Fightbruary

Still need to get around to playing this. One of the few games I'd buy for all platforms just for the exclusive character. Only have the PS2 version at the moment.

I played Tekken 2 yesterday on my Vita! It was a nice trip down memory lane. I hadn't unlocked any of the characters so I decided to do a run with Heihachi to get the ball rolling. I struggled to get through Round 7 against Yoshimitsu but beat him eventually. I battered Lee Chaolan first time before facing Kazuya. I then proceeded to get my arse handed to me over and over and over and over. I eventually rage quit and turned off my Vita.

I still have no characters unlocked :lol:

February 6th - Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore

Well, firstly, we are terrible people and decided that 31 games for Fightbruary was not enough and we went out and bought another fighting game, which will be added to the schedule for the PS3 era. The schedule has also been slightly rearranged. With that out of the way, today we played some Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore. I've never played this game, I only played the 5th one in the series.

http://i.imgur.com/pXMHzyb.jpg

My winning streak of yesterday is now long gone and I have been returned to the norm of getting my butt kicked. The game also seems to heavily rely on blocking and countering and, well, that's just not something I do. I'm not good at it. I've never done it. I always neglect the guard buttons in games and suddenly trying to figure it out in a difficult fight does not yield the best results. And so I lost most of the games. I won a fair few rounds but very few matches. Oh well, I look forward to the day when I can win again

http://i.imgur.com/H727Tmf.jpg

I was a bit surprised at the low number of female characters (relatively speaking) since 5 has a majority females, I think. It's at least pretty even. Happily though sharky had all of the outfits unlocked! We also played tag team on the same team and that was pretty fun. Ironically enough, I seem good at defeating enemies that he loses against, but I can't beat him? It was fun though. Obviously not as smooth as the later game, but still a good game. It's also very interactive with the environment which is pretty neat.

http://i.imgur.com/19CYfMe.jpg

February 7th - Bloody Roar 3

Today we played a fighting game I had never even heard of let alone played. But apparently you can transform in to animals and whatever, beast forms, and so the first thing we did was look up how to do that. It turns out it is as simple as pressing O when you have some of your bar built up. That easy! You do revert back when your bar depletes and I couldn't find a way to revert without waiting for it to run out. Also, you heal when in beast form, something I picked up on right away but that sharky apparently had never noticed!

http://i.imgur.com/l7lizFS.jpg

It was pretty even overall. I think he won a few more fights than me. I did actually win the first match though, so I was quite impressed with myself since I had never played the game. I lost quite a few rounds pretty hard though, especially against the silver haired bug guy who is just way over powered. I also beat this really slow and strong character by being very methodical and taking forever to do it. I would slowly whittle away his health and he would punch me once and 1/3 of my life was gone. Sharky was much more effective at using most of the characters than I was, overall.

http://i.imgur.com/Za8dVQj.png

I really liked Alice the rabbit girl and I wanted to like the cat girl but I just could not use her effectively. Sharky was pretty great with her but I couldn't use her to her full potential. Still, there were a lot of really fun characters to use, the gameplay was pretty smooth, and the beast modes really added a lot to the strategy. Do you wait for them to use theirs or do you use it when they're in their weaker form? Do you use it when you need the healing? Stuff like that added something to it. I actually really enjoyed this game and I plan to do a full playthrough of it at some point!

http://i.imgur.com/ISiVldv.jpg

Ah, good ol Bloody Roar. I remember playing one of the old PSX games (I think it was 2) and I have Primal Fury on GameCube.

I'ma turn into an animal and om nom your face!

Never heard of this game. I like the idea of changing into a beast though. That only happens when MissH and I are having a night of passion.

I'm still playing Tekken 2 and getting my arse kicked. I've remembered why I stopped playing fighting games. I suck at them.

Finally acquired DoA 5 Last Round. I loved the old ones. Hopefully they still got it since I can't enjoy Soul Calibur anymore since they ruined it. And I'll probably jump on the Street Fighter bend wagon

February 8th - Tekken 4

There is so much Tekken to play this month, oh my gosh. We still have 5 and 6 and the two Tag Games. Speaking of, Fightbruary is taking its toll on me. My wrists are really starting to huuuuuuurt. Shut up, I'm bad at video game. Also, Tekken is probably both of our least favourite Tekken game and we had a club thing tonight, so we played the bare minimum, which was me using every character once.

