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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 13, 2023 6:11:44 GMT -5
Sniper Elite III: Hunt The Grey Wolf (Nintendo Switch; First Time; 40 minutes)
I ended up playing the DLC missions for Sniper Elite III to help pass the time during what's been a surprisingly slow week, starting off with the obligatory "kill Hitler" mission that appears in every Sniper Elite game as DLC. It's a fairly short level, one where the rhythms are actually much more akin to the stages from Sniper Elite V2 where you sneak and shoot your way through a series of linear areas. That said, there's a few things added in to encourage the player to try the stage again, with randomized clues and about seven ways to kill Hitler (I went for the "shoot the nearby explosive barrels as he's being driven out of town" method). It was nice having a concise mission like this, rather than the epic sprawls seen in the main game and the following DLC campaign.
Sniper Elite III: Save Churchill (Switch; First Time; 1 hour 46 minutes)
Save Churchill is a mini-campaign spread across three missions where you uncover a plot to assassinate Winston Churchill, and have to find and destroy the various methods intended to kill him while contending with a group of elite Nazi snipers. The first mission is rather unusual in that it's actually one of the main game's maps, only now it's night-time and you're going through it backwards. The objectives you accomplish are all new, but it's an interesting enough way to recontextualize a pre-existing level (and presumably allow more time and design to towards the other two missions which feature entirely new maps).
The campaign acts as a microcosm of the main game, featuring two large open-ended missions with a more linear stage in between. There isn't a whole lot that the new missions do that's particularly unique, it's just more Sniper Elite action which is never a bad thing. I dig that you can cap off the second stage by finding this prototype rocket launcher with 30 rockets in it and using it to blast away everyone; quite cathartic. The final stage is impressively large and asks you to take some long shots at mortar crew, before having you quickly take out land mines, followed by a trek through canyons lined with smaller mines and distant snipers.
It's a nice way to cap off the Sniper Elite III experience, though I admit I'm glad that these all came as part of the Switch port instead of having to spend around €21 for the lot as you'd have to on Steam.
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Post by Woody Alien on Jan 13, 2023 10:15:39 GMT -5
Couple Steam games, one free and one not, but still cheap. NinjaThea (PC Windows, first time, 18 minutes) A simple and colorful precision platformer made by a dev as a gift for his young daughter (presumably named Thea). You are a little ninja girl who jumps around collecting fruit and killing mice. Nothing more to be said, it's cute, easy and quick, a simple way to get 100% achievements and it has a vocal sample from the girl herself every time you start a stage. However, the collision detection when you kill mice with the sword is sometimes suspect, and in what is supposed to be a precision platformer is kind of a mistake. But still, it's decently made for what it is. 6.5/10
Medusa (PC Windows, first time, around 11 hours) A metroidvania made by an amateur dev in the Godot game engine as his first project, starring the titular mythical monster [pedantic alert: it's a gorgon, Medusa is the personal name of one of them, the other mostly forgotten ones are her sisters Stheno and Euryale. The more you know]. I have a hard time judging it, because it looks bad in the beginning, the first area is arguably the worst one but by slowly acquiring the abilities the game becomes more interesting and there's some fairly interesting ideas too, like turning into a snake to crawl over walls and into small passages, or turning human enemies into stone statues and using these for environmental puzzles. Plus, summoning a chariot and using it to run over enemies and chew through human-sized carrots or flying around with a jetpack in ancient Greece is pretty hilarious. But the graphics look like ass, the soundtrack and effects are annoying, the menu interface is cumbersome, the map is convoluted (but thankfully there's an item that teleports from one save point to another) and some abilities are either under-used or quickly superseded by better ones. With a better art style and some fine-tuned mechanics it could have become a small indie success. 10 hours is the right time for completion (it is fairly expansive), I dawdled a bit and tried to catch some of the hidden bonuses even though they aren't really necessary to complete the game. 6/10
edit: this is my 1500th post on this forum! Yahoo!!
