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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Jan 22, 2023 9:27:58 GMT -5
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 Did you beat all zones mode or each individual zone? Besides losing hearts after dying it's a lot harder in some other ways, only benefit being gear and money carries over between zones so there can be a bit of a snowball effect there with luck earlier on. I wasn't able to do it, at least not within a reasonable amount of time. I guess enjoyment also depends on whether or not you like the songs, although you could add your own songs (haven't tried it yet myself). I felt the rhythm aspect really shines during boss fights but is mostly fun otherwise too. I'd agree backtracking while keeping rhythm can be annoying if that's what you meant earlier, there could've been some kind of mechanic or power up to get rid of that. As well perhaps as a reversal or being able to pause at shops for when you need to make a strategic choice. With a few tweaks Crypt would be one of my fave games so it's sad to hear Cadence takes some missteps.
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Post by excelsior on Jan 22, 2023 12:49:39 GMT -5
Did you beat all zones mode or each individual zone? Besides losing hearts after dying it's a lot harder in some other ways, only benefit being gear and money carries over between zones so there can be a bit of a snowball effect there with luck earlier on. I wasn't able to do it, at least not within a reasonable amount of time. I guess enjoyment also depends on whether or not you like the songs, although you could add your own songs (haven't tried it yet myself). I felt the rhythm aspect really shines during boss fights but is mostly fun otherwise too. I'd agree backtracking while keeping rhythm can be annoying if that's what you meant earlier, there could've been some kind of mechanic or power up to get rid of that. As well perhaps as a reversal or being able to pause at shops for when you need to make a strategic choice. With a few tweaks Crypt would be one of my fave games so it's sad to hear Cadence takes some missteps. I did all zones mode. I kind of flew through the game after the initial hours of learning I guess, but that's just a testament to how quickly I moved around stages as The Bard when learning, which probably made it easier for me when moving back to playing as Cadence. Cadence of Hyrule does take breaks from keeping the beat once all enemies are cleared on a room or where in shops, so there is that. I don't know, though. I get how the beat is additive, but I can't really explain it beyond what I already said. It just kind of felt repetitious to me in a way that made me disconnect from playing. I wanted to play at my own pace (which was faster at least a good deal of the time). The songs are fine enough, though I did think those in CoH were much better. I'm not sure if you can add your own on Switch or not. There is actually a mini CD included in the packaged version which is nice, so I will have a listen and see if I enjoy it independently at a later point.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 24, 2023 12:00:44 GMT -5
Maptroid Worlds (Windows; First Time; 42 minutes)
I'd recently been in the middle of some long games, most of which I ended up dropping for reasons I'll eventually discuss in the Game Fail thread, and I wanted something that I knew would either be easy to play or quick to beat. Then I remembered excelsior talking about how the sequel to the cool browser game Maptroid had finally come out, so I grabbed it off Steam and ended up beating it within a single session.
It plays pretty much the same as the original, boiling the exploring, item-collecting, and backtracking formula of a Metroidvania to its most abstract bare-bones representation in which everything's presented as filling in a map of differently coloured squares. Like before, I enjoy the style for letting me experience the fun navigational puzzles and secrets without potentially annoying mechanical guff like combat, platforming and the like. The formula is expanded upon to feature various worlds with unique terrain and obstacles, so you bounce back and forth between them in a manner not too unlike Xeodrifter, as well as various optional modes that put a spin on the concept such as solving puzzles, filling in artwork and doing it blind. I mainly stuck with the main campaign and managed to 100% it, but I appreciate all these extra modes being there to keep people coming back. Nice little game.
