dsheinem wrote:If you’ve never played God of War 2, you are in for a treat. There’s not a bad entry in the series (even the PSP games are amongst the best games available for that console), but I really feel that God of War 2 was the long-running previous high point of the franchise until the 2018 game came along. GoW 2018 is so different, though, that a staight comparison is tough to make. I’d rate God of War 2 as standing almost shoulder to shoulder with Devil May Cry 3 as the best hack-n-slash style game of its generation.
prfsnl_gmr wrote:+1
I find the Kratos character aggressively annoying, but even I have to admit that GoW II is a really, really well-designed game and one of the best on the PS2.
I have heard very good things about GoW II, so I'm kinda excited to play it after going through the first one. It definitely has seemed like 2 was a fan favorite more than 1 was. God of War 1 is like, SO CLOSE to being a really fantastic game, I'm excited to see the sequel improve on that
I'd also have to agree that GoW 2018 is such a different animal it's hard to compare. Playing through the first game, they're honestly more similar than at first I gave them credit for (it actually feels like a more natural evolution than I'd thought at first), but I would agree that it's not a very fair comparison. It's kind alike comparing Link to the Past to Ocarina of Time. They're just such different mediums of game that, sure they're both fruit, but it's apples and oranges.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
I finished up the remake of RE2 on a Claire A/Leon B run today. At some point I'll go back and do the Fourth Survivor and maybe Tofu Survivor, but I'm satisfied with things for now. EO Nexus just came out, so I want to switch to that. When RE2 remake was announced and revealed to be in the over the shoulder style of RE4 I was a bit hesitant. I had really enjoyed the game when I played the GC port and I didn't want to see it get too actionized. But when I tried the PAX demo I found my fears were unfounded, and the whole experience was a joy.
The RE2 remake does a general uprez of the original game, but it adjusts how the zombies work to account for the fact you can aim. They are still very much obstacles you need to work around, rather than enemies to mow down. This is accomplished in a few ways. The first is that enemies take a TON of ammo to go down. As in, multiple headshots. And many times they can get back up, either immediately or a bit later (which makes backtracking exciting). Many times it can be better to shoot one in the kneecap a few times to blow off its leg; this makes them much easier to dodge around. You can also choose to walk, rather than run, and if the zombies aren't looking at you this lets you ninja around them. You'll definitely want to use that when Lickers are around, as they take a lot to go down (as in, two grenade launcher shots or three magnum shots); you can take advantage of their lack of sight and definitely don't bump into them by accident. Combine this with a great use of lighting and zombie positioning around blind corners and the tension of the original is still very much alive.
But then you get to the really fun part: Mr. X. Originally a feature of the B scenario, he now shows up in both (with the B scenario having him show up much earlier). While in the original he mostly was just a complication in certain hallways, now he is acting more like the Nemesis. He patrols around the police station and if he catches sight of you he will stomp after you to lay down the hurt. If you fire your gun at zombies he can hear you and will zero in on you, and you can hear him a few rooms away. When he shows up your leisurely stroll through the police station gets much more challenging. The whole thing is very well done, and it makes me super excited to see an RE3 remake. This was clearly a pilot of their plans for the Nemesis in that game.
The whole thing definitely feels like what RE2 would be if they made it today with the same goals for how players should feel through the experience. This, combined with RE7, shows that management at Capcom have realized that RE fans want horror and puzzles, not zombie shoot em up. They can save that for Dead Rising. Given the success here I would not hesitate to pick up a forthcoming RE8, and RE3 remake needs to happen.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
1. Ziggurat (PC-GOG) - I finally finished Ziggurat. And I'm listing it as finished, because I don't know when/if I'm ever going to attempt to complete it.
After I got over my initial issues the game's progress invalidating structure (also known as rouge-like or rouge-lite) it was just a matter of time as I was unlocking better weapons, characters and perks after every failure.
But I still see no point to the mechanic, like what for? It seems especially lazy in avoiding actual tight level design, the one that got me to fall in love with FPS's games all the way back to the days of the original Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.
Even games like Serious Sam and Painkiller, that have a more similar structure (well comparatively anyway) are more fun because of that.
Ziggurat is a technically competent game when it comes to the core of its FPS mechanics, but the story is hard to give a damn about and the graphics, which border between cartoonish and Gothic are not unpleasant in any way. So ultimately my biggest issue is not with the game itself but the sub-genre it belongs to.
This game was a good testing ground for me, to see if I can stomach the sub-genre in the future. And though after getting over the initial stress inducing psychological block and eventually thriving (well it remains to be seen whether I truly thrive by completing it) by sticking to the game's rules. I... Just don't see the point of it...
