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Fighters are a tricky genre to review in video games. Some people love the genre, others absolutely despise it. I land in the middle. I’ve enjoyed my fair share of fighters (DOA4, Super Smash Bros Melee, Marvel vs Capcom 2), but I wouldn’t call myself a fighter fan. I feel I can now safely add Street Fighter IV to that list.

The easiest way to sum up SFIV is to simply point out that it’s Street Fighter II enhanced.  If you love(d) Street Fighter II, you will instantly love this game.  In fact, most of the moves and the button presses to pull them off are identical.  Want to Sonic Boom someone with Guile?   Simply hold back to charge for 2 seconds, then forward and punch.  Want to use hundred hand slap?  Just tap punch as fast as you can (except this time, you won’t be able to move forward while you do this move).  This means it has the same Rock-Paper-Scissor dynamic as the original.  It’s not about learning how to pull off moves, but when to pull them off.

That said, this is a much better game than it’s predecessor.  It’s deeper (with the addition of the Super & Ultra meters, along with focus attacks) and more balanced.  It’s also beautiful and runs really smooth.

There is an arcade mode for single player (along with an annoyingly difficult boss), but like all fighters, the fun is in multiplayer.  Nothing beats Player vs Player combat on the same console, but the online play also seems lag free.  The only complaint I have is there currently isn’t a quarter mode, but hopefully that is on the way with the free update next month.

My only other complaint is the game plays the same awful pop song in the menus.  The rest of the music in the game is great, but this song is awful to hear on repeat when you are looking thru leaderboards or updating your profile.  Overall, this is currently battling Super Smash Bros Melee as my favorite fighter of all time.  Until I figure it out, I’ll be online shocking people with Blanka.

Normally, I make good, informed video game purchases. I follow games thru their development and when it comes time to purchase, I look at reviews and the track record of the developer. I ignored all of this when I bought MLB Front Office Manager, and that was a mistake.

I really wanted this to be a good game. I read early reviews that panned the final product. I ignored these, assuming it was non-baseball fans playing the game. I even swore off sports video games a few years ago, but I ignored that decision and STILL purchased this game. Why?

I guess I wanted it to be good. I wanted a scaled back MLB game that just allowed me to sign free agents, draft players and make trades. I wanted to see the results (even if simulated) would be of decisions I would make as a MLB General Manager. Most of all, I wanted to put this data driven game on, listen to records and spend a few hours every week in fantasy land.

Why is this game so bad?

First off, the menu system in MLB Front Office Manger is awful.  This game is 90% navigating thru menus and making decisions.  The problem is the menu systems aren’t organized very well and there is no crossover.  Good luck figuring out where you go to sign recently drafted picks.  Once you do find it, I see no way to see which round they were taken in.  Also, you’ll have to go thru one system of menus to find out information, only to back all the way out, and go thru another system to get somewhere else.  This occurs even when the two menus are related.

Next, the AI is awful.  Other teams throw around money and just make awful decisions.  There are countless examples I could cite, but instead I’ll just bring up three.

• Chipper Jones signed a 7 year deal for $24.6 million a year.  He’s 36 years old.
• Rafael Furcal, who is 31, was requesting a 10 year deal at $18 million a year.
• The Brewers traded Prince Fielder to the Royals for Mark Grudzielanek and Mike Aviles.

The transactions you can make, aren’t even handled very well in MLB Front Office Manager.  You can make an offer to a Free Agent, wait a few days and get an email back that he either accepted it or declined.  There are no counter-offers.  Trades work the same way.  Players with No Trade Clauses cannot be traded, there is no way to get them to waive them.  The drafts are incredibly shallow in options.  All players have a number value, and some have a Potential value.  Even the parts of the game that should be fun, aren’t.

Also, it doesn’t really matter how talented your team is the first few years.  You could start with the Boston Red Sox and you still would finish under .500 in the first season because your GM is inexperienced.  You have to gain experience with your GM, and then magically your team will start to play better.  A talented team is going to play well, regardless of who the GM was who built it.

My final complaint is that you do way too much as a GM.  I just want to sign, draft and trade players.  Instead, you have to also manage the Pitching Rotation, Depth Charts and Batting Lineups of the MLB, AAA, AA, A+, A & R teams.  I thought thats what I paid managers to do, but I guess not.

In conclusion, 2K Sports has made a terrible baseball game.  It feels like it was built by two types of people:  those who don’t watch baseball and those who don’t think video games should be fun.  I’ll be going to Gamestop and hope to get a couple bucks back for this disaster party of a game.

Dear Treyarch,

Why do you hate fun?

