Review: Aliens: Infestation
Aliens: Infestation is one of the games that almost got canceled, along with Aliens: Colonial Marines. Thankfully for Aliens and DS fans, the game has been resurrected. But was it worth bringing it back?
Featured
SEGAbits Halloween Playlist
Believe it or not, the day before Sonic Generations releases there’s a little holiday going on called Halloween. Everybody has their own Halloween traditions, mine focus on pumpkin carving and scary movies. This year I thought I’d mix things up by throwing video games into the mix, specifically five games with a Halloween slant, each played on a different SEGA console. What follows are the five games I’ll be playing over the Halloweekend, and I hope if you have any of them you’ll revisit them as well.
Sonic Generations Original Stage Review
With less than a week to go ’til Sonic Generations, I thought it would be fun to take a leap back and run through the original stages featured in Generations. What made the original stages so memorable? Are they a fitting choice for representation of the game they originally appeared in? Were there better choices that could have been made? Those questions and more will be explored after the break!
The Weekly Five: I’m Lovin’ Modern Sonic
The second Sonic Generations demo is out, and with it comes the first public demo of modern Sonic! Of course, we’ve had hours of footage and pages and pages of modern Sonic impressions. But none of that compares to actually playing the game. Having finally played the demo, I can happily say that modern Sonic is the best the 3D ‘hog has played in the HD era. Perhaps only being rivaled by the 3D Sonic of the Adventure titles. To celebrate Sonic’s return to form, let’s look at five reasons I’m lovin’ modern Sonic!
The Weekly Five: SEGA locations I’d want to visit
There’s a certain feeling I get when I’m playing a video game and, suddenly, I find myself absorbed into its world. It’s a feeling even greater than being pulled into a movie I’m watching, or even a book I’m reading, in the sense that this is a world in which I have control over my character. In a video game, you’re not simply along for the ride, but rather, you play a major role in the main character’s journey; you’re the force that guides your character through these worlds. SEGA has created some stunning worlds over the years, and the five I’m going to list here only scratch the surface. But these are a few of the worlds that SEGA has created which, ever since I first got to explore them, I’ve been wishing for a way to transport my real life self into them. Hit the break to read on.
Swingin’ Report Show #21: Eurolamer
This week I’m (George) joined by Aki-at and Shigs to talk about stuff like TGS, Eurogamer and the recently announced Yakuza Dead Souls. Enjoy listening to this podcast, which was suppose to be recorded last week.
[audio:https://segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/Swingin_Report_Show_21_EuroLamer.mp3]
Sonic Generations: Sonic Team building on lessons learnt
Sonic Generation is looking to celebrate the 20th anniversary of SEGA’s blue mascot in style. The game is set to feature a number of throwbacks, references, past levels and a complete mishmash of the history of the entire series as publisher SEGA looks to restore the quality that was once synopsis with the series. I spent an extensive time playing the levels available for the Sonic Generations demo and got to play as both classic and modern Sonic, click after the break to find out how the title fared!
Review: Thor: God of Thunder (3DS)
SEGA’s Marvel games line up is one big missed opportunity. When I first heard that SEGA had managed to get the game licenses for all of the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, I could only imagine great things. After all, Activision had managed to turn its Spider-man license into a quality, long running, successful franchise. Surely SEGA could do the same! As we all know by now, this turned out not to be the case. However, in a sea of trashy movie games there have been a few bright spots. A few of the games have managed to be pretty decent. Thor 3DS is one of them.
The Weekly Five: Sonic Generations Classic Callbacks
While Sonic Generations release is still a month away, thanks to the many screens and video clips released by SEGA, fans have been able to pick apart every pixel. Some screens feature road signs with in-jokes, while others feature references to classic Sonic stages from the Genesis/Mega Drive days. Yes, even though the game only features a handful of classic era zones, that hasn’t kept Sonic team from including callbacks to zones not featured in the game. In this week’s Weekly Five we’ll run through five of these way past cool references.
