Hi all, it’s been an great ride for Retro 101 and one I
hoped would continue for a long time into the future. We’ve had great support
from both readers and developers and the site has been growing nicely. My first
child was born on Friday the 11th of December and it soon became
clear that everything was not as it should be.
My child is now very very sick with a rare and critical
heart condition only seen in five children every year. As a result I can no
longer act as Head Editor of Retro 101. One - because I don’t have the time and
two - because at the minute it just isn’t that important.
My aim was always to create a fun site where people could
think about retro games and newer games that brought back some good memories. I
like to think the site did that to the best that it could.
I’d like to thank everyone for all their support and
encouragement and I hope we will be back at some point. For now my life exists
one day at a time down at the Southampton intensive care unit hospital accommodation
and every day I’m here is another day my son is as well. At the minute that’s
all that matters.
After what seems like almost an eternity, Guilty Gear is back
with a bang and now smashing its way straight onto PC.
Fan favourites, Ryu & Ken… sorry! I mean Sol Badguy & Ky
Kiske make their return, accompanied by a variety of other characters whose
golas are interesting to say the least. Bedman, a mysterious assassin whose
motivations are, funnily enough, completely unknown careers semi-unconsciously
around the screen whilst strapped to a mechanical bed-like contraption which is
fitted with all kinds of standard BDSM materials such as whips, spikes and
chains. Elphelt whose only mission in life is to become a bride – her way of
attempting achieve this is to pop champagne corks in the face of her
adversaries, hit them over the head with a bunch of roses and then harass them
into proposing to her. Then there’s Sin (the son of Ky), who is apparently not
even 5yrs old, despite clearly looking like he’s around 18… I’m not quite sure
what any fan girls might make of that. It’s certainly not boring.
The series looks absolutely stunning – a serious contender for
the best looking anime styled fighter ever – staying true to its 2D roots, it
has made the transition to a 3D cel-shaded fighter incredibly smoothly. The
whole game runs at 1080p and 60fps (apart from a few character introductions
which are deliberately slowed down a bit for the effect). At the core, it still
plays like a 2D side scroller. There are 5 main attacking buttons – punch, kick,
slash and heavy slash. Dust attacks also return for Xrd Sign – if they connect
these allow you to instantly shoot your opponent up into the air, allowing a
crazy barrage of attacks to be unleashed upon them in mid-air.
The colouring and special effects are volcanic, almost exploding
off the screen themselves. In order to execute some of these impressive moves
you’ll have to get training, sitting down and learning what is a very technical
fighter which requires some very specific button presses. If like me, you’re
absolutely useless at this kind of thing then there is a slightly comical
tutorial mode where Sol schools Shin (he IS only 5yrs old, remember?), that can
help to ease newbies into the fray. HINT: Use the analogue sticks – it’s a lot
easier!
There’s also a challenge mode that tasks you with completing a
series of more increasingly difficult moves for each character. Mission mode is
slightly different and pits you against potential scenarios that you might
experience in battle so that you can try out tactics against each attack
allowing you to hone your skills even further.
The learning curve is quite steep, the moves, spectacular combos
and all of the systems in play such as Roman cancels, the Blitz Shield, Danger
Time and Instant Kills are all covered in the tutorial, however it will take
some time before you’re used to all of this and can use them all to your
advantage. Arcade mode is then where you can put everything that you’ve learnt
into practice. There are a standard 8 opponents per arcade mode session with
interspersed cut scenes every couple of fights, these are quite brief though
and often contain a lot of unfamiliar terminology relating to Guilty Gear Lore.
The plot is quite simple. a being named Ramlethal Valentine has declared war on
the world and the cast rush to investigate exactly what this means, needless to
say that Arcade mode doesn’t give a definitive answer.
Once you’ve completed arcade mode, if you want to know what
happens to the story after that and are happy with sitting through what is
essentially a 12 episode anime then feel free to start the story mode. Get your
fizzy drinks and popcorn at the ready, this shares no similarities with the
Persona 4 Ultimax or BlazBlue story modes as it is essentially a 5hr movie
broken up into chapters for easier viewing. Unfortunately, the story is linear
in nature and there aren’t any branching paths. If you like anime or are really
into the Guilty Gear lore / story then you may like this, otherwise it may not
be your cup of tea.
The usual training & gallery modes make a return, although I
noticed that even if you spend hours practicing specific moves in the training
mode listening to the same music over and over, it doesn’t get boring. The
slightly heavy metal guitar riddled soundtrack suits the tone of the game well.
The M.O.M (Mansion of Millionaires) mode is the surprise mode of the bunch,
it’s essentially a massive brawl for coins where you can battle various
characters spread out across a hexagonal grid and buy buffs and upgrades in a
sort of RPG style way. The odds are seriously stacked against you here, forget
easy mode, this is where things get real and there shall be no mercy as you
struggle to keep in play against enemies with triple your health, bombs
bouncing all around the screen, it’s an absolute nightmare but raucous fun
nonetheless. Last but not least and also if you dare, there is an Online mode
that has both ranked and casual battles which from my experience works pretty
well if you can find a room with a free slot.
Overall, Guilty Gear is a fast paced, tremendously awesome
sounding, deliciously luscious looking beat ‘em up for the PC, let’s hope that
the next one arrives pretty soon. Heaven or Hell… it doesn’t matter, all I know
is that it’s time to rock!
