|
Post by dsparil on Jun 16, 2021 12:42:12 GMT -5
Cube Escape: The Lake (macOS, Replay) Cube Escape: Seasons Cube Escape: Arles Cube Escape: Harvey’s Box Cube Escape: Case 23 Cube Escape: The Mill Rusty Lake Hotel Cube Escape: Birthday Cube Escape: TheatreSince the site is slowly putting articles up on these, I figured I should replay them in release order and see if that makes the overall plot more understandable. I had originally played this series last year in a slightly weird order because The White Door, then the newest game, got more promotion than the earlier Rusty Lake games. It also wasn’t initially clear to me that they also included the Cube Escape games as a single series and not a group of slightly related but largely separate games. The original development concept for the overarching series was to quickly produce smaller free games along with longer premium ones between them. This was something that was only kept up for the first year with The Lake being released on 4/25/15 and Theatre on 4/11/16. As such, this first grouping represents more than half the total games in the series. Whether or not slowing the pace of development was a good idea is debatable, but it’s clear that scope creep and general excess started to seep in. The games get longer and more ambitious but it feels like it also comes at the expense of much of the set up in that first year. That aside, the first Cube Escape games do have a reasonable plot showing some elements in the life of Laura Vanderboom (who isn’t actually named for some time) before switching gears to what amounts as a spinoff in Van Gogh homage Arles then to the minor Harvey’s Box. Then the series shifts to the aftermath of Laura’s murder including its investigation which draws Det. Dale Vandermeer into all the strange occurrences. The most interesting game is Theatre as it links together some of the disparate aspects. Unsurprisingly since series predecessor is titled Samsara Room (and later remade into a real entry), Theatre lays out connections between the six realms of the Buddhist conception of samsara and various recurring elements. This information is part of the last puzzle of the game although not required for it so it isn't thinly veiled by any means. (If you want to know) Humans are humans and animals are animals obviously. The animal headed characters are asuras, the Corrupted Souls are pretas and the lake itself is Naraka/Hell. What specifically represents devas isn’t 100% clear, but it’s suggested to be the cubes. Hotel though is an odd one in the set and gives some early impression that the developers might not have had that much of an overarching plan. You play as the steward of the eponymous hotel and have to kill the various anthropomorphic guests of the hotel so they can be cooked up and served to the others. This process of course takes the form of overly complex escape-style rooms. Some have an overarching theme that makes sense for the occupant, but others don’t at all. This game does get more fully tied in later on, but it’s very tenuous at this point as if they had the idea and decided to figure out the importance later. I finished in 00:05, 00:34, 00:17, 00:16, 00:45, 00:17, 00:59, 00:24, and 00:32. Rating: I’m going to go with a blanket 8 for the CE games, and 7 for Hotel.
|
|
|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Jun 16, 2021 18:55:03 GMT -5
Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden (3DS; First Time; 3 hours 34 minutes)
I've been itching to play through a handheld fighting game for some time, and then remembered this game existed. It was the last Dragon Ball game released for the DS, but it was never localized for whatever reason despite being a bright spot in what would be a pretty dreadful period of DB games from 2010-14 (where there were only a handful of games and the few that existed were failed experiences like Ultimate Tenkaichi and Battle of Z or regurgitated leftovers such as the Budokai HD Collection and DBZ Kinect). It's a shame, since it's a very solid if basic fighter that offers fast and frantic combat, loads of characters with tons of customization, and plenty of challenges to take on.
I stuck with playing through the story mode, which adapts the latter half of the series (best known through the Dragon Ball Z anime) with incredibly rendered SD versions of the characters recreating iconic scenes from those arcs. Game Republic had previously shown their ability to translate Akira Toriyama's artstyle into adorable models with the Dragon Ball Origins games and use the dual-screens to create some nicely shot cutscenes, and that carries over into this game. I didn't watch very much of the cutscenes since they broke up the fights a bit too frequently for my tastes, but I admire the effort that's gone into them.
