Tag Archives: Gamecube

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (Gamecube) Review

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I remember playing Marvel Nemesis on the DS so many times back in the day. I was hooked on that game! The controls worked really well on the DS and it kept track of play time well so I would just have a blast beating the game over and over again. Well, after all of these years it is pretty cool to finally be checking the Gamecube version out and actually witnessing the story first hand. It’s definitely a very unique Marvel game, one that you don’t really see nowadays with the general roster.

The story begins with an invasion. The Imperfects and their leagues of monsters have attacked the planet. Heroes like Captain America and the Hulk go down quickly. The story parts that we don’t actually see are just as interesting as the ones that we get to witness. Like we hear about Avengers Mansion being attacked, the FF being in trouble, etc. There’s no time to see these guys but we do see the aftermath. For example Wolverine is told to go to Avengers mansion and see what’s happening. Everyone is gone by that point except for the Imperfect assassin. We see the story through very narrow instances like this which is part of what makes the story so intriguing.

It’s going for a sort of spooky approach for the most part. Also, you choose what paths to follow. For example, you have 3 different heroes you can play as at first. Each one has 3 missions, the first 2 typically don’t have any real cutscenes and then the third is the big boss fight with an Imperfect. After that you get an origin cutscene for one of the Imperfects. Then you have the tough call of deciding which Marvel hero to kill off. Whoever you choose will no longer appear in the game and the rest of his levels are lost to you.

You keep up this format and eventually there are 5 heroes at a time and you have to keep bumping one off. By the end of the game almost every hero is dead which shows just how powerful the Imperfects are. It’s a little hard to believe that they would do this well in a fight though. A lot of them seem like street level fighters so how did they beat someone like the Hulk? Well, regardless it makes for a very interesting story. Elektra and Daredevil even show up and while that may not seem like a huge deal, it’s rare to see them show up in one of these big Marvel titles like this.

There is full voice acting and everything. So yeah the story is the highlight of the game to be sure and I think if we ever got a remake, they could go even further with it. Unfortunately one thing that hasn’t aged well is the animation. The graphics are well below average for Gamecube and the issue is that it’s all so dark. The whole game has this green tint that makes everything hard to see and it also makes it so that none of the characters really stand out. I’m not really sure on what the point of this artstyle was.

Maybe it’s just to make the whole thing look scarier? Well, either way that part could have been a lot better. Screenshots of the game don’t tend to turn out well and even while playing it, you feel like the game should be way more vibrant than what it is. It’s a real problem and one that the game really created onto itself. The soundtrack is really good though. The themes there definitely stand out a whole lot. I also like the various stages. They all look really good and there is a lot of variety. You have Avengers mansion and a lot of other really iconic locations. That was definitely a really good idea.

As for the gameplay, it’s very unique. I would say it’s good but some parts of it haven’t aged well. For example, each character has a ton of regeneration going for them. So you can land a ton of hits but if you don’t follow up fast, most of the damage will be restored. The game also heavily favors characters with long range throws like Spiderman and Venom. They are simply better than short range throws and it’s not even close. There’s not much incentive to using your hand to hand moves because a lot of them can be interrupted mid combo.

Projectiles are super handy because they strike so fast that you have no time to put up your barrier. You can replenish your super meter rather quickly as well so you won’t be running out of the projectiles very often. The best method of attack is definitely to throw something. Yes, the opponent can catch the object but that’s when you hit them with an energy attack. Throwing things is easily the most effective way to deal damage and during the story I was spamming that the whole time. If there was something that could be thrown, you better believe that I was picking it up immediately!

The game could definitely have benefited from making the hand to hand attacks more useful though. This is probably the only 3D fighting game I’ve ever played where you’re encouraged not to fight like that. Of course, that is why I say that the game is unique. It’s different enough where you should have a lot of fun playing with others. It’s more fun to fight a real person than a computer by far since they react perfectly to the projectiles which seems to be a bit iffy.

