Entertainment/Gaming Consoles - Page 9

04-30-2002, 12:40 PM

Well, I've been doing some ebaying to pick up some games I wanted. So far I've ordered

World Series Baseball 2K2 (Dreamcast)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
DOA2: Hardcore (PlayStation 2)

DOA2: Hardcore just came today and the others should be shipping today or tomorrow. Neat! I also got a mouse and a keyboard for the Dreamcast for 99 cents each - I might get the broadband adaptor and actually play some games online. There are still people that do that.

I'm still on Espresso-2-Go on GTA3, but I haven't tried it again since the other night. I think what I've been doing is taking Paul's save and trying to beat the game. So far I'm having no luck, but I only tried three time I think. I've got the route to the dam pretty well down, so I'll be prepared for when I get there. Thoughts of re-starting the game and going through to 100% it are running through my head - I know so much more now than I did a few weeks ago when I started it again. I think that would be much more satisfying for me.

I'm thinking about re-working the TV/console area to make better use of space. I have two levels - the consoles are on top and the games are down below, but there's still room down below. The TV is up on another level but that's just there by it's self, so no big deal. Anyway, from left to right, I have the Dreamcast, the PS2 with an N64 on top of it, and a DVD player with the Xbox on top of that (and the video switch for all the systems on top of that). I'm thinking about putting the PS2 down below with the games. I'm also considering sticking the PS2 vertical - but I've heard it can have problems with some games this way. Any truth to this? Do I need to worry about it? Once I get it set up, I'm not going to want to move it just to play a game. I'd rather get it right the first time. Basically, I want to have room to put a GameCube once I get one.

Also - how did the Dreamcast get so many great games and then fail? Sega's upper management must have really sucked. I know Saturn got creamed by the PlayStation - that's understandable. But HOW THE HELL DID THE DREAMCAST FAIL? Man, that still just amazes me. Shit, I still don't think the PS2 is a better console than Dreamcast, save for the controllers, where the PS2 easily whips the Dreamcast (in my opinion). Shit, even the VMUs are better than the damn memory cards. And you can put TWO in each controller! Damn. I still don't understand it. I love my Dreamcast. Jenni likes it to play Q*bert. Hehe.

Anyway, basically I'm just looking forward to beating GTA3 pretty thoroughly and then taking on some of these other games that I've got. What's going on in your gaming world?

vsp · 04-30-2002, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dhamsaic

Also - how did the Dreamcast get so many great games and then fail? Sega's upper management must have really sucked. I know Saturn got creamed by the PlayStation - that's understandable. But HOW THE HELL DID THE DREAMCAST FAIL? Man, that still just amazes me. Shit, I still don't think the PS2 is a better console than Dreamcast, save for the controllers, where the PS2 easily whips the Dreamcast (in my opinion). Shit, even the VMUs are better than the damn memory cards. And you can put TWO in each controller! Damn. I still don't understand it. I love my Dreamcast. Jenni likes it to play Q*bert. Hehe.

Anyway, basically I'm just looking forward to beating GTA3 pretty thoroughly and then taking on some of these other games that I've got. What's going on in your gaming world?

The Dreamcast died because:

1) The first wave of games was okay, with two standouts (NFL2K and Soul Calibur). The next real system-seller (Crazy Taxi) didn't come out for five months. The first US game with network capabilities (originally promised at launch, but not delivered) was a month after that. By that time, the US PS2 launch was mere months away, and Sega quickly assumed its standard crisis-response position (i.e. roll onto their backs and put a big red X on their stomachs with a sign reading "STAB HERE").

The online advantage was theirs to use, and they badly fumbled the ball. Instead of having a sizeable online lineup in the Xmas 2000 season to point to (screaming "HERE's your reasons not to buy a PS2"), they had very little to support it, and Phantasy Star Online (their one and only answer to the FF series) came out months later, too little too late. Shenmue was too little, too late, and was met with roaring rounds of indifference.

2) Sega of USA management was, in fact, dimwitted. I can vouch for that, going back several years.

3) The DC is much more import-friendly than the PS2... but that's always an niche audience. The trick is to import the right games and bring them to the US masses, which is one reason the PS1 was so successful. Space Channel 5 is not my idea of a major game to push.

4) The DC was (and is) pirate-friendly. It's not too difficult for those with broadband connections to download game images off the Internet and burn them to CDs, and use them on unmodified DC consoles. Doing so with PS1 games required a modchip or dongle, and doing so with PS2 games is quite an adventure.

5) Honestly... there aren't that many DC games I've been excited about. I will rave about Crazy Taxi, Soul Calibur, the NFL2Ks (though I'm not much of a sports-game person), Fire Pro Wrestling D (best game for the system), and I haven't tried Skies of Arcadia or Record of Lodoss War yet... and after that, I'm at a loss as to big games that weren't also on PS1 or PS2. The Tony Hawk games are ubiquitous, Jet Grind Radio left me flat, VF3tb flopped in the face of 5,3837E+09 Tekken junkies, Seaman flopped, PSO did okay, and then what?

Once the PS2 got a huge foothold and the XBox launch started approaching, it had no chance and Sega pulled the plug.

04-30-2002, 02:05 PM

Man. You hit it in #1. Sega just didn't try. They could have creamed the PS2, I think. They just didn't push it enough. Xbox and PS2 still don't have online shit going. It's pathetic. Dreamcast was ready for that (or should have been) back in early 2000. Man.

Such a great console killed by mismanagement.

It sucks that there are no new games, but it's great that they can be had cheaply now

I'll have to get Fire Pro and check it out - I've been looking for a good wrestling game for any system.

vsp · 04-30-2002, 02:50 PM

As far as wrestling games go, the Fire Pro series is unparalled for realism. They're heavy on Japanese text, so FAQs are definitely required to make sense of the menus and such, but if you follow pro wrestling at all, you can pretty much do anything in these games that they do in real life. The Edit mode has an _unbelievable_ amount of depth.

Fire Pro games are unlicensed by the big feds, but use that as an excuse to sample from ALL of them, worldwide. WWF, WCW, ECW, New Japan, All Japan, Michinoku Pro, NOAH, FMW, Toryumon, Big Japan/garbage feds, Osaka Pro, shootfighting promotions, and even Japanese women's federations are represented, and you can create your own (fantasy or real) federations. The wrestlers look and move like their real-life inspirations, but have goofy names -- which can be changed to the real names (in English). Check out the FAQs on character creation in Fire Pro D -- I can't do justice to it, and it puts games like Smackdown to shame.

And how many other games let you drag Hulk Hogan's wrinkled ass into an Electrified Barbed Wire Exploding Cage Death Match or a Fluorescent Light Bulb Board Barbed Wire Death Match, then have Abdullah the Butcher chew on his forehead and stick a fork in his skull?

tokenidiot · 04-30-2002, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vsp
As far as wrestling games go, the Fire Pro series is unparalled for realism...

...then have Abdullah the Butcher chew on his forehead and stick a fork in his skull?

We live in very different worlds.

vsp · 04-30-2002, 05:46 PM

I guess you've never seen the real Abdullah the Butcher in action, then.

(The table fork and the bite are, indeed, two of his trademark "moves." He also owns and operates Abdullah the Butcher's House of Chicken & Ribs in Atlanta, Georgia. There is no causal relationship between these two sentences, we hope.)

"I am beginning to love the classic Abdullah; he is nothing fancy, just a fat psychopath who is going to jab this Number 2 Pencil in your head and there ain't shit you can do about it."
-- Phil Schneider

tokenidiot · 04-30-2002, 08:47 PM

No kidding. I suppose that's another attempt to be mildly amusing shot down. Anyway, thanks for the info. Some forehead sounds delicious just now.

05-02-2002, 03:49 PM

So I'm thinking about buying Red Faction for my PS2. I've read really good things about it (IGN rates it at a 9.1 or something) and it's only $20, which is cool. Gotta love that whole Greatest Hits deal - I have all of them except Dark Cloud and Red Faction, and that's because I haven't gotten around to Red Faction and Dark Cloud doesn't seem like my type of game really. I'm open to the idea though - but I'll focus on what I've got before taking on an entirely new genre.

