Video Game Review - Street Fighter III: Third Strike (1999 - Sega Dreamcast)

This game holds a special merit in my life, due to the fact that they got a fighting game right on the money. Let's start with it's name of Street Fighter III: Third Strike.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike is nothing more than an attempt by CAPCOM to wring out another buck of its top man-whore, the wandering brawler Ryu. From the first Street Fighter to all of the modifications made on its sequel and passed off as brand new games, to the Street Fighter Alpha prequels that beat out the Star Wars prequel trilogy by 5 years, and through the psychotic Marvel branch-offs, Ryu has seen it all and has changed very little. Unfortunately, neither have his enemies. Same ol' Bison and Vega, Barlog and arch-nemesis Sagat. The stage music hasn't changed much and is even harped upon in other games. That all began to change with the original sequel to Street Fighter II, sequentially titled Street Fighter III.

The original Street Fighter III brought over the usual suspects of Ken and Ryu, but with better animations, new characters altogether, new stages and a new art style. There was a catch to all this cool stuff: you only had the choice of ONE Super-Art (the Super Attack from previous games) out of 3 to choose from. That made it hard to trip up your enemy, but they made the Super-Arts work at different levels on the Super Meter so that one Super-Art can be used 3 times with good damage, while a Super-Art that uses up the entire bar will cause massive amounts of damage. There are moves that I wanna talk about, but only within the context of Third Strike, because those same moves can be found in Street Fighter III and its sequel, Street Fighter III: Second Impact.

Third Strike, the third "sequel" to the third sequel in the Street Fighter> series (read that last sentence back and you'll understand how ludicrous that is to everyone else, but not to CAPCOM execs) brings back some characters from the Street Fighter III series, adding new ones and one revamped old-school character. The formula would seem to say, despite its features, that this is nothing but an old retread of the other Street Fighter III games. That's where Third Strike changes it up with a very significant change to the music.

CAPCOM went straight hip-hop.
It was a shock when I played the game and heard hip-hop beats blaring as I beat my opponents and  in the menus. It also allowed me to get deeper into the game than I ever wanted to. There are several instances where Street Fighter gets me and keeps me playing. Example of that are:

• Ken getting 4 hits for his Flaming Dragon Punch (Street Fighter II: The New Warriors)
• Ryu and Ken both fighting an insanely hard Bison--together (Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams)
• Fighting Shin Akuma at Ayers Rock, Australia (Street Fighter Alpha 2)
• Ken's gets an Air Hadoken (X-Men vs. Street Fighter)
• The VISUAL strike effects (Marvel vs. CAPCOM: Clash of Super Heroes)
• The introduction of Captain Commando with the other 3 members of his squad as backup (Marvel vs. CAPCOM: Clash of Super Heroes)
• The option of using 2 characters (Marvel vs. CAPCOM: Clash of Super Heroes)
• The option of using 3 characters (Marvel vs. CAPCOM 2: The New Age of Heroes)
• Three characters combining their Super Attacks together (Marvel vs. CAPCOM 2: The New Age of Heroes)
• Star Gladiator's Hayato introduced as a 2D character (Marvel vs. CAPCOM 2: The New Age of Heroes)
• The introduction of Sean and Elena, two dark-skinned characters of African ancestry that don't suck, are evil or boxers (Street Fighter III: New Generation)
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike. The whole thing.

It took me long enough to say, but this game is awesome. The music is so great and makes you wanna go. The characters are good, especially new additions like Makoto (a karate mistress with exceptional power and spirit), Remy (a Goth version of Guile & Charlie), Hugo (a refugee of the Mad Gear gang from Final Fight) and Q (aka "the Unknown", neither man or machine). The most significant addition to the Street Fighter III character lineup was the re-introduction of the first female character in Street Fighter, Chun-Li Zhang.

She's dropped her Street Fighter Alpha tracksuit (so sad...T_T) and is back in her traditional costume. Her fighting style still has the high jumps and quick kicks, but shows a bit more grace in its animations. Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick has been changed so it doesn't look like she's doing a HEADspring and then spinning, but using a spinning momentum to get off the ground; so fluid it makes me happy to see it. She doesn't have a Kikosho, but her other supers are mean. Even her win poses are smooth, living things: Miss Zhang bows upon entering and the "V for victory" win pose is changed from static female-looking sprite pointing fingers upward to an excellent representation of Chun-Li having a silly moment.