Overall, Marvel Nemesis is definitely a nostalgic game. The story is really interesting the whole way through so I had a blast there. Hopefully some day we can get a sequel or a remake. If you can find this one I would definitely recommend getting it. The game’s not that expensive nowadays and it’s worth the play through. Then you can keep on playing vs mode for a while which really has unlimited replay value. That’s definitely the way to go and remember…make sure you play as Spiderman or Venom and you will be dominating!

Overall 7/10

X2: Wolverine’s Revenge Review

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All right it’s time to jump in for some Wolverine adventures. This game plays out a lot differently than what I would have expected though. The focus isn’t really on the action and slashing the foes in front of you. Instead it is mainly a stealth game where you have to be nimble and hide in the shadows like Carmen Sandiego. When you find an opening, then you strike but otherwise you are taken out of the game real quick. The shots just do too much damage.

The basic plot though is that Wolverine has been poisoned and is slowly dying. He needs to find a cure and fast or it’s all over for him. The X-Men would help but they’re all rather busy which isn’t a great excuse but hey it’s something. So Wolverine will have to travel around the globe to find the cure and that means tangling with old enemies like Sabertooth and the whole Weapon X group. If anyone could handle this though, it would be Wolverine. He’s been through a lot over the year and isn’t about to throw in the towel just yet. No way!

So the stealth is my main issue with the game though mainly because of how it’s executed. You could absolutely pull off a stealth Wolverine game where it’s like he’s going back to his wild side and you’re picking everyone off one by one. Yes it may be a bit of an odd decision but not necessarily a bad one. No, the real problem here is how the levels are really long so if you make one mistake then you have to go all the way back to the beginning. That part is absolutely brutal because some of these levels are 15-20 minutes long. You’re losing so much every time and of course it makes you a bit impatient so then you end up losing again and now you’re in a rather rough cycle.

The easiest fix here would have absolutely been to add more checkpoints. That’s all you have to do. Add in those checkpoints and you are really set for anything. Then you can stomach the stealth a lot better and losing isn’t as bad since you can quickly get back to where you were at. I guess the game was really intentionally trying to be difficult but this was the wrong way to do it. Give me a challenge but don’t make me keep on replaying large parts of a game. I’m trying to progress as much as possible.

Then the few times we do get a boss fight with actual combat, there is always a gimmick around. For Magneto you have to chase him a lot while getting hit by objects and then if he runs over to his generator for a few seconds you lose by default. The final boss has unlimited health so you actually can’t beat her in hand to hand combat and are forced to go use some background objects. Likewise when you fight Sabertooth you have to throw him into a train. He can’t be beaten normally.

See a pattern here? Again that doesn’t have to be a bad thing but it felt like the game absolutely did not want to let you fight any of the opponents straight up. Even fighting the minions would usually get a little dicey because their guns deal so much damage. So what you have to do with those is hide behind a wall for a while as your health very slowly starts to recover. Have a book or your phone handy because the game is not kidding for this part. They actually want you to just slowly get the health back. Cmonnnnnnnnn

The actual combat gameplay isn’t too bad but it’s a bit sloppy. The hitboxes don’t always match the character models so a lot of times you are hitting the opponent but he doesn’t feel it and then he misses and so the two of you keep on taking shot at each other but neither one is making much headway. Eventually you connect and he goes down but it doesn’t feel very polished at all. The budget for this game was not nearly as high as it should have been and the game knows it.

As you get deeper into the game you will learn how to work around this and get a win. It takes time but you won’t be stuck. Some parts are just really hard to guess like the final phase of the final boss. For reasons unknown that boss is completely invincible so you have to go to the edge and wait for her to be in position to fall off. Why is this so bad? Because it’s the 4th phase of the fight so most likely you’re going to try and attack her since that makes sense and then you die. I don’t see how you could possibly guess on the first go around and so that means the game is dooming you to lose at least one life there. Not cool if you ask me.

