At last, Garou: Mark of the Wolves is up, SNK Fans Rejoice! I SAID REJOICE!

XBOX Live Arcade
Garou Mark of the Wolves

Genre: VS. Fighting
Developer: SNK Playmore
Past Releases: King of Fighters XII, Metal Slug 7,  Etc.
Published by: SNK Playmore
Price: 800 Microsoft Points XBLA Game Site
Size: 148 MB

Announced last week for Xbox Live Arcade in Japan, Garou: Mark of the Wolves had fighting game fans and old school arcade enthusiasts excited for a US release. Well after a surprisingly short wait, we are now privileged to be able to play this gem on our 360’s (ideally with that sweet ass SFIV Madcatz TE stick you got. You did get one right? RIGHT?!) Toss in local multiplayer (vs. mode) play, online ranking and match play, Arcade mode, and a swell Training mode, slap an 800 MSP tag on her and you have one happy monkey.

Mark of the Wolves, the last title in the Garou Densetsu series of fighting games by SNK, (known as Fatal Fury in the US) is considered by many to be the best entry to the series, and arguably one of the most polished and enthralling 2D fighters to come out of SNK’s huge stable of fighting games. Mark of the Wolves was originally released in 1999 on the SNK MVS (Multi Video System) arcade hardware weighing in at a whopping 688 MB (huge at the time considering the hardware). Mark of the Wolves was the 8th official entry to the franchise which was known for changing game play and art styles between games, and was looked at as the SNK counter to Capcom’s Street Fighter 3 series.

I really can’t say enough great things about Mark of the Wolves. First of all the game is beautiful. It is old school sprite work at its finest. 14 characters, (13 new, 1 returning) all hand drawn over gorgeous 2D backgrounds, Mark of the wolves was one of, if not the finest looking game to come out on the MVS hardware and hosts easily some of the best sprites ever made by SNK’s army of pixel pushing Picasso’s. The game is impressive looking even now, and animated very, very well.

Aside from the game looking so damn sexy, it plays great too. Fast paced 1 on 1 fighting with tons of mind games and layers upon layers of strategy. Mark of the Wolves introduced a slew of new fighting engine changes, moving away from the multi-plane shifting of the older games and playing like a more straight-up traditional fighting game (IE: Capcom’s Street Fighter series and SNK’s own King of Fighters series).
SNK added a “parry” style defensive move called “Just Defend”, fake special moves (to confuse opponents and construct combos), and a “T.O.P. (Tactical Offensive Positioning)” system that allowed you to select when you could use special TOP attack moves during a match. Mark of the wolves is quick, very competitive, easy to get into, and hard to put down.

Mark of the Wolves was released in the US originally on the Sega Dreamcast (I still love you!) as Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves, close the DC’s death. Suffering from some minor port issues, it was somewhat tough to find and criminally underplayed. The Japanese PS2 saw Mark of the wolves released 4 times, once as the arcade port, twice as under the “Neogeo Online Collection” label (the second as a “limited edition”) then once more under the “SNK Best” collection. The Xbox 360 version seems to be a port of the AES (SNK’s Neogeo home console) version with a PS2 practice mode. The game plays in its original ¾ aspect ratio with original SNK art from the game as borders.

Mark of the Wolves sports a quaint little online mode that is really a mixed bag. There is certainly lag free games but overall the net-coding is not nearly as impressive as Super Street Fighter II: HD Remix, but definitely playable. For those who have been enjoying online multiplayer on PC via GGPO, there is definitely some getting use to, as the net coding is not nearly as well implemented as GGPO. That said, there is some very good matches to be had but as with any good fighting game, ALL serious matches should be handled face to face, on arcade sticks. (Man up you bunch of sissies, stay away from the d-pads.)

So there you have it, one of the best 2D fighters made on one of my favorite pieces of arcade hardware, packed with online play, practice mode and a nice “impulse buy” price point.
4 words…

RUSH THAT SHIT DOWN.

Hello readers! This is the first installment of what I hope to make a weekly article or set of articles in this case, in which I will cover new entries to the XBOX Live Arcade, Wii Virtual Console and Playstation Network. I will go a little into what games are coming out, what you are getting for your money and maybe even give you a mini- review, if I am so inclined. If I miss a game or you want me to go back and smack a game in the face with my fiery opinions of JUSTICE, speak up in the comments!