I am slightly disappointed that characters don't have exclusive combos outside of their special moves, but I suppose it's a fair compromise when you've got over 50 characters to play as (and Kaiō of all people!). It's not too bad though, as the actual combat itself is perhaps my favourite of any of the 2D Dragon Ball fighters I've played. There's never a dull moment no matter what difficulty you're playing at, and the fact that you can change your strength while making your ki charge slower/faster on the fly is an excellent way to add some on-the-fly strategy. I ploughed through this one on the strength of its fighting, but I plan to take on the challenge mode and see what else there is to find!
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Jun 17, 2021 5:35:51 GMT -5
Crystalis (NES/Switch, Replay)
This is of course a classic, and compares well to its contemporaries particularly in regards to the plot. It isn't a perfect game as the dungeons are fairly poor and certain required tasks aren't communicated well, but it's a solid outing especially for a company that made so very few RPGs of any kind.
Rating: 8
|
|
|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Jun 18, 2021 18:39:41 GMT -5
A Tempting Fate: The Interactive Card Game (Browser; First Time; 1 hours 23 minutes - ESTIMATION)
This is a Twine adventure game by Birdpup with a card based setup, with the game taking place over a series of 18 turns. You play as a man infiltrating a local party full of nobles in order to find your target: someone of importance who you must then try to earn their favour and seduce. You've been given a cryptic clue that you must use to determine the identity of your target, who is one of four men also attending the party. For each turn, you can interact with one of these men and you pick one of three randomly chosen actions that'll result in them either liking you or hating you more. Every two turns, you can choose an optional scene that'll give you an item to help you out at any time, or another clue to help you figure out who your target is. However, you have to be careful not to bring too much attention on yourself through your actions, or you'll be thrown out.
It's a fairly rule-heavy game, but after a while, I was quick to understand what I was meant to be doing. There's a good deal of depth to the game, in all the various actions you're able to take and how each of your potential targets will react, which changes as your relationship develops or stagnates. The optional scenes every two turns offer up a new twist that can make or break your playthrough depending on how you fare, making things even more spontaneous and interesting. If you're someone who's into world-building and all that jazz, the descriptions and dialogue will offer plenty to dig into while making for some compellingly written conversations and events that got me curious to see what would happen next.
At this point, it's only fair to point out that this game is NSFW in terms of descriptions. You're being asked to seduce someone, so there's plenty of candidly written sex scenes and foreplay when you're trying to tease your potential target. There's no imagery to look at, but the text can get quite steamy when it wants to. So take that however you will.
There's no true ending beyond simply accomplishing your mission, with the game encouraging you to try other routes and actions to see what you'll find. The above time was taken from two attempts - one where I failed to flirt with someone until the very last turn, and another where I was much more successful and accidentally realized was the real target only AFTER having it away with him. The game takes count of how many successful and failed runs you've done, so feel free to experiment and see what you can find! wotb.neocities.org/A%20Tempting%20Fate/A%20Tempting%20Fate%201.3.html
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Jun 19, 2021 4:29:51 GMT -5
Machinarium (Switch, First Time)
I think I got this when it originally came out but only actually finished it with this Switch port. I thought then that it was a little boring, clunky to control and way too sketchy with the plot and character motivations which has not changed. No one ever seems to mention the mini-games, but those are fun although I wish the puzzle one was a bit longer.
Rating: 6
|
|
|
Post by Digitalnametag on Jun 19, 2021 11:25:10 GMT -5
Slay the Spire PS4 FTP 15 hours I'm a bit late to the party on this one. Deck building is one of my favorite game mechanics (physical and digital) and Slay the Spire does this really well. It captures the feel of playing a deck-builder board game. So much so that they are making one. Linkage. Each play usually takes an hour or so. Being a rogue-like sometimes you can get unlucky with your drops (cards and artifacts or even encounters) but it is very easy to start again. And it is very easy to lose track of time doing so. Just one more run! It's fun! Cleared the game with the three base characters to unlock Act IV and then cleared that. The game does a Diablo like scaling thing where you can face tougher stuff and take different challenges to prolong the game. I'll get a few more plays yet as I haven't touched the fourth character, but I'm feeling the need to move on. Kinda makes me want to give Baten Kaitos Origins another shot. Not very many games that use the deck-building mechanic. If you like deck building or card mechanics at all you will get some enjoyment out of Slay the Spire. I had a blast.
