Review: Gunblade NY and L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack (Wii)

Lightgun games, along with the Daytona’s and Street Fighter’s of this world, were once the lifeblood of the arcade. You only have to look at the likes of Operation Wolf, Virtua Cop, Time Crisis, and House Of The Dead to see how the genre has progressed, and how it also made up many peoples favourite all-time arcade experiences. The simple, bare-bones shooting action of most of these titles provided a quick-fix adrenaline rush, and a way of killing a few minutes of your time loosing a bunch of fifty pence pieces in the process (or quarters if you’re American).

But now that is all gone. The scene, and the genre in general is in steady decline, if not completely dead. I used to love these games, but now they don’t seem to make ‘em anymore. And when they do, they’re just not the same. Just look at Sega’s Rambo - one of the few lightgun games released in the Arcades in 2008. It was positively bad, with low production values and uninspired stage design. These days this is exactly the kind of experiences you’ll get with games of this type.

Although saying that, maybe I’m just looking at all mid-nineties arcade shooters with rose-tinted specs. Outside of the large AAA releases like Virtua Cop and Time Crisis there was a whole lot of decidedly average experiences for your money. With that in mind, you could say that many of the newer lightgun games are simply in the same bracket as the some of those second rate titles we played all those years ago. Not really worse than you remember, but just as mediocre as the ones you hardly ever played.


This is were Sega’s latest Wii lightgun game offering fits in. The Gunblade NY and L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack is a collection of two relatively low-profile arcade gun games from 1996 and 1998, each delivering the same kind of simplistic, and near-constant blasting expected from machinegun games of the time, with both games being part of the same franchise. But unlike say Virtua Cop, you find your self riding in the back of a futuristic police helicopter, armed with a powerful machine gun and fending off waves of humanoid robots intend on controlling the city.

The first game, Gunblade NY was released in 1996 and runs on Sega’s once hugely popular Model 2 arcade board. It’s age is easily apparent, with blocky graphics, simple special effects, and a world consisting of scant amounts of geometry, with only a few enemies on screen at any given time in order to keep the level of detail up. At the same time this clean, albeit simplistic look works rather well, and the actual conversion itself is arcade perfect. The game runs flawlessly at 60fps and contains all the diffuse reflection mapping of the Model 2 original, along with some impressive texture filtering for a nearly twenty year old game. Dare I say, the IQ is better than the second game in this pack.


Outside of the obvious conversion factor, the gameplay is something of a disappointment. It’s not only really basic – the only thing you do is point, shoot, and occasionally change weapons – but also feels even more like a cash-in on the success the genre had back in the mid-nineties. The camera also feels a little wonky. It’s like its attached to a piece of string being waved around on screen, rather than one of a helicopter circling around, and swooping down on parts of the cityscape. Though perhaps this could be forgiven considering the age of the game and all.

Gunblade NY is just about enjoyable to play. Everything works, with no glitches to offend you. Although the whole thing feels pretty boring to say the least, and a little to ‘barren’ to provide any nostalgic excitement.


LA Machineguns fares a little better. Graphically the game isn’t quite as polished as its predecessor with regards to overall IQ, although texture detail, polygon counts and special effects are all noticeably ramped up far and beyond the Model 2 original. That is because this sequel used the Model 3 board and benefits from the extra power it provides. The standard diffuse mapping returns, but with only small highlights of specular sheen found in most Model 3 titles, though there is far more stuff being thrown around on screen at once compared to the last game.

Like with Gunblade NY, LA Machineguns looks to be arcade perfect, with only a little bit of slowdown, and the slightly darker look of the Wii version separating them apart. Still, visually it’s also a pretty dated affair, failing to hold up compared to other Model 3 arcade games like Scud Race, or Spike Out. Instead, like with Gunblade NY, this sequel also feels like a second rate title developed to keep the number of Sega games in the arcades up.


Where LA Machineguns succeeds however, is by providing a moderately fun, if not all too simple shooting experience. The on-rails nature of the game features a far better camera system than Gunblade which makes it feel more like you are actually shooting down things whilst riding on the side of a helicopter, and the action is more intense, featuring many more enemies on screen at once, with plentiful amounts of blocky explosions taking place.

