Wollom
2023
A beautiful puzzle adventure about linguistics, culture, and the benefits of understanding one another, inspired by The Tower of Babel.
Chants of Sennaar does a fantastic job with its ludonarrative; The goal is to decipher the languages of different civilizations, achieved by analysing environments and conversations. All the while, we learn about their ways of life and what led them to the current day and the lives they live. This dual purpose really resonated with me, and I personally think it struck an absolutely perfect balance between gameplay depth and narrative substance.
I adored the use of different linguistic mechanics that make you turn your head a little when it comes to certain puzzles (as well as the different script styles inspired by existing languages). It may not be as intricate as it could have been, but it’s enough to make you go “ahhh! cool!” when you notice certain things for the first time.
Thinking about it from the opposite perspective, it was clear that a lot of care was taken into simplifying certain aspects to make sure the puzzle solving felt smooth, accessible and rewarding. An example of how this is done is the removal of many “less interesting” words in the glyphs given to you, such as “the”, and “a”. We only have to focus on the parts that are meaningful to the purpose of the game and its world. The translation experience is finely crafted for that of a game player, and not that of a PhD student, which is what keeps it fun!
Many reviews complain about the stealth sections breaking up the pacing, I disagree with this, possibly due to me being a huge sucker for the narrative. I just found that these sections blended in with the journey so well, added in a unique feeling throughout the exploration that otherwise wouldn't have been felt, and did way more good than any harm they may have done by taking you away from puzzles. They don’t take up that much of the game anyway, and some of them had dialogue to analyse throughout! Keeps the brain thinking in both ways.
Great presentation, with an especially amazing soundtrack. Even though a fair bit of the game had me slowly backtracking, it was just too striking of a world to get very upset about it.
This is definitely up there as one of my favourite puzzle games and I recommend it to anyone who thinks it sounds remotely fun. The morals told are reflected greatly within the gameplay, which is also executed extremely well.
Chants of Sennaar does a fantastic job with its ludonarrative; The goal is to decipher the languages of different civilizations, achieved by analysing environments and conversations. All the while, we learn about their ways of life and what led them to the current day and the lives they live. This dual purpose really resonated with me, and I personally think it struck an absolutely perfect balance between gameplay depth and narrative substance.
I adored the use of different linguistic mechanics that make you turn your head a little when it comes to certain puzzles (as well as the different script styles inspired by existing languages). It may not be as intricate as it could have been, but it’s enough to make you go “ahhh! cool!” when you notice certain things for the first time.
Thinking about it from the opposite perspective, it was clear that a lot of care was taken into simplifying certain aspects to make sure the puzzle solving felt smooth, accessible and rewarding. An example of how this is done is the removal of many “less interesting” words in the glyphs given to you, such as “the”, and “a”. We only have to focus on the parts that are meaningful to the purpose of the game and its world. The translation experience is finely crafted for that of a game player, and not that of a PhD student, which is what keeps it fun!
Many reviews complain about the stealth sections breaking up the pacing, I disagree with this, possibly due to me being a huge sucker for the narrative. I just found that these sections blended in with the journey so well, added in a unique feeling throughout the exploration that otherwise wouldn't have been felt, and did way more good than any harm they may have done by taking you away from puzzles. They don’t take up that much of the game anyway, and some of them had dialogue to analyse throughout! Keeps the brain thinking in both ways.
Great presentation, with an especially amazing soundtrack. Even though a fair bit of the game had me slowly backtracking, it was just too striking of a world to get very upset about it.
This is definitely up there as one of my favourite puzzle games and I recommend it to anyone who thinks it sounds remotely fun. The morals told are reflected greatly within the gameplay, which is also executed extremely well.
2020
Mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I have not played the original RE3. Throughout my playthrough I could do nothing but compare this to Resident Evil 2 Remake. In doing so, my thoughts on this game can probably be explained pretty well. This game was released just 15 months after RE2 came out. It’s clear that RE3 relies heavily on the systems and assets that were used in its predecessor, this shouldn’t be a problem as long as it feels like it’s doing something new with such systems, but it doesn’t really, and I think that’s the underlying theme of how this game generally feels incredibly mediocre, uninteresting or unmemorable to me.
I would say about 30-40% of the game was actually really good, it had tension and interesting interconnecting level design. The rest, while still somewhat engaging in terms of gameplay, felt lacking in any sort of real survival horror excitement.
The story felt very barebones (yes, even for an RE game), Jill and Carlos did not take my interest very much at all. If the game was longer this certainly could have been different.
I give the game credit, a couple parts gave me some good challenges, more so than RE2 did, which was fun. I died a total of 17 times, although a few of those definitely felt unfair and frustrated me a bit, setting me back quite a bit, having to redo some of the more boring sections in the game.
And then there’s Nemesis. From what I have heard they really shafted it compared to the original, totally believable. Most of the sections involving it feel so scripted to the point of blandness. The actual boss fights are okay.
I realise this review is quite vague. I can’t really articulate too well why I was not resonating with RE3. It simply is a case of the vibes didn’t feel right ¯\(ツ)/¯.
I have not played the original RE3. Throughout my playthrough I could do nothing but compare this to Resident Evil 2 Remake. In doing so, my thoughts on this game can probably be explained pretty well. This game was released just 15 months after RE2 came out. It’s clear that RE3 relies heavily on the systems and assets that were used in its predecessor, this shouldn’t be a problem as long as it feels like it’s doing something new with such systems, but it doesn’t really, and I think that’s the underlying theme of how this game generally feels incredibly mediocre, uninteresting or unmemorable to me.
I would say about 30-40% of the game was actually really good, it had tension and interesting interconnecting level design. The rest, while still somewhat engaging in terms of gameplay, felt lacking in any sort of real survival horror excitement.
The story felt very barebones (yes, even for an RE game), Jill and Carlos did not take my interest very much at all. If the game was longer this certainly could have been different.
I give the game credit, a couple parts gave me some good challenges, more so than RE2 did, which was fun. I died a total of 17 times, although a few of those definitely felt unfair and frustrated me a bit, setting me back quite a bit, having to redo some of the more boring sections in the game.
And then there’s Nemesis. From what I have heard they really shafted it compared to the original, totally believable. Most of the sections involving it feel so scripted to the point of blandness. The actual boss fights are okay.
I realise this review is quite vague. I can’t really articulate too well why I was not resonating with RE3. It simply is a case of the vibes didn’t feel right ¯\(ツ)/¯.
Crypt of the NecroDancer could be described as one of the most, if not the most difficult (well known) roguelike to get into. That’s not really a subjective statement either; the steam achievements suggest that less than 5% of players have completed what could be considered a “full” (All Zones Mode) run with any character. Whether this is due to the rhythm element, the initial difficulty wall that players inevitably face when they start, or some other reason, what awaits the players who eventually click with the game is undoubtedly an almost unlimited world of mechanical fun and challenge.
Believe me this struggle is not something I’m unfamiliar with myself. I first played this game in 2017, only to struggle with Zone 2 for a while before calling it quits. Despite how much I admired the game, it wasn’t clicking yet, and I wouldn’t give it another shot until early 2023 when a friend of mine was achieving big things in it.
As mentioned earlier, NecroDancer (ND) is hard. Initially, at the least. It will take even a great game player a non trivial amount of time to complete Zone 1 due to the nature of its gameplay. Movement is restricted to the laws of the world, the tune of the tomb… the rave of the grave… the…mix of the….styx… the… script of the crypt? YOU MOVE WITH THE MUSIC RIGHT?! And so do the enemies! If you don’t know what they’re gonna do then I gotta be honest with you buddy, you won’t stand a chance getting past the… the beat of the fleet… of monsters. Pattern recognition is the name of the game here. If the item pool isn’t favouring you, then you’ll need to lock in and make up the difference yourself… or just try again until you get a build that’s really broken. Except not really? OP runs in ND are VERY losable compared to other roguelikes ESPECIALLY depending on which character you are playing. One wrong move at any time can be your unexpected downfall, and trust me you’ll feel the true depth of shame when you lose a run like this.
But it’s made fair and well. ND would not be nearly as successful as it is if there wasn’t plenty of thought and testing put into how smooth it plays. Yes you have to make your inputs on time, but sufficient leeway is given to not make it a complete nightmare. If something catches you off guard you’re given just enough time to think it through and feel like a wiz of a magician after pulling it off. The heartbeat in your peripheral vision helps you notice when you might be losing the rhythm a bit and the red outlines of the beatsthat i often fail to see due to colourblindness will let you know when the song is almost over. These are just some examples of well thought out features that I feel are a little underappreciated, but go a long way in making sure all of the challenge that the game feeds you is fun and interesting challenge.
How have I come this far without talking about such a fundamental piece of the puzzle? In ND, the soundtrack represents something much more than just the music you listen to; it governs your playstyle and the pace at which you think and analyse. Whether it’s to your taste or not, you gotta admit Danny Baranowsky did a cracking job composing some super catchy tunes that you can’t get too tired of and fit all the individual zones and bosses so very well. I’m no musician but composing these while also being restricted to certain BPMs (and be of sufficient length) to match the intended difficulty must not have been easy. As I like to say however, limitations breed creativity, and that’s undoubtedly what happened here. Personally I love the whole thing, cheers Danny. And if you don’t, then luckily there’s like what, 6 alternate soundtracks to choose from?? Some of those soundtracks done by well known musicians like FamilyJules and Jake Kaufman, even a Danganronpa themed soundtrack (idfk why), if you don’t like any of those either then I’m going to assume you’re just out to cause problems. EVEN THEN, there is an option to insert your own music! It’s a piece of cake just throw your mp3 file in and it’ll calculate the tempo for you and change the gameplay accordingly!
What else? Oh yes, the names of all the tracks are musical puns based on where the track plays, I don’t know how they did that but it’s awesome, my favourite has to be the name for the lobby music, “Rhythmortis”, hehehhehe get it???
Hand in hand with the soundtrack comes everything that completes the style of ND. Unique and creative enemy designs, especially bosses (a freakin chess board dude), good variety in zone theming, a retro feeling art style with some charming cutscenes, iconic sound effects and voice lines, clever items. It’s all just fun and cool, and that’s all that needs to be said.
