BlazingWaters
1986
Much like Lester The Unlikely, I learned about King's Knight thanks to a Youtuber I no longer watch for various reasons. However, unlike LTU, which is a subpar game that wouldn't exactly benefit much from a thorough revamp also the fact I still watch AVGN, King's Knight is a game that could've been decent or perhaps even good if it wasn't for a few flaws hampering its potential. I will say though, it's kind of funny this is the game I chose for an early, non-Final Fantasy Squaresoft title, and not the one I'm actually interested in, Cleopatra no Mahou on the Famicom Disk System. Anyway...
In a "don't judge a book" case, KK plays more akin to a shmup than that of a standard RPG of the era, having you play through four characters in their respective stages before using them all for the final one. Enemies either come from off the screen or hidden within the terrain that you're uh, destroying, for some reason, and also tucked inside are various power ups or one power down. The manual details their individual uses, but even then you can make the safe assumption of "everything but the down arrow is fair game", and honestly it does a commendable job of making you feel the upgrades... with one, though really four, exceptions, but I'll get to that later. Each character starts off slow alongside average bullet power and range, but before long and with enough pickups they start to hold their own very well. In terms of enemy patterns and positioning, it's not too frightful, since there's generally enough distance between you and the targets to safely scoot by, although the hidden encounters from them can be a bit hit-and-miss. Sometimes it's nothing too daunting, often times there's so many coming out of a column that it feels overabundant for the sake of difficulty. There's also caves and one or two secrets to unveil for bonus goodies, though do keep in mind that it could be better to forgo them and instead hunt for the powerups around it. With that said, if you're more than likely gonna play this via emulation, I'll make note that you should just stick with the turbo button on software such as Mesen - more specifically on my end, Mesen 2 - since mashing the crap out of the fire button can get really old, and it's not like it affects the bout too much. I'll also give kudos to the presentation, while not exactly a standout amongst the console's library and admittedly having two cases of garish greens, overall it's rather cute and the rather pitiful amount of tunes are at least nice on the ears, not bad for one of the very earliest Nobuo Uematsu compositions.
To reiterate, the four characters' trials are enough to put this as an enjoyable treat, but the last stage severely brings the package down, accentuating the problems while bringing in two new ones. Because all four characters are now in a diamond formation, this expands your hitbox to a degree that enables you to consume pellets, enemies themselves, and even getting stuck on walls or repeatedly jumping in/out the damn water to an obnoxious degree. That alone is bad enough, but this is also when the game pulls out all the stops and bombards you with enemies and attacking statues, with some cases such as this section being particularly devilish since you have to either avoid the ghostly enemies in the tightly packed walls, or accept the brunt damage and pray you still have enough health to continue on - which, by the way, you have no way to recover on your own, instead having to rely on sparse powerups throughout the stage. You'll notice on that custom-made map by a GameFaqs user that at the end of the ghost barrage, the walls are closed off. See, what you're supposed to do is use the thief's spell to burn them down. You obtain the element necessary to unlock them by playing through the trials, except you don't get the element by simply picking them up with their respective spellcaster, no every single character must pick them up for them to be viable. Doesn't matter if just one ally is missing something despite the designated individual having it, you have to reset or game over, press Select at the title screen, choose the character(s) missing the element(s), then train them all over again. Oh yea, and you can't free swap between each character at will, you gotta rely on arrow panels that, once again, can be accidentally stepped on due to the oversized hitbox of your formation, and some arrows being a crapshoot on landing on the exact person you need. I get what they're trying to do here, especially since its hinted at with each statues during a particular stretch being weak to a certain person's attack, but the way they went about it adds unnecessary tedium and frustration to what's already the most aggravating level in the entire game.
It just saddens me, I was genuinely having an alright time as my nightly endeavor before bed until that stage happened. I'm not exactly one to really get up-at-arms or feel remorse for falling back on rewinds and/or save states, but the amount of time I've used either one at that point compared to everything else beforehand is appalling, even to the point I sincerely thought about throwing my hands up and using the same invincibility code the YTer I talked about ended up relying on at the end, but I decided to buckle down and do it """""legit""""" regardless. There's only three notable things worth talking about in this relic: it was the first game on the Famicom/NES that Hironobu Sakaguchi worked on, the previously mentioned factoid regarding Uematsu, and in some weird cross-promo for FF15, it received a revitalized reimagining... as a free-to-play mobile app, that then shut down just 9 months and 13 days after. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind an actual stab at giving this a proper refresh, but that also means having a suitable platform with ways to give it a nice longevity, and I don't see Square doing that any time soon.
In a "don't judge a book" case, KK plays more akin to a shmup than that of a standard RPG of the era, having you play through four characters in their respective stages before using them all for the final one. Enemies either come from off the screen or hidden within the terrain that you're uh, destroying, for some reason, and also tucked inside are various power ups or one power down. The manual details their individual uses, but even then you can make the safe assumption of "everything but the down arrow is fair game", and honestly it does a commendable job of making you feel the upgrades... with one, though really four, exceptions, but I'll get to that later. Each character starts off slow alongside average bullet power and range, but before long and with enough pickups they start to hold their own very well. In terms of enemy patterns and positioning, it's not too frightful, since there's generally enough distance between you and the targets to safely scoot by, although the hidden encounters from them can be a bit hit-and-miss. Sometimes it's nothing too daunting, often times there's so many coming out of a column that it feels overabundant for the sake of difficulty. There's also caves and one or two secrets to unveil for bonus goodies, though do keep in mind that it could be better to forgo them and instead hunt for the powerups around it. With that said, if you're more than likely gonna play this via emulation, I'll make note that you should just stick with the turbo button on software such as Mesen - more specifically on my end, Mesen 2 - since mashing the crap out of the fire button can get really old, and it's not like it affects the bout too much. I'll also give kudos to the presentation, while not exactly a standout amongst the console's library and admittedly having two cases of garish greens, overall it's rather cute and the rather pitiful amount of tunes are at least nice on the ears, not bad for one of the very earliest Nobuo Uematsu compositions.
To reiterate, the four characters' trials are enough to put this as an enjoyable treat, but the last stage severely brings the package down, accentuating the problems while bringing in two new ones. Because all four characters are now in a diamond formation, this expands your hitbox to a degree that enables you to consume pellets, enemies themselves, and even getting stuck on walls or repeatedly jumping in/out the damn water to an obnoxious degree. That alone is bad enough, but this is also when the game pulls out all the stops and bombards you with enemies and attacking statues, with some cases such as this section being particularly devilish since you have to either avoid the ghostly enemies in the tightly packed walls, or accept the brunt damage and pray you still have enough health to continue on - which, by the way, you have no way to recover on your own, instead having to rely on sparse powerups throughout the stage. You'll notice on that custom-made map by a GameFaqs user that at the end of the ghost barrage, the walls are closed off. See, what you're supposed to do is use the thief's spell to burn them down. You obtain the element necessary to unlock them by playing through the trials, except you don't get the element by simply picking them up with their respective spellcaster, no every single character must pick them up for them to be viable. Doesn't matter if just one ally is missing something despite the designated individual having it, you have to reset or game over, press Select at the title screen, choose the character(s) missing the element(s), then train them all over again. Oh yea, and you can't free swap between each character at will, you gotta rely on arrow panels that, once again, can be accidentally stepped on due to the oversized hitbox of your formation, and some arrows being a crapshoot on landing on the exact person you need. I get what they're trying to do here, especially since its hinted at with each statues during a particular stretch being weak to a certain person's attack, but the way they went about it adds unnecessary tedium and frustration to what's already the most aggravating level in the entire game.
It just saddens me, I was genuinely having an alright time as my nightly endeavor before bed until that stage happened. I'm not exactly one to really get up-at-arms or feel remorse for falling back on rewinds and/or save states, but the amount of time I've used either one at that point compared to everything else beforehand is appalling, even to the point I sincerely thought about throwing my hands up and using the same invincibility code the YTer I talked about ended up relying on at the end, but I decided to buckle down and do it """""legit""""" regardless. There's only three notable things worth talking about in this relic: it was the first game on the Famicom/NES that Hironobu Sakaguchi worked on, the previously mentioned factoid regarding Uematsu, and in some weird cross-promo for FF15, it received a revitalized reimagining... as a free-to-play mobile app, that then shut down just 9 months and 13 days after. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind an actual stab at giving this a proper refresh, but that also means having a suitable platform with ways to give it a nice longevity, and I don't see Square doing that any time soon.
2021
One of the creatures said Weezer and I think that's really funny
1997
Another old game available on PC, another prelude to talk about making this work. Granted, one step is similar to TR1, which is using the Automated Fix Carlmundo made, and you’re set there if that’s all you want, but using an open source rework this time around is a bit more involved. There’s a guide available to use Arsunt’s TR2Main, the program that makes the PC port a lot more like the PS1 counterpart in terms of fidelity and features, and while it isn’t too involved to set up, I imagine some would rather prefer a “Just Works” approach, which is why I listed these two. You can use both at the same time like I did if you delete any files related to dgVoodoo. Also, since I can’t quite find a place to fit this into the review proper, know the knowledge that Lara Croft appeared on U2's PopMart tour, and this game had two wild "Where The Boys Are" spots.
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From my understanding and through all my digging, Tomb Raider II is generally considered to be one of the best titles in the series, at the very least a worthy follow up to the first game. From playing and formulating each forum post and what have you, it took what was previously established, hardened its difficulty both in exploration and action fundamentals, all while expanding the breadth of scope and scale of the level design with a simultaneous focus on the linear, compact nature that had been dabbled with prior. The first level, Great Wall, is a bit of an appetizer in this regard; while TR1’s Caves eases players into the game’s tricks and philosophies with careful enemy placement, obstacle courses, and overall room layout, TGW instead opts to throw them into the thick of it regardless on if they’re a greenhorn thrillseeker or a returning adventurer, what with having a tiger spawn at a specific point after dropping in to the level over on the right, a secret not too far from where you’re supposed to climb over on the lefthand side, and a majority of its second act running from boulders, spiked walls, crumbling floors, and rolling blades. This is something I expected akin to Late Greece/Early Egypt, but I wonder if that was the point of it. In regards to Croft Manor, the estate now boasts a full-on obstacle course, more of the ground level in the actual estate becoming available, and a secret treasure room from Lara’s time in Egypt waiting to be discovered, alongside Winston the Butler being a new, albeit added late into production, character who’s fun to mess with, as well as Judith Gibbins being the new voice thanks to her brother, Core Design programmer Martin Gibbins, telling her about the role’s availability. Some big changes were made to the formula, which worked to its benefit and occasional detriment. All that being said, let’s back up a bit and go over that production period.
I’ve leaned into Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer’s and Richard Moss of Ars Technica’s reflection articles published years ago - and it’s something I’ll continue doing as I go along for this era - for a variety of reasons, chief among them being that it’s important to stress how this all snowballed into the first wave’s demise. Core, wanting to capitalize off the spontaneous popularity and success, not only had a sequel already in mind, but conducted numerous brand and commercial dealings, resulting in situations like Lara Croft doing pin-up renders and other propped-up doll showings. Scandals like “Nude Raider” also took off, which itself landed a retort and in-joke by having Lara blow up upon doing an input related to it. This whole debacle and sneer of attention was getting to Toby Gard, annoyed that Croft was being propagated as a Bond Girl instead of, well, a normal, free-spirited one. Now, there’s probably a bit of embellishing since this was the dude who made the handstand posture as well as sketched early designs more catered to his tastes, but nonetheless it’s an understandable ire of seeing something you created warped by your publishers for publicity sake. Not to mention, after that game’s success Gard and Paul Douglas received tons of positions from American studios such as… Interplay and Shiny Entertainment? Oh geez, I wonder how those timelines are like. Anyway, among other reasons this manifested into a stubbornly harsh atmosphere during production for a new, unrelated game project the two plus Gavin Rummery were trying to establish, before the latter swapped back over to TR2’s team in agitation. At some point, either before, during, or after the room bubble, Gard and Douglas were offered to either work on an N64 port of TR1, or follow suit in creating the sequel. Both of these options didn’t sit well for them, so they decided to leave and form Confounding Factor in pursuit of creative freedom and personal marketing decisions, and this leads to a rather hectic life span for the game they worked on, Galleon, which is a whole separate matter. The aforementioned TR2team in question consisted mainly of those who worked on the first game to some degree, as well as a few new faces such as animators Stewart Atkinson and Joss Charmet, all working on this for eight months, a crunch period even harsher than before. Co-designer Neil Boyd said he got a divorce during this due to the workload, Rummery remarked that he felt horrible and only thought of the work, usual coffee intakes and sleeping in the offices, it was a mess, and one that’ll continue to escalate as the brand becomes more notable and they focus on getting these out on a yearly basis. As far as this entry is concerned, the cracks don’t show themselves… too strongly, anyway.
