Category Archives: Game Reviews

Alien Storm Review

Posted on by
Reply


This is definitely a weaker Genesis title. It’s a beat em up which is usually awesome but it has some extremely questionable design choices that hold the whole thing back. Like I’m talking design choices that will just have you scratching your head the whole time. Like why is this the case? It has some interesting ideas and I like the final boss but the game could have been better.

Basically you jump in to save the humans from the aliens that are everywhere. The aliens are shapeshifters and have even started turning into humans and different objects. One common object here is a trashcan that the aliens will turn into to get you to lower your guard before they pounce! So you have to still save the normal humans without letting the fakes go. No worries though, none of this is reflected in the gameplay. There is no friendly fire so just blast everything and you’ll only hit the aliens anyway. Most of the game is the 2D beat em up style but some levels at the end will quickly turn 3D where you blast a lot of aliens trying to get onto the screen.

This game is fairly unforgiving as even with rewind I got myself completely doomed on the first playthrough and barely survived on the second. The reason is that your normal attack either goes straight up if you’re playing as the guy or is a flame thrower that doesn’t do much damage if you play as the girl. Why can’t you just blast these aliens straight up? The whole time I’m wondering why the gameplay would be intentionally making it hard for you to hit the opponents. You have to use combos by hitting the normal attack button several times to do a ground move which knocks them out but this costs energy.

You can always call in an air strike or drop a massive nuclear bomb on the enemies to clear the screen but it takes up a ton of energy so you really shouldn’t spam this. If you do run out of energy then it’s tough because even your normal attacks don’t work anymore. When you have no energy, you swing it like a club and hope for the best. The problem is that this does almost no damage and it’s super hard to dodge the enemies.

I should underscore that when I ay it does almost no damage, that technically does mean that it does a little bit. So in theory you actually could beat some enemies like this but not enough to clear a level. Even with rewind I tried every kind of angle to get close to the aliens and it just wasn’t working. Then if you enter a 3D level with no energy, you can only fire a few blasts here and there so there is no way to blast all of the creatures in time. In both cases you are doomed so these are what I’d call complete choke points. Once you’re out of energy then even rewinding won’t save you.

All of this is to say that it’s an extremely difficult game. Perhaps the third playable character would have had a better weapon to use, I didn’t actually play as him. The core issue though is that your normal attack shouldn’t use energy. You should always have an attack that you can use at all times in a beat em up. Otherwise you can’t really focus on just having fun and blasting away at everyone because you’re worried about running out. I definitely think the game needed to improve on this aspect.

The 3D parts were fun at least but in part I admit it’s because they were just easier. These parts felt enjoyable to just be blasting everything as the screen keeps panning left to right. It’s even soothing in a way as it’s all so symmetrical. You know exactly what you will get at all times. It’s also good that it was fun because otherwise the plot really doesn’t exist here. You barely even know why you’re doing all of this. Of course in general you’re saving the world but it’s such a general/basic plot. You are not going to be playing this game for the story.

Now we come to the graphics and I can safely say that the game looks pretty good. I like that we actually see different shops and lots of unique backgrounds. The enemy character models are good and the same goes for the civilians. The music is fast paced and so I don’t have any issues with the technical effects here. The game is fairly short but considering how difficult it is, it’s probably a good thing it wasn’t longer or that would have been really daunting.

Overall, Alien Storm is a game with a fun premise but the gameplay doesn’t live up to this. My main problem stems from the fact that it’s a beat em up where you can’t just have fun knocking out the competition because you’re always worried about your energy and ammo. You should be able to just go in there guns/fists blazing and then fight them. It feels like the game missed out on what I would consider to be the critical point of any beat em up. Why make a game in this genre when you can’t do that? So check this game out and maybe there is some kind of attack option that I missed but otherwise this is not the title that you will want to check out.

Overall 5/10

Alien Soldier Review

Posted on by
Reply


Alien Soldier is another sci-fi game from the Genesis and this one is a complete boss rush game which is pretty different from the usual adventure. You’re fighting more than 25 bosses and the levels just keep going so once you are done with a boss, you fight a few minions and then the next boss shows up. You can recover some health while fighting the minions but most likely instead you will just lose more health so you end up having to play the boss very carefully. Throwing another element into the ring is the timer. If you don’t beat the boss quickly enough then it’s all over.

So this is a really hard game all the way through. I will say that the story was very intriguing in the opening cutscene. It’s really the only thing you are going to get though as it basically vanishes after that. It’s a shame because there is so much detail in the intro that you know the writers had a clear idea on what they wanted to do. So if this had been a newer game I have no doubts that they would have added more cutscenes and story beats throughout the adventure. This would be a good game to make a remake out of at some point.