The Dragon Quest games have always been in the shadow of
other RPG’s in the West due to rarely being released outside of their homeland.
Dragon Quest VIII did make it across on the PS2 and garnered enough interest
for Square-Enix to consider releasing their back catalogue. From 2008 to 2011
Dragon Quest IV, V and VI were remade for the Nintendo DS. Collectively known
as the ‘Zenithia Trilogy’ (The name of the castle in the sky found in each
game), they were renamed as ‘The Chapters of the Chosen’, ‘The Hand of the
Heavenly Bride’ and ‘Realms of Reverie’ respectively.
Each of the three games is fairly similar in terms of core
mechanics. Combat is turn based with party members having the option to attack,
defend, use items or flee. Four party members can be used at once with others
being able to be swapped in and out to allow the player to configure different types
of configuration. Combat is initiated through random encounters as your party
travels around dungeons and the world map
There’s nothing particularly complex to learn and the games
represent a good starting point for gamers who want to get into RPG’s for the
first time. They are also quite forgiving with death as players will find
themselves back at the last save point they visited when they die with any
experience points they have earned intact – though your gold will be halved.
This means that you are never really losing any progress and if you stick at it
long enough you will eventually overcome any obstacles. It’s a system that
works well as it never punishes the player severely for pushing forward or
exploring.
The stories of the games are based around the idea that a
great evil is awakening and a nameless hero will eventually vanquish it. This
involves traveling the world and finding sacred weapons and armour which allows
entry to Zenithia. You will then be able to access the underworld where the
evil awaits to be defeated.
There are of course differences between the games and they
each have their own way of telling the tale and offer up different gimmicks to
keep things interesting. ‘Chapters of the Chosen’ is split into five chapters
with the player experiencing the story of different party members as they find
their way to the hero. The fifth chapter then puts the group together for the
final battle. An extra chapter becomes available after completion which
furthers the story and allows a new character to join the party. There is also a town building sub-game where
players can persuade villagers to move to their town. However, this requires some
input from other players via sharing which will be difficult now.
‘Then Hand of the Heavenly Bride’ follows the Hero through
three stages of his life as he grows up. You will also pick a wife and your
eventual child will also join the quest. Monsters can also be recruited to the
party and players can find and display various knick-knacks that have been collected
from around the world.
‘Realms of Reverie’ changes things up a bit by giving
players the ability to train their party in a wide range of different roles.
It’s a similar job system to something like Final Fantasy III and alters the
characters core stats and gives the unique learned abilities to them. Once a
certain job has been completed more advanced vocations can be taken on which
lead to some very useful tools for players to play with. Monsters can no longer
be recruited at random by there are a host of slimes to be found in the world
who you can talk to and get to join your party. There’s a dragon hidden away
somewhere as well. There’s also a slim combat arena and fashion parade to get
involved with if you so wish.
All the games contain the same visual style, shops and
enemies. There is a church to save your game and resurrect party members, the
inn, casino and various shops which serve the same purpose throughout the
series. There are also wells which can be looked into and the mini-medals to be
found which can be taken to a specific castle and exchanged for rare prizes.
Each of the games is focused on its main story and though
there are things like building the town and slime arena there isn’t much out in
the world in terms of real side quests. This is generally ok as each town you
visit tends to be different from the last and the games move along at a pretty
good pace. Each game takes around forty hours to complete and each then gives
extra content like dungeons after completions for players to dive back into.
Overall, the three games in the series are pretty much all
on a par in terms of their quality. They each offer up a solid adventure which
has some good and bad moments as you go along. All the games are great for both
newcomers and hard-core RPG fans and they all have great localisations with
accents and humour coming through perfectly. If it’s a traditional RPG that you
want then the three games here should offer up more than enough to keep you
interested.
Overall –
Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen 8/10
Dragon Quest V: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride 8/10
Oh how I am jealous for Wii U owners
having had to part with my console. I loved playing Hyrule Warriors and
despite having access to the likes of Dynasty Warrors on next gen
consoles and the VIta nothing quite felt the same.
Yet here I am with Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the
Blight Below a game as far removed from what I understood a Dragon Quest
game to be, as I can imagine. From the very first moment I picked up
the Dragon Quest Heroes it felt familiar, more than it should have.
I will admit it is a game I paid little attention to once I heard of
its reveal, not through ignorance, but just I knew I wanted to play a
Dragon Quest game and was happy to avoid all media coverage and see what
fell on my lap come release day.
Because it felt so similar to Hyrule Warrior and Dynasty Warriors I
had to dig a little after my first moments with the game. Lo and behold,
the reason I felt like I knew this game, was because the team working
on it was Omega Force.
Y’know, the guys who developed Dynasty Warriors, Hyrule Warriors,
Toukiden, Warriors Orochi and much more. This was one of theirs, using
another new setting and basically a new skin. Want to know something? I
couldn’t be happier.
The various ‘Warriors’ games are wonderful to pick up and waste time
on, just destroying endless waves of enemies and feeling like a general
badass. The very moment you pick up a controller, whether you have
experience of Omega Force games or not, you just know what to do. You
hack & slash your way through arenas with a huge grin on your face
just enjoying what is happening on the screen before you.
With Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below,
this is no different and whilst there is a story to follow, you can
easily ignore it, enter a level and murder everything that dare stand in
your way.