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Post by excelsior on Jan 14, 2023 11:15:56 GMT -5
Crypt of the Necrodancer (Switch, First Time, 9 Hours Appx)I'm something of an idiot because I asked for Crypt of the Necrodancer for Christmas without realising it was a Roguelike which isn't something I usually enjoy for more than a couple of hours. Further, I'm a double idiot since I asked for both games from the series. That said, the Roguelike elements are well handled in Necrodancer and not really a hinderance. There's an extremely limited number of permanent upgrades, with a host of unlockable items that will be randomly found in dungeons. All of these are bought in exchange for diamonds found throughout any run of an arena. Initially I found the nature of these upgrades came across as too incremental to really make a difference to my playthrough, and there's a degree of that being true. As per usual within the genre what weapons you find along the way is paramount to a good performance, and luck may or may not go your way - which can result in some sessions feeling wasted of course. However the real gains throughout each run come from learning the movement patterns of enemies. Mastering each will enable you to fly through dungeons fairly easily after some practice. Randomisation of the layouts doesn't really interfere with this learning process and feels complimentary. Though the roguelike aspect of the game does land, for me I found that the other major feature didn't retain my interest. That being the need to time your movement to a beat. I found that this entertained me for the first hour or so's play, but afterwards it really felt like it kept the gameplay to a monotonous pace. There's a change to the beat you need to keep to each floor, but it does little to keep me engaged. There's a character who doesn't require you to stick to the beat; The Bard; but that character is treated more as an easy mode where you can learn enemy patterns through the game becoming entirely turn-based (as would be the case anyway should you hit every beat as other characters). I did play through as this character, and had more fun that way, but I found rather than slowing me down to stop and think, it more enabled me to play at a fast pace that was more to my liking. Having a time limit for your movements and retaining the song expiration limit would have made this character more enjoyable to me. After realising the game couldn't actually be technically cleared with The Bard I returned to playing as Cadence. Although Crypt of the Necrodancer implements Roguelike elements successfully, largely underplaying their importance, the rhythm aspect was, for me personally, a bit of a dud. Without it the game is a little too simple, but with it there's too much emphasis on repetition, whilst pacing is slow for much of the game. This is kind of a purist style of game, with basic visuals and story and so without enjoying its main mechanisms it's tough to be positive about this one. Score - 6/10 Cadence of Hyrule (Switch, First Time, 4:47)Cadence of Hyrule in an attempt at incorporating Necrodancer gameplay within a Zelda-styled adventure. Rather than jumping straight into dungeons there's an overworld built around them. For some reason it was decided that the overworld, like the dungeons, should be randomly placed to some degree. To fill this requirement each screen essentially acts as a disconnected separate room, wherein you may find entrances to mini-boss locations that reward with items. For this to work items found in the overworld would now include a much larger number of permanent upgrades. To this end you can travel anywhere in the world you like, with very little gating. Structurally this creates a real issue, as the overworld has a chaotic feel to it, not really meshing with the adventure feel of the game, whilst also not integrating well the dungeons found within. Realistically you'll find moving across the world, finding upgrades, and then moving onto the dungeons, making the world feel quite pointless in the long run. Item upgrades include a good number found in The Legend of Zelda series. It's nice to see them, although many are not well integrated into play and feel largely useless. The better upgrades are the weapons that give greater range to your attack, coming from the main Necrodancer game, although them now being permanent makes the game feel like a pushover once unlocked. Dungeon items are non-specific, as instead you choose from a selection that can be found across the various dungeons. The dungeons themselves are actually enjoyable, but can be beaten within a few minutes each, making them only a tiny portion of the game time. Where Cadence of Hyrule does shine is in the aesthetics, which visuals feeling fresh and new whilst also reminiscent of A Link to the Past. Familiar locations and monsters show up, nicely blending Necordancer style enemies with Zelda enemies whilst also ensuring that 'tells' are more clearly communicated. Bosses especially look a treat, with some nice musical instrument integration into their designs. The audio track never misses, with new arrangements of classic themes being much more memorable than those in the original Necrodancer game. As a whole Cadence of Hyrule misses more often than it hits. Structurally the game comes at Zelda from the wrong angle, and dungeons are too short and easy, despite otherwise being a highlight. Audio and visuals aside Cadence of Hyrule doesn't retain the core strengths of either of it's predecessors, almost as if there was a lack of understanding of both at play in its design. Zelda items and adventure design feel compromised and Necrodancer's dungeon crawl dumbed down. Score - 5/10
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jan 14, 2023 11:58:37 GMT -5
excelsior I was also disapointed by Cadence of Hyrule, and ended up dropping it. I absolutely love the original Crypt, but playing CoH after you've already played Crypt doesn't really work I found. Beating Crypt means beating 16 (or even 20 if you do the DLC dungeon) stages in a row. Without dying. So after beating that, you've kind of already mastered everything CoH can throw at you. CoH has more hearts, save points, and just a bigger moveset, but all the enemy types are pretty much reskins of Crypt. So there's nothing new thrown at veteran players, but your character is more durable. That means it was just too low-stakes and boring to me, since I already beat Crypt. At least the OST and boss designs were great, and hopefully it will lead to more indies being allowed to work on Nintendo's properties once in a while (even if this one wasn't a hit with me).
