Nepiki
2017
Positives:
- Surprisingly excellent monster designs.
- Plot is quite interesting.
Negatives:
- Annoying to collect every single monster because of bad in-game tools. Had to constantly criss-cross between excel and guides to find every single Nexomon.
- Status effects are really overpowered to the point they remove any challenge.
- Every Nexomon's experience curve is the exact same, and there are only 7 types, resulting in a slightly too simplistic combat system.
-------------------------------------------
''It's tough to talk about this game without addressing the elephant in the room: it is a clone of the popular media franchise Pokémon. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. But because of that, there are also some expectations begging to be met. Nexomon ends up meeting some... and not even coming close to others.
What it does meet is that I really enjoyed most of the monster designs in this game. Often I had a genuinely tough time sticking to just six Nexomon for my team just because I came across others that I also wanted to use. A subjective opinion, but I can say that I liked this set of monster designs more than what we've seen from the inspiration for a long time. Shout-out to my Robin Hood bird--it was just too bad that your stats were so underwhelming. Another positive that I wanted to mention is the story, which won't blow your mind at all but I thought it was an interesting take on how the Nexomon ended up in this world. Lots of 4th-wall-breaks too which I'm not a fan of but whatever, it's not that impactful.
But then we get to the gameplay, and here is where Nexomon succeeds at the very bare minimum. For example, I do like that instead of there being a limited usage to moves, there is a general stamina meter for all moves, and they can also be switched at any time for a maximum of 4 at once. There's no HM moves to worry about, and moving around the world is generally pretty quick. And that's unfortunately where most of my compliments end. The Nexomon all share the exact same experience curve and a mostly similar moveset, so the only thing that truly distinguishes them from each other are the stats. With there only being 7 types, it was also far less strategic as a result. What I also didn't always like was how a new enemy Nexomon got sent out and it attacks immediately, and switching your own Nexomon also causes them to attack instantly. This wouldn't be a problem, if all damage moves didn't inflict a huge amount of damage. But then again, status effects are so completely broken so you can just use that instead. It genuinely made supposedly tough or even unwinnable battles a complete joke.
But the absolute worst aspect was that there were no good in-game tools to learn what Nexomon's habitat was in what place of the world. I constantly had to criss-cross between an excel sheet to find the best locations, and it made completion a massive chore. But even ignoring that, if I saw a trainer use a Nexomon I liked, I just had no idea where I could get it. And that's just unacceptable for a monster collecting RPG, I'm sorry. I can look past most of the other issues but this one is just unforgivable. Also, no PvP or any other post-game content beyond the post-game story makes it kinda pointless to train and collect all these Nexomon.''
- Surprisingly excellent monster designs.
- Plot is quite interesting.
Negatives:
- Annoying to collect every single monster because of bad in-game tools. Had to constantly criss-cross between excel and guides to find every single Nexomon.
- Status effects are really overpowered to the point they remove any challenge.
- Every Nexomon's experience curve is the exact same, and there are only 7 types, resulting in a slightly too simplistic combat system.
-------------------------------------------
''It's tough to talk about this game without addressing the elephant in the room: it is a clone of the popular media franchise Pokémon. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. But because of that, there are also some expectations begging to be met. Nexomon ends up meeting some... and not even coming close to others.
What it does meet is that I really enjoyed most of the monster designs in this game. Often I had a genuinely tough time sticking to just six Nexomon for my team just because I came across others that I also wanted to use. A subjective opinion, but I can say that I liked this set of monster designs more than what we've seen from the inspiration for a long time. Shout-out to my Robin Hood bird--it was just too bad that your stats were so underwhelming. Another positive that I wanted to mention is the story, which won't blow your mind at all but I thought it was an interesting take on how the Nexomon ended up in this world. Lots of 4th-wall-breaks too which I'm not a fan of but whatever, it's not that impactful.
But then we get to the gameplay, and here is where Nexomon succeeds at the very bare minimum. For example, I do like that instead of there being a limited usage to moves, there is a general stamina meter for all moves, and they can also be switched at any time for a maximum of 4 at once. There's no HM moves to worry about, and moving around the world is generally pretty quick. And that's unfortunately where most of my compliments end. The Nexomon all share the exact same experience curve and a mostly similar moveset, so the only thing that truly distinguishes them from each other are the stats. With there only being 7 types, it was also far less strategic as a result. What I also didn't always like was how a new enemy Nexomon got sent out and it attacks immediately, and switching your own Nexomon also causes them to attack instantly. This wouldn't be a problem, if all damage moves didn't inflict a huge amount of damage. But then again, status effects are so completely broken so you can just use that instead. It genuinely made supposedly tough or even unwinnable battles a complete joke.