As stated before, TR2’s difficulty curve is whetted into a much tougher and grueling ordeal, focusing more on a linear endeavor though the open-ended approach still gets some play every now and then. In terms of technical upgrades, there’s a huge boon gained after Adrian Smith has talked about scrapping a Saturn port due to, as outlined in Sega Saturn Magazine #21, not being able to support these upgrades the PS1 and PC were capable of incorporating, such as more dynamic camera angles, environmental details, and overall just an improved sense of grandeur and scope. There’s two vehicles you can procure overall, and having to activate flares amongst the darkened caverns or rooms gives way for creative lighting and tone. For a more specific example, Venice’s canal starts off tight and insular, but grows into a more robust series of hotspots as you progress further in the sewer system, and further to an interconnected block just before Italian cult leader Marco Bartoli’s hideout. There’s new acrobatic tricks to utilize such as mid-air flips for positional advantage against the newly added human adversaries or puzzle-solving, and being able to climb up on vines, ladders, anything that seems like you can put your hands on and go upward, all of which are necessary to do the first third where you have to obtain the boat from a locked storage shed by jumping through windows to different rooftops. It took a bit to get a handling of, especially in regards to the boat, but once all these additions clicked into place, it was a lot of fun breezing through each section and figure out how to get by the gate safely, culminating in a delightfully over-the-top setpiece. The Deck feels more akin to the “focal room” angle Midas’ Palace and Obelisk Of Khamoon had, with the verticality and general layout centering on a lost, crippled ship dubbed the Maria Doria (this set of levels are one big Disaster movie homage, specifically 1972’s Poseidon Adventure). Not only do you have to go through the differing levels of the ship and its scattered parts to unlock the Seraph necessary to open a gate in Tibet, but you’re also gonna have to go through the expansive cave systems necessary to even progress to these sections in the first place. Your positioning in regards to enemies feel a lot more advantageous, being able to get the drop on them or even just firing far away at a safe distance with your guns, even against the sharks underwater where you can find land, get to shore and whittle them away safely. More careful use of shimmies, standing and running jumps, as well as swimming through the various water are expected, though granted this game does have an affinity for planting you into spots where you have to take damage of varying strength just to progress, such as a large drop to a raft containing a cabin key holding a large medpack before doing the action in question, but overall it’s a rather marvelous place to handle, perhaps my favorite in the game.
While there’s now usage of more contemporary settings, I don’t find this diminishes the archeological aspect, and if anything, it helps make the transitions of an area’s underbelly contain more weight, aiming for grave modernity than old legends and abandoned civilizations. Traditionally they may not be tombs, but functionally they share the same principles: the ending of Batroli’s Hideout and skirmishes of other residential areas, transitioning from a sunny day to a blackened night as your sights are set upon the rotted and decayed Opera House; escaping an Offshore Rig meant to hold you captive whisks you over to the outskirts of SS Poseidon’s distant cousin, swimming from below the capsized vessel before emerging on its broken, right sided hulls; the Tibetan footholds, alongside the Barkhang Monastery it leads to, place you into numerous different challenges, bracing you for what’s to come in the catacombs and ice palace that lay beneath, as well as the scenarios deeper inside the forgotten temple way back in China. The isolationist feeling permeating throughout the first game’s adventure has transmogrified into a different one altogether: grit. Before you felt as though something could be there, anything, but you’re hopeful it’ll lead to some goods. Now, you always feel something observing you, and whatever it is, it’s better to take the first shot. A lot of the sound cues from TR1 carry over to this, and yet again the implementation of them carries a different connotation despite the similar locale, such as hearing the gorey Atlantis’ heartbeat and droning ambiance on the rustic and foundered Maria Doria, or the chants of various temples becoming a lot more spiritually aligned with the monk-populated Barkhang Monastery. Even the arrangement of the main theme is reflective of this change, sounding a lot more melancholic and introspective than ever. Quite honestly, I’m stunned Nathan McCree was able to get all of this done within three months under such harsh conditions and tools at disposal.
Combat was something I dreaded even before the start. Numerous times I’ve elaborated how each game or expansion dead set on focusing with this aspect was largely their millstones, so I had to brace myself for this one knowing its new action focus meant having to fight more often considering the reviews on here. Surprisingly enough, though, not only did I enjoy it, I dare say it contains some of the best combat scenarios I’ve experienced thus far. A lot of it comes down to weapon usage feeling more important than the other games, with only one or two feeling underutilized in any fashion. In a tight hallway with no room to reliably pivot away from enemies? Pull out the shotgun due to its tight spread and pellet size dealing bigger damage. Positioned in a way that enemies can’t get to you quickly, if at all? Use either the M16 for more distant adversaries, the automatic pistols for middle-range places, or the regular pistols if they REALLY can’t touch you. Uzis are still the go-to choice due to their abundance of ammo as well as consistent streak of damage and range, but you can also use the grenade launcher if you want a nice and quick “FUCK YOU” to anyone getting in your way. If you hate yourself, you can also use the harpoon gun, a tool that does poor damage regardless of being in the water or not, and always has to reload after just four shots. While I won’t deny there’s classic hitscan bullshit, as well as enemy placements and/or spawn points being particularly harsh, I can’t say I truly had a miserable time in this regard. It asks more about jumping and dodging their line of sight through various means than anything, and while it definitely could’ve had some trimming done to downscale the human foes (the start of the Maria Doria section would be a lot more impactful if they weren’t around until at least the last third of Living Quarters), there’s still a balance of narrative involvement of these goons, as well as the local fauna being around their home turf. It also helps when you realize each gun’s kit, such as the M16 having two states whether you’re grounded or mobile, the grenade launcher having a fixed lob to take into account when dealing with enemies going around corners, and the aforementioned spread of the shotgun.
There’s definitely aspects in the sequel that felt maligned and lost when compared to the first game. I don’t find secret finding to be especially thrilling this time around since there’s more obvious and “right in front of you” placements of them compared the previous outing where you really have to dig through the environment or obstacles to get rewards, though I will admit sprucing the formula so that you get a hefty reward of ammo after nabbing three dragon statuettes instead of the supplies being the secrets make it a worthy tradeoff. While not at all the center of appeal, for a more deliberate fixation on the John Woo-esque action movies the plot and cutscene direction feel more ho-hum comparatively, rarely containing more bombastic moments to top off the elevator torch or motorcycle jump. The biggest step back, though, was the stilted pacing of levels due to the newfound excess. Tibetan Foothills is the inverse of Venice, feeling a lot more like busywork upon a linear drive to get the entrance of the monastery open while utilizing a rickety snowmobile, facing off against hazards relying more on luck than skill, as well as a barrage of human enemies that’re seemingly endless in numbers. Wreck Of The Maria Doria, the centerpiece of the second level set, has a fantastically moody and flow in the first third and a streamlined, compact last third contain a largely boring middle filled with block pushing, switch flipping, and more mundane tests of platforming. Temple Of Xian is a gauntlet-like penultimate ordeal similar to Atlantis, but while the latter had the right sense of escalation due to a variety of factors, ToX feels endless and overdrawn, utilizing so many gimmicks, puzzles, timed underwater runs, and what have you that it became one of the most exhausting and delirious set of obstacles I’ve faced thus far. It also didn’t help that the springboards, just introduced in Tibet’s Ice Palace prior, feel heavily inconsistent in how they launch you into the air, as well as gauging as to how and when you’re able to land or grab onto things before plummeting to your death. There’s other instances, such as Batrolli’s Hideout continuing on instead of halting just after the business in the library, but these were the main ones that stuck out on having ideas darted at the wall because of the increase in resources, instead of in tandem with.
When I was planning this review out in my head as I went along, as well as struggling to get the words in place when getting to the writing process, I fluctuated as to how it was worse, better, or on par with the first game, due to all the components working or grinding against one another. After some serious thought, I’d have to say it’s just a smidge below the original for my money’s worth. I’m sure some future replays will have these thoughts become more concrete and well realized, but for now there’s a certain aura and consistency from TR1 that makes the adventure feel more grand and realized, compared to this where its tendency to indulge its extravagance lead to mixed results. Either way, I’m still pretty glad I went through this, and it was nice to have hit another banger of sorts within this series. There’s still some nuances and lateral/areal manipulation modern game studios could learn from these two entries in particular when it comes to crafting 3D adventure-platformers. Hopefully the third game can keep this momentum going, but considering what the crew have faced already, the game’s state is pretty up in the air...
LAST TIME: LARA CROFT GO
ADD-ON: THE GOLDEN MASK
NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER III
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From my understanding and through all my digging, Tomb Raider II is generally considered to be one of the best titles in the series, at the very least a worthy follow up to the first game. From playing and formulating each forum post and what have you, it took what was previously established, hardened its difficulty both in exploration and action fundamentals, all while expanding the breadth of scope and scale of the level design with a simultaneous focus on the linear, compact nature that had been dabbled with prior. The first level, Great Wall, is a bit of an appetizer in this regard; while TR1’s Caves eases players into the game’s tricks and philosophies with careful enemy placement, obstacle courses, and overall room layout, TGW instead opts to throw them into the thick of it regardless on if they’re a greenhorn thrillseeker or a returning adventurer, what with having a tiger spawn at a specific point after dropping in to the level over on the right, a secret not too far from where you’re supposed to climb over on the lefthand side, and a majority of its second act running from boulders, spiked walls, crumbling floors, and rolling blades. This is something I expected akin to Late Greece/Early Egypt, but I wonder if that was the point of it. In regards to Croft Manor, the estate now boasts a full-on obstacle course, more of the ground level in the actual estate becoming available, and a secret treasure room from Lara’s time in Egypt waiting to be discovered, alongside Winston the Butler being a new, albeit added late into production, character who’s fun to mess with, as well as Judith Gibbins being the new voice thanks to her brother, Core Design programmer Martin Gibbins, telling her about the role’s availability. Some big changes were made to the formula, which worked to its benefit and occasional detriment. All that being said, let’s back up a bit and go over that production period.
I’ve leaned into Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer’s and Richard Moss of Ars Technica’s reflection articles published years ago - and it’s something I’ll continue doing as I go along for this era - for a variety of reasons, chief among them being that it’s important to stress how this all snowballed into the first wave’s demise. Core, wanting to capitalize off the spontaneous popularity and success, not only had a sequel already in mind, but conducted numerous brand and commercial dealings, resulting in situations like Lara Croft doing pin-up renders and other propped-up doll showings. Scandals like “Nude Raider” also took off, which itself landed a retort and in-joke by having Lara blow up upon doing an input related to it. This whole debacle and sneer of attention was getting to Toby Gard, annoyed that Croft was being propagated as a Bond Girl instead of, well, a normal, free-spirited one. Now, there’s probably a bit of embellishing since this was the dude who made the handstand posture as well as sketched early designs more catered to his tastes, but nonetheless it’s an understandable ire of seeing something you created warped by your publishers for publicity sake. Not to mention, after that game’s success Gard and Paul Douglas received tons of positions from American studios such as… Interplay and Shiny Entertainment? Oh geez, I wonder how those timelines are like. Anyway, among other reasons this manifested into a stubbornly harsh atmosphere during production for a new, unrelated game project the two plus Gavin Rummery were trying to establish, before the latter swapped back over to TR2’s team in agitation. At some point, either before, during, or after the room bubble, Gard and Douglas were offered to either work on an N64 port of TR1, or follow suit in creating the sequel. Both of these options didn’t sit well for them, so they decided to leave and form Confounding Factor in pursuit of creative freedom and personal marketing decisions, and this leads to a rather hectic life span for the game they worked on, Galleon, which is a whole separate matter. The aforementioned TR2team in question consisted mainly of those who worked on the first game to some degree, as well as a few new faces such as animators Stewart Atkinson and Joss Charmet, all working on this for eight months, a crunch period even harsher than before. Co-designer Neil Boyd said he got a divorce during this due to the workload, Rummery remarked that he felt horrible and only thought of the work, usual coffee intakes and sleeping in the offices, it was a mess, and one that’ll continue to escalate as the brand becomes more notable and they focus on getting these out on a yearly basis. As far as this entry is concerned, the cracks don’t show themselves… too strongly, anyway.
As stated before, TR2’s difficulty curve is whetted into a much tougher and grueling ordeal, focusing more on a linear endeavor though the open-ended approach still gets some play every now and then. In terms of technical upgrades, there’s a huge boon gained after Adrian Smith has talked about scrapping a Saturn port due to, as outlined in Sega Saturn Magazine #21, not being able to support these upgrades the PS1 and PC were capable of incorporating, such as more dynamic camera angles, environmental details, and overall just an improved sense of grandeur and scope. There’s two vehicles you can procure overall, and having to activate flares amongst the darkened caverns or rooms gives way for creative lighting and tone. For a more specific example, Venice’s canal starts off tight and insular, but grows into a more robust series of hotspots as you progress further in the sewer system, and further to an interconnected block just before Italian cult leader Marco Bartoli’s hideout. There’s new acrobatic tricks to utilize such as mid-air flips for positional advantage against the newly added human adversaries or puzzle-solving, and being able to climb up on vines, ladders, anything that seems like you can put your hands on and go upward, all of which are necessary to do the first third where you have to obtain the boat from a locked storage shed by jumping through windows to different rooftops. It took a bit to get a handling of, especially in regards to the boat, but once all these additions clicked into place, it was a lot of fun breezing through each section and figure out how to get by the gate safely, culminating in a delightfully over-the-top setpiece. The Deck feels more akin to the “focal room” angle Midas’ Palace and Obelisk Of Khamoon had, with the verticality and general layout centering on a lost, crippled ship dubbed the Maria Doria (this set of levels are one big Disaster movie homage, specifically 1972’s Poseidon Adventure). Not only do you have to go through the differing levels of the ship and its scattered parts to unlock the Seraph necessary to open a gate in Tibet, but you’re also gonna have to go through the expansive cave systems necessary to even progress to these sections in the first place. Your positioning in regards to enemies feel a lot more advantageous, being able to get the drop on them or even just firing far away at a safe distance with your guns, even against the sharks underwater where you can find land, get to shore and whittle them away safely. More careful use of shimmies, standing and running jumps, as well as swimming through the various water are expected, though granted this game does have an affinity for planting you into spots where you have to take damage of varying strength just to progress, such as a large drop to a raft containing a cabin key holding a large medpack before doing the action in question, but overall it’s a rather marvelous place to handle, perhaps my favorite in the game.
