Moister
2006
Imagine an arcade game...got it? Now imagine a 3D arcade game...getting closer. This time imagine a 3D arcade brawler focused on combos and player expression. Ths is God Hand, pure unfiltered 3D arcade-ish action-packed fun from an era that has left us not so long ago: the 2000's, the mid 2000's to be exact. Yeah, the era were killer7 and Resident Evil 4 were also published by none other than Capcom.
God Hand is focused on one thing and one thing only: Fun. Pure, raw fun without limits. The game's lack of proper introduction makes it's message clear: "Go figure it out yourself, you can do it". At first you'll think something is missing but no, they let you run in the wild the moment you start playing. No tutorials, no training room just straight into action. This is one of God Hand's many unique traits, it talks to you face to face, knows why you are here and wastes no time in anything less but getting to the good parts in an instant.
You can't talk about God Hand without mentioning how awesome, yet simple and intuitive is the combat system. Everything is customizable from the get-go, all in the name of the player's choice. From example, you can go for an only-combo oriented build which could decimate an enemy in a matter of seconds or specialize your tecniques on crowd control when you need to, combine both! There are no "combos" that requires precise inputs to pull off, instead every attack has it's purpose: either breaking guard, juggle or launch your enemy. It's stupid simple and I don't know why no one has ever think of it before, The juice is in context, like solving an everyday problem: "What would be best for this situation?", "What would happen if I combine this, and this...?" Note that is one way to play it. The main gameplay loop is to experiment with every combination, being able to craft your own set of combos and strategies to kick ass. Or perfect what you already have.
The mid 2000's was an era of change. Just imagine, the HD consoles were the new hot thing and everyone was starting to move away from the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube generation. There was a sort of uncertainty for the new age because you know, change can be scary and this new generation promised a lot. Why I am suddenly talking about all this in a God Hand review exactly? I feel the mid 2000's was an unique era of comfort way after the Y2K scandal in the new millenium, at least on the video game space. God Hand took birth in that time, in a time while the PS2 was still selling like pancakes, but still everyone knew what was ahead. HD games were yet to completely took and the 6h gen was still giving some fight with unique titles, maybe not as groundbreaking as the beginning of the generation but they were one thing: "Unique". Outlandish, without necessarily having a grandious scope. They were weird experiments that weren't afraid to have the weirdest of ideas. Basically God Hand is overall very unique and there is nothing like it, or at least that I know. The era it was made took a huge role on green-lighting projects like these that nowdays only indies and AA productions. killer7 was released a year prior God Hand just to give a quick example. Want more proof? Look at the description of the game.
God Hand is a difficult game. No, is challenging but also very difficult. As I said before, it gives you all the tools to take out the enemies in with customizable combos. It doesn't suggarcoat your experience unless you want to. In Resident Evil 4 there was a system working underneath at all that change the behiavor of the enemies dynamically to give further challenge to the player. This was done depending of how good you were at it. Same principles apply to God Hand, as long as you don't get hit too many times a bar at the bottom left will indicate whenever you level up or not. I'm going to be honest, at first I thought this "Level Up" bar indicated actually leveling up, attacks get stronger, you get faster, etc. Cave Story uses a similar system were if you get hit you start to lose power, thus making the weapons much less effective. I was so lost in that system that I even did some bosses on "Die", which is the final level of perfection were enemies smack half of your lifebar with a single slap. Don't be afraid to die if you need to and lower that bar. Take my word; this game is not hard once it clicks but is very challenging and demands a lot out of you. That is half of God Hand magic, it is very easy to get into but hard to master.
But I won't say is absolutely perfect, as it has some problems. I already listed one of them which is that it never proprerly explains what does that bar bellow serves for exactly. God Hand doesn't demand perfection, not at all. It demands control. Sometimes the camera acts wonky when there are more than 2 enemies on screen at the same time close to each other, however this doesn't happen too frequently. In larger levels such as the desert enemies can gank up on you attacking from all directions, specially enemies with swords. Tank controls for me are a deal breaker when fighting a large groups of enemies, again. However, 1v1 fights are perfect with tank controls. These were growing pains that I learned to accustomed as the game went on, but on certain occations when mixed all together they were just annoying in a otherwise sound experience.
God Hand feels like a game that could only be made in that era of comfort. You know, living in the moment. Like, you can spank women, send them flying or even gorilla suplex an actual gorilla with a lucha libre custome in the middle of a demonic castle. Reeks ridiculness of the highest quality, the tone is always humorous, whacky and chaotic. Making a sequel will probably be against for what this game was made for; living in the moment perfectly sealed in a safe bubble.
God Hand is focused on one thing and one thing only: Fun. Pure, raw fun without limits. The game's lack of proper introduction makes it's message clear: "Go figure it out yourself, you can do it". At first you'll think something is missing but no, they let you run in the wild the moment you start playing. No tutorials, no training room just straight into action. This is one of God Hand's many unique traits, it talks to you face to face, knows why you are here and wastes no time in anything less but getting to the good parts in an instant.
You can't talk about God Hand without mentioning how awesome, yet simple and intuitive is the combat system. Everything is customizable from the get-go, all in the name of the player's choice. From example, you can go for an only-combo oriented build which could decimate an enemy in a matter of seconds or specialize your tecniques on crowd control when you need to, combine both! There are no "combos" that requires precise inputs to pull off, instead every attack has it's purpose: either breaking guard, juggle or launch your enemy. It's stupid simple and I don't know why no one has ever think of it before, The juice is in context, like solving an everyday problem: "What would be best for this situation?", "What would happen if I combine this, and this...?" Note that is one way to play it. The main gameplay loop is to experiment with every combination, being able to craft your own set of combos and strategies to kick ass. Or perfect what you already have.
The mid 2000's was an era of change. Just imagine, the HD consoles were the new hot thing and everyone was starting to move away from the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube generation. There was a sort of uncertainty for the new age because you know, change can be scary and this new generation promised a lot. Why I am suddenly talking about all this in a God Hand review exactly? I feel the mid 2000's was an unique era of comfort way after the Y2K scandal in the new millenium, at least on the video game space. God Hand took birth in that time, in a time while the PS2 was still selling like pancakes, but still everyone knew what was ahead. HD games were yet to completely took and the 6h gen was still giving some fight with unique titles, maybe not as groundbreaking as the beginning of the generation but they were one thing: "Unique". Outlandish, without necessarily having a grandious scope. They were weird experiments that weren't afraid to have the weirdest of ideas. Basically God Hand is overall very unique and there is nothing like it, or at least that I know. The era it was made took a huge role on green-lighting projects like these that nowdays only indies and AA productions. killer7 was released a year prior God Hand just to give a quick example. Want more proof? Look at the description of the game.
God Hand is a difficult game. No, is challenging but also very difficult. As I said before, it gives you all the tools to take out the enemies in with customizable combos. It doesn't suggarcoat your experience unless you want to. In Resident Evil 4 there was a system working underneath at all that change the behiavor of the enemies dynamically to give further challenge to the player. This was done depending of how good you were at it. Same principles apply to God Hand, as long as you don't get hit too many times a bar at the bottom left will indicate whenever you level up or not. I'm going to be honest, at first I thought this "Level Up" bar indicated actually leveling up, attacks get stronger, you get faster, etc. Cave Story uses a similar system were if you get hit you start to lose power, thus making the weapons much less effective. I was so lost in that system that I even did some bosses on "Die", which is the final level of perfection were enemies smack half of your lifebar with a single slap. Don't be afraid to die if you need to and lower that bar. Take my word; this game is not hard once it clicks but is very challenging and demands a lot out of you. That is half of God Hand magic, it is very easy to get into but hard to master.
But I won't say is absolutely perfect, as it has some problems. I already listed one of them which is that it never proprerly explains what does that bar bellow serves for exactly. God Hand doesn't demand perfection, not at all. It demands control. Sometimes the camera acts wonky when there are more than 2 enemies on screen at the same time close to each other, however this doesn't happen too frequently. In larger levels such as the desert enemies can gank up on you attacking from all directions, specially enemies with swords. Tank controls for me are a deal breaker when fighting a large groups of enemies, again. However, 1v1 fights are perfect with tank controls. These were growing pains that I learned to accustomed as the game went on, but on certain occations when mixed all together they were just annoying in a otherwise sound experience.
God Hand feels like a game that could only be made in that era of comfort. You know, living in the moment. Like, you can spank women, send them flying or even gorilla suplex an actual gorilla with a lucha libre custome in the middle of a demonic castle. Reeks ridiculness of the highest quality, the tone is always humorous, whacky and chaotic. Making a sequel will probably be against for what this game was made for; living in the moment perfectly sealed in a safe bubble.
Screw it. I'm not going full smartass on this one.
Michigan: Report from Hell or Michigan for short is an horror game not even based in Michigan to begin with. Bad start. Set in what may be a virus outbreak in Chicago; an unnamed cameraman, a sound engeneer and a female reporter are set to discover what is going on and potentially uncover the truth.
While it isn't as bad as some people make out to be, it is really experminetal. As a cameraman you take the role of a omnicient director, dictating the female reporters what to do, point and click style. And the sound engeneer: Brisco only serving as your weird friend that talks funny. It is important to note the voice acting doesn't match at all the situation characters are in, you have to hear it for yourself. Just to give you an example: the female reporter founds a dead body in the bathtub and naturally reacts screaming her loungs out, frightened. Brisco on the other hand doesn't mind and acts like this is everyday stuff. To further elevate context Brisco is like Junpei from Persona 3, just way like waaaaaay more akward. In a situation of life and death he would critizice a painting, in a situation of life and death he would say pervy things, in battle he will just follow you, still mourning for his dear Pamela. He is...Brisco.
Control-wise it is not precise. Having to deal with first-person cameras on consoles as ancient as the PS2 should be a crime, death penalty. This being more uncomfortable as trying to do an action as easy as trying to interact with a single object becomes a monumental task. Let me tell you something, as a cameraman you can't attack but you are able to push your partners in situations as creepy as uuuuh a big spider. How do you think someone with one functional brain would act? "Hey there is a big spider in top of you, you might want to step aside" or ramp up with full force against them? The choice is obvious.
Only reason I decided to give it a try is because of this being a Grasshopper Manufacture title, engulfed by a strange aura of mystery uuuh just look at the cover, spooky stuff. Not even it's creator acknowledges this titles existence at all. This is Suda51 we are talking about, a man that has made a name for himself and totally won my heart just last year with The Silver Case. But this shit ain't it man, it is insultingly stupid and very amateur-ish. But you know what, that's the appeal: taking nods here and there to campy early 80's to 90's horror movies it mannages to squeeze just a little out of that unserious tone in potentially good premises that I love so much. There will always be something happening no matter how bizarre the situation is; you will be confused, perplexed even. I encourage you to try it, hop on a discord vc with your friends and let the game speak for itself. It will be a very fun afternoon.
Michigan: Report from Hell or Michigan for short is an horror game not even based in Michigan to begin with. Bad start. Set in what may be a virus outbreak in Chicago; an unnamed cameraman, a sound engeneer and a female reporter are set to discover what is going on and potentially uncover the truth.
While it isn't as bad as some people make out to be, it is really experminetal. As a cameraman you take the role of a omnicient director, dictating the female reporters what to do, point and click style. And the sound engeneer: Brisco only serving as your weird friend that talks funny. It is important to note the voice acting doesn't match at all the situation characters are in, you have to hear it for yourself. Just to give you an example: the female reporter founds a dead body in the bathtub and naturally reacts screaming her loungs out, frightened. Brisco on the other hand doesn't mind and acts like this is everyday stuff. To further elevate context Brisco is like Junpei from Persona 3, just way like waaaaaay more akward. In a situation of life and death he would critizice a painting, in a situation of life and death he would say pervy things, in battle he will just follow you, still mourning for his dear Pamela. He is...Brisco.
