Delicious Deals: Valkyria Chronicles

Been a quiet week on this blog. This was mostly due to my younger sister taking on a nasty illness, leaving her bedridden for two weeks, as well as a couple of hospital visits. It got a bit scary for a while, but she’s completely recovered now, so my mind is a bit clear now. I recently submitted my review for Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta, and I hope to have my review for Trials HD ready soon. I’ve also received Colin McRAE Dirt 2 for the PS3, which I’ll be reviewing in a couple of weeks along with Muramasa for the Wii.

On the subject of PS3, it seems the Slim model has finally encouraged people to buy the system in droves, something Sony’s been hoping for since 2006. Should you happen to be one of these Slim adopters, now would be the perfect time to cash in on my latest delicious deal.

Valkyria Chronicles for 19.96 at Wal-Mart

Not sure how long they’re going to sell it at that price, but I encourage you PS3 owners to snag this game up as soon as possible. As my pick for GOTY 2008, Valkyria Chronicles is one of the best PS3 games available, and one of the best RPGs I’ve played in years.

Not much more to say, so just go out and buy it. This is an Order.

Delicious Deals: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Well, I certainly saw this coming: As Batman’s release loomed closer and closer, I find myself more and more tempted to purchase it, despite a limited amount of funds, a pre-commited decision to purchasing Dissidia: Final Fantasy, and the hopes that one of my regular website gigs would succeed in securing me a copy for review. Try as they might, the good folks in said websites haven’t been able to make the latter happen.

So then comes Toys ‘R Us’s incredibly tantalizing deal: Purchase Batman at their store on Tuesday, and they’ll give you a free $20 gift card. Even better, if you’re a reward member, you’ll get a $30 gift card should you stop by in the hours of 10am-2pm.

Seeing how becoming a TRU Reward member is incredibly easy and free (and can be done online as well), pulling this off means I can grab Dissidia for a mere $10. It’s a hard deal to pass up, which is why I most likely won’t. For any Bat-fans out there, neither should you.

The other day I received my Ebay purchased Wireless Headset for the Xbox 360, as the packaged mic had been reaching its last legs. The headset is a definite improvement, with all my friends coming across crystal clear, and I assume the controller will benefit as well with a longer battery life without the mic plugged in (but don’t quote me on that). If you can find it cheap like I did ($35), I definitely suggest it.

An even better deal that same day was finding a used Wireless PC Receiver for the 360 controller at my local Play N’ Trade, only $15. I’d been using Xpadder along with a Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 controller for my PC gaming needs, but you can’t beat using the 360 controller on games that support it. In addition to better analog control, the controller features vibration feedback (something Xpadder couldn’t emulate). The headset can work with the receiver as well, although it seems to only work correctly on Games for Windows; I’ve tried the headset on Left 4 Dead, but it outputs both voice chat and the game’s audio, effectively turning it into a mono headphone. In any event, I’m now left with a tough decision on making future purchases on PC rather than the 360, as I can now emulate the experience on PC, with the addition of improved graphics and framerate. I tried the Resident Evil 5 PC benchmark, and the visual difference is ridiculous, not to mention frustrating. Aside from The Orange Box, I’m not a fan of purchasing the same game twice.

It doesn’t help that Batman’s been delayed on PC to ensure it’ll be the best version by far. Since when was it impossible on consoles to include realtime fog, cloth, and broken tiles?

Retroactive Reviews: R-Type Dimensions

Before I post my next review, I wanted to share another Delicious Deal. For one day only, Amazon is selling Banjo Kazooie:

Nuts and Bolts for $20.

I’ll be skipping on this one. The game has some gorgeous visuals, but I wanted Banjo 3, not Banjo Car Builder. If they included the XBLA version of the first game with this deal, it would be a much more enticing package.

Anyway, here’s my 2nd review for Dark Zero. You guys get a sneak peek before it goes up on their site.

R-Type Dimensions

Score: 8/10

I’m not sure what started the trend, but arcade shooters have found a good home on Xbox Live Arcade. With Microsoft’s box playing host to shooters of the top/down, side-scrolling, and bullet-hell variety, the number of thumb-twitching shooter games continues to grow, and so do Japan’s audience. It’s a good fit, overall.

It was only a matter of time before one of the most celebrated shooters would make its way to XBLA, and that day has come courtesy of Irem, Tozai, and Southend Interactive with the release of R-Type Dimensions, a high definition redux of the first two games in the classic arcade series.

The R-Type series isn’t quite as well known as Konami’s Gradius series, but the following of Irem’s arcade classic is still strong, and this newest high def reimagining is the perfect introduction for newcomers looking to experience classic levels of frustration.

Set in the 22nd century, R-Type centers around a war between humans and an evil alien force called the Bydo Empire. It’s your standard shoot-em-up plotline, but at least it was detailed enough at the time. The short of it is that you are piloting the “Arrowhead”, a lone combat ship sent out to take down the entire race of phallic-shaped monstrosities on its own (or with a friend. It has co-op!). Players will start on the left side of the universe and blast its way to the right, with a number of obstacles (both predatory and immovable, respectively) standing in their way across six stages.