While there’s now usage of more contemporary settings, I don’t find this diminishes the archeological aspect, and if anything, it helps make the transitions of an area’s underbelly contain more weight, aiming for grave modernity than old legends and abandoned civilizations. Traditionally they may not be tombs, but functionally they share the same principles: the ending of Batroli’s Hideout and skirmishes of other residential areas, transitioning from a sunny day to a blackened night as your sights are set upon the rotted and decayed Opera House; escaping an Offshore Rig meant to hold you captive whisks you over to the outskirts of SS Poseidon’s distant cousin, swimming from below the capsized vessel before emerging on its broken, right sided hulls; the Tibetan footholds, alongside the Barkhang Monastery it leads to, place you into numerous different challenges, bracing you for what’s to come in the catacombs and ice palace that lay beneath, as well as the scenarios deeper inside the forgotten temple way back in China. The isolationist feeling permeating throughout the first game’s adventure has transmogrified into a different one altogether: grit. Before you felt as though something could be there, anything, but you’re hopeful it’ll lead to some goods. Now, you always feel something observing you, and whatever it is, it’s better to take the first shot. A lot of the sound cues from TR1 carry over to this, and yet again the implementation of them carries a different connotation despite the similar locale, such as hearing the gorey Atlantis’ heartbeat and droning ambiance on the rustic and foundered Maria Doria, or the chants of various temples becoming a lot more spiritually aligned with the monk-populated Barkhang Monastery. Even the arrangement of the main theme is reflective of this change, sounding a lot more melancholic and introspective than ever. Quite honestly, I’m stunned Nathan McCree was able to get all of this done within three months under such harsh conditions and tools at disposal.
Combat was something I dreaded even before the start. Numerous times I’ve elaborated how each game or expansion dead set on focusing with this aspect was largely their millstones, so I had to brace myself for this one knowing its new action focus meant having to fight more often considering the reviews on here. Surprisingly enough, though, not only did I enjoy it, I dare say it contains some of the best combat scenarios I’ve experienced thus far. A lot of it comes down to weapon usage feeling more important than the other games, with only one or two feeling underutilized in any fashion. In a tight hallway with no room to reliably pivot away from enemies? Pull out the shotgun due to its tight spread and pellet size dealing bigger damage. Positioned in a way that enemies can’t get to you quickly, if at all? Use either the M16 for more distant adversaries, the automatic pistols for middle-range places, or the regular pistols if they REALLY can’t touch you. Uzis are still the go-to choice due to their abundance of ammo as well as consistent streak of damage and range, but you can also use the grenade launcher if you want a nice and quick “FUCK YOU” to anyone getting in your way. If you hate yourself, you can also use the harpoon gun, a tool that does poor damage regardless of being in the water or not, and always has to reload after just four shots. While I won’t deny there’s classic hitscan bullshit, as well as enemy placements and/or spawn points being particularly harsh, I can’t say I truly had a miserable time in this regard. It asks more about jumping and dodging their line of sight through various means than anything, and while it definitely could’ve had some trimming done to downscale the human foes (the start of the Maria Doria section would be a lot more impactful if they weren’t around until at least the last third of Living Quarters), there’s still a balance of narrative involvement of these goons, as well as the local fauna being around their home turf. It also helps when you realize each gun’s kit, such as the M16 having two states whether you’re grounded or mobile, the grenade launcher having a fixed lob to take into account when dealing with enemies going around corners, and the aforementioned spread of the shotgun.
There’s definitely aspects in the sequel that felt maligned and lost when compared to the first game. I don’t find secret finding to be especially thrilling this time around since there’s more obvious and “right in front of you” placements of them compared the previous outing where you really have to dig through the environment or obstacles to get rewards, though I will admit sprucing the formula so that you get a hefty reward of ammo after nabbing three dragon statuettes instead of the supplies being the secrets make it a worthy tradeoff. While not at all the center of appeal, for a more deliberate fixation on the John Woo-esque action movies the plot and cutscene direction feel more ho-hum comparatively, rarely containing more bombastic moments to top off the elevator torch or motorcycle jump. The biggest step back, though, was the stilted pacing of levels due to the newfound excess. Tibetan Foothills is the inverse of Venice, feeling a lot more like busywork upon a linear drive to get the entrance of the monastery open while utilizing a rickety snowmobile, facing off against hazards relying more on luck than skill, as well as a barrage of human enemies that’re seemingly endless in numbers. Wreck Of The Maria Doria, the centerpiece of the second level set, has a fantastically moody and flow in the first third and a streamlined, compact last third contain a largely boring middle filled with block pushing, switch flipping, and more mundane tests of platforming. Temple Of Xian is a gauntlet-like penultimate ordeal similar to Atlantis, but while the latter had the right sense of escalation due to a variety of factors, ToX feels endless and overdrawn, utilizing so many gimmicks, puzzles, timed underwater runs, and what have you that it became one of the most exhausting and delirious set of obstacles I’ve faced thus far. It also didn’t help that the springboards, just introduced in Tibet’s Ice Palace prior, feel heavily inconsistent in how they launch you into the air, as well as gauging as to how and when you’re able to land or grab onto things before plummeting to your death. There’s other instances, such as Batrolli’s Hideout continuing on instead of halting just after the business in the library, but these were the main ones that stuck out on having ideas darted at the wall because of the increase in resources, instead of in tandem with.
When I was planning this review out in my head as I went along, as well as struggling to get the words in place when getting to the writing process, I fluctuated as to how it was worse, better, or on par with the first game, due to all the components working or grinding against one another. After some serious thought, I’d have to say it’s just a smidge below the original for my money’s worth. I’m sure some future replays will have these thoughts become more concrete and well realized, but for now there’s a certain aura and consistency from TR1 that makes the adventure feel more grand and realized, compared to this where its tendency to indulge its extravagance lead to mixed results. Either way, I’m still pretty glad I went through this, and it was nice to have hit another banger of sorts within this series. There’s still some nuances and lateral/areal manipulation modern game studios could learn from these two entries in particular when it comes to crafting 3D adventure-platformers. Hopefully the third game can keep this momentum going, but considering what the crew have faced already, the game’s state is pretty up in the air...
LAST TIME: LARA CROFT GO
ADD-ON: THE GOLDEN MASK
NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER III
2023
One of those cases where it feels weird to rate due to someone, in this case Charlotte Broccard, clearly making it more as a passionate outing and share instead of a full-on product. In that regard though I admit it was nice to see Vietnamese culture and festivities more in some form of game, plus I learned a fair bit about the dishes "used" as a result which is appreciated!
The GAME part comes from the WarioWare-esque minigames and they're... fine. Nothing mindblowing but this is a short, totally for-free thing you can do in 5-minutes tops so ya know, lil unfair to critique. Thought the food spread would be a bit more extravagant though...
The GAME part comes from the WarioWare-esque minigames and they're... fine. Nothing mindblowing but this is a short, totally for-free thing you can do in 5-minutes tops so ya know, lil unfair to critique. Thought the food spread would be a bit more extravagant though...
1993
It took some fine-tuning, but I set up an Amiga emulator called FS-UAE after realizing quite a number of games I'm interested in have this as their origin point. Of course, instead of (cult) classics like Lemmings and Defender Of The Crown, or even ones people know about like Chuck Rock or James Pond, I went with a game that only one other person has played and has a Genesis version. Clearly, I have the best priorities in mind. On the note of familiarity, let's talk about the developer studio Raising Hell Software, cause a rabbit hole I fell into beforehand was what lead me here. Seemingly, due to some naming shenanigans, they had to rebrand themselves as Bizarre Creations, which later on would become more known as the studio behind Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars, among other sleeper hits coming out way after like Metropolis Street Racer and Blur. I've yet to find a concrete source about that particular tidbit, but Martyn Chudley has been open about the transitional period, so at least the lineage is legit. Plus, after playing this I can parse the more quirky, rather off-kilter pastiches of presentation value they would later become known for, so ya know, silver linings!
In this 2D speed platformer, you play as either Wiz or Liz, tasked with collecting "wabbits" and whatever letters of a word they drop after a cauldron mishap has occurred across the same pool of 8, distinct locales in a set cycle depending on whether easy, normal, or hard was selected, with the Genesis port allowing a code to unlock a 'very hard' difficulty once inputted, each one affecting the time limit and how many cycles you have to complete. There's also a different selection as to whether you want the speed to be normalish, fast, or REALLY fast. After completing all of them, you're then finally pitted into a fight - read: dodge while a beam hones in on the target - against bosses such as a snake or a clock or a flower or other strange subjects. To its credit, the loop starts off pretty well, each section has a pretty and detail-ridden setting that don't particularly get in the way of visibility and gauging as to where the floating objects are gonna float over to. Each level also contains ingredients to put onto the cauldron and mix with another for different effects, such as poofing up minigames, a shop and a place to buy hints once nabbing enough stars to trade in, and gags such as a fake-out death. As for getting stuff such as new life and clocks to increase the timer, aside from the aforementioned shop, you're basically accumulating enough points to cross the threshold necessary to constitutes a new life or run around and pick up the clocks when doing the main game, both of which are also available in a filled-in bonus at the end of a level, meaning there's little pressure in scampering for either one.
Due to this, the satiation for the runtime and satisfaction from the loop dry up pretty quickly, and in their place the tedium steps in, what with there being absolutely no shake ups to the levels in each restart nor the speed factor having any more meat to it than "chain the wabbit and item pickups in a satisfying way". Potion mixing is similarly bare, I only got a level skip option once, two bonus minigames, a few different doors cropping up, with the other times being either points or jackshit. Definitely could've used some sprucing up in the gameplay department, there's a good potential within this type of speed-oriented mechanics, but the end product ends up feeling more like a proof of concept for a more expanded game than an outright full package. You could argue that part of the value is replaying this at the increase skill levels, but since the only thing that's changing are the speed of the base kit proportional or contrasting the increase/decrease of a timer, I don't find that really means well in the grand scheme. Consider this a recommend if you're someone that's very curious about the life of the Amiga and/or Bizarre Creation's pedigree. Still, there could've been worse games to kickstart the Amiga emulation train. I mean, no disrespect to the platform, but there seems to be some particularly noteworthy stinkers on offer here... two of which I already mentioned at the beginning. Aw well, those aren't coming for a decent while anyway.
In this 2D speed platformer, you play as either Wiz or Liz, tasked with collecting "wabbits" and whatever letters of a word they drop after a cauldron mishap has occurred across the same pool of 8, distinct locales in a set cycle depending on whether easy, normal, or hard was selected, with the Genesis port allowing a code to unlock a 'very hard' difficulty once inputted, each one affecting the time limit and how many cycles you have to complete. There's also a different selection as to whether you want the speed to be normalish, fast, or REALLY fast. After completing all of them, you're then finally pitted into a fight - read: dodge while a beam hones in on the target - against bosses such as a snake or a clock or a flower or other strange subjects. To its credit, the loop starts off pretty well, each section has a pretty and detail-ridden setting that don't particularly get in the way of visibility and gauging as to where the floating objects are gonna float over to. Each level also contains ingredients to put onto the cauldron and mix with another for different effects, such as poofing up minigames, a shop and a place to buy hints once nabbing enough stars to trade in, and gags such as a fake-out death. As for getting stuff such as new life and clocks to increase the timer, aside from the aforementioned shop, you're basically accumulating enough points to cross the threshold necessary to constitutes a new life or run around and pick up the clocks when doing the main game, both of which are also available in a filled-in bonus at the end of a level, meaning there's little pressure in scampering for either one.
Due to this, the satiation for the runtime and satisfaction from the loop dry up pretty quickly, and in their place the tedium steps in, what with there being absolutely no shake ups to the levels in each restart nor the speed factor having any more meat to it than "chain the wabbit and item pickups in a satisfying way". Potion mixing is similarly bare, I only got a level skip option once, two bonus minigames, a few different doors cropping up, with the other times being either points or jackshit. Definitely could've used some sprucing up in the gameplay department, there's a good potential within this type of speed-oriented mechanics, but the end product ends up feeling more like a proof of concept for a more expanded game than an outright full package. You could argue that part of the value is replaying this at the increase skill levels, but since the only thing that's changing are the speed of the base kit proportional or contrasting the increase/decrease of a timer, I don't find that really means well in the grand scheme. Consider this a recommend if you're someone that's very curious about the life of the Amiga and/or Bizarre Creation's pedigree. Still, there could've been worse games to kickstart the Amiga emulation train. I mean, no disrespect to the platform, but there seems to be some particularly noteworthy stinkers on offer here... two of which I already mentioned at the beginning. Aw well, those aren't coming for a decent while anyway.
Agatha Christie rolls in her grave in torment, knowing the funny blue hedgehog received a decently entertaining spoof of her Orient Express.
