Earlier this year Epic Scents, the world’s foremost video game scent creator, announced their plan to produce products based on SEGA’s expansive line-up of characters. So far they have created air fresheners for both Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles ‘Tails’ Prower – SEGA’s two mascot characters from 1992. Under the label Scent Blasters ™, Sonic is available in Sonic Breeze, which smells of Green Hill Zone after Sonic has run through it, and Tails is available in Miles High Fresh, a fragrance that smells of the fresh air and clouds that Tails flies through.

[Sonic and Tails’ bodies are ready.]

So far I have only purchased the Tails air freshener, as the Sonic one had his shoe buckle coloured incorrectly (boo!), plus I have always wanted to sniff Tails. In fact little Miles is probably the one thing I have always wanted to sniff most, so there was no way I could pass up on buying this enticing product. It came at a modest price of 3.99 and is currently available at the website ThinkGeek dot Com, so be sure to check it out there. You can prop it up just about anywhere, so everyone should buy it.

When the package arrived, the air freshener came in a well-designed package featuring art of various characters, and featuring two images of Tails from past Sonic games. The art is overall well-done and is some of the better modern Sonic art that is out there, so for Sonic fans and collectors it is nice to have. I put it up on display with my other video game merchandise. There is art on both the front and the back, with either a group of characters or just Tails on his own.

[Collection set.]

Upon opening the plastic the scent was immediate. It quite literally burst out at me unexpectedly; this thing is potent! After removing the plastic I studied the air freshener’s design, which was unfortunately not too exciting. It is just a sort of oval with Tails flying in the clouds, nothing special. Each side looks the same, although only one side has a SEGA (c) on it. You can choose to have Tails facing either left or right, at least. nongamereviews

Without thinking I shoved Tails up to my nose to give him a good, long sniff. Unfortunately for me it burnt my nostrils and caused me distress. I had underestimated how strong the smell would be and will never make that mistake again. For those of you wanting a close-up sniff of Miles, I suggest letting him fly freely for a few days before attempting it. After being sealed for so long, this fox needs some time to air out. I suspect my nose and hands will be reeking of Tails all day now.

[Tails works great in cars.]

At the moment I simply have the air freshener hanging on my wall above my computer. It smells nice and is quite noticeable, freshening up the room as expected. I am not too sure how long this will last, but for now, things are nice. Even when the scent becomes more mild, I intend to leave it up for wall art. Maybe Epic Scents can make more and I can start a collection. I also might sniff it from time to time since it should be safe for close-face encounters in the future.

So overall I say give this product a buy. Sonic may look ‘off’, but Tails looks fine despite being underwhelming in the visual department. Regardless of that, what truly matters here is how much he smells, and I guarantee you that Tails smells. Impress all your friends and family with the intense odour of Miles, you cannot go wrong.

[Front and back of packages.]

Date Released: 3 September, 2013
Date Reviewed: 1 October, 2013
Players: 2-8
Length: 20 minutes
Replayability: None

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Introduction

SEGA’s Total War: ROME II has recently released for the Personal Computer (PC). Developed by The Creative Assembly (CA) in the UK, the game is set to be one of the biggest PC game releases from SEGA. Combing both real-time battles and sieges – both on land and on sea – and turned-based campaign strategy, the game offers the most grand and expansive Total War experience to date. Continue below to see how the game fared.

The Game

The game offers several modes of play, namely: Prologue, Campaign, and Battles. The latter two are online-enabled, both in co-op and versus.

[BRING IT ON!]

The Prologue serves as both a story mode and a tutorial, offering 3 separate story segments. After the game’s tragic introduction, you are thrown into a battle of Rome versus its southern Italian neighbours, in conflict over control of the peninsula. Unfortunately this is where the Prologue ‘ends’, at least for this player. Graphics are broken as soon as the in-game cutscene starts, with ugly and wrong models, broken collision detection, and terrible graphical presentation that is downright ugly. The first Rome: Total War game had better graphics. The game is terribly laggy with delayed controls, making it unplayable. Confusing design choices do not help either. Overall it is downright horrible and no sane person can complete it.

For positive mention, the voice acting, plot, and music seem good, at least in a cinematic sense, but these aspects cannot save a broken, ugly game. The only fun part of Total War: ROME 2 is the introduction cutscene, along with both the Hannibal trailer and the launch trailer on The Creative Assembly’s YouTube page. These latter two can be seen for free online.

The Campaign does not fare better than the Prologue. You get to pick several factions, with Carthage being improperly listed under Greek culture, and all of them are broken. All battles are flawed, but luckily they can be auto-decided. This just leaves a turn-based game similar to Sid Meier’s Civilization series. However, unlike Meier’s games, this game is confusing, in addition to feeling cumbersome with excess and pointless menus, and is filled with lag even with a decent PC that can run Total War: SHOGUN II just fine (which looks better, I should add). Even the graphics make it hard to see what exactly is happening. The building slots in settlements are also the worst the series has ever seen, being both confusing and lacking in detail, and even lacking in proper pictures of the buildings. Overall it is a boring, confusing, broken mess.

