Posted September 30, 2023 After some forum mishaps, it's time to make a post about the scant few games I finished over the past couple of months. Free, lighthearted game, and of a genre I appreciate, so I checked it out. Writing-wise, it's fun, and clearly made by loving fans. Lots of small references to the franchise's history and fandom here and there. Plus, this is the first time I've ever thought Shadow was likable. The ending was a bit "meh" for me, but nothing that hurts the overall thing. Gameplay-wise, it's super basic. Like, 2004-flash-game-on-newgrounds basic. Every scenario is locked to one location at a time, with 2 or 3 items to be used at any point. The only moderately exciting part was the final "whoddunit" at the end, where you're actually asked to think about and recap everything that happened. There's also GameGear-style minigames, I liked those plenty. 3 stars. Very cute game, and a nice afternoon Recommended by @Londragon at the N-E Café, way back when. It was made by the Hörbergs (of Gunman Clive fame), so that's all I needed to know. If Gunman Clive is like Mega Man, and Super Punch Patrol is like Streets of Rage, this game is like Contra. The main twist is that there's no levels or stages, only boss battles. That's great by me, Boss Rushes are an unappreciated genre. These are excellent bosses too, if you think you know what mechs look like, you haven't seen THESE mechs. The creativity is off the charts. I should say, I don't actually like Contra, it's not my cup of tea. I do like this game better, and it all comes out due to game design... but the controls aren't that hot. Weapon-switching is very clunky, and movement is excessively floaty and janky. This wouldn't be much of an issue if I was just rushing to the end, but the game rates your performance against any of these boss fights, and it's so frustrating to miss any of them just because a wall jump (or even a regular jump) decided to not register properly. The writing is very silly, and I already knew that going in. It's a Hörberg guarantee. 4 stars. Great concept, in need of a final coat of polish and refinement. I posted about this in the main thread. It's great. It's a great revival for the series, and very much a direction I appreciate. Despite the chaos, skill can still be rewarded, and I generally feel satisfied if I can finish within the Top 20. So far, the only real flaw is the small amount of tracks, and the fact that any other interesting game mode (team racing, mini-GP, etc.) is locked to events, therefore hour-dependent. We'll see what future updates will bring to the game... and hopefully the series. 4 stars. Great revival, and one of the most exciting games of 2023. Oh, they made a single-player game out of F-Zero 99. Neat. To be frank, I had never played the original before, not properly. I gave it a try a long time ago, and I was not fond of the controls. Looking back, I think someone messed with them, because the game plays pretty great in NSO, and after 99, I had to give this the time it deserved. So yeah, raw F-Zero, prototypical F-Zero, it's pretty fun. A shame that there's only one boost per lap, but the hazards are damaging enough to make health matter, so races are just as exciting and risky as they're supposed to. Furthermore, playing the various Grand Prixes (sic) gave me some serious GX flashbacks, in a great way. Simple, but very well designed tracks, that somehow manage to include various gimmicks and retain distinct character. Pretty difficult too, made me sweat. What I didn't like was the bumpers, that is, the extra racers that aren't doing anything but impede your progress. I have no words for how frustrating and unfair they feel. They block roads, they purposefully drive against you, they sometimes explode, they pop out of thin air when you're trying to catch up and my brain hates to see that. There are no words for how pissed off I get, being in 2nd place, trying to catch up to Dr.Stewart (always him in the lead), but there are 3 or 5 bozos in the way, which should not happen in any race! Makes me livid enough to *bump* the score down a point. Anyway, I beat Knight, Queen, and King in Standard difficulty, and that's good enough for me. 3 stars. It feels very aged, but I still appreciate it. I played the first one a few years ago. Ended up getting the sequel near the end of the 3DS eshop. It's better than the first one, I found. Mainly because these feel more like organic block puzzles, they're much more intuitive. Rather than navigating a vertical labyrinth, you're solving puzzles based on gravity and movement. Pretty challenging too, with a steady difficulty curve. There are also sprite-based puzzles here, but this time I strongly disliked them. They did not feel natural, and I got headaches trying to work out the solutions to those. Thankfully, they only make up less than 10% of the game. I finished the 100 story puzzles, and I'm now working my way through the 40 post-game puzzles. They somehow feel easier, despite requiring more complex thinking. Good stuff. 3 stars. Sweet game, I hope it sees a rerelease sooner, rather than later. My 2023 log (Hide contents) -Mega Man V (1994) Beat -Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon [Game Boy] (1997) Dropped -Super Bomberman R (2017) Beat -Samurai Shodown Neogeo Collection (2020) No Goal -Samurai Shodown (1993) No Goal -Samurai Shodown II (1994) No Goal -Samurai Shodown III (1995) No Goal -Samurai Shodown IV (1996) No Goal -Samurai Shodown V (2003) No Goal -Samurai Shodown V Special (2004) No Goal -Samurai Shodown V Perfect (2020) No Goal -The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) Completed -Mechstermination Force (2019) Beat -F-Zero 99 (2023) No Goal -F-Zero (1990) Beat -Fallblox (2012) Beat 2 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 4, 2023 Not got a whole lot to add to this thread unfortunately - the result of having children. I basically gave up on playing Pokémon Arceus - it was just too boring. The plot and dialogue was painful, and even finding and collecting all the Pokémon became too much of a chore. I think it needed more variation, or maybe i just wasn't in the