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Gamefaqs Link
Last Topic's Ratings:
Golden Nugget 64 - BAA - 33% (3)
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - GGGGGBAGGG - 85% (10) (2 SR)
Puyo Puyo Sun 64 - GGGG - 100% (4)
Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers - GABAGGA - 65% (7)
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - GGGGGGAAGA - 85% (10) (1 SR)
Virtual Pool 64 - BGGA - 63% {4}
This was a pretty interesting topic to read. I always enjoy it when GAB brings about discussion about topics like what makes a good game and how different genres compare to each other.
Games for this topic:
Aero Fighters Assault
BattleTanx
Micro Machines 64 Turbo
Nushi Tsuri 64
South Park
WCW Nitro
I actually have no idea what should be the headlining games this time. As for Nushi Tsuri 64, it's in Japanese, but I've written a guide for it here on GF if you're interested.
Aero Fighters Assault - A
ReplyDeleteBattleTanx - A
Micro Machines 64 Turbo - G
Nushi Tsuri 64 - G
South Park - A
WCW Nitro - B
Aero Fighters Assault is okay. Many aspects of the game are actually pretty good, like the controls, voice work, and mission variety, but it's held back by lousy dogfighting, largely due to the way its missile system works. Missiles in this game lock on the moment you're in even the same hemisphere as your target, however for anything that actually moves, they have about a 2% chance to actually hit anything, so most dogfighting involves a ton of flying around and trying to hit things with your machine guns while you hope a random missile finally hits, which doesn't feel very satisfying. It would be way better if it was harder to obtain a lock but once you did, you had a much higher chance to actually hit. Alternatively, you can just ignore flying enemies and try to blitz the mission objective, since that results in automatic victory, though you'll get shot a lot in the process. Not a terrible game and it's clear that the third dimension improves this genre immensely, but it could definitely be better.
Battletanx is such an atrociously-made game from a technical standpoint that I find it hard to believe it's a real game that was actually released. Everything about the game feels extremely rough, the controls in no way feel like controlling a tank, they're super responsive and the tank has no acceleration or inertia to it, getting even close to a wall causes you to come to a dead stop, the draw distance is completely terrible, the visuals and effects are a complete joke (I particularly like how cannons just fly into the air when you destroy them, and how destroyed walls just sink into the floor), and the game has tons of load time between levels, but doesn't have a dedicated load screen so it just freezes in place, often making me think the game has crashed. Despite this, I actually still kind of like it. The story is absolutely ridiculous, but it takes itself very seriously, which, when combined with the crappy production values gives it a weird kind of charm, and loading time aside, the game is fast-paced and has a lot of variety. There is potential here for sure, but if you want to play a version of this game that feels like it actually went through testing just get the sequel instead.
I was always a big fan of the original Micro Machines, and it took me a while to warm up to Micro Machines 64, but these days I do see it as being a worthy successor, even if it does have some flaws. For starters, compared to the original the progression has changed a lot. You no longer have to beat every single track in one massive gauntlet, they're now broken down into cups, like most standard racing games. However, don't let this trick you into thinking the game is easy, it's still hard as balls. At least a bit of this stems from the fact that you can't see as far compared to the original due to the camera being a bit more zoomed in, and most of the cars are really fast, making track memorization a virtual necessity, though at least there are weapons now, which can help you out a little (thankfully, the AI rarely makes good use of them). Visually, I feel the game has a little bit less charm, the low-poly 3D graphics simply aren't quite as nice to look at as the original sprites, though the concept of the series still comes across. One idea I quite like is the prize cars that you can win from races, though it feels a bit underutilized in that you can only use them for time trials and a single multiplayer mode. Overall, though, it's still a pretty well-polished and unique racing game with a lot of content and good multiplayer modes, and it also looks much better compared to the PS1 version as well.
DeleteNushi Tsuri 64 may be a follow-up to the Legend of the River King games, though so much has changed that in some ways it almost feels like a completely new series. For starters, the fishing system has received an overhaul, and this is clearly for the better. In the gameboy games, fishing is super simple, you just hold A to reel the fish in, then when the line goes beep you let the fish run until it tires, then hold A again. In Nushi Tsuri 64, there's far more nuance here, you can't simply let the fish run as most fish will run forever, you have to try to watch their movements to discover when they're not pulling quite as hard, then give them a good yank to try to start a pull on them. Assuming you have good timing, you can pull them for a little while until they get more energy and start running again, forcing you to keep your eyes out for another opportunity to pull. Compared to the original this feels much more engaging and has a lot more depth. The other mechanics of the game have changed a lot too. A big part of the gameboy games was fighting wild animals, as this was how you levelled up and it made you more effective as a fisherman, but this mechanic is gone now, it's replaced by a somewhat strange system whereby you can interact with wild animals but it lacks any kind of obvious benefit. You can also now pick flowers and catch bugs, as in some of the later titles, which are welcome additions but don't greatly change the game. The progression of the game is also now much less linear, each character in the game has some kind of overarching goal to accomplish, but save for a couple quests that impede entry to some areas in the game until they are complete you can effectively go anywhere and catch anything you want right from the start of the game. One other thing to be aware of is that the Japanese in the game is quite complex, and despite my best efforts there's still a lot of things I haven't figured out, though it's clear there's a lot here and it's a pretty interesting game regardless.
As I mentioned when we reviewed the PS1 version of South Park, it's a very basic FPS game that quickly wears out its welcome due to its overly long and repetitive stages. Compared to the PS1 version, the N64 version is quite a bit better, with both better graphics and sound, though on N64 it also faces much stiffer competition in the FPS genre so it still wouldn't be a strong recommendation unless you're an extreme fan of the franchise.
DeleteWCW Nitro sucks. For starters, it's another one of those bad PS1 ports that tries to use the C-Buttons as a substitute for the PS1's four face buttons, so that's instantly a bad sign, but it has many more problems beyond this. Like WWF War Zone, it also uses button combinations for special moves, though it lacks any kind of ingame moveset viewer and they also feel much more generous about special moves, allowing you to basically just mash buttons and have them come out. The action in the game also feels somewhat too fast and feels like it lacks the nuance of War Zone and the Aki titles. It's still not atrocious in the same sense that some old wrestling games were and I appreciate that pinning is very responsive (some wrestling games struggle with this), but this is clearly the bottom of the barrel as far as N64 wrestling games are concerned.