It’s easy to imagine Suda Gôichi out there taking notes on what this game has accomplished.
The game is deeply unrewarding, with an unlockable series of side-character stories that registers as little more than fan service.
Zone of the Enders comes to mind, though the game is more about chaining acrobatic loops through a series of rings in the sky.
What ultimately makes TTT2 a fighter worth checking out, if only for a weekend rental, is how it strikes a strange balance between stagnancy and newness.
The 90 minutes of soccer that takes place between each of these game modes (and, believe me, there are plenty) is relatively unchanged to what was released this time last year.
The game allows you to purchase a wide variety of weapons (machine guns, rockets, pistols, grenade launchers, flamethrowers), but there’s very little difference between them, particularly in the late game.
The soundtrack brings us back to the ’80s; the main characters even rock air guitars at the end of all 10 levels, and the main antagonist looks and sounds almost like He-Man’s Skeletor.
Many of the levels, particularly the chase missions, are so precise in their demands that they become a sort of high-speed puzzle game.
The game’s serious tone and sharp presentation wonderfully belie a storyline that involves wisecracking, sentient robots transforming into insects, dinosaurs, race cars, and helicopters.
It draws from the chillingly descriptive minds of authors as diverse as Kobayahi Issa, Neal Stephenson, and the twisted H.P. Lovecraft.
The Rock Band games, which generally chart the rise of a band, have never been acclaimed for their story, but Rock Band Blitz doesn’t even offer that.
Textures may pop and frame rates will stutter and jolt, but character modeling is thankfully strong throughout, as is the emotionally resonant score by longtime Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.
Gathering what stimulus it can from the series’s famed past is the game’s transparent plan of attack, and for the most part this method replicates the success of its counterparts.
Similar to its memorable big-bads, Darksiders II’s environments are definitely massive, much larger than those of its forerunner.
The material put forth is appealing enough to the senses that it can be arduous to avoid doing some research on the subject and returning when better educated.
Some gamers might be turned off by the funny-animal style that’s already earning the game creepy attention from the furry-fetish community, but it does little to impede the touching and sometimes quite mournful story.
While the gameplay may grow a little stale, the story rarely falters.
Risen 2 tries oh-so-hard to deliver Skyrim on the high seas, but miscarries miserably.
Real-time activated battles are the game’s weapon of choice, with enemies appearing on the screen prior to entering fighting sequences.
With the exception of some savage, keyboard-crushing levels late in the game, it’s a blast to play.
Dream Drop Distance does well to escape the chains of gloating self-worship that has become the stigma of the series.