Recently, I received Call of Duty: World at War as a gift. While I enjoy the multiplayer, I wanted to give you some feedback on your Solo Campaign. Currently, I am only one level away from beating the game on Veteran. As you already know, Veteran is the hardest difficulty in the game. The reason I’m playing this game on Veteran is because of the Achievements and the fact that I beat Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Combat on this difficulty.

Anyways, I wanted to inform you at how much fun I’m not having playing thru this game.  Even though it would only take 6 or so hours to beat this game on Normal, I’m spending over an hour on each level (there are 15 levels) with the difficulty on Veteran.

It’s not like Veteran is tougher because it’s a challenge in skill and strategy.  That’s not the case at all.  Instead, the enemies endlessly spawn and the friendly AI becomes more inept.  Still, that’s not what I’m most irritated about.  I’m tired and frustrated with the constant grenade spamming.  I cannot stand in one spot for more than three seconds without multiple grenade indicators showing up all around me.

Instead, the only thing Veteran on COD: WaW challenges me on is my patience.  Each level I bob and weave around my teammates until I can avoid the grenades long enough (or some random headshot) to get my mongo teammates to move up.  See, once they move up, I might get lucky enough to get a checkpoint.  The keyword is might.  Often, I’ll have an objective such as “Destroy Four Flak88 Guns” and I’ll destroy one of them and not receive a Checkpoint.  Apparently, only destroying two of them should result in a checkpoint.  If you are going to design a game that is based so much on blind luck in staying alive, please increase the number of checkpoints.

So far, the worst offenders of the above are in the following levels:

Burn ‘em Out

If taking out the first Mortar crew wasn’t hard enough, taking out the final one is pretty much impossible.  Not only do I have to avoid a Kamikaze attack that the rest of my clownshoe teammates ignore, but I have to somehow clear a cave with multiple enemies inside plus a bunch of people sniping me from outside the cave.  All without a checkpoint.  If I get past this part, I still need to leave the cave and clear out the last Mortar crew.

Relentless

The very beginning of this level took me numerous attempts.  You start off having to cross a river while the enemies are shooting you from all sides.  Since your teammates aren’t of any help, the only way to get thru this is to throw two or three smoke grenades and sprint thru.  Hopefully, you’ll get lucky enough to advance far enough to get a checkpoint.  Once again, this isn’t skill.  This is literally blind luck.

Heart of the Reich

This is the level I just spent over two hours playing.  First off, it’s incredibly linear.  There aren’t any choices you get to make as a player.  Instead, you follow thru a bunch of chokepoints with grenade spamming.  Well, atleast you have some Russian Tanks to help you out.  Well, with the exception that they won’t move forward unless you do.  Oh, and if you try to move in front of them (when they currently aren’t moving), this will trigger them to move forward and run you over.

After you finally take out all four flak88 guns, you still have to encounter a stream of enemies that never stop respawning.  The only way to do this is move forward enough to trigger the advance of your teammates.  If you are lucky, they’ll eventually advance enough to trigger a cut scene (and sometimes a checkpoint!).

I’m one level away from beating this game.  I don’t even think it’s an accomplishment. It will just end up being a 15 hour march of futility.  So, I have some advice for Treyarch.  Next time, try to remember that Video Games should be fun.  I’m all up for some challenge, but make sure it is a challenge that requires skill and still maintains the enjoyment for the player.  Call of Duty: World at War, on Veteran, is easily the most frustrating and least fun single player campaign I’ve ever played.

Tecmo Super Bowl was released in 1991 on the NES and it is still my favorite video game of all time.  Since I’ve played it so much in my life, I’m very familiar with the NFL rosters from 1990.

I’m currently watching the Eagles/Giants playoff game and I just realized that the Giants have two players who were on those 1990 Tecmo Super Bowl rosters.  John Carney (44 years old) is their placekicker and Jeff Feagles (42 years old) is their punter.  In Tecmo Super Bowl, Carney was kicking for the San Diego Chargers and Feagles was on the Philadelphia Eagles.  Are these the only two players left from Tecmo Super Bowl?

I looked into it and there is only one more player I can find that was also in Tecmo Super Bowl.  On December 5, the New England Patriots signed Linebacker Junior Seau (39 years old).  He only played in four games this season and since the Patriots didn’t make the playoffs, his season is over.

That leaves Carney & Feagles still left.  If the Giants are eliminated today, will this be the last of Tecmo Super Bowl players?  How many of those three players can we expect to return to the NFL next season?  If they return, who will be the last one left?  My pick is John Carney, but no matter who it is, it will be a sad moment for many Tecmo Super Bowl fans.

Update: Of course, the Giants are eliminated and Carney misses two field goals.