So without further ado, this week on MONKEY IN SPAAAAAAAACE!!!!…err.. wait, I mean, MONKEY IN THE MARKET PLACE!

XBOX Live Arcade

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers

Genre: Strategy/Card Battling
Developer: Stainless Games
Past Releases: Scrabble (DS/PSP), Red Baron (PC, PS3), Atari Classics Evolved (PSP).
Published by: Wizards of the Coast
Price: 800 Microsoft Points XBLA Game Site
Size: 281 MB

After doing so well on PC it seemed like a no brainer to bring Magic the Gathering to the 360 as a normal release, (ideally with booster packs and theme decks in the form of downloadable content.) but it has arrived surprisingly as a Live Arcade game somewhat rich in presentation and depth, but lacking in cards, deck customization and ease of use.

Duels of the Planeswalkers, known from here on out as DOTPW (because I loooove acronyms.) is a strategy card battling game based on the table top collectible card game Magic The Gathering by Wizards of the Coast. Instead of bombarding players with a massive library of cards from the games 15 + years worth of expansions, set revisions and themed decks, players are give a handful of decks that you can unlock extra cards for. The game looks about as good as you can expect a card game to look, with a fancy play field, official Magic The Gathering card art, (which in all actuality is truly fantastic.) and little effects for tapping (putting a card into play, or using its actions.) attacks and various card statuses. Although the attacking/spell casting is not bad in any way, it could have used a bit more flashiness, as little scratches/ burn marks/slices appearing on the cards when they take damage are somewhat lackluster and ultimately slow the pace of the game down with very little payoff, which brings me to Magic the Gatherings DOTPW (Ha there it is!) glaring problem. It is slow as hell. Not slow in the sense that the game itself is slow, as people that play Magic know that it can get out of hand very quickly, but slow in a way that tapping animations, battle animations, various arrows and visual effects are somewhat of a hindrance when playing. When playing Magic with another knowledgeable player, things move smoother, turns are over faster and the pace of the game is brisk unless you are put in a pickle in which you need some time to think your options over. Very little time is spent on cards turning and imaginary lightning bolts striking Goblin Swine Riders. Actions are taken, spells are played, and creatures are summoned and play moves on. DOTPW seems to slow this down a bit with all the effects and presentation and although it is not ugly or annoying, it does slow the pace down a bit and makes games last longer than they typically would. Aside from that issue, I like how the game looks and sounds and the game is pretty, but again mostly because the card art is entirely shit hot.

Magic the Gathering is a very competitive and strategically demanding game and can be somewhat complicated to learn if you are a first time player. Luckily there is a pretty in-depth tutorial and glossary section to help new players out, or to freshen you up on new additions/changes to game play. Keep in mind that Magic the Gathering is HUGE and the game is deep as hell. Learning card types, effects and details/strategies that go into intermediate and advanced play is pretty complicated and will take some getting use to, but is ultimately very rewarding. Everything you need to learn, practice and have some fun playing Magic is here.

One of the best parts of getting into Magic the Gathering is using the cards to build your own customized decks, and unleash hell on your pals. Here is where DOTPW falls short. It only has a handful of decks (8) and full customization is somewhat limited. What you have is good, but there are TONS of cards in Magic the Gathering and having access to at least the core set and the most recent expansion would have been great, but I can see what Wizards of the Coast was going for as what is available is very playable and the cards selected do draw from various expansions that go back as far as the “Invasion” expansion up to “Shards of Alara” so you have some cool stuff to work with and ultimately, if this proves to be a positive experience for Wizards of the Coast, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a full fledged Magic the Gathering game in the future. As it stands, the game has the 8 decks and carious cards you can unlock for the decks which you can toss in to change up how the deck plays. Again, full customization is NOT available, but you can change things up a bit.

DOTPW is pretty rich in modes for a XBLA game and has the single player mode in which you battle with increasingly difficult opponents which reward you with more cards. The difficulty here is pretty steep, but you will learn and move forward. Experienced Magic players will still find some challenge here as well. The multiplayer modes allow for 2 vs. 2, (2 headed giant rules), ranked play and 2 – 4 player free for all. There’s a lot to do and I am sure that there will be a pretty decently sized player base to enjoy the game with. (Which is more than I can say for the VOOT players, where the fuck are you guys?!?!?)

So in a nutshell, she’s a complicated woman, but she is good looking and fun to be around. It adds up to a damn decent package for 800 Microsoft points. Demos are free people, give it a shot.