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Last Topic's Ratings:
Crusaders of Might and Magic - AAG - 67% (3)>
Iron Soldier 3 - AAAA - 50% (4)>
Killer Loop - AG - 75% (2)>
Smash Court - BB - 0% (2)>
Techno BB - AG - 75% (2)>
X-Men vs Street Fighter - BAGB - 38% {4}
With all the discussion in the last topic I was surprised there were so few votes. Still, Killer Loop and Techno BB both finished in the high range and I think they're both games that are worth looking into so it's not such a bad result.
Games for this topic:
Floating Runner: Quest for the 7 Crystals
Gradius Deluxe Pack
Kattobi Tune
NBA Shootout 2004
Sheep
Vigilante 8
I actually had to change out the sports game here like 3 times because I kept picking games that turned out to be part of a series where we haven't done one of the preceding games yet. Kind of funny how people always complain about sports games being the same every year but it's the ones that change a lot that give me problems.
Floating Runner: Quest for the 7 Crystals - B
ReplyDeleteGradius Deluxe Pack - A
Kattobi Tune - A
NBA Shootout 2004 - G
Sheep - A
Vigilante 8 - G
Floating Runner is an extremely basic 3D platformer marred by sloppy controls and unremarkable level design. One thing that struck me almost immediately is how unclear the levels are, they're full of invisible walls, with many clearly possible jumps blocked solely by the fact that a wall you can't see has been placed there, while other times jumps that are only possibly by a pixel or so actually are possible and usually mandatory, necessitating a ton of trial and error. Levels also contain way, way too many enemies, literally hundreds per stage. You can take a lot of hits, but fighting them all is very tedious, even though jumping on them is possible it is too unreliably to be used most of the time, so you'll just be spamming your projectile instead, but after a few minutes you'll just start running past everything and hoping your health doesn't run out before the end of the stage. There are also a few moments that stood out as especially terrible, such as the end of the second stage that requires you to climb a giant tree consisting of about 20 pixel perfect jumps in a row, marred by poor collision detection and slippery controls, and of course if you fall you're going all the way back to the bottom. I defy anyone to complete this part without save states. The one thing you can say for the game is that its colourful and the music is decent but it's not nearly enough to elevate this otherwise bland and poorly-polished game. Easily one of the weakest 3D platformers of the era.
Gradius Deluxe Pack is a fairly straightforward port of the arcade versions of the first two Gradius games. There's little by way of enhancements or extras here, so it's basically just a way to play two classic games in one package. For the original Gradius, I'm honestly not a big fan of this version, as I feel the sound quality is quite poor, the game sounds overly shrill and tinny in a way that kind of reminds me of the Sunsoft Memorial Collection, where music of similar vintage simply hasn't made the transition well. This is definitely not my preferred way to play this game, I'd much rather stick with the NES version or the later Gradius Collection for PSP. Thankfully, Gradius 2 fares quite a bit better. Sound quality here is fine, and this is also just a bigger and better game than the original, this one is a much more substantial upgrade over the Famicom version. Still, I do feel like both games feel somewhat dated, I'm not a fan of the checkpoint system, particularly given the way the powerups work, I feel that when it comes to Gradius 1 and 2 you basically either beat them on one life or not at all. Though it's probably a bit of a pipe dream, I'd love to have seen the games get the instant-respawn feature that would later appear in Gradius 5, as this really is a massive improvement to the series' playability. Overall, Gradius 2 is decent, but I feel like there's not a lot of reason to go out of your way to get this collection due to lack of extras. Gradius Gaiden is a better game than Gradius 2, or you could just get the collection for PSP and get both games, as well as Gradius 3 and 4 as well.
Kattobi Tune is an interesting game with a lot of unique ideas, but it also isn't terribly well-polished. The core idea is that the game is a hybrid between a racing game and a life simulator. At the start of each week, you'll choose your activities for that week, which can include things like going to a parts shop, working to make money, working out, going on a date, resting, going to a racetrack, etc. You can also meet up with various friendly characters as you go about your daily routine, who have various advice and events that you can partake in. This is a fairly cool system, though the fact that it's all in Japanese will make it harder for those without great fluency in the language. Where the game falters a bit is in the racing engine. Graphically, it looks pretty good, but the controls aren't great. It's a somewhat sim-style game, there is a powerslide mechanic but it's very touchy and hard to use, and you seem to slide near constantly regardless of how you drive, which prevents you from ever really getting a good feeling of control. The game is also absurdly hard, right from the get go your opponents are very fast and virtually never make mistakes, making it very hard to make money early on, save for by working at your day job (maybe this is a good commentary on the feasibility of racing as a career). Something else that really annoyed me is that on any given racing day, it might rain, which makes the game almost completely uncontrollable and virtually guarantees a loss (if there are any parts that help you steer in rain I certainly haven't found them), and there's no way to see the weather when making your schedule. You could always just load, but then you have to do the week's events again. Overall, it's a neat idea that I'd love to see revisited with a more modern, polished driving engine, but unfortunately these sorts of experimental games seem to have all but vanished from the modern world.
DeleteNBA Shootout 2004 is a really solid game. For starters, this game has the same "facing basket" camera that the original NBA in the Zone had, and I really think this is a pretty good fit for basketball games, it just gives you so much better visibility into the positions of the players. Compared to many other basketball games of the era, this is a pretty nuanced game, you have access to a fair number of different moves, being open when shooting is important and blocks are strong, and deciding when to foul is an important mechanic, but it also feels rewarding to learn because the controls and gameplay feel very responsive. Lining up a good block or rebound feels very satisfying. The animations in the game are also a particular highlight, I feel like when you look at things like passing and shooting animations, they're much more detailed compared to many games of this time period, which helps increase the general responsive feeling of the game's controls. Something else I find interesting is that Ian Eagle is the commentator for this game, who also does commentary for the NBA Playgrounds series, and he also does a pretty good job here, even if it's not quite as madcap as that game is. Overall, this is a very solid pick if you're looking for a simulation style basketball game on PS1.
Sheep is an okay game. The premise of the game is very simple but still fairly unique. You need to herd the sheep towards the goal by controlling your character, whom the sheep (generally) run away from. You usually have to herd quite a lot at a time so they often scatter and split up, and trying to keep them grouped up is key because you also need to avoid various obstacles that will kill them. The basic premise works well enough, but the game is somewhat marred by a very restrictive interface, which doesn't let you replay levels for better scores or to pick up missed collectables, or even quickly restart a stage in progress (you can load a saved game but this is slow). Beyond this, most aspects of the game's presentation are just okay. The game looks all right, but it doesn't especially stand out, and similarly the sound does its job but is unmemorable. There's also a GBA version of this game, though it is very different, featuring totally different levels and a revamped interface that does address most of my issues with the game, though the generally smaller stages are a bit of a bummer. Either way, it's a tolerable game, but not one I find especially compelling.
DeleteVigilante 8 is still a good game, but it's also a clear downgrade from the N64 version. As before, I like the general controls and speed of this game, I generally find it to be a bit better than Twisted Metal in that regard, the cars feel more controllable and thus there's a larger focus on dogfighting rather than just pure hit and run, it also feels a bit more fair than Twisted Metal because you aren't quite as badly outnumbered most of the time. The game is still mainly intact here on PS1, but everything about it is a bit downgraded. It looks somewhat worse, most missions have fewer enemy cars, there's no story mode for some of the secret characters, and the ability to play the story mode co-operatively is gone. Despite this, I think it's still a pretty fun game, I can definitely see the logic for rating this version as A, but I still think it compares well enough against Twisted Metal that it's probably G, albeit a low one.