So you made it, you beat all of the zones with Cadence, probably learned most of the enemies patterns and witnessed her journey. Congrats! It wasn’t easy. As a reward you take a look at steam and realise you've got maybe 5% of the achievements... Right. So, I've barely done anything? Pretty much… Beyond this there are plenty of characters with their own individual gimmicks that will make you rethink how you play the game completely. Some easier than Cadence, but a lot of them harder…horribly harder. This is where the real game begins, rise to the challenge, you got this.
If all of this wasn't enough of a glazing session for how much enjoyment ND has brought me, let me praise the dev team more. ND released in 2015 and still receives updates to this day. It really is Brace Yourself Games’ baby... Bug fixes, balance changes and quality of life updates are always coming in. Two MAJOR content DLCs were released in 2017 and 2022 respectively. And just a couple weeks ago Hatsune Miku jumped into the game with a cool moveset and unique soundtrack. What the fuck?? This community is spoiled!
My friend and I would say there's phases to ND brainrot. At one end you have NecroBabies: players who have yet to beat all of the zones with Cadence, going up to NecroDead: players who have beat all zones mode with most of the characters, and NecroUndead: players who unlock and play Coda (the hardest character (you're a lunatic)). My 200 hours of playtime makes me very NecroDead and NecroUndead feels right around the corner.
Thank you NecroDancer, you really are one of a kind.
Believe me this struggle is not something I’m unfamiliar with myself. I first played this game in 2017, only to struggle with Zone 2 for a while before calling it quits. Despite how much I admired the game, it wasn’t clicking yet, and I wouldn’t give it another shot until early 2023 when a friend of mine was achieving big things in it.
As mentioned earlier, NecroDancer (ND) is hard. Initially, at the least. It will take even a great game player a non trivial amount of time to complete Zone 1 due to the nature of its gameplay. Movement is restricted to the laws of the world, the tune of the tomb… the rave of the grave… the…mix of the….styx… the… script of the crypt? YOU MOVE WITH THE MUSIC RIGHT?! And so do the enemies! If you don’t know what they’re gonna do then I gotta be honest with you buddy, you won’t stand a chance getting past the… the beat of the fleet… of monsters. Pattern recognition is the name of the game here. If the item pool isn’t favouring you, then you’ll need to lock in and make up the difference yourself… or just try again until you get a build that’s really broken. Except not really? OP runs in ND are VERY losable compared to other roguelikes ESPECIALLY depending on which character you are playing. One wrong move at any time can be your unexpected downfall, and trust me you’ll feel the true depth of shame when you lose a run like this.
But it’s made fair and well. ND would not be nearly as successful as it is if there wasn’t plenty of thought and testing put into how smooth it plays. Yes you have to make your inputs on time, but sufficient leeway is given to not make it a complete nightmare. If something catches you off guard you’re given just enough time to think it through and feel like a wiz of a magician after pulling it off. The heartbeat in your peripheral vision helps you notice when you might be losing the rhythm a bit and the red outlines of the beats
How have I come this far without talking about such a fundamental piece of the puzzle? In ND, the soundtrack represents something much more than just the music you listen to; it governs your playstyle and the pace at which you think and analyse. Whether it’s to your taste or not, you gotta admit Danny Baranowsky did a cracking job composing some super catchy tunes that you can’t get too tired of and fit all the individual zones and bosses so very well. I’m no musician but composing these while also being restricted to certain BPMs (and be of sufficient length) to match the intended difficulty must not have been easy. As I like to say however, limitations breed creativity, and that’s undoubtedly what happened here. Personally I love the whole thing, cheers Danny. And if you don’t, then luckily there’s like what, 6 alternate soundtracks to choose from?? Some of those soundtracks done by well known musicians like FamilyJules and Jake Kaufman, even a Danganronpa themed soundtrack (idfk why), if you don’t like any of those either then I’m going to assume you’re just out to cause problems. EVEN THEN, there is an option to insert your own music! It’s a piece of cake just throw your mp3 file in and it’ll calculate the tempo for you and change the gameplay accordingly!
What else? Oh yes, the names of all the tracks are musical puns based on where the track plays, I don’t know how they did that but it’s awesome, my favourite has to be the name for the lobby music, “Rhythmortis”, hehehhehe get it???
Hand in hand with the soundtrack comes everything that completes the style of ND. Unique and creative enemy designs, especially bosses (a freakin chess board dude), good variety in zone theming, a retro feeling art style with some charming cutscenes, iconic sound effects and voice lines, clever items. It’s all just fun and cool, and that’s all that needs to be said.
So you made it, you beat all of the zones with Cadence, probably learned most of the enemies patterns and witnessed her journey. Congrats! It wasn’t easy. As a reward you take a look at steam and realise you've got maybe 5% of the achievements... Right. So, I've barely done anything? Pretty much… Beyond this there are plenty of characters with their own individual gimmicks that will make you rethink how you play the game completely. Some easier than Cadence, but a lot of them harder…horribly harder. This is where the real game begins, rise to the challenge, you got this.
If all of this wasn't enough of a glazing session for how much enjoyment ND has brought me, let me praise the dev team more. ND released in 2015 and still receives updates to this day. It really is Brace Yourself Games’ baby... Bug fixes, balance changes and quality of life updates are always coming in. Two MAJOR content DLCs were released in 2017 and 2022 respectively. And just a couple weeks ago Hatsune Miku jumped into the game with a cool moveset and unique soundtrack. What the fuck?? This community is spoiled!
My friend and I would say there's phases to ND brainrot. At one end you have NecroBabies: players who have yet to beat all of the zones with Cadence, going up to NecroDead: players who have beat all zones mode with most of the characters, and NecroUndead: players who unlock and play Coda (the hardest character (you're a lunatic)). My 200 hours of playtime makes me very NecroDead and NecroUndead feels right around the corner.
Thank you NecroDancer, you really are one of a kind.
2012
LMAO alright im ripping into this game.
90% of the enemies are BRAINDEAD. Some of my favourites include:
- The white wolves that have NO walking animation, the only thing they can do is jump attack, blindly jumping in every direction except for where you are, sometimes they will sit there and do nothing.
- The infested tank that can’t do anything unless you are a certain distance away from it.
- The bat swarms that die to ONE BULLET (big shoutout to the one slow elevator that’s about 30 seconds long, and has a swarm of bats to keep you busy while it’s moving, but the bats will die in 10, so you just sit there).
^ This is not limited to just enemies but half of the bosses are cheesed by either being a certain distance far or a certain distance close. The infested chopper was kind of cool with all the parkouring across buildings, but it still felt aimless and went on for SOOOO long
There is often no indication of what is happening or where to go, and I often just stumbled into an obscure section that put me into a cutscene.
Auto locking onto enemies makes everything you can think of 10x more awkward than it should be, at least add an option to be able to switch it? (just looked it up, apparently you can with an obnoxious input combination of RB + LS, you’re better off just dealing with the awkwardness).
A dynamic moving camera is a cool idea in theory but why does it so often throw itself into the ground it’s like lakitu on shrooms.
No extra weapon movesets/ upgrades?? The upgrades just increase damage i guess - BORING. Less guns as well.
Story is bad and meaningless.
Dante is nothing
Lucia is nothing
Enemy variety is not nearly as interesting. File system is not as in depth.
POSITIVES COMPARED TO DMC1:
Cool sick moves like flips and wallrunning
Devil trigger guns are funny as hell brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
More environments? But theyre shit
More cutscenes? But theyre shit
More boss variety? But the bosses are shit
Played it on vc with friends which made it very fun !
90% of the enemies are BRAINDEAD. Some of my favourites include:
- The white wolves that have NO walking animation, the only thing they can do is jump attack, blindly jumping in every direction except for where you are, sometimes they will sit there and do nothing.
- The infested tank that can’t do anything unless you are a certain distance away from it.
- The bat swarms that die to ONE BULLET (big shoutout to the one slow elevator that’s about 30 seconds long, and has a swarm of bats to keep you busy while it’s moving, but the bats will die in 10, so you just sit there).
^ This is not limited to just enemies but half of the bosses are cheesed by either being a certain distance far or a certain distance close. The infested chopper was kind of cool with all the parkouring across buildings, but it still felt aimless and went on for SOOOO long
There is often no indication of what is happening or where to go, and I often just stumbled into an obscure section that put me into a cutscene.
Auto locking onto enemies makes everything you can think of 10x more awkward than it should be, at least add an option to be able to switch it? (just looked it up, apparently you can with an obnoxious input combination of RB + LS, you’re better off just dealing with the awkwardness).
A dynamic moving camera is a cool idea in theory but why does it so often throw itself into the ground it’s like lakitu on shrooms.
No extra weapon movesets/ upgrades?? The upgrades just increase damage i guess - BORING. Less guns as well.
Story is bad and meaningless.
Dante is nothing
Lucia is nothing
Enemy variety is not nearly as interesting. File system is not as in depth.
POSITIVES COMPARED TO DMC1:
Cool sick moves like flips and wallrunning
Devil trigger guns are funny as hell brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
More environments? But theyre shit
More cutscenes? But theyre shit
More boss variety? But the bosses are shit
Played it on vc with friends which made it very fun !
1995
I love you Tails, but you have disappointed me so. You might think silly of me to be let down by such a game. Even if a metroidvania with Tails using all his little gadgets and doohickeys is a really cool concept for a Sonic spinoff that gives my boy the spotlight he needs, this is still a Game Gear title after all, so naturally you’d expect something short of stellar.
But the thing is, this game starts off really good!! Apart from it taking me too long to figure out how to change abilities, the levels are fun to go through and Tails controls well. His movement physics aren’t bad and the flight option allows for some unique exploration challenges not typically seen in the genre to this day. I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I was having!
It’s once you get a few levels deep do the cracks start to show. Eventually you are required to do a fair amount of backtracking, using your abilities to open the routes that you’ve missed. Of course, this should be fine in theory but I found two main issues:
Firstly, Tails can only carry 4 abilities at once, if you want to swap them out you need to leave the level you are in (by walking either all the way to the end or back to the start), then return to Tails’ House and swap them out. Obviously this kinda BLOWS because your time is wasted if you don’t happen to bring the right thing with you. It may have been a hardware limitation, or maybe it was intentional to pad out the play time, but if Tails simply had access to all his abilities at once, he would be able to spend less time faffing about for no reason.
