Norm's Blog Of Stuff!

Football, one of the most hardest hitting sports in America. Its a sport that for years, have captivated an audience with its action, halftime shows, and of course the grand daddy of them all…The Super Bowl. So where does EA Sports comes in? Well, every year EA Sports releases out its annual football game called Madden. You know, the tough actin tinactin guy. He says BOOM a lot? Ah forget it, anyways, This franchise has gone 20 years of gameplay changes, additions, and sometimes being the same game (You know who you are Madden 07 and 08). This year Madden 2010, looks to show how advance the game has become. Last year, you had the “game that adapts to you”, this year its time to “fight for every yard”, NBOS brings you its review of Madden 2010.

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Back In 1994, SNK released a beast to the Arcades called King Of Fighters ‘94, it would later hit the PS2 and Xbox with its later games, but the King Of Fighter Series is a well known one behind Street Fighter. This time around after a 2 year break away from the fighting game scene, SNK has returned its King of Fighters in  King Of Fighters XII (sorry for the bad pun). I’m going to be honest with you, this is the first King Of Fighters game I have played, EVER. So whatever I may think of this game I hold in my hands is clearly upon first impression. First and foremost, the Pros of this game.

Pros:

Gameplay: I found this pretty interesting, cause if you’ve played Street Fighter, or any previous versions of the King Of Fighter Series you’ll be right at home. For a Newb like me, it took just a little time to pick up some of the movesets and how to string together combos, after all that, I found the game fun to play.

Online: One thing this game does very well, is online. The fact you can have up to 7 other players in a single room for either a team match or a single match is pretty awesome. Your options are pretty open when you create a player match. You can choose your room name, battle type (single/team), Max Players (Up to 8), Friends Slots, Game Mode (Winner Stays/ Loser Stays/ Sparring), Round Time, Language and voice chat. Whew, that’s some bunch of options for you. Rarely will you run into someone who has low ping, unfortunately for me I ran into two straight before I faced someone with decent ping enough for the match not to lag. You also have 3 game types online, the obvious player match and ranked match. King of Fighters XII now features ARCADE Match. Arcade match is pretty much, online Arcade against other people.

Replay System: One thing KOFXII will have over Street Fighter 4’s online system, is their replay system. Everytime you’re in a match, its already being recorded so after you come out of that match you have the option to save that match replay or not. Very smart move by the guys at SNK, I never get asked the question “Do you want to save this replay” from Street Fighter after a championship mode match, so it was a breath of fresh air to see that. You’ll have the options to upload them for the public to see or just keep it to yourself to show friends how bad you beat your opponents butt.

As much as their are Pros, their are CONS, and here they are.

CONS:

Graphics: One thing I noticed, this game has the bad case of pixelated and jagged character. I must point out the backdrop these characters fight on look better than the characters themselves. One other game has actually been able to pull off High Res Characters on a High Res Backdrop…BlazBlue. The only thing that does disappoint here are the character models or sprites, whichever one you want to call them. By The Way, I played this game in 1080p.

Arcade Mode: Arcade modes of other games usually are at least somewhat exciting if they try to include a storyline with it. One game that did a decent job with that was Street Fighter 4, King Of Fighters Fails there. Being there are no unlockables Arcade mode is a one time play through because going through this mode again would be like slapping yourself across the face. No doubt its a very interesting concept, but its just not worth it for more than one time.

Lack of Unlockables: I mentioned it in the last CON, but I feel I need to re-enforce what I mean. What Street Fighter 4 did with its Arcade mode, was give you something to aim for while playing it. To unlock the impossible almost when it came down to Akuma, Gokuen and SETH (oh how I hate SETH). King of Fighters pretty much comes with EVERYONE unlocked for your use. No alternate attires to unlock, no special mode to unlock, nothing. The ability to unlock something keeps a games lifespan up for a long time, even after the first play-through. This is something I hope they do in the next game (if they make another one).

