So I bought No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle a few days ago, fully knowing that I had yet to finish the first game. A lot of reviewers have said that the second game is a big improvement over the first, so I feel somewhat justified in picking this one up. I may play the sequel concurrently with the original game, just to see how things have turned out between the two games. Most gamers don’t seem to like to do that now.

Back in the NES days, I’d usually wind up renting a sequel to a game before playing the original one. It happened with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and with Mega Man 2 and 3. This was at a time when I didn’t have access to the Internet, and didn’t care so much for things as “spoilers”, “plot”, or “continuity”, as long as I got to pick up a controller and make my character hit things with his sword or shoot things with his gun. I probably wouldn’t have been afforded that luxury if No More Heroes had been released in the late ’80s. Given Nintendo’s strict policies on “acceptable content”, chances are it wouldn’t have seen the light of day back then anyway.

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: no more heroes

For all of the crazy over-the-top fun Bayonetta can be, the PlayStation 3 version came out the box with one big problem…loading screens that seemed to take forever. Thankfully, Sega released a patch today that adds the option to install game data to the PS3, which reduces loading times by at least half, meaning that we won’t get stuck waiting for the item screen or pause menus to appear. Now, aside from graphical differences, the PS3 Bayonetta experience should be roughly on par with that of the Xbox 360 version, which I’m told never went through this to begin with.

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: bayonetta, patches, playstation 3, updates

*** WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Playing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for the first time today, and I think I may grow to like playing as Roll. Her attacks may have a short reach and not much power to them, but I find her level 3 Hyper Combo highly amusing. So far, she’s the only character I’ve discovered who has a special move that recovers her health, allowing her to stay in some tougher fights. I don’t think it saved her against Yami (the final boss of Okami), but it kept her in the fight long enough for Megaman (the Mega Man Legends version) to claim victory. FInishing the game only gives you the ending for the character who dealt the killing blow, so I’ll eventually have to go back and win the game with Roll delivering the finishing move in order to see her ending.

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: mega man (mega man legends), roll (mega man), tatsunoko vs. capcom, wii

With all the personal troubles Tiger Woods has been going through lately, it’s not unexpected for him to want to take a break from it all. EA, of course, hasn’t let this controversy get in the way of publishing and developing his video games. However, the next Tiger Woods PGA Golf game isn’t due until this June, so those of us who want our pro golf fix will have to settle for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online in the meantime.

As of this posting, seven professional course are available for play, including Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass (and its famous 17th hole). The Pro Shop hasn’t been implemented yet, but I’m assuming that once it is, you’ll be able to purchase golf clubs and balls there, as well as shirts to customize your golfer’s appearance. Until then, the money you earn while playing in tournaments can be used toward improving your golfer’s different types of swings.

After playing a few rounds on the TPC Sawgrass course, I can tell that my game needs some serious work (my “best” is 11 over-par). I’m most used to the three-point swing controls that most golf games use, but TrueSwing controls (where you move the mouse back and forth on the ball to simulate a swing, sort of like how you would use the right analog stick or a trackball) are available for advanced golfers.

In order to run the game, you’ll need to download the Unity 3D plug-in for the game to run. The first few times I tried playing it, the plug-in crashed, but I haven’t experienced any problems since then. So, who wants to play?

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: browser games, ea sports, tiger woods

It’s unusual for the first quarter of any given year to showcase some of its high-profile games. Much like the movie industry, January and February tend to be “dead months”, since that’s when the major award shows (the Golden Globe and Academy Awards) are broadcast, so the good ones would get lost in the shuffle if they were released around that time. Yet this year, we’ve already started with one high-profile release in Bayonetta, and tomorrow is the release day for four new games that have been getting quite a buzz: Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360 and PC), MAG (PlayStation 3), No More Heroes 2: The Desperate Struggle and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (both exclusive to Wii). I’ll bet retailers are going to have a busy next two days sorting out all of the pre-orders for these games. I fully expect Mass Effect 2 and MAG to clean up big at the stores (the former based on name recognition, and the latter because of the potential for large-scale multiplayer games).

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: bayonetta, mag, mass effect, new releases, no more heroes, tatsunoko vs. capcom