2015
As a separate yet related anecdote before the review begins, I want to talk about this series' developer studio, Square Enix Montreal, for a bit. Most of you have most likely learned this, but last year in May, Embracer Group entered into an agreement to acquire it, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos Montreal from Square, which they succeeded in doing in August. The studio even decided to do a rebranding as a way to acclimatize the situation. Just three months after that, Embracer announced it was closing the studio down in favor of AAA investment affecting a few hundred people, and later on the studio announced four of their games were gonna get delisted from the mobile stores. You know the song and dance by now, shit like this fuckin sucks, DOUBLY so for the smartphone gaming market since its state is more precarious and wayward due to their inherently digital nature. I dunno if the other SEM/Onoma titles will get hit with the same fate since they're still up and available on other stores, but I figured to give this as a word of caution in case you are or will become interested in any of them in the future.
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You remember those GO titles Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex got? I'm vaguely aware of this diorama-framed puzzle set of games due to seeing them here and there, but have yet to really dive since I wanted to at least do more of their mainline titles... which I've done with Tomb Raider not that long ago! Makes for a nice warm up and refresh from my burnout before diving back into the thick of it again.
As stated, this is a puzzle game where the gameplay has you moving Lara around one notch at a time, planning then reacting to circumstances involving enemies, switches, pillars, what have you. If you play this on PC like I do, you can use either a control or the mouse, and I stuck with the latter which worked fine enough. It responds to what my cursor was doing splendidly, but well, the main moving function has you clicking then dragging the mouse, let go of left click, then Lara will move. Kind of awkward, and I rather prefer just clicking on the notches instead, but it is what it is. Presentation usually gets the most amount of praise from these games, and with good reason. The use of foreground environments and background shadows to convey scenery and invoke wonder is downscaled yet similar to what was available in the main series proper, even as far back as the PS1 days. There's always a sense that each new book (effectively the equivalent to a world) adds onto the mysticism of the lite narrative and events, made even better with how much the game is nudging you to face down enemies instead of hobbling away from them in order to activate stuff to move on. On top of the aesthetics themselves being so wonderful to look at and see in action, the team did a great job translating the fundamentals onto this format.
Now, take all of what I said... and barely translate it into the mechanics proper. I dunno, I wouldn't say it's an entirely easy puzzle game since I got stumped a few times, but it's also quite telling that the time I felt like I was consistently challenged was in its two bonus books, one of which was developed in collaboration with Ko_op who are known for GNOG and the upcoming Goodbye Volcano High. Cave Of Fire utilizes a revitalization system for the enemies which leads to more creative solves, and Mirror Of Spirits does the 'dual world of you and the shadow' approach which are always a treat, settled in Croft Manor and similarly does it with more thought and engaging ruminations. The main package itself is... fine? The escalation aspect is there, but it feels bare, never really spreading its wings or incorporate more intricate systems and layouts across the runtime until near the very end. Once you see the type of mechanics shown in one level, there's a good chance it's gonna stay for the whole ride with little innovation done to entice the following layouts, with exception to the torches and boulders having multiple use cases in order to solve an ordeal, or crumbling floors to make the best use of the reactive elements this offers. Now, I can handle a puzzler that decides to center on the lax side than an involved one, but the low dopamine hit from each solved conundrum doesn't bode well considering this is all that's available. The collectibles being akin to treasures and relics are welcome, and I like being rewarded with outfits from across the series, and even an adequately tied set of Hitman, DE, and Just Cause attire plus the silly Midas Touched Croft look, but I wouldn't mind an extra set of levels for a job well done.
I suppose this bears fruit to the discussion of the type of expectations to set, since this is a mobile title first and foremost instead of an at-home console or PC one. In that regard, I can see this tickling the fancy more, but even then I can't help but wonder that an opportunity was missed, especially considering how many other cross-platform puzzle titles are available like (from what I hear) the Layton games or (what I've actually played) the Monument Valley duology. Probably doesn't help that not only did I finish and enjoy Looney Tunes Sheep Raider not that long ago, but I also played a fair bit of Baba Is You prior which so far has been tickling my fancy tenfold. To be clear and in complete fairness to LCGO, I did have some fun with it, and I appreciate both its outings and its approach on what it's doing to try out Hitman GO when I get the chance to do so. I just wish more was done on the formula in a way that appeases me. At least it makes for an easy 100% trophy run?
LAST TIME: TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD / BENEATH THE ASHES & LARA'S SHADOW
NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER II
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You remember those GO titles Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex got? I'm vaguely aware of this diorama-framed puzzle set of games due to seeing them here and there, but have yet to really dive since I wanted to at least do more of their mainline titles... which I've done with Tomb Raider not that long ago! Makes for a nice warm up and refresh from my burnout before diving back into the thick of it again.
As stated, this is a puzzle game where the gameplay has you moving Lara around one notch at a time, planning then reacting to circumstances involving enemies, switches, pillars, what have you. If you play this on PC like I do, you can use either a control or the mouse, and I stuck with the latter which worked fine enough. It responds to what my cursor was doing splendidly, but well, the main moving function has you clicking then dragging the mouse, let go of left click, then Lara will move. Kind of awkward, and I rather prefer just clicking on the notches instead, but it is what it is. Presentation usually gets the most amount of praise from these games, and with good reason. The use of foreground environments and background shadows to convey scenery and invoke wonder is downscaled yet similar to what was available in the main series proper, even as far back as the PS1 days. There's always a sense that each new book (effectively the equivalent to a world) adds onto the mysticism of the lite narrative and events, made even better with how much the game is nudging you to face down enemies instead of hobbling away from them in order to activate stuff to move on. On top of the aesthetics themselves being so wonderful to look at and see in action, the team did a great job translating the fundamentals onto this format.
Now, take all of what I said... and barely translate it into the mechanics proper. I dunno, I wouldn't say it's an entirely easy puzzle game since I got stumped a few times, but it's also quite telling that the time I felt like I was consistently challenged was in its two bonus books, one of which was developed in collaboration with Ko_op who are known for GNOG and the upcoming Goodbye Volcano High. Cave Of Fire utilizes a revitalization system for the enemies which leads to more creative solves, and Mirror Of Spirits does the 'dual world of you and the shadow' approach which are always a treat, settled in Croft Manor and similarly does it with more thought and engaging ruminations. The main package itself is... fine? The escalation aspect is there, but it feels bare, never really spreading its wings or incorporate more intricate systems and layouts across the runtime until near the very end. Once you see the type of mechanics shown in one level, there's a good chance it's gonna stay for the whole ride with little innovation done to entice the following layouts, with exception to the torches and boulders having multiple use cases in order to solve an ordeal, or crumbling floors to make the best use of the reactive elements this offers. Now, I can handle a puzzler that decides to center on the lax side than an involved one, but the low dopamine hit from each solved conundrum doesn't bode well considering this is all that's available. The collectibles being akin to treasures and relics are welcome, and I like being rewarded with outfits from across the series, and even an adequately tied set of Hitman, DE, and Just Cause attire plus the silly Midas Touched Croft look, but I wouldn't mind an extra set of levels for a job well done.
I suppose this bears fruit to the discussion of the type of expectations to set, since this is a mobile title first and foremost instead of an at-home console or PC one. In that regard, I can see this tickling the fancy more, but even then I can't help but wonder that an opportunity was missed, especially considering how many other cross-platform puzzle titles are available like (from what I hear) the Layton games or (what I've actually played) the Monument Valley duology. Probably doesn't help that not only did I finish and enjoy Looney Tunes Sheep Raider not that long ago, but I also played a fair bit of Baba Is You prior which so far has been tickling my fancy tenfold. To be clear and in complete fairness to LCGO, I did have some fun with it, and I appreciate both its outings and its approach on what it's doing to try out Hitman GO when I get the chance to do so. I just wish more was done on the formula in a way that appeases me. At least it makes for an easy 100% trophy run?
LAST TIME: TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD / BENEATH THE ASHES & LARA'S SHADOW
NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER II
2003
Place Of Abandonment: Late 2020/Early 2021, around the end of Bender's section, which is about halfway through the game
I never watched the Simpsons growing up. I dunno how, but despite having played Hit & Run and The Simpsons Game, plus enjoying its movie, I never got the chance to watch it on Fox on the TV, or even stream it through legal or 'legal' manners. Just sort of whizzed by me, really. I have been making slow progress in watching the series, but it's gonna take a while before I finish up its Golden Era (I plan on getting up to S11).
Futurama, meanwhile, is the complete inverse. This was formulaic to most of my senses, teaching me that not only can the bases of science can be cool, but also my humor. From the long payoff to the quick wordplay, from the esoteric weirdness to the gallows, I dare say it's one of the funniest things in existence. Sure, not everything about it hits the mark - Bend Her is one of the most painfully unfunny and uncomfortably bad episodes I've ever seen - but for a show that was conceived in 1999, lived up to 2003, revived once again in 2008 and finishing up in 2013, it's a pretty strong track record compared to everything I've heard about the Simpsons. I'm not a super fan that can quote every line or detail an exact scene from a specific episode, but I'll gladly share my favorite moments, be it fan favorites or personal.
Anyway this game sucks lol
You play as Fry, Bender, and Leela for this endeavor, with Zoidberg being used for one instance, and I'll give credit that it's nice they were able to get not only the voice cast for them, Farnsworth, and even Mom & Sons, but also one of the writers of the show, J. Stewart Burns. As a result, the writing's easily the best part of the package, not only in terms of line delivery and setup but also from utilizing a few throwbacks here and there, such as the loading screens being based on the type of adverts you'd see from the show, Nibbler being one of the main collectibles, or being able to activate the Suicide Booth and losing a life in the process. Not near the top of the series' best efforts, and the presentation is very rough in obtaining a 3DCG approach, but there's enough gags and game-specific humor to at least get a good chuckle here and there, especially with how the story is structured as this sort of time loop fiasco. It's the everything else that drags it down, unfortunately.
The controls are bizarre, definitely a "need to play it to feel it" instance. The jump is springy yet also stiff to position, the three trio turn kinda awkwardly, there's little sense of feedback when you get hit meaning you can get cut down without warning on occasion, and the camera is.. actually somewhat competent surprisingly, but it still has a habit of getting stuck on things or not visually letting you see what's ahead. While the core package is a 3D platformer, each of the characters have a distinct playstyle to set their levels apart: Fry has the action-adventure approach, utilizing guns to deal damage which doesn't mean much since a majority of them deal big enough hits to whittle down all of his foes; Bender is mainly centered on the platforming, even having a boulder chase sequence, but there's never a sense of progression, you sort of do things just because; I never got to Leela or Zoidberg's sections, but I've at least dug up what they do, and the former's combat focused while the latter's a vehicle minigame of getting to the end on time.
Honestly, even if you iron out the jank and controls, it wouldn't help much cause this game is ungodly boring. Despite the immense potential a game within the Futurama setting would have, it strangely doesn't capitalize on them, just strictly adhering to the base loop and some tinges of the show's style for the whole way through. It also doesn't help most of the minigames I played were either woefully long and boring, or haphazardly short and unpolished. I've heard this game is rather hard, and while most of it is again cause of how unpolished and rough the collision and strict jumps are, the core battles against enemies and jumping sequences - from what I've played, anyway - never really drove me up a wall, instead I just felt like I was wasting time on something that I clearly didn't like doing, and should've used it on something else instead. It's a supremely basic and barebones approach, and the amount of times I felt something was escalating can be counted on one hand.
Nowadays, I try to finish whatever I set out to do, even if I'm not at all liking it, since I want to see if there's anything to at least say and give out a finalized, earnest thought when it comes to discussions. However, this game is one of very few times I'm comfortable in leaving abandoned, for two reasons. Firstly, I've seen what the later levels are like, and little to none of them have any sort of appeal and opted to double down on the weakest aspects of the package, so I don't see any point in bothering. Secondly, remember when I said the writing was the best part? Well, so did the crew, because the cutscenes were edited and repackaged as a "special cinematic" for the home release of Beast With A Billion Backs, as Futurama: The Lost Adventure. Technically speaking, this makes it one of the few times the "just watch the cutscenes instead" mantra is actually a truth, you can just watch that, or preferably an ACTUAL cutscene compilation of the game to retain some of the more platform-specific jokes, and have a guilt-free experience!
I never watched the Simpsons growing up. I dunno how, but despite having played Hit & Run and The Simpsons Game, plus enjoying its movie, I never got the chance to watch it on Fox on the TV, or even stream it through legal or 'legal' manners. Just sort of whizzed by me, really. I have been making slow progress in watching the series, but it's gonna take a while before I finish up its Golden Era (I plan on getting up to S11).
Futurama, meanwhile, is the complete inverse. This was formulaic to most of my senses, teaching me that not only can the bases of science can be cool, but also my humor. From the long payoff to the quick wordplay, from the esoteric weirdness to the gallows, I dare say it's one of the funniest things in existence. Sure, not everything about it hits the mark - Bend Her is one of the most painfully unfunny and uncomfortably bad episodes I've ever seen - but for a show that was conceived in 1999, lived up to 2003, revived once again in 2008 and finishing up in 2013, it's a pretty strong track record compared to everything I've heard about the Simpsons. I'm not a super fan that can quote every line or detail an exact scene from a specific episode, but I'll gladly share my favorite moments, be it fan favorites or personal.
