Strategy Guide Reviews

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Street Fighter V Mini-Review

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STREET FIGHTER V

I’m no fighting game guru, but I do enjoy playing them. If I didn’t have so many other things to review, I’d play them a whole lot more. I haven’t played a Street Fighter game since Street Fighter II, but I was really excited about Street Fighter V. Capcom was very excited about it too, so much so that they’ve done all they can to push the game out the door. Unfortunately that meant pushing the game out before it was 100% complete. At least what it has is excellently executed.

At least the combat is incredibly solid. In fact, I’d have to say it’s the best of any fighting game I’ve ever played. The button inputs and analog stick swivels are incredibly tight. Naturally it will take practice to remember and master each move in a match, but it’s rather rare for me to be able to perform a combo and instantly feel and see how the move works with the button inputs. It helps that there was zero button lag as well, even when playing the online matches. For the first time in several years, I really believe that I can master some of the more complex button combinations, something I gave up a long time ago. Of course, I wonder if I can swing the crazy combos, then several others can as well, which will create an influx of new dedicated players into this fighting community. Some will call it dumbing down, others say it’s becoming more inclusive, but I believe it’s a matter of improving the commands and making the game more fun for all, which it definitely does. Even though my ass was handed to me in every ranked match, I didn’t care because the gameplay was such a rush to experience.

All that said, unless you’re interested in fighting online and/or practicing for fights online, it’s best to hold off the game for now. Capcom plans to release more characters, a real story mode, and additional modes down the line. For now, there’s a “story” mode (yes, the quotes are important), training, and online and local matches. The framework is there for a great game, but right now, it’s built for tournaments.

Check out the rest of my full review at Action Trip.

Street Fighter V Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide – Why Should I Buy?

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I’m not the one reviewing the Street Fighter V strategy guide, but I couldn’t help but open it up and take a peek at what it has in store. Besides, why should you buy a Collector’s Edition of this strategy guide? What’s the big deal behind it?

Here’s the big deal. There are some pros and cons.

Our full review for accuracy, presentation, and efficiency will post down the line. This is only a quick overview and highlights the pros for spending the extra bucks on a Collector’s Edition of the strategy guide.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia Mini-Review

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The third and final (thus far) entry of the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles series is out, and after my “delightful” experiences with ACC: India, I went into the game rather cautiously. Would Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia be like India? Would they go back to ACC: China? Would it be something in between? Something completely different?

ACCRussia-8

Well, it had some great potential with new gameplay features, an interesting twist on the Princess Anastasia legend, and playing as two different characters each with their own subset of abilities. And then it’s all blown with gameplay that requires you to be absolutely perfect in your execution at all times. Here’s a bit of the review I wrote for Action Trip:

At the outset, ACC: Russia appears to have vastly improved from the mistakes made in ACC: India. The missions go back to letting players play how they want to play, whether it’s ghosting, assassinating, or engaging enemies in open combat. At least, this is how it all starts off initially. About two-three Memories in, and it’s readily apparent that you’re supposed to play how the developers want you to, and not how you want to.

The ACC games have always put a strong emphasis upon ghosting, or being a shadow, as players are awarded performance points at various stages of the Memory Sequence. At the end of the Memory, the points are tallied up, and if the player racks up so many, upgrades will unlock. These upgrades include more ammunition, more smoke bombs, quieter lock picking, more health, etc. The upgrades available vary from Memory to Memory, so if you missed out on gaining a longer health bar, you’ll have to either replay the Memory, which starts over your save progress, or wait until several Memories down the line for another chance. Perhaps the devs thought that ACC: China was too forgiving with the required points to unlock an upgrade, because the point bar is extremely high in ACC: Russia. In other words, they really want you to be a perfect shadow or assassin and obtain that Gold ranking on each stage for top points. Earning just one Bronze ranking will ruin all chances of obtaining a single upgrade.

Oh yeah, that’s just as fun as it sounds, especially when you get to timed speed-stealth missions, where you have less than 50 seconds to get past 8 enemies without being seen or alerting them at all (which means dead body discovery). Oh and they have gas masks, so smoke bombs won’t work on them.

It sounds great, right?

I’m not one who ever strives for perfection in games, because I play games to relax. I don’t want to stress out about doing this the best or the fastest; there’s a reason why I’m not a speedrunner. Perhaps this game would be ideal for speedrunning, and that’s great, but that’s not a game for the masses. Or for me, for that matter.

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Mini-Review

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tahiti

I am a huge fan of the LEGO games, of that there is no doubt. I’m fairly certain I own almost all of them, and I love most of them. Of course I was all over LEGO Marvel’s Avengers when it was first announced, and I was fortunate to get a review copy of the game for Action Trip.

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is the LEGO “retelling” of the Avengers movies that are currently out, and it throws in some pieces from Captain America, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: Dark World, and Iron Man 3. The game definitely needed those pulls from the other movies for content, but how they implemented them were sometimes incredibly awkward. In particular, I’m not sure who thought it would be a fun and entertaining idea to have Captain America putting together his gym and punching bags while Nick Fury watches.

I’ve played a lot of the game over the last couple of weeks, and while it is fun for the most part, it just doesn’t have that LEGO pizzazz these games normally do. Nothing really made me laugh out loud and nothing was all that clever with abilities. In fact, we’ve already seen all of the abilities before in either the LEGO Batman games or LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. That may not be entirely their fault, as they have already done the super hero games and therefore the abilities. However, I would have liked to do more than crack the occasional smile at a clever reference, such as the Tahiti vacation reference above.

Here’s a bit from my full review on AT:

The game does find ways to turn the more violent aspects of these movies into kid-friendly devices that are rather humorous. For example, instead of Black Widow stabbing a Chitauri to get him to turn his air-scooter, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers has her use a toilet plunger. There’s also this strange motif with everyone drinking strawberry shakes and spilling ice cream. Apparently that’s the real reason for Hulk’s anger—dropped ice cream. Stan Lee’s random appearances and comments are just as hilarious as well. And of course, the idea of Thanos growling over the loss of yet another Infinity Stone while doing his laundry is quite comical indeed. But that’s the extent of the humor in the game, and it’s sadly far and few between in comparison to other titles.

I still like the game, but it’s not the best LEGO game out there by far. Right now I’m plowing through the freeplay and all of the Hub Worlds. I still can’t believe there are so many.

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