Sega

Welcome to the first installment of a brand-new semi-regular feature here at GameCritics.com: TouchTalk. While this series was inspired by one of my old features, the Bargain Basement, I've got an all-new focus for an all-new phase in gaming. Rather than highlighting discounted gems in the used section of a retail shop, I'll be reviewing downloadable mobile games and apps that you might want to check out… and maybe some that you'll want to avoid.

I have to preface this by saying I wasn't much of a fan of Streets of Rage—I stayed away from the Sega Genesis and was more into Final Fight and Double Dragon. However, I do understand that there are people out there that absolutely love Sega's contribution to the console beat-'em up genre.

I finally made time in my schedule to sit down with Sega's Binary Domain, and even though I've had my eye on it since last year, the end result ended up being even better than expected.

The Dragon of Dojima's Looking a bit Paunchy

HIGH Playing baseball with kids on the beach.

LOW The slow trickle of new moves makes combat painfully stale.

WTF "You have learned the art of pole dancing."

I'm still trying to complete Yakuza 3 before anything big comes in for review, and I'm almost done. If my guess is correct, there are only one or two chapters left, so I'm hoping to wrap it up tomorrow. I've got to say, out of the three Yakuza titles I've played so far, this one has definitely been the weakest.

Although there are some must-reviews coming down the pipe pretty soon, the industry is more or less in a big lull right now, and that's perfectly okay with me. I've really been enjoying knocking games out of my backlog, and the latest one up at bat is Sega's Yakuza 3. Straight up, I love Yakuza.

My Fist, Your Face

HIGH Hero vs. Hero & Hero.

LOW My continuing inability to find a save point in downtown Tokyo.

WTF Death Volley, the Volleyball-themed assassin!

Due to a slight tug of nostalgia that the recently released Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was unable to satisfy, I went back and played through all of the games that comprised Sonic's glory days. You know how it feels when you watch 10-year-old highlight reels of some sports team you care about? How you're reminded of how good they used to be? It was kind of like that. Between Sonic 1-3/Knuckles and Sonic CD I truly felt like they held up after all this time.

I absolutely adored the first Valkyria Chronicles on PS3, and felt guilty that I didn't play it in time to praise it on my top ten last year. After being reminded by a reader of that particular oversight, I figured I should probably get to the sequel this year to make sure I didn't make the same mistake again.I'm extremely early in the game so I can't speak on it definitively, but what I've seen so far is quite a mixed bag.

Who Cares? Sega Should

HIGH Transporting myself to a simpler, more poorly-rendered time and coming to the realization that Gunblade NY is actually pretty solid.

LOW Dozing off repeatedly during a run of L.A. Machineguns. For reference, the game is 30 minutes long.

WTF Wondering how to defeat all these robo-terrorists? Advise you slam 'em continuously!