Halloween Gaming

[velcrozombie]

Aside from being a quality 2D fighting game, Skullgirls (much like Darkstalkers) has some holiday-appropriate characters:an Opera-singing zombie, a Frankenstein cat-girl, a shapeshifting river of flesh, an Egyptian goddess who use blood as a weapon and a homicidal nurse, among others. Each character has there own story mode, and there are other extras like tutorials (both general and character-specific). Although it's a Western game, they got Michiru Yamane (composer for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and most of the subsequent Castlevania games) to do the score. Physical copies for the Japanese version (for the PS4 and Vita) can be found on Amazon and Ebay, along with import sites like play-asia.com

[Rev]

Critic, I think it is time you revisit Castlvanie Circle of the Moon (GBA). I'm replaying the Metroidvania Castlevania titles and am dumbfounded how you found this title a D+ back in 2004... You mentioned that the title had infrequent saves (there are a ton), the level design being lazy, and the game being hard to control (it controls the same as all the other Castlevania titles). In fact, it controls way better than a lot of the older titles because 1.) there are very few stairs, none which lock you into a move, 2.) knockback from enemies is limited to while you are jumping and if you're on the ground you don't get thrown around, 3.) there are no bottomless pits or other things that punish you heavily for strict controls. The character is very responsive and has a ton of moves in his arsenal, such as a whip twirl (hold the attack button), double jump (upgrade within the first hour), run (in the first five minutes of the game), slide (down jump), plus a lot more as he gets upgrades. I really don't understand your criticisms of this game...I think Aria of Sorrow is only a little bit better than this title and I like the card mechanic a lot more in this game than the soul one in that one.

[VideoGameCritic]

I will check out Deadly Premonition and Skull Girls (region free I assume). I will try to revisit Circle of the Moon - I noted your feedback Rev.

I was thinking that even thought Alien Isolation doesn't really have a Halloween theme, it's so damned scary that it probably belongs in the Halloween special. What do you think?

[matmico399]

100% agreed. No question.

[velcrozombie]

I will check out Deadly Premonition and Skull Girls (region free I assume).

Yes, it's region-free. From what I've read it also has options for the original English voices, subtitles and menus. It's also the finished version of the game, with all the extra Kickstarter-funded characters and color palettes included, optimized online options (like lobbies) and extra story content.

[matmico399]

Critic I downloaded Costume Quest. Luvin it! Only $15. Well worth it. I hate digital copies too but this one is worth it considering it's a true Halloween game. I luv the fall surroundings with colored leaves and pumpkins everywhere. Do not miss!

[VideoGameCritic]

I'm downloading the trial of Costume Quest. I noticed there's also a Costume Quest 2.

[VideoGameCritic]

Played the trial and loved it!

Tried to buy the game online but I got some crazy error number! I had to log onto my account from my computer and jump through a bunch of hoops to buy this thing with a credit card. You'd think by 2016 they'd have this online purchasing stuff down, but Microsoft still can't get their act together.

Anyway, playing the game now... thanks for the recommendations.

[VideoGameCritic]

You're gonna love this guys. So I thought I had purchased the full game online, but wasn't seeing it available on my 360. Then I realized I actually have TWO Xbox Live accounts - I created a second one for my Xbox One. I had purchased the game to that one instead, but really wanted it for my Xbox 360.

So I had to call Microsoft and fight my way through the voice menus to get a person. After passing a lot of confirmation codes back and forth she was able to cancel my purchase and I was able to buy the game online as I originally intended. It only took about an hour. Sadly, it looks like I now need to restart the game over. Oh well, at least it's fun.

And people wonder why I prefer discs!!

[CaptainCruch]

Alan Wake, maybe?