Recent reviews by Tenshu

Streets of Rage 4 is a great entry into the series after nearly three decades since their inception on the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. It provides a similar experience to the older games but with added features, mechanics, and a more modern feel.

Being a beat em up, the story of SOR4 isn't the most interesting. Like the previous games, you're a ragtag group of vigilantes out to save their city from an evil syndicate via fist-to-face style of solutions. Not much here, but it's not needed, it's serviceable.

This will be hit or miss for people looking at screenshots and footage, but my own personal opinion: I dig the artstyle. It does look a bit Newgrounds-y like say Castle Crashers but the game is animated beautifully, achieving rather smooth animations for the type of game it is and the pace it goes for.

Once again this will be subjective to all, but to me the music was a bit lacking at some points. Most of the tracks didn't really pop as they did in say SOR2, even Yuzo Koshiro's contributions. It's a great attempt at having the soundtrack be more diverse but to me it just felt like it lacked something.
The sound effects are ok, they could use a bit more oomph to them. Hits don't sound like they carry much weight to them as they should like in say SOR2 where hits sounded very painful. It's inferior, but still stimulating.

The most important part of the game and SOR4 delivers. Your characters each have their own individual movesets and answers to certain situations on screen and their own specialties. You have two overall balanced characters, Axel and Blaze, with one putting a bit more focus on power while the other on combat speed, respectively. Floyd who puts an overall emphasis on power, and Cherry who is about speed. As of this writing however Axel is underwhelming in his repertoire in higher difficulties so he has a pretty hard time getting his damage in and avoiding retaliation. The game does introduce a fighting game-like combo system where you can use the screen and environment to your advantage in racking up hits and damage for more points. Anything that has collision can be used for wall bounces to continue onslaughts and each character has their own tools as to how to set up their combos and extend them. There is a more diverse selection of weapons you can find throughout the game and the addition of weapon catching is very satisfying when an enemy decides to toss their weapon at you, you can simply catch it in midair. It's easy to pickup and moderately difficult to master your preferred character/s. You can grab enemies, slam them. bounce them off each other or breakable objects, etc. Defensively you can tech potential knockdowns with the hit of the jump button or even vault away from a grabbed enemy to avoid potential damage from their allies. There's quite a bit more freedom here than in previous games.

The enemies also have similar options as you do, some older enemies throw you a curveball if you were used to them from previous games. One can quickly attack you if you attempt to grab them from the front without putting them in a stun from a punch and most will play to their attack ranges against you so you can't just button mash through this one. Bosses are also paced differently than previous games. Bosses now have a phase where they will fight you one on one for a while and will enter a new phase where they'll call upon additional enemies to help. The bosses have a set pattern and a mixture of armored moves where they will no sell your attacks and you must play the fight a bit more methodically to win. The final bosses however are a bit of a joke and could use an update.

The level design overall is ok. The backgrounds pop, some stages have an initial gimmick to them that can serve to impede you but also be used to your advantage such as floor hazards. My only complaint concerning the levels is the sauna level where the floor is slippery which really screws with your sense of control while the AI doesn't seem bothered by it.

Another important factor and in this regard, you get what you paid for. It is a beat em up, so as previously stated the story isn't really a bullet point. There is no branching path between a good or bad ending as in SOR3 but you do go through 12 stages as opposed to the previous entries' 8. You can unlock an additional base character Adam by playing through a certain point of the main campaign and through subsequent playthroughs earn points that will gradually unlock older versions of the roster, so if you want to take SOR2 Axel through the game with a buddy using SOR3 Axel, you can definitely do that in all their 16-bit glory. There is an option already unlocked to replace the game's soundtrack with some tracks from the older games and the selection is questionable but it's nice hearing those tracks again and if you're a new player to this series, give the retro soundtrack a try.
You can unlock a stage select, an arcade mode which is basically a survival mode going through the game on a single credit, and a boss rush mode. Standard fare for these types of games now. A battle mode is included as well where you can do some PvP though I would assume this won't have much of a focus so don't expect a deep experience like a fighting game.