|
|
|
Post by personman on Jun 19, 2021 14:49:28 GMT -5
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 via 3DS virtual console, first time, 4 hours
I've always been a fan of Wario, well before they turned him into an indie developer lol. But I figured it was high time I played through his own series, I got my start with 4 when I got my GBA and I wasn't too impressed with it, even if it was charming as heck. I'm curious to see how the rest of the series stacks up and maybe I'll even try 4 again to see if I like it better. I was actually surprised to find out that this game was his first starring role, I thought that happened on the Virtual Boy first but that wasnt till a year later apparently. I distinctly remember playing a demo stand of Wario Land 2 as a normal Game boy game at a Best Buy way back in the day but that apparently got re-released as a Game boy Color title as well. Hm, the more you know.
Anyways this thing was alright. For the most part its just a continuation of Mario Land 2 just with and emphasis on knocking over enemies and throwing them, mostly for the bosses. Said bosses are pretty bad since the really really cramped space often has whatever you're holding to attack the boss just getting knocked out of your hand by another enemy the boss constantly spawns. And they never really feel any different either. The stages themselves are just fine, nothing too exciting or offensive. Only thing that stuck in my craw is if you do the ground smash thing it messes up your controls real bad. I can't count how many times I tried to disable an enemy and quickly jump over to them just to run off the edge of something. Eventually I just stopped caring about enemies and trying to get coins from them. The power ups aren't too exciting either, if you can get the jet hat just hold onto it basically, maybe switch to the dragon one in water.
Again, its a fine tidy little game. No more, no less. I actually managed to get enough treasure and coins to get the good ending so that was cool that I could get the mansions which then matches up with the second games opening.
Rating: 6, a decent time. Enjoyed it but wont be going back to it.
|
|
|
Post by alexmate on Jun 21, 2021 10:24:01 GMT -5
Dynamite Headdy (Mega Drive\Genesis, 1st time, Est time: 3hr)
It's worth I completed the Japanese version with English translation. I've previously played the European release and I think I got about 2/3 through it. The Japanese version is easier, but not ridiculously so, but it is the full version in terms of cut scenes. Difficulty level I would put on par with games like Cool Spot and Chuck Rock.
Dynamite: (Good Points) * Incredible graphics for the system with Treasure showing off with effects: Parallax scrolling, background and foreground shifting, pseudo 3D. * In places some great music especially boss music. Sound effects are also clear and not suffering from the muffling of other Mega Drive games. * Decent choice of original power ups. * Saturday morning cartoon feel with a varied range of bad guys and locations.
Illegal Fireworks (bad points): * Unlikeable character? I'm not sure, but the public never really took to him and they took to Bubsy. Maybe too quirky. * Some frustrating sections like the infamous tower boss level. * Annoying that they switched the colour palate for the European and US releases and while not Contra-hard, the difficulty increase took a lot of the fun out of it. * Anything else is nitpicking; it's a game people will either like or won't.
Rating: 8
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2021 2:47:49 GMT -5
I played some games!
Freedom Planet (Switch, First Time, 4 Hours) I don't have too much to say about Freedom Planet, but I did really enjoy it. It plays like Sonic, with really nicely executed open levels that allow for a great deal of exploration. Also, the game is really nicely drawn. My issues with this were - the difficulty level of bosses don't match the main level design. The levels are actually pretty easy, but bosses can be a bit of a drag. There are difficulty settings of course. The other problem I had was that the cutscenes just keep going. And they're neither fun nor interesting. I hope there will be a severe reduction in dialogue come Freedom Planet 2.
Score - 7/10
Gunlord (Switch, First Time, 6 Hours) What a lovely, well executed Turrican clone. Everything we see and here in Gunlord is Turrican; the gameplay, visuals, sound effects, etc; however, so authentically pulled off. I really enjoyed how big each level was. I felt encouraged to explore them, since each level hides a number of large crystals, and collecting them all rewards with a permanent additional continue to your game. Continues are really needed, because bosses can be a real challenge. I do think the crystals can be too hard to find though, I needed a guide myself. Unfortunately, that is something that hampered my enjoyment some. I don't think sitting with a guide in a high adrenaline action game is enjoyable, it more takes me out of the experience and make it seem like a chore. I would never have beaten it without, and so I would say a nice alternative would have been to add an unlimited lives/continue option via an easy mode? That is just my opinion, because I don't think most people would beat this.
