1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
10. Inbento - Switch
11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - XB1
12. Doom Eternal - PC
Doom Eternal follows up Doom 2016 by being essentially a remake of Doom II (while 2016 was a remake of Doom). So now the action is set on Earth with Hell invading and it's up to you to kill all the things. This entry adds in more story than the last one, and it does break up the action a bit. I'm still undecided as to whether or not it's a good thing; I'm a sucker for the existence of story and I like learning about stuff in a constructed world.
For the most part the game will be familiar for fans of the preceding game. You've got good weapon variety, all of which are useful for one task for another. Those weapons can be upgraded and then mastered, as well as your personal abilities can be upgraded. The personal upgrades are split into three; runes are passive magical bonuses that you can equip up to three of at a time, suit points buff abilities coming off your suit, and shards buff your health and ammo. The shards have a mechanic where if you pick two different types (e.g. health and armor, or armor and ammo) you'll unlock a passive; this encourages you to not just blitz four points into one category.
The biggest change is in the flow of the action. Max ammo (even with the upgrades) is fairly low in this game, but you start with the chainsaw. So the general flow is that you want to get into a rhythm. Glory killing enemies gives you health, hitting enemies who are on fire gives you armor (thanks to your shoulder flamethrower), and chainsawing enemies gives you ammo. The chainsaw can only be used on weak enemies and staggered medium enemies. So combat becomes much more of a dance; enemy fire is damaging, accurate, and in quantity, so going from enemy to enemy quickly dispatching it in a manner that gives you the resource you need is paramount. In a way it can feel like a Sekiro fight; if you approach it bad you get trashed, but if you get into the right groove then you feel like an amazing badass.
The game's collectables have been expanded. In addition to figurines (this time of monsters) you can collect lore entries (which explain the game's background, as in game story doesn't use "as you know"), soundtrack items playable in the Fortress of Doom, upgrade items, and cheats. The last one is a neat feature; when you replay single levels you can turn on as many cheats as you like while still being able to do almost anything in the level. This is useful for going back for certain challenges you might have missed the first time (which award suit upgrade points).
The level design is based a bit more around arenas (similar to the blood nests of the first game). In addition to the basic arenas there are two others. The first is a hidden arena, which are in out of the way places. These are timed challenges where you have to kill all the spawned monsters within the time limit. Some of them can be quite brutal, as they usually involve a confined space and nasty enemies spawned on top of you. The second are the slayer gates, which are the only thing you can't do with cheats on. There are six of these, and each one teleports you to an arena with a massive series of enemies, usually including ones that you won't face in the main game for one or more levels. Completing all six gives you access to a second super weapon that shares ammo with the BFG.
There's a handful of new enemies. Pain Elementals, Arachnotrons, and Archviles appear as would be expected in a Doom II remake. Archviles are just as nasty as you remember, though instead of resurrecting enemies they now spawn them. There is a floating enemy called the Doom Hunter; he serves as a boss initially before becoming a regular super heavy enemy. There are scaled down Cyberdemons called Tyrants. And finally, there are Marauders, which stick out the most in terms of not feeling quite like they fit. The Marauder has an axe, a shotgun, and a shield. If you shoot him, he instantly shields. If you are far away he will make a beam from his axe. If you're close he pushes you back with his shotgun. If you're at the right distance he will lower his guard and swing his axe; this is where you can nail him. So it's your standard "bait the attack" enemy. The problem is that there are usually a bunch of other dudes around you, so you can't get into the rhythm you need. He also can randomly summon a ghost dog to attack you (and it doesn't give drops). The Marauder ends up being probably the most threatening thing you face, as he is highly resistant to the super weapons so you can't just cheese him like anything else can. He's an exercise in arena management and a bit of luck, depending on what attacks he does. Personally, I think reducing his health for non-boss encounters would have been appropriate, given his impact on the flow of the game.
The game also has a few proper boss encounters. Besides the aforementioned Doom Hunter and Marauder there is a Gladiator (who starts as a counter fight before going on the offensive), a spoiler boss (which is based around needing to reduce shields and get in a hit, repeat N times), and finally the Icon of Sin, who instead of being John Romero's head behind a wall is instead a giant monster who you have to destroy piece by piece. And in a wonderful bit of level design his arena has constantly respawning powerups, so it's more an exercise in taking your shots when you can and managing the enemy respawns (for resources).
Doom Eternal is not quite as pure of an experience as its predecessor, but it is no less fun. It answers the question "how do we build upon what we did before?" in a reasonable fashion, and every time you get through a particularly hellish arena you feel great. And that's the main thing I'm looking for out of this series.
Games Beaten 2020
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
10. Inbento - Switch
11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - XB1
12. Doom Eternal - PC
13. Serious Sam 2 - PC
The first Serious Sam was a surprise game that was quite fun, with hordes of enemies calling back to an earlier time in FPS's when it came out (though it then went over the top with it). The initial follow up suffered from FPS expansion pack syndrome, but was still a solid enough title. But now here comes Serious Sam 2, with tech upgrades and a bigger budget. It'll be great, right? Man, I wish. The funny thing is, I tried the demo way back when it came out and decided I wasn't a fan of the changes; the feel was off. But then it went on sale more recently and I figured to go with a "what the hell?" purchase. And unfortunately my feelings back then were right on the money.
So the very first thing you'll notice is the game actually is taking the time to tell a story. Before and after every mission is a cutscene. This is in stark contrast to the first game, where you just got a text blurb giving you a bare amount of context as to why you needed to kill dudes in this particular level. And frankly, they should have stuck with the text blurbs. The writing in the game is atrocious. Like, makes bad fan games seem good atrocious. Most of the level transitions are written by someone with that obnoxious fat boy sense of humor, with a bunch of random farts, crotch scratches, and some falling down a pipe while ragdolling because "dur hur, isn't this funny?" It's that guy who is in your social circle who drives everyone crazy with his terrible "jokes", but not quite to the level that anyone is willing to say anything. And the worst part is the utter lack of any sort of payoff at the end; the game acts like you'll finally take down Mental (the big bad) but you don't even get a glimpse of him. The game even calls itself out on this. Like, what the hell were they thinking?