Online will vary. Input delay will be a thing and the game does suffer from framedrops during an online session so if you have friends on Steam that want to play with you, you're better off using remote play until this is fixed.

This new entry into the series does a lot of things right and I do applaud the developer for designing the combat around the new mechanics we have at our disposal. Make no mistake, the game will force you to use the tools it gives you or you will become frustrated. As a beat em up, it is a stimulating experience. Landing combos and blowing away enemies feels very good and the diverse cast of enemies keeps you on your toes. The graphics are nice and colorful, and the content is great for the price tag. If you like beat em ups that strike a balance between being methodical and fast paced, this is a great buy. If I were to give a score out of 10, this is a solid 8 for now with the lackluster final bosses and small base roster of fighters.

I wanted to like this game but playing it on the Normal difficulty, the game is punishing for the wrong reasons. The very first enemy is so badly made it's laughable. Your character's combat is responsive to a degree, everything does indeed work from her combo to countering, However the very first enemy has these options:

- Teleporting while being combo'd by you
- Teleporting while it's attacking you
- Teleporting after being parried, thus showing your counterattack doesn't even have iframes because it can smack you out of it

If the first enemy of the game has this bs, I can only imagine what the rest of the game has. I don't mind difficulty, but this isn't making the game difficult because you don't feel as though you lost through fault of your own, it's like fighting a Guilty Gear character using a vanilla Street Fighter II character, it's not enjoyable and I'm guessing there's some sort of way to exploit the enemy AI in order to beat it "easily" but that's not enjoyable either. I can't recommend this game until the developer looks into this issue. Age of Barbarian has more polish than this.

You don't know how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥ this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ is,
This port is so bad it sucks.
It's so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck it ♥♥♥♥♥.
I'd rather 69 a grizzly bear while shoving King Kong up my ass
I'd rather eat out the rotten ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of a roadkilled skunk than play this port
This port is a chicken licking, finger ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!
This port is ball cider
♥♥♥♥ this port, ♥♥♥♥ it to hell, ♥♥♥♥ it to DAMNATION OF MANKIND


In other words, the port sucks.

As a game, Mortal Kombat X has exceeded my expectations of an MK game.
The game itself looks wonderful, the music and sounds all very satisfying and intense, the gameplay is simple but stimulating. A returning MK fan from either the 90s anthology, the 2000s trilogy, or fresh off of MK9 will be in for a lot of fun.
The controls are good, whether you use a controller or the keyboard. Very responsive, but like any PC fighting game, you'll have an ideal time with it if you're running it at 60fps. Every character has three variations, each alters their moveset a tad but enough to where you need to develop a newer playstyle with all three. Fighting game fans may be reminded of Samurai Shodown games and the Slash/Bust system or the three moon style selection of Melty Blood Actress Again. It's well done and makes returning characters still feel fresh.
The character roster has been expanded a little, the game went Street Fighter III/Garou: Mark of the Wolves where some new generation fighters come into the mix. The characters are interesting, they feel fresh, gone are the palette swapped ninja with similar movesets for old school MK fans.
For people who were fans of Mortal Kombat 2011/MK9's story mode, Mortal Kombat X is a great improvement, if you're a fan, you'll immediately be able to tell this is supposed to be a retelling of Mortal Kombat 4, but the story itself is still its own and builds off the previous game and going in a completely new direction that is entertaining.

Now then... the bad.
The game has had a rocky launch on PC. When you get this game, via Steam or even going to your local game store and picking up a retail disc, you'll still have to download the game's full size. You'll be given a 3GB preload where you can play as you download. The downside is that because this is experimental, there's problems. You need to download packs 1-29 however it's not until pack 12 where you will get your first stage to play on. The only advantage of this is that you don't need to quit the game to install the updates you're downloading, the game is updated in realtime. After the 30GB download in total, you'll need to download a 15GB patch, hopefully this will be incorporated into the initial install in the future.
Your PC settings are limited, if you want the game to look high grade to most PC enthusiast's expectations and you have the hardware to do it, you'll have to force the features yourself. Also note this game is dependent on your CPU. As of this review, I sincerely hope High Voltage Studios is looking into their code to fix this as a fighting game has no business relying on the CPU more than the GPU. Make sure your hardware is up to snuff for this game. Even on Low settings, it doesn't mean you'll be steady with something from five years ago. The online mode is being worked on, it's not perfect but for a while you may be looking for local players and even those may not be perfect lag-free matches. Something minor, the intros before a match and finishing moves at the end are locked at 30fps

I recommend this game based on what the finished product is. It's a very well done, fast paced fighting game that will keep your attention and you'll enjoy it thoroughly. But please be aware that before you buy it, your computer can handle it.

