25 Days of Begging: Part Three

25 Days Of Begging: Week Three

         Well, we’re winding down to the last few weeks of begging and chances are you have already offended everyone you know with your incessant chatter about what presents you’d like for Christmas. But soldier on! How else do you expect to be able to get everything on your list? The trick is to nag them to the point that they give in and buy you everything you want just to shut you up. And that’s okay: who needs real friends when you have electronic ones? And just so you know, this is the last set of five before the J1Studios.com Game of The Year top ten list. And yes there will be surprises!Everyone loves suprises.

15. Mortal Kombat 9

         Mortal Kombat came up 1000% since its last outing. They set a new standard for story mode for a fighting game, brought the series into the new millennium with a fighting system made for high level play, and really upgraded the graphics with the additions of x-rays and visible damage. And some of the fatalities are just silly (link). If you don’t have this game yet, it’s a must buy. Or I’ll send Reptile over to give you a kiss.

14.        Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD

         Sometimes you need to play a game that doesn’t just consist of shooting people in the face, curbstomps, and mindless violence. There’s were real gaming art lies: story, art, design, and interactivity all coming together to make an experience that moves the player. A great example of that sort of game is the Ico and the Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection. As you play these games, you encounter characters you care about, story lines that engage you, and game play that is just amazing. Not having a game like this in your collection you are really missing out on a major portion of the gaming industry.

13. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

         This game is purdy darn fun. You have multiple ways of story progression, multiple ways of defeating your enemies, and multiple endings. It’s one of the few shooting games in which you literally don’t have to shoot anyone, outside of cutscenes. Granted there are a few issues, but there’s nothing that should keep this from showing up on your list.

12. Catherine

         In one of the deluxe versions of this game, Atlus sends you a copy of underwear, a t-shirt for your lovely lady to wear as pajamas (or I guess you could wear it too, but trust me, you won't look as good), a pillowcase, and a pizza box. Everything you need for a night out. Persona Team has ever come out with anything that hasn't been hot, and Catherine is definitely a game worth grabbing. Just make sure you're faithful to your girl or it will turn you into a sheep-man, and have a screaming baby try to kill you.

11.        Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition

         Without a question, Street Fighter is the franchise that innovated the fighting game to something enduring that we actually want to play. If it wasn't for Ryu, then there would be no Morrigan, Fulgore, Marstorius, Jack the Ripper, Joe Higashi, or Scarlette. Street Fighter has continued to be a frontrunner in innovating the fighting game genre, and is still the ruler to which we hold everything up to.

         That said, if you're a serious fighting game guy, and you have been kicking around the idea of getting AE, but just haven't pulled the trigger yet, or if you're holding out because a character you like got nerfed, the 2012 update just came out (free), so the balancing and little details are worth taking a look into.

Honorable Mentions

Blaz Blu Continuum Shift 2

         Until Guilty Gear makes Badguy in HD, this is what ya got. Be happy with it.

Beyond Good and Evil

         You should get this game before the NDAA passes and we all go to jail.

Sonic Generations

         Sega made another Sonic game. But this time they decided to leave out the suck! (cough cough Shadow cough)

Street Fighter 3 Third Strike Online

         I dare anybody to make Q top tier.

By Chris Alexander

psn Imnotonfacebook

Xbl Mastergief

Email Mastergief@gmail.com

Mortal Kombat review

Mortal Kombat

Developer: NetherRealms Studios

Publisher: Waner Bros. Interactive

Genre: Fighting game

Platform: Playstation, Xbox360

Release date: April 19, 2011 (North America) April 21, 2011 (Europe)

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Mortal Kombat (or Mortal Kombat 9 to fans) is a return to the basics. All the things that made you fall in love with the MK series is back and in true form!

“The story begins after the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, where almost all the fighters are dead, leaving only Raiden and Shao Kahn. Defeated and about to be dealt the final blow, Raiden uses his last attempt to cast a spell on his amulet, now shattered, to contact his past self and quote "He Must Win!" before he is killed.

During the events of the first game's tournament, hosted by Shang Tsung, the Raiden from that era possesses visions of the events from the future; he notices his amulet has cracked, signaling troubling times ahead.”

STORY MODE! What an amazing way to explain the plot in a fighting game! You have to play as different characters throughout a five-hour story that unveils the new and I’m guessing true story of Mortal Kombat. I don’t want to give away anything but I guarantee that what you remember of the MK storylines gets changed in some “HOLY CRAP” moments. This is a clever way to reboot the series and giving it a fresh (and solid) plotline.

Gameplay is so freakin’ awesome! Solidly balanced and loads of fun, with modes galore!

They added a cool new aspect to the game which is the X-ray bar, or Super bar. As you attack and get attacked your Super bar increases. With every level it goes up you can perform enhanced versions of your regular special moves by pressing the block button simultaneously with the last button input you use to perform the move in the first place. If you decide to hold off and not do that you can also use it as a counter move (or a Breaker as they call it in the game). When you seem to be getting the beating of a lifetime you can interrupt the melee with a move that knocks the opponent away from you giving you time to think things through. The final piece to the Super bar puzzle is the X-ray move. This move (if you let the meter fill up completely) will allow you to pull off a mid game fatality-like series of hits that actually shows an X-ray of your opponent’s body showing damage.

In single player mode you are given Story Mode (which you already know about), Arcade Ladder, Tag Team Ladder and Challenge Tower. Arcade Ladder mode is the arcade mode that when you beat the game with a character you get a personal “what if” ending. Tag Team Ladder is the same as Arcade Ladder except you get to use two characters in a swap out at any time style combat. Challenge Tower is a series of various tasks that you pull off to gain coins. These coins can be earned in just about every mode in the game. This leads to the Krypt where you use the coins and unlock art, costumes, and new fatalities.

The graphics and sound in this game is stunning especially since they seemed to have taken the Unreal Technology graphics they used for Mortal Kombat vs DC and added more detail. With the sound you can hear every single crack and crunch especially when you perform the X-ray specials! Lots of awesome in one fighting game!

A really impressive feature they added was the training and tutorials. You can practice the gameplay with the computer walking you through the basic moves carefully, all the way up to fatality practice so that you can learn how to really embarrass your friends.

In the multiplayer modes you are given the Arcade Ladder and the Tag Team Ladder whether you want to do a local two-player match or if you want to take it online. The online also has very little to almost no online lagging/slowdown in the game.

This game is everything that you would want in a Mortal Kombat game by taking all the great parts of Mortal Kombat 1, 2 and 3 while putting it in great 3D graphics and new interesting gimmicks with 2D gameplay.

My only gripe with the game is Shao Khan in Story mode. I promise you that you will want to throw your controller out of frustration after a few tries. Trust me. With that I can say I give this game a 5 out of 5, no matter how cheap Shao Khan is. If you don’t have it yet, and you call yourself a MK fan; do yourself a huge favor and get this game!!

-Jason R