This topic is now closed
Gamefaqs Link
Last Topic's Ratings:
BattleTanx: Global Assault - GGGGGG - 100% (6)
Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko - BGAABBB - 29% (7)
Harvest Moon 64 - AGGGGGGGG - 94% (9)
Last Legion UX - GA - 75% (2)
NASCAR 2000 - BAAA - 38% (4)
Razor Freestyle Scooter - ABBB - 13% (4)
Great turnout this time. I was surprised to see the perfect score for Battletanx, though the original game did pretty well too, actually. I guess the series is kind of a hidden gem for the system.
Games for this topic:
Army Men: Air Combat
Choro Q 64 2
F-1 World Grand Prix 2
Mortal Kombat 4
NHL Blades of Steel '99
Quake 2
I feel like this is a pretty strong roster of games this time, I had a hard time choosing which games would appear in the topic title. For those who might not be aware, Choro Q 64 2 is the Japan-only sequel to Penny Racers.
Army Men: Air Combat - G
ReplyDeleteChoro Q 64 2 - G
F-1 World Grand Prix 2 - B
Mortal Kombat 4 - G
NHL Blades of Steel '99 - G
Quake 2 - G
As with the PS1 version, Army Men: Air Combat is a pretty solid game. In many ways, it plays a bit like a simplified version of the Strike series, with shorter missions and smaller areas, but the gameplay remains engaging nonetheless. As with all Army Men games, this is a slight downgrade from the PS1 version, cutscenes have been axed and the models and textures seem to be a bit simplified. However, there are not many cutscenes in the PS1 version compared to the other Army Men games, and the N64 version is more zoomed out and seems to run better, so in this case it's not really a big loss and the N64 version is still pretty good. Nothing really to complain about here, it's a solid pickup on either system.
The original Choro Q 64 (Penny Racers) was a game I really loved when I was younger. It had great music and an innovative parts system, though it also had a few issues, so when I heard there was a sequel I was excited to see if they had refined the formula even further. Much of the basics remain the same, the points system from the original returns, and so does the mechanic where after winning a race, you can take a part from one of the losers, which is how you earn new parts. There are a few changes that are worth noting. For starters, the weapon system has changed slightly. You still pick a weapon as part of your car setup, but there are now pickups on the track that can upgrade it or give you extra ammo, as well as ones that just give you a speed boost. This doesn't change the game drastically, but being able to use your weapon a little more often is nice. They've also drastically overhauled the way you get the special parts. Previously, they were tied to completing obscure challenges within the A and AA classes, but now they are earned through the game's new tournament system. The game's 9 courses are divided into 3 circuits, and winning each one awards your choice of a few prize parts. An interesting wrinkle to the tournaments is that each course can now be raced with varying weather conditions, and potentially in reverse, and the tournament mode randomly chooses the track conditions before each race, which gives some parts much more use, most especially the rain tire which was only useful on one track in the original. Still, having a circuit of only 3 tracks feels a little lame, I really wish they had bumped up the number of tracks in this one to 12 so each circuit could have 4 tracks instead. Overall, it's not a bad sequel, but in a lot of ways it does kind of feel like more of the same, it's not quite the transformative experience that Choro Q2 on PS1 was, though we'll have more on that when it appears for GAB. It's still a solid racing game and a worthy entry in the Choro Q series, but I feel like they still could have done more with this style.
I don't know what's happened with F-1 World Grand Prix 2, but it's a massive downgrade from the first game. In many ways the game is quite similar, the courses and visuals are mostly the same, and even the interface and options are pretty much the same, and it retains the nifty challenge mode that was in the original, but it's taken a massive hit to controls. For whatever reason, the fairly solid control from the original has been replaced by a godawful new handling engine that feels incredibly stiff and bad. I went back to the original to make sure I wasn't crazy and the difference is night and day and IMO it makes this version almost unplayable. This is a shame, too, because the challenge mode remains a cool feature, you'll take on various scenarios based on real races in the F1 circuit where you have to race under certain special conditions. It's a cool idea, I've often praised these kind of scenario modes in other sports games as I think they're a neat way to add replay value and learn about the history of the sport at the same time. Unfortunately, with the game controlling this terribly, there's simply no reason to play this version. I almost wonder if there's somehow something defective about the version I'm playing, but it doesn't seem to be in any way related to driving assist or anything like that as I tried many different settings and no matter what it still plays like garbage. Just stick to the original I guess, maybe there's a reason this version was never released outside Europe.
DeleteI'm still not a huge fan of Mortal Kombat, but there's no way to deny that Mortal Kombat 4 is a massive improvement over past games. The most obvious improvement is that the game is now properly 3D. With the removal of the prerendered sprites from past games, the animation is now many times smoother, which makes everything about the game feel much better to play. The physics of the game, like attack timings and jump arcs also now generally feel much more sensible and just generally it now feels like it's actually kind of a proper fighting game instead of just an excuse for gore. With this increased focus on gameplay mechanics comes an increased roster of modes, including a pretty well-fleshed out training mode that can help you learn the (now relevant) gameplay mechanics. Characters also feel more diversified from each other and combos work better and just generally everything about the engine is dozens of times better compared to past games. It's still not quite perfect though. Block is still mapped to a button, which is lame, and there's still a fair bit of jank, for example throws are really weird, they're done the same way as old Street Fighter games where it's forward + a button, but it doesn't require you to press them at the same time, even after you let go of forward you can still throw for a few more frames, which feels really weird. The frame data also seems a bit strange in many places, with a lot of moves having much less hitstun than you'd expect from more modern games, often allowing you to be thrown even after a successful hit. Still, these are vastly more minor points compared to the glaring issues of the past games and I think you can even make the case that among N64's somewhat limited roster of traditional fighters this is just barely good enough for G. Certainly a huge move in the right direction for the series.
NHL Blades of Steel '99 is a really good Hockey game. I think this is one of those games that does so many things right that there's almost not much to talk about. Control is good, the game speed is good, AI is good, commentary is good, goalies are about as accurate as they should be, etc. My only beef is that the game features an auto player switch feature that sometimes makes me a character I don't want to be, but for the most part it works fine. This is probably the best Hockey game of the era, it kind of reminds me of a slightly lesser version of NHL '14, which I think is the best Hockey game ever made. This game just nails it in pretty much every way and would have been incredible for its time.
DeleteWhile I agree that Quake 2 has some issues, overall it's still a pretty solid game. Compared to the first game, the visuals have seen a massive upgrade, the game features much nicer-looking enivronments and the enemies animate far more smoothly now. I also really like the level design in this game, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just feels good to play, I think the stages are about the right length and have the right level of difficulty, and there's a good amount of variety throughout. It's not all positive, though, the controls have taken a bit of a hit compared to the first game. You can't customize them quite as much as the original, previously you could set literally any button or direction to anything you wanted, now you can only choose among six presets. Preset B is tolerable (it's Goldeneye controls) but I wish you could have the option to have forward back strafe on the left stick and aim entirely on C-Buttons, which is possible in the original. The aiming also feels weirdly oversensitive, even on minimum sensitivity it's still very twitchy, but I was able to adjust to it after a little bit of playtime. Overall, while I wish they had retained the control interface from the original, this is still a really good game and plays well on N64. I'd still easily put this way above any of the Turok games for example.