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Post by personman on Jan 25, 2023 16:48:24 GMT -5
Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War (PS4, replay; 10 hours) So back when Ace Combat 7 was coming up they actually ported the fifth game to PS4 as a preorder bonus updating the controls to match 7's and supposedly prettied it up as well. If that is the case I can't really tell what they changed. I think the ground textures and plane models may be a little more detailed? It's been so long since I played the original I'm not sure and finding details on this thing is actually pretty tough to come by. Seems the prevailing opinion is its actually a port rather than emulation. But more importantly the thing was ONLY made available through pre-order which I don't really understand why they would do that, can't be a licensing issue since they have to renew that for AC7 anyways unless licenses have to be bought for separate products? I dunno you technically can't get this anymore. UNLESS you buy the deluxe version of 7 from the UK PlayStation Store. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get a European account set up and buy a gift card for the territory to finally get it which means I now have two copies of 7 which annoys me but back then I wasn't really getting into emulation and found the fight worth it. I'm not sure if it's still available these days through such a method but with how picky the AC PS2 trilogy can be to emulate it may be worth a look. Besides AC7 was incredible. It's funny because technically this is the UK version which actually had the subtitle of Squadron Leader (as well as France and Spain having different box art) but they didn't bother to specify for different territories. Anyways, when this game came out people were fighting each other over whether Halo 2 or Metroid Prime 2 deserved game of the year. I myself was completely taken with this game instead like I was obsessed with this one preaching how it was the true goty to anyone who would listen. I was annoying lol. For the longest time I considered this the best in the series but as I looked around at retrospectives and the like people don't really seem to bring this one up much. Most I've seen is stuff about 7, 4, Zero and 3 since that's got the novelty of being recently translated. Its had me questioning lately if my opinion on it will change with another look which may be likely because I was seriously obsessed with this one in high school. This was the first time I had seen a game make its opening demo act like a movie trailer and it just kinda got me excited like 'oh look! They're mimicking a medium people actually take seriously! My hobby is validated!" hell they even licensed a song from some band called Puddle of Mud which I'll admit I like the song lol (I wont say its good I just like it). Oh how ironic that only a few years lately we would bemoan that games were trying too hard to be like movies in the seventh generation. But you know what? It still put a smile on my face again on this revisit perhaps its nostalgia but I still think its half way well done for a cheesy dumb action movie. So its no surprise that there was a much bigger budget for cutscenes this time around with a wealth of full CG animations. Honestly if you push aside the fact everyone looks like they're made of porcelain they're pretty okay even today. In fact the story this time around starts out pretty strong with dialogue feeling natural enough and the pace is good, I especially like how they pulled out the zero to hero arc to be a little more convincing this time around and if you look at a plot outline on paper I think its actually a great concept. I seem to recall it was around this time that people were calling Ace Combat "Metal Gear with planes" and I can see where they get that from. You all get wrapped up in a big conspiracy, theres a bunch of 'war is bad' preaching, and of course there's super weapons and a thick layer of cheese all over everything. It doesn't manage to really have any of the slightly poignant moments Metal Gear grabs on occasion though and of course this is an early 2000's videogame and all things with a lot of writing in it back then I swear just always ended up falling apart as they went. The most obvious issue is your wingmen. This time they're all actual scripted characters and they range from flat and boring to out right annoying. You've got Nagase who the most interesting thing about her is she may be related to or at least a reference to the poster girl of the Ridge Racer series Rieko Nagase and also appeared in AC2 as a wingman so like... is this a Final Fantasy's Cid sorta deal? Who knows, she's a stoic flat character that has a gun sometimes. Chopper is the humor relief that is okay for the big dumb oaf bringing some levity to things but just ends up way over doing it and by the time a certain event happens you're happy for it. Grimm's sole trait is he's a timid kid who freaks out at things. Then you have a Snow who joins you later and its like he's a completely different character than what he was like when you first met him trying to spout the most eye rolling awkward 'yo dog I'm 14 and this is deep' kinda stuff. This all wouldn't be that bad if they would all just freaking shut up already. Like AC4 radio chatter never really stopped either but it all wasn't so awkward and cringey so you could tune it out easily. AC7 had really, REALLY bad dialogue too but it was also hilarious. This is probably more of a me thing but it just seemed like they did decent work to edit and polish the first couple hours and then just tapered off as it went and it really bugged me. Maybe it just reminds me too much of my own terrible writing on this sci fi story I was trying to make in high school lol. But that all doesn't matter of course in the face of gameplay. Fortunately its still great and in fact even better. They already had the nice feel of the flight down so the priority should go to making unique missions imo and fortunately that is just what they did. Like every other level has a special objective to make you engage the game outside of 'fly, aim, shoot', like you're being engaged by this giant sub that can