Battles on their own are just as broken and ugly as in the Prologue and the Campaign.

[Pontus’ Finest]

Online play is pointless due to the game being wholly unplayable.

Downloadable Content

Three downloadable content (DLC) packs exist. The first enables the Pontus faction and is free. Pontus is a Greek state in Anatolia ruled by a Persian family. They seek to expand into former Greek colonies and into Greece itself, and suffer when dealing with other Persian royal families due to being seen as traitors ruling over an opposing civilisation’s culture and people. Bonuses are given when ruling over Greek populations. The second DLC pack is the Greek City-States Pack, which enables three Greek cities to play as (Athens, Sparta, and Epirus). Athens is commercial, Sparta warrior based, and Epirus agrarian. The third DLC pack is set to release soon and adds several Iranian nomadic factions to play as. These latter two packs are paid-for, with the Greek DLC being pre-order bonus in addition to being available separately.

[Angry African Guardsmen]

Conclusion

Overall Total War: ROME II is a terrible game in every respect that matters. As a film, it works fine, but as a game, it is broken. Refer to the cutscenes mentioned for an enjoyable time, but do not bother with the game. Supposedly it is set to be patched, but after 3 patches so far, the game is still wholly unplayable. Patch 3 actually made it worse. Maybe in the future more patches, DLC, and expansions can fix this mess, but do not get your hopes up. This game belongs in SEGA’s hall of shame along with Alf, Greendog, Bug!, Sonic Team’s Astro Boy (PS2), and Sonic The Hedgehog 2006. Bummer.

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Format(s): PC. originalreviews

Date Released: Winter 2012 for most versions
Date Reviewed: February 17, 2013
Genre: 3D Party Racer
Players: 1-4 players locally (up to 5 on Wii U), 10 online
Length: 3-30 minutes per event, 12-25 hours to unlock all content
Replayability: High

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Introduction

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is the sequel to 2010’s crossover party racer Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Not simply a basic sequel, the game focuses around the concept of vehicles that change during the race to traverse over land, water and the sky with a few courses that even head through lava or outer space. Presented as kid-friendly but designed to be enjoyable for all ages, Transformed is a quality racer for fans of SEGA and the genre. Difficult but not unfair, the game succeeds in making a unique and fun game for groups online or off, but somewhat sloppy direction and awkward marketing attempts keep it from becoming a true classic.

Concept

A strong focus of the game is around several of SEGA’s franchises combined together for fan enjoyment. The change in the game’s title is not due to less focus on general SEGA properties, but to take up less text space. While there are more overall than the previous game, many of these properties are represented bizarrely or improperly and a large portion of the playable cast should be replaced or cut altogether. The majority of both the characters and worlds are recognizable or enjoyable enough regardless if the player knows or cares for it’s origins. Strangely, the core gameplay does not follow this and does not play like any prominent SEGA game in particular.

Instead, the gameplay is based on the transformation gimmick of the title. The core goal remains to complete the race or event in the lead or as close to the front as possible, but the vehicle will change into a car, a boat or a plane depending on the terrain that needs to be crossed. Perhaps the most enjoyable portion of this is how many of the courses themselves will change their shape every lap in. Sometimes it is a simple new path opening up, but more often than not it is a part of the level falling apart, another portion of the world crashing into the road or an explosion of some sort. Outside of the four tweaked extra courses from the first game, each level has at least two of the three transformations with every possible combination realized throughout. This instantly makes the game more visually exciting than most competing products in the genre.

Controls

The prequel Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing had a light and easy to comprehend sense of movement. The player needed to focus hardest on the drifting system not just simply for turns, but also for ‘boosting’to build speed. In many cases experienced players could find ways to drift in places they would not typically be expected to. Much of this is lost in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, but it simply improves the feel of movement and gives inexperienced drifters an easier time catching up to others. This makes the momentum more enjoyable typically, but also does not make the prequel feel pointless like many sporting game sequels typically do. Fans of this game who skipped out on the original will find several reasons to try out it as well.

While falling or launching off of a ramp the player is able to pull off a ‘trick’ and if they properly land one or multiple they will receive an extra speed boost. A massive improvement from the prequel is that now each character has the same type of movements they can pull off in the air, which is now done by pushing the right analog stick in a direction. This makes each trick speed predictable and improves the balance between characters greatly. Experienced players can even use this to their advantage to tweak their placement in the air to the left or the right, making daring and crazy driving exciting, but not necessarily the expected way to traverse each course.

