FallenGrace
BACKER
2020
When Streets of Rage 4 got revealed I was apprehensive. This is a series I love. I've gushed about it on Backloggd on other reviews of the Megadrive games (well two of them anyway...). My first thoughts on seeing 4's reveal trailer though was simply "that's not Streets of Rage". Where is the pixel art? Why is everything so bright and clean? What is with Blaze's walk animation? To be honest I wrote the game off without giving it a chance.
The reviews came in extremely positive to my surprise and piqued my interest. People I knew started playing it. Apparently it had tight controls, unlockable pixel art characters from the original game as bonus content. Was I wrong? Still I harboured doubts. What really turned my head though was hearing the soundtrack. It's a huge part of the franchise. The original and legendary composer Yuzo Kashiro was adding some music to the Soundtrack but hearing On fire by Oliver Deriviere on youtube absolutely drew my attention in a way more than any other news took. I had to buy it. When a friend of mine bought it we finally got into it playing co-op along with the Mr. x Nightmare DLC and have been playing every night now for several weeks. I happily admit I was wrong because Streets of Rage 4 is a Streets of Rage game, it is a fantastic beat 'em up and right now I am thoroughly addicted to it like I'm 12 years old all over again. You'd think someone of my age would know better by now not to judge something so effortlessly.
It's wonderful, it's everything Streets of Rage 4 should be. It brings new things to the table whilst still paying homage to the series roots. The game starts 10 years after Streets of Rage 3 with Mr. X's children having taken over what must be the world's most easily corruptible city. Original characters Blaze and Axel take to the streets along with newcomers Cherry and Floyd to take them back. As the game progresses you earn points which unlock more characters from the older games until there is quite an ensemble of choice of 18 with their own move sets though many of them are different versions of each other from older titles.
The game has the standard punch, kick, jump, and back attack as well as grapples allowing for throws, floor slams and extra damage. On top of this characters have forward dash blitz moves and specials. The specials use health but leave the chunk of your health bar you lost in green allowing you to get it back whilst doing regular blows. If you are hit however you lose it all on top of that blows damage. It's a great reward system and the special attacks can use invincibility frames to avoid damage or used in part of a combo with normal attacks and blitz moves to devastating combo effect in practice. Lastly in the character's arsenal are the star moves characters can use, these are limited and generally used to try and screen clear or at least give you some room.
Each character plays differently. The Streets of Rage 1 characters are more limited in their move sets but hit extremely hard and fast. The Streets of Rage 3 characters can all run and roll vertically making them quite manoeuvrable with the streets of Rage 2 and 4 cast as a mix somewhere in the middle. There is enough variety here you can find a character you are comfortable with to make it through to the credits and it's easy to change midway if you aren't grooving with who you have or you unlock someone new. For me though the joy has been playing through as every character aiming for S ranks and higher scores and combos for every level. Even characters I initially haven't enjoyed have turned out to be brilliant with some practice and understanding how their move sets all work.
The art style I initially hated at the game's reveal I came to love very quickly. I love the animations and character designs. It feels fresh and retro all at once with great usage of colour. If you don't like the look or feel of it thinking this isn't the game you wanted, please try it. In motion with the feeling of the controls and music it all clicks together. The aforementioned music really is perfect for the game, I mean check out the main theme. It could fit in with any of the game's in the series. Really perfect.
That's it in a quick review, Streets of Rage 4. I love how it plays, looks, sounds and feels. It's got great character and move variety, looks and sounds the part and is simply fun to play. My hat off to the dev team and I apologise for doubting you. Adding the Mr X's Nightmare DLC with extra characters and modes really seals the deal for those who want more. As my friend I play this co-op said to me the other day that all he could think about was "I really just wanted to play Streets of Rage 4".
Yeah, me too my friend, me too. What a first game to review for the start of the year.
+ Feels great to play with a large cast of characters and moves.
+ Hits the right notes for both new and old.
+ Great art and music.
+ Surprisingly addictive.
The reviews came in extremely positive to my surprise and piqued my interest. People I knew started playing it. Apparently it had tight controls, unlockable pixel art characters from the original game as bonus content. Was I wrong? Still I harboured doubts. What really turned my head though was hearing the soundtrack. It's a huge part of the franchise. The original and legendary composer Yuzo Kashiro was adding some music to the Soundtrack but hearing On fire by Oliver Deriviere on youtube absolutely drew my attention in a way more than any other news took. I had to buy it. When a friend of mine bought it we finally got into it playing co-op along with the Mr. x Nightmare DLC and have been playing every night now for several weeks. I happily admit I was wrong because Streets of Rage 4 is a Streets of Rage game, it is a fantastic beat 'em up and right now I am thoroughly addicted to it like I'm 12 years old all over again. You'd think someone of my age would know better by now not to judge something so effortlessly.
It's wonderful, it's everything Streets of Rage 4 should be. It brings new things to the table whilst still paying homage to the series roots. The game starts 10 years after Streets of Rage 3 with Mr. X's children having taken over what must be the world's most easily corruptible city. Original characters Blaze and Axel take to the streets along with newcomers Cherry and Floyd to take them back. As the game progresses you earn points which unlock more characters from the older games until there is quite an ensemble of choice of 18 with their own move sets though many of them are different versions of each other from older titles.
The game has the standard punch, kick, jump, and back attack as well as grapples allowing for throws, floor slams and extra damage. On top of this characters have forward dash blitz moves and specials. The specials use health but leave the chunk of your health bar you lost in green allowing you to get it back whilst doing regular blows. If you are hit however you lose it all on top of that blows damage. It's a great reward system and the special attacks can use invincibility frames to avoid damage or used in part of a combo with normal attacks and blitz moves to devastating combo effect in practice. Lastly in the character's arsenal are the star moves characters can use, these are limited and generally used to try and screen clear or at least give you some room.
Each character plays differently. The Streets of Rage 1 characters are more limited in their move sets but hit extremely hard and fast. The Streets of Rage 3 characters can all run and roll vertically making them quite manoeuvrable with the streets of Rage 2 and 4 cast as a mix somewhere in the middle. There is enough variety here you can find a character you are comfortable with to make it through to the credits and it's easy to change midway if you aren't grooving with who you have or you unlock someone new. For me though the joy has been playing through as every character aiming for S ranks and higher scores and combos for every level. Even characters I initially haven't enjoyed have turned out to be brilliant with some practice and understanding how their move sets all work.
The art style I initially hated at the game's reveal I came to love very quickly. I love the animations and character designs. It feels fresh and retro all at once with great usage of colour. If you don't like the look or feel of it thinking this isn't the game you wanted, please try it. In motion with the feeling of the controls and music it all clicks together. The aforementioned music really is perfect for the game, I mean check out the main theme. It could fit in with any of the game's in the series. Really perfect.
That's it in a quick review, Streets of Rage 4. I love how it plays, looks, sounds and feels. It's got great character and move variety, looks and sounds the part and is simply fun to play. My hat off to the dev team and I apologise for doubting you. Adding the Mr X's Nightmare DLC with extra characters and modes really seals the deal for those who want more. As my friend I play this co-op said to me the other day that all he could think about was "I really just wanted to play Streets of Rage 4".
Yeah, me too my friend, me too. What a first game to review for the start of the year.
+ Feels great to play with a large cast of characters and moves.
+ Hits the right notes for both new and old.
+ Great art and music.
+ Surprisingly addictive.
1991
A few days ago the Digital Foundry team did a retro look back at the Road Rash series. It's a fantastic retrospective covering each game, some of the tech used as well as modern day options for playing some of them as sadly Electronic Arts left the series to die over 20 years ago.
Revisiting this in 2023 and this is still a good game that does some pretty stand out things, some of which still aren't replicated today but were especially impressive back in 1991. You take part in illegal street races against 14 other riders per race. Each race you get prize money depending on how you finish which you can pool up to buy newer faster bikes in between races. Road Rash is one of the first games I ever played that I remember allowing me to grind money to get more powerful equipment as you can replay races for more prizes and better positions if you don't do so well initially.
Speed of bikes isn't the only way to win though as road Rash had this kind of biker gang / thug mentality. You can bang into other riders knocking them into cars, punch them, kick them or occasionally steal clubs to smack them off their bike to watch them tumble away in your wingmirrors in an impressive display of tech. They of course can also do this to you too. There is nothing more humiliating then being kicked off your bike by an edgy biker called Rude Boy. One of Road Rash's unique features I did like was that when you do crash or get punched off you can get up and run to your bike to get back on and carry on. Your bike has a hp bar so can only crash so much meaning you do have to be careful. You equally need to be careful when running for your bike as you can get run over amusingly.
It has some other neat little features like police bikes patrolling you need to get away from or knock off. If you crash next to them you are in trouble. I also really like in between the races you get little scenes of the other bikers talking about each other or you in a display of friendship or rivalry like you were chatting before the race. It's a nice touch.