Sure, I can stomach the progress invalidating structure eventually, but why I'm I putting it up with it in the first place? Rouge-lite FPS's are a relatively new thing, and though some of them (like Ziggurat here) are decent, do I really need to play any of them? When there's so many classics, (and the occasional throwback like Dusk) to enjoy and a few (like Doom Eternal) new games worth playing?
I guess if I finish every single FPS from every era that I want to play, maybe then I can start looking into these types of games, but even then, given that the thing that distinguishes them, is the very thing, I think they'd all be better without, maybe I shouldn't bother at all.
As far as recommending the game, considering you don't have my hang-ups with the rouge-lite structure and you don't expect the pinnacle of FPS gaming, you can do a lot worse than Ziggurat, and it should be a decent FPS romp, to hold you over for a cold winter month.
2. Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (Switch) - So I finally finished Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (boy that's a mouthful, LGPE from now on). On the outset LGPE is a rather faithful remake to the original Kanto games, down to every dungeon map and trainer placement. In that, it will trigger your nostalgia boner like crazy. At the same time, some of the new additions can be (and have been) off putting to long time fans of the series.
Personally, not being the typical Pokemon fan, or someone who thinks any gaming series should go on for perpetuity in general, have mixed feelings about the additions. On the one hand, some of the 'quality of life' additions were long overdue, and only help in making, one of the longest 'samey' series in gaming all that more tolerable for the 15th time or whatever. On the other, you have stuff like needlessly forcing motion controls (when a Pro Controller option is perfectly viable but deliberately omitted) and Pokemon Go integration (that's absolutely necessary for getting the two truly new Pokemon introduced with this game) that really rub me the wrong way.
Having said that, playing the entire game with the Pokeball controller, and using only one hand wasn't all that bad, in fact it was very comfortable for a 'casual' game like this one. Though I didn't have to deal with the inaccuracy of the motion controls as much as the average player would, since I basically started with two fully maxed out Pokemon that carried me the whole game.
For other players looking into this game, if you come into it expecting a casual nostalgia trigger to your time playing Yellow back in the day and if you generally haven't played another Pokemon game recently, you'll probably come away satisfied. If you are a long time Pokemon fan, which has been playing every game in the series up to this point, you'll probably be underwhelmed despite some of the pleasant changes, especially since a lot of the challenge and depth has been taken away from the metagame.
As far as completing this game is concerned, despite the casual outlook, the particular addition of Master Trainers at postgame make it a monumentally grindy concept. For my personal purposes, I also need to trade Pokemon from the other version of the game for Pokedex completion, a task I usually do myself between two copies of the game. In this case that will require a second Switch console and a secondary 'in-between' account (saves are account locked on the Switch), on top of the very obvious copy of the other version, so this game may not be completed at any time this year, especially since I'm not buying a second Switch unless a newer model comes out.
Completed Games:
1. Spyro the Dragon (PS1) - It was finished before it was completed for all of 20 minutes as I was 100%'ing every stage as I was clearing it. But as people who played the game would know, Spyro ends at 120% due to the one Dragon and Bonus stage that opens up after you beat the final boss. Of course on top of that, I went ahead and farmed 99 lives, simply because I could and it was reasonably quick, just to put a nice completionist bow on this fun game.
Spyro was an easy 3D platformer, I think I would have found it easy even if I had played it back in the day when I wasn't as experienced as I am now. But I also think I would have enjoyed it far more if I had played it on launch also.
You see Spyro was one of those games that 'slipped through the cracks'. I was aware of it when it came out (loved the demo), I wanted to play it and I had both the means and opportunity to buy it, but other things distracted me and it got forgotten and I didn't want to get the sequels because I hadn't played the first game, and that was that.
But these days, unless you are a PS1 fan or longed for the game since its launch like I did, you better of playing the new remake, it includes the sequels and it looks like is pretty faithful to the original gameplay experience.
Finished: 2 Completed: 1
Total: 3
Honorable Mentions:
Null Notes: Well I'm glad I'm done with this game for awhile, I will however be doing everything all over again for the Eevee version in the not too distant future. But given that it takes me about three weeks worth of walks (now that I got the process down pat) with the Pokeball to fully max out a Pokemon, and I'll be doing it again for the starting Eevee and Mew for the other game, don't realistically expect the other version to enter the finished pile until closer to the summer (and I have to buy it first).