Personally I’d like to say there is more to it than that. That there
is a bit more depth and sophistication when you scratch below the
surface, but the truth it, there simply isn’t and that is a good thing.
As not every game needs to have this deep meaningful reason to exist.
Sometimes you just want to enjoy a spectacle, pick something up and play
it. This is one such game.
Of course there are the opportunities to level up your characters and
make them better, but that is all fairly streamlined as the game pretty
much just urges you to get into the action. But there are a few things
that make it feel different to Omega Force’s usual affair.
Because it is based on the Dragon Quest series, it feels like there
is much more emphasis on telling a story and giving substance to the
characters. This is something I felt would hamper the game a little, but
in actual fact it has made me want to try some of the mainline Dragon
Quest games.
The presentation too seems to be up there with Hyrule Warriors, which
felt like it finally showed Omega Force could actually add polish to
their overall experience. Looking through videos and stills of other
Dragon Quest games, there is no doubt whatsoever that this is part of
that world.
Compared to other games from Omega Force there is a lack of extras,
with the game focusing on the story driven campaign and being aimed more
at the single player, rather than a co-op experience. This is pretty
disappointing to start with, but the longer you play, there less you
miss that option. Yet it wouild have been nice to have.
The one thing I did feel though, is unlike Hyrule Warriors, there is
no need to go back and play it over and over, once the campaign is
finished that really does feel like that is it. Whereas Hyrule Warriors
felt wonderful repeating mission and using different characters, this
just didn’t have that and is honestly a one and done game for me.
That isn’t to say that one isn’t a wonderful experience, because it
truly is and having finished I am already looking forward to some kind
of sequel, hopefully to include more of the options that make and Omega
Force game the wonderful entities they are.
Oh Transformers, what a checkered
history we have. When I was a child I loved you, the cartoon, the toys,
anything I could get my hands on. Then later in life you were sullied by
Micheal Bay. A man who just cannot make a film that has a decent story
and is just full of explosions and set pieces. He ruined your name for
me. That wasn’t helped too, by a series of poor to average video game tie
ins.
Anyway, when news came that Platinum were to make a Transformers
game, I wanted to dare to dream, dream that a top quality Transformers
game could be made. But I have been burnt before so my expectations were
a little tempered, despite it being Platinum who have a fantastic track
record.
My fears were totally misplaced though, as Transformers Devastation
is an absolute joy to behold. It takes the Transformers universe, using
the Generations line, which covers various different eras of the
franchise. The visuals are based on the original cartoons, with writing
from those behind the comics.
That all blends wonderfully with the traditional Platinum gameplay
that makes the likes of Bayonetta and Vanquish such wonderful games.
Platinum even showed they can work with existing IP, when they did
Legend of Korra, which despite getting a luke warm reception was still
great fun to play.
For me, what makes Transformers Devastation work, is that there is no
attempts to re-write the genre, both in terms of gameplay and the
source material. Platinum have been incredibly respectful of the history
of the franchise and built a game around that, rather than trying to
shoehorn elements that could work against each other.
The influence from other Platinum titles is clear to see, with the
main one being the use of Witch-Time from Bayonetta, where a well timed
dodge will slow down time and allow you unleash hell on your foes.
However this is a Transformers games, so it does need some
characteristics of its own and boy do Platinum put this to good use.
As any self respecting kid from the 80s will know, Transformers are
robots in disguise and this is well represented in combat. When in robot
form, you can go at your enemy in traditional Platinum combat ways, yet
you can also change to vehicle form and use that to attack too, adding a
whole new level to the combat mechanics.
Being a Platinum game, means that the combat is actually very simple
and allows you to string together combos and fight multiple enemies like
a boss. You even get to use various weapons which can be integrated in
the hand to hand combat, or used for taking down enemies specifically
designed and placed to make use of you weapons.
The are less options in combat when compared to something like
Bayonetta, which initially feels a little disappointing, but after a
short time with the game, you find it works as you start to master the
various attacks and combos and use those to your advantage. If anything
having a smaller move set works well here.
I was worried that the game might overplay the transforming, just so
it could show of what the Autobots can do, but I actually found the that
balance was done just right. There are some enemies that require you to
switch between forms, but they are strategically placed and not
overdone. Everywhere else it it purely optional.
It could have been very tempting to make Devastation an overly easy
IP cash-in, where you go through the motions and have the game look
pretty, but the balance in difficulty is well implemented and the
difficulty curve is well balanced from the opening level to the final
battle.
You get the options to use all the various Autobots to fight and each
one feel different to use and you’ll soon find your overall favourite.
Again I was worried it may be just reskins over the the same move-sets,
but this is far from the case. Optimus Prime will feel completely
different to Bumblebee for example.
It’s not all sunshine and roses though. There are some issues, such
as some uninspiring level design, that can feel a bit limited from time
to time, as well as the game being super short. The main story can be
completed in 5-6 hours and whilst extra plays are encouraged it isn’t
one that demands your attention.
That being said though, the overall package is decent and Platinum
have made a solid Platinum game, yet they have made a truly fantastic
Transformers game and I look forward to seeing if they can follow this
up with a sequel in the future.
Starting life on the SNES the Mario Kart series has now
graced just about every Nintendo system since and each time a new gimmick or
mechanic has been added. Looking way back to the second game in the series we
see a distinct lack of gimmicks, some 3D rendered tracks and the introduction
of the dreaded blue shell.
