Tag Archives: Genesis

Landstalker Review

Posted on by
Reply


Landstalker is a game that is definitely a lot longer than you would have figured. The game is filled with lots of puzzles and platforming challenges that will really keep you guessing. Completing them is no easy feat and I tip my cap to the gamers who managed to complete this one back in the day. It is incredibly difficult and any time you choose the wrong passageway you have to fight a bunch of enemies once again. That was a really rough mechanic.

The game follows a treasure hunter named Nigel who is searching for the ultimate treasure. Unfortunately it won’t be an easy journey and along the way he meets many people who are having issues and dealing with corrupt leaders. Nigel didn’t exactly sign up to be a hero but he won’t let these people fall without a fight. His trusty spirit companion is also around to make sure he doesn’t get distracted by matters of the heart. She wants Nigel all to herself but he doesn’t seem to truly notice her.

While the game’s story isn’t super detailed, there is more dialogue and plot than you may have normally assumed from such an old game. So I can definitely appreciate that. The world is also quite large and that contributes to how long the game’s story ended up being. It is not a game that will end too soon, it’s going to take you a little while. Part of the reason for this is that there is no quick travel system until you reach the final dungeon. So you have to be running back and forth a whole lot. You better hope you have the routes more or less memorized too or that will also add onto the extra time. There were several times where I had no idea how to get back to an old town.

The game has no good map system after all. There is a general world map but it doesn’t give many details. There are a few guideposts but they are rarely around when you need them. So that is a quality of life feature that could be addressed in a remake without a doubt. The game’s combat system is pretty basic. You have a single sword strike…and that’s it. So keep on spamming it as much as you need to until you win. Often times the best thing to do is just spam the attack and wait for the minions to walk into it.

Towards the end there are a few minions this doesn’t work on so for those cases I recommend doing a lot of jump slashes. Keep on pulling those off and eventually you will win. Some of the bosses are incredibly durable to t point where you might wonder if you are attacking them correctly. No worries, if they flash then you are doing it right. This is why I do like to have health bars though, so there is no guessing game.

The puzzles come in many variations but the penalties are too large. Like I mentioned, the enemies all respawn when you exit a room and most of these puzzles revolve around going through a bunch of different locations. So that means backtracking and re-defeating the enemies to activate switches and the like. I had to do this so many times and it’s not like the enemies are ultra easy. They will deal you a ton of damage and then you’re sunk.

I died dozens and dozens of times throughout the game. So like I said it’s no picnic and it’s really rough to be dying thanks to a puzzle. Those puzzles absolutely needed a whole lot of work and they just aren’t fun to solve. Why are the villains using so many puzzles? Lets just jump into the combat. If the system focused on the combat more then this could have absolutely been something great.

Meanwhile the graphics aren’t bad. I will admit that the game looks really solid for its age. The colors are striking and the character designs stand out. That’s certainly never a guarantee for a game like this. Meanwhile the soundtrack isn’t anything amazing but works well enough. You won’t be remembering the tunes though. None of them stick in your head and I will ultimately have to blame the game there as you should have a ton of great themes at the ready. The best theme would probably be the background music for the final labyrinth. It felt suitably final at least.

There isn’t really any replay value here as the game ends when you defeat the final boss. At least the campaign is long enough though so if you have the Switch Online it might be worth playing through. I just warn you that you have to love the puzzle aspect or you really won’t be having fun here. It’s absolutely the focus of the game but since that involves a lot of combat then you are stuck playing through a lot of battles which was clearly not a development focus.

Overall, Landstalker is a game that has not aged particularly well. It’s a game that feels old and the gameplay elements just aren’t as good as they could have been. The puzzles tend to be super annoying the whole time and the game overstays its welcome by the end. The lack of attack options makes the combat become repetitive as well. So those are quite a lot of reasons why you will want to stay away from this one. I’m afraid that it just did not manage to succeed in spite of these instances.

