While we knew that retro stars like Johnson and rival Larry Bird were going to feature in the game, this is the first we’ve seen any of them in screenshots, and is the first we’ve seen or heard of Rodman’s inclusion in the game.

Rodman? EA, you got your old Bulls wrong. I said I wanted Horace Grant, not Dennis Rodman!

Luckily, they more than make amends with some of the other legends making an appearance, with Hakeem Olajuwon, James Worthy, Kevin McHale, Detlef Schremph, Spud Webb, and the sadly recently-deceased Manute Bol joining Johnson, Bird and Rodman in the reboot of Midway’s 1993 arcade classic.

Those wondering why there’s no Horace Grant, or Dominique Wikins, or Muggsy Bogues or Clyde Drexler or Larry Johnson on that list, EA say there are over thirty legends in the game, so there’s plenty more space on the roster for at least one of your old-time favourites to turn up.

These former greats will show up in boss battles, where they’ll have special powers and abilities; Magic Johnson, for example, can teleport around the court.

‘NBA Jam’ gets a Magic remix [ESPN]

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.

www.gizmodo.com

If you’re new to the BlazBlue scene, Continuum Shift is a one-on-one fighting game from the same developers that brought us the eccentric and wildly fun Guilty Gear franchise. The real beauty of BlazBlue, besides the incredible cast of characters, is the fighting system. It’s really easy to pick up and play but it has an absolutely staggering amount of strategy to learn over time.

At its core, there are really only four attacks in BlazBlue: weak, medium, strong and Drive (or A, B, C and D, alternatively). Every character has this basic assortment of attacks, and the Drive attack is a simple way to execute a character-specific technique. Rachel, for example, uses her Drive attack to summon a gust of wind, which can push not only her through the air but also alter her special moves. Iconic hero Ragna, on the other hand, uses his Drive to absorb an opponent’s health.

These Drive techniques represent just one of the reasons why I love BlazBlue: the cast. The characters in this fighter are so diverse and play so differently there’s always something new to learn and figure out. You must understand, I am too intimidated to master unorthodox characters like Litchi Faye-Ling or Carl Clover, but they’re available to those fighting game veterans that want a challenge.

For newcomers, one of the additions to Continuum Shift is Beginner Mode, which is essentially pointless for anyone even remotely invested in fighting games. However, for someone that’s never played a fighting game before (or, perhaps, for young relatives that want to play along), this mode changes the control scheme slightly and turns button-mashing into a glorious torrent of combos. Again, this isn’t for a serious fighting game fan, but it’s a nice nod at the inexperienced.

More valuable is the tutorial mode, which offers interactive walkthroughs for nearly every aspect of the BlazBlue experience. Everything from basic movement to counters and cancels is covered in these tutorials, and players can even learn general strategies specific to each character. This tutorial system, along with the challenge missions that instruct players on advanced combos, give prospective BlazBlue fans some fantastic tools to learn the ins and outs of combat.

Legion mode was also added to Continuum Shift, after its initial appearance in BlazBlue Portable. In legion mode, players must take over enemy points on a map in a series of survival-style matches. With each successful takeover, players can keep one character from the defeated team to draft into their own army. This mode is really enjoyable as it adds a bit of a strategy element to the equation, but it would have been nicer if the maps were randomized. As it stands, each difficulty level only has one map to work through, and those maps are populated by the same characters every time. It’s still fun, but the replay value isn’t as significant as it could have been.

Gamers will be happy to hear that BlazBlue’s robust online support returns, with stable matches, leaderboards and the ability to save replays. It’s hard to say how the fighting game community will react once Continuum Shift is released, but at least it has local multiplayer in case the online community is lacking.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift does feature a brand new story, complete with branching paths for each character. This is one of the most enjoyable additions to the experience, though the incredible horde of unlockable content is just as drool-worthy.

Tsubaki is one of the newest fighters in the roster.

The new characters in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift are excellent additions. Tsubaki is an easy character to learn and she uses her Drive technique to power up her special attacks. She’s mostly a close/mid range character and seems pretty accessible to combo with. Hazama, on the other hand, is a bit crazier. His Drive attack sends his chains flying outwards, which he can use not only for offensive purposes but to move around the screen as well. There are almost no other characters in BlazBlue that can close spaces as quickly as Hazama, so I expect gamers will have fun with him.

