Mortal Kombat 4 (PS1) - Review

Introduction

In the end of  the 90’s a lot of well-know game tittles made their transition from 2D to 3D, and Mortal Kombat, the popular and violent fighting game, was no different. After the success in the arcades and on consoles of the 3 previous games, Midway comes with Mortal Kombat 4, for the Acade, PS1 and N64, with some new gameplay aspects, but still having the MK style. And boy, at the time, everybody was excited abou this game coming.

Story & Characters

As most fighting games the story is simple, after Shao Kanh’s defeat an evil Elder God called Shinnock is back to Earth to cause chaos. Now the Earth’s protectors have to stop him to bring peace to the world. Not counting the secret ones, the game has 15 characters, some are good new ones, others are the classic ones, like Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Raiden, etc, that everybody knows. I only miss Kung Lao in the game, but overall is a good cast of characters.

Gameplay

The graphics are 3D, but the fighting style is basically  2D, you can do a little side step to dodge, but it doesn’t interfere too much with the game’s 2D fighting style. The cool thing about the fight is it’s a fast-pacing fight, is faster than any previous MK. But as any MK game every character feels very similar, except for his special moves and fatalities.

Visuals

The graphics were very good for the time, and being one of the firsts 3D games I played, I must say it really impressed me. The backgrounds are cool, but it’s easy to see some defects like the floor disappearing , but it has a great and dark environment for Mortal Kombat. The fatalitites looks just awesome. The CG’s were superb for the time, and even today is enjoyable to watch these endings.

Sound

The musics fits very well the MK environments. And to be honest this MK has the best soundtrack in the whole serie, not because this one is that great, but because in the other MK games the music isn’t the strong point of the game at all, compare Street Fighter for example, always has great soundtrack. But like I said it always fits the MK environment. The voice acting is very funny, you’ll listen to the characters screaming like crazy, and that was so cool. The sound effects are very good.

Replay

The game has a good variety of modes: Arcade, that you can play 1 on 1 or 2 on 2, Team, Endurance ( is like survival), Tournament and Pratice (finally!). All this modes’ll keep you  a little busy, especially if you have friends to play with, as in any fighting games multiplayer is the high point. The Team and Tournament modes were very fun to play with other people, and when you discover how to do the fatalities the game becomes even more rewarding.

Good & Bad

-The Good: Fast-pacing fights, cool fatalities, funny voice acting during the game, the endings are very enjoyable

-The Bad: characters feels very similar, too easy final boss

Conclusion

MK4 is a very enjoyable game, it has all the violence and it maintains the good and the bad aspects of the gameplay from the previous ones and brings some new good modes, making the replay value increase. If you have friends that enjoys fighting games, you’ll be playing untold hours with this game. My cousins and I keep playing, back on the day,  for hours and it doesn’t get boring thanks to it’s fast pacing fights.

Megaman X (SNES) - Review

Introduction

In the 8-bit era, Megaman was an sucessfull serie of games on the NES. In the 16-bit era, Capcom decides to bring a new Megaman series for the Super Nintendo, Megaman X (Fortunally it’s not called Super Megaman, as a lot of SNES games), that features a new Megaman, called X, new gameplay elements, different enemies, a different time period and a more deep and complex story. 

Story & Characters

Megaman X is the last creation of Dr. Light and is the first of a new generation of robots, that can think and act at his own will. In 21XX, the ex-Maverick Hunter Sigma declared war against the human race, and is up to X and his partner Zero to stop Sigma and his Mavericks. This time period, 21XX, is very apocalyptic and also the characters are more serious, what is pretty cool. The 8 boss cast is the best from Megaman series.

Gameplay

X has some of the same abilities from the classic Megaman, as charge shots  and can use the weapons of defeated bosses, but also has new abilities as dash and wall-jumps. As the game progress you will be able find different power-ups like hearts, to increase the maximum health, Armor parts, that gives X new abilities, and the sub-tanks. All these together with great level designs make this game really fun to play, because X really fells powerfull. Each stage has unique challenges and a boss, the boss battles are also very good.

Visuals

The graphics are very good for it’s time, the game counts with well-made sprites, with good animations. The backgrounds are pretty and each one is very unique.

Sound

The musics are superb! Most stages has very memorable music. The sound effects are simple, but effective for the game.

Replay

Trying to get all power-ups will make the players replay the stages, since the level designs are very good, replaying the stages doen’s get old at all, even after beat the game is really a fun game to replay. 

Good & Bad

-The Good:Awesome gameplay and power-ups, very good level designs, superb musics and a good cast of characters (including the bosses).

-The Bad: Zero is not playable.

Conclusion

I never get bored of playing this game. If you wasn’t able to plat back on the day, you can find this game in the Megaman X Collectio, avaliable for the PS2 and GameCube.. Also there’s a remake for the PSP called Megaman Maverick Hunter X. An epic game of the 16-bit era with great gameplay and memorable soundtrack.