On the antithesis of silly (i.e., serious), I present to you Ryu's Super-Art moves, starting with the Denji-Hadoken. An upgrade from the Shinkuu-Hadoken, Denji-Hadoken gives you the option to CHARGE the already powerful Shinkuu-Hadoken, much like Sakura's chargeable Hadoken in Street Fighter Alpha 2. The obvious drawback is that people can already prepare themselves for or act on the creation of a Shinkuu-Hadoken. The benefit is that it's UNBLOCKABLE. 'Nuff said for turtlers. That's not the end to his strength, for he also has the baddest move on top of that: the Shin-Shoryuken.
Normally, Ken is the better of the two when it comes to the Shoryuken, pulling off more than the single hit Ryu is capable of. Ryu has come back with a vast improvement over Ken's Shoryu-Reppa and Shin-Ryuken, called the Shin-Shoryuken. This Super-Art is so strong, it has a backup plan for when it misses its initial ground strike. On the ground, the Super-Art only gets three hits. It also knocks off an amazing 50% of health from the life-meter. The real gem is when the three strikes go off in sucession: Ryu hits with the first hand (a "closed body" camera shot), then the camera gets a close-up of the opponent's mid-section for a second hit (an "open body" camera shot) and ending with Ryu sending the opponent skyward with a rising uppercut. It may seem tedious to you, but to me it's ballet.
Lest we forget that if he misses the ground strike, Ryu has a chance to make a 15-hit aerial combo. It's impressive, but it doesn't pass Sagat's 21-hit Tiger Genocide from Street Fighter Alpha 2.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike is a milestone in gaming for me; it put almost everything into a fighting game AND not a lot of people hogged it up at the arcade. When something like that happens to a fighting game, that means there's something in it for me and will probably earn a high mark with me.

RATING: 8/10

Movie Review - The Phantom (1996)

SLAM EVIL. The dumbest tagline ever.

When I saw this tagline attached to the movie The Phantom, I really didn't care. The movie wasn't hyped up as much as other movies in 1996, and due to that fact I did not see it in its theater run. Later on, I expressed some regret about not seeing the film because (a) it was a superhero movie, and all of those movies should be given a chance and (b)I had heard of the Phantom before.
I first encountered the legend of The Phantom through the cartoon Defenders of the Earth, an ensemble superhero group that fought against Ming the Merciless. Their ranks included jungle heroes the 22nd Phantom and Lothar, space hero Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician and their respective descendants (Jedda Walker, Rick Gordon, L.J. and the orphan Kshin, respectively). The purple-tighted Phantom didn't seem like much because of his lack of super powers or any well-known, establishing feats. Thus, it was not inferred that he was the leader and was relegated to the shadows (like Batman) while Flash and the others led the charge. Want for a cloistered life is not indicative of a crime fighter 22 generations in the making. That changed with another animated production starring the Phantom.
Phantom 2040 is about the 24th Phantom and his adventures in the future. The show had an awesome theme song that screamed FUTURE and the character designs were created by Peter Chung (of Aeon Flux fame). Thus watching the show automatically became a guilty pleasure. The show didn't last long, but the idea that a hero can lack superpowers and NOT be a brooding shadow all the time(ah, the comic-book heroes of the 1990's) was refreshing. And so, I approached the VHS copy of the Phantom with an open mind and respect for the Ghost Who Walks.

