I noticed that a lot of retro game enthusiasts are appreciating this game as much as I do now. What a great game. It's not that hard, but you can definitely make it harder by using only the melee attack. I played this too many times and every single time, I just kept playing till I finished it. You owe it to yourself to play it.
Probably the best of the rest in terms of the sample of NES games I’ve played. It has the cinematic cutscenes of Ninja Gaiden and plays much like it during the side scroller segments.
There are also other gameplay segments, there’s an overhead racer/shooter perspective. You’re basically viewing your car from a bird’s eye viewpoint shooting down other cars and enemies.
There’s also one or two arcade shooting segments.
It’s sorta crazy how much they managed to fit into a cartridge, the difficulty is also sort of manageable. There are health pick-ups and they’re almost sort of frequent. Death does mean loss of a majority of your sub weapons, leaving you with only so many grenades or gun ammo at your disposal and the blade isn’t all that great.
The hardest aspect of the game is the bosses who require almost hypnotic rote memorisation to beat.
Luckily there is no timer, I would learn the enemy tactic and then prioritise avoiding fire while letting off one or two projectiles here or there.
Storyline is sorta crazy; I’d expect it takes a play or two to fully understand it. But yeah, easily an A+ NES game with anything Nintendo, Konami or Capcom produces.
There are also other gameplay segments, there’s an overhead racer/shooter perspective. You’re basically viewing your car from a bird’s eye viewpoint shooting down other cars and enemies.
There’s also one or two arcade shooting segments.
It’s sorta crazy how much they managed to fit into a cartridge, the difficulty is also sort of manageable. There are health pick-ups and they’re almost sort of frequent. Death does mean loss of a majority of your sub weapons, leaving you with only so many grenades or gun ammo at your disposal and the blade isn’t all that great.
The hardest aspect of the game is the bosses who require almost hypnotic rote memorisation to beat.
Luckily there is no timer, I would learn the enemy tactic and then prioritise avoiding fire while letting off one or two projectiles here or there.
Storyline is sorta crazy; I’d expect it takes a play or two to fully understand it. But yeah, easily an A+ NES game with anything Nintendo, Konami or Capcom produces.
Juego Multi genero, ya que empiezas en modo carreras y acabas en plataformas. El juego se las trae con la dificultad pero es pasable. Toda una joya oculta.
A badass game hidden gem for the NES. Thank you NSO for making me aware of it.
Famicom standartlarının üstünde bir oyun. ara sahneler güzel, içinde bulunduğu nesile göre güzel sayılabilecek bir hikayesi var, oynayış keyifli, combat mekanikleri keyifli sonlara doğru bokunu çıkaracak düzeyde zorlaşıyor ama onun dışında genel zorluğu orta ile zor arasında gidip geliyor. 4/4 lük famicom-nes oyunu işte. Oynayın.
This game was really cool. You can crouch AND run at the same time. Played it on NES Switch Online, and without rewind this would have not been as fun.
Tem uma pixel art bonita e a gameplay muda em certos trechos para "FPS" (mas não bem um FPS) e tiroteio topdown em um carro e esses são todos os pontos positivos q podem te fazer querer jogar. Entra no grupo "essa história é tão fodase que era melhor não existir" e a maior parte desse jogo curto se passa pelas fases como um action plataformer q não funciona tão bem pq as armas são um rego pra se usar e os inimigos são insuportáveis.
cara, joguinho bom, tem algumas coisas que vc repetir e morrer bastante, mas como o jogo tem continue infinito deixa tudo mais facil, gameplay gostosa.
This is probably my favorite NES game I've played so far. There's a great deal of variety of gameplay styles, all of which are really fun and still control well, and the soundtrack is really good.
A solid platformer with some decent gameplay variety. Nothing amazing here, but certainly nothing bad. Gets outshined by games like power blade and Shatterhand. Worth checking out though.
What the... in good old South Central America.
A highly derivative yet breezy and enjoyable amalgamation of various gameplay modes that were well-trodden in the NES era. Your main fix is 2-D action platforming and amusingly nonsensical cutscenes lifted straight from the Ninja Gaiden collection (mercifully, this game never quite reaches the ball-breaking level of difficulty seen in that series). Along the way the developers serve up a few brief interludes of visually chaotic but mechanically simple overhead driving and light gun arcade-style first person shooting.
There's not an inkling of depth or originality to any of this, but the liberal borrowing from more pioneering titles undeniably works in the game's favor - you may have seen it all before, but that doesn't make it any less fun in the hands. Add in the fact that the pixel art and backgrounds here look significantly better than in nearly all of its antecedents, and you have a decent way to kill 90 minutes.