Overall 4/10

Shining Force Review

Posted on by
Reply


Shining Force is a game that I was never really familiar with back in the day. In fact, it was so unknown that I didn’t even realize it was a tactics game until I played it. I can definitely say that this is a long adventure though so it’s the kind where you really get your money’s worth. The game also gets quite difficult towards the end. There are a number of areas where the game has not aged particularly well but all in all you will have a fun time here.

The game starts with a lot of turmoil between the kingdoms as always, but this is all spurned on by a group of villains who seek to resurrect an ancient evil. Once this evil is let loose, the world will be in great peril. The main character has to band a lot of allies together in order to save the day. They will be known as the Shining Force and will be travelling across the planet in order to take on all challengers. Will they be enough?

The game’s story is pretty solid. It seamlessly mixes in some humor at good points but is otherwise a pretty serious story. There is a body count here to be sure and the villains tend to always be one step ahead. It’s really not until the very end that the heroes really seem to even stand a small chance. The ending is pretty fun and so you have a real complete journey here.

Now when it comes to the gameplay, tactics style will always take a while. It’s almost self explanatory since you need to come up with plans to win and then manipulate all of your fighters into the right spots. That won’t be an easy task because you will often be outnumbered and have to keep track of a lot of fighters. Your team caps out at 12 active fighters at once while the enemy forces can have around 30 or so. Next up is the RNG to account for. Each enemy has a standard attack which does almost no damage, and then a power attack which can wipe the health bar of even an experienced fighter.

The final boss even has an instant KO attack which feels incredibly cheesy. While the A.I. is dangerous, at least I won’t say that it is completely unstoppable. I was able to exploit it a few times like attacking from an area where the boss would refuse to move. The final boss and his lack of speed also make him easier to exploit which might be why the developers gave him a one hit KO move. Still a bit cheesy if you ask me but that’s how it goes.

Where the game’s age shows is in how the menus work. Each character can only hold 3 items in addition to their weapon. There are a lot of chests everywhere with items but when your main character is full, he can’t pick it up. So you have to go through 4 menus to remove one item and give to someone else. Rinse and repeat every single time you come up to a treasure chest. Trust me when I say that this absolutely gets old quicker than you might expect.

Additionally, there is no way to easily gauge where your units are and their stats. You have to look them up one by one as you navigate the field. You also can’t skip animations so all of the turns tend to take forever. I also think they went a bit too far when increasing the dodge rate for the enemies later on. It gets to the point where they are really dodging everything and that just feels like a really cheap way to lose. I want to lose because their units are more powerful, not because I missed at a critical juncture.

The length also makes field effects feel tricky. For example, there are a few levels where you are in a forest. In those levels, each character’s mobility is cut in half so that immediately doubles the amount of turns to win. It can be seen as a difficulty thing but I’d prefer adding more enemies to just making everything slower. So there are a few times in the game where things can drag a little bit because of that. I generally enjoy tactics gameplay but a smooth interface is absolutely necessary. It’s part of why Fire Emblem is so popular nowadays, they have really done a great job of optimizing the gameplay.

I do like how the game handles EXP grinding though. In some games like Fire Emblem you can effectively get permanently stuck because there is no area to grind. In this game, you can grind forever. The main character has a magic spell that works as a guaranteed escape from battle. You keep all EXP when doing this so all you have to do is keep on defeating enemies without ending the level and you will watch the EXP really rack up in no time. Trust me, it feels really satisfying to pile that up.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can promote a unit to its evolved form as soon as they hit level 10 but you get much better stat boosts if you wait until 20. Personally I decided to wait for my heavy hitters and then the others I did around level 13-15. It’s just hard to wait for some of these fighters who take a while to level up. It’s almost inevitable in a tactics game that you will have some favorite units who will soak up the EXP and that definitely happened here. At the end of the game I had a swordfighter, archer, and a mage. That was about all that I needed, I just left the other units for dead and marched through to the end. Probably not the recommended way to fight but it worked for me.

The graphics are pretty good and definitely benefit from a colorful artstyle. The game has really aged well and I also liked the combat effects like the energy moves and such. The soundtrack is good but a little limited. You’ll probably be tired of the combat theme by the end because you will have heard it hundreds of times. There’s probably no way around that except to set up multiple battle themes that play randomly for encounters.

