If you would indulge me a moment of self promotion, I made a video with some thoughts tangentially related to this game instead of a written review.
Ok not many people use inline links on backloggd so I'm putting the actual link in here anyway https://youtu.be/t3gKKCRfjgk
Also, here's some bonus content:
Firstly, the nature of the spoilers relates to one of the endings, and some tiny tricks that might make the game easier to start with. However, I tried to avoid spoiling anything that would lessen your first-time experience (you'll notice that there's no footage of any bosses or cutscenes).
Secondly, the developers responded to the video on Twitter with "Thank you, that was an excellent analysis which we'll take on board for XC2 if and when it happens! :) You're right that we could have done more to differentiate the two players, but we wanted to hold a few things back. I think we'd handle the ending differently next time too! ;)". I think they got a lot of the same complaints, so I apologize for piling on, but I would love to see a refined XC2.
Thirdly, I didn't really review the game as much as I just talked about it, but I want to note that Xeno Crisis really is a fun game that I do recommend. At the time of writing, it's available on Game Pass, which is where I discovered it, and that's probably the best way to get your value. I may like the game, but I am value conscious, and I don't think anyone other than retro-enthusiasts would get $20 out of it.
And some bonus trivia:
That "ok maybe I am" at the start that lasts for .5 seconds took a ton of time to implement, since black screens and white text cause compression to go nuts. I kept getting artifacts and weirdness, so it's actually just 1% opacity B-roll footage rolling in the background, which seemed to fix the problem.
You may also wonder if I played through Mega Man 3 for Mega-Man-3 seconds of footage, and the answer is yes.
Finally, the cut between Mega Man 3's end-stage fadout and the cheat menu is my favorite in the video, smooth as butter.
If you watched the video and read all this you're a saint, thank you thank you. Oh also just because I know you're a saint at this point, user LukeGirard also posted a video of his own today, so check that out too: A Positive Perspective on Sonic CD
Ok not many people use inline links on backloggd so I'm putting the actual link in here anyway https://youtu.be/t3gKKCRfjgk
Also, here's some bonus content:
Firstly, the nature of the spoilers relates to one of the endings, and some tiny tricks that might make the game easier to start with. However, I tried to avoid spoiling anything that would lessen your first-time experience (you'll notice that there's no footage of any bosses or cutscenes).
Secondly, the developers responded to the video on Twitter with "Thank you, that was an excellent analysis which we'll take on board for XC2 if and when it happens! :) You're right that we could have done more to differentiate the two players, but we wanted to hold a few things back. I think we'd handle the ending differently next time too! ;)". I think they got a lot of the same complaints, so I apologize for piling on, but I would love to see a refined XC2.
Thirdly, I didn't really review the game as much as I just talked about it, but I want to note that Xeno Crisis really is a fun game that I do recommend. At the time of writing, it's available on Game Pass, which is where I discovered it, and that's probably the best way to get your value. I may like the game, but I am value conscious, and I don't think anyone other than retro-enthusiasts would get $20 out of it.
And some bonus trivia:
That "ok maybe I am" at the start that lasts for .5 seconds took a ton of time to implement, since black screens and white text cause compression to go nuts. I kept getting artifacts and weirdness, so it's actually just 1% opacity B-roll footage rolling in the background, which seemed to fix the problem.
You may also wonder if I played through Mega Man 3 for Mega-Man-3 seconds of footage, and the answer is yes.
Finally, the cut between Mega Man 3's end-stage fadout and the cheat menu is my favorite in the video, smooth as butter.
If you watched the video and read all this you're a saint, thank you thank you. Oh also just because I know you're a saint at this point, user LukeGirard also posted a video of his own today, so check that out too: A Positive Perspective on Sonic CD