Hejin
"G!"
-Flat Monotone-
"Harry, the monsters have broken into the Demin jeans warehouse, stop them before they find matching flannel shirts."
-Flat Monotone-
"Harry, the monsters have broken into the Demin jeans warehouse, stop them before they find matching flannel shirts."
1997
Who needs the single player mode when you got bought a second hand copy as a kid with all the previous owner's cheats turned on and just spent all your time on the multiplayer running around in the Archives? IT'S KLOBBERIN' TIME
They really sat down and captured the worst part of DB, namely watching people take too long to power up and fire kamehameha's.
It's certainly not a good sign when you can get raid gear from sitting around in a garrison doing fuck all.
1998
My best friend snapped his disc of this in front of me, and parts of the disc flew towards my face because I kept jokingly suggesting we play it. So great game really.
2001
You fly around and save little dudes in a helicopter in a late 2000s Japanese arcade style game, what's not to love?
Between this and DBGT Final Bout, PS1 DBZ fans were really screwed.
Even by the standards of the time this game looked awful, especially comparing it to it's contemporary fighting games, like Tekken or hell, Toshinden. You have crappy looking 3D backgrounds, but with these really jaggy looking 2D sprites for the characters, who have some of the worst animation on them you'll ever see. Everyone just sort of glides around, and not in the DBZ kind of way, like Goku just feels like he's shuffling at 20 miles an hour or something.
The character select is a gigantic mess, it just literally has all the character sprites scattered all over the fucking place (no neatly lined out portraits or anything), and you just clumsily have to maneuver over to the character you want.
All the moves look and feel the same, kamehameha is just a fireball, final flash is a fireball, whatever Zarbon shoots is a fireball.
There's also cheats to unlock more characters in the manual instructions???
Steer clear, please
Even by the standards of the time this game looked awful, especially comparing it to it's contemporary fighting games, like Tekken or hell, Toshinden. You have crappy looking 3D backgrounds, but with these really jaggy looking 2D sprites for the characters, who have some of the worst animation on them you'll ever see. Everyone just sort of glides around, and not in the DBZ kind of way, like Goku just feels like he's shuffling at 20 miles an hour or something.
The character select is a gigantic mess, it just literally has all the character sprites scattered all over the fucking place (no neatly lined out portraits or anything), and you just clumsily have to maneuver over to the character you want.
All the moves look and feel the same, kamehameha is just a fireball, final flash is a fireball, whatever Zarbon shoots is a fireball.
There's also cheats to unlock more characters in the manual instructions???
Steer clear, please
This is what peak video game aesthetics looks like, you may not agree but it's the truth.
The vibes here predate the bland tekken mush that we're used to now. Tekken games prior to 5 had more of a individual identity, Tekken 2 was melancholic darkness, Tekken 3 was grimy grungy street fighting and Tag has a Y2K, upbeat -future is now- kind of feel.
The gameplay is solid, this is the last of the classic gameplay style with it's infinite arenas. The roster is expansive, only lacking Boskonovitch and Gon. Every character feels distinct from another, with lots to unlock.
The OST is right up there with 2 and 3 for all time greats. Different but still catchy and memorable.
However the real gem here, is Tekken Bowl mode, which hands down, despite being essentially a hidden mini-game, stunningly turns out to be literally the best bowling video game potentially ever made? I've put so much time into Tekken Bowl, it's such a great time filler, with a surprising amount of depth and re-playability.
The vibes here predate the bland tekken mush that we're used to now. Tekken games prior to 5 had more of a individual identity, Tekken 2 was melancholic darkness, Tekken 3 was grimy grungy street fighting and Tag has a Y2K, upbeat -future is now- kind of feel.
The gameplay is solid, this is the last of the classic gameplay style with it's infinite arenas. The roster is expansive, only lacking Boskonovitch and Gon. Every character feels distinct from another, with lots to unlock.
The OST is right up there with 2 and 3 for all time greats. Different but still catchy and memorable.
