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I miss old Ubisoft. Until early 00's Ubisoft was on of my favourites video-game companies. What a shame.

Even if you had to buy I'd say it's still a good time. Since you have it lying around I don't see any reason NOT to play it. Even if a HD version comes along the game is still the same and it won't be coming soon, if ever, anyway.

@hailinel: actually there's something special. It was pretty much like a Mortal Kombat movie. A pretty fun one by the way even if it did not make any sense. Most stories are linear so I'll ignore this complaint of yours. Also, not being linear doesn't make it better nor is something new. Yes, it's goofy but that work in its favour. It's Mortal Kombat! Actually Blazblue's story is not "mechanically" interesting. Especially when you have to die ON PURPOSE several times! If anything it can be a pain in butt. I could argue that MK's presentation is also better instead of standard visual novel presentation that looks like a lazy high resolution 90s visual novel with voice acting. Not being able to play some characters can be a good thing. Either way it's irrelevant. It's a design choice and what's good or not depends on the game.

As you see, it's easy to criticise. I could also complain about loads of things in MK but I believe it gets deserved praise. I believe it was an unfortunate and unnecessary comparison.

I like both games by the way. Also enjoy the story modes. I just don't see that revolution or superiority in Blazblue. They're also so different in most respects that I find it hard to compare to be honest.

3rd person action-adventure games have come a long way since Soul Reaver. It's easy to forget now how interesting the plane-switching mechanic was or how the gameplay was far above most action-adventure games of that time. I still think it controls extremely well and exploring that world is still a joy. The story really motivates you to get to know everything possible about that world and explore every inch of it (I know I did). Anything that might give you clues about what happened during the time Raziel was dead (and still is in a way) .

It also boasts some of the best voice acting in videogames that helps deliver what is probably Amy Hennig best work to this day. The story in extremely well crafted but much much larger than the game itself. It's not a self-contained story so if you're not aware of what came before it's not as enjoyable. You can be critical about the dialogues but that's the style chosen and fits rather well.

The "but" about the game's quality is the same it's always been: it was rushed. It was supposed to be much larger and the world itself gives a lot of hints about cuts made in the game, especially the later part.

The end is not really an end, it continues in Soul Reaver 2. It's just a cliffhanger. The block puzzles can be tedious to some, especially nowadays. I never minded though.

I don't know which platform you played but the ps version is particularly problematic in its use of fog effects to mask the hardware shortcomings. PC version is slightly better and Dreamcast is easily the best of the bunch. The best controller for the game is the dual shock though but the Dreamcast controller is good enough. PC is a pain. I personally believe the game controls really well even today, it was always a joy to control Raziel. Might not be relevant today but the game has few loading times. When you consider all it did back then it's surprising how well it ran.

That's how I feel about the game. I don't know how much I would enjoy it had I not been sucked in the series lore however. I probably would as a big 3rd person action adventure fan but would definitely not be the same.

About Tokimeki Memorial it's a product of its time. One could say every game is but is especially true here. i'm not fan of the game but I'll just say you 'didn't get it'. It's a classic for a very good reason and had a big impact in the genre. It is what it is and is better for it. it worked very well for a Japanese player in the 90s.

@extomar mentioned Sakura Taisen. I don't think you would enjoy but I personally find it a lot of fun. The cast is really interesting, the voices great, the artwork beautiful and the soundtrack fantastic. It's scary how many people still go to shows with the original voice actors singing.The 5fh can be ignored though. 4 is okay. 1~3 are classics, the 3rd being my favourite (you can even start with it without worrying about the story). There's also the ps2 remake of the 1st if you don't want to play the original. As far as gameplay goes the 3rd and the 4th are the best but being story driven as they are that in itself doesn't necessarily make them better than the others.

These kinds of games however are much more enjoyable when you're able to read relatively well. Almost like a book. They can also be guilty of unnecessarily using more kanji than it needs to. I say this because I played the 1st when I couldn't read so well (even though I wasn't bad at kanji) and had to check the dictionary more often than not. When I replayed those games later I could enjoy them much more. I don't know your level but is important to remember this in order to avoid being overly critical about the game. Hope you have fun.

Very, very average game. As expected Italy won. England didn't have much going for them besides Sturridge and Sterling. Italy defence still needs to be sorted out. A side with better attacking options than England would have capitalised on their mistakes today. Italy x Uruguay will be a more entertaining match I suppose (despite the poor showing today from Uruguay).

There are several differences besides the number of characters and the lack of animalities in UMK3. There are many gameplay tweaks. It's as different as say, Street Fighter III: New Generation and 3rd Strike. They may play similar but if you're a player that can affect substantially the game. UMK3 is the version most people play. The game is still fun but not so much if you're very high level and want to take it too seriously. Can be pretty broken at high level play unfortunately. MK9 is probably the first they really focused on making a competitive fighting system.

By the way, don't go for other versions of the game. One more buggy than the other... Especially the N64 version of trilogy.

@mosespippy: Maybe for some. For me I was waiting for Dark Souls for a long time. Most people who played Demon's Souls probably were I reckon. Same for The Witcher 2. The first Witcher became quite popular by then. Witcher 2 was also released in the first half of 2011 and had quite a lot of people talking about it, especially about the graphics. 3D land sold like hotcakes in 2011 except maybe North America. Zelda did pretty well too. Both actually because the Ocarina of Time remake was also released. Uncharted 3 however was not as good as 2 but much better than 1 but was very popular because of the 2nd. There were so many good games released in 2011 that for some people some were forgotten. All those games sold well in 2011 however so I guess depends on your region. If I were to judge merely by the coverage from Giant Bomb then I would agree I guess.

Even in 2011 many people were in awe with the amount of great games. I didn't even mentioned other popular games like Dead Space 2 that got a good review here just in the beginning of the year if I recall correctly, LA Noire (didn't particuarly like to be honest), Gears of War 3, Rayman Origins (not so popular this one), Crysis 2 (not as good as the 1st but solid and very popular in 2011), Bastion, etc etc etc

In MY experience there were so many games that I didn't know where to begin. From January all the way to the end of the year :) One of the best years I'd say. I think there were even some articles about this over the internet.

Yes, it does! 2004>2005 xD

We also had Prince of Persia: Warrior Within that was not as bad as some make it out too be (nowhere near Sands of Time but better than Two Thrones in my opinion), Metroid Zero Mission, Pikmin 2, Fable, Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Half Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Dragon Quest VIII and more!

2005 was great too. From the last 10 years I guess 2012, 2010, 2008 and maaybe 2013 were the not so good ones. 2010 for instance had Super Mario Galaxy 2, Xenoblade, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed II, Bioshock 2, Red Dead Redemption and some others. For some reason I still think that year could've been better. Maybe 2002 was not so good, but then again we have games such as Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, Morrowind... hard to argue with that.

Overall I think nowadays with have pretty solid years compared to the 90s but you can't beat that decade in terms of excitement with the many innovations in gaming happening in such a short span of time.

@tobbrobb: I saw it after I posted the reply :P I'm not into Guitar Hero but Ookami was definitely great. One of the best games from the last decade. I bit on the easy side but a masterpiece still. Mother 3 most people either love it or hate it so I won't be surprised if you don't enjoy. 2006 was fine for me. I was really hyped for Oblivion and Twilight Princess and had a great time. I'd put on the same level as 2005 maybe. 2004 was much better overall though.

@tobbrobb: 2006 :P 2006 had not only Ookami but Elder Scrolls IV, Persona 3 (Japan), Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Mother 3, Final Fantasy XII etc