But, all things aside I finished in the top 20 (tied 17th) which is not bad at all. My other two highest finishes were when I placed 4th at NJIT, and 3rd at an admittedly low-turnout King of the Couch in Morristown. I can confidently say that my play has improved from last year. I don’t wake up unsafely as much I used to. I still have my issues with defense (I get grabbed easily and my blocking isn’t fully solid yet) however I have gotten better at avoiding some situations. On the other side of the coin, my offense has experienced the same growth. I am trying to make the transition from being a brawler to a more refined fighter. Yes, it’s a slow one with no real metric in which to measure your success, but I’ve noticed I have been winning a bit more in ranked matches online.

I finally made a return to Next Level for the big Two tournament series. I get there, I’m excited to play, but then, just my luck, I get to play a Spam ‘Rog and his cheap El Fuerte on stream . Overall, I didn’t do too bad, but I see that the potential here. I looked way better here than I did at Apex, but I’m still too inconsistent. I missed a few key punishes but I reacted well in some situations. If you’re wondering how I did in the overall tournament, I was blown up I haven’t gone 0-2 in a while so it was refreshing to be put down for once. That means I still have work to do, but just where do I get started?

Fortunately for me, Shoryuken has many posts on how to level up your game. I have been following them when I am in the lab, however I’ve just been playing online more to see what people are doing and get a feel of what I should be doing with my character. I just don’t feel that I have enough experience versus some characters or situations. Top players have been in some fight situations over and over again, and they just know what to do without wasting time to think about it. Me? I have to think. I’m also not able to accurately manage my meters without looking constantly. I still find myself peeking when I’m mid fight. I feel that if I can get better, more intuitive with my H.U.D. management then I can do things like make better reads on my opponent by looking at his life bar, super meter or even time with ease. I’ll also be able to mentally access my situations a bit better. I think the only cure for that is experience, so I have resolved to try and make it out to more local tournaments.

I think with more practice, I’ll build up the muscle memory required to not drop combos too often. I’ve made some progress, I just need to work out the kinks. I do not easily spook under pressure, it doesn’t affect me much, so I know that isn’t the problem. I however need to be able to take my comfortable, casual state of high-level play to tournaments. The transition seems to be giving me a hard time and I think that leads to my erratic play sometimes. I’ll keep working at it!

In any case, like always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on getting better. Tweet to me guys!

Playing In EVO 2k11

Sexy photo of me talking

This was pretty awesome because I got to hang out with the super big wigs of the Fighting Game Community (FGC), talk shit and press some buttons. As for how I did? I did okay and want to do better next year. It was amazing to have so many people who are passionate about the same sort of things in one area, and as a competitor I really enjoyed putting my skills against them. In the end, it was bitter sweet because when I got back to the city, I lost my best friend and long time companion Sheena (Greatest Dog Ever). Luckily I had some really amazing people around me during this time and I got to make it through.

Playing In Japan

Apprujack

What a difference a year makes! I didn’t go to japan In 2010 and instead spent the year working and grinding out stuff stateside. So when I finally traveled to Japan and had a chance to take my Cammy to the arcades I was super excited. Surprisingly, I fared way better than I ever thought I would and the experience gave me more confidence going into EVO. As the late Josh “SK” Colon put it when viewing my skills, I built some momentum and I should try to sustain that. After all, I still have my arcade card and I’m ready to hit 10k BP in Japan with Cammy. Overall, It was a great experience to be in another part of Japan, and Osaka is a great city to visit.

PAX East

Took the team up to Boston! This was earlier in the year so my skills weren’t really up to snuff, but looking back at it, I realize I grew a lot as player in a short amount of time. The matches I lost, I probably would have won if the Phire I am now were sent back in time to play. Also, I was able to meet everyone from the industry that I know and it was a pretty awesome experience seeing them again and then some. Not to mention, it was a birthday gift for Sol Lekz as well so he was excited the whole weekend. This is probably my favorite trade show of the year, mainly because it doesn’t feel like a trade show.