Mario Kart 64 had a lot to live up to following on from the
hugely popular Super Nintendo game. Fans loved Super Mario Kart (though it’s
crazy to think critics weren’t always as keen at the time), and the track
design and pure gameplay would be seemingly hard to beat. But with a new
powerful system out Nintendo had to try and pull something out of the bag.
The big leap is in terms of the graphics. The tracks are now
properly 3D with much more depth of field and solidity than before (though
occasional objects on the tracks are still 2D). The game also introduced a
completely new selection of tracks to race around and the super racers among
you could also unlock mirror mode for the first time.
All the new tracks (bar about two), are of an exceptional
standard and either showcase a simple gimmick or act as speed demon heaven.
Many of them have found their way into other Mario Kart games other the years
and they showcase just how creative Nintendo was with the franchise when it was
in its infancy. There’s ice to slip on, marauding cows and even a train that
manages to cross the road just at the wrong time. Every track requires
concentration to avoid hitting hazards and a keen eye to spot potential
shortcuts.
Most of the cast of the first game return but now Donkey
Kong Jnr has been replaced with standard Donkey Kong and poor old Koopa Troopa
has been dropped in favour of Wario. Dropping Koopa Troopa was a strange move
as he was the first choice for many SNES gamers but then he was far less
recognisable than Wario and Nintendo had a new character to promote. We are
very glad to see the little guy return in later versions of the game though.
There were also a few changes in the power up departments
with continually replenishing floating squares now dishing out weapons instead
of the one use question marks on the road. The feather is also long gone and
the triple green and red shell pick up came in. This was the first time the
leader-smashing blue shell turned up as well. Hated by many, the spikey shell
will zoom directly to the racer in first place and knock them up into the air.
This is very annoying when it happens to you but great when it hits someone
else.
The other big change which divides fans is the rubber band
mechanic that is very apparent. Especially noticeable in single player it is
almost impossible to actually build up a meaningful lead over your opponents.
Even at 50cc you’ll be racing around with one or two racers permanently popping
up at the edge of your screen. You can hit them with all sorts of weapons but
chances are at the next corner they will magically appear again.
It’s something we really dislike about the game as it just
seems cheap and unfair. The computer also makes ridiculous defensive shots
(such as hitting a speeding green shell with a forward thrown banana), and
manages to catch you even when you’re hammering through mushroom power ups. In
our eyes this is a real mistake as though it keeps things close it makes the
player feel there is little point doing anything offensively unless you are on
the last corner of the last lap as the computer will just recover almost
immediately. At least later versions of the game better hid their rubber band
mechanics behind power ups given to those towards the back of the pack.
Overall, returning to Mario Kart 64 left us with more good
feelings than bad. The rubber band mechanic is annoying but the tracks and
intense racing is some of the best ever seen. The level design is arguably a
series highlight and the general feeling of fun remains throughout. It
certainly deserves to be in any Nintendo fans collection and it more than holds
up against other games in the series. If you can get some friends together it
raises up to a whole new level as well with in-room chaos likely to break out
very quickly.
They always say the mark of a great video game is that if you
die, you feel that it’s your own fault and that maybe next time, you’ll do
better. That’s part of why the Mario games are so beloved by millions. Every
gamer has stories about that one level that they finally managed to conquer
with a bit of muscle memory and finger dexterity. In Typoman, this couldn’t be
further from the truth. Most of the deaths feel entirely down to the game and
it’s frustrating as hell.
It is, in principle, not a very complex game. You play a hero
made out of thick black letters, which spell ‘hero’ in an ‘amusing’ bit of
wordplay (don’t make us put wordplay in quotes too). You’re running away from a
demon with minions made out of the word ‘evil’ or ‘hate’. This isn’t exactly Citizen
Kane. The central mechanic is that you combine letters together into words that
have an effect on the world around you. For example, combining the letters ‘O’
and ‘N’ creates ‘ON’, which works on anything that can be powered nearby.
Sounds simple enough and once you see the idea in action a few times, you’ll
pick it up quickly. It’s not a game that holds your hand throughout, though.
The words you have to assemble on the ‘scrambler’ function of the gamepad get
less obvious very quickly, which makes you feel smart when you work it out.
Fortunately, if you need them, indirect and then direct hints can be found by
tapping the question mark on the touch screen. That and the scrambler are
pretty much the only things the gamepad is used for.
But the sticking point is that even when you know what you’re
doing, actually achieving it can be its own world of pain. The gameplay
features a lot of trial and error, which would be fine if there was any way to
anticipate the dangers beforehand and at least make a token effort to avoid
them.This isn’t helped by the fact that the controls are very fiddly. Thank god
the game doesn’t have a life counter.
That wouldn’t be so bad if the scrambler function actually
worked properly. This is a fundamental problem as it’s pretty much the game’s
core mechanic. Sometimes you’ll be trying to combine and rearrange three or
four letters in a hurry, which should be quite simple. Nobody’s asking you to
duplicate Eric Gill's An Essay On
Typography here. This makes it especially annoying when some of the letters
that you need don’t show up (or the scrambler function just doesn’t pop up when
you need it). One that happened to us was that we were trying to make ‘TILT’
but could only scramble two letters at a time, which led to our death on
several occasions. Even worse was the time when the letters on screen were
replaced by entirely different letters on the gamepad.
