|
Post by alexmate on Dec 15, 2020 12:39:48 GMT -5
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (Mega Drive\Genesis 1st time - 1hr13mins timer) I've previously completed the Master System version. This one features a great midi soundtrack of his best hits, but I don't really rate this Shinobi style game that highly. Just scores a 7 as there is something fun about it.
Rating: 7
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 15, 2020 12:57:04 GMT -5
Picross e9 (3DS, First Time)
or e6 Vol. 4 and the one that wasn't released worldwide for some reason. Since I emulated it in Japanese, it really stood out to me that the entire game in in kanji without a kana in sight! Have all these e releases secretly been kanji learning tools this whole time?
Rating: 7
|
|
|
Post by spanky on Dec 16, 2020 8:26:17 GMT -5
Beat the standard campaign of Doom II (Switch port, first time) last night on Ultra Violence difficulty. Fired rockets into the Icon of Sin's brain while I had a newborn sleeping on my chest. I used the Save/Load feature a lot but since that's built into the menu I don't think that's considered cheating... I've played bits and pieces of this a lot on various platforms over the years but never the whole thing. I don't think I am making a unique observation here but while this is an excellent game overall, the entire package isn't as good as the original. The levels rely on lots of gimmicks and more than a few parts that are just not fun to play. Some of this is due to the new monsters. Seriously, fuck the chaingunners and revenants. It really makes you appreciate how good the level design of the original game. The super shotgun rules though. My one big issue with the port is that it FREEZES occasionally. I'll be running through a level or in a fight and the game will just completely halt for 5-10 seconds. This is a 25 year old game!!! The port also includes a "Master Levels" campaign but I'm not sure if I am ready to dive into that. Anyway, I'm glad I took the time to play Doom, Doom II and Doom 64 over the past few months. I've never been a gigantic FPS fan but there's a real purity to the DOOM games I find incredibly satisfying and addictive.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 16, 2020 9:46:06 GMT -5
Car Quest (Switch, Replay)
I'm not really sure why I had an inclination to replay this, but I guess its mild weirdness tempted me back. As the title implies, you are a car that has been given a quest and sentience by Lord Blockstar, the King of Blocktaria. His kingdom and its holographic residents have become damaged by an EMP and need restoration. This takes the form of finding Artifacts in the main hub which changes the hub geometry and unlocks levels that contain Artifacts for inside the level with the goal being the collection of a final one for the hub. The gameplay is basically 3D platforming except you're a car that can't jump so there's a whole bunch of ramps instead. Lord Blockstar is your constant companion and he has a huge amount of dialogue in the form of hints, little bits of world building and a whole lot of corny jokes. He also looks like a Moai head with a mustache.
Despite the low poly 90s VR-esque aesthetics, all that dialogue makes it clear that this is really more of a game for kids to play with their parents although it also keeps things from getting too monotonous. I do think the gameplay is solid enough for this to still be fun for adults too. It might be a little too confusing for small kids to play on their own though. The constantly changing levels were hard enough for me to keep track of the first time around. You do get a little cutscene of what changed from collecting an Artifact which helps some. In the original version, there was no way to replay them short of reflexively saving a video after every one. Since then, a patch has added the ability to replay them from special rotating blocks which helps immensely.
I think the main place it falters is in the beginning. You pretty much scoot from one end of Blocktaria's central plaza to the other and do a few fairly small levels in the interim. It isn't all that exciting, but once you push through that, there's some fun driving and exploration.
I finished in 7:50:41.
Rating: 8
|
|
|
Post by spanky on Dec 17, 2020 7:51:36 GMT -5
Beat Animaniacs (SNES via my jailbroken Super NT, Replay)
I guess I'm in the mood to play games I rented once decades ago. Is the holiday season making me wistful for my youth? The end credits, which mimic the show's end credits triggered a strong nostalgic reaction out of me. Anyway...This is a pretty good Konami licensed game. I think it's going to draw some obvious comparisons to the SNES Tiny Toons game. It looks and sounds great and has some fun gags. There's just not a whole lot to it - you just run around and jump with a couple of vehicle segments thrown in. It's quality work, I just would think Konami would produce something slightly more creative.
It's an easy game, but the hidden scripts that are required for the best ending are pretty hard to find. I used a guide, sue me!
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 18, 2020 11:26:31 GMT -5
Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn, First Time)
Pretty much just as good as everyone who gushes about makes it out to be! It pushes forward the world of PD so much that it is a complete and utter shame that Sega didn't find a way to make the series long lasting. I very likely will not play Orta, but that also wasn't definitively considered a canonical game by the developers. Orta is pronounced the same way as alter in Japanese and was selected to suggest that it was an "alternate" game. Regardless, that still is only one more game in a setting that gained so much more detail and richness. The story ends up fairly well developed too and ties in Zwei directly although the original is still a bit mysterious by the end. It retroactively makes those games so much more interesting as a result. The combat is a fun adaption of the action mechanics into a more traditional RPG system which works fairly well.
