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Last Topic's Ratings:
Bomberman 64 (Japan) - GGAA - 75% (4)
Madden NFL 2002 - GGGG - 100% (4)
Mickey's Speedway USA - GAABGBGAGAAAAGG - 63% (15)
Perfect Dark - AAGGGGGGGGGAGGGGGGGGGG - 93% (22) (9 SR)
Rakuga Kids - AAAAA - 50% (5)
Rally Challenge 2000 - BAAAG - 50% {5}
Wow, what a turnout for Perfect Dark. It got even more votes and SRs than Goldeneye? Vindicated by history? Or just right place, right time in the GAB threads? I guess we'll find out by seeing how the rest of the threads go.
Games for this topic:
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Robotron 64
SCARS
Star Wars Episode 1: Battle for Naboo
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
WWF No Mercy
It finally happened, we've arrived at the last Wrestling game on N64. But who was the real master of the attitude era between Stone Cold and Conker? Or maybe Tony Hawk? Jar Jar Binks? This whole topic feels like a time capsule.
Conker's Bad Fur Day - G
ReplyDeleteRobotron 64 - A
SCARS - B
Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo - G
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - G
WWF No Mercy - G
Conker's Bad Fur Day might be the black sheep in the N64 library, but it's still quite an interesting title nonetheless. Much is made of its adult humour, and certainly, it's pretty much omnipresent throughout the adventure, but it's also a game with the kind of well-polished mechanics you'd expect from a late-generation Rare title. Something that stands out about it instantly to me is that unlike many other 3D Platformers that features a fairly boilerplate design of "enter level, collect X number of Stars / Jiggies / Power Orbs / etc, go to next level", the design of Conker is much more organic, with the platforming and action challenges being woven into its narrative. No doubt, this somewhat comes at the expense of linearity, as this is a very linear game, but it allows the game's humour to be woven into the gameplay more naturally and I feel like it makes a nice change of pace from all the collectathons on the system. In terms of the core gameplay, it's actually fairly simple. Conker has a single basic attack, a couple jumps, and a midair hover, and that's about it for his basic actions, with most of the other things he can do, like using a slingshot or throwing knives being limited to standing on specific pads. This is obviously a lot more limited compared to most other 3D platformers, and in truth, many of the tasks you end up doing are actually very simple and similar to each other. A very common theme is that whenever you need to do anything, you'll have to do it a few times, usually 3, in order to progress the game, but the fact that you're almost always treated to a humourous cutscene for doing so helps it avoid becoming repetitive. Speaking of which, the game's production values are top notch. Not only does the game feature the typical great visuals and music that you'd expect from Rare, it's also full of fully voice-acted cutscenes that are very well animated as well, a far cry from the lazy garbage that was usually used to replace FMV cutscenes in multiplayer games, you can tell a ton of time and attention went into these. One of my only gripes is that compared to pretty much every other 3D platformer ever, Conker is absurdly susceptible to fall damage, which is especially notable because he has a hover move, but it can't really be used to guard against it. I'd guess 99% of my deaths are from instant kill falls, as health pickups are otherwise quite abundant and they respawn. Overall, while it probably doesn't have the replayability of something like Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie, it's still a pretty fun time at least once.
Robotron 64 is a very simplistic twin stick shooter. It's an extremely arcade-style game, you just go through (nearly) endless levels filled with enemies to shoot and each level ends when you have destroyed them all. The only nuance to the game is that there are people you can rescue for extra points, though there are invincible enemies that will kill them and they can also be turned against you by certain other enemies. The core idea is okay, but there's really not a lot to the game. There are a couple powerups, but they only last a short time, so pretty much all you're doing for most of the game is trying to progress and earn extra lives. If you die in the game, you completely restart the current stage, which is a weird decision that can get very frustrating. The game's visual design is also lacking in many ways. Enemy shots are not distinguished from the background very well in many cases and can be hard to see, and the shadows from the flying enemies are almost invisible. The bonus levels deserve special mention for poor design, the enemies in this level just appear out of nowhere and can hit you instantly, some kind of warning of where they are going to appear is obviously needed. About the only good thing the game has going for it is that the pacing is very fast and there aren't many breaks in the action, but I think most other twin-stick shooters are a lot better than this.