[Each vehicle type handles differently, but the controls are consistent enough to easily understand, even for new players.]

Gameplay originalreviews

Unlike the previous game, Transformed no longer includes motorcycles or hovering cars. This improves the balance by making each character generally comparable size, meaning no particular character is always going to be the best possible choice. However, as the game puts heavy importance on how fond people will become of their particular favorites, the option to modify character stats is included. These ‘mods’ typically only slightly, but noticeably alter stats and cannot be changed during multi-race events. On paper these sound as if they would slow down the character selection process or hurt balance, but most are simplified to be immediately and visually obvious how they will impact performance and none in particular are the best possible choice for all occasions.

Boating is comparable to the gameplay on land, but with tweaks to the turning and the inclusion of waves that can function as ramps if launched off of correctly. New annoyances that the driving gameplay do not have are created, such as how in some courses with large drops the turning a boat mid-air is the same as if the player were already in the water. Issues like this can be especially problematic as it can be incredibly hard to realign one’s self in boat form. An easy fix would have been a ‘reset’ button, something many other racing games have and one that would have been easy to implement.

Flying likely stands out the most as the majority of the mechanics are tweaked in several ways. Most noticeable is how the trick system is replaced with rolling and spinning in the air, mostly meant to dodge. If some sort of obstacle is avoided just right before impact was made the player will receive an immediate boost, but will not be able to turn as well during it, which could lead to more danger. There are slight visual cues to guide players where to fly in this mode, but sometimes it can be confusing as to just how far one can move without ‘falling out’ of the level, an issue all vehicle types have to a degree with how much movement can happen in the courses. Although gameplay on land is the most polished, well-planned and flying is the least by far, each one is enjoyable. The game would not feel complete without all three.

[Boating does not take place in just water; Some levels put players in lava instead]

As expected with the party racing genre, players will come across randomized power-ups throughout the race course. These can then be held and used later on whenever the player chooses. Unlike something like Mario Kart however, these items are not inspired by anything in particular and can be continue to be held even if the player is hit or falls off the level. This adds greatly to the potential strategy, especially when the character-specific all-star abilities come into play – Which now can be used online. Whatever they lack in interesting design is made up tenfold with how unique and creative they are in use. Items like the basic shield from the last game are replaced with a catcher’s mitt that not only defends against attacks and obstacles, but can capture smaller attacks and then store it to use against others. Other clever concepts are how items with multiple attacks can all be used at once if the button is held or how there are some secret stronger power-ups hidden in especially dangerous locations. With all of the thought put into how to fight against the other players it is impressive that many of these can be easily avoided and how there is no particular item that always succeeds without planning of any sort. The entire genre can improve if other developer’s pay attention to what SUMO Digital has done with these items, but it is still disappointing that none are inspired by anything from SEGA’s history.

The World Tour is presented as the core mode of the game and replaces the missions from the previous game. This is where the majority of the game’s content will be presented and unlocked for player access. Most events are races or unique variants that teach the play mechanics in some way without feeling like a tutorial, such as a drifting event where players need to stay within pre-set lines or a flying-only mission high above the level with hoops that need to be flown through. The majority of these are not at all easy and some players may have trouble finishing most, let alone unlocking everything. To combat this somewhat are difficulty selections that give rewards based on how difficult the player had the event set. If the player has trouble with this still they are given a free pass for failing the easiest difficulty four times. Another helpful inclusion is a slot machine that can give players a bonus chance and start the next event with a potentially very helpful power-up or have a special immunity to certain items. As this is random and requires the player to collect coins during races to even use, it’s effects are minimal and could never seriously change the tide of an event.

As many would expect from a party racing title, a ‘battle’ mode dedicated to driving around in a small arena and throwing items at one another is included. Although not a direct clone, this is all just a lazy forced attempt at copying what the Mario Kart series has. Nothing especially unique is present, each field is based on courses already in the core game and and even the transforming gimmick is not available during them. Hopes of aerial or boating fights are not realized and no AI enemies are even made available. Although it is nice that unlike the prequel, this mode is now playable online, all assets used for this feature should have been to make the multiplayer in World Tour mode available online instead.

[The AI can be very aggressive, forcefully making their way around the track and bumping into players regardless of weight. ]

Sound originalreviews

The vast majority of the soundtrack is made up of modern remixes of songs found throughout SEGA’s unique history in video games. Some tracks featured are upwards of thirty years old, but most are from the past ten years. Directed by the legendary video game musician Richard Jacques, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’s music comes off as one of his weakest efforts in his long career. Many of the chosen songs work decently enough for their respective course, but most are only slightly tweaked or edited to sound different instead of being a true remix. Several seem either picked at random or chosen only because they are the first song heard in the game, such as the Chapter 1 song “Flight” being used for the driving segment of the Panzer Dragoon level. Regardless, the soundtrack is at it’s core still very enjoyable as many of the songs have generally excellent original compositions. The only songs that are particularly damaged in any way are the OutRun series’ tunes, which do not at all fit with the setting or nature of the franchise and are borderline offensive to the original material.