Where the game does fall down though feels a little bit due to the limitation of the tech at the time. Though it is impressive how they used multiple layers to get the scrolling screen, the display of the wingmirrors and scenery but the game unfortunately runs terribly. Anywhere between 8-10 frames per second. I ended up downloading the improved mod which increases the performance to 13-15 frames per second which makes it feel smoother to control without feeling like the spirit of the original is totally lost. Equally there is just a lack of variety in the tracks. 4 out of 5 of them are simply solid green with different shades and trees but feel all too similar except the music. The only stand out track is Palm Desert entirely for being yellow instead. The icon's for each level though imply riding next to lakes, up mountains but in level that is sadly missing.
The game only has 5 tracks but does have 5 variations of each of them as you go up in difficulty. Each map extends each time from level 1 - 5 lengthening them out as well as putting more obstacles like cars, cows, road barriers and oil patches to artificially lengthen the game. I do appreciate the almost random number generator factor for that though as doing the same race twice you can't predict what will be where. As the courses all look green with straight windy roads it would be almost impossible to memorise them anyway though...
All in all it was fun to go back to this and I still like it. It's a rough first attempt, the levels are kind of bland and it runs poorly but the premise and thrill of weaving between cars beating thugs is still just mindless fun.
+ Still feels pretty unique.
+ Great premise.
+ I like the music.
- Runs terribly.
- Lack of variation in tracks.
Revisiting this in 2023 and this is still a good game that does some pretty stand out things, some of which still aren't replicated today but were especially impressive back in 1991. You take part in illegal street races against 14 other riders per race. Each race you get prize money depending on how you finish which you can pool up to buy newer faster bikes in between races. Road Rash is one of the first games I ever played that I remember allowing me to grind money to get more powerful equipment as you can replay races for more prizes and better positions if you don't do so well initially.
Speed of bikes isn't the only way to win though as road Rash had this kind of biker gang / thug mentality. You can bang into other riders knocking them into cars, punch them, kick them or occasionally steal clubs to smack them off their bike to watch them tumble away in your wingmirrors in an impressive display of tech. They of course can also do this to you too. There is nothing more humiliating then being kicked off your bike by an edgy biker called Rude Boy. One of Road Rash's unique features I did like was that when you do crash or get punched off you can get up and run to your bike to get back on and carry on. Your bike has a hp bar so can only crash so much meaning you do have to be careful. You equally need to be careful when running for your bike as you can get run over amusingly.
It has some other neat little features like police bikes patrolling you need to get away from or knock off. If you crash next to them you are in trouble. I also really like in between the races you get little scenes of the other bikers talking about each other or you in a display of friendship or rivalry like you were chatting before the race. It's a nice touch.
Where the game does fall down though feels a little bit due to the limitation of the tech at the time. Though it is impressive how they used multiple layers to get the scrolling screen, the display of the wingmirrors and scenery but the game unfortunately runs terribly. Anywhere between 8-10 frames per second. I ended up downloading the improved mod which increases the performance to 13-15 frames per second which makes it feel smoother to control without feeling like the spirit of the original is totally lost. Equally there is just a lack of variety in the tracks. 4 out of 5 of them are simply solid green with different shades and trees but feel all too similar except the music. The only stand out track is Palm Desert entirely for being yellow instead. The icon's for each level though imply riding next to lakes, up mountains but in level that is sadly missing.
The game only has 5 tracks but does have 5 variations of each of them as you go up in difficulty. Each map extends each time from level 1 - 5 lengthening them out as well as putting more obstacles like cars, cows, road barriers and oil patches to artificially lengthen the game. I do appreciate the almost random number generator factor for that though as doing the same race twice you can't predict what will be where. As the courses all look green with straight windy roads it would be almost impossible to memorise them anyway though...
All in all it was fun to go back to this and I still like it. It's a rough first attempt, the levels are kind of bland and it runs poorly but the premise and thrill of weaving between cars beating thugs is still just mindless fun.
+ Still feels pretty unique.
+ Great premise.
+ I like the music.
- Runs terribly.
- Lack of variation in tracks.
2004
Almost 20 years ago back in 2004 I bought Burnout 3: Takedown. Not exactly a groundbreaking declaration but you have to understand I'm not really into racing games. Buying this pretty much new at launch on a whim isn't exactly standard behaviour for me. The thing is upon trying it, this game had us utterly hooked. I say us because a friend and I took it in turns playing race by race. Unlocking every car, trying to get higher scores, faster times, every gold medal. We couldn't stop playing it and occasionally we still talk about it in conversation.
That friend moved to the other side of the country over a decade ago sadly. We still game all the time online together as technology has moved on. At least twice a year though I go and stay with him for a couple of weeks to drink, shop and play games together in person. Reliving our late teens and early 20's. I just spent the last week with him and whilst walking in town, what do we see? Burnout 3: Takedown. Needless to say we bought it, went back to his to play it in his newly organised retro game room. (So jealous, especially of the large framed Streets of Rage 2 poster). We then proceeded to be taken back in time to where it was the two of us eating snacks playing games together.
I saw a comic strip recently how playing games now doesn't give the same sort of excitement as when you are a kid. This just simply isn't the case because reliving Burnout 3 from my is still an absolute blast. The game has aged remarkably well. It's fast, blisteringly so. The frame rate is smooth as scenery whips by with every near miss of traffic as you nitrous boost into a corner a thrill. It plays extremely well, each car's arcade handling is smooth and the engine sound effects as you barrel towards oncoming traffic just brings everything together. The thing that always impressed us though were the crash effects of bonnets crumpling, wheels flying off as the carnage ensues from ramming someone into a bridge pillar. The crash physics are so good they created a whole mode for it setting you up to pile into traffic and cause as much damage as possible. Nothing more satisfying than jack knifing an arctic into a tuc tuc then exploding your wrecked car into a camper van in the other lane.
There are other race types too such as elimination where you have to stay ahead of your opponents as last place is removed each lap. The AI can be super aggressive here forcing you to wipe them out to stay ahead. Burning lap which is basically a speed trial. Some need perfect nitrous boosting the entire course to get gold on. Rampage which is about taking out as many opponents as you can in a set time limit, or before your battered car gives up the ghost. There is a huge amount of content here, this is back before unfinished games were released and patched or before half the cars were locked behind a microtransaction store.
If I had to knock anything about it, it's that while I love the garage band type music that blasts whilst racing, the "crash FM" commentator does get a little annoying butting in with nonsense while your racing. However it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things as the rest is so very good. My friend's wife who came in, saw us playing and laughing as the front end of our car got put into the back end from a head on collision simply said, "boy game" and walked out.
But it's a fun broom, broom boy game.
+ Holds up amazingly well technically and in how it plays.
+ Great variety of modes.
+ Crashing is often brutal and hilarious.
- Commentator can get irritating.
That friend moved to the other side of the country over a decade ago sadly. We still game all the time online together as technology has moved on. At least twice a year though I go and stay with him for a couple of weeks to drink, shop and play games together in person. Reliving our late teens and early 20's. I just spent the last week with him and whilst walking in town, what do we see? Burnout 3: Takedown. Needless to say we bought it, went back to his to play it in his newly organised retro game room. (So jealous, especially of the large framed Streets of Rage 2 poster). We then proceeded to be taken back in time to where it was the two of us eating snacks playing games together.
I saw a comic strip recently how playing games now doesn't give the same sort of excitement as when you are a kid. This just simply isn't the case because reliving Burnout 3 from my is still an absolute blast. The game has aged remarkably well. It's fast, blisteringly so. The frame rate is smooth as scenery whips by with every near miss of traffic as you nitrous boost into a corner a thrill. It plays extremely well, each car's arcade handling is smooth and the engine sound effects as you barrel towards oncoming traffic just brings everything together. The thing that always impressed us though were the crash effects of bonnets crumpling, wheels flying off as the carnage ensues from ramming someone into a bridge pillar. The crash physics are so good they created a whole mode for it setting you up to pile into traffic and cause as much damage as possible. Nothing more satisfying than jack knifing an arctic into a tuc tuc then exploding your wrecked car into a camper van in the other lane.
There are other race types too such as elimination where you have to stay ahead of your opponents as last place is removed each lap. The AI can be super aggressive here forcing you to wipe them out to stay ahead. Burning lap which is basically a speed trial. Some need perfect nitrous boosting the entire course to get gold on. Rampage which is about taking out as many opponents as you can in a set time limit, or before your battered car gives up the ghost. There is a huge amount of content here, this is back before unfinished games were released and patched or before half the cars were locked behind a microtransaction store.
