No stats this time!
Dynamite Headdy Stats and Records
Reply
Tag Archives: Platformer
Dynamite Headdy Review
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
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls Review
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
Ecco the Dolphin Review
It’s time to take a look at a game that is pretty well known for the Genesis, but is it actually good? That’s always the key question in these kinds of things and unfortunately I can confirm that it’s not one of the top titles. It is missing a lot of quality of life features that could have helped it out a whole lot like more of a full map, more of a tutorial on the controls, and just more signage in general. I should know where I have to go at all times. Instead of being a fun fast paced adventure, it ends up getting lost in the weeds.
The general plot is definitely pretty crazy especially if you haven’t read the booklet or anything. Some Dolphins are splashing around when there’s a giant tremor and a bunch of trippy lights appear. The whole crew is scattered and there may be something very sci-fi going on around the place. Ecco (Why isn’t he called Echo tho?) has to stop these invaders and creatures that are certainly not from Earth while also making sure that the rest of the Dolphins are okay. You meet up with one of them again in level 1 but he doesn’t really do anything. So really you are on your own here, Ecco is the last chance for all of Dolphin kind.
I think you’ve got a solid intro right there but the real problem is once you get onto the gameplay part. You only have 3 real controls here, acceleration, attack, and sonar. You’ll be using them all quite a lot as you go through the game but there are definitely some issues here. First off, it’s often hard to know exactly where you are even going. You might want to go right but then that’s not the right way and you’ll be blocked by a crystal. You try to go left and then you get stumped that way as well. You can try to pull off a lap and go the other way but then you’re still busted.
After a lot of trial and error you’ll see that this is really a puzzle game. You have to activate different crystals with your sonar which gives you the ability to move another crystal out of your way. Eventually you will have them all out of the way and then you can really move forward. So that’s pretty good but then there’s another problem, you have an air supply. You have to routinely find an area where you can go above water to replenish that or you instantly lose and go back to the very beginning of the level. Yes, the very beginning so you have to re-complete all of the puzzles again.
Ecco is a really fast creature but that works to your detriment most of the time as it means that you will be crashing into monsters constantly. Looking for a safe area? Crash! Looking for the next puzzle? Crash! It just keeps on happening and while you do have a few health points, you will quickly lose them every time. There is just no real safe zone here. Part of the problem is that the game isn’t ready for Ecco’s level of speed which means that crashing into everyone and everything is basically inevitable. If you go too slow then you’ll run out of oxygen after all. At least the game does remember the enemies that you’ve defeated so you can really take the slow and methodical approach but it also means that every level will probably take forever.
I can’t imagine trying to complete this without access points. It feels like it would be absolutely crazy. Once in a while I do get the feeling that I wouldn’t have been quite as big a gamer as I am nowadays if this was the era I started off on. Of course there were still a lot of solid games back then but it feels like tons of them were really unforgiving. Making constant save points a regular thing in the modern era was definitely a great move.
I can at least say that the graphics are pretty good here. The game looks nice all the way through and I didn’t have any issue there. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side but I’ve definitely heard worse. Also, I probably didn’t hear most of the soundtrack because of how early I died here. My understanding is that the length of the game is fairly short but at the same time I think you have to account for the difficulty level. So because of that this would be one of the longer Genesis titles. It’s not enough to win me over to their side or anything like that but it’s definitely worth noting. You do at least get a lot of bang for your buck.
Overall, Ecco the Dolphin is a game that had some potential but ultimately the gameplay just wasn’t all that fun. That is a massive problem because without fun gameplay you don’t really have anything. You need that in order to take the win. So we need to redo this game from the ground up. I would argue even the core gameplay should change because while there can be good quality of life features that come in, they won’t be enough on their own to turn this around. Maybe they can prove me wrong, I’ll probably play more Ecco games at some point and I have to imagine that they will beat this one. This is one of the rare titles where I would tell you to skip it for now. There just isn’t much reason to check this one out. When you boil a game down to the basics, it is all about having fun and so if you aren’t having fun then you are out of luck.
Overall 3/10
Ristar Review
It’s time to jump right in to the big Ristar title. This one had a cool cover and a solid looking main character which are pretty massive factors when you’re looking into any platformer. If you want to be big then you need to be memorable and in the end this game pulls that off. My only main gripe is that the game is very short. Even for a platformer I would say this one is short as each world only has 2 levels rather than the standard 6-8. So that immediately makes the game fly by.