There's not an inkling of depth or originality to any of this, but the liberal borrowing from more pioneering titles undeniably works in the game's favor - you may have seen it all before, but that doesn't make it any less fun in the hands. Add in the fact that the pixel art and backgrounds here look significantly better than in nearly all of its antecedents, and you have a decent way to kill 90 minutes.
(This is the 39th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
Vice: Project Doom is definitely one of the best named games I've played so far. Is it one of the best games games though? Well, not really. It does some things really, really well, it has a lot more storytelling than you would expect from NES titles, but it is a game that shares similarities with many, many other games out there and other games have done many things better than this one.
This game released on April 26, 1991 for NES in Japan and NA, and got a release on Nintendo Switch Online in August 2019.
____________
STORY(TELLING)/CHARACTERS | 6/10
You play Detective Hart, to is tasked with investigating the "BEDA corporation", a front run by alien beings living on Earth in secrecy. They've developed a substance that was supposed to be food for the Aliens, however has been misused by humans due to its addictive natures, despite the fact that it has very bad side-effects.
Usually I would mention how the story resolves because for the vast majority of games, the plot and the storytelling in particular are afterthoughts. Not here. Vice: Project of Doom stands out in its storytelling and the sheer volume of its cutscenes. If I had to give a comparison, I think the Ninja Gaiden series fits best. After every stage, a cutscene plays with shots of the characters and lines of dialogue below. The camera pans left to right during these and the characters remain still otherwise, but this is very much unusual for this time and the #1 factor in which this game stands out.
There are some twists and turns in the story as well. That said, the storytelling isn't that great, probably because devs back then were game devs first and storytellers like sixteenth, so they're excused but the effort is there.
GAMEPLAY | 12/20
There are 3 types of stages in this game. In the first kind, you drive a car through a narrow driving lane and have to move side to side to avoid the edges, to avoid obstacles in front of you that damage you, and destroy/avoid enemy vehicles. This is not that great and there are only two short levels of this kind.
The second type is a side scrolling rail shooter kind of stage that repeats twice as well. You shoot enemies, some close by, some far away, before they shoot you. You pick up items they drop by moving the cursor above the items. You have a few different weapons you can use, some of which have higher AoE damage. It's OK and a nice-to-have change of pace, but I wouldn't say these levels are good. They're tolerable at best.
The third type, finally, is the main kind, 2D platforming with enemies everywhere. You have three weapons at your disposal, two of which need ammo (dynamite, gun). You also have a sword that you can slash your way through levels with. I mostly stuck with the sword. The timing window with your sword is not that long, so I often would be just early or just too late and get hit. It doesn't help that at many points, there are a lot of enemies coming from both angles. Some drop into view out of nowhere sometimes and immediately start shooting, which makes avoiding their shots impossible unless you move forward a step at a time, which would kill the pace and therefore your enjoyment of the game. So just eat those hits and keep moving.
At the end of each level, a meat item drops which regenerates most of your health, so getting hit a bunch of times is not a big issue. So yes, this is not a "one-hit and you die" type of game, thankfully. But it's not a very original game either, at least in terms of its gameplay. In fact, it's very average.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 8/10
No voice acting. Sound design is typical for NES games, so it doesn't stand out. The soundtrack is definitely one of the better ones of all NES games I've played so far, and has some bangers, including the track they've used for many of the cutscenes. The track for Boss Battles 3-2 and 7-3 is also worth a listen.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 4/10
It's very average graphically. It's an NES game, so it's inferior to some of the other games that came out at the time due to the move to 16-bit across the board. Artistically, it still has the ability to stand out but it doesn't. The levels and their artistic design are unimpressive and the kind of enemies that the devs have thrown into each level appears kinda random. You gut red ninjas flying out of the ground, fish too whilst bats come down from above, it just does not feel very thought out in that regard.
ATMOSPHERE | 6/10
The game is described as biopunk and noir. That's a nice mix of themes that you don't see often, and even if the technical limitations hinder the game from delivering a truly intense/atmospheric experience, I appreciate the difference in tone, especially in terms of its story the farther you dive into it. Within the levels, there is plenty of green and black but levels often rather feel like "levels" than actual places. More detail would have helped there.
CONTENT | 7/10
You have 10 levels I believe, all (most?) with multiple stages. 2 of those have you driving, 2 have you on rails. There are boss fights at the end of each level and probably over 10 minutes of storytelling all told. It's a good amount of content.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 6/10
This is mostly a very typical affair. Even though there are some levels where many enemies appear at once, it rarely really leans into the ridiculous like many other games do, even a game such as Ninja Gaiden, because enemies rarely take more than one hit to be defeated and you are such a tank with your own health. There is just one early difficulty spike for one boss that is just so insane that I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of players back in the day didn't manage to beat it. Thanks to the magic of emulators and rewind, I was able to eventually get it down, but man was that ridiculously difficult, especially since almost everything else in this game is very beatable.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 5/10
Innovative in only one thing, and that is its focus on storytelling. The way it tells its story is completely copied from Ninja Gaiden, but let's rather call it 'inspired' and be happy that storytelling is actually happening, something I'm always a big fan of.