The only problem with Continuum Shift, as you might expect, is that a good deal of content is identical to the original. Most of the character sprites are the same, stages are reused and the soundtrack is also repeated. Even with the new content, this can be disappointing, but the game is only retailing for around forty dollars, which isn’t entirely unreasonable.

Note that it is not called Street Fighter vs. Tekken. The title is pronounced Street Fighter “Cross” Tekken.

During Capcom’s Comic-Con panel today, both a trailer and a gameplay demonstration were shown. The trailer showed Ryu meditating in a dojo when Kazuya Mishima from Tekken bursts through the door, ready to kick some ass. After the Street Fighter X Tekken logo was shown, the classic Pac-Man cut scenes were recreated with Mega Man chasing a ghost across the screen and then running the other way followed by Pac-Man.

Then Yoshinori Ono from Capcom and Katsuhiro Harada from Namco played against each other in a quick match. During gameplay, Ryu called in Chun Li to help him out and Kazuya called in Nina Williams for a ridiculous team-up attack. They fought on a futuristic battlefield with giant mechs roaming in the background. The game was running on a PlayStation 3. Visually, it looked very similar to Street Fighter IV with 2D gameplay and 3D rendered character models.

Street Fighter X Tekken is being developed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. When will it be out? Capcom says “not for a while.” Namco also said it is creating its own version of the game, Tekken X Street Fighter, but details on that aren’t available at this time.-IGN

As we found out back at E3, there’s an “arcade” version of the new Xbox 360. That will be $200 on August 3, come with 4GB of flash storage and built-in Wi-Fi. The difference between this and the big brother standard version is that the hard drive slot is empty (but it is there, for later expansion), and comes in a matte finish.

Both the $150 standalone Kinect and the $300 bundle will come with Kinect Adventures, basically Microsoft’s version of Wii Sports (but not really sports, more like outdoor activities).

Microsoft has also said that their first-party Kinect games will be $50, $10 less than the standard $60 games now. When asked about the small discount, Microsoft said that they wanted to appeal to the casual gamer more with the lower price.

I also asked about the Wal-mart retail bundles where they package a game, a $30 gift card and the Kinect for $200. Microsoft has no direct control over these, but it seems likely that Wal-mart will either lower the price or add in another game, seeing as you’re actually paying $20 more than the standard retail price for this bundle.

Oh, and they’ve also locked down the price of Dance Central, our favorite Kinect game so far, to $50.

The developers at EA Canada in Vancouver are touting a new single-player mode as the biggest innovation in the game, saying, “Fight Night Champion will break the mold of what is expected in a single-player sports game. Players will be introduced to an entirely new way to step between the ropes and experience the drama, emotion, excitement and tragedy of world championship boxing.”

Goodnight, Winky. Hello new level of brutality.

Brian Hayes, Gameplay Producer on Fight Night Champion said, “It’s something people won’t expect from an EA Sports game” about the game’s big new mode. He quickly followed that remark with “Our lips are sealed for the time-being about that” for fear of the wrath of the EA Sports PR representative.

He did tell us that the game will be “the full meal deal with desert and a toy. The whole enchilada. All that and a bag…” when asked if Champion was being treated as an expansion pack or a full retail release. It would stand to reason that the price tag would follow suit, but don’t quote us on that.

There will be between 60 and 65 boxers on the roster for the final product and users will implement the new “Full Spectrum Punch Control” to move the combatants around the ring and throw some of the most devastating punches ever seen in a Fight Night game. At least that’s the impression I get from looking at that bloody Manny Pacquaio screenshot.

Manny has seen better days.

EA Sports touts the new control method as delivering both “the most realistic punching system ever seen” while still allowing Champion to be “the most user-friendly title in the franchise’s history.” Interpret that however you like, but you can bet that there will be an option for players to use face buttons and face buttons alone to throw punches.

We weren’t able to glean any other juicy tidbits of gameplay details other than the game will include new online features to go along with the headlining single-player innovation and control scheme. Being a huge Fight Night fan myself (and an even bigger cheerleader for solo gameplay when compared to taking the game online), I’m certainly excited to see the sort of new career experience Fight Night Champion is going to provide.

