Game Informer -- September 06

[Apossum]

bored as hell waiting for my car to get fixed and got this in today...pretty awesome issue!

Cover story:

--Bully! Ps2 exclusive, looks awesome. Dodgeball mode that's inspired by Super Dodge Ball :)

Previews:
--Splinter Cell: DA hands on, God of War 2 hands on, Call of Duty 3, Scarface, FEAR, Lego Star Wars 2, Timeshift, Star Trek, Phantasy Star Universe, Eragon, some others

Reviews:

Game of the Month: Dead Rising -- 9.25, 9

PC GOTM: CivCity:Rome -- 8, 8

Monkey Ball Adventure -- PS2/GC -- 4.75, 5

Flatout 2 -- PS2/Xbox -- 7.5, 6

Xenosaga 3 -- PS2 -- 8.5, 7.75 -- "nearly recaptures the glory of the first"

Super Dragon Ball Z -- PS2 - 6

One Piece -- PS2/GC -- 4

Disgaea 2 -- 8.75, 8.75

Dirge of Cerberus: FFVII -- PS2 -- 6.75,6

Yakuza -- 6, 6.25 (ouch)

Saint's Row -- 360 -- 8.75, 8.5 ("Didn't just steal a page out of the GTA handbook; they ran down to Kinko's and photocopied the whole damn thing.")

99 Nights -- 360 -- 7.5, 6.75

Over G Fighters -- 360 -- 5, 5.5

Bomberman: Act Zero -- 360 -- 3, 4 (lol, no surprises there.)

Civ IV: Warlords -- PC -- 8, 7.5

Sword of the Stars -- PC -- 7.5, 7.75

Tekken: Dark Ressurection -- PSP -- 8.25, 8.25

NCAA Football -- PSP -- 8.5

Pirates of the Carribean -- PSP -- 3

Mercury Meltdown -- PSP -- 8

Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi: The genie and the amp -- DS -- 5.75

Break em All -- DS -- 7.5 "not just an Arkanoid/Breakout clone, not generic"


FEATURES:

--Behind the Mic -- about voice acting in games

--07 NBA Tip-off -- about which basketball game you should buy this year

--This Story is Happy End -- all about the localization process

--Battlefield: Bad Company -- exclusive

--Bully -- exclusive

--Xbox Live In Progress-- "Is the service all it's supposed to be?" the answer is "not yet"

--Industry Interview: Bill Roper -- "the PC's not dying, it's actually getting stronger. You're just not looking in the right place." O RLY BILL? :-P

--Opinion section-- "Innovating in RTS" by Chris Taylor


Gear section:

Not usually worth mentioning, but this month it is!

--Microsoft Zune -- not sure how much info is out about this, but they show a mock up (looks a little archaic...) and say it has wi-fi abilities etc. J. Allard has been working on it, putting to rest the question "Where's the bald guy who was pimping the 360?"

--Shadow of the Colossus Figure!!!!!!
it's about $90 and it's release is pending. http://www.kotous.com/. it looks pretty bad ass.

--Super Mario commemorative stamps -- icons from SMB1 -- about $26 at www.visioninc.co.jp/consumer_mario.html. they're Japanese stamps.

[Roufuss]

Haha, Xenosaga 3 almost recaptures the glory of the first game with an 8.5 and a 7.75... that's one amazing series.

What is their problem with Civ 4: Warlords?

lol at the opinion section... not alot of innovation these days in the RTS genre.

Where do we buy those Koto figures at? That Ryu one is pretty damn cool.

[Apossum]

the 2nd one got a 7.5, but was labelled as "a dropped ball of DMC2 proportions," I thought that was kinda strange as well. I want to try it, but damn, the 2nd one killed it for me.


edit: the link for the mario stamps is busted and I can't find the link at the homepage. *shrug* dunno

[Roufuss]

the 2nd one got a 7.5, but was labelled as "a dropped ball of DMC2 proportions," I thought that was kinda strange as well. I want to try it, but damn, the 2nd one killed it for me.

Eh, I've got the first two sealed, and hearing how the second one sucks from many people, I think I'm just going to dump both of them and forget the whole series for now, espically with Disgaea 2, VP 2, and FFXII filling the RPG void for me.