Eric the Intern’s Beard

It is so soft and conditioned. It is probably the best beard we will ever have on staff. As it currently stands it is the only beard we have that’s on staff. I’m trying to convince Eric to grow it out more and put action figures in it like baby birds hiding in a nest or some sort of death mountain playset. Will he ever do it? Who knows?

2012 patch in Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition

Cammy players are usually in this position when it comes to the nerf hammer

This has been the first version of the the Street Fighter IV series where Cammy didn’t lose anything but actually got something back. I was so sad when she lost her instant dive kick from Super to Arcade Edition that I think I’ve called the waambulence a few times but ultimately, I ended up sticking it out and I’m happy with the results. I may pick up an alternate characterin the future, but right now I’m happy.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 being better and more polished than the vanilla version

Not only do I actually like the game a bit more now, but I am making an honest effort to learn how to play it too. The 12 new characters were a welcome refresher from what originally was offered up and they fixed some game systems I felt really needed work in the original. Some stuff still needs to be patched yes but for the most part it’s a better experience.

Actually getting two episodes done!

We were trying to get 4 out but life happens so we’ll try out best to get the 3rd out before the end of the world. But I definetly see that we can improve and our starting point isn’t too shabby

You.

Yes you reading this. None of this is possible without you reading, watching and generally not ignoring our existence. Yeah we’re not perfect, but we’re pretty damn cool nonetheless ;P . But seriously, sometimes it feels like no one is reading but when I check the site stats, I find you guys are. Thank you and I appreciate each and everyone of you

That’s been my 2011..So how was yours? tweet me yo!

Here are the five worst characters to have on your tail as a video game villain. NO THE GODDAMNED BATMAN IS NOT ON THIS LIST, HE IS A COMIC BOOK CHARACTER WITH A VIDEO GAME.

5) Sonic the Hedgehog/Link

At number 5 it’s a tie between Sonic and Link. Sonic is a hedgehog with super speed that can destroy most object by simplify JUMPING OR ROLLING into them. You build this amazing robot death machine only to have a blue hedgehog jump and roll it to death. To make matters even worse he can become a super hedgehog capable of destroying things just by touching them and he can breathe in space. They only thing that could stop this hedgehog is not having any rings (which the world seems to have an abundant supply of), drowning him (but you’d have to make sure there’s no cracks so air can leak or or have a completely underwater fortress and risk drowning yourself if Sonic does come through and beats the snot of out of your base),trying to crush him or trying to get him to fall into a pit(both of which are completely random). And no matter what you’re planning to do Sonic will always find out and show up pissed about it.

Link is equally annoying. Think about this you have this amazing power from the Triforce, you’re immortal and you are overall bad ass. Then all of a sudden a kid in a green tunic shows up and ruins everything. The most screwed up part about it? It’s a different kid almost every time. So you’re immortal and doomed to having a kid in a green tunic just tear you up all because it’s a tradition to give every kid a green tunic at a certain time. Why don’t you just kill off all the children in every village? Then you won’t have anyone to rule over. Catch 22.

4) Ryu

So you are holding a fighting tournament to try and find a new body for yourself? You’re an inter-dimensional being that just happened to be threatening two worlds at once? Are you the most brutal Muay Thai fighter ever and have no challengers? Well it sucks to be you because Ryu is probably going to show up and punch you in the face. Even if you’re just a regular fighter he’s still just going to punch you in the face. The man wanders the world LOOKING FOR FIGHTS barefoot no less. He has fought everything from aliens and giant robots to super heroes and demons. What makes it even worse is that in the chance you actually may be winning, he’ll tap into some hidden energy reserves and go evil making him even more dangerous. His moves are always so basic but they are insanely strong. Now that he has the Soul-Glo in Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 this makes him that much more powerful.

3) Megaman

He doesn’t look like much. He looks like he’d be at home in a toy chest.If you are a robot that’s gone evil or renegade, then he’s the worse thing ever. Not only does he keep coming back if you defeat him. He has probably killed your allies and took their abilities to use on you or he is going to kill you and use your ability to kill your allies. What makes him creepy is that he always shows up without saying a word and just stares and blinks at you,later in the series he talks but for a few years he was a silent killer. And to think all this started because two old guys had problems with each other.