Both games are hardly pinnacle examples of the genre however, and have very little replay value once you’ve finished them. I’d found the whole package can be completed easily in under one hour, and that the games themselves lacked any kind of challenge on the normal difficulty setting. Seeing as there’s no extras in which to speak of, after you’ve completed both titles there’s really nothing for you to do. You can upload your best rankings online via a leaderboard system, but that’s it.

Despite being a massive fan of Sega arcade games, and lightgun games in general, there’s really not much I can recommend here. Neither game is particularly great, failing to grab your attention positively – even in a cheesy, nineties Japanese-style arcade manner - and requiring very little skill to complete, after which boredom starts to set in. Unlike with the genre’s greats, Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns is less about testing your shooting skills, and more about spraying a load of bullets across the screen, hoping they all hit, and then continuing to the next stage, a full set of credits in hand.


At least both games have been given perfect conversions in the home. Sega could have so easily messed this up like they did with the Wii version of Ghost Squad. Thankfully, sans a bit of slowdown in LA Machineguns, both games have been nicely recreated, and from a conversion point of view, represents just how things should be done. Widescreen support has been included too, which sees both games being rendered in true 16:9 aspect ratio. Although all gameplay is strictly contained within an invisible 4:3 barrier which feels alittle strange.

Obsessed Sega arcade fans will no doubt do well to pick this up and show their support, as this could lead to more Model 2 and 3 hits coming our way, while most people (inc lightgun game fans) should give this one a miss. The Gunblade NY and L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack is worth a quick rental for an hour or two’s brief entertainment, or for those who need to own every Sega arcade release, but at £20 doesn’t represent a value for money purchase. Maybe as a £10 preowned buy further on down the line this is worth loading up and taking aim for, but certainly not at full price.

VERDICT: 5/10

Review: After Burner Climax (PSN & XBLA)

Before wanting to be a videogames journalist, or before that a palaeontologist, I have always wanted to become a fighter pilot, shooting down those pesky Migs just like in the 1986 movie hit Top Gun. No rules, no regulations, or training required, just some awesomely cool dog fighting action. As it so happens, I got my first taste of this first-hand in one of my local seaside arcades when I was about five or six years old. I had encountered Sega’s mid-eighties spectacular After Burner, a jet fighting, rip-roaring, aerial action game complete with a really, really, cool moving cabinet.


I only had one go. That was all I was allowed. But it would be an experience I would never forget, a rush of excitement and exhilaration that few games today have delivered in such a concentrated dose. And despite never making it past the first stage, I yearned for more, not ever having the chance to properly sample delights of such similarity again… until now.

In 2006, Sega unleashed upon a dying arcade world the little known After Burner Climax, one of their first next-generation arcade outings. Running on their newly formed Lindbergh arcade board, it brought to the screen fast-paced aerial action and a hint of 1980’s excitement, all at the pre-requisite sixty frames per-second with a slew of smoke and particle effects. Finally my chance to sample once again my childhood delights had arrived, except for the fact that a scarce one or two go’s would be my only chance of salvation. As per usual, Sega had decided it seemed, to completely overlook such a title for an early next-gen console launch, instead relegating it to the ranks of forgotten arcade gems.

Today, all that has changed, and Sega, in combination with Sumo Digital (their usual porting house) have seen fit to release this nearly forgotten arcade non-hit to both PSN and XBLA. Get Ready to re-enter the danger zone, Kenny Loggings style!


Graphically the game is pretty much arcade perfect on both platforms running at the expected 60fps, featuring basic but fairly detailed texture work, with bump-mapped and shiny (specular and diffuse effects) surfaces, and plenty of smoke and particle effects expected for a 2006 game. As with Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3 and Lindbergh, no AA is present on the PS3 version although at least 2xMSAA is used on the 360, but then again, the game does render in 720p on both formats.

The 360 version however, seems to feature slightly better lighting than the PS3 one, matching the arcade version like for like, whereas on PS3 the lighting is ever so slightly less intense. It’s not even an issue for me, and despite with myself being just a little bit of a graphics whore, decided to make my final purchase of the game for my PS3, to go along with OutRun Online arcade and Tekken Dark Resurrection (amongst others) in my growing collection.