mood for it. Similarly I stopped playing Jedi: Fallen Order as I just got bored. I can't even pinpoint what it was I didn't like about that one, I just had to keep forcing myself to play it, and when I get barely any time to play games, it just felt stupid to be playing a game I wasn't enjoying. Instead, I wanted to start a game I got for Christmas that i've always wanted to play - Mass Effect. I've heard great things about this game, and I was really excited to get stuck in! I've managed to put in a few hours of playing now, and i've finished the initial Citadel levels. It's pretty good - i'm enjoying the writing and plot (possibly just because of how much better it is compared to Pokemon) - it feels like watching/reading a good sci-fi, with all the different alien races and their interactions. The amount of additional lore they've added to the game is seriously impressive, and a bit overwhelming tbh. When you only have 30 minutes to play in an evening, you don't want to get side-tracked reading about a treaty between two alien races that happened 2000 years before the game is set! The actual gameplay is a bit basic, but not terrible. I've set the difficulty to easy, because i'm not that interested in the gun-fights that much - I just want to find out how the story plays out! The thing i'm worried about it forgetting what happened at the beginning before i've reached the end - I might have to find myself a good precis of the plot that I can keep swotting up on as I go. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 It's finally done. This game is way too long. Probably the hardest Amon fight so far especially Shinada's Amon. Had to resort to knife spamming for a bar and a half. Glad to finally be moving onto 6 so I can throw some guys around and dropkick everyone to death. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2023 So Starfield was looking all set to be the game for September, and while I did complete a playthrough, it ended up being quite the disappointment and also got massively overshadowed by several surprise games. I just found the pace of it to be way too slow, things took absolutely ages to get going and once they finally did, the story was over! Having to do so much via the menus was also a real chore as they were badly designed, sluggish and needlessly confusing. Didn't think much of the gameplay either, it was all super generic stuff and basically consists of following waypoints to collect items, shoot some enemies (in often very flaky action sequences) rinse and repeat. There were many issues with bugs as well, like NPCs randomly freaking out and clipping through terrain, or casually trying to converse with you during combat, it all felt incredibly unpolished. Perhaps in the future (with lots of patches and mods) it could potentially be a great game, but for now it's nothing that special unfortunately. F-Zero 99: This was the first nail in Starfield's coffin a surprise announcement from a Nintendo Direct that couldn't have been any more tailor-made for me. All of the 99 (oh- and a 35 ) Switch Online titles have been fun, but this one is extra special for being based on a franchise that I love and my favourite entry in the series, but it also just feels a lot more like you're in an actual battle royale than any of the others, what with all players being plonked on a single racetrack. That also makes it ludicrously chaotic, distractingly so at times, but every race is exhilarating as a result. Anyway, It's fantastic to see F-Zero finally making a return in some form, it's probably not in the way most people were expecting or wanting, but I personally think this was a good initial step in bringing it back and hopefully one that will create some brand new fans and helps pave the way for more F-Zero games going forward. Lies of P: OK, this one came out of nowhere and really took me by surprise, a Dark Souls/Bloodborne-esque game, by a Korean developer that I'd never heard of, based on... The Adventures of Pinocchio!? Yep, and you know what? It's phenomenal! While the gameplay is hugely inspired by From Software's established action-RPG style, it is so unbelievably well made that had I played it without knowing the developer beforehand I would've sworn it was done by Fromsoft! Usually these type of blatant imitations have that cheap knockoff vibe going on, but there is absolutely none of that here, Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio really did their homework, and then some. That applies to the look, sound and feel of the game, and also (unsurprisingly) to its difficulty. The presentation is fantastic, I love the dark atmosphere with the whole creepy puppets thing and early 1900s style they've got going on, and having played suffered through several titles of this gameplay style previously I felt at home with the controls and game mechanics very quickly. That didn't make things any easier though, as in this game your only assistance comes in the form of CPU controlled summons and only for boss battles, no online coop at all, which combined with lots of bosses that have a 2nd phase, let's just say it was a very tough journey for me. But I stuck with it, I had no choice, everything about the game was just so amazing that I simply had to "git gud" and see it through to the end! And in a very unusual twist when it comes to these kind of brutally difficult games, I'm even feeling compelled to torture myself some more and check out NG+ on this! That's how good it is. So yeah, to anyone who's a fan of the souls formula I simply cannot recommend Lies of P enough, and honestly at the moment it's all set to be my game of 2023, in the same year as Zelda TotK! Spoiler Cocoon: Yet another surprise gem, a very short but oh so sweet puzzle-adventure game. Now I'm not the biggest fan of puzzles, mainly because I'm a bit thick at solving them but this game and all of its challenges are so well designed that I think playing it actually made me a little bit smarter! Every aspect of Cocoon is beautifully designed, there's no HUD, no dialogue, no instruction whatsoever, yet you just grab the controller start playing and it all falls into place. I love that. The game's main feature, and what makes it a lot of fun, is how you can pick up and carry the worlds (in the form of a coloured sphere) around with you, even into other spheres/worlds. Where things get really interesting (not to mention mental) is when the actions you perform inside one world will effect another, and the further you progress the more complex these interactions become. The end-game involves such a crazy amount of jumping between spheres and interplanetary mechanics that it's almost too much to get your head around! But it feels incredible once you figure it all out (pretty sure I had to use parts of my brain that are usually dormant in order to do so ) it's definitely the most mind-blowing gaming experience I've ever had! For anyone that hasn't played it (especially if you've become bored or disillusioned with video games) do yourself a favour and play Cocoon. 