Xbox 360 Fanboy

isnt that thing just a cactus or something.

nope. Samba de Amigo stars a monkey with maracas

What about Jet Set Radio/Jet Set Radio Future? Hmmm?

Amigo more of a star than, say, Diddy Kong.

It's probably because the name of the mansion really is "Curien Mansion" whereas "House of the Dead" is just the franchise/brand name. It wouldn't be a licensing issue because Sega created and owns the HotD brand.

That would make sense, but every other zone is referred to by the name of the game, complete with logo. Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Space Harrier; every reference to House of the Dead is always Curien Mansion, as if the franchise was actually called Curien mansion.

Thus why I find it a little strange.

I heard mention of the game being censored in some way. Something about Cleavage on the girl in the outrun stage at least being one culprit, but I also think they might have removed HOTD's name due to the whole "Dead" issue. The demo has green blood rather than Red blood, so I figure such a small, odd thing could be a reason.

Funny that you mention the Outrun stage. Pops Racer is there doing his usual stretched (and break dancing) but the car is nowhere to be seen.

Don't get me wrong, whatever developer worked on the title did a good job of utilizing the nostalgia, but there are several weird instances where they fall a little flat.

As for the censoring, the bikini girls on the Outrun stage don't seem particularly censored, though the developer did cheap out a bit and copy and paste them throughout the stage. They also share the same animations, often at the same time. But now I'm just nitpicking.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a good first entry to a possible series. It seems like the developer might have had to work around limitations (aside from a very narrow audience) and they really did do a good job with what they have. Arguments like how Jet Set Radio stage and crew should have been cell shaded are outweighed by the obvious effort put forth by the crew.

I'm a sucker for Sega nostalgia and I look forward to more. It's not like Sega doesn't have a massive library of titles or anything. ;)