House of the Dead III was originally released for the arcades back in 2002. A year later it got a port on Xbox, then one for Wii as part of a HOTD two-pack in 2008. Now we have the latest port of the game on PSN. How does this port stack up compared to the last two? Is it worth your hard earned cash? Hit the jump and find out!
Back in my original review of Sonic CD, I said that I would return to this game to review it again and see if it warranted a higher grade. While the game does have some great and wonderful improvements, there are still some slightly nagging issues that just cannot be undone. Full follow-up review inside along with a bonus!
Anybody who recognizes the Christmas season has their traditions. Some go to church, some pig out on honey-glazed ham and others have their list of “must watch” tv shows and movies. But very few have a “must play” Christmas video game. Christmas themed games are out there, but most are so horrible that they would only hurt one’s holiday mood (never ever play Elf Bowling or Dreamcast’s The Grinch). Leave it to SEGA to fill that empty void of quality Christmas games with the NiGHTS into Dreams demo Christmas NiGHTS. But is this much talked about Saturn release a holiday classic? Or is it simply an overly glorified demo disc?
The original Sonic Rush was easily one of the fastest Sonic games in history, and in a year that also brought us the likes of Shadow the Hedgehog, it also stood as a reminder of how good his games could be in the middle of increasingly dark times for the franchise. It introduced probably the best new character in ages with Blaze the Cat, and brought the blue hedgehog to the dual screened, polygon capable DS for the first time. That said, the game had its flaws. It was filled with bottomless pits, and the speed was often so intense that death by hole or suddenly appearing robot was far too common. Does Sonic Rush Adventure alleviate the flaws, or just add some new ones with its new focus on adventure?
When the first Mario and Sonic title hit in 2007, it was a major deal. Two video game rivals competing in a shared title! Unfortunately, once the novelty of seeing Nintendo and SEGA’s mascots together wore off, what players were left with was a so-so mini-game compilation with the best moments being the Dream Events and remixed music tracks from both series. In 2009 the series returned with Mario and Sonic competing in the Winter Olympics, and while it wasn’t a huge improvement over the first game, it was a better title thanks to improved controls, more characters and more events. Now the Mario and Sonic universes go head to head in a third Olympics, is this time just more of the same or is the third try a charm? Read on to find out!
After SEGA retired the Game Gear in early 1997, they suddenly found themselves on the market for a new handheld to support. That same year SEGA threw its weight behind the Tiger’s Game.com, offering Tiger the licenses to several of its franchises, including Sonic. This deal would give rise to the worst shit SEGA ever slapped its name on. As the Game.com quickly dropped dead at the sight of the Gameboy, SEGA threw its support behind another, much better handheld: SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket Color. This support would only yield one SEGA game in the American market, in the form of Sonic’s last portable adventure before going third party: Sonic Pocket Adventure.
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?
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!
Gameplay is Renegade Ops‘ strongest point. (Which feels like it should be a given, considering it’s a videogame. In this day I often get the feeling gameplay takes a back seat to plot and graphics, as it attempts to pretend it isn’t a game we’re playing but an interactive movie.) For me, gameplay always comes first, because I like my games fast, fun, action-packed and challenging. I’m happy to report that Renegade Ops has all of these qualities in spades.
With the release of Captain America: Super Soldier, SEGA will be bringing a close to the licensing deal that they started with Marvel several years ago. So after four tie-ins with Marvel Entertainment, has SEGA improved in the quality of their licensed output? Read on to find out in my extensive review on the last game in their Marvel movie tie-in, Captain America: Super Soldier.
Check out our review cards. These cards will now go on the bottom of our reviews to display scores. I hope you guys like the art. The artwork for the Amigo heads was done by our forum member, Radrappy. Thanks for submitting!
As for the design of the card, that credit goes to our lovely staff member, Barry The Nomad. Tell us what you think! See the rest after the break.
Wii! (huh-yeah) What is it good Thor?
Welcome back for another review of a Thor game, this time on the Wii. I’ll admit, I have yet to sink my hammer into the Thor craze. I haven’t seen the movie, nor have I tasted the 7-11 Slurpee (though my guess is it tastes like the color blue). However, I can claim to have played the Wii version of the game. How does this version fare compared to the DS and HD console versions? Let’s (insert Thor reference here) and find out!
Usually at Segabits we would stay clear of critic bashing but I really feel this needs to be said.
This is of course in regards to the review score Greg Miller of IGN has just given Yakuza 4 (6.5/10).
Just about everyone who has played the Japanese version of the game, be it the Japanese people I’ve spoken to about it or the Westerners who have imported the game, seem to all agree that Yakuza 4 is one of the best games in the series yet. On the other side of the coin, it’s generally agreed by most fans that Yakuza 3 was the weakest installment in the series so far with a very slow start with its baby sitting children and rather monotonous fetch quests making up the first quarter of the game.
However not Greg Miller it seems, who, throughout his review, speaks about how much he enjoyed Yakuza 3’s story and, even more jarring, how Yakuza 4 has a weak story which seems to contradict what every other Yakuza fan has said.
Hit the jump for MORE!
Back in November 2010, online retailer GameStop let slip that a title called “The Dreamcast Collection” was to be released. In January 2011, SEGA officially announced The Dreamcast Collection for the XBOX 360 and PC. Between that time, speculation and hype ran rampant. Was the collection to be as massive as the previously released Genesis collection? Were we to receive Power Stone, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and many more non-SEGA games on a release published by SEGA? Would the disc contain both Shenmue titles? Once officially announced, many of the expectations were not met. It wasn’t to be an all-out tribute to the console, nor a mega collection of a dozen games. Rather, the Dreamcast Collection turned out to be a disc release of four previously released and soon to be released XBLA titles at a budget price.
Despite not being what many were hoping for, how does the release fair as an XBLA compilation?