The game also features a good soundtrack, but is decidedly average in every other way.
REPLAYABILITY | 2/5
Not really replayable apart from trying to beat your high score. But it's an important game because it leans away from the arcade into a more story-focused experience, which at this time, many games still didn't do. It even gave you a lot of health instead of one hit-point like many other games, so it wasn't too concerned with artificially increasing the play time of this thing either.
PLAYABILITY | 4/5
Playable for the most part. It just has that typical NES slowdown issue whenever 5+ sprites appear on the screen simultaneously. It happens often enough that I deducted a point.
OVERALL | 60 - Average/Slightly Above-Average
Are you looking for something like the early Ninja Gaiden games in terms of storytelling, whilst the game maintained a similar retro style? Well, you don't have the wall jumping here, but other than that, Vice: Project Doom is the best comparison I could find so far. Storytelling is exactly the same, there is some (not a lot) of variety in gameplay and a very good soundtrack here, so give it a try. But don't expect anything special here, as this is one of the most average NES games you'll ever play apart from its storytelling.
Vice: Project Doom is definitely one of the best named games I've played so far. Is it one of the best games games though? Well, not really. It does some things really, really well, it has a lot more storytelling than you would expect from NES titles, but it is a game that shares similarities with many, many other games out there and other games have done many things better than this one.
This game released on April 26, 1991 for NES in Japan and NA, and got a release on Nintendo Switch Online in August 2019.
____________
STORY(TELLING)/CHARACTERS | 6/10
You play Detective Hart, to is tasked with investigating the "BEDA corporation", a front run by alien beings living on Earth in secrecy. They've developed a substance that was supposed to be food for the Aliens, however has been misused by humans due to its addictive natures, despite the fact that it has very bad side-effects.
Usually I would mention how the story resolves because for the vast majority of games, the plot and the storytelling in particular are afterthoughts. Not here. Vice: Project of Doom stands out in its storytelling and the sheer volume of its cutscenes. If I had to give a comparison, I think the Ninja Gaiden series fits best. After every stage, a cutscene plays with shots of the characters and lines of dialogue below. The camera pans left to right during these and the characters remain still otherwise, but this is very much unusual for this time and the #1 factor in which this game stands out.
There are some twists and turns in the story as well. That said, the storytelling isn't that great, probably because devs back then were game devs first and storytellers like sixteenth, so they're excused but the effort is there.
GAMEPLAY | 12/20
There are 3 types of stages in this game. In the first kind, you drive a car through a narrow driving lane and have to move side to side to avoid the edges, to avoid obstacles in front of you that damage you, and destroy/avoid enemy vehicles. This is not that great and there are only two short levels of this kind.
The second type is a side scrolling rail shooter kind of stage that repeats twice as well. You shoot enemies, some close by, some far away, before they shoot you. You pick up items they drop by moving the cursor above the items. You have a few different weapons you can use, some of which have higher AoE damage. It's OK and a nice-to-have change of pace, but I wouldn't say these levels are good. They're tolerable at best.
The third type, finally, is the main kind, 2D platforming with enemies everywhere. You have three weapons at your disposal, two of which need ammo (dynamite, gun). You also have a sword that you can slash your way through levels with. I mostly stuck with the sword. The timing window with your sword is not that long, so I often would be just early or just too late and get hit. It doesn't help that at many points, there are a lot of enemies coming from both angles. Some drop into view out of nowhere sometimes and immediately start shooting, which makes avoiding their shots impossible unless you move forward a step at a time, which would kill the pace and therefore your enjoyment of the game. So just eat those hits and keep moving.
At the end of each level, a meat item drops which regenerates most of your health, so getting hit a bunch of times is not a big issue. So yes, this is not a "one-hit and you die" type of game, thankfully. But it's not a very original game either, at least in terms of its gameplay. In fact, it's very average.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 8/10
No voice acting. Sound design is typical for NES games, so it doesn't stand out. The soundtrack is definitely one of the better ones of all NES games I've played so far, and has some bangers, including the track they've used for many of the cutscenes. The track for Boss Battles 3-2 and 7-3 is also worth a listen.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 4/10
It's very average graphically. It's an NES game, so it's inferior to some of the other games that came out at the time due to the move to 16-bit across the board. Artistically, it still has the ability to stand out but it doesn't. The levels and their artistic design are unimpressive and the kind of enemies that the devs have thrown into each level appears kinda random. You gut red ninjas flying out of the ground, fish too whilst bats come down from above, it just does not feel very thought out in that regard.
