GumdropChaos
14 reviews liked by GumdropChaos
Spoiler free recap: Doctor Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to confront Dormammu. He is killed over and over again, and every time he uses The Eye to come back. Over and over again, dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Every time arriving with the iconic line "Dormammu, I've come to play Sudoku."
Punch out feels like an impossible game if you think about it.
It's the NES port of an arcade title that had to be drastically changed to its bones, so much so that the cardridges at the time had to receive extra space,
It starred one of the most influencal boxers ever, while still be able to portray its playstyle and personality despite the limitations of the NES.
It was able to take what where basically kinda racist caricatures like Glass Joe or Pitson Hondo and able to give them so much charm that are remembered to this day by thousands of people.
And it was able to take a game about boxing and make it so much more: each match and rematch feels like a monster hunter fight, where little mac goes against giants that can crush him in 2 hits.... but it is also a ryhthm game where you gotta tap and dodge to the bit, a series of puzzles where you gotta understand the way to open the enemy, and an endurance atch, both intimidating but addicting and thrilling..... it's sometimes also a propaganda where Doc Louis screams ad a dying Mac to join the nintendo fan club while he gets murdered by mr. Sandman.
Recently replayed on the NSO, and how much it is able to do I feel makes it stand up even to this day. An absolute classic that is still remembered and beloved form more than one reason.
It's the NES port of an arcade title that had to be drastically changed to its bones, so much so that the cardridges at the time had to receive extra space,
It starred one of the most influencal boxers ever, while still be able to portray its playstyle and personality despite the limitations of the NES.
It was able to take what where basically kinda racist caricatures like Glass Joe or Pitson Hondo and able to give them so much charm that are remembered to this day by thousands of people.
And it was able to take a game about boxing and make it so much more: each match and rematch feels like a monster hunter fight, where little mac goes against giants that can crush him in 2 hits.... but it is also a ryhthm game where you gotta tap and dodge to the bit, a series of puzzles where you gotta understand the way to open the enemy, and an endurance atch, both intimidating but addicting and thrilling..... it's sometimes also a propaganda where Doc Louis screams ad a dying Mac to join the nintendo fan club while he gets murdered by mr. Sandman.
Recently replayed on the NSO, and how much it is able to do I feel makes it stand up even to this day. An absolute classic that is still remembered and beloved form more than one reason.
What I can never fault Ring Racers for is its ambition. Its environments are lovely, well realized, and expand on familiar Sonic zones and trappings in a way that accentuates every single track. It's a mechanically rich game with a bunch of different systems to compensate for every idea it has. It loads you with objectives and a glut of content that is mind boggling to begin to tackle. In all senses, it is a love letter to the legacy of Sonic and the fan game community that has sprung up around him, and takes every opportunity to remind you of its fan game status that it absolutely relishes. As a celebration and collection, Ring Racers is absolutely sublime.
Getting there tends to be the trickier issue. Much has been said about the game's intro, and while I find the dialogue and overall presentation of the tutorial very charming, I do find it a very misguided intro to the game. The mechanics taught in the tutorial are often used very sparingly across the actual races, and even those used often like drifting are used in different, shorter-form contexts than the tutorial would imply. It practically posits Ring Racers as an entirely different game and experience compared to what it actually is, and it goes on doing that for quite a while!
The actual races themselves vary in quality drastically depending on the track layout. Ring Racers can be absolutely vicious with its track designs, with hazards feeling devastating as they can easily combo into other hazards or items that toss you around like a pinball. This can be DEVASTATING on slopes, which require Sonic's vaunted momentum to get up and are aided by the ring system, letting you increase your speed a little bit per ring used. This should present some level of risk/reward; do you use your rings on straightaways to burst ahead, or save them for slopes as a means of recovery to maintain position? Unfortunately, rings are plentiful to a fault, and computer opponents (ESPECIALLY your rival character) are want to use them whenever possible to ludicrous speed increases, so rings become less strategic unless you're specifically saving them for chaos emerald bonuses in Grand Prix standings and more "I hope this part of the track also has rings". And when it doesn't... well you have the spin dash to get you out of the worst of things, but it feels pretty rough.
Drifting is also highly committal compared to rings, meaning that all alternate forms of speed are just kinda secondary to the immediate allure of the rings, which do not have enough risk to them to make the immediate reward not always a pull. This is compounded by items, which use the same button as using rings and, thus, often get in the way of progress more often than they help, especially considering how avoidable most offensive items tend to be as they struggle to interact with the steep sloped terrain of Ring Racers! I feel that individual race courses struggle to decide if they want to play nice with Ring Racers' systems or want to struggle against them, and very few of them are properly in line with the expectations set by the tutorial. It makes for a very uneven experience where a single bad spill on the last lap is both really debilitating and could not be entirely your fault, with means of consistent recovery not entirely present as opponents can keep padding their lead with rings and the comeback items are either unweildy to use, especially in a bad headspace, or inaccurate.