If I had to knock anything about it, it's that while I love the garage band type music that blasts whilst racing, the "crash FM" commentator does get a little annoying butting in with nonsense while your racing. However it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things as the rest is so very good. My friend's wife who came in, saw us playing and laughing as the front end of our car got put into the back end from a head on collision simply said, "boy game" and walked out.
But it's a fun broom, broom boy game.
+ Holds up amazingly well technically and in how it plays.
+ Great variety of modes.
+ Crashing is often brutal and hilarious.
- Commentator can get irritating.
1993
Earlier in the year when starting to look at retro titles to play I randomly picked 99: the Last War an arcade title from 1985. The Team Crux after going bankrupt went onto form Toaplan the creators of Batsugun. This is a game I randomly chose from my backlog as a quick title to play between other things which also unknowingly happened to be Toaplan's final game before it went bankrupt in 1994. Many of the employees from there went to form the equally legendary CAVE continuing making arcade shoot 'em ups. CAVE's founding history when you go back through the chain like this is fascinating. A lot of their more famous output like DonPachi and Mushihimesama can find their roots in Batsugun often referred to by people as the first bullet-hell.
For the most part this is a pretty standard shoot 'em up, I mean no insult by that after all I'm looking at this from a view in 2023. I can imagine at the time it would have really been something nuts. You choose from several pilots that have normal attacks and bombs. Where Batsugun is semi interesting in it's design is in the weapon system. Boss and level design aside this is the core aspect of a shoot 'em up that they sink or swim with me personally and this one is pretty good. When enemies are killed you get experience points. Depending on the enemy depends on the points gained. A normal enemy might give +1 but the boss +100 for example. With enough points you can level up your ship up to three times which makes it's main gun more powerful. On top of this you can collect some base power ups to make your gun stronger. This means there is an incentive to play well to level your ship as quickly as possible and that dying isn't utterly punishing in response as you only need collect some power ups but will be fairly powerful regardless. Once you hit that point the incentive for killing for experience will then generate an extra bomb for you to collect. These bombs can be pretty vital for getting you out of situations where you are trapped by a plethora of bright bullets and no where to go. They will clear the section of the map as well as damage enemies at the same time adding some additional layer of strategy to it. Despite the weapon system making you feel like a boss hammering a barrage of bullets and electric lasers the game is far from a push over and at times can get quite hard especially with the bosses health pools and multiple weak points.
It's a fun system and it's backed up by some gorgeous art design, colourful flashy visuals, heavy action and massive bosses. Though I listed this as completing on the Saturn I actually played the arcade version and the Saturn version back to back. I actually preferred the more solid feel of the Saturn version but honestly both versions look and play great to me so whichever you prefer really. The Saturn version does have the Batsugun special Version included with it as a separate game. The special Version gives a shield to take a hit as well as multiple loops building challenge rather than just the straight 5 levels the original game had for those that had more. The Special Version was only semi released due to Toaplan going bankrupt so the Saturn Port was released by Gazelle with it included. Gazelle themselves were made up of Ex-Toaplan staff many of which went to work at CAVE after they closed doors themselves in 2002. All roads lead to Rome? All roads lead to CAVE more like.
So there you are, Batsugun. A great little game, the end of an era but the start of another and it's influence lives on.
+ Excellent art and colourful visuals.
+ Interesting RPG like level up system.
+ Challenging but fair in deaths' and abilities.
For the most part this is a pretty standard shoot 'em up, I mean no insult by that after all I'm looking at this from a view in 2023. I can imagine at the time it would have really been something nuts. You choose from several pilots that have normal attacks and bombs. Where Batsugun is semi interesting in it's design is in the weapon system. Boss and level design aside this is the core aspect of a shoot 'em up that they sink or swim with me personally and this one is pretty good. When enemies are killed you get experience points. Depending on the enemy depends on the points gained. A normal enemy might give +1 but the boss +100 for example. With enough points you can level up your ship up to three times which makes it's main gun more powerful. On top of this you can collect some base power ups to make your gun stronger. This means there is an incentive to play well to level your ship as quickly as possible and that dying isn't utterly punishing in response as you only need collect some power ups but will be fairly powerful regardless. Once you hit that point the incentive for killing for experience will then generate an extra bomb for you to collect. These bombs can be pretty vital for getting you out of situations where you are trapped by a plethora of bright bullets and no where to go. They will clear the section of the map as well as damage enemies at the same time adding some additional layer of strategy to it. Despite the weapon system making you feel like a boss hammering a barrage of bullets and electric lasers the game is far from a push over and at times can get quite hard especially with the bosses health pools and multiple weak points.
It's a fun system and it's backed up by some gorgeous art design, colourful flashy visuals, heavy action and massive bosses. Though I listed this as completing on the Saturn I actually played the arcade version and the Saturn version back to back. I actually preferred the more solid feel of the Saturn version but honestly both versions look and play great to me so whichever you prefer really. The Saturn version does have the Batsugun special Version included with it as a separate game. The special Version gives a shield to take a hit as well as multiple loops building challenge rather than just the straight 5 levels the original game had for those that had more. The Special Version was only semi released due to Toaplan going bankrupt so the Saturn Port was released by Gazelle with it included. Gazelle themselves were made up of Ex-Toaplan staff many of which went to work at CAVE after they closed doors themselves in 2002. All roads lead to Rome? All roads lead to CAVE more like.
So there you are, Batsugun. A great little game, the end of an era but the start of another and it's influence lives on.
+ Excellent art and colourful visuals.
+ Interesting RPG like level up system.
+ Challenging but fair in deaths' and abilities.
Initially I wasn't going to review this. About halfway through, maybe less I just thought "it's more Cyberpunk" which whilst absolutely spot on and how I view most DLC, I think that actually does Phantom Liberty a disservice. It has a new open world area, fixer quests and makes you hang around waiting for the next objective for no fathomable reason just like the main game but the story structure is just far tighter. Something I felt Cyberpunk 2077 lacked after a certain point.
Phantom Liberty unlocks an area of Night City called Dogtown. Cyberpunk's influences have always been pretty obvious to me with things like The Matrix, Akira, Blade Runner etc. but Phantom Liberty really reminds me of Kurt Russell's escape from New York. A walled off section of Night City with its own laws and ruler the police avoid.
Your character V arrives outside Dogtown from a mysterious message. You meet Songbird, an FIA netrunner agent. She needs your help and in turn promises to help you. The story takes an almost James Bond secret agent behind enemy lines theme to it with V partnering up with another FIA agent Sol Reed played by the fantastic Idris Elba. (Even the credits role like a bond theme). The missions are structured really well and they flow nicely from point to point. The open world aspect between missions actually gets in the way but it's still a nice improvement over the main game where some quests just felt like disconnected busy work. There are some really stand out set pieces that are quite varied. One part has you sniping as a look out, another mingling with guests at a party etc. The main story beats and characters around it are really well implemented and that, that is what makes this good. I prefer a tighter more directed experience, especially around story missions but then I just don't like open world games much.
There is a lot of content here. A decent amount of missions, new locations, characters and quests. CD Project Red obviously put effort into this and it shows. You get a new skill tree, new weapons and clothing but none of it adds much of note. I barely used or changed anything throughout from my end game character. I did like how some side quests or characters you met merged into Phantom Liberty, sometimes subtlety. Also expanding fully on Mr. Hands the fixer was interesting too. Dogtown as an area has quite a bit of personality as a run down dystopia that was obviously meant to be a grand entertainment area for the mega rich. Essentially it's a great expansion for those who enjoyed Cyberpunk and want more.
Anyone else feel it sounds more like A Metal Gear game though?
+ Story quests are much better executed in Phantom Liberty.
+ Smaller tighter location is more memorable to explore.
+ Songbird, Reed and Alex make good additional characters.
- Downtime between missions is still a drag.
- New skills, weapons, items etc feel pointless.
Phantom Liberty unlocks an area of Night City called Dogtown. Cyberpunk's influences have always been pretty obvious to me with things like The Matrix, Akira, Blade Runner etc. but Phantom Liberty really reminds me of Kurt Russell's escape from New York. A walled off section of Night City with its own laws and ruler the police avoid.
Your character V arrives outside Dogtown from a mysterious message. You meet Songbird, an FIA netrunner agent. She needs your help and in turn promises to help you. The story takes an almost James Bond secret agent behind enemy lines theme to it with V partnering up with another FIA agent Sol Reed played by the fantastic Idris Elba. (Even the credits role like a bond theme). The missions are structured really well and they flow nicely from point to point. The open world aspect between missions actually gets in the way but it's still a nice improvement over the main game where some quests just felt like disconnected busy work. There are some really stand out set pieces that are quite varied. One part has you sniping as a look out, another mingling with guests at a party etc. The main story beats and characters around it are really well implemented and that, that is what makes this good. I prefer a tighter more directed experience, especially around story missions but then I just don't like open world games much.