ATMOSPHERE | 6/10
The game is described as biopunk and noir. That's a nice mix of themes that you don't see often, and even if the technical limitations hinder the game from delivering a truly intense/atmospheric experience, I appreciate the difference in tone, especially in terms of its story the farther you dive into it. Within the levels, there is plenty of green and black but levels often rather feel like "levels" than actual places. More detail would have helped there.
CONTENT | 7/10
You have 10 levels I believe, all (most?) with multiple stages. 2 of those have you driving, 2 have you on rails. There are boss fights at the end of each level and probably over 10 minutes of storytelling all told. It's a good amount of content.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 6/10
This is mostly a very typical affair. Even though there are some levels where many enemies appear at once, it rarely really leans into the ridiculous like many other games do, even a game such as Ninja Gaiden, because enemies rarely take more than one hit to be defeated and you are such a tank with your own health. There is just one early difficulty spike for one boss that is just so insane that I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of players back in the day didn't manage to beat it. Thanks to the magic of emulators and rewind, I was able to eventually get it down, but man was that ridiculously difficult, especially since almost everything else in this game is very beatable.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 5/10
Innovative in only one thing, and that is its focus on storytelling. The way it tells its story is completely copied from Ninja Gaiden, but let's rather call it 'inspired' and be happy that storytelling is actually happening, something I'm always a big fan of.
The game also features a good soundtrack, but is decidedly average in every other way.
REPLAYABILITY | 2/5
Not really replayable apart from trying to beat your high score. But it's an important game because it leans away from the arcade into a more story-focused experience, which at this time, many games still didn't do. It even gave you a lot of health instead of one hit-point like many other games, so it wasn't too concerned with artificially increasing the play time of this thing either.
PLAYABILITY | 4/5
Playable for the most part. It just has that typical NES slowdown issue whenever 5+ sprites appear on the screen simultaneously. It happens often enough that I deducted a point.
OVERALL | 60 - Average/Slightly Above-Average
Are you looking for something like the early Ninja Gaiden games in terms of storytelling, whilst the game maintained a similar retro style? Well, you don't have the wall jumping here, but other than that, Vice: Project Doom is the best comparison I could find so far. Storytelling is exactly the same, there is some (not a lot) of variety in gameplay and a very good soundtrack here, so give it a try. But don't expect anything special here, as this is one of the most average NES games you'll ever play apart from its storytelling.
this game is incredible.
Interesting choice to give such a hideous cover art to one of the best-looking games on the NES
This fucks
This fucks
Cara, eu não sei nem como fazer uma introdução digna para este jogo de tão bobo que ele. Você simplesmente irá passear no parque, correr o dia todo e chegar no fim do dia com alguém te oferecendo um pratão de comida e água. Vice: Project Doom se trata disso...
Os gráficos deste jogo é animal, muitos dizem que ele chega próximo de Ninja Gaiden, mas depende muito de qual dos três jogos da franquia no NES você irá dizer porque eu, Alexandre, vejo mais da fonte de Batman - The Video Game do que qualquer outro plataforma genérico do NES, mas, como tudo, porém, neste jogo tudo é lindo de se ver. Não há comparações, este jogo é um único neste quesito.
Enquanto os gráficos são ótimos, o som é aleatório e não demonstra o mesmo feeling do jogador. Do nada você ouve algo que não faz sentido nenhum com o que você está vendo, é como almoçar assistindo pornô que enquanto você come, alguém é comido e neste caso você janta tudo e todos com suas técnicas.
De fato este jogo é muito fácil. O que torna sua experiência de jogatina rápida em algo revigorante já que você não precisa se prender ao jogo por horas a fio e para um sábadão ou dominguera, tá tudo bem. Você irá parar em alguns momentos para avaliar a fase, mas em sua grande parte irá para frente.
Mesmo com todas as dificuldades em se manter estável em sua dificuldade, a diversão aqui é até que bacana. Não é difícil comos todos os plataformas similares da época... vide aquele lixo de Solbrain, mas também não é um mar de flores em alguns momentos. Existem sim chefes que você irá parar e entender o padrão e chefes, que em sua grande maioria, você só irá smashar o botão de ataque e boa. Desligar o cérebro e ir para a frente é muito bacana.
É ótimo jogo que assim como todos possuem suas prós e contras. Não me importei em saber o que estava passando naquele filme de ação dos anos 80 porque só queria jogar e como as cutscenes são longas, nem se compara com os 15 minutos de Ninja Gaiden 1. Jogão.
Os gráficos deste jogo é animal, muitos dizem que ele chega próximo de Ninja Gaiden, mas depende muito de qual dos três jogos da franquia no NES você irá dizer porque eu, Alexandre, vejo mais da fonte de Batman - The Video Game do que qualquer outro plataforma genérico do NES, mas, como tudo, porém, neste jogo tudo é lindo de se ver. Não há comparações, este jogo é um único neste quesito.
