Dani1o
1996
Great slow paced platformer - less about reaction, more about planning your route in advance. Controls make sense, but might be difficult to figure out at first - for the first 5 levels I didn't realize that running up isn't always a good thing and kept blaming the game for messed up jumps. Also tank controls, probably because the game should have precise turning on a D-pad.
Either way, holds up really well even today, can't imagine how groundbreaking it was back in '96. Recommend to anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones vibes.
Either way, holds up really well even today, can't imagine how groundbreaking it was back in '96. Recommend to anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones vibes.
This port is a great improvement over the arcade version. Famicom hardware is clearly weaker so the game doesn't look and feel as smooth, but mechanics-wise many flaws were fixed and new great features added.
In the Arcade version you could have more players on the court, but the only good one was Kunio - others had no uses other than tank hits to protect your carry. Now it's only 6, but each has his own stats, strong and weak sides, 2 special moves (ground and aerial) and you can choose each for the inner or outer court. Enemy teams now also have their own traits and differ by them, not by the amount of tanks and replacement meat they can throw against you. Matter of fact enemies no more have more players than you for no reason and the auto-lose timer is gone, therefore the gameplay became way less cheesy and repetitive, but more fair and strategic.
Friendly AI was also fixed - guys you don't control at the moment used to stand like slogs and take hits in the Arcade version, now they actually duck and dodge. Even stunlocking at the court border by quick throws although kind of doable sometimes, now isn't as broken as before.
This is just an 8-bit dodgeball simulator, but really fun and well made. And due to proper improvements, it become better than the original, despite being ported on a weaker platform.
In the Arcade version you could have more players on the court, but the only good one was Kunio - others had no uses other than tank hits to protect your carry. Now it's only 6, but each has his own stats, strong and weak sides, 2 special moves (ground and aerial) and you can choose each for the inner or outer court. Enemy teams now also have their own traits and differ by them, not by the amount of tanks and replacement meat they can throw against you. Matter of fact enemies no more have more players than you for no reason and the auto-lose timer is gone, therefore the gameplay became way less cheesy and repetitive, but more fair and strategic.
Friendly AI was also fixed - guys you don't control at the moment used to stand like slogs and take hits in the Arcade version, now they actually duck and dodge. Even stunlocking at the court border by quick throws although kind of doable sometimes, now isn't as broken as before.
This is just an 8-bit dodgeball simulator, but really fun and well made. And due to proper improvements, it become better than the original, despite being ported on a weaker platform.
Loved every minute of it. Same fixed camera gameplay as the previous games, but even more pleasant to play due to improved graphics on a more powerful hardware. Actual 3D environment adds a lot to the visuals, walking around with a lighter in unlit areas felt really atmospheric.
The vibe and the setting is really cool and terrifying, the game overall was more of a horror than RE3, which leans towards the action. Chris and Clare make a great duo and I think they both are quite underrated compared to Leon and Jill.
The challenge was just right, at least for me. People kept saying that the game is too hard, they all getting soft locked, so I prepared for worst - tried to be careful with health items, ammo and stuff then it's suddenly the end of the game and I have a shitton of it in my chest. Didn't even have to run past monsters without killing them or abuse the knife much.
Long story short, Code Veronica is my favourite Resident Evil so far. That might change after I play the remake of the original game though.
The vibe and the setting is really cool and terrifying, the game overall was more of a horror than RE3, which leans towards the action. Chris and Clare make a great duo and I think they both are quite underrated compared to Leon and Jill.
The challenge was just right, at least for me. People kept saying that the game is too hard, they all getting soft locked, so I prepared for worst - tried to be careful with health items, ammo and stuff then it's suddenly the end of the game and I have a shitton of it in my chest. Didn't even have to run past monsters without killing them or abuse the knife much.
Long story short, Code Veronica is my favourite Resident Evil so far. That might change after I play the remake of the original game though.
Fun little dodgeball simulator, probably designed to rob you of quarters, but still cool.
The game is not perfect, for example the players you don't control at the moment are way too vulnerable - you dodge the ball as one guy, and the one who stands behind him does nothing and gets knocked down easily.
Also, it becomes too grindy the further you progress - you don't stand a chance unless you protect your strongest player Kunio at all costs, always pass him the ball and either stunlock enemies close to the border by quick shots, or try to perfectly time the same strongest attack over and over. It took me insane amount of tries to actually beat the first loop on the factory settings, I would be in debts by now if I had to spend real money. 1CC/max difficulty seems impossible to me.