Secondly, Alternate paths are often very camouflaged. You will certainly walk past a mostly regular looking wall without knowing that it could have been blown up with the 3rd or 4th bomb ability that you unlocked. In general, bad level design is more common as you get further into the game, so I resorted to a walkthrough and much more common save states for the second half.
Other than those fundamental problems, the rest of the experience was just alright, the item selection is half creative and fun (abilities based on Sonic, Knuckles and Fang are here!), but half useless or samey (which you probably won’t even entertain trying out because again, your slots are valuable). The story is simple and cyuuuuuute but nothing to shout about. Level theming is VERY underwhelming for a Sonic game (even if we do get to swim in a submarine), and the few boss fights are mostly mediocre with one or two cooler ones.
It may be because I spent more time in the levels but I thought the music was good and for sure one of the better game gear soundtracks! Some nice compositions here! I was a little disappointed to not find many covers / rearranges on youtube, rare sonic fanbase L, but this one I did find was indeed very nice.
So here I am disappointed purely because my hopes surprisingly shot up at the beginning, but it's okayyyyyyy... Tails Adventure may be very flawed, but it was a cool time and as a certified Two-Tailed Fox stan I am quite glad I played through it since it does carry my enthusiasm for his character very well. Safe to say we probably ain’t gonna get anything like this from SEGA again.
But the thing is, this game starts off really good!! Apart from it taking me too long to figure out how to change abilities, the levels are fun to go through and Tails controls well. His movement physics aren’t bad and the flight option allows for some unique exploration challenges not typically seen in the genre to this day. I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I was having!
It’s once you get a few levels deep do the cracks start to show. Eventually you are required to do a fair amount of backtracking, using your abilities to open the routes that you’ve missed. Of course, this should be fine in theory but I found two main issues:
Firstly, Tails can only carry 4 abilities at once, if you want to swap them out you need to leave the level you are in (by walking either all the way to the end or back to the start), then return to Tails’ House and swap them out. Obviously this kinda BLOWS because your time is wasted if you don’t happen to bring the right thing with you. It may have been a hardware limitation, or maybe it was intentional to pad out the play time, but if Tails simply had access to all his abilities at once, he would be able to spend less time faffing about for no reason.
Secondly, Alternate paths are often very camouflaged. You will certainly walk past a mostly regular looking wall without knowing that it could have been blown up with the 3rd or 4th bomb ability that you unlocked. In general, bad level design is more common as you get further into the game, so I resorted to a walkthrough and much more common save states for the second half.
Other than those fundamental problems, the rest of the experience was just alright, the item selection is half creative and fun (abilities based on Sonic, Knuckles and Fang are here!), but half useless or samey (which you probably won’t even entertain trying out because again, your slots are valuable). The story is simple and cyuuuuuute but nothing to shout about. Level theming is VERY underwhelming for a Sonic game (even if we do get to swim in a submarine), and the few boss fights are mostly mediocre with one or two cooler ones.
It may be because I spent more time in the levels but I thought the music was good and for sure one of the better game gear soundtracks! Some nice compositions here! I was a little disappointed to not find many covers / rearranges on youtube, rare sonic fanbase L, but this one I did find was indeed very nice.
So here I am disappointed purely because my hopes surprisingly shot up at the beginning, but it's okayyyyyyy... Tails Adventure may be very flawed, but it was a cool time and as a certified Two-Tailed Fox stan I am quite glad I played through it since it does carry my enthusiasm for his character very well. Safe to say we probably ain’t gonna get anything like this from SEGA again.
1995
Labyrinth, come in.
You beat the allegations, my boy. The worst Sonic game allegations, that is. I’m not sure how I should feel about the fact that I had a somewhat decent time playing this game. I played it as a kid and must have never made it past the 2nd stage and all I remember is it feeling SLOW and AWFUL and I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. Which seemed to be the general consensus among players.
Believe it or not, a big motivation to make me finally throw away the money for Sonic Origins Plus was to have another go at these Game Gear games that haunted me on Mega Collection Plus as a kid, as well as the ones that weren’t included there. When I opened up the menu for them, the first thing that caught my eye was the critically acclaimed masterpiece in question, and you know what? It was alright!!! ?? Bit of a stretch maybe. It certainly was not <good> but it was by no means awful neither.
Laughable story premise aside, Sonic is actually kinda fun to control here? I’m not fucking joking. Slow as shit means spin dash encouraged, and you can go real zoomy zoomy, it’s a satisfying challenge to cancel it at the right time. As a speedrun this could be fun as heck I’m tellin’ ya, the most fun I had here were the couple times where I had just grabbed all the keys and had a small amount of time to bolt it towards the goal. I think if the game was built fully around this concept it could have found a real decent identity.
But this is Sonic LABYRINTH, and hence the levels are LABYRINTHs, with doors taking you to all sorts of places, you gotta keep track of where you’re going, kinda fun right? Like a puzzle or a maze?? NO. This actually describes the level design for about 3 of the 12 regular stages, the rest is just random pointless BS. In general it just feels aimless; questionable teleporters, pointless powerups with straight up bad placement, strange enemies that do not look like they should be in a sonic game (truthfully they do kind of fit I just think this one is really funny), and bosses that really could have been much better had someone but a just a little bit more thought into them.
That said it is mostly just aimless, and not frustrating. The only exceptions being one fuck off hidden platform in 3-3, and the general map in 4-3. I mean f*cking look at this. I understand the vision with this final level to be honest, you gave us our Sonic Labyrinth but it’s just jarring without some semblance of a difficulty curve to precede it. You went from somewhat maze-like levels, to aimless bs, to the world’s most complicated stage that feels like a puzzle in itself trying to figure out where to go even when it’s right in front of you. My mate said we should do a drinking game where we play that level without looking at the map and take a drink everytime you go through a door and I admit that sounds like the best worst time and ohohohohhh I am tempted!!
There is the matter of the true ending being a little obtuse but I forgive that because it added a slight layer of replayability with the hint given at the end. That said, it's still hilariously shallow.
The take home today is that I think the game actually has a solid foundation and controls well, it's just mostly ruined by a number of horrible design decisions that scream like the developers did not give any shits whatsoever. Therefore since it's a Sonic game with “good ideas”, it's actually 5 stars and the most underrated game ever and you guys just don't get it you don't see the vision open your mind for once…
Except it doesn’t have many good ideas, it’s just a worse Sonic 3D Blast.
(Maybe more like a prototype, since this came out first, hm!)
You beat the allegations, my boy. The worst Sonic game allegations, that is. I’m not sure how I should feel about the fact that I had a somewhat decent time playing this game. I played it as a kid and must have never made it past the 2nd stage and all I remember is it feeling SLOW and AWFUL and I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. Which seemed to be the general consensus among players.
Believe it or not, a big motivation to make me finally throw away the money for Sonic Origins Plus was to have another go at these Game Gear games that haunted me on Mega Collection Plus as a kid, as well as the ones that weren’t included there. When I opened up the menu for them, the first thing that caught my eye was the critically acclaimed masterpiece in question, and you know what? It was alright!!! ?? Bit of a stretch maybe. It certainly was not <good> but it was by no means awful neither.
Laughable story premise aside, Sonic is actually kinda fun to control here? I’m not fucking joking. Slow as shit means spin dash encouraged, and you can go real zoomy zoomy, it’s a satisfying challenge to cancel it at the right time. As a speedrun this could be fun as heck I’m tellin’ ya, the most fun I had here were the couple times where I had just grabbed all the keys and had a small amount of time to bolt it towards the goal. I think if the game was built fully around this concept it could have found a real decent identity.
But this is Sonic LABYRINTH, and hence the levels are LABYRINTHs, with doors taking you to all sorts of places, you gotta keep track of where you’re going, kinda fun right? Like a puzzle or a maze?? NO. This actually describes the level design for about 3 of the 12 regular stages, the rest is just random pointless BS. In general it just feels aimless; questionable teleporters, pointless powerups with straight up bad placement, strange enemies that do not look like they should be in a sonic game (truthfully they do kind of fit I just think this one is really funny), and bosses that really could have been much better had someone but a just a little bit more thought into them.
That said it is mostly just aimless, and not frustrating. The only exceptions being one fuck off hidden platform in 3-3, and the general map in 4-3. I mean f*cking look at this. I understand the vision with this final level to be honest, you gave us our Sonic Labyrinth but it’s just jarring without some semblance of a difficulty curve to precede it. You went from somewhat maze-like levels, to aimless bs, to the world’s most complicated stage that feels like a puzzle in itself trying to figure out where to go even when it’s right in front of you. My mate said we should do a drinking game where we play that level without looking at the map and take a drink everytime you go through a door and I admit that sounds like the best worst time and ohohohohhh I am tempted!!
There is the matter of the true ending being a little obtuse but I forgive that because it added a slight layer of replayability with the hint given at the end. That said, it's still hilariously shallow.
The take home today is that I think the game actually has a solid foundation and controls well, it's just mostly ruined by a number of horrible design decisions that scream like the developers did not give any shits whatsoever. Therefore since it's a Sonic game with “good ideas”, it's actually 5 stars and the most underrated game ever and you guys just don't get it you don't see the vision open your mind for once…
Except it doesn’t have many good ideas, it’s just a worse Sonic 3D Blast.
(Maybe more like a prototype, since this came out first, hm!)
My goodness. I had saved Triple Trouble for the end of my Game Gear marathon because I had heard it was probably the best entry on there, and of course to jump straight into the 16-Bit fan game afterwards (that I knew next to nothing about), which I thought would be a nice reward to give myself for the mediocrity that was sure to come. I was absolutely not prepared for how much this was going to blow me away. Maybe I should have expected it knowing the reputation some would give sonic fan games of “being better than actual games”. Whether that’s a notion overblown out of enthusiasm to crap on Sonic games or not, there is no denying that we have some super passionate fans, but even still I could never have predicted how much I would enjoy this. Sonic 3 and Sonic Mania are fundamental Wollom-core games, and I would struggle to tell you that Triple Trouble 16-Bit doesn’t match these experiences, or even top them in some aspects.
