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Post by apachacha on Apr 6, 2013 15:22:35 GMT -5
I love how Tim Allen has an innate ability to sense where supply crates are in a level if you let him flex his muscles. I assumed that was just one of his super powers, aside from inability to end a franchise in time, or the power to impersonate a bear getting an enema
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Post by Bobinator on Apr 6, 2013 15:59:41 GMT -5
Here's a few quick tips for anybody insane enough to take part in this mess.
1. Look up and down as much as you can! Bottomless pits are everywhere, even if they aren't always obvious.
2. If all else fails, jackhammer the crap out of everything and try to find a piece of weak ground to go through.
3. You can use the L or R button to aim diagnoally upwards without moving. No, you can't aim down. Real men don't NEED to aim down.
4. Real men always need MORE POWER! No, seriously, find a better weapon than the staple gun and hold onto it as hard as you can.
5. Seriously, be careful. Be PARANOID. Using a continue will kick you back to the start of the world you're in.
6. Try to avoid fighting the raptors, or any of the "big" enemies, on even ground, where they can hit you with their projectiles.
7. You do NOT get unlimited continues. How many do you get? The game won't tell you, because real men don't need to know!
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Post by Feynman on Apr 6, 2013 18:28:22 GMT -5
I always wondered what kind of game Home Improvement was (besides the bad kind, I mean). Turns out that it's a really shitty Sonic clone! With guns! Let's run down the list of Shitty 16-bit Game Mechanics, shall we?
- Awkward Sonic-inspired physics that make the entire game feel like it's an ice level! - Collect Totally Not Rings and never keep them because you get hit every thirty seconds! - Levels with frustrating platform setups that make basic navigation a pain in the ass! - Levels that have no linear path and instead require you to wander aimlessly to discover a certain number of objects hidden in various corners! - An arsenal of weapons where most of them are garbage! - Enemies that act in such a way that hitting them is a nightmare! - Enemies that take an insufferable number of hits to kill! - Enemies who are invincible for eons after being hit but can still totally attack you! - A grappling hook that has a huge delay between pressing the button and firing, and if you don't hold down the button THE ENTIRE TIME the action is cancelled! - The grappling hook button is located in the optimal position to make jumping while grappling as difficult as possible! - You are required to jump while grappling frequently! - Unusual license that nobody asked for nor wanted!
This game is like the condensed essence of every crappy 16-bit platformer.
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Post by muteKi on Apr 7, 2013 0:27:19 GMT -5
This is almost literally unplayable. I cannot manage the controls at all, least of all with how, as noted, every fucking surface is made of ice. This is Shiny levels of bad hit detection. And the layout of stages is mostly nonsensical.
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Post by Feynman on Apr 7, 2013 2:49:04 GMT -5
I'm in world 2 and already the maze-like levels are getting extraordinarily irritating. By the way, I got stuck on this bit for a while, so here's a tip for anybody else mad enough to actually try playing Home Improvement: you can grapple a ledge and extend your grapple wire to lower yourself down past other grapple-able ledges, which is required to progress in many areas, and is first encountered in level 1-3. The technique looks like this:
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Post by steven on Apr 7, 2013 4:11:49 GMT -5
Man, this game. It could actually have been a semi-decent platformer, but the difficulty and level design (not to mention poor graphics and sound) totally prevent it from being so. Anyway, I wrote a review of HI nearly 5 years ago. Feel free to give it a look: www.rvgfanatic.com/7401/1167615.htmlThe game's difficulty and overall ineptness made me go: Finally, it just made me go
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Post by steven on Apr 7, 2013 4:19:40 GMT -5
In addition to Sonic BTW, the game also copied Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts... where weapons can be doubled up in power. It was actually pretty cool but of course, we all know what happened with the rest of the package...
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Post by doctorallosaurus on Apr 7, 2013 7:31:34 GMT -5
I only managed to get to 1-2 so far. For a game about a guy who has blown himself up more times than I can count, you sure do have to be cautious.