Overall, Shining Force is a pretty good game. I definitely had fun with it and am looking forward to seeing how the sequel stacks up. If you like a good tactics game then I think you’ll enjoy this one as well. While there are quality of life features that keep me from calling this a great game, it still holds its own when it counts. At the end of the day that’s the important part and all first games in a series will end up having some lessons to learn.

Overall 7/10

ESWAT: City Under Siege Review

Posted on by
Reply


The Genesis adventures continue here as we get a more traditional 2D shooter. This is one of those games I had definitely not heard of before so it was pretty interesting to see what it is like. The graphics are good and the soundtrack is nice. I would say my only issue is how huge the main character is. That may sound like an odd issue but the problem is that it makes dodging any attack rather difficult. You are constantly on the defensive and a single hit will deal a whole lot of damage.

You start out as a basic guy with a gun but then in the middle levels you play as a guy in a mecha suit that can fly around with limited fuel. It’s a pretty fun way of adding onto the gameplay and not letting things get stale. You also have a whole lot of attack options while you are in the mech suit like rockets, a mega buster, fire blast, etc. I ended up going with the buster because to me it seems like easily the best weapon of the bunch. You can charge it up to fire really powerful blasts or just spam it like a normal gun.

The toughest boss in the game is a large drill that keeps on hopping around and you can only injure it at very precise moments. So being able to use the buster with its wide range was incredibly helpful. Without that it would have taken a lot longer to defeat. Each of the bosses were quite difficult though and I would say this is probably one of the harder Genesis games. You are constantly outnumbered by a large amount of opponents and if you let your guard down at all then you are in trouble. The game forces you to constantly be aware of what’s going on.

Additionally while the game is mainly a 2D platformer, it is not always linear. Sometimes you have to hit switches and go in doors to open new pathways. If you miss the right exit and go to an old area then you will have to do a lot more fighting because this is the kind of game where all enemies respawn immediately once they are off screen. Yes, it’s one of those so you do have to be extremely careful. The enemies can drop little potions that heal your health but they seem to be rare drops so fighting more enemies is often a net negative.

I like the sci-fi setting though. It makes for great level designs and I also like the music. It’s all got a proper sci-fi feel to it that just works really well. The graphics are solid as everything looks nice and this feels like a game that took advantage of the Genesis processing power. The game also has a proper ending cutscene with a lot going on. I think a modern remake of this game could be a lot more fun.

Ultimately the biggest thing to fix here is just the scaling of the main character. In this game he’s so tall that you tend to get hit even when you are crouching and there isn’t enough room to jump over a shot. You should never be in a position where your only hope it to shoot immediately because a counter is guaranteed to hit you. The game needs to work on that and that is really the only thing that held this one back. Of course a modern remake would also presumably have more of a story which can go a long way too. There’s probably no reason in particular why a remake would be made of this game but I’d definitely be in favor of it.

Overall, ESWAT is a good game. It’s the kind of title that always has a lot going on and so each level has your full attention. If you let your guard down for a moment then you end up paying dearly for it. That said, this nonstop measure of no room for error does mean that this isn’t exactly a relaxing game. It’s one of those full trials that is fun but you wouldn’t want to be playing it forever. So that’s what keeps it from being a bit higher on the scale. If you have the Switch Online then there is definitely no reason not to play it though.

Overall 6/10

Super Thunder Blade Review

Posted on by
Reply


Super Thunder Blade is a game that I expected to be a whole lot better than it actually was. I was actually quite surprised at how wonky the controls were. You had a really hard time dodging the enemy fire and making a move because timing it was near impossible due to all the lag and how slow the frame rate was. The whole game felt so buggy you’d think it came out in the 2020s. I like the concept of the game but I’m afraid that I have to review the actual title and not the concept. A true shame but that’s how it goes.