Still, the game starts off with a bang as the legendary hero is defeated and so his son steps in to put an end to the villain. Ristar may be new a this but he acts like a seasoned pro as he takes everyone down for the count. This guy is not going to be holding back. So you go through the 6 worlds and conquer the boss at the end of each before entering the final boss. The level structure is fairly straight forward here and the final boss has a classic 2 phases to him. For a second there I thought he was about to get a third with the way the game was shaping up with that last cutscene but ultimately it was really more of a cliffhanger setup for a sequel.
Now this is a franchise that we really need to come back. It’s just got a really fun gimmick. So the main difference here compared to another platformer is Ristar attacks with grabs. He grabs opponents who are far away and drags them up close. You also use the grabbing to latch onto objects and swing yourself to the other side. It’s pretty well executed with just about everything being grabbable.
The toughest obstacle was in one level where you have to keep bouncing across the walls in order to get high enough to grab onto the next object. There are spikes all around so one wrong jump and you end up getting taken out. You start each level with 4 life points but you’d be surprised at how quickly that gets taken down to 1. So the game’s difficulty level is the real deal without a doubt.
I’d say it’s probably tougher than the average platformer. It’s definitely fun and enjoyable all the way through though. The toughest habit for me to break was not jumping on the enemies all the time. In almost every other platformer you just keep on stomping them but here doing that actually causes you damage instead. So you have to remember to just grab everyone instead and completely forget about jumping as an option.
The bosses don’t always have much of an indication that they’ve been hit so if you’re unsure, just keep grabbing them. Ultimately that will always do the trick when the going gets tough. The boss designs are pretty fun. You could really tell that a whole lot of effort was put into this game which is why it’s hard to believe that it didn’t kickstart a big franchise. You get the feeling that this was always the goal here.
Again we do have to talk about the length though. I can’t imagine that word of mouth was terrific about how quickly you could beat this game. This isn’t an arcade title with tons of replay value. This is a platformer with a beginning and end so once you complete the game there isn’t much else to do. There aren’t any real collectibles or bonus levels to play through after all.
So it’s short enough where this has to be part of the conversation. I know back then games were shorter in general but 1 hour for a platformer? Eh that’s just a little too short. I imagine it was probably difficult coming up with a lot of levels using the grab mechanics especially since nobody else had been trying that before so I bet the sequel would have been longer.
I already talked about how good the game looks so the graphics are a definite win here. Meanwhile the soundtrack is on point here. Some pretty fun tunes all the way through. Also while the game didn’t have any flying gameplay, you can definitely see where that could have been a thing in the sequels because when Ristar gets enough momentum he becomes a shooting star. It doesn’t play much of a role here beyond cutscenes or ending a level but it’s pretty handy.
Overall, Ristar is a pretty fun game. I had no complaints with the gameplay itself and the overall presentation was handled very nicely. I would recommend picking it up while you have the Switch Online. If you had to spend money to purchase the game then definitely I would be very hesitant before saying anything but as it is, this is a good title to check out. It’s definitely got that nostalgia factor to it as well with the artstyle.
Overall 6/10
Flicky Review
It’s time to check out the classic Flicky game. I’m making my way through the classic Sega games and this seemed like a good one to check out. The gameplay will feel very familiar when you turn it on and this works out in a nice way. The game has a few puzzles at the ready as the levels get tighter and tighter but in the end as long as you stay focused then you got this! I find it hard to imagine anyone clearing all 48 levels without access points though, the difficulty really spikes as you go through it.
Basically the gameplay here is to shepherd a bunch of baby birds to the goal before they are eaten by cats. So the stakes are really high and you can only run, jump, and shoot objects as you pick them up. You shoot as soon as you jump so you have to time that carefully. There aren’t a whole lot of objects to throw after all. The levels themselves are fairly small so they loop as you go right and left. That means you are never far from the goal but it also means that you are never far from the cats so you better keep that in mind. One wrong move and it’s game over.
The graphics here aren’t bad but they are noticeably old. I wouldn’t say it holds up as well as some of the other classics like Pac-Man but I will say that the backgrounds are very pleasant. You see a lot of nice looking buildings and designs behind you which is cool. The soundtrack is more forgettable but I don’t believe it’s bad or anything like that. Just could have used a little more action and excitement personally. Now with the length there are 48 levels and each level ranged from being around 30 seconds long to possibly 1-2 minutes if you are having a lot of trouble.
It’s not likely that a level would take longer than that as you’d probably have been caught by the cats by then or just naturally beaten the level. So this is really quick and you can beat the game in an hour easy if you take the difficulty aside. If you are trying to beat this on pure skill then I imagine it’ll take you way longer than that in the end. There isn’t much replay value beyond that though. You can always try to beat the game quicker or just get a larger high score but I don’t think the game quite has the staying power for that.
