First half is great but the second half drops off in quality and has many irritating puzzles that aren't worth the trial and error you have to sit through. An amazing premise in a desperate need of being remade/revisited.
I watched my Dad play this as a kid and delved deep into my memories to find it again as an adult. I didn't realize it as a kid, but it's actually a Zelda-like! This game is obscure, but it's a good egg.
Interesting/complex level structure, with a single vast dungeon you revisit with new items. It also has amazing artwork and a unique aesthetic. It's got a beautiful, gritty, dystopian world. This is a game with a strong artistic vision.
I enjoyed it quite a bit until I got very stuck and gave up (too confusing after the midgame, Walkthrough Syndrome).
Being themed around EGGs it's also quite funny, but not really on purpose. Also, the English translation I had is a bit scuffed, but that adds to its charm. The inspired worldbuilding shines through, despite the translation.
Interesting/complex level structure, with a single vast dungeon you revisit with new items. It also has amazing artwork and a unique aesthetic. It's got a beautiful, gritty, dystopian world. This is a game with a strong artistic vision.
I enjoyed it quite a bit until I got very stuck and gave up (too confusing after the midgame, Walkthrough Syndrome).
Being themed around EGGs it's also quite funny, but not really on purpose. Also, the English translation I had is a bit scuffed, but that adds to its charm. The inspired worldbuilding shines through, despite the translation.
i loved the art direction with the per-rendered backgrounds. navigating them? not so much. may just be my ageing eyes, but there were some perspective & color blending issues here and there that boggled my mind.
movement can be finicky, especially when trying to use some traversal abilities. pretty clunky overall. really does make you feel like you're roaming around in an ancient egg mech. this issue is compounded by a couple of enemy encounters since many of them are pretty damn fast (or have insane range) and require you to be more reactive than your egg will let you be.
the "Elemental" part of "EGG" is just that -- elemental powers you obtain throughout the game that help you solve puzzles and traverse the map. nothing really notable here.
coolest thing about this game for me was the transition into 3D for the boss battles. they weren't great by any means, but they broke up the annoyances of navigating these maps and i also can't hate the attempt at throwing this into a 2d game.
if you're into the zelda-type thing i'd say give this a shot. it basically is that except you're saddled with the pros and cons of being a dude in an ancient egg mech. at the very least, check out the music. lots of great tracks on this OST.
movement can be finicky, especially when trying to use some traversal abilities. pretty clunky overall. really does make you feel like you're roaming around in an ancient egg mech. this issue is compounded by a couple of enemy encounters since many of them are pretty damn fast (or have insane range) and require you to be more reactive than your egg will let you be.
the "Elemental" part of "EGG" is just that -- elemental powers you obtain throughout the game that help you solve puzzles and traverse the map. nothing really notable here.
coolest thing about this game for me was the transition into 3D for the boss battles. they weren't great by any means, but they broke up the annoyances of navigating these maps and i also can't hate the attempt at throwing this into a 2d game.
if you're into the zelda-type thing i'd say give this a shot. it basically is that except you're saddled with the pros and cons of being a dude in an ancient egg mech. at the very least, check out the music. lots of great tracks on this OST.
Second GOTM finished for February 2023. This game looks downright gorgeous sometimes, and has a few neat ideas. However, the character and environment designs are rather ugly, the story is pretty run-of-the-mill, the jump from 2D to 3D for battle sequences is jarring, and the timed puzzles were downright infuriating (especially the egg-spinning ones). The pieces were here for a good game, but the bad dungeon design and poor execution ultimately led to a poor experience.
At the yolk of this game are some neat ideas, but unfortunately it’s quite a tough egg to crack. Elemental Gimmick Gear puts all its eggs in the basket of tried and true Zelda-adjacent formulas but doesn’t seem to understand what makes those mechanics work; enemies do too much damage, the players’ attacks are too small and too slow, the dungeons have no sense of continuity and the bosses have way too much health. Along the way are capsules to help upgrade stats like attack and defense, as well as unique elemental attacks that feign the opportunity of evolving combat options, but they don’t do enough to soften the boil. This entire game requires too much walking on eggshells to prevent swift and unfair game overs.