Voice acting in Transformed is largely reused clips from recent games. This appears to be a mistake and makes characters seem stranger than they usually are, such as when they are caught in a massive explosion and only casually sigh or get passed by several racers and shout their own name. Amy Rose and Ulala become especially jarring with the former constantly shouting quotes that clash with her personality such as “I’ll destroy all of you” and the latter constantly saying “Spaaaace Channel 5” seemingly regardless of context. Exceptions are made as several characters have dialog specifically recorded for the game. These characters almost always sound more natural, but many still have strange behaviors regardless. The obnoxious announcer from the previous title has been replaced with a new, more standardized racing voice actor. Instead of constantly talking and telling random, uninspired jokes during races he simply mentions what is directly happening or gives basic congratulatory words to the players. Easily an improvement from the last, he still finds ways to become grating, such as when doing a countdown from ten (which also includes shouting zero) or constantly telling the player to select something while they wait in the menus.

Visuals

The level scope in Transformed is comparable to the variety found in the level direction of 2011’s Sonic Generations (a platformer), but at times can seem much grander. Not counting the four returning locations from the past game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has less courses overall than it’s prequel, but because of their scale, how they morph between laps and how no level themes are re-used, the game manages to feel far more diverse, rich and satisfying than the original. More franchises are also represented in this regard, but many feature references across more than a singular game, such as how there are recognizable objects and locations from four Panzer Dragoon games in it’s respective level. Not every course gets this type of attention sadly as something like the course based on the Shinobi game franchise uses absolutely nothing from any game in the series and instead is just a generic traditional Japanese village that changes seasons between laps.

Character animations are less obnoxious than the prequel, but still unnecessarily silly and are almost always clash with their personality. Although they happen less often overall, they can still become extraordinarily distracting, especially in cases where large characters (such as Dr Robotnik) stand up and block the player’s viewpoint for three or more seconds. However, the vehicles transforming is typically enjoyable, with most making unique and creative sounds that never interrupt the race. The boating and flying gameplay styles do not overly complicate the game and the player is typically given a few seconds to comprehend that they are in different vehicle type before a turn or some sort of danger is close by.

[Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed features a number of recognizable assets from various SEGA properties, such as the planes and locations from 2006’s After Burner Climax, shown here. ]

Noticeably less vivid in it’s use of colors than the prequel, Sonic & All-Stars Racing remains bright and cheerful, even if some of the courses are specifically designed to appear menacing in nature. Textures can stand out as muddy and sometimes have very little detail to them, but no more than recent modern Sonic video games. With far more environments and ways to traverse than basically every other family-friendly racing game, it is hard to find fault in this regard.

The handheld versions (PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS) look the worst due to hardware limitations, but are still competent and comparable to the console versions. Some mechanics differ greatly in the Nintendo 3DS release specifically, but it is still overall a very similar product and not a new experience, like SEGA Superstars Tennis and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing were on the Nintendo DS. With that said, it is still by far the worst of the bunch and all potential players should consider getting the game for a different platform.

[There are far more varied levels and locales featured in Transformed compared to its predecessor.]

Special Notes

The console and handheld versions of Transformed feature two guest characters from non-SEGA properties in the game’s playable roster, those being auto racer Danica Patrick of NASCAR fame and the character Ralph from the 2012 Walt Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph, which features several cameos of SEGA characters including Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) and a zombie from The House of the Dead, as well as characters from Altered Beast and Cyborg Justice. Interesting to note is Wreck-It Ralph is voiced by John C. Reilly, the same actor that portrays the character in film, and the in-game character uses several unique lines of dialogue recorded for the express purpose of the game. Other guest characters appear in the Steam version of the game for PC, those being the titular Manager from the Football Manager franchise, a Shogun from Total War: Shogun 2, and the Scout, Heavy, and Spy from Valve Software’s Team Fortress 2, with the later characters sharing the same vehicle. While the inclusion of these extra characters is appreciated, one must question the dubious lack of thought put into them and their designs. Why they felt the need to include a nameless, faceless Shogun from Total War — a series that is not known for its characters — and not a playable level is strange, while the Football Manager that appears in-game does not appear in any of his respective games, as the player is supposed to be to the Football Manager, and thus his representation here makes little sense.