The gameplay is very customizable. So you choose 4 guns at the start of the game and during the levels you can find others to switch to or you can choose to keep the same ones. You can even go with 4 of the same gun if you really prefer one to all of the others but of course I would recommend a mixture instead. Usually some guns will be better than others depending on the boss and you don’t want to be stuck. I would go with the mega buster, laser sword, fire attack, and homing attack. This is a good mixture that will serve you well against virtually every boss.

At least as well as can be considering that you will still be having a really tough time with most of them. The timer got me on a bunch of bosses and other times the boss would just shred me. Their health bars are really big and they’re always moving around. One attack you want to get really used to using a lot is your dash since it makes you intangible for a second. It’s a great way to get out of a bad spot and then start to counter attack. It’s a mechanic that is fairly unique to the game with how big of a focus it is so that works really well. I would definitely recommend trying to get used to it in the early levels.

One level in particular that is the toughest in the game is level 20. In this level you need to fight multiple bosses and you have 10 minutes to down them all. So in this case you can actually find yourself in a jam that even the rewind feature can’t get you out of. For example, if you start the last boss with only 2 minutes left, then it is not possible to defeat him. You had to defeat one of the earlier bosses a lot quicker so that was the one time I had to hold the L and just do a complete restart. For a bit there I thought I was not even going to be able to beat the game but the levels after it were a lot more manageable.

The graphics here are pretty solid. They’re very colorful and there are so many unique boss designs that I was impressed. The game doesn’t really go the lazy route of doing palette swaps and instead each boss makes sense as a unique figure to stop the main character. Throw in all of the minion designs as well and we’re talking about a game with a high level of effort and dedication. The soundtrack is also good even if it’s not the most memorable one out there.

In terms of length I’d say it’s a bit longer than some of the other Genesis games. In part that’s due to the difficulty but even outside of that you effectively have 25 full length levels here which is considerably more than the average Genesis title. You’ll be here a reasonably long time so even though there isn’t really any replay value, I had no problems with the length.

In the end this is a fun shooter and the fact that you have to watch out for your ammo the whole time is pretty interesting. I do have to admit that I prefer the more arcade style of unlimited ammo at all times and being able to save after each level but the latter wasn’t possible for many games at this point and the former is definitely a design choice. It’s always rough when a weapon runs out and you have to switch. Also the final boss has an interesting gimmick where you can only hurt him if you are out of ammo. That’s pretty weird and feels like a cheap way to stump a lot of players back in the day. I certainly would have had no clue what was going on because why would a weapon with no ammo do more damage than a weapon with ammo? Doesn’t really make sense.

Overall, Alien Soldier is a good game but one that’s too excessively hard. The time limit plus everything else just makes for too many variables and if you end up losing then you’re really sunk. You do have multiple lives of course but I can safely tell you that you will absolutely need the rewind feature a whole lot. There are some bosses where it feels like you would need hours upon hours to try and memorize their attack patterns. Then you have to remember those while going through all of the other bosses again which is no easy feat. It’s a fun title to try out on the Switch Online but I don’t think it’s one that I would have purchased back in the day.

Overall 6/10

Hellboy: The Science of Evil Review

Posted on by
2


It’s time to jump into the world of Hellboy! This is one of those games that I sort of forgot existed but it’s a pretty fun beat em up. The gameplay is solid and there are a good amount of cutscenes in here. So while there aren’t a lot of frills around the game, it does really do the job of being a fun title that keeps you entertained all the way through. The combos are tight and while you will be spamming a lot, it’s just fun.

The story is kind of all over the place since you keep jumping from the past to the present. There’s an evil witch who is causing trouble so you have to destroy her in the past and then in the present you’re dealing with an evil scientist who is probably trying to take over the world. You feel like Hellboy himself is probably overwhelmed too because it feels like every level involves him getting beat up and thrown around over and over again. Like he seriously can’t catch a break and he’s fed up at this point. Fortunately he does have super durability so he can handle himself.

Hellboy’s a fun lead because he has a very sarcastic air about him. No matter what happens, he’s got to have the last word on it and I can respect that. The guy is also a total tank with how he can just keep taking shots and walking them off. It doesn’t always translate into full attack power which his opponents take advantage of but he wins in the end which is what counts. The gameplay is mainly beat em up style so you go around crushing enemies with your fists or using your gun. For 99% of the game I recommend sticking to your fists but one world has a light gun which one shots all opponent so I definitely recommend using that one.

There is no level up system or any kind of power ups so what that means is you should only fight the enemies that you have to. I would just keep on running until a barrier stopped me and then I would fight the enemies. After all, why fight when there’s no benefit right? Occasionally there are a few puzzles that you have to solve like moving a lever or breaking something but the game keeps them fairly simple so I wouldn’t worry about that too much. You’ll typically be able to notice that the object or wall look a bit different.

