BoneSnapDeez wrote:It's an adventure game with full exploration and consequences. There's HP and a "reputation" meter to keep an eye on. I definitely experienced my share of Game Overs along the way.
Ah, hell, Bone. What are you doing to me, man? Now I gotta get a Super Everdrive.
So, for another "time travel" game, I've gone through the NES version of Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. It's... passable. It basically takes the form of an adventure game, with very light action elements. You can shoot a few things with your phasers, but most of the game consists of light puzzle elements. Like many games of its ilk, it sometimes lacks clarity of direction. You can always do the whole "try all the items" bit, although you may not have what you need. In fact, I actually got stuck on the last planet because I apparently missed an item needed to proceed after shooting some crooks, and the game wouldn't let me grab the item off of them after leaving the building (despite them still being there). Warping off the planet removed them entirely, so I plugged in a password to get a do-over.
The engine strains, especially since you have three crewmembers on the screen as well as other sprites. The soundtrack is pretty much trash. Terrible usage of the NES soundchip, with very basic "melodies", if you can call them that. You can go to other planets, although the critical path only requires four. I kinda referred to a guide to move through the exploration more quickly; only one planet triggers moving the plot forward.
Anyway, I think I'll give this one... a 5/10. Despite the flaws, there aren't a ton of games like it on NES, but there certainly are better adventure-style games here and elsewhere. Only play if you're a big fan of NES adventures or the show and have exhausted the top-tier options.
@pierrot: Emulate! (Although a Super ED or SD2SNES is cool, too. I don't know about the former, but the latter is great.)
If I had no other realistic options, I potentially would, but since Bone prodded me into doing some research, I found that the Super ED should meet my needs, especially with regard to price (which the SD2SNES doesn't). I don't care enough about MMX2, and either already have most of the helper chip games that I even remotely care about, or the ones I do care about aren't supported by either of them (Star Ocean, basically). Even though it's kind of neat, I also don't really have any interest in the MSU1.
I actually don't even have a single emulator installed on my computer right now.
The expanded Star Ocean (96 Mb) works on the SD2SNES. There's also a guy working on the S-DD1, so I expect the unhacked ROM will be supported pretty soon. I do get the massive price difference, though, may not make it worthwhile. The instant ROM loading is awfully nice, though; I don't know if the current SED supports that or not.
Sarge wrote:The instant ROM loading is awfully nice, though; I don't know if the current SED supports that or not.
It doesn't, but the testimonials I was reading mentioned class 10 cards being better with the speed, and 10-20 seconds is really not much of a bother to me. I don't even really use my Mega, Turbo, or N8 Everdrives enough, but I got two of them on sale, so it's not like I feel too bad about the purchases. I don't know if I could say that about splurging on an SD2SNES.
I went back some pages to see Popo played Soul Reaver on keyboard... hot damn. I think I'll try to check out the Dreamcast version someday, this series looks pretty cool.
The OST is indeed amazing. What ever else you might think about the game, the OST is fantastic.
Honestly, the keyboard controls weren't too bad. Most of the time the auto camera was sufficient; usually when it wasn't it was because I was intentionally trying to run towards the camera and see what was behind me (one boss fight) or when I was doing platforming from up against a wall, in which case even moving the camera manually didn't help much. Oh, and that one boss fight I needed to go into aim mode, but it was such a trivial fight anyway that it didn't matter.
So now I'm onto Soul Reaver 2, and it's amazing the difference in production values. Whereas Soul Reaver 1's story presentation felt like an underfunded indie studio biting off more than they could chew in Soul Reaver 2 apparently they had enough budget to really spend time with the story. While it leads to large dialog cutscenes it also is really able to fully realize the storyline that they had conceived. Similarly, the jump from PS1 tech to PS2 means that the models are far more detailed and the combat feels better. It's still better to skip enemies when possible, but at least now I don't feel like I'm gimped if I don't have the soul reaver out (and here it's a much more interesting risk/reward weapon). Really, the biggest issue now is the fact that you pretty much have to lock on, but lock on is the same button as sneak, so it makes you move really slow.
The other thing I've noticed is that the game is slow burning when I get to experience the puzzle gameplay. As I understand it it should still be there, but it seems they are saving it for after I get more of my bearings story wise. Based on what I've seen it also looks like they're bringing things back to a linear progression and likely dropped the health upgrades. Now there's just save points, rather than portals, and I have all my mobility upgrades from the first game. The game has called out various landmarks that I'm definitely going to revisit, but I suspect it'll be more of the plot dropping me off near them, rather than needing to do a long path back (though I could be wrong on that front).
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
I started The Lost Vikings on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System this afternoon!
I started in the Vikings era, went to a Space Ship, then Prehistoric times, then the ancient Egyptians and now I am in some sort of factory. I would say that is some time traveling.
I initially almost sold the game several years ago, but many people convinced me not too. So, I decided to persevere and see what the Lost Vikings is all about. And I do have to say that I am glad that I did not sell it. I am enjoying the puzzle aspect of the game. When you are able to walk around and try to solve the level, that is very fun and very enjoyable. I also love how the levels are designed in such a way that two people who cannot jump can make it through.
However, the combat is very restrictive. I have died too many times running into enemies that are able to kill me faster. Also, doing 75 things in a level, have one Viking die and then get to do it all over again is super annoying.
There are parts that are annoying and frustrating, but I have been enjoying it overall. The game is quite fun and I do love the little quips. It's not bad.
Bone and I are huge fans of Lost Vikings. That's one I love going back to every few years. The Genesis version actually has some extra music for one world and an extra stage or few, but it's like impossible on a normal 3-button pad haha. Pretty sure it supports the 6-button pad though and was playable that way. Overall I still prefer the SNES version for sure though. Sadly the sequel isn't half as awesome as the first. Still worth playing and the SNES version is super different compared to the PC/PSX version (which has completely new graphics and music), but yeah. The first is way better.