It’s like an invisible block that makes you die in Mario Maker. It’s just not a fair way to go out and so you end up blaming the devs. This game has quite a few moments like that and each time it makes you shake your head. You know that you did not deserve to lose like that and so you’re wondering why the game had to mess with you. Okay so I had a lot of issues with the game design but on the positive side I’d say the graphics are fairly good. All of the characters and their costumes stand out pretty well. They look very classic all the way and the level designs are also good. A map would have been really nice but there’s only a few that are big enough to get lost in.

Then we have the soundtrack which is actually pretty good. There are some tense themes here and in general there is a wide variety. The sound clips at the start of a mission can get old as you keep on hearing them over and over again though when you lose. “Stay quiet, Stay low, Stay Alive!” is something I had to hear Wolverine say dozens and dozens of times. It’s why every game should allow you to skip cutscenes and should not replay the same dialogue option every time although I now that’s a bit harder to work around.

In terms of length I’d say the game is fairly satisfying. That’s in part due to the difficulty of course but still this is not a game that you will be conquering in one day and that’s important to note. It’s going to be sticking around for the longhaul and really making sure that you bring your A game because without it you really will get stuck on the levels. There’s not really any replay value unless there is a bonus ending of sorts but there is a challenge mode where you can have some fun in.

Overall, X2: Wolverine’s Revenge is a game where the gameplay sacrificed the story’s effort. I actually thought the story was really good with a lot of characters running around everywhere. It managed to stay exciting the whole time and the ending leaves a ton of cliffhangers for a possible sequel. The game was having quite a bit of fun here even if you knew the odds were not great that they would be able to complete this plot. Well, if you’re looking for an old superhero game that you haven’t played yet, this one is just obscure enough where it could fit the bill. It’s not going to touch most of the big ones or even come close to those but you definitely can’t call it a rehash or anything like that. It was trying its own thing from the start.

Overall 5/10

Bomberman Generation Review

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It’s time for the return of Bomberman and this has to be the most plot focused one that I’ve played in the series. I definitely appreciated that the game’s story took itself rather seriously this time and Bomberman was allowed to do what he does best which is blow up his opponents. No comic relief characters are around to slow him down or anything like that. As a result we have a very solid story all around and the gameplay is definitely solid. The difficulty level of this game is fairly sizable though.

The game starts with Bomberman being called in by the doctor to recover the bomb elements from around the universe. A villainous group intends to use them for nefarious purposes but Bomberman isn’t about to let this happen without a fight. He will have to go through many different obstacles and use every technique at his disposal but he is ready to do this. Nobody will be stopping him.

The gameplay is a little different from the other Bomberman titles. Yes, you are still running around the map and planting bombs but instead of blowing up boxes and being in a limited space, you go through full platforming levels. You are running, jumping, and activating different switches and stuff in order to get to the goal. Along the way you will use little creatures that can fight each other and change the abilities of your bombs. You can even change your bomb element like from water to fire, etc. For the most part the elements won’t come into play until the end of the game but it’s good to get used to them in the meantime.

Now the only dicey part in the game is the collectathon elements. You will need certain items and power ups in order to clear the obstacles. The game misleadingly only shows you when some collectables are missing but not where others are. That means without an online walkthrough you will need to just search through every level to find them and the levels can be rather large. As much as you can you should try to check every portal in every level but it’s definitely not easy. Sometimes you will miss one so just hope that it isn’t one of the mandatory ones.

I’m not really sure what the point of the monster battles part of the gameplay was though. It’s completely luck based as the computer controls both fighters and there’s just not much to it. It sort of feels like it’s just here to be here but the game’s development focus was definitely on the main gameplay so it probably should have stuck to that. There are only a few battles in the game so it’s not a big deal but in a way that just makes them even more jarring because of how sudden they are.

As for the bosses, a lot of them are tough so definitely tread carefully. I would say to try and memorize their attack patterns first and then worry about hitting them. You don’t have much health after all so just a few good hits and you’re out. Online I saw people with tons of hearts while I only had 3 so there are probably power ups somewhere that increase your hearts but I just didn’t come across them.