Overall: This game is fun to play, but graphics and lack there of is holding this game back from a good score. Online is pretty solid, gameplay will make you want to comeback and play this game. Graphically, it could use improvement. The soft filter they have in the game only makes the characters look a bit blurred and lacking the ability to unlock anything kinda blows. If you are a Hardcore King Of Fighters Fan, sure, pick this up. Everyone else, it’s a solid rent, especially if you’re an achievement whore.   I give this a 2 out of 5. Rating:

- Norman Rhodes
Norm’s Blog Of Stuff
Founder/Writer/Editor

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About 2-3 weeks ago, I went over to a friends house and play a game called “BlazBlue”. I then proceeded to get my butt handed to me before just recently picking up the game myself and getting some practice on it. Today, I bring you the review for this game before the regular edition hits stores tomorrow. When I first picked up this game, I knew what to expect, what I didn’t know is how fun this game was going to be when I finally got more time to play it. Enough of that though, let me tell you about the game first.

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College football, ahhh the fresh smell of frat boys and college girls showing their school pride. Some say watching college football is better than watching the pros play, I wonder why that is so? Anyways, every year EA Sports puts out a college football game that captures what the college experience is like. for the past three years i’ve purchased the NCAA Football games and enjoyed all of them so far. This year is no different as I went down and purchased 2010. Today, we dive into the virtual crowds to see if NCAA Football 2010 is truly, college fans Madden.

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Over the past 2-3 Days I’ve had a chance to sit down and play WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 for the Xbox 360. Today, I have the review for you. Will it be better than last years version or will it fall short and become another failed attempt at bettering a product. Find out now!

The Smackdown! series in its own right has been one of the most dominant wrestling video game franchises to date. This year as they release 2009, the fans were looking forward to a game that not only delivered the WWE experience, but also a game that will give them that sigh of relief that the Developers at THQ were listening to the fans and made a game that would overshadows the likes of Here Comes The Pain. I am here to deliver the news in this review.

Lets start off with graphics, This game looks better than 2008. It includes new player models and features a more HDish product than last year. I will first off say, they all look great. The wrestlers look like their real life counter parts and the presentation in modes like “Road To Wrestlemania” mimics the real life telecasts of Raw, Smackdown and ECW. When you look at a game like this, it makes you feel like you’re really watching a WWE show.

Lets move on though to the gameplay of Smackdown vs Raw, which has continued to either piss most people off or bring in more fans. This year they’ve taken out the fighting styles that gained a lot of negative feedback from people, but kept in the abilities that came with them. With that being said, the game has actually become better without them, though when you face a guy like Kennedy, it will annoy you when you hit that finisher and he possum pins you. Whether you kick out or not is upon you to control. The new targeting system has vastly improved from last year, for you to look at the person you want, you just have to be near them. Now, there is one hiccup with this, if the person you want is near another person then it does get confused between the two guys you want. Lets say its a tag match, your partner is near the legal man in the ring. You want the legal man but instead you find yourself grappling your partner. Other than that though, the targeting system is pretty solid. The controls have stayed the same from 2008 so you don’t have to go in and find out what button does what or get used to a new scheme.

This year instead of a single story mode, you have 7. You’re porbably saying “WHAT!? 7!?” Yes, 67, as the amount of wrestlers you’ll take through Road to Wrestlemania Mode. This mode lets you take control of either CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Triple H, John Cena, Undertaker or Batista & Rey Mysterio. Each story usually takes you a day to finish but each are also pretty good in its own right. You can use this mode to unlock most of the characters, belts, moves, etc. that you can use in the game and online. The dialouge in this mode is pretty solid depending on who you’re talking about here. Guys like MVP and Regal seem to improv some lines and make it seem natural and not like they’re reading off a script. On the other hand, you have guys who seem like they’re reading scripts. But its still pretty entertaining and does its job in the end to progress the storyline.

Create a Finisher is a new addition to the series, it gives the player the control over making either the most craziest finishing move or the most modest and realistic one. Being this is the first time this has been in the game, its was pretty well done for the first time, sadly it still feels restricting. 

With the addition of Hightlight Reel, Some added parts for CAW and Career Mode. This game is definitely better than last years version, but it still doesn’t overshadow HCTP or No Mercy. This game is a step in the right direction, but it still needs the little tweeks here and there before it can be considered the best wrestling game in history. I give this one an 8 out of 10 and a solid buy if you’re a wrestling fan.

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Here is the new/old episode of Norm’s Two Cents, in audio this time. I was trying to get this to work with the podcasting stuff..but yeah…it completely owned my face so embedded audio it is! Enjoy!

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