For being such an old shoot ‘em up, R-Type brought forth some notable innovations to the genre, most notably with its “Force” power-up; By collecting the power-up from a specific enemy, an extra flying pod will appear that can attach to the front and back of the Arrowhead like a shield. And just like a shield, the Force can repel standard enemy attacks, and even enemies themselves by making contact with them. Like Skywalker in the trench, mastering the Force is key to surviving the onslaught of enemies and their big colorful laser beams, and collecting additional power-ups to upgrade your arsenal as well as your shield’s helps balance the difficulty from impossible to difficult.

Did I mention the game is hard as all hell out? Another famous landmark of the series, R-Type games may not have invented the term “bullet hell”, but it certainly deserves coining the phrase “environment hell”; Even if you can keep track of the swarm of pests blasting away at you, the many walls, nooks, and crannies that make up the areas (both organic and science fiction in nature) could result in an immediate crash. One especially annoying level in R-Type 2 has the environment constantly changing shape, with walls stretching in and out for maximum controller tossing.

But for shooter fans, they wouldn’t have it any other way, yet the game also caters to the casual crowd with an “Infinite Mode”. In addition to the standard “Classic Mode”, Infinite Mode is so named for giving players an unlimited amount of lives as well as the ability to immediately respawn at the spot that they died. For pro gamers, it gives them a new challenge to see how few ships they can sacrifice per stage, while casuals can get a quick tour through both games as well as nabbing the achievements for completion. The trade off, though, is that starting over in certain, more hectic areas without any power-ups or shield can result in rapid deaths, especially the final boss and its unavoidable homing lasers.

While both R-Type games can be played in their original iterations, Southend has gone the extra mile to deliver a number of visual additions for both high def and retro enthusiasts; The remixed version of the graphics feature fully 3D polygons of the classic stages and enemies, and as a neat bonus players can instantly switch from the original and remade graphics with the push of a button. Additional visual effects include an “insane” camera mode that tilts the HD graphics in an angle, in order to create some bizarre hologram card effect (you know, the ones from the 90’s), as well as the ability to play the classic visuals on a virtual arcade cabinet; It might prove distracting from the swarm of enemies, but it is neat in a retro sort of way. And speaking of retro, you can also apply various filters to give the visuals an 8-bit feel, among other combinations.

The only disappointment is that the soundtrack hasn’t received a similar treatment. The only available music the original chiptunes, although they are still quite charming in their own right. At least there’s always the option of custom soundtracks.

In closing, R-Type Dimensions is a worthy attempt in catering to series fans, shooter fans, and retro fans at the same time. It’s easy to get into, but quite hard to master. Let’s hope they soon adapt the rest of the R-Type games with the same care they brought with Dimensions.

Delicious Deals: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

My first DD only gave you guys a small window to take advantage of it, but I’m happy to post the newest deal ahead of time to raise awareness.

Let me go on record saying that the game is a barebones package regardless of the price, since we’re being denied half of the portion that Japan got, which is Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix Plus (you gotta love how these companies toss in extra terms like “Plus”, “Turbo”, “HD” and “XXX” to sucker you into repeated purchases).

Final Mix Plus contained more than enough extras to warrant a double dip, including

New Cutscenes:

New Boss Battles:

And even a cool teaser for the upcoming PSP prequel, Birth by Sleep:

It really is a shame we’re only getting the Chain of Memories remake, when adding both games together would have made that $30 price tag a no brainer. But regardless, I hope a lot of people end up buying it to send Square Enix the message that Americans can be suckered into double dipping just as easily as the Japanese. Just look our DVD sales; How many editions of Gladiator do we really need?

Anyway, the deal: This Sunday (12/07/08), Circuit City will be selling Chain of Memories for $19.99. Copies might be limited to nonexistent in some stores (they’re tanking financially right now, but that works in your favor thanks to all the great deals), so make sure to bring the Sunday ad and take it to Best Buy, where they’ll price match it.

The original Chain of Memories for the GBA was a decent concept, but it didn’t win me over. The card managing was a real pain to cycle through with the tiny shoulder buttons found in portable systems, and most of the areas were just retreads from the first game, making the game Part Flashback and Part Sequel Teaser.

But I’m still optimistic for the PS2 version, which will have better controls, 3D graphics (albeit KHI quality, not quite KHII), voice acting (isn’t Haley Joel Osmend too old to do younger Sora?), and uh….well it’s a Kingdom Hearts game, so I’ll be buying it either way. Not only does it have some of my favorite Final Fantasy characters crossing over, it also restores that Disney magic that was lost years ago.

Don’t bring up Pixar films, because to me Disney is only affiliated with Pixar financially, not creatively. Also, I can’t wait for their next movie.