There is a lot of content here. A decent amount of missions, new locations, characters and quests. CD Project Red obviously put effort into this and it shows. You get a new skill tree, new weapons and clothing but none of it adds much of note. I barely used or changed anything throughout from my end game character. I did like how some side quests or characters you met merged into Phantom Liberty, sometimes subtlety. Also expanding fully on Mr. Hands the fixer was interesting too. Dogtown as an area has quite a bit of personality as a run down dystopia that was obviously meant to be a grand entertainment area for the mega rich. Essentially it's a great expansion for those who enjoyed Cyberpunk and want more.
Anyone else feel it sounds more like A Metal Gear game though?
+ Story quests are much better executed in Phantom Liberty.
+ Smaller tighter location is more memorable to explore.
+ Songbird, Reed and Alex make good additional characters.
- Downtime between missions is still a drag.
- New skills, weapons, items etc feel pointless.
Normally when I play a Shoot 'em up in Japanese it isn't often an issue as menus are mostly in English and it's not often there is enough story for it to matter. Seirei Senshi Spriggan blindsided me a little bit with it's large amount of anime cutscenes and voice acting however as I knew very little about it. Obviously I barely understood a word as the game hasn't had a Western translation officially or by fans. I love the 90's anime aesthetic and cover art the TurboGrafx and other NEC consoles had going on back then regardless and the core part of any shooter will be the action anyway. Having researched a little bit about the game partially for this review but also out of curiosity it seems this was originally developed as part of Compile's Aleste series. Initially developed for the Sega Megadrive as Seirei Senshi Aleste before being changed to Seirei Senshi Spriggan as a new series for the TurboGrafx CD. Having come out a year after M.U.S.H.A Aleste I can see the backbones of that history with the design of the mech suit. That does seem to be where the similarities end however, especially in the gameplay department.
Seirei Senshi Spriggan uses an interesting power up/weapon system. I'll be honest with you of all the shoot 'em ups I've played over the years I think this is one of my favorites. Your mech the Spriggan starts with a basic gun that fires forward. As you fight you will collect a variety of four elemental orbs from either enemy drops or just come onto screen. These orbs are red (fire), green (wind), yellow (earth), and blue (water). You can hold three at any one time and collecting a new one will remove the oldest of the currently held orbs you collected. There are three interesting aspects to this:
Firstly, and the most obviously apparent being that depending on the combination of orbs you hold will dictate what attacks you actually have such as wind blades, fire balls, homing waters beams etc. With four orb types the potential combinations can reach almost 30. These can constantly change on the fly as power ups come fairly fast keeping the action hectic but in an extremely controlled way.
The second aspect being that the super attack isn't a different collectable or charge shot like in other shoot 'em ups though there is a rare flashing orb that will level the screen. Instead you fire one of your orbs as an area elemental bomb dropping down to the lower level of attacks. This is quite a tactically viable option allowing you to launch an orb for area damage before collecting another orb on the screen changing your attack type in the process.
Lastly because when you die you drop the orbs and they also appear generally at a steady pace it rarely feels like the game will be unplayable or extremely punishable on death. Some other Shoot 'em ups when you die losing your power ups feels like an almost impossible climb to carry on but Spriggan never feels that way. There are always weapon options, they just might be different.
Presentation wise to go with the anime scenes mentioned above, Spriggan's pixel art is very good and I'm surprised by the fast pace it keeps up pretty solidly. I haven't played many TurboGrafx games yet to really be able to state the technical points of this being impressive or not but it ran smoothly with a nice usage of colour. Levels are varied with clouds, forests, castles, space. The visuals are a bit basic but honestly I like how it looks. The soundtrack is also excellent using a mixture of up beat tunes that could have been from Super Fantasy Zone but also dropping into more alien like theme tunes or Castlevania feeling gothic tracks depending on the level. The CD quality music is very apparent and something that super stands out on both this and the Sega CD compared with the visuals on display. Not really a bad thing though.
The game plays over 7 acts but really it's 6 and then the final boss. About my only real criticism of it is the sound effects could grate a little at times and lacked any real punch for pretty much any weapon you use. I do wish it was in English though I knew going into it it wasn't but on one of the end levels there is like a two minute monologue from an enemy all voiced I just had to sit through due to my pigeon Japanese. Considering it has been released on the Wii and the TurboGrafx / PC Engine mini in the west and not been updated though it seems unlikely it will be any time soon.
Still it's another great Complie shooter with a really unique and balanced power up system. This game is probably older than a lot of people that use this site but it holds up well and is still very much worth playing today and not forgotten to the annals of time.
+ Cool power up system with variation.
+ Doesn't feel excruciatingly punishing when you die.
+ Colorful sprites, fast paced gameplay.
+ I like the OST.
- Sound effects are a bit rough.
- Without English subtitles the cool scenes and villain monologue are sadly redundant.
Seirei Senshi Spriggan uses an interesting power up/weapon system. I'll be honest with you of all the shoot 'em ups I've played over the years I think this is one of my favorites. Your mech the Spriggan starts with a basic gun that fires forward. As you fight you will collect a variety of four elemental orbs from either enemy drops or just come onto screen. These orbs are red (fire), green (wind), yellow (earth), and blue (water). You can hold three at any one time and collecting a new one will remove the oldest of the currently held orbs you collected. There are three interesting aspects to this:
Firstly, and the most obviously apparent being that depending on the combination of orbs you hold will dictate what attacks you actually have such as wind blades, fire balls, homing waters beams etc. With four orb types the potential combinations can reach almost 30. These can constantly change on the fly as power ups come fairly fast keeping the action hectic but in an extremely controlled way.
The second aspect being that the super attack isn't a different collectable or charge shot like in other shoot 'em ups though there is a rare flashing orb that will level the screen. Instead you fire one of your orbs as an area elemental bomb dropping down to the lower level of attacks. This is quite a tactically viable option allowing you to launch an orb for area damage before collecting another orb on the screen changing your attack type in the process.
Lastly because when you die you drop the orbs and they also appear generally at a steady pace it rarely feels like the game will be unplayable or extremely punishable on death. Some other Shoot 'em ups when you die losing your power ups feels like an almost impossible climb to carry on but Spriggan never feels that way. There are always weapon options, they just might be different.
Presentation wise to go with the anime scenes mentioned above, Spriggan's pixel art is very good and I'm surprised by the fast pace it keeps up pretty solidly. I haven't played many TurboGrafx games yet to really be able to state the technical points of this being impressive or not but it ran smoothly with a nice usage of colour. Levels are varied with clouds, forests, castles, space. The visuals are a bit basic but honestly I like how it looks. The soundtrack is also excellent using a mixture of up beat tunes that could have been from Super Fantasy Zone but also dropping into more alien like theme tunes or Castlevania feeling gothic tracks depending on the level. The CD quality music is very apparent and something that super stands out on both this and the Sega CD compared with the visuals on display. Not really a bad thing though.
The game plays over 7 acts but really it's 6 and then the final boss. About my only real criticism of it is the sound effects could grate a little at times and lacked any real punch for pretty much any weapon you use. I do wish it was in English though I knew going into it it wasn't but on one of the end levels there is like a two minute monologue from an enemy all voiced I just had to sit through due to my pigeon Japanese. Considering it has been released on the Wii and the TurboGrafx / PC Engine mini in the west and not been updated though it seems unlikely it will be any time soon.
Still it's another great Complie shooter with a really unique and balanced power up system. This game is probably older than a lot of people that use this site but it holds up well and is still very much worth playing today and not forgotten to the annals of time.
+ Cool power up system with variation.
+ Doesn't feel excruciatingly punishing when you die.
+ Colorful sprites, fast paced gameplay.
+ I like the OST.
- Sound effects are a bit rough.
- Without English subtitles the cool scenes and villain monologue are sadly redundant.
2020
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of those games that has no doubt had and will continue to have "what happened" case studies and documentaries. It's a fascinating game in a lot of ways before even playing it. Riding high off the success of The Witcher III and the goodwill gained from that release and it's superb DLC it felt like the developer CD Projekt Red could do no wrong. Even a simple beep tweet on Cyberpunk's twitter account after a dormant time from announcement caused a lot of discussion and hype leading up to their next big project. Cracks under the surface though unknown to most with troubled development led to launching on platforms the game wasn't ready for. The game came out with performance, AI and balance issues in abundance. Overnight after it's rushed release CDPR's bubble burst. Noise about it for the PS4 specifically was so bad that Sony did the unthinkable removing it from the PSstore and handing out refunds. It stayed that way for months. Moral of the story here? never pre-order no matter who the developer is in this day and age.
So very quick background about Cyberpunk's history out the way, how is the game 3 years later after all it's patching, PS5 version release and 2.0 Update release? All in all pretty good though I have nothing to compare it to prior to this as I was waiting for it to be finished before I played it. So this will not be a No Man's Sky or FFXIV redemption story review. Simply one of how I experienced it as it is now.
