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Post by mainpatr on Jan 26, 2021 18:53:24 GMT -5
Halo: Spartan Assault (Xbox 360; First Time; 2 hours 55 minutes)I wouldn't call myself a Halo fan. I like the original and 3 well enough, but I'm certainly not as big a fan as my brothers, one of whom downloaded this spinoff way back in 2013. It's a top-down shooter where you play through a series of short missions blasting the Covenant, and it's a decent little game for what it is. I'm surprised at how much of the main games' mechanics were translated into this new genre without much difficulty, and how some of them - such as only using two weapons and the special abilities introduced in Reach - work even better here than elsewhere due to the quick, concise nature of the design. I know it's still a shooter, but I reckon it took a good bit of work to effective translate as many concepts as they did, all while retaining the series' default control scheme to boot. Makes it feel that much more like the main series beyond the presentation and surface detail. Something I'm rather ambivalent about is how short most missions are. This likely comes from the game's roots as a title for mobile phones and tablets, necessitating very brief stages so the player could make some progress even if they only played it for a couple of minutes, but the majority of levels only have one or two objectives that you complete before moving on to the next one. Levels are fairly small, there aren't any twists that surprise or encourage new strategies, and there aren't any bonus objectives to add something interesting to what's already there. (There are special goals for each level, but they're all ludicrous things like "Kill 40 Elites with X Weapons" that force you to replay missions constantly.) It's not bad, it's just not for me. I personally would've preferred more lengthy missions that reflected more of the Bungie games' quiet moments. I also would've preferred the game to be optimized better, because good grief, this thing was constantly crashing on me. I played the game over 7 sessions, and it crashed 4 or 5 times after barely half an hour of play. It is the worst case of a game consistently crashing I have ever seen, which comes at such contrast to the mostly smooth 60FPS framerate it carries. It even threatened to derail my playthrough altogether, before I decided to just keep pushing through the last few levels of the game and see what came my way. It's fine for what it is, but I can't recommend it due to how badly it crashed for me. It did get a sequel called Spartan Strike, and while I've never heard anyone talk about that game (or this one for that matter), I can only hope it keeps the same quality gameplay while improving on the mission designs and the technical front. (Though it's only on mobile devices)
Have you played Gatling Gears for PSN? Basically the same game without the Halo license.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 27, 2021 6:13:46 GMT -5
Halo: Spartan Assault (Xbox 360; First Time; 2 hours 55 minutes) Have you played Gatling Gears for PSN? Basically the same game without the Halo license. I haven't. Heck, I didn't even know it existed until you mentioned it, and on looking it up, it's even made by Vanguard Games (who co-developed the Spartan spin-offs with 343 Industries)! It's available on the 360 and Windows, so if it sounds good enough, maybe I'll try it in the future. I'd probably get it for Windows however, since the console versions were published by EA and I'd rather give the money to Vanguard - who published the PC release - cuz they made the game and sod "triple A" gaming publishers.
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 27, 2021 8:53:43 GMT -5
It's fine for what it is, but I can't recommend it due to how badly it crashed for me. It did get a sequel called Spartan Strike, and while I've never heard anyone talk about that game (or this one for that matter), I can only hope it keeps the same quality gameplay while improving on the mission designs and the technical front. (Though it's only on mobile devices)
Spartan Strike is actually on Steam too, as well as Spartan Assault: store.steampowered.com/app/324570/Halo_Spartan_Strike/
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 27, 2021 9:08:43 GMT -5
Phantom Dust (Windows) - First playthrough, Time: 23h 11min 32s (timer) Finally checked out this free remaster of the original Xbox game on Windows 10 and what a gem it was! Best described as deck building dueling game, you engage in psychic battles against one or two opponents in partially destructible arenas and have to weight carefully what skills are best suited for different situations. There's a lengthy Scenario Mode that tells an intriguing, bizarre story of a postapocalyptic Earth and slowly teaches you the ropes to prepare you for the multiplayer. The games main flaw is the lack of mission variety, since it was clearly designed multiplayer first, so there's just a handful of different enemies and arenas you will face during the 114 missions. But really, it's not as bad as it sounds, since the individual missions are breezy and combat, arsenal (=deck) building and the story will keep you engaged till the end. I beat the Scenario Mode and the post game bonus missions and got all the single player achievements, as well as most of the mp ones. Check out the game here if you have Win10 or a Xbox One: www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/phantom-dust/9pcdnbhr11mr?&activetab=pivot:overviewtabRating: 4/5Alphabet Challenge: ---D----------OP---------- Number Challenge: ----------
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 27, 2021 9:47:21 GMT -5
It's fine for what it is, but I can't recommend it due to how badly it crashed for me. It did get a sequel called Spartan Strike, and while I've never heard anyone talk about that game (or this one for that matter), I can only hope it keeps the same quality gameplay while improving on the mission designs and the technical front. (Though it's only on mobile devices)
Spartan Strike is actually on Steam too, as well as Spartan Assault: store.steampowered.com/app/324570/Halo_Spartan_Strike/Oh, you're right! I assumed it just wasn't included in the Wikipedia article I read, but no, it's right there in the list of platforms. That's me being, as the French like to say, a bit of a blind numpty.