Of all of the promotional content produced by SEGA to promote Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, no other property featured in the game was more prominently displayed than NASCAR driver Danica Patrick. Patrick — who drives car number 10 for the Stewart-Haas Racing team — is heavily featured in many promotional works for the game, including commercials, trailers, and she has made appearances at various live events sponsored by SEGA to showcase the game. This relationship culminated when in 2012 when SEGA had an actual race car built for Patrick, which she raced in the Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge. She finished in 8th place. The vehicle that Patrick drives in-game is modeled after a toy car that was created in collaboration with SEGA, NASCAR, and toy manufacturer Hot Wheels, which has been dubbed as the ‘Danicar’ and was made available with pre-orders of the game made at GameStop.

Conclusion

If presented as simply a special treat for fans of SEGA, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed fails in many regards. The selection of properties is awkward, the power-ups and gameplay do not even try to reference anything from the company’s history and some extremely important and ongoing franchises such as Virtua Fighter, Yakuza, Phantasy Star and any SEGA racing series are confusingly and insultingly excluded. However, none of that matters when the core gameplay and modes are so well planned and produced. Fast and frantic, but solid and smart, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a creative and difficult, but balanced racing game that can be fun for everyone able to hold a game controller. Although several factors (such as glitches) hold the game back from being a true classic, this is easily one of the best recent games in the genre and can seemingly only get better with sequels.

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Formats: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Steam for Windows PC, Wii U, Vita and Nintendo 3DS.

featuredvideo

AM2 continues their high quality digital remasters with a set based on SEGA’s revolutionary Model 2 arcade hardware. Yu Suzuki, the head of SEGA’s AM2 studio helped create the platform in the early 1990s using incredibly sophisticated military technology. This allowed for not just higher quality visuals through 3D models and textures, but more effective controls and artificial intelligence to a scale thought completely improbable for the time.

As iconic and important the hardware was to video games, each game released in this digital Model 2 collection has only ever seen improper ports due to the power of home platforms at the time being far below what the games required, such as the SEGA Saturn. This current set of releases features the legendary Virtua Fighter 2, the wacky Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters, one of the most obscure Sonic the Hedgehog games of all time.

Virtua Fighter 2

Best known for it’s sophisticated gameplay and depth, Virtua Fighter 2 is only as complicated as the player makes it to be. Against friends every level and character is available from the outset, with extra modes and the boss Dural usable with codes found in the achievement/trophy list. Although every character has upwards of 60 moves each, every ability is understandable and visually obvious to even the least experienced players. Beyond that, almost every ability is versatile enough for any playstyle to find their comfort zone, making every character usable to everyone in some way.

Replay value for single player modes in Virtua Fighter 2 is high for those willing to learn the mechanics. New players will likely struggle with the difficulty curve, made harder by revolutionary (for the time) AI that learns the player’s combat patterns and specifically forces them to attempt new moves or different forms of combat. Each release in the series afterwards included this, but to a much smaller degree, making Virtua Fighter 2 the hardest in the series, but also the most rewarding. Challenging regardless of difficulty, the AI never cheats by reading the player’s inputs or pulls off impossible stunts, two things almost every fighting game does even today.

Beyond the deep and diverse gameplay lies equally wonderful sound and art direction. Several hugely different types of arenas are available and all include memorizing art and animated extras such as leaves twirling in the wind or fire burning in the distance. An excellent use of color helps many of these locations stand out as iconic in the genre, but the soundtrack improves that by making some areas feel even mystical at times. A ride on Shun Di’s river stage that passes under bridges, Sarah’s storming colosseum or Wolf’s frozen mountain ring will be unforgettable memories to every fan.

Virtua Fighter 2 is possibly one of SEGA’s most expertly crafted games of all time, is possibly the biggest improvement as a sequel to any game in the industry and was revolutionary in almost every regard. Perhaps a touch too difficult for newcomers, it should be held in high regard by all regardless.

Fighting Vipers

Released in arcades one year after Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers shares many similarities with it’s predecessor while also paving new ground with its own unique gameplay systems. Like the Virtua Fighter series, Fighting Vipers makes use of a simple three button control set-up consisting of punch, kick, and guard to access a wide array of moves for each of the game’s eleven fighters. Each of the fighters are unique in both their fighting styles and general attributes, and overall the roster of fighters is well balanced for both casual and competitive play, with enough diversity in the roster to ensure that there’s a fighter for every taste and preferred style. Being a 1:1 port of the arcade version, the number of game modes may seem sparse compared to other fighting games at first, with only arcade and offline versus, and online battle being available. While the lack of a proper practice or training mode may be disheartening for new players, a surprising amount of fidelity can be found in these core modes, with several extra modes and features becoming available through the use of cheat codes. These include the whimsical Kids Mode, which transforms the fighters into super deformed versions of themselves, and Ranking Mode, which allows the player to compare their score in arcade to those of the developers.