2) Snake

This includes the original Snake the one that the current Snake is cloned from. This man is a combination of spy, special operations soldier and mercenary commando from a black operations and espionage unit. He is tasked with disarming and destroying the latest incarnation of Metal Gear which is usually a bipedal nuclear weapon-armed mecha which is another word for giant robot. Usually Snake has to deal with people with ridiculous powers or armed with incredible skills to do so. You know he’s out there. You’re doing something that ridiculous you know that he’s going to be there and he’s not coming to negotiate anything with you, ever. While you’re trying to get your plan to completion, he’s either killing your allies or hes tranquilizing them and taking pictures of them in compromising positions, who knows what else he’s doing to them. You know what that’s going to be your fate too. This man has taken down so many organizations, robots, people in robots, ninja robots, vampires, ghosts, etc. that anything you can come up with he’s ready for. How do you stop a man like that? You don’t, you just pray that he kills you.

1) Belmonts

At the top of this list sits one family, the Belmonts. If you’re a citizen of the night this name strikes terror into your heart. If you’re a vampire and have a castle it’s even worse. These asshoels will show up at your front door, destroy everything in your house, steal your treasure and money, kill your tenants, find you in your panic room, beat the hell out of you and then sink your castle or destroy it. They ALWAYS show up and they more than likely will bring a friend or two. There’s really no way to get rid of them and they will always lecture you on morals and why what you’re doing is wrong. What if you’re not a creature of the night but have a castle? All it would take is one rumor from the towns folk and you’ll have them sniffing around in no time. I don’t think they even ask questions they just whip the hell out of everything and leave. And to top it all off they WILL be prettier than you with better hair and look cooler (in some cases) than you ever will.

What’s your top 5 ? I’d love to hear it tweet it to me or post on the Facebook!

It’s no news to anyone that the true stars of Jurassic Park are indeed the dinosaurs themselves and the models and coloring of the animals are just about the best things to look at in this game. While various areas of the game do seem to become more and more bland as your eyes venture into the distance, the dinosaurs look as lively as one could hope in a Jurassic themed thriller. Sadly this is about as good as visuals go here, while the characters themselves don’t seem exactly up to par with the modern style character models that provide the sizzle in the steak to mainstream line up of games we enjoy today, they aren’t exactly terrible either. What the game does tend to suffer the most from visually however is the random choppiness in the middle of the more action focused scenes, which there happens to be plenty of.

Just like the visual faithfulness to the original film itself, the soundtrack and ambiance of the island are all pretty praiseworthy. Sound clips from the film were used for creating an authentic feel for your stay on Isla Nublar, mainly in the most key areas of the game such as music, sound cues, the various sounds of each featured dinosaurs, footsteps and even mysterious ruffles of the bushes and tree’s in tropical terrain. All the island bells and whistles are well placed and on point and then there of course are the voice acting. The cast seems to range in different skill levels of vocally bringing their characters to life, Heather Judson does a great job of portraying the tween aged Jess Harding in addition to Nika Futterman (Nima) plays a very believable Costa Rican local with her heavy accent and memorable Spanglish dialogue. Sadly others like Yoder and Oscar come off more as ear splitting and often times straight annoying, causing you to only wonder “when is this person going to get eaten already?”, leaving the rest of the cast members passable.

The story is chopped up into 4 chapters that span roughly 20-30 minutes over an hour depending on how many blunders are made. While it won’t win any Emmy’s, it does deliver a pretty solid fictional perspective of the remaining staff members who wasn’t so lucky to have made it to the chopper with the survivors of the film and ride into the the sunset. Along the way are some decent nods to background and foreground elements of JP, minor plot hole questions are addressed and expansions on ground knowledge of the park are made. Episode 4 specifically brings the player into a underground portion of the park never before explored, featuring some prehistoric marine life, part of a work in progress aquarium style attraction for the tourist groups. The cast aren’t exactly lovable nor with they spark any other interest of connection with the player but they do actually make sense in the sandbox and don’t do anything that stretches the plot to feel unbelievable or outlandish.