I'm not gonna get it at the moment since it's over a gig and there's little free space as is on the house computer (the only game playing computer we got, since the Windows RT store doesn't work anymore), but thanks for letting me know it exists elsewhere!
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Post by dsparil on Jan 27, 2021 13:26:38 GMT -5
Another World (GBA, Replay)
A little after he got the rights to Another World / Out of This World back, Éric Chahi had this official freeware GBA port made. gave his blessing to this freeware port. (Edit: The site's article mentions that it was originally unofficial, but the same programmer was involved with the Symbian port which is where my confusion stemmed. I think I actually have that port.) It's a good version of the game, and allows for the chunky pixels the graphics need to look their best. I'm not sure if this version is technically vector based, but the recent hi-def ports look a little weird to me as the sharp lines take away the charm.
Rating: 8
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 28, 2021 8:30:00 GMT -5
Poochy and Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS; First Time; 8 hours 42 minutes) Ever since I played the original Yoshi's Island back in 2011, I've come to regard that series of platformers rather fondly. Even if the game itself is pretty mediocre and has rubbish music; which I faintly remember about the DS sequel by Artoon; I'll still be mildly interested in checking them out based on the strength and potential of the core gameplay. So when I checked out a demo of the 3DS port for the Wii U game Yoshi's Woolly World (one of many ports that Nintendo started doing in the twilight years of the system's life) and enjoyed it immensely, I asked my older brother if he could get me a copy for my birthday. He did, but I didn't play very much of it. That was nearly two years ago, and I figured I should try and actually make some progress in the dang thing.
It's a pretty good game, and I'd say it's probably the best Yoshi game since the original. The yarn aesthetic, which is actually taken from the developer's previous Nintendo project Kirby's Epic Yarn, works very well here in how it creates both a memorably adorable look and ties into the existing Yoshi mechanics in an easily understandable manner. You're not eating enemies to poo up eggs, you're now unraveling enemies into wool balls; most of the collectibles are tied into unlocking optional Yoshi skins and patterns for the character customizer; certain secret areas can only be accessed by pulling stray threads or pushing at soft walls. It's quite clever, and keeps up the idea of Yoshi games having a cute, unique look without retreading old artstyles or creating garish looking games.
Mind you, I do have a couple of issues with Woolly World that keep me from loving it or viewing as fondly as the original. For a start, there's simply too many things to collect in each level. You have five daisies, five wool yarns, 20 pencil stamps that can only be found by grabbing every bead, and an extra bonus rewarded for having full health when you beat the stage. I learned a while back - while playing through Yoshi's Island, actually - that I'm not a completionist if the method is potentially long-winded and tedious, and that was pretty much why I gave up on this the first time back in 2019. I got too frustrated trying to grab everything, and this time decided to only search for things if it led to cool puzzles or optional sections. That suited me a lot more, though I still think there's too much that you have to manage - especially as the game gets tougher.
Another issue, and this is less of an "objective" critique and more by my own preference, is the way levels are designed. It does that Nintendo platformer thing of introducing a handful of ideas, developing and iterating on them over the course of a single level, and then leaving them behind as you move onto the next one. It's a perfectly fine way of designing platformer levels, as it gives each section a deliberate pace and meaning where other platformers suffer from random feeling stages, but I dislike how very few of these mechanics ever come back in future stages.
Levels occur in a linear order, so there's no reason ideas couldn't come back more often since the developers know the player would have beaten that stage and therefore be familiar with those ideas. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair also had self-contained level gimmicks, but could get away with it since players could tackle plenty of levels out of order, necessitating that philosophy. The only reason I think it would make sense to keep most ideas to one specific level is because you have the ability to skip levels at the cost of 2000 beads if you're playing in Mellow Mode (where Yoshi takes less damage, can hover indefinitely, and has a trio of woolly dogs who always follow him), since it's possible that players might've skipped a specific level and have no familiarity with the ideas introduced back there.