fire missiles that'll wipe out anything below a high altitude you you have to time your attacks between big climbs. Another you have to escort a transport plane through a gaps in a radar network (not how that works but just roll with it!) one even has you do reconnaissance and just take photos of stuff as a little breather. They went ham with these things and personally I love those kinds of missions and I like just about all of them. On top of that you get to give orders to your wingmen now and back in the day I was an idiot and just had them disperse and do whatever so I could never tell if they were actually doing anything or not. This time around I actually made a point to direct thier attacks and I'll be damned they actually did! They came in pretty handy now. Not sure if they actually help you when you ask them to cover you but who knows, I only really tried that when I took a bunch of damage and things never seemed to change. One thing I do not care for is how they handle planes in this one. This is the first time they attached a sort of experience bar to certain planes, once that's filled you'll gain access to other real and experimental variations of that plane with the only real difference being what special weapons they carry. Yeah you can't even select your weapons separately anymore so the things are way more limited now which makes me grumpy. Even worse some of them don't have any variations making the prospect of flying them feel like a bit of a waste. Like one of my favorites, the MIG 29 has nothing to earn and only comes equipped with bombs making it just a slightly faster Tigershark really. *insert 'look how they massacred my boy' gif here* kills made by your squad also count towards the bar so you always feel compelled to send everyone up in the same thing. The way they handled this in the 3DS remake of 2 was much better where each plane gets new parts tinker with the more flight time they get. So I have my gripes but despite I still had an absolutely blast playing this again. The opening still grabbed me today, where it lacks that charming feel that AC4 had it makes up for it in just being really, really tense in a way that I just got a kick out of. They did a real good job of making you feel like you just woke up in the middle of a disaster and don't know if you'll make it out alive. The missions are fantastic and not only are there double the amount of the last game I can only think of one I didn't like (unless you have a high tier plane on the mission you have to save someone you'll fail it unless you get the triggers to be on a certain part of the map. Big whoops guys) Then of course the music. In actuality its not nearly as memorable as AC4's but what is there is still really damn good. While much of it can be safely called 'military' with little exception it matches the relentless opening and has one of the most perfect tracks to go with a set piece that really puts it over the top. Even on its own it sounds pretty iconic so much so that I just learned today that this very track was actually played at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics of all goddamn things: I was thinking my feelings would change and I guess they have, I definitely see the flaws more clearly now than I did before so I definitely won't call it perfect. But I can't help it I still think this is the best of the PS2 trilogy by a decent margin. People seem to give that award to Zero most often and having just played that recently I just plain don't see it. I actually finished Zero before this one but wanted to talk about five first since its fresher in my mind, I'll save that for another day. I'd recommend everyone to try all three but I firmly believe this was their best over all work between them, maybe not by a mile or anything but decently so. Only problem is getting a hold of it emulation may not be too bad since I had no problems with Zero recently on my Steam Deck, might just need some deinterlacing patches. Otherwise if you were considering getting AC7 and want this too go grab it on the European store then you have have the two best games the series has to offer. Rating- 9 You sure did pour some love into that review! It was a pleasure to read. Time to get back into DS emulation, I suppose. Aw shucks, appreciate it. I worry I get too long winded with these but glad I'm not bothering anyone too much.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 25, 2023 19:10:51 GMT -5
Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition (Switch, First Time)
What I ended up realizing after giving this up is that is that quit-warping is actually super time saving even if the general saving system is a little annoying. Once fast travel is unlocked, it becomes very simple to travel around quickly after finishing a mission. In the end though, this is a fairly repetitive game that peaks early on as the first area ended up being the best one overall. There's multiple reasons for this although the main one is a simple lack of variety. There's a solid ten hours in here but it's stretched too thin. You see the same bandits the entire time minus one late-ish area and the end game, and there's too few wildlife enemy types too. My hope is that the sequels do better on this front.
I finished in 27:20:37. My time for just the base game was 24:00 plus a few extra seconds and then I noodled about the DLC for the rest before calling it quits. Playlog is at 30+ so that might actually be an undercount as there isn't that much loading.
Rating: 6
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Post by spanky on Jan 27, 2023 9:45:50 GMT -5
Rival Turf! (SNES via NSO, Replay)
The first of the Rushing Beat trilogy. While the later games in the series would have a bit of creative spark to them, this one is a straight Final Fight clone and a pretty janky one at that. For all the flack that the SNES port of Final Fight gets, it does play pretty smoothly. This game, much less so. There's a bit of a delay in the animations and I ran into more than a few graphical bugs while playing. The music, while not bad is not as memorable as Final Fight. The only thing it really has going for it, is that it actually has a 2 player mode.
