I’ve been meaning to post an update for days now, but have either been swamped with work, or just simply too lazy to do so. Street Fighter 4 certainly hasn’t helped things either. Anyhow, I now once again have far too much for most folks to process in one sitting, or so I’m guessing, yet if I don’t get everything out of the way now, I’ll still be talking about last weekend next weekend. Since, you know, the minutiae of my daily existence warrants such exhaustive recollecting, I realize this…
“Everybody loves Sachiel!”
As stated several times by now, I’m currently working an iPhone game (just one… there was two, but that other is, how shall I say, currently on hold due to financial difficulties on the client’s end, which unfortunately is a recurring problem as of late for quite a few folks in the game dev biz in this here parts). Which means, I’ve been spending a LOT of time messing around with my iPhone, with both apps and games that are tied to said project, as well as others that are distracting me from it.
Such as the recently released Evangelion iPhone applications! There’s two thus far: the first is the clock app, which resembles the countdown clock from the NERV control room….
The alarm feature is the meat and potatoes of the thing; once at the ten second mark, it goes all haywire like in the anime, which is when the Shinji and company are just about to run out of juice. Unfortunately, the most you can set it for is 30 minutes; I was really hoping it could be a new alarm clock for me, since the alarm itself is so loud and jarring. It being somewhat useful would have helped to justify the $2 I blew on the thing.
Next is the stamp app that’s tons more fun. Basically, you can either take pictures directly from the program or pull up those you’ve already shot from your camera roll and then add some Eva “stickers” onto them. Here we have Hilary, taken at a fairly chick eatery (translation: it was full of guidoes) we had dinner at last Thursday…
Here I am, taken by Hilary at the same place..
Again, any older pic can be used as well, like this one of Katie that some might remember from a few weeks back…
And of course, our cat…
Again, tons of fun! Though the asking price is even steeper, at $3. But if you’re an Evangelion fanboy/fangirl, it’s kinda worth it, plus if you’re an iPhone fanboy/fangirl as well, surely you blow five bucks at the App Store everyday anyway. Also real quick: as for what games folks should be playing or avoiding…
- Rolando: as good as everyone’s says. Very much like Loco Roco, but a fair bit better imho.
- Heavy Mech: decent enough, sorta Metal Slug platform shooter with tanks for fans of, guess what, Metal Slug.
- Space Deadbeef: quite simply, the best damn shump available for the platform, supposedly by one of the dudes behind Omega Boost!
- I Love Katamari: despite numerous updates, flat out doesn’t work as an iPhone game, I’m sorry.
- Silent Hill: the iPhone version is about a billion times better than the miserable Verizon one that I tried out a few months ago. That being said, it’s still not the greatest game in the world, and is basically an extremely generic corridor shooter.
- Passage: for those that want to foray into the word of art-fart games. It’s okay I guess.
- Critter Crunch: easily one of the best puzzlers to come out for the iPhone, or any cell phone for that matter in year, but I’m assuming everyone knows this already.
- Newtonica: far and away my personal fave iPhone title, all of them actually (there’s about three at this point, plus the free player). Maybe its because I’m such a Kenji Eno (the dude behind D, Enemy Zero) fanboy?
… And don’t forget the loli molestation iPhone browser “games”, as mentioned here. My favorite thing is busting them out at client pitches!
Honey Flash!
Back to Thursday, I had to make a trip to Hilary’s to pass along something very special: about five gigs worth of Persona 3 & 4 related art, both official and fan produced. Mostly porn. Though the funniest part was while, digging through one of the many folders full of fan art, Hilary came across some work from a Deviant Art buddy of hers! Someone called Poop Mouth I think.
So while we waited for the files to transfer (which took forever since she only had a USB 1 port available), Hilary introduced me to the Gainax remake of Cutie Honey, which I had never seen, let alone heard of before. And man, was I ever blown away…
… It’s about as awesome an homage one could ever hope for. It just oozes 70s retro, plus its decidedly more adult than I recall the still very much awesome ever being (translation: quite a bit of nudity), yet still very much goofy and funny. Case in point: the first episode takes place at Comic Market, which is the grand daddy of comic conventions in Japan. Again, I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this up till now… Am I that out of the loop?
UPDATE: It’s just been pointed out that the first part of the extended intro (the whole thing runs two minutes plus) was the animated intro for the live-action Cutie Honey flick. Which was kinda “eh”. Go see the Gainax produced anime instead, most definitely.
