Great games, terrible ports
351772
This is well-worn ground at this point, but seeing this HD collection with even 2.5 stars is enough to make me want to try to get the score down even lower. These ports are plagued with issues that plenty of the other reviews have detailed (terrible framerate drops, sound glitches, missing fog, missing post-processing effects, mismatched lip-syncing, missing 5.1 surround if you've installed the patch and are using optical cables, dodgy controls that cause the character to pause every few steps), and the whole thing just seems shoddily thrown together.

I'm not even going to bring up the new voice acting and things like that; I firmly believe that, whether I like them or not, these things are subjective and are NOT the issues we should be focused on with these ports.

The whole thing is a real shame, because the parts that DO still work right look nice in HD. Silent Hill 2 and 3 looked fantastic for their time, and that really comes through when you can see it at high resolution. It's too bad that so much is missing or broken.

Good HD Collections like the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, the God of War HD Collections, the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection, and the recent Devil May Cry HD Collection have established that gamers will gladly rebuy older games if it gets them better support for current technology (widescreen, current resolution, surround sound, etc.) or even just gives them the chance to finally mothball their old consoles. However, game developers should PLEASE take note that even if people are big enough suckers to re-buy something they already own, it's kind of reasonable of them to expect that the new one will be at least as good as what they already have sitting around. I would have rather had an emulated PS2 Classics version for digital download on PSN than an amateurish port that breaks more than it improves. If this was at least patched to fix the lip-syncing and some of the missing effects (the fog, especially) and make the framerate and controls stables, a lot of people would really warm up to it.
4699508
I am very close to calling the ubisoft folk genius,however they are very flawed in areas of this game.
First off i really enjoyed this game yes the controls suck as i often found myself leaping in the wrong direction and screaming all manner of interesting words at the screen.
One thing that really pissed me off was the music. Here they have gone to all the time and effort to create this beautiful magical world only to have death metal guitars crapping all over it. If they did their homework they would find that a lot of middle eastern styles of music are really interesting and heart pounding. I turned off the music after 5 mins problem solved.
Anyway it looks great and it will certainly test you.
1351056
I don't want to write up a big summary with this game, because that's been done. I do want to start off by saying I really do like playing this game. I play with a group of friends online and we've logged many hours. It's really immersive, has a great story line, and the controls almost make you feel like you're one of the Ghosts. Unfortunately, this is one of the glitchiest games I've ever played. That's why I'm giving it 3 stars. It's so bad there have been nights where we all just gave up. Between the mic sounds going in and out and having to switch between game and party chat, inability to join another's group, and a whole lot of issues when running this game on two Xboxes in the same house at the same time (yes, I understand port issues, this is still beyond ridiculous as plenty of other games work just fine), it can really make you want to throw your controller at the wall. The fact that it's actually a cool game that's fun to play makes it that much worse: you look forward to it all day only to run into issue after issue.

Why can't they make something that just works?

Just downloaded the third major update and the issues have not been addressed. C'mon Ubisoft, you have a great game here, make it work right!
4442964
I have a GTX 670 with 2gb VRAM, 8gb ram, intel 500 solid state drive, i7-2600 and all the latest drivers.

Despite all this, GTA IV has significant draw distance, rendering, texture and other problems on the PC.

The port of the title is surprisingly poor and I spent the equivalent of a term paper's of time trying to get the title to work in writing support, reading forums and trying every workaround imaginable.

Many people have these problems and it turns out the fractured final product on my pc is as good as it gets. I eventually just stopped because, as much as I loved the title on consoles, it just doesn't look right, even on my 1080p 120hz screen.

This is a great game, great company and great franchise. However, skip the PC version. If you want to play find a friend with a console and enjoy. I promise you it's not worth the headache of trying to get this going on your PC. Or just wait until GTA V :)
4142863
Always been a fan of the first Assassin's Creed, it was an awesome game to play.  I was so looking forward to this squeal... until I found out about the strings attached to the PC version.  I don't have the most stable internet, and even if I did, I don't like the idea of my games calling home every second for permission to play a game that I payed full price for.  If I am going to be treated like I am renting the game rather than owning it, then the price should reflect it.
109317
DRM is horrible, you probably won't get it to run
And even if you do, here's a description of what you'll get:
A bunch of crappy mini-games duct-taped together to make a giant crappy collection of mini-games. Truth.
4291901
Street Fighter Anniversary Addition was a big disappointment.  The only arcade version of the Street Figfhter series that is included is Street Fighter 3 Third Strike.  There is only one other game on the disc, and it combines all the other versions of Street Fighter 2 into one game, making for one huge mess.  They look good, but play terrible.  Even on the easiest setting, this game is rather difficult because it seems there are missing animations.  What you see and what the life gauge shows are often very different.  The default music is a horrible arranged version.  I recommend using one of the original soundtracks.  I have the Street Fighter Collection that came out some years ago for the Sega Saturn and it is very superior to this later but very sloppy release.