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 7, 2013 23:09:32 GMT -5
I've managed to make it up to the third world in this game, albeit with save states at the beginning of each world so I don't run out of continues. While the level design has improved ever so slightly over world two's confusing as fuck mazes, the number of crates you need to collect has gone from 5 to 7. Even with the generous 10 minute time limit, there's just barely enough time to find them all.
In any case, I've figured out the basic trick with this game: you need to play it as slowly and methodically as possible. Like a lot of platformers from the era, it tries to lull you into a false sense of security by sharing superficial things with Sonic, then punishes you when you try and play it as fast as the blue blur.
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Post by nickz on Apr 8, 2013 14:21:30 GMT -5
I just now sat down with this thing. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'll be sure to post tips if I can.
The grappling hook is fun. I wish it were better implemented in a better game.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2013 14:39:20 GMT -5
I only managed to get to 1-2 so far. For a game about a guy who has blown himself up more times than I can count, you sure do have to be cautious. I haven't been able to get through that level because I croak then feel like restarting because of the limited continues. Another thing I hate is how (like Feynman said) it plays similar to a Sonic game, but you have to be on guard at all times because something will inevitably hit you and make you drop your nuts and bolts. I still On the positive side, there's some rather cool graphics in this - the sprites of the humans (and heck, the Tool Time set) are pretty cool, and have some nice animations. I like how there's the different things(...some rather well animated too) on the TV above the stage as well. It's just too bad the game itself is poorly balanced, and the other graphics look kind of washed out and rushed by comparison. On the subject of animation and stuff, I will say that I like that the game controls more like a "Disney's Aladdin" or "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure" 'well-animated game' than a "Flashback" or "Blackthorne" 'well-animated game.'
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Post by muteKi on Apr 8, 2013 14:41:57 GMT -5
thats especially because of the shoddy hit detection i would imagine
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Post by Bobinator on Apr 8, 2013 17:26:52 GMT -5
Honestly, the character sprites remind me a lot of the rotoscoped stuff you'd see in a lot of Sierra's early VGA adventure games. Like Space Quest 4, the Police Quest remake, and so on. I guess that's why I keep saying this should have been a point and click adventure game, because the sprites look like they came right out of one.
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 8, 2013 20:42:21 GMT -5
Having just beaten the horror movie set, here are some quick tips for those that make it this far: - Ghosts are probably the most dangerous enemy in this world. They move very unpredictably and can go through walls. If you hear the faint sound of a theremin, stand still and check your surroundings. It's better to fight these guys than avoid them.
- Bats are similarly annoying because they have an annoying tendency to randomly go through walls. The lack of consistent behavior on these guys makes them a huge threat. They're also hard to hit.
- The nail gun is probably the best weapon for this set. It fires constantly, the nails arc in midair allowing them to nail enemies (pun not intended) in awkward locations, and it's great at clearing out pests. The only downside is that it can't fire through walls like most of the other weapons, but that's a small price to pay for convenience.
- Be as careful as possible, but don't bother saving or collecting nuts and bolts unless you really need them.
- I'm not going to give you any tips on the boss given all of them are insultingly easy. Just be sure to stand in the center for this one.
The last set appears to be scifi themed and requires that you collect 8 crates. This is going to be a nightmare to get through.
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Post by Feynman on Apr 8, 2013 20:58:54 GMT -5
Ghosts are probably the most dangerous enemy in this world. They move very unpredictably and can go through walls. If you hear the faint sound of a theremin, stand still and check your surroundings. It's better to fight these guys than avoid them. There actually is a pattern to their attacks! Once you hit a ghost, they tend to reappear in only one or two places relative to your location, so you can stand in one spot and just shoot them again every time they reappear. They are also tethered to a very small area and aren't very good at tracking you when you're within range, so it's generally not hard to escape to safe zone if you get caught off guard.
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