Control-wise it is not precise. Having to deal with first-person cameras on consoles as ancient as the PS2 should be a crime, death penalty. This being more uncomfortable as trying to do an action as easy as trying to interact with a single object becomes a monumental task. Let me tell you something, as a cameraman you can't attack but you are able to push your partners in situations as creepy as uuuuh a big spider. How do you think someone with one functional brain would act? "Hey there is a big spider in top of you, you might want to step aside" or ramp up with full force against them? The choice is obvious.
Only reason I decided to give it a try is because of this being a Grasshopper Manufacture title, engulfed by a strange aura of mystery uuuh just look at the cover, spooky stuff. Not even it's creator acknowledges this titles existence at all. This is Suda51 we are talking about, a man that has made a name for himself and totally won my heart just last year with The Silver Case. But this shit ain't it man, it is insultingly stupid and very amateur-ish. But you know what, that's the appeal: taking nods here and there to campy early 80's to 90's horror movies it mannages to squeeze just a little out of that unserious tone in potentially good premises that I love so much. There will always be something happening no matter how bizarre the situation is; you will be confused, perplexed even. I encourage you to try it, hop on a discord vc with your friends and let the game speak for itself. It will be a very fun afternoon.
2019
Blessed by The Miracle
Recently I've been getting more and more into the metroidvania genre to appreciate it what makes it shine. I've been pretty outspoken of how it isn't my genre in particular, how is that I can't fall in love with whenever I tried a new game carrying this structure.
Blasphemous is a game that both takes heavy inspiration from Dark Souls and the metroidvania genre in particular. Well, it takes more influence in the "Souls", specifically Dark Souls 1 rather than the metroidvania genre itself only taking from it how the map, length of the zones are structured and are presented in a 2D enviroment. It also adds platforming elements to the recipe giving it an extra layer of complexity to this already strange mixture of genres. While it does work on paper, in execution it ends up just adding more problems ruining some of the initial good will.
It all starts with "The Miracle", a strange event that is far off from a miracle. The Miracle acts in mysterious ways, often the act of punishment prevails over its blessings that the miracle could or not provide to the people of Cvstodia. The only way they find salvation is to worship this elusive entity, or event that have lead much people to suffer fatal losses but also have blessed them with new opportunities. As The Penitent One we are tasked to reach the Cradle of Affliction in order to complete our penance.
As a game mainly focused on exploration, the map design and how everything connects with each other must be a high priority. First, we are but limited to the basics; jumping and slashing our sword "Meaculpa" at the rythm of our inputs so this gives the level design the freedom to keep us under control and don't go wild so soon. In fact, Blasphemous tries to keep our feet on the ground all the time and we never really feel that attribute of being more powerful that the levels intend to, we just have more chances to survive. There are not crazy abilities that would undermine the level design altogether or viceversa, giving the feeling that the worlds are too punishing. Minus the platforming.
Cvstodia is very confusing to navigate, not necessarily by how it's map is strctured but by how checkpoints, upgrades and such are sparse through it. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of helps such as markers that will make the traversal much easier without crowding the map itself with too many icons or by giving important zones their own color on the map. Blasphemous splits the concept of the bonfire of Dark Souls in three separated rooms: first are the checkpoint were all your health is recovered, secondly is the transportation device and finally "The Statue of Confessors" which both serves to unlock new abilities and get rid of our guilt. Nothing wrong with trying to twist what is already stablished, but this decision ends up making the journey more tedius than it really needs to be. Same goes for the shops which aren't even marked on the map and are essential to complete some quests. This is one of the many problems Blasphemous has, it doesn't make the journey any less harder just way more frustrating and less enjoyable to go through.
Platforming is also something Blasphemous wanted to incorporate to the mix. This is not done in the classic metroidvania approach, instead it follows the tried and true method of obstacle courses with deadly pits, spikes and all. On some occations if not most it could led to some confussions on where a room actually ends and starts a new one. Once you wired into your brain the idea that every room is a screen and not a room in classic metroidvania fashion, everything will start to make sense. However this somewhat contradicts the genres main appeal which is exploration, as Blasphemous tends to punish whenever you are curious. "Where does this lead to?" The answer is death, curiosity kill the cat and so it did to you. Be careful.
In Blasphemous, as much as in Dark Souls objects and the npcs are integral to know the in and outs about the story of Cvstodia. The story itself is hidden through thick layers of lore written in what seems a dialect close to what both the catholic and christian church used back in the day. Mainly due to how the words are expressed, nothing is directly said and most of the dialogue is left for interpretation heavily relying on context. Objects follow the same path, lore is extent and deep often making references to stories that either occured in the bible or are part of the spanish culture. Talking about spanish, the dub is absolutely high quality! Not this low budget localization that we have been so used to in the past. Not that this would change anything going forward in the industry but with enough effort they can make absolute quality if they wanted to. Going back to the main topic, objects are treated as collectables you will gather through the adventure so try to grab one as soon as you see a small smoking orb. Thing is, these objects main purpose are but to complete side quests given by the townfolks, spirits or grotesque eldritch monstrosities. Rather than helping on your progression these quest will increase your completion percentage, so they are inconsequential to the main adventure overall. But they do flesh out the lore in ways objects simply can't with vague stories, all deliberately separated from the main objective. Permanent upgrades such as health or fervor are treated as their own separated rooms altogether unlike most metroidvanias which usually place those items in the same room requiring some puzzle or skill to reach. Blasphemous both punishes and rewards exploration, so these treasures are usually well hidden.
Blasphemous has a gorgeous artstyle. Grotesque, detailed and fleshes all the mastery of the animators without breaking a sweat or trying to hard. Mainly inspired, obviously by famous spanish paintings such as Piedra de Disciplinantes or Vuelo de Brujas all made by Francisco Goya which you would more likely recognize by this painting. The art was probably also inspired by "La era barroco española" set between the 1600 and 1750. The history leassons did teach me something at the end.
Blasphemous is a logically flawed game, full of heart and soul. It's confident and knows what to envoque to the player with ease through it's artistic vision. While rough around the edges, it still mannages to establish itself as a strange mixture of genres that while it didn't work entirely im glad they at least tried to break out of the mold. What Blasphemous brings to the offer is style and a unique vision.
Recently I've been getting more and more into the metroidvania genre to appreciate it what makes it shine. I've been pretty outspoken of how it isn't my genre in particular, how is that I can't fall in love with whenever I tried a new game carrying this structure.
Blasphemous is a game that both takes heavy inspiration from Dark Souls and the metroidvania genre in particular. Well, it takes more influence in the "Souls", specifically Dark Souls 1 rather than the metroidvania genre itself only taking from it how the map, length of the zones are structured and are presented in a 2D enviroment. It also adds platforming elements to the recipe giving it an extra layer of complexity to this already strange mixture of genres. While it does work on paper, in execution it ends up just adding more problems ruining some of the initial good will.
It all starts with "The Miracle", a strange event that is far off from a miracle. The Miracle acts in mysterious ways, often the act of punishment prevails over its blessings that the miracle could or not provide to the people of Cvstodia. The only way they find salvation is to worship this elusive entity, or event that have lead much people to suffer fatal losses but also have blessed them with new opportunities. As The Penitent One we are tasked to reach the Cradle of Affliction in order to complete our penance.
As a game mainly focused on exploration, the map design and how everything connects with each other must be a high priority. First, we are but limited to the basics; jumping and slashing our sword "Meaculpa" at the rythm of our inputs so this gives the level design the freedom to keep us under control and don't go wild so soon. In fact, Blasphemous tries to keep our feet on the ground all the time and we never really feel that attribute of being more powerful that the levels intend to, we just have more chances to survive. There are not crazy abilities that would undermine the level design altogether or viceversa, giving the feeling that the worlds are too punishing. Minus the platforming.
Cvstodia is very confusing to navigate, not necessarily by how it's map is strctured but by how checkpoints, upgrades and such are sparse through it. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of helps such as markers that will make the traversal much easier without crowding the map itself with too many icons or by giving important zones their own color on the map. Blasphemous splits the concept of the bonfire of Dark Souls in three separated rooms: first are the checkpoint were all your health is recovered, secondly is the transportation device and finally "The Statue of Confessors" which both serves to unlock new abilities and get rid of our guilt. Nothing wrong with trying to twist what is already stablished, but this decision ends up making the journey more tedius than it really needs to be. Same goes for the shops which aren't even marked on the map and are essential to complete some quests. This is one of the many problems Blasphemous has, it doesn't make the journey any less harder just way more frustrating and less enjoyable to go through.
Platforming is also something Blasphemous wanted to incorporate to the mix. This is not done in the classic metroidvania approach, instead it follows the tried and true method of obstacle courses with deadly pits, spikes and all. On some occations if not most it could led to some confussions on where a room actually ends and starts a new one. Once you wired into your brain the idea that every room is a screen and not a room in classic metroidvania fashion, everything will start to make sense. However this somewhat contradicts the genres main appeal which is exploration, as Blasphemous tends to punish whenever you are curious. "Where does this lead to?" The answer is death, curiosity kill the cat and so it did to you. Be careful.
In Blasphemous, as much as in Dark Souls objects and the npcs are integral to know the in and outs about the story of Cvstodia. The story itself is hidden through thick layers of lore written in what seems a dialect close to what both the catholic and christian church used back in the day. Mainly due to how the words are expressed, nothing is directly said and most of the dialogue is left for interpretation heavily relying on context. Objects follow the same path, lore is extent and deep often making references to stories that either occured in the bible or are part of the spanish culture. Talking about spanish, the dub is absolutely high quality! Not this low budget localization that we have been so used to in the past. Not that this would change anything going forward in the industry but with enough effort they can make absolute quality if they wanted to. Going back to the main topic, objects are treated as collectables you will gather through the adventure so try to grab one as soon as you see a small smoking orb. Thing is, these objects main purpose are but to complete side quests given by the townfolks, spirits or grotesque eldritch monstrosities. Rather than helping on your progression these quest will increase your completion percentage, so they are inconsequential to the main adventure overall. But they do flesh out the lore in ways objects simply can't with vague stories, all deliberately separated from the main objective. Permanent upgrades such as health or fervor are treated as their own separated rooms altogether unlike most metroidvanias which usually place those items in the same room requiring some puzzle or skill to reach. Blasphemous both punishes and rewards exploration, so these treasures are usually well hidden.
Blasphemous has a gorgeous artstyle. Grotesque, detailed and fleshes all the mastery of the animators without breaking a sweat or trying to hard. Mainly inspired, obviously by famous spanish paintings such as Piedra de Disciplinantes or Vuelo de Brujas all made by Francisco Goya which you would more likely recognize by this painting. The art was probably also inspired by "La era barroco española" set between the 1600 and 1750. The history leassons did teach me something at the end.
Blasphemous is a logically flawed game, full of heart and soul. It's confident and knows what to envoque to the player with ease through it's artistic vision. While rough around the edges, it still mannages to establish itself as a strange mixture of genres that while it didn't work entirely im glad they at least tried to break out of the mold. What Blasphemous brings to the offer is style and a unique vision.
Bloodstained is the more or less the spiritual succesor to all things Castlevania, post Synphony of the Night. It draws most of the core concepts from the legendary metroid-vania that kickstarted the genre, well both games share the same creator and creative mind behind it: Koji Igarashi. Some time after quiting Konami like any sane person would do, he kickstarted this project back in early 2015. Mind you, this was the time Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee were around for this sudden retro-revival craze which most likely started after with Shovel Knight success story, but I'm not 100% sure.