For more information on the Fight Night series, be sure to check out our reviews for Fight Night Round 4 and Fight Night Round 3. We’ll have more details on Fight Night Champion later this year. For now, you’ll just have to enjoy the pair of screenshots above. Expect to see the game drop onto shelves sometime next year on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Deadliest Warrior is based on the Spike TV show of the same name that pits some of history’s greatest combatants against one another in totally preposterous yet undeniably epic battles. And therein lies the reason that Deadliest Warrior will find a home with some gamers. The notion of having a fighting game that pits a pirate against a viking is just as awesome as it sounds. So awesome, in fact, that as I’m writing this there are three IGN editors standing over my shoulder shouting about how they just turned Charles Onyett’s pirate into a peg leg.

The game adheres to the same premise of the show and gives gamers eight fighters from throughout history to choose from. The list includes a Viking, Apache, Centurion, Ninja, Knight, Samurai, Pirate, and Spartan. All of the warriors have different weapons, both ranged and melee, as well as different attack speed and power. Every fighter seemed fairly well balanced, though I’m sure some die hard Street Fighter fan will hop into the game and prove me wrong.

Deadliest Warrior isn’t designed for the Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat fans of the world. The gameplay lacks depth and doesn’t have nearly as much strategy as a typical fighting game, which undoubtedly hurts the download’s lasting appeal. But for those that aren’t concerned about the depth of their fighting game, Deadliest Warrior will likely fit the bill.

While it lacks the usual combos and moves that require precisely timed button presses, it does have plenty gruesome fatalities and attacks that are entertaining to watch. You can hack off limbs two seconds into a fight and watch your opponent trudge ever closer, bloody stump in tow. Of course, if that doesn’t work you can always just shoot your arrow or throw your spear directly into your opponent’s brain. That’s sure to bring him down if you can nail the toss.

Sadly, the gameplay is fairly limited with only two real modes of play. You get the main ladder system that has you work your way through all eight fighters and includes a few interesting bonus mini-games, and there’s also the standard multiplayer options like ranked and unranked games as well as local play. There are little trinkets like a training mode, but those don’t really add much to the game after you get a feel for the action.

The visuals in Deadliest Warrior won’t turn many heads unless you’re oddly attracted to lots and lots of blood. There are seams on some of the character models where their limbs are designed to split from their body and the camera can be a bit wonky at times (especially while dodging an incoming attack as forcing the camera to rotate can take some time). Thankfully, the game makes up for its mediocre graphics with more hilariously chopped off limbs and blood smears than your typical fighting game.

Geddes: I’m a huge car and racing fan. I still play Forza 3 even though it came out a while ago but it doesn’t have that “car porn” vibe that I’m looking for. Gran Turismo always has so many cars that are beautifully modeled.

Hil: Gran Turismo 5 is one of the best-looking games you’ll ever see. PlayStation 3 owners have really needed a hardcore racing simulation and without question you’re going to get that with GT5.

14. Super Scribblenauts

Craig Harris: Scribblenauts was a great concept and a fun game, but was broken in some respects. It’s great that it’s being given a second chance to work this time. Making the controls work is the important thing, and it looks like they’ve fixed what was broken in Scribblenauts.

Daemon: Adjectives add a whole lot to what you can summon in Super Scribblenauts. A delicious baby? A sexy nun? A gelatinous taxi? All of these and more are possible.

13. Limbo

Daemon: Limbo has a very distinct art style, something you don’t find very often in videogames. One glance at it and you immediately know what game you’re looking at. This creepy puzzle platformer takes me back to the glorious days of Out of This World. Limbo doesn’t really have a soundtrack, but the audio experience is amazing.

Greg: Limbo looks really cool but it’s the sound that really gets me. When you play it with headphones on it’s a beautiful sounding game. The pitter patter of your feet walking through the woods; a steel bear trap closing on your head… The kills are really graphic, which I wasn’t expecting.

12. Patapon 3

Greg: Patapon 1 and 2 were our PSP Games of the Year two years in a row, and it seems like they’re doing a lot of really cool stuff with Patapon 3. Seems like it’s gonna be a huge game – much bigger than before.

11. Dance Central

Dana: I am an awful dancer. I’ve always wanted to be a better dancer and Dance Central dangles a little illusion of hope that I might be able to not embarrass myself after I’ve played it for a while.