This extends to the enemy design. In addition to all the general enemies that fit in well (though not quite as interesting as the first game's enemies), there are a bunch of silly enemies for no good reason. So in addition to the bulls (which are wind up rhinos who make the same bull noise for some reason) there are orc football players who charge you and have about the same health (they also can throw bomb passes in flagrant violation of passes beyond the line of scrimmage). Why are they football players? Because it's funny. In addition to the kamikazes (which now have a bomb head on a bouncy spring) there are clowns on unicycles with bombs. Why? Because it's funny. Oh, and it also extends to the friendly races you encounter. You have to visit five planets and save five races of short people who are various ethnic stereotypes (Hong Fong is particularly egregious) from Mental's forces and get a Macguffin piece which isn't even used (and is, indeed, thrown away in the ending, much to Sam's annoyance).
The weaponry is mostly just ported over from The Second Encounter. They give you a chargable Plasma Pistol in addition to the dual pistols to give you two emergency weapons, and it is useless except for breaking boxes for pickups. The other new weapon is a parrot carrying a bomb who homes in on enemies and does about as much damage as a cannonball. The tommy gun was also replaced with dual SMGs, but that's essentially an aesthetic change. It serves as the bullet weapon before you get the minigun and then never use again. The game also introduces vehicles, which are mostly an excuse for you to more easily mow down a horde thanks to your much higher move speed. Fortunately, all the vehicles are hover vehicles, so no dealing with real vehicle physics.
The game went for a large number of short stages approach, leading to a game of about the same length. One thing I noticed, though, was that the encounters tend to be just a little bit too long. Like, you'll get to a point where you're stemming a tide pretty well, and it just keeps coming long beyond the point where you're still having fun. It's one thing when you keep getting pushed back and are wondering if you're going to finish before you run out of room and ammo, but here you frequently have things well in hand and two backup weapons that will be just as effective when you hit that zone. It's like they let the interns do the encounter design and didn't give it a review pass afterwards.
The game doesn't have anything egregiously broken with it, or anything that's just plain wrong. It's just such a massive step down from the previous games that I can't really recommend it to anyone. Fortunately, Croteam seems to hate it just as much as I do; as I understand it they were under pressure from the publisher to make the game lighter and softer (and it's definitely easier than the first two games aside from the final encounter before the final boss, and that's more due to them making it super gimmicky at the end). I've heard that the third game (which is a prequel to the first game) is much better, so I'll have to give that a try at some point.
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
10. Inbento - Switch
11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - XB1
12. Doom Eternal - PC
13. Serious Sam 2 - PC
The first Serious Sam was a surprise game that was quite fun, with hordes of enemies calling back to an earlier time in FPS's when it came out (though it then went over the top with it). The initial follow up suffered from FPS expansion pack syndrome, but was still a solid enough title. But now here comes Serious Sam 2, with tech upgrades and a bigger budget. It'll be great, right? Man, I wish. The funny thing is, I tried the demo way back when it came out and decided I wasn't a fan of the changes; the feel was off. But then it went on sale more recently and I figured to go with a "what the hell?" purchase. And unfortunately my feelings back then were right on the money.
So the very first thing you'll notice is the game actually is taking the time to tell a story. Before and after every mission is a cutscene. This is in stark contrast to the first game, where you just got a text blurb giving you a bare amount of context as to why you needed to kill dudes in this particular level. And frankly, they should have stuck with the text blurbs. The writing in the game is atrocious. Like, makes bad fan games seem good atrocious. Most of the level transitions are written by someone with that obnoxious fat boy sense of humor, with a bunch of random farts, crotch scratches, and some falling down a pipe while ragdolling because "dur hur, isn't this funny?" It's that guy who is in your social circle who drives everyone crazy with his terrible "jokes", but not quite to the level that anyone is willing to say anything. And the worst part is the utter lack of any sort of payoff at the end; the game acts like you'll finally take down Mental (the big bad) but you don't even get a glimpse of him. The game even calls itself out on this. Like, what the hell were they thinking?
This extends to the enemy design. In addition to all the general enemies that fit in well (though not quite as interesting as the first game's enemies), there are a bunch of silly enemies for no good reason. So in addition to the bulls (which are wind up rhinos who make the same bull noise for some reason) there are orc football players who charge you and have about the same health (they also can throw bomb passes in flagrant violation of passes beyond the line of scrimmage). Why are they football players? Because it's funny. In addition to the kamikazes (which now have a bomb head on a bouncy spring) there are clowns on unicycles with bombs. Why? Because it's funny. Oh, and it also extends to the friendly races you encounter. You have to visit five planets and save five races of short people who are various ethnic stereotypes (Hong Fong is particularly egregious) from Mental's forces and get a Macguffin piece which isn't even used (and is, indeed, thrown away in the ending, much to Sam's annoyance).
The weaponry is mostly just ported over from The Second Encounter. They give you a chargable Plasma Pistol in addition to the dual pistols to give you two emergency weapons, and it is useless except for breaking boxes for pickups. The other new weapon is a parrot carrying a bomb who homes in on enemies and does about as much damage as a cannonball. The tommy gun was also replaced with dual SMGs, but that's essentially an aesthetic change. It serves as the bullet weapon before you get the minigun and then never use again. The game also introduces vehicles, which are mostly an excuse for you to more easily mow down a horde thanks to your much higher move speed. Fortunately, all the vehicles are hover vehicles, so no dealing with real vehicle physics.
The game went for a large number of short stages approach, leading to a game of about the same length. One thing I noticed, though, was that the encounters tend to be just a little bit too long. Like, you'll get to a point where you're stemming a tide pretty well, and it just keeps coming long beyond the point where you're still having fun. It's one thing when you keep getting pushed back and are wondering if you're going to finish before you run out of room and ammo, but here you frequently have things well in hand and two backup weapons that will be just as effective when you hit that zone. It's like they let the interns do the encounter design and didn't give it a review pass afterwards.