I spent an hour or so 100%-ing the first two levels in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 with a second skater last night - on my way to completing the game again. I can't even stress how fucking great that game is and just how fun I find it. Infinitely playable. Way better than Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. After playing 3, I find it hard to even go back to 2 - it's that much better. I'm going to be playing that game until Tony Hawk 4 comes out.

I'm still thinking about putting the PS2 upright, and you still haven't told me if you've heard anything bad about doing so

Work is fun, so I'm gonna get back to that. But I just really want to get home and play some Hawk tonight. It's good fun.

vsp · 05-02-2002, 05:19 PM

Ehh. I played the demo of Red Faction, and wasn't blown away -- it wasn't bad, but FPS games are typically better suited to the PC than to the console. But that's just me.

Vertical PS2s are either (a) harmless or (b) a potential cause of games being inexplicably scratched. Choose the answer you like best, because I've heard both and can't verify either.

05-06-2002, 10:17 AM

Well, I've 100%'d Tony Hawk 3 with like 4 characters now. I just had this momentum over the weekend. I did all 4 characters on Saturday, and it only took me a few hours. It was definitely a lot of fun. Man do I love that game.

I did pick up Red Faction. I haven't played it yet; I'll get to it later. But I have it for when I'm ready.

In the last few days, my attention has been with Spider-Man for Xbox. So far it's definitely pretty fun, but I'm not far enough along to say whether or not it's a "great" game.

I also picked up the new Xbox controller. I like it, personally. I like the older ones too, but I can see this one being my choice for fighting games - the directional pad is simply that much better.

No GTA3 in a while - I've just felt kinda burnt-out from it. I played it so much in such a little time and now I've just been hitting the other games. But they've been satisfying so there's no problem there.

Andrea was playing Fatal Frame while she was here over the weekend and that looked like something I could get into - not so much that it's addictive as it looks intriguing.

Games to focus on: Dead or Alive (all versions, all 3 platforms), Virtua Fighter 4, Soul Calibur, Grand Theft Auto 3, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

I have a lot on my plate.

vsp · 05-06-2002, 10:34 AM

Okay, after a week of investigation, realization and frantic downloading, I am officially SOLD on the Dreamcast.

Why? Emulation. Not emulation OF the DC... emulation ON the DC.

I now have a burned version of NESter 6.0, a Nintendo emulator for the DC, with 2000+ ROM images on board. I have a hacked Smash Pack loader with 180 Genesis ROMs on board. I'm working on a DreamSNES disc, though I really don't have that many SNES images (mostly RPGs, and a few oddballs like Jaki Crush). I can follow this with DCStella (Atari 2600), NeoPocutt (NGPC), and a host of other emulatables. Someone took the time to write a freaking SINCLAIR SPECTRUM emulator for the DC. How can I not reward that misguided devotion with a download?

MAME for DC? Why not? It'll even play some NeoGeo games, albeit at reduced speed and without sound. Many older games are just fine. I find the concept of a Sega console being hacked in 2002 to emulate a Sega arcade game from 1981 delightfully ironic.

A million billion stars. Joe Bob sez check it out.

vsp · 05-06-2002, 11:04 AM

As for mainstream DC games, I've been doing some obtaining of those, too (insert parrot and arr! here), so here's some quick capsule reviews:

Bomberman Online: A very good (if polygonal, which is odd) Bomberman title. You either love or hate Bomberman by now, so I'll move on.

Sonic Shuffle: A steaming turd.

Urban Chaos: A nice concept destroyed by an abysmal frame rate and poor controls.

Dynamite Deka 2 (Dynamite Cop): Pure beat-em-up goodness... for the half-hour it'll take you to finish it.

Floigan Bros. Episode 1: Needs to be seen just for the graphics, which are wonderfully animated.

Gauntlet Legends: I've barely started this one.

Super Runabout: GTA3 has spoiled me as far as car handling goes. I find myself trying to powerslide around curves and slamming into walls instead in this one. Loved Runabout on the PSX (Felony 11-79 in the US), so I won't give up on this one yet.