A heavy bit of irony is placed within the title as Jurassic Park: The Game is actually quite far off from the actual experience and where the game suffers. Actual game play takes a backseat in favor of a much more heavily cinematic adventure where the player will spend roughly 80% of the game watching the story unfold. The only control given to the player is through quick time button prompts which either control the characters point of interest and dialogue options, both of which move the story along, or action sequences in which the player must help the characters survive given a number of allotted mistakes allowed before causing death. While the action sequences are fairly well executed and at the very least engaging, lack of a difficulty level difference will either leave this game unplayable for those with poor hand-eye motor skills or rather predictable for the more advance skilled gamers.

A comparison to Heavy Rain would almost be proper in describing this game if it weren’t for the absolute lack of control over all of the characters. You never get to control actual direction or movement, you simply help move things along and the dialogue options would provide a much better feel of involvement to the player if it weren’t for the fact that 90% of what is chosen will still lead to the same conversation. Leaving out the ability to actually explore the world is what hinders this game massively from being anywhere close to the potential of a blockbuster dinosaur game. Thankfully, at the very least, these QTE’s are evenly spread throughout the cinematics, in decent variety, giving the player something to do without too long of a pause between the action and story telling and maintains the level of interest.

In conclusion, Jurassic Park: The Game will come down to either a complete hit or miss depending on the gamer. If your a fan and knowledgeable of the Jurassic Park films and lore, there is enough content here to heavily appreciate the attention to detail and keep you satisfied all the way through. However should you just be looking to pick up a fresh dino adventure then it really come down to your tolerance of heavy, and I mean HEAVY, amounts of cinematics. Unfortunately both crowds will share the same complaint, satisfied or not, that there simply isn’t enough actual game play here to consider this anything more than an interactive movie. Telltale has done an overall impressive job with the JP world but the oversight of a major actual gaming element keeps this from living past a minor cult following.

Visuals: 7 The dinosaurs are very life like, accurate and motion captured very well, even more so than the humans. Isla Nublar and the park itself look very convincing but there are so random frame chops are happen a bit to frequent in a game that is pretty much on rails especially.

Sound: 8 Sound clips from the original movie compliment this game extremely well and are all placed properly without too much recycling.

Controls: 7 The on screen prompts make sense according to the action unfolding on screen. Joystick movements and button commands mimic the characters movements on a consistent, sensible manner.

Gameplay: 4 There isn’t any actual gameplay. Quicktime button prompts move the ride along but at the very least are responsive and accurate.

Replay: 2 Once your done there will be little urge to go back and do it all again unless you’d just like to collect a few achievements/trophies that were missed.

Not exactly a terrible game but for sure an acquired taste. Too many variables stop this title from reaching it’s full potential. A gameplay expansion on a sequel would leave a much longer lasting impression should Telltale want to keep this ball rolling.

Rating: 7.0

Right off the bat I was told I had too many characters for my rate (premium since I paid full price and almost paid the monthly fee.) I had to delete characters until I about 6 which is more than enough for this game (legendary gets 16 which is nuts). The servers were compressed into two types: PVE (player versus everything/one) and PVP (player versus player). The main difference is that heroes and villains can just attack you flat out on the PvP server regardless of what you’re doing. The server selection screen looks terrible. It seems like it was just a last minute add and hasn’t been properly done to support HD. Oh well, on to the character creation.

This hasn’t changed too much. You’re offered more body types and sizes which is a huge change from the previous version. I’m sure these were added at some patch point but since I haven’t played in forever it feels like a bonus. There is a new power set unlocked which you have to purchase which are the powers of the Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps for about 10 bucks but you can play with out them which is pretty good. I actually lost to to a Lantern in PVP only because I didn’t know what his powers did nor have I played recently so I forgot those cheap combos I used to know.