The most useful creature is one that lets you detonate your bombs at any time. It makes it a lot easier to lure an enemy to where you have a bomb and blow him up. It’s also quicker since you can throw a bomb and immediately blow it up compared to waiting the timer down with the normal ones. Once you get the super versions of the monsters you can even use two abilities at once which is really good. The toughest boss in the game would have to be this giant machine that keeps slamming the ground. The reason it is difficult is that the slam automatically blows up any bombs you have set down so that made my favorite one irrelevant. You basically have to place a bomb and then immediately kick it or you will be caught in the crossfire. It does not grant you any mercy, that’s for sure!

I would say I beat that boss with half luck. I just tried kicking as fast as possible and eventually it all timed perfectly where I dodged the slam and got it through the window while the slot was open. Trust me when I say that it’s hard to do that on command. So you do feel pretty proud of yourself once you have conquered the game. Meanwhile the game has full voice acting which is really cool. It really helps to immerse yourself in the game more. I do have to deduct some points for there not being an ability to skip cutscenes though. So when you die you have to watch the whole thing over again.

You can dodge that by continuing after a loss instead of exiting to the main menu but if you do that then you lose all power ups and upgrades so I’d say that’s not worth it. Maybe you can do that a few times to learn how the boss moves and fights of course but after that it’s definitely time to go back to the main menu to start at full power again. Once you are used to moving at full speeds it is really hard to get used to being back at level 1 after all.

Overall, Bomberman Generation is a pretty fun game. It really does a lot with the Bomberman series and ends up being one of the most memorable installments in the series. It’s always nostalgic going back to the Gamecube era as well since that was still the peak of all gaming experiences. One of these days I will definitely need to get the other Bomberman gamecube title. In the meantime I would recommend searching this one out, it’s a good time and the length is pretty decent. The difficulty alone will likely help add some time to this.

Overall 7/10

Cubix Robots for Everyone: Showdown Review

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It’s time we all talk about the big robot series from back in the day..Cubix. Cubix is one of those titles that I never got to watch while it was airing but the main robot had a very distinct design. After playing the video game I can see how the show would be fun but unfortunately the game itself dropped the ball a bit. I was expecting a lot of fun action gameplay and things like that but instead it’s a timing game. That’s fairly unique since there aren’t many games with this style but it doesn’t have enough depth to pull this off.

The game starts with the main characters realizing that a lot of robots are suddenly going haywire. Their malfunctions are putting everyone at risk so the heroes have to put a stop to this. The villain takes this opportunity to make a move as well so now the heroes really need to watch out. If they don’t handle this perfectly then they are going to be in massive trouble. Fortunately they are up for the task…possibly.

There isn’t much of a story to be honest though. That synopsis is basically it. The heroes go from area to area destroying the robots…well I should say purifying them. Each time you fix a robot you add him to your team and then keep the fighting up from there. Each time the villain runs off and the heroes have to catch him again. There’s definitely not much in the way of variety here, this just isn’t that kind of title. The story shouldn’t take you longer than a few hours to complete.

There are 40 Cubix in the game and you gain one every time you win a fight. Some are obtained through collectibles in the hub world and others must be from a different mode since I completed the game with 32/40. There is platforming elements to the game as you have to solve puzzles like moving blocks and such but ultimately this just felt like filler.

While the timing gameplay wasn’t my favorite, it’s clearly the meat of the game so you should just stick with that. Basically when it’s your turn to attack you have to press A while the wheel is on your color. Then the opponent does the same. This continues on until you have taken all of the opponent’s health away. Of course the timing isn’t very precise which is a huge issue because that’s the point of the game. Another issue here is that there is a whole type system but the in game help screens don’t have the right ones.