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Post by excelsior on Jan 15, 2023 8:08:15 GMT -5
🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 - I agree that CoH doesn't make sense to play after you've mastered Necrodancer, but at the same time it also doesn't provide a great learning environment to acclimatise to the core gameplay. On it's own it comes across as quite overwhelming and confusing, I think, and so feel it doesn't really find its own niche. A bit of a strange game all considered.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jan 16, 2023 10:18:05 GMT -5
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero PS4 FTP 42 hours
I have complicated feelings about this series. The world building is phenomenal. Seeing all the interaction between governments, people, and organizations is awesome. No other game series has as much lore built up across so many games as Legend of Heroes does. However to get to the point where you appreciate all that build up you have to play through most of game and sometimes a couple of games in the series. Trails from Zero suffers from the same problems the others do. The middle portion of the game is boring. Fetch quests and back tracking galore (high speed mode all the time). Missable stuff most will never find without a hand holding guide. A few lame recurring tropes (oh look another character swoops in to save the party yet again!). But man when you hit that last section of the game and all that build-up pays off it is sweet. Leaves you thinking the game was great.
So yeah. The music is great and I enjoyed the main cast other than Elie who I thought was bland. Grateful that we are finally getting these games over here and it's cool that NISA brought the team that did the original fan-translation on board. Glad I waited to play this one until the sequel (due out in March) was closer to release. Weird turn of events that somehow the PS4 is the weakest version this time due to another group doing some upgrades to the Switch/PC version, but eh all my Cold Steel saves are on PS4 and I want those little nick-knacks for saves in Reverie. Fire Emblem this week though!
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Post by Woody Alien on Jan 18, 2023 9:21:03 GMT -5
Another slew of tiny and small games!
Fairune (Browser, first time, about 15 minutes)
Found about this game by randomly browsing Steam, this is the original short Flash adventure/puzzle game that originated two much longer sequels and is sold on Steam as a remade "Fairune Origins" bundled with these two sequels plus the shmup spin-off. Short and cute fantasy game, nothing more to say about that. Since Flash has been discontinued some of the versions scattered here and there on games sites no longer work. I may consider buying the bundle on Steam during sales. 6.5/10
Video World (PC Windows, first time, 41 minutes)
More of a free "advergame" made to promote the EP of Monster Mansion, an Australian synthpop artist. A guy working at a video store on Halloween night receives the visit of a pumpkin spirit. Decorate the store while playing some very simple rhythm games based on the artist's songs, then do it all in reverse. It would have lasted 20 minutes but, because of a mistake/bug, I had to start from the beginning. It's fairly cute with the classic 80s vivid neon colors accompanying the 80s-inspired songs, the pumpkin's corny (pumpkin-y?) Halloween puns, and there's even a random example of LGBT+ representation at the very end, but it barely counts as a game. Bizarrely enough, you can even play it by skipping the rhythm game parts and go straight to the story, but I wonder what the point is, since there's not much else to it. 6/10
OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THIS KNIGHT (PC Windows, first time, 29 minutes to get 100%)
Title is in ALL CAPS. Short top-down action comedy game set in a world of vaguely humanoid birds (?) where a nutjob believing himself to be a knight, complete with wooden sword and a bucket as a helm, ruins the lives of everyone around him until they try to kick him out of the village. Some funny ideas, the author is Russian and it kind of comes out in the setting and some stuff, for example the drunkard minister lamenting that nobody believes in anything anymore. I don't know what else to say... 6.5/10
Fingun (PC Windows, first time, 1h 30 I think?)