Power Stone: Frenzied Capcom fighter, nice graphics, haven't come to terms with its complexity yet.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Frenzied Capcom fighter of the button-mashing variety. I can't say I'll spend the time needed to master it, but it's a cute diversion.

Super Street Fighter 2X: Old-school Capcom fighter. The online component won't work outside of Japan, so this is simply SSF2T on the DC. Which isn't a bad thing, of course.

Super Puzzle Fighter 2X: Now THIS is an f'ing game. Classic Puzzle Fighter plus two new modes (one akin to Puyo Puyo, one more like Tetris Attack). I don't mind that I can't go online with it, only because I suck at head-to-head on this game.

Street Fighter 3 - Double Impact: I'd never played SF3, so I'm still learning this one.

Dance Dance Revolution Club/2nd Mix: I watched people freaking out on the dance mats at the Philly Classic convention, and laughed my ass off. I watched people dancing at the Park City Mall arcade, and laughed my ass off. Then I figured "what the hell -- maybe they know something I don't" and gave it a try. Surprisingly addictive, even without the dance pad (though having one makes it a completely different game).

Guilty Gear X: An underrated 2D fighter, gorgeous animation, and apparently there's quite a lot of depth to its mechanics.

Red Dog - Superior Firepower: Heavily armed moon buggy goes nutzoid. Dodgy controls (so far) but somewhat entertaining.

Sega Tetris (Japan): Tetris with a few frills thrown around it, most of which I haven't found a translation for yet.

Fire Pro Wrestling D: Had this one already, but who could pass it up? Best... wrestling game... EVER.

Dead or Alive 2 - Limited Edition: I may get into this one a lot more than I thought I would. Sharp graphics, and some of the most painfully pathological move animations I've seen in years. The Kasumi throw where she leaps up and rat-tat-tat-tat-tats her feet into her opponent's head is hysterical -- sort of like Kim Kaphwan gone horribly wrong. And who wouldn't want to stomp the hell out of a Dennis Rodman look-alike?

05-09-2002, 08:13 AM

Well, I'm slowly working my way through Spider-Man on Xbox. I picked it up the other night (as well as one of the new Xbox controllers and Red Faction) and I've been playing it ever since. The control can get a little wacky (camera-wise - if you play it, you'll know what I mean), but it's still pretty fun. My only complaint is that Tobey Maguire's voiceover comes off as a little dry, but Bruce Campbell's narration more than makes up for it.

I also got Devil May Cry for $25 at KB Toys. They were having a sale and a lot of their PS2 games were 50% off. I've never seen it that cheap before, so I snagged a copy. I imagine it'll be a while before I get around to playing it, but I've got it for when I'm ready

vsp · 05-10-2002, 10:42 AM

Devil May Cry is pretty sweet, particularly at that price. I've got it on hold at the moment -- I reached level six or so, hit the wall in terms of difficulty, figured that I needed to practice quite a bit to work out how to handle progressively nastier opponents (my wife's the Resident Evil-style third-person shoot-creepy-things genre junkie, not me)... then got GTA3 and DMC was thus shelved. Hell, I bought Monster Rancher 3 that week (before Xmas!) and I haven't even started it yet, but I'm weird that way.

Anyway, it's got tons of flash and style it hasn't even used yet and it's a great relief-of-aggression tool, even if I usually end up so involved in launching ghoul X into the air and performing hideous rapid-gunfire-into-sword-thrust combos on him that every other ghoul in the room gets to gang up on me. Ah well.

Additions to the DC Games I've Played Recently pile:

* Worms World Party: Just like every other Worms game you've ever seen or played, in that it's essentially Scorched Earth gone Nickelodeon. No game with exploding sheep can be all bad, though. Surprisingly addictive, but much better in multiplayer mode.

* Pen Pen TriIcelon: THE SINGLE MOST CHIRPY AND UPBEAT GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED. This makes Motor Toon Grand Prix look and sound like Wall Street Week. Muppets-gone-horribly-wrong swim, hop and belly-slide over Arctic landscapes and you get to watch AND control one. Woohoo! Gameplay isn't very deep, but the presentation has to be seen to believed - really hi-res and smooth. Bring some insulin.