One mechanic that makes the game a whole lot easier is that you are able to absorb health from enemies. This attack is petty much broken to be honest. You just grab the enemy and thrown him in the air for a slam. Do this and you get half of your health back. You also have high speed health regeneration if you can dodge attacks for around 5 seconds. So with very few exceptions, you should not typically be in any danger. It is possible to get overwhelmed if you let your guard down though. Also, the final boss did finish me off the first time. The laser basically covers the screen and is tough to deal with. I very nearly lost a second time but hung on with the last bit of my health. That seems to happen to me in a lot of games to be honest.

The game has constant checkpoints which is a great quality of life feature. As I mentioned the gameplay is also just fun because it’s nice and flashy all the way through. You may be using the same moves over and over but they’re still fun because of this. The platforming is a bit clunky but there are only a few sections in the game where you have to jump so this tends to be rare. The graphics are also fairly decent. It’s not a high end PS3 game but it is still PS3 level and so you have full cinematics and a lot of different backgrounds. I felt like the game had a reasonable budget. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side.

There isn’t a ton of replay value to be had here. You can try to find all of the collectibles scattered throughout the game but aside from barely charging the power up meter that you never use anyway, I’m not sure if there is much of a point to it. The main playthrough here will really be for the story all the way through and that works for me. It’s short but there’s enough levels here. The ending also leaves room for that hype sequel even if you know that it’s just not going to happen at this point. We did get an unrelated Hellboy game recently though so it’ll be fun to compare that one at some point.

Overall, Hellboy is a pretty fun game. It brings you back to the simpler days of movie-tie ins where they had basic gameplay styles and just took you through the events. Some would be about the same as the movie and some would diverge immediately but you didn’t have to worry about advanced mechanics or anything like that. This is a very simple plug and play that I think works really well. I’m not going to call it a great game but it was never trying for that. It’s a game that you can get for cheap and will last you for a few hours so there’s no real downside to that right? I’d say to pick this one up as long as you like the beat em up genre.

Overall 7/10

Dark Cloud 2 Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s definitely been quite a while since I got to play the original Dark Cloud. It was a pretty fun game but one that had some mechanics I wasn’t crazy about like the breakable weapons and building. I always enjoyed being in the endless dungeons but the parts outside of that were a bit weaker. Well, Dark Cloud 2 definitely improves on the first one. I will say that building still isn’t my favorite part to say the least but weapons are no longer broken in the same way. They can run out of energy so you have to give them a potion but you never lose a weapon and I can tell you that this is an absolutely huge deal! A serious game changer all the way through.

The game’s story is also rather ambitious. You start out with the main character Max trying to get into the circus when a really odd evil clown shows up asking for the necklace that he got from his mother. Max barely escapes into the sewers and then manages to leave the town. The rest of the world is…empty. It turns out that his town is the last one in existence and the only reason it wasn’t destroyed with the rest of the world is because the villains need his necklace. So if he turns it over…then its going to be the end of everyone he knows. Fortunately he runs into a time traveler named Monica who is here to save the world from its imminent fate. It’s not just the world that is in danger but all of history as the villain can time travel as well. Can they possibly stop him?

So this is a full RPG story all the way through with a lot of twists and turns around every corner. The game handles everything very nonchalantly though which can always be pretty fun. Max just takes it all in stride and never reacts as hard as you would expect. The heroes are going out there and fighting off god level threats and he’s still got his wrench and determination. It’s one of those games where it would be fun to see this as an anime because in theory these are just average joes fighting crazy high level opponents.

The game really has two main gameplay styles. First is the combat in the dungeons and then you have the overall building aspect. I’ll go into the building first since that one to me is definitely trickier and will take a lot of time. So basically one of the elements of the plot is that the villain is destroying the “origin point” of various landmarks that are critical to the heroes. So you have to rebuild them with parts that you obtain from every level in the game. Building involves buying the required materials and then putting them all over the map. Here’s where most of the grind comes from because you need money for the materials and you get a lot of money by selling materials but then you’re missing the materials for the next item. Rinse and repeat over and over. It’s a rather tricky cycle and I sold important stuff a few times by mistake before I realized what was up.

If you put something in the wrong spot, it takes a few steps to remove it and replace. Would have been good if you could have just picked something up and moved it. Part of me suspects that there has to be a way and I was just doing it wrong. You’re given hints as to where each item should go but there’s going to be a ton of trial and error to get it just right. Also you won’t see all of the hints initially so you have to keep playing levels to get there. Occasionally a level will have two exits so you need to hit both of them.

