Metal Gear Solid:Peace Walker (preview)

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the latest game in the Metal Gear series released for the PSP this year. It follows the story of Big Boss and leading up to the events of the founding and the creation of Outer Heaven.

Does Big Boss have what it takes to find the truth behind the invasion of Costa Rica?

Can he still trust his own government? Find out the answer to these questions and more as we take a quick look at Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Super Street Fighter IV Review

Game: Super Street Fighter IV
Genre: Fighting
Developer(s): Dimps/Capcom
Publisher(s): Capcom
Release Date: April 27, 2010
Rating: T
System(s): Playstation 3, X-BOX 360

Review

Street Fighter…one of the most iconic titles in fighting game history. You grew up on it, knowing that if someone shouted out “Hadoken”, then they were trying to be like Ryu or Ken. More than 20 years later, Capcom released the newest addition to its legacy of world warriors: Super Street Fighter IV. So the question is: will it stand up to the legacy of its predecessors, especially Street Fighter IV?

If you’ve played Street Fighter IV (released on February 2009 for PS3 and 360), then you’ll know that the story is basically the same. And if you haven’t played SFIV, then you may want to go back and get the game if you’re looking for story. That’s not to say that there’s no storyline in this game. This game picks up where Street Fighter II left off, if you go by the timeline (Street Fighter, SF Alpha Series, SF II, SFIV, Street Fighter 3rd Strike). Shadowloo is destroyed and a new syndicate named S.I.N. appears, hosting a worldwide martial arts tournament. As you play with each character, you see their specific story from beginning to end.

There’s one thing I’d like to point out about this game before I really get into it. On the back of the box, the creators title it as “The Ultimate Vision of Street Fighter.” To be honest…I agree with them.

The controls of this game are classic Street Fighter, with its 6 button configuration (light, medium and heavy punch/kick) that we’re all familiar with. Honestly, not much has changed with the system’s basic movements. The Focus attacks – attacks that can temporarily immobilize an opponent and absorb a single hit –, Special moves – unique moves for each character -, and Super Combos and Ultra Combos – character-specific command moves that can be done when filling up your respective meters – are still in the game. On the surface, nothing much has changed, proving the old phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

However, even though the basic stuff hasn’t changed, a lot of other things are new in the game. SSFIV has 10 new characters added, bringing their total count to 35 characters. Characters from previous Street Fighter titles make an appearance on here, something that has fans of the series ecstatic over. Dee Jay and T. Hawk (who I respect but hate with a passion…yes, LeVonn78, he’s going down) from Super Street Fighter 2 appear on here, two characters that everyone expected to be on SFIV. Cody and Guy from the Alpha series are on here as well as Makoto, Ibuki and Dudley from Street Fighter 3rd Strike. And 2 new characters are added to the roster: Juri, a lethal Tae Kwon Do fighter that possesses a destructive mechanism in her left eye called the Feng Shui Engine and Hakan, a Turkish oil wrestler who is Capcom’s “joke” character in the series.

Don’t get me wrong, Hakan is an interestingly good character. Just…

...eh, on with the review.

One of the better improvements that they did was rebalance the characters. And by “rebalance”, I mean they altered the character’s damage properties so that there would be a bit more equality. For instance, the damage on the ultra combos – end-all combos that can easily change the tide of the match when a character takes enough damage – has been modified so that a weaker character’s ultra will do slightly more damage than – let’s say – Zangief’s ultra. Granted, some characters will have strong moves, but it won’t be devastatingly strong as with last game.

Speaking of moves, the moves are another change that I like to highlight. Characters now have 2 ultra combos in SSFIV, bringing with it a bit of strategy. Taking a page from SF 3rd Strike, players can choose which ultra they can perform in their match. And the new ultra combos in general…it’s something that I have to tip my hat off to Capcom for. These new set of Ultra combos…it’s one thing to see an ultra and be like “That’s gotta hurt!” but a lot of the newer ones just make you cringe at the end of it (cough*Metsu Shoryuken*cough). Visually stunning, they are the exclamation point that you can add to the beating you give to your opponent.