It's really the Saturn's limitations that let it down. While the system's unique hardware allowed for a really neat effect in having the dragon's model actually morph based how its attributes are set, it also greatly hampered the draw distance. Since most of the game takes place outdoors, there's constant pop in. The indoor areas get a graduated black fog, but there's nothing like that outside. It isn't a huge issue, but it makes me wish that game could have been held back as a launch title for the Dreamcast instead. Considering that DC launched 10 months later in Japan (January vs November '98), that doesn't seem completely ridiculous. The actual graphics are nice, but this really needs to either be played on a CRT or with a proper CRT filter. More than the other Saturn games I've emulated, PDS is a pixelated mess without proper filtering and also takes advantage of intrinsic CRT aspects to create shadows.
It's completely puzzling that Sega hasn't done a reprint considering how absurd the $1000 valuations it gets are. I certainly would have forked over a full price for a proper copy. This is a total masterpiece that more people need to play. I really hope this gets remade presumably after Zwei.
I finished in 12:37.
Rating: 9
|
|
|
Post by JoeQ on Dec 20, 2020 9:59:50 GMT -5
Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn, First Time) Pretty much just as good as everyone who gushes about makes it out to be! It pushes forward the world of PD so much that it is a complete and utter shame that Sega didn't find a way to make the series long lasting. I very likely will not play Orta, but that also wasn't definitively considered a canonical game by the developers. Orta is pronounced the same way as alter in Japanese and was selected to suggest that it was an "alternate" game. That's... kinda weird, considering that Orta's story is a sequel to Saga and the credits definitely identify it as Panzer Dragoon Vier. Regardless, Orta is very very good and definitely worth playing, so don't write it off.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 21, 2020 4:25:03 GMT -5
Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn, First Time) Pretty much just as good as everyone who gushes about makes it out to be! It pushes forward the world of PD so much that it is a complete and utter shame that Sega didn't find a way to make the series long lasting. I very likely will not play Orta, but that also wasn't definitively considered a canonical game by the developers. Orta is pronounced the same way as alter in Japanese and was selected to suggest that it was an "alternate" game. That's... kinda weird, considering that Orta's story is a sequel to Saga and the credits definitely identify it as Panzer Dragoon Vier. Regardless, Orta is very very good and definitely worth playing, so don't write it off. There's a Polygon oral history of PDS that goes into that. I won't link to it because it's super spoilery in some places, but that part comes straight from the director of Orta who designed the battle system of Saga. "I initially had mixed feelings about working on Orta, because the ending of PDS is left ambiguous. But my interpretation is that the title “Orta”’ also sounds like “alter,” as in “alternative.” [Editor’s note: In Japanese, both “Orta” and “alter” are pronounced the same way.] There’s a little play on words, and it implies that “Orta” is an alternative story. Maybe Orta is a prequel and an alternative to PDS. This isn’t something that was discussed by the team or anything official; this is just my personal interpretation." The director of PDS also said: "It’s popular in sci-fi stories nowadays to have “time slip” alternate realities, so that instead of changing the future by changing the past, what happens is that an alternative reality is created. So I think it’s OK for Panzer Dragoon to have multiple storylines." With Orta, it's more like I don't have a good way of playing it. Xbox emulation still seems a little iffy, and I don't have any access to newer hardware where it's been made a downloadable games.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Alien on Dec 21, 2020 11:21:12 GMT -5
Mrs. Santa's Gift Hunt (PC/Steam, first time, about 45 min.)
It's that time of the year, when I search the Steam shop for free little games. Sometimes I'm lucky, sometimes not. This one is a RPG Maker game, fairly cute but it's way too short and easy, even for a supposed kids' audience. I'm annoyed that the author put in several fairly useless DLC, I get that they need to pay the bills, but I don't think that's the way to do it, a purchasable soundtrack or image album would've been more appropriate than new haircuts for the MC. Also shouldn't it be "Mrs. Claus"? 5/10
I also completed the free demo for Cooking Companions, Appetizer edition, a psychological thriller/horror game masquerading as a Japanesque dating sim/cooking game. I didn't put it into the list since it is a demo and not a full game, or does it count?
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 21, 2020 12:46:11 GMT -5
I also completed the free demo for Cooking Companions, Appetizer edition, a psychological thriller/horror game masquerading as a Japanesque dating sim/cooking game. I didn't put it into the list since it is a demo and not a full game, or does it count? My general thought is no if it's a regular demo, but yes if it's content unique to the demo which would make it akin to freestanding DLC. It's a little tricky in this specific case since it's a prerelease demo for something that won't be out for a while. Without playing through myself, I'll leave it to your discretion.
|
|
|
Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 21, 2020 13:18:15 GMT -5
Robotics;Notes Elite PS4 FTP 30 hours
I can't imagine there was much profit in Spike Chunsoft publishing this over here but I am thankful for them doing so. I really liked the anime years ago. To be honest the story kinda works better there. The characters in Robotics;Notes aren't quite as endearing as the ones in Steins;Gate and the premise of time travel works better in a visual novel than building a robot does. Plus the main character is not really involved in the building of said robot. There is an odd disconnect between the MC and the other characters that isn't there in Steins;Gate.