But the absolute worst aspect was that there were no good in-game tools to learn what Nexomon's habitat was in what place of the world. I constantly had to criss-cross between an excel sheet to find the best locations, and it made completion a massive chore. But even ignoring that, if I saw a trainer use a Nexomon I liked, I just had no idea where I could get it. And that's just unacceptable for a monster collecting RPG, I'm sorry. I can look past most of the other issues but this one is just unforgivable. Also, no PvP or any other post-game content beyond the post-game story makes it kinda pointless to train and collect all these Nexomon.''
Positives:
- Very characteristic, embracing the luchador culture and mythologies originating from South-America very well.
- Higher emphasis on combat, which makes stringing combos together a joy.
Negatives:
- 100% in-game completion is locked behind perfect scores on optional challenges. Nothing against challenging content, but it should not have affected in-game completion.
- Pretty linear for the most part.
- Very characteristic, embracing the luchador culture and mythologies originating from South-America very well.
- Higher emphasis on combat, which makes stringing combos together a joy.
Negatives:
- 100% in-game completion is locked behind perfect scores on optional challenges. Nothing against challenging content, but it should not have affected in-game completion.
- Pretty linear for the most part.
Positives:
- The tracks are fun to race on.
- Controls well.
- Despite me not liking the look of the karts, there is a good amount of customization.
Negatives:
- Campaign is inconsistent in pacing with cup length.
- Big item pool with too many items that lacked impact or that overlapped with each other.
- Online is dead. Not the game's fault, but it does remove one core aspect of replayability.
-----------------------------------
All-Star Fruit Racing has a pretty clever mechanic of combing fruits like a juicer for specific power-ups. 1 colour of fruit is specialized in one department like boosting- or attacking, and combining them with each other will also combine the effects. In theory this sounds really fun! ...But a lot of power-ups tend to either be insignificant or overlap with each other. There are a lot of power-ups that just home in on the person in front of you, so I didn't even use the majority since I felt it was pointless. What makes this even worse is that every racer has a unique all-star move, but they too overlap with regular power-ups--specifically the ones that home in on enemies. And this is probably just me, but I also felt they didn't really make much of an impact. It is a shame because it definitely is the main selling point of the game, and it wasn't as good as I hoped it to be.
But aside from that, it was actually a pretty fun kart racer! The tracks all look and play fun, all being very colourful and different from each other. While it took me some time, the drifting eventually clicked with me and was a major aspect of getting the fastest times in the Time Trial mode, since it functions almost identical to snaking in Mario Kart DS specifically. Time Trial mode was also where I spent most of my time and where I had most of my enjoyment. I would love to say that the career mode entertained me as much too, but it sometimes has pacing issues where a cup would be around 6 different courses or have a specific long course take 5 laps. Racing on a single course for 9 minutes while in a cup simply isn't fun. All of this took me around 6 hours, and that was unfortunately also when I was mostly done with the game. I hate to be this person, but online multiplayer... unless you have friends, it simply won't happen in the current day and age. And that's definitely something to take into consideration when thinking about buying this game, since the enjoyment gained out of the main game is entirely based on what you desire from a game like this.
- The tracks are fun to race on.
- Controls well.
- Despite me not liking the look of the karts, there is a good amount of customization.
Negatives:
- Campaign is inconsistent in pacing with cup length.
- Big item pool with too many items that lacked impact or that overlapped with each other.
- Online is dead. Not the game's fault, but it does remove one core aspect of replayability.
-----------------------------------
All-Star Fruit Racing has a pretty clever mechanic of combing fruits like a juicer for specific power-ups. 1 colour of fruit is specialized in one department like boosting- or attacking, and combining them with each other will also combine the effects. In theory this sounds really fun! ...But a lot of power-ups tend to either be insignificant or overlap with each other. There are a lot of power-ups that just home in on the person in front of you, so I didn't even use the majority since I felt it was pointless. What makes this even worse is that every racer has a unique all-star move, but they too overlap with regular power-ups--specifically the ones that home in on enemies. And this is probably just me, but I also felt they didn't really make much of an impact. It is a shame because it definitely is the main selling point of the game, and it wasn't as good as I hoped it to be.