There are moments where Ring Racers does put everything together. Zones like Emerald Coast, Withering Chateau, Opulence, Regal Ruin, and Joypolis show DRRR at its best, with a consistent sense of flow, opportunities to best use shortcuts, and a great feel for combining the drift and ring mechanics. But for every one of them, there's a Marble Garden just asking for the player to try and break it in two before it breaks them. It lacks the kindness of kart racers like Mario, fails to commit to its individual mechanics like F-Zero, and does not string its systems together in nearly as seamless away as Crash, Diddy Kong, or even other Sonic racing titles manage. Ring Racers is its own, unforgiving beast that I can't say I had a bad time with, but it feels a bit overtuned for all it wants to strive for; a love letter that needed an editor, but how do you say "turn down the passion?" I like and respect it, I'll come back to keep pecking away at its wide breadth of content. But man I STILL haven't unlocked Whisper and don't even have a clue on how to get her, and I sincerely hope she's in the character class I like otherwise I'm gonna be real sad.
Getting there tends to be the trickier issue. Much has been said about the game's intro, and while I find the dialogue and overall presentation of the tutorial very charming, I do find it a very misguided intro to the game. The mechanics taught in the tutorial are often used very sparingly across the actual races, and even those used often like drifting are used in different, shorter-form contexts than the tutorial would imply. It practically posits Ring Racers as an entirely different game and experience compared to what it actually is, and it goes on doing that for quite a while!
The actual races themselves vary in quality drastically depending on the track layout. Ring Racers can be absolutely vicious with its track designs, with hazards feeling devastating as they can easily combo into other hazards or items that toss you around like a pinball. This can be DEVASTATING on slopes, which require Sonic's vaunted momentum to get up and are aided by the ring system, letting you increase your speed a little bit per ring used. This should present some level of risk/reward; do you use your rings on straightaways to burst ahead, or save them for slopes as a means of recovery to maintain position? Unfortunately, rings are plentiful to a fault, and computer opponents (ESPECIALLY your rival character) are want to use them whenever possible to ludicrous speed increases, so rings become less strategic unless you're specifically saving them for chaos emerald bonuses in Grand Prix standings and more "I hope this part of the track also has rings". And when it doesn't... well you have the spin dash to get you out of the worst of things, but it feels pretty rough.
Drifting is also highly committal compared to rings, meaning that all alternate forms of speed are just kinda secondary to the immediate allure of the rings, which do not have enough risk to them to make the immediate reward not always a pull. This is compounded by items, which use the same button as using rings and, thus, often get in the way of progress more often than they help, especially considering how avoidable most offensive items tend to be as they struggle to interact with the steep sloped terrain of Ring Racers! I feel that individual race courses struggle to decide if they want to play nice with Ring Racers' systems or want to struggle against them, and very few of them are properly in line with the expectations set by the tutorial. It makes for a very uneven experience where a single bad spill on the last lap is both really debilitating and could not be entirely your fault, with means of consistent recovery not entirely present as opponents can keep padding their lead with rings and the comeback items are either unweildy to use, especially in a bad headspace, or inaccurate.
There are moments where Ring Racers does put everything together. Zones like Emerald Coast, Withering Chateau, Opulence, Regal Ruin, and Joypolis show DRRR at its best, with a consistent sense of flow, opportunities to best use shortcuts, and a great feel for combining the drift and ring mechanics. But for every one of them, there's a Marble Garden just asking for the player to try and break it in two before it breaks them. It lacks the kindness of kart racers like Mario, fails to commit to its individual mechanics like F-Zero, and does not string its systems together in nearly as seamless away as Crash, Diddy Kong, or even other Sonic racing titles manage. Ring Racers is its own, unforgiving beast that I can't say I had a bad time with, but it feels a bit overtuned for all it wants to strive for; a love letter that needed an editor, but how do you say "turn down the passion?" I like and respect it, I'll come back to keep pecking away at its wide breadth of content. But man I STILL haven't unlocked Whisper and don't even have a clue on how to get her, and I sincerely hope she's in the character class I like otherwise I'm gonna be real sad.
Mighty No. 9
2016
There's a difference between a mediocre game and a mediocre Mega Man game. 'Mighty No. 9' is the former. It gets a lot of crap for the shitshow development and it deserves some of that but honestly, it works better than you'd expect considering what lead up to its release. Everything is perfectly serviceable but for people who wanted the next big Mega Man game, this ain't it.