Were Things Funnier Before The Internet?
Afterwards, I hooked up with Mike Rovin, mostly to play some PS3 games at his place. My attempt at convincing him to download Noby Noby Boy was an epic fail. The dude simply doesn’t exactly share the same exact taste in games as mine. Oh well. Afterwards, he popped in the last episode of The Larry Sanders Show on DVD. Neither of us can understand why HBO hasn’t put the entire series on disc, given how they’ve pretty much put everything else out (thus far, we only have all of season 1 and a compilation that covers all six, which is where the last episode can be found). Anyhow, it was just as hilarious and brilliant as it ever was, and to a certain extent, Larry Sanders was the very last late night talk show I truly gave a rat’s ass about.
Speaking off, and perhaps it’s worth mentioning since I used to be such a diehard late night talk junkie (I began watching Letterman on Late Night back when I was in the first grade, much to the annoyance of my mom, and it goes without saying that the show as a whole had a large part in making me want to move to New York City in the first place…along with Night Court of course): Conan O’Brien’s last installment of Late Night was the Friday prior, and I completely missed it. Why? Kinda didn’t care. It’s not that I don’t like the guy, I used to be a HUGE fan of his show, even after Andy Richter left (though I’m still one of those folks that claim that it was never really the same). Yeah he’s no Letterman, but who is? Though I can’t say I’m a regular viewer of Late Show either since I vastly prefer the Dave of old, though he’s not nearly as bland as he once was not too long ago. I guess it’s the audience, which are mostly stupid tourists from the midwest that will laugh at anything.
What about Leno? LOL. What a douche. I tried watching Jimmy Kimball once, but his show just didn?t click with me, so I haven’t been back since. Anyhow, I was home when Conan’s last show was airing, but didn’t bother to check it out, even though I remembered just as it got underway. Sorry, but I was just too busy with SF4, which I had just started playing. I?ve since heard it was pretty enjoyable, and if I really wanted to, I suppose I could always download it. At this point, I flat-out don’t give a rat’s ass about anything on network television anymore. It also goes without saying that I haven’t seen the new Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Word on the street is that it blows. Again, hardly a shock, since I’ve been calling him a hack way back when he was still on SNL. Actually, I did see one clip the other day online, when a fellow on Twitter (sup Drunken Samurai) was complaining about how God awful it was and provided evidence. Well I know this might have anything to do with anything, but recently I was showing some old episodes of Howard Stern’s Channel 9 show (yes, I am a Howard Stern fan, a fairly big one that at, which much like pro wrestling, I usually don’t make a big deal about since I already have a tricky time proving to everyone that I’m not some freak for collecting figures from Japan of young girls that are part machine and which show way too much skin) and Katie wondered “Is it me, or were things just funnier before the internet?” Well, considering that the one sketch I saw from Fallon’s show was basically built entirely around Corbis and Getty images, I can’t help but make the comparison and say “yes”.
Though don’t get me wrong, I loves me the internet something fierce. As Joe Simko likes the to say, it was practically made just for me it sometimes seems! But yeah, the only things that seem to excite me anymore on TV is just the stuff one finds on cable access. Everything else, whether it be network television or even regular cable is just so boring… it’s either too slick or too safe. The medium used to be so much more raw. And as pissed as I get whenever I see someone on cable access go the lazy route and simply play a bunch of YouTube clips, I already know it’ll be the main means anyone will ever get to watch my show, if I ever get off my ass to get the ball rolling, at least those outside of Manhattan.
Three Short Stories That Are Supposedly About Tokyo
The very next day, this past Friday, was the North American premier of Tokyo! It actually opens this upcoming weekend, in limited release. But the French Institute, which is where Katie’s taking classes, had a special screening since two of the three directors are French. Beforehand, the both of them, Michel Gondry and Leos Carax, came out to greet the audience; Gondry was his usual goofy but lovable self, while Carax stated, and rather grimly, “I hope you like my piece… though I doubt you will.” Oh boy…
Here we have a film that’s comprised of three short tales, each centered on Japan’s most prominent city. Of the three director’s, two are French and the third is Korean. Naturally, as one would expect from contemporary filmmakers of today, each three of the tales has very little to do with the theme, with the city only serving as a backdrop, though the exact degree is fairly minimal at best as well.
