Top Ten 2-D Fighting Game Characters.

This is something that's been brewing for a while after the suggestion from Cody. I thought about including 3-D characters as well, but I figured they could use their own list. Also, 2-D character designs tend to be much cooler when fighting games are concerned. So, here we go. Pictures alone should explain the coolness, but I'll probably include a few words on the way.

10. Ryu(Street Fighter)



"What?!!?" I'm sure there would be an outcry like that if people actually read my blog. Yeah, Ryu is awesome. Yeah, he was the first guy to popularize the standard karate gi in fighting games. Yeah, he's OG. However, as cool as he is, the rest of the characters are just more appealing to me. Still, I have all kinds of respect for Ryu. He's been one of my favorites since I was first introduced to Street Fighter over ten years ago.

9. Ukyo Tachibana(Samurai Shodown)



He's a samurai, he stands with his back to his enemies, has blue hair, and he freaking fights while having TB. His character gives off that noble sort of feel, which just furthers his coolness. Ah, I have some great memories from when I was little, playing Samurai Shodown II on a cabinet while my mom would shop, which served as my introduction to the SNK realm.

8. Baiken(Guilty Gear)



She's a war-torn, yet somehow still hot female samurai. Plus, she has a chain of sorts attached to her....err..stump, or whatever is left of her arm. Also, pink hair rocks, atleast in her case. She just has great style, along with most of the GG cast.

7. Millia Rage



She's an assassin that kills people using her hair. Awesome. She's also extremely fun to play, and she's been my main in GGXX and #R since I started playing a few years back. Everything about her is cool. Design, moves, stage, and stage theme song...all awesome.

6. Chun-Li



The OG female fighter, and still one of my favorites. Her character design and moves are legendary, and for good reason. She was rocking spiked bracelets way before any teenagers thought they were cool. Only padawans who are willing to dedicate years to learn the Spinning Bird Kick should be allowed to wear them. Also, you all know you throw the peace sign right back at her after each round.

5. Akuma(Street Fighter)



I don't think I really need to explain his position. He's a shoto fighter like Ryu and Ken, but he's so much cooler. No sissy non-killing ideals here, just repeated demon kicks to the face! He might not be part of the triforce of Third Strike, but I play him anyway. Not like it matters, as I suck pretty badly at the game, haha.

4. Setsuna(Last Blade)



Just a picture doesn't do him justice. While I've never played Last Blade II, I used to rock Setsuna all the time back when I played Mugen. He's just the man. He's probably the most pissed off looking character I've ever seen in a fighting game. Also, take note that his katana is black. Black. Own! Awesomeness just oozes off him.

3. I-no(Guilty Gear)



To think that I actually didn't like I-no when I first played GG. I must've been on some sort of anti-cool kick or something at the time, because I-no is the own of female fighters. She fights with a guitar and wears a possessed, witchly hat that spews out harmful musical notes. Yes! Strangely enough, I haven't played her all that much more than a number of others from the GG cast, though I was using her more and more often before I stopped playing much.

2. Iori Yagami(King Of Fighters)



His character design is the stuff, and his fighting style is one of the craziest I've ever seen. He fights using an open fist, clawing his enemies. The amount of blood, and the old-but-cool sound effect that accompanies each hit is so satisfying. Also, he's rather unstable, laughing manically after certain moves. While he and my number one pick might not come from my favorite series, they're definitely my favorite character designs.

1. K'(King Of Fighters)



Thumbs down victory pose FTW! His character design is tops, and he's my favorite SNK character to play as. His fighting style is definied as "violence," and he delivers flying knees to the face. What more needs to be said? He's the man.

I Love War.

I honestly did want to make a post about Gears of War sooner, but it was lost in route to Gamestop and I had to wait a couple extra days to play it. After that I just decided that I would wait until my friend Mike and I played through the entire game before making a post. Also, while I had an awesome time the first time I played, I wanted to play as much as possible and really let things sink in before I talked much about it. Well, we finally finished the campaign last night and here I am.

GoW pretty much did every possible thing right, and instead of gushing over it for a couple pages I'm going to touch on some aspects that were a pleasant surprise for me. You can find tons of reviews all over the net talking about how great the gameplay is, and I can also testify to that being true. The gameplay really did turn out to be just as fun as it looks, and I never found myself wanting to even take a break. The entire game looks incredible. Incredible. I think it's safe to say Gears is the best looking game I've ever played. However, like I said, you can find people talking about these aspects on every gaming site on the net, so I'm not going to go say too much about them.