But aside from that, it was actually a pretty fun kart racer! The tracks all look and play fun, all being very colourful and different from each other. While it took me some time, the drifting eventually clicked with me and was a major aspect of getting the fastest times in the Time Trial mode, since it functions almost identical to snaking in Mario Kart DS specifically. Time Trial mode was also where I spent most of my time and where I had most of my enjoyment. I would love to say that the career mode entertained me as much too, but it sometimes has pacing issues where a cup would be around 6 different courses or have a specific long course take 5 laps. Racing on a single course for 9 minutes while in a cup simply isn't fun. All of this took me around 6 hours, and that was unfortunately also when I was mostly done with the game. I hate to be this person, but online multiplayer... unless you have friends, it simply won't happen in the current day and age. And that's definitely something to take into consideration when thinking about buying this game, since the enjoyment gained out of the main game is entirely based on what you desire from a game like this.
2001
Positives:
- Manages to bring the spirit of Spyro over to the Game Boy Advance very well.
- Good presentation when it comes to the music and graphics.
- Spyro himself controls good, as indicated by his playstyle barely changing throughout the next games.
Negatives:
- The isometric perspective and clashing background colours of some levels causes severe depth perception issues.
- Generic level goals that are part of every level, only very rarely changing up.
- No memorable set pieces to levels which makes getting lost a very common occurence.
-----------------------------------
''Spyro the Dragon was a massive hit on the PlayStation 1, having a total of three beloved games on the system. The franchise, although commonly associated with Sony, was never first-party, which meant that there was no problem bringing it to other systems. Many studios back in the day also saw potential by transitioning their franchises to a handheld system, as it was a completely different market full of potential new fans. In comes Spyro the Dragon, having a total of 6 games on the Game Boy Advance alone. Though out of those 6 games, the most known ones are the... Advance Trilogy? Seasons Trilogy? The trilogy never got an official name, but are canonically seen as an alternate ending to the first three games on PlayStation 1. The one I'm talking about today, Spyro: Season of Ice, is the first game in this trilogy.
Of course, the Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit platform, so full 3D was never really considered as an option aside from specific cases like racing games. To keep in the spirit of Spyro, the logical decision was made to transform it into an isometric platformer. It's perhaps not everyone's favourite perspective when it comes to platforming, and Season of Ice is arguably a good game to list as an example why people don't like it. As much as I have fond memories of the game, I can't deny that there are multiple levels that have terrible clashing backgrounds while the stage itself is random floating platforms, occasionally at different heights which is something that is very hard to make out; Hummingbird Ford and Twilight Bulb Factory are prime examples of this. Furthermore, jumps of faith are also often part of the levels, some where even the moving camera can't help out. And it really is a shame because it makes some levels unnecessarily hard. And these unfortunately aren't the only issues with these levels, as there are only a small handful of levels that have interesting set pieces in them for easier navigation. I got lost way too often because the levels didn't have memorable locations to indicate if I've already been there or not.
But to not sound too negative, there are enough other levels that don't deal with either the perspective issue or the memorability issue, like Market Mesa and Panda Gardens which are both two of my more favoured levels from this game. Also because both of them are slightly more original when it comes to level design philosophy as it has a few more original missions. The levels overall feel like a mix of the first two Spyro games on PS1, taking the goods of the second game by having a more characteristic feel to them because of the residents, but the bads from the first game by most levels also feeling a bit more on the generic side; find crystals, kill every enemy, and hit various things scattered through the level without dying, rinse and repeat. Placing a lot of emphasis on that last point by the way because god, that was so annoying with how easy it is to die and some levels being so confusing. And that's ultimately what it comes down to: the level design is decent overall, but hard to remember due to no set pieces and generic level goals. Let's put it on a 25% pretty good to 75% just decent scale, and the end result isn't looking that good.
Buuuuut it is still a Spyro games from the golden age, and it controls well overall. Given that it's one of my favourite platforming series ever, being ''just decent for Spyro quality'' means it is still a game I personally really enjoyed despite its shortcomings. And hey, it did try some original stuff as well, like converting speedways to a Space Harrier-like gameplay (which I personally actually really enjoyed), and Sparx is also back with his top-down shooter segments from Spyro: Year of the Dragon--not as fun, but still decent overall. And all in all, the game just really suffers from that ''first-game syndrome'' which, spoiler alert, the next two games will fix in one way or another. But that is something we will be finding out next time!''
- Manages to bring the spirit of Spyro over to the Game Boy Advance very well.
- Good presentation when it comes to the music and graphics.
- Spyro himself controls good, as indicated by his playstyle barely changing throughout the next games.