Enquanto os gráficos são ótimos, o som é aleatório e não demonstra o mesmo feeling do jogador. Do nada você ouve algo que não faz sentido nenhum com o que você está vendo, é como almoçar assistindo pornô que enquanto você come, alguém é comido e neste caso você janta tudo e todos com suas técnicas.
De fato este jogo é muito fácil. O que torna sua experiência de jogatina rápida em algo revigorante já que você não precisa se prender ao jogo por horas a fio e para um sábadão ou dominguera, tá tudo bem. Você irá parar em alguns momentos para avaliar a fase, mas em sua grande parte irá para frente.
Mesmo com todas as dificuldades em se manter estável em sua dificuldade, a diversão aqui é até que bacana. Não é difícil comos todos os plataformas similares da época... vide aquele lixo de Solbrain, mas também não é um mar de flores em alguns momentos. Existem sim chefes que você irá parar e entender o padrão e chefes, que em sua grande maioria, você só irá smashar o botão de ataque e boa. Desligar o cérebro e ir para a frente é muito bacana.
É ótimo jogo que assim como todos possuem suas prós e contras. Não me importei em saber o que estava passando naquele filme de ação dos anos 80 porque só queria jogar e como as cutscenes são longas, nem se compara com os 15 minutos de Ninja Gaiden 1. Jogão.
It disgusts me how underrated this game is. Most people will see this on the NSO service, play it for a bit, say "yeah that pretty good" and go play something else. Please don't. This is genuinely one of the best games the NES has to offer.
The gameplay itself is similar to Ninja Gaiden, with a few on-the-rail shooter and driving levels, and they're all great. Really, my only flaw is that there aren't enough of the non NG stages, but it doesn't matter too much since the main stages are fucking good.
I would go as far as to say this game is better than Ninja Gaiden, mostly because of the lack of bullshit. Detective Hart can basically do anything, he has complete range of his jump, he can walk while ducking, and he has 3 weapons, a Laser Stick (i have no clue what it is), a gun, and grenades. The level design is structured in a way that you'll be using all of them frequently.
The difficulty is completely fair, there's no being sent back to 6-1 BS, the gameplay is fun, and imo, its a Top 3 NES game. Do NOT miss out on this one.
Also, who can forget those cheesy 80's action movie cutscenes?
The gameplay itself is similar to Ninja Gaiden, with a few on-the-rail shooter and driving levels, and they're all great. Really, my only flaw is that there aren't enough of the non NG stages, but it doesn't matter too much since the main stages are fucking good.
I would go as far as to say this game is better than Ninja Gaiden, mostly because of the lack of bullshit. Detective Hart can basically do anything, he has complete range of his jump, he can walk while ducking, and he has 3 weapons, a Laser Stick (i have no clue what it is), a gun, and grenades. The level design is structured in a way that you'll be using all of them frequently.
The difficulty is completely fair, there's no being sent back to 6-1 BS, the gameplay is fun, and imo, its a Top 3 NES game. Do NOT miss out on this one.
Also, who can forget those cheesy 80's action movie cutscenes?
No entiendo por que las bajas calificaciones si nos topamos con un juego increible, con una variedad de gameplay: niveles en auto, niveles 2d al estilo ninja gaiden/power blade y aim! Una desafiante y gratificante aventura.
Late in every console's life cycle there are games that steal liberally from the best games of the generation to make these really cool and fun franken-games. Vice: Project Doom is that for the NES. This is up there with Shatterhand for me.
Probably the best NES game
good little ninja gaiden clone with awesome graphics but a little bit too long
I love how 90s corporate distopia this is. Reminds me of a ton of crappy action films I've seen that I couldn't tell you the title of, but very much remember enjoying back when I was a snot nosed little git.
The gameplay is pretty varied is lot of fun, opening with a spy hunter type driving level, followed by platforming run and gun action (or sword or bomb, depending on your preference) and the occasional reticle shooter as well, although it predominantly sticks to the side scrolling action.
The levels are varied with a fun variety of baddies that get tougher the further you get, and some bosses that are fun to fight once you get the hang of the attack patterns. Mostly a matter of timing, but some you can just hack away at if you get close enough.
I wonder if this was a different story in the Japanese release, as some of the enemy types are quite wacky for a straight up action game like this. Some very traditional looking Japanese style baddies as was as some sillier ones too.
I really enjoyed it. The learning curve isnt too brutal considering it's a nes game, and once you've grasped enemy patterns etc, it becomes a bit easier to get through. A good time.