Anyway this game sucks lol
You play as Fry, Bender, and Leela for this endeavor, with Zoidberg being used for one instance, and I'll give credit that it's nice they were able to get not only the voice cast for them, Farnsworth, and even Mom & Sons, but also one of the writers of the show, J. Stewart Burns. As a result, the writing's easily the best part of the package, not only in terms of line delivery and setup but also from utilizing a few throwbacks here and there, such as the loading screens being based on the type of adverts you'd see from the show, Nibbler being one of the main collectibles, or being able to activate the Suicide Booth and losing a life in the process. Not near the top of the series' best efforts, and the presentation is very rough in obtaining a 3DCG approach, but there's enough gags and game-specific humor to at least get a good chuckle here and there, especially with how the story is structured as this sort of time loop fiasco. It's the everything else that drags it down, unfortunately.
The controls are bizarre, definitely a "need to play it to feel it" instance. The jump is springy yet also stiff to position, the three trio turn kinda awkwardly, there's little sense of feedback when you get hit meaning you can get cut down without warning on occasion, and the camera is.. actually somewhat competent surprisingly, but it still has a habit of getting stuck on things or not visually letting you see what's ahead. While the core package is a 3D platformer, each of the characters have a distinct playstyle to set their levels apart: Fry has the action-adventure approach, utilizing guns to deal damage which doesn't mean much since a majority of them deal big enough hits to whittle down all of his foes; Bender is mainly centered on the platforming, even having a boulder chase sequence, but there's never a sense of progression, you sort of do things just because; I never got to Leela or Zoidberg's sections, but I've at least dug up what they do, and the former's combat focused while the latter's a vehicle minigame of getting to the end on time.
Honestly, even if you iron out the jank and controls, it wouldn't help much cause this game is ungodly boring. Despite the immense potential a game within the Futurama setting would have, it strangely doesn't capitalize on them, just strictly adhering to the base loop and some tinges of the show's style for the whole way through. It also doesn't help most of the minigames I played were either woefully long and boring, or haphazardly short and unpolished. I've heard this game is rather hard, and while most of it is again cause of how unpolished and rough the collision and strict jumps are, the core battles against enemies and jumping sequences - from what I've played, anyway - never really drove me up a wall, instead I just felt like I was wasting time on something that I clearly didn't like doing, and should've used it on something else instead. It's a supremely basic and barebones approach, and the amount of times I felt something was escalating can be counted on one hand.
Nowadays, I try to finish whatever I set out to do, even if I'm not at all liking it, since I want to see if there's anything to at least say and give out a finalized, earnest thought when it comes to discussions. However, this game is one of very few times I'm comfortable in leaving abandoned, for two reasons. Firstly, I've seen what the later levels are like, and little to none of them have any sort of appeal and opted to double down on the weakest aspects of the package, so I don't see any point in bothering. Secondly, remember when I said the writing was the best part? Well, so did the crew, because the cutscenes were edited and repackaged as a "special cinematic" for the home release of Beast With A Billion Backs, as Futurama: The Lost Adventure. Technically speaking, this makes it one of the few times the "just watch the cutscenes instead" mantra is actually a truth, you can just watch that, or preferably an ACTUAL cutscene compilation of the game to retain some of the more platform-specific jokes, and have a guilt-free experience!
2003
<< HENSHIN A GO-GO, BABY! >>
Admittedly, writing a review for Viewtiful Joe is hard for me. What can be said about this masterpiece that hasn't been said already? I suppose I could go into detail about what makes the presentation stand out to me.
As time goes on, I’ve grown to loathe the phrase “style over substance”. It’s funny, you think visual artforms such as games, animation, comic/manga and film would be given an immense boon with how they incorporate and utilize grandoise setpieces and flair in order to convey any sort of thematic touches, story weaves, or just cash all in on the bombastic appeal and be Cool As Shit, yet for some reason this tends to get criticized and ridiculed, seen as nothing but a gimmick and crutch for the “real” meat and potatoes of an art… which is ironic when these things are typically used in tandem in order to sell you into the hype and narrative (tip: JP from Redline, the subject of my at-the-time avi, plays a large part into this). Nothing wrong with having to focus on the visuals instead of the other aspects anyway, artforms are all about showcasing different elements and ties to invoke a sense of attachment. “Alright, well, whatever”, say you wanna push aside this petty diatribe, what does this have to do with Viewtiful Joe?
Well, it’s in the name.
<< ALRIGHT, LET'S GET IT ON!!! >>
Viewtiful Joe is unabashed as to what exactly it’s about: a loud and proud, Kamen Rider-dripped fantasy, kicking ass while looking Sick As Hell doing so. A project helmed by director Hideki Kamiya and produced by Atsushi Inaba, situated as a creative endeavor to increase the skill and experience of every member on the team, mix the American side of comics and graphic novels with the fantastical element of Japanese superheroes on a 2D plane, and be the second in a line of hitters to promote Capcom’s rekindled third party relationship with Nintendo for the GameCube, which we all know how that turned out. It’s one of the most distilled showings of a dream put onto a game, every trope and aspect carrying out the mechanics and ideas with such aplomb that it’s no wonder it’s attained one of the strongest cult followings amongst Capcom’s various lines of cult hits.
It's from this love letter approach that makes every stage feel refreshing, not only being based on the surface-level aesthetics and atmosphere such as Gothic or Sci-Fi movie genres, but how those and the mechanics themselves are incorporated into puzzle solving. For example, Episode 4 is a play on the Disaster movies, starting out in a sub called the Orca as you try to reach the engine room. Starting off right into the thick of missiles being launched out and in the line of your fire, having to use various VFX powers to guide a remote-controlled lift over to reach the bridge: slow to lower it, mach speed to outpace or put emphasis on the distance between each interval, and zoom-in to break cracks of the sub, revealing openings to hide you and the lift in, all while having to deal with enemies at the process. It doesn’t just stop there, once you reached the bridge, defeat a hulking baddie to nab the wheel, and use it to turn the sub upside down, you then work backwards as you reach the machinery room, each holding now sporting electric gears to avoid contact with, and the very beginning now giving you a secret encounter to obtain more V-Points from. Run across the loading missiles at the right time, defeat another bastion of enemies, activate the lifts from a gate with use of zoom-in kick whirls to do a sequence puzzle, and from there it’s back once again to reach the engine room in tow, with even more hidden encounters becoming available after all’s done.
My experience with these sorts of action games is still on the slim side, but I don’t think it’s wrong to say VJ1 is an entry that hinges more on this puzzle approach than its contemporaries. Every stage builds upon and stylizes each of these aspects as you march along, be they simple or complex to carry off on. Every boss has something to uncover to exploit them, and whether it’s from the VFX powers or careful timing of dodges and/or patterns, gaining this knowledge is part of the charm, especially when they throw in the boss rush at the second-to-last level (one of very few in gaming I don’t particularly mind, at that). It’s as much a puzzler as it is a 2D brawler, and considering a grand majority of them hit - including Kamiya’s designated shmup sequence - it’s a grand slam of enjoyment to uncover.
VJ1 has gotten a reputation for being a hard game, and while true in a sense, its curve isn’t one I’d classify as messy. A lot of it comes down to enemy encounters and design choices, starting out against the most basic mooks while progressively being introduced to harder, more involved and distinctive foes. Do you focus on just doing the slow-mo and whittle them down with ease, or do you use it in combination with mach speed to hop around and establish a high scoring event? Zoom-in can be used for both, do you mix them together at the risk of running the bar dry, or use it alone and take advantage of most enemies being shocked at your moves? Can’t forget about the basics and launches, how about setting up more V-Point bonuses by dodging their attacks, canceling into the punches/kicks, perhaps launching them upward, then go for a slow VFX to start hurling them and/or objects into their direction for maximum gain? Objects such as swords and missiles, and even more casually-reliable items you can buy at the shop such as Voomerangs and the Shocking Pink bombs, can be utilized in a fashion that sets up the battle and state of superiority, and by careful use of the powers, you can be able to obtain special items that can really help you show off. Get the points, use them to buy moves and other upgrades such as health and a life, rinse and repeat. The only thing that’s stopping you, is your limitation of these abilities.
<< THAT MOVE… THE ONE YOU DID BACK THERE… VIEWTIFUL! >>
It’s also refreshing to see how earnest and gung-ho Joe is about being given the mantle of heroism. The dude’s a major dork, brushing aside the worries about his girlfriend Silvia until the second-to-last chapter. The moment he sees someone copying him, he makes a snide joke about the loser having to wear yellow. Most of the time when the narrator is saying something important, he’s just thinking about innocuous ideas like what exactly he should name his newfound form as. Ironically, it’s this sense of aloofness yet optimistic earnesty that settled him onto the branding of a hero that his own icon, Captain Blue, has faltered and lost sight of, reveling in selfishness against those that abandoned him at the height of his popularity. Much like with DMC3, the more simpler approach of storytelling gains more weight by not only how the characters are reactive to the revelations, but how the gameplay becomes intertwined and further heightens the drive and bombastic appeal of the package and ordeal. Rather fitting given how bounded Joe and Silvia’s are despite their differences in view and personality, wouldn’t you say?
Much like the people in the hyperlinks I established at the beginning, each time I think of a negative for this it usually ends up being rather minor. I suppose 7-2 could’ve cooled it with the reuse of obstacles and mook rush, but considering this is the penultimate test before the final boss, and by then you’d have most if not all of the moves bought from the shop, there’s room to squeeze some of that hecticness in. I actually wouldn’t have minded more involvement with the stage layout on how you utilize the VFX power, but almost every stage does that to such a degree that I can’t be too upset about it. And much like what Seal said, It’d be nice if some of the boss patterns had more depth to them and didn’t rely on slow zoom-in punches for a quick defeat, but since figuring them out and cinching an opening is part of the puzzle box approach, alongside the fact that the survival against their barrage of hard-hitting attacks are part of the challenge, it’s a pill that’s a bit easy to swallow. I’ve always wondered where my stance on it would be after finishing it yet again, and after seeing how much of a well-rounded and wonderfully made package it is after so long, as well as having to stop the urge to hit a V-Rated playthrough immediately following the first one, I don’t have a problem saying thus far, it’s my favorite action title ever made, or at the very least top 3.
It’s fitting this was the first game by Capcom I’ve ever played, at age four. Couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to one of my favorite companies.
<< YOU’VE GOT THEIR ATTENTION, NOW SHOW THEM WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF! JUST GO FOR IT! >>
Admittedly, writing a review for Viewtiful Joe is hard for me. What can be said about this masterpiece that hasn't been said already? I suppose I could go into detail about what makes the presentation stand out to me.
As time goes on, I’ve grown to loathe the phrase “style over substance”. It’s funny, you think visual artforms such as games, animation, comic/manga and film would be given an immense boon with how they incorporate and utilize grandoise setpieces and flair in order to convey any sort of thematic touches, story weaves, or just cash all in on the bombastic appeal and be Cool As Shit, yet for some reason this tends to get criticized and ridiculed, seen as nothing but a gimmick and crutch for the “real” meat and potatoes of an art… which is ironic when these things are typically used in tandem in order to sell you into the hype and narrative (tip: JP from Redline, the subject of my at-the-time avi, plays a large part into this). Nothing wrong with having to focus on the visuals instead of the other aspects anyway, artforms are all about showcasing different elements and ties to invoke a sense of attachment. “Alright, well, whatever”, say you wanna push aside this petty diatribe, what does this have to do with Viewtiful Joe?
Well, it’s in the name.
<< ALRIGHT, LET'S GET IT ON!!! >>
Viewtiful Joe is unabashed as to what exactly it’s about: a loud and proud, Kamen Rider-dripped fantasy, kicking ass while looking Sick As Hell doing so. A project helmed by director Hideki Kamiya and produced by Atsushi Inaba, situated as a creative endeavor to increase the skill and experience of every member on the team, mix the American side of comics and graphic novels with the fantastical element of Japanese superheroes on a 2D plane, and be the second in a line of hitters to promote Capcom’s rekindled third party relationship with Nintendo for the GameCube, which we all know how that turned out. It’s one of the most distilled showings of a dream put onto a game, every trope and aspect carrying out the mechanics and ideas with such aplomb that it’s no wonder it’s attained one of the strongest cult followings amongst Capcom’s various lines of cult hits.
It's from this love letter approach that makes every stage feel refreshing, not only being based on the surface-level aesthetics and atmosphere such as Gothic or Sci-Fi movie genres, but how those and the mechanics themselves are incorporated into puzzle solving. For example, Episode 4 is a play on the Disaster movies, starting out in a sub called the Orca as you try to reach the engine room. Starting off right into the thick of missiles being launched out and in the line of your fire, having to use various VFX powers to guide a remote-controlled lift over to reach the bridge: slow to lower it, mach speed to outpace or put emphasis on the distance between each interval, and zoom-in to break cracks of the sub, revealing openings to hide you and the lift in, all while having to deal with enemies at the process. It doesn’t just stop there, once you reached the bridge, defeat a hulking baddie to nab the wheel, and use it to turn the sub upside down, you then work backwards as you reach the machinery room, each holding now sporting electric gears to avoid contact with, and the very beginning now giving you a secret encounter to obtain more V-Points from. Run across the loading missiles at the right time, defeat another bastion of enemies, activate the lifts from a gate with use of zoom-in kick whirls to do a sequence puzzle, and from there it’s back once again to reach the engine room in tow, with even more hidden encounters becoming available after all’s done.