What has changed in the actual game, a lot has actually. The menu system got a complete overhaul and it’s very easy to navigate. The mail system got a bit of a buff as well. The chat function is really easy to manage and it isn’t intrusive. As I said earlier, I’m sure most of this stuff was fixed in a patch that was probably administered after the free month period was up. Since all of the servers of one type (PVP or PVE) were merged into one super server there’s a chance you will have to rename your character (I lucked out and Wild Phire was not taken). You also get some goodies based on you signing back in and using your PSN account after the hack.

Up for a bad romance?

It seems like things can go back to the way they were right? Wrong. Just like your ex, there’s a reason why they are still your ex and you’re not dating them no matter how much they’ve changed. The wait time to get one is still long. The best times of day to play where there isn’t much of a wait are still mid-day during the week or super late at night. You could get away with mornings depending on where you are. Want to play during afternoon through prime time with your friends? So do a few million people too, get in line. If you do happen to get in during those golden hours, remember the problems of textures loading in late, lag that makes heroes and villains just appear in front of you kicking your ass before you have a chance to defend yourself. The game still sometimes chugs when you’re not on a mission map and things just sometimes pop up.

All that aside the game is still fun and now that it’s free I can overlook those problems because well I’m not paying for it. There is way less of a burning need to grind levels because you’re not forced to play due to you not paying and trying to get your money’s worth. I recommend people who own this game to pick it up again just know that the download size is going to be huge. If you’ve never played this I suggest you give it a look you may like what you see.

For those who didn’t know who Josh was or what he did, he was a Rose player really active in the FGC community and on the boards. His Rose pissed off many people but that’s the sign of a good Rose. He was probably one of the nicest guys you could meet ever in the community. He was always willing to help and had some words of encouragement for other players as well.

Just like his character who was prone to being pressured he always seemed to find some sort of way to maintain composure and somehow swing things back in his favor. He was battling with some personal and employment issues but he managed to get through and he was on the path of turning his life around.

I am shaken because you were so young when you were taken from us. I remember trying to learn how to skateboard with you and Rob.

From all this I hope people take away that you have to cherish the people around you.

Thank you SK not only for being a good player but a good person.

In light of keeping the series fresh through it’s countless number of sequels and reboots, Spike holds a number of unique treats that would put a smile on the face of the most devoted fans of the series. Opening theme song “Cha La (Head Cha La)”, from the original Japanese anime, was chosen for the opening sequence of the game and if that wasn’t cool enough, is accompanied by probably the best opening animation sequences ever done in the series featuring modern style visuals fans have been clamoring for since the announcement of Dragon Ball Z: Kai. Your treated to battles scenes of some familiar face such as Goku, Vejita, Krillin, Trunks, Gotenks as they do battle with iconic villains Freiza, Kid Buu, Omega Shenron and even movie character Hirudegarn makes an appearance. The most noticeable aspect of this cinematic is the first time introduction of characters “Saiyan Hero” & “Saiyan Elite” from Dragon Ball Heroes, a Japanese only arcade game.

A main storyline is also included in addition to Hero mode, here you will play through the normal story of DBZ and spans into the GT saga as well this time around. The newest and best feature here are the epic boss battles to be had along the way, in style of Naruo Ninja Storm 2, players are treated to large scale battles against the staple villains and movie villains in a variety of speedy chase sequences, button mashing power struggles and QuickTime events that takes the feel of Toriyama’s world closer to home like never before. This is easily the best part about the game as a whole, it’s fresh, new and very well executed.

Sadly this is where the good news ends for U. Tenkaichi. The new battle system incorporated can barely be considered anything battle-esque, the fun of combo’s and melee have been heavily toned down in favor of a 50/50, or rock paper scissors, system that cuts any combo off after 4 consecutive melee button presses for a 2 option guessing game that gives the opponent a chance to break away. This system, all the well very cool in cinematic, will run tired since it is done every single time a string of attacks are made. There are only 2 options, strings these attacks into the guessing system, or use a heavy attack which auto breaks any guard only so you can go back to using the first option yet again. There are so many breaks in the action in favor of cinematic, after a while it doesn’t feel like your really doing anything when only one button press will determine the next 12 or so hits.