Outside of rambling about the difficulty, I would like to return to the positive aspects this game offers, since they outweigh the negative. I think what is really executed well here is the gameplay feel. I really have that feeling of playing a classic Euro game, except there are modern sensibilities and the speed of gameplay is what would be expected of a modern game.
Score - 7/10
Kinnukiman II/Ultimate Muscle SomethingorotherIforget (Gamecube, First Time, 8 Hours) I picked this up on my last trip to Akihabara and never tried it. I've been a lover of the AKI Corp wrestling game series for decades now, and this is one of the more arcade entries. Generally speaking it plays like those games, but it is simplified as there's no need to score a fall over the opponent; just eliminate their energy bar as in a fighting game. The amount of moves a player can perform is also much less; there's no ground moves and extended grapples; grab the enemy and quickly find yourself slamming them on the mat. Since this is set in the over the top wrestling world of Kinnukuman there are many over the top manoeuvres to be executed and I found seeing the spectacle of these one of the main draws of the game.
For my playthrough I decided to beat the game with each character, as they each have their own story but more importantly they unlock further playable wrestlers. Actually, there's quite a lot to unlock here, with some even been hidden behind a nice side mode where we buy gashapon's through in game currency earned as you play. On the story front however, as per the title I played the Japanese version (there is a US conversion but it is hideously expensive), and so the plot was lost on me. I'm sure it was all very silly, but as it were each character's playthrough was the same, consisting of a handful of matches, some interspersed conversation scenes and the same end credits were given each time. As such, despite having some real fun with this title initially, it did wear thin after a handful of hours. Perhaps there is more lengthy enjoyment to be found in the multiplayer modes, however, I feel that the lack of the depth found in AKI's N64 games is the real culprit.
Score - 6/10
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (Switch, First Time, 14 Hours) The return of Marvel Ultimate Alliance was a welcome surprise on it's unveiling and one that I was excited for. Did I expect greatness? Absolutely not. But what I expected was the sort of gameplay lost to the PS2 era (playing like a PS2 game isn't always a bad thing) dipped in a delightfully corny over the top super hero licensed adventure. And that's just what I got.
Granted, the gameplay feels different, as Team Ninja has made it their own and put focus more heavily on action whilst diluting exploration and RPG elements, but the game delivers what I want from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and what I sometimes want that developers seem allergic to these days. And what it delivers is simplicity, escapism, silliness. This is an action game where I don't feel like I have to think too much (although there is strategy within boss battles), more I am taken along for the ride, and it's great to have a game I can go to for that in times where I feel stressed or tired or whatnot. There is a major misstep in the decision to need to level each character individually. I feel actively discouraged from using the wealth of characters on offer here, especially with grinding being slow. Other than that though, and of course the lacking visuals, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 can be enjoyed for it's characters, simple gameplay and over the top story. It's never going to best anyone's top game lists, but the game delivers on it's goals, and I enjoyed my time with it.
Score - 7/10
Pokemon Leaf Green (GBA, First Time, 26 Hours) Pokemon Leaf Green was my entry point into the Pokemon series when it first released as I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I remember having a really nice time with it and then hitting a roadblock somewhere along the line. Following my falling head over heels for the plainly titled 'New Pokemon Snap' I felt a longing to remain in the world of Pokemon, and so I thought what better way to revisit my introduction, and a remake of the very first game (no, I don't have interest in playing the original version).
I have been critical of Pokemon in the past, it's flaws are all too clear. However, perhaps I have found a new outlook on the series, or perhaps it's simply that Leaf Green is a just plain better entry than more recent ones. Generally speaking, what really allowed me to enjoy Leaf Green unreservedly, was how briskly everything moved, and with so much energy. The long battle cuts and animations aren't found here, just a few short seconds and we're in combat. The quick transitions feel like they have an energy to them that is infectious, rather than the sluggish feel given in newer titles (the peppiness of the music helps a good deal I think). Beyond the combat I found the artwork to be just lovely, striking in it's simplicity, and endearing. You can see how these characters reached so many young players and made fans of them. The gameworld is simple to explore, and we're not bogged down in needless tutorials; just allowed to play at that nice, brisk pace.
