One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 2 (Wii)

If you just watch a demo of One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 2 on a shop or while a friend is playing it, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that it’s a really great One Piece game. After all, unlike its predecessors, it captures the look of the anime and manga (as opposed to the ones that use super deformed art style), and features an updated (at the time) roster with impressive-looking super attacks.

However, if you do manage to get a hand on a copy and start playing it, you’ll see that the game looks incomplete. And we’re not talking about missing some features or characeters – we’re talking about a game that probably wasn’t play tested by anyone who knows what a playable game should be.

First things first, the game is a 3rd person 3D fighting game that picks up exactly where the previous one left off. There’s a cutscene that will keep you up to date, and then you’re free to go and visit the desert island that serves as the main hub for the various boss fights interspersed by random encounter battles.

The desert island is one of the first annoying parts of the game – even if you have a map handy, navigation is confusing, tedious, and boring as there’s not a lot of variety in the featureless scenery. The second part is the random encounters. You’re going to fight random monsters, navy, and pirates that all feel the same save for minor variations in look.

The game could have been saved by the VS mode, as there’s a really playable fighting game in there somewhere that will let you stage visually-impressive fights between notable characters in the series (up to Ace’s death, at least.) Unfortunately, it’s hampered by the controls.

Like many games on the Wii, One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 2 could have benefited from gamepad support, as it uses the wiimote and nunchuck in ways that mimic a dual shock control scheme, except for the tacked-on waggle controls. The unwieldy controls are exacerbated by the fights being too short even if you set the time limit to infinite. Just attack a couple of times, waggle, and the match is over. All that visual flair is useless if it’s over in a flash.

All in all, One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 2 feels like a wasted opportunity to use the One Piece license on a brawler and/or fighting game. There’s a hint of a really enjoyable One Piece game in there somewhere, but somehow the devs weren’t able to execute everything well, resulting in an impressive-looking but underwhelming poor excuse for an action game. If you really need your One Piece action fix, I suggest skipping this one and going straight to the newer games released on the 3DS and PS3/4.

Final Fantasy XIV as a Fighting Game

With the Heavensward expansion for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn still a few months away (June 23, dudes.), the main scenario writer Kazutoyo Maehiro had a little bit of fun and released a video reimagining the MMO as a fighting game. Square Enix wants everyone to know that this is just for fun and not a representation of an actual project or future plan, but it looks good enough that I'm sincerely hoping that they're just throwing us a curveball. In fact, I would actually prefer this game over the MMO.

You can check out the video, which pits Yda and Livia against each other at the Castrum Centri, below:

Note that people who really want a fighting game based on the Final Fantasy franchise have the Dissidia franchise as an option, although don't go in expecting the game to be pick up and play.

Problems with Dragonball Xenoverse (Steam)

Okay, after several more days of playing with the Steam version of Dragonball Xenoverse, the main problems have become apparent. Don't get me wrong, it's still worth the full price - but you may want to lower expectations if you're looking for a competition-friendly, and technically sound multiplayer gaming experience. Off the top of my head, Xenoverse has the following problems:

Balance

Right now, balance is completely borked. Players have learned how to abuse certain races' special abilities to stack the odds in their favor when it comes to PVP (e.g. Saiyans going SSJ and spamming ultimates.) It doesn't make it impossible to beat them using the other races, but it will require more strategy and definitely gives one class a big advantage. Single player is also affected in this case because the CPU opponents that are in SSJ form will not revert to their base form, so they always have infinite ki and are able to spam ultimate attacks. Some parallel quests are almost impossible to beat because you'll be juggled by three SSJs. You can beat them by being really good or by using one of the OP Z-souls, which brings us to another borked aspect of the game...

...some Z-souls are so overpowered that they make the rest useless and turn PVP into a mess. It used to be that the neither kami nor piccolo Z-soul allowed players to be immortal due to the massive HP regen when ki is full - DIMPs at least fixed it. Now the new broken Z-soul is the Bwa ha ha thanks for the energy one, which heals a player back to full every 2nd or 3rd hit.

Technical 

On the technical side, the biggest problem is server availability. You'd have to chalk this one up to the popularity of the franchise, but it's made worse by the fact that even the Single Player mode of the game tries to connect to the servers. IMO, they'd lessen the stress on their servers A LOT if they changed the game so that single player is completely offline, and that the character data is only updated/saved to the servers when people enter the multiplayer. You could understand the online only approach if it's being used as an anti-piracy measure, but I don't think pirates are deterred. In fact, I think people playing the pirated copy of the game are in a better place since they don't need to connect to the servers and will have a much easier way of playing the game.