I can understand that being a fair enough compromise, but I also feel that it results in there being build-up than the original game and makes Woolly World come off like a series of stages that sometimes introduce bosses to break things up, and then it ends. It's still a grand game for what it is, and you'll have a heck of a time if you don't mind the levels being as self-contained as there. However, I can't say it surpasses the original. Perhaps I'll give the DS game another shot, since I never gave that one much time either (probably with that fan hack to changes to the music to a rearranged version of original SNES game's soundtrack - it's pretty aces).
(On a personal note, I'd originally given this up a week or two back, having gotten to near the end of the final world and giving up after some frustration with a trio of levels that made me skipping two of them and deciding to stop altogether when the third one just got tedious. However, I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and thought I might give this one last go until I got tired enough. To my surprise, I got right to the end and wrapped up the final boss a couple hours ago after taking a break, albeit using Mellow Mode to finish them off. Weird how things like that happen sometimes.)
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Post by spanky on Jan 28, 2021 20:19:12 GMT -5
Beat Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition (Genesis, First Time) tonight.
The SNES port of SFII Turbo is one of my most played games for that system. It's also one of my favorite fighting games, period. I had the Gamepro guide for this as a kid and I spent an entire summer memorizing combos and learning the AI tricks to beat it on the hardest difficulty.
I've never played the Genesis version so I thought I would give it a shot. I guess they couldn't called it "Turbo" due to some sort of exclusivity clause? Beat it on the default difficulty. Used a few different characters with my run but I used Zangief to finish off Bison so I could see his goofy ending where he does the Cossack Dance with Gorbachev.
I knew it was considered a solid port and it is. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect from a Genesis arcade port when compared to the SNES version. In other words, it looks sharp, but there's less color. I think it feels faster and has less slowdown but I'm not sure if that's actually the case. It might even control a little better. The timing window for combos seems more generous than the SNES version. The music is good but the voices suck. They even threw in some graphical details and the opening cinematic that were opening from the SNES game.
I was a SNES fanboy most of my life but I've been exploring the Genesis library more nowadays and I'm consistently impressed with the speed and fluidity of the games on the system, even compared to SNES ports of the same games. I guess Blast Processing was a real thing, huh?
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Post by dsparil on Jan 29, 2021 11:44:42 GMT -5
Beat Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition (Genesis, First Time) tonight. Beat it on the default difficulty. Used a few different characters with my run but I used Zangief to finish off Bison so I could see his goofy ending where he does the Cossack Dance with Gorbachev. To clarify, a fighting game needs to be completed with at least 8 characters or the whole default roster if less than 8. It mainly comes down differing priorities. The Genesis is able to draw graphics more quickly, but at the expense of both colors on-screen and overall color palette. The SNES has more advanced graphics hardware, but the resolution and maximum draw rate are lower. Good art and software design can narrow the gap a bit, but not every genre benefits from that speed. Of course there's also the small factoid that "Blast Processing" as a marketing term originated with a technique discovered for generating higher quality still images—to the best of my knowledge no game ever actually used it since not all hardware revisions could do it—and the ad team ran with it.
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Post by toei on Jan 29, 2021 22:00:10 GMT -5
The Genesis has a more powerful CPU than the SNES, and yes, it shows in most action games. More intense action (ie both faster and more enemies on screen in games where it applies), less frequent slowdowns. The SNES has a better GPU, so the games look better when they're not moving.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 30, 2021 5:29:39 GMT -5
From everything I've read it has to do with the memory being faster although there is less of it. Neither CPU is obviously more powerful than the other. The Genesis has a higher clock rate, but that is a completely meaningless metric between different processor families and doesn't tell the whole story even within one. The SNES can process more instructions per second, but this is only slightly less misleading. I can't find systematic benchmarking for either console even for computers that used the same processors. It's also weirdly hard to find technical information on the Genesis compared to the Saturn.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 30, 2021 14:09:49 GMT -5
Got one more to finish off the month of January, and here it is! Toki Tori (3DS; First Time; 3 hours 37 minutes) Most people who know about Toki Tori likely know it through its sequel, which took a unique approach to the Metroidvania style by relying on increasing the player's knowledge of the world and creatures rather than increasing their abilities or arsenal. However, the original game is an entirely different affair: presented as a puzzle platformer inspired by the MSX2 game Eggbert (and is made by some of that game's staff) where you can't jump and must use certain tools to navigate your way through a level and collect all of the eggs. It was originally released for the Game Boy Color - the day after 9/11, no less - but has since been ported to a dozen systems, such as the 3DS.