Elemental Gimmick Gear does hatch a more narrative angle than Zelda games tend to push, which similarly has moments of inspiration that shine through the cracks, though by the end it’s got egg on its face trying to juggle too much worldbuilding lore and loose themes that haven’t got a proper place to roost. The more the narrative incubates, the more it spoils, and it ultimately is not worth the strenuous effort of playing the game to see through to the end.
This game’s just a few too many eggs short of a dozen.
Elemental Gimmick Gear does hatch a more narrative angle than Zelda games tend to push, which similarly has moments of inspiration that shine through the cracks, though by the end it’s got egg on its face trying to juggle too much worldbuilding lore and loose themes that haven’t got a proper place to roost. The more the narrative incubates, the more it spoils, and it ultimately is not worth the strenuous effort of playing the game to see through to the end.
This game’s just a few too many eggs short of a dozen.
Dreamcast Marathon -
E.G.G. should be a miracle: a 2D Zelda-like on the Dreamcast with almost impeccable atmospherics is a rare treat on a console packed with, for lack of a better term, more brawny than brainy experiences; I think of games like Crazy Taxi and batsh*t fighters and beat-em ups in the Power Stone and Dynamite Cop category, or breakneck fast 3D platformers in the Sonic Adventure category.
Not that the aforementioned games don't require any strategy or thinking, but they are almost tiring in their hyperactive insistence on frantic showcases of (at-the-time) pyrotechnic visual wizardry. I never thought of the Dreamcast as a inherently 'relaxing' console, not even as one for relaxing action games. Not that it's particularly starved for such a thing (Shenmue, for example) but it doesn't exactly shine in this category of games.
E.G.G. fulfilled that specific niche for me as a Zelda-lover and a Dreamcast owner, as well as relaxing game enjoyer. If I were rating it on vibes alone, it would be 4 stars, easy. However, the gameplay is quite tiring - and not easily overlookable. For one, the combat is very clunky.
The knockback from enemies is extraordinarily irksome. For some of the enemies move extremely fast, to where it's impossible to get a good vantage point to hit them; and really, they are more likely to hit you (even if you sneak up to them) with how fast their response is. This means your HP can drain from like 200 to 0 really fast, and I'm not kidding.
Also, there is really only a few dungeons in this game, and only 1 main one named Fogna. This is pretty cool in concept, but I'll be danged if it doesn't lead to some ultimately painful backtracking. I would have enjoyed more interesting variety in the setting, even just artistically. Although it is stunningly beautiful, it wears thin, because the games setting never really varies that much. The areas seemed to blend into each other a little too much. We have weird little desert/shrubbery areas, and some mechanical sci-fi areas, but not much more.
By far my least favorite part was how is every time you select to continue - it doesn't start you off at the HP you were at on the room before, but bumps it down to not even half of your full HP. So you can die at a boss, select continue and well, too bad, you're back at like 55 out of 200 HP.
There is a lot of positives to this one - but I'm going to shelve it and give it another chance. It's biggest merit is it's spectacular art style and music - and being a unique game for this system. However, it took a lot of patience, at least for me.
(My total play time was about 5 hours 40 minutes)
E.G.G. should be a miracle: a 2D Zelda-like on the Dreamcast with almost impeccable atmospherics is a rare treat on a console packed with, for lack of a better term, more brawny than brainy experiences; I think of games like Crazy Taxi and batsh*t fighters and beat-em ups in the Power Stone and Dynamite Cop category, or breakneck fast 3D platformers in the Sonic Adventure category.
Not that the aforementioned games don't require any strategy or thinking, but they are almost tiring in their hyperactive insistence on frantic showcases of (at-the-time) pyrotechnic visual wizardry. I never thought of the Dreamcast as a inherently 'relaxing' console, not even as one for relaxing action games. Not that it's particularly starved for such a thing (Shenmue, for example) but it doesn't exactly shine in this category of games.
E.G.G. fulfilled that specific niche for me as a Zelda-lover and a Dreamcast owner, as well as relaxing game enjoyer. If I were rating it on vibes alone, it would be 4 stars, easy. However, the gameplay is quite tiring - and not easily overlookable. For one, the combat is very clunky.
The knockback from enemies is extraordinarily irksome. For some of the enemies move extremely fast, to where it's impossible to get a good vantage point to hit them; and really, they are more likely to hit you (even if you sneak up to them) with how fast their response is. This means your HP can drain from like 200 to 0 really fast, and I'm not kidding.