The game doesn't have anything egregiously broken with it, or anything that's just plain wrong. It's just such a massive step down from the previous games that I can't really recommend it to anyone. Fortunately, Croteam seems to hate it just as much as I do; as I understand it they were under pressure from the publisher to make the game lighter and softer (and it's definitely easier than the first two games aside from the final encounter before the final boss, and that's more due to them making it super gimmicky at the end). I've heard that the third game (which is a prequel to the first game) is much better, so I'll have to give that a try at some point.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
-
PartridgeSenpai
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 2991
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:27 am
- Location: Northern Japan
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Partridge Senpai's 2020 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019
* indicates a repeat
1. Invisigun Reloaded (Switch)
2. Human: Fall Flat (Switch)
3. Shantae: The Pirate's Curse (3DS)
4. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC)
5. Splatterhouse (PS3) *
6. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
7. Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
8. Pictobits (DSiWare)
9. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Reborn (Switch)
10. WarioWare Gold (3DS)
11. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
13. Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point (Xbone)
14. Sleeping Dogs: Year of the Snake (Xbone)
15. Dynamite Headdy (Genesis) *
16. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (3DS)
17. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (3DS) *
18. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (Switch) *
19. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (Switch) *
20. Shovel Knight: Showdown (Switch)
21. Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PS4)
22. ActRaiser (SNES)
23. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (WiiWare)
24. Mega Man X (SNES)
25. Breath of Fire II (SNES)
This, like ActRaiser, is another white whale of mine that I bought long ago on Wii Virtual Console but never ended up completing. I even gave this one a second try years later when I tried to get through the GBA port, but I ended up putting it down then too. I pledged to myself that this WOULD be the time I finish Breath of Fire II, and I wouldn't let myself give up. I certainly did kinda wanna give up at some points, but after 30 or so hours and getting the best ending, I finally have beaten this game from my childhood.
Breath of Fire II is a 1994 JRPG made by Capcom and released in America in 1995. It follows the story of Ryu (not that one), who grows up in a small village until the day his father and sister disappear, and the entire village forget who he is. He escapes with another orphan, a dog person named Bow, and go to a nearby cave where they're attacked by a horrible monster. Following a time jump to Ryu and Bow as adults, they live in a completely different town doing odd jobs as "Rangers", and after trying to clear Bow's name when he's framed as a thief, a cascading series of events reveals that there is more to both of their destinies than either of them ever could've imagined.
Breath of Fire II on the SNES is pretty infamous for having a pretty terrible English translation, and boy howdy is that reputation ever deserved. Characters whose names don't stay consistent, poorly localized place names, basic spelling and grammar mistakes, constantly mechanical and unnatural dialogue. They don't completely prevent either understanding or appreciating the story, but they constantly get in the way and they really made me with I had picked up the Japanese version of this on VC instead. That all said, the story that's there is pretty good. It has very strong themes around sacrifice and what it means to be a good leader. There aren't many musical tracks, but the emotional ones really stick their landing when they're used (and what's there ranges from alright to pretty good, especially some of the unique boss themes). While I certainly wouldn't recommend the game wholly on the merits of the writing, I think it really speaks to the quality of the narrative that the story manages to be quite good despite the poor localization. For what it's worth, the GBA port does improve the translation, but from what I remember, that version's translation is still bad (although there has been a fan re-translation that apparently does a pretty good job of fixing things).
The mechanics are pretty basic for a JRPG. You have a party of four for battles, you have members that leave and join as the story goes on, you can swap out your favorites but sometimes you need one specifically for one section, Ryu always has to be in the party. There's a shaman-fusing system that can give certain characters big stat boosts that last until they're either killed or knocked to low health, but it's easy to miss a lot of those shamans and the game is still overall an experience that shouldn't feel very foreign to anyone who's played RPGs before. However, this game has its fair share of rough patches that can really test your patience at times.
In addition to some routinely very vague signposting (whether that's an effect of the localization or if the game has always been that way is anyone's guess), the game has a really uneven difficulty curve. Sudden difficulty spikes of normal enemies and bosses are quite common, and the XP and gold you earn is relatively low overall (they even made you earn 2 or 3 times as much of each per battle in the GBA port). You will very likely need to do some grinding at some point through the game, especially if you realize too late (like I nearly did) that only Bow can learn multi-person healing spells (don't make my mistake and leave him by the wayside! XD). It's certainly not Final Fantasy III-levels of vindictively hard, but the last dungeon or two of the game is pretty damn long and can really test your patience after a while.
The visual design and presentation of the game are quite nice. Given this came out the same year as FFIV, it's certainly not the best looking game on the system, but it still has some nice character and monster designs and some very fluid battle animations (especially on the big, pretty character sprites during battle). As previously mentioned, the music can get a bit repetitive for overworld and dungeon themes (to the point the game even has an option to just turn off the music, as if it expects you to put on your own music while grinding XP), but they do change after certain story events for a nice change of pace.
Verdict: Recommended. Even though I really was struggling at certain points to keep my motivation up during the difficulty spikes, the fact that I'm still considering doing a playthrough of this in Japanese to see that version of the script makes me think that I liked this game more than that initial emotional response. It certainly isn't Final Fantasy (although I'd' say I definitely enjoyed this more than FFIV last year), but it's a commendable effort by Capcom that has really piqued my interest in checking out the rest of the series. If you really want a SNES RPG and want something a little bit different than SquareSoft's stuff, Breath of Fire II may not be the best out there, but it's certainly not a bad choice.
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019
* indicates a repeat
1. Invisigun Reloaded (Switch)
2. Human: Fall Flat (Switch)
3. Shantae: The Pirate's Curse (3DS)
4. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC)
5. Splatterhouse (PS3) *
6. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
7. Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
8. Pictobits (DSiWare)
9. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Reborn (Switch)
10. WarioWare Gold (3DS)
11. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
13. Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point (Xbone)
14. Sleeping Dogs: Year of the Snake (Xbone)
15. Dynamite Headdy (Genesis) *
16. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (3DS)
17. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (3DS) *
18. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (Switch) *
19. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (Switch) *
20. Shovel Knight: Showdown (Switch)
21. Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PS4)
22. ActRaiser (SNES)
23. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (WiiWare)
24. Mega Man X (SNES)
25. Breath of Fire II (SNES)
This, like ActRaiser, is another white whale of mine that I bought long ago on Wii Virtual Console but never ended up completing. I even gave this one a second try years later when I tried to get through the GBA port, but I ended up putting it down then too. I pledged to myself that this WOULD be the time I finish Breath of Fire II, and I wouldn't let myself give up. I certainly did kinda wanna give up at some points, but after 30 or so hours and getting the best ending, I finally have beaten this game from my childhood.
Breath of Fire II is a 1994 JRPG made by Capcom and released in America in 1995. It follows the story of Ryu (not that one), who grows up in a small village until the day his father and sister disappear, and the entire village forget who he is. He escapes with another orphan, a dog person named Bow, and go to a nearby cave where they're attacked by a horrible monster. Following a time jump to Ryu and Bow as adults, they live in a completely different town doing odd jobs as "Rangers", and after trying to clear Bow's name when he's framed as a thief, a cascading series of events reveals that there is more to both of their destinies than either of them ever could've imagined.