Part of why this grates so much is that the game could have
been so good. The main concept is innovative for sure, and the graphics are
sure to appeal to the kind of people that use typewriters because it just feels
more real, man. It’s got that whole ‘evil is spindly’ look going for it, which
is pretty neat. You can even play it if you’re colour-blind, as pretty much
everything is black and white. No awkward colour-coding issues here. The sound
design is top-notch, too. Everything sounds just as it should and the music
works to create a genuinely creepy atmosphere, especially in the miniboss
sections.
We had high hopes for this. We’re writerly types, we like
things about writing and words so naturally this would appeal to us. But creepy
sounds and admittedly pretty sweet graphics do not a good game make. The fact
that the game’s main mechanic is so flawed combined with the game itself being
buggy in places means that we just can’t recommend it. We really wanted to like
this game but it’s about as much fun as Microsoft Word.
You wait
for one rhythm action game to come along and then a whole load arrive at once.
We hadn’t really been following SUPERBEAT particularly closely but we really
should have. While Persona 4: Dancing All Night was great fun and offered
plenty of fan service this is one of the best rhythm action games we’ve ever
played.
There’s
no plot here just buckets of rhythm action goodness with presentation of the highest
quality. As soon as you start the game up the screen pulses and fizzes with
music and excitement that lets you know this is something good. There’s a sharp and edgy design to it which is not unlike
the Wipeout games and it fits perfectly.
The game
itself has notes flying out at you from the middle of the screen. You need to
hit the corresponding top, middle or bottom button on the left or right of the screen or you
can also use the touch controls. There are notes that need to be held
and the L and R buttons come into play as well. You even have to use the
analogue sticks for certain notes that snake up and down (again, you can use
touch controls if you prefer). It’s full on and certainly keeps you on your
toes.
There are
4 trax and 6 trax variations which let you use different amounts of notes in
each song (with the 4 trax variant only putting notes at the top and bottom of
the play area for instance). Here you have to complete three songs in a row to try and achieve the best score. As you level up by completing songs you unlock
more difficulties which adds more note variants and also opens up missions in the world
tour mode.
The World
Tour mode has you travel around famous clubs taking on specific song based missions.
Normally these consist of not missing at certain number of notes or keeping
your combo at a certain number. They also ramp up the intensity even more by
doing things like moving you much closer into the play area so you need almost instant
reactions to hit the notes. World tour is not for the casual player and even
the second set of club missions had us beaten for longer than we feel
comfortable admitting.
As you level up from completing songs and missions you will unlock a host of
new sounds, tracks and icons. The sounds can be set as the noise
which comes in when you hit a note while the DJ icons add special powers like
extra health or experience. The only criticism we have comes from the striking
notes sound. Some of the songs really don’t sound right when you’ve got the
sound set on things like a snare drum. It’s a rare miss step and we found setting
the sound to hand claps pretty much worked with everything. You can also turn
the sounds off completely.
The
musical selection on offer is also excellent. There aren’t any hits as such but
just about every genre of music is represented and we can’t think of another
game where Hardcore sits next to Latin Samba. Most of the songs are very good
as well and there’s a host of music from games like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue thrown
in for good measure.
Overall, SUPERBEAT:XONiC
is a stunning rhythm action game. It’s tough, but for fans of the genre this is
up there with the best of them. It’s perfect for the Vita as well and you just
keep unlocking new things every time you play and tt left us with an excited grin
on our face every time. It’s a breath of fresh air and an amazing
injection of adrenaline for Vita owners that in our mind is an essential
purchase.
It’s been a very long road for Rodea in making it to the
West. It was originally set to come out on the Wii but delay after delay has
meant it now finally reaches us a generation later. For the dedicated among you,
you can buy a special edition of the game which comes with the motion
controlled Wii version included. Sadly we couldn’t get hold of that so our
review will be solely focusing on the Wii U version of the game.
The plot is confusing. As far as we can make out it’s about
a robot with a heart that is tasked with protecting a princess of a flying
realm which is invaded. Upon the princess’s capture she gives half of something
called ‘the key of time’ to Rodea and this prevents the invasion somehow.
(We’ve read the official plot blurb and still have no idea). Rodea is found 1000
years later by a young mechanic girl just as the invasion starts again and sets
out to save the world.
The game is a 3D platformer at heart with stages set out where
you have to reach a certain point and then normally defeat a boss of some kind.
The twist is that Rodea’s favourite mode of traveling is by flying. By jumping
in the air you can then set Rodea on a flight path at the touch of a button.
The analogue sticks are used to move a reticule around which can then be used
to change direction. While flying pressing the ‘B’ button unleashes a spin
attack which can be used to smash through enemies. The spin attack can also be
chained to allow the destruction of multiple enemies in sequence. It takes a
while to get used to but does work. There are also a host of other gadgets like
weapons and slide boots which are added as you progress and help keep things
varied.
While the games cut scenes look suitably lovely the in-game
world shows a few too many signs of its non-HD heritage. The graphics certainly
show up the fact that the game was originally designed for the Wii and while
effective they often look muddy and bland with levels lacking a discernible
character. That said at least there aren’t any draw distance issues.
