Best Games You've Never Played: Dragon Force Sega Saturn

Dragon Force was one of the best games for the Sega Saturn. It was released in Japan as a Sega Ages Collection for Playstation 2, but unfortunately we are not that lucky here in the U.S. Dragon Force was translated and released by the now defunct Working Designs (great studio) and released for the Saturn in 1996. Dragon Force's claim to fame were the epic battles with up to 200 troops onscreen with 7 different troop types (soldier, samurai, archer, mage, harpy, dragon, or zombie) but it was a tremendous strategy game with a ton of replay value (8 different Rulers to Choose from). The graphics were great for their time and there will full anime cutscenes that were very stylish. The orchestral music worked well with the theme and the epic battles with some (though little) real time interaction by the way of special moves and troop formations kept me interested through all the strategy elements. Nothing beat overwhelming an army with a swarm of 100 dragons. The game mixed RPG elements, Story, Battles, and Strategy elements perfectly for a very engaging 40-50 hour quest. The game won a ton of awards including best game of the year, but was not widely released in America. I was lucky enough to be a die-hard Sega fan at the time and pretty much got every new game that came out. Back then this was one of the best games in my collection.

Back then: 98%

Dragon Force holds up pretty darn well to this day. The biggest downer is the complete lack of voiceovers and a ton of text to read...but that was the name of the game back then... still it's a burden now and makes the story less compelling than I remember. The anime sequences are still awesome and sprites and look of the game definitely hold up, though the animation doesn't have as many frames as I would like. The most important thing is gameplay though...and the gameplay is still unique today and refreshing when compared to all of the Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics style of strategy RPG warfare. I wish you could take more direct control of the General...but perhaps this was present in the Japan only Dragon Force 2. I'm sure us here in the US will never know, especially since it is one of the best games that was never played over here.

Verdict Now: 93%

Retro Review: Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Darkside

"Nine of the greatest fighters throughout history have met untimely and unjust deaths. They now compete against each other for a chance to face the "Eternal Champion" and reclaim their souls. The victor will return to Earth with the chance to avenge his or her own death and restore balance to the universe."

That quote pretty much sums up the story for the original and the sequel to Sega's internally developed Fighting Game. Eternal Champions was created to capitalize on the success of Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, Mortal Kombat and all the other fighting games in the early 90s. Despite this, the first Eternal Champions did a good job taking the mythology and tone of Mortal Kombat and mixing it with pixel drawn characters a la Street Fighter. The first game was decent, but the sequel was a winner.

The first Eternal Champions offered easy to execute special moves, but these moves were restricted by a special move meter. The gameplay was also slow and there were limited characters to choose from. The sequel introduced combos, a less stringent special meter, a ton of new characters (resulting in 25 total), better sound, 3 types of finishing moves, secret characters, Easter eggs, and more. It's a shame the Sega CD was a dud and that this game came late in its life cycle. It was a gem that deserved to be played.

Back then: 90%

To this day, Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side is still an under appreciated title that many people did not play. While the mediocre original garnered some attention with a Wii Console release, Challenge from the Dark Side is definitely too violent to make it onto the Wii. That's a shame since the sequel is superior. Eternal Champions 2 is still fun today. The game is a little slow for fighting game standards, but the art style, gameplay, animation and special attacks are pretty unique to the slew of other fighters of the generation. Even to this day, Eternal Champions CD stands up as a good fighter worthy of playing. I can only hope that it gets a more widespread release so that more people can experience this Mortal Kombat themed game with Street Fighter-esque controls.

Verdict: 85%

Indie Game Showcase: flOw bundle mini-review

I'm not really sure if flOw is a video game, but it certainly is an experience. As a game, flOw lacks gameplay, complexity, and challenge, but it's slogan is "...life could be simple." That slogan really embodies what flOw is. flOw is an incredibly fresh and relaxing voyage into the depths of a simple oceanic world. The gameplay is simple, but the presentation, graphics and sound work incredibly well. As a game, the only real incentive to keep playing is to evolve your creature and unlock new creatures, but flOw is enjoyable beyond that. Just as a good album is great to pop in and relax to, flOw is a great thing to start up just to veg out on the couch and experience the "lights and sounds" if you will. For less than the price of a movie ticket ($8.99), you can experience flOw and this unique gaming experience really should not be missed. Congrats to thatgamecompany.

Verdict: 88%

Download the Metal Gear Online Beta Now

Metal Gear Online is available to download (if you preordered MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots and received the bonus DVD). It's pretty easy to download, just go to account management, transaction management and then enter your promotional code.

You can't play the game yet (that goes live April 21st for 2 weeks), but you can check out the menus and a trailer. You may want to take the time to download the game and sign up for a Konami ID before monday since I am sure that things will be slower the day of.

The download and install process was pretty quick. Now Metal Gear Online and MGS4 just have to live up to the hype and expectations of gamers. Metal Gear has been one of the best series for 20 years now, so I am confident this will be the Playstation system seller it is meant to be. More to come when the Beta Launches.