The new online modes is another thing that they introduce here. Besides the Ranked match that is standard with most fighting games, there are two new modes on here: Endless Match and Team Battle Match. Endless Match is pretty much as the title states: you’re in a room with 8 other people, fighting against everyone until you lose. When you lose, you go to the end of the line, watching everyone else battle until your turn comes up. Yes, the trash talk runs rampant here with the addition of the peanut gallery in this mode. Team Battle: you’re in a team of 4 battling against the other team. When you’re not up, you’re watching the mayhem go down.

Also added is a Replay channel where you can upload the replays of online battles to the worldwide network for everyone to view. Personally I like this idea; however I don’t like the rules regarding replays. To save a replay – just like in SFIV - you have to meet certain criteria in a match. Personally, I think that you should be allowed to save a replay regardless of criteria. Because honestly, when you’re in an online fight, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to save a replay of you demolishing an opponent with or without meeting their criteria. Other fighting games let you do so with no stipulations, why not here?

And finally, for all the ol’ skool SF fans, the bonus stages are back. Yes, demolishing the car and breaking the barrels are included in this new installment of the game. And you are able to access them without going through Arcade mode.

So what else is there to say about SSFIV that hasn’t been said? Graphics are amazing, the new characters are a welcome addiction/addition (Dudley/Balrog, Adon/Sagat, Juri/Cammy, Juri/Chun-li), the new ultras are nuts, and the online is worth playing. What I can say about it is this: they’ve taken everything right about the earlier titles and just brought it to life here in this huge battle royale of warriors.

Final Rating: 5 out of 5
- The Wolf's Core

Win a free copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. :)

In honor of kicking off the new season of The Reset Button, we here at J1 Studios have come together to offer you, the fans, a chance to win big! The New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Lunch Contest is open to every fan of the site and the rules are very simple.
Be the first person to tell me what I had for lunch and you will win a FREE copy of New Super Mario Bros Wii.
As a plumber Mario finds himself in many sitiations where he's traversing pipes. Well on his latest journey he recovered my lunch. Only thing is unless I can remember what each of the three things on my plate are, Bowser is going to to game instead... Guess what I had for lunch and win a free copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii courtesy of The Reset Button.

Send answers to resetthegame@Gmail.com include your answer, name, and address.

Good Luck!

MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3!!!

The rumors are now made true and official! Marvel and Capcom have come together to give you MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3!!!

It will be available for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Characters confirmed are Wolverine, Hulk, Spiderman, Magneto and Ironman are representing the MARVEL side so far. Morrigan, Ryu (of course), and Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5 version) are on the CAPCOM side. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?

It seems to have an interesting look from the trailer, very Tatsunoko VS Capcom feel with a dark ink like edge to it. It was said that it would be 2D with 3D elements. I guess that's to make it look like comic book art in a way.

According to the MVC3 news going around it will be released "later this year or early 2011" and will be flying at "full 1080p"! They are already bragging about the number of characters in this game being super duper ridiculous. So I'm guessing we expect a huge chunk (if not all) of the old MVC2 cast plus at least a dozen more. Here's to hoping they add Thor and Deadpool!!

Mega Man 10 Review

Game: Mega Man 10
Genre: Platform, Action
Developer(s): Inti Creates, Capcom
Publisher(s): Capcom
Release Date: available now
Rating: E
System: XBOX 360, Playstation 3, WiiWare