The game draws influence from both Sonic Adventure and Nights
into Dreams but a more accurate comparison with regard to its overall flow and
feel would be Gravity Rush. The flying mechanic is pretty much the same and the
need to hit enemies glowing weak spots is also remarkably similar. Sadly, for
much of the time we were playing it we were thinking about going away and playing
Gravity Rush rather than progressing further in Rodea. That isn’t to say Rodea
is a bad game it just lacks the same cutting edge and dizzying highs of the
Vita’s offering.
There are a lot of positives in the game and despite the
visuals the level design is strong. There are multiple routes through the
courses and ample opportunities to rack up high scores as you race between
smashing enemies and picking up the various floating collectibles. There is also
an excellent feeling to flying around and, once you’ve upgraded a bit, you get
a real sense of speed.
Rodea is a funny game to place. It doesn’t really do
anything wrong but the time for it to have come out and really blown us away
has long since passed. We enjoyed our time with it and there isn’t much else
like it around but it also didn’t leave a massive impression and there was an
overall lack of spark and magic that stops the game reaching its true
potential. There’s certainly enjoyment to be found here but the transition from
being a Wii game is too rough around the edges. If it had been built again from
scratch we could have seen this being something very special, as it is it’s
just an enjoyable diversion for platform fans that does things a little bit
different.
As bizarre plots go, Gunstar
Heroes is classic 16-bit era madness. You are
in charge of protecting planet G9 from Colonel Red who to resurrect a huge robot named Golden Silver
and then take over the planet. To stop this Professor White has hidden the four mystical
gems that control the robot, but they won't stay hidden for long because with
the help of Green (a Gunstar brother who Red has kidnapped), the Colonel will
soon close in on the robot's power source.
What the plot
amounts to is a number of side-scrolling, action-packed levels with lots of jumping sliding, diving and shooting for One or two players. Each level presents something new - one
minute you might be running along quite happily, guns ablazing, and the next you
might be sliding down the side of a mountain, or falling headlong into a
futuristic mine cart, with your balance swapped between floor and ceiling.
The game keeps you on your toes and the pace never lets up for a minute. It's an exhilarating ride.
Graphically, Gunstar is set in a sort of crazy
Anime-inspired cartoon world. The emphasis is on big explosions and unleashing
as much colour and movement as possible. It's hard to imagine how the Mega Drive coped with all the action and now it's running even more smoothly on the 3DS. Levels invariably
finish with a number of manic boss battles with each monstrosity proving stranger
than the last and generally filling half of the screen. In keeping
with Treasure's standards, everything animates and disintegrates wonderfully and at the time this was about as good as it got on the Mega Drive in terms of the sheer amount of effects.
Much like the other side scrolling games that have made the move to the 3D Classic series there is nothing amazing in the 3D effect. There's some nice scaling and rotation but the game looks equally impressive just zipping along without the effect on. The now standard options for changing between the Mega Drive or Mega Drive II for emulation and having the Japanese and International versions available are also found here. The biggest addition to this version is a new mode which lets you cycle through all the available weapons instead of being reliant on the weapon drops.
Pure quality of presentation aside, the gameplay of Gunstar Heroes is every bit as good. With so much happening
at any one time, it is essential to have a responsive and flexible control
system. The game allows you to customise your shooting method - it can either
be set up to fire while the player is moving, in the direction that the player
is moving, or it can be fixed in one direction while you leap around in
another. Additionally, our heroes can rely on a few other moves to avoid enemy
fire; you can slide under obstacles, jump up to higher levels from below, and
somersault off the walls, damaging anything and everything upon your descent.
It's fluid and responsive action, and exactly what you need when you find
yourself stuck in the middle of increasingly tight situations and set-pieces.
Overall, Gunstar Heroes is an exceptional title. It looks
great, it plays better and even the sound is orchestrated to make everything as
hectic and adrenaline-pumping as possible. If there is a fault to be found, you
could say that the game is perhaps a little too easy, given its straightforward
design. But the two-player consolation ramps up replay ability, and even now the
remit has hardly dated at all - meaning it is just as enjoyable and playable as
it was upon release. Highly sought after (and rightfully so), Gunstar
Heroes proves just how blisteringly good Treasure are
Another year and another Assassin’s Creed steps forth to
fulfil our running and stealth based needs. The games have certainly come a
long way since Altair first donned his white garb and disrupted the Middle
Eastern streets. Since then we’ve moved to Italy, Turkey, France, America and
even the Caribbean. Our next destination is Victorian London and we eagerly
dived in hoping to find a game to put into the series’ ‘good’ category.
We’ll have to be honest and say we didn’t really spend
enough time with Unity to form an opinion on it so we are coming at this after
the excellent Black Flag. We loved Black Flag and it’s about as close as we are
ever likely to get to a modern version of Sid Meier’s Pirates! Jumping into
Syndicate was a change of pace right from the start and the game certainly has
a personality of its own. Syndicate is like sneaking your way through Guy
Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes version of Victorian London.
This time you take control brother and sister Evie and Jacob
Frye who come to industrial London to loosen the Templar grip and stop them
from taking over the world. You can switch between both characters freely and
each one is a bit better at certain things. Evie is better at stealth and
knives while Jacob is a better fighter and is better with a gun. You can level
up your assassins by completing the various tasks and missions and then
choosing what to spend experience on. You can also level up more quickly by
paying real money which is something we are never a fan of. That said we never
really found the ‘pay to win’ mechanic intruded upon our play through and is
easily ignorable.