There's also a minor problem with the fact that the game relies on FPS for timing. The broken Z-souls is one of the side effects, as the ticks in regen/healing seem to be tied to FPS so people playing in 60 fps or more will have ridiculously high HP regen ticks. Some effects also get borked if you're not locked in 30fps - such as the vanishing move or some ki blasts (the former makes you reappear in the same place, while the latter disappears.) Locking the FPS to 30 fixes these problems.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse (PC)

It’s a bit difficult to pigeonhole Dragon Ball Xenoverse into a specific genre. It’s essentially a 3rd person fighting game with MMORPG trappings. If you’re one of the lucky few who managed to experience the short-lived Dragonball Online MMO, Xenoverse is basically that game wrapped around an updated iteration of the Budokai Tenkaichi series.

Gameplay

The game starts by dropping you in the middle of various fights between Goku and the franchise’s main villains – from Freiza to Cell, to Buu – but these are not full fights but a mere sampling of the gameplay you can expect when you get to the meat and bones of the game. It’s a trick that RPGs use regularly (re: start you off with a high leveled, fully-geared character and a strong boss monster before taking everything away and forcing you to fight rats.)

There’s no tutorial yet in this intro, but it’s easy to get a basic idea of the controls since there’s prompts appearing when you push buttons. Long time players of the Budokai Tenkaichi series might be familiar with the control schemes: you have two buttons for attacks, one for ki blast, and another for mobility. Then you have a key for lock-on, one for blocking, and trigger combinations that give you access to special and ultimate attacks.

Dragonball Z Supersonic Warriors

Dragonball Z: Supersonic Warriors gives you control of one of the many Z warriors or the series’ villains (from Vegeta to Buu) and lets you duke it out with another fighter on a wide open area. Unlike traditional fighting games where you can walk, dash, and jump, this game lets you float and dash in any direction. Mobility may be limited at first due to the floatyness of the controls, but you’ll be able to fight much better once you learn how to use the ki dash in order to speed up your moves.

When it comes to fighting, you have a light and heavy attack. The R button charges your ki, and pressing any of the attack buttons while charging will let you do either a heavy or light ki blast, depending on which attack button you pressed. Pressing both attack buttons while holding the R button will let you do a super, the type and direction of which will depend on where you are relative to the opponent.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution (PC)

This covers the Steam release of CyberConnect2’s Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution instead of the console versions because of two very simple reasons: first is that I don’t have an Xbox 360 or a Playstation 3, and second is because the PC port of the previous game in the series had so many technical problems that there may be a lot of readers wondering if the PC port is worth buying this time.

On that note, everyone should relax and be glad that CyberConnect 2 seems to have learned from their past mistakes. Unlike the poorly optimized Full Burst, Revolution works right out of the proverbial box. I’m still using the low-end PC (Pentium G2020, 4GB RAM, nVidia GT240) that had problems running Full Burst in full speed at the lowest resolution, yet Revolution ran like a champ at 1080p with a few dips in fps here and there (as I said, I’m running a PC that would be considered low-end 3 years ago so we shouldn’t be expecting miracles.)

Additionally, it seems like they’re no longer using frame-dependent timing because even at times when my PC struggled to maintain full frame rate (I got dips as low as 25 fps, according to FRAPS), the game didn’t feel slow-motion at all. Maybe they’re properly skipping frames this time around.

Unfortunately for the PC Master race, the frame rate is still capped at 30 fps. You’ll just have to grin and bear it as they’re probably keeping it uniform with the console versions in order to ease porting. Anyway, even at 30 fps the game still feels smoother than Full Burst, owing to a few tweaks in combat (which we’ll tackle later.)

As for a review of the game itself, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution is basically an upgraded version of Full Burst, and is probably using a modified version of its engine so there’s really no point in a standard review of the game. You can refer to the Full Burst review here if you want the basics. Instead, we’ll just outline some of the more noticeable changes (and whether they’re good or bad.)

Presentation

The first change that will hit you is the tweak to the presentation. It’s a minor tweak but helps a ton in making the user experience better – they simply sped up the time it takes for menu items to load. Most of you will remember that Full Burst’s menu required patience as it takes a few seconds too long before you can get it to do what you want. Moving from one section to the next is instantaneous now.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst (PC)

If the title hasn’t made it clear yet, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst isn’t the first entry in the series. In fact, it isn’t the 3rd one either as the series goes way, way back as it traces its roots to the Clash of Ninja series on the Gamecube. However, it is worth tackling because it is the first one to be ported to the PC, which is amazing because the PC isn’t the platform of choice when it comes to fighting games and games based on anime/manga franchises. Yet here we are, UNS3FB for the PC, with UNS Revolution reportedly following suit.

