Sorry folks, no new reviews today. I'm still on that break I talked about before, you see. I will say a few words about a couple of games I've been playing as of late, though. I'm not going to do full reviews for these games at the moment, so don't get your hopes up.

Shadow Complex: If you've been waiting for a new 2D Metroid game, then look no further than Shadow Complex. It's basically the Metroid game that Nintendo has been reluctant to make all these years. I have nothing against the Metroid Prime series, or the idea of 3D Metroid games in general. I liked those games and felt they did a good job at capturing the Metroid atmosphere and presenting it in a 3D, FPS perspective. Thing is, I still wanted a new 2D Metroid. And now, with Shadow Complex, I've got it. To be fair, the game does have a few blemishes: it's a 2.5D game, meaning 3D graphics but 2D gameplay of only being able to move right and left. This is cool save for the fact that enemies can move about in full 3D to attack you, while you can't. You can shoot at enemies in the background, but that relies almost entirely on the auto-aim feature, which is finicky at times. If this was done merely as a visual effect, I'd be fine with it. As it stands, though, it kind of irritates me. The main character's model looks really bad, also. Anyway, I wouldn't let those things hold you back from giving this one a go, especially if you're a fan of 2D Metroid.

BlazBlue: From the makers of Guilty Gear comes BlazBlue, their latest experiment. To be honest, I'm one of the worst people out there to comment on fighting games, as I'm bad at all of them and rarely like them. The only two fighting games I've ever enjoyed thoroughly were Super Smash Bros. (Melee, Brawl, and the original) and Guilty Gear XX (or X2, depending on your region). Smash Bros. is my absolute favorite, the one I really come back to again and again. I'm still not very good at any of those games, but I at least get a real kick out of playing them. Back to BlazBlue, then. I figured I'd enjoy BlazBlue since I was partial to Guilty Gear, but that hasn't been the case so far. It's not a bad game by any means; I'm just not the right person for it. One thing I liked about Guilty Gear was the outrageous character designs... you still get that in BlazBlue, but I don't like any of the designs. I find all of them to be drab, lacking in the creativity that made the characters in Guilty Gear unique. Additionally, I feel like some members of the Guilty Gear cast are irreplaceable. Nothing can beat a Russian gal who fights her foes with her hair, in my mind.

Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena: This is old, I know. I never played Butcher Bay and heard all about how awesome it is on numerous occasions, so I decided to finally try it out. I went with the new 360 game that combines a remake of Butcher Bay with the less applauded sequel; a two for one deal. I'm not much into first-person shooters and never owned the original Xbox. I also got the 360 a bit later than everyone else. So that's my excuse for not having played it this long. Now that I have, though, I can see why everyone praised it so highly. I normally don't enjoy FPS games, but I was quite entertained by Butcher Bay. The only thing is, it's kind of a short game. So as good as it is, it still ranks as a rental, unless you enjoy it so much that you want to beat it on all difficulty modes and get all the achievements... which is something I pretty much never do on any game, ever, regardless of how good it may be. Since it came on the same disc, I decided to give Assault on Dark Athena a try, as well. Surprisingly, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It's true that it isn't as good as Butcher Bay, but it still holds its own. Overall, I was satisfied with the two Riddick games.

Final Fantasy Dissidia is finally out in the states. I might say something about it on the site here, perhaps even write a review of it if I can work past technical difficulties to get some screenshots. But first, I'll have to play it.

I've finally finished my complete coverage of the Starfy series with my review of The Legendary Starfy. I think I'll take a little break.

Beginning the first week of August with a review for Legendary Starfy 4 on the Nintendo DS. Only one more to go!