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Last Topic's Ratings:
Archer Maclean's 3D Pool - BBBB - 0% (4)
Dragstars - ABA - 33% (3)
Moorhen 3: Chicken Chase - AB - 25% (2)
Pacapaca Passion Special - AB - 25% (2)
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure - GAGGG - 90% (5)
Zera-Chan Puzzle: Pitatto Pair - GG - 100% (2)
Not quite as highly rated as the Saturn topic, but between the two there were 6 games last week to rate 100%, which has got to be a record.
Games for this topic:
Caesars Palace 2000
City of Lost Children, The
Disney's Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers
F1 Racing Championship
K-1 Revenge
Lup Salad: Lupupu Cube
This list of games was just not playing nice with the topic title. In any case, I think it looks like an interesting set of games. Lup Salad also seems to be a little Christmassy, purely by chance.
As I mentioned when we covered the game on N64, the PS1 version of Donald Duck Goin Quackers has quite a few differences as the game was actually rebuilt from the ground up for the PS1 port. In case you're not familiar with it, the game is basically a Crash Bandicoot clone starring Donald Duck. Like Crash, there are a mix of 2D levels and 3D "hallway" levels. The game has solid fundamentals, and even though it's a bit short with only 16 levels, there's at least a decent number of secrets and extras to pad out the length. Compared to the N64 version, this version is a little more cinematic. Not only is the intro cutscene intact (in the N64 version it's replaced with an in-engine cutscene), but some of the mid-level dialogue is voiced, which it isn't on N64 (or even Dreamcast). This is certainly a nice addition, though obviously it's relatively minor compared to the gameplay differences. The PS1 version of the game has a completely different physics engine and camera system, and there are even some minor level differences. When it comes to the physics, they're a clear downgrade. Donald's jump is a bit stiffer in this version (this is particularly noticeable with the double jump) and the hit detection on his attacking moves is way worse on PS1, which leads to a lot of cheap hits. The camera changes are also probably a slight downgrade but it's very minor, the camera just shows the action from different angles. It tends to frame the scenes somewhat less well and sometimes makes the position of secrets more obvious than intended, though in some cases I do think it looks a bit nicer aesthetically as it sometimes selects slightly more dynamic camera angles compared to the other versions. I also think it's possible that the PS1 version may run a little smoother than the N64 version, though this comes at the cost of reduced environment and texture detail. On PS1, you also have to collect orbs instead of boss wedges, and they're in somewhat different locations as well. Overall, I think this game is a slight downgrade compared to N64, and particularly Dreamcast, which is sort of a "best of both worlds" version that has superior performance, resolution, and has the cutscenes as well, but it's still a pretty solid game on PS1. There's more competition here (not only from Crash himself but also from Lilo and Stitch, which is a slightly better game) but I think it's still G.
ReplyDeleteF1 Racing Championship is apparently sort of a sequel to Monaco Grand Prix, though if I hadn't looked it up I don't think I would have recognized it. Like Monaco Grand Prix, it is also an F1 racing game with an Arcade mode and a Championship mode that use generally similar physics, with the main difference being that the Championship mode has tuning, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. In Monaco Grand Prix, the gameplay is quite arcadey, even in the Championship mode, but in F1 Racing Championship, it is a bit more technical, but not to the point of a simulation style game, it feels more like what I often refer to as a "hybrid" racer, where it approaches the speed of an arcade racer but you need to pay attention to things like racing lines and braking rather than just powersliding around every corner. The physics are pretty good and I think it feels like a good fit for an F1 title, but it's a significantly more difficult game and it will require you to learn the tracks to do well. Beyond physics engine changes, pretty much every aspect of the game has been significantly improved compared to Monaco Grand Prix. In the previous title, one of my complaints was the lack of progression, which has been significantly improved. For example, the Arcade Mode is now divided into classes where you have to place well enough in a series of races to get promoted to the next one, which helps a lot. There's also a kind of strange points system to this mode, where you are awarded points at checkpoints based on how well you drove the previous segment, and the game saves your high score. It's a little weird, but I actually kind of enjoy it, it's a decent way to show your progress as you get better at the tracks. The Championship mode has also seen some improvements and is a lot more customizable than before, though as noted, it still plays mostly the same as the arcade mode, you shouldn't expect a drastically different experience. Oh, and of course, the presentation has also been hugely improved since the previous game, the game both looks and sounds great, in particular I appreciate that it actually has music when racing. Overall, this is a pretty solid title and probably one of the better F1 games overall.
ReplyDeleteWell, something you definitely can't say about the K-1 series is that they just keep everything the same from game to game. K-1 The Arena Fighters (the first game) and K-1 Grand Prix (the third game) both attempt to be somewhat methodical takes on the sport, with the third game doing this much more successfully, but by contrast K-1 Revenge is an all-out slugfest that feels more like a traditional fighting game. This is definitely not a methodical fighter in the line of the third game where you have to choose your attacks wisely because ill-chosen attacks can easily be countered, attacks come out super quickly here and it's extremely favourable to be the one on the attack, because although you can block, attacks do almost as much damage when blocked as they do when they hit, so you really don't want to be caught blocking for any length of time. There is a bit of nuance to this, although you still take most of the damage while blocking, that health is recoverable, so as long as you live to the next round, you will get a lot of it back, whereas unblocked hits deal unrecoverable damage so they will wear you down more as the rounds go on, but if your health bar gets fully depleted you instantly lose, even if most of it is still recoverable. This actually kind of works, and in particular, the stamina bar matters way more here than it does in the first game, as stamina is the one thing that will force you to stop pressing the attack, but the fact that defense is so weak makes the game feel somewhat like a button masher as you basically want to be pushing buttons all the time to maintain your own offense. It's not terrible and there is a little bit of nuance to it, but it still feels like it was kind of a misstep for the franchise, as the much more nuanced gameplay of K-1 Grand Prix is far more fun.
ReplyDeleteLup Salad is an extremely cutesy puzzle game, but don't be fooled, it's also hard as hell. The first thing I need to comment on is the game's presentation, which is super cute. The game stars a young girl with an overactive imagination who imagines herself in various situations (which all involve block puzzles, but we'll come to that in a minute). Something I have to draw attention to is the game's soundtrack, which makes the unusual choice to have all vocal tracks, which have a kind of sweet, lullaby-like feel to them, which actually fits pretty well with the game's aesthetic. The gameplay won't be putting you to sleep, though, your mind will have to be razor-sharp to deal with this game. The gist of the game is actually very simple. You control the little girl and have to push the blocks together to match up at least 3 so they clear, and you have to clear every block, kind of similar to Puzznic. You can only push blocks and jump, and if you jump into a stack of blocks, you'll push the stack one row above you, but these simple mechanics make for a bunch of absurdly diabolical puzzles. Even the first world of puzzles is pretty hard, which is a harbinger for what's to come, as by the time you reach world 2 there's already a bunch of absurdly difficult puzzles where the screen is nearly filled with blocks. In that sense, the music is probably there to prevent you from completely losing your marbles, which it does adequately, and thankfully you also have infinite lives, but they still probably cranked the difficulty too high too fast. There's also an endless mode, but it's not very fun, the game's mechanics simply don't work well for it. Overall, it's a cute game, but like many similar games I can only put up with it for so long before it simply becomes a bit too tedious.