Daemon: I thought Dance Central looked ridiculous when I first saw it. Then I played it and I was having a ridiculous amount of fun. You may be tempted to write something like this off, but you really have to play Dance Central to get why it’s so cool.

Hil: If you play Dance Central I think you’ll actually learn to dance. That’s pretty incredible.

10. Medal of Honor

Anthony Gallegos: I still have fond memories of the beach landing scene in the first Medal of Honor. I’m really hoping that EA can make this Medal of Honor something that can compete with Call of Duty.

Arthur: DICE has a proven track record for making great multiplayer games.

Charles: The single-player campaign is really well presented and could have a cool storyline. It could actually be a lot more interesting than the completely over-the-top ’80s action flick storylines in, for example, the Call of Duty series.

9. Metroid: Other M

Altano: The fact that they’re bringing in Team Ninja to enhance the combat is a strange and interesting change for the Metroid franchise, and I’m excited for it.

Anthony: The combination of first- and third-person gameplay really intrigues me.

8. Fable III

Erik Brudvig: I’m excited for Fable III because it seemed like Lionhead overestimated what they could do with the second one. They shot for the moon and didn’t quite get there. Now with Fable III they’re recognizing what went wrong with Fable II and cleaning it up a bit.

Kristine Steimer: I’m a big Fable II fan. Love that dog, so I’m very happy the dog is back.

7. StarCraft II

Charles: I’ve personally been waiting for this for 12 years. The fact that they actually changed up the campaign so that it plays a little like a point-and-click adventure game is pretty exciting.

Nick Kolan: Blizzard has been working on this sequel for at least five years and it’s really polished, even in its current beta state. It’s gonna be awesome when it’s released.

6. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit

Dana: I will play any game Criterion makes and love it. This is Burnout with cop cars and I am so there.

Geddes: The Need for Speed series has needed a reboot for a while. What we saw at E3 included cops, hot cars – there is even a Bugatti cop car, which is pretty much the most awesome thing I can imagine. It looks like the excitement of Need for Speed is back.

Hil: Criterion makes incredible racing games. The best mode that has ever been in any Burnout is Road Rage and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is an entire game built around Road Rage. It’s gonna be a blast and is gorgeous to look at.

5. Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Charles: I just think Kirby looks cool. The visual style in that game is enough to make me go buy it, even without reading any previews.

Craig: There hasn’t been a massive console game starring Kirby in some time. The visual style is amazing. Using string and yarn for the characters and environment is something no one has ever done before and it looks fantastic.

Dana: It just looks so damn cute. How could I not want to play a game that looks like something I might actually make with my sewing machine?

4. Epic Mickey

Anthony: This looks like the best Wii game coming out this year – possibly overall. It just has such a cool art style. I wasn’t sure if Warren Spector could deliver again but now, having seen it firsthand, it looks really great. Not even “great for a Wii game,” it just looks great.

Craig: Warren Spector is big news in the world of gaming and to have him make a console game, especially for the Wii, is a big deal.

3. Halo: Reach

Arthur: This feels like the first real next-gen Halo game. Seems like Bungie is taking the fact that this is their last Halo game on the 360 to heart and they’re really putting a lot more into it than they have in the past. The story aspect seems interesting. I like that it’s gonna end in tragedy.

Erik: If you’re a Halo fan it’s impossible to not be excited about Reach. This is the World Cup of shooters.

2. Civilization V

Charles: The Civilization series has been the most consistently entertaining strategy franchise around. It’s got a lot of depth and is always fun to play. I have no doubt that Civ V will do the same thing. The fact that they’re actually changing up the formula a lot with Civ V is really interesting.

Dana: I always want to rule the world and Civilization is my chance to live that dream.

Erik: This is my number one most anticipated game. I think I’ve played more Civilization over the past five years than any other game. In fact, I took two days off work last week and just sat around playing Civilization. So I’m still playing old Civ games and will probably play Civ 5 for years.

1. Fallout: New Vegas

Arthur: I dumped about 85 hours into Fallout 3. I probably played more Fallout 3 DLC last year than any other game. So I’m looking forward to losing myself in that world again.

Erik: Fallout New Vegas is more Fallout. That’s awesome and all you really need to know.