The gameplay is pretty varied is lot of fun, opening with a spy hunter type driving level, followed by platforming run and gun action (or sword or bomb, depending on your preference) and the occasional reticle shooter as well, although it predominantly sticks to the side scrolling action.
The levels are varied with a fun variety of baddies that get tougher the further you get, and some bosses that are fun to fight once you get the hang of the attack patterns. Mostly a matter of timing, but some you can just hack away at if you get close enough.
I wonder if this was a different story in the Japanese release, as some of the enemy types are quite wacky for a straight up action game like this. Some very traditional looking Japanese style baddies as was as some sillier ones too.
I really enjoyed it. The learning curve isnt too brutal considering it's a nes game, and once you've grasped enemy patterns etc, it becomes a bit easier to get through. A good time.
Some cool driving and light-gun levels are mixed in to provide variety in this NES action platformer/run 'n gun hybrid, starring John McClane. A little on the easier side outside of the final level, but worth playing.
Hey, how about that Nintendo Switch Online, am I right? Doesn't it SUCK ASS? Ok, no, it doesn't completely suck, as it does have a selection of various retro games that, while not being the best selection, does have a good amount of titles that I would have never seen or heard of otherwise. The service has at least that going for it, even though most of it does suck. Nevertheless, after scrolling through the lineup once again, I stumbled across Vice: Project Doom, which I had heard of and seen previously in videos, so I decided to finally give it a shot.
After playing through it, I can say that the game is actually pretty good, and what I would say is a bit of a hidden gem of the NES library. It does have problems, with some of them involving a lot of copy-pasting, but it was still a fun title to experience.
The story is pretty fleshed out and developed, which is aided by the cutscenes throughout the game, along with the most 80's-action-movie-like dialogue ever, the graphics are pretty good, the music is alright, but not too memorable, the control is solid all around, and the gameplay is familiar, yet still different and varied enough to where it is still fun to experience.
For the most part, the game is yet another action 2D platformer, where you travel from the beginning to the end of numerous stages, fighting enemies with a selection of weapons, including a whip, a gun, and grenades, taking on bosses, collecting items and ammo, and finding more out about the story along the way. It has all the beats of a standout title for the system, and it works really well, with the game providing enough challenge to not make it easy, while also giving the player enough versatility to have plenty of options for moving ahead, which is a plus in my book.
Aside from the platforming stages, there are also two other types of gameplay sections the game offers. First, there is the vehicle driving sections, where you drive on a highway, shooting down enemies and taking on bosses as well. Sure, it's not that complicated or in-depth, but it is a nice pace breaker in the mix of the regular platforming, even if it may be a little too easy for me.
The third and final gameplay sections are on-rail shooter segments similar to House of the Dead and Time Crisis, where you have to shoot a bunch of enemies that appear on your screen from a first-person-perspective, alternating between using either your gun or grenades to take them out. Just like with the driving segments, these are also pretty fun distractions from the main gameplay, and while they are also pretty easy, it is still a good time, and it's cool seeing this type of gameplay from the NES.
With all that in mind, the problems the game has would basically be a majority of the problems that Ninja Gaiden have, because it is basically just Ninja Gaiden except with aliens n junk. Alongside that, the game doesn't really leave too much of an impact. Sure, it does have different types of gameplay that make it unique among other games, but in terms of the plot, setting, and characters, it is pretty generic when compared to other games of the time, and as such, it doesn't really stand out as much as it needs to, which is probably why it went long overlooked ever since.
Overall, while it isn't the most noteworthy of games, and it is pretty much just Ninja Gaiden, except with aliens, it is a solid hidden gem of the NES library, and one I would definitely recommend for anyone to check out if they want to see what else the system has to offer.
Game #118
After playing through it, I can say that the game is actually pretty good, and what I would say is a bit of a hidden gem of the NES library. It does have problems, with some of them involving a lot of copy-pasting, but it was still a fun title to experience.
The story is pretty fleshed out and developed, which is aided by the cutscenes throughout the game, along with the most 80's-action-movie-like dialogue ever, the graphics are pretty good, the music is alright, but not too memorable, the control is solid all around, and the gameplay is familiar, yet still different and varied enough to where it is still fun to experience.
For the most part, the game is yet another action 2D platformer, where you travel from the beginning to the end of numerous stages, fighting enemies with a selection of weapons, including a whip, a gun, and grenades, taking on bosses, collecting items and ammo, and finding more out about the story along the way. It has all the beats of a standout title for the system, and it works really well, with the game providing enough challenge to not make it easy, while also giving the player enough versatility to have plenty of options for moving ahead, which is a plus in my book.
Aside from the platforming stages, there are also two other types of gameplay sections the game offers. First, there is the vehicle driving sections, where you drive on a highway, shooting down enemies and taking on bosses as well. Sure, it's not that complicated or in-depth, but it is a nice pace breaker in the mix of the regular platforming, even if it may be a little too easy for me.