What sets the game apart from the Virtua Fighter series — and indeed, most other fighting games — is it’s context sensitive guard/attack system and the inclusion of armor. Whilst defending, characters can make use of special attacks that can break through an attacking opponent’s moves when they glow white, and likewise the same can be utilized by the opponent, adding an extra layer of mind games to the combat. The meat and potatoes of Fighting Viper’s mechanics lies it’s unique armor system, which sees each fighter outfitted with a full set of armor, which is separated into distinct sections for the head, upper and lower torso, and both arms and legs. When repeated damage is done to any of these areas, the armor in that general section weakens and will eventually break if hit by an Armor Break attack, which is unique to each fighter. When this occurs, the fighter is left extremely vulnerable, as attacks to an unarmored opponent do significantly more damage. This system works well in tandem with the guard/attack system to make for a somewhat more slower paced and strategic fighting experience, as the player must consider which areas of the opponent to focus on and attack in order to achieve an Armor Break, while also considering the durability of their own armor and how to best defend themselves against their opponent’s own strategies. Another neat innovation is the inclusion of destructible walls featured in most stages in the game. Walls play a much larger role in Fighting Vipers than in most fighting games of the time, as each fighter can interact with walls in a variety of different ways, including bounding runs off of walls, wall jumps, and unique wall-based attacks, some of which can actually destroy a single wall, opening up the stage for a potential ring out.

The visuals and overall style of Fighting Vipers is as striking as it is completely absurd. The designs of the fighters are quite eclectic, and though they only ever speak a few lines before and after a match, their personality shines through the designs of their outfits and armor, such as flamboyant singer/guitarist Raxel’s KISS-inspired armor, or Jane’s full combat gear. A good deal personality can also be found in the animations and general action within the fights themselves, as some fighters use props relating to their character as imprompteau weapons. The real highlight of Fighting Viper’s presentation comes from the stages themselves, which showcase a level of inventiveness and quality that is seldom seen in the genre. The settings, though oftentimes very silly, are almost always interesting to look at, such as one stage that takes place right in the middle of an airplane runway, with planes taking off and landing right next to the action, or another that takes place in front of a large concrete wall that is being shone on by a floodlight, which casts each fighter’s shadows against the wall, which dynamically follow all of the character’s movements. The general look of the game is equally impressive, with great looking character models, sharp textures, and fantastic visual effects that show off the Model 2 hardware spectacularly. If any caveat can be made against the presentation, it’s the music — it’s largely dull and uninteresting from a compositional standpoint and poorly fits the characters and stages, though some of it is admittedly catchy.

Though it lacks the complexity and nuance of Virtua Fighter 2 on a gameplay level, Fighting Vipers is nevertheless a unique and very solid fighter that should not be overlooked by fans of the Virtua Fighter series or the genre as a whole.

Sonic the Fighters

Sonic the Fighters (sometimes titled Sonic Championship) is the last true arcade Sonic the Hedgehog game. Released to little fanfare due to it’s fairly shallow mechanics and few releases for various reasons and small amount of demand, it has become one of the most obscure games in the franchise. Conceptualized around Fighting Vipers‘ gameplay and designed to be easier for those less experienced to play, creating a unique fighter that is hard to directly compare to any other. Basic punch and kick controls are included, but a major focus on the gameplay is a depleting barrier system that blocks and reflects characters and objects, similar to shields from the early Sonic games. To keep the momentum of the gameplay up, an early version of Virtua Fighter 3’s side step is included, along with several of the character’s recognizable abilities, such as the Spin Dash.

Developed and released before the franchise’s shift in design with Sonic Adventure, Sonic the Fighters features much of what was lost in the transition to the modern franchise. Not simply limited to the abstract world art, but also found in the character’s personalities and sound effects. Knuckles in particular shines compared to his current variation. How all of this is lost in recent games is a mystery.

Sonic the Fighters had a release on the Sonic GEMS Collection on PlayStation 2 and GameCube (the later of which was the only one available in North America), but beyond the new addition of online play more playable characters were added. Dr Robotnik (or Robotnic as the game titles him) and Metal Sonic are now playable in unranked versus modes when pressing start over Bean or Sonic, respectively. Another solid addition is the inclusion of Honey the Cat, an anthropomorphic version of Honey/Candy from Fighting Vipers. Originally an easter egg only available to the designers, she is now fully playable.

Sonic the Fighters comes out as a strange hybrid that cannot at all be considered deep, but is decently fun when played with like-minded friends. This one can only be genuinely enjoyed by die-hard Sonic fans, and even then newer fans (from 2001 and up) will probably not appreciate it much.

Conclusion

Although these ports may be too minimalistic, many have waited nearly 20 years for these games to receive proper home releases. With newly added features, spotless online play and the surprisingly cheap asking prices of 5 USD each, it has been worth the wait. Fans of arcade games, competitive games or SEGA in general owe it to themselves to play these games.

Virtual-On and Virtua Striker will be made available early next year. This article will be updated reflecting that in the future.