The game is short with only 4-5 levels in it. It’s a 3D title where you can move from side to side as you dodge enemy fire. The goal is to survive until the end of the level where you then have to take down a boss that appears. Typically the boss will have some obvious weak points to target but I should warn you that this isn’t always the case. So you just have to keep on blasting and you’ll win eventually. Your opponent will of course be shooting a lot of blasts at you during this fight as well so you can think of this like a classic bullet hell game.

I guess part of what hurts the experience here is just how limited the game is. You only have one kind of blaster, which is your default gun. There are no power ups or alternate guns of any kind. Then all of the enemies shoot the same kind of attacks at you. So the character model may change but not the attack itself which feels a bit limited. Or dare I say cheap? This plays more like an NES title than a Genesis one. So you’ve got a short game length and almost nothing to do within it. Just moving from side to side isn’t exactly the most thrilling gameplay after all. You just need a whole lot more than that here and the game doesn’t really end up satisfying you there.

The graphics aren’t all that good either. You can always tell what is going on which is nice but the colors and backgrounds are nothing particularly inspiring. I won’t say they’re terrible or anything but this game definitely needed a win somewhere and I can tell you that it is not coming from the graphics department. No sir, that’s definitely not going to be the case. The soundtrack is okay I guess. Not a whole lot of tunes to be found here but they do fit in with the gameplay which is the important part.

My only real gameplay tip is to be constantly moving from side to side. Odds are that you won’t be hit but you will be moving too fast to actively be dodging on your own. So you just have to hope that the game doesn’t catch on and often times this will work for a very long time. Likewise when it comes to dodging and going into caverns, try the same approach. The only time you may have to pause this technique is during boss fights where you have to target specific areas.

There is one boss where you can only damage him once his eye is open and the guy blinks like crazy. So you have to be moving while blasting and the whole fight tends to be pretty tedious. It’s just a nonstop game of momentum after all and you have to try and stay ahead of it at all times. If you stop to focus then you will make the fight a lot quicker but you also run a much higher chance of getting hit. So you have to decide to take the safe and guaranteed route that takes forever or the short bursts of glory with high risk. Either way it is not super fun since the gameplay itself can be rather dull.

With a name like Super Thunder Blade you are just counting on something with a whole lot more pop. I think that’s what had me confused the whole time. Shouldn’t I be able to shoot out electricity or maybe pop out some kind of an elemental blade? Now that would have absolutely been fitting and would have made the game more exciting. The first step of game design is to make something memorable that everyone wants to play. Unfortunately this is definitely not it. Super Thunder Blade will not last for very long in your memory as you complete it in under a day and place the game back on the shelf, never to be played again.

Overall, Super Thunder Blade is an okay game but it just feels like they put in the bare minimum level of effort. For a lot of games I can at least talk about how I think they are hanging in there and doing their best but not this time. The controls are just too slippery and half the time when you get shot you don’t feel like that is what should have happened. It’s a game I would have been unable to complete without the Switch Online and I don’t think it would have been close. I also wouldn’t really have much of an incentive to keep on playing either.

Overall 5/10

Streets of Rage Review

Posted on by
Reply


Streets of Rage is a series that has gotten quite a few games. It’s actually pretty impressive when you think about it. The series had very humble beginnings and yet it has gone very far into the modern day. The game feels its age but the fundamentals aren’t bad. It’s a quick title but it is fun to play through with some decent level designs. Probably not a title you will be talking about 10 years from now but when it’s free on the Switch Online there is no real downside right?

The controls are simple as you move up, down, left, and right as you try to land attacks on your opponents. You can also grab and pummel them which can be good for the more powerful opponents. The main key is to make sure you never let the enemies get too close to you. Once they are within range then you are really going to be in trouble. At that point you’re basically doomed since they can get you into near infinite combos. Usually I would opt for some aerial attacks but in this case that’s not always a great idea. The range is pretty small and the damage is super negligible.

Now granted, there are 3 characters here and I only tried playing as one of them. It’s completely possible that playing as a different one will yield different results since they all have different movesets and abilities. I do appreciate that as well as it adds another dimension to the game. It may be simple but the average title would have made 3 identical characters. The bosses all have different movesets and abilities as well.