The original Triple Trouble was indeed a decent game in my opinion. It didn’t quite take the cake for best Game Gear game though, that would go to Sonic 1, because that feels like a game that somewhat knows what hardware it’s on, and builds a fun platforming experience that isn’t necessarily trying too hard to be Sonic (this was very early days so it didn’t have too much to go off of anyway). Triple Trouble on the other hand, absolutely understood what gave Sonic 2 and 3 their identity and success, and rolls with it; It’s got original level theme ideas, plenty of gimmicks exclusive to each zone, a good balance of sections designed around both speed and platforming, it even has some ambitious set pieces and tells a more than one-note story involving a few characters. What is unfortunate is that this simply could not have its potential fully realised on a 4:3 screen with (I’m sorry GG fans) very botched Sonic physics, it’s just the nature of how these games turned out. But it absolutely gets tremendous points for effort and I respect how much this rose above the attempts of Sonic 2 8-Bit, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic Blast.
With all of that said, the idea to remake the game as if it was on the Mega Drive / Genesis makes complete sense doesn’t it? Touch it up a little and bob’s your uncle you’ve turned it into the better game it had the right to be. NonononoNO my sweetie pie, Noah Copeland had a VISION and he wasn’t going to let it just run away. Triple Trouble was Triply Transformed.
The first thing I noticed when I loaded up this game (apart from the super stylish main menu <3) was that we now play as both Sonic and Tails at the same time, whereas in the original you chose one or the other, and you can press a button to seamlessly switch between the controlling of either character on the fly! As long as they’re both on the screen you’re good to go! This change was awesome not only because it fits the original story better, but because the Japanese release of this game was actually titled Sonic & Tails 2. Straight away this feels like a true Sonic & Tails adventure :D . It’s really fun being able to switch to Tails for flight and Sonic for speed moves and elemental shields, rather than being locked to one for the whole playthrough.
The next lovely thing to grace your eyes is of course the massive glow up in the zones, there is not much else to say other than they’re all gorgeous. Foreground, sprites, tiny little visual effects, they all look damn good. But huge shout out to the backgrounds of these levels in particular, they are beautiful and often change dynamically throughout the zones, adding to the storytelling! These graphics alongside the new remixes of music tracks (which all sound GREAT by the way) marvellously replicate the feeling of classic Sonic and enhance it to a similar degree that Sonic Mania did.
Adding to that notion, to say that the levels themselves were mania-fied is an apt comparison for the most part. Well made sections from the original levels are retained and polished, while completely new ones with new gimmicks and sights are thrown into the mix. None of these gimmicks feel unwelcome. Snowballs and seels in Robotnik Winter Zone, leaf trampolines and snake basket platforms in Meta Junglira Zone, the list does go on.
The reason I say “for the most part” is because it’s where this game deviates from its inspiration significantly that truly impressed me. Along with reworked special stages, reworked and additional bosses, there are so many cool new setpieces, cutscenes and story elements within the zones themselves. My absolute favourite thing is how above and beyond the effort to seamlessly transition between zones is. No loading screens or teleportation, just an incredibly smooth and fun journey from start to end. I’m deliberately not explaining these things in detail because this game really is best experienced with the original fresh in your mind, with little idea as to how it will be translated.
There’s also a fricking competition mode. You might think what I initially thought, “oh, like in Sonic 3, that must not amount to much.”, but you’d be dead wrong!! This feels like a fangame in itself!! There are multiple types of minigames and 4 campaigns for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Fang, each telling their own story, with cutscenes, like, with dialogue and shit!! WTF? Why are you so magnificent Noah?
It kind of crushes my soul slightly to say that Triple Trouble Trumps some of my most beloved games, but I can’t deny that it at least stands alongside them, as a true classic Sonic game, and I think it will always feel this way to me.
If you are a classic Sonic fan, please check this game out, it thoroughly deserves it and will not disappoint.
The original Triple Trouble was indeed a decent game in my opinion. It didn’t quite take the cake for best Game Gear game though, that would go to Sonic 1, because that feels like a game that somewhat knows what hardware it’s on, and builds a fun platforming experience that isn’t necessarily trying too hard to be Sonic (this was very early days so it didn’t have too much to go off of anyway). Triple Trouble on the other hand, absolutely understood what gave Sonic 2 and 3 their identity and success, and rolls with it; It’s got original level theme ideas, plenty of gimmicks exclusive to each zone, a good balance of sections designed around both speed and platforming, it even has some ambitious set pieces and tells a more than one-note story involving a few characters. What is unfortunate is that this simply could not have its potential fully realised on a 4:3 screen with (I’m sorry GG fans) very botched Sonic physics, it’s just the nature of how these games turned out. But it absolutely gets tremendous points for effort and I respect how much this rose above the attempts of Sonic 2 8-Bit, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic Blast.
With all of that said, the idea to remake the game as if it was on the Mega Drive / Genesis makes complete sense doesn’t it? Touch it up a little and bob’s your uncle you’ve turned it into the better game it had the right to be. NonononoNO my sweetie pie, Noah Copeland had a VISION and he wasn’t going to let it just run away. Triple Trouble was Triply Transformed.
The first thing I noticed when I loaded up this game (apart from the super stylish main menu <3) was that we now play as both Sonic and Tails at the same time, whereas in the original you chose one or the other, and you can press a button to seamlessly switch between the controlling of either character on the fly! As long as they’re both on the screen you’re good to go! This change was awesome not only because it fits the original story better, but because the Japanese release of this game was actually titled Sonic & Tails 2. Straight away this feels like a true Sonic & Tails adventure :D . It’s really fun being able to switch to Tails for flight and Sonic for speed moves and elemental shields, rather than being locked to one for the whole playthrough.
The next lovely thing to grace your eyes is of course the massive glow up in the zones, there is not much else to say other than they’re all gorgeous. Foreground, sprites, tiny little visual effects, they all look damn good. But huge shout out to the backgrounds of these levels in particular, they are beautiful and often change dynamically throughout the zones, adding to the storytelling! These graphics alongside the new remixes of music tracks (which all sound GREAT by the way) marvellously replicate the feeling of classic Sonic and enhance it to a similar degree that Sonic Mania did.
Adding to that notion, to say that the levels themselves were mania-fied is an apt comparison for the most part. Well made sections from the original levels are retained and polished, while completely new ones with new gimmicks and sights are thrown into the mix. None of these gimmicks feel unwelcome. Snowballs and seels in Robotnik Winter Zone, leaf trampolines and snake basket platforms in Meta Junglira Zone, the list does go on.
The reason I say “for the most part” is because it’s where this game deviates from its inspiration significantly that truly impressed me. Along with reworked special stages, reworked and additional bosses, there are so many cool new setpieces, cutscenes and story elements within the zones themselves. My absolute favourite thing is how above and beyond the effort to seamlessly transition between zones is. No loading screens or teleportation, just an incredibly smooth and fun journey from start to end. I’m deliberately not explaining these things in detail because this game really is best experienced with the original fresh in your mind, with little idea as to how it will be translated.
There’s also a fricking competition mode. You might think what I initially thought, “oh, like in Sonic 3, that must not amount to much.”, but you’d be dead wrong!! This feels like a fangame in itself!! There are multiple types of minigames and 4 campaigns for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Fang, each telling their own story, with cutscenes, like, with dialogue and shit!! WTF? Why are you so magnificent Noah?
It kind of crushes my soul slightly to say that Triple Trouble Trumps some of my most beloved games, but I can’t deny that it at least stands alongside them, as a true classic Sonic game, and I think it will always feel this way to me.
If you are a classic Sonic fan, please check this game out, it thoroughly deserves it and will not disappoint.
Evening Star's Big Breakaway
It ain't Sonic, but I'll be damned if I don't like it for some of the same reasons. I'm so happy for Evening Star's first release as an independent studio. We've been treated to a truly wonderful 3D platformer that's imbued with a great amount of creativity and passion. Slick movement on par with Mario Odyssey, colourful and quirky characters and stages, AND a totally cute as hell mascot character?!? You spoil me, tysm this is exactly what I wanted from Mania devs and they delivered. Of course the music as well is great as expected from Tee Lopes, lots of variety in the stage themes particularly.
Right now there's pleeeeeenty of bugs and everyone will let you know, but personally, I was hardly bothered by any of it; every now and then I clip through a wall and get setback slightly... alright, no problem! The game is just that damn fun that being made to replay sections was rarely something to get hung up over.
What I am appreciating the most from Penny is how the stages are designed around two distinct playstyles. It is fun to slowly take in the scenery and read silly dialogue, searching for those hidden collectibles, but at the same time you can absolutely blitz through once you get the hang of things.
I have to discuss my love for Penny herself too, she's just such a goober. Such a sick concept to have a platformer mascot use a yoyo, the way all the powerups and moves are animated and tied to this concept: seamless. Every time she danced and did tricks at the end of the stage it would put a little smile on my face. The story barely had me paying attention beyond her funny expressions, and that's all I needed to keep me going really. What can I say, she's just adorable and needs protection.
That would be one of my only complaints, that comparable to Penny, almost all the characters felt pretty bland and uninteresting (but I don't really care!!), it would have just been nice if she had some friends or something y'know, this is totally my Sonic brain speaking. Maybe next time, whether it's a sequel or something different, the next project from the studio will have a bit more scope in that sense. It's not that the story was bad, it went places and tied in with the level themes very well, I just found it not memorable whatsoever. It's all a worthy trade off though, this game is pretty perfect in the places it needs to be.
PennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweepPennySweep
It ain't Sonic, but I'll be damned if I don't like it for some of the same reasons. I'm so happy for Evening Star's first release as an independent studio. We've been treated to a truly wonderful 3D platformer that's imbued with a great amount of creativity and passion. Slick movement on par with Mario Odyssey, colourful and quirky characters and stages, AND a totally cute as hell mascot character?!? You spoil me, tysm this is exactly what I wanted from Mania devs and they delivered. Of course the music as well is great as expected from Tee Lopes, lots of variety in the stage themes particularly.
Right now there's pleeeeeenty of bugs and everyone will let you know, but personally, I was hardly bothered by any of it; every now and then I clip through a wall and get setback slightly... alright, no problem! The game is just that damn fun that being made to replay sections was rarely something to get hung up over.
What I am appreciating the most from Penny is how the stages are designed around two distinct playstyles. It is fun to slowly take in the scenery and read silly dialogue, searching for those hidden collectibles, but at the same time you can absolutely blitz through once you get the hang of things.
I have to discuss my love for Penny herself too, she's just such a goober. Such a sick concept to have a platformer mascot use a yoyo, the way all the powerups and moves are animated and tied to this concept: seamless. Every time she danced and did tricks at the end of the stage it would put a little smile on my face. The story barely had me paying attention beyond her funny expressions, and that's all I needed to keep me going really. What can I say, she's just adorable and needs protection.