One thing that Gears really did well was character interaction. While the story could've used more screen time, I really took a liking to the main cast, and this was mainly due to how they interacted in certain situations. I love it when you see characters interacting in real time, when you actually have control over your own character. A good example of this in another game would be in the Metal Gear Solid series, where several examples come to mind. In MGS2 both you and Snake have to provide cover fire for Emma as she crosses between two struts. Just seeing two other characters move around in real time made them seem so much more alive. This type of interaction is presented several other times throughout the game, and also in both MGS and MGS3.

Real-time character interaction like that is also presented throughout Gears of War because you're always running around with members of Delta and Alpha squad. Conversations are held in person throughout the game, and in situations where the group splits up characters will still converse over the radio. These situations really give the chance for characters to come to life, and it was easy to feel attached to them.

Another aspect that I liked was how some enemies would really just show up out of nowhere. By this I mean larger enemies, and they're sometimes introduced without using a cutscene, which is something I've always wanted more games to do. Now, it wasn't done to the extent that I'd like, but the fact that they did it at all got me pretty excited. I'd love to go into more detail, but I don't want to ruin any segments of the game for anyone who hasn't played it yet.

While the campaign mode was really well done, another chapter to help extend the length would've been nice. I wasn't tired of the gameplay in the absolute least when we finished, and the story could've used a bit more fleshing out. Still, I think Epic did a fantastic job with it. It met all of my expectations, which were considerably high by this point. I haven't even gotten the chance to touch multiplayer yet because Mike and I couldn't pull ourselves away from the campaign, but I'm really looking forward to putting some time into it whenever I get the chance.

Another thing that I'd like to mention is the art direction. The planet of Sera really does look war-torn, and I often found myself attempting to stop and look at the scenery(the damn Locust kept interrupting my sightseeing). There are some really beautiful areas in the game, albeit destroyed, and there are others that are just plain cool. I'd also like to applaud character designs in general. The main cast of COGs are the manliest men I think I've ever seen, and you pretty much feel like the man as you're owning the Locust horde throughout the game. The Locusts themselves look great(and ugly!) as well. The designs for even the basic drones are intimidating and very cool, while larger enemies such as Berserkers have you biting your nails.

Finally, I have one last thing to talk about regarding Gears. I know CliffyB is a big fan of Resident Evil 4, so it wasn't too big of a surprise to catch different influences from it in certain areas of the game. First off, and most obviously, is the over-the-shoulder camera. RE4 was the first game I played that used it, and it did so extremely well. Now, who knows if Epic was already planning on using this camera style or not, but I figured I'd at least mention it considering it's also the first thing anyone reading this would think of. Secondly, both games feature a mine cart section. Now, they're actually quite different from each other, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is where the idea came from. Also, while they're set up differently, RE4's version of it was actually quite a bit better. Finally, the last thing that just screamed RE4, and undeniably so, is GoW's Berserker enemy. They're Epic's version of RE4's Garrador, plain and simple. They work great in both games, so I was absolutely fine with it. I'm willing to bet there are some things I'm leaving out, but I'm feeling pretty crappy at the moment, so I'll leave it at that.

Almost Emergence Day.

While not quite Emergence Day yet, which falls on the 12th, the gaming world is practically there with the toted 'killer-app' Gears Of War shipping to certain retailers today. My excitement for Gears literally knows no bounds, and I don't even own a Xbox 360. Of course I want one, and hopefully I'll be able to pick one up around Christmas. Anyway, I've been geeked about GoW for I don't even know how long now, as it looks incredible in every aspect, and it just looks like the type of game I'd love. There isn't really much of a point to this post except to let out some of my excitement to play. IGN's review , the first I've seen for GoW, dropped today. It's full of so many compliments and such enthusiasm that it's all I can to keep from going crazy while I wait to play it tomorrow. Thank God two of my friends are picking it up and I'll be able to dish out some raping to the Locust Horde with them. Well, I'll be sure to post my impressions tomorrow night.

Also, I picked up Final Fantasy XII on Wednesday, and I've been having a blast with it then. I've been meaning to make a post about it, but all my time has either gone into playing it, working, or doing homework. I've put in around 25 hours of playtime so far, and it's been serving up a healthy dose of fun, challenge, political intrigue, and great style so far. I'll go more in-depth as soon as I get the chance.