As for the combat, that is still the meat and potatoes of the game and it’s the really fun part. It’s sort of like .Hack where you will enter a dungeon with many different floors and have to clear them all. You do get to save between every floor which is incredibly useful. I would have really been in a jam without that because I did die a fair number of times. It can be difficult to gauge the enemy range and then you die from a powerful hit. I do want to say though that the gameplay is rather exciting because of that. You’re certainly never bored because the game isn’t too easy but it’s also never unfair. When you die you know that it really was your fault because you got greedy and over extended.

The level up system is one of the toughest parts of the game. Unlike a traditional RPG where you level up with XP, you instead get weapon XP when you beat an enemy> This levels up your weapon which allows you to give it orbs to absorb to increase its stats further. This is another manual process that takes a while but get the stats high enough and then you can upgrade the weapon. Rinse and repeat as much as needed. So I took it at face value and kept on doing that, but it’s actually better to level a weapon up to level 5, then sacrifice it to your main weapon to get much bigger stat boosts. I didn’t find that out until the final boss….so it took me a little longer than it should have but in my defense I don’t know how you would guess that from the start.

As a result there are tons of different methods towards building yourself up with the best armaments by the end of the game. Go with whatever seems like the best bet and then you’re all set. Some routes will take more effort than others but you’ll still be able to make it. The final boss is incredibly difficult because you have to fight close to 11 bosses back to back. Make sure you bring a ton of health items and boost your attack power as high as possible. I had to go back and get just about every health power up possible with my attack upgrades and it was still close.

This game is listed as being 50+ hours for the story and I can see why. I beat it sooner than that but there is a ton of content here. There are also side missions and a post game so there is a ton of bang for your buck. That’s a good thing since the game tends to be on the expensive side. There are a ton of different mechanics into the game that I barely even touched on like golf, fishing, etc. so the developers really went out of their way to make sure there was a lot to do here. Even the gameplay is rather deep but I will leave you to experience that all for yourself. Mainly the thing to focus on here is that the game is just great and excels across the board. Hopefully we get more games in this series at some point. I don’t mind if they drop the building aspect and focus purely on the dungeon gameplay though heh heh.

Overall, Dark Cloud 2 is an improvement over the first and a really solid game. I feel like many people have not gotten to play this one since it always felt a bit on the obscure side but if you can find it in stores then I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s really a good bit of fun all the way through and is a lot more expansive and all encompassing than you might think. The building mechanics can be a bit of a challenge but once you get the hang of it then you’ll be fine. It just takes a lot of time unless there are some controls I ended up missing on.

Overall 8/10

MUSHA Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for another retro game courtesy of the Nintendo Switch Online. I can safely say that this is a fun title but it doesn’t really stand out all that much compared to the other sci-fi titles that I’ve played. It’s a good game of course but eh it definitely could have been better if you ask me. In the end it needed a little more of a plot or some kind of super unique gimmick.

The gameplay is more of a top down shooter style. You are blasting away at all of the enemies that try to stand in your way. It can be a bit hard to tell when you are dealing damage since the visual indicator isn’t very obvious but keep on blasting and you will take the enemies down in no time. You can keep on switching the way that your robot fires its shots as well so I recommend experimenting until you’ve found the perfect blend for you. There are certainly many different ways to tackle this and you can also alternate between manual and automatic fire.

I found that the best firing method was the 3 guns style. It works well on automatic and you get a lot of coverage while you are moving around. There are wider guns like the 5 way but I felt like they didn’t do as much damage so ironically it was a bit tougher to use that one. I would often find myself being a bit held back there. You lost your extra firepower the more you get hit so it is important to dodge every blow. Seriously one wrong shot can send you all the way back to the basic gun which is the worst possible gun to have. If you’re down to that weapon you can pretty much turn in the towel at that point.

You can of course get the power ups back by hitting the collectibles but surviving that long is the tricky part. The bosses have a ton of health as well and they will drain your HP quickly. Your reaction times are probably the most critical part of the journey since that is what will keep you alive. The graphics are pretty solid for this time frame. The characters look solid and the backgrounds had a good amount of detail to them. The levels are also fairly different so it’s not like the same background is used over and over again or anything like that. Now that would have definitely been pretty lazy.

There isn’t a lot of replay value here but that’s pretty normal for a retro game like this. The main idea is to just complete it as you normally would and then it goes back on the shelf. You can probably have fun creating your own strategies like maybe trying to complete it while only dying 5 times or something like that but for the most part this will just be around for 1 hour. At least it’s an hour of quality content though. The soundtrack isn’t bad, no home run hits but it’s not a weak selection. It works pretty well with the look and feel of the game.

