Welcome to The TPS Report, home to video game blogs, mix sets and even the odd piece o' 3D art.

Broke arse student, freelance games reviewer and rambling obsessive that I am, I currently seek work in mags and web sites throughout the world. If you're in a position to make that happen - and like what you see around here - let me know. I've published work with the likes of IGN and Gaming Steve.

-Matt/Diggler

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Future Plans For the Site
28/7/2012 22:31

Preview Time! Games to Look Out For in 2011
8/1/2011 5:54

2010's Games of Shame
6/1/2011 22:47

My Fave Games of 2010!
6/1/2011 20:12

StarCraft II Review - Dig Loveth the RTS!?
7/11/2010 12:48

10 Must-Have iPhone Games
2/6/2010 18:09

A Little Hotlink to An Article I Stuck Up On GiantBomb
21/4/2010 15:01

Aliens Vs Predator is Here! Woo! Oh, Hang On...
6/3/2010 20:58

iPhone Games!
6/3/2010 20:40

The Top 30 Games of an Obscenely Packed 2009. Shit Gets Epic
7/1/2010 20:09

More...

If interested in discussing writing opportunities for on or offline gaming publications - either UK based or abroad - please contact me via E-Mail. Sparkling CV available on request

 

 

Street Fighter Anniversary Collection Reviewed On Xbox
Posted by Diggler - 8/10/2004 23:29

Ahh, Street Fighter - many a memory does it bring back. The first Street Fighter was actually one of the first games I ever owned, back on the Atari ST.

Shit it was, let's be honest.

The world at large really considers Street Fighter II the true beginning of the series though, as that was as close to a perfect piece of video gaming as you could ever find. As cool as the arcade game was though, I think the Super NES version was the true classic. Up until that point home systems had always paled in comparison to arcade games you see. I mean we had fun on our home systems, sure, but it was nothing compared to the magic of being in an arcade and playing the real games.

So when Capcom released a pixel perfect port of Street Fighter II on the SNES, it completely revolutionised home gaming in that regard - suddenly we could get that same arcade thrill in the comfort of our own home. Ever since then the home systems have slowly and steadily rose up to rival, and indeed overtake arcade games in general.

It's on buying the SNES version that I got addicted to my first game in fact. I'm talking full blown highs and cravings. I think the longest I played was seven hours in one sitting - one of the many "Winner Stays On" marathons me and my mates used to put on. I was all about Ryu myself - the dragon punch being the secret weapon to winning every match - yet it was so tricky to pull off, only revealing itself at the final, most desperate moments.

Naturally I went on to gobble up all the various cash-in re-releases and upgrades that followed, my fave being Street Fighter II Turbo.

Street Fighter II Turbo Ninja Rock Hard Bastard Supreme Ultra Mega Edition

But enough reminiscing, let's move onto the new bumper pack anniversary collection we're here to chat about today. Basically it's a kind of "greatest hits" compilation. You get every single rendition of Street Fighter II bundled together for the first time, namely Turbo, Champion Edition, and of course standard vanilla Street Fighter II, totalling a whopping great 17 characters in all. More importantly, this includes all the various different incarnations of each individual character from over the years as well.

Rounding off the pack is Street Fighter III: Third Strike, a game I must admit I never got into when it first came out, as I was in a minor gaming slump at the time (something of a Bermuda triangle point of my life).

Unsurprisingly, the very first Street Fighter is no where to be seen among all these. Although as a game it was about as fun as sandpapering your foreskin off, it would have been nice for archival purposes if they'd thrown it in here too.

Although this collection has already been released on PS2, the new Xbox version which I've been enjoying this week adds an extra online component via Xbox Live - rather a pivotal feature that'll improve its shelf life no end. After all, Street Fighter has always been about battling a friend hasn't it, and now all the mateless agoraphobics can enjoy such pleasures without the need to give up precious sofa space.

Street Fighter II is still the benchmark for all beat 'em ups if you ask me. It's so easy to pick up and play, yet stupidly tough to truly master, just as it should be. The characters handle so responsively they become almost an extension of you, and perhaps most importantly of all, it enforces the use of blocking in order to stay alive. There's subsequently just that element of raw skill involved, where you have to be spot on at all times if you plan on taking down the better players. You end up with the craziest high speed back and forth duels usually only seen in kung fu flicks.

It just feels like in the more recent 3D fighting arena we've lost all that in favour of slower paced button bash fests.

I'll Take Your Brain to Another Dimension

Let me go into mini rant mode for a second. My theory on beat 'em ups is that they rapidly declined over the years, once they made that jump into 3D. I believe Virtua Fighter was one of the first to try this, if not the first, and I must say that despite being wowed by the pretty (yet lifeless) polygonal graphics at the time, it just never played anywhere near as good as Street Fighter II. And that trend continued for years after, each one feeling just as sluggish, lacking in skill, and delving more and more into button bashing territory.