This is actually after the ports to the PC and Wii, and I feel this actually impacts the game's challenge to some degree as it goes on. The puzzles are quite clever in how they require you to do things in certain orders, and require a good knowledge of how various parts will move (metaphorically speaking) to reach certain parts of a level. But because the screen is zoomed in to make elements more readable on the 3DS' comparatively smaller screen, it means that it's easy to forget elements or how things will work when they're not onscreen. It becomes especially troublesome when you get to the later worlds, where manipulating enemy and object placements becomes super crucial to clearing the stage. You are allowed to rewind in case you made a mistake, so that's not as bad as it could've been.
You can also skip the level if you like, and I really dig how this mechanic is implemented. You have a Wildcard that allows you to skip the stage, but you only have one Wildcard. If you encounter another stage that's too difficult and you'd rather skip, you have to go back to the level you originally skipped and complete it in order to earn your Wildcard back. It's a very cool way of allowing some leniency towards the player without breaking the game's challenge, and encourages you to complete either this level or the previous one.
I wasn't particularly keen on this one, as I found the later stages maddening to the point of seriously stressing me out (which says a lot considering I'm pretty relaxed when playing games). However, that's definitely a 'me' thing as opposed to the game itself being bad. If you like puzzle platformers, this is a pretty good one to check out. You can get it on plenty of systems, such as the PC and most recently the Switch.
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This makes the tenth game I've beaten for the first time this year, and I'm pretty pleased with how things have been going so far. Even just getting the chance to go back to games I wasn't very keen on (such as Toki Tori) and learning to appreciate them more has been great. My college course has started up again, so I likely won't be posting on here as often unless I get well into playing very short games, but I'll do my best to keep going at a reasonable rate.
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Post by toei on Jan 30, 2021 14:51:36 GMT -5
From everything I've read it has to do with the memory being faster although there is less of it. Neither CPU is obviously more powerful than the other. The Genesis has a higher clock rate, but that is a completely meaningless metric between different processor families and doesn't tell the whole story even within one. The SNES can process more instructions per second, but this is only slightly less misleading. I can't find systematic benchmarking for either console even for computers that used the same processors. It's also weirdly hard to find technical information on the Genesis compared to the Saturn. I've seen pretty detailed breakdowns from romhackers. Don't have a link though, and don't care enough to start digging them up, but IIRC the consensus was that the Genesis' cpu was still about 25%-30% faster. Another reason usually given for Genesis games often being faster and smoother is that Japanese programmers were very familiar with the 68000 by then, as it was used in a ton of arcade boards as well as the X68000 computer. Whatever the reason, the reality is easily observed by just playing the games. There are some good beat-'em-ups and a few good fighters (though in general I find that console fighters lagged too far behind their arcade counterparts during that generation to be worth much, Neo Geo excepted), and if I liked cutesy, pure platformers more (ie games where you mostly just jump, as opposed to, say, Shinobi), I'm sure I'd love the SNES's. But so many of its action games are just so slow and dull. One of the only shmups I've seen that runs at a decent speed is Super Aleste, and Compile were seemingly able to get that kind of speed out of literally any hardware (check out GG Aleste, for example). Most of the action side-scrollers, Hagane aside, are mediocre to terrible.
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Post by spanky on Jan 31, 2021 6:27:33 GMT -5
I watched a Youtube video some time ago that posited the Genesis felt like more of a successor to the NES due to the fact that both systems really made a name for themselves on great action games. The SNES focus on RPGs and Adventure games makes it feel like a different animal compared to the NES. I don't 100% agree with that, but I think it makes an interesting argument. Comparing the SNES and Genesis... I feel the SNES library is better at making prestige games that are beloved by players, critics, and historians alike. The top tier SNES games will sit towards the top of "Best Games of All Time" lists for all time. Games like Chrono Trigger, Yoshi's Island, Link To The Past etc. The Genesis on the other hand, while it does not have the top tier universally acclaimed experiences the SNES does...it does play a kick ass video game. You spend some time with stuff like Gaiares, Streets of Rage 2 or Shinobi 3 with their blistering action and walk away thinking "Now THAT'S a video game." The library is more in tune with a certain type of hardcore gamer. I never really appreciated it when I was younger - I even bought into the "Genesis music SUCKS!" meme, then I started really digging into the library and heard stuff like this.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2021 6:45:23 GMT -5
Both SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis undoubtedly have fantastic rich libraries with different strengths. That said, I personally don't value speed as much as it seems toei does. The mention of Super Aleste for instance - I always found the game very bland and I much prefer other shmups on SNES even if they are slower. Also, whilst I agree that genre isn't SNES's strength, I never thought there was a particularly great lineup on MD either. Generally Sega's platform was much better than any other platform for hack n slash and run n gun games though.
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