That would be one of my only complaints, that comparable to Penny, almost all the characters felt pretty bland and uninteresting (but I don't really care!!), it would have just been nice if she had some friends or something y'know, this is totally my Sonic brain speaking. Maybe next time, whether it's a sequel or something different, the next project from the studio will have a bit more scope in that sense. It's not that the story was bad, it went places and tied in with the level themes very well, I just found it not memorable whatsoever. It's all a worthy trade off though, this game is pretty perfect in the places it needs to be.
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So they remade Tomb Raider, pretty big responsibility huh.
I'll just start with the facts. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is an awesome remake and love letter to the Tomb Raider series. This was my first playthrough since after playing the original Tomb Raider, and I can confidently say that the developers achieved their ambitions:
“The old and the new; the familiar and the undiscovered; the mix of the past and the present that is at the core of every Tomb Raider experience was at the core of our effort for this game as well. A game that holds true to it's predecessor yet still stands out as a thrilling adventure all on its own.”
Excuse me for blatantly ripping off that paragraph from a heartfelt note for the fans found in the games extras, but I really think there's no better way to describe the vision than how the developers have done so.
Coming off the back of Legend, Anniversary manages to improve on it doubly from a gameplay perspective. The core level design here is just so damn engaging and honestly quite difficult to put down. It has a good difficulty curve, is very replayable, and going for 100% is a blast as it encourages two playstyles that result in distinctly different experiences.
The first is exploration based à la the search for artifacts and relics. Outside of a small few these are very well hidden and I had plenty of fun searching for them throughout every level, something I couldn't really say personally for most Tomb Raider games. The second is speed based throughout the time trials which I admit I haven't tried yet. If I revisit the game then I'm giving it a go for sure, the level design is too damn good for it to not be incredibly fun and potentially more challenging as well.
The most impressive part is how all of the above was implemented while simultaneously preserving the spirit of the original, and shaking things up to feel like a more contemporary experience. The amount of “I remember this part!” pointing at the screen moments I had while playing was pretty extraordinary for how different these sections actually end up playing (alright MAYBE I didn't point at the screen like a child but I definitely said it out loud to myself a lot!). I like to imagine if I could have been an older, more experienced Tomb Raider fan when this was released, those moments would have hit even harder.
Even though the story has been altered and expanded slightly, adding in some nice extra characterisation, they made the great decision of leaving that expansion to purely the cutscenes. This helped retain some of the original identity. It must have been difficult to resist throwing snarky dialogue in the levels like in Legend, considering just how FUN that was, but I'm glad they didn't in the end. It meant that various atmospheres are still present throughout: isolation, adventure, discovery, tension. Of course though, they aren’t exactly the same feeling. I'm being kind of repetitive so I hope you're sensing the theme I’m getting at here: The same, but different. The same,,, but different…
Anniversary does by no means replace Tomb Raider 1, it stands alongside it as a modern reimagining of, and alternative to, a great gaming classic, that anyone can enjoy. If someone was to only play a single Tomb Raider game, I would definitely point them in the direction of this one.
OH AND AND AND huge shout-out to Croft Manor. They turned her mansion into a freaking metroidvania bro. That's just frickin rad!! Sick. Awesome. Wonderful. Lovely.
I'll just start with the facts. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is an awesome remake and love letter to the Tomb Raider series. This was my first playthrough since after playing the original Tomb Raider, and I can confidently say that the developers achieved their ambitions:
“The old and the new; the familiar and the undiscovered; the mix of the past and the present that is at the core of every Tomb Raider experience was at the core of our effort for this game as well. A game that holds true to it's predecessor yet still stands out as a thrilling adventure all on its own.”
Excuse me for blatantly ripping off that paragraph from a heartfelt note for the fans found in the games extras, but I really think there's no better way to describe the vision than how the developers have done so.
Coming off the back of Legend, Anniversary manages to improve on it doubly from a gameplay perspective. The core level design here is just so damn engaging and honestly quite difficult to put down. It has a good difficulty curve, is very replayable, and going for 100% is a blast as it encourages two playstyles that result in distinctly different experiences.
The first is exploration based à la the search for artifacts and relics. Outside of a small few these are very well hidden and I had plenty of fun searching for them throughout every level, something I couldn't really say personally for most Tomb Raider games. The second is speed based throughout the time trials which I admit I haven't tried yet. If I revisit the game then I'm giving it a go for sure, the level design is too damn good for it to not be incredibly fun and potentially more challenging as well.
The most impressive part is how all of the above was implemented while simultaneously preserving the spirit of the original, and shaking things up to feel like a more contemporary experience. The amount of “I remember this part!” pointing at the screen moments I had while playing was pretty extraordinary for how different these sections actually end up playing (alright MAYBE I didn't point at the screen like a child but I definitely said it out loud to myself a lot!). I like to imagine if I could have been an older, more experienced Tomb Raider fan when this was released, those moments would have hit even harder.
Even though the story has been altered and expanded slightly, adding in some nice extra characterisation, they made the great decision of leaving that expansion to purely the cutscenes. This helped retain some of the original identity. It must have been difficult to resist throwing snarky dialogue in the levels like in Legend, considering just how FUN that was, but I'm glad they didn't in the end. It meant that various atmospheres are still present throughout: isolation, adventure, discovery, tension. Of course though, they aren’t exactly the same feeling. I'm being kind of repetitive so I hope you're sensing the theme I’m getting at here: The same, but different. The same,,, but different…
Anniversary does by no means replace Tomb Raider 1, it stands alongside it as a modern reimagining of, and alternative to, a great gaming classic, that anyone can enjoy. If someone was to only play a single Tomb Raider game, I would definitely point them in the direction of this one.
OH AND AND AND huge shout-out to Croft Manor. They turned her mansion into a freaking metroidvania bro. That's just frickin rad!! Sick. Awesome. Wonderful. Lovely.
1995
I’m gonna talk about both Drift 1 and Drift 2 since I don’t feel like writing two reviews and they are so similar it doesn’t really feel worth it.
For what Sonic Drift wants to achieve it’s not bad at all. Problem is it’s not achieving much pfftt. I don’t think an 8-bit kart racer released in 1994 was ever going to knock anyone’s socks off, but for little Jimmy in the back of the car on the trip to grandma’s I imagine this to be a very serviceable way to pass the time. It’s a good, engaging challenge to look at the map and signs, and make your turns at the right time! The minimum for a racing game!
Unfortunately that minimum is about all it has going for it, so anyone who isn’t little Jimmy is unlikely to willingly spend more than an hour with this game. The general Sonic theming is as good as it could be with tracks based on Sonic 1 zones, and characters with varying stats (not told in the game? Maybe in a manual?) reflecting their personalities(?), but it’s very hard to appreciate that when the actual game is just so barebones. The “items” don’t add too much either. The little animations and pictures of the characters that change depending on whether they’re winning or losing do a put a smile on my face though, they’re just so silly (and some very derpy :P ).
Sonic Drift 2 devs read my last paragraph, said “get a load of this guy!” and proceeded to shove a bunch of new stuff into the game that kinda feels like if it got a modern day dlc:
- More characters! Fang, “Knucles”, and Metal Sonic are here, cool.
- More creative zones! Some Sonic 2 based ones and a quite a few original ones
- More ambitious stages: more obstacles in the road, tunnels, half-pipe turns, bottomless cliffs,seizure inducing lightning effects, etc.
- More opportunities to use items, and character abilities
There is probably a bunch of stuff I’m missing as well because I admit I didn’t exactly play this one thoroughly; I was definitely getting bored. Theoretically these features should make the game much more interesting. For me though, I’m still playing Sonic Drift, and no amount of cool additional sparklies or shinies is really elevating my experience very much. If all of the concepts in this were moved to a mega drive version (with easy built in multiplayer??) then I think I could appreciate them much more, instead of just occasionally feeling like I did something cool that I previously couldn’t do.
Apparently there is 2-player versus available. I'm just learning right now, you gotta use the “Gear-to-Gear” cable pfftt. That would totally be the most fun way to experience the Drifts. But as they stand, racing against the CPUs just wasn’t too thrilling after the first couple GPs.
Drift 1, Drift 2, it’s all the same really.
For what Sonic Drift wants to achieve it’s not bad at all. Problem is it’s not achieving much pfftt. I don’t think an 8-bit kart racer released in 1994 was ever going to knock anyone’s socks off, but for little Jimmy in the back of the car on the trip to grandma’s I imagine this to be a very serviceable way to pass the time. It’s a good, engaging challenge to look at the map and signs, and make your turns at the right time! The minimum for a racing game!
Unfortunately that minimum is about all it has going for it, so anyone who isn’t little Jimmy is unlikely to willingly spend more than an hour with this game. The general Sonic theming is as good as it could be with tracks based on Sonic 1 zones, and characters with varying stats (not told in the game? Maybe in a manual?) reflecting their personalities(?), but it’s very hard to appreciate that when the actual game is just so barebones. The “items” don’t add too much either. The little animations and pictures of the characters that change depending on whether they’re winning or losing do a put a smile on my face though, they’re just so silly (and some very derpy :P ).
Sonic Drift 2 devs read my last paragraph, said “get a load of this guy!” and proceeded to shove a bunch of new stuff into the game that kinda feels like if it got a modern day dlc:
- More characters! Fang, “Knucles”, and Metal Sonic are here, cool.
- More creative zones! Some Sonic 2 based ones and a quite a few original ones
- More ambitious stages: more obstacles in the road, tunnels, half-pipe turns, bottomless cliffs,
- More opportunities to use items, and character abilities
There is probably a bunch of stuff I’m missing as well because I admit I didn’t exactly play this one thoroughly; I was definitely getting bored. Theoretically these features should make the game much more interesting. For me though, I’m still playing Sonic Drift, and no amount of cool additional sparklies or shinies is really elevating my experience very much. If all of the concepts in this were moved to a mega drive version (with easy built in multiplayer??) then I think I could appreciate them much more, instead of just occasionally feeling like I did something cool that I previously couldn’t do.
Apparently there is 2-player versus available. I'm just learning right now, you gotta use the “Gear-to-Gear” cable pfftt. That would totally be the most fun way to experience the Drifts. But as they stand, racing against the CPUs just wasn’t too thrilling after the first couple GPs.