I finished up the remake of RE2 on a Claire A/Leon B run today. At some point I'll go back and do the Fourth Survivor and maybe Tofu Survivor, but I'm satisfied with things for now. EO Nexus just came out, so I want to switch to that. When RE2 remake was announced and revealed to be in the over the shoulder style of RE4 I was a bit hesitant. I had really enjoyed the game when I played the GC port and I didn't want to see it get too actionized. But when I tried the PAX demo I found my fears were unfounded, and the whole experience was a joy.
The RE2 remake does a general uprez of the original game, but it adjusts how the zombies work to account for the fact you can aim. They are still very much obstacles you need to work around, rather than enemies to mow down. This is accomplished in a few ways. The first is that enemies take a TON of ammo to go down. As in, multiple headshots. And many times they can get back up, either immediately or a bit later (which makes backtracking exciting). Many times it can be better to shoot one in the kneecap a few times to blow off its leg; this makes them much easier to dodge around. You can also choose to walk, rather than run, and if the zombies aren't looking at you this lets you ninja around them. You'll definitely want to use that when Lickers are around, as they take a lot to go down (as in, two grenade launcher shots or three magnum shots); you can take advantage of their lack of sight and definitely don't bump into them by accident. Combine this with a great use of lighting and zombie positioning around blind corners and the tension of the original is still very much alive.
But then you get to the really fun part: Mr. X. Originally a feature of the B scenario, he now shows up in both (with the B scenario having him show up much earlier). While in the original he mostly was just a complication in certain hallways, now he is acting more like the Nemesis. He patrols around the police station and if he catches sight of you he will stomp after you to lay down the hurt. If you fire your gun at zombies he can hear you and will zero in on you, and you can hear him a few rooms away. When he shows up your leisurely stroll through the police station gets much more challenging. The whole thing is very well done, and it makes me super excited to see an RE3 remake. This was clearly a pilot of their plans for the Nemesis in that game.
The whole thing definitely feels like what RE2 would be if they made it today with the same goals for how players should feel through the experience. This, combined with RE7, shows that management at Capcom have realized that RE fans want horror and puzzles, not zombie shoot em up. They can save that for Dead Rising. Given the success here I would not hesitate to pick up a forthcoming RE8, and RE3 remake needs to happen.
Hey, RE4 and RE5 were great games and incredibly popular as well - yes, even RE5.
Violent By Design wrote:Hey, RE4 and RE5 were great games and incredibly popular as well - yes, even RE5.
They were definitely popular though how 'great' they were (especially 5) is debatable.
What they definitely weren't however, was Resident Evil.
I'm not too hot on 7 either myself, is closer to the newfangled PewDiePie-bait 'survival horror' than old school stuff I'm a fan of, even if its not an action shooter like most of the other recent entries (though I plan to give it another chance in the future).
Buy yes they were popular, but not with old school fans like myself that basically gave up on the series after 5.
4 was good but was a harbinger of things to come. 5 and 6 were terrible RE games. I was surprised by 7; it feels like RE1 if you swap out a lot of the zombies for more encounters with Lisa.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
1. Kung fu z (android) 2. Celeste 3. Dead Dungeon 4. Defender Faith 5. The Messenger 6. Eroico 7. Awesome Pea 8. Vosaria: lair of the forgotten 9. Vintage Hero 10. God of War (ps4) 11. Legendary Wings (nes) 12. Tiny Toobs Busters hidden treasure (genesis) 13. Johnny Rocket 14. Spider-man (ps4) 15. Ori and the blind forest 16. Rude bear resurrection 17. Shining Force (genesis) 18. Mega Man 5 (game boy)
17. Shining Force (genesis)
When I was in middle school my dad brought me home a mail order catalog of video games and told me I can pick one for whatever occasion it was. Completely overwhelmed with the loads of games I never heard of I saw a game called Warsong with a cool looking knight on a horse. I had no idea what it was but the cover art appealed to me so I ordered it, the next day I stayed home from school and anxiously awaited the game to arrive in the mail.
When it came I anxiously opened it and popped it in my genesis, up until that point in my life, I had never played a SRPG but this game instantly hooked me. I completely fell in love with everything about it, played it to death, and then actively started to look for games that may play similarly to my new favorite genesis game.
I rented everything I could find that looked like it may have played like warsong and wound up renting one crappy title after another, I can't remember what games I rented but I could tell you for sure they all had grids and were varying levels of mediocre, a few of them were okay-ish but nothing came close to the greatness of warsong.
