January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
66)
Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu67)
The New Ghostbusters II (NES, proto)
68)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSP, via
Dracula X Chronicles)
69)
Revenge of Shinobi70)
Shinobi III71)
Shadow Dancer72)
El Viento73)
Earnest Evans74)
One Must Fall 209775)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES)
76)
Hebereke77)
Contra78)
Wario Land: Shake It!79)
Gimmick!80)
Ninja Gaiden (GG)
81)
Wai Wai World 2 (NES)
82)
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II83)
Uncharted: Golden AbyssSo twice over the last few days, I've seen mention of
StarTropics. Once on USGamer, the other while browsing the eShop, which tells me they just dropped 'em on Wii U VC. That, of course, prompted me to finish off my run through my own VC copy of
Zoda's Revenge I'd started a while back. This was on the regular VC. I'd gotten to the haunted mansion, and just couldn't get through at the time, and I was rushing things and making it worse. This time? First shot. Not even close. Go figure! I also ran into issues in one area in the medieval period, with the stupid platforms and spikes over the pits. It's a bit tough to come in cold to the game in the advanced portions sometimes...
...but I blazed through the last boss gauntlet with no issues whatsoever. Another one of those "go figure" moments, although I used to do that all the time when I was younger, so I had practice.
It's really a solid game. I love how they mix all the different periods up to keep things fresh, it's got a wonky but fun sense of humor, and the added mobility makes the action really solid. It's not as puzzle-oriented as the first game, however, and I miss that a bit. It's also more linear as well. But both games have their charms, so give 'em a shot if you haven't already.
The other game finished this weekend was
Uncharted: Golden Abyss. I actually didn't like it very much when I started, but most of my issues were directly tied to adjusting to the Vita analog sticks. As I got further in, the controls became more second nature, and I was capping tons of fools...
tons of them. Seriously, if there's anything I think is overdone in the
Uncharted games, it's too much gunplay. It's okay as a diversion, but I like it more when I'm doing platforming,
Prince of Persia-style, or exploring for hidden relics. What's here is solid and simple, there's just too much of it. Melee combat's alright, as well. And you can take a
lot of bullets. Seriously, Drake has to secretly be Master Chief.
Presentation is top-notch. It's not quite as good as the PS3 entries, but it's getting up there, which is impressive for a early Vita title. Actually, I'm not sure how many other games really push the hardware this hard. But at the same time, I couldn't help be a little disappointed as well. The
Uncharted games thrive on spectacle, and there's tons of amazing stuff, but it's not quite amazing
enough. Still, I had a good time with it. Probably 8/10 territory, 7/10 if we use Exhuminator's grading scale.
It's more
Uncharted than
Uncharted 3 or the sublime
Uncharted 2.
EDIT: Oh, I forgot all the extra control stuff with
Uncharted. I'm pretty sure they made sure to use every ancillary function on the Vita. Some works pretty well (aiming using the tilt sensor), some is okay (charcoal rubbings), and some are completely unnecessary (holding the Vita up to a light). And there are things that it requires you to do that would normally be done with a button, like picking up the various trinkets scattered about, which seems a bit silly. And melee utilizes touch-screen swipes. The
worst is rotating objects using the back touchpad. Thankfully, that's not something you have to do often, but getting things to rotate how you like is an exercise in frustration.