Mega Man 10 is the tenth game in the series (That's 3 behind Final Fantasy not counting the Mega Man X series). The plot is there is a Robot Flu called "Robotenza" infecting the robots in the city. A month later it worsens to the point that Dr. Wily ask for help. The only reason Mega Man agrees to help be because Roll (his sister) is sick and the robots stole the cure Dr. Wily made. Then he runs in to Proto Man who agrees to help him.
The Game has 3 Modes Story, Time Attack, and Challenge. In Story Mode you play the main story. When you first start out you can pick either Mega Man or Proto Man. *Note at the time of writing this ONLY Mega Man counts towards the achievements, Time Attack, and Challenge Mode. There are 8 Robot masters, Chill Man, Nitro Man, Commando Man, Blade Man, Strike man, Sheep Man, Pump Man, Solar Man. Once you defeat one of the masters, you copy their power and can use it on the next boss. As you progress through the story you can buy power up with various screws you pick up during the game. You can change weapons and access the shop mid-mission. Mega Man plays as he always does but Proto Man plays a little different. Both can copy master weapons, use Rush (the robot dog) and buy items. Proto can only fire two shots on screen, takes twice as much damage, and is knocked back twice as far. He can charge his shots and slide to dodge some enemy attacks.

Time Attack is were you go through the stages as fast as you can. The top time is ranked. You can even record your time to see what you did and what you can do to make yourself better. There will be more downloadable stages later. In Challenge Mode, there are 88 Challenges. These challenges can range from jumping across pits to running, to beating a stage without getting hit. This is a great way to get the feel of the game and to and replay to this game.

There is an easy mode to help people get into the game and you can play as Proto Man from the start. The game is short, you could beat it in less than an hour (there is an achievement for that) and the fact that only Mega Man counts towards the achievements, time and challenge is what kind of hurts. Hopefully with updates they will fix that.

Rating: 4 out of 5

April is fun time for games!

Keeping it simple. I know it's a few days into April, but we should happy for games this month. Let's get the list going, and with Gametrailers help they have a video for us to use.

April 13th

-Splinter Cell Conviction (Multiple Platforms)

April 20th

-Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)

April 20th

-Dementium 2 (NDS)

April 27th

-Super Street Fighter 4 (Multiple Platforms)

April 27th

-FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa (Multiple Platforms)

April 27th

-Dead to Rights: Retribution (Multiple Platforms)

April 27th

-Nier (Multiple Platforms)

Video Games | GT Release Calendar | Games of April 2010

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Heavy Rain Review

Heavy Rain is a PS3 exclusive game released on February 23rd. It was developed by Quantic Dream, the French developers behind the game Indigo Prophecy. Basically, the story is about trying to stop a serial killer who kidnaps 10 year old boys and drowns them in rain water - sounds like my ex. The game is a lot like an interactive movie, where the player can make decisions that can change the plot of the story and alter the ending. The player controls one of four characters at any given time: a journalist, a father, a private detective, and an FBI agent.

One interesting thing is that if the player dies as any of these characters, there is no continues or "game over". The game will continue with that character dead. A lot of the gameplay is Quick Time Events, similar to games like Shenmue and Indigo Prophecy. The actions attached to each button are context-sensitive depending on the situation the character is in. The controls may be used to push a merry-go-round, burp a baby, give CPR, throw a boomerang, or even give a strip tease - all depending on the situation. The graphics are amazing and the voice acting is superb. The game even contains a "Behind The Scenes", where I was surprised to learn that all the main characters actually look exactly like the real life actors who played them.

My favorite character is Norman Jayden, who clearly ripped off Minority Report with his ARI (Added Reality Interface) headset and glove. While playing, I tried my best to make him look like the worst FBI agent in history, even going as far as to falsely accuse a police lieutenant of being the Origami Killer based on a bunch of nonsense evidence and crackpot theories. I was intentionally trying to ruin his career and get him reprimanded by his superiors - and it worked. This game is so great, it made me want to go back and play Indigo Prophecy again, which I immediately regretted because Indigo Prophecy is a bunch of ass compared to Heavy Rain. Despite Indigo Prophecy's similarities in gameplay, the dated graphics actually felt painful to look at after playing Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain is in my top four favorite PS3 games of all time, along side MGS4, SF4, and RE5. I would recommend this game to anyone, even people who don't normally play games, since the game feels more like a really great movie anyway.

I give it 5 out of 5, it is a perfect game that is fun and entertaining the whole way through!

- by Steve