United Kingdom-based video game retailer GAME is currently stocking an exclusive special version of Gearbox’s upcoming first-person shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines for Windows PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3. Extermination edition, as it is called, will include several pieces of bonus content for those who pre-order the game, including multiplayer characters, weapons, weapon upgrades, and several items used for player customization. Playable characters available with the Extermination edition include Gunnery Sergeant Apone, Corporal Hicks, and Privates Hudson and Drake from the film Aliens, on which the story of Colonial Marines is based. Other bonuses include two weapons, a flamethrower and a sawed-off double barrel shotgun, additional items that can be used to customize the appearance of the player’s Marine, and a ‘Gear Upgrade Boost’, which will give players early access to high-end equipment and upgrades for their weapons. It is currently unknown whether or not this edition of the game will see release elsewhere in the world, or if this content will become available for download at a later date.

Aliens: Colonial Marines will be released worldwide on February 12th, 2013 for Windows PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and later for Wii U, as well as for OnLive cloud computing services.

[Source: Game]

On this day in 1987, SEGA released a science-fiction/fantasy role-playing game by the name of Phantasy Star for their Master System console in Japan. It was later localized in English and Spanish, ported to numerous systems, and spawned three direct sequels and several spin-off titles. Hugely successful and highly innovative for its time, Phantasy Star helped to lay the groundwork for the role-playing game genre alongside it’s contemporary, Final Fantasy, with both titles being released within days of each other. Today, it is regarded as one of the most important video games of all time, and has consistently been listed as one of the very best games of its kind.

SEGA is celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary with the release of the Phantasy Star Complete Collection, which is now available on the Japanese PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 for the price of ¥800 (approximately $10 USD). Phantasy Star, Phantasy Star II, Phantasy Star III, and Phantasy Star IV are all fully translated and playable in English, so these titles should not be overlooked by English speakers.

Originally released for the PlayStation 2 as part of the SEGA AGES series, the collection includes the following titles:

–Phantasy Star (Master System)
–Phantasy Star II (Genesis/Mega Drive)
–Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (Genesis/Mega Drive)
–Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Genesis/Mega Drive)
–Phantasy Star II Text Adventures (Genesis/Mega Drive)
–Phantasy Star Adventure (Game Gear)
–Phantasy Star Gaiden (Game Gear)

Phantasy Star II Text Adventures is a compilation of eight visual novels, each centered around one of the main characters from Phantasy Star II and was first available through the SEGA Meganet modem accessory for the Genesis/Mega Drive console, while the eight stories — made available in two separate compilations — were later ported to the console’s SEGA CD/Mega CD add-on. Phantasy Star Adventure and Phantasy Star Gaiden were both released for the SEGA Game Gear in 1992, just months apart each other. Adventure was the first Phantasy Star title to be released for SEGA’s handled and features a different gameplay style than other titles in the series, being a first-person text-based adventure game that takes place during the events of Phantasy Star II. Gaiden, on the other hand, is a traditional role-playing game in the style of Phantasy Star I, which Gaiden is an indirect sequel to. It’s worth noting, however, that according to series continuity both Adventure and Gaiden are considered non-canon.

No announcements have yet been made on the possibility of an international release, though anyone with a Japanese PlayStation Network account can purchase the collection in any territory.

UPDATE: A trailer for Phantasy Star Complete Collection has been released — be sure to check it out after the break.

[Source: Famitsu]

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has finally been made available for Sony’s PlayStation Vita handheld after initial delays in production caused it’s release to be pushed back. Developed by Sumo Digital across all platforms, this version of the game retains all of the features of its console counterparts, save for the number of racers per race, which has been downsized to eight from the console version’s ten. A version for Nintendo’s 3DS is also slated for release on February 8th in Europe and February 12th in the United, while versions for Microsoft Windows and iOS are also planned, but have yet to been given release dates. Also of note is that if any is version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is purchased through all GameStop retailers (including pre-orders for the 3DS version) will come bundled with an exclusive Hot Wheels toy car modeled after Danica Patrick’s ‘Danicar’ vehicle from the game.

After the break, we’ve included the launch trailer released for the game back in November.

The high-definition remastering of Sonic Team’s classic title for the SEGA Saturn, NiGHTS Into Dreams, is now available for Windows PC on Steam. This updated version of the game, which was released for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 earlier this year, features enhanced visuals and full support for widescreen displays, as well as new online features including leaderboards and achievement support on Steam. This version also includes a faithful port of the unaltered SEGA Saturn version, as well as several bonus features including art and cinematics from the game. Also included with this version is a port of Christmas NiGHTS, a special version of the game that came bundled with some SEGA Saturn consoles in December of 1996, which features a two complete levels, as well as a number of extra features and content, including new music, art, and game modes all themed around the revelries of the Christmas season.