The Story

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst is a 3D cel-shaded fighting game based on Masashi Kishimoto’s extremely popular shonen franchise, featuring a story mode that takes you from the first appearance of the masked man (spoiler: who claims to be Madara Uchiha but is eventually revealed to be someone else) all the way to the fourth great ninja war.

The progression of the story isn’t linear, as it uses flashbacks to tackle key points from the past (pre-timeskip stories are only addressed in flashbacks.) Additionally, the ending deviates from the story in the manga and anime, probably to give it a proper ending – which it can’t if it tries to remain true to the manga’s (which is still unfinished.)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (Super Famicom)

New Mobile Report: Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is a 1 on 1 Fighting Game based on the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing anime series. The game has never been released outside of Japan but it’s a fighting game so story isn’t really that important and the menus can be navigated easily. Endless Duel uses the same game engine as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition, with a number of improvements that make it stand out as the significantly better game.

Gameplay

Basically, it’s the SNES’ version of Capcom’s Marvel Superheroes arcade fighter, with Mobile Suits as fighters instead of spandex-clad heroes; The stages are slightly narrower than your average fighting game, but the mobile suits can use their verniers to “fly” (basically a super jump) upward or dash forward.

The usage of the verniers are a big part of the game, because the suits – as expected of hulking pieces of metal – move a little bit slower compared to your average shotokan practitioner. The controls are responsive, mind you, there’s no lag or floatiness involved, but they walk and jump a little bit slow so if you want to get from one place to another, you use the vernier. Additionally, the ability to block while in the air makes the game more dynamic fast paced.

Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai 2 (PSP)

Akira Toriyama’s Dragonball Z franchise no longer require an introduction, so we’ll go straight to the introduction of Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai 2 (Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai Another Road in some regions) for the Playstation Portable.

As the title implies, Shin Budokai 2 is actually the second in a series of “Budokai”-style DBZ games on the PSP, but there’s no sense in reviewing the first one, because there’s nothing in it that isn’t included in Shin Budokai 2, which also included a ton of new content and several minor tweaks to the gameplay.

If you’ve played the Budokai games on the PS2, you’ll find Shin Budokai to be familiar ground. It’s basically a more streamlined version – combat is faster and controls are simpler. It’s easy to describe Shin Budokai as “Budokai-lite,” but it would be an unfair description because the PSP fighters brought a number of improvements to the table.

Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne (PS2)

Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is a 3rd person action adventure game for the Playstation 2, based on Nobuhiro Watsuki’s popular manga and anime franchise, Rurouni Kenshin. The story follows the series closely, taking you from the start of the series (with Kenshin’s fight against Jin-E serving as the tutorial) all the way to Makoto Shishio’s defeat.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is quite possibly the best Rurouni Kenshin title to date (even besting the two PSP fighters) when it comes to adapting the series into game format. However, it can also be inaccessible to people who can’t read Japanese, despite being an action title. The reason lies in the fact that the fights are framed by a story mode that requires you to walk around town and talk to people, with some parts of the story requiring you to talk to the right NPC and say the right thing in order to advance. Saitou Hajime’s story mode, for instance, will stump non-Japanese speakers because it requires you to solve a murder mystery.

Thankfully, there are translations and FAQs floating all over the net, or if you just want to unlock the survival and boss rush mode, you can just download/copy a save with all the characters unlocked (since the game is playable on PCSX2, this becomes an easy task.)

When it comes to gameplay, once you get past the story parts, you can start enjoying the meat of the game. As mentioned above, it’s a third person action game that puts you in control of either Himura Kenshin, Saitou Hajime, or Sanosuke Sagara (with Aoshi Shinomori also available as an unlockable character.)

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Kansen (PSP)

While technically a full-blown sequel to Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Saisen, Kansen is basically the same game with an updated roster and a few minor tweaks under the hood. This means two things: first is that there is no longer any need to get Saisen if you don’t have it yet because there’s nothing in it that isn’t in Kansen and second, there’s no longer any need to go over the basics in this review. You can check out my old review of Saisen for the specifics on the game. This time we’re going to focus on the changes that Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Kansen brings to the table.

Graphics-wise, there’s nothing different. It’s still the same engine and you won’t notice anything different other than the new menu and characters. The same goes for the audio side of things (again, refer to the Saisen review for details).

Content-wise, there are tons of welcome changes. The roster was already decent for a fighting game in the previous game, but now they’ve added several more without removing any of the previous playable characters.