[shipwreck]

Nice Saint's Row scores. That's good to see.

[Roufuss]

Nice Saint's Row scores. That's good to see.

Odd how there are no Enchanted Arms scores though :(

[shipwreck]

Odd how there are no Enchanted Arms scores though :(

They're going to wait on scoring that one until the price drops. :lol:

[Rodimus]

Too bad to see Yakuza got a 6. "Ouch" captures the feeling perfectly.

[Roufuss]

They're going to wait on scoring that one until the price drops. :lol:

:rofl:

[VanillaGorilla]

Not surprised when it comes to Disgaea 2. Good to see Saints Row is scoring well, in the 8 range.

[ITDEFX]

I haven't gotten my first mailed issue yet... so any time now huh? Either that or the GS clerk screwed me over and gave the subscription information sent to his friends :(

[tangytangerine]

Too bad to see Yakuza got a 6. "Ouch" captures the feeling perfectly.

Their major complaints in the review were the horrendous load times and terrible voice acting(which is why it should've stayed w/ japanese dialogue and been subtitled).

[Apossum]

Their major complaints in the review were the horrendous load times and terrible voice acting(which is why it should've stayed w/ japanese dialogue and been subtitled).


they also say "it's like a poorly made RPG, where battles are determined by Streets of Rage style fighting, plagued by repetitive fighting, boring levels, and nearly zero variety."

they seem very put off by the game's attitude as well.

I wanna see what IGN and others say about it, since the GI review is only a paragraph long.

[Rodimus]

Famitsu gave Yakuza high scrores right? Sounds like GI really hated it. I hope my expectations weren't to high for this game. After I heard it was like Shenmue I figured I would be sold. I hate to be wrong, we need another game like Shenmue.

[tangytangerine]

Famitsu gave Yakuza high scrores right? Sounds like GI really hated it. I hope my expectations weren't to high for this game. After I heard it was like Shenmue I figured I would be sold. I hate to be wrong, we need another game like Shenmue.

From the OPM demo, the only difference was that the combat was more like Tekken than Virtua Fighter. Where Shenmue's combat system was like Virtua Fighter.

[Rei no Otaku]

Xenosaga 3 -- PS2 -- 8.5, 7.75 -- "nearly recaptures the glory of the first"
There was glory to recapture? All I remember from Xenosaga 1 was boring ass enviorments inbetween pretentious cutscenes.

[Rodimus]

There was glory to recapture? All I remember from Xenosaga 1 was boring ass enviorments inbetween pretentious cutscenes.

I remember it being very linear for an RPG.

[Apossum]

"glory" is relatively speaking of course. Xs2 had some of the most awful gameplay ever. they took the fetch quests from part 1, extended them each by a half hour, took all the good points of the battle system and customization system and homogenized them so that every character was basically the same, and took the cool out of Kosmos and replaced it with suck and lose!

[whoknows]

Hmmm...Yakuza...this review hasn't killed it for me yet. For now I still plan to get it...then again, if Gamespot/IGN also destroy it review-wise then I might have to pass.

Xenosaga III looks good though...not gonna pick it up until I beat the first two...should be $20 or less by then :D


Also, they scored Dirge of Cerberus too high...

[xghostsniperx]

Can't wait to read it when it comes in the mail. I might just have to pre-order Xenosaga III now...

[sarausagi]

I am ecstatic, here is a scan of the episode 3 review

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6989/xenosagavp5.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xenosagavp5.jpg)

If anyone wants artbook scans, just ask me, I have the book already and it's beautiful

And to all you excited or looking forward to it, don't let the nay sayers discourage you, Episode III will be an incrediible game and Episode I is an incredible game. No one is lying to you though, Episode II is a let down, a HUGE let down..the story doesn't make up for it at all.

[Lobsterjohnson]

Where do we buy those Koto figures at? That Ryu one is pretty damn cool.

Kotobukiya figures are available through Diamond Retailers, so if you have a comic shop around you ask them about it. I know our store is getting like 42 Ryus or something like that.

[sarausagi]

I couldn't resist, here are two scans for the true believers!

