fun times, but one man dared to do something more.

That man was Hideo Kojima. He decided to make a game that used a concept consider bizarre and freaky for 1988 - stealth. Twenty years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later we have what we universally know as Metal Gear Solid. To celebrate 20+ years of Espionage Stealth Action gone right, Konami has released the three main titles of the Solid games for the low price of 30 dollars. This alone should make you want this regardless of what score Gemubaka gives it - MGS1 was at time of this selling close to 40 dollars used and MGS2 and 3 demand at least 30 new for the versions included. However, there are some flaws that keep this from being the best thing since the first Metal Gear …

Your Collection comes with …

The collection comes with the full Playstation One release of Metal Gear Solid, the full Director’s Cut of Metal Gear Solid 2, and half of the complete Metal Gear Solid 3 (more on what’s missing in a minute). As a nice touch, MGS artist Yoji Shinkawa has redrawn all of the packaging with nice, colorful, hand-drawn pictures. The entire set looks very nice and makes me wish that the games always had them.

The Japanese version of this Collection that came out almost a year ago had all of the above, plus what’s missing in MGS3, plus the MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, plus Metal Gear Potable Ops for the PSP … But for some reason America gets only the “essentials.” Still, The Japanese version didn’t cost as low as 30 dollars, so we can't rightfully say we got ripped in the deal.

Metal Gear! Can it be?

There are a lot of reviews already for each game in detail and going over every little thing would be a waste of space, (doesn’t mean we won't have some up for you guys in a little bit) so I’ll just be giving a quick overview of what we get and how great it really is:

The (second) Beginning

Released in 1998, the first Metal Gear Solid is actually the third game in the Metal Gear Series (remember ... Snake's Revenge for the NES does not exist). The game takes place as Snake - now an older man and living in Alaska - is called by his old commanders to rescue hostages from a revolt in a nuclear storage base on Shadow Moses Island. The terrorists are demanding a lot of money and the remains of the Legendary Big Boss or else they will start a war with all of the nukes conveniently lying around. Things aren’t as they seem, though, as Snake soon learns there are a boatload of secrets and a nuclear walking battle tank that can't be detected by radar ready for testing at the base doing the time of the revolt. Can Snake stop the terrorist and a war?

The game is a classic and almost anyone who owned a PS1 has already played it. The storyline is still written and planned out nice (although, it is filled with some needless drama), the actors portray their characters extremely well and there aren’t too many plot holes once you complete it. It has, of course, aged since it’s release and looks really ugly now in 2008 standards - no update has been made to the entire game and the graphics might be hard to swallow if you're not prepared for them. The “rank up” system is beyond outdated and the enemies need help tying their shoes let alone catching you between boss battles … but it still gets the job done. The game is also pretty short, taking only 10 hours to beat.

That all brings me to the worst part of the entire collection: MGS1 was reprinted on Playstation One Discs. That’s right, it isn’t a PS2 game but an old disc format. At first this doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but there are three drawbacks: Memory Cards for a PS1 are harder to come by now, PS1 discs are easier to damage, and it takes two whole discs for the game to fit. What also bums me out is Konami allegedly promised us a PS2 port of it and not a reprint PS1 game. Still, the game itself is great and received an easy 4-5 stars at the time of release and would still get that if released again with better graphics. So, if you have a memory card that can save it, then it’s a great deal.

Young Blood

Metal Gear Solid 2 takes place two, and then four years after the first MGS. The major part of the game places you as the new Snake as he takes to a determination plant in New York Harbor to rescue the president and other hostages from a group of terrorists. Things are not what the young boy (who is renamed “Raiden” for the mission) thinks, as there are a lot of clues that tell a far different tale then a simple hostage mission.

The game made a lot of improvements over what MGS did and updated everything. The graphics were awesome at the time of release and look great today. The AI isn’t as stupid as before, the overall length and difficulty has doubled and the acting is still the best in the biz. The music score also got noticeable with the talent of Harry Gregson-Williams and gives it a theatrical feel that was lacking in the first.

Sadly, fans weren’t thrilled about playing mostly as Raiden (you did get to play as Snake for about 1-3 hours, though) and the bosses went from being freaks to ultra-what-in-God’s-name-is-that circus clowns. It also turned the game a bit closer to the supernatural realm (that wasn’t really needed at all) and left way too many questions at the end of it. It also had an overly-easy heath system where eating one ration could save you in any pitch.

However, it’s a great storyline for most of the ride and demands at least two plays before you can really enjoy it. This collection has the re-release of MGS2, which included VR Trainings, The “Snake Tales” (More time to play as Snake himself) and even a skateboarding mode that is more of a demo of another Konami game, Skateboarding Evolution. To be honest, Snake Tales and Skateboarding are not worth much, but it’s nice to have VR and the complete game unchanged still.