Breath of Fire II on the SNES is pretty infamous for having a pretty terrible English translation, and boy howdy is that reputation ever deserved. Characters whose names don't stay consistent, poorly localized place names, basic spelling and grammar mistakes, constantly mechanical and unnatural dialogue. They don't completely prevent either understanding or appreciating the story, but they constantly get in the way and they really made me with I had picked up the Japanese version of this on VC instead. That all said, the story that's there is pretty good. It has very strong themes around sacrifice and what it means to be a good leader. There aren't many musical tracks, but the emotional ones really stick their landing when they're used (and what's there ranges from alright to pretty good, especially some of the unique boss themes). While I certainly wouldn't recommend the game wholly on the merits of the writing, I think it really speaks to the quality of the narrative that the story manages to be quite good despite the poor localization. For what it's worth, the GBA port does improve the translation, but from what I remember, that version's translation is still bad (although there has been a fan re-translation that apparently does a pretty good job of fixing things).
The mechanics are pretty basic for a JRPG. You have a party of four for battles, you have members that leave and join as the story goes on, you can swap out your favorites but sometimes you need one specifically for one section, Ryu always has to be in the party. There's a shaman-fusing system that can give certain characters big stat boosts that last until they're either killed or knocked to low health, but it's easy to miss a lot of those shamans and the game is still overall an experience that shouldn't feel very foreign to anyone who's played RPGs before. However, this game has its fair share of rough patches that can really test your patience at times.
In addition to some routinely very vague signposting (whether that's an effect of the localization or if the game has always been that way is anyone's guess), the game has a really uneven difficulty curve. Sudden difficulty spikes of normal enemies and bosses are quite common, and the XP and gold you earn is relatively low overall (they even made you earn 2 or 3 times as much of each per battle in the GBA port). You will very likely need to do some grinding at some point through the game, especially if you realize too late (like I nearly did) that only Bow can learn multi-person healing spells (don't make my mistake and leave him by the wayside! XD). It's certainly not Final Fantasy III-levels of vindictively hard, but the last dungeon or two of the game is pretty damn long and can really test your patience after a while.
The visual design and presentation of the game are quite nice. Given this came out the same year as FFIV, it's certainly not the best looking game on the system, but it still has some nice character and monster designs and some very fluid battle animations (especially on the big, pretty character sprites during battle). As previously mentioned, the music can get a bit repetitive for overworld and dungeon themes (to the point the game even has an option to just turn off the music, as if it expects you to put on your own music while grinding XP), but they do change after certain story events for a nice change of pace.
Verdict: Recommended. Even though I really was struggling at certain points to keep my motivation up during the difficulty spikes, the fact that I'm still considering doing a playthrough of this in Japanese to see that version of the script makes me think that I liked this game more than that initial emotional response. It certainly isn't Final Fantasy (although I'd' say I definitely enjoyed this more than FFIV last year), but it's a commendable effort by Capcom that has really piqued my interest in checking out the rest of the series. If you really want a SNES RPG and want something a little bit different than SquareSoft's stuff, Breath of Fire II may not be the best out there, but it's certainly not a bad choice.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)(Adventure)
2. Final Fight [Japanese Version] (Switch)(Beat 'Em Up)
3. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
4. Magrunner: Dark Pulse (PC)(FPS)
5. The King of Dragons [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Captain Commando [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. Knights of the Round [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
8. The Witcher (PC)(RPG)
9. Tenchi wo Kurau II(Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
10. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (PC)(RPG)
11. Lichdom: Battlemage (PC)(FPS/RPG Hybrid)
12. Star Wars: Republic Commando (PC)(FPS)
13. DOOM 64 (PC)(FPS)
14. Half Dead 2 (PC)(Adventure)
DOOM 64
I used to thrill to playing this in a darkened bedroom as a teenager. My palms would get sweaty, and I'd glow an unhealthy pallor from the various sickly hues emitted from the TV screen. Yet every scream of a demon, every painful cry of a dying shotgun guy would push me onwards. I actually never got that far in DOOM 64 though, mainly because I could never quite get the hang of doing what I needed to do with an Nintendo 64 controller. Well, now that problem is officially rectified.
The DOOM 64 port to Steam to coincide with the release of DOOM Eternal is a thing of beauty. It gives me back the gloriously violent and addictive gameplay while also providing a modernized PC control scheme. I installed the game and within 48 hours had bested its levels, cracked open its secrets, and buried my face in its guts. The weapons include reskinned updates of your DOOM II favorites, with some tweaks in a few cases for better or worse, as well as the brand new Unmaker, a laser weapon that becomes absurdly boss-meltingly powerful if you manage to seek out the Demon Artifacts that power it up. The double-barrel shotgun was most often my work horse, though I also would swap to the chaingun, plasma rifle, or rocket launcher as needed. Most weapons in DOOM 64 stay relevant and useful, and even the basic pistol is useful for triggering shootable switches. The one weapon that falls away is the base shotgun, but admittedly that was also a trend in DOOM II.
If there is one downside to the guns, it's that there is no longer a reload animation for the double barrel, which means instead you simply have to wait and listen for when the weapon will be ready to fire again. That feels like a small price to pay, and in emergencies, I'd fire off a blast and swap to the chaingun to quickly put more bullets downfield as needed anyway. Hell, even melee got retooled to stay useful; berserker packs are no longer a time limited affair. When you find one, your bare hand is now the fist of an angry god for the rest of the level. This means even the most basic melee attack is still useful, though the double-bladed chainsaw can instead stunlock lesser enemies in place to shred them and use their bodies to block passageways and corridors, making both workable choices depending on your situation.
The level design in DOOM 64 is also usually masterful. There are shades of DOOM II's Hell levels as well as even Duke Nukem 3D's earthquake-prone canyons, some great puzzles mixed in, and some excellent layouts that give both open spaces and narrow corridors for combat. Each level feels unique, and with few exceptions, they're all fun. I only found one specific level that I'd consider a clunker, and it has to do more with a puzzle and a unique trap that felt out of place than anything else. While the kick ass music tracks that pumped us up in the previous installments have been replaced with ambient noise, what you do hear is unsettling, creepy, and at times even nightmarish. It feels more like Hell, and when mixed in with some of the storyline tidbits offered up at key points or at the start of secret levels, it really helps set the mood.