The premise of the game is the same as in the 1986 original; flying around at varying speeds above and below the clouds, you are tasked with blasting enemy planes and ground vehicles into obliteration, whilst relying on just a few well-aimed missiles and an unlimited use of a paltry machinegun to get the job done. Along with your limited assortment of weapons, you also have the ability to out-manoeuvre enemy craft using the series trademark ‘barrel roll’, mixing it up between all out shooting, and cleverly skilled avoidance of the impending doom heading your way.

Did, we also mention, blue skies, bright white clouds, and a variety of different environments, each making little sense in the grand scheme of things when it comes to aerial combat. But they sure as hell look really cool, an infusion of colour in an increasingly drab modern videogaming world, just what we need to see a lot more often.

The dossier on the game reads something like this: three selectable aircraft, check; skilful but simplistic gameplay; check; cheesy 80’s rocking arcade soundtrack, check. And so on. It’s After Burner through and through, and one of the last truly decent games created by Sega geniuses at Sega-AM2, minus Virtua Fighter 5 of course.


Staring off by selecting one of three planes, the F/A-18E, F14D Super Tomcat and the F-15E, and then choosing the colour, the game has you flying through a multitude of different, beautifully colourful environments, barrel-rolling and blasting your way through hordes of enemy aircraft and resistant ground forces. Twice along the way the game’s stages branch off to create two separate routes to take, each with new stages and a different second set of routes to take. Should you meet hidden objectives set out for you by the game, you might also encounter a secret stage or two, usually absent from your somewhat short progression to the end.

The experience as a whole is pretty short and really very linear, much like Star Fox 64 or any on-rails shooter worth it’s salt. There’s not much more to do once you’ve completed all the routes available and seen the end credits a handful of times, not even all that much in the way of added depth, or hidden skill to master outside the basic ‘roll and shoot’ and ‘Climax Mode’ mechanics.

However, mastering the basics (is there anything beyond?) isn’t quite as easy or straightforward as it might seem, though lacking the depth of say, OutRun or Sega Rally, but having more to do than the likes of Virtua Cop, or Ghost Squad.


Your basic machine gun fires off rapid shots used to take down most close range enemy aircraft, whilst your missiles are used primarily to initiate an early strike against forces yet to reach your position. Missiles have to be locked-on, much like in the movie Top Gun, and you can target up to a handful at any given time. For each one to be launched you have to push down on the fire button, rather than hold, hit, and fire, which simply will leave you firing off a single missile against one target instead of the group you’ve just locked-on to. This, along with the game’s titular ‘Climax Mode’ brings some much-needed depth to the experience, regardless of how light it actually is, making you learn and remember enemy attack patterns, before blasting them down seamlessly for that barely obtainable ‘100% rating’.

Movement, as with most on-rail shooters, is restricted to flying around between all for corners of the screen, flying into the screen and the oncoming environments and enemies. It’s possible to perform a ‘barrel roll’ using a quick flick of the analogue stick in the opposite direction to which you are moving, whilst the camera automatically pushes you down a fixed course.

Unfortunately, I found it all too easy to accidentally initiate the ‘barrel roll’ whilst attempting to quickly move and target enemies on the opposite side of the screen, rather than change direction and shoot em’ down with some missiles. Maybe it would have been better to have a ‘button and stick movement’ system to activate such a move, thus avoiding the issue from ever coming up. Saying that, the current control set up does make the game feel more like you are flying an unwieldy fighter jet at a fast and frenetic pace, for better or worse.


Moving on, the titular ‘Climax Mode’, activated when the ‘Climax Gauge’ fills up to its maximum position, basically slows down time Matrix stylie, allowing you target and takedown a multitude of enemies far more easily than at high speed. A small counter also appears telling you the amount of enemies that are on screen, which if you manage to destroy all at the same time, you’ll receive an added increase in your score outside that given for simply taking down enemies.

It’s all as simplistic as it gets, with most of the depth and replay value coming from trying to get a perfect ‘takedown’ rating, or by achieving the highest score on the leaderboards - the game’s only online option. It’s also pretty hard, and very chaotic at times, sending a screen load of adversaries at you at any one time, repeating the process over and over until the game ends. Certainly you can tell, that like the 1980’s original, this next-gen sequel was also designed specifically to keep you pumping 50p pieces into the machine.