Simple "ecchi" boss game shmup inspired by the likes of Parodius and Cho Aniki, made in the West but full of playful Japanese stereotypes like tanuki girls, macho camp dudes, chubby maids, masochistic salarymen, bikini-armored lady knights fighting slimes etc. all interpreted as shmup bosses, sometimes in quite clever ways. Gameplay is super simple: your ship, a floating finger-banging hand (!) can flip direction to avoid bullets and the bosses' bodies, destroying their weak points undresses them and lets you gain powerups, defeating them nets extra lives, you can either try to beat the whole game in one sitting or restart from the last level you reached with a score penalty. That's it, no bullet hell, combos, arcane bonuses, bombs, strategies, just a super colorful, goofy, happy pixelated old-school shooter with nice cheerful BGM. I miss Parodius and the like so I genuinely enjoyed it! Strangely enough however, the bosses in the first half seem to be slightly harder than some of the latter ones.
7/10
(I swear, I did not try to get that score points on purpose, given the game being an ecchi one... )
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Post by dsparil on Jan 18, 2023 9:55:37 GMT -5
Treasure Conflix (SNES, First Time) I really need to stop dawdling and finished Beyond Shadowgate This was originally a Satellaview game, and it did occasionally come up as a game needing a fan translation. Well it has one now! It's a bit of an obscure gem from Square and really shows how they were a master of their craft in the 16-bit era. Square really packing in a lot of personality and world building into such a small game. The game itself is a basic airship based action game with a focus on finding treasure on a world map and minimized combat. There's actually only five battles and nothing random. You find treasure based on clues and maps (you can't get the treasure without them) in order to afford new upgrades for your airship. The first three battles aren't that hard, but the last two are a big spike and even the mid-tier upgrades are fairly expensive so you do need to find almost everything. I got a slight impression that this was originally going to be a full release but would have been completed past the point Square wanted to still be releasing SNES games so it got a polished slimmed down release instead. This is entirely based on a single story point and the game's release in the last few months of Square's SFC support. There's also a minor bugginess as if the release was a little rushed. Regardless, it'd be great if SE revisited this game in an expanded form. I finished in 2:50:37. Rating: 8
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Post by personman on Jan 18, 2023 13:05:25 GMT -5
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (NDS, emulated on 3DS; replay; 44 hours) Been pecking away at this one since mid December last year and just finished it on the first of the year. Of course my play time blew up past that since I always have to go completionist with these. I remember having a fair bit more hype for this one back in the day than I did Portrait. For one the artstyle struck a real good balance between anime and a decent approximation of Ayami Kojima's style. The main character looked really cool and most importantly they made it clear this entry was going to be a bit of a return to the difficulty the series was previously known for. I even remember a trailer specifically showing a bunch of ways to get your ass kicked lol. There seemed to be some fatigue with the series around the time and even as a relative new comer I felt it a bit myself. Thankfully once it came around I was mostly happy with it though at the time I was glad it just wasn't PoR which I unjustly hated then. Nowadays? Yeah I think it holds up wonderfully but it's a weird one with the first half of the game almost being more like a classicvania. I don't personally have a big problem with them since the level design is decent enough and the scaling and what not is spot on, things are dangerous and you need to respect your enemies. I'd say the real weakness they have is just the fact most of them are boring to look at. You have a couple neat areas like the Skeleton Cave that takes inspiration from the Sedlec Ossuary but then the majority of them are just the most generic 'mountain' and 'forest'. Playing through them feels fine but after Portrait was such a treat to look at it does disappoint. What is more concerning is the game likes to keep all its cool stuff till the later half of the game and if you don't satisfy the conditions to move on past the bad ending you'll never see armor with special effects or the really wild glyphs you can get in the late game. They should have spread things out a bit more. The first half can seem kinda weak due to that and I recall a good amount of folks taking issue with its direction