This is where the game falls short of actually being true to the spirit of Dragon Ball. Too much of a heavy focus on cinematic has cut the actual hands on fighting experience to a minimum, make this game more of a movie than something that’s playable. All super attacks are auto aimed, leaving no real sense of accomplishment outside of guessing correct for the landing, or out mashing your opponent if they choose the intercept with an attack of their own. The roster also suffers from a major chunk of serious holes that can be noticed by even novice fans. The saga reaches up to GT, yet are missing major key playable characters from the era such as Pan, Kid Goku, Super 17, Bebi, Bebi Vejita and both SSJ4 forms of Goku and Vejita. What’s so confusing is the inclusion of SSJ4 Gojita and Omega Shenron being recognized and playable. The list from the Z arc and those missing is massive so I won’t even bother with the details to avoid further tears.

Visuals: 9 Absolutely amazing job done by Spike. Everything about this game is simply visually stunning and vibrant. Never before has a Dragon Ball game come so close to life until now.

Sound: 8 All the original Japanese and even DBZ Kai voice actors have assisted in keeping their roles alive. The soundtrack is the best to date and the ability to select different arcs of music during VS play is a plus. Melee clashes and Ki blasts sound crisp and appropriate where needed.

Gameplay: 5 The fighting was left out of this “fighter” in exchange for a more cinematic experience, making it difficult to appreciate the story in-between the larger battles. The lack of balance makes the appeal of the game short lived and straight robotic in longer sessions. The mechanics leave online play almost completely non-responsive when it comes to reversals, which wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t forced on you so much.

Replay: 5 Once your done, there is very little chance you’ll want to revisit anything outside of the boss battles.

Some serious potential has been shown here by Spike. Not exactly the worst way to leave an impression, but due to lack of actual fighting when that’s what Dragon Ball is truly about, it remains that much further from being anywhere near the best.

Rating: 6.5

Cruis'n'USA + Michael Bay = NFS The Run ?

The campaign puts the player in the shoes of Jack Rourke, a pro driver who’s landed in a debt with the mob he can’t repay.  Conveniently, long-time friend Sam Harper shows up just in time to inform Jack of a cross-country race spanning from San Francisco to New York.  She’s made money off of Jack’s racing before and with “The Run” holding a payout of $25 million, competing would be an inevitability.  She fesses up the $250k entry fee and the race begins.

Sadly, the game doesn’t become anymore elaborate than that as it delivers an underdeveloped tale, which Black Box ironically kept close to its chest until the game’s launch while touting its compelling story.  Though one shouldn’t be expecting Kojima-tier storytelling in an annual racer, the game shows passion for detail in other areas so it’s a shame that more attention has not been brought to its throwaway characters as the premise does sound provocative and intriguing.  Instead, we are treated to the highlighting of Sports Illustrated swimsuit models serving their expansive roles in the campaign.  And by expansive I mean filling up their cars with gas in a single scene.

This isn't a summary. It's Jack's entire bio.In a loading screen.

Right from the start, we can see that The Run puts emphasis on tension as its getting you from SF to NY first against 200+ drivers.  The game excludes any form of free roam or overworld to explore in as you aggressively push east across a wide variety of environments.  Some may be turned off by the idea but it certainly makes sense as aimlessly driving in a desert for fun would certainly kill any sense of urgency.  Races typically involve surpassing a few drivers at a time starting from #211 with the intent of making it to #1 by the time you reach the east coast.  Other times you will be on the road by yourself making up time by reaching checkpoints in an aggressive manner.  Throw in some cop chases and a few memorable action sequences and you have a game that is, while repetitive at times, intriguing to say the least.

