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Last Topic's Ratings:
Barbie Explorer - ABBBBA - 17% (6)
CT Special Forces - ABBB - 13% (4)
Dakar '97 - B - 0% (1)
Digimon World - AAAGAGAG - 69% (8)
Madden NFL 97 - AAAA - 50% (4)
Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey - GA - 75% (2)
I was a bit surprised by the middling reception to Digimon World, I was always under the impression that the series was one of the more beloved ones on PS1. Maybe it's the later games that everyone loves.
Games for this topic:
C3 Racing
Fantastic Four
Gex
Starblade Alpha
Warcraft 2
Wonder Trek
It's been so long since I played Warcraft 2 that I know I'm going to have to find a way to get the PC version working again instead of relying on my memory. I'm also interested to try out Wonder Trek, though I hope it's not unplayable without knowing Japanese, there's very little to go on for many Japanese-exclusive PS1 games, I kind of just have to guess based on the back of the box.
C3 Racing - G
ReplyDeleteFantastic Four - A
Gex - G
Starblade Alpha - A
Warcraft 2 - G
Wonder Trek - A
I've mentioned in the past that I feel when a game is G, you generally know right away, and C3 Racing is a good example of this phenomenon. The handling in this game just feels great, in particular this game has some of the best powerslide controls I've seen anywhere, sliding around corners at high speeds feels fantastic. The game also looks great, and has a lot of courses that look and feel quite distinct from each other. In general, it's a fairly standard arcade style racer with a bit of a rally feel, tracks have some verticality to them and you can often go offroad, in fact on most tracks there are some places where you can actually fall off the track (which is an instant loss), though the game generally does a good job of warning you about these in advance so it doesn't feel unfair. There are also some fairly sophisticated tuning options like you might find in a sim style game, though if you don't want to fiddle with them the default tuning seems to work fine for the most part. The one beef I do have with this game is that it includes a few night racing tracks, and they are ridiculously dark, you haven't truly known the colour black until you try night racing in C3. Make sure your TV's brightness is turned way up for these courses.
Fantastic Four is an okay beat-em-up. As with most beat-em-ups, it has some issues with repetition, particularly since it's a surprisingly long game, but they have attempted to do a few things to remedy this. For starters, you actually get 5 characters here (there's also She-Hulk), and they all play reasonably distinctly, with each character having different basic attacks and special moves, and there's also a system whereby you can get powerups for juggling enemies that helps keep regular fights feeling a bit more engaging. The stages are also decently varied, with a fair number of boss fights and other various gimmicks to mix things up. That being said, the entire game does feel a bit cheaply made, and the enemy variety is really quite poor, so it sort of feels like a budget experience, albeit one that had some effort put into it.
I feel that Gex is a little borderline between A and G but it's probably unique enough for G. Gex's most notable feature is his ability to stick to walls, and unlike in most games where such a feature exists, here its use is virtually unlimited, with Gex being able to stick to pretty much any surface without spikes on it and climb around to all sorts of places. Annoying platforming segment got you down? Just stick to the roof and skip it entirely, you might even find a powerup for it. It does a good job of encouraging you to think outside the box in ways that platformers usually don't, and the levels make good use of it for the most part. Besides his wall clinging ability, Gex also has the ability to spout movie quotes and other dumb cliches at a rate that would make even Bubsy jealous, though I suppose this is kind of adds to the game's charm in a weird sort of way. On the weaker side of things, the control in the game for most things that don't involve wall sticking is a bit slippery and there are moments of fairly obnoxious level design in some of the stages, often resulting in you being sent back a long way for things you couldn't possibly have seen coming. This game also has a pretty obnoxious save system where it only supports passwords and you can only get one every few levels by finding a hidden tape (this is way worse than the Crash Bandicoot save system). Overall, it's a solid game I guess but modern players might want to use save states every now and then.
Starblade Alpha is basically just Area 51: Space Version. The graphics are all right, though the game is super short and simple, featuring no powerups or weapons beyond the default laser blaster, and the entire game is only about 20 minutes long. It's also very mashy unless you input the code for autofire, which you definitely should as it makes the game much easier on the fingers. One thing I do appreciate is that many enemies fire projectiles that you can shoot down, so it feels like you have a fighting chance to mitigate damage, though there are a fair number of cheap shots and enemies with laser weapons that cause nearly unavoidable damage. The PS1 version of this game also offers an option for improved graphics, which is nice, though it's still a fairly short and simple game.
DeleteObviously Warcraft 2 is a classic, the question is about how well it was converted to PS1, and surprisingly, the answer is fairly well. For starters, everything from the original game and its expansion is here, all the campaigns, all the cutscenes, all the skirmish maps, etc, which makes for a ridiculously content-heavy game compared to most other RTS games of its era, especially those available on console. Of course, people's main concern will probably be gameplay, and here it's a big more of a mixed bag, with the PS1 version having some improvements and also some deficiencies compared to PC. We'll start with the improvements. On PS1, Warcraft 2 is more zoomed out compared to the PC game, which is amazing, the amount of the map you can see onscreen in the PC version is insanely small and being able to see more makes everything better. The PS1 version also runs a bit faster compared to PC (though you can reduce the speed to match PC if you want), and gives you the ability to queue up units, which you can't do on PC. Obviously, in terms of advantages for PC, the mouse makes selecting units quicker, and the keyboard shortcuts help a lot with building, though the PS1 is actually not too bad here, selecting units still works fairly well and the build menu is a downgrade but is still usable. My biggest beef with the PS1 version is the select and move controls, on PS1, you select units with X, then move them with X, while O cancels your selection. RTS veterans should immediately recognize this as backwards, as in every PC RTS, you select units with left click, command them with right click, and reselect with left click. I was sort of getting used to the PS1 controls but the PC control scheme is so ingrained in my brain that it's like learning to write left handed, and there's no option to switch it. Other than this, the big drawback for PS1 is no multiplayer whatsoever. I can kind of see why they didn't do it, but it's a pretty big issue and I feel like they could have tried link cable or something. Overall, though, I guess this isn't too big of an issue because I doubt many people are playing the PC version multiplayer anymore anyway, and the convenience of being able to just pop in the PS1 disc and play rather than having to fight with DOSBox to get the PC version running may be a significant advantage for some.
Wonder Trek is an Adventure game about being lost in the jungle. Most of the game involves exploring the jungle (which is quite large and the paths branch frequently) and fighting various wild creatues and bosses to obtain items, which can then be used to solve puzzles, though if you can't read Japanese there'll be a decent amount of trial and error. Control is not bad (once I figured out you have to HOLD jump to climb ledges) and I'm gradually making progress, and it does feel satisfying when you figure something out, though the fact that saves are limited (you use the feathers to save) and that some areas can kill you instantly can be a bit frustrating.
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