which is funny since so many complained about the series getting samey and stale yet heres a change and then they whine. People wanted difficulty and its there, though really its not even that hard I just guarantee you that many tried sticking with just weapon glyphs and found a lot of enemies that nearly immune to them. Okay then switch to a spell glyph lol. Hell I think its pretty obvious that Shanoa is meant to be a sort of battle mage type with a weapon in one hand and magic in another, use spells to open and deal the brunt of your damage then finish off with weapons. And when you do run into some spongey enemies you can use glyph unions that combine the two to do a special attack, hell you even get three load outs you can switch between on the fly so really its one of those situations again where people say its too hard because they likely aren't using their resources. I suppose some who have certain expectations could be worried that the entire game is going to consist of small mostly linear levels. That's fair and I wouldn't be too happy if that's all it ended up being as well but thankfully once you rescue all the villagers and beat the supposed villain you get your castle proper and while its a smaller one they designed it to be much more open. Thing is about Castlevania is even in Symphony and onward the games are all really linear, there is a critical path you need to follow bar like one or two exceptions. This time around they designed it so you could go three directions right from the start with only like a couple roadblocks you can easily go around if you know the way. It's not earth shattering but I found it neat that they put in the extra effort. The environments are a big step up from all the generic out door areas that came before too. Combine this with the items and glyphs finally relinquishing all the crazier stuff and its makes it feel like this is the best castle they've ever made. Throw in some awesome bosses including one of the coolest final boss fights and you've really got a winner here. Shanoa herself is fun to play with too. I liked that they brought back the ability to equip both hands once again though despite that I didn't feel like you had much freedom to customize this time around. Physical attacks are very limited and best used to finish off weakened opponents so it's like you have to have a spell in your other hand or use two spells and with the magic cast to cast them it'll just make you feel really slow. That's about the extent of the freedom you have and it's only until the end that you ever get any skills that do something else besides offense. That's not really a bad thing just I think Soma from Dawn was still the most fun character in the series. Least she's a huge step up from the flat characters you got in Portrait. You can unlock Albus to play as for the alternate character who is a magic gunslinger; sounds awesome but he's so overpowered its kinda dull to play as him lol though I like his character design. And of course the soundtrack is great. There are a lot of tracks that don't really do much for me but when they hit thier highs that freaking hit like a freight train and I have no trouble saying it has some of my favorite songs in the whole series. And of course I have to gush about them now: Easily my favorite intro theme in the series. It gets you pumped to do heroic crap and is intense and threatening- This one perfectly encapsulates the feeling of the sub series, a kinda forlorn whilstful feel that brings to mind searching through dark forgotten places that would make someone fearful but too curious to turn away from braving its dangers- Just a wonderful tranquil track that I've listen to in my car for years. Linking the remastered version because its just too good but the in game version still sounds very nice on the system- Fittingly named 'Colossus' it's clear you are in way over your head and facing the worst kind of opponent but you are too driven to care and are practically screaming in their face- The ending theme which has to be the richest most moving theme in the series. It's fitting in so many ways that I'll get into in a second here- It has a fantastic presentation and it seems like they made a concentrated effort to cut down on the brazen reuse of old assets people were getting tired of and so many enemies look great. Even the story for what it is fairs well and everything is wrapped up nicely and reads well. Were I tasked with changing things I'd only switch up a couple details. It gets really potent towards the end even more so these days because how it concludes seriously feels like it mirrors what happened to the series. The save file menu gets changed to this track which just so explicitly to me says 'goodbye' : I'll be honest it strikes a cord with me. Its like someone on the dev team knew by now the writing was on the wall for them and