Yes, the modern conveniences do include achievements, but don't be mad about them. The Steam achievements for DOOM 64 mostly focus on exploring the game and the secret levels. There are a lot of things hidden in the level list that you don't know are there until you unlock the ability to dig through them, and this is what these achievements try to push you to do. They want you to find the hidden campaign and the secret 'fun' levels. Don't complain; this is where this system is done right, to help reward players for truly diving into the game.
Do I have any complaints? Yeah, a couple, but they're little things. Bethesda's logo pops up as a weird loading icon at the start, and the number of unskippable opening splash screens is annoying. That's all I dislike though, and when my major complaint is the length of a couple of logos at the beginning, that just shows how good the product is.
DOOM 64 may now officially have moved into top-tier DOOM status for me. Go play it. Hell awaits.
Half Dead 2
Yeah, I beat this last year. This is more to declare that I managed to unlock all the achievements and come to a better understanding of a game built for multiplayer that is based heavily on a movie which deserved to have a game made about it while also parodying a variety of other games. If you want an easy definition of Half Dead 2, it's the movie Cube done as a video game: you come in, you throw shoes into rooms to avoid lethal traps, you dodge other traps, and you try to find your way out. Of course, it's not nearly as complex as the moving mathematical genius of the movie Cube, and while it has some references to Cube 2, it won't screw with your head the way that movie does. Also, it's clunky, repetitive, and at times it's just flat out silly. Hey, what did you expect from a game by some Russians who decided to parody Half-Life 2 in the title?
Basically you have two gameplay modes: co-op and competitive. In co-op, you avoid traps and try to help navigate various floors of the cube to escape. Working together, flagging locations of certain kinds of rooms, healing items, or spare shoes, this is how you survive. There is far less equipment in this mode and far more instant death rooms, as well as references to things like Demon Souls with ghostly spirits sometimes appearing. There are also rooms with lethal traps such as a Fahrenheit 451 book bonfire, flying ball bearings, the film Resident Evil's laser wall, and so forth. Make t to the end though and you're golden. Competitive is a last man standing rush on a giant square that is steadily becoming smaller as timers force you to press on. Get stuck in a room when the timer ends, and you die. There are fewer instant death rooms, but now you can find a lot more gear as well as armor and weapons, because eventually you have to make sure the other players are dead. You do this either by knocking them into traps, using hurled objects, or fighting in incredibly, stupidly janky combat. You can also throw your shoes at them, though I don't think this hurts.
Look, this is at best something to goof off with friends in and enjoy the idea of a Cube video game, because Cube was a brilliant idea that did deserve the video game treatment. While this is a knock off, it's still an entertaining one to waste some time in with a few buddies online. It's like the game Blood & Bacon. Buy it on sale and have some fun with it.
2. Final Fight [Japanese Version] (Switch)(Beat 'Em Up)
3. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
4. Magrunner: Dark Pulse (PC)(FPS)
5. The King of Dragons [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Captain Commando [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. Knights of the Round [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
8. The Witcher (PC)(RPG)
9. Tenchi wo Kurau II(Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
10. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (PC)(RPG)
11. Lichdom: Battlemage (PC)(FPS/RPG Hybrid)
12. Star Wars: Republic Commando (PC)(FPS)
13. DOOM 64 (PC)(FPS)
14. Half Dead 2 (PC)(Adventure)
DOOM 64
I used to thrill to playing this in a darkened bedroom as a teenager. My palms would get sweaty, and I'd glow an unhealthy pallor from the various sickly hues emitted from the TV screen. Yet every scream of a demon, every painful cry of a dying shotgun guy would push me onwards. I actually never got that far in DOOM 64 though, mainly because I could never quite get the hang of doing what I needed to do with an Nintendo 64 controller. Well, now that problem is officially rectified.
The DOOM 64 port to Steam to coincide with the release of DOOM Eternal is a thing of beauty. It gives me back the gloriously violent and addictive gameplay while also providing a modernized PC control scheme. I installed the game and within 48 hours had bested its levels, cracked open its secrets, and buried my face in its guts. The weapons include reskinned updates of your DOOM II favorites, with some tweaks in a few cases for better or worse, as well as the brand new Unmaker, a laser weapon that becomes absurdly boss-meltingly powerful if you manage to seek out the Demon Artifacts that power it up. The double-barrel shotgun was most often my work horse, though I also would swap to the chaingun, plasma rifle, or rocket launcher as needed. Most weapons in DOOM 64 stay relevant and useful, and even the basic pistol is useful for triggering shootable switches. The one weapon that falls away is the base shotgun, but admittedly that was also a trend in DOOM II.
If there is one downside to the guns, it's that there is no longer a reload animation for the double barrel, which means instead you simply have to wait and listen for when the weapon will be ready to fire again. That feels like a small price to pay, and in emergencies, I'd fire off a blast and swap to the chaingun to quickly put more bullets downfield as needed anyway. Hell, even melee got retooled to stay useful; berserker packs are no longer a time limited affair. When you find one, your bare hand is now the fist of an angry god for the rest of the level. This means even the most basic melee attack is still useful, though the double-bladed chainsaw can instead stunlock lesser enemies in place to shred them and use their bodies to block passageways and corridors, making both workable choices depending on your situation.
The level design in DOOM 64 is also usually masterful. There are shades of DOOM II's Hell levels as well as even Duke Nukem 3D's earthquake-prone canyons, some great puzzles mixed in, and some excellent layouts that give both open spaces and narrow corridors for combat. Each level feels unique, and with few exceptions, they're all fun. I only found one specific level that I'd consider a clunker, and it has to do more with a puzzle and a unique trap that felt out of place than anything else. While the kick ass music tracks that pumped us up in the previous installments have been replaced with ambient noise, what you do hear is unsettling, creepy, and at times even nightmarish. It feels more like Hell, and when mixed in with some of the storyline tidbits offered up at key points or at the start of secret levels, it really helps set the mood.
Yes, the modern conveniences do include achievements, but don't be mad about them. The Steam achievements for DOOM 64 mostly focus on exploring the game and the secret levels. There are a lot of things hidden in the level list that you don't know are there until you unlock the ability to dig through them, and this is what these achievements try to push you to do. They want you to find the hidden campaign and the secret 'fun' levels. Don't complain; this is where this system is done right, to help reward players for truly diving into the game.