What really went down: The untold Story of the '60s!

The newest game in the collection is a prequel to every Metal Gear game out now and details events that triggered the ones in MGS, 2 and the unreleased MGS4. You play as agent Naked Snake (Or Big Boss, if you will) as he attempts to retrieve a scientist kidnapped by Cold War Russia and being forced to make the ultimate weapon.

The game was probably the best Metal Gear at the time of release (and still is until MGS4 comes out) and made more then a huge step in the series, introducing a lot of features. The old heath system was replaced by having player’s rest, eat and play doctor on themselves. With this comes a lot of items — no longer can you just pick up one ration as now you have to get ointments, bandages, needles and other medical tools to bring along. You also have some really old '60s equipment that is found lacking and with the weight system the game has, you can’t simply carry everything you run across in that sack of yours. The setting also makes the game come to life; forget gray-walled compounds, welcome to the jungle!

The game is the longest and hardest by far (taking 30+ hours to beat) and demands at least two play throughs. While it is said by a lot of reviews you spend too much time in menus healing yourself then playing, for what it’s worth, I found that it wasn’t that big of deal and added a lot to the game. Bosses where toned just a notch from what we saw in Raiden’s mission (but not realistic by any means as it is still fantasy like every other MGS game) and all the trimmings - graphics, controls, music, and acting — are dead-on perfect.

So what was the catch? Well, the camera in the first release simply didn’t let you see anything most of the time and thus prompted a re-release with a real 3rd person camera and a heck of a lot of extras. The game became an easy 4 out of 5 in anyone’s book. We where told that the Collection would have the re-released version. However, it seems that it only has disc one of the re-release. The second disc that had the two MSX versions of MG and MG2, Boss Rush Mode, Theatre Mode, Snake vs. Monkey mini-game, and Online Mode (not that that matters anymore) is missing. What’s more, the game says “Metal Gear Solid 3 Disc 1” on the title screen. Disc 1? Disc one of what? Konami couldn’t even edit out that subline on the title screen to make it apply to the re-release. What we get is simply the first Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater + 3rd-person view and no extras beyond that. It’s a crying shame and makes it where getting the game by itself is worth it even when you own the collection. It still is, in my opinion, the best MGS, but it could have been so much more.

Final Thoughts

Konami could have given us the best collection ever without any drawbacks, but instead decided to be cheap and throw together a few discs and call it a day (Yoji Shinkawa did more work on the covers alone then Konami did with the collection it seems). Still, it’s hard to whine when it’s 30 dollars. You have to realize that getting your hands on a new copy of MGS1 is hard as it gets and costs at least this much, so you cant go wrong buying MGS1 plus the MGS2 and MGS3 thrown in for pretty much free. Also, the games themselves don’t need extras to pull up the replay value … so even with this collection being found lacking side dishes it enjoyed in retail releases, the meat is still pretty tender. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection features three high-quality games at their lowest price ever and is still bringing back everything leading up to Metal Gear Solid 4 again after 10+ years.

GemuBaka Review Score: 4 out of 5

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Street Fighter Random Notes

By nestlekwik

First and foremost, a spy has caught a test location marquee card detailing the special moves of all of the characters announced thus far. You can head to Kotaku and get a view of the media. While it hardly unveils anything new and shocking, when one of the biggest gaming series of all time gets a sequel, people are hungry for whatever they can get!

Can I Has Car? Barrels?
In an update to Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for the 360 and Playstation 3 today, the teased hitbox training mode was unveiled today, allowing players to actually see the normally invisible boxes that determine how attacks connect to an opponent. Red boxes will be displayed to show where a player can be hit on their character while blue boxes shown through an attack shows the range of the attack. If blue meets red then that registers a hit and if red meets red, double k.o.! Well ... that's only if both players kill each other, but they trade hits nonetheless.

Anyway, opening the comment board to questions, Seth Killian officially confirmed the series' bonus games, taken away in SSFII Turbo, will not be returning to the game. Seeing as HD Remix is being billed as the new tournament standard, it's no surprise the vets won't want to endure car or barrel smashing when competition is their fuel.

Street Fighter IV Collector's Edition?
While it may be obvious that any hyped game should receive a collector's edition (Street Fighter IV), Capcom hasn't announced it as of yet, but a new poll on the newly-energized Street Fighter official page is certainly teasing such an effort. "What collector's item would you like to see in a Collector's Edition of Street Fighter IV?" Figurines, playable/downloadable content, mini strategy guide, trailers/movies and a T-Shirt round out your options, showing the company has put a thought into producing a limited run of a collector's version. Remember: Pre-ordering the game from GameStop will also score you an exclusive Street Fighter art book and check out the new Abel vs. Guile watercolor fight while you're on the site.

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