http://i.imgur.com/om64nG1.jpg

So as expected, sharky won most of the matches. I think in the end it was 12 to 7 in his favour. Honestly though, I have myself a small handicap because he's much better at the game and my wrists hurt. So it probably would have been much more evenly matched if I didn't use the handicap. Still, I did win a fair few rounds even if I didn't win too many matches.

http://i.imgur.com/IMez3iG.jpg

I did start and finish strong though. The controls are stiffer in this game and it felt like a step back. Like we were back to the earlier PS1 games on our Fightbruary schedule. It felt stiffer than Tekken 3, even. It was a bit nostalgic though because I never liked 4 enough to go back to it since I have many Tekken games to play if I get in the mood, so it was fun to go back and play a game I hadn't played in such a long time.

http://i.imgur.com/LLk961y.jpg

Tekken 4 was bad, but it all gets better after that. Tekken 5 was great though I never owned it, but I did own 6 and that was one of the biggest time sinks during the PS3 era for me. I look back very fondly on that game.

It was better than I thought it would be, better than I remembered. It was pretty stiff. Better than 2, but 3 feels silky smooth compared to 4.

It's the Suikoden 4 of the Tekken series. A decent fighter, but not when it's compared to the rest of the series.

I like that they tried new things, like environmental involvement and how certain throws are trying to re-position yourself (position matters in this one). It just didn't make for a great Tekken game.

It did give us Steve Fox, who is a unique fighter in the series. I'm not good with him, but I like using him anyway.

February 9th - Virtua Fighter 4

Today we played Virtua Fighter 4, which I had played before and reviewed earlier this year. It's nothing special, kind of bare bones mostly for the casual player, but there's nothing wrong with it and it was still fun. Decent selection of characters with many different fighting styles and some very pretty stages.

http://i.imgur.com/oA24eai.jpg

Today was a good day for me. My second victory night in 9 days of fighting, woooo! Honestly though I am surprised by how many fights I won and with certain characters especially that I am very much not good with. It was fun either way though and the last round was pretty great as it was 1-1 and came down to a tiny sliver of life bar left. Those types of fights really get you excited. Or stressed. Or both

http://i.imgur.com/ZeWT9W0.png

This game felt smoother than a lot of the other ones we've played up until now but sharky disagrees so maybe it's just me. I found it easier to play than a lot of the previous games. It looks a bit dated though, it hasn't aged the best, but the gameplay was fun and responsive. I had a pretty good time with it.

http://i.imgur.com/GoVwEQ8.jpg

Didn't know Virtua Fighter made it to 4, or 5 for that matter. I was only familiar with the games from the Sega days, and that's it.

Never made it past 2 on the Tekken front. Well, not counting Tekken Tag Tournament 2, anyway.

Yeah, VF couldn't keep up with its competitors once they all got on the same gameplay level. Its really only a series for beginners due to its super intensive tutorial modes and for the hardcore crowd due to its technical finesse. The modes and lack of story or character personalities make it kind of meh for people just looking for a fun fighting game as arcade and versus modes get old quick. But people still praise the technical aspects. Its just not as special now that Soul and Tekken and Mortal Kombat are more than just flashy crazy fun games. They are technically sound now as well. Plus their characters have more personality. Their games have more story. And their games have more modes to enjoy

February 10th - Soul Calibur III

Wow, we're about a third of the way done with Fightbruary! So today we played my favourite Soul Calibur game (I know it's unpopular opinion, hush yourself), Soul Calibur III! I like it because of more outfit customization and stuff but before IV where they all look different and kind of the same...

http://i.imgur.com/pP48kzl.jpg

So anyway, like the last Soul Calibur match, I won the most matches today as well. I did have a handicap on for about half of the characters, because I have been sucking this Fightbruary, but then turned it off and still won a fair few matches. We both won a lot of rounds though, even when we lost the matches overall. He did get a few perfects on me and I absolutely hate that. I guess I made up for it by getting like 6 ring outs on him. I am the master of the ring out!

http://i.imgur.com/fWHHcGE.jpg

So it was pretty fun, I enjoy SCIII a lot so I would have had fun either way. He beat me with his best characters vs me with my best character. There are a LOT of characters in this game though so it took a little while to go through every one of them. The brightside is I didn't know Tira was so fun to use so I might start using her more regularly!

http://i.imgur.com/Nnm9FIK.jpg

Soul Calibur III is my favorite as well. I love the story and character creation modes it has. I used to spend hours just making a bunch of different characters and trout.