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Home of all things Zombie and Mega Man, Capcom has a host of titles this year, both classic and new.
While classic gaming is great, the big monster at Capcom was, of course, Dead Rising for the Xbox 360. While Dead Rising may be a “zombie game”, it’s quite a different beast than Resident Evil. Dead Rising will be completely open ended. After the game’s interesting intro, you take pictures of the mayhem via helicopter; you are basically stuck in this mall and told you have to survive for 72 hours. Where you go, what you do, and who you see from that point on is totally up to you. It’s entirely possible to just sit in a corner for the entire time trying to avoid trouble, but how interesting is that? As you explore the expansive Willamette Parkview Mall you will meet people, both dead, living, and, umm, other. Find yourself in the right place at the right time and who knows what secrets you may discover. You’re not limited to guns to defend yourself either; use mops, bats, Uzi’s, or even a bag of ramen noodles to defend yourself from the ever-lurching hordes.
Xbox 360 owners will get even additional love in the form of Lost Planet. Featuring standard FPS gameplay with both a single player adventure and online play, Lost Planet is run and gun action with a twist. The game takes place on a frozen planet where killing your opponent isn’t quite as important as trying not to freeze to death.
A nearly obscene amount of classic gaming was present at Capcom this year, with no less than three collection games featuring classic gaming from the past. Capcom Classics Collection 2 is the second installment of the series and features even more old school gaming on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 with titles like Street Fighter, Strider, and Captain Commando. PSP owners will be receiving Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded and updated version of the original Capcom Classics Collection. Street Fighter II will be returning, as well as new titles to the series such as Knights of the Round. Finally, we have Capcom Classics Mini Mix for the Game Boy Advance, featuring (the NES version of) Bionic Commando, Mighty Final Fight, and others.
If you’re both a puzzle fan and PSP owner, you may want to keep your eyes out in the future for Capcom Puzzle World. Some names aren’t so familiar, Block Block and Buster Bros. Collection. Others I recognize far more, namely Super Puzzle Fighter II: Turbo. This will be a must buy for Puzzle Fighter fans as brand new gameplay modes never before seen in the US will be available.
The PSP is starting to show its real graphics potential with Monster Hunter Freedom, a 3D fantasy game in which players use the very monsters they fight against each other. Most interesting, the game will feature a 2 player co-op mode.
For the truly masochistic, Ultimate Ghosts N’ Goblins will test a player’s ability to NOT throw the PSP across the room. Every bit of the sadistic, punishing, and insane difficulty of 2D Ghosts N’ Goblins is there. And hey, some people like that. This is an entirely new quest that feels every bit as old school as the originals, this time with fully 3D graphics. The game features adjustable difficulty, but where’s the fun in that?
Fans of the 3D fighting genres may want to take a look at Power Stone Collection for the PSP. The game is a compilation of Power Stone and Power Stone 2, originally released on the Dreamcast.
Even if you’ve never heard of Power Stone, you’ll probably recognize this next game. Street Fighter Alpha: Anthology for the PlayStation 2 will feel like pure gold to fans. In addition to Street Fighter Alpha 1 -3, the game will also include cult favorite Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix.
A game best described as a sort of 3D Final Fight, Godhand will be landing on the PlayStation 2 before the end of the year. Players control a drifter named Jean who ultimately finds himself with the right hand of God himself.
Very different from the grisly/western realism of Godhand, we have Okami, also for the PlayStation 2. Players control the wolf-like sun god Amaterasu as he attempts to seal away the monster Orochi. Players will take Amaterasu through a surrealistic land. The world itself looks like it was painted with water colors. In fact, players will utilize “Celestial Brush” powers to affect the contents of the world.
DS owners won’t be left out in the cold. A new iteration of the popular adventure/investigation/court game Phoenix Wright will be hitting the shelves. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All will satisfy your cravings to scream "objection" all day long.
Things were a little slow for Mega Man fans this year with only two new titles in the works. Mega Man Battle Network 6 won’t be moving systems just yet as the series remains on the Game Boy Advance. Mega Man ZX puts a new spin on Mega Man Zero gameplay, featuring a playable character with the powers and abilities of both X and Zero.
Stay tuned here for full reviews once we get them in house. |