The new additions include some odd choices, like Okita Souji, who only appeared in the series during a flashback. There are also some characters added from the Reflection OVA, such as Kenshi’s estranged son Kenji and the teenaged version of Yahiko. As expected, you have to unlock most of the characters first. If you have a savefile from Saisen, you’ll automatically unlock some of the old hidden characters as well as get a certain amount for upgrading the weapons.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact (PSP)

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact is a 3rd person crowd-brawling game for the PSP, following Kizuna Drive and Akatsuki Rising. The main difference between Ultimate Ninja Impact and its predecessors, besides tweaks under the hood and roster updates, is the use of cel-shading in order to provide anime-like visuals.

For the uninitiated, 3rd person crowd-brawling games give you a character, an expansive stage to run around in, and waves upon waves of enemies that you have to wipe out. Sometimes you also get a boss fight at the end. If you’ve ever played any of Tecmo Koei’s –Warriors series of games, then you know what crowd brawler game is like. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact is basically like that – Dynasty Warriors with Naruto Shippuden themes.

The bad things first, because they’re few and far in between: the game is lengthy and takes you from the rescue Gaara arc all the way to the Ninja summit, but once you’ve finished the story mode, the extra missions won’t be that appealing.

There is a tendency for the combat itself to be repetitive, but this is more a flaw of the genre than the game. I mean, crowd brawlers by design will have you fighting tons of cannon fodder over and over again; complaining about it is like complaining that water is too wet. Lastly, the extra modes, as mentioned, isn’t that different from the story mode so there’s very little incentive to take them on once you’ve had your fill of the main game. It would have been better if they included a 1 on 1 vs mode against the CPU.

Now we get to the good parts:

Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout (Playstation)

Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout is not the first Dragon Ball fighting game on Sony’s Playstation console, nor is it the first Dragon Ball game to appear on a 32-bit console. However, it is the first Dragon Ball game to make use of a fully 3D engine, making it a landmark of sorts.

Normally, I would start the review proper by outlining all the positive things about a game, but unfortunately I can’t think of one good thing about Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout. The intro FMV, perhaps. Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout had a really kick ass FMV intro, which you can watch below:

Soul Eater Battle Resonance (PS2, PSP)

Atsushi Okubo’s Soul Eater manga and anime franchise is very popular. Not on the same level as the current big WSJ trinity (One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach), but one of the many franchises that shared the distant second or third spot. One of the possible reasons cited for this is that the story’s unique blend of comedy, fan-service, action, and goofy art style takes some getting used to and requires patience before it starts to pick up. The same can be said of Soul Eater Battle Resonance, which was released for the PS2 and its little brother, the PSP.

A little backgrounder first: Soul Eater is set at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, a school and training facility for humans with the ability to transform into weapons and humans who are training to wield said weapons, called meisters or technicians. The franchise focuses on a group of students, faculty members, and the head of the academy itself, the actual Grim Reaper, Death.

Soul Eater Battle Resonance does a good job of adapting the content and aesthetics of the early parts of the manga. The characters and their weapons look exactly like their manga counterparts, the attacks on the game are based on their attacks in the story, and the stages are straight out of the locations in the story. There’s nothing to complain about with the visuals. Graphics are sharp and mimic cel shading, the animation is fluid, and the use of framebuffer effects lead to bright, beautiful, and devastating-looking special attacks. The PS2, for its part, runs at a smooth buttery 60 frames per second (the PSP version runs at 30 fps, like many PSP games. It still looks fluid, though, thanks to the small screen.)

Saint Seiya Omega: Ultimate Cosmo (PSP)

I’m going to admit right off the bat that I’m not familiar with the Saint Seiya franchise. I read a little bit of the Lost Canvas manga and I’m familiar with the premise, but I’m not well-versed on the specifics. I had a copy of Saint Seiya: The Hades for the PS2, so that will be my only point of comparison when assessing the PSP fighting game Saint Seiya Omega: Ultimate Cosmo. I apologize in advance if I miss out or am mistaken on something that an anime episode or manga chapter should have clarified.

Anyway, I only have the Japanese release of Saint Seiya Omega: Ultimate Cosmo so I had to do a little bit of exploring and trial and error before I was able to navigate the game. There are minimal English words (the “VS” and “CPU” words will be extremely helpful here) so this won’t be a pick up and play title unless you can read Japanese. Fortunately, this is a fighting game so you won’t need to bother with the story. Once you learn how to navigate the menu, you’ll be able to play your money’s worth out of the game.

