Coming Attractions 07.27.08

Posted by Drew Robbins on 07.27.2008

Power Pros and some fighting game from Namco comes out...

Welcome to yet ANOTHER Coming Attractions. I say yet another because I've had to write three columns in a row, with minimal breaks in between. At first it was just the 10th Hour today, which is fine, I like writing the 10th Hour. So while I was writing I decided…eh, why stop there? I wrote Coming Attractions for that week, and I figured since I'll be on vacation next week, I'll get this one out of the way too. Lets hit some…tangents.

- During my last break I had dinner and finished Mario Galaxy, again. Mario Galaxy is still awesome, that is all.

- At the time of writing E3 just ended. Was I satisfied? No. I enjoyed it, to an extent, but it didn't get me excited about many games that I wasn't already looking forward to. Seriously, they could've just showed the Prince of Persia eating a sandwich and I still would've been a first day customer for that game.



Coming Attractions – Week 3

Well this is it, the week of Soul Calibur IV. When this column goes up, you will be a mere two days away from using Taki to smash Darth Vader/Yoda's face in. Needless to say, I can't wait. Spoiler alert: This game is going to be game of the week, it's a foregone conclusion…but I'll still take you through the other stuff coming out.

MLB Power Pros 2008 (Wii) - Two weeks in a row with a baseball game? Uuuugggghhh, when does football season start, then at least I'll be talking about games I won't play that are about a sport I actually enjoy. Well, MLB Power Pros is a more light hearted (see: childish) take on baseball. It's made by 2K (making Baseball games suck since 2006!), and appears to be a more arcade-like baseball experience. So, its basically the Bigs…but with stupidly cute anime characters? Yet again, like last week, this is a game I couldn't be more apathetic for...but that's not the only problem with the game. Do you know what month it is? Its July, next month is August. Now name me what NINTENDO WII exclusive baseball game comes out next month. Mario friggin Baseball. Why are you just now releasing this, why not in April when baseball had just started? What do you think kids would rather play, cutesy anime baseball game or baseball game where your catcher could (and should be) Wario. As a side note, any Mario Baseball team that does not include Wario as the catcher is fail. Complete and utter fail. Anyhow, kids, and probably older gamers too, would much rather play Mario Baseball. Before I give my rating, I'd like to preface it by saying that this game will not be bad, it is just not going to be as good as baseball games that are only a month in our future. 2k games…what were you THINKING?!

My Rating: Thumbs Down Only get this game if you are too impatient to wait one more month for Mario Baseball. By the way, I'm not seeing a lot of hype for that game, am I the only one who cares about Mario Baseball anymore?

Author's Notice: The game is also being released on the PS2. If you have a PS2 and don't own a Wii then that is a version I would actually somewhat endorse..ya know, if you like anime baseball games.

- You know why D. Lee is upset? This game doesn't have enough Wario in it.

Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm (PC) - What…the…heck? Crab fishing? What do you expect me to do with this. I assure you, this game wouldn't be getting a spotlight if it weren't for the fact that there are absolutely no games coming out this week. Darn you Soul Calibur IV, you've scared everything else off! So…crabs. Well, this game is based off of the *hit* show on the Discovery Channel which is about fishing in the world's most dangerous waters for crabs. There is probably something about these crabs that I don't know, but that seems like an awful lot to do for a bunch of crabs! I don't know much about this game other than what this description gives me, so I'll just read from that. Intense online crab fishing, heck yes, I've been saying for years that the world needed a game that could provide epic online fishing. The game is apparently an accurate recreation of the show, which I don't know if that's a good thing. I find the show to be as exciting as playing a Final Fantasy game. Fun Fact: I was supposed to preview this game two weeks ago, but when I double check EB games it was pushed back for two weeks, lets see if that happens this time. That's it for the preview, I don't know how much more I could stand talking about crabs and the art of fishing for them.
My Rating: Two thumbs waaaaaay down I'll graph it for you, Crab fishing =/= a good game.

- All the fun of crab fishing, as if you were really there ~!

That's it? THAT'S IT?! Heck yes you are the worst week in gaming history. But wait a minute, whets that? Is it a bird, is it a plane, no! It's a Blu-ray disc or a DVD (depending on your console of choice)…with a Soul Calibur label on it! The day is saved!