Do I have any complaints? Yeah, a couple, but they're little things. Bethesda's logo pops up as a weird loading icon at the start, and the number of unskippable opening splash screens is annoying. That's all I dislike though, and when my major complaint is the length of a couple of logos at the beginning, that just shows how good the product is.
DOOM 64 may now officially have moved into top-tier DOOM status for me. Go play it. Hell awaits.
Half Dead 2
Yeah, I beat this last year. This is more to declare that I managed to unlock all the achievements and come to a better understanding of a game built for multiplayer that is based heavily on a movie which deserved to have a game made about it while also parodying a variety of other games. If you want an easy definition of Half Dead 2, it's the movie Cube done as a video game: you come in, you throw shoes into rooms to avoid lethal traps, you dodge other traps, and you try to find your way out. Of course, it's not nearly as complex as the moving mathematical genius of the movie Cube, and while it has some references to Cube 2, it won't screw with your head the way that movie does. Also, it's clunky, repetitive, and at times it's just flat out silly. Hey, what did you expect from a game by some Russians who decided to parody Half-Life 2 in the title?
Basically you have two gameplay modes: co-op and competitive. In co-op, you avoid traps and try to help navigate various floors of the cube to escape. Working together, flagging locations of certain kinds of rooms, healing items, or spare shoes, this is how you survive. There is far less equipment in this mode and far more instant death rooms, as well as references to things like Demon Souls with ghostly spirits sometimes appearing. There are also rooms with lethal traps such as a Fahrenheit 451 book bonfire, flying ball bearings, the film Resident Evil's laser wall, and so forth. Make t to the end though and you're golden. Competitive is a last man standing rush on a giant square that is steadily becoming smaller as timers force you to press on. Get stuck in a room when the timer ends, and you die. There are fewer instant death rooms, but now you can find a lot more gear as well as armor and weapons, because eventually you have to make sure the other players are dead. You do this either by knocking them into traps, using hurled objects, or fighting in incredibly, stupidly janky combat. You can also throw your shoes at them, though I don't think this hurts.
Look, this is at best something to goof off with friends in and enjoy the idea of a Cube video game, because Cube was a brilliant idea that did deserve the video game treatment. While this is a knock off, it's still an entertaining one to waste some time in with a few buddies online. It's like the game Blood & Bacon. Buy it on sale and have some fun with it.
-
ElkinFencer10
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8621
- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
- Location: Henderson, North Carolina
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Games Beaten in 2020 - 11
* denotes a replay
January (1 Game Beaten)
February (2 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
10. Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil - Switch - March 22
11: Doom 3: The Lost Mission - Switch - March 23
No reviews this time since I'm lazy and they're just expansion. tl;dr - the super shotgun is the only weapon in the game that doesn't suck ass, and it just sucks normally.
* denotes a replay
January (1 Game Beaten)
February (2 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
10. Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil - Switch - March 22
11: Doom 3: The Lost Mission - Switch - March 23
No reviews this time since I'm lazy and they're just expansion. tl;dr - the super shotgun is the only weapon in the game that doesn't suck ass, and it just sucks normally.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.
-
prfsnl_gmr
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 12201
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan is the latest game from CollectorVision, the developer of a long line of home brew games for the ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Intellivision, Sega Master System, and Super Nintendo. It is CollectorVision‘s first and only game for modern systems, and it is a finely-tuned, surprisingly lengthy action platformer. (It probably took me 8+ hours to complete the game.) Aesthetically, the game is reminiscent of 1001 Spikes or La Mulana in that you play as a fedora-wearing, whip-wielding archaeologist who must navigate a series of deadly traps and fight off snakes, bats, spiders, ghosts, skeletons, etc. to reach treasures, and otherwise navigate an ancient temple. Unlike 1001 Spikes or La Mulana, however, the game is not insanely difficult. Rather, it presents a fair level of challenge similar to classic Mega Man games or modern “retro” platformers like Shovel Knight (i.e., not too hard, not too easy...just right). The protagonist, Sydney Hunter jumps like Mega Man and attacks like Simon Belmont, and the sprawling levels are presented as a series of connected single-screen platforming challenges, like a MSX game. There are various jewels and crystal skulls to collect in each level, and collecting them unlocks other levels. The levels also contain new weapons and upgrades necessary to navigate later sections of the game and required to access some parts of earlier levels. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan doesn’t really fall into the Metroidvania genre, but it does provide some incentives to re-visit levels after you’ve completed them, adding to the game’s value. It also has some pretty great, challenging boss fights, some of which are clearly inspired by Mega Man’s robot masters. (My favorite is the battle against the Mayan maize deity who attacks by, among other things, throwing ears of corn at you.) The final boss gauntlet, in particular, is a delight.
I really, really enjoyed Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan, and I highly recommend it. (I liked it so much, in fact, that I placed an order for Sydney Hunter & The Caverns of Death, CollectorVision’s SNES game, yesterday afternoon.) The game is consistently charming, consistently challenging, consistently fun, and a great value. I think anyone with even a passing interest in classic action platformers will really enjoy it. (Also...and for fans of second-generation games...I must mention that the penultimate “level” of Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan is actually the first two levels of Sydney Hunter & The Temples of Peril, one of CollectorVision’s excellent ColecoVision home brew games. Once you beat the first two levels, you can play the game as much as you like; so, the game, in addition to being a great standalone value, also includes a really fun ColecoVision game as a bonus.)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan is the latest game from CollectorVision, the developer of a long line of home brew games for the ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Intellivision, Sega Master System, and Super Nintendo. It is CollectorVision‘s first and only game for modern systems, and it is a finely-tuned, surprisingly lengthy action platformer. (It probably took me 8+ hours to complete the game.) Aesthetically, the game is reminiscent of 1001 Spikes or La Mulana in that you play as a fedora-wearing, whip-wielding archaeologist who must navigate a series of deadly traps and fight off snakes, bats, spiders, ghosts, skeletons, etc. to reach treasures, and otherwise navigate an ancient temple. Unlike 1001 Spikes or La Mulana, however, the game is not insanely difficult. Rather, it presents a fair level of challenge similar to classic Mega Man games or modern “retro” platformers like Shovel Knight (i.e., not too hard, not too easy...just right). The protagonist, Sydney Hunter jumps like Mega Man and attacks like Simon Belmont, and the sprawling levels are presented as a series of connected single-screen platforming challenges, like a MSX game. There are various jewels and crystal skulls to collect in each level, and collecting them unlocks other levels. The levels also contain new weapons and upgrades necessary to navigate later sections of the game and required to access some parts of earlier levels. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan doesn’t really fall into the Metroidvania genre, but it does provide some incentives to re-visit levels after you’ve completed them, adding to the game’s value. It also has some pretty great, challenging boss fights, some of which are clearly inspired by Mega Man’s robot masters. (My favorite is the battle against the Mayan maize deity who attacks by, among other things, throwing ears of corn at you.) The final boss gauntlet, in particular, is a delight.