For example it says that water is weak against…water as the weakness and when you try to use a water attack it isn’t super effective. The whole chart breaks down very quickly so I recommend just throwing out attacks and keeping track of the type advantages on your own. The system won’t be very helpful this time I’m afraid. Then you also have special abilities to speed up the wheel, reverse its motion, deal double damage, etc. Using each ability strategically is absolutely key if you want to win.

The game can be reasonably challenging and I actually did lose once or twice. There isn’t really anywhere to train either as far as I could tell so if you truly get stuck then that would be tricky. Your robots gain a level up every time you win with one of them but there are no minions in the whole game. So if you have already beaten the boss then there will be nobody to fight. It does force you to get really good at the game though.

As for the graphics, this is definitely more on the movie-tie in level. It doesn’t quite look as good as Mario 64 or the X-men game for SNES. You can tell who the characters are so that much is clear but there is basically 0 effort put into this one. The soundtrack is also extremely forgettable so you won’t be remembering the tunes for very long either. Mix that in with how short the game is and perhaps you will have trouble remembering the game as well. That part I don’t think is as much of a risk just because the timing system alone makes it fairly unique and easy to remember but not for the best of reasons.

There was potential here to be sure with the voice acting and gameplay but there isn’t enough to keep you here. You will be ready to leave right away since no aspect of the game is particularly strong. I should emphasize that the game isn’t bad but without anything particularly good about it, it is stuck right in the middle. You can get the game for very cheap which is good but if you haven’t played this title before, you aren’t missing much. You can absolutely just let it be forgotten to the years of time.

Overall, Cubix just isn’t the kind of game that is going to win a bunch of awards. I basically bought this game on a whim so it’s not like I expected a whole lot but even I thought it would be better than what we had here. It just could have done a whole lot more with the robot concept. Why didn’t this play out as a robot fighting game right? Give it the Gundam gameplay and I’m sure it would have been good. Ultimately this wasn’t how it was meant to be though. If they ever make a new Cubix game someday I would keep an eye out for it but otherwise I suppose this might be it for my Cubix adventures.

Overall 5/10

Vexx Review

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Vexx is one of those platformers from a million years ago that nobody has really heard of. It should have become the next big thing but ultimately just couldn’t make it that far. While the gameplay can be really fun at times, there are some clear issues here and I suppose those were just big enough to keep this from being rated higher and selling more. Having more cutscenes would have also done wonders for the game if you ask me.

The game starts off strong as we see the villains show up and take over the world real quick. Vexx being forced to work in this cruel world where the villains currently rule. He ends up revolting after the villains murder Vexx’s grandfather. Vexx will need to uncover a bunch of demon hearts in order to put an end to this but will it really be so straight forward? Why does he have these incredible powers, why is there a witch who seems to be in the way and why is this old man so eager to help Vexx? All of these questions will have to remain on your side for a while as the game only has a few cutscenes in the whole game. For example, after that intro there is not another cutscene until very deep into the game and then you get some for the ending.

This was a bit of a missed opportunity as the intro hinted as a grand plot. It was going to be daring, emotional, and dramatic. Instead you are left to quietly play through the various levels until you get to the end. There are some good levels here and I’ll get into that in a second but the story ends up being more of a bust. There is a cool cliffhanger for the sequel at least but that’s probably never going to show up anyway. I mean, we have been getting a lot of revivals lately but I feel like Vexx would not be at the top of the list.

Gameplay is the most important part of a platformer though right? So lets get into that. The game is modeled after the Mario style, I would even say Mario 64 in particular. You have the various portals that lead into different worlds. Each one has between 8-10 hearts in it and when you get one, you are immediately taken out of the level. (Mario Odyssey did well to change that) You then go back in to get another one.

The tasks for the hearts are all different. Some come from beating a minigame, others are for finding collectibles, and then others are just scattered around the world. Ideally you want to grab around 7 of the hearts in each world so that you don’t have to backtrack later on. You only need 60 out of the possible 81 hearts in the game to reach the final boss so if there is a heart that you are having a lot of trouble with, I would say not to worry about it too much. Just keep on going to the next one and you’ll be just fine. I thought this was a good way to handle the collectathon part since you never feel too stressed as a result.