First thing I have to comment about is that as a role playing game I still found Cyberpunk disappointing and to be honest I just don't count it as one. I remember in an interview when the game was still just an announced CGI trailer 10 years ago from a developer that the game would be dense and vertical. I clearly misinterpreted that taking it to mean it would be a bit more like Deus Ex but the end result is quite the opposite. This left it feeling extremely wide and flat with a few buildings to traverse at key points. It just feels like any other open world game with a Cyberpunk skin. This may be a me problem rather than a Cyberpunk 2077 problem but I just expected more to it than that. The level up and skill system is actually just bad and this is after it has been revised, stripped down and balanced as I understand from launch. Normal level up perk point skills seem pointless mostly. Slightly more damage, quick hack damage at 10%? It's all just a bit...boring. I think I would have preferred they scrap perk abilities completely and had all abilities attached to the Cyberware you install. Having gorilla arms that increase physical strength for melee attacks and forcing open doors? Legs giving double jumps? Optics for seeing enemies through walls etc. There are just more useful abilities that offer more utility for both exploration and combat. Additionally these type of upgrades fit the cyberpunk thematic a lot better to boot. Instead it's got multiple systems that feel uninteresting and tacked on. Equipment and Cyberware should have been the focus.
Now I know that so far I have come across as negative but the thing is I actually had a really good time with Cyberpunk 2077. I mean sure as an RPG it's pretty crap and the overall main story feels a bit disjointed but so much of the rest of it is a real blast. A lot of the characters and set pieces really build up Night City as a living result of a corporation only future which is often bleak with a large almost class divide. You play the role of V, a character who through misfortune ends up with a countdown clock dying and is trying to find a solution to that predicament. This leads you to finding fixers, mercs, prostitutes and corporation suits to try and save yourself. It's an interesting setting in that so much of it looks like a modern skyscraper idyllic future city covered in neon lights yet there is a constant layer of filth and garbage bags almost everywhere undermining it's more grandiose appearance at first glance. Many of the characters reflect the city coming across as guarded and jaded but with their own reasons underneath it all. Johnny SilverHand played by Keanu Reeves is a prime example. He is your companion throughout the game and for most of It I actively hated the guy, yet the game with the best ending in was through him in the end. I liked how the characters and city are unveiled and the shades of grey between them all.
From a larger gameplay perspective it's somewhat less interesting though that could be my build. Stealth silencer head shotting goons with an over powered pistol sweeping through areas. AI was pretty unimpressive but I enjoyed some of the abilities and weapons available. It lacks the depth of an immersive sim but jumping onto a roof, finding a hidden entrance, hacking a turret remotely to turn it on it's enemies whilst throwing grenades in to cause carnage is fun, if not especially deep. I guess what you need to know going into this game is where to set your expectations to. I didn't have any really going in and had a good time exploring around the vistas killing gang members and exploring the city. The technical side of things seem to have mostly been fixed. I had one crash and a couple of items fall through floors but otherwise this is a pretty fun open world game with a large amount of content. It's not the game I wanted, nor is it the game CDPR promised but it's not bad either. The characters and set pieces are good fun as is the combat but even fixed a few years later it doesn't reach the clear ambitions CDPR had when starting development. I hope they learned their lesson from this going into the sequel and their other projects.
Still, I got to ride a cool looking Akira motorbike with a katana drawn power sliding into enemies to start a fight. What other games can you finish a review with that in?
+ Night City is a cool looking location.
+ Fun set pieces and fairly interesting characters.
+ Johnny Silverhand is a likeable dick.
+ Akira bike.
- As an RPG it's pretty crap frankly.
- Lacks depth for combat, skills and level design.
- Some story beats and resolutions don't quite land at the end.
So very quick background about Cyberpunk's history out the way, how is the game 3 years later after all it's patching, PS5 version release and 2.0 Update release? All in all pretty good though I have nothing to compare it to prior to this as I was waiting for it to be finished before I played it. So this will not be a No Man's Sky or FFXIV redemption story review. Simply one of how I experienced it as it is now.
First thing I have to comment about is that as a role playing game I still found Cyberpunk disappointing and to be honest I just don't count it as one. I remember in an interview when the game was still just an announced CGI trailer 10 years ago from a developer that the game would be dense and vertical. I clearly misinterpreted that taking it to mean it would be a bit more like Deus Ex but the end result is quite the opposite. This left it feeling extremely wide and flat with a few buildings to traverse at key points. It just feels like any other open world game with a Cyberpunk skin. This may be a me problem rather than a Cyberpunk 2077 problem but I just expected more to it than that. The level up and skill system is actually just bad and this is after it has been revised, stripped down and balanced as I understand from launch. Normal level up perk point skills seem pointless mostly. Slightly more damage, quick hack damage at 10%? It's all just a bit...boring. I think I would have preferred they scrap perk abilities completely and had all abilities attached to the Cyberware you install. Having gorilla arms that increase physical strength for melee attacks and forcing open doors? Legs giving double jumps? Optics for seeing enemies through walls etc. There are just more useful abilities that offer more utility for both exploration and combat. Additionally these type of upgrades fit the cyberpunk thematic a lot better to boot. Instead it's got multiple systems that feel uninteresting and tacked on. Equipment and Cyberware should have been the focus.
Now I know that so far I have come across as negative but the thing is I actually had a really good time with Cyberpunk 2077. I mean sure as an RPG it's pretty crap and the overall main story feels a bit disjointed but so much of the rest of it is a real blast. A lot of the characters and set pieces really build up Night City as a living result of a corporation only future which is often bleak with a large almost class divide. You play the role of V, a character who through misfortune ends up with a countdown clock dying and is trying to find a solution to that predicament. This leads you to finding fixers, mercs, prostitutes and corporation suits to try and save yourself. It's an interesting setting in that so much of it looks like a modern skyscraper idyllic future city covered in neon lights yet there is a constant layer of filth and garbage bags almost everywhere undermining it's more grandiose appearance at first glance. Many of the characters reflect the city coming across as guarded and jaded but with their own reasons underneath it all. Johnny SilverHand played by Keanu Reeves is a prime example. He is your companion throughout the game and for most of It I actively hated the guy, yet the game with the best ending in was through him in the end. I liked how the characters and city are unveiled and the shades of grey between them all.
From a larger gameplay perspective it's somewhat less interesting though that could be my build. Stealth silencer head shotting goons with an over powered pistol sweeping through areas. AI was pretty unimpressive but I enjoyed some of the abilities and weapons available. It lacks the depth of an immersive sim but jumping onto a roof, finding a hidden entrance, hacking a turret remotely to turn it on it's enemies whilst throwing grenades in to cause carnage is fun, if not especially deep. I guess what you need to know going into this game is where to set your expectations to. I didn't have any really going in and had a good time exploring around the vistas killing gang members and exploring the city. The technical side of things seem to have mostly been fixed. I had one crash and a couple of items fall through floors but otherwise this is a pretty fun open world game with a large amount of content. It's not the game I wanted, nor is it the game CDPR promised but it's not bad either. The characters and set pieces are good fun as is the combat but even fixed a few years later it doesn't reach the clear ambitions CDPR had when starting development. I hope they learned their lesson from this going into the sequel and their other projects.
Still, I got to ride a cool looking Akira motorbike with a katana drawn power sliding into enemies to start a fight. What other games can you finish a review with that in?
+ Night City is a cool looking location.
+ Fun set pieces and fairly interesting characters.
+ Johnny Silverhand is a likeable dick.
+ Akira bike.
- As an RPG it's pretty crap frankly.
- Lacks depth for combat, skills and level design.
- Some story beats and resolutions don't quite land at the end.
I was (and still am) a Sega kid growing up. I occasionally played some Nintendo at friends houses but for the most part the big N consoles and games passed me by until the Gamecube and GameBoyAdvance. Some of the retro game compilations companies have put out in recent years have allowed me to finally go back and play some of these titles I missed. Rather hilariously for collections like Contra and Castlevania the games I enjoyed most were Bloodlines and Hard Corps so evidently I'm just naturally biased towards Sega regardless.
Anyway, in a similar vein the only Mega Man games I have played were Mega Man X7 and Mega Man X Command Mission on the PlayStation 2. Capcom have been amazing at porting their backlog to almost all modern systems and with seven Mega Man collections currently available a friend and I decided to start working our way through them by playing the games at the same time whilst chatting on headsets. It's a good thing we did this in this way as we could share each others pain trying to get through these. Nothing to do with them being on Nintendo consoles despite my attempted humorous anecdote above, we just really didn't enjoy their archaic design and found them a repetitive chore to get through. If you grew up with them I'm sure this kind of hardcore trial and error platforming is right up your street but for people just playing casually after a long day of work they were pretty brutal. Playing all 6 almost back to back as well just gave a feeling of them all merging into one amorphous blob of a game with identical Mega Man sprites, level design and formulas. After all they made 6 on the NES in a space of 7 years.