I hate this game, no kiddin'
I hate it and I love it, but in terms of the main bulk of it (single player, Grand Prix, Tutorial, etc.) it a massive middle fingers for those looking to have a fun time playing a proper single player racing game, especially since SRB2K lacked one besides time attack.
Cpus/Rivals cheat with frantic items, better boosts and rubberbanding up the ass, Tracks can range from being insanely fun, to straight up torture, yet this won't matter since Cpus will just cheat through the maps, making the experience even worse no matter how good they are. and the ranking system and points deducitons from retrying or failing to win a race is just demotivating. The icing on the cake is the many unlockables behind single player, including stuff like Online and Addons! (Who thought this was a good idea)
BUT, even with this being said, looking past...well, basically the entire package of the game, the "game" itself it actually really fun and the new mechanics are really fun to learn, only thing I'm not fond of is the trick system, which simultaneously, is kind meh AND is barely utilized in the tracks themselves, almost as if it was a last-minute addition to this badly mixed game.
I have hopes soon this game gets the updates and patches it needs to make the game fun, but till then...idk.
I hate it and I love it, but in terms of the main bulk of it (single player, Grand Prix, Tutorial, etc.) it a massive middle fingers for those looking to have a fun time playing a proper single player racing game, especially since SRB2K lacked one besides time attack.
Cpus/Rivals cheat with frantic items, better boosts and rubberbanding up the ass, Tracks can range from being insanely fun, to straight up torture, yet this won't matter since Cpus will just cheat through the maps, making the experience even worse no matter how good they are. and the ranking system and points deducitons from retrying or failing to win a race is just demotivating. The icing on the cake is the many unlockables behind single player, including stuff like Online and Addons! (Who thought this was a good idea)
BUT, even with this being said, looking past...well, basically the entire package of the game, the "game" itself it actually really fun and the new mechanics are really fun to learn, only thing I'm not fond of is the trick system, which simultaneously, is kind meh AND is barely utilized in the tracks themselves, almost as if it was a last-minute addition to this badly mixed game.
I have hopes soon this game gets the updates and patches it needs to make the game fun, but till then...idk.
This is a game where a bunch of talented developers were stuck in the same room for two years who were never told "no." Instead, they told each other "sure, bro."
Want to make a bunch of new mechanics that are both overcentralizing and near-irrelevant? Sure, bro.
Want to make a 30-60 minute long tutorial you can only skip by winning a race you only can win if you already know how to play the game somehow? Sure, bro.
(Don't even get me started on how the tutorial was before the first patch, the requirements to skip the tutorial were hidden AND you had to clear a max-level race. Actually evil.)
Want to generally nerf items while cranking the knockback to unfathomable degrees which creates scenarios where you can get knocked out of a top position and no item is reasonably strong enough to get you back where you were? Sure, bro.
Want to make items actively feel bad to get because the Ring system is so encouraged while also not letting you use Rings with an item in hand? Sure, bro.
Want to make like 200 tracks but they all have narrow tracks and very tight turns? Sure, bro. Also want to make any uphill slope kill your speed and make you have to STOP IN PLACE to Spin Dash upward VERY SLOWLY? Sure, bro.
Want to make a single player mode where the rubberbanding is overtuned (even after a near launch day nerf, mind you), the AIs will target you even when you're near dead-last, and the Rival explicitly cheats and will steal victories from you? Sure, bro.
Want to make an unlock system like Kirby Air Ride but make a bunch of requirements hard, cryptic, and/or straight up unrealistic to achieve unless you dedicate literal months of game time? Suuuuure, bro.
Despite its many, MANY problems, the game is still fun and I can see a version of this game where the new additions compliment base SRB2K rather than detract. The Rings being the omnipresent, overbearing problem is an issue I don't see being fixed, though. The devs seem really proud of their Ring system even if it kills the Kart aspect by making items less used/encouraged. I can always hope, though.
tl;dr Imagine if Mario Kart was mixed with F-Zero but all the worst parts of F-Zero were mixed in with a dash of unique jank and bad decisions. Enjoyable for kart-racer tryhards, completionists, and masochists, and nobody else.
Want to make a bunch of new mechanics that are both overcentralizing and near-irrelevant? Sure, bro.
Want to make a 30-60 minute long tutorial you can only skip by winning a race you only can win if you already know how to play the game somehow? Sure, bro.
(Don't even get me started on how the tutorial was before the first patch, the requirements to skip the tutorial were hidden AND you had to clear a max-level race. Actually evil.)
Want to generally nerf items while cranking the knockback to unfathomable degrees which creates scenarios where you can get knocked out of a top position and no item is reasonably strong enough to get you back where you were? Sure, bro.
Want to make items actively feel bad to get because the Ring system is so encouraged while also not letting you use Rings with an item in hand? Sure, bro.