But despite that the game looks cool and is fun to play, even though I'm usually not into sports genre.
Loved that Japanese high school vibe and the references to the previous Kunio beat'em up game, too bad it was all scrapped from the worldwide release and turned into a generic sports sim.
The game is not perfect, for example the players you don't control at the moment are way too vulnerable - you dodge the ball as one guy, and the one who stands behind him does nothing and gets knocked down easily.
Also, it becomes too grindy the further you progress - you don't stand a chance unless you protect your strongest player Kunio at all costs, always pass him the ball and either stunlock enemies close to the border by quick shots, or try to perfectly time the same strongest attack over and over. It took me insane amount of tries to actually beat the first loop on the factory settings, I would be in debts by now if I had to spend real money. 1CC/max difficulty seems impossible to me.
But despite that the game looks cool and is fun to play, even though I'm usually not into sports genre.
Loved that Japanese high school vibe and the references to the previous Kunio beat'em up game, too bad it was all scrapped from the worldwide release and turned into a generic sports sim.
The third part of the famous puzzle VN about a defense attorney. Isn't realistic at all, but damn good regardless.
Nothing new in terms of graphics and gameplay, more of PW:AA - Justice For All. Not that it needs any innovations, it's a VN after all.
The story - fantastic, easily the best of the trilogy. Perfect conclusion to everything that happened in the previous games. The new prosecutor is so cool, my favourite character in the series.
The music is solid, better than AA2 IMO, but doesn't beat the first game. The original theme is just too iconic.
Long story short - must play, can't recommend it enough. But start from the first game.
Nothing new in terms of graphics and gameplay, more of PW:AA - Justice For All. Not that it needs any innovations, it's a VN after all.
The story - fantastic, easily the best of the trilogy. Perfect conclusion to everything that happened in the previous games. The new prosecutor is so cool, my favourite character in the series.
The music is solid, better than AA2 IMO, but doesn't beat the first game. The original theme is just too iconic.
Long story short - must play, can't recommend it enough. But start from the first game.
2016
Decent stealth with interesting mechanics, cool art style and music.
The setting is Asia-inspired, reminds me Avatar: The Last Airbender. Interesting lore and story, especially loved the ending.
The gameplay is mostly warping by the shadows to move around and avoid/kill enemies, which is pretty non-typical.
Also, there are plenty of useful active skills and some of them are quite overpowered. Since they're all locked from the start and tied to collectible scrolls, first few chapters are going to be tough, but if you get the skill that marks them on the ground early, collecting them won't be frustrating.
The game has some bugs - e.g. you better start a new chapter from the chapters list, because "Continue" button in the main menu might lower your difficulty to "normal" (happened to me twice), but most of the time everything feels and runs smoothly.
The game is rather niche than must play for everyone, but might be a great experience for those who love the genre or the setting.
The setting is Asia-inspired, reminds me Avatar: The Last Airbender. Interesting lore and story, especially loved the ending.
The gameplay is mostly warping by the shadows to move around and avoid/kill enemies, which is pretty non-typical.
Also, there are plenty of useful active skills and some of them are quite overpowered. Since they're all locked from the start and tied to collectible scrolls, first few chapters are going to be tough, but if you get the skill that marks them on the ground early, collecting them won't be frustrating.
The game has some bugs - e.g. you better start a new chapter from the chapters list, because "Continue" button in the main menu might lower your difficulty to "normal" (happened to me twice), but most of the time everything feels and runs smoothly.
The game is rather niche than must play for everyone, but might be a great experience for those who love the genre or the setting.
Excellent early 3D transition of the series. Today the graphics look old and the FPS is low, but you stop noticing it real soon because the game aged really well overall.
Everything feels so distinct and on its place - every location is atmospheric and memorable, every NPC is cool and funny in a way and the soundtrack is genius - it sounds unique and burns into your memory, despite each song starts from the same 5 notes.
The gameplay doesn't offer any unique combat mechanics or spectacular puzzles, but everything is put together and balanced in a way that it's fun to play. The controls, unlike many other early 3D games, aren't clunky at all. You don't even need getting used to it, it just feels modern enough, except the fact that you don't have a second thumbstick to turn the camera.
All the dungeons are well designed, even the Water and the Spirit temples people keep complaining about. I guess their main problem were the boots you constantly had to change in the inventory to solve puzzles, but even that wasn't too annoying for me.