The first tale, by Gondry, is about two kids from the burbs that hope to start new lives. To help them out, an old school chum of their?s offers her floor to them while they get on their feet. Both are artists, and idealists at heart, which also means they’re kind dumbasses. Almost immediately they realize that life in the big city is pretty tough, as they struggle to find jobs and a place of their own, since said friend’s place is far smaller than either of the two expected and her patience almost immediately begins to runt out. Of the two, the dude is an aspiring filmmaker whose first movie is debuting in the city, never-mind that the place normally shows porn. So in that sense, he’s got a little more going on than his girlfriend, who just can’t get her act together. Eventually the boyfriend gets a pretty crap job, but at least it?s more than what his girl has.
Now, I’m a pretty big fan of Gondry… at least when it comes to his music videos. His full-length films? Not so much. Problem is, the dude is a master at crafting whimsical DIY words and the quirky folks that inhabit them in five minute long narrative where the music tells the story. But in his feature length work, where people have to stand on their own and talk, most of the characters are flat out annoying or unsympathetic. Generally both. Note: I have yet to see Be Kind, Rewind, which got me all hot and bothered when I first heard the premise alone, but when fellow diehard Gondry-philes saw it first and warned me to stay far, far away, I’ve basically followed suit. Anyhow, a more condensed format, like a short film, seems totally perfect for Gondry, to explore a slightly larger space, but not so much so that his magic runs out by the end. And for the most part, his installment is quite fine, with plenty of the little flourishes that the man is known for… up until the end, in which the girlfriend all of a sudden becomes a chair (sorry to give it away, but I’ve recently discovered that this revelation is pretty much blown in the trailer, plus everyone else seems to know it already). Which on one hand could be considered equally cute and bittersweet, but one the other, totally f’d up. The story itself was based upon a tale by Gabrielle Bell, a cartoonist with whom he’s collaborated with (plus they were an item I believe), and all in all, it has a pretty bleak and negative attitude towards women in general. Which is hardly a shock I guess; I’ve always found it funny that many of the acclaimed female cartoonists, specifically those who are deemed to be feminists by those claim to be as well, has work that’s basically all about women hating other women.
The next tale is by Carax and is all about… get ready for this one… a weird, vaguely European dude with a milky eye and a wacky red beard that roams around the streets of Tokyo, scarring the crap out of its people. He basically runs into folks, stealing their flowers, as well as money, then eating both, and even licking innocent women’s armpits. The dude lives underground, in while roaming around the sewers, he comes across a stash of old World War 2 arms, which he then uses to unleash havoc above ground. The crazy sewer man is then captured and its declared that he shall be put on trail for his atrocities. Problem is, no one can understand what the hell he’s saying. That is, until some French lawyer, who also has a milky eye and wacky red beard, comes forward as one of the few people who not only understands the man, but is willing to defend him in court.
You almost have to Carax some credit, for having the balls to direct a segment in a film that’s about Tokyo, where one almost naturally assume it would be at the very least somewhat celebratory when it comes to its denizens, but instead produces something that’s for far all intents and purposes, blatantly anti-Japanese. Many will argue that it’s yet another examination of how media works in any given nation, in this case Japan, but I don’t know. It all just seems like a convenient veil to allow a person to spout off a bunch of negative stereotypes when it comes to a certain race, like an axe to grind. Not helping is the absurdly drawn out court scene, that I guess is supposed to be wacky, due to the mannerisms of the sewer man and his council, speaking in their gibberish-tongue. Once the director tries to go all wacky by presenting different angles of the action at the same time… but instead, we’re mostly just seeing the same angle, but just four times at once… it’s somewhat abundantly clear that the director is just blowing smoke out of his ass.
The last tale is, thankfully, the best one. Given that its helmed by Bong Joon-ho, the man behind Barking Dogs Never Bite and The Host, I suppose that it’s not such a surprise. His tale centers around a hikikomori, which is a Japanese term for a shut-in. This guy hasn’t left his apartment in ten years, and really doesn’t need to, since his folks send him money every month to get whatever he needs delivered. Cutting himself off from the outside world even means a complete lack of eye contact when it comes to folks who bring over his sustenance. But then one fateful day, there’s an earthquake in Tokyo, which forces him to make contact, more than just with the eyes, with the cute pizza delivery girl.