My experience with these sorts of action games is still on the slim side, but I don’t think it’s wrong to say VJ1 is an entry that hinges more on this puzzle approach than its contemporaries. Every stage builds upon and stylizes each of these aspects as you march along, be they simple or complex to carry off on. Every boss has something to uncover to exploit them, and whether it’s from the VFX powers or careful timing of dodges and/or patterns, gaining this knowledge is part of the charm, especially when they throw in the boss rush at the second-to-last level (one of very few in gaming I don’t particularly mind, at that). It’s as much a puzzler as it is a 2D brawler, and considering a grand majority of them hit - including Kamiya’s designated shmup sequence - it’s a grand slam of enjoyment to uncover.
VJ1 has gotten a reputation for being a hard game, and while true in a sense, its curve isn’t one I’d classify as messy. A lot of it comes down to enemy encounters and design choices, starting out against the most basic mooks while progressively being introduced to harder, more involved and distinctive foes. Do you focus on just doing the slow-mo and whittle them down with ease, or do you use it in combination with mach speed to hop around and establish a high scoring event? Zoom-in can be used for both, do you mix them together at the risk of running the bar dry, or use it alone and take advantage of most enemies being shocked at your moves? Can’t forget about the basics and launches, how about setting up more V-Point bonuses by dodging their attacks, canceling into the punches/kicks, perhaps launching them upward, then go for a slow VFX to start hurling them and/or objects into their direction for maximum gain? Objects such as swords and missiles, and even more casually-reliable items you can buy at the shop such as Voomerangs and the Shocking Pink bombs, can be utilized in a fashion that sets up the battle and state of superiority, and by careful use of the powers, you can be able to obtain special items that can really help you show off. Get the points, use them to buy moves and other upgrades such as health and a life, rinse and repeat. The only thing that’s stopping you, is your limitation of these abilities.
<< THAT MOVE… THE ONE YOU DID BACK THERE… VIEWTIFUL! >>
It’s also refreshing to see how earnest and gung-ho Joe is about being given the mantle of heroism. The dude’s a major dork, brushing aside the worries about his girlfriend Silvia until the second-to-last chapter. The moment he sees someone copying him, he makes a snide joke about the loser having to wear yellow. Most of the time when the narrator is saying something important, he’s just thinking about innocuous ideas like what exactly he should name his newfound form as. Ironically, it’s this sense of aloofness yet optimistic earnesty that settled him onto the branding of a hero that his own icon, Captain Blue, has faltered and lost sight of, reveling in selfishness against those that abandoned him at the height of his popularity. Much like with DMC3, the more simpler approach of storytelling gains more weight by not only how the characters are reactive to the revelations, but how the gameplay becomes intertwined and further heightens the drive and bombastic appeal of the package and ordeal. Rather fitting given how bounded Joe and Silvia’s are despite their differences in view and personality, wouldn’t you say?
Much like the people in the hyperlinks I established at the beginning, each time I think of a negative for this it usually ends up being rather minor. I suppose 7-2 could’ve cooled it with the reuse of obstacles and mook rush, but considering this is the penultimate test before the final boss, and by then you’d have most if not all of the moves bought from the shop, there’s room to squeeze some of that hecticness in. I actually wouldn’t have minded more involvement with the stage layout on how you utilize the VFX power, but almost every stage does that to such a degree that I can’t be too upset about it. And much like what Seal said, It’d be nice if some of the boss patterns had more depth to them and didn’t rely on slow zoom-in punches for a quick defeat, but since figuring them out and cinching an opening is part of the puzzle box approach, alongside the fact that the survival against their barrage of hard-hitting attacks are part of the challenge, it’s a pill that’s a bit easy to swallow. I’ve always wondered where my stance on it would be after finishing it yet again, and after seeing how much of a well-rounded and wonderfully made package it is after so long, as well as having to stop the urge to hit a V-Rated playthrough immediately following the first one, I don’t have a problem saying thus far, it’s my favorite action title ever made, or at the very least top 3.
It’s fitting this was the first game by Capcom I’ve ever played, at age four. Couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to one of my favorite companies.
<< YOU’VE GOT THEIR ATTENTION, NOW SHOW THEM WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF! JUST GO FOR IT! >>
Listen if I want to see someone suddenly and uncomfortably overshare their personal mishap and relationship issues, thereby making it everyone's problem, I'd just browse Twitter searches for an hour
Even if you want to be be charitable about what this is aiming, there's nothing to get. Ironically enough, the writer is doing the same thing that's supposedly the end of the fictional duo's relationship, by being super clingy to the other and not learning when to let go.
Even if you want to be be charitable about what this is aiming, there's nothing to get. Ironically enough, the writer is doing the same thing that's supposedly the end of the fictional duo's relationship, by being super clingy to the other and not learning when to let go.
1998
Much like with Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider, Burning Rangers was something I played back in 2019, yet am only now finishing, although I have even less of an excuse this time around. Longplays and even HowLongToBeat clock this at or under 2 hours, with the game boasting a grand total of 4 levels, meaning procrastination had once again gripped its claws onto my mortal body. Of course, I didn’t spend that little time on it, more was spent via replaying some levels and a little extra speciality cause surprise surprise, this one’s a keeper. Also gonna make a PSA to say you should not play this with the regular Saturn pad, and instead use this esoteric, albeit somewhat ahead of the curve design of a 3D controller. Kronos and Mednafen both support it as well, so no excuses for other emulation nerds!
While Burning Rangers’ fundamentals have nuances to go over, its development process is rife with factoids to share before diving into it properly. Most of these were gathered from a behind the scene section from 2008’s games™ magazine and an old issue of UK’s Official Sega Saturn Magazine, both of which I suggest reading in full since I’m going over the highlights for brevity. Did you know this was directed by Naoto Oshima with lead designer Takao Miyoshi, among other Nights Into Dreams alumni, carefully going over the process to incorporate distinctly beautiful effects for the fire? How about the original conceivement as an online title, before it was decided to be used for Phantasy Star Online? The conception of the firefighting setting came from the desire to craft a game about rescuing instead of killing, the location travels for inspiration included Hong Kong and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Backdraft attraction, formatting the use of the NID engine, the pitches for the title of the game went through a few other steps, the initial idea of motion capture was to be used for the entirety of the animations before being reduced to just the walk cycles, and there’s also a reason as to why there’s usually no music during gameplay: they wanted to entice the tension and thrill of the firefighting experience! Sonic Team housed, and still house, some of the most creative workers in the industry, and this is another example of everyone’s involvement being delivered with much aplomb and energy.
Because of the low stage pool as well as the previously mentioned utilization of sound, BR’s design pathos is akin to arcade experiences, with content forming as how well you’re ranked. Performance is gauged by how many people you’ve rescued, the amount of crystals accumulated during the run, how quickly you dispatched the boss, and how low or high you’ve kept the fire limit on, following the rule of S as the highest, D as the lowest. While there is a story mode, the reason I marked this as “Retired” instead of “Completed” comes from what happens after beating the game once; the four missions are now able to randomize their layout and survivor counts, wherein the possibility for this are seemingly massive, upwards of up to 3125 routes are touted, an extraordinarily bold claim… but let’s shift back to the main meat of the package. As Shou or Tillis, you go through a series of linear hallways putting out fire with a laser blaster, either tapping or holding the button against the small reds, moderate greens/magentas, and potent blues. There’s two buttons you can use to call in your team leader Chris for support on where to go, though with how strict and funneled the linearity is, I didn’t really feel like I had to use this often thankfully, though if you need to be aware this follows the logic of “contingent placement”, so stand still first to get the best read of your surroundings. In terms of maneuvers, you’re equipped with a thruster pack that, with the tap of any direction, will have you backflip, side dodge, or forward dash. All of that can be used in tandem with a (double) jump, giving way for a sick amount of movement options to handle any situation when needed. I believe the sensitivity for the stick could’ve been ironed out however, I dunno if this is an emulation issue or an actual one the 3D Control Pad faced, but any tap of my left Xbone stick, no matter if intentional or not, activated these actions immediately, and while it didn’t majorly affect my platforming or shooting it was annoying regardless. The first three stages have a variable amount of civilians to transport away from danger, 5 crystals is more than enough but having 10+ of them will do that and give you continues in case you game over, and it’s here you realize that the English voice acting is… surprisingly competent? Yea, I couldn’t believe it either! Not all the delivery hits, mind, but even then this is still a fair bit above what was the usual market at the time. Even the camera’s well handled here, left and right triggers having it move 90 degrees at a time and usually not getting stuck on objects to make navigation a chore. Alongside the weight and turning being just right, this quickly settled into becoming one of numerous titles under my Games To Become A Speed Demon belt. Seriously, it’s fun just blasting through each room and corridors ASAP, even if time isn’t a factor to the ranking.
Sega’s internal studios during their time in the console market (and even nowadays, albeit more scarcely) have always had a knack for cutting edge presentation and production values, and due to the fact this was a late Saturn title, BR has this covered in spades. Sure, granted, you can make a drinking game over the amount of times models or particle effects are visually clipped through walls, and the collision on the floor can be rather chaotic due to the edges of any kind causes the character to auto-jump, but everything else is top notch. The use of color is sublime, and helps to accentuate the differences in each level’s setting. The dim hues, the stark lighting, the way the ambiance is used in conjunction with the current predicaments, it’s all wonderfully crafted. I’ve seen people criticize the low use of music during these sections, and I do not get nor agree with this at all. Due to the emphasis on character interactions and slowly having the player familiarize with these areas, I’d say forgoing it and only having them be used for special circumstances was a great call, it’s a fine example of moments being heightened in its impact on the events. I mean, would the music that plays in the vehicle section towards the end be truly the same, if you could hear it everywhere else? What about other instances within the game? I’d say not. Even if you completely disagree with me, know that special passwords allow you to play as other members of the squad in the four missions, complete with music and no audio guide if you’re that picky about it. How do you get these passwords? Why, rescue the Sonic Team staff and check their mail, such as designer Satoshi Okano of course! In fact, you can read mail from a number of the people you helped save during the missions, adding a nice layer of worldbuilding and personality into the mix. It might be light with character stakes and drama, but it’s bursting with charm regardless.
Let’s see, what else… combat’s a thing! Every stage concludes with boss fights, some of their music I linked earlier! Thankfully, though, the team took a page out of Core’s Tomb Raider books, since here not only is it barely a presence into the package, the times when you do fight are wholly simple, just charge up the blaster to the robots enough times and it gets destroyed. Almost all of them have basic and exploitable patterns too, meaning you can just stand a fair distance away and down them painlessly. Seriously, the only trouble here is how poor the soft lock is, since even when standing still shots can tend to miss… which only really becomes a major annoyance against the robot bees in the space station. Those are just, way too small to reliably hit. Boss fights are also very straightforward, not requiring that much acrobatics funnily enough since standing still and maybe jumping are all that's needed to handle them, especially in the case of the Level 4 boss which is taking place on the top of a spaceship and it stands there absentmindedly, for story purposes of course. Not to say there aren’t any involved bosses, but the robotic fish in the aquatic lab/theme park (who gave off some MASSIVE SA1 Chaos 4 vibes, due to both having the same layout and even attack patterns) and the final one aren’t too troublesome either, in fact they ended up being my two favorites due to having the right amount of player effort and challenge that made it much more rewarding to beat under shorter time.
Burning Rangers’ one of the most well known cult hits on the Saturn, and count me among the feverish crew. There’s so much going right that I’m shocked Sega, let alone Sonic Team, hasn’t tried to further embellish, reiterate the formula onto something else, or even have it be rereleased on modern platforms. There’s a few old guards hanging out at the two places, and iirc some of the new blood has dabbled into their newer ideas too, so it’s not like it can’t be done, especially since one Andreas Scholl provided a Unity remake of the first mission as a SAGE2021 entry. On the other, I’d at least like it if Oshima and/or Miysohi contributed in some capacity, and perhaps there simply isn’t much else to do with the IP in their eyes. Not to mention reworks of Sega’s classic stuff tends to have lower budget priorities, and while I wouldn’t say I’m that picky about it since most of them turn out well, it would at least be welcome if it obtained a modest one instead, be it licensed out to another company or in-house. Eh, whatever happens in the future, I’ll be sure to do some video firefight gaming once more.
While Burning Rangers’ fundamentals have nuances to go over, its development process is rife with factoids to share before diving into it properly. Most of these were gathered from a behind the scene section from 2008’s games™ magazine and an old issue of UK’s Official Sega Saturn Magazine, both of which I suggest reading in full since I’m going over the highlights for brevity. Did you know this was directed by Naoto Oshima with lead designer Takao Miyoshi, among other Nights Into Dreams alumni, carefully going over the process to incorporate distinctly beautiful effects for the fire? How about the original conceivement as an online title, before it was decided to be used for Phantasy Star Online? The conception of the firefighting setting came from the desire to craft a game about rescuing instead of killing, the location travels for inspiration included Hong Kong and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Backdraft attraction, formatting the use of the NID engine, the pitches for the title of the game went through a few other steps, the initial idea of motion capture was to be used for the entirety of the animations before being reduced to just the walk cycles, and there’s also a reason as to why there’s usually no music during gameplay: they wanted to entice the tension and thrill of the firefighting experience! Sonic Team housed, and still house, some of the most creative workers in the industry, and this is another example of everyone’s involvement being delivered with much aplomb and energy.