I really, really enjoyed Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan, and I highly recommend it. (I liked it so much, in fact, that I placed an order for Sydney Hunter & The Caverns of Death, CollectorVision’s SNES game, yesterday afternoon.) The game is consistently charming, consistently challenging, consistently fun, and a great value. I think anyone with even a passing interest in classic action platformers will really enjoy it. (Also...and for fans of second-generation games...I must mention that the penultimate “level” of Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan is actually the first two levels of Sydney Hunter & The Temples of Peril, one of CollectorVision’s excellent ColecoVision home brew games. Once you beat the first two levels, you can play the game as much as you like; so, the game, in addition to being a great standalone value, also includes a really fun ColecoVision game as a bonus.)
Re: Games Beaten 2020
@Mrpopo: I never played serious sam 2 (although I randomnly own 2 copies of it on PS2 for some reason), but I can definitely vouch for SS3, very fun, balls to the wall, old school shooter
@prfsnl_gamer: glsd you enjoyed Sydney, I did not know there were games before it by the same developer, I thought that Coleco minigame was just a game made for that section, very cool
44. Resident Evil 4: wii edition
I remember when I first played RE4 on gamecube and was just completely blown away, it was a great evolution to one of my favorite game series that was quickly becoming stale and outdated. I remember waking up early on a Saturday morning, beating the game, and then cancelling all of my plans that day to replay it, thats how much I loved the game, I have never done that with any game before nor have I done it with any game since. Because of it I was a little reluctant to replay it, I was worried that the game would not live up to the memories I had with it and if it aged poorly I may mar the memories of one of my all time favorite games
I heard that the wii version was the definitive edition of it, and given the perfect storm of my recent obsession with wii collecting and a real life zombie apocalypse now seemed like the perfect time to finally re-play it, and to make a long story short, it is every bit as good as I remember and I don't think I have been this addicted to a game since RE2make.
I don't think I need to write too much about the game itself, at this point, it was one of the most re-released games ever made and I can't imagine a single person on a board like this hasn't played it, but why is the wii version considered the best version?
As far as I can tell it is because of the wiimote, aiming with the wiimote is fast, precise, and extremely intuitive. Hold B puts leon into aiming mode and A pulls the trigger, to reload just give the wiimote a quick shake. It works extremely well and makes landing pinpoint shots extremely easy. In a game like this where shooting specific body parts and projectiles in mid air, this is extremely useful and breathes new life into what is all ready a really terrific game.
RE4 is every bit as good as I remember and everyone should play it, if ou haven't played the wii version yet, definitely give it a playthrough, the game is dirt cheap right now (you could easily find it for 6-10 dollars) and is one of the best action horror games ever made
@prfsnl_gamer: glsd you enjoyed Sydney, I did not know there were games before it by the same developer, I thought that Coleco minigame was just a game made for that section, very cool
44. Resident Evil 4: wii edition
I remember when I first played RE4 on gamecube and was just completely blown away, it was a great evolution to one of my favorite game series that was quickly becoming stale and outdated. I remember waking up early on a Saturday morning, beating the game, and then cancelling all of my plans that day to replay it, thats how much I loved the game, I have never done that with any game before nor have I done it with any game since. Because of it I was a little reluctant to replay it, I was worried that the game would not live up to the memories I had with it and if it aged poorly I may mar the memories of one of my all time favorite games
I heard that the wii version was the definitive edition of it, and given the perfect storm of my recent obsession with wii collecting and a real life zombie apocalypse now seemed like the perfect time to finally re-play it, and to make a long story short, it is every bit as good as I remember and I don't think I have been this addicted to a game since RE2make.
I don't think I need to write too much about the game itself, at this point, it was one of the most re-released games ever made and I can't imagine a single person on a board like this hasn't played it, but why is the wii version considered the best version?
As far as I can tell it is because of the wiimote, aiming with the wiimote is fast, precise, and extremely intuitive. Hold B puts leon into aiming mode and A pulls the trigger, to reload just give the wiimote a quick shake. It works extremely well and makes landing pinpoint shots extremely easy. In a game like this where shooting specific body parts and projectiles in mid air, this is extremely useful and breathes new life into what is all ready a really terrific game.
RE4 is every bit as good as I remember and everyone should play it, if ou haven't played the wii version yet, definitely give it a playthrough, the game is dirt cheap right now (you could easily find it for 6-10 dollars) and is one of the best action horror games ever made
-
Juan Aguacate
- 24-bit
- Posts: 193
- Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:49 pm
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Klonoa Empire of Dreams - GBA
You know, nothing annoys me more than when a decent game decides to change up its gameplay, and suddenly your experience with the game goes from fun to infuriating. That stupid asteroids mini game from Dead Space comes to mind. Klonoa is a fairly decent platformer, with some puzzle solving elements thrown in. However, every few stages you have to play these hover board levels where the game has you zooming to the right side of the screen at high speeds, dodging obstacles and collecting items along the way. Like every other level of the game, it's not just about beating the stage, it's about collecting everything along the way. Klonoa rewards players who do this is every stage. Trying to nab everything in these hover board levels though is absolutely infuriating.
One of the problems is that the hover board stages are too long. They are each split into three sections, each one hard enough on its own to make you rip your hair out. Now oddly enough, every other level in the game has checkpoints, and at any time you can hit start and select retry to redo the section of the stage you're in. The hover board levels conveniently don't allow this however. Selecting retry puts you all the way at the beginning of the level, forcing you to have to play through all three sections perfectly. For some reason, Klonoa decides to break its own rules when you do the hover board stages
This game has an identity crisis. The regular platform levels are fairly easy for the most part. In fact, I'd say Empire of Dreams is a fairly low difficulty platformer that any kid could play based on those stages. However, the difficulty spikes up through the roof in the hover board levels. So what are you trying to be Klonoa? An easy kids game or a hardcore experience on par with the speeder bike tunnels in Battletoads? Make up your damn mind. I heard Klonoa 2 on the Game Boy Advance has the same formula. In fact, it seems even more annoying with these weird mode 7-ish 3d hover board levels. Guess I won't be playing that
The game also has lame boss fights, some of the weakest in the genre.