I would also say that the game doesn’t feel “cheap”. If you played this at the arcade with a friend you feel like you would be able to go pretty far and wouldn’t have to spend much money to get all the way to the end of the game. It is very difficult, don’t get me wrong on that. But it is difficult in a way where you can continue to get better and defeat the game as opposed to feeling like it is all rigged against you. When a game is impossibly difficult then it’s time to shake your head.

The graphics have aged reasonably well. I won’t say the game looks amazing or anything but the colors are striking and I like the backgrounds. You feel the weight of each of the attacks as you play through the game and it just has processing power that you wouldn’t expect from this era. It is a game that had a lot of effort behind it. The soundtrack is also fun and very lively the whole time. I really appreciated that as well.

The main campaign is pretty short, you can probably complete it in a little under 2 hours. Probably way shorter than that if you are particularly good at the game but honestly you should expect to die a whole lot as you get used to the game. All it takes is one mistake on your part and you could end up eating a nasty combo and losing a whole lot of health. It’s the kind of game where you have to continually win neutral over and over without letting the opponent win once. That kind of strain can definitely be rather tough to overcome.

Of course the Switch Online has access points and rewinding to make that part easier. Without that? Yeah you may be here for hours and hours and hours with no real way to continue. The final boss in particular is unforgiving and I feel like the game glitched at one point because I kept hitting him over and over and his health bar never changed. It’s quite possible that I just wasn’t doing something right but after switching to grabs it didn’t seem to matter. The next day when I went back to the game I was dealing damage so I don’t know. It was all just pretty weird. If that happened to me live back in the day I’d definitely be shaking my head.

Overall, Streets of Rage is a good game. It’s admittedly not one that I would break out the wallet for or anything like that but it will pass the time by relatively well. If you like beat em up titles like this then you will definitely enjoy the title. If you don’t like the genre then you won’t like the game. The reason for this is because the game completely embodies what that kind of gameplay is like. There are no ribbons or special features around this. It’s about beating up your opponents completely and thoroughly with a tiny smidge of plot thrown in. If there was more story then the game would be more appealing but back in the day it was rare to have big stories like that.

Overall 6/10

Light Crusader Review

Posted on by
Reply


I’m venturing further into the Genesis library and Light Crusader was the next one on the list. It’s a pretty fun game and one that feels retro while still getting some unique mechanics in. It’s a game that was well made for its time and I had a good time in the present. It is fairly short so you’ll need to keep that in mind but it does a better job of being a big dungeon/maze than most of the newer ones that show up.

The game starts with a lot of people being kidnapped by a cult and so the main character heads off to save them. Underneath the castle is a 7 floor dungeon where these people are being kept. His mission, should he choose to accept it is to rescue them all and destroy all of the villains and monsters down there. The hero is equipped with a sword and has basic mastery over all elements. With these abilities at the ready he can handle these guys.

The gameplay style is mainly that of an overhead exploration game. The idea is to get to each set of staircases to reach the next floor. On the way there you will need to defeat the boss of the floor and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. The puzzles range from using boulders to fall into the right holes or trying to jump and hit different switches in order. They range from being extremely easy to sometimes being completely unknown. Some of these puzzles just felt like good ole fashioned button mashing to me. One of them for example was to hit 4 numbers in a certain sequence and I didn’t come across any hints in the game. So I just got cracking on trying every combo out until it worked.

If there were too many puzzles like that then it would have definitely hurt the game but fortunately that wasn’t the main focus. They would appear from time to time in the background but most of the game was about running and defeating enemies which is more up my speed. I also enjoyed the platforming puzzles because those tend to be run fair and square You can absolutely solve those puzzles just by deductive reasoning and without using any gimmicks or relying on hints. Those are the best kinds of puzzles I’d say. Since those represented the majority of puzzles in this game, I was all set.