So if I didn't like the actual games that much here why the 4/5 stars? The thing is as a Legacy Collection it's really pretty good. Six games from the same era with a bundle of enhancements. It has an added challenge mode with a ton of levels to try and get through in certain times (It will surprise no one to hear I'm terrible at it I'm sure). It has a music player with the full soundtracks from each game, a museum with character art, concept art, enemy descriptions and tips on fighting them etc. Not to mention the standard options for full screen, borders, filters, turbo CPU, save states and rewinding. The only way I would beat a single one of them. I applaud these being released as they have been and the effort put in keeping these games alive. It allows the younger generation to try them, or older gamers like me that missed them first time around to know where the series came from.
By god though I would never play these again.
Anyway, in a similar vein the only Mega Man games I have played were Mega Man X7 and Mega Man X Command Mission on the PlayStation 2. Capcom have been amazing at porting their backlog to almost all modern systems and with seven Mega Man collections currently available a friend and I decided to start working our way through them by playing the games at the same time whilst chatting on headsets. It's a good thing we did this in this way as we could share each others pain trying to get through these. Nothing to do with them being on Nintendo consoles despite my attempted humorous anecdote above, we just really didn't enjoy their archaic design and found them a repetitive chore to get through. If you grew up with them I'm sure this kind of hardcore trial and error platforming is right up your street but for people just playing casually after a long day of work they were pretty brutal. Playing all 6 almost back to back as well just gave a feeling of them all merging into one amorphous blob of a game with identical Mega Man sprites, level design and formulas. After all they made 6 on the NES in a space of 7 years.
So if I didn't like the actual games that much here why the 4/5 stars? The thing is as a Legacy Collection it's really pretty good. Six games from the same era with a bundle of enhancements. It has an added challenge mode with a ton of levels to try and get through in certain times (It will surprise no one to hear I'm terrible at it I'm sure). It has a music player with the full soundtracks from each game, a museum with character art, concept art, enemy descriptions and tips on fighting them etc. Not to mention the standard options for full screen, borders, filters, turbo CPU, save states and rewinding. The only way I would beat a single one of them. I applaud these being released as they have been and the effort put in keeping these games alive. It allows the younger generation to try them, or older gamers like me that missed them first time around to know where the series came from.
By god though I would never play these again.
2018
We approach the cave exploring the nearby area. My friend and I swear over our headsets peering into the dark. Not because the absence of light produces the traditional primal instinct of fear, but because we know Ashen is about to be irritating through design.
I unhook my shield to carry the lantern, an item that only works when carried by hand rather than on a belt. It's a mystery why. I'm sure the developers thought the mechanic would provide a fun challenge. They are wrong. My friend proceeds as the vanguard with shield raised as I try to light the way. We progress slowly. Soon enough we stumble upon an enemy we called a wraith who raises her arms to do a charge attack. She dashes forward, I dodge to one side but her lock on tracks me mid jump and hits me anyway. The dodge is often useless.
Whilst pinned my friend comes to help hit her off me. A different enemy crawling along the cavern floor comes running from the darkness at him. His lock on fails for no reason leaving him flailing at the barely visible foe. He puts his shield away to bring his own lantern out hoping to set it on the ground to provide light. This allows the enemy to land the final blows with no defence and slow animations. He dies stumbling to his knees hoping for a chance I may revive him, the odds are slim. The wraith finishes her attack allowing my badly eviscerated character to get up. As this happens the camera spins at an angle leaving me confused as I am killed next to my friend frustrated. The lanterns go out.
There is only silence in the dark, but there is max brightness in the settings.
I unhook my shield to carry the lantern, an item that only works when carried by hand rather than on a belt. It's a mystery why. I'm sure the developers thought the mechanic would provide a fun challenge. They are wrong. My friend proceeds as the vanguard with shield raised as I try to light the way. We progress slowly. Soon enough we stumble upon an enemy we called a wraith who raises her arms to do a charge attack. She dashes forward, I dodge to one side but her lock on tracks me mid jump and hits me anyway. The dodge is often useless.
Whilst pinned my friend comes to help hit her off me. A different enemy crawling along the cavern floor comes running from the darkness at him. His lock on fails for no reason leaving him flailing at the barely visible foe. He puts his shield away to bring his own lantern out hoping to set it on the ground to provide light. This allows the enemy to land the final blows with no defence and slow animations. He dies stumbling to his knees hoping for a chance I may revive him, the odds are slim. The wraith finishes her attack allowing my badly eviscerated character to get up. As this happens the camera spins at an angle leaving me confused as I am killed next to my friend frustrated. The lanterns go out.
There is only silence in the dark, but there is max brightness in the settings.
1992
A friend of mine on here Cowboyjosh sometime ago asked in a comment in another review if I find it hard to write about games I love in comparison with mediocre or bad games. This question has been rumbling around in the back of my head ever since and the fact is it's absolutely true. Criticizing something is pretty easy but trying to explain why something is good can be harder. I can throw out adjectives that something is great, fantastic etc. but that doesn't actually explain how it feels to me which is the part of the gaming experience I truly care about. Take Streets of Rage 2, this is one of my favorite games of all time. It's a game I play at least once a year every year for the last 30 years. I've played it on original hardware, emulation, Mega Drive collections, PC, Console etc. If there is a version of this I've bought it and played it yet on backloggd I have tactically reviewed Streets of Rage (A game I like), Streets of Rage 3 ( A game I hate) yet swerved 2 like the plague, so here goes, my poorly articulated attempt to explain why I love this game so much.
This was the first beat 'em up I'd ever played as a kid. When it released though I didn't own it initially. I used to run to a friends house after school so we could play it co-op, I sacrificed dinner on several occasions so I could keep playing as much as I could before I eventually got the game for myself. I couldn't get enough of it.
The atmosphere to Streets of Rage 2 is sublime. It oozes this 80's street vibe that many games have tried to copy to various degrees but never reached the same level. The neon lights, the punk hair cuts, denim jackets and mini skirts. It's a feeling, one that is just consistent throughout thanks to Ancient's wonderful use of colour and art design. The visuals are pretty simple in a lot of ways with fairly small character models allowing for more screen space when moving around and fighting. This is something I hate in it's contemporaries with huge models and little options for positioning. The bosses are all larger than life though and stand out in a striking way. For example the giant bald guy bare foot with huge boxing gloves, a massive oiled wrestler who looks like the ultimate warrior, a guy in a jetpack and a boss that looks like Street Fighter's Blanca mixed with the Predator. The boss that comes to mind every time though when I think of this game is the first boss, Barbon. He isn't visually impressive or all that striking but the lead up, the build to him in a short time just sets the tone for the fight. You fight through a bar and the barman escapes out into the back courtyard. The music stops except the patter of rain on the streets, there's no where else to run. He shouts "c'mon" before ripping his waistcoat off revealing his muscled torso previously hidden before the dropping of this insane boss music. It just gives me chills every time.
Interestingly bouncing off that last thought, I think streets of Rage 2 is actually the first game I noticed music, like really noticed it as a media on it's own rather than background noise to the game as a whole. I used to put Streets of Rage 2 in my Sega Mega Drive and go into the sound test in the options just to listen to it by plugging my cheap 90's overhead headphones with the orange foam ear covers and just listen to it. The thing is, literally every song for this soundtrack is an absolute slam. It's easily my favorite gaming soundtrack of all time. And the soundtrack just doesn't leave my Walkman's rotation.
And that's the core of this review, Streets of Rage 2 for me is a feeling invoked though a mixture of childhood nostalgia as well as consistent enjoyment year after year. From a gameplay point of view it's great if simple and easy but that doesn't matter. The emotional impact this game gives off for me every time I play it isn't something I can quantify and nor do I feel games should be broken down as rigidly as that and is something I'm trying to distance from more and more.
Streets of Rage 2 isn't a game, it's a vibe.
+ Amazing atmosphere.
+ My favorite game soundtrack of all time.
+ Wonderful art, colours and bosses.
+ Timeless.
This was the first beat 'em up I'd ever played as a kid. When it released though I didn't own it initially. I used to run to a friends house after school so we could play it co-op, I sacrificed dinner on several occasions so I could keep playing as much as I could before I eventually got the game for myself. I couldn't get enough of it.
