This topic is now closed
Gamefaqs Link
Last Topic's Ratings:
Automobili Lamborghini - AGGBAAAG - 63% (8)
Daikatana - AGBBBBGBA - 33% {9}
Duck Dodgers Starring Daffy Duck - GAGG - 88% (4)
Magical Tetris Challenge - AGAGAAA - 64% (7)
NFL QB Club 2001 - GAA - 67% (3)
V-Rally Edition '99 - ABBB - 13% (4)
This was a pretty chaotic week for both the N64 and PS1 topics. Across both topics combined, only Duck Dodgers made it to the high rank. I wonder if that's ever happened before.
Games for this topic:
Destruction Derby 64
Monopoly
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC
Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
WCW Mayhem
I often see it stated that Destruction Derby 64 is a port of the PS1 game, but they're actually completely different games that have nothing in common, so make sure you're rating the right game. Also, we have NBA Showtime, which I didn't originally realize was related to NBA Hangtime until we rated it for PS1.
Destruction Derby 64 - B
ReplyDeleteMonopoly - B
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero - B
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC - A
Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA - B
WCW Mayhem - A
As noted before, Destruction Derby 64 is nothing like the PS1 game, in fact, it's almost the opposite. While Destruction Derby on PS1 is a mediocre racing game with poor controls that actually does a good job of capturing the feel of a destruction derby, the N64 game is an average racing game with good controls that completely fails at being a destruction derby. The game is broadly divided into two modes, circuit type courses and battle arenas, but in both modes the goal is the same, to have the most points at the end when all cars are eliminated. This is not a bad setup on its own, and I think the idea behind the circuit courses, where half the cars go one way and half go the other way, is actually a decent one. The problem is with the game's scoring system. Although you can gain some points in the circuit courses for crossing checkpoints, the lion's share of the points are based on collisions, as you might expect. However, the way the game assigns these points is completely idiotic. You would expect that the most efficient way to get points would be to hit rival cars in ways that doesn't deal significant damage to your own car, like from the side or behind when they're stopped, but this awards almost no points at all, you can line up a beautiful T-bone and get only 1 point for it, then get rear-ended by another car and get 5 points for this. The type of collision that awards by far the most points is head-on collisions, often awarding 30 or more points (though even then these vary drastically for no obvious reason), and these are easy enough to do on the circuit tracks, but they also completely trash your own car, so you can only do a certain number each race before your inevitable demise. I actually think the game might be awarding points not based on how much damage you do to rival cars, but how much damage your own car takes, which is about the stupidest way you could implement a game like this. This results in a game that completely lacks any kind of depth or nuance. If there was any way to get health back, say, by finishing off a rival car or completing a lap on a circuit track, that might give it a little depth, but there's not, so you basically just do a few head-ons, complete a few laps, and hope the RNG awarded you the most points. It's a completely brain-dead experience that gets boring almost immediately, which is too bad because it otherwise controls well. They probably should have just used this engine to make a straight-up racing game instead.
I'm going to come out and say it, Monopoly isn't a very good board game, and it doesn't convert to video game form well. What little nuance the game has lies mostly in trades and auctions, and these are both implemented quite poorly here. The AI has a specific dollar value that they think every property is worth, and they will never let any auction or trade go for even a penny less, which makes the process of going through any auction or trade extremely tedious. It also leads to some bizarre behaviour where the AI will frequently put properties up for auction even when the amount they're willing to pay is higher than the asking price, and basically bid against themselves in order to overpay. Beyond this, there's little to see here. It's standard monopoly, the interface isn't particularly good (why are there no overlays on the board to show who owns what?), and the presentation is at best serviceable. There's simply no reason to buy Monopoly on a console, especially when Culdcept and Fortune Street are just around the corner, both of which blow Monopoly out of the water in every way imaginable.
I didn't have high hopes for Mortal Kombat Mythologies, but somehow it's even worse than I expected. You might be wondering "how do you screw up a simple platformer?", but the answer is actually very simple "apply Mortal Kombat's terrible controls to it". The fact that this is a platformer where you have to press diagonally upwards to jump should immediately raise red flags, but it only gets worse from there. For example, if you want to turn around, you now have to press a button to do that, even while fighting enemies, which you do using Mortal Kombat's typical controls, which makes the fighting gameplay feel even worse than in the core series, and the fighting is the only part of this game that might have any appeal. About the only good thing you can say about this game is that the visuals and sound are good, but it's nowhere near enough to rescue a game that plays this badly. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd actually rather just play Mortal Kombat than this game.
DeleteI'm probably going to mostly end up echoing my sentiments on NBA Showtime from the PS1 version. It's very similar to NBA Hangtime, except with a different graphics engine. Compared to Hangtime, the court is quite a bit larger, which removes a fair bit of the nuance from the game, as offense was already somewhat too strong. I do think the new fouls system is interesting, but the fact that it resets each quarter limits the effect it has on the game, and defense is already so lacking that it feels like it's trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. Either way though, the game still does a lot of things right, create a player still rocks, and actually, the new 3D presentation has its moments where it looks pretty nice. The real issue is that there's essentially a better version of this game called NBA Hoopz, which increases the player count to 3 per side, which essentially remedies most of this game's balance problems, and also helps it feel much more distinct from Hangtime, which makes this game feel somewhat redundant. With that game bumping this down to the third-best Midway basketball game of the era, I feel like it pushes this into the A range.
Rush 2 has got to be one of the most forgettable sequels of all time. The entire game is virtually unchanged from the original, it clearly runs on the exact same engine, with all of the same issues (most notably the constant fog, the mushy handling, and annoying autocorrect turning controls). The only difference is the tracks, which, instead of taking place in San Francisco, now take place all across the USA, which feels more generic. The only thing you could call an "improvement" is that the tracks are longer, but this is actually a bad thing IMO as it makes the races take way too long, 7+ minutes is far too much for a single race in an arcade-style game. It's kind of telling that I actually have no idea whether or not I played this game before now, I thought I rented it, but if so, I have no memories of it whatsoever. The first game got a little bit of a pass because it came out very early, but by now Rush 2 has to go up against much better racers and it's just not up to snuff.
DeleteWCW Mayhem is all right. I feel like the best and worst things you can say about this game is that there's nothing particularly wrong with it, and there's also nothing especially good about it. It has a pretty good selection of wrestlers with many big names that I recognize, and controls well enough, but it's nothing that hasn't been done a bunch of times already this gen. The presentation is similarly all right. I feel like animation is a bit below average, but the commentary is pretty good, probably second only to War Zone. Basic gameplay is also fine, I actually kind of like the momentum meter in the middle, but like many similar wrestling games matches seem to go on a bit too long, I feel like the opponent can escape pinfalls just a bit too easily, the only time I was ever successful in pinning was immediately after performing a finisher on an opponent who was already quite damaged (if I waited a while after performing the finisher, they would go back to escaping with a 2 count). I guess this game is kind of a direct competitor to War Zone in that both are a bit more accessible than Aki's wrestling games and feature better presentation (at least IMO), but of the two I feel War Zone is better in every way except the roster. Still a fine game but not one that really stands out.