My favorite parts of the game were the minigames as they felt like something out of Mario Party. You could have made a good multiplayer mode out of that without a doubt. There aren’t many in the game so you should saver them. For the actual platforming, the jumping and combat are both good. Combat could be a little more balanced but you can cheese it in a lot of ways that save you time so it’s something I don’t mind overlooking a bit. The camera angles are certainly the weakest part here. It will sometimes just randomly change so you end up falling to your doom.

I think the game is a bit stingy with how it kicks you out of the levels the whole time. It’s rough to have earned 80/100 of the eggs only to be thrown out of the level because you cleared another mission. It’d be nice if you could just stay in the world after you got a heart and keep on going because some of these levels are long so getting 100 eggs can take a long while.

As long as you go with the hearts you find easiest for your particular style then I expect you will be progressing through the game at a fast rate. The toughest part of the game by far is the final boss. You have to beat 3 phases of the boss in one shot as losing at any point sends you to the beginning. The boss plays out like a beat em up as you have to fight numerous opponents and it seems partially luck based with how RNG the super fast fireballs are. That boss took forever to beat and I wouldn’t love to have to fight him again. My biggest tip is to defeat the hordes by doing constant jumps and striking the ground below you. Don’t try to fight them head on. For the second phase, don’t move. Let the boss circle you and only jump when he’s about to attack. You have to strike the head and then go to the back and flip him over and then strike from the top. You have to do this several times so good luck. I don’t expect you will be completing this battle on the first try, far from it.

Either way you can see the potential behind this game. Mix in a better camera and some quality of life updates and this really could be like Mario 64 or Mario Sunshine. The game’s really going for that angle with with a wide range of levels to choose from, I would say it succeeds for the most part. What holds it back is that some of the hearts are more annoying than fun and losing sets you back so long in some of these. Mario always ensured that every level was fun even if it took a while. SO if we get the level designs a bit more polished then this would be ready for the next level.

The graphics are also good here. I liked the designs and the worlds had a lot of uniqueness to each one. The attacks look good and the game just holds up well here. Then you have the soundtrack which is solid. There are quite a few solid tunes within the game and they have that old school rock feel to them. Something that I always like to see in any game.

In terms of replay value I guess there’s a bit. You can try to get the two bonus suits in the game which give you fire and thunder abilities. They are even needed for grabbing some of the hearts. I just couldn’t figure out where to find either one of them so I was glad that I could skip those missions. Apparently the fire suit is somewhere in level 1 but I ran around that place for ages and never saw it so I wonder where it is. As you play through the game the hearts get a bit easier since you know what to expect so maybe the same would have been true of the suits if I could have found at least one of them.

Overall, Vexx has good gameplay but it could have been better with just a little more polish. Throw in more of a story mode as well and that would have really been a winning combination. It’s a shame that it couldn’t be better but in that case I probably would have played it years ago. The platforming genre is one that always has a lot of competition so if you aren’t first then you might end up being last. You can get this game for a fairly cheap price so I would say you should make a play on it. It’s still worth the price and I had fun with it. The game is fairly short at well under 10 hours long but that’ll do the job.

Overall 6/10

Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix Review

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This is one of the only Mario games I had never managed to get my hands on before now. It’s certainly well known but usually hard to obtain. Well, I can say that it was worth the wait. The story itself is a lot shorter than I would have hoped but you can tell that there was a good budget behind this game. The effects and graphics are just way too solid to overlook and of course the soundtrack is a blast. If you want to play a solid rhythm game then you can’t go wrong with this one.

The story starts with Toad asking Mario for help because someone has stolen the legendary music orbs. Waluigi, Wario, Blooper, and more villains have united to take these away. Now the whole world is being forced to dance because of how the music magic has gotten free. Can Mario out dance everyone who gets in his way or is this possibly game over for the entire Mushroom Kingdom? Luigi and Peach are not here to back him up this time so Mario is really on his own this time.