There is a handful of interesting mechanics. You can run (i.e. the walk animation but double-speed) by holding the R button. This is probably the best way to play the game as you can zip around the field and grab enemies before they can attack. Abusing this you can chain throw your enemies if you grab them before they reach the ground though if you catch them they won't take any damage from the initial throw. The "breakaway" move mechanic is now based on how many enemies you have killed. The game keeps a tally and with every 5 enemies you can use the move once. It comes in handy but it's not as useful as it was in Final Fight. Finally you have ANGRY mode. In true Japanese storytelling fashion, being angry gives normal men superpowers. Here when you get low on health, the angry mode turns on, you get temporarily invincible and your standard throw attack now throws enemies high up in the air. You can also jump out of throws if an enemy grabs you but you have to be VERY fast.
The game is pretty tough unless you abuse the run feature. Most foes do a ton of damage - the tall skinny guys can wipe you out completely with like 4 kicks, the karate dudes will jump kick without any sort telegraphing, and some of the bosses (my favorite being the luchador wearing a business suit) are very aggressive with their grabs.
Despite the gripes I found this kind of fun to play once I started running constantly. It's not great, but I saw it through to the end and that's really saying something for me nowadays. 5/10.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 28, 2023 10:54:05 GMT -5
Strife: Veteran Edition (Nintendo Switch; First Time; 4 hours 2 minutes)
I originally got this a couple years ago, but I gave up after a few levels due to dying very quickly and not understanding how to use items. Having gotten more experienced with item usage thanks to Duke Nukem 3D (it's basically the same inventory system and controls), I decided to give this another bash and on the easiest difficulty in case things still got a bit tricky.
I remember hearing about this every now and again as a neat footnote in the early history of first-person shooters, being made in the engine that ran the original DOOM games but inserting various RPG elements such as a hub area, dialogue with NPCs, sidequests, a levelling system, cash, and even multiple endings depending on what you do. It's a surprisingly ambitious game and I dig how it manages to add a lot of flavour to what would otherwise be just another DOOM-styled shooter through all these additions. Although the stealth system is incredibly basic to the point of not really working for me (essentially you can walk around until you are seen killing someone or walk into a forbidden area, then everything goes after you and you have to blast em all), I like that it makes for this neat dynamic where you're trying to hold off the inevitable while making as much progress as you can.
My only real issue with the game is how shallow everything tends to be. There's only one or two sidequests, levelling amounts to getting health and "accuracy" upgrades every now and again, and often times bugs can result from doing things in an order the game doesn't expect - most notoriously picking up a certain item you can very easily find before you're meant to eventually leads to a character putting you in an inescapable room for picking up said item. To be fair, this is likely due the constraints with either the engine and the game's development, which started in one studio before various members left and finished making it in another studio. The bugs were eventually addressed in the Veteran Edition re-release by Night Dive Studios, where features such as objective markers and a new multiplayer mode finally got included into Strife as planned.
That said, it's still a fascinating attempt to try something new in the pre-Duke 3D/Quake era of first-person shooters and one I'd deffo recommend giving a shot. (For the record, I ended up getting the slightly bad ending, in which I was asked to kill a character I had been working for - I'd have said no but the person telling me to do this kept insta-killing me and I had no idea how to circumvent this. You are able to do so, but I wasn't in this case.)
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Post by Woody Alien on Jan 28, 2023 12:26:44 GMT -5
By posting all these short games I'm not trying to "win", it's just that recently I like more looking for all these little titles to spend the time instead of , I dunno, wasting it on the phone (that I already do however). Anyway here's a new batch of Steam titles (but I'm going to use other platforms in the future):
Kalinur (PC Windows, first time, about 4h 20 according to Steam timer)
A mini-metroidvania platformer by some Brazilian guy that does nothing new but does nothing really wrong either. Usual fantasy castle setting with usual pixel graphics, nice chiptunes, overall nothing too memorable but still enjoyable and with enough "hidden" collectables plus two different ending conditions. If you like the genre it is good. Only thing I didn't like is how the money is only needed to gain either life points or attack points and nothing else, but you can farm it in certain spots until you're overpowered, so the mechanic doesn't work very well.
6.5/10
Monster Girl's Labyrinth (PC Windows, first time, around 35 minutes)
First-person dungeon where you have to defeat monster girls with your sword and with your "other" sword. Yes, it is a pr0n game, bought it because it was cheap and liked the vaguely stylish graphics with black and white pixel art plus some splashes of colors with the girls' skins/bodies (and the cute demon/oni girl on the cover), but it's really disappointing as both game and sexy stuff. You fight and parry with a moving bar a la Undertale, occasionally use potions and fireball scrolls, and that's it.