Still, it’s a fun game to quickly check out if you have the Switch Online. I would also say that the gameplay really is fun all the way through. Even if it may lose to other games, at the end of the day that doesn’t take anything away from this title as a whole right? I think there’s a whole lot you could do with a modern Switch Flicky game to be honest. Spyro is really the only main platformer series with full flight and he barely ever gets games so Flicky could easily steal that part of the market away from him. I do think you would need to go with a different gameplay style like that to get big.
Of course I do always believe that any gameplay style can work with the right story. If the story is engaging enough then you would play 100 levels of this gameplay style. Why not right? It is certainly fun enough. It just seems to be the case that arcade style platformers like this never really have cinematic stories. Maybe developers feel it would take you out of the immersion but I’d love it. Imagine a modern Galaga with the same gameplay but every few levels a massive cinematic cutscene shows up and furthers a cool RPG type plot. That would be awesome.
Overall, Flicky is a fun game. There’s not a lot to it which ultimately prevents it from getting much higher though. I just don’t really see the replay value in trying to get a high score as much as some of the other games. It feels more luck based. Yes there’s a bunch of skill here but even with the best reaction times you’re probably going to get blindsided a few times due to how the levels are structured. So once you’ve gotten about as far as you can that’ll likely be it for you. I can see this being a fun game to challenge friends to as you see who can go the farthest though.
Overall 6/10
Limbo Stats and Records
Stats time!
Play Time 3h
Rayman Legends Review
Rayman is one of those titles where I’ve played quite a few of the games but I haven’t found it to be as memorable as most of the other big titles. Well, it’s fair to say that Legends is definitely a game changer for the series and it is by far the best installment. It handles the collectathon aspect of the title very well and makes more use of the platforming genre than almost any other title I’ve seen. Ultimately the gameplay is so strong that it does help to make up for the lack of a story here.
The game starts off with some evil magicians deciding to make a mess of things. They’re kidnapping people and so Rayman will have to free everyone and save the world. All in a days work for someone like this though. Rayman has dealt with his share of threats over the years after all. Unfortunately that’s pretty much it for the story. There’s not much of an ending and each world just has the same recycled cutscenes over and over. You don’t expect a whole lot more from a platformer and yet I do think they really could have done a better job here. At least give me new cutscenes for each world. The story is absolutely the weakest part of the game by far.
Fortunately we are here for the gameplay at the end of the day. The lack of a story would hurt its chances of my getting the game on opening day compared to other franchises but at least once I do get around to it, I’m always happy to see solid gameplay. At its core the gameplay is fairly simple, you run and jump your way past obstacles as you try to get to the goal. Occasionally there will be a boss battle for you to go up against.
Where the game shines is in taking this simple gameplay and making a lot of intricate levels out of it. In a way it reminds me of Mario Maker a bit. For example after every boss battle, each world ends with a music themed level where you have to run quickly and hit enemies at the right time to follow the beat. This is used in a subtle way to let you know when to make a move as well as making the level fun to listen to. Likewise in the normal levels there are always a lot of visual and audio cues to let you know when to make a move.
The game allows you to jump between worlds at will so because of that every level even has tutorials at the ready through on screen prompts which are nice. They aren’t intrusive but are a great idea particularly if you’re going back to play the game after putting it down for a long while. You won’t really need it while playing through the game but I can absolutely see it coming in handy a year from now.
The game has a ton of replay value through unlockable characters (Basically costumes though tbh since they play the same) and extra levels that you unlock by getting more of the blue orbs. The best part though is that you can still beat the game without getting them all. There are 700 in the game and you need around 300 to complete the story. That’s a good ratio if you ask me because you can have a good time enjoying the levels without being stressed about the missing collectibles. The level designs are really good so you will find a lot of them naturally but if you want all of them you will have to work for it.
A solid quality of life feature here is that you have unlimited lives and the checkpoints are very consistent. So even when you lose you don’t end up getting sent too far back. That’s perfect and I can’t stress enough just how important that is. These levels could very easily turn from awesome to annoying if you had to start from scratch every time. This way you can appreciate the difficulty and creativity without any annoyance setting in.
Make no mistake, the game can be rather difficult at times. I died quite a number of times but I was always ready to revive just as quickly. I ended up blasting through the game rather quickly as a result. It’s a bit on the short side to be honest but I can’t even remotely consider that as a negative because of how the game handles it. There are tons of levels but the game just doesn’t force you to play them all and I can respect that. Each level is also so unique and filled with fun features that I’ll take this over a ton of standard levels.