Want to make like 200 tracks but they all have narrow tracks and very tight turns? Sure, bro. Also want to make any uphill slope kill your speed and make you have to STOP IN PLACE to Spin Dash upward VERY SLOWLY? Sure, bro.
Want to make a single player mode where the rubberbanding is overtuned (even after a near launch day nerf, mind you), the AIs will target you even when you're near dead-last, and the Rival explicitly cheats and will steal victories from you? Sure, bro.
Want to make an unlock system like Kirby Air Ride but make a bunch of requirements hard, cryptic, and/or straight up unrealistic to achieve unless you dedicate literal months of game time? Suuuuure, bro.
Despite its many, MANY problems, the game is still fun and I can see a version of this game where the new additions compliment base SRB2K rather than detract. The Rings being the omnipresent, overbearing problem is an issue I don't see being fixed, though. The devs seem really proud of their Ring system even if it kills the Kart aspect by making items less used/encouraged. I can always hope, though.
tl;dr Imagine if Mario Kart was mixed with F-Zero but all the worst parts of F-Zero were mixed in with a dash of unique jank and bad decisions. Enjoyable for kart-racer tryhards, completionists, and masochists, and nobody else.
I LOVE GAMES WHERE HALF THE CONTENT IS LOCKED BEHIND YET ANOTHER PAYWALL YIPPEE
Uh okay I'm gonna do another like actual review for this one as it is related to something I do hold in a very high regard so.. claps OKAY! This game has me feeling... so conflicted. On one hand, the art style is beautiful, and the presentation in general is honestly on the level of something official. ON THE OTHER HAND. The tutorial is a fucking slog. I know there are passwords now but that is such a band-aid solution to the problem. The driving feels so off compared to SRB2K too. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I am not feeling it right now. another thing, why is every single solitary thing UNLOCKABLE? even fucking online play which is absurd. To be fair, 2.1 has addressed some of that so good on them for that. One last negative before I end on a positive note, the courses... have not exactly been great. I don't know if the tutorial didn't teach me something or what but I have been fumbling around most of the courses I've played and it isn't exactly fun. Last positive though, I like the new mechanics, they add a lot of depth, and strategy which I appreciate! I just wish the controls didn't feel so off. Anyhoo! I hope some of this other stuff gets ironed out, I'll definitely keep up with the game.
MapleStory
2003
They should bring back beast tamer
Addendum (4/26/24): A 2.1 patch dropped and gave the game another honest try, while there's still some pretty big problems with the overtuned difficulty of the emerald challenges, the kart handling, and very misplaced GP courses (really that first GP is a mess compared to the rest), there is a MARKED improvement as a whole with the way the game plays now.
This still needs some hefty lifting and work on its backend and I'm still not over the moon with it, but its a step in the right direction. I'm at least happy the devs seemed to have gotten over this attitude from older comments I've seen and actually taking the criticism to heart to make it better.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Between the hour long tutorial with constant info dumping mechanics, a mess of visual components making seeing the tracks difficult, and the mechanics of racing itself being overly complex with both a ring currency system for spending to keep your top speed up...
This game's a complete mess. I really enjoyed Sonic Robo blast 2 Kart for the fact it was heavily skill based but still goofy enough that it was in line with how Mario Kart plays. This is just overkill in the audio/visual department without much of a second thought given to the actual core gameplay of the game. So much focus went into shoving so many mechanics like fast drops, ring spending, tricks off springs, etc. that it feels less like I'm racing and praying to god I do finger gymnastics to even stay on the road.
I hope they strip back some of this game or better balance it because in its current state, it's a frustrating mess that isn't very fun to play and its tutorial is a FUCKING HOUR LONG that I spent that I genuinely didn't enjoy.
This still needs some hefty lifting and work on its backend and I'm still not over the moon with it, but its a step in the right direction. I'm at least happy the devs seemed to have gotten over this attitude from older comments I've seen and actually taking the criticism to heart to make it better.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Between the hour long tutorial with constant info dumping mechanics, a mess of visual components making seeing the tracks difficult, and the mechanics of racing itself being overly complex with both a ring currency system for spending to keep your top speed up...
This game's a complete mess. I really enjoyed Sonic Robo blast 2 Kart for the fact it was heavily skill based but still goofy enough that it was in line with how Mario Kart plays. This is just overkill in the audio/visual department without much of a second thought given to the actual core gameplay of the game. So much focus went into shoving so many mechanics like fast drops, ring spending, tricks off springs, etc. that it feels less like I'm racing and praying to god I do finger gymnastics to even stay on the road.
I hope they strip back some of this game or better balance it because in its current state, it's a frustrating mess that isn't very fun to play and its tutorial is a FUCKING HOUR LONG that I spent that I genuinely didn't enjoy.