Anarchy Reigns: The new Power Stone for parties
Platinum Games has enjoyed a beneficial relationship publisher and that is set to continue with their latest title, Anarchy Reigns. The title is set to be a number of new Intellectual Properties that publisher SEGA is set to be releasing next year and is a sort of spiritual sequel of Platinum Game’s first title, MadWorld. Although not as much as one would expect, there is still plenty that separate the titles, in particular is Anarchy Reigns heavy focus on multiplayer gaming and perhaps become to SEGA what Power Stone was for Capcom. Read on after the break to find out what I thought of the game at the recent Eurogamer Expo.
Years of the Dreamcast Part 4: Leaks and Homebrew
Click to Read Past Entries: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
Through the next few years, I would continue to explore the Dreamcast. Starting in 2003 however, my focus began to shift towards the Xbox, as games like Halo, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Splinter Cell blew me away. Even while these new games mesmerized me, I would continue to look for new Dreamcast games to play, trying to find the next gem.
Review: Rise of Nightmares
Leave it to SEGA to be the first to dive in and attempt to offer something new and unique when it comes to a crazy peripheral like Microsoft’s Kinect. When the Kinect launched, SEGA released Sonic Free Riders. Free Riders was, in my opinion, an under-appreciated launch title that attempted to offer more than what other launch titles were offering. While Kinect Joy Ride and Adrenalin Misfits were pretty basic, and appealed to the family friendly party game crowd, Free Riders actually required skill and practice. The racer touted weapons that required a variety of actions to execute, different vehicles and stances and a number of hazards that again called for various actions to overcome. While not a perfect attempt, I applauded SEGA for what did work and for the boldness of attempting a Kinect title that featured so many methods of control. Now, SEGA returns to Kinect with Rise of Nightmares, a SEGA AM1 developed horror title which resembles SEGA’s famous The House of the Dead series. Like Free Riders, Rise of Nightmares puts a motion controlled spin on a well established genre (survival horror), promising a variety of weapons and actions as well as a Kinect first: body controlled free movement. Just how well did SEGA do? Read on!
Retro Review: Dynamite Cop
Dynamite Deka is a series of beat em up games first introduced to American arcades in the mid-1990s. Renamed “Die Hard Arcade” to capitalize on the success of the movie franchise of the same name, the game was later ported to the SEGA Saturn, and to this day remains the only good 3D brawler to ever make it to the system. Dynamite Deka 2 would later be ported to the Dreamcast some years later, renamed Dynamite Cop. Is this game any good? Read on to find out.
The Weekly Five: Best “Post-Dreamcast” Games
When the Dreamcast breathed its last back in 2001, many thought it was for the best. “They’ll be more successful as a 3rd party publisher!” “They’ll be able to make more money since they’ll be on more systems!” But sadly, that wouldn’t be the case for a long, long time. In fact, only in the last two years has there been a big enough turnaround in quality. When Dreamcast died, much of the creativity and spark of the developers seemed to die with it, 2006 being the best example of Sega’s worst time in the industry.
But not all of it was bad. In fact, their initial outings on GameCube and X-Box were quite strong. Even during Sega’s worst times in 2003-2008, there were some diamonds in the rough. Continue on to see my top 5 favorite “post-Dreamcast” Sega titles from 2001-present.
Years of the Dreamcast Part 3: Shenmue
Click here to read Part 1 and Part 2
After watching the Shenmue trailer on my Dreamcast’s demo disc, and after seeing the outrage that the cancellation of Shenmue 2 received, I decided to pick Suzuki’s epic up. The actual game wouldn’t win me over so easily, though. Shenmue was unlike anything I had ever played. It was slow and rigid. The character couldn’t jump or do anything particularly interesting. What kept me coming back was the world and the story. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The cinematics put Sonic Adventure to shame. The storyline was almost like a movie.