Reviews

Mafia Denfinitive Edition is a step in the right direction for the series, the remake of the now legal to drink in most countries game really brought the original formula to new gamers, like me. It follows the formula of the ones that came before so good that it became my favourite from the franchise. I didn't played the original, and never heard about the series until the Mafia II demo was released, that game... man that game blew my mind. Vito was the best character i seen until that date in the xbox360 generation. They made me really watch those "mafia classics" movies from Godfather to ones like Casino. When Mafia III was released i was hyped, but when i played in a friends house i got instantly turned off. Damn, that was a bad game a step in the wrong direction, i heard the american developer had problem with the czech engine, i don't know if that was true, but i was shocked to know that the team that made the II such a memorable game, wasn't fully working on the third. This game fixes some of those problems, there are some czech names in the credits for example, but not all of them. The enemies are still... strange, you shoot'em and they don't feel the hit, they keep running like nothing happened, when they spot you even if they don't shoot or scream all the other enemies are alerted or if you get to cover too close to them they will get confused and you don't know what is going to happen, some "hit" animations also seem scripted, it looks like you need to hit L-alt and them hit'em with "q" that was also a poor choice for melee combat and the cars and running physics are still the Mafia II's engine, what was good... for 2010.

But, for you not to say i didn't watered the flowers. This game has a good story man, Tommy is a hell of an iconic main character, i like how the game develops the relation between the three main characters, and how to the end the game makes you feel some way, just to hit you hard in the head and make you rethink everything you just tought. It really feels like "Mafia" not just the game, but the infights inside the family and outside in the mobster world make you feel like you are really in the mid 30's running errands for a mob lord. Your relation with the wife is what i imagine what would happen if you marry a girl that was raised in the family. I like how they show the like "loyalty" is important for the family, while no one is loyal to anyone, that just reinforce how this is important. The boss is someone you can get behind, while the family is sinking he always show strenght, and that show the main difference between him and main antagonist, their tempers. Again, my favourite part of the game is the story. That is a good and convincing story 


Something that really turns me of in every game, that are in his game is:

- You can't run in certain places: it's a damn videogame for god sakes, let me run and explore, or do you think i will be the whole game walking insides looking for jornals and cards? 

- too much scripted sequences: It's something that really makes me mad about GTA IV too, why do i have to follow someone from point a to point b, shooting the hell out of him just to discover that it made no difference? Just let me shoot and kill him. I can go with one or two scripted sequences but it starts to get obvious with time, and that's boring as hell. 1. Follow the car, he arrives somewhere, kill bad guys, cinematic, kill the guy. 2. Arrive somewhere, the guy trash talk you, he runs, kill bad guys, he runs, kill more bad guys, cinematic, kill guy.

- The cars man, that damn cars. You never know if you can destroy the environment or the environment will destroy you. They are slow, but ok thats cool it's the mid 30's.  


Rate: 76/100 the bad parts take easily 10 points out of the game

Best game in the series so far. Changes from the previous entry really make the game feel more dynamic. The story is nothing extraordinary, but feels much more alive in this entry than those prior. In terms of gameplay, one of the most beneficial changes is the move to only having three characters in control at a time as opposed to four or five. At first, I thought this change was strange and would take away from the game. However, I soon realized what a benefit this provided to gameplay. One of the points where I felt I missed out in previous Final Fantasy games was in not utilizing the full complexity of the game's systems. I did this because there seemed to be too much information to easily adapt to, and with the relatively fast paced combat it did not seem practical to learn them. With one fewer character in the ring, more complicated moves and strategies felt much more manageable. I still didn't sink my teeth in 100%, but I did find myself experimenting more with materia and such than I normally would. Other nice features include: a smaller and more manageable cast of slightly less two-dimensional characters, experimental little breaks from the core gameplay, and a quite cool setting. Overall, this is a very strong showing, and not a bad place for someone to jump into the FF franchise.

The King of Fighters '95 is the second installment of the once upon a time hit series of the same name. It continues the basic but great formula of having teams of three characters to fight other teams. A lot of the characters from these teams were taken by other SNK series like Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, and Psycho Soldier, just to name a few. Although it is an upgrade from the last edition, it is far from being the ultimate fighting game.

The story is basic but serviceable each team receives an invitation to the annual tournament of KOF but with the distinction of being signed by just an ‘R’ letter. To get a story ending it is mandatory to select a preset team as this time around it's possible to choose individual characters to make your dream team. This new feature of getting to choose your preferred characters enhances your multiplayer experience greatly in an arcade environment, to give you an example when I was a kid I remember going to a local store where they have this particular game and while playing sometimes you will be challenged by a better player or older person, chances are that this kind of duels always attracted a small or big crowd and if you were lucky enough another kid that you didn't know by speaking to, but by fighting each other before, may lend you a hand with one of your characters and try to beat the challenger, this kind of events let me feel like I was in a Shonen manga, as this duels often ended with more challengers and even real three-person teams full-on with an unforgiven but roaring audience, basically your rivals of today became the allies of tomorrow. I am pretty sure that circumstances like this were foresighted by the developers, so it was a genuinely good meta-mechanic.

However, this edition of the game is tied to the unmoving chains of a console therefore having a challenger, let alone a crowd it's pretty limited by your circumstances. In the heath of the battle when having a mob screaming behind you is easy to magnify and embellish a flawed game, stiff controls, and so on. So how does KOF '95 fare by itself in the comfortable but solitary spot of your living room? For the most part, OK.

The gameplay at least from my perspective seems pretty similar to KOF '94 but with some tweaks here and there that make battles somewhat better. Combos are easier to pull off (at least the basics) and doesn't feel like you need to be extremely precise, don't get me wrong, there is still a big learning curve, but if you're going to tackle this game in a more casual or relaxed way, you'll have a better time with it than KOF '94. Playing multiplayer is the optimal option but not everyone has the luxury of playing local with other people nowadays.

The arcade mode has some story to it if you play with the default teams as aforementioned, and although this time around is more interesting than the last game, as a Rival team was introduced with some antagonists for the other star teams (Iori Yagami being the main one of those), it certainly doesn't hold up by itself. Some endings are better than others, some of them add some to the lore and even tease you with events for future entries, and others don't even concern with the story and just show you a silly cutscene. They're not bad but they're not great either, also there are a lot of localization issues, this is not a problem at all, since probably the original staff needed to translate by themselves without a professional translator, and back in the 90's the game industry was another, nonetheless, this being a re-release would benefit to re-translate the script and make it more similar to the original, so it is more like a missed opportunity.

The art direction maintains the standard and it adds a little notch to the bar. Stages are pretty, especially the Fatal Fury stage which is in a Mediterranean harbor it seems, I can almost smell the breeze while fighting there. Characters while they look good, most of them seem like recycled assets from the last game, there is nothing wrong with that but they don't seem more polished either in terms of animation. This port has the option of playing it with scanlines which add more depth and richness to the sprites, it is not by any means a perfect simulation, but it improves the visuals so it is recommended to turn it on.

King of Fighters '95 was a beast when it was released on Arcade machines, but the passing of the years it's kind of noticeable since it keeps almost the same DNA of the last game with not much noticeable upgrading, as almost every team is the same and the U.S.A. team was simply replaced by the Rival team. Still, you can have some fun with it and it certainly has its charm even when playing it solo, although the preferred experience if possible is by playing with several people, to remember or try to recreate its past glory.