I wasn't there when Zelda OoT came out, but I see why everyone praised it so much back then. Today it isn't such a groundbreaking experience anymore, but still a very solid game to get into.
Everything feels so distinct and on its place - every location is atmospheric and memorable, every NPC is cool and funny in a way and the soundtrack is genius - it sounds unique and burns into your memory, despite each song starts from the same 5 notes.
The gameplay doesn't offer any unique combat mechanics or spectacular puzzles, but everything is put together and balanced in a way that it's fun to play. The controls, unlike many other early 3D games, aren't clunky at all. You don't even need getting used to it, it just feels modern enough, except the fact that you don't have a second thumbstick to turn the camera.
All the dungeons are well designed, even the Water and the Spirit temples people keep complaining about. I guess their main problem were the boots you constantly had to change in the inventory to solve puzzles, but even that wasn't too annoying for me.
I wasn't there when Zelda OoT came out, but I see why everyone praised it so much back then. Today it isn't such a groundbreaking experience anymore, but still a very solid game to get into.
Kunio-kun at home, literally. Only 3 enemies on stage at a time and the combat is not as smooth as the arcade version, but they managed to port all the moves, and expanded the game with extra stages to make it a better fit for a home console.
The combat does feel a lot more clunky tho - front punches aren't really effective, so you really need to abuse jump kicks and dash punches a lot.
The bike chase part is extra cool, and the stage 4 was an interesting way to extend the gameplay. Some find it annoying, but I enjoyed it, even made a text map.
There are 3 difficulty levels you can choose, and although usually I don't mind the challenge, in this game level 1 makes the most sense. On 2 and 3 combat gets even more broken, so you have to spam the same moves even more. Also, the final maze becomes ridiculously hard - making it longer and more twisted would be one thing, but outright spamming bosses from the previous stages is just stupid and not fun. I spent a lot of time to beat the game on levels 1 and 2 without using save states or guides, but had it enough on level 3. Watched the playthrough on YouTube - multiple rooms with 3 to 6 bosses in one run + the final boss appears 3 times - it's just not worth it.
Overall it's a flawed, but decent port, considering the platform. The arcade version is clearly better, but this one is different enough to have its own value.
The combat does feel a lot more clunky tho - front punches aren't really effective, so you really need to abuse jump kicks and dash punches a lot.
The bike chase part is extra cool, and the stage 4 was an interesting way to extend the gameplay. Some find it annoying, but I enjoyed it, even made a text map.
There are 3 difficulty levels you can choose, and although usually I don't mind the challenge, in this game level 1 makes the most sense. On 2 and 3 combat gets even more broken, so you have to spam the same moves even more. Also, the final maze becomes ridiculously hard - making it longer and more twisted would be one thing, but outright spamming bosses from the previous stages is just stupid and not fun. I spent a lot of time to beat the game on levels 1 and 2 without using save states or guides, but had it enough on level 3. Watched the playthrough on YouTube - multiple rooms with 3 to 6 bosses in one run + the final boss appears 3 times - it's just not worth it.
Overall it's a flawed, but decent port, considering the platform. The arcade version is clearly better, but this one is different enough to have its own value.
My least favorite out of three GTA IV campaigns, but I'm glad we have it.
The vibe is great, and although I prefer the atmosphere of the normal IV, it was cool to see Liberty City in different colors and perspective. Perfect for those who aren't into the dark tone of the main game. The missions and other activities are also more crazy and action packed, I loved the new triathlon races with parachutes, boats and cars with nitro.
The story fills the gaps and answers the questions of the other two storylines, but on its own kind of weak and forgettable. The characters and the dialogues are spot on as always tho.
If you wanted GTA IV to be more like V - that's just what you need.
The vibe is great, and although I prefer the atmosphere of the normal IV, it was cool to see Liberty City in different colors and perspective. Perfect for those who aren't into the dark tone of the main game. The missions and other activities are also more crazy and action packed, I loved the new triathlon races with parachutes, boats and cars with nitro.
The story fills the gaps and answers the questions of the other two storylines, but on its own kind of weak and forgettable. The characters and the dialogues are spot on as always tho.
If you wanted GTA IV to be more like V - that's just what you need.
1986
Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, but with altered graphics and bosses having more HP.
Intro cutscenes are gone, Kunio and the Japanese highschool setting was changed to a more generic hood and The Warriors-looking unnamed protagonist. Some of the new sprites look cool, and some considerably worse - stage 3 feels like trash with those hookers and sound effects for them.