There’s really not a whole lot to say; it’s not so much a story drive piece as it is character driven, told primarily by its lush, gorgeous cinematography, accentuated by beautiful lighting. Though here’s one slight surprise: the baby-faced dude that’s in practically every single Japanese film produced these days, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, who was more or less the singular star of last year’s New York Asian Film Festival, is present, but for like seriously three seconds!
Tokyo! as a whole is pretty uneven. The Gondry portion is decent, I guess, the Carax one is practically unwatchable, and the Boon piece is pretty good, but perhaps not strong enough to warrant a person sitting through the previous two tales.
Dear MTA: FUCK YOU
The day after was Saturday, which meant the start of the same old song and dance yet again. So once more, from the top: because of the MTA, myself and others have effectively become prisoners of our own homes. This problem is deadly serious, because we all know how local businesses are really suffering, yet many people aren’t going out as much anymore. Obviously the crap economy is the primarily culprit, but the insane degree of hassles when it comes to heading towards said place is not helping things, and because of the abysmal state of the subways as of late, primarily of the weekends, I find myself not venturing out as a result. Because when I do, it’s practically like I’m being punished.
The plan was simple: head to Queens for lunch with Joe Salina and Mike O’Connor at some Thai joint. I’d have to take the A to the 7, just a few stops in. During a normal week day, such a trip should take no more than 45 minutes, so for the weekend, with trains running local, if at all, I figured that doubling the travel time would be more than sufficient. I was wrong.
Actually, reaching Times Square wasn’t such a pain after-all; the A was running local as expected, but I ended up catching the D, which was still express, with Katie on her way to French class. Which led me to 42nd and 6th, a block away from a 7 station. Which is where I waited, and waited, and waited… for seriously, almost an hour. And not just myself, close to 50 other people. I looked for signs everywhere about any possible delay, and the only ones were of track construction between December and January.
I left the platform to find an MTA employee, even though I knew it would do no good. Eventually I found a fat black lady, hanging with who I’m guessing was her boyfriend. I asked if there was any 7 service, and of course, she immediately copped an attitude: “No, and I don’t why everyone is down there.”
First I stated that no one knows that there’s no service, and to that, she tried blowing me off by stating that there were. Which was a flat out lie. But then I enquired, if she knew there was tons of people down there, waiting for a train that was never going to come, why in the hell wasn’t she or anyone else doing about it? And her response? With absolute annoyance in her tone: “Well why don’t you just go down there and tell everyone the news?”
That’s where I pretty much lost it and basically stated why in the hell should I do her f*cking job for her? Which naturally didn?t sit well with her.
I soon made my exit for some much-needed fresh air and to touch base with Joe, since I was already about an hour late. I was told that another train I could take was the F, which was conveniently near the 7 stop, so I went back underground and simply had to rub salt in the wound, by asking the token booth operator if he realized that there was about 50 people waiting for a train that’s never going to come. Once more, I was told of these mystical signs that were absolutely nowhere to be found. I then wondered why he doesn’t just make an announcement on his intercom, but the answer? “Mine’s broken.” WTF.
On my way to the F platform, I came across a third MTA employee…. this one an old white guy who looked totally exhausted. Maybe it was why he was letting people pass him, on their way to the 7 platform, despite the fact that there was none coming. So I had to ask, why in the flying f*ck was he letting people go without a warning. At least he has somewhat of a reasonable response: because an exit exists way on the other end, as well as Metrocard machines. But when I told him that people were actually waiting for a train that was not coming… and how, no, the stairwell down to the platform was not tied off… and how, no, there are ZERO signs telling people of this crucial information… he just gave me a heavy sigh. Which told me, without saying any words, how he has to yet again clean up after the laziness and incompetency of all his coworkers. The ones that certainly don’t mind doing jack sh*t while they collect their inflated government paychecks. Though he did say “thank you” before patting me on the shoulder and heading off to take care of business.
Some friends have asked why I allow myself to get so worked up over subway related nonsense, especially when it’s ultimately out of my hands and everyone else’s (which is the real sad part; the MTA even has City Hall’s testicles in their vice grip… or so they say). The answer is simple: I can’t help it. Each week another person I know loses their job, so to see those pieces of sh*t MTA workers do nothing but sit around and collect a paycheck for valuable services that aren’t being performed, which we’re all contributing towards to boot, just aggravates the hell out of me. Anyhow, I eventually made it to that aforementioned Thai place… about two hours late. The funny thing is, O’Connor, who lives not so far away, was also stuck in the system for about an hour. Oy-vey. But what about the food? It was okay I guess. The pad thai was fairly decent, though the real star was the curry puffs.