Challenging, and sometimes unfair, especially later on, is how I would describe After Burner Climax, though never to the point where the wild ride on offer becomes just another bag of stress rolled up and ready to be thrown across the room. Authentic, yes, but expected all the same. After all it’s in the series heritage to be this way.


If you are finding the whole experience a little to hard for your liking, then the game features what can only be described as a ‘dip switch’ style ‘EX Options’ mode, in which you can customise everything from the amount of continues on offer, to powering up your weaponry and allowing an auto lock-on function. It is also possible to change the parameters for how the game’s scoring system works making it easier to gain higher bonuses and other such extras. These ‘Ex Options’ only work in the game’s ‘Arcade Mode’, leaving ‘Score Attack’ free of any unwanted tampering for competitive online play, or rather rankings, as there is no multiplayer on offer.

After Burner Climax is a rather short but reasonably sweet dose of vintage arcade gaming, delivering the quick thrills and spills of such great 1980’s hits like OutRun, Space Harrier and After Burner long since forgotten by the general gaming public. It is also extremely short and pretty repetitive compared to the likes of OutRun 2, in which mastering your drift, and replaying every route in the game can become an obsession. Still Climax offers you a similar feeling, just in smaller doses and with unrelenting fury, without the substance inducing style addictiveness to be found in Sega’s 2004 drifting arcade smash.

Sadly, it also seems like part of the experience is missing without ‘that’ trademark hydraulic cabinet so firmly ingrained in our minds from twenty years ago. Surround sound we may have, and that works brilliantly, but really, having the full-on moving cabinet throwing you all around was part and parcel of the enjoyment behind the game.


For anyone looking for a slice of childhood gaming goodness, or those who perhaps spent too many hours playing through Panzer Dragoon, OutRun or even Star Fox on the N64, will find a highly enjoyable albeit short slice of aerial action, let down by its lack of additional modes, and its strict devotion to its late 80’s roots. For me, and I suspect a few others at least, After Burner Climax could be one of the most played PSN or XBLA releases this year, drenched in blue skies, beautiful artistically designed environments, and quick-fix shooty action.

This game is probably the last solid arcade title to come out of Sega’s dwindling development studios since OutRun 2, and the continuing instalments of the Virtua Fighter series. It’s not perfect by any means, being a little too short for its own good, and rather chaotic, but worth picking up for fans, and perhaps people longing for some more arcade action.

VERDICT: 7/10

Review: Sonic Classic Collection (DS)

If you’re anything like us here at IQGamer, you’ll be eager to get your hands on Sonic 4 later this summer. In the mean time, SEGA have treated us to a little reminder of how good Sonic games used to be. This time, on the Nintendo DS.

Developed by the Australian branch of SEGA’s Creative Assembly, Sonic Classic Collection is a compilation of Sonic’s main Mega Drive titles and includes the ability to play through Sonic 2 and 3 with Knuckles, just like the old “lock on” feature that came courtesy of Sonic & Knuckles. It would have been nice if SEGA had included Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D, but you can’t have everything. We won’t even mention Knuckles’ Chaotix…

Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles have been nicely represented on Nintendo’s handheld system, but don’t expect much else other than the games themselves. There’s some artwork to look through and a credit sequence to watch, but that’s about all. This really is a barebones collection, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing if all you want to do is play through these old classics for the umpteenth time.

For the most past, the games have been nicely emulated for the DS, and the slightly squashed resolution isn’t really an issue. However, there is some nasty slow down at points and particularly when the action heats up. Should Sonic loose his ring collection when a few enemies are on screen, the action slows down to a nasty pace. The same annoying slow down is evident during a few boss fights too. It’s not too a big deal, but better emulation can be found elsewhere and we weren’t expecting this in a retail version of the games.

A handy save and load function has been implemented for all the games, with the exception of Sonic 3 that retains it’s own save function. It’s not a case of saving your game and loading it from where you left off though, rather at the beginning of the act you last played. Its better than nothing, but other emulators do enable you to play on from anywhere, which would have been ideal.