It plays and feels like a 2.5D rendition of Synphony of the Night while having it's own disntictions as well. To avoid some redundancies here is my review for Synphony of the Night. Makes a big emphasis on the shard system, which basically works like in most Kirby games would: kill an enemy and get their powers/summon. Alongside them, there are other types of shards, from the ones that give you passive buffs to the everyday magic spells. The RPG elements are strong and leaves room for a lot of customization. Though I'd say it does feel bloated in terms of quantity, specially when talking about the shards.
This journey takes us to uh, royalty free dracula's castle! Well, it's definitely a castle in middle of european town or england and not set in romania as we were so used to in past games. As Miriam, we're set to erradicate the demon invasion that has spawned in town. The castle is the answer to the problems, which castle? I don't remember honestly, the story was very poorly told. It starts strong at the beginning and then it let's you run free at your own pace through the castle. Story isn't the strong selling point here, nor was in Synphony of the Night, but I'd say it works mile better in Alucard's game since it doesn't dump lore whenever it has time to, it was simple. My brain was focused on killing cool monster and leveling up, to suddenly be stopped to read about some of the lore, quite a snoozefest. It ends up being the same story as in Synphony of the Night but if anything, less personally involved by the characters.
Visuals are a mix bag. What stands out can be pretty, but it also have some rough edges. Most levels themselves are full of detail and a joy to look at, but the characters models outside Miriam are fucking hideous. While I can attribute it to being a Kickstarter project, a more distinctive less-detailed artstyle would have work wonders for the type of game this is. Still, the visuals while detailed are simple and clear enough to play with ease. Same goes for the presentation, it doesn't stand out much. It is fine, totally fine.
My take is that is a good metroid-vania game. It has a good base, but lacks what is otherwise the substance, which can make it stand on it's own compared to his older brother on the PS1. I won't like to deminish what it did right, but Synphony of the Night has that elegance and style to it, something that Bloodstained simply doesn't have.
It plays and feels like a 2.5D rendition of Synphony of the Night while having it's own disntictions as well. To avoid some redundancies here is my review for Synphony of the Night. Makes a big emphasis on the shard system, which basically works like in most Kirby games would: kill an enemy and get their powers/summon. Alongside them, there are other types of shards, from the ones that give you passive buffs to the everyday magic spells. The RPG elements are strong and leaves room for a lot of customization. Though I'd say it does feel bloated in terms of quantity, specially when talking about the shards.
This journey takes us to uh, royalty free dracula's castle! Well, it's definitely a castle in middle of european town or england and not set in romania as we were so used to in past games. As Miriam, we're set to erradicate the demon invasion that has spawned in town. The castle is the answer to the problems, which castle? I don't remember honestly, the story was very poorly told. It starts strong at the beginning and then it let's you run free at your own pace through the castle. Story isn't the strong selling point here, nor was in Synphony of the Night, but I'd say it works mile better in Alucard's game since it doesn't dump lore whenever it has time to, it was simple. My brain was focused on killing cool monster and leveling up, to suddenly be stopped to read about some of the lore, quite a snoozefest. It ends up being the same story as in Synphony of the Night but if anything, less personally involved by the characters.
Visuals are a mix bag. What stands out can be pretty, but it also have some rough edges. Most levels themselves are full of detail and a joy to look at, but the characters models outside Miriam are fucking hideous. While I can attribute it to being a Kickstarter project, a more distinctive less-detailed artstyle would have work wonders for the type of game this is. Still, the visuals while detailed are simple and clear enough to play with ease. Same goes for the presentation, it doesn't stand out much. It is fine, totally fine.
My take is that is a good metroid-vania game. It has a good base, but lacks what is otherwise the substance, which can make it stand on it's own compared to his older brother on the PS1. I won't like to deminish what it did right, but Synphony of the Night has that elegance and style to it, something that Bloodstained simply doesn't have.
2003
Losing your mind, at the end of the world
Just getting started into this Nier/Drakengard universe left me with it's first game: Drakengard. It was hard to summarize and organize my thoughts on it once reaching ending D without looking insane and just spitting words out of my mind, just because. Well, I'd say Drakengard made me feel like that few hours after finishing it; insane.
What is Drakengard exactly? Take the best aspects of a "Warriors" game and take half of the fun of it. "Warriors" as in Dynasty Warriors, or musou as the genre is called. So the basic premise for grounded combat is to decimate the targets present at the battlefield within a large and endless hordes of enemies that will stand in your way. But unlike most musou games, as I said before it strips away the sense of power and control in the middle of chaos giving us a combat system that shits the bed as soon as we want to take it seriously; because it doesn't want to. Between engage with the combat system or to exploit what little advantages you have against the enemies is much prefered to do the latter as there isn't any incentive to play fair. And that's all you'll be getting out of it, at least when it comes to grounded combat. Just kill whoever is in your path to victory and continue to the next level, sort of like an arcade game. It blends both action and RPG elements as expected from an Square Enix game, the more you kill the more experience you have. And the word "kill" isn't used lightly in this game, I'll go deeply into it later.
Though the title is called Drakengard, or "Drag-On Dragoon" in japan which means we'll be able to ride a dragon and...basically do the same thing as we did on ground but taking action to the skies. Overall, it feels nice travelling with Angelus, which is the dragon's name from basic movement to dodge any sort of projectiles. This is were my praises for it end, as attacking is misserable; trying to land a hit on a target is a test of patience which I lost several times. On some levels both dragoon and grounded combat are combined as one, taking the best and the worse of both worlds. Caim's is slow but less prone to be attacked and Angelus has a fragile nature, but it's much more capable at taking a big amount of enemies with her breath of fire. Though, it's not as deep as it sounds since there are two valid strategies to follow: A. Waste a big amount of time at foot, not using the dragon at any time. B. Carefully managing space with Angelus this makes you travel faster but again she's more prone to be damaged and so does you. C. Kill the archers with Caim and then hop on Angelus to clean the rest of the area including the targets. So that wraps up the basics of combat in Drakengard, but you'll have to experience as words can't describe with ease how jank and badly designed it gets. Not only that, it will try to break you with an over-reliance on doing the same task of killing enemies over and over again so much so I started to become numb to everything combat-related and just go with it. Just as Caim.
Caim story starts right after being fatally wounded in battle, close to dying. But he doesn't give up, he sees a dragon nearby in similar conditions as him and negotiates a pact in order of both of them to live. The dragon refuses the offer multiple times, but Caim manages to convince her. A pact is formed at the cost of Caim's voice, his mark is located exactly in his tongue. Caim sheer power of will didn't let him die, even making a pact with a dragon; creatures that he despises with all his heart. Thus Caim tale of revenge and decay starts. It's a nice, more calm beginning to what will ultimately be a downward spiral into madness. It sets the tone, wildly different from more Square-Enix RPGs, present the characters and their motivations; specially when it comes to Caim.
The story itself feels like a deconstruction on most JRPGs stories, or rather a darker and less care-free version of them. It can also be applied to the classic tale of the hero. It asks the question: How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to fullfil your goals? Caim is the perfect protagonist, at least for this kind of twisted story: Shoot, ask questions later. In this story Angelus takes the role of being our companion, alongside a psychopath she's our voice of reason up to chapter 8. Caim is not the hero, nor is the villain as while his reason to go against the empire can be seen as noble; a feature present on most hero stories, his endless bloodlust for revenge which is what drives him forward can also be seen as feature of a villain. But on Drakengard there is no moral ground, everyone is either sick in the head or can get easily warped into different characters altogether in a matter of seconds; just as Inuart, Seere or Leonard can. Every non-playable stories are fragmented through different endings, having five in total.
If anything Drakengard made the narrative most of it's personality, carried with the most shitty gameplay imaginable. I appreciate everything Drakengard set to do back in 2003, shit's crazy, bold, confident while a bit stupid and isn't afraid to throw ideas to the mix. The gameplay indirectly made me numb to the act of "killing" itself, in which Angelus and the priest often remark that Caim might be taking things way too far. The act of killing takes the backseat most of the time, having no consequences on the story whatsoever until it happens to you, or well, Caim. Specially on Ending B.
Give it a try if curious. Words alone can't describe this game, it speaks for itself.
Just getting started into this Nier/Drakengard universe left me with it's first game: Drakengard. It was hard to summarize and organize my thoughts on it once reaching ending D without looking insane and just spitting words out of my mind, just because. Well, I'd say Drakengard made me feel like that few hours after finishing it; insane.
What is Drakengard exactly? Take the best aspects of a "Warriors" game and take half of the fun of it. "Warriors" as in Dynasty Warriors, or musou as the genre is called. So the basic premise for grounded combat is to decimate the targets present at the battlefield within a large and endless hordes of enemies that will stand in your way. But unlike most musou games, as I said before it strips away the sense of power and control in the middle of chaos giving us a combat system that shits the bed as soon as we want to take it seriously; because it doesn't want to. Between engage with the combat system or to exploit what little advantages you have against the enemies is much prefered to do the latter as there isn't any incentive to play fair. And that's all you'll be getting out of it, at least when it comes to grounded combat. Just kill whoever is in your path to victory and continue to the next level, sort of like an arcade game. It blends both action and RPG elements as expected from an Square Enix game, the more you kill the more experience you have. And the word "kill" isn't used lightly in this game, I'll go deeply into it later.
Though the title is called Drakengard, or "Drag-On Dragoon" in japan which means we'll be able to ride a dragon and...basically do the same thing as we did on ground but taking action to the skies. Overall, it feels nice travelling with Angelus, which is the dragon's name from basic movement to dodge any sort of projectiles. This is were my praises for it end, as attacking is misserable; trying to land a hit on a target is a test of patience which I lost several times. On some levels both dragoon and grounded combat are combined as one, taking the best and the worse of both worlds. Caim's is slow but less prone to be attacked and Angelus has a fragile nature, but it's much more capable at taking a big amount of enemies with her breath of fire. Though, it's not as deep as it sounds since there are two valid strategies to follow: A. Waste a big amount of time at foot, not using the dragon at any time. B. Carefully managing space with Angelus this makes you travel faster but again she's more prone to be damaged and so does you. C. Kill the archers with Caim and then hop on Angelus to clean the rest of the area including the targets. So that wraps up the basics of combat in Drakengard, but you'll have to experience as words can't describe with ease how jank and badly designed it gets. Not only that, it will try to break you with an over-reliance on doing the same task of killing enemies over and over again so much so I started to become numb to everything combat-related and just go with it. Just as Caim.
Caim story starts right after being fatally wounded in battle, close to dying. But he doesn't give up, he sees a dragon nearby in similar conditions as him and negotiates a pact in order of both of them to live. The dragon refuses the offer multiple times, but Caim manages to convince her. A pact is formed at the cost of Caim's voice, his mark is located exactly in his tongue. Caim sheer power of will didn't let him die, even making a pact with a dragon; creatures that he despises with all his heart. Thus Caim tale of revenge and decay starts. It's a nice, more calm beginning to what will ultimately be a downward spiral into madness. It sets the tone, wildly different from more Square-Enix RPGs, present the characters and their motivations; specially when it comes to Caim.
The story itself feels like a deconstruction on most JRPGs stories, or rather a darker and less care-free version of them. It can also be applied to the classic tale of the hero. It asks the question: How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to fullfil your goals? Caim is the perfect protagonist, at least for this kind of twisted story: Shoot, ask questions later. In this story Angelus takes the role of being our companion, alongside a psychopath she's our voice of reason up to chapter 8. Caim is not the hero, nor is the villain as while his reason to go against the empire can be seen as noble; a feature present on most hero stories, his endless bloodlust for revenge which is what drives him forward can also be seen as feature of a villain. But on Drakengard there is no moral ground, everyone is either sick in the head or can get easily warped into different characters altogether in a matter of seconds; just as Inuart, Seere or Leonard can. Every non-playable stories are fragmented through different endings, having five in total.