I guess either my local rental stores did not carry shining force or I just missed it in the crowded store shelves, I did not actually hear about the shining force series until high school and I always wanted to play it but just never got around to it, and here we are, over 20 years later, I finally played through shining force.
I really wish I had found this game when I was young because I would have loved it then and I wonder if I would have liked it more than warsong. Right now it is impossible to tell, warsong has over 20 years of nostalgia and fond memories behind it so there is no way I was going to like this game more than warsong at this point in my life. Regardless of which game is better I can definitely say that shining force is a top notch game that I absolutely adored from start to finish and I really look forward to playing the rest of the games in the series. As soon as I got into this game I instantly stopped playing everything else, I put down bloodborne, shadow of the tomb raider, and new super mario deluxe and became completely addicted to playing this and only this, it really is amazing how well games like this hold up compared to most standard rpg's of the same time period.
I don't really feel like writing a full review of the game, I just really wanted to gush a bit about how much I enjoyed it, and my shame for missing it when I was younger.
18. Mega Man V (game boy)
Last year, in anticipation of Mega Man 11, I made it a point to play all the prior mega man games in the main series, I played 1-10 and when that didnt scratch my mega man itch I moved on to fan games and indie games that mega man inspired (like 20XX for example). As much of a mega man fanatic as I am I always overlooked the game boy games, I always thought they were just watered down rehashes of the nes games so they did not seem worth my time. Recently I learned that Mega Man V for the game boy is a brand new game and I just had to play it.
The story starts out with a new villain who mega man is incapable of hurting, they fight in the intro sequence and after realizing MM is too weak to hurt him Dr. Light modifies MM's charge shot to be a fist that is far more powerful and can potentially take down this vicious new villain. There is probably more story to this game than any of the classic mega man games, there is a fairly lengthy intro sequence and some scattered cutscenes throughout the game. The story is nothing to write home about but it is more than I expected and although Wily predictably makes an appearance, he is very surprsingly not the final boss.
The game takes a different arc then most mega man games, the game is laid out in this way:
4 robot masters where you choose the order Boss fight with the yellow devil 4 more robot masters where you choose the order Boss fight with the robot from the intro A sidescrolling schmup level where you are in the rush jet Wily's castle which is the longest stage in the history of the series that has random boss fights with new robots sprinkled throughout the series staple of refighting all 8 robot masters a 2 part boss fight with Wily a final boss fight with this super weapon guy who comes out of nowhere
I have to say it was all pretty impressive for a handheld title.
The game plays like standard mega man fare, you have all the moves you would expect him to have, regular buster shot, slide, jump, and charge shot. The difference is that the charge shot is replaced with his launching fist that boomerangs back to him after fired, functionally it doesnt really have any impact on the game that the charge shot would have. Control in this game is a bit slippery compared to the other games in the series, it is not terrible by any means, but not as tight as the other games in the series. The low point of the game is the weapons that the robot masters give you. Just about every single one of them is completely useless, and I didn't use any of them at any point in the game.
Not only are they useless for navigating the levels, but they are even useless for boss fights. The charge shot in this game is very strong and enemies have less invunerability after taking a hit meaning that just using your mega buster is more efficient for most boss fights. I also question if some of these bosses even have a weakness, I fought the 4th and 8th boss and none of the weapons I had did anything special to them but I HAD to possess their weakness at that time so I dont know what went wrong. I got to the point where I stopped experimenting with different weapons and just used the mega buster on everything. I would say that the weapons acquired in this game are the worst in the series, and not having fun with experimenting with boss weaknesses took a lot of what I enjoy about mega man games out of this title.
The levels themselves are fun enough, I was able to beat most levels and bosses on my first run through so the challenge level is pretty low, it is not brain dead easy but it certainly does not keep you on your toes the way games like 9 and unlimited do, but it is probably harder than NES mega man 6. Each level has some gimmicks but nothing you haven't seen before, but there is some slowdown on some parts that make navigating far more difficult than it should be. It is not too frequent but very annoying when it happens.
There are also P chips scattered throughout the levels that function like the screws that have become a staple for the series, they allow you to buy a few useless upgrades that I didnt bother with, but they also let you buy E-tanks, W -tanks, and an S-tank so they are definitely worth collecting.
I am glad I played this game, if for no other reason, than to play a new mega man title. It is flawed but I still had some fun with it and enjoyed it for what it is. It is probably not a game I will replay any time soon but if you have't played it and love mega man than it is worth a look, of course if you are a mega man fan on this site you probably have not played mega man unlimited so you really should be playing that over everything else...and yes I always find a way to plug that game in every mega man discussion.