There really isn't anything new we can say about these classic titles, suffice to say that all the games play exactly as you’ll remember them, and nothing has been added or taken away for this collection. What was great back in the nineties retains all of its charm on the DS and the games are as playable as ever. They work really well on Nintendo’s handheld system and the save function, however limited, works well enough for on-the-go gaming.

Sonic Classic Collection is a nostalgic indulgence that’s worth picking up if you’re a fan of the series. It may not be much else besides a compilation of four games, but there’s not much else that can be done with these titles that hasn’t been done time and time again. Emulation issues aside, this is a reminder of what made Sonic great and makes us hopeful for the upcoming sequel this summer.

VERDICT: 7/10

Yakuza 3: Demo Impressions

It’s rather ironic that a few days after I posted my Heavy Rain impressions, whilst also making some obviously valid comparisons to Sega’s Shenmue, that Sega should release a demo of the very Shenmue-like Yakuza 3 on PSN. How utterly weird that must feel, especially since there was also some interesting news on the forthcoming Sonic 4 revealed last week, making IQGamer seem for like IQSega.


The demo that was released on Thursday allows you to explore only a very small part of Tokyo City, giving you very limited access to which shops or arcades you can go in, and people whom you can speak to. It’s really just a tiny taster of what’s on offer in Yakuza 3, and for the most part bares only a passing resemblance to Sega’s other epic. You could in fact describe it as a Shenmue Lite of sorts with the limitations present in the demo. It’s also true that the very first game in this series also felt this way compared to how much stuff the second game allowed you to do.

You start off the demo playing as Kazama, a once prominent gang member long since retired, pulled back into action after hearing that your two closest friends have been gunned down, interestingly, by a man who is said to look a lot like your deceased father. You find yourself starting out in the heart of Tokyo, wondering down a bustling, neon-lit street after just arriving back into the city to follow up on some leads and to hunt down the killer. As you casually stroll down the street, you are greeted by a group of screaming girls hastily being thrown out of a club by some ugly looking Yakuza types. It’s a this point you get your first task of the day, to find out what’s going on, and possibly to kick some arse along the way.


It soon transpires that there is a brewing Mafia war between families, with one such family known for unleashing sporadic violence having run into a sizeable amount of money, and are now using it to influence their grip on another families turf. Really, at this point the club owners – two friends of yours - have no choice, it’s either accept the money or get re-educated on how this business actually works. With a fight about to go down, Kazama challenges these guys, and the game sets you up with your first action scene.

The combat here is pretty much like every side-scrolling beat’em up ever released, or more specifically Virtua Fighter Lite, with button mashing and well timed counters being the order of the day. The face buttons are used for attacks and throws, the d-pad for changing weapons, and the shoulder buttons for both blocking and locking-on to enemies. As you are kicking the crap out of the various thugs the game presents you with, a meter called the heat gauge fills up. When it’s completely full you will start glowing with blue flames surrounding you, allowing you to unleash a brutal weapons-based finisher on whoever is left standing in your way. In addition, when squaring off against the boss character of these fighting segments, you have the option of performing a stylish QTE finisher to take them down permanently. This is another Shemue-esque trait that Yakuza has inherited.

Disappointingly, the animations when fighting in the real-time sections are rather stiff, lacking the fluidity of the Virtua Fighter games, or even those found in the Tekken Force mode of Tekken 6. Everything looks extremely last-gen, from the basic punching and kicking animations, to how characters get up after being floored, or even how you just run and move around the environments. It seems like nothing has really been improved upon, or reworked to any great extent from the first two games on the PS2.


The same could be said for the visuals overall, with basic texturing lacking detail found in many western AAA titles, and average looking character models, all running at thirty frames-per-second with a noticeable amount of aliasing. Certainly, it looks very much like an enhanced PS2 game, without the polish needed to really immerse you into the world you are thrown into. Heavy Rain this is not.

Anyways, back to the gameplay itself. After beating the seven shades out of those Yakuza guys, you become informed that the life of an ex mafia colleague of yours is in danger (aren’t you mr popular), after which conveniently, he contacts you in order to arrange an urgent meet up.

This now opens up a wider area for you to explore in the demo, most of which there is very little to do other than to fight it out with the local punks and street gangs, or to enjoy a spot of arcade gaming, before stopping off for a quick Karaoke session with a girl who blatantly sees you as her love interest (oh Nozomi I should’ve noticed you).