There are some negatives unfortunately. The lack of real battle strategy doesn't create much interest in itself, and many encounters with enemies who use moves that extend the battle in aggravating ways, rather than actually trying to defeat you, are all too common. One thing that I did notice is that with these original Pokemon, I wasn't flummoxed by what 'type' I was dealing with. The artwork seemed to do a great job of communicating which is flying, electric, ghost etc, something that I find is lost nowadays. It was refreshing not to continually need to ask my Pokemaniac partner 'what beats that Pokemon'.
So a much more positive Pokemon experience here, and I am interested in continuing on. Perhaps I can discover where some of the magic was lost. However, one thing I found is that I would take another game like this, with it's simplistic sprite based art, minimalistic storytelling and brisk pace over a new 3D interpretation any day.
Score - 8/10
Ultimate Spider-Man (Gamecube, First Time, 5 Hours) I asked a question over in the 'Good 3rd party Gamecube Games' thread what happened with the follow up to Spider-Man 2 not following in the footsteps of that game and I didn't get an answer so I figured nobody here has played Ultimate Spider-Man. I decided since it was only a few hours long I'd find the answer first hand.
As it turns out, the game is closer to Spider-Man 2 than I initially thought. The webswinging and open city are still there. But the swinging and movement is simplified to some degree. Spider-Man 2 did have issues of overcomplexity in it's controls at times and Ultimate Spider-Man gets rid of that but it is at the loss of feeling of complete control over Spider-Man's movement. It is as though, in deciding to simplify, they didn't rework anything, just stripped back what they didn't want. I really found swinging and movement based objectives some of the best things to do in Spider-Man 2's world, and the objectives are still there, it's just that I don't feel I have enough control over Spidey here to pull them off, or to enjoy trying really.
The open world is still there, however, in an attempt to meet the look of the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, the detail of the world is swapped out, it is as though they've just put a graphics filter on the same world actually. Unfortunately though it looks incredibly bare, and it is clear the technology isn't there to pull this look off. The backgrounds and buildings look unifinished and outright ugly.
On the positive side the look is noticeable on some of the models of the main heroes and villains, who are nicely animated also. Outside of the open world we have the usual mission based story structure and I would say there was a real attempt to make these missions feel dynamic and interesting. There are diverse goals, and comic book scenes pop up in order to add a visual flair to the storytelling. Unfortunately though the actual execution is often off. Combat is lacklustre as the enemies don't react to your attacks; there's no satisfying feedback, leading to that kind of combat where you hit the enemy and they hit you a second later which just lacks any real punch or excitement that a superhero game should have. Furthermore, the worst issue the game has is the awful camera, which often spins rapidly out of control. Boss battles can be a real chore, because they're often out of sight (and of course getting a hit in without receiving one in retaliation is difficult in this combat engine). All in all I have to say Ultimate Spider-Man needed some more time in the oven. There's some nice ideas here, they just haven't been pulled off.
Score - 5/10
Ys Origin (Switch, First Time, 21 Hours) I got around to the second character playthrough of Ys Origin which I found to be too similar to my first for me to want to progress on to the third, unlockable story. Both character's I found to be pretty unbearable, which had me longing for Adol, however, other than characterisation of the two leads, I found the story really grabbed my attention whilst adding new interest to the framing of the ongoing tale of Ys and it's fantasy world. As somebody who has perhaps played a few titles of the series at random, I found through playing Origin I was able to see those in a new light since it added a great deal of context.
Rather than having a full environment to explore as in other entries, Ys Origin is presented as a dungeon crawler, whilst maintaining the fast action gameplay, which I found gave the game it's hook. I was compelled to progress and see the journey to the end, which lead me to beating the game in just a few days (the first time around). Of course, the adventure is short, which encourages replayability to some extent, I certainly wanted more when I reached the ending. Falcom at this point it seems had really mastered the balancing of the game, giving a nice level of discovery, puzzling and grinding, whilst always pushing the player forward, never coming to a halt.