Drift 1, Drift 2, it’s all the same really.
2012
This review contains spoilers
Well that was just pretty rad.
I can only imagine what it must have felt like being a young adult back when this game was released in the early PS2 days. Gothic goodness and awesome action aplenty, the perfect setting and ambience for a game structured like this. DMC wastes no time in throwing you straight into exactly what you came for.
The opening cutscene left a huge impression on me throughout my whole playthrough, Dante and Trish instantly became icons of “cool”, cheese and all. Their exchange had me pretty hyped for what was to come outside of the actual gameplay. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, we never really got close to that level throughout the rest of the game, even when faced against bosses, Dante didn’t really ever have too much to say and I was left a bit unfulfilled generally throughout, only because that intro set such a high bar.
It wasn’t until the end game where shit started to get a little bonkers again and really kind of reached that level again. Ahh yes, a final boss with great spectacle, return of cheesy dialogue, an unexpectedly interrupted metroid escape sequence, and for some reason, an ending with a plane that made me very reminiscent of Sonic… Quite the joyride of a finale I must say.
However, it’s not like this lack of what I wanted left a completely empty void, a compromise was certainly made. An island setting is a great way to give things a sense of eeriness, that things aren’t quite right, and the ambience made by the visuals and music accentuate this. It’s not scary per se, I mean in any normal circumstance it should be, but we’ve been put in the shoes of the legendary devil hunter, so when the devils come out to play, the rock kicks in and the tone shifts completely to let us know that we’re the ones in control. Dante came here to carry out his business and the devils eventually learn their place after an ass kicking or 3.
The whole map that encapsulates these fights makes for some rather neat level design as well. It’s maybe not quite to its full potential, but the rooms are pretty interconnected; you’ll often revisit the same areas but in a different order, with a different weapon, with different enemies waiting for you. It’s probably one of this game's biggest strengths that kept me compelled to play.
I will say though that the actual objectives of the missions, the main thing carrying me between each area, did not feel very compelling; take the ancient doohickey, infuse it with the sacred treasure, insert it into the magic thingamajig and you’ll be on your way. I promise it has actual significant meaning, kinda makes things feel a bit underwhelming.
OKAY I GUESS IT DOESN’T MATTER COS THE GAMEPLAY CARRIES ANYWAY. HELL YEA KILLING THINGS IS FUN AS FUCK IN THIS GAME. Whenever I play an action game I always ask myself why am I not playing more of them. This was what video games were originally made for, providing an exciting challenge, learning more as you play, and triumphing over what had absolutely destroyed you a couple attempts ago. Combat is simple on the surface, but moderately deep and challenging once things get moving. As indicated in the file section of the game, enemies have their strengths and weaknesses. I only played on normal mode, and I could pretty much use what I wanted for the most part, only having to check info / swap gear on a few enemies and bosses, although I imagine when you raise the difficulty you’ll have to make use of most of the information given to you. The bosses are also pretty AWESOME like that fucker griffon damn I found his last fight pretty tough. And the item and upgrades system is really fun! I’m kinda rambling here. Let's just move on by saying all in all the gameplay is <very good>!! and, as long as you are willing to engage with it, will stand the test of time.
Wait, that's basically everything I had to say.
Overall I would say DMC1 does feel a tad primitive and maybe is not the best game, or complete experience, but it certainly understands the essence of what a DMC game wants to be, and for that it was more than worth playing.
I can only imagine what it must have felt like being a young adult back when this game was released in the early PS2 days. Gothic goodness and awesome action aplenty, the perfect setting and ambience for a game structured like this. DMC wastes no time in throwing you straight into exactly what you came for.
The opening cutscene left a huge impression on me throughout my whole playthrough, Dante and Trish instantly became icons of “cool”, cheese and all. Their exchange had me pretty hyped for what was to come outside of the actual gameplay. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, we never really got close to that level throughout the rest of the game, even when faced against bosses, Dante didn’t really ever have too much to say and I was left a bit unfulfilled generally throughout, only because that intro set such a high bar.
It wasn’t until the end game where shit started to get a little bonkers again and really kind of reached that level again. Ahh yes, a final boss with great spectacle, return of cheesy dialogue, an unexpectedly interrupted metroid escape sequence, and for some reason, an ending with a plane that made me very reminiscent of Sonic… Quite the joyride of a finale I must say.
However, it’s not like this lack of what I wanted left a completely empty void, a compromise was certainly made. An island setting is a great way to give things a sense of eeriness, that things aren’t quite right, and the ambience made by the visuals and music accentuate this. It’s not scary per se, I mean in any normal circumstance it should be, but we’ve been put in the shoes of the legendary devil hunter, so when the devils come out to play, the rock kicks in and the tone shifts completely to let us know that we’re the ones in control. Dante came here to carry out his business and the devils eventually learn their place after an ass kicking or 3.
The whole map that encapsulates these fights makes for some rather neat level design as well. It’s maybe not quite to its full potential, but the rooms are pretty interconnected; you’ll often revisit the same areas but in a different order, with a different weapon, with different enemies waiting for you. It’s probably one of this game's biggest strengths that kept me compelled to play.
I will say though that the actual objectives of the missions, the main thing carrying me between each area, did not feel very compelling; take the ancient doohickey, infuse it with the sacred treasure, insert it into the magic thingamajig and you’ll be on your way. I promise it has actual significant meaning, kinda makes things feel a bit underwhelming.
OKAY I GUESS IT DOESN’T MATTER COS THE GAMEPLAY CARRIES ANYWAY. HELL YEA KILLING THINGS IS FUN AS FUCK IN THIS GAME. Whenever I play an action game I always ask myself why am I not playing more of them. This was what video games were originally made for, providing an exciting challenge, learning more as you play, and triumphing over what had absolutely destroyed you a couple attempts ago. Combat is simple on the surface, but moderately deep and challenging once things get moving. As indicated in the file section of the game, enemies have their strengths and weaknesses. I only played on normal mode, and I could pretty much use what I wanted for the most part, only having to check info / swap gear on a few enemies and bosses, although I imagine when you raise the difficulty you’ll have to make use of most of the information given to you. The bosses are also pretty AWESOME like that fucker griffon damn I found his last fight pretty tough. And the item and upgrades system is really fun! I’m kinda rambling here. Let's just move on by saying all in all the gameplay is <very good>!! and, as long as you are willing to engage with it, will stand the test of time.
Wait, that's basically everything I had to say.
Overall I would say DMC1 does feel a tad primitive and maybe is not the best game, or complete experience, but it certainly understands the essence of what a DMC game wants to be, and for that it was more than worth playing.
1992
Sonic 2 without the 2?
This one is quite a mixed bag. Definitely a One Step Forward Three Steps Back kinda deal when you compare it to the games that came out before.
Can’t believe they had the balls to put Tails on the Title Screen even though he is effectively nowhere to be seen. You even made these cute little pictures of the two buddies together before every zone and you don’t even get to play as him at all! I did get all the chaos emeralds and I was just met with the most awkward stare down from both of the characters at the end. Talk about unsatisfying, although at least the end credits were kinda nice.
Unfortunately the overworld map is gone so we don’t see how we get from place to place. To be honest the zone structure feels really off in general. Green Hills Zone (yes, Hills, not Hill) is the fourth level for some reason?? It is by far the easiest level so I don’t know why. The first level is underground with lava pits and some very cheery music. I’ve got no problem with trying to go against platformer tropes but this just doesn’t feel like an adventure; some very stock feeling level themes just kinda slapped together.
Speaking of the music, not only do I not really care for any of the tracks (Green Hills being the exception), but they mostly feel like they could be swapped around between each zone and no one would bat an eye. Tracks don’t convey any sense of the environment you’re in (unless the environment is you sitting down staring at an 8-bit game), and hence again, remove any feeling of adventure. This might sound like a harsh criticism but I can’t really forgive it since the previous entry actually did this very well.
Playing the Game Gear version immediately allows you a free pass to use save states wherever you please because when one of the chaos emeralds is quite literally off of the screen it becomes very clear that very little testing was done for this version. And you will be punished for it, because compared to 8-Bit Sonic 1, the challenge has definitely increased. Some of the levels feel a bit more open now with multiple routes. Unfortunately the quality just isn’t quite there…
To go into detail on some of the levels, as I said, mixed bag.
Green Hills has some nice fast sections, but act 3 has horrible blind spring jumps that took me way too many tries than was fun.
Gimmick Mountain (AWFUL NAME) actually uses those spinny things from 16-Bit Scrap Brain and implements them into the level pretty well! It has some challenging platforming sections with conveyors as well. This would probably be the best zone if the Game Gear screen wasn’t cucking me every single jump.
Turns out Aqua Lake (I instinctively typed Labyrinth for a second) was actually the first Zone to introduce putting Sonic inside a bubble and moving him around in a water based stage. I think this is a fun gimmick! Unfortunately the rest of the stage is hot garbage, and I like Labyrinth Zone, both 16-bit and 8-bit. Oh no I don’t like it in Sonic 4 who tf do you think I am you sicko. Anyway it’s a very boring water level outside of the bubbles, and it also looks really ugly.
Scrambled Egg Zone has to be my new least favourite Classic Sonic Zone, it’s just pick a path. Fuck you.
Crystal Egg Zone has to be my SECOND least favourite Classic Sonic Zone! It’s not difficult or bullshit but it’s horrendously ugly and completely nonsensical gameplay wise. This is what I grabbed the emeralds for?
Other gimmicks like the minecarts and hang gliders were alright. Couldn’t figure out the hang gliders really and they seemed pointless. The minecarts were fun to try and jump out at the right time, but this was only done like, two or three times.
Bosses! Again! Mixed. Bag. A couple fun ones and a couple really god awful shit ones! Silver Sonic was by far the best and Eggman was AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WTF who tf why why why it's so bad. Starts off a little confusing and potentially challenging, but once you figure out how it works it just becomes a boring as heck waiting game. It’s also the only boss you’re likely to hear the smoke alarm segment of the boss theme. (I know this probably wasn’t made with headphones in mind but my goodness was that unpleasant to hear.)
To conclude, it’ssssss okay.. leaning towards bad really. Some good gimmicks, some underwhelming. Some good level design, some horrible. Some pretty levels, some ugly. Some fun bosses, some stupid bosses!