Evie and Jacob are excellent characters and each has a
distinct personality. Their voice acting is excellent throughout and everything
always stays the right side of ridiculous cockney accents. The strong voice
cast help to make the story seem important and interesting and it’s one of the
stronger entries in the series from a narrative point of view.
London itself is pretty much completely open to you from the
very start. Different areas display the recommended level for you character to
be but there is nothing stopping you going and trying to undertake side
missions if you so wish. There are far fewer viewpoints though, so fast
traveling around can be a bit of a pain. You do have a train which trundles
around the map (and acts as your mobile base), which you can also fast travel
to and this proves very useful at times.
The detail of London is excellent with horse drawn carriages
rolling along the streets and a large population of NPC characters going around
their daily lives. There’s been a bit of geographic manipulation but it gives a
real feel of a city in the midst of an industrial revolution. When the sky dims
and all the lanterns come on it can be very impressive to look at and we never
grew tired of wandering around the streets on our way to the next objective.
Speaking of objectives, you are certainly not going to be
short of things to do. As well as the main story missions there are countless
other side quests to get involved in and endless amounts of trinkets to find.
Each area of London is under control of a gang called the Blighters. In order
to take it back you need to kill Templars, free work house children, take out
gang members and kidnap criminals. These tasks all follow the theme of sneaking
in somewhere and then either killing or capturing targets within enclosed
areas.
Once the missions have been carried out the Blighters will
challenge you and your gang the Rooks to a fight for the area. These are the
only real low point of the game as the enemy gang leaders are huge tanks with
massive health bars and you are stuck in an enclosed space with them and not
able to use much of your equipment. We got stuck on one for hours as the boss
could kill us with four hits and the game kept forcing us into quick time event
sequences where he would continually strike at us when his health bar reached
certain levels.
The easiest thing to do is try and kill the bosses when they
first appear at the end of the initial gang war sections. If you can get them
before they get away then you won’t have to deal with them later in the
territory fight.
Aside from the tank bosses the only other major issue we had
is the fact it has no colour blind options. There are now a ton of things
represented on your map and for gamers with colour blindness you are likely
going to struggle with identifying what they are. You now have your enemies,
police, ally Rooks, escaping criminals, street kids, carriages and a host of
other things. All represented by coloured dots with no other symbol. It’s
really bad in this day and age to think that this hasn’t been taken into
account and is certainly something that needs to be addressed to make it more
accessible.
On top of these side missions you can also get involved in
fight clubs, raid cargo, go looking for flowers, beer bottles and other
collectibles and take part in ‘memory’ sequences which explore some of myth and
folk lore of London. There’s so much to do that we spent hours skipping around
away from the main quest and seemingly never even really made a dent in it.
Of course, if the game doesn’t play well then you aren’t
going to want to spend hours with it. But this time everything works
excellently. Your characters are fluid and control as you would want and combat
is pretty much as it’s always been. You get a new gadget to play with which
lets you grappling hook to the top of buildings and across large streets which
solves the problem of London not perhaps fitting a free running world as cities
have done in the past. The only bugs we found were that occasionally weapons
didn’t appear in enemies hands and sometimes characters would vanish in cut
scenes.
Overall, we had a lot of fun with Assassin’s Creed:
Syndicate. It’s different enough from the other games to feel fresh while still
holding onto the core of what makes the games great in much the same way Black
Flag was. It’s a bit more action based than a lot of the other games and has
bucket loads of personality. It’s certainly closer to the quality of Assassin’s
Creed 2 than the miss-steps of the series. There are still a few frustrating
sections and there will be many that feel the series should have stopped being
an annual outing but you can’t deny that when the formulae works it creates a
great adventure. Just sort out your colour blind options Ubisoft.
Persona 4 has certainly turned out to be a flexible
franchise for Atlus. In the last few years we have had wide ranging spin offs
from the core JRPG game. It started with fighter Persona 4 Arena and then the
Etrian Odyssey crossover Persona Q. Now we have another genre to add to the mix
with this rhythm action game.
Dancing All Night is told to the player by Margaret (from
the Velvet Room in Persona 4), and takes places about a month after Persona 4. It’s
a very strange story (even for Persona), and revolves around the idea that
Persona’s pop icon Rise is putting on a show with the other cast of the game
being invited along as backing dancers. It gets weirder.
Soon another female group named Kanamin Kitchen (each member
is named after a type of meat), start going missing and the team are drawn back
into the strange Midnight world. Only this time it’s the Midnight Stage not the
Midnight Channel. They soon find that they can’t attack their enemies as
violence is banned and all the shadows that inhabit the world are tied together
with a strange yellow ribbon. The ribbon brain washes them and traps them into
the rhythm of a strange and eerie song that keeps playing. Of course the only
way to break the spell is to fight back with music and dancing.
We completely love the fact that everything is played
straight with all the characters taking this deadly seriously. It’s completely insane
and entirely better for it. After a slow start the story rolls along at a good
pace and there are a ton of excellent anime cut scenes implemented to draw you
in (though I’m not sure we needed to keep seeing down Rise’s top at every opportunity
in them).
If you don’t want to go through the story the game can also
be played out as individual songs which when completed unlock tougher tracks
and other bonuses such as dance partners. It’s a good way to practice while
also allowing for quick hits of fun which suits the Vita very well.