DeleteSCARS is pretty bad. It's a combat-focused racer, but combat has such a large focus that the racing part feels trivial. There are weapon pickups every few seconds of the track, so you'll be using them constantly, and thankfully the weapons are somewhat interesting to use, there's a decent variety and you can also charge them to alter their effects, but races go on for ages (for whatever reason, races in this game have 4 laps) and as with many games of this nature only the end of each race really matters. The constant weapon spam plus the overly long races and the diminished focus on actual racing causes it to get repetitive extremely quickly, which is pretty bad considering there's a lot of good racing games this generation for it to compete with.
Battle For Naboo is fairly similar to Rogue Squadron in a lot of ways. The presentation and general gameplay are very similar, you'll still be piloting iconic craft from Star Wars as you attempt to complete objectives, shoot down tons of badguys, and earn medals throughout many diverse missions. Compared to Rogue Squadron, the presentation has been pushed even further here, this is easily one of the most impressive games on the console from a presentation standpoint, not only does the game look great and run flawlessly but there's also tons of voice acting and high-quality music as well. The game generally controls very well, which is important because you can't just soak up hits, precise maneuvering during dogfights is essential, though aiming control is not yet as precise as it will be in Rogue Leader. One change that sets this game apart in a way that I'm not sure I like is that there's a pretty significant focus on ground-based craft in this game. While they definitely do feel different, I just don't find piloting them to be as interesting as aircraft and attempting to hit airborne targets using them is a pain. Also, like in every game in the series, the medal targets are not shown until after the level, which is annoying, I'd much rather if you could see your current score and the score target on the pause screen, and an option to quickly restart the current mission would be greatly appreciated as well. Still, this is a very well-polished game with a lot of content and due to the focus on Episode 1 there's almost no overlap with Rogue Leader, so it's well-worth picking up.
DeleteTony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is much the same as the previous title. Thankfully, like THPS2 on N64, this game has fixed controls and doesn't use the lame C-button only scheme of the first game. Beyond this, very little has changed since THPS2, which is actually kind of a big deal because there's also a PS2 / GC / XBox version of this game that does include some new stuff, including 4 new levels, a bunch more secret characters, and some new tricks that require you to press the button twice. At least the new revert move is still in this version of the game. Overall, I also feel like the levels in this game aren't nearly as memorable as THPS2, but the Tony Hawk games are always good fun and it doesn't hurt to have another one available on N64, particularly considering the port of the first game was kind of a dud.
DeleteWWF No Mercy is the culmination of the Aki Wrestling games on N64. Unlike some of the previous games, which often felt very similar to each other, there's been a lot of upgrades to this one which make it clearly the best of the bunch in my opinion. For starters, the game has seen its progression system overhauled. Winning matches now earns money that can be used to purchase new wrestlers, attires, and arenas. It's a small change in some ways, but I really feel this helps tire the experience together. The create-a-wrestler feature is back and more extensive than ever before, though there are tons of existing wrestlers to use as well and they're progressively starting to feel more distinct from each other (a criticism I had in the past was that the nature of the Aki wrestling engine was that the characters often felt somewhat similar). Another big change is the new championship mode, which lets you play through various storylines as you try to obtain the title belts, somewhat similar to Smackdown, though not quite as robust, which is also a great way to earn the aforementioned currency. Of course, the gameplay from the previous games remains mostly unchanged, which is fine because that was always one of the biggest strengths of the Aki games. As before, commentary is also absent, which is my biggest complaint, but the improved visuals and the campaign mode do a pretty good job of giving the game enough personality that this can be overlooked. Overall, definitely one of the best wrestling games on the system, and easily my pick if you're only going to buy one of the Aki titles.