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/4931/shionky3.th.jpg (http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shionky3.jpg)

A really nice pencil drawing of Shion with a profile [sighs dreamingly]

And, the coolest picture in the book, this one rocks, HUGE scan awaits you

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/3559/xenoteamgn5.th.jpg (http://img245.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xenoteamgn5.jpg)

Cool, right? I am SO EXCITED for EPISODE III...

[help1]

Did they talk about the multiplayer of saints row?

[ragtop70]

I really don't understand how Yakuza would have had better voice acting if it had kept the original ching chong chow dialogue. I don't care what the quality is, I can't understand a foreign language.

[keithp]

Not surprised when it comes to Disgaea 2.

Huh? Two 8.75's not good enough for you? I think that's pretty high considering the gameplay won't appeal to everyone.

It's also only a hair away from scoring high enough to be Game of the Month.

[sarausagi]

Huh? Two 8.75's not good enough for you? I think that's pretty high considering the gameplay won't appeal to everyone.

It's also only a hair away from scoring high enough to be Game of the Month.


Maybe it's the Xenosaga bias, but I think the same thing, the 8.75 is very high: you can't say it's because of the graphics or the music, and they certainly didn't think about the limited appeal, so it goes to show the reviewers REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like the game, especially considering the Saint's Row and Xenosaga reviews...even the Dirge of Cerebrus and Yakuza reviews makes it seem questionable...

[doesn't like NiS]

[sarausagi]

I really don't understand how Yakuza would have had better voice acting if it had kept the original ching chong chow dialogue. I don't care what the quality is, I can't understand a foreign language.

So you've never watched a foreign film or anime?

French and Japanese, even Italian or Spanish, can sound quite beautiful..in fact after watching mostly foreign films and anime...English sounds pretty stupid more than half the time

[io]

Eh, I've got the first two sealed, and hearing how the second one sucks from many people, I think I'm just going to dump both of them and forget the whole series for now, espically with Disgaea 2, VP 2, and FFXII filling the RPG void for me.

I'm in the same boat as you, except I'll just keep I and II sealed until I can get III for as little as I got the first ones (both under $10). Then maybe I'll play them all - the whole saga, new, for less than $30, not too bad :D. I'm kind of relieved that this isn't spectacular, actually, as that frees me up a bit. Don't forget Rogue Galaxy in that RPG smorgasbord as it looks excellent and is supposedly a deep game as well (100+ hours). I think I may pass on VP 2 for now, even though I just finished Lenneth and liked it. Just too much to do even considering new games, let alone my backlog (hell, I haven't even played FF X yet!). Oh, there's also Tales of the Abyss coming out!

I am glad to see the slightly higher scores for Disgaea 2 than OPM gave it. I have the first but haven't played it. I might just play the second one as soon as I get it and then wait for the PSP version of the first one. That ought to take care of September (well, that and Lego Star Wars II).

[Rei no Otaku]

I really don't understand how Yakuza would have had better voice acting if it had kept the original ching chong chow dialogue. I don't care what the quality is, I can't understand a foreign language.
It's not about the quality. I played the demo, and the English voice acting isn't that bad. It's the fact that it's a Japanese game, that takes place in Tokyo, about Japanese mobsters. Not to mention even in the English dialogue they use honorifics like -san and -chan. They shouldn't be speaking English. On top of that Sega is advertising the game as letting the West "truly experience the Tokyo underground." Putting in English makes that whole selling point a bit silly. The game should be subtitled. I like to have that authenticity in my games. Like how Tekken 5 had the characters all speaking their native tongues. That's how it should be.

Btw, that's fake Chinese you're using. Yakuza are Japanese.

[g13]

I was also quite disappointed with the Yakuza review. I usually trust GI scores, but I may have to wait for other reviews.

Speaking of GI, I just got my issue yesterday. I called yesterday morning to complain that it was late, and was told that it is not late until 9/9. It was in stores for a while...unbelievable...still love the mag though.

[Rei no Otaku]

I still haven't even received my GI yet. I work at GS though, and have already read it. The Yakuza review is a joke. How they can treat such a high profile game like that is beyond me. It's not the score that bugs me (though i'm sure I'll disagree with it, as I loved the demo). It's the fact that the game only gets a paragraph. That's unacceptable.

[RelentlessRolento]

The turnout for Bully is making me happy, since it's a very original idea that Rockstar is perfect in doing.