Then I Had Hot Dogs With Kimchee On Them, And They Were Good
After lunch, I tried catching a movie with Joe, but what we wanted to see wasn’t readily available in our vicinity (Joe had to hit the road later that evening, to meet a friend in Long Island, so dealing with the subways and going into the city, then dealing with weekend movie crowd, plus getting back, was just not possible, given the timeframe). Instead, I just hung out at his place and played plenty of Street Fighter 4 and watched some Monty Python via Netflix on the Xbox 360. Then it was off to the city; thankfully the return trip wasn’t nearly as mind-melting. The trains were simply hella slow, but that was to be expected. I then caught up with Katie, who was hanging with Mooney, at a bar in the West Village; for a while now, I’ve become somewhat bored with the scene in the East Village and have been interested in checking out the other side of the town. Whereas Kenka used to be our fave hang out spot, our new one might possible be… New York Hot Dog and Coffee.
It’s a relatively brand new establishment that serves hot dogs and coffee. I can’t comment too much on the latter, though according to Katie and Mooney, as well as Miss, with whom Katie and I hung out with the weekend prior at that same spot, it’s pretty damn good. Though I can speak of the hot dogs, since I’m somewhat of a connoisseur, and all I can is that, in all honesty, it’s simply the best damn hot dog you will find in all of New York City. Period. I guess it’s also worth mentioning that the place is run by Koreans, with easily the friendliest Korean girls you will ever find minding the cash register. But I say this because of the toppings, which include kimchee (for those who still don’t know what that is, its spicy pickled cabbage, a staple of every Korean’s diet) and bulgogi (Korean style barbecued beef). Simply phenomenal. Though if that sounds too crazy for you, I can confirm their more traditional franks, like the chili cheese dog, is just as superb. I normally scoff at premium prices for hot dogs (the one topped with both kimchee and bulgogi is by itself $7), but in this case, I’m more than willing to make an exception, and so should you.
Plus, I can’t stress how awesome the super warm and hospitable the Korean ladies who work there are… though it makes it all the more aggravating to see annoying old eccentric types give them a hard time, people who act, sometimes look, and even smell like homeless people, but aren’t. They generally nurse a small cup coffee for hours on end and act as if the entire establishment is their palace, with the outside world their kingdom that they no longer understand, so they then look for solace among their loyal subject inside its walls. Often or not, they’re crusty old, way out of touch artists, mostly illustrators, at least the one that was getting on my nerves while I attempted to enjoy my kimchee/bulgogi dog that particular evening, who kept going on and one about how beautiful this one old LP jacket was and how “you can’t do that on a computer, little girl!” Whatever. I know such folks make up the rich tapestry that is the Big Apple, but at this point, I’m pretty sick and tired of just seeing them. Everyone?s a unique snowflake, I get it (I know such a descriptions is for dumb Willamsburg hipsters, or the kids of yuppie scum parents from Park Slope who are too chicken-sh*t to dare say a negative word towards their kids, but I think it works here). Maybe because they pay one-tenth the rent and have twenty times the space?
On a related note, nothing cracks Mooney up more than hearing me talk about, when I used to be assistant manager of the Medieval Times gift shop in Times Square when it existed, how I made it a point to kick out Blackwolf whenever he tried stepping foot in the store. Most people recall him his appearance on Conan O’Brien, as the black dorky teen dressed as a wizard, the one that tried to crash the Star Wars Episode 2 line and got goofed on by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Anyway, sometimes he’d come in and try to bless the swords or some nonsense and just cause a big scene, that while the tourists loved, but which I simply had zero time and patience for. Plus it was lots of fun, I will admit.
The Return Of…
Sunday was the day I finally saw the new Street Fighter flick, The Legend of Chun Li. The entire week leading up to its release, I asked pretty much everyone I could think of if they were interested in checking it out with me… Most were not. With the exception of two, though Hilary ultimately couldn’t because she had to head home earlier than expected due to an impending snow storm, and as just noted, Joe and I couldn’t find a theater near us the day prior. But when I mentioned to Mooney later that evening, how I absolutely couldn’t get anyone, he practically leapt at the chance.