A mediocre time but it has its highlights... kinda.
This one is quite a mixed bag. Definitely a One Step Forward Three Steps Back kinda deal when you compare it to the games that came out before.
Can’t believe they had the balls to put Tails on the Title Screen even though he is effectively nowhere to be seen. You even made these cute little pictures of the two buddies together before every zone and you don’t even get to play as him at all! I did get all the chaos emeralds and I was just met with the most awkward stare down from both of the characters at the end. Talk about unsatisfying, although at least the end credits were kinda nice.
Unfortunately the overworld map is gone so we don’t see how we get from place to place. To be honest the zone structure feels really off in general. Green Hills Zone (yes, Hills, not Hill) is the fourth level for some reason?? It is by far the easiest level so I don’t know why. The first level is underground with lava pits and some very cheery music. I’ve got no problem with trying to go against platformer tropes but this just doesn’t feel like an adventure; some very stock feeling level themes just kinda slapped together.
Speaking of the music, not only do I not really care for any of the tracks (Green Hills being the exception), but they mostly feel like they could be swapped around between each zone and no one would bat an eye. Tracks don’t convey any sense of the environment you’re in (unless the environment is you sitting down staring at an 8-bit game), and hence again, remove any feeling of adventure. This might sound like a harsh criticism but I can’t really forgive it since the previous entry actually did this very well.
Playing the Game Gear version immediately allows you a free pass to use save states wherever you please because when one of the chaos emeralds is quite literally off of the screen it becomes very clear that very little testing was done for this version. And you will be punished for it, because compared to 8-Bit Sonic 1, the challenge has definitely increased. Some of the levels feel a bit more open now with multiple routes. Unfortunately the quality just isn’t quite there…
To go into detail on some of the levels, as I said, mixed bag.
Green Hills has some nice fast sections, but act 3 has horrible blind spring jumps that took me way too many tries than was fun.
Gimmick Mountain (AWFUL NAME) actually uses those spinny things from 16-Bit Scrap Brain and implements them into the level pretty well! It has some challenging platforming sections with conveyors as well. This would probably be the best zone if the Game Gear screen wasn’t cucking me every single jump.
Turns out Aqua Lake (I instinctively typed Labyrinth for a second) was actually the first Zone to introduce putting Sonic inside a bubble and moving him around in a water based stage. I think this is a fun gimmick! Unfortunately the rest of the stage is hot garbage, and I like Labyrinth Zone, both 16-bit and 8-bit. Oh no I don’t like it in Sonic 4 who tf do you think I am you sicko. Anyway it’s a very boring water level outside of the bubbles, and it also looks really ugly.
Scrambled Egg Zone has to be my new least favourite Classic Sonic Zone, it’s just pick a path. Fuck you.
Crystal Egg Zone has to be my SECOND least favourite Classic Sonic Zone! It’s not difficult or bullshit but it’s horrendously ugly and completely nonsensical gameplay wise. This is what I grabbed the emeralds for?
Other gimmicks like the minecarts and hang gliders were alright. Couldn’t figure out the hang gliders really and they seemed pointless. The minecarts were fun to try and jump out at the right time, but this was only done like, two or three times.
Bosses! Again! Mixed. Bag. A couple fun ones and a couple really god awful shit ones! Silver Sonic was by far the best and Eggman was AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WTF who tf why why why it's so bad. Starts off a little confusing and potentially challenging, but once you figure out how it works it just becomes a boring as heck waiting game. It’s also the only boss you’re likely to hear the smoke alarm segment of the boss theme. (I know this probably wasn’t made with headphones in mind but my goodness was that unpleasant to hear.)
To conclude, it’ssssss okay.. leaning towards bad really. Some good gimmicks, some underwhelming. Some good level design, some horrible. Some pretty levels, some ugly. Some fun bosses, some stupid bosses!
A mediocre time but it has its highlights... kinda.
2022
We all have to get to know ourselves, Sleeper. To know what it is that drives us. I'm sure you'll decide to act in the manner you know. But you also have to ask yourself why it is so. Don't neglect that.
If you take one thing away from this review let it be this: If you enjoy connecting with a wonderfully diverse set of characters, learning how their experiences shaped them to be who they are and what motivates them to keep going as the world deals them a bad hand, then I can not recommend this to you enough.
As with many games I've tried through Game Pass, I knew very little about Citizen Sleeper. A couple hours in I wasn't sure if I was enjoying it. The gameplay loop was odd, the writing felt a bit verbose, I couldn't exactly keep track of what was happening in the world.
But I stuck with it because it was just giving this vibe, something that was keeping me drawn into this world, and as I kept playing, I became more and more appreciative of everything the game had to offer.
Most of the credit for keeping me entranced probably goes to the music and sound design, which is certainly one of the most immersive I've ever experienced. I would feel a sort of whiplash whenever I took my headphones off to take a break, and be genuinely stunned at the silence of my own room and the sudden realisation that all I was doing was staring at a screen. The ambience here is just mwah.
Eventually I really started to get into the gameplay loop, and at times where it was appropriate, I enjoyed the occasional strategy of trying to finish the routes for characters I was most interested in, but also trying to survive, it was engaging and satisfying! Not to mention the little details describing all the tasks you carry out, which helped those tasks feel just a bit more immersive.
As I mentioned before, the writing could feel a bit verbose and sometimes I couldn't tell what exactly was going on, this actually persisted throughout the playthrough to some degree, I didn't fully get it all, and maybe that's due to my own literacy, I don't know.
What I do know is that despite all this, every conversation felt so deeply personal and every character was so different and brimming with individuality. When it needed to, the writing and the music would perfectly synchronise with the impact of surviving and carrying out tasks for so long, to beautifully craft moments that would move me emotionally. It didn't matter in the slightest that I wasn't fully grasping everything, I felt for everyone, for their past, for their present, and their future.
That is why I love Citizen Sleeper, and that to me is games as an art form.
(Also, Citizen Sleeper is a banger title, knocked it out of the park with that one.)
If you take one thing away from this review let it be this: If you enjoy connecting with a wonderfully diverse set of characters, learning how their experiences shaped them to be who they are and what motivates them to keep going as the world deals them a bad hand, then I can not recommend this to you enough.
As with many games I've tried through Game Pass, I knew very little about Citizen Sleeper. A couple hours in I wasn't sure if I was enjoying it. The gameplay loop was odd, the writing felt a bit verbose, I couldn't exactly keep track of what was happening in the world.
But I stuck with it because it was just giving this vibe, something that was keeping me drawn into this world, and as I kept playing, I became more and more appreciative of everything the game had to offer.
Most of the credit for keeping me entranced probably goes to the music and sound design, which is certainly one of the most immersive I've ever experienced. I would feel a sort of whiplash whenever I took my headphones off to take a break, and be genuinely stunned at the silence of my own room and the sudden realisation that all I was doing was staring at a screen. The ambience here is just mwah.
Eventually I really started to get into the gameplay loop, and at times where it was appropriate, I enjoyed the occasional strategy of trying to finish the routes for characters I was most interested in, but also trying to survive, it was engaging and satisfying! Not to mention the little details describing all the tasks you carry out, which helped those tasks feel just a bit more immersive.
As I mentioned before, the writing could feel a bit verbose and sometimes I couldn't tell what exactly was going on, this actually persisted throughout the playthrough to some degree, I didn't fully get it all, and maybe that's due to my own literacy, I don't know.
What I do know is that despite all this, every conversation felt so deeply personal and every character was so different and brimming with individuality. When it needed to, the writing and the music would perfectly synchronise with the impact of surviving and carrying out tasks for so long, to beautifully craft moments that would move me emotionally. It didn't matter in the slightest that I wasn't fully grasping everything, I felt for everyone, for their past, for their present, and their future.
That is why I love Citizen Sleeper, and that to me is games as an art form.
(Also, Citizen Sleeper is a banger title, knocked it out of the park with that one.)
2016
This review contains spoilers
You need to get rid of any superfluous emotions. Totally nuke them.
Just look at what’s right in front of your eyes.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Stare down the enemy in front of you.
That’s how you investigate.
Don’t worry.
Any part of your brain starts worrying? Grill that shit up and eat it!
Am I wrong?
Maybe you are wrong Tetsu, maybe you’re not. But it’s not my call to decide that for you.
Firstly I want to thank @Oshha for recommending this to me. I hadn’t heard of Kill The Past or knew much about Suda51 beyond No More Heroes. Safe to say that I’m now totally all in on the rest of the series. It took me a few days of contemplation after finishing, but The Silver Case is a game that I can’t help but admire to a high level despite any low points it may have had.
In my first session I played lunatics and decoyman, which made a really good first impression. I thought if nothing else, style is going to carry. I love the use of windows constantly placed in different parts of the screen, for both text and images, always keeping things interesting to look at and sometimes catching me off guard. Accompanied by an awesome art style that shifts constantly throughout the game as the mood / perspective changes, so cool… (Although sometimes I was thrown off, because this change was so drastic that it would take me a while to realise that the person on the screen talking was actually someone I had already met!)
This comes hand in hand with music and sound design, it’s really damn good. I’m glad to see more of Takada’s work in context outside of Danganronpa. Obviously the catchy tunes are great, but what I admire more are how many variations of different tracks there are, to give off slightly different feelings, there’s nothing more uncomfortable than hearing a motif that you recognise, but for it to now be spun in a really eerie or dark way. Also not afraid to use silence when necessary! REALLY appreciate that, it made such an impact many times.
Yeah sometimes the gameplay was a bit ass/boring, but I never found it that awful to slog through. I was more bothered honestly by the false promise that this would partly be a puzzle game! As a puzzle fan, lunatics and decoyman had me really engaged with an additive caesar cipher and a game of Bulls and Cows. Not your typical simple puzzle thrown into a game just to make sure you’re paying attention, these require thought! After this nothing was to be seen again :( I like to think what could have been, but with how the pacing of the game changes so much maybe these would have been out of place later on, maybe this was intentional and actually highlight the subverting of expectations for what this game is truly about. Holy shit that’s totally it… you win again Suda.