I do think the developers had a fun idea with the gun customizing and it feels like an early concept of what Armored Core would turn into. Customizing your robot can be fun whether it is in game like this one or pre game like the Leynos title. That said, it would also need to be perfected more. Each gun should have some kind of benefit to it and in this case some just felt like downgrades. Why would you ever use 2 guns instead of 3? Maybe one way you could do this is that you sacrifice more armor as you add more guns. That would be pretty fun or you could scale down attack power the way it seemed to work for the 5 way gun. That would make a lot of sense.

Overall, MUSHA is a good game to check out while you have the Switch Online. If you had to pay for it then I wouldn’t be able to recommend it quite as highly but there’s really not much of a downside when it’s free like this. Just jump in and have a lot of fun right? That’s really the way to go about it and a modern remake of this game could have a lot of potential. Even if this may not be the flagship title of the genre, I like the genre enough where it still works out in the end. Blasting away at enemies while zooming around is always a good bit of fun. I’ll do my best to keep on remembering the game at least for the remainder of the year. A true challenge indeed!

Overall 6/10

Thunder Force II Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for the next Genesis title with another shooter game. Thunder Force’s gameplay style is a bit unique though as it actually switches from overhead to 2D every level. So this way it’s like you’re playing two different games and while it’s not super long, it’s a bit longer than you’d expect thanks to the overhead levels. Definitely not a game that you should underestimate.

There’s really not much of a plot here which is too bad but not super surprising. Go take down the invading aliens and you will be able to save the world! The 2D levels are my favorite ones as you just get right into the game and start shooting down all of the opposition. It’s a true bullet hell type game as you have to dodge numerous kinds of attacks as you fly through the stages. One hit and you lose a life so it is not very forgiving. A unique part of this is you can keep switching the way that you fire. Every power up you get unlocks a new mode up to around 7. So you can shoot in multiple directions with extra firepower or go with more of a low grade weapon. The possibilities are fairly endless here and so you have a lot of control.

I felt like the gun that shoots downwards and upwards at the same time was the best one since you could just stay on top of an enemy and spam that gun. Depending on the boss you would have to change weapons though so I would advise you to always be ready. Even with that, I died tons of times here. It’s just extremely hard to dodge at all times and then some levels will suddenly speed up like crazy and you will have a hard time keeping up. I still don’t know how you’re expected to just react to that without memorizing the board. It felt a litttttttle cheap I have to admit. Once again I think I would have had a hard time being a big gamer if I grew up on the Genesis.

The overhead levels are a bit weaker than the 2D ones though and that’s because there is no map. So you have to fly around looking for enemy installations to blow up. Once you have blown them up then you will have completed the level but you’ll end up flying in circles a lot of times. There are some mazes to watch out for as well in case this wasn’t already difficult enough. Basically what I’m saying here is that you really have to bring your A game or it’s all over. There will be no way to escape.

The graphics here really aren’t bad. They’re not exactly top tier or anything like that but you always know what is going on and won’t be confused at any point. The soundtrack is also okay. I definitely don’t have any real issues here. They complement the gameplay well. Also while I may have had my share of issues with the gameplay, it was still enjoyable the whole time which is the important part.

I really tend to enjoy these sci-fi shooters and how creative they are. The enemy ship designs are all pretty good and I enjoyed the boss battles as well. The final boss even incorporated some gravity into the gameplay as you had to really go max speed to keep up. So that was definitely fun. This is a game with no real replay value though so you should know that once you complete the game, it’s all over. There really isn’t anything left after that. The game felt like it was about an hour for me so not the shortest Genesis game but still pretty short when you think about it.

Overall, Thunder Force II is a fun game. I think it had a lot of room for improvement though and it all starts with the overhead levels. I can’t stress enough how even a basic map would have made a world of difference. I would always be waiting for a 2D level to come up as a result. It also goes without saying that more of a story would be nice but I consider that to be a bit more of a technical limitation so I won’t be too hard there. Either way if you have the Switch Online then it is worth checking out. It may not stand out compared to some of the other games but it’s fun and at the end of the day that’s what counts.

Overall 6/10

Zero Wing Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time for our next Genesis adventure with Zero Wing. This one definitely has a pretty iconic moment in the script and as a whole it’s pretty intense to see it. You really would not have expected the script to be this rough after the game was translated into English but I guess this squeaked through. In a way it makes the game funnier though so it works out and the game gets a full thumbs up either way thanks to the smooth gameplay.

The basic plot is about stopping the aliens who are trying to conquer or destroy the planet. You have to use your own ship to stop them and it must be a crazy high tier ship because it is destroying an entire army. I know that’s mainly gameplay mechanics of course but it’s still pretty fun to see. There sadly is not an ending cutscene here so after the opening you could say that the story completely dies. This is pretty odd because that just feels like it’s a given. Maybe there is some way to unlock an extra cutscene? Maybe not but that’s at least something that could make a little sense.