After leaving the club in which I’d just disposed of those pesky Mafia scum, I’m told that the police are everywhere, and that I should find another route down the back streets to avoid arrest, whilst heading to meet up with my contact at the Millennium Tower. Instead I decided that I would rather meet up for a quick date with Rina, and go sing it away with her in the Karaoke first for a few hours, seeing as I’d just arrived in town almost having my arse handed to me, and am now expected to dive in head-on into who knows what. No, I needed some time out.

This is perhaps the best thing about Yakuza, that you can just go off tangent and do your own thing, completing side missions you find whilst exploring the streets, or simply stopping off to have some fun with the local nightlife. In this case Karaoke, which brings up a bizarre mini-game in which you have to push the correct face buttons as a coloured circle moves over them on screen. Results range from clapping, to Kazama shouting hey whilst Rina belts out her vocals. Of course you have the option of going alone if you really want to humiliate yourself.

Naturally, I failed miserably, and Rina said that she wasn’t ‘feeling it’ as a result, so my chances of getting in there with her were busted right down. With all this negativity it was time to get back on track and head for the Tower.


Now back onto completing my second mission, the game has you walk around the city avoiding the numerous police roadblocks that have been set up – though walking up to one simply results in Kazama saying to himself how he should avoid any contact with the police – at the same time having to fight off potential muggers and more street punks, before finding that elusive back alley you need to avoid any law enforcement.

Once you find this alley, it’s time for another real-time battle, but this time against some FBI Men In Black wannabes. This one plays out exactly the same as the fight in the club, with several henchmen to take on followed by the identikit looking, group leader. Again, it’s simply a case of combining those face buttons to perform combos, whilst alternating between whatever weapons you have left until all these guys are down, before taking down the leader with another QTE finishing move.

The demo ends after this battle, giving you only a glimpse of the type of things you will find yourself doing in the final game. You can’t venture into most of the shops and bars found in the game, and most people on the street will just give you a sly comment rather than open up a basic conversation with you. In some respects Yakuza has never been as in-depth as Shenmue on this level, and with Yakuza 3 it seems Sega have done very little to move the franchise on since the first two games. However, what you have here isn’t representative of all of Yakuza 3, just the opening few minutes of an early chapter of the final game.


One thing that is going to be the same is the voice acting and dialogue. The UK and US releases of Yakuza 3 are both subtitled with no English language option for voice acting. In addition, only the most important of scenes are actually acted out. Most are simply text based, having you move on the conversation by pushing X, and with more text appearing afterwards, rather than fully voiced dialogue present in almost every area of Shenmue. It was the same for the first two PS2 games, though the first one did have full English voice acting with regards to the dialogue, along with using many text heavy segments.

From what I’ve seen so far, Yakuza 3 is looking rather dated and less interesting compared to Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain. Not surprising, given that it has been available in Japan for over two years, and since then, things have moved on significantly. However despite the stiff animations, unimpressive graphics, and familiar gameplay, Yakuza 3 may still be worth picking up, especially for fans of the last two games, and for people looking to at least try something different.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing: Demo Impressions

With the recent announcement of Sonic 4, we thought things were starting to look up for Sega’s flagship mascot. That was up until we played through the recently released demo of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, both on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The stupidly named game (did they really need the “Sonic?”) sees Sega’s biggest franchises come together in a Mario Kart style racing game, complete with various weapons, traps and character specific power moves. The game also features Sega’s famous drift mechanic to make navigating the courses a faster, more enjoyable experience.

The demos available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 are console specific, with the 360 version taking a Sonic Heroes inspired course, and the PS3 opting for a rather drab Billy Hatcher inspired course. The 360 version also features Banjo and Kazooie as an exclusive racing duo. Other courses seen on the selection screen, but unavailable on the demo, take their inspiration from such Sega gems as Samba De Amigo, The House of The Dead, Super Monkey Ball, Jet Set Radio, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg and various Sonic titles.