Alright so the presentation is perfect, and the gameplay is whatever. What about the meat? Does this funky text based detective walking simulator actually have any substance over style? Checks my rating -of course it does. There’s really a lot to unpack and I don’t think I could ever do it close to the justice it deserves. I’ll just describe how certain things made me feel. (waffling incoming)
Tokio is very cool and it was interesting to hear the constantly ongoing thoughts of a paranoid as fuck loser (am i a bad person?). JK he’s actually a hero, we’re 100% with him knowledge wise throughout the whole game up until Enzawa gets killed and then they cut it off like what a cliffhanger?? Then he shows up in lifecut like “i've figured EVERYTHING out, check my email and you'll understand”, and then we DON'T see that email and when we return to Tokio in Hikari we are just NOT told anything that he went through?? FUCK YOU SUDA (<3), now i gotta sit here and piece things together myself by listening to the ghostly apparitions that are now communicating through him !!! HUH?
Parade was an insane turning point, that moment when the mansion blew up, the art of them staring at it? Burning it into their eyes? Mfer that image is burnt into MY eyes, if I ever forget what’s going on in this game, I'll always remember that for sure. It wasn’t until the end of Tsuki that I really appreciated how well executed Parade was, when you started to see the full picture, learn the facts in a different order, it hits different. Which kind of applies for the whole game, this definitely warrants a replay in the future.
I truly love it when you can tell a character has been well developed and thought about outside of what is solely shown to you in the game, and that is here in spades. You can feel that these characters go through some life changing shit off screen, it comes through in the writing which is really damn good OBVIOUSLY. Ugh I can only praise something so much before it starts to become cumbersome. My point being is it’s clear that certain events were very well planned out in detail, only to not be shown to you, so you are left to make a “guesses” at what happened. It’s just executed extremely well and creates this sense of stringing you along and leaving you to think things for yourself.
Kusabi is probably the best character, let's be real, he’s everything you could ever want in an asshole boomer detective. Loves his daughter? ✓ Calls you big dick? ✓ Hates crime from the bottom of his soul, yet still let’s supports his beloved colleague in killing his past? ✓ The way he told me “don’t trust the ‘truth’, search for the ‘facts’”, and then proceeded to tell me 3 different versions of the silver case that completely contradict each other reallyfucked me off hit me in the heart.
Jokes / mindfuckery aside, it was super interesting, again with Nakategawa saying the whole CCO/FSO/… alliance bullshit oh that’s not actually a real thing, it’s actually all one big body. By this point I just had absolutely no idea what to trust anymore, but I think it didn’t matter. The main point stood the same, everyone was a pawn for someone else, and unless you cut it from the source (kill nezu?), the virus of crime (Kamui) will continue to circulate in the minds of individuals, or something?? There’s so much left to interpretation here and that’s what makes it so wonderful.
In that same vein, there are a lot of other messages being said here, the most prominent obviously regarding “killing your past” or embracing it. But these were presented in many different situations and contexts so as to undermine themselves, coming to the conclusion that these things aren’t so black and white, and the right thing to do can change depending on the person. I guess what I’m saying is, it opens up room for discussion with a lot of its themes, rather than trying to deliver a single message to you.
That’s about all the energy I have. I assume only people who actually played the game will read this whole thing so thanks and I hope you enjoyed me whack my brain with a potato masher thinking about The Silver Case.
Btw this goes hard, no?
Just look at what’s right in front of your eyes.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Stare down the enemy in front of you.
That’s how you investigate.
Don’t worry.
Any part of your brain starts worrying? Grill that shit up and eat it!
Am I wrong?
Maybe you are wrong Tetsu, maybe you’re not. But it’s not my call to decide that for you.
Firstly I want to thank @Oshha for recommending this to me. I hadn’t heard of Kill The Past or knew much about Suda51 beyond No More Heroes. Safe to say that I’m now totally all in on the rest of the series. It took me a few days of contemplation after finishing, but The Silver Case is a game that I can’t help but admire to a high level despite any low points it may have had.
In my first session I played lunatics and decoyman, which made a really good first impression. I thought if nothing else, style is going to carry. I love the use of windows constantly placed in different parts of the screen, for both text and images, always keeping things interesting to look at and sometimes catching me off guard. Accompanied by an awesome art style that shifts constantly throughout the game as the mood / perspective changes, so cool… (Although sometimes I was thrown off, because this change was so drastic that it would take me a while to realise that the person on the screen talking was actually someone I had already met!)
This comes hand in hand with music and sound design, it’s really damn good. I’m glad to see more of Takada’s work in context outside of Danganronpa. Obviously the catchy tunes are great, but what I admire more are how many variations of different tracks there are, to give off slightly different feelings, there’s nothing more uncomfortable than hearing a motif that you recognise, but for it to now be spun in a really eerie or dark way. Also not afraid to use silence when necessary! REALLY appreciate that, it made such an impact many times.
Yeah sometimes the gameplay was a bit ass/boring, but I never found it that awful to slog through. I was more bothered honestly by the false promise that this would partly be a puzzle game! As a puzzle fan, lunatics and decoyman had me really engaged with an additive caesar cipher and a game of Bulls and Cows. Not your typical simple puzzle thrown into a game just to make sure you’re paying attention, these require thought! After this nothing was to be seen again :( I like to think what could have been, but with how the pacing of the game changes so much maybe these would have been out of place later on, maybe this was intentional and actually highlight the subverting of expectations for what this game is truly about. Holy shit that’s totally it… you win again Suda.
Alright so the presentation is perfect, and the gameplay is whatever. What about the meat? Does this funky text based detective walking simulator actually have any substance over style? Checks my rating -of course it does. There’s really a lot to unpack and I don’t think I could ever do it close to the justice it deserves. I’ll just describe how certain things made me feel. (waffling incoming)
Tokio is very cool and it was interesting to hear the constantly ongoing thoughts of a paranoid as fuck loser (am i a bad person?). JK he’s actually a hero, we’re 100% with him knowledge wise throughout the whole game up until Enzawa gets killed and then they cut it off like what a cliffhanger?? Then he shows up in lifecut like “i've figured EVERYTHING out, check my email and you'll understand”, and then we DON'T see that email and when we return to Tokio in Hikari we are just NOT told anything that he went through?? FUCK YOU SUDA (<3), now i gotta sit here and piece things together myself by listening to the ghostly apparitions that are now communicating through him !!! HUH?
Parade was an insane turning point, that moment when the mansion blew up, the art of them staring at it? Burning it into their eyes? Mfer that image is burnt into MY eyes, if I ever forget what’s going on in this game, I'll always remember that for sure. It wasn’t until the end of Tsuki that I really appreciated how well executed Parade was, when you started to see the full picture, learn the facts in a different order, it hits different. Which kind of applies for the whole game, this definitely warrants a replay in the future.
I truly love it when you can tell a character has been well developed and thought about outside of what is solely shown to you in the game, and that is here in spades. You can feel that these characters go through some life changing shit off screen, it comes through in the writing which is really damn good OBVIOUSLY. Ugh I can only praise something so much before it starts to become cumbersome. My point being is it’s clear that certain events were very well planned out in detail, only to not be shown to you, so you are left to make a “guesses” at what happened. It’s just executed extremely well and creates this sense of stringing you along and leaving you to think things for yourself.
Kusabi is probably the best character, let's be real, he’s everything you could ever want in an asshole boomer detective. Loves his daughter? ✓ Calls you big dick? ✓ Hates crime from the bottom of his soul, yet still let’s supports his beloved colleague in killing his past? ✓ The way he told me “don’t trust the ‘truth’, search for the ‘facts’”, and then proceeded to tell me 3 different versions of the silver case that completely contradict each other really
Jokes / mindfuckery aside, it was super interesting, again with Nakategawa saying the whole CCO/FSO/… alliance bullshit oh that’s not actually a real thing, it’s actually all one big body. By this point I just had absolutely no idea what to trust anymore, but I think it didn’t matter. The main point stood the same, everyone was a pawn for someone else, and unless you cut it from the source (kill nezu?), the virus of crime (Kamui) will continue to circulate in the minds of individuals, or something?? There’s so much left to interpretation here and that’s what makes it so wonderful.
In that same vein, there are a lot of other messages being said here, the most prominent obviously regarding “killing your past” or embracing it. But these were presented in many different situations and contexts so as to undermine themselves, coming to the conclusion that these things aren’t so black and white, and the right thing to do can change depending on the person. I guess what I’m saying is, it opens up room for discussion with a lot of its themes, rather than trying to deliver a single message to you.
That’s about all the energy I have. I assume only people who actually played the game will read this whole thing so thanks and I hope you enjoyed me whack my brain with a potato masher thinking about The Silver Case.
Btw this goes hard, no?
============================================
EDIT.
Alright so I watched the game on youtube. The gameplay still looks absolutely atrocious. But everything else?? Really damn good honestly! Really cool story direction that is unlike anything we've seen from tomb raider, but still feels like a welcome entry. The tone is amazing, the music, dialogue, characters and cutscenes are great. This incarnation of Lara is my new favourite!
If this game got a resident evil style remake I genuinely think it could be one of the best tomb raider games, although that would never happen :/
I recommend any tomb raider fan at least watches the game, in fact it's probably the best way to experience this unfortunate missed opportunity. You really are not missing out on anything by skipping on playing it yourself. Doing yourself a favour actually.
============================================
Original Review:
yeah fuck this
I love how it looks graphically, the ambience has struck me alot already with how little I've experienced. But I just know this ain't gonna be a fun time and I don't have it in me. Maybe a youtube playthrough will be the move.
Suppose I didn't do myself any favours by playing this directly after Legend.
Truly filtered.
EDIT.
Alright so I watched the game on youtube. The gameplay still looks absolutely atrocious. But everything else?? Really damn good honestly! Really cool story direction that is unlike anything we've seen from tomb raider, but still feels like a welcome entry. The tone is amazing, the music, dialogue, characters and cutscenes are great. This incarnation of Lara is my new favourite!
If this game got a resident evil style remake I genuinely think it could be one of the best tomb raider games, although that would never happen :/
I recommend any tomb raider fan at least watches the game, in fact it's probably the best way to experience this unfortunate missed opportunity. You really are not missing out on anything by skipping on playing it yourself. Doing yourself a favour actually.
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Original Review:
yeah fuck this
I love how it looks graphically, the ambience has struck me alot already with how little I've experienced. But I just know this ain't gonna be a fun time and I don't have it in me. Maybe a youtube playthrough will be the move.
Suppose I didn't do myself any favours by playing this directly after Legend.
Truly filtered.