When a deranged scientist takes the Alpha prototype time suit to change the world, you are left with seconds to chase after him with the Beta version. Landing in an alternate past where your world is controlled by his fascist regime, you must help the resistance turn the tide and track down the other suit to help heal the time rift. Armed with powers to slow, stop and reverse time you must fight your way past hordes of enemies and traps where no mere human could go.
For the majority of the game you get this feeling like the potential was lost to really take the game further and explore different opportunities. The story is no exception to this rule, as there is this really great setup which literally goes nowhere. Beyond the initial and closing scenes, reasons are barely given for going to a new zone and even at the end there is little to no new information about the protagonist, he just stays the A
When a deranged scientist takes the Alpha prototype time suit to change the world, you are left with seconds to chase after him with the Beta version. Landing in an alternate past where your world is controlled by his fascist regime, you must help the resistance turn the tide and track down the other suit to help heal the time rift. Armed with powers to slow, stop and reverse time you must fight your way past hordes of enemies and traps where no mere human could go.
For the majority of the game you get this feeling like the potential was lost to really take the game further and explore different opportunities. The story is no exception to this rule, as there is this really great setup which literally goes nowhere. Beyond the initial and closing scenes, reasons are barely given for going to a new zone and even at the end there is little to no new information about the protagonist, he just stays the A
Dragon Ball Z is back, adding even more playable characters with some slightly tweaked environments to create a solid fighting game that doesn’t progress the series.
Replacing last year’s story mode is the addition of Dragon History Matches, where players take control of key Dragon Ball Z characters to fight some of the most memorable battles of the anime series. These battles range from simple one-on-one fights to whole groups of allies and enemies battling it out. Unfortunately, there are only two characters on the screen at a time as you swap out alternate characters into the fray as that particular episode allows. Nevertheless, any die-hard fan will like this mode for the simple reason of recreating these fights that they can put their own special twist on. At first glance this is a worthy addition, but upon completion it feels a little short compared to last years’ more involved story mode.
If the story is slightly lacking, the sheer amount of characters available will help fill in the gap as you now have access to over 150 characters from the entire series. Battlegrounds have been revamped to include some nighttime versions of the map, which is important because certain skills may only be pulled off under certain conditions. Enhanced graphics give the cell-shaded 2-D characters an authentic and respectable look on the PS2, truly capturing the art of the anime and creating a good-looking game.
The controls are going to be a little difficult for the average player to pick-up; although the game relies on a punch-kick-block mentality, to really progress you need to get the combination skills down to get anywhere. For series veterans this may be intuitive, but for me pulling off the critical combos took some time and effort to master. In fact, half of the enjoyment came from getting these amazingly stylized animations to go, especially if it happens to be against your half-witted friend sitting next to you whom you are trying to beat into the ground. Most impressive is the fluidity of the attacks which keeps the action at a high pace and enjoyable intensity.
Unlike the Wii version of the game, the PS2 is not online multiplayer capable. Instead, PS2 players can hot-swap previous disks of the series to access different modes of play through the disc-fusion mode. So, if you already own last year’s version of the game you can play characters in the Course Battle mode. Why they couldn’t just include these modes in the game so I don’t have to own multiple games is beyond me.
Overall, DBZ: BT3 is a solid game that takes a few steps forward and back from last year’s installment. For those new to these games it is a decent game to start with, giving you a good idea about what the series has to offer. For those already intimate with the series it might be a coin-toss as to whether it is worth adding this installment to your collection.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth follows Aang, the titular Airbender, through the events of the second season of the Avatar television show, and it’s made expressly for the fans. Those of us unfamiliar with Aang and his story will have a hard time figuring out what’s going on, who all these people are, what they’re doing, and why. Regardless of whether you follow the show, however, Avatar is pretty, features clever puzzles, delivers a solid action-platform adventure.
The Burning Earth is criminally short, and in order to end on a positive note it ends before the final act of the second season is over. For a game following the show’s plot verbatim this is a big let-down. Combat is a little tedious, but to make up for it the puzzles are clever. Solving them will require using both characters available to the player and each character’s unique talents. There are very few A
Sometimes Nintendo’s press releases and campaigns are strange. Take for instance the email I received this morning from Nintendo. It contained nothing more than the following image. It appears to be a promotional image for the upcoming Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a game which has little information on the Nintendo website. There is even less information on the Nintendo Press site. Furthermore, the game is slated to ship on 2/18.
Hit the jump to see the included image. READ MORE