* Wild Metal: Very bare-bones tank shoot-em-up; great physics engine, solid controls, not a whole lot to DO that makes sense or is fun. I'm not ready to toss it yet, but it's ehhh so far.

* Chu Chu Rocket: First off, I love Electronics Boutique. They had new VMUs for $11 -- or new-VMU-with-a-GAME blister packs for $15. Four extra bucks for a NIB game? Sign me up. That said, this is a decent puzzle game as-is, but I haven't gotten to play it as it's supposed to be played (in frenetic four-player mode at warp speed).

05-10-2002, 10:58 AM

I also found State of Emergency shrink-wrapped (read: brand spankin' new) for $30 and promptly wet myself (and then bought it). Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero looks pretty good, and that's only $20 at Best Buy (where I got SOE), so I'll get that too.

I've been eyeing SOE for a while now, and though I don't really have time to get into it at the moment, I didn't want to miss it. So I picked it up.

Lots of cheap PS2 games to be found if you look in the right places, which I'm apparently doing. I've now got like 11 PS2 games, and I only paid the original $50 for 2 of them - Grand Theft Auto 3 & Metal Gear Solid 2. And all of them have been brand-new. Yeah!

04-30-2002, 12:40 PM	#121
dave Guest Posts: n/a	Well, I've been doing some ebaying to pick up some games I wanted. So far I've ordered World Series Baseball 2K2 (Dreamcast) Shenmue (Dreamcast) Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast) DOA2: Hardcore (PlayStation 2) DOA2: Hardcore just came today and the others should be shipping today or tomorrow. Neat! I also got a mouse and a keyboard for the Dreamcast for 99 cents each - I might get the broadband adaptor and actually play some games online. There are still people that do that. I'm still on Espresso-2-Go on GTA3, but I haven't tried it again since the other night. I think what I've been doing is taking Paul's save and trying to beat the game. So far I'm having no luck, but I only tried three time I think. I've got the route to the dam pretty well down, so I'll be prepared for when I get there. Thoughts of re-starting the game and going through to 100% it are running through my head - I know so much more now than I did a few weeks ago when I started it again. I think that would be much more satisfying for me. I'm thinking about re-working the TV/console area to make better use of space. I have two levels - the consoles are on top and the games are down below, but there's still room down below. The TV is up on another level but that's just there by it's self, so no big deal. Anyway, from left to right, I have the Dreamcast, the PS2 with an N64 on top of it, and a DVD player with the Xbox on top of that (and the video switch for all the systems on top of that). I'm thinking about putting the PS2 down below with the games. I'm also considering sticking the PS2 vertical - but I've heard it can have problems with some games this way. Any truth to this? Do I need to worry about it? Once I get it set up, I'm not going to want to move it just to play a game. I'd rather get it right the first time. Basically, I want to have room to put a GameCube once I get one. Also - how did the Dreamcast get so many great games and then fail? Sega's upper management must have <b>really</b> sucked. I know Saturn got creamed by the PlayStation - that's understandable. But <b>HOW THE HELL DID THE DREAMCAST FAIL?</b> Man, that still just amazes me. Shit, I still don't think the PS2 is a better console than Dreamcast, save for the controllers, where the PS2 easily whips the Dreamcast (in my opinion). Shit, even the VMUs are better than the damn memory cards. And you can put TWO in each controller! Damn. I still don't understand it. I love my Dreamcast. Jenni likes it to play Q*bert. Hehe. Anyway, basically I'm just looking forward to beating GTA3 pretty thoroughly and then taking on some of these other games that I've got. What's going on in your gaming world?

04-30-2002, 02:05 PM	#123
dave Guest Posts: n/a	Man. You hit it in #1. Sega just didn't try. They could have creamed the PS2, I think. They just didn't push it enough. Xbox and PS2 <b>still</b> don't have online shit going. It's pathetic. Dreamcast was ready for that (or <b>should</b> have been) back in early 2000. Man. Such a great console killed by mismanagement. It sucks that there are no new games, but it's great that they can be had cheaply now I'll have to get Fire Pro and check it out - I've been looking for a good wrestling game for any system.