Still a good game for 1986, but a downgrade from the Japanese version. They could just change the students to more american looking ones if "localizing" the game was really necessary.
Also, might be a problem with my emulator, but had a lot more slowdowns in this version
than in the original one.
Intro cutscenes are gone, Kunio and the Japanese highschool setting was changed to a more generic hood and The Warriors-looking unnamed protagonist. Some of the new sprites look cool, and some considerably worse - stage 3 feels like trash with those hookers and sound effects for them.
Still a good game for 1986, but a downgrade from the Japanese version. They could just change the students to more american looking ones if "localizing" the game was really necessary.
Also, might be a problem with my emulator, but had a lot more slowdowns in this version
than in the original one.
Way better than it should be as the first beat 'em up with belt scrolling.
I liked the graphics - all the characters and stages look cool, and those little cutscenes where Kunio's friend Hiroshi gets beaten up is the cherry on top.
The combat does feel a little stiff, but the moveset is great: you have combo punches, back kicks, jump kicks, dash and dash punches. You can grab stunned opponents and knee-bash them or throw over the shoulder. You can finish fallen guys with punches and even get grabbed from behind and break free. Also buttons define the direction of your attacks rather than the type, which I find really intuitive.
As for the challenge - it's hard as hell, especially the last stage with one-hitting yakuza guys. After numerous tries I barely managed to finish the first loop, and then found out I was playing on Normal.
Might be not the best beat 'em up to get into today, but impressive for 1986.
I liked the graphics - all the characters and stages look cool, and those little cutscenes where Kunio's friend Hiroshi gets beaten up is the cherry on top.
The combat does feel a little stiff, but the moveset is great: you have combo punches, back kicks, jump kicks, dash and dash punches. You can grab stunned opponents and knee-bash them or throw over the shoulder. You can finish fallen guys with punches and even get grabbed from behind and break free. Also buttons define the direction of your attacks rather than the type, which I find really intuitive.
As for the challenge - it's hard as hell, especially the last stage with one-hitting yakuza guys. After numerous tries I barely managed to finish the first loop, and then found out I was playing on Normal.
Might be not the best beat 'em up to get into today, but impressive for 1986.
Glad I came back to it, enjoyed more than on my first playthrough. It's a shame such a banger is so overlooked, guess GTA fanbase doesn't really like the top-down perspective.
Nice story, visual style and music, exciting gameplay with many cool side activities and new mechanics such as drug trades. Mini-games utilizing touch screen for little actions add more to the fun and uniqueness than they should.
I think it's a perfect example of a good mobile game. While DS and PSP don't suffer from the lack of solid titles, there aren't many good games for Android designed with touch screen and portability in mind. And the fact that people would rather play scammy cash grabs than this quality kino kind of explains why.
Nice story, visual style and music, exciting gameplay with many cool side activities and new mechanics such as drug trades. Mini-games utilizing touch screen for little actions add more to the fun and uniqueness than they should.
I think it's a perfect example of a good mobile game. While DS and PSP don't suffer from the lack of solid titles, there aren't many good games for Android designed with touch screen and portability in mind. And the fact that people would rather play scammy cash grabs than this quality kino kind of explains why.
Not a masterpiece nor a classic by any means, but pretty fun RE spin-off, especially with a GunCon (or a Wiimote used as such in my case).
Writing and voice acting are bad, but hilarious in a RE1 way. The overall story concept is unironically cool for a horror though, I would like to see it done right in a proper remake.
The controls are clunky by today's standards, but manageable if you're generally used to retro games. The biggest issue is the lack of saves and limited continues - the game is short, yet still takes up to 3 hours if you don't rush, read files and watch cutscenes.
However, it lets you save your weapons and files between attempts - either after successful playthroughs or Game Overs. And there is a reason to replay the game - at many points you can take alternate paths and find specific files and weapons on each, I think it's pretty cool.
Although Resident Evil Survivor has nothing to offer the average modern gamer, it might be interesting for PS1 enthusiasts or Resident Evil completionists.
Writing and voice acting are bad, but hilarious in a RE1 way. The overall story concept is unironically cool for a horror though, I would like to see it done right in a proper remake.
The controls are clunky by today's standards, but manageable if you're generally used to retro games. The biggest issue is the lack of saves and limited continues - the game is short, yet still takes up to 3 hours if you don't rush, read files and watch cutscenes.