There are 4 worlds here which each have 4 levels and then the final world that has 2 levels. Each world ends with a big boss at the end which is always fun and of course you have music tracks from across the Mario franchise. Some of the songs are hard to recognize from their original versions but they’re definitely catchy and work well with the fast paced levels. I played the game without a dance mat so then it’s all about timing as you push your control stick in the right direction at the right time. It’s all about having perfect timing and that sounds good to me as timing is what I’m all about. It works out rather well although the game is also quite easy. I picked the most challenging difficulty level and even then the villains could never get more than a D rank. That’s just how it goes I suppose so you’ll still want to give it your all just to prove to yourself that you can achieve the best.

Without the dance mat the toughest part is when you have to click both directions at once. Of course on the mat you can have one foot in two place at once but that’s not possible with a control stick. You have to quickly hit both sides as quickly as possible but you never get the perfect scores that way. As a result maybe it’s for the best that the A.I. wasn’t too good or that could have started to get a bit tricky. Playing this game reminds me of how the Kingdom Hearts melody game could end up being fun.

Where Nintendo went the extra mile here is by adding all kinds of visual elements and extra minions to the levels. They incorporate Goombas, Boo, Bullet Bills, Koopa, and all sorts of enemies into the mix. They affect how you have to use your control stick and it makes for a fun variety in the levels. Then you have the boss levels where you see both of the characters dancing the whole time. Mario is certainly confident in his skills and its well earned considering how well he does here.

I’ll also give the game props for having a real story mode. It certainly would have been tempting to have just side stepped that entirely but that’s not what happens here. The game takes itself seriously and there are cutscenes as we face off against everyone. Even Bowser steps in at one point which is always hype. The whole story is rather crazy from the jump with how the music magic works but you can just roll with it the whole time.

The graphics are also very nostalgic with how this reminds me of the Mario Party 4 game. The character models have aged well and so have the stage designs. This feels like one of the better depictions of the Mushroom Kingdom. You really get a feel for how daily life would be like in this place. On every technical level the game went above and beyond. The only thing that would hold this title back is the super short length and even with that you’ll have had fun during the journey.

Plus there is a multiplayer mode so that’ll help with the replay value. You could end up playing through the game for quite a long time as long as you have someone to play it with. That’ll really test your skills although I hope that there is a way to speed the levels up further than you could in story mode or it’s possible that both you and your opponent will be absolutely dominating the matches the whole time. I’m sure there is some kind of tiebreaker and you guys won’t get perfect scores all the time so that helps out a bit but speeding things along would certainly help to make it all a bit more exciting.

Overall, Dance Dance Revolution has always been a fun genre for games. I don’t participate in them too much myself nowadays but it was a good way to burn some calories and get a good workout. Throwing in the Mario characters was brilliant and I almost feel like they should bring that back in the present. I think it could absolutely sell super well if it was marketed right. I’m not sure if the Switch has any compatible dance mat at the moment but if not that’s something that could be changed really quickly. Playing through this game is like digging up a lost piece of your childhood. If you like the Mario games and grew up with the Gamecube era then this is a title that you’ll want to get. It’s a title that has aged too well to pass up. There’s not much to it but the game’s a lot of fun and you’re always reminded that Nintendo made that their top priority when making games and it definitely shows here.

Overall 7/10

SpyHunter Review

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SpyHunter is a game that always looked pretty interesting. When I saw it, I figured this would be something kind of like Pursuit Force. Well, it plays out a little differently from that one. See, this game never lets you leave the car and you’ve got to perform the objectives while driving to the end of the level. It’s a different take on the usual kind of car game. It’s a decent enough title and yet it trips itself up with the need to force you to grab every collectible. I thought that was a pretty bad idea personally.