However the real gem here, is Tekken Bowl mode, which hands down, despite being essentially a hidden mini-game, stunningly turns out to be literally the best bowling video game potentially ever made? I've put so much time into Tekken Bowl, it's such a great time filler, with a surprising amount of depth and re-playability.
1988
Another one of my dad's large copied amiga collection that i had access to growing up. Probably my first experience of excessive video game violence. It's still sort of shocking today honestly. When you shoot people they burst into horrible twitching masses of gore. And really early on, you can shoot a literal child who's just jumping around minding his own business.
The main character also has the funniest jump SFX: YEEOO YEEOO YEEOO
The main character also has the funniest jump SFX: YEEOO YEEOO YEEOO
God damn, so disappointed with this one.
Such a awkward change of tone and feel from the first three which felt much more grounded. This isn't to say that 1-3 were these believable, realistic games or anything. But they felt cinematic, and benefitted from their Resident Evil roots, characters weren't super-well voice acted or anything, but the performances felt lightyears different from what we get in Dawn of Dreams.
DoD shifts into full anime-mode, with a blonde main character who does the whole cliched lazy main hero who has to be nagged into action, which i've seen like a million times before. Partnered up with this hyper cute kid who made the tengu from 3 look realistic.
I kinda hated how nothing really got set up properly story wise, we never have the moment of the hero gaining the oni-gauntlet, or the fancy orbs that get you the weapons. It's skips all this, and just has your hero wander in all pre-made, you have no opportunity to warm up to them, they're pre-baked.
The fact you pick up weapons in random boxes or just buy them, rather than having to do these interesting set pieces where getting a new weapon was this hefty, powerful moment takes lots away too.
The inclusion of electric guitar stuff into the soundtrack again felt tonally weird compared to the other games, which tried to be more classy.
I don't like how they split everything into levels, whereas before it was much more open and you could travel all over and return to areas for grinding etc, the story just naturally moved you from area to area, and didn't awkwardly just scream "LEVEL 2" at you.
Also the way the camera just swings around every time you progress 5 feet forward and highlights doors and direction just treats the player like an idiot. Like you can't work out where to go without being told every two seconds.
Annoyed me to no end that the buttons for examining and absorbing souls were swapped, and menu navigation buttons got all fucked up too.
Massive downgrade, what a rubbish end to this series.
Such a awkward change of tone and feel from the first three which felt much more grounded. This isn't to say that 1-3 were these believable, realistic games or anything. But they felt cinematic, and benefitted from their Resident Evil roots, characters weren't super-well voice acted or anything, but the performances felt lightyears different from what we get in Dawn of Dreams.
DoD shifts into full anime-mode, with a blonde main character who does the whole cliched lazy main hero who has to be nagged into action, which i've seen like a million times before. Partnered up with this hyper cute kid who made the tengu from 3 look realistic.
I kinda hated how nothing really got set up properly story wise, we never have the moment of the hero gaining the oni-gauntlet, or the fancy orbs that get you the weapons. It's skips all this, and just has your hero wander in all pre-made, you have no opportunity to warm up to them, they're pre-baked.
The fact you pick up weapons in random boxes or just buy them, rather than having to do these interesting set pieces where getting a new weapon was this hefty, powerful moment takes lots away too.
The inclusion of electric guitar stuff into the soundtrack again felt tonally weird compared to the other games, which tried to be more classy.
I don't like how they split everything into levels, whereas before it was much more open and you could travel all over and return to areas for grinding etc, the story just naturally moved you from area to area, and didn't awkwardly just scream "LEVEL 2" at you.
Also the way the camera just swings around every time you progress 5 feet forward and highlights doors and direction just treats the player like an idiot. Like you can't work out where to go without being told every two seconds.
Annoyed me to no end that the buttons for examining and absorbing souls were swapped, and menu navigation buttons got all fucked up too.
Massive downgrade, what a rubbish end to this series.