Additionally this game has one of the better maps that I’ve seen. It was very detailed and easy to comprehend at a glance. I didn’t have to be wondering if I was looking at the screen right or anything like that. No, this was a map that would let me get to the end. The game’s length is fairly short as it’s only a few hours long. That said, it’s better to be short than to have had some forced length at the end. With this amount it felt like the game was running at full speed the whole time and never had to pause or try to buy some time.

We even got to squeeze in a classic boss rush as you have to save 8 wizards near the end and fight all of the old bosses there. That was pretty fun. Each boss has a very different gameplay style to them so there aren’t any clones here. Additionally, the final boss has a pretty cool design. It makes for a very impactful climax with a lot of color and depth to him.

The only area where the game is a bit weak is with the hitboxes. For most of the game they don’t even make much sense. There will be times where you know that you hit the enemy but nothing happens and other times when your blow seems to fall short but you land the move. I don’t think it was lag or anything like that but instead it just felt like for some reason the hit boxes were added to odd areas. Eventually you just get used to the difference and adjust accordingly but for a while there it definitely ends up feeling weird.

The soundtrack is solid here. No tunes that I will remember by the end of the week but they still work well enough with what the game is going for. Likewise the graphics are pretty good. Perhaps not out of this world good but they are clear and it is always obvious what is happening on screen. The art style is appealing too so I really have no issues there.

Overall, Light Crusader is a pretty good game. I definitely had a solid amount of fun with it and this would be a good template for how you should do a platforming puzzle game. It’s a genre that would definitely be difficult for most titles to pull off after all. It takes a whole lot of engineering and quality of life features but this game was clearly up to the task. There are even different collectibles and rooms that I didn’t get to explore so there’s even a bit of replay value here. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check it out. The experience is a very memorable one and while you might be annoyed at the short length if you had paid for it, that’s the perks of getting it through the Switch Online. If they ever wanted to bring this franchise back I would say there is a lot of potential there.

Overall 7/10

ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron Review

Posted on by
Reply


Toejam has returned for another big adventure. This one’s definitely pretty different with how it plays out as a 2D platformer this time. It’s okay in most areas but does lag behind the average platformer. It could use more of a plot and also more straight forward levels. This = is one of those games that is all about finding a ton of collectibles in a way in order to complete the game. That’s not exactly my cup of tea as you may know.

The basic plot involves a lot of craziness but the important thing to know if that you must capture all of the humans who have been released into the wild across 17 levels. Each level varies in term of how many humans are captured and fortunately you have a compass that lets you know where the next one is at all times. When the compass turns green then you have caught all of the humans in the level and can proceed. You must capture all humans before you can get to the next level so in that way the game really makes sure that you have done a thorough job. It often involves going through quite a few different paths to locate them all.

You throw bottles as your main attack but you have two super moves. One of them lets you run around like crazy throwing bottles everywhere while the other one has you summon a washing machine of sorts that absorbs all nearby enemies. They’re both pretty handy so you should save them for when you really need them. Some of the humans are rather powerful after all so you want a good move in your back pocket after all. Sometimes you are up against a whole pack of dogs and they make good use of their sheer numbers. A single hit takes quite a bit of your health away. Then you have the photograph pros who really don’t play around. Their pictures stun you for a few seconds while also dealing a lot of damage. Underestimate them at your own peril.

The toughest enemy has to be the guy on a flying carpet though. It takes a lot of hits to defeat him and since he is constantly flying away it is difficult to go on the offensive. A few sucker hits is enough to really take the fight out of you and that is the whole plan in a nutshell. There are burgers and such that you can grab to replenish your health but you have to be careful checking the trees because they also contain items that will make you lose health like bowling balls. Naturally those are infinite while the health items are one time use only.

You can use ESP to see through objects and know which place are safe to check but as you can probably guess these run on an energy meter. Once you’ve used them up it’ll generally be a while before you have enough energy to do it again. You can teleport infinitely though which is really handy. Not just handy, it is absolutely necessary in order to beat some of the humans so you need to keep that in mind. I kept forgetting that I even had this ability for most of the game.