[Source: Steam]

With the release the fourth volume of SEGA’s new series of game compilations, appropriately titled the SEGA Vintage Collection, two more classic titles for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive are now available — the funktastic co-operative games ToeJam and Earl and its sequel, ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron. After the break, we’ve included a basic overview of these titles and our general thoughts on them.

ToeJam & Earl – Review by dandyandyfox

ToeJam & Earl is the 1991 co-operative action/dungeon crawler developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and released exclusively for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. The brainchild of Greg Johnson, co-founder of Johnson Voorsanger Productions, ToeJam & Earl is a decidedly unique game in that it forgoes many of the predominant staples of console video games at the time by making use of procedural generation and random elements inspired by the computer game Rogue. At the start of every game, a single player can choose to play as either ToeJam or Earl — each character has their own unique attributes, with the lithe ToeJam boasting faster movement speed and husky Earl having more health — and choose to explore a fixed or random world, each consisting of 25 levels, not including an additional epilogue level. Fixed worlds have a predetermined layout, whilst random worlds are just that — completely random. Other elements of the game, such as the location and contents of item-containing presents, enemy density and placement, the appearance of non-player characters, and various items strewn throughout each level are also completely random regardless of which type of world the player chooses.

Though not at all a heavily story-driven experience, the story of ToeJam & Earl is nevertheless a fun and whimsical tale that sees two best friends — the titular ToeJam and Earl — trying to reclaim pieces of their wrecked spacecraft after crash-landing on Earth. Earth — or what remains of it — is painted as a hellish dreamscape, torn asunder and left to decay. Garbage and refuse litters the ground, and horrible monsters in the form of evil dentists, nasty mothers and their loud, obnoxious spawn, insane ice cream truck drivers, and packs of wild nerds stalk the land. Armed with only their wits and ingenuity, ToeJam and his buddy Earl must face off against impossible odds if they wish to return to their home world of Funkotron. This is no hyperbole — ToeJam & Earl can be a maddeningly difficult game, and it takes genuine skill, and perhaps a bit of luck to beat. With that being said, the addition of save states in this version are most welcome, and it does help to mitigate some of the more frustrating sections of the game.

ToeJam & Earl sets itself apart from the crowd not just by the merits of its unique gameplay, but in its presentation as well. As much a homage of urban culture of the 1980s and ’90s as it is a parody, the game flaunts itself in a manner that is as silly and bizarre as it is engrossing. While the design of the characters, enemies, and world can be taken at face value, the idiosyncrasies found within suggest a deeper meaning, as if the game is a parody of Earth itself, creating a social commentary that inspires as much laughter and amusement as it does uneasiness. The graphics themselves are very crisp and detailed, fully capturing the personality of ToeJam and Earl through highly detailed and unique animations. Alongside it’s visual design, the music of ToeJam & Earl manages to perfectly realize the personality and attitude of the game, which is unapologetically fresh and funky. Though the game only has a handful of unique tracks, each is upbeat and enjoyable, offering a fully distinct sound that incorporates elements of funk, hip-hop, and jazz, among other disparate styles of music into their compositions. In terms of its production, the music is relatively minimalistic, consisting of just bass, drums, keys, and occasional record scratches at most times. Despite its uneven difficulty and the sparse, repetitive nature of its music, ToeJam & Earl is a fun, engaging, and a wholly unique game that is worth experiencing.

ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron – Review by Sega Uranus

A sequel to the rouge-like co-operative adventuring original ToeJam & Earl, Panic on Funkotron completely drops almost all of the mechanics the previous game was known for, instead creating a 2D side scrolling platformer. The key features of collection based gameplay and optional (and recommended) two player teamwork play return, however. 2D platformers were extremely overexposed at the original time of release, but this game focuses away from skill-based jumping and attacking like what is expected of the genre. This however makes the game feel very slow and sometimes monotonous, far more so than the original simply due to the loss of no option for randomly generated levels.

Starting directly after the ending of the original, the title characters return home only to find that earthlings followed them to their planet, only to become a menace in the strangest possible ways. With this, the humor of the original remains completely untouched. Purposely bizarre, ToeJam & Earl 2 especially comes to life with it’s wonderful and massive amount of animations for all characters in several types of situations. Almost 20 years old now, the game still looks just as if it was a cartoon and not a game emulating one. If nothing else, the game deserves appreciation on this alone.

Panic on Funkotron’s only real advantage over the original is that it is far more accessible and easier for children to play. This is hurt somewhat due mostly that the game also features far, far more dialog than the original. The newly added “Lil’ Kid Mode” allows the vast majority of the game to be played solo or in co-op with the the ability to die completely removed. This is perfect for ill-experienced players, especially for parents and very young children to play together, which was likely the intention.

Be sure to check out more of our overview of other SEGA Vintage Collection titles here.