If anything Drakengard made the narrative most of it's personality, carried with the most shitty gameplay imaginable. I appreciate everything Drakengard set to do back in 2003, shit's crazy, bold, confident while a bit stupid and isn't afraid to throw ideas to the mix. The gameplay indirectly made me numb to the act of "killing" itself, in which Angelus and the priest often remark that Caim might be taking things way too far. The act of killing takes the backseat most of the time, having no consequences on the story whatsoever until it happens to you, or well, Caim. Specially on Ending B.
Give it a try if curious. Words alone can't describe this game, it speaks for itself.
2018
Quite a departure of the games I use to review on this site. Whacky chaos, violence, emotionally gripping moments, thought-provoking narratives with a nice sense of style. I'd argue those are the type of games I like to play for the most part, but more ofthen than not I'm willing to give other genres a chance once I get tired, and Gris caught me at the right mood to enjoy it.
Gris doesn't try to be more than what already is. An artsy game that talks about the loss of a loved one and how to ultimately deal with that event, through acceptance. Yeah, it's the so common message about just moving forward with your life facing the reality that it is in front of you. But Gris is subtle as there isn't any dialogue present, just some little interaction between the characters. So, the overall narrative is hidden under a layer of pastel colors and abstract geometry.
The lack of gameplay from the start is quite a letdown, but towards the end it starts to get really good might I say I was having fun doing some puzzles and I suck at puzzles. These were really enjoyable to figure it out alá Limbo just not as extreme. Mix it with a gorgeus art direction and everything just fits together. Doesn't try be more than that, it is a beautiful artistic and technical showcase for Nomada Studio.
And please, buy the soundtrack as well. Just lovely, happy mellow vibes.
Gris doesn't try to be more than what already is. An artsy game that talks about the loss of a loved one and how to ultimately deal with that event, through acceptance. Yeah, it's the so common message about just moving forward with your life facing the reality that it is in front of you. But Gris is subtle as there isn't any dialogue present, just some little interaction between the characters. So, the overall narrative is hidden under a layer of pastel colors and abstract geometry.
The lack of gameplay from the start is quite a letdown, but towards the end it starts to get really good might I say I was having fun doing some puzzles and I suck at puzzles. These were really enjoyable to figure it out alá Limbo just not as extreme. Mix it with a gorgeus art direction and everything just fits together. Doesn't try be more than that, it is a beautiful artistic and technical showcase for Nomada Studio.
And please, buy the soundtrack as well. Just lovely, happy mellow vibes.
2002
Sunshine is certainly a strange game to talk about. It has a lot of poisitives aspects that neither Super Mario 64 nor it's sequel Super Mario Galaxy has but also many negatives that drags the game to the bottom of the list when it comes to 3D Mario games for me. The black sheep, the odd one, the weird kid in class you name it.
Mario and, his friends? Travel to Isle Delfino, for a sweet-sweet vacation. Arriving at the airport, a mysterious slime-like substace blocks the way and who else but Mario needs to clear this mess literally speaking with F.L.U.D.D which is sort of an AI-water pump machine, it basically just shoots water and speaks. This is used to defeat the creature that spawned out of that gloop, a Piranha Plant covered in gloop. After defeating it, we're directly sent to jail by the Isle Delfino police force. Why? A criminal, shockling similar to Mario was causing havoc on the island. With everything to lose on our end, they throw us out to court to prove our innocence minutes after arriving to the island. We can't defend nor escape from Isle Delfino corrupt legal system, with proof as revealing as a drawing of the "criminal". It's not all that bad, instead of serving jail we're forced to clean this whole mess up and caught the criminal in the process. Notice how Bowser was never mentioned at the start? Not even the evil laugh of his like in Super Mario 64. That was really refreshing to see for once, even though I knew he would appear soon enough anyways.
As a sort of sequel to Super Mario 64 it follows more or less the same principles as you may expect. General movement in Sunshine eliminated the kind of cool but at the end of the day useless movements that you could do with mario in 64, only having the essentials to work with now. Probably to give more space to F.L.U.D.D. So, it is no possible to crouch anymore alongside other useful moves that were outright removed. "Humping the Floor" or dive which performed by repeatedly pressing "B" while running will be one of the most advanced techniques in mario's arsenal without F.U.D.D to gain speed while on the floor, and on air if you need a little push. Basic jumps that don't require the use of the crouch button from Super Mario 64/Super Mario Galaxy such as the "Side Summersault" are present, with an all-new adition: "The Spin Jump", one of my favorite moves in the 3D Mario games, is performed by spinning the analog stick in circles and letting mario jump with "A", this will result in him spinning midair covering a lot more vertcal space than the side summerault jump would. Useful at times were the side summersault jump isn't enough to reach a certain platform and the space itself is tight enough to not reach a third jump. It's simple, but wonderfully complex.
But, mario needs to land somewhere and the world needs to respond to his actions. This is where Sunshine starts to crumble, just a little bit. First, mario has a blazing fast acceleration and very little traction on ground which allows reaching top speed almost immediately. This is actually bad in practice if we're talking about a platformer. Just imagine being on the ledge of a platform, but as you are preparing to jump you suddenly slip off the edge it sort of feels like that. Mario reacts to the floor as he was made out of butter, mario can slip on some occations outside the one I already mentioned and more often that not gain super speed out of nowhere during a dive or you accidentaly do a side summersault jump, instead of a simple jump just trying to quickly turn around mario, thus leaving to you covering a lot of vertical space but not much horizontal space and most likely miss what was basically just a regular jump to another platform.
On the other hand, we have the levels themselves. This is when Sunshine show it's real ugly face. Let's get out the positives first, as it has a big one. The levels vary depending on which start you choose, meaning every start is an "Episode" of sorts or a new take on the already stablished level so every "Shine" is it's own story and adventure. It is the difference between a mission, and a objective basically. The more starts we end up getting on a level, the more it will open up for us meaning there are not only new Shines to but more coins to collect. Every level is, as you may imagine is summer themed. It explores every inch of the island, such as ports, villages, parks, etc. Love me a good summer centric game. Sadly I played this on winter while it was raining outside, yikes. It is commited to one thing and one thing only which is this vacation-summer feeling. Alright, down to the negatives. Missions or "Episodes" are plain unbalanced. Some Shines will require much more effort to get than others. No shit captain obvious, I'm mainly refering to Shines within the level itself, each one can radically fluctuate the difficulty depending on which episode you are. Episode 1 can be an easy short introduction to a level, on Episode 2 it can be a cryptic nightmare but by Episode 7 is a matter of sprying Shadow Mario until he stops moving lasting only a matter of seconds. See where I am getting at? It is not consistent at all, it can lead to some surprises but that's it you never know what to expect next which can also be a positive to some. For me it was exciting and terrifying the same, what kind of bullshit will they throw now? Look at the Sirena Beach Episode 3, tell me I'm not the only crazy one here. The chuckster shine can leave a mark, almost broke my cheap chinese gamecube controller with that one. The level designers were in a really bad mood that day.
This was only covering the main stages needed to progress on the story. You'll need to clear 7 Shines out of the 7 main levels there are in total. Levels taking place in Delfino Plaza are not necessary, though if you are going for the 100% it is required to complete every single on of them including the blue coins which I briefly mention earlier. These optional levels are without a doubt one of the hardest I've ever played in a 3D mario game. Yes, they are short, but can be lethal on long sessions. Not exactly hard because they impose a fair challenge, but because they barely work. Namely, and the most outspoken example: The Pachinko. You have to try it for yourself. The rest are merely forgettable. Every level has a determinated amount of blue coins that can be exchange on Delfino Plaza, each 10 blue coins is a star. But this is not important at the end of the day, as I just said it's just optional content.
Didn't quite like Sunshine overall. Solid start off, but then it started to dwindle and throw whatever bullshit was at their hand without much rhyme or reason as it goes on. I did had fun on moments, when the difficulty wasn't brutally punishing or moments were I did felt there was a fair challenge but nevertheless those moments were far and between from all the frustrating designed elements Sunshine deliberately chose to put above everything else which is quite sad. Playing this an adult made me easlly spot most of it's problems my younger self couldn't.
Mario and, his friends? Travel to Isle Delfino, for a sweet-sweet vacation. Arriving at the airport, a mysterious slime-like substace blocks the way and who else but Mario needs to clear this mess literally speaking with F.L.U.D.D which is sort of an AI-water pump machine, it basically just shoots water and speaks. This is used to defeat the creature that spawned out of that gloop, a Piranha Plant covered in gloop. After defeating it, we're directly sent to jail by the Isle Delfino police force. Why? A criminal, shockling similar to Mario was causing havoc on the island. With everything to lose on our end, they throw us out to court to prove our innocence minutes after arriving to the island. We can't defend nor escape from Isle Delfino corrupt legal system, with proof as revealing as a drawing of the "criminal". It's not all that bad, instead of serving jail we're forced to clean this whole mess up and caught the criminal in the process. Notice how Bowser was never mentioned at the start? Not even the evil laugh of his like in Super Mario 64. That was really refreshing to see for once, even though I knew he would appear soon enough anyways.
As a sort of sequel to Super Mario 64 it follows more or less the same principles as you may expect. General movement in Sunshine eliminated the kind of cool but at the end of the day useless movements that you could do with mario in 64, only having the essentials to work with now. Probably to give more space to F.L.U.D.D. So, it is no possible to crouch anymore alongside other useful moves that were outright removed. "Humping the Floor" or dive which performed by repeatedly pressing "B" while running will be one of the most advanced techniques in mario's arsenal without F.U.D.D to gain speed while on the floor, and on air if you need a little push. Basic jumps that don't require the use of the crouch button from Super Mario 64/Super Mario Galaxy such as the "Side Summersault" are present, with an all-new adition: "The Spin Jump", one of my favorite moves in the 3D Mario games, is performed by spinning the analog stick in circles and letting mario jump with "A", this will result in him spinning midair covering a lot more vertcal space than the side summerault jump would. Useful at times were the side summersault jump isn't enough to reach a certain platform and the space itself is tight enough to not reach a third jump. It's simple, but wonderfully complex.
But, mario needs to land somewhere and the world needs to respond to his actions. This is where Sunshine starts to crumble, just a little bit. First, mario has a blazing fast acceleration and very little traction on ground which allows reaching top speed almost immediately. This is actually bad in practice if we're talking about a platformer. Just imagine being on the ledge of a platform, but as you are preparing to jump you suddenly slip off the edge it sort of feels like that. Mario reacts to the floor as he was made out of butter, mario can slip on some occations outside the one I already mentioned and more often that not gain super speed out of nowhere during a dive or you accidentaly do a side summersault jump, instead of a simple jump just trying to quickly turn around mario, thus leaving to you covering a lot of vertical space but not much horizontal space and most likely miss what was basically just a regular jump to another platform.
On the other hand, we have the levels themselves. This is when Sunshine show it's real ugly face. Let's get out the positives first, as it has a big one. The levels vary depending on which start you choose, meaning every start is an "Episode" of sorts or a new take on the already stablished level so every "Shine" is it's own story and adventure. It is the difference between a mission, and a objective basically. The more starts we end up getting on a level, the more it will open up for us meaning there are not only new Shines to but more coins to collect. Every level is, as you may imagine is summer themed. It explores every inch of the island, such as ports, villages, parks, etc. Love me a good summer centric game. Sadly I played this on winter while it was raining outside, yikes. It is commited to one thing and one thing only which is this vacation-summer feeling. Alright, down to the negatives. Missions or "Episodes" are plain unbalanced. Some Shines will require much more effort to get than others. No shit captain obvious, I'm mainly refering to Shines within the level itself, each one can radically fluctuate the difficulty depending on which episode you are. Episode 1 can be an easy short introduction to a level, on Episode 2 it can be a cryptic nightmare but by Episode 7 is a matter of sprying Shadow Mario until he stops moving lasting only a matter of seconds. See where I am getting at? It is not consistent at all, it can lead to some surprises but that's it you never know what to expect next which can also be a positive to some. For me it was exciting and terrifying the same, what kind of bullshit will they throw now? Look at the Sirena Beach Episode 3, tell me I'm not the only crazy one here. The chuckster shine can leave a mark, almost broke my cheap chinese gamecube controller with that one. The level designers were in a really bad mood that day.