The game starts with a villain organization talking about how they are going to take out the world. They have their weapons at the ready and the only one who can stop them is the mysterious agent you are playing as. Unfortunately that’s effectively where the story ends. The rest of the game has you tackling a bunch of missions that have some text for context but that’s pretty much it. If you were looking for a big story here then you have come to the wrong place. The gameplay will have to be enough.

So how does the game play out? Well, it’s a 3D driving title where you are given 5-7 missions to complete. One of those is the primary mission so you have to complete that in order to beat the level and then you have a ton of secondary missions to try and complete. They’ll range from things like “Avoid civilian casualties” to “Blow up 8 trucks”. As you’re driving in the level you will usually see the objectives flagged in little circles. The color of the circle will help to remind you if you’re to blow up the object or stop it with an EMP. If you really forget you can also pause the screen which will quickly show you all of the missions.

The term “secondary” may make you think that these are optional but most of them are not. The game has 14 levels and each one is protected by a points requirement. Each mission gives you a point per mission so you have to complete a lot of them. The game as a whole has around 65 possible points and you need 57 to unlock the last level. If you discount the 4 objectives in that level, that means you need 57 out of 61 possible points prior to the final level so you can’t allow for many mistakes. This means you will be replaying each level a whole bunch of times.

That part’s what is really unfortunate about SpyHunter. You should not have to go back and play old levels like this. I always feel that doing something like that should be absolutely optional. Otherwise it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to call it secondary. Just bake it all into the level at that point and at least you now what you’re getting yourself into. I also didn’t like the fact that you have to re-clear the other missions. For example, let’s say you beat 5/7 of the level’s missions on the first try. You’d assume that you could just go in and complete the other 2 right? Unfortunately that’s not the case in this one. You have to actually go in and complete all of the other missions again in order for this to count. It makes the process a little extra tedious so I recommend just trying to complete all of the missions right away and restarting until you do. Otherwise you’ll have to go back anyway and at least this way you will be super familiar with the level.

It’s certainly possible that the developers only did this to buy time because otherwise the game would have been incredibly short. Each level is only 3-5 minutes long so you can easily complete the whole game in about an hour if you didn’t have to go back and replay them each time. As a result there is not a ton of replay value on the single player side since you’ll have had to 100% complete almost every level. There is a multiplayer mode though and since the gameplay itself is solid, I could see that being a lot of fun. Multiplayer is always a good way to keep the player around for a while.

The graphics aren’t bad. I liked what we got in the opening cutscene but at the same time there isn’t a lot else to base it off of. The levels have very distinct designs and I like the various effects for the blasters and explosions so all in all I would give that area a thumbs up. The soundtrack is much more forgettable though. You’ll quickly forget any tune that you heard during the game without a doubt. I can’t say I expected any really good tunes but it definitely would have been a pretty nice bonus. Maybe next time I suppose.

As you play through the game you will unlock more weapons for your car. It’s important to note though that these weapons only work for levels after which you’ve unlocked them which I found a bit odd. For example, when you get the triple missiles, you can’t use them for the first level and you are automatically downgraded there. Usually part of the fun with upgrades is going back and winning with extreme ease now. This seems like one of those times where the game just had a big miss again.

The best weapon in the game is definitely the missile though. Whether you’ve got 1 or 3, it is the best way to have the upper hand against the villains. Relying on your gatling gun is not as good because it takes so many hits to defeat the opposing cars. The only time it is worth it is if there are a lot of civilians around and you want to make sure you don’t hit the. The missiles deal a lot of damage and have large explosions so it is tough not to hit someone when using that kind of weaponry.

Overall, SpyHunter is a good game but is heavily held back by all of the sub missions here. Just let me focus on driving and going through the levels. If the game did that then it absolutely would have been so much better. The concept of a driving game where you are blasting with your weapons and everything is quite sound. I guess the developers didn’t have enough confidence in its overall premise though. If you don’t mind the collectathon type elements here then you should pick this game up. It’s fairly cheap and the gameplay itself is polished very well.

Overall 6/10