The third and final gameplay sections are on-rail shooter segments similar to House of the Dead and Time Crisis, where you have to shoot a bunch of enemies that appear on your screen from a first-person-perspective, alternating between using either your gun or grenades to take them out. Just like with the driving segments, these are also pretty fun distractions from the main gameplay, and while they are also pretty easy, it is still a good time, and it's cool seeing this type of gameplay from the NES.
With all that in mind, the problems the game has would basically be a majority of the problems that Ninja Gaiden have, because it is basically just Ninja Gaiden except with aliens n junk. Alongside that, the game doesn't really leave too much of an impact. Sure, it does have different types of gameplay that make it unique among other games, but in terms of the plot, setting, and characters, it is pretty generic when compared to other games of the time, and as such, it doesn't really stand out as much as it needs to, which is probably why it went long overlooked ever since.
Overall, while it isn't the most noteworthy of games, and it is pretty much just Ninja Gaiden, except with aliens, it is a solid hidden gem of the NES library, and one I would definitely recommend for anyone to check out if they want to see what else the system has to offer.
Game #118
This game rules in the goofiest way possible. Solid Ninja Gaiden gameplay plus guns and grenades, rad top-down driving sections, and far-too-brief first-person shooting gallery segments all come together to make this one of the coolest action games on NES. What's even better is that it's not absurdly difficult like most of its peers! I'm fully aware that the story was written by Japanese devs who spoke English as a second language, but the writing is so hilariously bad it felt like the text in the terrible RPG Maker 2003 games my friends and I made 20 years ago. I loved it!
It's ultimately still an NES action game, so YMMV depending on how you feel about the genre. The driving and lightgun-esque parts really make it special, but they're way too rare. If Vice: Project Doom had leaned into those aspects more, it'd be an easy 4 stars.
It's ultimately still an NES action game, so YMMV depending on how you feel about the genre. The driving and lightgun-esque parts really make it special, but they're way too rare. If Vice: Project Doom had leaned into those aspects more, it'd be an easy 4 stars.
VICE é um jogo incrível de NES. Temos cutscenes que apresentam a história entre cada fase e uma variedade interessante de gameplay com 3 tipos de modo de jogo. O principal é um platformer com 3 tipos de armas que dão variedade e arsenal ao jogador, com espada, tiro de pistola ou arremesso de granadas.
O uso de cada arma dá um tipo de jogabilidade diferente, apesar de haver limitação da munição das armas de longa distância. Se fossemos comparar com, por exemplo, Megaman X, temos em um só personagem o Zero e o X, ressalvadas as limitações.
Essa variedade não é tão impactante durante as fases, mas faz muita diferença nos chefes, já que o risco do melee traz um dano mais alto e mais rápido, acelerando o combate.
Os outros dois modos são utilizados apenas duas vezes cada durante o jogo, e são um modo de perseguição de carro que na verdade mais parece um shooter de navinha, e um modo de "light gun", onde você atira em inimigos com uma câmera em primeira pessoa, similar a jogos como Virtua Cop.
O roteiro é bem na vibe de filme da sessão da tarde, com a pegada "brucutu" das obras com Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, ou mais recente, Keanu Reeves (John Wick). Um homem irá lutar contra um sindicato do mal para solucionar uma ameaça à cidade. Isso tá estampado desde a capa do jogo.
O curioso é que se trata de um jogo japonês, inclusive seu nome no Japão é Gun Deck (ガンデック), com uma pegada totalmente cinema hollywodiano.
Eu fiquei surpreso o quão redondo e rico ele é para os padrões do NES, mas não é de admirar tanto pela época de lançamento. Em 1991 já se havia evoluído bastante da massa de jogos arcade da primeira leva que ocorreu por volta de 1985, próximo do lançamento do próprio console.
O uso de cada arma dá um tipo de jogabilidade diferente, apesar de haver limitação da munição das armas de longa distância. Se fossemos comparar com, por exemplo, Megaman X, temos em um só personagem o Zero e o X, ressalvadas as limitações.
Essa variedade não é tão impactante durante as fases, mas faz muita diferença nos chefes, já que o risco do melee traz um dano mais alto e mais rápido, acelerando o combate.
Os outros dois modos são utilizados apenas duas vezes cada durante o jogo, e são um modo de perseguição de carro que na verdade mais parece um shooter de navinha, e um modo de "light gun", onde você atira em inimigos com uma câmera em primeira pessoa, similar a jogos como Virtua Cop.
O roteiro é bem na vibe de filme da sessão da tarde, com a pegada "brucutu" das obras com Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, ou mais recente, Keanu Reeves (John Wick). Um homem irá lutar contra um sindicato do mal para solucionar uma ameaça à cidade. Isso tá estampado desde a capa do jogo.