So now that E3 is behind us and fall is fast approaching (it’ll be here sooner that you think), we thought we’d take another look at how the rest of the gaming year is shaping up. We scoped out the list of upcoming games with solid release dates and narrowed it down to the hottest 25. Then we got together and had an old-fashioned vote-off. Here at IGN, we have a big group of editors with a wide range of tastes in genres, platforms and expectations. Here are their 25 most anticipated games of the second half of 2010.

Craig Harris: NBA Jam is going back to the original arcade game, taking what worked and why it was fun, and then applying all these new school techniques to it.

Greg Miller: Who didn’t love the original NBA Jam? I played as Bill Clinton all night long. I hope I can be Obama in this new one.

Hilary Goldstein: NBA Jam feels and sounds exactly like the old game. It’s as close to replicating a classic as you can get.

24. FIFA 11

Hil: FIFA 10 was one of the greatest sports games of all time and 11 looks like it’s taking it up a notch. The online is perfectly integrated into the single-player game. They’re adding a ton of new custom moves that are specific to players so now it’s gonna feel even more like the real players.

Nate Ahearn: This is the sequel to our 2009 Sports Game of the Year and is the best sports game in EA’s current lineup.

23. Sonic the Hedgehog 4

Arthur Gies: This feels like a Genesis Sonic game and there are a lot of people who really want that. SEGA is doing a pretty good job of picking up the torch from Sonic 2 and moving forward.

Hilary Goldstein: Sonic the Hedgehog on Genesis is one of my favorite games of all time and it’s great to see SEGA finally get it – it’s time to stop with all this 3D Sonic crap and go back to 2D platforming. I think people are going to love it.

22. Prof. Layton & the Unwound Future

Dana Jongewaard: I love the Professor Layton games and this one is going to be just like the other two. Can’t wait to play it again.

21. GoldenEye Wii

Brian Altano: I anticipate first-person shooters on the Wii. If it doesn’t stray too far from the simplicity of what made the first one good I think Goldeneye Wii could work. If they bring back the maps, specifically the Facility, I’ll be very excited. I want to sneak into the bathroom stall and kill people again.

Ryan Geddes: We all have great memories of playing Goldeneye with friends. I’m really curious to see how they handle the controls on Wii. Even if it was just a slickly done port of the original game I would still play it, so if they’re doing something totally new I’m excited to check it out.
20. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

David Clayman: Ubisoft is good at creating really original multiplayer games. Spies vs. Mercs was one of the most addictive things I’ve ever done online; it just had no fan base. But Assassin’s Creed is such a huge franchise now, maybe this original take on multiplayer will catch on and people will play something other than Call of Duty and Halo.

Hil: The one thing that drove me crazy about the end of Assassin’s Creed II is that you finally get to Rome but then don’t get to explore it. Just having the ability to go around and explore Rome is going to be a lot of fun.

19. Call of Duty: Black Ops

Clayman: The throwback vibe they have in this game has got me really excited for one reason: Metal Gear Solid 3 is my favorite game of all time and one of the main characters in Black Ops looks like Snake from that game. He’s got the mullet with the headband, and I’ll play anything that looks like Snake Eater.

Brian Miggels: I liked World at War, the last Treyarch Call of Duty game. Flying a helicopter around looks really cool.

18. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Charles Onyett: With Cataclysm, Blizzard is creating some of the most exciting quests I’ve played in an MMO. It’s got me interested in playing WoW again. I’m leveling up my beta characters with a lot of consideration – even though I know they’re gonna be wiped when the beta stops. I think that’s a pretty good sign that they’ve done something right here.

Dana: World of Warcraft is a 2004 game that millions of people are still playing. It’s funny, it’s smart, and more content for it is always a good thing.

17. Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

Hil: Everything about this game is cool. You can’t say enough about how great the music is. It’s 8-bit so it kind of sounds like old school games, but it still feels fresh and alive and new.

Daemon Hatfield: Anyone with fond memories of River City Ransom will want to play Scott Pilgrim. It’s an old school beat ‘em up with old school visuals, but presented in glorious HD. Great to see Ubisoft taking such a unique approach to a movie tie in.