Generally speaking, I'd say this is my favourite in the series in many ways, what is here is just so well executed. It is just a shame about multiple playthrough's not offering much beyond differing playstyles, which I think would have been better experienced through having the character's play alongside each other over one story. The game has done it's job in tying the story together for me, and I am keen to revisit the series at this point.
Score - 8/10
Now I'd be shocked if anyone actually has the patience to read all of that. Now for some breakfast and more importantly, coffee.
|
|
|
Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jun 22, 2021 6:04:26 GMT -5
I have been critical of Pokemon in the past, it's flaws are all too clear. However, perhaps I have found a new outlook on the series, or perhaps it's simply that Leaf Green is a just plain better entry than more recent ones. It's the latter. The GBA and DS era is the golden age for Pokémon. Not as simplistic as the first two gens, not as talky as gens 6-8 (I did really like gen 7, but characters won't shut up in that one). And in the case of gen 2 and 8 they also barely contain any challenge (in contrast, gen 1 is very grindy towards the endgame).
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Jun 22, 2021 7:30:13 GMT -5
I didn't mind and didn't even notice the wordiness of Gen. VII, and the removal and replacement of HMs with something that didn't take slots was long overdue. The tropical setting was a nice change of pace, and it has the best anime. That being said, Pokémon did lose some charm in the move to 3D. The sprites got updated very frequently while the 3D models don't change as often with the newer Pokémon looking better than the returning ones. With GF increasing their staff, maybe Gen. IX will have a full refresh.
|
|
|
Post by lurker on Jun 22, 2021 10:15:47 GMT -5
I remember having issues with Gen IV, though, or at least Diamond and Pearl.
|
|
|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Jun 22, 2021 14:29:52 GMT -5
Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers (Nintendo 64; First Time; 1 hours 22 minutes)
I was collecting more examples of games that tracked your playtime for that thread, and grabbed a bunch of N64 games that I'd been thinking about trying for a while now. This version of Goin' Quackers didn't track your playtime, but I thought I'd give it a bash since it's quite a simple, straightforward game. Something that's kinda interesting to me is that this version (which was also released for the PC and Dreamcast) has a completely different set of levels from the PS1 port, which itself has entirely different stages compared to the PS2/Gamecube version - effectively making for a trilogy of linear Donald Duck-themed 3D platformers released within a few weeks of each other. Man, I love how cross-gen ports used to be so varied in that sense.
While I played the PS1 version first, I prefer this port as the level design is a little trickier and hides its secret pickups in some pretty clever spots. There's also some very nice graphics on supply, with Donald being quite well animated and stages changing the time of day or setting as you progress. I would've tried to unlock the bonus fifth stage in each world by grabbing all the nephews' missing toys, but the emulator bugged out whenever I tried to talk to them and effectively soft-locked the game, so I left it. That might've been for the best, since the levels' pace doesn't feel so stop-start. It's not an especially great platformer, but it's a decent romp if you're in the mood for something basic.
Also, this version was developed by the Casablanca division of Ubisoft, meaning it's the first time I've played a game made by an African team (to my admittedly woeful knowledge, anyhow). That's pretty cool!
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (Xbox; Replay; 52 minutes)
This was a pretty quick replay of the Classic mode, which brought back the old style of gameplay from Pro Skater 1-3 where you complete as many goals as you can in 2 minutes. There's even a pretty neat addition to this game's take on the concept, where you can choose which stage you want to do next every couple of levels. If it had the structure of unlocking more characters and cheats by beating the mode as every character, that would be a great way to vary things up upon replays. Unfortunately, it only ties unlocks to completing the two difficulty modes and beating all the goals, but it's a nice gesture.
What's not so good is that the way you unlock more stages has been changed. Originally, you'd have a set number of goals to complete throughout the game; "beat 12 goals in order to unlock level 4", that kind of thing. But now, you have to complete a certain amount of goals in every stage; "beat six goals in level 1 to unlock level 2, beat six more goals in level 2 to unlock level 3, and so on..." That's much less interesting as it discourages completing all the goals in a stage since it won't matter once you've unlocked the next one, and it means you can't revisit earlier stages to attempt previously tricky goals (and maybe beat them with your upgraded stats) if the latest stage is giving you trouble. IIRC, this structure was what the later Tony Hawk games used for their Classic modes, and it's a shame how that change makes them feel more disposable as a result.