Well, how was it? Well… I guess everyone will just have to head on over to GameSetWatch to find out! I’ve been meaning to resurrect my column over there for ages, and at last, I’m finally going to be updating it on a regular basis! As of this writing, my review/analysis of Legend of Chun Li is still not up, but should be real soon.
UPDATE: Hey, it’s finally up!
But back to Street Fighter, as well as SF4; my copy of the game finally arrived earlier in the weekend, along with Star Ocean: The Last Hope. For the most part, I’ve been mostly concentrating on the former, hence why…
Review: Street Fighter 4 (Xbox 360)
This might actually be one of the more useless reviews I’ve done thus far, despite the fact that I’m filing it in a somewhat timely fashion (again, if not for my debug going all red ring on me, I would have been playing it for many weeks prior). I guess I say this because, really, what’s the point? Most everyone already has the game, and have been playing it, and I guess love it. And myself? To be honest, a part of me almost wants to say that it’s the first big overrated game of 09. That’s not to say the game is a steaming piece of crap (like, say, Grand Theft Auto 4, which was most definitely the most overrated game of 08), it’s just a tad bit underwhelming. After years and years of waiting for the next big step in 2D fighting, a genre that was single-handedly created by Street Fighter 2 and completely redefined by Street Fighter 3, I was expecting another quantum leap. But instead…
The thing that gets me about most of the reviews thus far from other folks is that more than once I’ve heard someone say that it’s super approachable for the casual audience. Um, what? Excuse me? Try explaining how Street Fighter works to someone that’s never played it before and see how approachable it really is. I actually did that myself most recently; Katie had never played SF before, and teaching her how to pull of fireballs and uppercuts was not all that easy. Though the Xbox 360′s stock controller certainly did not help.
But yeah, my first main beef is how SF4 feels too much like SF2, and is therefore a step back in many regards. Well, Super SF2 Turbo to be exact (in fact, Joe Salina was the first person I know to point out how it’s ultimately Super Turbo HD Remix when all is said and done), which was great for what it was back in the mid nineties, that being a final extension of the SF2 formula. But I guess SF3′s wiping away of the canvas and starting anew was just too much for hardcore fighting fanatics, who ultimately hate change, at least here in America, where Marvel Vs Capcom 2 still reigns supreme in the arcade. Hence why SF4 is basically SF2 with a bunch of tweaks, which I guess is okay, yet I was really expecting more. Though the biggest issues is how the thing feels imbalanced as all hell.
It’s somewhat evident in multiplayer, which I’ll get to in just a few moments, but this lack of balance is most staggeringly obvious in the single player mode, which flat out sucks. The computer is cheap as hell, plain and simple, and it definitely feels like every move it makes is nothing more than a reaction to yours. Sorry, but games like Virtua Fighter 5 has proven that computer AI can behave just as unpredictably as humans. This is also where the most annoying, overly powerful and unblockable moves will really get on one’s nerves. Defenders of SF4 will state that it’s an arcade game at heart, and the single player mode most definitely feels slapped together at the last minute, so why bother in the first place? Because that’s how you unlock the full roster. I’m actually a big fan of Tekken, which most people hate, but if there’s one thing I do despise about the series is how it introduced the concept of locking away the full cast in the beginning for absolutely no good reason.
Let’s talk about the cast, which is SF4′s next major failure. Again, the degree of variety and pure imagination of SF3′s roster has been replaced by what the masses wanted and that’s just a bunch old boring faces, almost everyone from SF2, who mostly just play like Ryu and Ken anyway. As for the new fighters. Crimson Viper is basically a KOF character in a SF game, which is at least interesting, Able is kinda neat I guess, I like El Fuerte if only because I like Mexican wrestling, and Rufus is both disgusting and completely illogical. Why in the hell is a gigantic tub of lard able to move so fast? Again, it’s all about balancing, or a total lack thereof. The new main guy is Seth, who is actually worse than SF3′s big boss if that can be believed. Sorry, but M. Bison still rules supreme.