Sony's NGP (PSP2)

Sony finally has announced  his new portable console, surprisingly not called PSP2, and provisionally is called NGP (Next Generation Portable).

The NGP’s processor will be so powerfull that will be able to run games with almost the same quality as the PS3. The NGP’ll use cards as it’s Media, different from the PSP’s UMDs.

As for the gameplay, the NGP has 2 analog sticks, this is something that I miss on the PSP, a touch-screen in the front and a touch-pad in the back, a movement detector similar to the iPhone and the PS3 controller and 2 cameras for the interactive games. The normal buttons looks the same as the PSP. The NGP is a little bigger than the PSP 3K, with a screen resolution 5X bigger than the PSP.

Connectivity is key in the NGP, using it’s GPS, the gamers are gonna be able to track other players with the NEAR app, to play online matches. The interface for the navigation looks really good and fun, using the touch-screen.

I would prefer to call it PSP2, but anyway, this new portable looks more promissory than the PSP, for now they announced some games for it like: Uncharted, Call of Duty, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone and Resistance. It’ll be released in fall of 2011. And I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) - Review

Introduction

Solid Snake is back for his “final” mission, on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. MGS is a series of stealth-action games, that focus on sneaking missions, boss battles and deep storyline. MGS4 brings new gameplay elements, a good Online mode, reunites characters from previous MGS games and answers most questions that MGS2 and MGS3 left in the air, concluding the main story.

Story & Characters

As in most MGS games the story is awesome! It takes place in 2014 (5 years after MGS2), where the world now is raging in war by PMCs (Private Military Companies) under the control of the Patriots, using their new ID control system. Liquid , now in full control of Ocelot, is trying to take control of the system for himself, and is up to Snake, now refered as “Old Snake”, due to accelerated aging problem, to stop this mess. Most characters of previous games are back like: Meryl, Mei Ling, Naomi, Otacon, Raiden, Vamp, Eva and it goes on. This reunion is something that I waited for a long time to see, because these characters are very interesting and cool. The cinematic cutscenes are impressive making the story even more cooler to watch, being very similar to good quality movies.

Gameplay

The game counts with some improvements, for example: now you have full control of the camera, aiming now feels really precise, the camouflage is a lot easier to use, thanks to the Octocamo suit, to have the best camo index just stay still on the ground and it will automatically change for you. Snake also counts with a great variety of weapons and cool gadgets, like the Mk.2, a little robot that Snake can use to get itens and even kcock enemies out. The CQC has improved too, now we are able to make new moves.In the campaing you have some freedom to chose if you will sneak or if you”ll take all enemies down, like some kind of Rambo. The controls are very responsive, both on MGO and the main campaign.  

Visuals

The graphics are amazing, having really detailed characters models, objects, beautiful locations and environments , that have really impressive textures. The opening cutscene makes me feel like watching a live action movie. The game is devided in 5 acts, each one is in a different location of the world, having different environments and styles, like the Midle East, South America and East Europe, this way you don’t get tired of the environments, since they are always unique in the Campaign mode. In the Online mode the graphics are not as good, but still very good.

Sound

The sound effects and the music are outstanding! The musics fits the situations very well and the sound effects are simply Perfect! The voice acting in the MGS series always impressed me, on MGS4 is no different , every actor is back to play their characters, and they really know what they doing. While playing you will fell that they really work hard to make an incredible audio for the game. You can enjoy even more the sound if you  play using headphones.

Replay

Even after beat the game, is fun to play a second time on the main campaign, you can try different level difficulties, alternative routes, use new weapons, that you can buy at anytime on Drebin’s shop, use the cool gadgets, because the campaign is really cool. But what keeps me coming back for more was MGO (Metal Gear Online),  this is a great extra on the game, and it’s pratically a game for it’s own, using the gameplay mechanics of the campaign mode. You create a character and goes to battle against real people, in lots of modes and 5 free maps, also there are 3 expansions for this mode. MGO is straight action with MGS elements like magazines, used for trap the enemies. But not all people will be happy with this mode, the traps and camping can annoy a lot of players, but it ‘s still a solid and fun mode.    

Good & Bad

-The Good: Interesting story, lots of weapons and gadgets, voice acting, Online mode (MGO) is solid and fun and great Boss fights.

-The Bad: Story brings too much information, making new comers really lost in the story

Conclusion

Epic scenes and dialogues, epic Boss fights, fun gameplay and a lot of replay value, I expected no less from Hideo Kojima, creator of the series, because this game is really a masterpiece, but it’s not for everyone, you can play as a action game, but it’s a game to play as a sneaking game, and those not familiar with the series will feel kind lost in the story and in the gameplay. No doubt that this game was better than I expected, it puts all pieces of the series together, making a really epic “ending” for the main story.