Negatives:
- The isometric perspective and clashing background colours of some levels causes severe depth perception issues.
- Generic level goals that are part of every level, only very rarely changing up.
- No memorable set pieces to levels which makes getting lost a very common occurence.
-----------------------------------
''Spyro the Dragon was a massive hit on the PlayStation 1, having a total of three beloved games on the system. The franchise, although commonly associated with Sony, was never first-party, which meant that there was no problem bringing it to other systems. Many studios back in the day also saw potential by transitioning their franchises to a handheld system, as it was a completely different market full of potential new fans. In comes Spyro the Dragon, having a total of 6 games on the Game Boy Advance alone. Though out of those 6 games, the most known ones are the... Advance Trilogy? Seasons Trilogy? The trilogy never got an official name, but are canonically seen as an alternate ending to the first three games on PlayStation 1. The one I'm talking about today, Spyro: Season of Ice, is the first game in this trilogy.
Of course, the Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit platform, so full 3D was never really considered as an option aside from specific cases like racing games. To keep in the spirit of Spyro, the logical decision was made to transform it into an isometric platformer. It's perhaps not everyone's favourite perspective when it comes to platforming, and Season of Ice is arguably a good game to list as an example why people don't like it. As much as I have fond memories of the game, I can't deny that there are multiple levels that have terrible clashing backgrounds while the stage itself is random floating platforms, occasionally at different heights which is something that is very hard to make out; Hummingbird Ford and Twilight Bulb Factory are prime examples of this. Furthermore, jumps of faith are also often part of the levels, some where even the moving camera can't help out. And it really is a shame because it makes some levels unnecessarily hard. And these unfortunately aren't the only issues with these levels, as there are only a small handful of levels that have interesting set pieces in them for easier navigation. I got lost way too often because the levels didn't have memorable locations to indicate if I've already been there or not.
But to not sound too negative, there are enough other levels that don't deal with either the perspective issue or the memorability issue, like Market Mesa and Panda Gardens which are both two of my more favoured levels from this game. Also because both of them are slightly more original when it comes to level design philosophy as it has a few more original missions. The levels overall feel like a mix of the first two Spyro games on PS1, taking the goods of the second game by having a more characteristic feel to them because of the residents, but the bads from the first game by most levels also feeling a bit more on the generic side; find crystals, kill every enemy, and hit various things scattered through the level without dying, rinse and repeat. Placing a lot of emphasis on that last point by the way because god, that was so annoying with how easy it is to die and some levels being so confusing. And that's ultimately what it comes down to: the level design is decent overall, but hard to remember due to no set pieces and generic level goals. Let's put it on a 25% pretty good to 75% just decent scale, and the end result isn't looking that good.
Buuuuut it is still a Spyro games from the golden age, and it controls well overall. Given that it's one of my favourite platforming series ever, being ''just decent for Spyro quality'' means it is still a game I personally really enjoyed despite its shortcomings. And hey, it did try some original stuff as well, like converting speedways to a Space Harrier-like gameplay (which I personally actually really enjoyed), and Sparx is also back with his top-down shooter segments from Spyro: Year of the Dragon--not as fun, but still decent overall. And all in all, the game just really suffers from that ''first-game syndrome'' which, spoiler alert, the next two games will fix in one way or another. But that is something we will be finding out next time!''
Positives:
- Improves on almost all of the weaker aspects of Spyro: Season of Ice.
- Level designs are much better and distinguishable.
- A more minigame/mission-based structure in the levels themselves that keep in line with how Spyro plays.
Negatives:
- Depth perception issues are still present, though fortunately in a far lesser degree.
- If you didn't like how Spyro controlled in Spyro: Season of Ice, you won't like it here.
- Animal friends to play as can lead to mixed results.
-----------------------------------
''Spyro: Season of Ice was well-received overall, so a sequel was bound to happen. Looking at the game from the outside, it doesn't look much different from it's predecessor. Fortunately though, Spyro 2: Season of Flame is an almost direct reflection to how Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage was a marginal improvement over the very first game. Not to discredit the first game of each trilogy of course, but the developers listened to the feedback on the first games of both and tried to improve on them. People who know me also know that Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is my favourite Spyro game in general, so if Season of Flame does the same as what that game did to the first game, is it able to hit such heights as well? In most cases, definitely, but there are still some aspects holding it back just slightly.