As noted, SF4 plays just like latter SF2 installment, meaning that the key to victory is knowing all these wacky combos. Which I used to be fine with, until stuff like Virtua Fighter came along, which was less about memorizing arcane combinations to unleash wacky abilities and more using the basics via inventive and intelligent means. Though new to the system is Force Moves, which basically act like Parries from SF3, which are totally fine, and Ultra Combos, which are somewhat questionable. How it works like this: normally when you unleash moves, your super meter fills up, like normal, but as you get hit, the new revenge meter also fills up. Once its filled, you can unleash a extremely devastating attack, which I’m assuming is designed to level the playing field if one person is getting their ass kicked. By why? They’re so easily abused; a player could simply screw up the entire round and wait for the right moment to unleash a comeback and win it in the end.
The imbalance issue still persists in player vs player matches, but given the unpredictability of playing against people in general, it’s not as obvious. Certain characters that are super weak can be devastating in the hands of a master player, and those who are practically invisible are ultimately no real threat in the hands of a novice. But just as any fighting game is ultimately okay, provided it allows for head-to-head combat, hence why I feel people are a tab bit too forgiving with this game. I guess people are simply so jazzed with the concept of a Street Fighter 4 alone that many of the more glaring flaws are being conveniently ignored. Also, it seems designed to appease hardcore players, so if you say anything bad about the game, you’re effectively speaking bad about them, so basically stfu.
What else? There’s the visuals, which I also find to be a bit of an eye sore. Katie noted how god awful everyone looks in general, but also asked why the game doesn’t at all resemble what was promised in those awesome teaser vids, which was super painterly looking. Granted, some of that did end up in the final game, but only as minor flourishes. I too am bummed out that the whole thing doesn’t look like an interactive watercolor painting, especially since the technology is most definitely there. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was far more ambitious originally, but again, hardcore players would not have approved. Some will no doubt claim that it would have gotten in the way, since they need pin-point accuracy when it comes to seeing what’s what, as to make the next move, but I’m more than certain a happy medium could have been met. I actually found myself even more depressed when discovering that main man behind the visuals of Third Strike, which is still one of the most beautiful 2D games ever crafted, was responsible for the look of part 4. Yeesh. The only saving grace is its use of color, which is rather unorthodox and quite striking. But stepping away from the aesthetic, the animation itself is simply top-notch. While I might not like ultra combos on principle alone, it’s hard to deny that they look totally neat. As for the audio, the great debate is if the Backstreet Boys-esque theme of SF4 is worse than the horrible rap that opens up Third Strike. Sorry, but crappy J-pop will always loose to crappy J-rap, no matter what. Otherwise, the soundtrack is just fine, especially when a familiar melody.
So I’ve just spent how many words bashing the hell out of Street Fighter 4? But at the end of day, it’s not a bad game at all, far from it. Yes, it’s far too Street Fighter 2 for my liking, but it’s not as if I don’t enjoy that one either. The action is fast and furious, and can be most definitely fun. Unfortunately, it doesn’t re-invent the wheel like part 3 did, but then again, given how that was such a bomb, one can’t blame Capcom for going back to what worked before. I should also mention that playing against others online is a relatively pleasant experience, with very little lag or hiccups for the most part, which is quite remarkable, given how about a billion people are playing all at once. The lobby pretty much blows, though I’ve yet to see one in a game that I’ve been remotely satisfied with. Though my biggest issue at the moment is whether I should take the plunge and get the official tournament stick… which cost $150. Some can’t seem to understand why I believe such an investment is a tad bit crazy. Also, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is still MUCH better. Just saying.
… Well, I guess that’s it for now. There’s still plenty more I wanted to touch upon, mostly game related links, which might be best served in another general link rundown. Which might either come before, alongside, or even after my two cents on the Watchmen movie. Which, btw, I sure as hell ain’t expecting to come close to the majesty of the source material, but that’s impossible to begin with, yet I’m still hoping for a good time.
Though I did want to pass one tiny thing along, which have made some folks literally jump for joy, at least those that are into classic consoles… specifically ones that have become yellow over time, despite their best efforts to fight against. I myself have a Dreamcast that is slowly becoming discolored as time marches forward, even though I keep it far and away from direct sunlight, and I certainly don’t expose it to cigarette smoke (I simply don’t smoke period). At least it doesn’t look nearly as bad as many people’s old SNESes, which nowadays appear as if its been dipped in urine. Anyhow, this miracle cure is called Retr0bright.
And finally, as most folks might have noticed, you can now leave comments via your Facebook login! Though the system has just been installed by Jason, who is still working out the kinks, so please bear with us.
