When Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 came out for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network a couple of years ago, it answered the prayers of dedicated fans seeking a 2D fix of their favorite hero, in favor of the forgettable 3D endeavors.  But at the same time, it didn’t quite “feel” right, with game mechanics being just a little bit off and the level design not quite being as good as the classic Genesis games.  So the developers did some tinkering and have come back with Episode 2, a game that’s much closer in nature to those classics.  But is it the ultimate Sonic experience?  Sadly, it comes up just short, but in different areas than the first game.

Kart racers are usually a dime a dozen, especially back in the old days, when it seemed like every gaming company wanted to make its own version to capitalize on the popularity of the Mario Kart games.  But Sega did it quite effectively several months back with Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, a smorgasbord of racing goodness stemming multiple characters and tracks inspired by various Sega classics, including the House of the Dead, Samba de Amigo and more.  The formula worked extremely well for both the company and players, so it should be no surprise that the long-rumored sequel was finally announced today.

Throughout the history of video games, the oldest stereotype surrounding the industry has always been do violent video games affect player behavior and personality. It is a known fact that people who play games are exposed to more violence than the average consumer. From nuking entire civilization to obliterating players online, it’s has become more and more common now that games are more focus on squarely providing violent action. For this reason alone, parents have long held an underlining negative attitude towards the industry and those who stand by it, but is this criticism injustice or have developers gone to far? Should government step in?

With its first three House of the Dead games, Sega pretty much kept to form, putting two unlikely heroes together to save the world from a zombie apocalypse.  Sure, the third game – which arrived on PlayStation Network a while back – introduced some awesome shotguns, but the status quo of “shoot everything that moves” remained intact.  So would the same go for House of the Dead 4?  Well, sort of.

Sega’s downloadable game slate is looking incredible.  We certainly won’t lie.  Along with a revamped version of Jet Set Radio, the recently released House of the Dead 4, the upcoming original game Hell Yeah (more on that shortly) and the return of Sonic the Hedgehog (part four, episode two), Sega has a lot of genres covered.  You can count fighting in there as well, as the company is bringing Virtua Fighter 5 back to market with the upcoming expansion Final Showdown, set for release on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

Once upon a time, we had game consoles that didn’t connect to the Internet, provide online global rankings or even go “above and beyond” when it came to graphics.  This was during the heyday of the Sega Genesis, a console that, from the early 90’s onward, dominated the game universe for some time.  Kudos to Sega for not only making a capable game console, but also a library to back it up, ranging from action games to sports titles to unique fare like Gunstar Heroes and Toejam and Earl.  If you somehow missed out on this generation, don’t fret, because Sega is bringing it to yet another platform.