This was only covering the main stages needed to progress on the story. You'll need to clear 7 Shines out of the 7 main levels there are in total. Levels taking place in Delfino Plaza are not necessary, though if you are going for the 100% it is required to complete every single on of them including the blue coins which I briefly mention earlier. These optional levels are without a doubt one of the hardest I've ever played in a 3D mario game. Yes, they are short, but can be lethal on long sessions. Not exactly hard because they impose a fair challenge, but because they barely work. Namely, and the most outspoken example: The Pachinko. You have to try it for yourself. The rest are merely forgettable. Every level has a determinated amount of blue coins that can be exchange on Delfino Plaza, each 10 blue coins is a star. But this is not important at the end of the day, as I just said it's just optional content.
Didn't quite like Sunshine overall. Solid start off, but then it started to dwindle and throw whatever bullshit was at their hand without much rhyme or reason as it goes on. I did had fun on moments, when the difficulty wasn't brutally punishing or moments were I did felt there was a fair challenge but nevertheless those moments were far and between from all the frustrating designed elements Sunshine deliberately chose to put above everything else which is quite sad. Playing this an adult made me easlly spot most of it's problems my younger self couldn't.
To Hell and Back
Continuing with my own little study on Grasshopper titles, I would inevitably have to come across Shadows of The Damned one way or another. Check out my review on Killer is Dead for a little more insight into Grasshopper works during for what it seems to be, their darkest era. Creatively speaking, at least.
This is again, another case of the 7th gen taking reings on a production with a widly different approach as pitched by Suda51 himself originally. It was a project called Kurayami which in japanese stands for "darkness". Long story short, Kurayami was quietly canceled somewhere around 2009, before the real production of Shadows of the Damned started to pick up steam. It never came to a full-time production, nor passed the prototype phase. Only some photos covering the artwork and ideas were shared to magazine. The remainings were spread alongside other Suda's projects such as Black Knight Sword, Shadows of the Damned and Kurayami Dance which is a manga written by Suda himself.
The story is fairly simple. Our man Garcia Hotspur enter into the depths of hell to save "his" girlfriend Paula, kidnapped by the demon lord: Flemmin (had to look that up, I totally forgot his name). And...yeah that's pretty much it, it is a long journey through a hell citadel looking oddly similar to an eastern european village infrested by demons. The story doesn't take a big role, unlike in other major Grasshopper titles. Instead, what shines through is the creative map design, puzzles, atmosphere and a somewhat fun combat.
Mikami's output into this game design is palpable. If you ever played Resident Evil 4, you'll feel at home, as it is mostly the same philosophy to make the levels dynamic and not boring at the long run. First, introduce a new mechanic with a simple enough puzzle to solve. Second, make sections more difficult and challenging. The last piece is to interwine it with other previously known mechanics, and going from there add extra twists on top. While the combat isn't anything to write home about, the level design carries this games over and over again with secrets, puzzles and fun monsters to shoot at. This is Shadows of the Damned biggest strength, constantly toying with it's ideas, giving them new purposes most of the time and being able to keep it fresh for a long period of time.
On the other hand, for presentation Akira Yamoka plays the role as the main composer. Credits say "Music by" which makes me believe he was in charge of the whole soundtrack. Somber, comfortably dark and atmospheric as always. Here, this is the main menu song which I quite like honestly. Oh boy, this is presentation we're talking about in a 7th gen console game, made no less in Unreal Engine 3 were everything is shiny and wet, for some reason. Look at this shiny grass from Sonic Unleashed to see what I mean. On PS3 I encountered several technical problems, from the very expected screen tearing, incredible input lag and long loading screens to the outright weird not having collision all through a level since it didn't trigger a cutscene during one of the many instances were it automatically saved but freezed the entire game for 30 seconds or more. It was Grasshopper first time using Unreal Engine at the time, and it definitely shows.
EA's hand were lurking all the way into production with Shadows of the Damned. The scenario as Suda said in one of many interviews was written at least 4 times in total, until EA greenlight the project to go until full production. "We want guns, we want dick jokes, we want this, and that..and that". A common ground with the team given the situation they were in was found at last and the project started sailing smoothly, or at least better than meetings that as Suda described, felt like interrogations. Can you imagine that? I've covered many cases which this has hapenned in the past, EA should've known who they were dealing with in the first place. They didn't knew what they were getting into probably, I don't think they ever wanted to sabotage Suda's project on purpose. That would be a bit dumb, but it's EA we're talking about. The EA that killed Visceral Entertainment, the one that shutdown Pandemic Studios. Now that I think about it, isn't it something similar that it is hapenning right now? In a few years, only some will remember. If this review or site are still up that is.
To Hell and Back as described by The Cambridge Dictionary means: "to live through an extremely unpleasant, difficult, or painful experience". I think that title serves well for what this project development was, ultimately giving it redemption in "Travis Strikes Back". This makes me to believe Suda, after all the hell he went through with EA found a soft spot for Shadows of the Damned and rather than ignoring it as a thing of the past he embraces it as one of a life experience that hopefully will not be replicated. You can learn a thing or two from bad experiences, cases may vary a lot but this example serves as a reminder that you need to kill the past to live in peace with your future. Suda probably had this realisation, and started working on the remaster which hopefully will come out soon. He even delayed some projects to make some space, such as a flower, sun and rain remastered which has been rumoured for a long time.
Continuing with my own little study on Grasshopper titles, I would inevitably have to come across Shadows of The Damned one way or another. Check out my review on Killer is Dead for a little more insight into Grasshopper works during for what it seems to be, their darkest era. Creatively speaking, at least.
This is again, another case of the 7th gen taking reings on a production with a widly different approach as pitched by Suda51 himself originally. It was a project called Kurayami which in japanese stands for "darkness". Long story short, Kurayami was quietly canceled somewhere around 2009, before the real production of Shadows of the Damned started to pick up steam. It never came to a full-time production, nor passed the prototype phase. Only some photos covering the artwork and ideas were shared to magazine. The remainings were spread alongside other Suda's projects such as Black Knight Sword, Shadows of the Damned and Kurayami Dance which is a manga written by Suda himself.
The story is fairly simple. Our man Garcia Hotspur enter into the depths of hell to save "his" girlfriend Paula, kidnapped by the demon lord: Flemmin (had to look that up, I totally forgot his name). And...yeah that's pretty much it, it is a long journey through a hell citadel looking oddly similar to an eastern european village infrested by demons. The story doesn't take a big role, unlike in other major Grasshopper titles. Instead, what shines through is the creative map design, puzzles, atmosphere and a somewhat fun combat.
Mikami's output into this game design is palpable. If you ever played Resident Evil 4, you'll feel at home, as it is mostly the same philosophy to make the levels dynamic and not boring at the long run. First, introduce a new mechanic with a simple enough puzzle to solve. Second, make sections more difficult and challenging. The last piece is to interwine it with other previously known mechanics, and going from there add extra twists on top. While the combat isn't anything to write home about, the level design carries this games over and over again with secrets, puzzles and fun monsters to shoot at. This is Shadows of the Damned biggest strength, constantly toying with it's ideas, giving them new purposes most of the time and being able to keep it fresh for a long period of time.
On the other hand, for presentation Akira Yamoka plays the role as the main composer. Credits say "Music by" which makes me believe he was in charge of the whole soundtrack. Somber, comfortably dark and atmospheric as always. Here, this is the main menu song which I quite like honestly. Oh boy, this is presentation we're talking about in a 7th gen console game, made no less in Unreal Engine 3 were everything is shiny and wet, for some reason. Look at this shiny grass from Sonic Unleashed to see what I mean. On PS3 I encountered several technical problems, from the very expected screen tearing, incredible input lag and long loading screens to the outright weird not having collision all through a level since it didn't trigger a cutscene during one of the many instances were it automatically saved but freezed the entire game for 30 seconds or more. It was Grasshopper first time using Unreal Engine at the time, and it definitely shows.
EA's hand were lurking all the way into production with Shadows of the Damned. The scenario as Suda said in one of many interviews was written at least 4 times in total, until EA greenlight the project to go until full production. "We want guns, we want dick jokes, we want this, and that..and that". A common ground with the team given the situation they were in was found at last and the project started sailing smoothly, or at least better than meetings that as Suda described, felt like interrogations. Can you imagine that? I've covered many cases which this has hapenned in the past, EA should've known who they were dealing with in the first place. They didn't knew what they were getting into probably, I don't think they ever wanted to sabotage Suda's project on purpose. That would be a bit dumb, but it's EA we're talking about. The EA that killed Visceral Entertainment, the one that shutdown Pandemic Studios. Now that I think about it, isn't it something similar that it is hapenning right now? In a few years, only some will remember. If this review or site are still up that is.
To Hell and Back as described by The Cambridge Dictionary means: "to live through an extremely unpleasant, difficult, or painful experience". I think that title serves well for what this project development was, ultimately giving it redemption in "Travis Strikes Back". This makes me to believe Suda, after all the hell he went through with EA found a soft spot for Shadows of the Damned and rather than ignoring it as a thing of the past he embraces it as one of a life experience that hopefully will not be replicated. You can learn a thing or two from bad experiences, cases may vary a lot but this example serves as a reminder that you need to kill the past to live in peace with your future. Suda probably had this realisation, and started working on the remaster which hopefully will come out soon. He even delayed some projects to make some space, such as a flower, sun and rain remastered which has been rumoured for a long time.
2016
Brutal, ridiculously violent and crude beatemup set in a fictional russian civil war in the 80's.
If Double Dragon told you that using drugs is not for winners, Mother Russia Bleeds tells you that winners do drugs, at some point or another. It is what you get, really. An overly violent take on classic beatemups from the 90's like Double Dragon or Streets of Rage with a big emphasis on presentation and variety when it comes to levels. The combat is as simple as it gets but "Nekro" adds a layer of depth to the combat which was a nice addition. Basically Nekro is the drug you can use to either heal or enter Rampage Mode for a short period of time, it's a cool idea that is definitely not used to it's full potential.
It doesn't get much better than that, sadly. It establishes a good setup at the beginning, but runs out of steam as the stages proceed without doing much with the unique concepts they have. At first, I dug the artstyle. It was like if Hotline Miami and King of Fighters had a son, but then it started to shrivel and lost that good impression, that gritty impact I had at first. For a lack of a better word: it starts to get too samey. Same goes for the music, which doesn't hit as much as I wanted to. Sorry Fixions, it's a good score but a tan weak for my personal taste.
Something to point out is the difficulty. You'll be hard press fighting enemies by the final chapter, they come in hordes and are definitely hard to defeat. Co-Op is avaible as expected and some sections are tough if you don't have a partner, AI or not since this game heavly encourages teamwork. So don't plan to go all alone, is not fun. Unless you want some achievements.
That's pretty much it. Mother Russia Bleeds is a good classic violent and hard beatemup with a little twist on top with a decent variety when it comes to levels and characters but it doesn't do much to stand out.