Because of the low stage pool as well as the previously mentioned utilization of sound, BR’s design pathos is akin to arcade experiences, with content forming as how well you’re ranked. Performance is gauged by how many people you’ve rescued, the amount of crystals accumulated during the run, how quickly you dispatched the boss, and how low or high you’ve kept the fire limit on, following the rule of S as the highest, D as the lowest. While there is a story mode, the reason I marked this as “Retired” instead of “Completed” comes from what happens after beating the game once; the four missions are now able to randomize their layout and survivor counts, wherein the possibility for this are seemingly massive, upwards of up to 3125 routes are touted, an extraordinarily bold claim… but let’s shift back to the main meat of the package. As Shou or Tillis, you go through a series of linear hallways putting out fire with a laser blaster, either tapping or holding the button against the small reds, moderate greens/magentas, and potent blues. There’s two buttons you can use to call in your team leader Chris for support on where to go, though with how strict and funneled the linearity is, I didn’t really feel like I had to use this often thankfully, though if you need to be aware this follows the logic of “contingent placement”, so stand still first to get the best read of your surroundings. In terms of maneuvers, you’re equipped with a thruster pack that, with the tap of any direction, will have you backflip, side dodge, or forward dash. All of that can be used in tandem with a (double) jump, giving way for a sick amount of movement options to handle any situation when needed. I believe the sensitivity for the stick could’ve been ironed out however, I dunno if this is an emulation issue or an actual one the 3D Control Pad faced, but any tap of my left Xbone stick, no matter if intentional or not, activated these actions immediately, and while it didn’t majorly affect my platforming or shooting it was annoying regardless. The first three stages have a variable amount of civilians to transport away from danger, 5 crystals is more than enough but having 10+ of them will do that and give you continues in case you game over, and it’s here you realize that the English voice acting is… surprisingly competent? Yea, I couldn’t believe it either! Not all the delivery hits, mind, but even then this is still a fair bit above what was the usual market at the time. Even the camera’s well handled here, left and right triggers having it move 90 degrees at a time and usually not getting stuck on objects to make navigation a chore. Alongside the weight and turning being just right, this quickly settled into becoming one of numerous titles under my Games To Become A Speed Demon belt. Seriously, it’s fun just blasting through each room and corridors ASAP, even if time isn’t a factor to the ranking.
Sega’s internal studios during their time in the console market (and even nowadays, albeit more scarcely) have always had a knack for cutting edge presentation and production values, and due to the fact this was a late Saturn title, BR has this covered in spades. Sure, granted, you can make a drinking game over the amount of times models or particle effects are visually clipped through walls, and the collision on the floor can be rather chaotic due to the edges of any kind causes the character to auto-jump, but everything else is top notch. The use of color is sublime, and helps to accentuate the differences in each level’s setting. The dim hues, the stark lighting, the way the ambiance is used in conjunction with the current predicaments, it’s all wonderfully crafted. I’ve seen people criticize the low use of music during these sections, and I do not get nor agree with this at all. Due to the emphasis on character interactions and slowly having the player familiarize with these areas, I’d say forgoing it and only having them be used for special circumstances was a great call, it’s a fine example of moments being heightened in its impact on the events. I mean, would the music that plays in the vehicle section towards the end be truly the same, if you could hear it everywhere else? What about other instances within the game? I’d say not. Even if you completely disagree with me, know that special passwords allow you to play as other members of the squad in the four missions, complete with music and no audio guide if you’re that picky about it. How do you get these passwords? Why, rescue the Sonic Team staff and check their mail, such as designer Satoshi Okano of course! In fact, you can read mail from a number of the people you helped save during the missions, adding a nice layer of worldbuilding and personality into the mix. It might be light with character stakes and drama, but it’s bursting with charm regardless.
Let’s see, what else… combat’s a thing! Every stage concludes with boss fights, some of their music I linked earlier! Thankfully, though, the team took a page out of Core’s Tomb Raider books, since here not only is it barely a presence into the package, the times when you do fight are wholly simple, just charge up the blaster to the robots enough times and it gets destroyed. Almost all of them have basic and exploitable patterns too, meaning you can just stand a fair distance away and down them painlessly. Seriously, the only trouble here is how poor the soft lock is, since even when standing still shots can tend to miss… which only really becomes a major annoyance against the robot bees in the space station. Those are just, way too small to reliably hit. Boss fights are also very straightforward, not requiring that much acrobatics funnily enough since standing still and maybe jumping are all that's needed to handle them, especially in the case of the Level 4 boss which is taking place on the top of a spaceship and it stands there absentmindedly, for story purposes of course. Not to say there aren’t any involved bosses, but the robotic fish in the aquatic lab/theme park (who gave off some MASSIVE SA1 Chaos 4 vibes, due to both having the same layout and even attack patterns) and the final one aren’t too troublesome either, in fact they ended up being my two favorites due to having the right amount of player effort and challenge that made it much more rewarding to beat under shorter time.
Burning Rangers’ one of the most well known cult hits on the Saturn, and count me among the feverish crew. There’s so much going right that I’m shocked Sega, let alone Sonic Team, hasn’t tried to further embellish, reiterate the formula onto something else, or even have it be rereleased on modern platforms. There’s a few old guards hanging out at the two places, and iirc some of the new blood has dabbled into their newer ideas too, so it’s not like it can’t be done, especially since one Andreas Scholl provided a Unity remake of the first mission as a SAGE2021 entry. On the other, I’d at least like it if Oshima and/or Miysohi contributed in some capacity, and perhaps there simply isn’t much else to do with the IP in their eyes. Not to mention reworks of Sega’s classic stuff tends to have lower budget priorities, and while I wouldn’t say I’m that picky about it since most of them turn out well, it would at least be welcome if it obtained a modest one instead, be it licensed out to another company or in-house. Eh, whatever happens in the future, I’ll be sure to do some video firefight gaming once more.
To my knowledge, Looney Tunes is of a few licensed properties to get not one, but multiple games that are deemed to be Actually Good. Makes sense, when something’s been around as long as those dastardly scoundrels, ruffians, and downright bonkers bamboozlers, you’re bound to find nuggets of gold among the pile. I actually tried Sheep Raider - known as Sheep Dog N Wolf in PAL regions - out for a fair bit back in 2019 with its PC port, which is quite easy to set up surprisingly enough, but only now finished it w/ the PS1 version cause of convenience, CRT shader option, and finally cause I was too lazy to adjust the brightness option of the PC port to be on the same level as the PS1’s. As for why I chose this as my first LT venture over the likes of the two racing games, the more known cult classic Lost In Time, or dive into the wacky world that is the Crazy Castle series, there’s two reasons: the soundtrack composed by Eric Caspar, and the use of Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf.
It’s become rather childish and demeaning to go “why’d they go THIS HARD for a LICENSED GAME SOUNDTRACK” in regards to compositions, but I am nonetheless stunned over the effort Eric has exerted when it came to crafting the Jazzstep sound. In more (woefully) simplified terms, it’s the merry and melodic relationship of Jazzy acoustics and instrumentals, mixed in with Jungle’s breakneck layers via the synaptic tones of steady bass and chaotic drums, resulting in a wonderfully atmospheric, head-boppin, laid-back and just plain bangin ass music. It might not fit the Tunes’ brand in your ears at first, but over time you’ll quickly get used to it when doing the puzzles, thanks to when they’re used in each level. Similar thought process went to the two characters here; I don’t think Sam and Ralph are particularly popular within the massive gallery, so seeing something revolve around their formula as a whole puzzle package makes it, to me, much more distinct and appealing to pick up and try out in comparison. Not to say it’s just them and the sheep though, Daffy Duck’s the host and is readily providing quips and/or contributions to the goings on of a level dressed in appropriate costumes, Roadrunner shows up at the beginning in a familiar sequence, folks like Porky Pig, Toro The Bull, Yosemite Sam and Marvin The Martian are used for a level or two for something, even the audience in this faux game show setting are just the various casts found within the shorts… repeated multiple times even! It might be Ralph’s time on the spotlight, but it’ll never let up on the classic antics, devious contraptions sometimes provided by ACME, and aesthetical charm both in loading screens and gameplay. This level of detail is supposedly a common element during Infogrames’ run of the IP, and if that’s the case with the other titles, at least I know I’m in good hands.
Dedicating a paragraph covering the oozing charm understandably gives off a worrying omen, but it should be stressed that the core puzzle elements of this are pretty damn good as well. One level will have you tiptoeing into and around rocks to avoid Sam’s gaze, guiding a sheep back away with lettuce. Another will have you using a metal detector to unveil where mines could be hidden under the snow, then when picking a sheep up using the newly made footprints as a sign to go back the way you came. Two more will center around traveling to and back in periods of time, changing one part of the past to influence the structure of the present. It’s not often levels of differing environments will share the same sort of objects, and with the intro sequence of each being a flyby of what’s to come as a signifier of the game show frame - or, perhaps, a cartoon - as well as a way to gauge certain ideas to carry out, it helps keep each locale fresh. The various tools you pick up from mailboxes or interact within the stage keeps it up too, such as having to use a hairdryer to melt sheep after pushing/putting one down the icy water in order to bring them to the other side, or using the bungee rope in a variety of ways to move onward. Do wish there was more centering around the brand itself, though. I mean, it’s Looney Tunes! These rascals always carry out some sort of mischief and mayhem to themselves and/or others! While it was nice to see Sam carry out a cheeky counter after a failed flute hypnosis following a level focused squarely on that, or Gossamer being chased by Toro, or how the time clocks of Ralph and Sam’s cartoons are now objectified as hidden collectibles to obtain bonus points, it still feels somewhat lacking in this regard to a degree. Other than that personal nitpick, along with there being a low curve when it comes to upping the ante (despite appearing in the select menu, you don’t do much item combining until the 11th level of a 17-run deal), I’m surprised at how consistent the game is in terms of quality. There’s only a handful of low points during the runtime, and it’s when they’re the amalgamation of the two major issues in the package: the camera and wait tax.
As much of an easy target as it is to point out a bad camera during this era, it really has to be said due to its dessssssssspicable nature. You can only move the camera left or right with the shoulder buttons or the right stick of a dualshock, with up and down movements being done either a first person view or whenever the game provides fixed angles sufficient and needed when reaching specific spots of the area. While this sounds fine on paper and even sometimes in execution, there are cases where the camera swings and snags onto the boundary so wildly, it can cause an eyesore, ‘death’ (there’s no lives or a game over, getting hit just sends you back from before what happened), or both. While granted it didn’t lead to too many unfair circumstances, the occurrence of them was just enough that I felt it was a harm to the experience. There’s also the abundant of little moment-to-moment plays that add up to the tedium of waiting on things to happen. The swim speed is pathetically slow, meaning that it was slightly faster to just rise up to the surface and continuously jump to get somewhere; the device that allows you to time travel has animations that play out each and every time you get into the vortex, and considering your time in the past isn’t spent so much, the amount you see from this back-and-forth add up to a rather dull experience; even certain levels unnecessarily pad themselves out, like in Level 10 where after doing a dull and rather strict cannon launches compounded by ones that’ll automatically fire at you the moment you enter their field, you also have a three-pattern bout against Gossamer right before the finish line, having to dizzy it up and rotate a cog for a beam of light to shine onto it. Puzzle games by design are made to be played for a few hours or so before putting it down, and Sheep Raider certainly feels as such with how often I took breaks between each section. I’m also questioning if some sequences even properly indicate what you’re supposed to do before moving on, but considering the last few levels were when I was feeling quite bitter and impatient (unrelated to the game itself, to be clear), as well as it generously giving you back the items needed to progress after a capture and how this only happened like, two or three times overall, I’m willing to chalk this up to being a rare yet preventable problem that, at worst, means having to face an intentional loss.
Yea... not much else to say, really! Fun game, glad I finally got around to finishing this after almost half a decade of time has passed. Dunno when I’ll do another licensed marathon, but hopefully some will be able to entertain me as much as this one has, whenever that may be.
It’s become rather childish and demeaning to go “why’d they go THIS HARD for a LICENSED GAME SOUNDTRACK” in regards to compositions, but I am nonetheless stunned over the effort Eric has exerted when it came to crafting the Jazzstep sound. In more (woefully) simplified terms, it’s the merry and melodic relationship of Jazzy acoustics and instrumentals, mixed in with Jungle’s breakneck layers via the synaptic tones of steady bass and chaotic drums, resulting in a wonderfully atmospheric, head-boppin, laid-back and just plain bangin ass music. It might not fit the Tunes’ brand in your ears at first, but over time you’ll quickly get used to it when doing the puzzles, thanks to when they’re used in each level. Similar thought process went to the two characters here; I don’t think Sam and Ralph are particularly popular within the massive gallery, so seeing something revolve around their formula as a whole puzzle package makes it, to me, much more distinct and appealing to pick up and try out in comparison. Not to say it’s just them and the sheep though, Daffy Duck’s the host and is readily providing quips and/or contributions to the goings on of a level dressed in appropriate costumes, Roadrunner shows up at the beginning in a familiar sequence, folks like Porky Pig, Toro The Bull, Yosemite Sam and Marvin The Martian are used for a level or two for something, even the audience in this faux game show setting are just the various casts found within the shorts… repeated multiple times even! It might be Ralph’s time on the spotlight, but it’ll never let up on the classic antics, devious contraptions sometimes provided by ACME, and aesthetical charm both in loading screens and gameplay. This level of detail is supposedly a common element during Infogrames’ run of the IP, and if that’s the case with the other titles, at least I know I’m in good hands.