A cross-country road trip would require serious diversity in landscape.  Thankfully, the environments in The Run are delivered with a sense of grand scale and lush detail, courtesy of the Frostbite 2 engine– the same engine that made its debut with Battlefield 3.  As it was designed with next-generation platforms in mind, some portions of the game such as select textures, vehicle interiors and character models will occasionally make lo-res appearances along with pop-ups in the console versions of the game, while PC enthusiasts will enjoy a higher fidelity The Run has to offer.  That is of course, assuming they have the necessary hardware to allow Frostbite 2 realize its full potential.

Breakneck speeds in the Rockies has SAFE written all over it.

Players will see themselves driving through a variety of locations, ranging from cities and deserts to mountains and canyons.  And for the first time in the series, all the levels are real world locations such as Las Vegas, Denver and Detroit.  Past NFS titles usually have a fair degree of diversity but none quite tackle the ambitious layouts of this installment.  And what better way to enjoy 3000 miles of asphalt than with 120+ vehicles to choose from.  Different from the past few titles is the fact that you don’t require money to obtain different rides.  Whenever the player is required to select a vehicle (which happens a few times throughout the story) they will be free to choose whichever set of wheels suit their taste.  That’s not to say that the game has all 120+ vehicles available from the get-go however, as several of the cars that are inaccessible have to be acquired through completing tasks in challenge and multiplayer modes.

The controls prove to be an attractive factor for both race purists as well as casual go-kart drivers as it attempts to blend the chaos of arcade style speed and havoc with the elegance of a simulation.  The end result is something that will allow the majority of players to enjoy the game’s interface as something that isn’t too difficult or too simple.  Continuing with the accessible approach, The Run grants players the ability to level up during time spent racing allowing them obtain perks such as nitrous, drifting and drafting abilities automatically without having to worry about maintenance on the vehicles of their choice.  While overall customizations, including aesthetic as well as performance tuning, are practically non-existent in this installment it keeps the pace of the action going forward.

Who needs Autosculpt when we got lens flare?

An awkward design choice is the fact that changing vehicles is done by stopping at a gas station.  In mid-race.  While the action stops as you make your selection, having to steer out of the way to pull in may hinder your position in the race.  Pair that with the occasional “out of bounds” driving that triggers a checkpoint reset even when you thought you were driving well within the road’s barriers and you may have a time or two where you’ll be banging your head against the wall due to what feels to be an absence of logic.  Thankfully the blow is softened as The Run’s inclusion of stock “resets” allows players to rewind their race to designated checkpoints giving them the luxury of refining their track time or if they just have bad luck and consistently crash their vehicles.  The only thing worse than losing a race is losing it when you were in 1st place the entire time.

While the streets have traffic conditions that make some areas seem more lively than others, the game still omits the inclusion of using pedestrians.  Chances are that it is a deliberate design choice so that players won’t have to worry about dragging a cadaver under their wheels in the middle of a race, however there are some locations where you’d expect heavy volume only to see the area in question appear lifeless.  Las Vegas Boulevard feels like a ghost town and the Holland Tunnel literally had two people in it; your opponent and you.  This would almost guarantee a chuckle out of a player who’s driven down those roads before, but to be fair that’s not to say that those places deserved to be identical to their real life counterparts.  After all, the game isn’t called “Need for Speed: The Jam”.

This...probably won't end well.

Autolog once again returns to help players not only keep track of their times but to constantly monitor the advances their friends make as well, encouraging players to replay segments in an attempt to hold down their position as 1st ranked.  Although the concept of Autolog promotes interaction with friends the actual multiplayer of The Run may have a few players wanting a little more.  When racing against others, players can have a roulette determine what bonuses the winning party might obtain, such as new cars or bonus XP, although the variety doesn’t go much further than the typical 16-player races.

In the end, Need for Speed: The Run is a good game that has a few things holding it back from being a great game.  It would be nice to see Black Box take a crack at “The Run 2″ and fix all the shortcomings of the first installment that will satisfy both single and multiplayer racers.  The engine is in place, the art direction is established and the vision is certainly clear.  Now throw in a compelling story mode that lasts longer than 3 hours with characters that aren’t one-dimensional and a robust online component and NFS will have an entry in the franchise that will be spoken of for quite some time.