If Double Dragon told you that using drugs is not for winners, Mother Russia Bleeds tells you that winners do drugs, at some point or another. It is what you get, really. An overly violent take on classic beatemups from the 90's like Double Dragon or Streets of Rage with a big emphasis on presentation and variety when it comes to levels. The combat is as simple as it gets but "Nekro" adds a layer of depth to the combat which was a nice addition. Basically Nekro is the drug you can use to either heal or enter Rampage Mode for a short period of time, it's a cool idea that is definitely not used to it's full potential.
It doesn't get much better than that, sadly. It establishes a good setup at the beginning, but runs out of steam as the stages proceed without doing much with the unique concepts they have. At first, I dug the artstyle. It was like if Hotline Miami and King of Fighters had a son, but then it started to shrivel and lost that good impression, that gritty impact I had at first. For a lack of a better word: it starts to get too samey. Same goes for the music, which doesn't hit as much as I wanted to. Sorry Fixions, it's a good score but a tan weak for my personal taste.
Something to point out is the difficulty. You'll be hard press fighting enemies by the final chapter, they come in hordes and are definitely hard to defeat. Co-Op is avaible as expected and some sections are tough if you don't have a partner, AI or not since this game heavly encourages teamwork. So don't plan to go all alone, is not fun. Unless you want some achievements.
That's pretty much it. Mother Russia Bleeds is a good classic violent and hard beatemup with a little twist on top with a decent variety when it comes to levels and characters but it doesn't do much to stand out.
Left to Rot
Team Silent's last effort went into this experimental and odd entry in the Silent Hill franchise. It is not as well remembered as the trilogy itself, at least for what I could read on the internet and asking people online. It is quite sad, but I can totally understand why after finishing it and is not everyone would enjoy, initially. Specially comming from prior entries which follow a set structure regardless of how wildly they might differ thematically. The Room is different.
We awake in an unknown apartment complex, inside what must be our room: 302. After taking a look at the main entrance to the room, we find out the door is completely shut. Someone took a huge amount effort and emphasis on not wanting us to leave the room whatsoever.
"Don't Go Out!!"
-Walter
Peeking into the door's peephole reveals that we are at least not alone, a lone woman wonders outside our door. She can't hear us and our only way to interact with "the outside world" is through pen and paper; notes. After exploring most of what the room has to offer up to that point, we end up staring at a large hole in the bathroom wall. In classic Silent Hill fashion, our protagonist ventures straight into the darkness to another entirely different location where the adventure starts.
The Room as I said before drifts away from the conventional spirit of the series. For instance, it is not even located in Silent Hill to begin with but a town nearby called South Ashfield. The town is full to the brim with people just living an everyday life, that is quite a contrast to the other three games. It makes emphasis in the room itself, not just as a place but as an enigmatic living entity that lives on it's own throughout several small changes we'll be seeing while we progress in the adventure. It feels like being inside of a creature that doesn't exist or rather, we can't comprehend.
But where does the "bad reception" comes from exactly? Tough one. The very nature of this game being an experiment of sorts for Team Silent delivers a layer of complexity above prior titles when it comes to storytelling and structure. It's story is secretly sparse and told in the aforementioned notes, that can be found through the apartment and the worlds themselves as we explore. How the game structures the map is simpler than prior entries, since it's divided into little worlds entirely different from one another. Think of it just as a level or zone. The absense of challenging puzzles (aside from the water prison world puzzle) might have been one of the factors too since they were not challenging at all. It is fractured into little pieces and the room serves as the central hub to take a break from time to time, read through the notes and piece the story together in something that can make sense in your head.
But, I believe there is something definitely lacking in The Room: Emotion. It is known that Silent Hill as a town can manifest people worst thoughts and transform them into reality. What does that have to do with Silent Hill exactly? This isn't about the protagonist we control, Henry. But rather it's the story of Walter Sullivan; an individual with more close ties to the town of Silent Hill, an it's religious cult. The distant nature of Henry is quite peculiar as it is non-intrusive and let's the story flow naturally while exploring a world that is not his with more ease. But it lacks that strange yet beliveable human connection characters previous titles had up to that point. This is were The Room fails to make an impact on me.
The Room is unusual, unsettling and quite interesting knowing this is Team Silent last game. Definitely feels like a side-project, while Silent Hill 3 was recieveng all the manpower and money possible to develop; Silent Hill 4 was a strange experiment that they turned into a full game. For me, it's the scariest Silent Hill game by a long shot. Don't believe me? See the intro for yourself.
Team Silent's last effort went into this experimental and odd entry in the Silent Hill franchise. It is not as well remembered as the trilogy itself, at least for what I could read on the internet and asking people online. It is quite sad, but I can totally understand why after finishing it and is not everyone would enjoy, initially. Specially comming from prior entries which follow a set structure regardless of how wildly they might differ thematically. The Room is different.
We awake in an unknown apartment complex, inside what must be our room: 302. After taking a look at the main entrance to the room, we find out the door is completely shut. Someone took a huge amount effort and emphasis on not wanting us to leave the room whatsoever.
"Don't Go Out!!"
-Walter
Peeking into the door's peephole reveals that we are at least not alone, a lone woman wonders outside our door. She can't hear us and our only way to interact with "the outside world" is through pen and paper; notes. After exploring most of what the room has to offer up to that point, we end up staring at a large hole in the bathroom wall. In classic Silent Hill fashion, our protagonist ventures straight into the darkness to another entirely different location where the adventure starts.
The Room as I said before drifts away from the conventional spirit of the series. For instance, it is not even located in Silent Hill to begin with but a town nearby called South Ashfield. The town is full to the brim with people just living an everyday life, that is quite a contrast to the other three games. It makes emphasis in the room itself, not just as a place but as an enigmatic living entity that lives on it's own throughout several small changes we'll be seeing while we progress in the adventure. It feels like being inside of a creature that doesn't exist or rather, we can't comprehend.
But where does the "bad reception" comes from exactly? Tough one. The very nature of this game being an experiment of sorts for Team Silent delivers a layer of complexity above prior titles when it comes to storytelling and structure. It's story is secretly sparse and told in the aforementioned notes, that can be found through the apartment and the worlds themselves as we explore. How the game structures the map is simpler than prior entries, since it's divided into little worlds entirely different from one another. Think of it just as a level or zone. The absense of challenging puzzles (aside from the water prison world puzzle) might have been one of the factors too since they were not challenging at all. It is fractured into little pieces and the room serves as the central hub to take a break from time to time, read through the notes and piece the story together in something that can make sense in your head.
But, I believe there is something definitely lacking in The Room: Emotion. It is known that Silent Hill as a town can manifest people worst thoughts and transform them into reality. What does that have to do with Silent Hill exactly? This isn't about the protagonist we control, Henry. But rather it's the story of Walter Sullivan; an individual with more close ties to the town of Silent Hill, an it's religious cult. The distant nature of Henry is quite peculiar as it is non-intrusive and let's the story flow naturally while exploring a world that is not his with more ease. But it lacks that strange yet beliveable human connection characters previous titles had up to that point. This is were The Room fails to make an impact on me.
The Room is unusual, unsettling and quite interesting knowing this is Team Silent last game. Definitely feels like a side-project, while Silent Hill 3 was recieveng all the manpower and money possible to develop; Silent Hill 4 was a strange experiment that they turned into a full game. For me, it's the scariest Silent Hill game by a long shot. Don't believe me? See the intro for yourself.
Killer on Debt
Suda51's Killer is Dead was one of the many titles produced during the "Dark Era" of Grasshopper Manufactured as a developer since they're not publishers themselves. The 7th gen on consoles and the craze of action games, no matter the type was an age to learn the in and outs of the market. Say; your Bayonnetas, Devil May Cries, your Metal Gear Revengeances and even No More Heroes, something more close to home. Each one adding their own flair and substance beyond just connecting combos; the story, characters, dialogue, style, music and the overall presentation helps a lot of these titles stand on their own in top of being Hack and Slash games.
What doesn't suit me much with Killer is Dead is the overall package itself. The consistency in a game is key, maintaining a structure that can last is hard. Specially when we're talking about videogames. Killer is Dead greatest sin is that it can't mantain it at all, and when it does is you start to notice that something is missing. This leads me to believe that: Development time was tight and not enough, it was too ambitious and due to a lack of funding a lot of stuff had to be cut or simple inexperience led to a subpart product.
Takes some light inspiration from No More Heroes combat, combined with a simple yet fun upgrade system and killer7 signature cell-shading style and even the word "killer" slapped on the title. The combat is really fun albeit braindead easy and can get really repetitive on longer sections that require you to fight endless hordes of faceless enemies. It emphazises a "counter and strike" playstyle towards the normal enemies and being agressive towards some bosses; either dodge or parry their attacks to squeeze more juice out of the combat. When it comes to style, Killer is Dead is one hell of a looker, we don't see many games if any with the style that originated in killer7 emphasizing the crude and raw colors over the scenery, specially the blacks disguised as overly thick shadows. Killer is Dead has some of that, but it failed to secure a peaceful cohesion with all of the visual flare it has to offer. It is very close but they might have gone overboard with the motion blur and glow in general? While killer7 remained mostly calm and gave you enough time to analyze the scenery in your head without any intrusive post-processing effect while on gameplay. It is distracting in Killer is Dead if we compare it directly to killer7, it unecessarily stains an already clean image and thus ruining some of the merit it might had towards the future at least for me.
This time we the take control of "Mondo Zappa" and no it's not Sumio Mondo's lost cousin or anything just because they share that word. "Mondo" means "World" in Italian and my guess is because both characters travel around the world very often due to their jobs. Zappa works under an agency sustained by taxes, which means they work for the goverment and their main goal is to execute whoever the client at hand is asking. Each chapter is treated as missions or levels which can be selected on a world map alongside sitting with some side-content in top of it alá No More Heroes 2. "Giggolo" as they're called are basically side-missions were we need...to enchant women with gifts? The whole ordeal is unnecessary, used as an excuse to give us new gadgets to make combat/exploration easier. It might be one of the many corporate meddling decisions that Grasshopper wered force to include because it really feels out of place and not something even a teenager would like. Lame.
Back to the story itself. It is known by most people that Suda51 makes games for a specific type of audience, they're not for everybody and that is perfectly okay. The weird and outlandish style can both attract and discourage people to try these games. Most Suda51's work tend to be chaotic on the surface, but subtle on the inside; Killer is Dead is vague and tries to tell it's whole narrative in that style. You see, killer7 worked because it has a fundation to stand on and the details of the story while vague were presented correctly as it had a lot to tell and was complex even for it's time. Killer is Dead narrative is quite simple but burried under layers and layers of vague dialogue and shiny visuals that end up confusing more than answering the questions themselves. That is why Killer is Dead fails for the most part and it is why I feel indifferent towards it.
Killer is Dead is worse that the sum of it's part. On one side it is a good and stylish action game, on the other side the music and the story are quite underwhealing and doesn't do much to shine on it's own so I barely had any reason to go forward outside just wanting to finish it. Play it if you're in the mood but don't feel forced to do so, it's 2$ on most Steam.
Suda51's Killer is Dead was one of the many titles produced during the "Dark Era" of Grasshopper Manufactured as a developer since they're not publishers themselves. The 7th gen on consoles and the craze of action games, no matter the type was an age to learn the in and outs of the market. Say; your Bayonnetas, Devil May Cries, your Metal Gear Revengeances and even No More Heroes, something more close to home. Each one adding their own flair and substance beyond just connecting combos; the story, characters, dialogue, style, music and the overall presentation helps a lot of these titles stand on their own in top of being Hack and Slash games.
What doesn't suit me much with Killer is Dead is the overall package itself. The consistency in a game is key, maintaining a structure that can last is hard. Specially when we're talking about videogames. Killer is Dead greatest sin is that it can't mantain it at all, and when it does is you start to notice that something is missing. This leads me to believe that: Development time was tight and not enough, it was too ambitious and due to a lack of funding a lot of stuff had to be cut or simple inexperience led to a subpart product.