05-02-2002, 03:49 PM	#128
dave Guest Posts: n/a	So I'm thinking about buying <b>Red Faction</b> for my PS2. I've read really good things about it (IGN rates it at a 9.1 or something) and it's only $20, which is cool. Gotta love that whole Greatest Hits deal - I have all of them except Dark Cloud and Red Faction, and that's because I haven't gotten around to Red Faction and Dark Cloud doesn't seem like my type of game really. I'm open to the idea though - but I'll focus on what I've got before taking on an entirely new genre. I spent an hour or so 100%-ing the first two levels in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 with a second skater last night - on my way to completing the game again. I can't even stress how fucking great that game is and just how fun I find it. Infinitely playable. Way better than Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. After playing 3, I find it hard to even go back to 2 - it's that much better. I'm going to be playing that game until Tony Hawk 4 comes out. I'm still thinking about putting the PS2 upright, and you still haven't told me if you've heard anything bad about doing so Work is fun, so I'm gonna get back to that. But I just really want to get home and play some Hawk tonight. It's good fun.

05-06-2002, 10:17 AM	#130
dave Guest Posts: n/a	Well, I've 100%'d Tony Hawk 3 with like 4 characters now. I just had this momentum over the weekend. I did all 4 characters on Saturday, and it only took me a few hours. It was definitely a lot of fun. Man do I love that game. I did pick up <b>Red Faction</b>. I haven't played it yet; I'll get to it later. But I have it for when I'm ready. In the last few days, my attention has been with <b>Spider-Man</b> for Xbox. So far it's definitely pretty fun, but I'm not far enough along to say whether or not it's a "great" game. I also picked up the new Xbox controller. I like it, personally. I like the older ones too, but I can see this one being my choice for fighting games - the directional pad is simply that much better. No GTA3 in a while - I've just felt kinda burnt-out from it. I played it so much in such a little time and now I've just been hitting the other games. But they've been satisfying so there's no problem there. Andrea was playing <b>Fatal Frame</b> while she was here over the weekend and that looked like something I could get into - not so much that it's addictive as it looks intriguing. Games to focus on: Dead or Alive (all versions, all 3 platforms), Virtua Fighter 4, Soul Calibur, Grand Theft Auto 3, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. I have a lot on my plate.

05-06-2002, 10:34 AM	#131
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Bringing some Dreamcast love Okay, after a week of investigation, realization and frantic downloading, I am officially SOLD on the Dreamcast. Why? Emulation. Not emulation OF the DC... emulation ON the DC. I now have a burned version of NESter 6.0, a Nintendo emulator for the DC, with 2000+ ROM images on board. I have a hacked Smash Pack loader with 180 Genesis ROMs on board. I'm working on a DreamSNES disc, though I really don't have that many SNES images (mostly RPGs, and a few oddballs like Jaki Crush). I can follow this with DCStella (Atari 2600), NeoPocutt (NGPC), and a host of other emulatables. Someone took the time to write a freaking SINCLAIR SPECTRUM emulator for the DC. How can I not reward that misguided devotion with a download? MAME for DC? Why not? It'll even play some NeoGeo games, albeit at reduced speed and without sound. Many older games are just fine. I find the concept of a Sega console being hacked in 2002 to emulate a Sega arcade game from 1981 delightfully ironic. A million billion stars. Joe Bob sez check it out.