Visually, Saint Seiya Omega: Ultimate Cosmo is one of the many games on the PSP that managed to look gorgeous even if compared with current gen console games, owing to the fact that it uses cel-shading, which age well compared to standard textured polygons. The characters look sharp and the backgrounds are crisp and colorful. You will be forgiven if you mistook the game as 2D sprite-based. Sound is also decent and crisp, although the sound of grunts and thuds can be repetitive at times.

Yu Yu Hakusho Forever (PS2)

Yuu Yuu Hakusho Forever is a cel-shaded VS fighting game for the Playstation 2 based on Yoshihiro Togashi’s hit manga and anime franchise. It’s a Japan-only release so you’ll find that the menu will require a little bit of exploration before you find out which one will get you to the story mode and which one will let you just goddamn fight already! (you know what I mean. Sometimes you don’t want to bother with the story mode in a fighting game.)

The visuals and audio are top-notch in this Yuu Yuu Hakusho Forever. The developer’s decision to go with Cel-shaded polygons paid off. Not only does the game provide a look remniscent of the anime, it also means that the graphics age well compared to other 3D titles on the PS2. Audio is also what you’d expect – the sounds seem to be taken straight out of the show, and seeing the intro get recreated using the in-game engine is all sorts of awesome.

Content-wise, there’s nothing to complain about. You need to unlock most of them, but once you do you’ll have access to majority of the important characters in the series starting from the first major story arc to the last. This means you get the Toguros, Sensui Shinobu, and the four rulers of Makai. Additionally, the game also provides an alternate costume for most character instead of being mere palette swaps. You don’t have to contend with Yuusuke Urameshi’s ugly martial arts costume – you can play using his cool-looking school uniform.

Bleach: Dark Souls (Nintendo DS)

Technically, I’m supposed to review both Bleach: Blade of Fate and its sequel, Dark Souls. But after getting my hands on both, I realized that it’s essentially the same game, with Dark Souls getting minor upgrades such as a new story and additional characters. Unless you’re collecting every Bleach game in existence, there’s really no point in getting Blade of Fate when you can get Dark Souls instead.

As for the game itself, Bleach: Dark Souls is a 2D fighting game made by the same people behind Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters for the Sega Megadrive, and it shows not just in the level of polish but also in the game design. For instance, the 4-way free for all fights through the use of foreground and background stages (granted, this mechanic has been around before Sunset Fighters, and has been around in many fighters since then).

Bleach: Dark Souls is a little bit hard to objectively review due to the timing of its release. On its own merits, the game is well-designed and will give you hours of fun. It features a ton of fighters based on Tite Kubo’s hit shonen franchise, and the graphics do a good enough job of letting you know which character is which, as well as showing off some of the trademark attacks and moves you’ll see on the anime/manga. It uses 2D spritework, so the Nintendo DS’s limited 3D capabilities is not a factor. The 2D graphics are as good as you’re going to get on the handheld.

New Gameplay Trailer for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution

A new gameplay trailer has just been released for CyberConnect2’s upcoming 3D Fighter, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution. The gameplay trailer will focus on one of the characters demanded by fans of the previous game, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst. It’s none other than the former leader of Kirikagure and member of the Hozuki clan, the 2nd Mizukage:

Dragonball Z Budokai 3 vs. Infinite World: Which One Should You Choose?

Dragonball Z Budokai 3 and Dragonball Z Infinite World may look like the same game if you’re just looking at screenshots and videos, but the truth is that there are major differences between the two and you may end up enjoying one over the other, depending on your priorities and preferences. The question is: what exactly are the differences?

First things first: one thing that both Budokai 3 (whether plain or collectors/greatest hits edition) and Infinite World have in common is that they make Budokai and Budokai 2 unnecessary – they vastly improved the gameplay, added more content, and even polished the visuals (especially when you compare both against Budokai’s crude graphics.) They’re also both exclusive to the PS2, barring the HD re-release on the PS3. Budokai 1 and 2, on the other hand, were also released for the Gamecube.

Now, let’s get back to the differences:

Naruto: Ninja Destiny (Nintendo DS)

Naruto: Ninja Destiny is a 3D fighting game for the Nintendo DS based on Masashi Kishimoto’s extremely popular shonen manga and anime franchise, Naruto. It tackles the first part of the series – with pre-timeskip characters – and uses an engine that is similar in principle to the Gamecube clash of Ninja games. The main difference is that aside from the button controls, players can also use the touchscreen to launch special moves and use power-up items.

Now that we’ve got the basic introduction out of the way, it’s safe to say that Naruto: Ninja Destiny for the Nintendo DS doesn’t even warrant a full length review. It’s a really terrible game that has no redeeming value whatsoever. Or at least none that are worth the asking price for the game cart.