Takes some light inspiration from No More Heroes combat, combined with a simple yet fun upgrade system and killer7 signature cell-shading style and even the word "killer" slapped on the title. The combat is really fun albeit braindead easy and can get really repetitive on longer sections that require you to fight endless hordes of faceless enemies. It emphazises a "counter and strike" playstyle towards the normal enemies and being agressive towards some bosses; either dodge or parry their attacks to squeeze more juice out of the combat. When it comes to style, Killer is Dead is one hell of a looker, we don't see many games if any with the style that originated in killer7 emphasizing the crude and raw colors over the scenery, specially the blacks disguised as overly thick shadows. Killer is Dead has some of that, but it failed to secure a peaceful cohesion with all of the visual flare it has to offer. It is very close but they might have gone overboard with the motion blur and glow in general? While killer7 remained mostly calm and gave you enough time to analyze the scenery in your head without any intrusive post-processing effect while on gameplay. It is distracting in Killer is Dead if we compare it directly to killer7, it unecessarily stains an already clean image and thus ruining some of the merit it might had towards the future at least for me.
This time we the take control of "Mondo Zappa" and no it's not Sumio Mondo's lost cousin or anything just because they share that word. "Mondo" means "World" in Italian and my guess is because both characters travel around the world very often due to their jobs. Zappa works under an agency sustained by taxes, which means they work for the goverment and their main goal is to execute whoever the client at hand is asking. Each chapter is treated as missions or levels which can be selected on a world map alongside sitting with some side-content in top of it alá No More Heroes 2. "Giggolo" as they're called are basically side-missions were we need...to enchant women with gifts? The whole ordeal is unnecessary, used as an excuse to give us new gadgets to make combat/exploration easier. It might be one of the many corporate meddling decisions that Grasshopper wered force to include because it really feels out of place and not something even a teenager would like. Lame.
Back to the story itself. It is known by most people that Suda51 makes games for a specific type of audience, they're not for everybody and that is perfectly okay. The weird and outlandish style can both attract and discourage people to try these games. Most Suda51's work tend to be chaotic on the surface, but subtle on the inside; Killer is Dead is vague and tries to tell it's whole narrative in that style. You see, killer7 worked because it has a fundation to stand on and the details of the story while vague were presented correctly as it had a lot to tell and was complex even for it's time. Killer is Dead narrative is quite simple but burried under layers and layers of vague dialogue and shiny visuals that end up confusing more than answering the questions themselves. That is why Killer is Dead fails for the most part and it is why I feel indifferent towards it.
Killer is Dead is worse that the sum of it's part. On one side it is a good and stylish action game, on the other side the music and the story are quite underwhealing and doesn't do much to shine on it's own so I barely had any reason to go forward outside just wanting to finish it. Play it if you're in the mood but don't feel forced to do so, it's 2$ on most Steam.
Defend your Title
Ashura-Hen is the direct sequel to Kurohyou which I also made a review, you can find it here. I'll cover only some key aspects this game has a sequel. So to avoid any future redundancies, check out my review on Kurohyou.
Ukyo Tatsuya, now as a changed man after the events of the first game ends up fighting his way into the scene and make a name for himself leaving the illegal underground colliseum known as Dragon Heat behind. Now under the control of his agency; it's just a matter of time Tatsuya finally start to find peace and comfort in a little gym located in Kamurocho. But something is missing, who was he fighting for now? This is where Tatsuya finds out Dragon Heat was in deep trouble, the place that made him change, grow and evolve. Ashura-Hen as a sequel could've gone a lot of places narratively speaking. This time, unlike just looking for the next big thing it clings itself to the idea of protecting what made himself change. Same case with Kazuma Kiryu rejecting being the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. To put it simple, Haruka is what Dragon Heat is to Tatsuya; his reason to keep living.
It follows more or less the same gameplay structure as it's prequel. This time the map is not only limited to the same old Kamurocho but Sotenbori makes a return after being absent since it's debut in Yakuza 2, back in 2006. You won't find many surprises, as the cities are nothing but 2D background to save on processing power of the already aged PSP. So, walking around the cities is still a drag and can get boring fast. On the other hand the actual combat saw some changes and now is more centered around co-op fights rather than tackle it alone at least during street fights. Enemies wll come in hordes and they make most Yakuza thugs pale in comparasion. They're tough nuts to crack, specially on Hard Mode and the best strategy down the line is to call whoever you had recruited before. So partnerts are no longer tied to story events and that's a plus, but the game is made with that very system in mind. It counteracts a problem, giving you a little more leverage than normal, make sure to come prepared before each fight. Lowering the difficulty would be a good idea in case street fight get the best of you, don't be ashamed to lower it to Easy.
What really does sell this game isn't the story of Dragon Heat or Tatsuya itself. But it is the main villain that is well on pair with the likes of Yakuza 3 and even Lost Judgment. Is a tale as old as time; a story of revenge with a common enemy, approached differently between both the hero and the villain. The rest of the story up to that point doesn't feel that important oddly enough, but the fights on Millenium Tower always deliver no matter the game we're in.
The story might be one of the weakest aspects of this game. It plays safe as it's not as involved as the first one. Goes all over the place with moments you won't care about much for at times, as they don't add anything substantial to the main plot. Even side character stories get in the way mid-adventure, can you believe that? It doesn't feel natural. The main plot surrounding the Ashura is fine, but the overall pace gets dragged by side-character arc nonsense.
Recommended for any hardcore Yakuza fan looking for something familiar, with a refreshing intense combat. If you liked the first, there is no reason to not play this one.
Ashura-Hen is the direct sequel to Kurohyou which I also made a review, you can find it here. I'll cover only some key aspects this game has a sequel. So to avoid any future redundancies, check out my review on Kurohyou.
Ukyo Tatsuya, now as a changed man after the events of the first game ends up fighting his way into the scene and make a name for himself leaving the illegal underground colliseum known as Dragon Heat behind. Now under the control of his agency; it's just a matter of time Tatsuya finally start to find peace and comfort in a little gym located in Kamurocho. But something is missing, who was he fighting for now? This is where Tatsuya finds out Dragon Heat was in deep trouble, the place that made him change, grow and evolve. Ashura-Hen as a sequel could've gone a lot of places narratively speaking. This time, unlike just looking for the next big thing it clings itself to the idea of protecting what made himself change. Same case with Kazuma Kiryu rejecting being the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. To put it simple, Haruka is what Dragon Heat is to Tatsuya; his reason to keep living.
It follows more or less the same gameplay structure as it's prequel. This time the map is not only limited to the same old Kamurocho but Sotenbori makes a return after being absent since it's debut in Yakuza 2, back in 2006. You won't find many surprises, as the cities are nothing but 2D background to save on processing power of the already aged PSP. So, walking around the cities is still a drag and can get boring fast. On the other hand the actual combat saw some changes and now is more centered around co-op fights rather than tackle it alone at least during street fights. Enemies wll come in hordes and they make most Yakuza thugs pale in comparasion. They're tough nuts to crack, specially on Hard Mode and the best strategy down the line is to call whoever you had recruited before. So partnerts are no longer tied to story events and that's a plus, but the game is made with that very system in mind. It counteracts a problem, giving you a little more leverage than normal, make sure to come prepared before each fight. Lowering the difficulty would be a good idea in case street fight get the best of you, don't be ashamed to lower it to Easy.
What really does sell this game isn't the story of Dragon Heat or Tatsuya itself. But it is the main villain that is well on pair with the likes of Yakuza 3 and even Lost Judgment. Is a tale as old as time; a story of revenge with a common enemy, approached differently between both the hero and the villain. The rest of the story up to that point doesn't feel that important oddly enough, but the fights on Millenium Tower always deliver no matter the game we're in.
The story might be one of the weakest aspects of this game. It plays safe as it's not as involved as the first one. Goes all over the place with moments you won't care about much for at times, as they don't add anything substantial to the main plot. Even side character stories get in the way mid-adventure, can you believe that? It doesn't feel natural. The main plot surrounding the Ashura is fine, but the overall pace gets dragged by side-character arc nonsense.
Recommended for any hardcore Yakuza fan looking for something familiar, with a refreshing intense combat. If you liked the first, there is no reason to not play this one.
The Painful journey to Oblivion
Lisa: The Painful is the sequel to Lisa: The First which I also made a review, you can find it here if interested.
Let me start with a question: Is it painful to enjoy something that hurts? In Lisa, what doesn't hurt you makes you stronger and what does hurt you drags you deep into the abyss. It's a paradoxical pleasure between finding the right spot of comfort and experience. Not deliberately hurtful at least to us, nor "enjoyable" for someone that doesn't just get it. It's the same feeling as watching a sad movie, why would you ever want to cry all by yourself? It makes us think beyond what we're used to, get us outside our comfort zone for a while and experience a tale that can sit with us or leave as it came.
The Painful tell us the story of Brad Armstrong, a lone drug addict dealing with his troublesome past that suddenly finds the cure under the apocalypse: A girl in a world without women. Brad sees this girl not as a way to re-populate the world, but as a opportunity to protect her from the cruel world outside the comfort of home. During Brad's many blackouts due to his drug addiction, finds out his girl was gone. With nothing to lose, Brad sets up on an adventure to save his "child" which he called: Buddy. One of The Painful many strenghts is the setting or the place where these events occur: Olathe. A rural town, well not anymore since it has become a desolated desert in the middle of nowhwere, ruled by anarchy and the survival of the fittest. Little to no civilizated people exist, and the ones that do are under a group meant to survive among themselves. It's common for any apocalypse setting to enphatize on the sense of survival, a basic instinct among humans and animals but with The Painful there is a catch: It's a land were women doesn't exist, thus dooming humanity to extinction. A treat that doesn't differentiate from good nor evil. But it can be cured, this is where Buddy comes into play.
During Brad's journey he'll encounter a colorful cast of characters that will either help him, for self-fullfiling purposes or lunatics which will attack at sight. Most RPGs tend to rely on mythical or unexplainable creatures; your gods, your slimes, your demons, your monsters, etc. But The Painful keeps itself grounded and personal when it needs to, doesn't it? I'm lying! Fish Lawyer, Furry Artist, Bear-Man, Tiger-Man, Duck-Man and Queen (Man) can all be in your party. You get the idea. The Painful doesn't take itself serious all the time, as it finds the right moment to have jokes and moments were it knows it can't get playful with you. All characters have something meaningful to say, specially with the Definitive Edition which expands on this aspect in particular. Now it's not just about the journey itself, it's also about the little moments you share with your party; see them grow and fight alongside you but keep it mind these are total strangers that you've never met before. Everything culminates in a wacky, varied yet believable cast of characters that I personally grew up to love even if Brad can only exchange a conversation or two with each of them.
Compared this to The First, The Painful includes a new combat system which let's you slay everyone in your way with your fists. It follows the typical JRPG combat system; Stats, characters and attacks. The Painful adds an interesting system of combos only made for Brad which unlike the main attack, they deal extra damage. For example: "A, B, B" is the command where you throw a fireball, but if you feel confident it is possible to extend it as I said before to: "X, X, A, B, B" or "Y, A, A, B, B" always respecting the right command to the activate set attack. It's not as deep as I thought it would be at the start but extra damage is extra damage; the classic risk/reward balance. Outside combat, the exploration is set in a 2D plane all the time, unlike most top-down RPGs. This sets right for The Painful in particular, as the map is as linear as it gets with some secrets in between. That isn't bad per-se, not at all as verticality also help the maps feel bigger in a sort of weird match between a limited in movement platformer and a RPG. With Lisa there's always a catch, the little devil in the details is that mix between platformer and RPG is both a blessing and a curse, why? It is possible to die if you are not careful, from falling in a bottomless pit. Instant "Game Over", goodbye 1 hour and a half of process. Pain Mode it's the so-called "hard mode" in The Painful but it is not hard, is terrifying. It will only let you save once per "Save Point". So be extra careful while exploring Olathe if you chose Pain Mode. In case you skipped the text box to which warns you about Pain Mode, don't worry as save points are unlimited so you can save as much as you want. I started with Pain Mode, and even if the game is fairly short, some stupid deaths made me question if going forward without a guide was a good idea.
