411 Deathmatch Championship 03.16.10: Matchday Three

Posted by Chris Crowing on 03.16.2010

Following an upset in last week’s heat, this week sees Sonic 2 face off with God of War, Link cross swords with Sephiroth and Grand Theft Auto take on Smackown! Vs. RAW for supremacy!



A drop off in votes last week saw our first upset where Bioware's Darth Revan from Knights of the Old Republic narrowly outpointed Konami's Soild Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise. While it's always great to see an upset I must admit I was hoping Snake would push Link and Mario for the eventual title.

A word has to go to voter the Dutch who merely stated "Solid Snake over Darth Revan" which doesn't constitute a properly filled out ballot in all three categories and was discounted. That said, it would only have tied the voting in that category if it had counted, and wouldn't that have put me in a fix…

Results So Far…

Games
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time beat Civilisation 2, by 10-2
Super Mario 3 beat Baldur's Gate 2, by 7-0

Characters
Mario beat Morrigan by 11-1
Darth Revan beat Solid Snake by 4-3

Franchises
Mario beat Half Life by 11-1
Legend of Zekda beat Baldur's Gate by 6-1

Matchday Three

Games Division

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Ranked #3

In my estimation, this is the most enjoyable platformer of all time, although of course that could be based on more nostalgic kudos rather than technical appreciation.

Building on the simple premise of the original with some innovative level design, fun boss battles and an even more infectious soundtrack it's simply the one game I had on the Megadrive (well, alongside Bomberman) which I still play regularly on emulators.

For me this is sheer perfection and simplicity of design, with a lead character of unsurpassed coolness. That spiky hair, those red shoes, that raised eyebrow and tapped foot if you keep him standing still too long. Sonic Team rules, end of discussion…



vs.

God of War
Ranked #14

Winner of over a dozen Game of the Year awards and generally one of the best received ‘new' titles to come from the Playstation Age, eventually spawning two of the most successful/anticipated sequels on the PS3. I'll admit, I've never played the game myself, so I'll pass the critique over to the more-than-competent guys at Gamespot…

"God of War is one of the best action adventure games on the PlayStation 2, and it should not be missed."

…tie that to a game which combines commercial success and regular critic scores above 90% or 9/10 and you've got a serious contender.



Characters Division

Link
Ranked #3

The NOT eponymous hero of the mega-successful and critically acclaimed Zelda franchise is a slightly elfish looking (although that's mostly the manga style at play) boy who seems partial to wearing green.

Link is a fantastic example of the hero's journey from the monomyth concept of storytelling, starting off as a (by fantasy standards) everyday kinda boy who endures challenges and earns rewards (big magical sword, check – enchanted arrows, check) to allow him to challenge his particular big bad.

It's classic storytelling, legendary characterisation and all placed in one of the most successful and appealing game settings possible. Who can't love Link?



vs.

Sephiroth
Ranked #14

The awesomely stylised villain of Final Fantasy VII, the platinum-haired, black-clad, heroine-killing Sephiroth is widely regarded to be one of the most hateable, yet enigmatically appealing Big Bads in gaming history.

Designed from the start to be the antithesis to the self-doubting, floppy fringed Cloud Strife, Sephiroth's charismatic evil is the perfect counterpoint to Cloud's namby-pamby self-recrimination, and has been acclaimed by some as the reason for that particular instalment in the Final Fantasy series' spectacular success.

Indeed, it's interesting that Sephiroth, the villain of the piece is voted into contention here ahead of the notional hero – he must be doing something right…



Franchises Division

Grand Theft Auto
Ranked #3

My favourite game franchise of all time, for a few reasons. Firstly the original concept was designed by a company originating from my home town of Dundee, Scotland and there are more than a few in-jokes for Dundonians smattered through the first few games at least. Secondly, the wanton law-breaking, sick and twisted humour and general bad behaviour in the game appeals greatly to me (and it seems a whole lot more people.)

The first two games were revolutionary in the way you got your missions and the way in which your path through the game was relatively free – and packed with mini-games and amusing touches – GOURANGA! The third instalment (following DMA Design's conversion and corporate up-gunning to Rockstar North) continued the wanton violence and wild humour with a new 3D format (as opposed to the lo-fi top-down of the first two games) making the game appear closer to the more familiar first person shooter while actually expanding the possibilities of the open-world setting and open-ended gameplay.

The series has gotten better with every iteration with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City probably the best-rounded game in the series, (better than GTA 3 in every way, while San Andreas was perhaps over ambitious, although it is the game I've spent longest playing. Because it's HUGE…) and as Grand Theft Auto IV showed last year, there is still room for improvement. If the next instalment in the series shows the same improvement in game-play, setting and story that we say between GTA 3 and Vice City, then it'll be yet another epic triumph.

Am I showing bias here? Perhaps…



WWE Smackdown! vs. RAW
Ranked #14

For many years I was a big fan of wrestling and the Smackdown!, then Smackdown! vs. RAW series became an almost annual purchase. The ability to control your grappling heroes has always been like honey-to-a-bee for wrestling fans, and this series gave a far shinier medium for doing that than any previous incarnation from any of the major promotions. You could argue that WWF No Mercy for the N64 had a far superior control system to any of the SD! vs. RAW games but the increasingly shiny presentation of the (initially) Playstation titles and the expansive Create-A-Wrestler mode made them very popular indeed.

I could point out that the control system has always been far from perfect (often rewarding button bashing,) the physics engine has often been quite laughably bad (powerbombing Rikishi while controlling Jeff Hardy, for example…) and the lack of a proper career mode has always damaged the series for me – the forced, flashy nature of the games eventually putting me off them entirely. Indeed there is a good analogy between my utter lack of interest in pro wrestling and shift to watching MMA instead to the difference between this series and either ‘proper' beat ‘em ups or the more interesting UFC Undisputed.

However, this is a wildly successful and very popular series of games, and I urgeyou to vote for it if you love it, and not let my lapse in journalistic impartiality sway you…



That's it. The cases have been made for each match-up – so make your preference known in the comments sections.

Sonic 2 vs. God of War
Link vs. Sephiroth
Grand Theft Auto vs. WWE Smackdown! vs. RAW

3.

2.

1.

FIGHT!

Slainte,
Chris Crowing

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