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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 8:40:09 GMT -5
One Vote for Electro ManFirstly, because it's 1992 in the MS-DOS Empire, and I love PC games from this era for their kitsch and camp and mysteriously addictive gameplay. And secondly, because was published by Epic Games, and I have a thing for indie games from the innocent pasts of triple-A studios. I just hope this game doesn't hate DOSBOX. So far no problems, although I've only done Level 1. And I retract my statements about the podcast lasting five minutes, this one will be interesting to discuss the mechanics. I'm interested to see if there's a purpose for the maxed out gun aside from it having a wider swath - it's actually kind of useless so far because of how it gets caught on background objects (in contrast, a single shot from the second-to-last gun plows through everything and is much more useful by comparison). |
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Post by kal on Feb 4, 2013 9:24:12 GMT -5
One Vote for Electro ManFirstly, because it's 1992 in the MS-DOS Empire, and I love PC games from this era for their kitsch and camp and mysteriously addictive gameplay. And secondly, because was published by Epic Games, and I have a thing for indie games from the innocent pasts of triple-A studios. I just hope this game doesn't hate DOSBOX. So far no problems, although I've only done Level 1. And I retract my statements about the podcast lasting five minutes, this one will be interesting to discuss the mechanics. I'm interested to see if there's a purpose for the maxed out gun aside from it having a wider swath - it's actually kind of useless so far because of how it gets caught on background objects (in contrast, a single shot from the second-to-last gun plows through everything and is much more useful by comparison). Don't look for reason in that game, you will destroy your mind. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 11:54:31 GMT -5
See, that's the thing - I'm not seeing the level of weird other people are seeing.
I will say though, it would be fun to have a "Polish Movie Poster" contest for the game.
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Post by Weasel on Feb 4, 2013 12:48:23 GMT -5
I played some Electro Man over my livestream last night, and found that it's not really that bad a game. There are some weirdly difficult bits involving those randomly-firing ceiling/floor shooters, but there are some (relatively) clever bits, like halfway through the first stage, where you're given just one battery and loads of enemies, forcing you to ration the ammo carefully and jump over stuff.
It's certainly not a game I could just set up and play on the go, unfortunately, but my college schedule being what it is, I should find no problems making time for it at home every couple of days or so.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 14:30:45 GMT -5
I played some Electro Man over my livestream last night, and found that it's not really that bad a game. There are some weirdly difficult bits involving those randomly-firing ceiling/floor shooters, but there are some (relatively) clever bits, like halfway through the first stage, where you're given just one battery and loads of enemies, forcing you to ration the ammo carefully and jump over stuff. It's certainly not a game I could just set up and play on the go, unfortunately, but my college schedule being what it is, I should find no problems making time for it at home every couple of days or so. Yeah, actually it's not bad. I tried it out this morning when setting up Dosbox, and I'm going to give it another go this evening. The jumping is awkward but it's no different than Castlevania or Ghosts n' Goblins. |
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Post by Snarboo on Feb 4, 2013 15:34:53 GMT -5
I'm interested to see if there's a purpose for the maxed out gun aside from it having a wider swath - it's actually kind of useless so far because of how it gets caught on background objects. There's a point in the game where you absolutely need the highest level gun upgrade to destroy a couple mines. It's the only weapon tall enough to hit them. So it's pretty clear at this point that with 12 votes, Electro Man is this month's GC9X game! Having said that... I massively oversold this game. While I do feel the comparison to Worker & Parasite is apt, most people probably aren't going to see the weird charm in this game. I don't blame anyone that starts this thing up, takes one look at it, then closes it out immediately after saying "What the hell is this?!". This isn't going to appeal to everyone, and that's okay! Even if the game isn't super interesting on its own, I feel there's plenty of topics to discuss with this. Chief among them are European games in general. This game pretty much defines the dreaded "Euro jank" I've heard so much about as of late. I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with games like Shadow of the Beast and Dizzy, too, which were noted for their ridiculous level of difficulty and seemingly shallow gameplay. The mechanics in these games defy our expectations, particularly for those who have played American and Japanese games exclusively. As a result, I feel a lot of European games are unfairly maligned and misunderstood. Often times they're not bad, just different. Electro Man is one such case! I happen to like the odd minimalism going on with its design, which is why I suggested this game to xerxes a year or two ago when the randomizer was being made. Hopefully by the end of the month, most of us will grow to understand if not like the game. Enough ranting, here are a few starting tips for the thread: - You can save at any time by hitting F2. This will save the current checkpoint. You can load a save by hitting F3 at the title screen.
- Much like Castlevania, you have almost zero air control. I say "almost" because there does seem to be a limited amount of control when falling great distances.