The atmosphere to Streets of Rage 2 is sublime. It oozes this 80's street vibe that many games have tried to copy to various degrees but never reached the same level. The neon lights, the punk hair cuts, denim jackets and mini skirts. It's a feeling, one that is just consistent throughout thanks to Ancient's wonderful use of colour and art design. The visuals are pretty simple in a lot of ways with fairly small character models allowing for more screen space when moving around and fighting. This is something I hate in it's contemporaries with huge models and little options for positioning. The bosses are all larger than life though and stand out in a striking way. For example the giant bald guy bare foot with huge boxing gloves, a massive oiled wrestler who looks like the ultimate warrior, a guy in a jetpack and a boss that looks like Street Fighter's Blanca mixed with the Predator. The boss that comes to mind every time though when I think of this game is the first boss, Barbon. He isn't visually impressive or all that striking but the lead up, the build to him in a short time just sets the tone for the fight. You fight through a bar and the barman escapes out into the back courtyard. The music stops except the patter of rain on the streets, there's no where else to run. He shouts "c'mon" before ripping his waistcoat off revealing his muscled torso previously hidden before the dropping of this insane boss music. It just gives me chills every time.
Interestingly bouncing off that last thought, I think streets of Rage 2 is actually the first game I noticed music, like really noticed it as a media on it's own rather than background noise to the game as a whole. I used to put Streets of Rage 2 in my Sega Mega Drive and go into the sound test in the options just to listen to it by plugging my cheap 90's overhead headphones with the orange foam ear covers and just listen to it. The thing is, literally every song for this soundtrack is an absolute slam. It's easily my favorite gaming soundtrack of all time. And the soundtrack just doesn't leave my Walkman's rotation.
And that's the core of this review, Streets of Rage 2 for me is a feeling invoked though a mixture of childhood nostalgia as well as consistent enjoyment year after year. From a gameplay point of view it's great if simple and easy but that doesn't matter. The emotional impact this game gives off for me every time I play it isn't something I can quantify and nor do I feel games should be broken down as rigidly as that and is something I'm trying to distance from more and more.
Streets of Rage 2 isn't a game, it's a vibe.
+ Amazing atmosphere.
+ My favorite game soundtrack of all time.
+ Wonderful art, colours and bosses.
+ Timeless.
I write this review from my bed as a few days ago I had one of my teeth ripped out by a dentist due to it being cracked. Deep root, firmly in molar. A nurse literally had to hold my head whilst the dentist got bigger pliers to pull it like in a cartoon. Most pain I've ever been in both before and after. This has hampered my gaming as I can only play in short bursts whilst holding my swollen face feeling sorry for myself.
The thing is that Coffee Talk 2 is a perfect pick up and play game for this just like it's predecessor. It's a Mythpunk visual novel where you are an enigmatic late night coffee shop owner serving drinks to elves, orcs, vampires, banshees and an assortment of other creatures as you learn about their lives and troubles. It's minimally interactive with only making correct drinks or handing items over the bar effecting the slice of life stories for the endings you get.
The game just works though. It's wholesome, chill with fantastic pixel art and character designs supported by the sort of pleasant music you'd find in a nice cafe or an elevator. I would recommend playing the original game first as characters and subplots do progress through and it plays with your assumption of that knowledge.
Recommended.
+ Very relaxing.
+ I like the characters and their lives.
+ Lovely visuals and music.
- Drink making is still semi guess work.
The thing is that Coffee Talk 2 is a perfect pick up and play game for this just like it's predecessor. It's a Mythpunk visual novel where you are an enigmatic late night coffee shop owner serving drinks to elves, orcs, vampires, banshees and an assortment of other creatures as you learn about their lives and troubles. It's minimally interactive with only making correct drinks or handing items over the bar effecting the slice of life stories for the endings you get.
The game just works though. It's wholesome, chill with fantastic pixel art and character designs supported by the sort of pleasant music you'd find in a nice cafe or an elevator. I would recommend playing the original game first as characters and subplots do progress through and it plays with your assumption of that knowledge.
Recommended.
+ Very relaxing.
+ I like the characters and their lives.
+ Lovely visuals and music.
- Drink making is still semi guess work.
1995
I've tried 3 separate times to get into Alien Soldier. I feel I should love it, everyone else seems to love it. Yet every time within 30 minutes I've bounced off of it like a bodybuilder throwing a ball at a wall.
I suspect this is a me problem rather than a game problem. Alien Soldier does not ease you in and throws you straight in so that in less than 3 minutes you are fighting a boss where you can run along the ceiling. This game goes to 11 immediately and never slows down so you can get comfortable with the clunky and unintuitive controls. Whilst it does have an interactive tutorial menu it doesn't help when you're thrown into the front lines trying to remember what controls allow you to block, dash, change stance or bring up the weapon reel. Honestly this game feels ahead of it's time that it's trying to give so many options on a controller with so few buttons.
The whole game feels clunky in a way I don't have the patience to learn and adapt to. The weapon reel doesn't pause the game which would be fine if your weapons didn't (needlessly) run out of energy forcing you to swap at the worst time. This means you are guaranteed to receive a cheap hit like a trout to the face as bringing it up is slow and cumbersome, when you remember which button and direction do it. The levels have super tight timers for no reason, and resource managing your weapon energy on top is just a chore.
Despite my lack of enjoyment of actually playing this there is a great deal of charm here. The ludicrous story reel fed in a scrolling feed like Star Wars fan fiction, the huge chunky character model, the extreme fast pace, and colourful visuals are all great. I can see how people would like, nay, love this game when they learn the controls and mechanics so they are second nature rather than having to think then get an energy bullet to the face as I did.
+ Great visual and art design.
+ Fast paced non stop action.
- Does not give you time to acclimatise.
- Control system feels clunky and unintuitive.
I suspect this is a me problem rather than a game problem. Alien Soldier does not ease you in and throws you straight in so that in less than 3 minutes you are fighting a boss where you can run along the ceiling. This game goes to 11 immediately and never slows down so you can get comfortable with the clunky and unintuitive controls. Whilst it does have an interactive tutorial menu it doesn't help when you're thrown into the front lines trying to remember what controls allow you to block, dash, change stance or bring up the weapon reel. Honestly this game feels ahead of it's time that it's trying to give so many options on a controller with so few buttons.
The whole game feels clunky in a way I don't have the patience to learn and adapt to. The weapon reel doesn't pause the game which would be fine if your weapons didn't (needlessly) run out of energy forcing you to swap at the worst time. This means you are guaranteed to receive a cheap hit like a trout to the face as bringing it up is slow and cumbersome, when you remember which button and direction do it. The levels have super tight timers for no reason, and resource managing your weapon energy on top is just a chore.
Despite my lack of enjoyment of actually playing this there is a great deal of charm here. The ludicrous story reel fed in a scrolling feed like Star Wars fan fiction, the huge chunky character model, the extreme fast pace, and colourful visuals are all great. I can see how people would like, nay, love this game when they learn the controls and mechanics so they are second nature rather than having to think then get an energy bullet to the face as I did.
+ Great visual and art design.
+ Fast paced non stop action.
- Does not give you time to acclimatise.
- Control system feels clunky and unintuitive.
2022
In 2017 Apple one of the world's biggest companies admitted to intentionally slowing down phone batteries. Referred to as "Batterygate" this action opened up a string of lawsuits that Apple were intentionally using 'planned obsolescence' to encourage people to upgrade their phones or fork out to apple for replacement batteries. Apple always denied this by all reports stating it was actioned to preserve the device.
Moving forward 5 years and we have Citizen Sleeper, an indie game made by a one person studio Jump Over the Edge. In this game you play as a Sleeper, an emulated copy of a person with no rights as part of a Essen-Arp Megacorporation contract. Through design without the right treatment your body will decay over time making you reliant on them in a form of indentured servitude. Planned Obsolescence of a copied person. You escape however ending up on the Eye, a self run Space station surviving after the collapse of the Megacorporation Solheim it and many companies were once part of. Somewhat lawless but welcoming, it's a perfect place for a Sleeper trying to survive.
The lore and world created here is a fascinating one. The way the game takes examples of situations like that of Apple as a form of consumer control but exaggerated into the extreme Cyberpunk Megacorp world really stands out. The characters you meet on this independent space station are broken, struggling, running and surviving but are a great cast to interact with as further world building about the outside universe is dribbled to you through these events.
The game actually plays akin to a visual novel mixed with a dice placement tabletop board game with a few light sprinklings of RPG stats on top. Each turn or cycle (as there is no day and night on a space station) you get several dice rolls based on your Sleeper's physical health condition. Each dice can be used towards actions, some immediate some building up charges to complete. Depending on the number result of the roll will depend on it's chance for success with a positive (5-6), neutral (3-4) or negative (1-2) outcome. These numbers can be bolstered with + values depending on the skill involved and you level in it such as 'engineering +1' to increase your chance. All along the station are different locations with different characters and events that can feed you, repair you or push along character quest lines.
How you choose to progress is entirely up to you after the opening couple of quests. It's a fairly open ended adventure with multiple different endings depending on who you interact with and when. This is both a positive and negative in my view having seen them all. Citizen Sleeper despite it's grand ideas for the outside lore of the world feels more like a slice of life story so each character questline is personal and don't interconnect with each other in anyway leaving everything feeling a little directionless. Additionally though your circumstances are in many ways quite dire it never feels that way in the writing which at times is a little too matter a fact. What writing there is though outside of that small caveat is excellent. The characters, their problems and events are all really interesting, I got rather absorbed into their lives and personal struggles which is why I went out of my way to see all the endings on offer.
My only real issue with the game is actually if you are wanting to see all events there is a lot of downtime mechanically. Initially every dice you use has to be really thought out in regards to survival / story progress balance but it soon becomes extremely obsolete meaning you are mostly just burning down clock cycles to get to the next story beat sometimes doing nothing. The thing is I am a board gamer and this reminds me a lot of a game called Alien Frontiers where you place dice for resources to build colonies. What I hope Citizen Sleeper learns from this is to use the full range of numbers for actions rather than high = good and low = bad. Have certain actions only available on a 1 or 2 etc. and smaller ways of knocking them up and down would have made the turn based element more strategic and interactive throughout.
When all is said and done though I had a really good time with this and the fact that it was made by mostly one person is pretty nuts. The wonderful character art, somber music and writing pushing this along make for a wonderful experience and I do look forward to the announced sequel.
+ Fantastic art, music and atmosphere.
+ Citizen Sleepers universe and lore.
+ Mostly excellent writing and characters.
- Dice mechanic could have been more interesting.
- Sleepers personal situation often felt detached from events writing wise.
Moving forward 5 years and we have Citizen Sleeper, an indie game made by a one person studio Jump Over the Edge. In this game you play as a Sleeper, an emulated copy of a person with no rights as part of a Essen-Arp Megacorporation contract. Through design without the right treatment your body will decay over time making you reliant on them in a form of indentured servitude. Planned Obsolescence of a copied person. You escape however ending up on the Eye, a self run Space station surviving after the collapse of the Megacorporation Solheim it and many companies were once part of. Somewhat lawless but welcoming, it's a perfect place for a Sleeper trying to survive.
The lore and world created here is a fascinating one. The way the game takes examples of situations like that of Apple as a form of consumer control but exaggerated into the extreme Cyberpunk Megacorp world really stands out. The characters you meet on this independent space station are broken, struggling, running and surviving but are a great cast to interact with as further world building about the outside universe is dribbled to you through these events.
The game actually plays akin to a visual novel mixed with a dice placement tabletop board game with a few light sprinklings of RPG stats on top. Each turn or cycle (as there is no day and night on a space station) you get several dice rolls based on your Sleeper's physical health condition. Each dice can be used towards actions, some immediate some building up charges to complete. Depending on the number result of the roll will depend on it's chance for success with a positive (5-6), neutral (3-4) or negative (1-2) outcome. These numbers can be bolstered with + values depending on the skill involved and you level in it such as 'engineering +1' to increase your chance. All along the station are different locations with different characters and events that can feed you, repair you or push along character quest lines.
How you choose to progress is entirely up to you after the opening couple of quests. It's a fairly open ended adventure with multiple different endings depending on who you interact with and when. This is both a positive and negative in my view having seen them all. Citizen Sleeper despite it's grand ideas for the outside lore of the world feels more like a slice of life story so each character questline is personal and don't interconnect with each other in anyway leaving everything feeling a little directionless. Additionally though your circumstances are in many ways quite dire it never feels that way in the writing which at times is a little too matter a fact. What writing there is though outside of that small caveat is excellent. The characters, their problems and events are all really interesting, I got rather absorbed into their lives and personal struggles which is why I went out of my way to see all the endings on offer.
My only real issue with the game is actually if you are wanting to see all events there is a lot of downtime mechanically. Initially every dice you use has to be really thought out in regards to survival / story progress balance but it soon becomes extremely obsolete meaning you are mostly just burning down clock cycles to get to the next story beat sometimes doing nothing. The thing is I am a board gamer and this reminds me a lot of a game called Alien Frontiers where you place dice for resources to build colonies. What I hope Citizen Sleeper learns from this is to use the full range of numbers for actions rather than high = good and low = bad. Have certain actions only available on a 1 or 2 etc. and smaller ways of knocking them up and down would have made the turn based element more strategic and interactive throughout.
When all is said and done though I had a really good time with this and the fact that it was made by mostly one person is pretty nuts. The wonderful character art, somber music and writing pushing this along make for a wonderful experience and I do look forward to the announced sequel.
+ Fantastic art, music and atmosphere.
+ Citizen Sleepers universe and lore.
+ Mostly excellent writing and characters.
- Dice mechanic could have been more interesting.
- Sleepers personal situation often felt detached from events writing wise.
My respects to anyone either at the time or now who has beaten any of the games on this collection without cheats or save states.
1994
This game's apparent word play on 'hardcore' is a pretty accurate descriptor as far as things go because Contra Hard Corps is a crazy intense experience from start to finish.
The game starts with an armored car barreling through enemies in a desolate city before crashing with your character smashing through the windshield into immediate action. You literally hit the ground running to the crunching electronic soundtrack. The game just never lets up from this manic start with giant robot bosses, bike chases, aliens, dropships, helicopters and other things I don't want to spoil because on each replay I was constantly surprised by the amount of crazy content Konami fit onto this game.
This is the first Contra I have played with a real attempt at story. Set 5 years after Contra III with a terrorist group led by a former soldier stealing an alien cell to experiment on. The great thing about it though is there are cutscenes and story choices that actually direct the flow of the game into a branching path with multiple endings and stages giving it a good amount of re-playability to see all the different variations, additional levels and boss fights.
You can choose between four different characters to play as; Ray, Sheena, Browny and Brad. Two humans, a robot and a ...werewolf? Each character can carry up to 4 weapons collected as you play which they can freely swap between. When you die you only lose the weapon you were carrying which can be used strategically if you're good enough similar to one of my other favorite megadrive games Thunder Force IV. Additionally each characters arsenal is actually different so there is some variation in experimenting between which you like most. No matter who you pick this game just feels good to play. Movements are precise, smooth and fast with the option to lock in place to fire without moving, slide and weapon switch. It just feels comfortable.
Not going to lie, after not really enjoying most of the older Contra's going into this kind of blew me away. The only thing to be really aware of is Contra Hard Corps isn't a walk in the park. I used save states on the anniversary collection to make it through and did find my first play through frustrating. On my 5th run having grown accustomed to the controls and fast paced run and gun gameplay however I was starting to fly through it so depending on your skill level there may be a barrier to get past but I can't recommend this enough. There was no need for Konami to go this hard (corps).
+ Crazy set pieces, enemies and fast paced gameplay.
+ Crunchy pounding music.
+ Gorgeous sprites and visuals.
+ Doesn't let up.
- May be a bit too hard for some people.
The game starts with an armored car barreling through enemies in a desolate city before crashing with your character smashing through the windshield into immediate action. You literally hit the ground running to the crunching electronic soundtrack. The game just never lets up from this manic start with giant robot bosses, bike chases, aliens, dropships, helicopters and other things I don't want to spoil because on each replay I was constantly surprised by the amount of crazy content Konami fit onto this game.
This is the first Contra I have played with a real attempt at story. Set 5 years after Contra III with a terrorist group led by a former soldier stealing an alien cell to experiment on. The great thing about it though is there are cutscenes and story choices that actually direct the flow of the game into a branching path with multiple endings and stages giving it a good amount of re-playability to see all the different variations, additional levels and boss fights.
You can choose between four different characters to play as; Ray, Sheena, Browny and Brad. Two humans, a robot and a ...werewolf? Each character can carry up to 4 weapons collected as you play which they can freely swap between. When you die you only lose the weapon you were carrying which can be used strategically if you're good enough similar to one of my other favorite megadrive games Thunder Force IV. Additionally each characters arsenal is actually different so there is some variation in experimenting between which you like most. No matter who you pick this game just feels good to play. Movements are precise, smooth and fast with the option to lock in place to fire without moving, slide and weapon switch. It just feels comfortable.
Not going to lie, after not really enjoying most of the older Contra's going into this kind of blew me away. The only thing to be really aware of is Contra Hard Corps isn't a walk in the park. I used save states on the anniversary collection to make it through and did find my first play through frustrating. On my 5th run having grown accustomed to the controls and fast paced run and gun gameplay however I was starting to fly through it so depending on your skill level there may be a barrier to get past but I can't recommend this enough. There was no need for Konami to go this hard (corps).
+ Crazy set pieces, enemies and fast paced gameplay.
+ Crunchy pounding music.
+ Gorgeous sprites and visuals.
+ Doesn't let up.
- May be a bit too hard for some people.