QCF: Sonic Lost World

ega has struggled to not only adapt their star hedgehog into the modern generation of gaming, a title that can properly reclaim the fame the blue dude held in the gaming community; these days, the spiky-haired dude with attitude is lucky to be relevant outside of the younger demographic or die-hard fans. A number of things have always held him back like lack of proper game physics, stage design, or mechanics to deliver that trademark speed or some overtly gimmicky mechanic that tarnishes everything.

Despite Lost World fitting that infamous aforementioned profile on first impression, it defies expectations by successfully delivering that authentic Sonic experience; one that actually transitions the blue blur into a 3D environment that’s more playable than any of the previous efforts within the last decade.

Granted, while a certain galactic inspired approach in Sonic Team’s latest avant-garde for the hedgehog plays a large role in making Lost World genuinely fun to play for a Sonic title, it’s still littered with flaws that hold it back from being a must-play, let alone the best.

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QCF: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F

he first time I went to Pax (2012) I told myself I would not be leaving Boston without three particular games: Final Fantasy Type Zero, Suikoden II (One of these days, I promise) and Project Diva. I made it out with two of the three. Me being me I actually ended up buying Project Diva Second instead of the first game, but thankfully these games don't have “Play of Previous Title Recommended” stamped anywhere on them.

Upon learning that the Project Diva series would be making the transition from PSP to PS3 under the Title “Project Diva F” I got super excited, making it my must get game when we attended Pax East in 2013. Sadly I left Boston with my obsession with Pokémon renewed and no Project Diva F.  However, two months after Pax, my luck would change as on June 06, 2013, Sega confirmed that Project Diva would be coming to the West.

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PPR 78

ey guys, remember when we all played that sweet RPG on the Super Nintendo Bahumat Lagoon? No? What about Seiken Densetsu 3, you guys had to have played that right? Gyakuten Kenji 2? Everyone is killing me! Oh, wait, what’s that? You say that none of those games ever came out to North America; yeah, we know that, that’s why there’s the wonderful culture of import gaming. The charming Stevie, cynical James, pugnacious Ser, and scumbag Georgie bring you the latest PPR and this week, they talk about some video games y’all. Topics range from sharing our respects towards Hiroshi Yamauchi and Nintendo’s sordid past with love hotels, the price difference of Zebra bed sheets versus Tiger bed sheets, Super Mario Bros: The Movie 2: the comic, Sega buying Atlus, and so much more in this shit storm of a podcast.

Rate and subscribe to us iTunes today, follow us on our new Twitch page, mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and be sure to stop by at our Forums and register as well!

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PAX Prime 2013: The Sega Mini-Omega 2013

rekking through the show floor at PAX Prime 13, we happened upon Sega's booth and couldn't help but be curious about the upcoming Wii U exclusives from Sega, so we figure "Why not tag team it?" Here our impressions with Andrew getting steamy with Bayonetta 2, and George handling the Blue Blur's latest outing.

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QCF: Project X Zone

he video Game Crossover is definitely nothing new. Much like many comic and cartoon series have in the past, quite a number crossovers have been mashed together over the last three decades or so in North America, including notable entries such as Battletoads & Double Dragon, Aliens Vs. Predator, Capcom Vs. SNK, and of course, Super Smash Bros. But in Japan, the sheer amount of crossovers is kind of mind-numbing. Perhaps the greatest crossover series ever is Bandai and Banpresto's Super Robot Wars (oddly titled in its original Japanese name for releases in North America, despite Japanese stickers on merchandise reading “SRW”). Super Robot Wars collects a simply ridiculous amount of giant robot anime series together and crossses them over in a hugely deep strategy RPG setting. So it's no surprise that Banpresto was the one to collect over 50 different characters together in Namco Bandai's Project X Zone (pronounced Cross Zone) on Nintendo's 3DS.

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Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 73 - Kingdom Grand Prix

hippu Mahou Daisakusen (疾風魔法大作戦): Kingdom Grand Prix, otherwise translated (depending how you interpret it) as "Gale Great Battle of Magic" or "Hurricane Magic Armageddon: Kingdom Grand Prix" is a mouthful to say as well as slick racing/shmup hybrid! But how does this nifty mashup blend together? Watch to find out.

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GDC 2013: Videogame History Museum Highlights

All photos in this interview were courtesy of our friend John Celentano of Unwinnable.com, be sure to check their coverage of GDC too!

ideo game historians and Classic Gaming Expo founders John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli started collecting videogames and related memorabilia before it was cool.

No, seriously. They’ve been at this since the 1980s, way before the thought of “collecting” these products occurred to anyone else. These and other individuals like them searched for every obscure product they could find. No eBay stores. No Craigslist. Just patience, timing, and a constant interest in finding something neat and ever so obscure. Think thrift shop hunting even, only with a few more closed environments and “garbage” nobody wanted anymore. Hell, in once case, another person’s trash became everyone else’s most coveted prototype console: the Sega Neptune.

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QCF: Anarchy Reigns

latinum Games has been busy going into 2013. Spearheading upcoming releases like Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 along with staying on track with their collaborative efforts with Konami on Metal Gear Rising: Revengance, there was another title too. What was it again? Oh yeah, that multiplayer beat’em up, Anarchy Reigns.

The action multiplayer-focused title delivers the punches and fan-service for fans of Madworld and Bayonetta, the expectations for a multiplayer title centered on character action combat incited quite a depth of potential considering the studio behind the reigns. The genre of arena based fighters always bring a new element to direct combat that distinguish it from traditional fighting games. More often than not, games which come to mind when one thinks of this category is Power Stone or Super Smash Bros. Whenever the topic enters discussion, Anarchy Reigns tries to expand on this formula.

The end result, however, is a wasteland of missed opportunities populated with rough gameplay that contains a dearth of personality to round out the full circle of disappointment that is Anarchy Reigns.

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