O curioso é que se trata de um jogo japonês, inclusive seu nome no Japão é Gun Deck (ガンデック), com uma pegada totalmente cinema hollywodiano.
Eu fiquei surpreso o quão redondo e rico ele é para os padrões do NES, mas não é de admirar tanto pela época de lançamento. Em 1991 já se havia evoluído bastante da massa de jogos arcade da primeira leva que ocorreu por volta de 1985, próximo do lançamento do próprio console.
What if Ninja Gaiden made even less sense
Gema escondida, Totalmente desafiador e gameplay engajante
8/10
8/10
NES Online (Switch)
Vice: Project Doom's cover looks like something you'd see on a bootleg GI Joe box, and you'd be forgiven for dismissing it on sight as some cheap 8-bit crap not worth your time. I first came across it while watching Jeff Gertmann blow through some retro games on Giant Bomb dot com, a website that was, at one point, about video games. This is a good case of not judging something by its cover, because Project Doom has great presentation in-game, and backs it up with excellent gameplay and a surprising amount of variety.
Vice: Project Doom is broken into three distinct gameplay types: Overhead driving, shooting gallery, and Ninja Gaiden. The comparison gets brought up a lot because it's incredibly appropriate. If it weren't for these being countless other Ninja Gaiden derivatives on the system, I'd question how they got away with it. But what sets this game apart from the other knock offs is the developer's keen understanding of what makes Ninja Gaiden fun, while smartly ditching other elements that held those games back. None of the bosses feel like slowly punching down a brick wall like they do in the Gaiden games, for example, and the level design doesn't feel as punishing to go through after a game over.
The other two gameplay modes feel pretty fleshed out in their own right. The overhead driving segments are a lot of fun, and opening the game on one is a great way of immediately throwing the player into the action. It sets the tone and the pace of the game immediately. The shooting gallery sections might be my least favorite of the three types, but they're still solid for what they are (and probably a lot more fun with a light gun, assuming one works with the game, I have no idea.)
The story is presented exactly like it is in Ninja Gaiden, and it's every bit as insane. Aliens have been pulling the strings in our society for decades, but their food source, Gel, has begun to spread through the underworld as a street drug. Detective Hart, a vice cop, has to investigate the corporation the aliens use as a front. And by "investigate" I mean "shoot aliens indiscriminately" and also "commit untold amounts of vehicular manslaughter."
This was a very late era NES game, releasing in 1991 both in Japan and America. It definitely shows as the game really pushes the NES hardware, but I have to wonder how much more they could've gotten up to by making this a 16-bit game instead. Perhaps it's for the best that they didn't, as it's trying to emulate a very specific game. If NES action-platformers are your kind of game, then good news, you can play this on the Switch. Or pirate it! Detective Hart would probably shoot you dead if you so much as thought about it, but he lives in the video game and can't hurt you.
Vice: Project Doom is broken into three distinct gameplay types: Overhead driving, shooting gallery, and Ninja Gaiden. The comparison gets brought up a lot because it's incredibly appropriate. If it weren't for these being countless other Ninja Gaiden derivatives on the system, I'd question how they got away with it. But what sets this game apart from the other knock offs is the developer's keen understanding of what makes Ninja Gaiden fun, while smartly ditching other elements that held those games back. None of the bosses feel like slowly punching down a brick wall like they do in the Gaiden games, for example, and the level design doesn't feel as punishing to go through after a game over.
The other two gameplay modes feel pretty fleshed out in their own right. The overhead driving segments are a lot of fun, and opening the game on one is a great way of immediately throwing the player into the action. It sets the tone and the pace of the game immediately. The shooting gallery sections might be my least favorite of the three types, but they're still solid for what they are (and probably a lot more fun with a light gun, assuming one works with the game, I have no idea.)
The story is presented exactly like it is in Ninja Gaiden, and it's every bit as insane. Aliens have been pulling the strings in our society for decades, but their food source, Gel, has begun to spread through the underworld as a street drug. Detective Hart, a vice cop, has to investigate the corporation the aliens use as a front. And by "investigate" I mean "shoot aliens indiscriminately" and also "commit untold amounts of vehicular manslaughter."
This was a very late era NES game, releasing in 1991 both in Japan and America. It definitely shows as the game really pushes the NES hardware, but I have to wonder how much more they could've gotten up to by making this a 16-bit game instead. Perhaps it's for the best that they didn't, as it's trying to emulate a very specific game. If NES action-platformers are your kind of game, then good news, you can play this on the Switch. Or pirate it! Detective Hart would probably shoot you dead if you so much as thought about it, but he lives in the video game and can't hurt you.