Fortunately, Street Fighter 3 Third Strike is quite good.  After playing this I find no reason to revisit the messed up earlier versions on this disc.  I also suggest setting the soundtrack on this one to original as well.  I don't know why they wasted time with the arranged version.  That time would have been better spent properly releasing the earlier versions of Street Fighter 2 included in this collection.

SF3 Third Strike carries over only a few of the old characters from the SF2 and SF Alpha series, but most of the new ones are very diverse, well thought out, and very cool!  There are many great new additions to the lineup but unfortunately has also included some of the most ridiculous, weird, and out-of-place characters ever seen in a fighting game. They'd be more at home in Capcom's Vampire Hunter series than they are in a Street Fighter game.  Fortunately most matches allow you to choose one of two characters to fight, so you can avoid seeing the really weird ones by choosing the alternative character.

There is no survival mode in SF 3 Third Strike which is disappointing, but overall it is a very fast-paced and fun game to play and in my opinion a significant improvement for a rather outdated series.  In many ways it feels and plays more like an SNK fighting game like Garou: Mark of the Wolves.  I consider this to be a compliment to Capcom.  If you want an arcade conversion of SF2, I'd avoid this purchase at all costs.  If you want the newer and more advanced SF3 Third Strike, I think this is still a worthwhile purchase.  For a better collection of older Street Fighter games, the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is an excellent choice and includes accurate arcade versions of all three entries in the series, plus Gem Fighter and an updated version of SF Alpha 2, called Gold..
4451843
Graphics. The one thing that plagues the idiot youths of today. That is all they care about, so they go out and buy an X-Box which has about 2 semi-decent games on it. The super Nintendo has the GREATEST games anyone could ask for, such as Secret of Mana, Chrono trigger, Mega man X and X2, final fantasy 2, and the best game of all time, final fantasy 3. These games are really fun, and you can play and replay them all the time over and over again, as i have for about 6 or 7 years.
Unlike the regular NES, this system actually plays everytime you turn it on. no more irritation of constant turning power off, blowing on the cartridge, and turning the power on REPEATEDLY. A grand repair of past flaws on consoles
I really recommend you start the final fantasy legend on this great console, starting with final fantasy 2, then work your way up to the greatest game final fantasy 3, then get the semi-rpg classic secret of mana. After beating these classics, get mega man X and mega man X2. Legend of Zelda: a link to the past is a very wise choice also. Even after THAT (yes, there are that many great games out there for this system), get chrono trigger, another classic rpg out there. other really good choices are Earthbound, contra 3, and king of dragons.
I recommend you save your money and instead of buying that STUPID worthless X-box, you buy something worthwhile, like the Super NES. Just don't forget...GET FINAL FANTASY 3
2377803
"Jedi Outcast" is the third installment in the outstanding "Dark Forces" series.  Sadly, it is also the first misfire.  "Dark Forces" and "Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight" were superb games both in terms of graphics, gameplay, and story arc.  Admittedly, the graphics are good for "Jedi Outcast", but it fails miserably with gameplay.  The keyboard plays a singularly important role in any PC-based video game.  With that being fact, it's imperative that actions that keyboards performs be smooth and fluid.  It was with the two previous installments in this series, but the control is nothing short of totally aggravating.  The movement is 'herky-jerky', almost like it regressed to earlier technology.  Aiming the weapons at the targets is nearly impossible because the targets move too fast to acquire with the current setup.  Also, trying to pan the player's view up and down and from left to right is very shaky.  The gameplay is so awful that I have been forced to stop playing the game because I do not have the patience to deal with it.  I suspect the game, itself, may actually get quite good.  Unfortunately, I cannot give a rating based on how good I think the game could be if only the gameplay were better.  The fact that the game is too aggravating to continue to play dooms "Jedi Outcast" to the lowest score possible.  Perhaps the versions ported for actual gaming systems perform much better.  If they do, I will review this game much more favorably for that platform.
1554872
The games?  Good.  I still own many of the Genesis carts.  But I don't like the updated graphics which are basically adding aliasing and "blur" to the image.  That doesn't increase the resolution - just makes everything look fuzzy and washed-out.  They were designed for Low-definition 320x240, with visible square pixels, and that's how they look best.  (In fact the pixels often act as yardsticks for gamers to estimate their jumps.  No pixels == mistakes and lost lives.)