Pain comes in many forms, so does the decisions you'd have to make moving forward. You don't win, and at some point you'll lose someone or something you value precious beyond battle. It is as easy as letting it go, but hard as is to accepting that it is no longer with you. That is Pain. One of The Painful most devastating features is that your never feel safe. From anything, fron anyone. Everything here is meant to hurt you one way or another, because Brad isn't the chosen one in this story he is but a mere puppet driven by his mere instincts. Don't expect a hero which wants to save the world, he's just human hopelessly needing something to cling on. He's not instrinsically evil either, as it is easy to empathize with him.
The Painful for me is interesting to analyze from an outsider perspective, as someone that never played the original on PC back when it come out. So my feelings are quite fresh, and as a game as old as 2014 it holds up incredibly well to this day. It is a must for any RPG fan looking for something different. You like Fallout? Here. Earthbound? It might interest you. Omori? Absolutely.
Lisa: The Painful is the sequel to Lisa: The First which I also made a review, you can find it here if interested.
Let me start with a question: Is it painful to enjoy something that hurts? In Lisa, what doesn't hurt you makes you stronger and what does hurt you drags you deep into the abyss. It's a paradoxical pleasure between finding the right spot of comfort and experience. Not deliberately hurtful at least to us, nor "enjoyable" for someone that doesn't just get it. It's the same feeling as watching a sad movie, why would you ever want to cry all by yourself? It makes us think beyond what we're used to, get us outside our comfort zone for a while and experience a tale that can sit with us or leave as it came.
The Painful tell us the story of Brad Armstrong, a lone drug addict dealing with his troublesome past that suddenly finds the cure under the apocalypse: A girl in a world without women. Brad sees this girl not as a way to re-populate the world, but as a opportunity to protect her from the cruel world outside the comfort of home. During Brad's many blackouts due to his drug addiction, finds out his girl was gone. With nothing to lose, Brad sets up on an adventure to save his "child" which he called: Buddy. One of The Painful many strenghts is the setting or the place where these events occur: Olathe. A rural town, well not anymore since it has become a desolated desert in the middle of nowhwere, ruled by anarchy and the survival of the fittest. Little to no civilizated people exist, and the ones that do are under a group meant to survive among themselves. It's common for any apocalypse setting to enphatize on the sense of survival, a basic instinct among humans and animals but with The Painful there is a catch: It's a land were women doesn't exist, thus dooming humanity to extinction. A treat that doesn't differentiate from good nor evil. But it can be cured, this is where Buddy comes into play.
During Brad's journey he'll encounter a colorful cast of characters that will either help him, for self-fullfiling purposes or lunatics which will attack at sight. Most RPGs tend to rely on mythical or unexplainable creatures; your gods, your slimes, your demons, your monsters, etc. But The Painful keeps itself grounded and personal when it needs to, doesn't it? I'm lying! Fish Lawyer, Furry Artist, Bear-Man, Tiger-Man, Duck-Man and Queen (Man) can all be in your party. You get the idea. The Painful doesn't take itself serious all the time, as it finds the right moment to have jokes and moments were it knows it can't get playful with you. All characters have something meaningful to say, specially with the Definitive Edition which expands on this aspect in particular. Now it's not just about the journey itself, it's also about the little moments you share with your party; see them grow and fight alongside you but keep it mind these are total strangers that you've never met before. Everything culminates in a wacky, varied yet believable cast of characters that I personally grew up to love even if Brad can only exchange a conversation or two with each of them.
Compared this to The First, The Painful includes a new combat system which let's you slay everyone in your way with your fists. It follows the typical JRPG combat system; Stats, characters and attacks. The Painful adds an interesting system of combos only made for Brad which unlike the main attack, they deal extra damage. For example: "A, B, B" is the command where you throw a fireball, but if you feel confident it is possible to extend it as I said before to: "X, X, A, B, B" or "Y, A, A, B, B" always respecting the right command to the activate set attack. It's not as deep as I thought it would be at the start but extra damage is extra damage; the classic risk/reward balance. Outside combat, the exploration is set in a 2D plane all the time, unlike most top-down RPGs. This sets right for The Painful in particular, as the map is as linear as it gets with some secrets in between. That isn't bad per-se, not at all as verticality also help the maps feel bigger in a sort of weird match between a limited in movement platformer and a RPG. With Lisa there's always a catch, the little devil in the details is that mix between platformer and RPG is both a blessing and a curse, why? It is possible to die if you are not careful, from falling in a bottomless pit. Instant "Game Over", goodbye 1 hour and a half of process. Pain Mode it's the so-called "hard mode" in The Painful but it is not hard, is terrifying. It will only let you save once per "Save Point". So be extra careful while exploring Olathe if you chose Pain Mode. In case you skipped the text box to which warns you about Pain Mode, don't worry as save points are unlimited so you can save as much as you want. I started with Pain Mode, and even if the game is fairly short, some stupid deaths made me question if going forward without a guide was a good idea.
Pain comes in many forms, so does the decisions you'd have to make moving forward. You don't win, and at some point you'll lose someone or something you value precious beyond battle. It is as easy as letting it go, but hard as is to accepting that it is no longer with you. That is Pain. One of The Painful most devastating features is that your never feel safe. From anything, fron anyone. Everything here is meant to hurt you one way or another, because Brad isn't the chosen one in this story he is but a mere puppet driven by his mere instincts. Don't expect a hero which wants to save the world, he's just human hopelessly needing something to cling on. He's not instrinsically evil either, as it is easy to empathize with him.
The Painful for me is interesting to analyze from an outsider perspective, as someone that never played the original on PC back when it come out. So my feelings are quite fresh, and as a game as old as 2014 it holds up incredibly well to this day. It is a must for any RPG fan looking for something different. You like Fallout? Here. Earthbound? It might interest you. Omori? Absolutely.
2012
"The First" as in the first that triggered the whole Lisa series as we know it now.
Definitely a tricky title to talk about and I can't really blame on the developer since it was probably one of his first serious works. The message and the intention is the definitely there, and would ultimately carry a great importance to understand the story as a whole.
It tackles the subject of abuse from the perspective of a little girl called Lisa. It's all presented in an abstract, yet perfectly readable manner. In this kind of stories being subtle is key, as in not treating the players like people that can't understand an indirect approach to story-telling without going to the lengths of being cryptic. Or even worse, not being pretentious is important too. The First walks a thin line between being subtle and blunt, but ultimately all put together with a nice balance between the two striking, a clear contrast between what Lisa wanted to really do in dreams and her constant nightmare.
On the game-y side of things, it doesn't hold as good as The Painful or The Joyful. It's an old RPG Maker 2003 game, they were really popular during Yume Nikki's craze, and games that came soon after as a effective resource to tell stories for amateur game developers, mostly based on their artstic deeds rather than the ones that come from pure raw mechanical ingenuity. The First ain't much different as it just walking and avoiding obstacles on your way to the end, collecting different objects that will unlock new paths to follow. If you're thinking it's just Yume Nikki in disguise, it is inspired by the latter. Some sections, specifically with the Marty spiders are specially evil as it is the only part were it will put your skills to the absolute limits. A huge unnecessary difficulty spike from a gameplay and enjoyment standpoint, that might or not tell us more about Lisa's story in hindsight. Why spiders in particular? They can act fast, are lethal once they put one of their big creepy legs on you leading to a potential poison and leaving a big scar that won't dissapear in a short period of time. And is even worse knowing the spiders have the signature image of Marty's face. In The Painful, we can also envounter this very enemy scattered around in various parts of Olathe but we can be fight him as Brad directly, that very minor detail can give us a small glimpse of what was the overall relationship in the Armstrong family and why Brad isn't here.
Only recommended in case you want to get into the Lisa series and not much as a title of it's own. In The Painful, as soon as we boot it we can see Lisa's outcome out of this neverending nightmare. Watch it on Youtube if the spiders bother you too much, could've rated 1/2 stars higher without them.
Definitely a tricky title to talk about and I can't really blame on the developer since it was probably one of his first serious works. The message and the intention is the definitely there, and would ultimately carry a great importance to understand the story as a whole.
It tackles the subject of abuse from the perspective of a little girl called Lisa. It's all presented in an abstract, yet perfectly readable manner. In this kind of stories being subtle is key, as in not treating the players like people that can't understand an indirect approach to story-telling without going to the lengths of being cryptic. Or even worse, not being pretentious is important too. The First walks a thin line between being subtle and blunt, but ultimately all put together with a nice balance between the two striking, a clear contrast between what Lisa wanted to really do in dreams and her constant nightmare.
On the game-y side of things, it doesn't hold as good as The Painful or The Joyful. It's an old RPG Maker 2003 game, they were really popular during Yume Nikki's craze, and games that came soon after as a effective resource to tell stories for amateur game developers, mostly based on their artstic deeds rather than the ones that come from pure raw mechanical ingenuity. The First ain't much different as it just walking and avoiding obstacles on your way to the end, collecting different objects that will unlock new paths to follow. If you're thinking it's just Yume Nikki in disguise, it is inspired by the latter. Some sections, specifically with the Marty spiders are specially evil as it is the only part were it will put your skills to the absolute limits. A huge unnecessary difficulty spike from a gameplay and enjoyment standpoint, that might or not tell us more about Lisa's story in hindsight. Why spiders in particular? They can act fast, are lethal once they put one of their big creepy legs on you leading to a potential poison and leaving a big scar that won't dissapear in a short period of time. And is even worse knowing the spiders have the signature image of Marty's face. In The Painful, we can also envounter this very enemy scattered around in various parts of Olathe but we can be fight him as Brad directly, that very minor detail can give us a small glimpse of what was the overall relationship in the Armstrong family and why Brad isn't here.
Only recommended in case you want to get into the Lisa series and not much as a title of it's own. In The Painful, as soon as we boot it we can see Lisa's outcome out of this neverending nightmare. Watch it on Youtube if the spiders bother you too much, could've rated 1/2 stars higher without them.
2019
Ever wanted to relive the old Newgrounds era of bizarre videos and surreal humour? Air Marty is a WarioWare inspired game mixed with Lisa's humour and the homemade yet somewhat charming artstyle of old Newgrounds.
That is basically it. Main focus is getting to know all the endings which are a lot. While short, it has a lot to offer when it comes different artstyle/humour and the bizarre situations Marty gets in. And it's no surprise the humour and even some characters desings get inspired by Lisa, it was developed by Myles Jorgensen; and helped by no less than his brother which is the one that gave birth to Lisa The Painful in the first place: Austin Jorgensen. Funny coincidence.
Humour is a hit or miss most of the time, at least for me. Some jokes landed, some fall flat. But if random wacky humour is your thing, give it a try. For 1$ or 2$ is a good time waster.
That is basically it. Main focus is getting to know all the endings which are a lot. While short, it has a lot to offer when it comes different artstyle/humour and the bizarre situations Marty gets in. And it's no surprise the humour and even some characters desings get inspired by Lisa, it was developed by Myles Jorgensen; and helped by no less than his brother which is the one that gave birth to Lisa The Painful in the first place: Austin Jorgensen. Funny coincidence.
Humour is a hit or miss most of the time, at least for me. Some jokes landed, some fall flat. But if random wacky humour is your thing, give it a try. For 1$ or 2$ is a good time waster.