As far as the graphics go, I would say those are pretty good. The character models are fun and the levels definitely keep that odd look you would expect from the series. Everything always appears to be a bit off which is of course the entire point. This has always been a crazy universe and the game keeps that same energy. The soundtrack is more on the boring side though, I’d like to see them get more creative with it than what we have seen so far. I know there is a whole lot of energy there that they can channel into some really good beats.

There’s not much in the way of replay value since you have to round up all of the humans anyway. The game’s length is pretty decent though because like I said it takes a while to get all of those humans. They keep running around trying to buy time after all. All you really need to do in order to make the game better would be to make the platforming a bit more fun. I dare say that the bottle throwing should be removed in favor of a more traditional punch or jump. It would feel a lot more satisfying when defeating the humans and would also help the platforming. Having to hold the down button while jumping to go higher also doesn’t feel very intuitive. It works well enough but it just feels so random in the end. It’s definitely there just to mess with the average player.

I’d say again, it’s not a bad game but it’s not a particularly good one either. It could have been a lot more interesting and as it stands it will end up forgotten. If not for the Switch Online I would bet that most people haven’t even heard of it before. That’s just how obscure this title is. The series definitely needs some kind of a big modern AAA remake that can turn the franchise around. As it is, this one just isn’t performing well enough to break out on its own.

Overall, Toejam has its moments but having to capture all of the humans can be more on the annoying side. The 17 levels feel quite long by the time you are done with the game and you have to imagine that they could have made the levels a lot more compressed and fun. Give me 34 shorter levels instead of the 17 really long ones. If you have the Switch Online then you should check this one out but it’s probably not a game that I would have searched for otherwise. It’s just not really hitting the heart of what it means to be a platformer. That didn’t happen.

Overall 5/10

Vectorman Review

Posted on by
Reply


Vectorman is definitely nostalgic because I played through it many years ago. I don’t remember if I beat the whole game and if I had to guess, I probably didn’t. It’s a very difficult title which helps to make up for its length. The concept for the game is really sound and I enjoy the gameplay. It really is like an alternate Mega Man of sorts and it’s too bad that this one didn’t spawn a lot of sequels and turn into a complete franchise or anything like that.

The general plot is that Vectorman is the only one to resist mind control and so it’s up to him to destroy all of the enemies. This may sound like a daunting task but Vectorman isn’t the kind of villain to go down so easily. He has his blasters and only gets stronger as the game goes on. The basic gameplay style is that of a 2D shooter. Your gun can spam bullets and along the way you can get temporary power ups that makes you gun even stronger. On the flip side, Vectorman is very flimsy and a few hits will put him out of commission for good.

Virtually all of the enemies have super armor which also makes them very difficult to defeat. You have to be extremely careful or you will end up soaking up a bunch of damage in the blink of an eye. Once that happens then you are really doomed. You always want to keep at least two health points on hand because you can lose 2 in back to back hits before you can really react. You don’t have many invincibility frames here.

There are a number of bosses in the game and they are all crafted well. The way you defeat each of them is unique so there are no re-used bosses or anything like that. Each one is a unique experience all the way through. The graphics are also really good. All of the worlds really stand out and are very colorful. I like the enemy designs and the energy blasts look good. It’s a very well balanced title all the way.

Then you have the soundtrack which is a very solid Sci-fi blend. It sounds like Mega Man but even more modern for its time. The soundtrack ages extremely well and works with the gameplay. The final boss is also really intense so the game gets to end with a real bang. It certainly succeeds on the technical aspects.

When it comes to the gameplay, my main tip would be to make sure and get every single health point. You will need them for the bosses which are all designed to absolutely obliterate you. They are not balanced in any way so don’t get that twisted. These guys are as overpowered as they get and will give you no quarter. You will be on the defensive the whole time and you can expect to die a whole lot. It has a case for being even harder than Mega Man to be honest but the Wily runs do tend to be crazy so that may be overdoing it just a tad.

This is another series that could really use a modern remake. Vectorman would be an absolutely stellar main character and he already has the deign for it. You’d probably need to focus on the supporting cast next since right now there isn’t much of one but that wouldn’t be too hard to do. You can also give him more attacks but perhaps that would make it feel too much like a Mega Man ripoff. That can be avoided for now but with how he’s made of a lot of balls for joints, using some kind of shape manipulation could be within reason.