4 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2023 (edited) Time to catch up on a few smaller titles I've knocked out. Yes, I already talked about Shin Megami Tensei V. But there's 4 endings, so yes, I played it three more times. This is nothing, trust me. You should see the crap I'm attempting in Fire Emblem: Engage! The thing is, I actually had to do one more playthrough, because of that bozo above. The DLC gives you a whole host of extra bosses (And appropriate demons to summon) based on the most infamous ones from SMT III. It all leads up to a super difficult fight with the protagonist of that game. After four playthroughs, and four miserable attempts at beating him, I had to do one more playthrough to completely redo my setup. But I did it. I beat that cheating bugger! And I got immunity to almost every attack. Which is pointless now, because there's nothing harder to beat! Typical RPG Superboss reward... BTW, how many games actually let you fight a previous protagonist? There's Pokémon Gold/Silver, obviously, and Tales of Symphonia 2. What else is there? Anyway, seeing as I mentioned Fire Emblem: Engage... PepsiMan 2 Fire Emblem: Engage: Fell Xenologue is a short extra scenario that was the final part of the DLC expansion pass. The main character, PepsiMan Alear, is transported to an alternate universe where he doesn't win his war against cool cobra/dragon, Sombron. The ones who summoned him are Nel and Nil, two of Sombron's children. The Alear of their world is dead, and the various nations have fallen into disarray. Nel and Nil ask Alear to assist them in gathering the seven emblem bracelets to prevent their world from deterioating even further. The plot here is an interesting take on a lot of the characters, as they tend to have the opposite personailities they have in the main game. It's strangely more engaging then the actual main plot. Which admittedly, isn't saying much. Anyway, the gameplay is what I came here for. In a bizarre move, all 6 scenarios have preset characters and items. Characters don't level up, and the only real options you have are which Emblems to give to each of your units. It's an odd mix of Fire Emblem and Advance Wars, in that regard. This means that strategy is what will win the day here, and it only goes to exentuate how brilliant Engage's gameplay is. It's also nice you finally get a proper Manakete unit to use. Weirdly absent in the main game. (Unless you used Emblem Tiki, which isn't quite the same) Trombone Champ is the world's first trombone based rhythm game. Developed by Holy Wow Studios and released on Steam in 2022, a Switch version was released this year, that's the one I played. You choose your "Tromboner", which look a lot like Mii knock-offs, and proceed to toot your way though a bevvy of mostly public domain songs. You tilt the controller up or down to control the pitch, and press a button to play a note. The thing is, the trombone is an instrument that can sound really nice when played well. In this game, none of the characters can actually play the trombone that well. Amateurish players mixed with surprisingly difficult note charts make for absolutely mangled versions of songs you probably know. This, alongside some proper liberties taken with some songs, makes the game utterly hilarious! The hilarious backgrounds definitely add to things. Even though the controls demand high precision, the scoring system is actually quite lenient, so it never feels frustrating to play. There's also a plot involving baboons mostly. It's all very silly and nonsensical, and I enjoyed every second! Highly recommended. It's around 12 quid, and totes worth it! Spoiler Fire Emblem Engage The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Metroid Fusion Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog Octopath Traveler IIKirby's Dream Land Metroid Prime Remastered Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition Pokémon Scarlet Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge Lil Gator Game Disco Elysium: The Final Cut Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed Pokémon Colosseum The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons Persona 5 Strikers Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Grandia II HD Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD Shin Megami Tensei V (100%) Fire Emblem Engage: Fell Xenologue Trombone Champ Edited October 13, 2023 by Glen-i 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 19, 2023 On 13/10/2023 at 11:12 PM, Glen-i said: BTW, how many games actually let you fight a previous protagonist? At the risk of spoiling a 10+ year old game... there's Spirit Tracks Spoiler There's a Boss Rush mini-game at the main castle town. It's made up of boss fights from the main game, but if you beat it on the hardest difficulty, you suddenly enter a new, unfamiliar room where the reward is supposed to be... and surprise motherfucka, Dark Link shows up out of nowhere to fight you. What's especially notable of this iteration of Dark Link, is that he's very heavily implied to be Phantom Hourglass's (and by extension, Wind Waker's) Link. He has that hurricane slash that existed in his games, the boss music is this very distorted, dark remix of the Great Sea... the fight is a surreal experience, and not even the hostess knows what's up with this. The devs never addressed what that Dark Link truly was (a clone? A ghost? The true canonical grim fate of WW!Link?), and I respect that. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 19, 2023 On 10/13/2023 at 11:12 PM, Glen-i said: BTW, how many games actually let you fight a previous protagonist? As someone who is a big proponent of this, and other tropes like carrying over save data, and fighting a final boss earlier in the game when you don't know they're the final boss...not too many come to mind? But I love this question. I'm going to take it that we're talking about fighting a previously playable protagonist from a previous game in a series (I can think of a few examples where it's true for newly introduced characters in the same game), and I'm also not going to count what goes down in cutscenes as fighting them, as, well, that'd probably be a super slippery slope. Yakuza does this a couple of times (I won't say who and in which games because those games are pretty story heavy), though I will say that it definitely helps that there are a couple of games where there are more than one playable protagonist. For the same series, to get really cute with it, though, and in one that I don't think is going to spoil the games (because he's on the cover of the game), you fight Majima in a couple of games when he technically first becomes playable in a main series Yakuza game in the prequel to the series Yakuza 0, after having shown up previously in every main series Yakuza game before this released (so, every main series entry up to and including 5), so that kind of retroactively fits the bill for those games? As well as if you started with 0, which most introduced to the games since the PS4 (including myself) started with. He's also playable in Dead Souls, which released before this, as well as a special, optional player chapter in Kiwami 2. One of my favourite (and currently active) PlayStation IPs does this too...and I'll say which, but in a spoiler tag, so click at your own risk, and it's really hard to say more than that without potentially giving it away. Seriously. This is your last warning. It's a game that's released since I joined the forums, if that narrows it down at all. Spoiler The Last of Us Part II, fighting Ellie as Abby. Ellie isn't really the protagonist of the first game, but more of a deuteragonist (I'd say Joel is clearly the protagonist of the first game), she has playable sections that hinted heavily at her being playable in the second game, and she's also the only playable character in the DLC for TLOU (Left Behind), so I think it more than qualifies. I think that's all I've got in the tank for games I've played On 10/13/2023 at 11:12 PM, Glen-i said: BTW, how many games actually let you fight a previous protagonist? There's Pokémon Gold/Silver, obviously, and Tales of Symphonia 2. What else is there? To add to this a sec, as I'm having a hard enough time wracking my brain for answers as it is – I think Red is already the absolutely quintessential answer to this question, but I have to imagine he's also the answer where it applies the most, too? What with him also being able to be challenged in Black 2/White 2 during the Pokémon World Tournament, as well as in Sun/Moon at the Battle Tree, and in the Let's Go games? I'll also admit that I'm actually really shocked that they didn't do this again in Black 2/White 2 with the protagonist of Black/White. I'm not someone who screams Gen I bias a lot when it comes to Pokémon games, but I genuinely can't think of any reason to not have the B/W protagonist not show up in B2/W2 other than it needing to be seen as Red's thing - and to further this, the bias seems to ring especially true here seeing as the PWT could have very easily served to also have other protagonists from the main series games turn up. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 19, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, Jonnas said: At the risk of spoiling a 10+ year old game... there's Spirit Tracks What I mean (Hide contents) There's a Boss Rush mini-game at the main castle town. It's made up of boss fights from the main game, but if you beat it on the hardest difficulty, you suddenly enter a new, unfamiliar room where the reward is supposed to be... and surprise motherfucka, Dark Link shows up out of nowhere to fight you. What's especially notable of this iteration of Dark Link, is that he's very heavily implied to be Phantom Hourglass's (and by extension, Wind Waker's) Link. He has that hurricane slash that existed in his games, the boss music is this very distorted, dark remix of the Great Sea... the fight is a surreal experience, and not even the hostess knows what's up with this. The devs never addressed what that Dark Link truly was (a clone? A ghost? The true canonical grim fate of WW!Link?), and I respect that. On that matter… you do also get to beat up on The Hero’s Shade when he trains you in Twilight Princess as well There’s also Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn where you can optionally fight the Greil Mercenaries from Path of Radiance as well (as suicidal as it is to do so, it’s not impossible to beat them!). Oh and Devil May Cry 4 also opens up with a brief fight against Dante as Nero, so I guess that counts too. But yeah, @Glen-i’s general sentiment is right. It’s a trope that surprisingly doesn’t crop up very often in video games… considering how hype inducing it can be? You’d think it’d happen more often! Edited October 19, 2023 by Dcubed 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 19, 2023 4 hours ago, Dcubed said: On that matter… you do also get to beat up on The Hero’s Shade when he trains you in Twilight Princess as well That doesn't count, and you know it! They're training exercises. 