However, it lets you save your weapons and files between attempts - either after successful playthroughs or Game Overs. And there is a reason to replay the game - at many points you can take alternate paths and find specific files and weapons on each, I think it's pretty cool.
Although Resident Evil Survivor has nothing to offer the average modern gamer, it might be interesting for PS1 enthusiasts or Resident Evil completionists.
1998
The best thing about this game is probably the story - basically a movie experience, but way more detailed and interactive. All the characters, cutscenes and conversations are top notch.
I liked the sound and visual design, which despite the low poly and low res graphics, looks good and conveys the atmostphere.
Metal Gear Solid is considered a stealth game, but the actual stealth seemed secondary to me. It has some really nice mechanics, especially for the time, but in general isn't exciting enough to hold up on its own IMO, the gameplay would feel repetitive if there was nothing besides it.
It mostly comes down to dealing with 2-3 guards on each location and the way melee grabbing works kinda sucks. In order to do this you need to stand REALLY up close from behind and press the square button without holding any directions. There is no way to control your movement speed (it's either running or full stop even with an analog stick) so it's always hard to position yourself right even when the enemy is not moving. You would constantly overrun and bump into him raising an alarm immediately, or accidentally throw over the shoulder if you happened to not release the directional button before pressing "square".
Also, I find the lack of the radar on Hard difficulty really annoying. It makes sense on Expert, which is unlocked after beating the game and oriented on players who learned the routes and everything, but for the first playthrough it means playing blindfolded. Because of the overhead view you can't see further than 2 meters, and to find out where the enemies are you need to stand still and frantically look around with the first person view. And while running towards a guard to knock him out you never know when he'll change direction (even though logically Snake would see it with his eyes), so you constantly either lose guards out of sight or get spotted off-screen. It is bearable (I kept playing on Hard for the more difficult bosses and other conditions) but still needless trial and error.
But it's not like I didn't enjoy the stealth, other than the problems I mentioned it's really cool. But what makes the gameplay even more fun and diverse are the boss fights and other action scenes. They are all well designed, challenging in a good way and really memorable. Overall, the game turned out to be better than I remembered it from few years ago, definitely a must play classics for PS1.
I liked the sound and visual design, which despite the low poly and low res graphics, looks good and conveys the atmostphere.
Metal Gear Solid is considered a stealth game, but the actual stealth seemed secondary to me. It has some really nice mechanics, especially for the time, but in general isn't exciting enough to hold up on its own IMO, the gameplay would feel repetitive if there was nothing besides it.
It mostly comes down to dealing with 2-3 guards on each location and the way melee grabbing works kinda sucks. In order to do this you need to stand REALLY up close from behind and press the square button without holding any directions. There is no way to control your movement speed (it's either running or full stop even with an analog stick) so it's always hard to position yourself right even when the enemy is not moving. You would constantly overrun and bump into him raising an alarm immediately, or accidentally throw over the shoulder if you happened to not release the directional button before pressing "square".
Also, I find the lack of the radar on Hard difficulty really annoying. It makes sense on Expert, which is unlocked after beating the game and oriented on players who learned the routes and everything, but for the first playthrough it means playing blindfolded. Because of the overhead view you can't see further than 2 meters, and to find out where the enemies are you need to stand still and frantically look around with the first person view. And while running towards a guard to knock him out you never know when he'll change direction (even though logically Snake would see it with his eyes), so you constantly either lose guards out of sight or get spotted off-screen. It is bearable (I kept playing on Hard for the more difficult bosses and other conditions) but still needless trial and error.
But it's not like I didn't enjoy the stealth, other than the problems I mentioned it's really cool. But what makes the gameplay even more fun and diverse are the boss fights and other action scenes. They are all well designed, challenging in a good way and really memorable. Overall, the game turned out to be better than I remembered it from few years ago, definitely a must play classics for PS1.
Nice little extra story in GTA IV - same time, same city, but a different perspective. The plot is mostly independent from the main game and the second DLC, but at some points connected with them or indirectly referenced, just like Half-Life and its add-ons. The biker theme is really cool and isn't as common in videogames as it should be. The missions are just as good and unique as in the main game, unlike Undead Nightmare DLC for RDR which mostly was cemetery cleansing x100 times. Also, plenty of new vehicles (mostly bikes), few new weapons and improved handling for motorcycles to encourage using them. I prefer the main game story, but this one is also great and an absolute must for the complete GTA IV experience.