*Just as you should not colorize old black-and-white movies*, or reedit classic films (Han fired first), neither should you make the old classic games look blurry.  A totally-revised remake like Metroid Zero is okay, but the original versions f these 8 and 16 bit games should also be included as the director/programmer created it.
1770067
With a system like the PS Vita, and the kind of gaming experience the hardware makes possible, there's really no excuse for this substandard port.  I bought it thinking it would be a well established and loved game series that I could enjoy for hours ... but it wasn't.  I had more fun and a better gaming experience playing Daxter on my old PSP.  This collection wasn't even up to that level of quality ... and it is being released on a far more powerful gaming console.

Altogether, I'm sure there are folks who will find some enjoyment in this collection because the games look like they could be fun.  I just found myself so disappointed at the quality of game play and the relatively bad graphics (considering the console) that I ended up putting it down months ago and haven't picked it back up.  I've since played Arkham Origins, which is great and I'm getting started on Rayman Origins now, which just puts this poor excuse for a PS Vita collection to shame.

I am very excited to see the God of War Collection coming later this year, but can only hope that: 1) they do a far better job porting those games to Vita, and 2) they go to the trouble to include GOW 3 in the collection.  Otherwise, it's not a complete collection.  I'll still buy it because I want to play GOW 1 and 2 on Vita ... but I'll be only 80% happy instead of 100%.

Unless you are an absolute die-hard J&D fan and can't live without this collection, I'd save my time and money for something they took the time to do right.
3150544
I purchased this game at a steam sale for $5. The game is un-playable, the lag is terrible and it plays maybe at 10 FPS MAX. even after purchasing a GTX960 (and yes, I have a very beefy gaming PC and have the latest drivers, I know what I'm doing). Steam support is useless and I pretty much gave up on the game. I searched the internet for fixes for hours on end with no avail. Do not bother with the PC version. When it comes to PC ports this game takes the cake for worst ever.
4031237
No proper widescreen support for a game in 2008. You have got to be kidding. Do the DEVs still watch their DVDs on 'black and white' TVs.  ***SHAME***
Oh, and DRM...***SHAME***, ***SHAME***, ***SHAME***.
2824122
This is a fantastic game. Ive played it off and on for years on my xbox360. But this version for the PC by Nordic games has two problems. 1st you have to install Steam. What I think is the most insidious and intrusive of the online game providers. You cant even start the game without Steam starting first.
Secondly, I wanted to use my xbox controller to play the game and I cant get the game to recognize it no matter installing a variety of after market controller recognition programs. I don't have this problem with any other PC game I play. So the game is essentially unplayale at this point. $15 wasted on should have been a great gaming experience. These developers and publishers shoukd make sure their software work with a wide array of available input devices. Final word: Great game! Crap publisher :(
4608196
Reading these reviews, it quickly became apparent that most people either really like this game or really dislike it. I fall into the latter category with one exception. I found the graphics on this compilation of interesting summer games to be quite excellent. Even though it's very disappointing that so many games are being written that don't use our delightful little miis, the characters on this one are still better than many of the others out there. Nice graphics aside, the lack of control on every single one of these games is just unforgivable. Even though I consider myself to be a good gamer, you have to throw the remote so hard your arm feels like it's going to come off to get anywhere close to the pin in horseshoes. I have yet to understand how in the hell you get a lawn dart into the circle no matter how perfectly it is aimed and even though I loved the cool graphics in mini-golf, every slice is truly just 'luck of the draw'. If the ball is close to the cup and you barely move the remote, it flies 20 feet. If the ball is twenty feet away from the cup and you swing moderately, it barely moves. On the very next swing, put just a little more strength into the slice and it flies 40 feet beyond the cup! The controls for basketball and volleyball were equally frustrating and just plain WRONG!

Bottom line - kudos to the graphics artists, but whoever the idiot is that developed the control mechanism in this complilation for use with wireless Wii remotes should go back and learn his craft over again because he failed miserably in this attempt.
4482267
They really *really* need to be more clear that this particular system DOES NOT PLAY GAMECUBE GAMES! I don't know what is with this trend of removing backwards compatibility for v2 releases of systems, but it's getting really old. The disc channel on the Wii still even shows the gamecube icon!

Three stars. It's a Wii, it works, and New Super Mario Bros is a fun game. I can't help but feel a little ripped off that they removed all gamecube functionality. The little flip-up part that would normally reveal a row of GameCube controller ports is gone as well. Don't make the same mistake I did.. read the reviews first!
2254008
This 360 port is terrible, PC is by far as usual the best, and the GBA Duke is better then the 360 as well.  The gprahics here suck, the controls are slow and due to the wonky 360 controller are damn near impossible to get good with.  Multiplayer sucks.  Get the PC version.