Sega AM2

Zebra has Acquired a Nuclear Missile

HIGH Completing that damned stealth bomber mission.

LOW Being unable to pick apart the visual chaos for my first X attempts at the game.

WTF The constant pilot chatter. "Next time I'm here on vacation!"

Game Description: The classic arcade game After Burner returns for a new generation of gamers. After Burner Climax is fast and frantic action, putting you in the cockpit of the world’s fastest fighter plane. Dodge planes, rockets, and bullets while trying to target multiple on-screen enemy aircraft. Built for all skill levels, everyone can take to the air and blaze through a branching storyline and over 20 stages. Unlock achievements along the way to win an exclusive Avatar award using your experience and expertise.

Virtua Fighter 5 is a fighting game stripped down to the most basic elements. It's almost as if the developers don't have the slightest interest in attracting new players. I'm sure they're turning a profit; according to the credits, the game is made by a shockingly small number of people, and it has a long life in the remaining arcades, but I can't help but wonder how long a series can last with a static user base.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence

Game Description: Virtua Fighter 5 offers worldwide fighting stages in which as many as 17 contestants vie, including two new characters, El Blaze, a Mexican wrestler who dominates with his Lucha Libre fighting style, and Eileen, a Chinese Monkey style kung-fu champion. SEGA also has implemented a new "offensive move" enabling players to take down opponents from different angles; these moves are believed to set VF5 apart from past VF games.

I think Gene is being a little pejorative by hanging that 8.5 on Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. He labels it "user-nasty," then bemoans the fact that he had to spend time in the training mode—"slogging through command list after command list"—in order to reaquaint himself with the controls.

Even as I took out the 20 dollar bill out of my wallet to purchase this game, I asked myself why I'm bothering paying to play a game I had mastered and even reviewed almost a full year ago. The answer is pretty simple: I really like the game. So much that I'm willing to pay to see the new additions.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Suggestive Themes, Violence

While I didn't grow up in a culture like Ryo's (or Gene's), I have lived in places with many similarities. I can definitely relate to elements in the game that are signatures of non-Western cultures, and appreciate their genuineness. Gene's comment stating "This is a foreign game with foreign concepts" has legitimacy and weight, and it would be wise to keep this in mind before entering the world of Shenmue II.

I grew up in a collectivist society, which stresses community effort and family over the dog-eat-dog individualist philosophy. Both terms are extremely generalized and say little about each culture, but there are subtle things that are the key in determining which is which. I never had much use for directions or street names. Growing up on the small island of Guam, directions were given by indicating landmarks of everyday things, like a tree, blue trimmings on a house or strange looking stones. We had street names, just like they do in Shenmue and its Xbox sequel, but apparently the entire community found that they were more of an inconvenience.