Ah well it may have ended on a weak note but the game was still fun. Think of this like a 2D Galaga where you are spamming your blasters at everything that moves. One unique thing about this adventure is that you can keep on switching your gun every time you get a power up but some in my opinion are better than others. Once I got the homing gun I would dodge all the other power ups because I didn’t want to lose it. It may be the weakest out of all the guns but at the same time the homing attack function just makes it something that you do not want to lose. This game is part bullet hell to an extent so you’re really focused on dodging. Not having to worry about where you are firing is a massive help.

Particularly since the attack power difference wasn’t massive. Yes, it’s enough to be noticeable but at the same time it’s still not a problem. The gameplay is very fast paced so you get to trust your reaction times while at the same time it’s not so fast that you have to make a lot of gambles. When you get hit, you know instinctively that you made a mistake. Often times you will immediately recognize your mistake as you get hit. With very few exceptions, it always feels reasonable that you can beat a level without getting hit but realistically everyone will slip up at some point.

Then for the graphics, the game is pretty good. The fact that we have actual illustrations with text is pretty good since most of this console’s games couldn’t seem to manage that. Meanwhile the soundtrack also gets a thumbs up without a doubt. The tunes are fun and really fit the gameplay. Definitely no issues on the technical side for this one. I do have to address the one weak point of the game though which is that it is very short. The game can be completed in under an hour and there is no real reason to play it again. The replay value here is absolutely zero and so you need to make sure that the single playthrough is enough for you to want to buy the game. If not, then that is a very valid reason on why you would want to skip it.

Zero Wing joins a bunch of other games that I’ve played where I feel there is a lot of potential to bring the series back. The story is already there so modernize it with more cutscenes and you can make a franchise out of it. Of course you can say that for many games but when you’ve already got the story and good gameplay at your disposal then it almost goes without saying. This is definitely not one that you want to miss.

Overall, Zero Wing is a pretty good game. I definitely had a good amount of fun with it. Of course it is a bit on the short side and there is technically no replay value. So this is a one and done type of game but hey that’s fine as long as that first playthrough is good. Naturally this isn’t really a game that I would spend money on but when you’re playing it as part of a full package deal then that’s really not a bad bet. I would definitely recommend checking it out, these sci-fi shooters are always so much fun!

Overall 7/10

Dynamite Headdy Review

Posted on by
Reply


Now this is definitely one of the most difficult video games that I’ve played in a minute. Certainly one of the toughest platformers and without the power of access points and rewinding I don’t see how anyone was able to beat the final boss of this game. It’s incredibly difficult with randomized movements and a whole lot of health. I died so many times in this fight but of course in the end all I had to do was win once to turn the tables and that’s exactly what I did! You just have to keep on fighting until you have made it to the end.

The basic plot involves the main guy getting suckered by girl who keeps stealing stuff. Yeah okay that’s not technically the focus of the plot even though it’s what happens. Someone is putting the entire world at risk and has powerful robotic menaces under his disposal. Headdy had to destroy them all and save puppetkind but does he have what it takes to defeat everyone? He has the power needed to be sure but the guy isn’t the smartest and is easily suckered so you really have to take that into account. Trust me, the guy makes me roll my eyes sometimes to be honest because the same cutscene happens after every world. You’d think he would learn…

All that said, I’m glad that the game actually has a real story. There are lots of cutscenes even if there isn’t much dialogue and the characters are very expressive so you feel like you are always in the mix. This game would absolutely do well with a modern remake because even this one has aged well. The gameplay is also very unique with how you put on different heads to gain different abilities. You need to get used to jumping and then launching your head since that’s a bit different compared to the usual action of jumping and automatically grabbing onto something. Once your muscle memory gets used to it, you’re set though.

Also watch out because there are what I call trap heads. One in particular involves putting on a giant head that prevents you from moving for a little while and then you get destroyed. The game is very punishing with your mistakes so if you put that on…good luck. It’s over by that point and you’re not going to make it to the end. Other power ups like turning tiny are good for very specific circumstances but if you use it in the middle of a level it will often hold you back instead of helping you. So I’d say you should definitely keep that in mind. The best power up is probably the one that surrounds you with an energy barrier that damages any enemy who gets close. That one is super handy with no real drawbacks.

Now like I said with the difficulty level, the enemies hit hard! You will lose all of your health very quickly and the attacks can be hard to react to. Specifically I have to talk about the final boss here because he is the most noticeable by far. He has a ton of different attack options up his sleeve and there is barely a chance to see what he is going to do before he does it. The guy seems to have a different pose for each attack which is likely your entry way to being able to dodge in time but it’s still an incredibly tight window.