- The gun upgrades work like this: Every battery upgrades your weapon one level, up to 5. Every upgrade level has a limited amount of ammo, after which your gun will be downgraded one level.
- Conserve ammo as much as possible! You can get away with wasting a few shots in the first couple levels, but later levels require that you fire only when necessary. Knowing which upgrade level you need and whether you should save a battery for later is also important.
- There are three keycards hidden in every level. These are needed to unlock the teleporter that takes you to the next stage. If you see one, do everything you can to get it ASAP. Having to backtrack in the later stages is a huge pain in the ass.
- Experiment a little bit in the first level. There are a lot of things to shoot, including signs which reveal arrows that tell you where to go. Later stages require that you explore as much as possible, so you might as well get a feel for the level design in the first.
- We have to be careful, this is an emergency area!
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Post by Weasel on Feb 4, 2013 16:34:58 GMT -5
Two things of note, sound-wise:
- The checkpoint's sound can't really be understood in the available Creative Commons release, since they're backwards, but in the "electro BODY" shareware version, the sound reveals its identity: it's a man shouting "JESUS IS HERE!" Presumably from a movie or some such thing.
- The sound made when you teleport is actually from the first few seconds of "Home Computer" on the Kraftwerk album The Mix. God, I love old shareware games and their tendency to just borrow sounds from wherever the hell they wanted.
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Post by Feynman on Feb 4, 2013 17:06:25 GMT -5
I haven't had time to load up the game yet, so a quick question: does the game have a save/password system, or do I need to finish it in one sitting? I just want to know if I should set aside a few hours for the game or if I can play through the game in smaller chunks.
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Post by Snarboo on Feb 4, 2013 17:44:43 GMT -5
You can save at any time by hitting F2 in game. According to the readme file, that will save the last checkpoint. To load the game, you hit F3 at the main menu.
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Post by kal on Feb 4, 2013 19:08:26 GMT -5
If we wanted to talk about Euro-Games, should be playing a decent one :V You're just perpetuating the myth that these games are terrible/bland!
I'll still play as much as I can stomach but I'm still of the opinion that playing a mediocre game for the discussion about a region/genre when we could easily load up an objectively decent game (which hardly anyone's played anyway) that exhibits the same traits. Even if Shareware and Eastern Europe in the same game is rare there's two very large discussions buried in there (more than a single casts worth).
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Post by Snarboo on Feb 4, 2013 19:16:28 GMT -5
We've played a lot of mediocre Japanese games, too! I don't think a game's quality makes the discussion any less legitimate.
Isn't the point of GC9X to highlight these sort of differences in design and also discuss what makes these games interesting when compared to other, more popular games? Something that I've noticed about our podcasts is that mediocre games make for the best discussions. There are also certain traits present in European games as a whole, even the better ones, that are more apparent in Electro Man due to quirks of its design.
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tengutenga
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Post by tengutenga on Feb 4, 2013 19:25:50 GMT -5
Just in case anyone would find this useful, I have counted the number of shots for every weapon level:
Yellow - 20 Shots
Green 1 - 15 Shots
Green 2 (Triple Shot) - 25 Shots
Green 3 (Orchestral Hit Slug) - 10 Shots
Green 4 (Sonik Bom) - 15 Shots
Green 2 has the fastest firing rate.
Green 3 and 4 take about a second to reload.
A flashing light indicates that you have two or less shots left for that level.
Collecting a battery pack completely replenishes your energy besides upgrading your weapon.
Also, this game lacks BGM.
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Post by Feynman on Feb 4, 2013 20:51:50 GMT -5
I think interesting games definitely make for the best discussion, and sometimes a mediocre or even bad game is more interesting than the alternatives. Dr. Chaos wasn't a good game, but it was totally worth playing as part of GC9X just because it was interesting.
I'm enjoying Electro Man. It's not a great game by a long shot but it's kind of neat. It uses Castlevania/Ghosts n' Goblins rules for jumping (my favorite variety of jumping mechanics), it has a quirky system for ammo/weapon upgrades, and the level design isn't awful. I've only played a bit so far but it's a neat game.
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Post by Narushima on Feb 4, 2013 21:10:19 GMT -5
About the "Europeanness" of this game, am I the only one who thinks Electroman looks like it could have been on the Amiga? The colours, the big sprites, the overall look, simple controls...
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Post by Weasel on Feb 4, 2013 22:12:43 GMT -5
About the "Europeanness" of this game, am I the only one who thinks Electroman looks like it could have been on the Amiga? The colours, the big sprites, the overall look, simple controls... The game's title theme is very much like this, too. I really wonder if the folks at XLand had a background with the Amiga. |
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