Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims HD Review (PS Vita)

First we had the rather lovely Adventures of 2D Octopus Character make the jump to become a native Vita title and now Dakko Dakko’s other much loved Playstation mini has joined it. One of the best of the mini crop, Floating Cloud God is a fun and fresh take on the side scrolling shooter and is another great example of indie games showing simple concepts are sometimes the best. 

 Floating Cloud God has players in control of said deity as he rides a cloud around shooting monsters and being worshipped by his followers. The pilgrims must be protected as if all of them die it’s game over. You start the game with ten pilgrims with the aim being to get them all to the gate at the end of the level. If they all reach the end alive a special pilgrim will join you wearing a different hat. You need to be very careful with the little guys as you only get one back per level if any die so losing a few in one area can be fatal later on.

As well as effectively acting as your lives, they also release hearts throughout their journey  which increase in size as you blast monsters. Collecting these powers you up and this becomes a continual process as you also lose power with every shot you fire. It’s an excellent play mechanic that works really well. If the Cloud God is hit by a monster he will completely power down, He won’t die however so this can be used tactically to block a stray incoming bullet from time to time.

There are seven worlds in total, each split in two stages and a boss fight. Every stage offers something new and they soon become incredibly difficult to get through with all your followers intact. There is a nice variety of enemies and obstacles to overcome and each area is significantly different from the last. It all looks rather lovely as well, with a clean cut oriental style that gets across all the humour and magic we have come to expect from the studio.

The bosses are a particular highlight with each one full of personality and requiring some thought by the player in order to take down. Once you have worked out their weakness the real challenge is to take them out without losing any of your Pilgrims. A monster with a giant flying nose springs to mind as a particular highlight.

In truth the game isn’t going to last you that long in terms of completion. However, this is clearly a score attack kind of title and getting through the levels without losing pilgrims or keeping your special pilgrims alive is going to take a lot more time and effort. It’s such an easy game to get drawn into and what starts out as replaying a single level will see you staying on to try and complete more and more stages.

Overall, if there was ever a game you could describe as delightful then this is it. It just has a lovely fun feel to it and a hint of nostalgia that brings to mind old television shows like Monkey. It’s a game you’ll play continually to beat your old scores, rescue pilgrims or just to have fun for a few minutes. It just goes to show how strong the original mini was that it only needed a graphical facelift to still feel like an excellent Vita game.

8/10

BIT.TRIP Presents Runner 2 Legend of Rhythm Alien Review (PC)

After his exploits in the previous BIT.TRIP games Commander Video is back to running in everyone’s favourite retro themed series and now available on the PC. To try and describe the madness of the plot is somewhat pointless but we can say it’s something to do with our hero crashing his spaceship in a strange place and then deciding to run a lot.

Unlike previous entries into the BIT.TRIP series, Runner 2 is no longer 8-bit styled in terms of how it looks. The stages are now rendered in a glorious array of crystal clear colours and everything is also much bigger on screen. There are still retro looking levels to be unlocked but the majority of the time you will be screaming along at breakneck speed in a more HD friendly landscape.

Gameplay is based on a fairly simple concept. You start at one end of the course and run continuously to the other. Players have no control over Commander Video’s running and he continues on until you reach the end of the stage or crash into something.

As you run along different types of obstacles will appear which need to be negotiated. This starts out with players simply needing to jump over things but, on an almost level by level basis, the obstacle count increases and thus, so do the moves needed to get past them.  Soon you’ll be locked in a rhythm of jumping, sliding, kicking, spinning and dancing in order to reach the end of each course.

As well as avoiding obstacles you also need to pick up the gold bars that are in each course. There are normally between thirty to sixty gold bars in each level and collecting them all triggers the chance to get bonus points by Commander Video being fired, head first, into a target at the end of the course. If you think the course is too easy you can also jump over the mid-point checkpoint to put the game into challenge mode for even more points. Still not enough? Then you can spend your fleeting free moments making our hero dance to gain even more points. The score attack aspect of Runner 2 is here to stay for a very long time.

Once you master that even more moves are introduced and everything keeps getting more hectic to the point it all begins to blur into a state you aren’t quite sure the human brain should be able to deal with. It’s at moments like this that you realise where the ‘rhythm’ part of the title comes from. Perhaps deceptively, Runner 2 is not really in the same category as endless runners such as Canabalt. It should really be grouped with games like Frequency, Parappa the Rappa and is perhaps most similar to Vib-Ribbon.

Courses are also deceptively packed with things to find and navigate. Many of them have multiple routes with some leading to hidden objects such as new costumes, while others will take you to a different exit. This in turn will lead you to hidden levels or the much sought after ‘Key Vault’. Conquering the Key Vault will then open up even more routes and collectables in the courses found in that world. 

An array of map icons is present for each course to help keep track of your progress with the ultimate goal to have each level completed, with all collectables found, the bonus bull’s eye hit at the end of the course and the mid-point checkpoint jumped so the game goes into challenge mode. Levels get hectic very early on so it’s a relief to find that each course gives you infinite lives to get through it. When you hit something you will move back to the last checkpoint and lose any points or objects you have acquired. The unlockable retro levels remain hardcore and give you three lives with which to navigate them.

The game can still be maddeningly frustrating at times as once you lose your rhythm in a level it can be near impossible to get back. You will persevere though as everything is fair and each collision results in a lack of skill from the player or in the fact you haven’t reacted to something quickly enough. Learning each level does come into play but we rarely came up against the sort of ‘memory test’ gaming with objects you had no way of avoiding first time that games like Donkey Kong Country used to employ. Just one thing though – do make sure you are playing with a gamepad as the keyboard controls are a bit tricky.