that this would be their last outing. I'll be even more honest and admit that is reaching beyond belief and I don't blame you for rolling your eyes at me lol. But this was really the end of an era here and sure Castlevania lives on in spirit with Bloodstained and a ton more indie games trying to live up to its legacy but they just aren't the same. What can I say, I miss it. So I really love this one and now that I've revisited the DS trilogy my opinions have changed on them a bit. Mostly for Portrait which I hold in way more esteem now and I see the weaknesses of Dawn much more clearly. Despite that I don't think any of them are weak and all have thier strengths. Dawn has its issues but in my opinion has the best main character, Portrait is gorgeous and has the richest amount of content but the weakest characters and is way too easy. Then Ecclesia I believe beats them both pretty soundly with the best soundtrack, a fun if limited character and a fair and engaging difficulty with the only real sticking point being that its first half can be off putting. That is a pretty big strike against it but personally I feel like it overcomes it pretty well towards the end. It's the best of the trilogy and you know what? I believe its the next best to Symphony. I'm probably being a little generous with it since I find the game profound for being the last of it's kind before Lords of Shadow came in and fucked everything up (mind I still thought the first one was decent... ish). Rating-9 everyone should at least try this. Hell try them all but if you pick only one make it this game. It's one of the best in the series and one of the best on the NDS period and in terms of the series history is a notable for going out with a bang. You did good guys, and we're damn proud. * salutes *
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Post by dsparil on Jan 19, 2023 16:09:21 GMT -5
Beyond Shadowgate (TurboGrafx-CD, First Time)
A sequel to Shadowgate in name only (and apparently retconned away in Shadowgate 64), but it's actually very good.
I finished in 3:50:01.
Rating: 9
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 19, 2023 17:21:11 GMT -5
Ristar (Sega Mega Drive via PS4) - Replay, Time: maybe a couple of hours?, Rating: 4/5An excellent late Mega Drive era platformer based on an abandoned early concept for Sonic. Some of the best graphics on the system and fun gameplay and levels, with a couple of notable difficulty spikes. What's not to love? I've beaten Ristar a couple of times in the past, but I always used savestates before. This was a "clean" playthrough with no savestates or rewind, though I did burn through a couple of continues. Played as part of Sega Mega Drive Classic Collection for PS4. Alphabet Challenge: R
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Post by spanky on Jan 19, 2023 17:59:19 GMT -5
Ristar is one of those games I always start but get completely bored of by the time I hit the second world. I really should give it an honest chance.
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Post by spanky on Jan 19, 2023 21:07:20 GMT -5
Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness
A tower defense/2D overhead Musou hybrid. I liked Gotta Protectors on the 3DS so I had no problem picking this up when it went for sale. This sequel spices things up as not only do you have to protect the princess and the castle, you now have to guide the castle (on tank treads now) along a track and destroy the enemy castle by ramming into it over and over again. So now the game is more of an escort mission than a straight tower defense.
You have 8 playable characters and you can take any 3 of them in each campaign. Each campaign (24 total) is 4 levels long. Between each level in a campaign you can spend the gold you collected in one of 4 categories. You can upgrade your stats, your special attacks, the durability and power of defensive items or upgrade the princess herself (useful as she gives you critical hits). Any leftover gold you can use between campaigns to upgrade the castle defenses or use to buy new sets of attacks for your characters, though you can't upgrade their stats permanently.
As the castle moves along the track, you can either ride on it (provides protection and health restoration as long as the princess is there) or you can venture out to fight enemies or manage your defenses. Each map spawns several barricades that you can use and many of have defensive weapons. Generally I found the defenses helpful but it's better to spend your time and resources fighting the enemies directly. Mowing down hordes of enemies as any of the classes is a lot of fun and as the game gets tougher, you will have to use a bit of strategy as to which characters and techniques to use. It is tough but balanced. Whenever I lost a map, I would be able to pass it again with a few adjustments to my strategy.