My computer specs for reference, I can run the game perfectly fine at 60fps on the highest settings at 1920x1080.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: AMD FX-6300 @4.4GHz
GPU: GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
8GB of RAM
Stored on a secondary 7200rpm 2TB HDD

The first proper Dead or Alive game on the PC. How does it fare? It's actually a pretty good port. A lot of reviews are... I'd have to say "whining" about two stages being cut and no achievements. The latter may be added later for people that like to get those things.

As for the game itself. It looks pretty. The characters, which are arguably the most important asset in the game, all look fantastic even if they're using PS3 textures, the shadowing makes up for it imo. It's the same trick used in the past two Dynasty Warriors games Koei has ported to PC: Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition and Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires. This does indicate that perhaps Koei just doesn't know much about PC porting in general, whether it's Team Ninja or Omega Force, but it gets by. If you're looking for eye candy, the game's like a light version of something like Dragon Age: Inquisition. The game is pretty stable, I'm running a budget build at 1080p with 2k shadows and full AA, it looks great. I did get one crash in Story Mode but ever since then it hasn't given me any problems.

As for the gameplay if you're just a fighting game fan or just semi-interested in the genre, the gameplay's pretty solid. Nothing too hard to get used to, no knowing of any strengths to punches and kicks, but do note that everyone can counterhold almost any attack you throw out. However this comes with a rock-paper-scissors type of mechanic where a Strike wins over a Throw, a Throw wins over a Counter, and a Counter wins over a Strike. You can freely move around no problem with most characters and can side step, making defense in this game very easy to get into. As for offense, every character has an assortment of moves that can extend combos depending on circumstances such as stun and critical stun. The game itself has an extensive tutorial mode that delves into the deeper mechanics as well.

The music is very mood setting, it gets you into the fight. The sound effects are satisfying. Nothing seems to be downgraded at all in this port, though you do hear a change in quality if a Virtua Fighter character talks but that's something minor.

The controls are decent. Keyboard warriors may have a tough time, even if this game is incredibly accessible to a keyboard user by design. For a controller, I don't know if anyone's had this same issue, but the XB360's left analog stick seems to register a bit too sensitively with the game, slightly tilting it to left or right on the character select makes it cycle too fast so if that bugs you, just use the D-pad, there's not many intricate movements or combos where you'd want the stick anyway.

I like the game myself and for the price, I'll be honest I think even WITH an Online mode later, it should remain at $35.99. While there is cut content (not essential at all, but hey it's still missing content) and the game uses shading trickery to look better, it'd fall between the pricing of Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend and Ultra Street Fighter IV/King of Fighters XIII. It's a great game, easy to pick up and play. If you somehow like fighting game stories, the game's story mode isn't like Mortal Kombat 9's even though it tries to be, you'll be done with the story mode in a couple of hours, the rest of the game itself is great. If you want a nice 3D fighter on PC, this is a safe bet and if you're a DOA fan that hasn't been able to play a DOA game since DOA2, this has a lot of things carried over with some new moves and new mechanics. Hopefully the later Online patch will show if the game was well balanced.

On a numbers scale, I'd rate this a 7/10. Definitely get it if you have the spare money but only if you want a good 3D fighter or are a fan of DOA, otherwise do snag it when it goes on sale.

Also here are my PC's specs if you want to gauge it against your own:
AMD FX-6300 @4.4GHz
GTX 750Ti SC 2GBVRAM
8GB RAM
Have the game stored on a HDD
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit