FallenGrace
BACKER
I think I've had this game maybe 6 years? It always looked decent enough but I could never get the enthusiasm to play it. Something about it never felt interesting enough for me to try and now I finally have I'd say that was a pretty fair assumption on my part as it's ok but never manages to fly higher than that.
You play the role of a little helicopter bot that ends up being pulled down into an underground factory/ ruin when out flying with friends/colleagues/family/other bots. The plot of the game is never really clear, it's one of those silent indie games with a very vague premise presented to you from a few visuals. That's not a criticism by the way, using this to present a world, lore and narrative structure for a game can be extremely effective though it is a little vague here. That's fine though because the game is entirely a puzzle title where that isn't the main consideration anyway. The visual design is very good though, the little helicopter bots remind me of the ones from Batteries Not Included in some ways. The underground factory is full of pipes, lights, steel and rocks as you explore trying to escape where you've fallen into. The puzzles are all logic based around one mechanic of the helicopter bot having a tractor beam to pick up, throw or manipulate objects and none of them are overly hard to figure out though I got lost where to go a couple of times.
The thing is nothing super stands out about the game. It's got elements of lots of similar games I've played over the years, the puzzles aren't frustrating but they aren't interesting either. It's just missing that special ingredient to make it stand out but it's still a solid well made game worth trying.
You play the role of a little helicopter bot that ends up being pulled down into an underground factory/ ruin when out flying with friends/colleagues/family/other bots. The plot of the game is never really clear, it's one of those silent indie games with a very vague premise presented to you from a few visuals. That's not a criticism by the way, using this to present a world, lore and narrative structure for a game can be extremely effective though it is a little vague here. That's fine though because the game is entirely a puzzle title where that isn't the main consideration anyway. The visual design is very good though, the little helicopter bots remind me of the ones from Batteries Not Included in some ways. The underground factory is full of pipes, lights, steel and rocks as you explore trying to escape where you've fallen into. The puzzles are all logic based around one mechanic of the helicopter bot having a tractor beam to pick up, throw or manipulate objects and none of them are overly hard to figure out though I got lost where to go a couple of times.
The thing is nothing super stands out about the game. It's got elements of lots of similar games I've played over the years, the puzzles aren't frustrating but they aren't interesting either. It's just missing that special ingredient to make it stand out but it's still a solid well made game worth trying.
1996
Salamander 2 is an arcade shoot 'em up released by Konami in 1996. It's approximately the 9th game in the Gradius series. Though Salamander is a spin off of the main series, the Gradius series has generally had confusing naming conventions from the start. The original Gradius was also called Nemesis on some international release yet future games used the Gradius title whilst the later Nemesis games are actually unique titles not just renaming for different regional releases of Gradius's later sequels. Salamander, a spin off of the original Gradius also wasn't left unscathed from this kind of confusion being called Life Force outside of Japan (with Japan then getting it's own version of Life Force with Gradius's power up system and a slightly different aesthetic). Confused? Me too and I've been looking into this for a while. The only series I know with more confusing title releases and names is Wonder Boy. Anyway I digress, Salamander 2 fortunately had no such change in it's name as it was never released outside of Japan though it later got released from it's arcade confines to both PlayStation and PSP collections, but they use English due to their arcade nature making them perfectly playable still to international audiences.
Salamander 2 keeps many of the features that made the first Salamander such a good little game and more enjoyable to me over it's mainline contemporaries. The power up system is simple and slightly less punishing. Collecting speed up and options power ups as well as ones that change the main weapon and missile type. When you die you lose your speed bonus but can recollect many of your options orbital guns meaning you aren't instantly turned into a new born kitten if you die. It also has a slight mix of horizontal and vertical levels and both play really well similar to the first title I really liked. Visually I think it's a great looking title. The usage of colour, sprites and art just make it still have a fairly crisp modern feel to it that made games like Gradius IV that came out 3 years later look immediately outdated and to top it all off it's not impossibly hard to beat making it generally a far more accessible title.
That said, I think it's predecessor despite being 10 years older stood out more to me. I enjoyed the overall gameplay of this more, it's less frustrating than sections of the first but the organic theme isn't leaned quite as much into and feels a little bit more like a generic shoot 'em up when all is said and done. I've still got a lot of these games to play and I'm especially looking forward to Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V but at this point Salamander 1 and 2 are however the best in the series even with their minor flaws.
Salamander 2 keeps many of the features that made the first Salamander such a good little game and more enjoyable to me over it's mainline contemporaries. The power up system is simple and slightly less punishing. Collecting speed up and options power ups as well as ones that change the main weapon and missile type. When you die you lose your speed bonus but can recollect many of your options orbital guns meaning you aren't instantly turned into a new born kitten if you die. It also has a slight mix of horizontal and vertical levels and both play really well similar to the first title I really liked. Visually I think it's a great looking title. The usage of colour, sprites and art just make it still have a fairly crisp modern feel to it that made games like Gradius IV that came out 3 years later look immediately outdated and to top it all off it's not impossibly hard to beat making it generally a far more accessible title.
That said, I think it's predecessor despite being 10 years older stood out more to me. I enjoyed the overall gameplay of this more, it's less frustrating than sections of the first but the organic theme isn't leaned quite as much into and feels a little bit more like a generic shoot 'em up when all is said and done. I've still got a lot of these games to play and I'm especially looking forward to Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V but at this point Salamander 1 and 2 are however the best in the series even with their minor flaws.
2020
Streets of Kamurocho was released as a limited time free PC release to celebrate Sega's 60th anniversary. It's a mixture of two franchises of Sega, Streets of Rage and Yakuza. (Kamurocho is the fictional area of Tokyo in which a large chunk of the Yakuza games are based, modeled on Kabukichō a known entertainment district of Tokyo).
It's a really neat little idea as both series cross well with their beat em' up style gameplay and underground aesthetics. It feels like a rom hack of Streets of Rage 2 added with a Yakuza skin because that is what it is really. You get three characters to play as with Kiryu Kazuma and Goro Majima available initially and a third unlocked after you beat it once....which takes about 10 minutes so that seems kind of needless. Whilst I love the idea of this it's only the first level of Streets of Rage 2 which goes on loop getting a little harder to build up your score. I just wanted them to go further and make a whole game of it. Underneath the Yakuza aesthetic the move set is that of Axel from Streets of Rage 2, but it's the same for all three characters. Majima should have been Skate surely? Why not add Kaoru Sayama from Yakuza 2 for Blaze and Taiga Saejima as Max? three characters with identical moves is kind of a let down.
The game looks nice and has lots of nods to the Yakuza series with Bacchus, Poppo etc. Each character has their own music and I certainly can't complain for something released entirely for free as a nice celebration gesture to fans, but the thing is I would have paid good money for a fully fleshed out game of this no question as a Streets of Rage and Yakuza fan....
It's a really neat little idea as both series cross well with their beat em' up style gameplay and underground aesthetics. It feels like a rom hack of Streets of Rage 2 added with a Yakuza skin because that is what it is really. You get three characters to play as with Kiryu Kazuma and Goro Majima available initially and a third unlocked after you beat it once....which takes about 10 minutes so that seems kind of needless. Whilst I love the idea of this it's only the first level of Streets of Rage 2 which goes on loop getting a little harder to build up your score. I just wanted them to go further and make a whole game of it. Underneath the Yakuza aesthetic the move set is that of Axel from Streets of Rage 2, but it's the same for all three characters. Majima should have been Skate surely? Why not add Kaoru Sayama from Yakuza 2 for Blaze and Taiga Saejima as Max? three characters with identical moves is kind of a let down.
The game looks nice and has lots of nods to the Yakuza series with Bacchus, Poppo etc. Each character has their own music and I certainly can't complain for something released entirely for free as a nice celebration gesture to fans, but the thing is I would have paid good money for a fully fleshed out game of this no question as a Streets of Rage and Yakuza fan....
2021
I've been playing this series on and off since the original PS2 demo that came with Devil May Cry 3. Without the online component available here in Europe it was kinda ok but forgettable playing it solo. Moving onto the PSP releases of Freedom, Freedom 2 and Unite where my friends and I would all get together to play it wireless on our PSPs was an absolute blast and I've been a huge fan ever since.
So for the uninitiated Monster Hunter is a co-op game of up to four players taking on missions to hunt down a variety of beasts on levels and arenas, carve up their bodies and make weapons and armour from their bits. The gameplay loop is extremely satisfying once you get past the fairly slow start of teaching you the mechanics and boy is there is a lot to learn here initially if you aren't a series veteran. There are 14 different main weapons, as well as the ability to craft traps, bombs, potions, armour, gems and accessories all of which can also have attached skills. It can be daunting at first but once you dig in you will find a decent amount of depth here to be had in the type of builds you can do or specialize in. I play with a group of friends who all use different weapons and skill sets. In fact as I mentioned on Appeciation's list of 'Perfect games if they were the only one you had' just changing weapon can absolutely freshen the game up if you are trying to learn how it works, it's skills and the right armour sets for it. In Rise I have played as the Hammer, Long Sword and Gun Lance mostly so far in about 150 hours. New to the series though is the wirebug. Kind of like a living grappling hook allowing you to propel yourself through the air like an absolute madman. It increases the games verticality in movement and recovery along with Palumutes you can ride and you ability to climb everywhere and Rise just feels much faster to play, almost more arcadey than the slower methodical approach of previous games. The wirebugs also give each weapon equipable attack skills to use allowing a small degree of customization.
I played the PlayStation port and I have to say I'm impressed by how this game looks. Capcom have always been incredibly proficient but it still looks gorgeous with fantastic art and is incredibly smooth. The RE engine truly is impressive stuff. The animations for all the monsters, cats, attacks and characters are the best part though. The attention to detail given to some of them like the NPCs in town or even some of the weapons. As an example I got a new hammer the other day to try that looks a little bit like a wheel that when you charge it up starts spinning. It's only this weapon that has that and there are hundreds. It's just full of small details like the Feyline blowing himself up in the kitchen, the Meowceneries palumutes on kites flying off backwards, the training Tetranadon powered by a Feyline that has to wind it up every so often etc. I love these aspects in the Monster Hunter games. They are just so charming despite the underlying theme of the games hunting completely innocent animals for no reason being kinda sinister to be honest.
While having a blast with this I do have some small niggles. Whilst the music is good I didn't find it as impactful as prior games like Zinogre's theme is just a bit muted in the background rather than 'you're in danger' in your face I would have liked. The endgame is kind of lacking too. I like the Rampage mode which is like a team tower defense but some more levels for variety would have been nice. All that's left for us now is crown hunting as we seem to have peaked equipment wise very early. This is possibly because as a group we also felt the Elder Dragon's with the exception of Crimson Glow Valstrax just didn't feel remotely threatening which was disappointing. I do like the mix of new and old monsters though gives a good roster. The Rakna-Kadaki and Magnamallo are especially memorable in the newer cast.
In conclusion we have had a great time with Monster Hunter Rise and I'm super happy Capcom ported it. I do prefer the slower approach of Monster Hunter World with monsters feeling far more threatening and I kind of agree with TylertheTigrex's review as he makes points that the wirebug trivializes a lot of the danger where monsters don't have the moves to deal with it as much. However despite that it's still a wonderful interactive world that is great in co-op, has a lot of options and content and looks and sounds great. I can't wait for the Sunbreak expansion release next month as I understand it adds so much to the game.
+ Looks and plays wonderfully with great details.
+ A lot of content and options for how you build your character.
+ Great co-op gameplay.
+ Rampages are fun.
+ WIrebug moves make the game fast paced....
-....and make some monsters too easy.
- Elder Dragons feel a bit weak.
So for the uninitiated Monster Hunter is a co-op game of up to four players taking on missions to hunt down a variety of beasts on levels and arenas, carve up their bodies and make weapons and armour from their bits. The gameplay loop is extremely satisfying once you get past the fairly slow start of teaching you the mechanics and boy is there is a lot to learn here initially if you aren't a series veteran. There are 14 different main weapons, as well as the ability to craft traps, bombs, potions, armour, gems and accessories all of which can also have attached skills. It can be daunting at first but once you dig in you will find a decent amount of depth here to be had in the type of builds you can do or specialize in. I play with a group of friends who all use different weapons and skill sets. In fact as I mentioned on Appeciation's list of 'Perfect games if they were the only one you had' just changing weapon can absolutely freshen the game up if you are trying to learn how it works, it's skills and the right armour sets for it. In Rise I have played as the Hammer, Long Sword and Gun Lance mostly so far in about 150 hours. New to the series though is the wirebug. Kind of like a living grappling hook allowing you to propel yourself through the air like an absolute madman. It increases the games verticality in movement and recovery along with Palumutes you can ride and you ability to climb everywhere and Rise just feels much faster to play, almost more arcadey than the slower methodical approach of previous games. The wirebugs also give each weapon equipable attack skills to use allowing a small degree of customization.
I played the PlayStation port and I have to say I'm impressed by how this game looks. Capcom have always been incredibly proficient but it still looks gorgeous with fantastic art and is incredibly smooth. The RE engine truly is impressive stuff. The animations for all the monsters, cats, attacks and characters are the best part though. The attention to detail given to some of them like the NPCs in town or even some of the weapons. As an example I got a new hammer the other day to try that looks a little bit like a wheel that when you charge it up starts spinning. It's only this weapon that has that and there are hundreds. It's just full of small details like the Feyline blowing himself up in the kitchen, the Meowceneries palumutes on kites flying off backwards, the training Tetranadon powered by a Feyline that has to wind it up every so often etc. I love these aspects in the Monster Hunter games. They are just so charming despite the underlying theme of the games hunting completely innocent animals for no reason being kinda sinister to be honest.
While having a blast with this I do have some small niggles. Whilst the music is good I didn't find it as impactful as prior games like Zinogre's theme is just a bit muted in the background rather than 'you're in danger' in your face I would have liked. The endgame is kind of lacking too. I like the Rampage mode which is like a team tower defense but some more levels for variety would have been nice. All that's left for us now is crown hunting as we seem to have peaked equipment wise very early. This is possibly because as a group we also felt the Elder Dragon's with the exception of Crimson Glow Valstrax just didn't feel remotely threatening which was disappointing. I do like the mix of new and old monsters though gives a good roster. The Rakna-Kadaki and Magnamallo are especially memorable in the newer cast.
In conclusion we have had a great time with Monster Hunter Rise and I'm super happy Capcom ported it. I do prefer the slower approach of Monster Hunter World with monsters feeling far more threatening and I kind of agree with TylertheTigrex's review as he makes points that the wirebug trivializes a lot of the danger where monsters don't have the moves to deal with it as much. However despite that it's still a wonderful interactive world that is great in co-op, has a lot of options and content and looks and sounds great. I can't wait for the Sunbreak expansion release next month as I understand it adds so much to the game.
+ Looks and plays wonderfully with great details.
+ A lot of content and options for how you build your character.
+ Great co-op gameplay.
+ Rampages are fun.
+ WIrebug moves make the game fast paced....
-....and make some monsters too easy.
- Elder Dragons feel a bit weak.
1999
Gradius is a shoot 'em up series I've been working through the last year or so. Playing through the Gradius titles especially, this close together, just feels like constant de ja vu. I believe a lot of people would describe the repeating levels and enemies as 'series staples' but I just see it as a lack of innovation. Gradius IV came out almost 15 years after the original 1985 release yet it feels almost like the same game.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals are certainly improved. Gradius IV uses some nice 3D models with decent looking effects for the time. It has a bit of a 'my first 3D' game look to it that a lot of titles did in that era but it looks good. The level and ship design though may as well have not evolved in that same time. There is an Easter Island statue section, a volcano level, a fire dragon level, some repeating bosses etc. Whilst there are slight changes (the volcano section now moves up and down) there is nothing exciting here, I've seen it all before.
The game plays well enough, I played it on the PSP Gradius collection. I certainly found it more accessible than Gradius III which was obnoxiously hard. That is until I got to another 'series staple'. In Gradius you sometimes get these forced speed sections where the screen speeds up horizontally forcing you to weave through obstacles to get past like your ship is speeding through. This section broke me. A wrong choice? Straight into a dead end you can't avoid. Dead. Stay at the back of the screen to see what's coming? Enemy comes from behind. Dead. Door closes on you and don't get there early enough or shoot it enough? Dead. It's just awful. I don't have the patience or time to memorise and practice this halfway through the game. I'd rather play games that are fun.
Worst cover art of the series too disapointingly. Two stars for being better than Gradius III, I still don't like it though.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals are certainly improved. Gradius IV uses some nice 3D models with decent looking effects for the time. It has a bit of a 'my first 3D' game look to it that a lot of titles did in that era but it looks good. The level and ship design though may as well have not evolved in that same time. There is an Easter Island statue section, a volcano level, a fire dragon level, some repeating bosses etc. Whilst there are slight changes (the volcano section now moves up and down) there is nothing exciting here, I've seen it all before.
The game plays well enough, I played it on the PSP Gradius collection. I certainly found it more accessible than Gradius III which was obnoxiously hard. That is until I got to another 'series staple'. In Gradius you sometimes get these forced speed sections where the screen speeds up horizontally forcing you to weave through obstacles to get past like your ship is speeding through. This section broke me. A wrong choice? Straight into a dead end you can't avoid. Dead. Stay at the back of the screen to see what's coming? Enemy comes from behind. Dead. Door closes on you and don't get there early enough or shoot it enough? Dead. It's just awful. I don't have the patience or time to memorise and practice this halfway through the game. I'd rather play games that are fun.
Worst cover art of the series too disapointingly. Two stars for being better than Gradius III, I still don't like it though.
1987
I played Alien 3 last year. A game I had fantastic memories of playing on the Sega Megadrive over 20 years ago. The visuals to it are still fantastic but what I'd forgotten was the game was set to a timer where you explore samey looking environments looking for survivors with no map running around lost. Roll forward a year and I'm trying Alien Syndrome on the Sega Master System. My main experience of this is running around samey looking environments looking for survivors with no map running around lost.
beep beep beep
To add to this the collision detection is wonky so firing at enemies is often going to miss if you're not on exactly the right 2D plane despite the shot connecting with the pixelled alien in question. It's actually easier due to the pointless timer to avoid most enemies anyway and run through screen by screen as enemies sort of phase in a second or so after you enter a screen, sometimes on you, sometimes killing you. The action packed gorgeous cover art really isn't the experience playing it.
beep beep beep
I got to stage 5 before giving in. Each level is almost a colour swap of the last with a couple of different enemy types. Mindlessly running around lost just isn't my idea of fun and the weapon power ups are kind of boring, the lack of a map makes it a slog and the timer beeping down is grating.
beep beep beep
I like some of the boss designs though, they are pretty nightmarish in appearance even if the fight themselves is a fight against the collision detection as much as them. Maybe this was a pretty cool little game in 1986 but coming to it for the first time in 2023 and it's going to be a challenge to win people over I think.
beep beep beep
God I hate that obnoxious timer.
beep beep beep
To add to this the collision detection is wonky so firing at enemies is often going to miss if you're not on exactly the right 2D plane despite the shot connecting with the pixelled alien in question. It's actually easier due to the pointless timer to avoid most enemies anyway and run through screen by screen as enemies sort of phase in a second or so after you enter a screen, sometimes on you, sometimes killing you. The action packed gorgeous cover art really isn't the experience playing it.
beep beep beep
I got to stage 5 before giving in. Each level is almost a colour swap of the last with a couple of different enemy types. Mindlessly running around lost just isn't my idea of fun and the weapon power ups are kind of boring, the lack of a map makes it a slog and the timer beeping down is grating.
beep beep beep
I like some of the boss designs though, they are pretty nightmarish in appearance even if the fight themselves is a fight against the collision detection as much as them. Maybe this was a pretty cool little game in 1986 but coming to it for the first time in 2023 and it's going to be a challenge to win people over I think.
beep beep beep
God I hate that obnoxious timer.
1993
I feel like both Capcom and SquareEnix need to learn what the word 'Final' means in the first game of a series. In Capcom's defence though I imagine the name "Initial Fight" wouldn't have had the same impact marketing wise so here we are, the first Final Fight that won't be Final.
This is my first time playing Final Fight so I have no way of comparing it with the arcade or SNES versions yet but my impression is the Sega CD version was a decent one. Two surprises hit me playing this, firstly I was surprised how much Streets of Rage took from this game. I don't mean spiritually, but pretty liberally. Axel is an exact copy of Cody, the white T-Shirt, Blue Jeans, even the way he walks as it he wants his pecs to hit the finish line several inches before the rest of him. The enemies are pretty similar, bald fat guy with braces? Wrestler holding his arms out? punk? All present. I've actually had my world shattered to see that Streets of Rage, the beat 'em up series to me is just a clone of Final Fight. The second surprise is how much I actually didn't like this very much, so Streets of Rage is safe.
I didn't expect that going in but Final Fight is just kind of a mixture of frustrating and uninteresting. It's arcade roots filter through in how some enemies simply take far to long to finish off and will often spit roast you to death very quickly or get cheap hits on you when you get up after being knocked down. The bosses are the worst though, one had a gun and just ended up shooting me a lot from the other side of the screen before I could reach him, another threw grenades whilst zipping around, a third had such a dodgy grab range that Cody actually looked like he teleported several metres into his hands. There is very little in your punch, jump and life draining special that counter these sort of designs. It's design seems intentionally measured to separate people from their money very fast.
The enemy variety gets extremely stale to boot seeing all the enemy types by about stage 2 and every time I saw the wrestlers again I groaned from their needlessly large health pool and hideous design. The visuals are pretty nice, it's colourful and the spritework by Capcom is excellent but the enemy designs in most cases I'll be honest I really didn't like. Music is kind of similar, the quality is there, it has a few nice instrumental tracks but why does one of the most prominent tracks sound like two 80's detectives taking a slow drive to a crime scene? Compare these for example:
Final Fight - Slum above ground
Loaded Weapon 1 - Main Theme
It just didn't really match what was happening on the screen. Really Surreal, like I had my tv on mute whilst a buddy cop film was playing in another room.
I'm interested in if Final Fight 2 and 3 build on the groundwork here as many other beat 'em ups did. I respect that while far from the first in the genre Final Fight clearly bought a lot to the table that other series built on and continue to due so so it's gaming legacy is there. Going to it though without the benefit of nostalgia having never played it before I just don't think it holds up all too well.
This is my first time playing Final Fight so I have no way of comparing it with the arcade or SNES versions yet but my impression is the Sega CD version was a decent one. Two surprises hit me playing this, firstly I was surprised how much Streets of Rage took from this game. I don't mean spiritually, but pretty liberally. Axel is an exact copy of Cody, the white T-Shirt, Blue Jeans, even the way he walks as it he wants his pecs to hit the finish line several inches before the rest of him. The enemies are pretty similar, bald fat guy with braces? Wrestler holding his arms out? punk? All present. I've actually had my world shattered to see that Streets of Rage, the beat 'em up series to me is just a clone of Final Fight. The second surprise is how much I actually didn't like this very much, so Streets of Rage is safe.
I didn't expect that going in but Final Fight is just kind of a mixture of frustrating and uninteresting. It's arcade roots filter through in how some enemies simply take far to long to finish off and will often spit roast you to death very quickly or get cheap hits on you when you get up after being knocked down. The bosses are the worst though, one had a gun and just ended up shooting me a lot from the other side of the screen before I could reach him, another threw grenades whilst zipping around, a third had such a dodgy grab range that Cody actually looked like he teleported several metres into his hands. There is very little in your punch, jump and life draining special that counter these sort of designs. It's design seems intentionally measured to separate people from their money very fast.
The enemy variety gets extremely stale to boot seeing all the enemy types by about stage 2 and every time I saw the wrestlers again I groaned from their needlessly large health pool and hideous design. The visuals are pretty nice, it's colourful and the spritework by Capcom is excellent but the enemy designs in most cases I'll be honest I really didn't like. Music is kind of similar, the quality is there, it has a few nice instrumental tracks but why does one of the most prominent tracks sound like two 80's detectives taking a slow drive to a crime scene? Compare these for example:
Final Fight - Slum above ground
Loaded Weapon 1 - Main Theme
It just didn't really match what was happening on the screen. Really Surreal, like I had my tv on mute whilst a buddy cop film was playing in another room.
I'm interested in if Final Fight 2 and 3 build on the groundwork here as many other beat 'em ups did. I respect that while far from the first in the genre Final Fight clearly bought a lot to the table that other series built on and continue to due so so it's gaming legacy is there. Going to it though without the benefit of nostalgia having never played it before I just don't think it holds up all too well.
"Oh~ We are the valiant infantry. We are the alpha team with passion and camaraderie." - Easily sacrificial frontline Earth Defence Force trooper.
I love EDF. There is something about the series that just brings gaming back to it's core for me. The focus isn't on cinematics, story or even characters, just the simple feeling of turning Starship Troopers into an arcade shooter with Japanese flare, a 1950's aesthetic and a budget easily measurable in a jug counted by eye. The thing is it's the simplicity that makes it work. I know what I'm getting into when I play this, stupid weapons, some with explosions of inappropriate size, enemies that look like they came out of the back up wardrobe from Forbidden Planet and a fun co-op experience, nothing else.
I started the series at EDF 2017 on the Xbox 360 and this is the fourth game in the series I've played and there isn't much to distinct between them, you play one, you've played them all really. You pick a class between 4 options. The wingdiver who can fly but has less health and an energy bar to manage. The Fencer who is the 'tanky boy' with heavy cannons who can dash around, the unit of the unit. The Ranger, jack of all and master of none and lastly the Air Raider, deemed the support class....who can summon tanks, railguns, satellite lasers and tactical missiles. You fight hordes of ants, spiders, spaceships and robots. Blowing things up, leveling buildings and leaving coloured blood splats across the landscape that make it seem like you're playing Splatoon.
Earth Defence Force in 4 player co-op on some of the crazy difficulties and screen to screen hordes of enemies like a Dynasty warriors title is just amazing fun, I love them.
That said, EDF 5 is the worst of them I've played. It's not that it's bad, it isn't, it's just it's everything it's predecessor 4.1 was but maybe a little worse in some areas. Some of the levels are identical and the new ones less memorable, the visuals still look like they could be on the PS3 in it's launch days, and the voice acting and story are actually worse. It doesn't feel quite like the sequel it should have been though it does have some quality of life improvements with armour grinding. I guess I kind of expected newer maps or improvements than I got which was mostly a few new enemy types and some I liked removed. Still as I said it's still a good game and fun to play. Played it with a friend for over 90 hours now. There are 111 missions with 5 difficulties across 4 classes to complete so I expect we will be playing it for some time aiming for 100%.
The EDF deploys!
I love EDF. There is something about the series that just brings gaming back to it's core for me. The focus isn't on cinematics, story or even characters, just the simple feeling of turning Starship Troopers into an arcade shooter with Japanese flare, a 1950's aesthetic and a budget easily measurable in a jug counted by eye. The thing is it's the simplicity that makes it work. I know what I'm getting into when I play this, stupid weapons, some with explosions of inappropriate size, enemies that look like they came out of the back up wardrobe from Forbidden Planet and a fun co-op experience, nothing else.
I started the series at EDF 2017 on the Xbox 360 and this is the fourth game in the series I've played and there isn't much to distinct between them, you play one, you've played them all really. You pick a class between 4 options. The wingdiver who can fly but has less health and an energy bar to manage. The Fencer who is the 'tanky boy' with heavy cannons who can dash around, the unit of the unit. The Ranger, jack of all and master of none and lastly the Air Raider, deemed the support class....who can summon tanks, railguns, satellite lasers and tactical missiles. You fight hordes of ants, spiders, spaceships and robots. Blowing things up, leveling buildings and leaving coloured blood splats across the landscape that make it seem like you're playing Splatoon.
Earth Defence Force in 4 player co-op on some of the crazy difficulties and screen to screen hordes of enemies like a Dynasty warriors title is just amazing fun, I love them.
That said, EDF 5 is the worst of them I've played. It's not that it's bad, it isn't, it's just it's everything it's predecessor 4.1 was but maybe a little worse in some areas. Some of the levels are identical and the new ones less memorable, the visuals still look like they could be on the PS3 in it's launch days, and the voice acting and story are actually worse. It doesn't feel quite like the sequel it should have been though it does have some quality of life improvements with armour grinding. I guess I kind of expected newer maps or improvements than I got which was mostly a few new enemy types and some I liked removed. Still as I said it's still a good game and fun to play. Played it with a friend for over 90 hours now. There are 111 missions with 5 difficulties across 4 classes to complete so I expect we will be playing it for some time aiming for 100%.
The EDF deploys!
The developer of this, Joe Richardson (A game by Joe Richardson) has taken renaissance art and classical music available in the public domain and edited it all together to create an incredibly unique looking collaged style. Even the name 'The Procession to Calvary' is a painting from 1564 by artist Pieter Brugel. I'm not an art critic by any means so only recognized a couple of paintings used whilst playing, only one of which I could have named, but the style and stop motion-esque animation really make it stand out to almost any game I've played in some time.
You play the role of...lets call her Bellona from one of Rembrandt's paintings. She is a blood thirsty warrior who is disappointed the holy war is won. She can stop killing! The problem is she likes killing. Bellona manages to convince the newly crowned Immortal John to let her go South on one last mission to kill the leader of the other faction, Heavenly Peter! The game is at no point meant to be taken seriously and I must admit I laughed out loud on several occasions during this bonkers escapade. It's like a mixture of Monty Python and Terry Pratchett and often left me with a smile on my face at some of the witty dialogue or plain daft situations. Though if you're easily offended I would stay away as the humour is often dark with few limits in what it mocks.
Speaking of Terry Pratchett, gameplay wise it's a point and click adventure similar to Discworld, Monkey Island or Broken Sword. Most of the puzzles are fairly logical though at times I got a little stumped in what to do but often there is something to give you a hint unless you are an impatient spanner and skip the dialogue. It's fairly short once you actually figure out what you are doing and by the developers own admission is pretty niche, but it's my type of niche.
Recommended if you want some thing a bit weird, amusing or absurd.
You play the role of...lets call her Bellona from one of Rembrandt's paintings. She is a blood thirsty warrior who is disappointed the holy war is won. She can stop killing! The problem is she likes killing. Bellona manages to convince the newly crowned Immortal John to let her go South on one last mission to kill the leader of the other faction, Heavenly Peter! The game is at no point meant to be taken seriously and I must admit I laughed out loud on several occasions during this bonkers escapade. It's like a mixture of Monty Python and Terry Pratchett and often left me with a smile on my face at some of the witty dialogue or plain daft situations. Though if you're easily offended I would stay away as the humour is often dark with few limits in what it mocks.
Speaking of Terry Pratchett, gameplay wise it's a point and click adventure similar to Discworld, Monkey Island or Broken Sword. Most of the puzzles are fairly logical though at times I got a little stumped in what to do but often there is something to give you a hint unless you are an impatient spanner and skip the dialogue. It's fairly short once you actually figure out what you are doing and by the developers own admission is pretty niche, but it's my type of niche.
Recommended if you want some thing a bit weird, amusing or absurd.
2022
Whilst in the middle of playing Cult of the Lamb I spoke to a friend who, and I quote said "Isn't that the poop farming simulator?" Apparently when just casually speed skimming through a video about the game that was the core of what he picked up about it. In some ways he isn't wrong though, you see Cult of the Lamb is a weird mixture of base building for your expanding indoctrinated cult and Rogue Like dungeon crawling to get resources to keep them fed, clean and happy as they are mostly incapable of doing that on their own apparently.
It's two games merged together and while certainly fun, neither feels as fleshed out as it needs to be. Your cultists will just dump a poop out anywhere, some food will make them do it faster, they'll leave it, get ill and possibly die from hygiene issues, literally. That means in between dungeon runs I was running around cleaning poop. You can eventually get the ability to build an Outhouse but I had mines and a church before that which seems completely nuts on the village building priority scale for what unlocks. Even then though it's my character, the head of the Cult of the Lamb cleaning out the Outhouses. It's just odd the way it all works, there is no way to automate another character to cook or clean the outhouse I could find, you have to do it all or use a ritual to make them fast. Buildings will break for no reason, like beds and tents specifically just fall apart because "reasons" forcing you to rebuild them. Adding to the headache of cult managing, the layout is in a diagonal grid scheme in which trying to build next to other items in situ is so difficult I actually didn't think you could for about 5 hours. It's terrible. I also barely had to use most of the buildings available. I tried a couple that seemed like they weren't worth the effort, destroyed them and never looked back.
The dungeon crawling is kind of similar in that it feels a bit underbaked. It's a Rogue Like that mixes up the rooms you get going from the start to a boss or mini boss each time in one of 4 different areas. There is so little variety per run though it may as well not bother. Everything just looks and feels the same, there are maybe 4 weapon choices that can have a variety of modifiers based on what you've unlocked like poison etc. but they are much the same. The only other thing you can do is use Curses which feel kind of underpowered or all kind of the same that once again it feels like any would do. Each room is so noisy for things going on and so small in most circumstances simply using your weapon is enough, I beat the game and barely used a curse, it was rarely worth it. There was just a lack of variation or strategy required to get through each level. To add to this each time I was in the dungeon you get messages about your cult members dying of old age, getting angry or sick as it continues to flow whilst you're not there and they are completely incapable of looking after themselves unless you set up rituals to keep you covered.
I also had technical issues playing the PS5 version. Every time a new day came the game freezes as it works things out, moving in the dungeon too fast like rolling to get through fast and it hiccups and jitters. I had one hard crash and once my followers all went and stood in the same location morphing into each other and wouldn't do anything forcing me to turn off the game and restart (I was worried it was a game breaking glitch but did carry on fine after) which all hampered my experience as well.
I've been pretty negative so far but I did actually have a good time with cult of the Lamb. It's got a great atmosphere with these super cute anthropomorphic animal people mixed with this satanic sacrificial dark undertone. Making your dead followers into meals for others, sacrificing them to an eldritch tentacle when old rather than have them die in your village is all entertaining stuff with a really nice art design and soundtrack to boot. It just isn't balanced enough with how the Cult building works and not deep enough or varied enough in combat where it needs to be. It's got a lot of character however which does make up for that somewhat.
It's two games merged together and while certainly fun, neither feels as fleshed out as it needs to be. Your cultists will just dump a poop out anywhere, some food will make them do it faster, they'll leave it, get ill and possibly die from hygiene issues, literally. That means in between dungeon runs I was running around cleaning poop. You can eventually get the ability to build an Outhouse but I had mines and a church before that which seems completely nuts on the village building priority scale for what unlocks. Even then though it's my character, the head of the Cult of the Lamb cleaning out the Outhouses. It's just odd the way it all works, there is no way to automate another character to cook or clean the outhouse I could find, you have to do it all or use a ritual to make them fast. Buildings will break for no reason, like beds and tents specifically just fall apart because "reasons" forcing you to rebuild them. Adding to the headache of cult managing, the layout is in a diagonal grid scheme in which trying to build next to other items in situ is so difficult I actually didn't think you could for about 5 hours. It's terrible. I also barely had to use most of the buildings available. I tried a couple that seemed like they weren't worth the effort, destroyed them and never looked back.
The dungeon crawling is kind of similar in that it feels a bit underbaked. It's a Rogue Like that mixes up the rooms you get going from the start to a boss or mini boss each time in one of 4 different areas. There is so little variety per run though it may as well not bother. Everything just looks and feels the same, there are maybe 4 weapon choices that can have a variety of modifiers based on what you've unlocked like poison etc. but they are much the same. The only other thing you can do is use Curses which feel kind of underpowered or all kind of the same that once again it feels like any would do. Each room is so noisy for things going on and so small in most circumstances simply using your weapon is enough, I beat the game and barely used a curse, it was rarely worth it. There was just a lack of variation or strategy required to get through each level. To add to this each time I was in the dungeon you get messages about your cult members dying of old age, getting angry or sick as it continues to flow whilst you're not there and they are completely incapable of looking after themselves unless you set up rituals to keep you covered.
I also had technical issues playing the PS5 version. Every time a new day came the game freezes as it works things out, moving in the dungeon too fast like rolling to get through fast and it hiccups and jitters. I had one hard crash and once my followers all went and stood in the same location morphing into each other and wouldn't do anything forcing me to turn off the game and restart (I was worried it was a game breaking glitch but did carry on fine after) which all hampered my experience as well.
I've been pretty negative so far but I did actually have a good time with cult of the Lamb. It's got a great atmosphere with these super cute anthropomorphic animal people mixed with this satanic sacrificial dark undertone. Making your dead followers into meals for others, sacrificing them to an eldritch tentacle when old rather than have them die in your village is all entertaining stuff with a really nice art design and soundtrack to boot. It just isn't balanced enough with how the Cult building works and not deep enough or varied enough in combat where it needs to be. It's got a lot of character however which does make up for that somewhat.
1995
Sega's bizarre add-on the 32X for the Sega Megadrive only released a total of 40 games in it's extremely short life span. Most of these are simple ports of already existing titles like Space Harrier, After Burner, Mortal Kombat II etc. Honestly there was no point to having one and apparently most consumers and developers felt the same way with the Saturn's impending release.
One of the few exclusives available for this add-on though is Knuckles' Chaotix, a spin off from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Having spent a couple of hours with it I can honestly say this stand out title must have helped put the 32X in its grave even faster because it's surprisingly bad to the point I don't even want to finish it sadly. Visually it's very colourful and the music is ok but the gameplay absolutely crippled it in such an odd way I can't believe this got released except Sega probably needed something for the system.
Imagine playing Sonic the hedgehog and then attaching a ball and chain to his feet to both slow him down and hinder his agile movement and that's Knuckles Chaotix in a nutshell. It features essentially a rubber band system tugging two characters together. You can use them to help attack, sling shot and solve basic puzzles but it's just an exercise in tediousness. Add to this that the game is practically RNG for characters and levels you get for some strange reason. Honestly if you could choose your character without another weighing you down and the level design having worked around that it could have been decent but sadly it's just a boring mess instead.
Worth playing as a curiosity, but nothing more than that.
One of the few exclusives available for this add-on though is Knuckles' Chaotix, a spin off from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Having spent a couple of hours with it I can honestly say this stand out title must have helped put the 32X in its grave even faster because it's surprisingly bad to the point I don't even want to finish it sadly. Visually it's very colourful and the music is ok but the gameplay absolutely crippled it in such an odd way I can't believe this got released except Sega probably needed something for the system.
Imagine playing Sonic the hedgehog and then attaching a ball and chain to his feet to both slow him down and hinder his agile movement and that's Knuckles Chaotix in a nutshell. It features essentially a rubber band system tugging two characters together. You can use them to help attack, sling shot and solve basic puzzles but it's just an exercise in tediousness. Add to this that the game is practically RNG for characters and levels you get for some strange reason. Honestly if you could choose your character without another weighing you down and the level design having worked around that it could have been decent but sadly it's just a boring mess instead.
Worth playing as a curiosity, but nothing more than that.
2018
The best way I can describe Nostalgic Train is it's like the Japanese version of Eveybody's Gone to the Rapture only with the courtesy of a functional run button and decent pacing. It's a walking simulator set in a fictional small Japanese rural town called Natsugiri (summer fog). I understand it's based on real types of villages such as Ohara. It's a lovely location clearly trying to evocate the feelings of nostalgia for a general feeling of the Japanese summer time.
The story mode has you walk from location to location to find these glowing orbs you can reveal pressing R2 to try and find a link to people you know to return you back to the real world. Your nameless character has awoken alone in this village to nothing but the sound of cicadas. Each glowing orb is a little section of text telling stories about characters you can see from this village in another universe and time. There are no other characters, animations or art other than the tiny village location with maybe 10 buildings, 1 train and some text. Yet despite that I found myself surprisingly engrossed in the little story sections and the way they all came together cohesively at the end. The story is poignant yet engrossing and I thought it was surprisingly well written but the thing is it needed to be because there is very little else actually here, this is a completely static world. Your milage for how much you enjoy this game will entirely be down to how much you like the story and how it's presented.
There is a free mode in which you can explore the village to find information notes about the fictional location of Natsugiri or some actual information about the Shōwa period of Japan but you can literally explore the entire environment in probably less than 10 minutes, and I'm probably being generous. I got the platinum trophy in a couple of hours with very minimal effort slowly reading and looking around.
All in all this is a hard game to recommend despite enjoying my time with it. If you like walking simulators, visual novels and melancholic stories though, this may be for you? I'm glad I took a chance with it though as it certainly was a little bit different.
The story mode has you walk from location to location to find these glowing orbs you can reveal pressing R2 to try and find a link to people you know to return you back to the real world. Your nameless character has awoken alone in this village to nothing but the sound of cicadas. Each glowing orb is a little section of text telling stories about characters you can see from this village in another universe and time. There are no other characters, animations or art other than the tiny village location with maybe 10 buildings, 1 train and some text. Yet despite that I found myself surprisingly engrossed in the little story sections and the way they all came together cohesively at the end. The story is poignant yet engrossing and I thought it was surprisingly well written but the thing is it needed to be because there is very little else actually here, this is a completely static world. Your milage for how much you enjoy this game will entirely be down to how much you like the story and how it's presented.
There is a free mode in which you can explore the village to find information notes about the fictional location of Natsugiri or some actual information about the Shōwa period of Japan but you can literally explore the entire environment in probably less than 10 minutes, and I'm probably being generous. I got the platinum trophy in a couple of hours with very minimal effort slowly reading and looking around.
All in all this is a hard game to recommend despite enjoying my time with it. If you like walking simulators, visual novels and melancholic stories though, this may be for you? I'm glad I took a chance with it though as it certainly was a little bit different.
2023
"Fuck you!" engineer Issac Clark shouts in disgust as he stomps on the remains of a mutated cadaver he's just dismembered. "Fuck me!" I shout in surprise as a claw appears over Issac's shoulder from a necromorph I hadn't realized was sneaking up behind me in the dark depth's of the mining ship USG Ishimura.
I love Dead Space.
The original game was made in a time where Electronic Arts seemed to be actively trying to be better at what they did before spiraling back into the same old formula of titles again and sadly closing Visceral, the team behind the original Dead Space. This is after making them deviate so much from the idea of the original title with Electronic Art's oversight in Dead Space 3. Though I feel this remake is fantastic, the fact the series died and the original developer was closed down because of EA in the first place, should not be forgotten.
Regardless, the remake itself though is wonderful in a lot of ways, it's exactly how I like a remake to be. It follows the original game's story and levels, all the moments of Issac Clarke and the small repair crew of the Kellion visiting the Planet Cracker Class mining ship the USG Ishimura when comms go down to discover that things are far more serious and horrific than they knew. All the story beats, locations and set pieces you remember are intact. It adds to the experience though, in ways that merge seamlessly into the original content like Resident Evil Remake did back in 2022 though a bit more subtly. Issac is no longer a silent protagonist as he was in the original game. He talks, interacts, shouts in surprise and it all flows naturally to the point I had to check if he was silent in the original at all. Levels have been changed ever so slightly, the turret level has been overhauled and improved, traversal is now a lot more open in revisiting areas of the ship etc. All of this adds to the game while keeping my memories of the original whole and it takes nothing away.
There should be a better phrase than "Rose tinted glasses" because this game looks exactly how I remember it in my minds eye. My mind's eye is wrong.. The lighting, detail, shadows, fog and overall atmosphere is hugely improved. The game looks and sounds stunning. The rerecorded voice acting is excellent and the music when things get intense with increased suspense of the warbling violins mixed with the background noise of the screeching metal and whispering in the back of Issac's head leave a constant unsettling feeling that nothing is safe. I played the game in performance mode and for the most part it felt incredibly smooth to play. I had an occasional shadow glitch or body that sort of appeared when opening a door but otherwise found it played great on the PS5.
The gameplay itself is still pretty unique despite the series starting 15 years ago. Dismembering enemies to slow them down or cut of claws to throw back at them using kinesis is still an interesting mechanic. Being able to slow an enemy in stasis, hit it with an explosive container, grab a fan from the floor and throw it at an enemy to behead them is extremely satisfying. Suspicious looking rooms you can prepare for placing items or mines ready. The game still managed to surprise me though having things fall apart, enemies come from where I didn't expect etc. and those moments of panic are some of my favorite times, as mentioned in the start of this review.
All in all the original game is still great. It was ahead of it's time in a lot of ways but I can't see myself ever going back to it now. I don't like giving 5 stars liberally to games here, it should be for titles that I truly love even if they aren't perfect but I can't think of a single thing about this I would want to change. This remake is everything the 2008 game was only better. Exactly how a remake should be.
I love Dead Space.
The original game was made in a time where Electronic Arts seemed to be actively trying to be better at what they did before spiraling back into the same old formula of titles again and sadly closing Visceral, the team behind the original Dead Space. This is after making them deviate so much from the idea of the original title with Electronic Art's oversight in Dead Space 3. Though I feel this remake is fantastic, the fact the series died and the original developer was closed down because of EA in the first place, should not be forgotten.
Regardless, the remake itself though is wonderful in a lot of ways, it's exactly how I like a remake to be. It follows the original game's story and levels, all the moments of Issac Clarke and the small repair crew of the Kellion visiting the Planet Cracker Class mining ship the USG Ishimura when comms go down to discover that things are far more serious and horrific than they knew. All the story beats, locations and set pieces you remember are intact. It adds to the experience though, in ways that merge seamlessly into the original content like Resident Evil Remake did back in 2022 though a bit more subtly. Issac is no longer a silent protagonist as he was in the original game. He talks, interacts, shouts in surprise and it all flows naturally to the point I had to check if he was silent in the original at all. Levels have been changed ever so slightly, the turret level has been overhauled and improved, traversal is now a lot more open in revisiting areas of the ship etc. All of this adds to the game while keeping my memories of the original whole and it takes nothing away.
There should be a better phrase than "Rose tinted glasses" because this game looks exactly how I remember it in my minds eye. My mind's eye is wrong.. The lighting, detail, shadows, fog and overall atmosphere is hugely improved. The game looks and sounds stunning. The rerecorded voice acting is excellent and the music when things get intense with increased suspense of the warbling violins mixed with the background noise of the screeching metal and whispering in the back of Issac's head leave a constant unsettling feeling that nothing is safe. I played the game in performance mode and for the most part it felt incredibly smooth to play. I had an occasional shadow glitch or body that sort of appeared when opening a door but otherwise found it played great on the PS5.
The gameplay itself is still pretty unique despite the series starting 15 years ago. Dismembering enemies to slow them down or cut of claws to throw back at them using kinesis is still an interesting mechanic. Being able to slow an enemy in stasis, hit it with an explosive container, grab a fan from the floor and throw it at an enemy to behead them is extremely satisfying. Suspicious looking rooms you can prepare for placing items or mines ready. The game still managed to surprise me though having things fall apart, enemies come from where I didn't expect etc. and those moments of panic are some of my favorite times, as mentioned in the start of this review.
All in all the original game is still great. It was ahead of it's time in a lot of ways but I can't see myself ever going back to it now. I don't like giving 5 stars liberally to games here, it should be for titles that I truly love even if they aren't perfect but I can't think of a single thing about this I would want to change. This remake is everything the 2008 game was only better. Exactly how a remake should be.
1989
Gradius III feels to II what it in turn was to the original. An iteration, it doesn't feel like a sequel so much as a remix of the previous things from it's predecessors I really hated. This is Gradius 2.5 but more frustrating. The reviews already here on Backloggd regarding Gradius III truly weren't understating how hard this game is. Like obnoxiously so. Now I have heard the SNES version is easier with less enemies & bullets etc. but I played the arcade release on the Playstation Portable Collection. Lets say anyone that could beat this version has far more skill, patience and time than I. Even with save states I threw in the towel towards the end before finishing because so much of the design is intentionally garbage.
Some examples like narrow corridors full of a projectile vomit worth amount of bullets filling the screens with nowhere to move, homing cubes that launch at you with intense speeds, spinning lasers with incredibly fine gaps to squeeze through, regenerating walls that crush you, having to hide in extremely narrow boxes as indestructible robots walk by etc. etc. The fact that if you die and lose all your power ups makes you as strong as a duckling in front of a pack of wolves just demonstrates how unbalanced it is. Truly the worst of this is in the latter half of the game as you would expect but even the start is pretty tough.
Even without the difficulty though I don't think I'd be that keen on Gradius III though certainly warmer to it. It once again repeats the Moai statue and volcano levels from both Gradius and Gradius II as well as recycling some of the bosses again. None of this is implemented in a unique way to make them more interesting and it just feels like the game has no new ideas except for trying to drain all the pocket change from teenagers in arcades.
Though I don't like the game that much I have to give a shout out though, the Gradius games have some truly epic cover art that few games can rival. That Gradius III cover is a work of beauty.
Some examples like narrow corridors full of a projectile vomit worth amount of bullets filling the screens with nowhere to move, homing cubes that launch at you with intense speeds, spinning lasers with incredibly fine gaps to squeeze through, regenerating walls that crush you, having to hide in extremely narrow boxes as indestructible robots walk by etc. etc. The fact that if you die and lose all your power ups makes you as strong as a duckling in front of a pack of wolves just demonstrates how unbalanced it is. Truly the worst of this is in the latter half of the game as you would expect but even the start is pretty tough.
Even without the difficulty though I don't think I'd be that keen on Gradius III though certainly warmer to it. It once again repeats the Moai statue and volcano levels from both Gradius and Gradius II as well as recycling some of the bosses again. None of this is implemented in a unique way to make them more interesting and it just feels like the game has no new ideas except for trying to drain all the pocket change from teenagers in arcades.
Though I don't like the game that much I have to give a shout out though, the Gradius games have some truly epic cover art that few games can rival. That Gradius III cover is a work of beauty.
2020
Creaks leans into my imagination from when I was a child. Looking for hidden doors, imagining fantastic worlds and creatures both nightmarish and benign. It reminds me of a mixture of Coraline and Dark Crystal mixed into one. You play the role of a young man who is seemingly a student studying whose peace is disturbed by shaking, lights going out and the wallpaper in their dilapidated bedsit falling down revealing a small sealed door hidden behind. The door leads to a vast underground cavern with a giant residential structure that feels like it was designed by M.C Escher.
The game itself is a puzzle title as you explore this large structure meeting the remnants of the occupants and the cause disturbing your dwelling above. It's essentially a series of puzzle rooms split by elevators and hallways. I've seen it described as a platformer equally and it really isn't, the jumps are essentially automated as part of solving the puzzle design. The puzzles themselves are simple but in a way that make you think without getting to frustrated which I appreciated. They are mostly logic puzzles with robot dogs, shadow creatures, switches, lights and levers. I found I could figure most of them out in a reasonable time frame though a few really did stump me despite their simplicity. The issue I had though was they just get a bit old as though there is occasionally a new enemy variety to mix things up nothing really evolves for the playtime and in some ways this game feels really long though it all comes together pretty nicely in the finale.
Creaks biggest strength for me is it's art style. It has a gorgeous hand drawn 2D style that almost feels like a children's book in some ways. It comes across as a little whimsical, I really liked it. There is a large amount of detail in the backgrounds as you explore, tiles, statues, plants and the fantastic interactive paintings you can find on the walls all make Creaks a visually charming experience. It also has a stellar soundtrack by Hidden Orchestra.
This isn't the usual game I buy. I'm not a big puzzle game fan but the positive critic reviews and art piqued my curiosity similar to the previous game of this studio I played, Machinarium. I'm not here for the puzzle gameplay, not really. I'm here for the atmosphere and in that, the developer Amanita Design nailed it.
The game itself is a puzzle title as you explore this large structure meeting the remnants of the occupants and the cause disturbing your dwelling above. It's essentially a series of puzzle rooms split by elevators and hallways. I've seen it described as a platformer equally and it really isn't, the jumps are essentially automated as part of solving the puzzle design. The puzzles themselves are simple but in a way that make you think without getting to frustrated which I appreciated. They are mostly logic puzzles with robot dogs, shadow creatures, switches, lights and levers. I found I could figure most of them out in a reasonable time frame though a few really did stump me despite their simplicity. The issue I had though was they just get a bit old as though there is occasionally a new enemy variety to mix things up nothing really evolves for the playtime and in some ways this game feels really long though it all comes together pretty nicely in the finale.
Creaks biggest strength for me is it's art style. It has a gorgeous hand drawn 2D style that almost feels like a children's book in some ways. It comes across as a little whimsical, I really liked it. There is a large amount of detail in the backgrounds as you explore, tiles, statues, plants and the fantastic interactive paintings you can find on the walls all make Creaks a visually charming experience. It also has a stellar soundtrack by Hidden Orchestra.
This isn't the usual game I buy. I'm not a big puzzle game fan but the positive critic reviews and art piqued my curiosity similar to the previous game of this studio I played, Machinarium. I'm not here for the puzzle gameplay, not really. I'm here for the atmosphere and in that, the developer Amanita Design nailed it.