04-30-2002, 02:50 PM	#124
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	As far as wrestling games go, the Fire Pro series is unparalled for realism. They're heavy on Japanese text, so FAQs are definitely required to make sense of the menus and such, but if you follow pro wrestling at all, you can pretty much do anything in these games that they do in real life. The Edit mode has an _unbelievable_ amount of depth. Fire Pro games are unlicensed by the big feds, but use that as an excuse to sample from ALL of them, worldwide. WWF, WCW, ECW, New Japan, All Japan, Michinoku Pro, NOAH, FMW, Toryumon, Big Japan/garbage feds, Osaka Pro, shootfighting promotions, and even Japanese women's federations are represented, and you can create your own (fantasy or real) federations. The wrestlers look and move like their real-life inspirations, but have goofy names -- which can be changed to the real names (in English). Check out the FAQs on character creation in Fire Pro D -- I can't do justice to it, and it puts games like Smackdown to shame. And how many other games let you drag Hulk Hogan's wrinkled ass into an Electrified Barbed Wire Exploding Cage Death Match or a Fluorescent Light Bulb Board Barbed Wire Death Match, then have Abdullah the Butcher chew on his forehead and stick a fork in his skull?

04-30-2002, 05:46 PM	#126
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	I guess you've never seen the real Abdullah the Butcher in action, then. (The table fork and the bite are, indeed, two of his trademark "moves." He also owns and operates Abdullah the Butcher's House of Chicken & Ribs in Atlanta, Georgia. There is no causal relationship between these two sentences, we hope.) "I am beginning to love the classic Abdullah; he is nothing fancy, just a fat psychopath who is going to jab this Number 2 Pencil in your head and there ain't shit you can do about it." -- Phil Schneider

04-30-2002, 08:47 PM	#127
tokenidiot how the gods kill Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 190	No kidding. I suppose that's another attempt to be mildly amusing shot down. Anyway, thanks for the info. Some forehead sounds delicious just now.

05-02-2002, 05:19 PM	#129
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Ehh. I played the demo of Red Faction, and wasn't blown away -- it wasn't bad, but FPS games are typically better suited to the PC than to the console. But that's just me. Vertical PS2s are either (a) harmless or (b) a potential cause of games being inexplicably scratched. Choose the answer you like best, because I've heard both and can't verify either.

05-06-2002, 11:04 AM	#132
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	As for mainstream DC games, I've been doing some obtaining of those, too (insert parrot and arr! here), so here's some quick capsule reviews: Bomberman Online: A very good (if polygonal, which is odd) Bomberman title. You either love or hate Bomberman by now, so I'll move on. Sonic Shuffle: A steaming turd. Urban Chaos: A nice concept destroyed by an abysmal frame rate and poor controls. Dynamite Deka 2 (Dynamite Cop): Pure beat-em-up goodness... for the half-hour it'll take you to finish it. Floigan Bros. Episode 1: Needs to be seen just for the graphics, which are wonderfully animated. Gauntlet Legends: I've barely started this one. Super Runabout: GTA3 has spoiled me as far as car handling goes. I find myself trying to powerslide around curves and slamming into walls instead in this one. Loved Runabout on the PSX (Felony 11-79 in the US), so I won't give up on this one yet. Power Stone: Frenzied Capcom fighter, nice graphics, haven't come to terms with its complexity yet. Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Frenzied Capcom fighter of the button-mashing variety. I can't say I'll spend the time needed to master it, but it's a cute diversion. Super Street Fighter 2X: Old-school Capcom fighter. The online component won't work outside of Japan, so this is simply SSF2T on the DC. Which isn't a bad thing, of course. Super Puzzle Fighter 2X: Now THIS is an f'ing game. Classic Puzzle Fighter plus two new modes (one akin to Puyo Puyo, one more like Tetris Attack). I don't mind that I can't go online with it, only because I suck at head-to-head on this game. Street Fighter 3 - Double Impact: I'd never played SF3, so I'm still learning this one. Dance Dance Revolution Club/2nd Mix: I watched people freaking out on the dance mats at the Philly Classic convention, and laughed my ass off. I watched people dancing at the Park City Mall arcade, and laughed my ass off. Then I figured "what the hell -- maybe they know something I don't" and gave it a try. Surprisingly addictive, even without the dance pad (though having one makes it a completely different game). Guilty Gear X: An underrated 2D fighter, gorgeous animation, and apparently there's quite a lot of depth to its mechanics. Red Dog - Superior Firepower: Heavily armed moon buggy goes nutzoid. Dodgy controls (so far) but somewhat entertaining. Sega Tetris (Japan): Tetris with a few frills thrown around it, most of which I haven't found a translation for yet. Fire Pro Wrestling D: Had this one already, but who could pass it up? Best... wrestling game... EVER. Dead or Alive 2 - Limited Edition: I may get into this one a lot more than I thought I would. Sharp graphics, and some of the most painfully pathological move animations I've seen in years. The Kasumi throw where she leaps up and rat-tat-tat-tat-tats her feet into her opponent's head is hysterical -- sort of like Kim Kaphwan gone horribly wrong. And who wouldn't want to stomp the hell out of a Dennis Rodman look-alike?

