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Gamefaqs Link
Last Topic's Ratings:
Cyberwar - AABB - 25% (4)
Independence Day - BBGBA - 30% {5}
NHL Powerplay 96 - AAA - 50% (3)
Rampage World Tour - BBBBAGAA - 31% (8)
Road Rage - BBAA - 25% (4)
Street Fighter Alpha - AAGAGGGA - 75% (8)
I think this was our lowest rated topic yet. Unfortunate, but it happens. When it comes to niche games and weird imports it's really hard to know what you're getting until you try it out.
Games for this topic:
Final Fantasy
Ford Racing
Jumping Flash
Koutetsu Reiiki: Steeldom
Pool Hustler
Swagman
Here we have the first of many Final Fantasy games, though it's not THAT one, this is the original Final Fantasy which is part of the Final Fantasy Origins 2-pack. I feel it makes sense to rate these two games separately, particularly because Sony has separately released the PS Classics for these games. We also have Swagman, which I really want to try out purely because of its name.
Final Fantasy - G
ReplyDeleteFord Racing - G
Jumping Flash - G
Koutetsu Reiiki: Steeldom - A
Pool Hustler - A
Swagman - A
Before I sat down to play FF1 for this topic, I was thinking I was going to give it A. I like FF1 a lot, it's a classic, the pacing is pretty good, and I like how the party system gives it a lot of replay value. However, the PS1 port is probably my 4th favourite way to play the game. It's not nearly as big of a redesign as the GBA / PSP version, it's basically just a prettier version of the NES original with some UI tweaks. Still, after playing it, I can't give it an A, it's still too much fun for A. This game really just is that timeless.
Ford Racing is far better than I expected. The core package is quite solid, good graphics, good draw distance, good controls, good framerate, generally looks and feels a lot like Gran Turismo 1. Of course, being a Ford-only game, there aren't as many cars, but they feel appreciably different from each other so it still feels fine. I like the way they handle the season mode, it's somewhat reminiscent of SNES F1 Roc 2, where you have a season for each type of car and you can upgrade throughout the season with your winnings. There's even some strategy to this as you have to choose between permanent upgrades like engines and weight reductions, which are expensive, or impermanent upgrades like better tires that are powerful but only last one race. Race pacing is also appreciably brisk with most races being only a couple laps and some only being 1, it definitely has a pacing edge compared to GT. This might be SR quality on a system that didn't have 4000 games. I'll probably do a full playthrough on this.
Jumping Flash was the first PS1 game I ever played, and also the first 3D platformer I ever played unless you count isometric games. I'm actually surprised at how well it still holds up. It's very cute and whimsical, but the aesthetic hides a surprisingly competent game with good camera work. I particularly like how the camera pans down when you double jump, jumping generally feels very good in this game. The low point of the experience is probably the bosses, they're functional but the platforming action is the highlight.
Koutetsu Reiiki: Steeldom is a mech fighter, similar to Virtual On. It's not a bad effort for PS1, but annoyingly there's no concept of lock on, so you tend to spend a lot of the fight reorienting yourself to face the opponent (the mechs also don't turn quickly). There's also motion-activated specials, though I found them to activate a bit unreliably (on the plus side, the game has a built in move list). It's okay, but compared to Custom Robo and Virtual On I doubt you'd play this one much.
Pool is a weird sport in that it's one of the only sports that doesn't benefit at all from 3D graphics, as the sport itself is fundamentally 2D. Even when playing this game, I mostly just use the overhead camera, which feels almost exactly like playing Side Pocket. Similarly to that game, this game also features a story mode where you goal is to build up a reputation for yourself. The story is very basic, but there's some interesting betting mechanics where you sometimes get challenged to bet on particular shots and such. You can choose your choice of rules to play, and the mechanics are generally solid, but I don't really see a ton to make me want to play this specific game compared to older pool titles.
DeleteSwagman isn't really what I expected, oddly enough it has a fair number of similarities to Resident Evil, though it plays from an overhead perspective and isn't nearly as scary. Like in Rez Evil, the gameplay mostly involves exploring a haunted house (and its surroundings), looking for keys to unlock doors, and solving simple puzzles. You even eventually get the ability to control two characters and swap between them, like in resident evil 0. You also fight enemies (Swagmen?), though your combat abilities aren't great, the hit detection is a bit wonky, and most can't be permanently defeated, so evasion is usually the name of the game. There's a few cool ideas here, for example your health meter is made up of Zs (since it's a nightmare) and thus you can refill it by finding sleeping people and absorbing their Zs, like your parents or your cat, though generally the game is a big frustrating to play due to twitchy controls and questionable hit detection. At least you can continue as many times.