It's nice to revisit the stages from THUG 2 with new goals, and to see various stages from Pro Skater 1-3 with new features or coats of paint, but I'm not keen on the overall execution.
EDIT: I beat another game, so I'm gonna edit this post and throw it in since this is the most recent one at the time of writing.Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (Switch; First Time; 5 hours ~ ESTIMATION)Grabbed this and its sequel off the Switch eShop when they were doing digital sales (along with a bunch more), as I've always liked the idea behind the series. Not so much the "blasting dinosaurs with alien weapons angle", but seeing how the 90s shooter framework of platforming, shooting, puzzle solving and navigating at once would work when you had true 3D environments at your disposal. To my surprise, actually quite well. Jumping can sometimes be a little tricky due to needing a run up for good distance and how landing kills your momentum, but it's otherwise a good game for moving, exploring and shooting things at the same time. I particularly like how speedy and easy to control swimming is, making some of the underwater based secrets quite cool to discover.
I like that every level offers its own unique design trick, like how The Ruins is focused on winding confusing mazes and the Treetop Village emphasizes an insane degree of verticality in a way that only an N64 game from 1997 would attempt. However, some stages do end up being forgettable outside of their aesthetic (I can barely remember Level 3). As someone who enjoys exploring these big levels, I appreciated searching high and low for the level keys, and most levels are structured in a linear enough fashion that you don't have to go far if you missed one. That said, certain locations weren't conveyed as well as I think the designers thought they were, and I ended up using walkthroughs a couple of times.
Overall, I quite liked Turok 1 and I'll be checking out its sequel at some point in the future. I've generally heard good things about it, though an online friend I was chatting with absolutely hated it in comparison to the original. So I am curious to see how things turn out...
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Jun 24, 2021 14:03:19 GMT -5
Rusty Lake Roots (macOS, Replay)
Six months after CE: Theatre comes this game, the multi-generation tale of James Vanderboom and his descendants. It’s made up of 33 short single screen chapters starting with James inheriting his uncle’s house in 1860 and covering the next 75 years. Due to the large number of chapters, this is able to give a good sense of the overall story despite each only lasting a few minutes. This shortness can be a major liability when it comes to the gameplay since each section is too short to have more than a handful of easy puzzles. However, the puzzles do tend to be more directly story oriented and there is some good backstory in this game, so it’s a reasonable trade off.
I finished in 02:00.
Cube Escape: The Cave
The title is slightly misleading because this takes place in two areas with the eponymous cave being the first. That does make it double length although due to coming out five months after Roots, it is part of the slowing release schedule. In terms of story, it does push things forward a tiny bit while also muddling things for no reason. It does set things up to return to Dale, but that would only come a year and a half later almost to the day.
This is the last game in the recent Cube Escape Collection of games that were previously Flash on desktop. They’re still all free in their mobile form if you don’t want to pay the $5 and are willing to deal with the occasional ad. The main (only?) additions are built in hints (most but not all hotspots, and some puzzle nudges) and some achievements. I’d say it’s worth it overall for what you’re getting. Personally, I would have preferred a slightly more feature filled collection even if it were more expensive as a result.
I finished in 00:56.
Rusty Lake Paradise
I’m a little split on Paradise. As an independent game, it would be pretty good and fairly unusual in being based directly on the Ten Plagues of Egypt. It takes place in 1796 and centers on Jakob, the rest of the previously unmentioned Eilander family and their home on Paradise Island. Each of the plagues has a fairly clear puzzle representation although some like Darkness are a little more abstract. It’s the only game in the series that also more or less a regular adventure game with the main island having about a dozen main screens although not every screen is used in every chapter.
The problem so much as there is one is that it doesn’t add a whole lot to the overall story. Without getting into spoilers, the game does provide some backstory on a main character but only a few details are truly relevant overall. It mostly ends up giving some suggestion of how Hotel can better fit into the series.
I finished in 02:13.
Cube Escape: Paradox Chapter 1 Cube Escape: Paradox Chapter 2
This is where I think the real excess versus simply longer development time starts to set in. This game was made as a free chapter, a paid chapter and a fifteen minute live action short film. They’re three variations on the same basic premise, Dale wakes up in an ornate room. There are some common elements, but the puzzles are obviously different.