Let's get the negatives out of the way right from that start. Season of Ice's biggest downfall was that the isometric perspective caused depth perception issues and... they're still here. Fortunately though, it's in a far lesser degree thanks to the level design simply being much better and not often requiring to make leaps of faith. If you were not a fan of how Spyro controls in the original game though, then you're out of luck; nothing has changed to his movement. There are new elemental breaths though, that can also be temporarily enhanced to accomplish feats like freezing up shallow water to walk across which is pretty cool.
And that's it for the negatives really! Wew, that ended surprisingly quickly. But yeah, my other major complaint with the first game was the level design itself, and no memorable setpieces to make levels memorable. Neither are really a thing anymore, as the level design itself has seen a major improvement. They are slightly more linear but in a good way, meaning that there aren't just random platforms that all look the same and you can go in any direction you want from there. There are indoor areas now, and far more setpieces to make levels memorable. Minigames in levels also return and like in Spyro: Year of the Dragon, they are secluded in their own area of the level. And probably most important of all: you don't lose your progress on the flameable objects throughout the level upon dying, thank god.
But yeah, I am overall a much bigger fan of these levels than the ones from the game before--special shout-out to Shamrock Isle, Tiki Tropics and Haunted Hills. I never really got lost in these levels or the hub world, and I feel that's very important in a game where you might be missing out on just that one gem for completion. Though there are a few levels that I'm a bit mixed on--specifically the ones where the animal friends come into play. Both Sheila the Kangaroo and Agent-9 make their appearances, with the former having QBert-like movement and the latter being a 2D Shooter. I generally enjoy Sheila's levels, but Agent-9... I dunno, I just am not feeling them. I don't hate them, but whenever I see a gate leading to his levels, I usually am not excited. Yet again proving for me that I'd rather play exclusively as Spyro, but at least neither can really be considered bad.''
- Improves on almost all of the weaker aspects of Spyro: Season of Ice.
- Level designs are much better and distinguishable.
- A more minigame/mission-based structure in the levels themselves that keep in line with how Spyro plays.
Negatives:
- Depth perception issues are still present, though fortunately in a far lesser degree.
- If you didn't like how Spyro controlled in Spyro: Season of Ice, you won't like it here.
- Animal friends to play as can lead to mixed results.
-----------------------------------
''Spyro: Season of Ice was well-received overall, so a sequel was bound to happen. Looking at the game from the outside, it doesn't look much different from it's predecessor. Fortunately though, Spyro 2: Season of Flame is an almost direct reflection to how Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage was a marginal improvement over the very first game. Not to discredit the first game of each trilogy of course, but the developers listened to the feedback on the first games of both and tried to improve on them. People who know me also know that Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is my favourite Spyro game in general, so if Season of Flame does the same as what that game did to the first game, is it able to hit such heights as well? In most cases, definitely, but there are still some aspects holding it back just slightly.
Let's get the negatives out of the way right from that start. Season of Ice's biggest downfall was that the isometric perspective caused depth perception issues and... they're still here. Fortunately though, it's in a far lesser degree thanks to the level design simply being much better and not often requiring to make leaps of faith. If you were not a fan of how Spyro controls in the original game though, then you're out of luck; nothing has changed to his movement. There are new elemental breaths though, that can also be temporarily enhanced to accomplish feats like freezing up shallow water to walk across which is pretty cool.
And that's it for the negatives really! Wew, that ended surprisingly quickly. But yeah, my other major complaint with the first game was the level design itself, and no memorable setpieces to make levels memorable. Neither are really a thing anymore, as the level design itself has seen a major improvement. They are slightly more linear but in a good way, meaning that there aren't just random platforms that all look the same and you can go in any direction you want from there. There are indoor areas now, and far more setpieces to make levels memorable. Minigames in levels also return and like in Spyro: Year of the Dragon, they are secluded in their own area of the level. And probably most important of all: you don't lose your progress on the flameable objects throughout the level upon dying, thank god.
But yeah, I am overall a much bigger fan of these levels than the ones from the game before--special shout-out to Shamrock Isle, Tiki Tropics and Haunted Hills. I never really got lost in these levels or the hub world, and I feel that's very important in a game where you might be missing out on just that one gem for completion. Though there are a few levels that I'm a bit mixed on--specifically the ones where the animal friends come into play. Both Sheila the Kangaroo and Agent-9 make their appearances, with the former having QBert-like movement and the latter being a 2D Shooter. I generally enjoy Sheila's levels, but Agent-9... I dunno, I just am not feeling them. I don't hate them, but whenever I see a gate leading to his levels, I usually am not excited. Yet again proving for me that I'd rather play exclusively as Spyro, but at least neither can really be considered bad.''