It is really shallow and repetitive with areas that are very short and all mostly identical, just a few items, no secrets or other things to do than fight. There's also just 4 girls types, another monster type (giant mushroom) plus the final boss that is the stereotypical smug evil overlord queen. It's not serious but not a parody either, just the most basic lampshade on how these games exist only to provide smut, and the "sex scenes" are barely animated too. Completely forgettable and derivative. 4/10
Void Pyramid (PC Windows, first time, about 3h 45)
Just discovered the weird and bizarre games from this guy Andi Hagen AKA Willy Electrix and I enjoy them a lot! They're mostly top-down adventures where you have to choose among three characters with different stats, engage in random battles, solve puzzles, find hidden treasures, basically like the 1980s computer text adventures but with cute small pixelated graphics and RPG-esque battle screens. This one in particular has a cool half-Ancient Egypt, half-cyberpunk setting with lots of weird descriptions and imaginative locales, there's a lot of hidden conditions that change the ending results and the different characters let you approach the various areas in slightly different ways, so it's even fairly replayable. Most of his games are available for free on Steam or elsewhere, but I think I'm going to buy the one that is on sale to support him, Xeno Xafari, even it's not a real "game" but more like an exploration kind of experience with graphics similar to this one, where you can collect lost of wacky stuff and see dozens of alien animals. If you like weird and (really) old-school stuff it's quite good!
8/10
Buffet Knight (PC Windows, first time, 27 minutes)
Short RPG Maker top-down game with very cute and colorful SNES-esque graphics and some neat and rarely-seen programming tricks to tell the story of this Kirby-esque character that can inhale almost everything. Two endings, I managed to get the "secret" one first and it's really bizarre and bringing the gluttony of this kind of characters to the extreme consequences... Short and cute comedy game that has enough gameplay and pushes RPG Maker enough to not be just a gimmick and nothing else. It was made for some game jam or something like that. 7/10
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jan 28, 2023 18:12:40 GMT -5
Fire Emblem Engage NS FTP 42 hours
Engage is very similar to Fates. Nobles with two retainers join up, some good maps and mechanics, and mediocre story. The latter half of the game gets more Fire Emblemy, but I could never break the feeling that I was playing a magical girl anime game. And as a person that has played several magical girl games I did not want that in Fire Emblem. While the Engage mechanic does offer some interesting tactical possibilities the fan service nature of returning characters was a turn-off. In my opinion Fire Emblem Warriors and Heroes more than cover fan service. We did not need another entire game dedicated to it.
For all that said the game play itself is solid. Hard was an actual challenge unlike in 3 Houses. The characters and story are way weaker, but as a positive you also don't have the massive time sink that is the monastery. Engages central hub is more like Fates. You can do a couple things there but none of them feel mandatory. Like polish rings. Because there must be some mandatory weird touching mini-game. If you approach this as a cheesy Fire Emblem fan service game you will get enjoyment out of it. Me, I'm going to patiently await that rumored Fire Emblem IV remake.
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Post by spanky on Jan 28, 2023 19:59:03 GMT -5
Goldeneye (N64 via NSO, Replay)
Wanted to beat this on Agent difficulty before I go out of town tomorrow - will probably So I was griping about the controls yesterday, but I stopped trying to play the game like a modern shooter and more like well, an N64 game.
This is considered one of the best N64 games and it was one of my favorites, but having not played it in at least 20 years I was sort of wondering how it would age. But after playing it...I really love it. I love the goofy, exaggerated animations of the enemies. I love the forgiving auto-aim that let's you mow down enemies. I love the unique (for it's era) objective based missions.
Speaking of the objective missions, this was one of the first times an FPS did this sort of thing and it can show. It is VERY easy to miss an objective and many of them are kind of inscrutable. Bond doesn't have any sort of internal monologue that tells you what to do when you're near an objective, and messing up on anything means you'll have to start from the beginning. You'll be throwing fits because you accidentally activated a radio instead of destroying it, or you waxed Natalya because she ran into the crossfire. That being said, I do appreciate the added challenge that this brings. You really do have to play carefully as you can't rely on checkpoints.
Like a lot of Rare games, the graphics and music do a great job at evoking a certain mood. Like when you're slinking stealthily around the Facility level - or the second Surface level with it's eerie red sky (might not be very Bond-like but it's cool). The character models are sort of ridiculous looking but they have a goofy charm to them.