The triggers for the different "endings" are reliant on twitter like replies and nearly all spring off a certain chapter. Which would make sense in Steins;Gate as the texts are central to the time travel mechanic in the game. In Robotics it is vague and nonsensical. Pretty much just use a guide to play it. Not really sure why they bothered with the branching paths anyway as you have to play them all to get to the true route and each of them is canon despite the fact you can play them in any order.
So yeah. The game does get exciting near the end but it drags for quite a while. If you are interested in the Science Adventure Series I'd just recommend watching the anime for this one. We did get the sequel DaSH in the package so looking forward to playing that as it will be all new territory. After I play some actual video games though. Need a little stimulation after playing a VN.
|
|
|
Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 21, 2020 18:20:53 GMT -5
Super Mario Bros. Replay SNES via Super Mario All-Stars cart .5 hours
First time playing the All-Stars version. Can we agree that this version is a crime against humanity? It is hideous. Not to mention the controls are a bit off. The new backgrounds are terribly distracting and odd. 8-1's backgrounds should not look like 1-1's. It feels like a knock-off Mario game. I played a few Worlds of SMB3 after and it seems to have fared better in the transitions. SMB3 doesn't have the dramatic visual changes that SMB1 does.
I do have a ton of attachment to the original so maybe this is a bit of an overreaction. Maybe if I had grown up with the All-Stars version...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2020 18:26:47 GMT -5
Super Mario Bros. Replay SNES via Super Mario All-Stars cart .5 hours First time playing the All-Stars version. Can we agree that this version is a crime against humanity? It is hideous. Not to mention the controls are a bit off. The new backgrounds are terribly distracting and odd. 8-1's backgrounds should not look like 1-1's. It feels like a knock-off Mario game. I played a few Worlds of SMB3 after and it seems to have fared better in the transitions. SMB3 doesn't have the dramatic visual changes that SMB1 does. I do have a ton of attachment to the original so maybe this is a bit of an overreaction. Maybe if I had grown up with the All-Stars version... I don't think you'll get much disagreement there. The All stars version of 3 also does some weird things with the backgrounds. I like the SNES version of 2 though.
|
|
|
Post by personman on Dec 22, 2020 2:43:27 GMT -5
Ballistic NG (Steam 1st time, 122 hours)
I've been picking at the campaign for this game for about 3 years I think. Much as I love it things tend to get so intense I can only stomach it for so long before I have to walk away from it for a while, especially in the final events, they are just awful. That's something I've noticed with a lot of indie games where they just seem to not know when to stop making things ludicrously difficult at the end or at some bottle point for whatever reason. Look guys, I get you're proud of your project and you want to challenge your audience but hard doesn't automatically mean good. Please don't do crap like demand I go through every track in the base game, in a row, in reverse, with the hardest AI who rubberbands like all get out, with the hardest ship to use in the game. Just one attempt takes like a half an hour which is just beyond exhausting. Makes me think of Hollow Knights final dlc it just asks way, way too much. Maybe I'm just getting too old and impatient but I want to play other games guys, it really annoys me I had spend all month practicing for one event. And even after I got through that the final event of the campaign are the drag races which are just boring. Going through a super simple track for 12 laps feels like it takes forever even if you're moving at mach 1.
But don't get me wrong. I LOVE this game. If some how you're a Wipeout fan and haven't heard about it by now you need to go get this one. The tracks are excellent, wonderful soundtrack, pretty balanced selection of racing teams and captures the style the series had perfectly. I've been following the project for such a long time it blows my mind how far its come. It so good it completely shook up my taste in racing games where I used to be a F-Zero diehard and now I find that series kinda just okay now. Just maybe don't worry too much about being a completionist with this one because damn, the last couple events just got to me. Real rough spots.
Now there are two free exspansions to finish too but like I implied I need to take a break from this for a while again. Annoys me because now that I beat the thing I'm not satisfied, I'm RELIEVED I got it done. Oh well, I'm confident when I'm ready to pick it up again I'll have a better time with it.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 22, 2020 9:41:07 GMT -5
Mega Man X (SNES, Replay)
Decided to give this a quick playthrough before playing Maverick Hunter X now that I can emulate it. Started with Storm Eagle which I think is a good place to start replays instead of Chill Penguin. I normally don't like the Sigma stages in this one, and that did not change this time around. Despite being considered the outright classic of the series, I still rank it towards the bottom of the X games I actually like.
Rating: 8
|
|