This Week's #1 Pick

Soul Calibur IV (PS3/360) - A tale of swords and souls, finally back for its fourth installment. I say finally because the last time we saw Soul Calibur it was a bit of a disappointment. Even though it maintained the great fighting of the series, the single player was bad, and a good single player has always been a part of the Soul Calibur experience. What can I say about this game that you don't already know? Well, nothing, but that doesn't mean I can't drill well-known facts into your brain until you break down and buy this game (and if you have a 360 or PS3, you had BETTER buy this game). This game adds…well, it adds Star Wars. Yeah it certainly doesn't make a ton of sense, but I find it hard to complain when I see Mitsurugi square off against Darth Vader. How could you complain about that? The only problem I see with the Star Wars characters is the fact that Yoda is in fact, extremely broken. I was watching my Gamespot E3 feed earlier and they were playing the game. One guy used Yoda and he absolutely raped the other guy. If you were wondering, no, Yoda can definitely not be hit by high strikes. If you high strike he will avoid it and leap at you like a mad man. Yoda does look cool, but broken characters are not the kind of things I want to see in my game…good thing I'm getting the PS3 version. Aside from Star Wars, the game doesn't appear to be changing things up. I'm not complaining, the gameplay was perfected in Soul Calibur 2 so why bother going through the work to change the basics. If they can fit a good single player in, this game will become the must own fighter of this generation.
My Rating: Two Thumbs Up Soul Calibur is the second best fighting franchise of all time, and if you don't buy this game, you are the cancer killing the game industry. Seriously, what is your problem?

- Invincible to high strikes I am.

The Console War Scoreboard

Last week we saw the DS leave triumphant, but this week Soul Calibur brings home a victory for the PS3 and 360. If the game doesn't come out for every platform, I'll count it…so don't say I'm going back on my word I stated with NCAA 09.

Nintendo DS 1
PS3 1
360 1
Wii/PSP 0

Yesterday's Attractions

Soul Calibur is a legendary fighting game that has spanned three different iterations, so let's take a look back at the series that was.

Soul Calibur (DC) - The original is the one that garnered the most critical praise. Back when it came out on the Dreamcast, it was an extremely fresh take on fighting games. Instead of being two beefed up men going into a fist fight, this was many different warriors defined by the weapons they used. No two characters were the same, as they all had different weapons that required different play styles to use. Being the first iteration of the series, this is of course where the tale of swords and souls began. It was based around Sigfried on his quest to obtain the Soul Edge, the legendary sword that is told to possess great powers. Upon getting the sword, Sigfried is transformed into Nightmare…which leads me into the next game…
My Rating **** ½ out of 5
- Pretty sure this is one of the few games to receive a ten from Gamespot. It was well deserved, this game was fantastic.

Soul Calibur II (GCN/XBOX/PS2) - This game was, in my opinion, the finest game in the series. Part of the buzz regarding this game was due in large part to the console exclusive characters. The buzz was for one version, the Gamecube version. Had Link been left out of the game? Nobody would've bought it for Nintendo's little purple machine, because it isn't ideal for fighters. But the second Link was announced as being a fighter, the preorders for this version of the game went through the roof, and for good reason. Link was awesome. I can't say enough good things about Link in this game…he was just so good. Usually when I play Soul Calibur its Kilik or bust, but I actually used someone else, which surprised even me. Onto the gameplay, this remained unchanged. The single player mode was still addicting, and it was still a game where you battle with warriors using varied forms of weaponry. Now correct me if I'm wrong (and chances are that I'm wrong) but wasn't this the first Soul Calibur with Ivy? Her weapon was pretty awesome, that whip makes Simon Belmont look like a wimp.
My Rating ***** out of 5. Perfect fighting game…holy crap this game was GREAT!

- You know what the other system's got? Spawn and Heihachi…yeah they certainly aren't Link quality.

Soul Calibur III (PS2) - The first problem with this game is the console exclusivity. Everyone got so excited when this was announced, "I wonder if we'll get more exclusive characters? Who could they be?" Instead, we got the game for one console, and I suppose if it had to be for one console, the PS2 was probably the best for fighting games. Another problem with this game is the single player. It was certainly interesting…but really, I don't want to use my created characters. I'm uncreative as heck, and I just want to play through the single player as Kilik, but to no avail. I had to use my ugly character in the single player, which was a RPG (oh god) like game. Way to make me lose interest instantly. No three letters combined make me so bored when I see them…well, there is one other, MAG. This game's big draw was the character creator, which is good and all, but I wish they would've put more focus into give us more of a Weapons Master mode instead of this tactical RPG bull crap. I didn't buy Soul Calibur to run around my enemy's castles, trying to take them down while I defend my base with the rest of my team. I bought Soul Calibur to beat the crap out of Voldo. Why can't that just be the way the single player is? It's a fighting game!! I just want to fight!
My Rating *** out of 5.

- Hey, they can't all be perfect.

Well, that's it for this week column, and yes I am aware of how ridiculously short this one was. You try to make a preview column when there is only one game coming out during the week. If you want to give me feedback email me at [e-mail] or just comment down below. Next week I'll be back…but I don't think anything good is coming out., so it could be short as well.