As a result, I went from loving this genre with such a genuine passion, to eventually chucking it in completely. The recent Soul Calibur II is perhaps the only 3D fighter to start matching up to the brilliance of SFII in my book, but it took a long fucking while to get there.

Ha-Do-Ken!

SFII's legacy can still be felt throughout the genre never the less. In fact it can be crowned as the game to single-handedly invent the whole concept of both special moves and combos. If the tales are true, combos were apparently nothing more than an unplanned exploit in the first game, an art that all the best players used to get their toons pummelling twice as fast as they should have been. Playing some of the latter reincarnations of SFII in this collection it makes me smile to see how the combo system went on to become such a pivotal part of the entire series. That kind of thing's magic, and you can't really plan for it.

Okay, so as with most repackaged older titled such as this, the graphics in SFII don't exactly shine in comparison to more recent offerings, but Street Fighter III still comes off okay. It must also be said that the sound fares much better, in both games actually, with that vintage video game cheese still sounding as good as it ever has.

All in all this pack is a welcome trip back in time, and the inclusion of the previously unplayed Street Fighter III gives it a nice sense of the unknown for me. A vital question though, is whether this outing as a whole is different enough to the last Street Fighter compilation we had on Xbox, which while not as definitive as this one, wasn't hugely different in terms of just how it played.

Die hard fans will no doubt think so, but for the more softcore gamers out there, you might want to give this one a miss if you already own Capcom Vs SNK 2 EO.

Untitled Document

The Polynomial. Like playing a rave

Untitled Document

Game
Fallout 3

Enjoying a fully modded out re-visit. Wow

Film
The Road

Pretty much due to the above

Show
Breaking Bad

Already shaping up to be the best season yet

Tune
Explosions in the Sky

Easing the pain of living in a post-Friday Night Lights world

Untitled Document

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Fully Ramblomatic
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A Life Well Wasted
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The Hotspot
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Gaming Steve
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Consolevania
Quick-fire internet-based TV show with console reviews and comedy sketches. Funny as hell

Major Nelson
An interesting "blogcast" hosted by a Microsoft employee, featuring stacks of exclusive behind the scenes news and interviews relating to all things Xbox 360

The Kojima Productions Report
Official podcast from the team of Hideo Kojima, creator of the much-loved Metal Gear franchise. Full of news and interviews relating to all things Metal Gear, it's probably one for die-hard fans only

Pure Pwnage
Mockumentary series on the life of a pro gamer. Episode five is possibly the funniest thing on the internet

Other Sites

Kotaku
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Game Trailers
Easy to use multimedia-rich web site offering official trailers, video demos and sneak peaks at all the upcoming releases

Game Videos
Sister site to 1up.com, focusing on game trailers, video interviews and even the odd documentary

Gamespot
The Gamespot front-end, and the gaming equivalent of the Internet Movie Database. Includes detailed reviews and extensive video features on pretty much all systems and games ever made

Giant Bomb
Speaking of Gamespot, the controversial "letting go" of editor Jeff Gerstmann resulted in him starting up this new venture with fellow former writers of the site. Great podcast in particular

1up.com
Discounting the audio and video shows mentioned earlier, 1up's main site is also worth a visit in its own right. Not only bustling with quality gaming articles and extensive developers' blogs, it also doubles up as a massive friends network, ideal for meeting fellow gamers and joining like-minded communities

Live Marketplace Feed
The most up to date and reliable way to keep track of all the new Xbox Live Marketplace content, from new weapons and map packs, to movie trailers and game demos

Xbox Reloaded
360 backwards compatibility can be a minefield. This blog attempts to shed some light on the issue by playing original Xbox games for you and reporting back the results

GameFAQs
The ultimate resource for walkthroughs and cheats

Disposable Media
A wonderful (and free) E-zine, full of reviews and articles on gaming, movies, music and TV. Puts most high street mags to shame

X-Fire
A must-have for all PC gamers, X-Fire is a buddy list and communications tool that keeps constant tabs on what games both you and all your mates are playing, on or offline

Steam
A contender to the X-Fire throne that has pretty much overtaken it straight out of the gate. Valve's Steam client contains friends lists, downloadable games, Live-style achievements and plenty more to sink your teeth into

MyGamerCard.net
Convert your Xbox Live gamercard into an image, for use on forums and web sites for free. That's mine further down

Ain't it Cool News
The latest news, gossip and spy reports from the world of movies, TV and (occasionally) video games

Smodcast
Writer, director and actor Kevin Smith - he of Clerks fame - records a monthly podcast in which he and fellow pals discuss everything from trying to felate oneself, to the time his dog got covered in ejaculate. Riveting stuff

 

Matt Robinson, 2011

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