Overall, it’s easy to recommend Runner 2 on any system. It fits nicely onto Steam among the other high profile indie games and is the perfect game for PC gamers to take short blasts at on their lunch break. The charm and fun present are not easily found elsewhere and it’s great to see something which sets itself out as a pure gaming experience without the pretentious overtures that many bigger budget games now have. It’s both something old and something new and you should stop reading now and go and buy it.

8/10

Castlevania: The New Generation Review (Mega Drive)

Set in the year 1897, this episode in the Castlevania timeline centres around the female vampire Elizabeth Bartley - executed in the 15th century for preying on around eight hundred girls in Romania. A witch named Drotia Tzuentes has now revived her, and Elizabeth's first thought is to resurrect the master of evil himself - Dracula. 

Enter John Morris, son of Kincy Morris from Bram Stoker’s story, and his good friend Eric Lecarde. Both must set out to assault Dracula’s castle and stop the world from falling into the hands of evil once more. Life is never easy in Castlevania.

Following the traditional Castlevania style, The New Generation (known as Bloodlines outside Europe), is a side-scrolling hack and slash platform adventure. John and Eric must make their way through six areas split into smaller sections while taking on the usual minions of Dracula. In the middle and end of each section our heroes must face off against a particularly nasty monster, and each seems particularly fond of filling up half of your game screen.

While John Morris dispatches the threats by utilising his trusty whip, Eric breaks with tradition of the Castlevania series to this point and wields a spear; each character and weapon playing slightly differently from each other, so the game is flexible enough to take into account players with different styles.

The world of Castlevania is resurrected well on the Mega Drive: while not being as graphically ambitious as either of the Super Nintendo outings, different environments are easily distinguishable and enemies do not disappear into the detailed backgrounds. Characters and enemies, although a tad small, are well-animated and move convincingly without flickering or dropping frames. 

Unfortunately, there aren't a great choice of enemies to be slain, with most levels containing only one or more types of land-based and flying monsters, and little else between. Not a major issue as such, because good level design compensates with a variety of obstacles that unsettle the player. 

In terms of gameplay, things are solid without being fantastic. Characters are responsive and leap about while attacking, but there just seems to be something missing. It's less noticeable with Eric Lecarde, whose spear-based attacks lend a certain flair and enthusiasm to the game - and would be expected of someone trying to save the world. 

On the other hand, John seems much less inspired. His whip can only be used to slash to the left or right while standing. This seems underexploited after Super Castlevania IV and we would have loved to see a full three hundred and sixty degree field of attack back in play. Diagonal moves are possible when jumping but it still leaves a lack of flexibility at all other times.

Castlevania: The New Generation is a competent enough adventure. Although six levels of hacking and slashing will not exactly last you a lifetime, the game is undeniably good fun to play, and the maps and monsters have clearly been commissioned with purpose. It's hard then to really pinpoint any major shortcomings with the game, outside of those mentioned above. Solid Castlevania fare, but it does nothing spectacualr to single itself out from others in the series.

7/10

Shadowrun Review (SNES)

 

Shadowrun represents the definitive example of a game in the cyberpunk genre. The plot follows amnesia sufferer of Jake who, after being killed by a gang at the very start of the game he is revived by a mysterious women. Jake awakes in the morgue unaware of who he is and why he was killed. Piece by piece you must uncover just what is going on and who it is that's after you.

A number of things set the tone perfectly in the Shadowrun world. First of all, the brooding soundtrack hangs in the air implying danger is only around the next corner- no over exaggeration as the title contains a number of random events and enemies that may or may not occur. Every street is littered with hiding places for snipers all too willing to pick you off as well.

Shadowrun’s story is set among the streets of a large city run by mega corporations, with different suburbs and areas creating the feel of a varied and diverse cityscape to explore. Something which helps to build the impression of a living city is the number of people who are just going about their everyday business. Market sales men, doorman, business men, bar patrons and just ordinary people moving around the streets are in enough of an abundance to make you feel that there is a lot going on outside of your own characters adventure.

The fact all the seemingly unimportant characters found in the game may be fearful of gangs or aware of magic creatures but still go on about their everyday lives as normal is a master stroke by the developers as without it the city would feelcold and dead. Instead it feels alive, and Gangs and creatures there are in abundance with everything from Orcs to vampires stalking the streets.

Shadowrun is a world where technology and fantasy collide to create a unique adventure where these things are excepted by the citizens as normal. Everyone knows that these creatures exist, indeed most of them work openly in the city, the threat comes from the corruption of the mega corporations rather than any pre-conceived fantasy rule set of how creatures should act.

Shadowrun proves that fantasy and sci-fi settings can sit side by side with spectacular effect. During the game you will be able to enhance yourself with technology to gain skills, as well as ‘jack’ into computers to steal money and information, but along side this sits the fact you can create magic spells and have a spirit guide to lead you through the game. 

Technology is technology and magic is magic, there is no attempt to explain away the fantastical in terms of some tacked on technological babble about viruses or mods. When you see a vampire or a dragon, no explanation is given as to why it should exist, as none is given as to why humans should exist, you just except it and because of this Shadowrun becomes a far more rich and rewarding experience without convoluted plot points placed to explain away every aspect of magic.

Shadowrun represents and original idea executed to perfection, unfortunately it sold terribly and as a result the ideas found in the title where not expanded upon. A great shame as anyone who has the pleasure of experiencing what the title offers will not be disappointed. The recent revivial of the franchise with 'Shadowrun Returns' shows the popularity of the franchise and we hope to see more titles in the future. They will all have to go some to beat this though.

Overall 8/10