The game even has a gimmick with a little frog moving things around that somehow doesn’t get annoying. I was prepared for this to be super annoying but it’s actually a really fun mechanic. In terms of pure platforming I dare say the game even has more life than some Mario titles and that’s saying something. If we’re only looking at gameplay this is one of the best games to ever do it.
Meanwhile the graphics and soundtrack are definitely impressive. The soundtrack in particular is awesome with a ton of different songs everywhere and remixes of popular ones. Then the graphics have aged really well with a colorful style all the way through. The character designs are on point and the levels all stand out.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the game was. Of course I was expecting it to be pretty good but to be great on this level? That was a surprise. The story holds it back a little bit considering this game has some of the best platforming I’ve ever seen. Imagine pairing this with a big budget story? It could have really made history and so I do eagerly await seeing what the Rayman franchise does next. This will be a tough title to top but of course there’s always a chance. If you haven’t played this game yet then you should definitely fix that!
Overall 8/10
LIMBO Review
All right it’s time to look at a game that was pretty well known for a while there. It’s the year 2024 now and the veil has been lifted on T rated games. They’re all on the table and this is an interesting one to be one of the first big picks particularly as I had a Nintendo gift card with some cash to spend. The game was actually on an 80% off sale which is pretty impressive. The puzzles can definitely be tricky and the game itself is certainly going for a horror vibe but ultimately I did think the story is what holds this one back. It can get a little too disturbing.
The game starts off with a kid waking up in the middle of a very shadowy area. He doesn’t really know what’s going on but proceeds to explore deeper in. He comes across a bunch of kids who want to murder him for some reason as well as a giant spider creature. There are tons of death traps all over the island as well so whatever is going on, it seems like he isn’t meant to leave here alive. Can he possibly escape or in a way is it already all over for him?
This title’s fairly short but how short it is will definitely depend on how good you are at the games and the puzzles. I imagine the length will vary a whole lot as a result of that. Some of the puzzles definitely stumped me for a long while. I would fall for a few of the traps where the puzzle had an “obvious” answer that just didn’t work perfectly so I kept trying to force it before I realized that was the whole point. It was a red herring and then I’d solve the real puzzle.
The actual platforming itself isn’t as hard as the game’s controls are pretty precise. The puzzles are where the real meat and potatoes are but the game will also test your reaction times with the various traps. I would usually die against them at least once when they first popped up but then you’re ready on the next go around. It’s just hard to have an optimal run the first time you play the game because you just aren’t prepared for these things yet.
The graphics are intentionally going for a very retro style here. There isn’t a lot of details and most of the stages are covered in shadows so they aren’t particularly impressive. It’s a stylistic choice that works well with the horror elements though. As a result there also isn’t much of a soundtrack. There isn’t much replay value to be found here either since the game basically just loops like an old arcade game. I suppose it’s possible that it’s not a true loop and there would be some kind of new content in the second run but I didn’t really check that out.
So mainly the only issue with the game I’d say goes back to the story. It is rather disturbing with how graphic each of your deaths are as you get hit by the spikes, chomped up, etc. Even more so by the fact that you are playing as a kid so there’s not a whole lot that he can do to defend himself. The game could have dialed that back a little bit if you ask me. There was a game where you were made of shadows that was similar but it didn’t hit as hard because he wasn’t physical. That would have been a good idea here or maybe aging him up more.
It just felt a little too out of pocket having the kid get destroyed/dismantled like this. It takes away a little from the experience where you are enjoying the platforming but then feel bad every time the character gets destroyed. The death animations can also be a little on the long side as he is dragged away or slowly broken which doesn’t help matters either. The game succeeds in being suspenseful and in getting a tense atmosphere but should have kept it more in that arena than going Ham on the violence as well.
Overall, LIMBO is a very unique game but it does try getting a little too edgy at times and the very short play time doesn’t help matters much either. It is priced very low right now while on sale but at its normal full price (Which is still far lower than most games) you’re not getting a ton of bang for your buck. Games that let you sort of imagine the context and fill in the blanks while playing are fun as I like being able to flex my creativity like that but this one did end up missing a bit more than it hit.
Overall 4/10
Banjo-Kazooie Review
You know that feeling when you see a really good sweater outside but when you turn it around to purchase you see that they just went a little too crazy on the design? That’s this game in a nutshell, the gameplay is actually really solid and a ton of effort was put into the game. Then….the game fumbles the ball in the end by adding the collectathon elements. I should note that no game absolutely needs to be a collectathon. In fact most would be better off without it.