16. DJ Hero 2

Clayman: It’s not revolutionary that they added real vocal support and refined the multiplayer modes in DJ Hero, but it does turn it into a really viable party game. Before, it was cool that the music was good, but nobody wants to watch someone else play a game. It’s similar to Guitar Hero’s transition into Guitar Hero 5. Guitar Hero 5 was the ultimate party game, but nobody cared anymore. But DJ Hero is still fresh enough that I think you should care. Plus, you bought that turntable so you might as well get the sequel.

Daemon: DJ Hero was already a near-perfect experience, and it seems like Activision is fixing the very few qualms we had with it for the sequel. I’m hearing rumors that my absolute favorite DJ will make an appearance this time…

The latest member of the series, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, is headed exclusively to the Nintendo DS and introduces impressive multiplayer functionality to the canonical series. The game also features character classes, item creation and — as you might expect — plenty of slimes to defeat. I was frustrated by certain aspects of Dragon Quest IX, as the game’s by-the-books battle system is almost too traditional for its own good and the focus on multiplayer hurts Dragon Quest’s otherwise enticing story. But Dragon Quest IX is ultimately a charming game with plenty to do.

In Dragon Quest IX, you begin your adventure by creating your own hero through a simple but cute creation system. This system allows you to select your character’s size, face type, hair style and more through a series of straight-forward menus. Once your hero has been created, you quickly enter the world as a member of an angelic race of guardians that watch over the mortal realms. From their cloudy home known as the Observatory, the guardians protect mortals and collect the manifestation of their thankfulness and faith (glowing seeds of light) that are then offered to the great tree Yggdrasil. The guardians’ goal is to coax Yggdrasil into bearing fruit, which signals their imminent ascension to the throne of the Almighty.

Unfortunately, as Yggdrasil finally bears fruit, something goes terribly wrong and the hero is cast down to the mortal realm, stripped of his wings and halo. Players are tasked with wandering the world in search of answers and a way to get back home.

Dragon Quest IX is about as traditional as it gets when it comes to JRPGs, which shouldn’t surprise Dragon Quest fans. Players control a party of up to four characters and journey through towns, dungeons and all the world map forests in between. When you get into a battle, you’ll issue orders to all the party members under your command (unless you have an AI pattern assigned to someone) and then the action plays out on the top screen as each combatant takes his or her turn.

Battles boil down to selecting things off of a menu on the bottom screen (Attack, Magic, Item, etc.) and managing your party’s health and status. The most exciting conflicts are obviously the boss fights because your party is in a constant state of danger, but otherwise the battle system in Dragon Quest IX is a little too traditional. I imagine this won’t bother the gamers out there that want to relive the text-heavy, turn-based games of the past, but there’s no hook to the battle system that drew me in and kept me excited. I have no problem with turn-based games or menu-driven RPGs, but Dragon Quest IX is missing that special something that encourages you to get into every battle possible just for the fun of it.

Fortunately, the systems built around the combat are all great. There are a number of character classes (called “vocations”) in Dragon Quest IX, including the Warrior, Mage, Priest, Thief, Martial Artist and Minstrel. The default class for your hero is Minstrel, but later in the game you’ll be able to change vocations at Alltrades Abbey. Parties will usually consist of a Warrior who dishes out physical attacks, a Mage for magic-based attacks and a Priest for healing. For my fourth party member I created a Martial Artist, as they use abilities to power-up their attacks, which is handy in a pinch. There are also bonus vocations to unlock along the way.

As Dragon Quest IX is a multiplayer-focused game, all the characters in your party are created in the same way that you create your hero. This is mainly to fill in empty spots if you don’t actually have three friends that own a copy of the game, because trying to conquer the campaign with a single hero is a terrifying feat. If you do have a couple friends that are itching to quest, you can team up with them via local connection and journey together.

I strongly suggest that people check out the game’s multiplayer, even if you’re only interested in the solo campaign. One player acts as a host and up to three guest players can join the host player’s world and help out in battles. This is an excellent system, as visiting players are not forced to follow the host around. They can wander the world at their leisure and they can even open up certain treasure chests. If the host needs help, he or she can send out a call to arms and request that the guest players jump to the host’s location.

If the host initiates a battle without the presence of a guest player, the battle will play out normally, but a guest player can run up to the host’s character on the field and join the battle in progress. It’s a painless system that I really appreciate, as each player need only worry about his or her own hero. And although guest players can’t advance the main story or complete side quests, they keep the experience and money they earn in battle, which keeps the game rewarding — even if you’re only helping out a friend.

