Fighting

Monster Mash

HIGH A fantastic collection of the series's best installments.

LOW It's not playable on Vita.

WTF So, exactly who is Lillith supposed to appeal to...?

Can We Offer This Up for a Better Game?

HIGH Great concept and wonderfully dark tone.

LOW Grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding.

WTF Why are so many weapons painfully laggy and slow?

Chris McQuinn talks of his studio's latest game in simple terms. "At a high level, Guacamelee is a platform brawler that's in a Metroidvania world. Oh, and also, it's Mexican themed. It's based in an imaginary land within Mexico. We borrow a lot of style, culture, and folklore references that we've put into the game. Have you played before? There's co-op…"

¡Fabuloso!

HIGH Super-tight combat and platforming.

LOW Trying to correctly identify the chicken thief.

WTF Why isn't Tostada available at the beginning?

A Shadow of Its Former Glory

HIGH I never expected another game of this type from these developers.

LOW It's awful! How could it possibly be so awful?!?

WTF how anyone could consider this fit for sale.

King of Chinatown follows professional Street Fighter IV player Justin Wong as he competes both worldwide and in his local Chinatown arcade. In about an hour, the film features Justin and his then-manager Isaiah Triforce Johnson (his actual legal name) attempting to make Justin the best Street Fighter IV player in the world. At the same time, they try elevating Triforce's fighting guild "Empire Arcadia" to the next level.

Gladiator Ends

HIGH Knocking the sword out of a skeleton's hand, then crushing its skull with a mace a moment later.

LOW Oh good. Let's fight three guys in the crumbling courtyard for the sixth time. That never gets old.

WTF Why does this boss obey none of the game's rules? Why am I fighting him twice?

Staying Alive

HIGH Landing a well timed Power Blow that destroys the opponent—not to mention everyone and everything around them.

LOW Inconsistent netcode often leads to irritating online matches.

WTF Virtua Fighter characters made it into the series before Rachel and Momiji did? Seriously?

This is why the fighting game genre will never go away. The real thing just winds up making you look like a useless wimp.

Caution: Crude language

Still Shamelessly Crushing on Future Trunks

HIGH Seeing all of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai's story mode in bright, shiny HD; Reversible cover art!

LOW Seeing Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3's boring story mode in flat, static HD; Cheap AI.

WTF The AI abuses the crap out of the fact that combat starts when "FIGHT" appears, not when it fades like most other fighters—cheap first hits for everyone!