I mainly take issue with the integration of the short film which is basically a variation of Chapter 1 on it’s own and is only used for unlocking a bunch of semi-obtuse achievements in conjunction with the games. You technically get an alternate ending for Chapter 1 by finding them (it’s an unlisted YouTube video), but getting them for Chapter 2 just sends you to a long over contest.
The film very much has the feel of a non-interactive FMV adventure game, and it almost seems like an admission that the developers would have liked Paradox to have been one but weren’t able to do so for whatever reason. The two chapters do get some mileage out of including some live action elements so it doesn’t feel like a total waste, but a real FMV game could have been a lot of fun.
I finished in 01:02 and 01:15.
The White Door
In some ways, this is the best game in the series. It focuses on Laura’s ex-boyfriend Robert Hill who was last seen in Theater. The game is divided between his mostly repetitious time in The White Door mental hospital which has some light puzzles and his memories/dreams which are more or less interactive cutscenes. It does make a lot more sense when played in sequence with the others although it was also conceived as a spin-off so it lacks many of the recurring elements; even the shared set of code symbols is totally different in this game. However, since it deals with a character directly revenant to the “main” story line, it does add a few small nuggets of detail.
Like with Paradox, my main issue is with the totally unnecessary secondary element created for this game. Unlike the short film, the ARG tie-in for this game is even more tenuously connected. It is extremely elaborate and required literal global cooperation in order to initially finish. Now that it has been solved, it is technically completable by anyone. However, it’s very much it’s own thing that doesn’t actually contribute to the overall story.
I finished in 01:10.
Samsara Room
The original Samara Room is basically Cube Escape 0 and quite short. This remake greatly expands the gameplay and properly ties it into the series. That connection doesn’t provide any new information, but it’s the most natural choice given the confines of the original.
I finished in 0:27.
Having replayed all the Cube Escape / Rusty Lake games in their proper order, I still feel the same way I did last year. They’re good quality escape room and adventure games, but there isn’t anywhere near enough forward plot movement. There’s also a whole lot of loose ends that accumulate over time. I have a very real impression that there’s no overarching plan for the series even on a macro level. This is highly reinforced by the fact that the next game is even more backstory! I get the feeling that it won't be out soon, but even optimistically that it's actually near completion, it'll still be three years + additional development time before the series potentially sees any progression again.
This is a series of about a dozen hours which is plenty of time to tell a reasonably complex story over time with good planning. However, the majority of the game time feels so totally superfluous or gives such tiny morsels of information. Honestly, you could throw out everything except Seasons, Case 23, The Mill, Roots, Paradox and the White Door and not be missing much. I’m being generous by even including Paradox and The White Door. Neither adds much directly, but Paradox does technically move the plot forward and The White Door contains one significant piece of information.
Even excluding relevance, the actual amount of content has been slipping over years which doesn't help either. You get about four hours in the first year and three in the second which is okay because Roots has so much unique content comparatively. But then there's only two in the third and fourth years, under two in the fifth and essentially nothing in the sixth. It's actually a little mind boggling that literally nothing has had any kind of resolution in that kind of time. After Roots, they really should have wrapped up the Laura Vanderboom murder aspect of the plot since all the pieces were in place for that instead of noodling around for years afterward.
|
|
|
Post by Snake on Jun 25, 2021 12:51:33 GMT -5
Crystalis (NES/Switch, Replay) This is of course a classic, and compares well to its contemporaries particularly in regards to the plot. It isn't a perfect game as the dungeons are fairly poor and certain required tasks aren't communicated well, but it's a solid outing especially for a company that made so very few RPGs of any kind. Rating: 8 Totally! There's a tragedy in SNK not making a sequel to this game in some form for Neo Geo. While not as cryptic or poorly translated as Castlevania 2 in terms of hints, I agree that there are times where I would get lost in the labyrinths on where to progress. Sometimes I'd get stuck on why I couldn't do any damage to some enemies or even bosses! But really, all it took was some old-fashioned grind to up your power level within being able to damage them.
|
|