Naturally I would also add more of a story. It certainly can’t hurt right? So you can have that at the ready as well and you’ve got all the makings of a fun title. That’s probably the most fun thing about playing all of these old games which is that you can sit down and think about the concepts outside of the old limitations of the ancient systems. Something like Vectorman is a perfect example of this.

Overall, Vectorman is a pretty good game. It holds up really well both in terms of gameplay and graphics. It’s the kind of game you can pop in at any time because of how extremely simple it is. It’s ultra difficult but very simple to understand. I would definitely appreciate more of a plot but for now I will be satisfied with just having some opening text at least. It’s more than some other games bother to deliver after all. If you haven’t played or even heard of the game before then you should change that right away. Don’t let your expectations get too crazy here but you can definitely be assured that you will have a positive experience. In the end that is the most important thing after all.

Overall 7/10

BurgerTime Deluxe Review

Posted on by
Reply


I could use a good burger right now. A triple cheeseburger, well done with extra bacon? Yes sirrrrrrr that sounds good. Playing a game like this definitely makes me hungry and it’s easy to see why because the ingredients all show up here. You even fight using black pepper! It’s a simple enough game but one that manages to stay fun all the way through so I had a good time.

The basic gameplay is that there are parts of the burger scattered across different floors. You have to send them all to the basement and you do that by walking on each ingredient. For example if there is a burger patty on the third floor and you walk on it, it will get sent down to the 2nd floor. Go to the 2nd floor and then it’ll go to the first floor. Finally, step on it there and it will land in the goal in the basement. Once you have gotten all pieces to the goal then you are all set for the races.

You can move around but you can’t jump which is a key thing to note. So if the enemy is behind you and there are no exits in front then you have just fallen into the trap and are doomed. At that point there is nothing you can do and you are absolutely finished. Always keep some black pepper around for times like this since you can throw it in the enemy’s face and then you will be safe. At this point that is all you can do but those vials are very rare so you won’t come across many of them.

The game definitely gets really difficult as you move through it. In some levels there are long segments where there is no backup exit meaning that getting those pieces is next to impossible. In the 6th world I couldn’t figure out how to get those pieces even with rewind. No matter where you went or how fast you walked, the enemies would catch up to you. The A.I. is actually really smart here. They will actually surround you and basically make traps all the way around the levels. So don’t underestimate them if you want to claim victory here.

I liked the simplicity of the gameplay and it reminds me of Pac Man to an extent. There are other games that are even more similar with the whole layered setup. This is the kind of game you could picture having a lot of fun with on a mobile device and a modern remake with a whole story would really be fun. There’s a ton of potential for this kind of game and I miss the simple arcade concepts. The artstyle has aged quite well here so the graphics are good.

The soundtrack is more forgettable but that’s how it goes. In terms of replay value, it seems like the game just keeps on going and paired with the difficulty you should definitely be here for a while. You can also try to just improve your score and efficiency in the levels as well. Definitely a lot to enjoy here and the fun never has to stop. Realistically I do think you will eventually call it a day because there are just too many other games to have fun with but this one does hold its own.

With a game like Burger Time I’m assuming you were thinking of something super low budget but that wasn’t the case here. I dare say that the developers really took this one seriously all the way through. No corners were cut. There’s not much else to say about the game due to the nature of the gameplay but it definitely does take real skill. If you are able to really predict your opponent’s movements and take advantage of them then you will be in a great spot without a doubt.

Overall, BurgerTime Deluxe is a good game. It would need a little something more to reach the next level but I was satisfied with the product. It can be reasonably addicting and when you lose you really want to keep on trying until you win. The difficulty level is really high but aside from the final level I was up to, it never really felt impossible. You just have to be very careful on your tactics and strategy. Once you go in one direction then you’ve really got to live with it because turning back just gives the enemy more time to catch you.

Overall 6/10