After booting up the demo, you’re presented with a mildly enjoyable, fully rendered opening sequence, after which you can choose your character and course. Waiting on the starting line, I expected to shoot off at 60fps, but that definitely didn’t happen. The opening few seconds of the 360 version suffers from some disappointing slow-down, as does the rest of the demo. The 360 demo never rises above 30fps either, but things are a bit smoother on the PS3. Much like the PS3 version of Sonic Unleashed, the game actually manages a few moments at 60fps, but quickly drops back down to a regular 30fps.

For a racing game, this is disappointing news. The speed of the vehicles and the fast paced nature of the courses and action would have really benefited from a faster frame rate. It’s even more disappointing when you consider that overall, the graphics aren’t really that much more impressive than Sonic Heroes on the original XBox.

Lighting throughout the courses is all pretty standard and the character/vehicle models feel too small to have any kind of visual impact. The various powers up feel very similar and flash by too quickly to leave an impression, as do the character specific power moves.

Ultimately, the core racing gameplay experience doesn’t live up to much either. The game races along at a fast pace, and staying in the lead proves quite tricky for such a simple game. Power sliding has been simplified and watered down in comparison to the likes of OutRun, and lacks any skill to give you a sense of accomplishment when navigating the courses, though the speed boost gained from a successful slide is a welcome addition. Tricks can be performed in the air with a simple tap of a shoulder button, and if successful, you’ll once again be rewarded with a handy speed boost. Traps are laden throughout the courses and in the demo, these included badniks from Sonic’s world, wooden boxes as well as seawater and snow patches to slow you down. These obstacles are easy to avoid and rarely get in the way of racing.

A certain amount of enjoyment can be gleamed from the appearance of Sega's most popular characters, even if they don't all fit into the roster successfully. As expected, Sonic and his companions take up a lot of the slots, but some less well-exploited characters are also thrown into the mix. Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki joins the cast, complete with his borrowed motorcycle. Successfully triggering Ryo's power move will enable you to take his trusty forklift truck for spin and flip the opposition out of the way. Other Sega favourites making an appearance include Ulala, Alex Kidd, Jacky and Akira from Virtua Fighter, AiAi, and Billy Hatcher. It's an impressive line up and certain to please most Sega fans out there.

For such a simple and proven concept, as well as being able to choose from such a rich selection of franchises, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing should be a nostalgic trip through the history of Sega, but instead, the demo has left us feeling like we'll be presented with yet another messy, technically flawed and unenjoyable experience. The demo never rises above mediocre, leading us to believe that the final game is destined to join the ranks off all the other Mario Kart pretenders that have come and gone over the years.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is released on February 26, and is available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and PC.

Sega Reveals Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown

Yesterday at the AOU 2010 arcade expo in Japan, Sega revealed for the first time the latest instalment in the Virtua Fighter series, in what appears to be the last iteration of VF5 before they move on to creating a fully-fledged sequel. Anyone still waiting for a VF5R port to arrive may want to let go, as now there’s very little chance of that happening. Instead, Sega may well be holding back to release this latest version onto consoles, though it will be at least six months before they announce anything of the sort, as not to impact on potential arcade sales.

In addition to releasing a trailer for the game. Sega also revealed that all items and unlockables from VF5R would transfer over to FS, putting hardcore Japanese arcade VF’ers at ease.

Whilst no more details about VF5FS were given at this time (arcade release date?) we can probably expect some major tweaks to the gameplay, in addition to some subtle changes and balance adjustments.


However from the trailer alone, we can already see some of the obvious changes being implemented as well some things which only die-hard VF fans are likely to notice. Firstly, we have what looks like a complete wardrobe change for all of the characters - all of which are far more outrageous than any of the cast’s original outfits - though we don’t know if these consumes are just additional ones or are actually the default numbers, plus we can see some new items to unlock during play.

Secondly, in terms of gameplay changes we did see a few improvements, such as some new cancels being performed by Pai, along with tweaks to how certain moves hit/react with certain characters - Taka for example didn't get knocked down after being hit by Jacky, which always happened when doing the same move in VF5R.


Currently that's all we know for now, but being excessively huge Virtua Fighters fans here at IQGamer, we will definitely be bringing you all the latest on Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, just as soon as we find out more ourselves.

Until then, head over to virtuafighter.com and sign up for the petition to bring both VF5R and VF5FS onto PS3 and 360. Together, lets make it happen!