05-09-2002, 08:13 AM	#133
dave Guest Posts: n/a	Well, I'm slowly working my way through <b>Spider-Man</b> on Xbox. I picked it up the other night (as well as one of the new Xbox controllers and <b>Red Faction</b>) and I've been playing it ever since. The control can get a little wacky (camera-wise - if you play it, you'll know what I mean), but it's still pretty fun. My only complaint is that Tobey Maguire's voiceover comes off as a little dry, but Bruce Campbell's narration more than makes up for it. I also got <b>Devil May Cry</b> for $25 at KB Toys. They were having a sale and a lot of their PS2 games were 50% off. I've never seen it that cheap before, so I snagged a copy. I imagine it'll be a while before I get around to playing it, but I've got it for when I'm ready

05-10-2002, 10:42 AM	#134
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Devil May Cry is pretty sweet, particularly at that price. I've got it on hold at the moment -- I reached level six or so, hit the wall in terms of difficulty, figured that I needed to practice quite a bit to work out how to handle progressively nastier opponents (my wife's the Resident Evil-style third-person shoot-creepy-things genre junkie, not me)... then got GTA3 and DMC was thus shelved. Hell, I bought Monster Rancher 3 that week (before Xmas!) and I haven't even started it yet, but I'm weird that way. Anyway, it's got tons of flash and style it hasn't even used yet and it's a great relief-of-aggression tool, even if I usually end up so involved in launching ghoul X into the air and performing hideous rapid-gunfire-into-sword-thrust combos on him that every other ghoul in the room gets to gang up on me. Ah well. Additions to the DC Games I've Played Recently pile: * Worms World Party: Just like every other Worms game you've ever seen or played, in that it's essentially Scorched Earth gone Nickelodeon. No game with exploding sheep can be all bad, though. Surprisingly addictive, but much better in multiplayer mode. * Pen Pen TriIcelon: THE SINGLE MOST CHIRPY AND UPBEAT GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED. This makes Motor Toon Grand Prix look and sound like Wall Street Week. Muppets-gone-horribly-wrong swim, hop and belly-slide over Arctic landscapes and you get to watch AND control one. Woohoo! Gameplay isn't very deep, but the presentation has to be seen to believed - really hi-res and smooth. Bring some insulin. * Wild Metal: Very bare-bones tank shoot-em-up; great physics engine, solid controls, not a whole lot to DO that makes sense or is fun. I'm not ready to toss it yet, but it's ehhh so far. * Chu Chu Rocket: First off, I love Electronics Boutique. They had new VMUs for $11 -- or new-VMU-with-a-GAME blister packs for $15. Four extra bucks for a NIB game? Sign me up. That said, this is a decent puzzle game as-is, but I haven't gotten to play it as it's supposed to be played (in frenetic four-player mode at warp speed).

05-10-2002, 10:58 AM	#135
dave Guest Posts: n/a	I also found <b>State of Emergency</b> shrink-wrapped (read: brand spankin' new) for $30 and promptly wet myself (and then bought it). <b>Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero</b> looks pretty good, and that's only $20 at Best Buy (where I got SOE), so I'll get that too. I've been eyeing SOE for a while now, and though I don't really have time to get into it at the moment, I didn't want to miss it. So I picked it up. Lots of cheap PS2 games to be found if you look in the right places, which I'm apparently doing. I've now got like 11 PS2 games, and I only paid the original $50 for 2 of them - Grand Theft Auto 3 & Metal Gear Solid 2. And <b>all</b> of them have been brand-new. Yeah!

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