You also need to be able to grab the specific power up that you need in order to dodge his attack and that is way easier said than done. Trust me this is exactly the kind of enemy that you do not want to face because he is always in the perfect position to take you down. I died probably over 50 times against him and that was with the power of the Switch Online. He’s an awesome looking final boss though. Great design all the way and really someone who does strike fear into you. He’s an excellent final boss and definitely a villain who excels over 90% of other platforming villains. This game deserves to be a big series.

The graphics have aged really well due in large part to the fun artstyle. The soundtrack is really good too and I definitely have no complaints there. The length is not the longest as each world is fairly short but the levels all have a lot of originality to them. For example in one level you are flying around the whole time, then you’re underwater in one, etc. The gameplay itself changes to match the levels which is impressive. It’s not afraid to change things up a lot.

In fact one level even had a whole puzzle which really did stump me for a bit. You have to basically bounce off of a bunch of walls to get to the top and you have to do this really fast before you fall down or hit a spike. The timing was so specific that I overthought it which is part of why I didn’t think that was how to get past the puzzle. I was looking for a switch or an alternate exit but in the end the direct way was the right way.

Overall, This game was better than I was expecting. I’m not crazy about one aspect of the ending since the implications are rather dire but otherwise this was very satisfying all the way through. The game feels ahead of its time with how many different gameplay mechanics it used and the fact that it had a true story all the way through. Trust me, that’s really not an easy feat and it only gets more and more impressive as I play other Genesis games.

Overall 7/10

Columns Review

Posted on by
Reply


All right it’s time for our next Genesis title but this one’s not one of the more impressive ones. In fact you could say that this is one of the weakest ones. I’m not totally sure what they were going for here except to say that it did not work. It’s a puzzle game that’s similar to Tetris and other matching games but the big difference here is that you can’t rotate the pieces sideways. They just go from up to down and that’s about it which to me makes the game not quite as fun. There’s still a lot of strategy so I won’t say in any way that this makes it more basic but it’s tougher to really land the combos that you want.

When you launch the game there is only one main mode here. You can play it on easy, normal, or hard. Beyond that the game is exactly he same on all 3 modes and the only difference is the speed at which the pieces fall down and also the points that you start with. On easy mode you start with 0, 20,000 on normal mode, and 50,000 on hard mode. What this means if you should always play hard mode because even if you lose almost immediately, you have so many points that it adds up. At least me personally it feels like the right way to go. Now if you can’t move the pieces on their sides, how do you get matches?

Well each tile has 3 colors so what you can do is change the orders of the colors on the block even though you can’t turn it. It’s definitely a tricky one and it’s hard to get the hang of it. You really have to forget everything you’ve learned about matching games previously and then get used to these rules. Otherwise you will really just end up playing yourself the whole time and putting yourself in a rough spot. Even by the end when playing this game I felt like I was making most of my matches by mistake. It was super hard to actually plan for them and more often than not I would just end up losing eventually without knowing what I was really doing.

The core problem is that as a result the game just isn’t super fun. It’s not awful or anything but there’s virtually nothing to do in the game. It’s as basic as possible and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing but then you really need an excellent gameplay style. Just being okay is not nearly good enough and that’s the real problem here. Give me some different backgrounds or something. Of course a story mode is the number one factor that would be super hype but these are other things that could have helped more. More songs, backgrounds, modes, etc.

As it stands this game is just too barebones and has not aged particularly well. There is really no particular reason to play this game as long as many others exist. I will just naturally find myself gravitating to those instead and I’m sure that the same is true for many gamers which is why you never hear about this title nowadays. The graphics are okay but it’s not like there is much on the screen for the game to show off either. So what you have is a game that is absolutely stuck without the ability to improve.

Also I’m pretty sure this is more of a Nintendo Switch Online thing than with the actual game or at least I hope that is the case but the game does not save your high score. Yes, you heard that right. It goes back to 0 each time so every time you play the game says that you now have the high score. A little suspect eh? That also takes away from wanting to play for too long because yeah you can write the high score down but how long will you actually remember it? It’s a real load off your mind to have the game store this kind of basic information instead of you.

Overall, There isn’t a lot of replay value here because you’ll basically just be playing the same level over and over and over again with nothing much beyond that. Nobody is going to be spending that amount of time on a single game for very long. It just wouldn’t make sense. You know it and I know it. I’d like to think that this would have potential with a modern day remake but I do think you would need a ton of bells and whistles to make it worth the purchase. Otherwise I would really just go with the classic Tetris style instead because I find it to be more fun. That’s what it really boils down to in the end.

Overall 3/10

Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for the last Apple Arcade review as I have now canceled my subscription with the service. It had a good run but that’s how things have to be. This one’s more of a real title than Mane Merge although it does suffer from a few issues with how the original game was designed. It was going to be a gatcha title after all but had to remove the freemium elements for the Apple Arcade. So what you have is a game that is not very well balanced and yet…it is fun. You just have to use some special methods to get around.