Hope to see you again, Jack.

You can find all the details about the tour here.

For the rest of the ride players of old lore and new are treated to a pretty much flawless 1:1 replication of the Halo: CE experience along with online 2 -player co-op ability, for the first time not having to share a screen without system link as most did. Everything from the scale of the levels to every line of original dialogue has returned in not only cutscenes but also within the AI UNSC soldiers all the way to the ever loved and famed “WART WART WART” barkings of the Covenant Elite. The grunts of course as fun as always to hunt down while listening to their cowardice and sometimes useless threats. If you could play the original side by side to this remake, you’d find all events and sequences no less than a second apart as you remembered it , making Anniversary a promise loyally kept.

The coolest feature in Anniversary is the ability to switch back and forth between classic and modern style graphics all in real time (NOTE: Make sure you do this behind cover or during breaks in the action as this does not pause the game.) It’s almost hard to fight when your able to, at any given moment, virtually fast-forward and rewind 10 years of technology at the press of a button and it’s amazing how the scale and ratio of the world doesn’t change. Caution however is stressed using this feature as classic view of levels do NOT display the hidden content and cookies in the game, these can only be seen in modern style view. For example my co-op partner and I walked down the same hallway on the stage Halo and while I played in modern view I accessed a hidden terminal which unlocked short 2 min video on the history of the Forerunners, while on his screen in classic view I was simply staring into a corner pretty much talking to myself.

New skulls have been introduced to make runs more fun and other more difficult. There are ranging options now from Bandana which allows infinite ammo as a nod to Rambo, to Recession in which each shot removes spend double the ammo from your clip as a nod to our horrible economy *chuckles*. Terminals are well hidden and reward those skillful to find them a further insight on the background of Halo in greater detail than most collectables in previous installments and even the novels which contain the full story of Halo, no doubt these hidden videos will have some place in the arrival of Halo 4. It’s tough to go into further detail without dropping some sort of spoilers, it’s encouraged to track these terminals down.

There are a few points that could have been touched up on, such as Heroic and Legendary difficulties, while challenging, don’t feel like it holds the exact same weight as the original did. Not all multiplayer maps made the as well, it would have been nice to see the confusing maze halls of Chiron TL-34 make it’s return or the overlooked favorite Rat’s Nest and a short list of others like Wizard, Longest, Boarding Action and Damnation. Although not ALL the maps make the cut in Anniversary there is the nice surprise of Timberland, a woodland themed map that was exclusive only to PC gamers.

As far as remakes go, Anniversary pulls it off with very few hitches. Campaign was obviously the heaviest focus on the 1:1 experience and it’s done wonderfully. The multiplayer while missing more gems than expected, does great in the handful of maps that they did bother to recreate. Newcomers are actually in for a bigger and more enjoyable treat than those who took part during the CE debut. Best part? This retails for only $39.99. Great deal for the price of admission.

Visuals: 9 Half the fun to be had is toggling between past and present visuals, this fun can be had in both single player as well and multiplayer components.

Audio: 8 Marty O’ Donnel’s tracks are revised and brought back to life in great help of nostalgia here. The songs are 10 years aged, but it’s doesn’t take away from it’s impact. You can also toggle audio for classic and modern experience as well so your not stuck with something you don’t like.

Controls: 8 New and old Halo button configs are present here. So even the new school Bumper Jumper lovers can still enjoy the classic experience without having to downgrade their layouts.

Replay: 7 Terminals and skulls prove a good challenge to hunt down. But let’s be honest, we have multiplayer for that. It’s what made Halo such a hit to begin with. However the variable here lies with if you already own Halo: Reach or not. Since they both share the same multiplayer components, if you don’t own Reach your experiences are limited to handle of the same maps over and over as to where the original held 13.

343i hit the mark pretty well here. Considering the boundaries of staying true to the original while making it interesting enough to merit a revisit, Anniversary holds the best possible turnout to celebrate 10 years of Xbox and of course the Chief.

Rating: 8.0