But one of Dragon Quest IX’s most troubling issues comes from this focus on multiplayer gameplay and what it means for the game’s narrative. When playing Dragon Quest IX on your own, your party will be a bunch of created characters with no personality whatsoever. As these characters have no dialogue to offer, the characters you journey with won’t develop emotionally as you play. I’ll admit that I did grow attached to certain non-playable characters like the sassy fairy Stella, but it’s not enough to keep me emotionally invested in the experience.

But this lack of personality and the aforementioned generic battles are overshadowed by Dragon Quest IX’s charms. There is an abundance of side quests available to players and the game keeps careful track of your progress on these quests. The game also has a massive set of achievements, or “accolades,” which are awarded to players at certain milestones, like defeating monsters or collecting armor.

There’s also a robust item creation system that lets you synthesize your own weapons, armor and items out of raw materials found in the field. Recipes for these items can be found by reading books in libraries and dungeons, which encourages players to explore and interact with the environment.

One of the impressive aspects of these items is that they change the way the character model looks in-game. That means all the different weapons and armor you collect will have a different appearance, which is rare in a DS RPG. It’s a shame that the environments weren’t given as much attention, as most of the locales you’ll visit on your quest are uninspired. As I traveled through the world of Dragon Quest IX, I felt like I was working my way down the JRPG checklist. Grassy field? Check. Forest? Check. Desert town? Check. This is all too familiar to fans of the genre.

The first and most immediately evident sign that you’re playing a standalone football title is the new visual treatment that they’ve given NCAA 11. Overall, everything looks more realistic than it ever has before. The new lighting system brings great detail to the player models and their animations are more fluid and more realistic than I’ve seen prior. You’ll notice cool details like player’s faces grimacing as the opposing running back smokes by them for a quick score and the pain on a quarterback’s face comes through in a big way once you see your first field-level replay of a sack.

Some of that authentic feeling probably has to do with the new ESPN graphics package that the game uses. The transitions are right out of something you’d see on Saturday; now, I just wish that Herbstreit and Nessler could keep up. Their commentary has gone in the wrong direction since last year and, believe it or not, I actually miss Lee Corso being in the box with them.

Beyond the (mostly) cool ESPN integration, the gameplay changes made with this year’s game are almost all of a very high quality without a “quarterback vision cone” among them. Among the additions is new animation technology called locomotion that allows players to move much more realistically on the field. Despite the improvements, I still can’t say that their animations are perfect. Clipping can still be an issue and I ran into a few problems in one online game, the worst of which was the opposing quarterback completely missing a handoff and also getting caught in the handoff animation. He wound up sprinting in the wrong direction, ball outstretched for about 30 yards. I was happy; my opponent was most certainly not.

Thankfully the feeling of cheap animations getting the better of you passes quickly as soon as you see what other moves have been integrated into the game. I’m happy to say that for the first time ever in an EA Sports football game, wide receivers can make sideline catches and grab balls in the back of the endzone on a consistent basis. It doesn’t happen every time (nor should it in a college game), but the inclusion is still great to see. Jukes are also less effective than they were in the past, meaning it’ll take some skill on your part to time your move just right (the same goes for hit stick tackles). You’ll still break a few ankles, but this year it feels more like a real accomplishment.

Elsewhere in the animation department, you’ll find the new twisting movements brought about by the dual analog control setup. Imagine your player’s upper half is the right analog stick when he has the ball. Moving the stick up carries his weight forward, and moving it from side to side from there rotates his shoulders to protect the ball.

Way to make him miss.

I actually didn’t feel the need to use the dual analog stick abilities all that much during gameplay. There were very few situations where I thought to myself “If I had angled my upper body differently, I would’ve gained a few more yards.” That’s not to say that those situations weren’t in the game, but I just wasn’t incentivized to use the new swaying ability.

Also, AI players can now catch the ball and not run directly out of bounds when they’re close to the sideline. Oh, and blocking works. I mean it really works. Players can now have faith that their fullback is going to be able to make it to the second level of the defense and stop one of those linebackers for a few seconds of daylight. All of these changes are wonderful deviations from the annoyances of the past.