Dedicating a paragraph covering the oozing charm understandably gives off a worrying omen, but it should be stressed that the core puzzle elements of this are pretty damn good as well. One level will have you tiptoeing into and around rocks to avoid Sam’s gaze, guiding a sheep back away with lettuce. Another will have you using a metal detector to unveil where mines could be hidden under the snow, then when picking a sheep up using the newly made footprints as a sign to go back the way you came. Two more will center around traveling to and back in periods of time, changing one part of the past to influence the structure of the present. It’s not often levels of differing environments will share the same sort of objects, and with the intro sequence of each being a flyby of what’s to come as a signifier of the game show frame - or, perhaps, a cartoon - as well as a way to gauge certain ideas to carry out, it helps keep each locale fresh. The various tools you pick up from mailboxes or interact within the stage keeps it up too, such as having to use a hairdryer to melt sheep after pushing/putting one down the icy water in order to bring them to the other side, or using the bungee rope in a variety of ways to move onward. Do wish there was more centering around the brand itself, though. I mean, it’s Looney Tunes! These rascals always carry out some sort of mischief and mayhem to themselves and/or others! While it was nice to see Sam carry out a cheeky counter after a failed flute hypnosis following a level focused squarely on that, or Gossamer being chased by Toro, or how the time clocks of Ralph and Sam’s cartoons are now objectified as hidden collectibles to obtain bonus points, it still feels somewhat lacking in this regard to a degree. Other than that personal nitpick, along with there being a low curve when it comes to upping the ante (despite appearing in the select menu, you don’t do much item combining until the 11th level of a 17-run deal), I’m surprised at how consistent the game is in terms of quality. There’s only a handful of low points during the runtime, and it’s when they’re the amalgamation of the two major issues in the package: the camera and wait tax.
As much of an easy target as it is to point out a bad camera during this era, it really has to be said due to its dessssssssspicable nature. You can only move the camera left or right with the shoulder buttons or the right stick of a dualshock, with up and down movements being done either a first person view or whenever the game provides fixed angles sufficient and needed when reaching specific spots of the area. While this sounds fine on paper and even sometimes in execution, there are cases where the camera swings and snags onto the boundary so wildly, it can cause an eyesore, ‘death’ (there’s no lives or a game over, getting hit just sends you back from before what happened), or both. While granted it didn’t lead to too many unfair circumstances, the occurrence of them was just enough that I felt it was a harm to the experience. There’s also the abundant of little moment-to-moment plays that add up to the tedium of waiting on things to happen. The swim speed is pathetically slow, meaning that it was slightly faster to just rise up to the surface and continuously jump to get somewhere; the device that allows you to time travel has animations that play out each and every time you get into the vortex, and considering your time in the past isn’t spent so much, the amount you see from this back-and-forth add up to a rather dull experience; even certain levels unnecessarily pad themselves out, like in Level 10 where after doing a dull and rather strict cannon launches compounded by ones that’ll automatically fire at you the moment you enter their field, you also have a three-pattern bout against Gossamer right before the finish line, having to dizzy it up and rotate a cog for a beam of light to shine onto it. Puzzle games by design are made to be played for a few hours or so before putting it down, and Sheep Raider certainly feels as such with how often I took breaks between each section. I’m also questioning if some sequences even properly indicate what you’re supposed to do before moving on, but considering the last few levels were when I was feeling quite bitter and impatient (unrelated to the game itself, to be clear), as well as it generously giving you back the items needed to progress after a capture and how this only happened like, two or three times overall, I’m willing to chalk this up to being a rare yet preventable problem that, at worst, means having to face an intentional loss.
Yea... not much else to say, really! Fun game, glad I finally got around to finishing this after almost half a decade of time has passed. Dunno when I’ll do another licensed marathon, but hopefully some will be able to entertain me as much as this one has, whenever that may be.
2009
I am 100% certain this and Club Penguin were the reasons I love penguins a lot, which you know is actually fair game since they're easily one of the best animals ever.
The game in question, from what I can remember anyway, was alright. Not exactly the go-to flash game you use for goofing off in school or at home like Run, World's Hardest Game, Cubefield, or even its sequels, but there's scratching done to the "how can I maximize my efforts for big number distance?" itch at least.
The game in question, from what I can remember anyway, was alright. Not exactly the go-to flash game you use for goofing off in school or at home like Run, World's Hardest Game, Cubefield, or even its sequels, but there's scratching done to the "how can I maximize my efforts for big number distance?" itch at least.
2018
played with the Second Term DLC
Each time I do runs of Monster Prom, I'm surprised at how much I enjoy it. I don't mean this as a put down I use to mask my insecurity or the veil of "guilty pleasure", I mean it more so as to how many elements in this are and are not my thing.
I don't like how the conversational function of the RNG is executed. It's not that there's too many variables or whatnot, more so that it's hard to parse. Alongside the general wooing from each interaction - doesn't even have to be a successful one, but obviously doing it correctly nets the bigger bonus - there's a hidden check behind the scenes that'll tick on whether your chosen candidate will take up your offer to prom, yet the game never so much as to allude to the fact, meaning you're sort of supposed to figure it out either by guess work, careful assessment of the game's stat system and how they would correlate with a certain character, or a flat-out guide. There are sentences that are either easy to make educated assumptions as to what stat represents them, or are like worded in such a way they can refer to multiple different ones instead. Also not helping is that, if two stats for an event are tied in numerical value, you sometimes get the "fail" state anyway. Again, you more or less have to bust out a guide for this, even if some can be rather unfinished due to how many events and outcomes are available with or without the aforementioned DLC.
There's also the writing. As someone that has largely abstained from going "this is just [WEBSITE] bait" since it sounds super fuckin stupid and asinine, even I gotta admit the prose and general dialog is particularly Tumblr-aligned: meta humor, hyperspecific pop culture nods of varying years, different ties into fandom culture (I didn't get the event this time unlike in 2021, but they can sometimes talk about Starco and Markypoo, ship names in regards to Star Vs The Forces Of Evil. I am not making this up.), gags relying on overly simplifying a character's main trait, some strangely focused angles on fetishistic kinks here and there, stuff of those nature. In fact, if you squint your eyes real hard, you can even feel traces of Homestuck seeping in the depths of the fish girl Miranda Vanderblit, or how werewolf Scott Howl is literally just a stand-in for Arin Hanson, right down to being voiced by him! I'm pretty sure JackSepticEye also voices a character introduced in one of the game's updates... Also there's a Kappa character in the Second Term DLC that's pretty clearly supposed to be a manifestation of right-wing shitheels, but it isn't really like, funny, he annoys me just as much as the real ones do.
It has a number of strains, but thankfully I'm not jaded from online shenanigans just yet, so I can just sit back and enjoy the ride still. In my replay, I have done things such as
- car breeding
- a wild conspiracy journey about the meaning of the Caganer with literal hothead demon prince Damien and hipster vampire douche Liam de Lioncourt
- convincing the bitchy gorgon Vera Oberlin to cut off one of her snake heads to set an example for the others
- somehow ended up teaching yaoi to Liam, as a heads up for the imgur album, there's nothing explicit but it is rather raunchy
- brought a corpse to prom
- Zoe. Just, just Zoe. She was my favorite from the whole game despite being limited to the DLC.
Also sad to announce I did find some of it funny. I even laughed hard at a couple of lines, mostly the intentional ones anyway. It seems I too am just as wired to the infrastructure like some people are. Aw well. Really the only main lead I didn't laugh with was Scott for obvious reasons, Polly can be fun. Plus, I said the conversational RNG is rather bad, the other forms such as which events are triggered and increasing the stats are pretty easy to game the system on. I play this solo so I can't quite say for certain how they'd work for a multiplayer session, nor am I a diehard completionist so I'm not willing to see how bad this can get, but for casual endeavors at least it's competent and solid.
Hopefully the abundant of imgur images I've uploaded has shown the great artwork by Arthur 'CptHamburger', who's pretty active on social media and has an ArtStation page to boot. Even the protag designs are slam dunks, which makes me pretty glad the game has a pronoun option (no custom ones, only he/she/they) so I can just pick whichever when I feel like it. Already showed one of Zoe's routes is about her trans status, and I think there's supposed to be a polygamous ending in the DLC too? I'm cis and strictly monogamous, so I dunno how enticing and well-meaning these elements can be to other LGBT+ folk, but I feel there's enough of a grasp of honest intent and learning available to commend their efforts.
Should be noted that it's best to approach this as it's structured, which is mainly as a party affair than a strictly VN-like experience. I mean, you could do that, but considering you're dealing with either a 30 or 60 minute session with the potential of seeing the same sort of flow and dialog over and over, it's an easy way to obtain burn out. Just go with the flow.
I do have Monster Camp and Monster Trip, so I should take a look at those down the line, see if they improved on the formula or not.
Each time I do runs of Monster Prom, I'm surprised at how much I enjoy it. I don't mean this as a put down I use to mask my insecurity or the veil of "guilty pleasure", I mean it more so as to how many elements in this are and are not my thing.
I don't like how the conversational function of the RNG is executed. It's not that there's too many variables or whatnot, more so that it's hard to parse. Alongside the general wooing from each interaction - doesn't even have to be a successful one, but obviously doing it correctly nets the bigger bonus - there's a hidden check behind the scenes that'll tick on whether your chosen candidate will take up your offer to prom, yet the game never so much as to allude to the fact, meaning you're sort of supposed to figure it out either by guess work, careful assessment of the game's stat system and how they would correlate with a certain character, or a flat-out guide. There are sentences that are either easy to make educated assumptions as to what stat represents them, or are like worded in such a way they can refer to multiple different ones instead. Also not helping is that, if two stats for an event are tied in numerical value, you sometimes get the "fail" state anyway. Again, you more or less have to bust out a guide for this, even if some can be rather unfinished due to how many events and outcomes are available with or without the aforementioned DLC.
There's also the writing. As someone that has largely abstained from going "this is just [WEBSITE] bait" since it sounds super fuckin stupid and asinine, even I gotta admit the prose and general dialog is particularly Tumblr-aligned: meta humor, hyperspecific pop culture nods of varying years, different ties into fandom culture (I didn't get the event this time unlike in 2021, but they can sometimes talk about Starco and Markypoo, ship names in regards to Star Vs The Forces Of Evil. I am not making this up.), gags relying on overly simplifying a character's main trait, some strangely focused angles on fetishistic kinks here and there, stuff of those nature. In fact, if you squint your eyes real hard, you can even feel traces of Homestuck seeping in the depths of the fish girl Miranda Vanderblit, or how werewolf Scott Howl is literally just a stand-in for Arin Hanson, right down to being voiced by him! I'm pretty sure JackSepticEye also voices a character introduced in one of the game's updates... Also there's a Kappa character in the Second Term DLC that's pretty clearly supposed to be a manifestation of right-wing shitheels, but it isn't really like, funny, he annoys me just as much as the real ones do.
It has a number of strains, but thankfully I'm not jaded from online shenanigans just yet, so I can just sit back and enjoy the ride still. In my replay, I have done things such as
- car breeding
- a wild conspiracy journey about the meaning of the Caganer with literal hothead demon prince Damien and hipster vampire douche Liam de Lioncourt
- convincing the bitchy gorgon Vera Oberlin to cut off one of her snake heads to set an example for the others
- somehow ended up teaching yaoi to Liam, as a heads up for the imgur album, there's nothing explicit but it is rather raunchy
- brought a corpse to prom
- Zoe. Just, just Zoe. She was my favorite from the whole game despite being limited to the DLC.
Also sad to announce I did find some of it funny. I even laughed hard at a couple of lines, mostly the intentional ones anyway. It seems I too am just as wired to the infrastructure like some people are. Aw well. Really the only main lead I didn't laugh with was Scott for obvious reasons, Polly can be fun. Plus, I said the conversational RNG is rather bad, the other forms such as which events are triggered and increasing the stats are pretty easy to game the system on. I play this solo so I can't quite say for certain how they'd work for a multiplayer session, nor am I a diehard completionist so I'm not willing to see how bad this can get, but for casual endeavors at least it's competent and solid.
Hopefully the abundant of imgur images I've uploaded has shown the great artwork by Arthur 'CptHamburger', who's pretty active on social media and has an ArtStation page to boot. Even the protag designs are slam dunks, which makes me pretty glad the game has a pronoun option (no custom ones, only he/she/they) so I can just pick whichever when I feel like it. Already showed one of Zoe's routes is about her trans status, and I think there's supposed to be a polygamous ending in the DLC too? I'm cis and strictly monogamous, so I dunno how enticing and well-meaning these elements can be to other LGBT+ folk, but I feel there's enough of a grasp of honest intent and learning available to commend their efforts.
Should be noted that it's best to approach this as it's structured, which is mainly as a party affair than a strictly VN-like experience. I mean, you could do that, but considering you're dealing with either a 30 or 60 minute session with the potential of seeing the same sort of flow and dialog over and over, it's an easy way to obtain burn out. Just go with the flow.
I do have Monster Camp and Monster Trip, so I should take a look at those down the line, see if they improved on the formula or not.
genuinely insane the twinmold fight here is so fucked that just typing in "twinmold 3ds" in google gives you multiple search results about people having difficulty with what was originally one of the easiest bosses in the franchise
like every other change is whatever to also bad, but the bosses in particular is aggravating, I seriously don't know how anyone can defend this aspect of the remake
like every other change is whatever to also bad, but the bosses in particular is aggravating, I seriously don't know how anyone can defend this aspect of the remake