The presentation and structure is excellent so it’s a good
thing the actual game underneath it is strong as well. The action takes place
with one of the heroes in the centre of the screen dancing and stars flying out
towards the left and right edges. Players then have to hit the corresponding
buttons that they pass in time to the beat. This utilises three of the buttons
on each side of the Vita and gets pretty hectic as you progress.
Notes soon begin to change to require more complex inputs
with buttons needing to be held and pressed at the same time as well. There are
also extra points and a ‘fever’ circle that shoots out from time to time that
requires the tilt of an analogue stick in order to hit it as it fills the
circle surrounding the play area. Filling the fever gauge allows for special
events to happen at certain points in the song and adds up to big points.
It’s a solid and fun system and the notes hit precisely with
no input lag. The graphics behind the scene are also excellent and keep things
lively. The music itself is a collection of various types of Japanese style
music from pop to dance and a hint of metal and there’s nothing here that’s
going to ready grate on you with the best songs being rather good.
Overall, Persona 4: Dancing all Night is a good rhythm game
in its own right. It obviously has a fairly niche market to aim at and I’m not
sure we were all crying out for ‘Persona does rhythm action’ but now that it
has we’re rather glad it did. It’s humorous, breezy fun and suits the Vita
perfectly. It might not be the next Gitaroo man or Ouenden but it’s certainly
something that fans should enjoy and it’s clearly had a ton of effort put into
getting just right. Newcomers will likely be completely lost though.
Little Big Adventure is one of those games that we never
quite got around to playing despite having bought it a few times. A cult
classic, it has a loyal following and is fondly remembered by pretty much
everyone who played it when it first came out. DotEmu have now released this
enhanced and updated version of LBA but is it enough to make it work for
newcomers?
Little Big Adventure follows the story of Twinsen who has
been locked away by the tyrannical Dr FunFrock for having strange dreams about
the end of the world. The evil doctor has taken over the planet and holds
control through the use of clones which he uses to impose his rule. Twinsen’s
first job is to escape from the prison and then set about finding out exactly
what his dreams mean and what he can do to save the world.
The game is set out like a semi-isometric adventure where
our hero enters and exits different areas via arrows around the edges of the
scenes and everyone looks a bit like Weebles. You can talk to just about anyone
and everything is voice acted which gives a solid feeling of a functioning world
as the various inhabitants impart advice and general gossip to you. There are
normally enemies roaming around as well which can be avoided by sneaking or
punched and kicked. Shortly after the start you also get a magic ball thing you
can chuck at them
The game plays out as an action adventure title where you
have to go around and find clues about what to do and then collect objects and use
them in order to progress. For instance – in one area you need to get the local
people to trust you. They will then help you distract some guards which in turn
allows you to get into a house. It’s the
sort of game that doesn’t really exist anymore but one that was very prevalent around
the time of the LBA’s original release on the PC. However, it was always a
unique adventure game and that feeling still remains to this day.
A number of changes have now been made to the game in order
to try and bring it up to modern standards. The most obvious of these is the
new set of control systems. We started out with mouse control which turns LBA
into a sort of point and click game. However, it’s dreadfully un-intuitive and awkward
to use. We found simple getting around the screen difficult and numerous times
interactions with the environment simply didn’t work. After a while we found ourselves
descending into clicking all over the place near interest points in the vein
hope something would register as the right place to click.
Not to be defeated we switched to the gamepad control and
everything immediately became about one hundred times better. With movement now
under direct control and things like running, jumping and sneaking mapped onto
the buttons the whole thing becomes a much more joyful experience. The original
keyboard ‘tank’ controls can no longer be used however, so you’ll either have
to play the original version of the game that’s included or get used to one of
the new schemes.
There is also a new status bar added which displays things like
health and magic and if you are in sneak mode or not. You now zoom in and out as
well, which certainly helps but could have been further improved by allowing
you to pan around your environment in the same way as games such as Baldur’s
Gate. Far too often you are left at the edge of the screen not able to see what
is right in front of you as the camera doesn’t really keep Twinsen centred but normally
scrolls along when he reaches certain points.
A welcome chance is improved saving as it's all too easy to die or get captured. Although you can still only load them from the main menu screen. While this does stop constant cheap use of the system it's still a bit annoying when you have to go out to the main menu just to load a game. A better system for working out where you are jumping or where exactly the magic ball is going to be thrown is also a very welcome addition.
The graphics haven’t been improved or filtered either so you
get a sort of grainy jagged look to everything. That’s not a major issue on the
face of it but it seems strange to release a new version of a game without
giving it a bit of a facelift - especially when the original version of the game
is also included. The map and objective screen could have really done with a
facelift as well and we found it almost completely useless as everything just looked
like pixelated blobs. A clear list of objectives and locations would have
really helped.
It’s certainly not perfect but even as a relative newcomer
to LBA once we got into it we really started to like it. The adventure itself
is still very solid and there’s a unique humour and charm to everything. We
also haven’t really played anything like it before which goes to show how
original and unique the game really is. Ok, so more could have been done to
make this a really special release but the gamepad controls at least make it
playable for newcomers and the game underneath is certainly worth experiencing.
With a bit of patience there’s still a lot of magic to be found here and we’d certainly
recommend it to adventure game fans.