That’s not to say that the AI is perfect, though. There are definitely still moments when you’ll be slapping your forehead wondering what the hell they were thinking. I’ve seen opposing quarterbacks slide in their own backfield for a one-yard loss on third down. I’ve also witnessed random bugs like my player diving to the end zone, only to have the ball inexplicably jump out of his hands and into the arms of the nearest defender. It looked totally unnatural and was hopelessly frustrating. Thankfully, it only happened once in a few weeks of playing a lot of NCAA. The other bug that I ran into a bit more often was a problem with the camera during extra point attempts. For whatever reason, it gave me a viewing perspective from the other side of the field. Here’s hoping they fix these issues through a patch or two.

Still, overall, the gameplay you’ll find in NCAA Football 11 is the best ever from the series. Animations are more fluid and true to life than they’ve ever been before and the game simply looks more like actual college football. There are still some AI flaws, but the first time in a long while the amount of success in terms of overall player intelligence far outweigh the blemishes. Even though I didn’t find the dual analog control to be pivotal to my gameplay experience, maybe you will. If you don’t, you can always hop into the options menu and revert back to the old ways.

Speaking of the old days, NCAA makes its biggest move in the wrong direction when you see how the list of modes rests on the laurels of past games — at least for the most part. The offline dynasty and Road to Glory modes haven’t changed much at all, which is a real shame. Road to Glory will offend gamers more than dynasty due to the fact that they used the exact same Erin Andrews cutscenes as last year. I understand that Erin is a busy girl, but surely she could’ve taken a day out of her dancing/commentating/being awesome schedule to record some new video segments. Sadly, that’s not the case.

In the way of Dynasty Mode, users can expect to find a wonderful new world when venturing online but an all-too-familiar one when playing by yourself. Still, You can always just hop into an Online Dynasty and set it to private to enjoy the new interconnected functionality.

What am I talking about? Well, this year’s game basically turns any of your many PCs, Macs or iDevices into your recruiting and smack talking hub. This year the Online Dynasty Mode can come with you wherever you go. Whether it’s in the form of passive e-mail updates when a game or week is completed or the more active (and sure to annoy your significant other) choice of recruiting your roster of fledging stars from your laptop or iPhone, your Online Dynasty is always there. Sort of. See, while I’m sure the browsing experience will be improved in the future, the fact that my iPhone 4 chugs while trying to access my recruiting chart is disconcerting.

That withstanding, the PC browsing and feature set is very impressive. I had no trouble choosing a topic with my controller, cycling through the variety of pitches and promises, and completing a call before transferring over to my laptop and continuing from where I left off. I would’ve preferred a standalone iPhone app for the online functionality, but with a few tweaks, I’m sure they’ll stabilize things for mobile devices.

Also included in your Dynasty Hub online are the new StoryBuilder and Dynasty Wire. StoryBuilder (similar in name to TeamBuiler, which is back this year and totally unchanged) allows you to select photos and videos, assign a headline and write a quick paragraph about how you just (or are going to) whoop your opponent’s ass. It’s simple, it’s slick, and it works pretty damn well. Of course, if you’re too lazy to generate your own custom stories, the game will take care of it for you automatically. You can then upload these stories to Facebook or YouTube and watch the real smack talking begin.

The Online Dynasty PC Interface is slick and works well.

Talking smack to your pals is all well and good, but any real diehard football fan will let their performance on the field do the talking for them. The real star of Online Dynasty is clearly the recruiting. The setup gives you 10 hours per week to spend on talking to prospects. It’s up to you to strategically budget your time across your top 35 prospects. You can do things like make them a promise for next year such as “You’re going to get a lot of playing time” or “You’ll make the Freshman All-American Team.” You can also make a pitch that compares an aspect of your school against a rival institution. At the end of the day, all of this menu navigation on your various devices actually feels more like a managerial mini-game than simply trudging through a long list of items.

I won’t lie and say that the game modes in NCAA Football 11 blew me away, given that the bulk of the content is old, but the new functionality and connectivity for Online Dynasty seems like it could usher in a new standard for multi-season multiplayer features. Sadly, the only other new member to the list of game modes is one-button gameplay, which dumbs down NCAA Football so that you literally need only one button to play. Personally, I think the development team’s time can be better spent working on something new, like making changes (any changes) to Road to Glory or adding in the ability to customize my campus in Dynasty Mode.