2023
Never have i sacrificed so much for a egg beater
2022
An excellent co-op experience to share with a pal. In my case i played through this with my brother. We both enjoyed it greatly, and were pretty surprised by the directions it took; very system shock meets Chernobyl.
For a fairly obscure game by a fairly obscure developer, it very much punches above it's weight.
For a fairly obscure game by a fairly obscure developer, it very much punches above it's weight.
2005
Reviewing again for Sengoku Basara, the original japanese version.
Holy smokes (and not the cigarette smell that follows my devil kings copy) this is actually good! For some reason the western version removed 4 playable characters and downgraded them to NPCs??? I can't really make sense of it at all, why they'd choose to do it at all.
The four you miss out on are actually pretty fun to play as (bar matsu who is a clone of Kenshin). Especially Shimazu who sports a comically oversized sword that is very satisfying to use.
The other big change is aesthetics, most obvious is the change of character names and settings to blander more stupid ones in devil kings (Toshihiro Shimazu to 'Zaan' urgh), and a confusing mish-mash of troop redesigns and locations, where you fight demon knight dudes, and Egyptian temple looking stuff, and also POUNDING DARK TECHNO.
Basara is a more consistent whole. The whole thing is styled after it's source material; namely the Sengoku period, you have japanese art-print style character potraits, music that feels more correct to the setting, and troops and places are more variations on different japanese locations with a exaggerated anime spin on them.
I think one of the characters in particular that comes off better in Basara is Francis Xavier, or 'Xavi' (Q-ball for devil kings, fuck knows) who in Basara is portrayed as a crazed cult fanatic preaching love and peace at the end of a gun barrel, surrounded by japanese converts in poofy pants and frilly neck collars. The satire actually works really well, there's a cutscene where you see Xavi's vision of Japan, and it's just a series of stereotypes and half-understood japanese stuff.
Eitherway, if you can import (i got a nice collectors edition very cheap) or emulate this version, i highly reccomend.
Holy smokes (and not the cigarette smell that follows my devil kings copy) this is actually good! For some reason the western version removed 4 playable characters and downgraded them to NPCs??? I can't really make sense of it at all, why they'd choose to do it at all.
The four you miss out on are actually pretty fun to play as (bar matsu who is a clone of Kenshin). Especially Shimazu who sports a comically oversized sword that is very satisfying to use.
The other big change is aesthetics, most obvious is the change of character names and settings to blander more stupid ones in devil kings (Toshihiro Shimazu to 'Zaan' urgh), and a confusing mish-mash of troop redesigns and locations, where you fight demon knight dudes, and Egyptian temple looking stuff, and also POUNDING DARK TECHNO.
Basara is a more consistent whole. The whole thing is styled after it's source material; namely the Sengoku period, you have japanese art-print style character potraits, music that feels more correct to the setting, and troops and places are more variations on different japanese locations with a exaggerated anime spin on them.
I think one of the characters in particular that comes off better in Basara is Francis Xavier, or 'Xavi' (Q-ball for devil kings, fuck knows) who in Basara is portrayed as a crazed cult fanatic preaching love and peace at the end of a gun barrel, surrounded by japanese converts in poofy pants and frilly neck collars. The satire actually works really well, there's a cutscene where you see Xavi's vision of Japan, and it's just a series of stereotypes and half-understood japanese stuff.
Eitherway, if you can import (i got a nice collectors edition very cheap) or emulate this version, i highly reccomend.
Pretty funny that you can play as such great characters like 'Grunt' and 'Zombie' in this.
Such a wild turn to make after 2 onimusha games. I can't help but feel there aren't many attempts at copying smash bros, and it's so weird that this is one of the few decent ones.
Such a wild turn to make after 2 onimusha games. I can't help but feel there aren't many attempts at copying smash bros, and it's so weird that this is one of the few decent ones.
It's honestly kind of sad that this franchise had such a cool run of games for one single console, and pretty much just vanished off the face of the earth once the 7th gen kicked in.