The basic plot is that Alucard becomes aware of another plot to revive Dracula. He has to make sure that this doesn’t happen and so he partners himself with an organization to stop this. Basically they have to go through the books of history and recruit all of the strongest vampire hunters. The villains are trying to change history at the same time to remove these heroes. Whoever moves fast will claim the edge but with Death itself trying to resurrect Dracula, is there any way to stop him? It definitely won’t be easy but Alucard is an old hand at this and ready to win.

The gameplay here is your classic 2D platformer. You use your sword, wand, or whip to mow through enemies and get to the end. Each level is fairly short so you can breeze through them but of course there are a lot of levels in each world. There are 10 worlds here and each one has 16 levels although you only need to complete 10 to move onto the next one. Beating the rest of the levels is often recommended to get progress towards new S class weapons and to get stronger. So you go through the levels and claim victory right? Well there is one thing stopping you from doing that and this is your power level.

So here’s where the gatcha type elements come in. Each of your characters has a level and then your account has a level. You raise character levels by beating enemies and getting EXP while your account level goes up by completing stages. Your weapon, sub weapon, weapon 2, weapon 3, and 5 armors all have individual levels as well. Those you level up with gems but every 5 levels it gets maxed out and then you have to limit break the equipment. You limit break it by getting memories of the weapons which you can try to find in a stage, search for through an auto complete, or summon. It will take a while to do each one so these are basically stopping points where you just have to wait until you get them.

Summoning is expensive and searches are limited to 60 times per day so the rest of the time you will need to actually go out there and just keep on completing the levels. That part is limitless at least but you can see how this would take a while right? The levels keep jumping up in terms of difficulty level so you have to try and stay close to compete. In the end I was able to complete the game with a power level of 88,000 and it took me 22 hours to accomplish this. The number is partially RNG based on what you summon so add or subtract from that amount if you aim to complete the game.

There is a trick that I mentioned earlier though so lets talk it through because without that I would not be anywhere close to beating the game. On the Arcade none of the shops work and it sounds like this is being worked on but I didn’t have time for that. So the trick is to turn off your mobile phone’s automatic date finder and manually put in an earlier date. I warped myself back to 2023 which activated all of the shops and I was able to grab what I needed. The one annoying thing about this is your phone’s other apps like your email will keep asking you what’s going on with the date so accomplish as much as you can in one shot before going back to normal.

I’m not sure if messing with the date could cause any problems with your phone but it’s best not to really take any chances with that right? Then you can keep warping days to collect the login bonuses and refresh the searches so you can progress through the game. So while I played the game for 22 hours, I lived through close to half a month by moving myself through time. Without that ability, it would take me about that long to complete which is pretty crazy. Apple Arcade really enjoys adding a grind to its games but since this one was left unfinished that worked in my favor since they didn’t bother setting an automatic date.

It’s still something worth considering in the review though which is what holds this game back from being higher. I enjoy the actual gameplay but you’re effectively locking all of the players out with the way the difficulty jumps up. You just wouldn’t be able to damage the boss until you got upgraded and that’s why gatcha elements can be a little annoying in gameplay. Particularly when getting stronger is such a time consuming project.

What helps compared to something like Mane Merge is that at least the story was a lot of fun all the way through. Again I do think we should have gotten more cutscenes and voice acting but the crossover effect was cool even as someone who doesn’t know a ton about Castlevania. I imagine there were probably a lot of easter eggs and such in the story. Everyone got their props and respect in the story which is what you always want to see and the ending was actually very satisfying.

The graphics in this game aren’t quite as impressive as the other Apple Arcade titles. This is the one aspect that the game really lacks in. It’s a bit surprising but maybe it’s just the art style that it was going for. Whatever it was, the game definitely doesn’t look very good. Meanwhile the soundtrack is fun though, there are actually a whole lot of tunes in the game so you don’t hear them repeat very often.

Overall, The length of the game is pretty impressive. As noted, it’s 20+ hours while playing through even with the enhancements Play it normally and you’re probably looking at 50+ hours. I didn’t even touch the special event stages which will add some replay value. I will note though that the replay value is limited in this case because after you play through those last levels, there is nothing else. No other mode to have fun with the gameplay or anything like that. You’ll just have ended the game and then it’s time to put it own. That’s actually a bit rare for a gacha title but I guess once a title is no longer supported it makes sense not to keep on adding stuff. If you enjoy Castlevania and have the Apple Arcade then I recommend checking it out but otherwise you can probably grab one of the classic Castlevania titles instead.

Overall 6/10