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Last Topic's Ratings:
Inspector Gadget: Gadget's Crazy Maze - BBB - 0% (3)
Marble Master - BA - 25% (2)
Mega Man Legends - GGGGGGGGAGGG - 96% (12)
NHL Open Ice - AA - 50% (2)
Supercross 2000 - BBAB - 13% (4)
Yami Fuku Natsu: Teito Monogatari Futatabi - GG - 100% (2)
I'm actually quite surprised that Mega Man Legends did quite as well as it did, I certainly didn't foresee that I'd be the only person to give it an A. I guess Capcom really did mess up by cancelling the third game.
Games for this topic:
Kuru Kuru Cube
Mickey's Wild Adventure
Pro 18: World Tour Golf
Spec Ops: Ranger Elite
TOCA: Championship Racing
WWF Smackdown
Just FYI, Mickey's Wild Adventure is the PS1 port of Mickey Mania, in case you're not familiar with it under that name. Also, I'm a bit afraid to play TOCA, it's always considered to be the most hardcore racing sim out there, but maybe like with Gran Turismo the complexity might not be completely there in this early installment.
Kuru Kuru Cube - B
ReplyDeleteMickey's Wild Adventure - G
Pro 18: World Tour Golf - B
Spec Ops: Ranger Elite - G
TOCA: Championship Racing - A
WWF Smackdown - G
Kuru Kuru Cube is a pretty lame puzzle game. It's essentially a variant of Puyo Puyo, except that the blocks fall and you simply have to rearrange them, like in Tetris Attack. Like in Tetris Attack, you can continue to move blocks while they fall, but the game does not allow skill chains, which is boring. The play area is also too small and there's too many colours, which makes forming chains very tedious, and it also takes forever to kill anyone, as you don't die when your playfield hits the top, you have to go way over the top to lose. Overall, it just feels like a game that tries to copy many good puzzle games without really adding any interesting twists or even really understanding what made those games good in the first place. The music is pretty cool, though.
I had to go back to compare to the 16-bit versions to see just what has changed with Mickey Mania, but either way it feels much better than the previous version. The biggest upgrade is to the game's resolution, you can see MUCH further around Mickey, which rather obviously is a massive help in pretty much every way. A good example of a place where this makes all the difference in the world is the minecart section, which is brutal on the 16-bit consoles but feels completely fair here. The game is still somewhat hard, but at least it feels like you have a fighting chance now. I also think the game feels like it runs just a touch slower, which is also helpful, though this might just be the 50fps due to this being the PAL version. There are also some upgrades to visual effects on the playstation version, for example there's a section in the first stage where the world gradually gains colour, this effect looks vastly better here compared to the 16-bit systems. Mickey also now talks, which doesn't add a ton, but it's still a nice addition. Even the load times here aren't a big deal because they're fairly short and the 16-bit versions had them too. Overall, this was always a game I felt had a lot of potential but felt a bit underwhelming before, but I feel like with this version the original vision for the game comes across a lot better, a shame it didn't come out in the US.
Pro 18 is one of those old-style Golf games that isn't properly 3D, which feel tremendously dated on a system like PS1. The inability to look over the rest of the course and see where you're aiming is inexcusable at this point and drastically hampers playability, and the UI is also needlessly minimalistic as well, for example you have to bring up a menu to see the distance ratings of your clubs, which is crucial when hitting shorter shots. This game also has, by far, the worst putting of any game I've ever played, regardless of what the shot distance is I feel I can never get a good reading on the green or where the heck the game thinks I'm aiming. I don't think this would have been considered a good game even in the early 90s, let alone on a system that also has Hot Shots Golf.
Spec Ops: Ranger Elite is not bad. I feel like this is basically the game that Rainbow Six wishes it was, it provides a much more compelling take on the idea of a tactical shooter, at least on PS1. Spec Ops does a lot of things right in its general setup, I like the idea of having multiple squadmates each with individual specializations and loadouts, and I really like the fact that your AI teammate has AI and isn't useless! The only real issue with the teammates is that they'll very happily run onto mines, forcing you to snipe them if you don't want your partner to be blown up, or tell them to hold position and then manually walk them past yourself. Alternatively, there's a two-player option where the second player can control the other character, and the performance here is better than I expected, it actually feels quite playable. That said, performance is also the game's biggest issue, particularly draw distance, it's often difficult to see enemies before they start firing on you. Thankfully, there is some auto-aim and you're allowed to take a few hits, but it does reduce the tactical feeling of the game somewhat. Sniping also feels somewhat lame, I can't quite put my finger on it but the way the game transitions into the scope mode feels jarring, though the sniper's ability to engage enemies accurately from a distance is often critical so you'll still be doing it a lot. If you can get past these complaints, though, this is a pretty cool game with a decent variety of missions and a pretty well-implemented co-op mode. This one is a bit borderline but if they continue to improve the series the next one could probably be solidly G.
DeleteIt's hard to know what to do with TOCA. For starters, the game has a great engine. It feels a lot like Gran Turismo, except I think it's actually a bit "ahead" of GT in that the physics engine feels more sophisticated, it reminds me more of GT2 or GT3 rather than the first game. The visuals also look great, with highly detailed cars and tracks and good performance throughout. There's also some light commentary on the races, though I wish there was more, and a mechanic I thought was clever was that unlike in Gran Turismo, where you can exploit the lack of car damage to drive like a psychopath and sideswipe other cars off the road, in this game you are actually penalized for doing this. However, beyond the driving engine, there's not much else to the game. Besides single race, there's only a barebones championship mode, and I find it to be quite dull. Races are very long, and if you play even moderately well, you'll spend a lot of that time insurmountably far ahead, and you have to race the same tracks over and over to rack up tournament points. Compared to GT's fantastic campaign mode, this feels like a massive letdown, and I think this is enough of an issue that it makes GT very clearly the better game even though I think the driving is a little better here. In a certain sense it feels weird to A a game that drives this well, as I think this would still appeal to enthusiasts to a decent degree, but for more casual fans I feel like there's not a ton here. I think the real answer is just to wait for the sequel, which seems to add in quite a bit more content.
You can probably make the argument that Smackdown doesn't have the nuance of some of the other Wrestling games of this generation, but it's still a lot of fun. One of the first things I would note is that the game looks very good. There's a ton of wrestlers and moves and the animations are very solid throughout. There's also unique music, entrances and win animations for every wrestler, you can tell there was a lot of attention to detail here, though I wish the game also had match commentary. In terms of the gameplay, the big selling point is the season mode, which is quite interesting, you basically go through many different events, where your actions can create rivalries and friendships with other superstars, which will then affect later matches. This concept is better fleshed out in Smackdown 2, but it's still quite an interesting idea and really gives the season mode a lot of life. The core wrestling engine is solid too. Compared to other games, it's probably more simplistic, but it's very fast-paced. One thing I like is that you don't get locked into taking many hits after being downed as you do in most games, you can instead perform an evasive roll most of the time (unless you're very badly hurt) that allows you to reset the situation. It does make downed moves a bit weak, but it helps maintain the breakneck pace of the game. There's a ton of different match types, too, I especially like the one where you get to be the referee, it's hilarious. Actually, pretty much the whole game is very funny and satisfying. Pulling off your finisher on another wrestler who dares to interfere with your match is always great fun (finishers are also quite easy to perform compared to many other games). There's also a fairly detailed create-a-wrestler mode that you can also use with the main season mode, though if you'd prefer to play as one of the superstars that's a perfectly valid option as well. Overall, while the sequel does make a fair number of improvements, this is still a really solid game, and probably my second-favourite wrestling title on PS1 after its sequel.
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