It's just fun to play. The relative realism of the game made it feels like a completely different animal than anything at the time. The enemies aren't geniuses but they will try to avoid your attacks, and they'll wince in pain when you shoot them. The general gunplay and movement is very satisfying and addictive. There's not a ton of room for creativity in how you accomplish the missions but there are spots that stick out - like how you can get by locked doors by making a ton of noise and rushing past guards when they open the door.
Once I got past the control, the game really shined for me. I think in a perfect world I think I'd like a proper remaster of this, but the original still holds up. 9/10.
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 29, 2023 15:14:39 GMT -5
Goldeneye (N64 via NSO, Replay)
Once I got past the control, the game really shined for me. I think in a perfect world I think I'd like a proper remaster of this, but the original still holds up.
That's the currently released Xbox One/SX version, I think. There was also the Activision remake for Wii/PS3/X360.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 29, 2023 18:52:07 GMT -5
The Xbox version is mostly a straight port, and they look very similar. What the Xbox has in its favor is a built in modern control scheme, but it doesn't have any online play since the NSO version can piggy back off the common online functionality. You can simulate a modern scheme on Switch with some system level control remapping (basically just set it to 1.2, swap right and left stick in the system settings and map L or R to ZL or ZR), but it is awkward since the up/down and strafing sensitivities are radically different.
The weird thing is that the sensitivities are even in 2.2/2.4, the ones like a modern scheme with two controllers, but the sensitivity for looking assumes a rigid N64 stick. I've been using 2.2 with the N64 controller as controller 1 for looking and a Pro controller as 2 for moving and holding the Pro in my left hand and the N64 in my right. A lot of hassle though for what should have been an easy addition.
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Post by spanky on Jan 29, 2023 19:56:06 GMT -5
I actually wasn't aware of this but it looks like there was going to be a proper remake for the Xbox 360 with updated graphics but it was canceled. It ended up being leaked a year or two ago.
The Activision remake is an entirely new game and a complete retelling of the movie. I've actually played it - it's not bad really but it feels more like a Call of Duty game rather than Goldeneye.
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Post by excelsior on Jan 30, 2023 4:18:23 GMT -5
Bayonetta 3 (Switch, First Time, 12 Hours Appx)I've never had such a tough time knowing where to start when discussing a game as I have here with Bayonetta 3. Likely because it's so multifaceted by design, but also perhaps because not all aspects are handled with equal care. Going in with such a beloved series there will always be some expectations. First and foremost at the centre of play is its signature stylish action combat, which is expanded upon this time around with the inclusion of a summon ability, known as Demon Slave. Here we fluidly switch back and forth between control of Bayonetta herself, and also gigantic Kaiju-inspired creatures. It works incredibly well, whether taking on control of demons for a larger portion of battle, or simply utilising them as a combo finishing blow the gameplay is surprisingly complimentary. It does not, however, come without its issues. Arenas this time around are larger, of course needing to accommodate such large scale action. With this comes a change to the previously near perfect camera. The standard given view is much more zoomed out than before to give a greater view of the field, but I found that much too difficult to make out the specifics of the action. I adjusted the view to a close up, which comes with visibility issues and many enemies attacking from off screen. The view of the camera differs between each battle, meaning it's not consistently satisfactory, even though I mostly adjusted to it. This time around we're not fighting angels or demons, but the humanly formed Homunculi, which are introduced as per previous entry as a variety of different forms appear, but often I found it was difficult to discern between them. Visual design doesn't appear as strong as in the previous entries where it was easy to distinguish all important visual keys on display, but here the Homonculi are a bit harder to read, and due to a more varied array of landscapes the contrast in colour varies. These different landscapes come from the Into the Bayoverse plot which is largely mishandled anyway, to the point that it may as well not exist. It's nice to see different Bayonetta designs; there are some stunning ones, but they seem more of an excuse to expand upon our own Bayonetta's arsenal of weapons as we go. Whilst these are frequently added, along with Demon Slave being introduced initially, we're given puzzle solving, exploration and, as expected from this series, segment specific gameplay adjustments to handle. It becomes pretty overwhelming, especially initially, as early stages don't really give the time to adapt to the core gameplay, with few standard fights offered. I did adjust to the quick changes the more adept I became at the core play later on, but it felt very much that this game was built more with the replay in mind than the initial one. Tutorialisation is often poor to pretty much just requiring a YouTube tutorial (to be fair, not new to PlatinumGames plays if you want to play your best, but there's way more here to learn