Also, there is really only a few dungeons in this game, and only 1 main one named Fogna. This is pretty cool in concept, but I'll be danged if it doesn't lead to some ultimately painful backtracking. I would have enjoyed more interesting variety in the setting, even just artistically. Although it is stunningly beautiful, it wears thin, because the games setting never really varies that much. The areas seemed to blend into each other a little too much. We have weird little desert/shrubbery areas, and some mechanical sci-fi areas, but not much more.
By far my least favorite part was how is every time you select to continue - it doesn't start you off at the HP you were at on the room before, but bumps it down to not even half of your full HP. So you can die at a boss, select continue and well, too bad, you're back at like 55 out of 200 HP.
There is a lot of positives to this one - but I'm going to shelve it and give it another chance. It's biggest merit is it's spectacular art style and music - and being a unique game for this system. However, it took a lot of patience, at least for me.
(My total play time was about 5 hours 40 minutes)
An interesting looking setting visually, but feels too much like a sci-fi manga/anime setting jammed in to the form of a game. The game section is very much functional, but the high reliance on HD art means that the levels, well, feel like HD art more than anything, with a few puzzles and enemies dropped in. The ways the levels all connect to each other underground is neat, but it's never that interesting to traverse (and confusing).
Still, as far as game worlds go, the density does feel neat. It's just a fairly lifeless feeling game world since your interactions feel limited despite the fancy art. It feels very "modern-day AAA" in that sense - expensive art but nothing much in the way of interesting interactions..
I did like the boss fights though, even if they were a bit finicky with the movement... the weird boss movesets require you to move around in some fun ways and using your egg's spin ability was pretty fun.
Still, as far as game worlds go, the density does feel neat. It's just a fairly lifeless feeling game world since your interactions feel limited despite the fancy art. It feels very "modern-day AAA" in that sense - expensive art but nothing much in the way of interesting interactions..
I did like the boss fights though, even if they were a bit finicky with the movement... the weird boss movesets require you to move around in some fun ways and using your egg's spin ability was pretty fun.
Charming, but insanely dated and frustrating. Slippery movement on thin platforms makes the game artifically padded due to the need to replay sections. Timing puzzles that have 0 margin of error and lack lustre combat make for a pretty but, ultimately, skippable experience.
I only played this for 10 minutes and didn’t get into a fight at all. I named the character Durmax
Dropped at (what I assume was) the halfway point, roughly 7 hours total on log.
This game's biggest strengths are also its weaknesses. Exploring one big dungeon and slowly unlocking more ways to progress through it gives off really enjoyable metroidvania vibes, but the game also uses this as an excuse to never signpost you in the right direction, so you waste so much time blindly re-running through areas trying to remember what your new item lets you uncover. Combat is cool at first, as your spinning E.G.G. makes encounters feel like jousts, but after a while you realize how awful your basic attack is, and every encounter becomes 'start your spinner before they do or die'. The game's nice-looking and has a distinct art style, but the dungeon doesn't have enough variation to help you remember where everything is - you get lost quick and there's no map to help you. The 3D boss battles are also just really bad-looking, and I don't get why they didn't just have them be 2D. And damn does this game have terrible load times for a game that hardly looks more impressive than SNES material
The only portion of this game that I think is unequivocally great is the puzzle design. Beyond that, this game's cool at best and mind-numbingly tiring at worst.
This game's biggest strengths are also its weaknesses. Exploring one big dungeon and slowly unlocking more ways to progress through it gives off really enjoyable metroidvania vibes, but the game also uses this as an excuse to never signpost you in the right direction, so you waste so much time blindly re-running through areas trying to remember what your new item lets you uncover. Combat is cool at first, as your spinning E.G.G. makes encounters feel like jousts, but after a while you realize how awful your basic attack is, and every encounter becomes 'start your spinner before they do or die'. The game's nice-looking and has a distinct art style, but the dungeon doesn't have enough variation to help you remember where everything is - you get lost quick and there's no map to help you. The 3D boss battles are also just really bad-looking, and I don't get why they didn't just have them be 2D. And damn does this game have terrible load times for a game that hardly looks more impressive than SNES material
The only portion of this game that I think is unequivocally great is the puzzle design. Beyond that, this game's cool at best and mind-numbingly tiring at worst.