Date Released: 3 September, 2013 Date Reviewed: 1 October, 2013 Players: 2-8 Length: 20 minutes Replayability: None
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Introduction
SEGA’s Total War: ROME II has recently released for the Personal Computer (PC). Developed by The Creative Assembly (CA) in the UK, the game is set to be one of the biggest PC game releases from SEGA. Combing both real-time battles and sieges – both on land and on sea – and turned-based campaign strategy, the game offers the most grand and expansive Total War experience to date. Continue below to see how the game fared.
Date Released: Winter 2012 for most versions Date Reviewed: February 17, 2013 Genre: 3D Party Racer Players: 1-4 players locally (up to 5 on Wii U), 10 online Length: 3-30 minutes per event, 12-25 hours to unlock all content Replayability: High
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Introduction
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is the sequel to 2010’s crossover party racer Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Not simply a basic sequel, the game focuses around the concept of vehicles that change during the race to traverse over land, water and the sky with a few courses that even head through lava or outer space. Presented as kid-friendly but designed to be enjoyable for all ages, Transformed is a quality racer for fans of SEGA and the genre. Difficult but not unfair, the game succeeds in making a unique and fun game for groups online or off, but somewhat sloppy direction and awkward marketing attempts keep it from becoming a true classic.
AM2 continues their high quality digital remasters with a set based on SEGA’s revolutionary Model 2 arcade hardware. Yu Suzuki, the head of SEGA’s AM2 studio helped create the platform in the early 1990s using incredibly sophisticated military technology. This allowed for not just higher quality visuals through 3D models and textures, but more effective controls and artificial intelligence to a scale thought completely improbable for the time.
As iconic and important the hardware was to video games, each game released in this digital Model 2 collection has only ever seen improper ports due to the power of home platforms at the time being far below what the games required, such as the SEGA Saturn. This current set of releases features the legendary Virtua Fighter 2, the wacky Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters, one of the most obscure Sonic the Hedgehog games of all time.
With the release the fourth volume of SEGA’s new series of game compilations, appropriately titled the SEGA Vintage Collection, two more classic titles for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive are now available — the funktastic co-operative games ToeJam and Earl and its sequel, ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron. After the break, we’ve included a basic overview of these titles and our general thoughts on them.
Date Released: Fall 2012 Date Reviewed: December 5, 2012 Genre: 3D Platformer Players: 1 Player Length: 7 hours for main game, 25+ for extra content Replayability: Very good
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Introduction
Jet Set Radio is the unique 2000 platforming game where players take control of a rebellious group of spray-painting, rollerblading teenagers who intend on seperating the government’s corrupt and overblown power over the people of a fictional variation of a futuristic Tokyo, Japan called Tokyo-to. Originally available on the SEGA Dreamcast, Jet Set Radio has gone on to only have one true sequel, but a strong cult following and has been featured in references and cameos in several unrelated games. This modern high definition version is one of SEGA’s highest quality re-releases of all their past titles to date.
SEGA Vintage Collection has been recently released on both XBLA and PSN – for the XBox 360 and PS3 respectfully. Known as SEGA AGES Online in Japan, it features proper emulations of SEGA classics – both console and arcade – with an abundance of features. It is developed by M2, former SNK employees responsible for SEGA’s Virtual Console offerings on Wii and many previous SEGA AGES games on PS2. Extensive emulation options, high definition artwork wallpapers, leader boards, saving, replays, achievements/trophies, new trial modes, and on-line play are all included, bringing these games back to life in a respectable, professional manner. With it being an on-going series of releases of classic games, it might be helpful to get a basic overview of what is included, how it fairs, and how others view the games released so far. Below is a compilation of this.
Date Released: April 1, 1994 Date Reviewed: August 19th, 2012 Genre: 2D Platformer/role-playing game Players: 1 Player Length: 5-8 hours Replayability: Low
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Introduction:
Monster World IV is the 1994 platformer/role-playing game developed by Westone and released exclusively for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. Canonically, it is the sixth and final game in the Wonder Boy series, also being the fourth overall game in the related Monster World sub-series, which grew out of the former with the release of the Wonder Boy in Monster Land for the arcade and SEGA Master System in 1987 and 1988, respectively. Monster World IV had never seen an international release, being exclusive to Japan until very recently, when it was released on the Virtual Console for Nintendo’s Wii, as well as part of SEGA’s new Vintage Collection series, which brought it and Wonder Boy in Monster Land and Wonder Boy in Monster World to the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 and Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360. The wait, however, was well worth it, as Monster World IV is easily one of the finest games for the Genesis/Mega Drive, and it is sure to become an instant classic for many who haven’t yet experienced this wonderful gem of a game.
Date Released: June 6, 2012 Date Reviewed: July 13, 2012 Genre: 3D Fighter Players: 1-2 Players local and online, lobbies extend this Length: Singular fights typically a few minutes each, several types of modes alter this Replayability: Incredible
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Introduction
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is the 2010 3D fighting game for the arcade RingEdge hardware. Newly developed and ported by the prolific SEGA-AM2 for 2012, the latest release of the game is a downloadable Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game. More than an upgrade to 2007’s retail version of the original Virtua Fighter 5 for the same platforms, Final Showdown is arguably the deepest, most accessible fighting game available in the genre this entire console generation at a cheaper price than all competing products.
Date Released: April 15, 2012 Date Reviewed: June 3, 2012 Genre: 2D Platformer Players: 1-2 Players, Locally and Online Length: 50+ Minutes Replayability: Fair
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Introduction
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II is the latest main-series release in the Sonic franchise, but a continuation of it’s original 2D style of gameplay. Conceptualized in ways to reclaim former glory and fans who have left or shunned the franchise ever since it’s transition into a 3D play space, Episode II is much of what was expected from a Sonic game in the early 1990s, but does not limit itself based on tried-and-true mechanics and concepts from the past. Created by Sonic Team, tooled by DIMPS and developed by SEGA Shanghai, Episode II is an improvement over it’s predecessor in all ways, but still fails to compare to the original series.
Date Released: April 18, 2012 Date Reviewed: May 19, 2012 Genre: Lightgun Shooter Players: 1-2 Local Players Length: 40+ Minutes Replayability: Good
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Introduction
The House of the Dead 4 is the 2005 lightgun arcade shooter developed by SEGA-AM1. The title has become available to home consoles for the first time in 2012 as a download on the PlayStation 3’s Sony Entertainment Network. This newly released version includes both the original arcade game and it’s direct sequel The House of the Dead 4: Special for a budget price point. Functionality for PlayStation Move and the standard PlayStation 3 controller is also included.
The SEGA Source 