than in their other games). There's some good stuff here, including a short rhythm battle and some nice shoot-em-up action, but my favourite was the Elevator Action inspired Jeanne side story missions, the latter being fortunately kept simple and separate from main stages. The other gameplay swap comes in the form of Viola, who we now control in several full length stages in the game. She has a more straightforward and less exuberant playstyle than we'd expect from Bayonetta, and overall this character feels like a misfit for this series, as much as she seems forced upon us. Unfortunately we see more interaction with her than with the already familiar supporting cast, who are largely cast aside. Jeanne goes solo for much of the game, Luka is most certainly not himself and Rodin's shop is basically just there, serving little purpose considering new weapons are unlocked through completion of stages. Without her supporting cast Cereza herself feels diminished. Her personality doesn't completely miss the mark, she's cheeky, for sure, but she certainly isn't close to as flamboyant as in previous outings, with her sexualisation diminished also giving a feeling of her character being diluted. Often elevated in previous games by a soundtrack that highlighted the spirit of the character, this point doesn't quite land either. Sure, the soundtrack taken on its own is pretty great, but there's a lack of artistic vision at work here, where not every part quite comes together. With its third outing its clear that creatives decided that the Bayonetta series was in need of a shake up. New combat elements work magnificently, at least when the camera does its part, but other choices don't leave such a positive impression. A multiverse spanning storyline largely misfires and set pieces are never quite elevated with the same charismatic confidence previously displayed meaning this entry doesn't quite capture the defining characteristic I'd been lead to expect. Score 7/10
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Post by excelsior on Jan 30, 2023 4:58:46 GMT -5
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch, First Time, 23 Hours Appx)Well, this transition to 3D is certainly overdue, as HAL no doubt took a step back and learned from its competitors. Kirby and the Forgotten Land seems to borrow heavily from the 3D Mario series when it comes to stage design, but that's not to say its without its unique merit. First and foremost Kirby himself taking centre stage is what's most important, and the character has been interpreted perfectly. Not every transformation makes an appearance, but there's enough to consider this a true Kirby experience, first 3D entry or not. There's eleven nice standard abilities on offer. And that whirlwind one is also there. Initially many abilities do admittedly seem a little weak, but upgrades ensure that by the late game Kirby feels quite powerful in a transformed state. These key abilities are mostly built with action-combat in mind, which is really Kirby's key differentiator. The new introduction of Mouthful Mode on the other hand is built for stage design purposes. As each stage is built to ensure there's always something going on, whether to be explored, interacted with, battled, etc. There's never a quiet moment and Mouthful Mode is a big part of that, as it enables stages to be built to a more ad-hoc design. Set pieces are built around transformations into cars, traffic cones, etc. There's not a wealthy of them, exactly, but when considered complimentary to the regular transformations there's a good deal on offer here of Kirby's defining trait. His platforming ability is unsurprisingly nerfed. Kirby can't jump very high this time around, and levels are built horizontally. There's not really any tricky platforming to be found at all within the Forgotten Land, and it's moreso used in tandem with the action or to compliment exploration. Each stage having multiple secrets to be found was perhaps what really brought everything together in terms of design, since it pushes players to explore every inch, or to master each ability. Outside of the main stages there are the Treasure Road levels, which act as tutorials whilst pushing this learning. I didn't take to these nearly as well as the main stages, since the design is less charming, and the time limit element grows a little thin eventually, but they do serve a purpose. It's really surprising that this was HAL's first 3D platformer because there's a large amount of content here, especially after the relatively light Star Allies. There's some enjoyable mini games, multiple interpretations of each boss battle, collectables an arena mode, and the basic stages are of a good length themselves. Outside of the Treasure Road stages perhaps being a little too plentiful and plain this game doesn't really take misstep, especially as it's both audially and visually fantastic. My only real gameplay gripe in the main stages is the switching camera angles on some boss encounters make me lose my place, especially in the post credits battles. The impression I got from Kirby and the Forgotten Land was that HAL decided to simply create the most adorable platformer we'd ever seen. Chilling with sleeping Awoofy's, leading lost ducklings to their mothers, not to mention his lovely knitted Frosty Ice outfit, the game is charming throughout. It was difficult to concentrate on any other plays this month when this game was melting my own icy heart. I don't think I could ever get enough of Mouthful Mode and it's quirky transformations. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I just had an adorgasm. Score - 8/10
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