Overall, the game gets a thumbs down from me. Its difficulty is too inconsistent alternating between piss easy kids game to infuriatingly hard hover board levels where it abandons its own check point system just to reinforce that it's not playing nice any more. The boss fights are lame. The music isn't very memorable. The story it tells is boring and you should just skip the cut scenes. There are just so many other puzzle/platform games to choose from on the Game Boy Advance. Don't bother with this one
You know, nothing annoys me more than when a decent game decides to change up its gameplay, and suddenly your experience with the game goes from fun to infuriating. That stupid asteroids mini game from Dead Space comes to mind. Klonoa is a fairly decent platformer, with some puzzle solving elements thrown in. However, every few stages you have to play these hover board levels where the game has you zooming to the right side of the screen at high speeds, dodging obstacles and collecting items along the way. Like every other level of the game, it's not just about beating the stage, it's about collecting everything along the way. Klonoa rewards players who do this is every stage. Trying to nab everything in these hover board levels though is absolutely infuriating.
One of the problems is that the hover board stages are too long. They are each split into three sections, each one hard enough on its own to make you rip your hair out. Now oddly enough, every other level in the game has checkpoints, and at any time you can hit start and select retry to redo the section of the stage you're in. The hover board levels conveniently don't allow this however. Selecting retry puts you all the way at the beginning of the level, forcing you to have to play through all three sections perfectly. For some reason, Klonoa decides to break its own rules when you do the hover board stages
This game has an identity crisis. The regular platform levels are fairly easy for the most part. In fact, I'd say Empire of Dreams is a fairly low difficulty platformer that any kid could play based on those stages. However, the difficulty spikes up through the roof in the hover board levels. So what are you trying to be Klonoa? An easy kids game or a hardcore experience on par with the speeder bike tunnels in Battletoads? Make up your damn mind. I heard Klonoa 2 on the Game Boy Advance has the same formula. In fact, it seems even more annoying with these weird mode 7-ish 3d hover board levels. Guess I won't be playing that
The game also has lame boss fights, some of the weakest in the genre.
Overall, the game gets a thumbs down from me. Its difficulty is too inconsistent alternating between piss easy kids game to infuriatingly hard hover board levels where it abandons its own check point system just to reinforce that it's not playing nice any more. The boss fights are lame. The music isn't very memorable. The story it tells is boring and you should just skip the cut scenes. There are just so many other puzzle/platform games to choose from on the Game Boy Advance. Don't bother with this one
-
prfsnl_gmr
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 12201
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
10. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
Good game! Charming setting; memorable characters; remarkably good story; and gameplay that successfully translates classic Mega Man run ‘n gun gameplay to a 3D ARPG. Also, it’s pretty tough. I saw the “game over” screen more than a dozen times during the main game...and probably twice that many times fighting the final boss. (Mega Man Juno is no joke, and he has supplanted Dr. Wily in Mega Man 7 as the toughest last boss in a Mega Man game.) I’m looking forward to playing the sequel and a little sad we’ll never get Mega Man Legends 3.
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
10. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
Good game! Charming setting; memorable characters; remarkably good story; and gameplay that successfully translates classic Mega Man run ‘n gun gameplay to a 3D ARPG. Also, it’s pretty tough. I saw the “game over” screen more than a dozen times during the main game...and probably twice that many times fighting the final boss. (Mega Man Juno is no joke, and he has supplanted Dr. Wily in Mega Man 7 as the toughest last boss in a Mega Man game.) I’m looking forward to playing the sequel and a little sad we’ll never get Mega Man Legends 3.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
45. Rosenkreuzstillette fraudenstachel
For the remainder of this post I will just refer to this game as R, having probably the worst name in gaming history R is an entirely unorginal game that steals so much from Mega Man that it is hard to take the game seriously.
To sum up the game:
--Start with Mega Man 3 mechanics, slide, jump, shoot, rush jet, coil, e-tanks, crappy password system, no charge shot, replace all the robot masters with waifu anime girls
--replace the level asthetics with a more gothic look that would feel at home in a castlevania game
--cherry pick levels, gimmicks, and patterns from every mega man game and copy paste them in various orders
--replace every enemy with a new coat of paint but change none of their behaviors
--ratchet the difficulty levels of the bosses up considerably
--add a really long winded, nonsensical story, and copious amounts of dialogue that you will not care about at all
--charge money for it
and you get R, it is not that this is a bad game. Mechanically it is sound, controls are tight, level design is good enough, though completely uninspired, it is a completely compentant mega man clone
But why would you pay money for a game like this? There are 11 mainline mega man games out there, as well as countless fan games that are loads better and won't cost you a penny. In a world where games like Mega Man unlimited, rock n roll, rock force, super fighting robots, and so many more exist for free I just cannot recommend this game to anyone. If you like mega man and you play this game you will probably enjoy it, but if you are in the mood for a new mega man game go play one of the above mentioned fan games, they are far better and free.
For the remainder of this post I will just refer to this game as R, having probably the worst name in gaming history R is an entirely unorginal game that steals so much from Mega Man that it is hard to take the game seriously.
To sum up the game:
--Start with Mega Man 3 mechanics, slide, jump, shoot, rush jet, coil, e-tanks, crappy password system, no charge shot, replace all the robot masters with waifu anime girls
--replace the level asthetics with a more gothic look that would feel at home in a castlevania game
--cherry pick levels, gimmicks, and patterns from every mega man game and copy paste them in various orders
--replace every enemy with a new coat of paint but change none of their behaviors
--ratchet the difficulty levels of the bosses up considerably
--add a really long winded, nonsensical story, and copious amounts of dialogue that you will not care about at all
--charge money for it
and you get R, it is not that this is a bad game. Mechanically it is sound, controls are tight, level design is good enough, though completely uninspired, it is a completely compentant mega man clone
But why would you pay money for a game like this? There are 11 mainline mega man games out there, as well as countless fan games that are loads better and won't cost you a penny. In a world where games like Mega Man unlimited, rock n roll, rock force, super fighting robots, and so many more exist for free I just cannot recommend this game to anyone. If you like mega man and you play this game you will probably enjoy it, but if you are in the mood for a new mega man game go play one of the above mentioned fan games, they are far better and free.