8 hours ago, Julius said: I'll also admit that I'm actually really shocked that they didn't do this again in Black 2/White 2 with the protagonist of Black/White. As much as I love Black 2/White 2, and still believe it's the pinnacle of the mainline series, this will forever be one of the big missed opportunities of that game. Especially because it has a feature that lets you link the first B/W game to it. They could've used the Hall of Fame data from the first game to generate a team for you to fight in the sequel, bump them up to the level 90 range, and bingo! You've retreaded the Red idea, but made it much more personal. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 20, 2023 (edited) And Yakuza 6 is finished. Blocks recording all through the finale of the game so I couldn't take a screenshot of the results screen. Amon wasn't so bad. I remember having a much tougher time with him when the game first came out through, the drones can be frustraiting but i practicly drop kicked him to death. 50 hours isn't so bad compaired to the 80 it took for the last game. I'll be starting Like a Dragon / Yakuza 7 tomorrow. If i remember right, the soundtrack in that game is really good. Playing 7 games with a beat-em-up style gets kind of repetitive so I'm looking forward to the RPG approch in the next game. The grind to Amon is a nightmare I hear. Edited October 20, 2023 by martinist 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 20, 2023 51 minutes ago, martinist said: Blocks recording all through the finale of the game so I couldn't take a screenshot of the results screen. Oh, I despise it when a game does this. Irritates me to no end when I want to get a screenshot for this thread, only for the game to shout "NO! THAT'S SPOILERS!" I think I'm capable of taking a screenshot that doesn't spoil stuff, thank you. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 21, 2023 On 19/10/2023 at 7:11 AM, Dcubed said: But yeah, @Glen-i’s general sentiment is right. It’s a trope that surprisingly doesn’t crop up very often in video games… considering how hype inducing it can be? You’d think it’d happen more often! I saw this and the other great suggestions made by others and I just assumed there would be plenty of games where this happens, due to how exciting and surprising it would be. I've really struggled to think of any other examples though! The closest I could think of was Eternal Darkness, but in that one: Spoiler the protagonist(s) you face aren't from previous games, but from earlier on in the same game! The other game was Donkey Kong Jr, but then facing Mario wasn't exactly a surprise, considering he was advertised as the nemesis from the outset. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 30, 2023 Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (PS4) I admit I'd never played any of the Crash Bandicoot series before this. As a fan of platform games I went in with high hopes for this and to see what all the fuss was about with one of the PS1's high-profiles series. Boy was I disappointed. It looks great and Vicarious Visions did a great job technically, updating the 32-bit polygons to make it look visually excellent. Sadly there wasn't much more they could do about the gameplay. I wasn't prepared for just how difficult the games were. My main frustration was because of why they were difficult, with you being unable to see hazards until it's too late or the camera angle making it incredibly tough to judge where Crash is landing, especially on the many small ledges with little margin for error. The levels where you run into or out of the screen have the camera just too close to the action, and there's a LOT of memorisation needed for where obstacles will appear. It's a shame, as there are some clever design moments here. For instance, there are times where they really play on the usual timings for when you'd initiate a jump. One example, is where you're waiting for a wall to raise up. We've been trained over the years to dash through it as soon as it raises, but here there are many levels where actually doing this will cause you to die because timing it that way will mean an enemy or obstacle will get you. Rather you have to know this ahead of time, and instead dash past the wall just before it comes back down again. So the usual pattern for me was that I'd die, I'd learn, I'd likely die on the next attempt, and repeat until I got past the obstacles, inevitably losing all of my lives before reaching the end of the level and doing it all again! Crash 2 and 3 are much better, introducing new moves (even if it doesn't tell you about all of the vital techniques) such as the double jump to make things easier. They are still tough though, with their fair share of frustrating rather than difficult levels. I just don't get the love for Crash, or at least the first few games. There are some really clever bits of level design within the games, but I found myself getting way too frustrated throughout to properly appreciate and enjoy it. Spoiler https://youtu.be/xsEsG3ZHzU0?si=0jU1cfCX9HDCpk94 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 31, 2023 So I died twice in Alan Wake II because this dead dude suddenly got up and seemed mad. I didn't run for the exit in time to pick up the gun on the floor. But it's actually easy. Gimme some clue the next time. Meh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 2, 2023 On 30/10/2023 at 11:23 PM, WackerJr said: I just don't get the love for Crash, or at least the first few games. Now, I'm just spitballing here, but I'm betting it was because PlayStation kids in the 90's had to big it up in their mind, because Ninty kids had Mario 64 on launch, and well, it's no contest, really. Couple that with nostalgia goggles, and you've got a recipe for overrated games! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 6, 2023 On 30/10/2023 at 11:23 PM, WackerJr said: Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (PS4) When people say they have issues with this series I can see why, especially if they are used to Nintendo platformers. The series can be brutally hard, especially the original game. I think the series get hard done by purely because it gets compared to Nintendo's games rather than taking it on it's own merit. They don't play like Nintendo platformers and offer something different to them. The same can be said about Crash Team Racing. Many think it's simply a Mario Kart clone but it plays so much differently, so much so that I couldn't play it as I've too much muscle memory from playing Mario Kart over the years. Have you played the Spyro series? I would say those games have much more in common to Mario 64 than the Crash series ever did. On 02/11/2023 at 4:39 PM, Glen-i said: Now, I'm just spitballing here, but I'm betting it was because PlayStation kids in the 90's had to big it up in their mind, because Ninty kids had Mario 64 on launch, and well, it's no contest, really. Couple that with nostalgia goggles, and you've got a recipe for overrated games! I don't think it was just the PlayStation kids though. I remember multiformat gaming magazines back in the day and they would also give praise to the series. I think it reviewed pretty well back then. I do think that there were certainly a good amount of gamers looking to scratch that Nintendo itch on the PlayStation, which help with the sales the series got. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 6, 2023 8 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: I don't think it was just the PlayStation kids though. I remember multiformat gaming magazines back in the day and they would also give praise to the series. I think it reviewed pretty well back then. I do think that there were certainly a good amount of gamers looking to scratch that Nintendo itch on the PlayStation, which help with the sales the series got. I mean, yeah. I'm not claiming what I said was applicable to everyone, just a sizable portion. All I know for certain is that I tried the first 2 games, and found them frustratingly cheap. They haven't aged well. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 6, 2023 To be fair… 3D platformers are a rare breed in general, and 3D platformers of the calibre that Nintendo & Rare put out are Ultimate: Play The Game rarer still. They’re amongst the hardest types of games to make, period. It’s a bit unfair to judge the Crash & Spyro games against some of the literal best games ever made. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 8, 2023 (edited) On 02/11/2023 at 4:39 PM, Glen-i said: Now, I'm just spitballing here, but I'm betting it was because PlayStation kids in the 90's had to big it up in their mind, because Ninty kids had Mario 64 on launch, and well, it's no contest, really. Couple that with nostalgia goggles, and you've got a recipe for overrated games! I remember plenty of kids who liked Crash Bandicoot at the time: Nintendo and Sega weren't in their minds when talking about Crash. I would say Crash is fondly remembered for the same reason that Ghosts&Goblins, or Ninja Gaiden, or any unfairly difficult game is fondly remembered: because kids don't put too much stock into finishing games. They remember the fond times exploring and trying to beat each level that they could, and largely ignore that certain parts of it are overly difficult even for seasoned players (because, for beginner players, everything feels equally difficult). Crash was fun to control and had a charming design, that's all it takes to form fans. ... Speaking of games we drop as adults, I dropped a few over these past few months (as an adult!). Here are some quick-fire opinions on each: Pnickles: Got it on the Capcom 2nd Arcade Stadium, and I absolutely regret it. It's a Puyo Puyo clone, with the twist that the blobs of 3 or more don't burst on their own, they require two special blocks before they burst... It's a slow game, with no way to regulate difficulty, and it's just really boring. 1 star Flicky: Tried it on NSO. I found it to be a pretty fun Arcade game that I can revisit from time to time. Didn't finish it, but I'm not exactly in a rush to do so right now. 3 stars Altered Beast: I tried it previously on a PS2, a long time ago. I remember it being horrible. Tried it again on NSO, and I can confirm it is horrible. I will say that the graphics and sound look great for the 80s, but that's all the praise I'll ever give it. 1 star Strider (Mega Drive): I was surprised to see this on NSO. Didn't know there was a Strider game on the Mega Drive! Now I know why, because it was a lousy port of the Arcade game. The original is pretty fun, and difficult enough on its own, the MD version makes it look amateurish. 1 star Ghosts'n Goblins (NES): Was on a Halloween mood, checked the NES version of this game... Wasn't impressed. I played the GBC version a long time ago, and that one ran better than this one. Plus, it was so unbearably difficult, I'm starting to question if the original game is good to begin with. 2 stars And now, for some that I have played more thoroughly. Streets of Rage 2 I played the first one last year! After getting the NSO, I figured this was as good a time as any to check the following game in the series. The beat'em up genre is one that I've neglected over the years, due to seeing it as more of a co-op experience. I've given it more of a shot over this past year, but never really found the one to truly wow me. Until now. Boy, did I love this game. To think this wasn't part of my childhood, me, a Mega Drive boy! Four distinctly fun characters, memorable charming enemies, varied stages, creative bosses (except for that second Wolverine...), wonderful difficulty curve, and excellent music? Oh yes. It's also the right kind of short, perfect for a chill session of gaming. I started with Blaze on Normal, but I felt it was too easy, so I switched to Hard. Did fine until around Stage 5, where difficulty spiked. I decided to dial it back, try Normal difficulty with Max, and ended up beating the game with some save states. Then I went back to Blaze's Hard playthrough and powered through the last couple of levels with save states. To restore my honour, I played Very Hard with Axel, and actually did pretty well without save states! Ended up relying on them to deal with the ninjas, so there goes my honour. Still, even without save states, I think I could beat it without wasting all my Continues. Anyway, I can't give it less than 5 stars. Between this, Chiki Chiki Boys, and the Power Rangers game, it seems that Mega Drive was a true beat'em up utopia. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Julius Mode I played this one four years ago! I said at the time that playing like Julius felt slow. But after this monumental break, it only feels "kinda" slow Julius' age is getting to him. Anyway, it was Halloween, and I wanted a fun romp. Plus, that 7-hour Castlevania video left me in a mood, let me tell you. Julius mode is fun. If the sub-weapons from the 3 protagonists were scattered across the map, it would even make for a robust campaign. As it stands, it's more of a side-attraction, albeit one with genuine challenge involved. Some bosses need to be approached very differently (like soloing Aguni with Yoko because the other two chumps don't have an overhead attack), and I certainly did not expect Paranoia and Death to be more difficult than Abaddon. This has nothing to do with the playthrough, but I give Dawn of Sorrow 4 stars. With this, the game has gone from "Beat" to "Completed". The Horror of Salazar House I...never played this one. But it was Halloween, and I needed something genuinely creepy. I grabbed a short game from my Steam library. This is a one-man Indie game by a Chilean developer called Ignacio Maldonado. It tells the story of a young reporter investigating a house that's been abandoned ever since its family - the Salazars - vanished a few years ago. Kinda pulpy, the author does say it was inspired by Italian horror films. Anyway, the game looks like this, aiming for some Pentium vibes. It's very much a "pick-your-story" adventure book at heart, with occasional choices that lead to immediate, gruesome death. Thankfully, the game is short, save points exist, and there are no soft locks. Visually, it does a lot with very little, using its monochromatic colour scheme to great effect, and the creepy parts are creepy. There are also "Hiding in closet from the stalker" segments, which are appreciated to keep me on my toes, though they do feel a tad undercooked. It was a cool experience, and a great fit for Halloween. 3 stars Castlevania Legends Added on the NSO! Never played it before now! Perfect night to have a curse. It's clunky, the level design is filled with dead ends, stupid traps all over the place, hitboxes and jumps are janky af, bat enemies are the worst, spells are either OP (if you have hearts to use them) or absolutely useless (when you don't have hearts), music is best described as "bootleg Castlevania", the barebones plot manages to be overwritten, and just to be annoying, the game displays the existence of collectibles just to deny me the pleasure of a "Completed" game. But it's fine, not the worst Castlevania I played. 2 stars My 2023 log (Hide contents) -Mega Man V (1994) Beat -Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon [Game Boy] (1997) Dropped -Super Bomberman R (2017) Beat -Samurai Shodown Neogeo Collection (2020) No Goal -Samurai Shodown (1993) No Goal -Samurai Shodown II (1994) No Goal -Samurai Shodown III (1995) No Goal -Samurai Shodown IV (1996) No Goal -Samurai Shodown V (2003) No Goal -Samurai Shodown V Special (2004) No Goal -Samurai Shodown V Perfect (2020) No Goal -The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) Completed -Mechstermination Force (2019) Beat -F-Zero 99 (2023) No Goal -F-Zero (1990) Beat -Fallblox (2012) Beat -Pnickles (1995) Dropped -Streets of Rage 2 (1992) Beat -The Horror of Salazar House (2020) Completed -Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005) Completed -Flicky (1984) No Goal -Castlevania Legends (1997) Beat Edited November 9, 2023 by Jonnas 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 8, 2023 No love for Strider, @Jonnas? This saddens me. I love that game. Altered Beast is a funny one. Everyone loved it back in the day. Large sprites and a fantastic arcade port for the time. Playing it now and it's hilarious how short it is. Me and one of my mates still quote it to this day... "Welcome to your doom!" I've been very tempted to buy him this from the Sega UK store. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 8, 2023 16 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: No love for Strider, @Jonnas? This saddens me. I love that game First of all, welcome back, H-o-T Hadn't commented on it yet, but it's always good to see you around here. As for Strider, the original game itself is a solid 3, as I have played it before. Very technically impressive for 1989, fun to play, aesthetically wild, and very charming. The chaotic gameplay and brutal difficulty bring it from a 4 to a 3, but I was quite pleased with it when I played the Arcade version on the 1st Capcom Arcade Stadium. Even if I couldn't finish it. My scathing comment was specifically for the Mega Drive version, which is awful. Choppy as heck, animations don't play properly, screen size is smaller than in the Arcade... Showcases few of the original game's strengths, and it exacerbates the game's flaws even further. 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 12, 2023 (edited) The following is a game I picked up earlier this week. It had been on my radar ever since it was announced at the Nintendo Direct earlier in the year. I think it's still a console exclusive on the Switch. Having now finished it, I will give my thoughts. Spoiler When the game was announced I was very excited about it. I have fond memories of playing both Castle of Illusion and World of Illusion on my Mega Drive as a kid. Both games, as well as Quackshot, were premium Disney games back then and all of which hold a special place in people's hearts. I think with the game having Illusion in the title that there is definitely a lot of weight and expectation with this game. Does it live up to legacy of the other games? Finding all of the Glimts will take some time The game starts with some cutscenes that set the tone for narrative. Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy were each sent letters that told them to come to the island but it turns out that they have been lured there by a fuzzy little creature that is in need of heroes. That's were you come in. You are tasked with retrieving 3 books and doing so will bring order back to the island. The whole thing is animated stupidly well, as are the rest of the animated cutscenes that are sprinkled throughout the game. There is a lot of humour to each of them and at times they are brilliantly self aware. Putting all of the cutscenes together would make for a decent length episode of a cartoon show. Quality cutscenes can be seen throughout the game After the opening, you get to pick one of the 4 characters. There is no difference between them other than how the upgrades look (more on that later). Personally, I've always been a fan of Donald Duck over Mickey Mouse, who I find to be too clean cut. Donald has an edge to him and is often sarcastic and critical, something that is also seen here. With the game being multiplayer it means that there is a different character for everyone to use. You also get to pick a difficulty level for your character. This will give you more or less hearts to play with. The harder the the difficulty, the less health you will have. The default starts you off with 3 which is more than enough to deal with what's ahead. Pick your player The gameplay in the previous Illusion games were standard platform games. You went from left to right, battled some enemies as you went and then fought a boss at the end of the stage. This game is very different. You see, there is no combat in this game at all. Not jumping on enemies heads, no using magic capes to turn enemies into flowers. Nothing like that. Make no mistake, there are still some boss fights here but the damage that you do comes from indirect attacks due to platforming. So what is the game then? It's actually platforming Mickeyvania. Shades of Quackshot The game is one massive map that you get to explore with your character of choice. Like other games in the genre, you will be presented with various roadblocks and areas that can't be explored yet and you will need to find upgrades for your characters for you to access these areas. When you are handed these abilities they all do the same for each of the characters but they all come in different forms. Usually Donald gets the short end of the stick, with his items being quite comical in comparison to the others. It's all in good fun and adds more humour to an already funny game. There's also no need to worry about forgetting about these areas that you see. Once found, they will be presented on your map with a question mark and then when you find the item that will give you access, these question marks will be replaced with a new sign that highlights what item to use. Stuff like this had me laughing as I played The other gameplay aspect of this game is the platforming. This is done very well and everything feels very tight and fluid. At the start of the adventure everything is very basic. Veteran gamers won't be very challenged by it at all. However, as the game progresses the difficulty does ramp up quite a bit and by the end of the game you will need to string together various moves in order to reach a lot of the areas. Just a taste of the hilarious animations that feature in the game Going from A to B throughout the game is fine but what is there to encourage exploration? The game meets these demands with a few things. First up are the Glimts. These are blue orbs that are scattered around the place. Collecting enough of these will unlock artwork and if you unlock a full picture you will be rewarded with an extra heart. Another collectable to find is something called Mickey Memorabilia. These are great to pick up and look at, with many of them being from past Disney movies/cartoons that featured Mickey and his friends. Tokuns are cards that you can find that show characters and enemies that are in the game and give a few details about each of them. Finally, there are Mickey symbols that are very well hidden on the map. If you find them you have to snap a photograph of them. These kinda remind me of the Mickey symbols you have to find in Kingdom Hearts. Phew! There's a lot to keep you busy. Smile for the camera Adding to the collectables are some in game achievements to unlock. Obviously this is something I appreciate and I really enjoyed trying to unlock them all. A lot of them are standard stuff that simply get unlocked by playing the game but there are some that will require you to collect everything and gain 100% in the game. Not one for the faint of heart but something to aim for if you have a completionist mindset. Nostalgia filled fun When making a game for various demographics, not to mention one that includes 4 player local co-op, it can be hard to judge how difficult to actually make the game. This game will have pull over people like myself who have fond memories of older Disney games and also young kids you are more familiar with the iteration of the characters that feature here. Balancing this wouldn't have been an easy job and I think they pull it off for the most part. I do think the platforming sections near the end could be a little difficult for young kids but I imagine the multiplayer aspect of the game would help with this, with a parent being able to help them along the way. The game is also very generous with the checkpoints. There is one placed near the start of every new section and so failing means you won't be needing to trek a long way back. Can you find all of the Mickey symbols? I really enjoyed my time with the game. Was it challenging? Not at all but it was a blast to play from start to end. Tight platforming, genuinely funny dialogue, lots to explore, lots to collect and fantastic character animations. The game will certainly go down as a bit of a underrated game on the Switch. It seemed to release with little fanfare and zero discussion. It's a shame because the game is very polished, which is something of a rare thing these days. If you are a Disney fan, have young kids or just enjoy platforming or Metroid type games, I can highly recommend this game. Certainly one that should be on a few Christmas lists. Edited November 12, 2023 by Hero-of-Time 3 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 13, 2023 I never would have guessed it was a Metroidvania style game. Gonna have to put that on my wishlist now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