Our story is about the Walker family line and its curious fetish for domino masks and dark clothing. Why do they do this, you ask? Many years ago, the Walker family line (formerly Standish) was nearly ended by the machinations of greedy pirates. Crucified on an African beach and his son left to watch, the elder Standish begged vengeance from his son. With the hate of piracy and evil in his heart, the first Phantom was born.
Obviously, the Phantom is a mortal. He goes about his days as a man and can die just like any other through age or various other means. As such, when a Phantom dies, his son immediately takes his place. That is why villains believe that the Phantom never dies--"The Ghost Who Walks"--and fear him with great trembling.
The movie concerns the 21st Phantom, Kit Walker (Billy Zane), who inherits the Phantom mantle from his father, the 20th Phantom (Patrick McGoohan). Phantom #20 dies fighting the ruthless pirate king Kabai Sengh (character actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and word is passed across the Atlantic. Soon Kit has to leave all that he knows, including his fiancee, Diana Palmer (Kristy Swanson).
Kit's on the case about three mystical skulls that, when joined, release a great power. In the wrong hands, the power invested in the mystical skulls could conquer the world. Such are the plans of Mr. Xander Drax (Treat Williams)--businessman, industrialist and part-time gangster. With the help of his henchmen Quill (James Remar) and the devious, skintight leather-clad aviatrix Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Xander Drax gets his hands on two of the three skulls. Encountering both Kit and the Phantom at several points in the movie, the evil Drax never puts two and two together. Such is his downfall, for none escape the wrath of The Phantom!
Once the movie reaches a state of normalcy, the skulls are in their rightful places, Diana has joined Kit in Africa and they are set to bring in the next generation of the Phantom, even after finding out they are related by blood--

Wait, they're related? And they're trying to have KIDS? Saint Lazaro on crutches, no wonder the 23rd Phantom didn't last long--he was inbred!  Incest aside, the movie was great and needs to be visited by many a new-school comic fan. Maybe it'll let 'em know that there's more to heroism than mutants, ninjas, half-naked women and giant robots.

Video Game Review - Shining Force (1992 - Sega Genesis)

Shining Force was not the first RPG in the shining series that I played; that goes to the first RPG I enjoyed, called Shining Force II  Nonetheless, Shining Force gives us a little bit of history as to what its sequel will be talking about in certain points of the story. But we're here to review the second game in the "Shining" Series, Shining Force: the Legacy of Great Intention.

At first glance, the subtitle for Shining Force is powerful yet somewhat Engrish in its execution. That's not what you're here for. You're here to listen to a little girl named Meg read a story about a young man who sacrificed his life to save the world from the evil wizard Dark Sol (from the first game Shining in the Darkness) and his three-headed creation, Dark Dragon. She manages the save files for the game by the chapters read in the book, which is a detriment to those who must save on the fly. Because of the Chapter system, there is no going back to find missed items or playable characters. While this is a drawback, it doesn't diminish the fun I had playing it.

Playing this game after playing its sequel, *Shining Force II*, made the game a lot more fun than it should have been. I especially liked the reappearing young traveller Boken. Speaking of Boken, this game will always make sure that you try to help as many people as you can. The obvious reward is either items or a new party member, more often the latter. When you get your characters, just be prepared for some weird stuff.
When it comes to party members, *Shining Force* has some real doozies. You'll get characters like:

• Domingo the magical jellyfish
• winged birdman warriors like Balbaroy and Amon
• Guntz the mech-suited armadillo
• centaur knights(eliminating the need for both horse and rider by combining them)
• Zylo the werewolf

and many others who will see you through to your mission of saving the world from evil.

The magic in the game sets a precedent as to how magic will be exhibited in the "Shining" Series games. Most magic spells have 4 levels to them, with more complex animations as the levels go higher. They're damn good magic spells to look at and are great for the system's power. The items in this game are pretty cool, with created weaponry being forged from Mithril only and cursed weapons being found in battle. Those kinds of weapons are usually found in the presence of bosses.
Bosses are a mixed bag: they can be sickeningly easy or hard enought to gain your respect after you've stomped a mudhole in them and walked it dry. I think that they'd all be the same with different sprites if it weren't for the terrain they chose to battle on. The terrain in which a boss (or any enemy for that matter) chooses is usually chosen to take advantage of the delay in traversing the terrain, thus limiting movement. In an open grassland, the terrain effect to movement would be 0%, while terrain effect in a swamp would be at the maximum of 30%--enough to knock out one or two blocks off your movement radius (an average of 4).

As I stated before, the game sets down ground rules as to how future installments in the "Shining" Series are run. I must say though, the ending may be pyrrhic but there's always a light at the end of the darkness... a shining light...