The game is presented in the popular faux 8-bit style and it has a Yuzo Koshiro score to boot, though it's not one of his more memorable works. The DLC missions also include soundtrack remixes based on a variety of retro sound chips. They kind of take the retro gaming thing to crazy levels. Each level has a Tower of Druaga esque obscure secret that will give you a unique NES cartridge. The cartridges can be equipped for stat boosts and other bonuses and they're all named after goofy parodies of actual NES titles. The story is completely crazy as well with a broken erstaz Dragon Quest III cartridge being a major plot point.
Like a lot of Musou/Tower Defense titles, the game is quite fun and extremely addicting though it kind of wears on you after a while. There's a lot of love put into the game. 8/10.
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Post by windfisch on Jan 20, 2023 20:09:51 GMT -5
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (NDS, emulated on 3DS; replay; 44 hours).... You sure did pour some love into that review! It was a pleasure to read. Time to get back into DS emulation, I suppose.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 21, 2023 5:40:03 GMT -5
3D Streets of Rage (Nintendo 3DS; Replay; 35 minutes)
Been in the middle of some long games at the moment, so I played this on the way home a couple days ago. Like with last year, I decided to play with the "Fists of Death" mode that lets you take out all enemies - including bosses - in one hit. Since I decided to do this from the start, it gave me a bit more time to appreciate how you're not invincible in this mode and can still get your head kicked in if you're not careful. It's a pretty cool mode that makes for a nice whirlwind tour of the many rad backgrounds, music tracks and (mostly fine) enemy types of the original, while offering its own unique kind of challenge distinct from the base game.
Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse (Nintendo Switch; First Time; 9 hours 55 minutes)
Huh, the timing on this worked out rather okay, because it will be the tenth anniversary this year of the first time I played the original Broken Sword (via the Director's Cut port on the DS). I had played The Sleeping Dragon some years before, but this was my first real experience with the series and one where I actually managed to beat the game. I've regularly gone back to Broken Sword 1 over the years and I'd consider it my favourite of the classic point-n-click adventure games, with its cozy pace, subtly cheeky humour, and various little things you can find and discover. But apart from an unfortunate experience with the remastered version of The Smoking Mirror, I'd never checked out much else of the series.
Finally, I decided to sit down (in a manner of speaking considering I played it on the Switch) and check out The Serpent's Curse, which served as a throwback to the style of the first two games. As far as how this stands up against them, I prefer it to The Smoking Mirror simply due to being far less frustrating, but I think Shadow of the Templars is still the best. There's plenty to enjoy here: the casual pace of the first half in Paris and London is very nice, the lowkey banter with various characters often made me smile (especially thanks to the voice acting which manages to be both hokey and charismatic), and there's something so lovely about being able to hang out with George and Nico again. It's like tuning back into an old show I used to watch loads some years ago, and it goes a long way to make this as endearing as it is.
But as an adventure game, I wasn't as keen on it. A lot of progressional humps I'd normally deal with are alleviated by the in-game hint system, but I still ran into those humps too often for my liking. You keep a frightening amount of items over the course of the game, and while there's a place found for most of them, it can make trying to figure out puzzles quite hard to narrow down. Backgrounds are gloriously detailed, which also meant that I frequently overlooked important spots when they blended in with everything else (a zoom-in or hotspot function would've been very much appreciated). And some of the later puzzles were too much for me to bother figuring out so I hammered that hint button like nobody's business.
Some of this I'd chalk up to the idea that I'm not as big into the tricky puzzle-solving aspects of point-n-click adventures as the game assumes I am, which is why I've weened more and more towards the more narrative/mood-focused Japanese adventure games recently. But I also feel that I'm just not that wild about The Serpent's Curse. There's a lot to enjoy, but it quite doesn't come together - with characters falling out of the plot after the first half (probably an artefact of the game originally being split into two episodes), a drastic shift in progression and linearity between its halves, and this overall vibe of "been there, done that" which left it feeling somewhat hollow after a while. I enjoyed getting a chance to learn about Gnosticism, though. Always enjoy learning about real world history through these games.
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