So the game starts with Banjo’s sister being kidnapped by the evil witch Gruntilda. She surprisingly puts up a decent fight but ultimately it is not enough to win and so Banjo and his pal Kazooie have to go and rescue her. To do this they will have to find various puzzle pieces and musical notes to unlock doors in Gruntilda’s lair and get to the end. It won’t be easy by any means but they are ready to pull out the win and do what has to be done. Will they really be able to get past all of her traps though?
The writing for the game is pretty fun with Kazooie constantly picking fights and generally being the biggest jerk you’ve ever seen. I really like that about his character particularly because it’s something that you just don’t see a lot of in these classic platformers. Usually everyone is super nice which is intentional because platformers are supposed to be fairly heart warming stories for the masses. So adding a little wit here was a good idea and gradually more games would continue that approach. There’s a lot of solid dialogue throughout and the sound effects each character makes instead of voice acting was also intense.
The graphics are definitely really sharp here. The game looks nice and has aged really well. It reminds me a lot of Mario 64 in a good way right from the stage designs to the sound effects and everything. I actually think Banjo sounds like Mario. The game is ahead of its time in this area and the soundtrack is also pretty solid. There are a good variety of tracks to be found here and each one helps get you invested into the stage. It’s also helpful for the quiz at the end which asks you questions about which theme belongs to which stage. That quiz definitely doesn’t hold back with how difficult it is.
The core gameplay is a fairly basic 3D platformer. You run and jump as you clear challenges and get your puzzle pieces. You gradually learn new abilities in each world so you can get used to them and aren’t too overwhelmed at the start. You can become invincible, fly, shoot eggs, etc. It makes for a pretty well rounded experience since there is just so much that you can do and of course that means there is also a greater variety in the kinds of puzzles that the game can challenge you with. Finding some of the puzzles can really take you a long while as you figure out what the game wants you to do.
Now is where the game falters a bit though. Granted, I knew that the game was part collectathon but that’s fine because I was ready for this. On average I would get around 7/10 of the puzzle pieces in a world and I would get around 80/100 of the musical notes. Pretty good I must say, however before getting to the final boss I was blocked by a door that said I needed 94 puzzle pieces to unlock the final boss fight. Why? That’s an incredible amount of pieces, that means getting 10/10 in almost every world. For example there are 100 puzzle pieces in the entire game so you’re basically telling me to 100% the title. That’s not cool when you’re just trying to beat the game.
Collecting bonus stuff should unlock a post game cutscene or some kind of really cool bonus content. I don’t even care how awesome the bonus content is, lock that behind 100% and it’s totally legitimate. What is not cool is locking the main story ending behind it. It meant I had to go back to every world and spend a ton of time there. Then you also need to collect a ton of musical notes in each world to get to the final boss too and that was also rough. At least with the puzzle pieces you can grab them and go home. For the musical notes you always start at 0 when you enter the level so that means starting the collecting from scratch every time. Come onnnnnn.
So yeah this really hurt the game tremendously because that’s way too much replaying. A similar thing ended up hurting another N64 title I was playing but I’ll go more into that in the future. Banjo is a super polished game but the collecting gives it artificial length that it didn’t need. It holds the whole experience back because at first it was a whole lot of fun and then this happened and became more of a chore. You aren’t able to just enjoy the levels anymore, you have to find every secret and be careful not to die or you lose all your progress on the notes.
The final boss is definitely well designed though. It’s crazy hard with a ton of phases so it’s a nice reward for having gotten all of the pieces. Kudos to the folks who managed to beat it without access points because it’s extremely hard to dodge the attacks in the final phase. Gruntilda smashed my health points multiple times with that one and I probably had at least 60-70 game overs there. It almost felt like she would be predicting your movements when you would give her your back so facing her all of the time is definitely the best play. Slow and steady is literally the way to win this match.
Overall, Banjo-Kazooie is definitely a legendary game. It’s one that everyone still remembers to this day and for good reason. It does operate on a high level for most of its modes and campaign but ultimately having to go back to each level and get the collectibles took a lot of the wind out of its sails. Particularly with the massive hub world requiring a lot of running around and trying not to get lost. I’d still recommend checking this game out but don’t leave a world until you’ve 100% cleared it. It’ll save you time in the long run since leaving will cause the level to reset although granted some levels may be impossible initially if you don’t have the right power up so that could be another snag…..will see if the sequel keeps up this approach or lessens the restrictions a bit.
Overall 6/10
DReager1.com 