Star Fox 2
That's right, Star Fox 2. Not everyone knows about this vaporware title, a prototype and pretty much full version of a sequel towards the original. I think the reason Nintendo did not release this impressive 3D game is that they feared that it could compete with their upcoming Ultra 64 somehow, but correct me if I'm wrong. For some amazing reason, Star Fox 2 is available to download somewhere on the internet now, or has been for a long while. I just felt the urge to grab this uncommon title, before the 3DS version of Star Fox 64 arrives.
What I got to play is just very cool, not only because of it's status. The framerate has improved, and the map system is actually more interesting because you've got to defend Corneria from Andross's forces! Arguably also has a better soundtrack than the first game, more characters are introduced including Star Wolf's team for the first time and two exclusive Star Fox 2 characters. And, the higher difficulty you choose, the more there is to see in here! Beating the game on Normal took only like 20 minutes for me, but once you start on Hard or even Expert, the game will not hold back anymore.
Star Fox 2 also runs in semi real time as I have been informed, because while you may be blasting away in your Arwing or Landmaster on a certain mission, other enemies might be nearing Corneria or the Space Station guarding it and do mischievous things towards them. All Range Mode and Multiplayer Mode also make their debut here, as well as actual voice acting by the characters, but I only noticed this after defeating Andross.
It's a shame that this title was never officially released, as it probably is better than the 3 Star Fox games that came after Star Fox 64. I have yet to play Assault and Command thoroughly, but judging from the reviews, I wouldn't expect anything groundbreaking.
Gemini Rue
The latest return to point and click adventuring, Gemini Rue is a cyberpunk story about 2 main characters, one of them tries to escape, the other tries to find him.The gameplay is traditional and in addition to that, very accurate towards it's controls. It also has an engulfing storyline with nothing really feeling cheesy or bad about it at all. The atmosphere and the music helped a lot with that.
The voice acting is superb, and the controls such as being able to skip spoken sentences as well as walking moments is efficient. Getting through the game requires using your puzzling mind, but sometimes you even get to fight in shoot-outs, using some nifty but simple controls to kill the ones following you.
I haven't beaten Gemini Rue yet, but I am almost certain that the quality of the game will not fall down and thus it could very well be, one of the better point and click adventure games I have played, even if it got hypothetically released during the golden age of the p n' c adventure genre.
Streets of Rage Remake
This fangame has been available for a long time now, but only recently has the final version been released, and now the game is finally complete. Streets of Rage Remake is a great remake of all the 3 SoR games, blended into one huge beat em' up game, allowing the player to move through different courses in order to reach the evil Mr.X.
The fluent gameplay from those games has sped up in this remake, enabling for more chaotic fights than ever, not only because of it's speed, but also because of a bigger space of sprite input being available. Several new gameplay elements have also been implemented, such as riding bikes or wavejets.
All 6 SoR main characters are playable at the beginning, but this remake offers several more, if you have enough funds to buy them at the shop. The shop has a lot of things on sale, including cheats, handicaps, level skipping, characters and even a SoRmaker, making you able to create an own SoR based game.
The best thing next to the gameplay is the soundtrack itself, as it also was in the original three games. Here, they have all been remixed by various people, and some of them are just stunning and even an improvement over the originals.
If you really like beat em' up games, consider this remake, it is no doubt the ultimate Streets of Rage game at the moment.
1 comment:
Oh wow a Streets of Rage 4! Looks awesome and can't wait to try it out. Obviously I was a huge fan of the first three games and managed to conquer them all on their various degrees of difficulty.
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