Tag Archives: Video Game Review

Super Fantasy Zone Review

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It’s time to jump into one of the better Genesis games on the Switch Online. This one’s a fun platformer that feels a bit like a Kirby game but manages to have a good identity of its own. It’s a really fun 2D shooter and while the game does feel rather difficult in the sense that you will be dying a lot, it’s a really pleasant experience. Also by this point you’re used to all of the Genesis games just being really tough to be honest.

So you’re playing as a cool sentient ship trying to stop the dark master. Interestingly there are no cutscenes until the ending but the ending actually recaps the entire game for you. So in retrospect it’s like we did get a really complete game and I appreciate that. It’s just a super odd design choice. Maybe for some reason it was easier to put everything at the end? With the way each screen ends, it feels like maybe the original intent was to put one page after each world but they just gave up on the idea.

There are 8 main levels in the game and each one involves you having to shoot around 12 specific objects while dodging a ton of enemy fighters. Once you do that, then you fight the big boss at the end and I can tell you that he is absolutely not holding back. You have to usually hit 12 different weak points before the machine goes down and typically each point doubles as an energy gun as well which doesn’t make things any easier. So a lot of the battles are about patience, wait for your opening and then strike. If you go too fast you will absolutely be hit and crushed each time.

Now one aspect of the game that I didn’t realize until way later on is that there’s a shop. An occasional balloon shows up with the word shop on it but due to a misunderstanding with a bullet hitting me at the wrong time, I thought that touching the shop would cause me to lose a life. So I ended up avoiding it each time when I should have been going in there for my power ups. You can level up your main gun, bomb, and the speed at which you move. I highly recommend getting the laser gun no matter what.

The level of damage it does is absolutely insane. The only downside is that the ammo doesn’t last long but it can crush any boss and make short work out of each objective. You earn a lot of money every time you complete a chapter so just go ahead and buy this whenever the shop appears. I’m not exactly sure what causes it to appear though, whether it’s time, losing a life, or something else. It seemed pretty random to me but it was a real lifesaver for the climax.

The final boss is one of those classic gauntlets where you have to re-fight every previous boss in the game. Let me tell you, that’s definitely not easy. It’s a whole lot of action but in a way I do think the bosses tend to be easier than the minion parts of each level because of how many guys are shooting at you. This way it’s really just one opponent to deal with so it could be worse. Just be patient since there’s no time limit and blast away whenever you can.

Like I mentioned before the graphics are really solid here. It’s all very bright and colorful. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also above average. It has a lot of energy all the way through and makes you feel like you’re at a party. The whole game is super vibrant and this also makes the experience very memorable. It may not be the longest game out there but you’ll have a good deal of fun. Some modern titles could even take notes on just how smooth the gameplay is. You’re always in control of what is going on and turning is very seamless. I would go left-right-left-right real fast to blast away at both sides and it would work.

There are a few cheesy opponents who will suddenly teleport into the area you’re at which causes you to immediately lose. I thought that was really not all that legit since I don’t see how you can react to that the first time. It is a bit RNG also because after rewinding they would teleport somewhere else next time. So watch out for those guys and try to clear the board as soon as possible so you go to the boss level and then the minions are all gone which is super handy.

Overall, Super Fantasy Zone is a pretty good game. The gameplay itself is a lot of fun and so is the soundtrack and graphics. I felt like the whole game is built around just having a good time which if you ask me is the way to go about it. It’s short but fulfilling all the way through and that difficulty will have you do a double take. There are times where it just feels like there is no way for you to dodge everything. That is when you really have to re-evaluate your place on the board and go back even further so that you can try different steps this time. If you have the Switch Online you should definitely give this one a download.

Overall 7/10

Strider Review

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It’s time to take a look at Strider which is a fairly fast paced title with a lot going on but unfortunately doesn’t manage to turn the corner and be a great title. I mainly blame this on the gameplay which I found to be rather slippery at times so it was hard to land blows without falling. Ultimately you’re going to be replaying the levels a lot because some of these attacks are crazy.

As the Strider you have to stop a bunch of villains from succeeding in their objective. If anyone can do it…you can. So you have a cool sword and have to get to work on crushing the opponents. There are only 5 levels in the game but each level is fairly long so this actually ends up being a bit of a sizable Genesis title. I’m not saying it’s going to be 5 hours or so but it definitely does last a bit longer than you may have expected. If the game was easy then it probably would be like 30-60 minutes but don’t expect to be flying through this title.

The first difficult part is that your blade gets shorter the more you use it. So if you spam it too much then it becomes tiny and it’s hard to hit an enemy’s weak point. This really got me in the final level because the enemy is placed in a way where your short blade just can’t reach it. So I was fighting that guy for ages wondering why he wouldn’t go down and then eventually it made sense. Good game design or a mean trick? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. The main thing I will say is that I’d rather have a consistent weapon. Then there are a few gravity bosses where once you start flying in a circle you end up dying. I couldn’t figure out how to get out of that loop.

I assume there has to be a way to do it since no boss is invincible like that but it was definitely a crazy journey. I had to retry that boss so many times. Then the final boss has telekinetic abilities that serve as one hit KO moves once they are close enough and I wasn’t ready for that either. He was just throwing me around and I can’t imagine beating that guy in a normal way. The blasts are just so fast and there’s no way to outrun them.

I guess what I’m getting at here is that the game is unrelentingly difficult but not always in the best ways. You want a game that really challenges you and makes you have to wonder what you’re going to do but this one takes that a step further. It makes it so that it’s nearly impossible for you to beat it normally and I think it would have been nice to have given Strider more abilities. Maybe some kind of a blaster which would solve the issue of always rushing in only to find that you have a short blade.

The enemies all have blasters, rockets, and other projectiles so I don’t think this would be a crazy ask. It would just help to balance things if anything and you know how much I like to have some good balance. At least I can say that the graphics are really good. There are some excellent shots throughout the game and the final landscape is really good. The game was ahead of its time in that regard. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. It’s not quite Mega-Man but it’s more advanced than the average title.

There may not be much replay value but this is mainly a single player title where that’s not really the point anyway. The idea here is to beat the game and then you’re done. Since the game is fairly long for a Genesis title that’s not really a problem. You’ve got a good amount of value here so long as you enjoy the gameplay. Hey I may not have been the biggest fan of it but it’s still possible you may enjoy it. Just beware that your jump has so many animation frames in it that it makes you a complete sitting duck for a while so you probably shouldn’t jump too much.

Overall, Strider had some potential but ultimately I didn’t think it was a very good game. Its biggest offense is really that the game just wasn’t very fun. In a lot of ways that is the worst offense for any game though because that’s the whole reason that you’re playing right? I’d be interested in a more modern Strider game with a lot of quality of life improvements because there is potential here. In the meantime you can do a lot better with the other Genesis titles that are on the Switch Online. I recommend sticking to those titles and only check this one out if you are super curious.

Overall 4/10

Granblue Fantasy: Relink Review

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It’s time for a pretty top tier RPG that came out a little while ago. It’s a pretty long game so there is plenty of time to squeeze in a bunch of storylines, hype characters, and lots of action. The levels also get rather difficult so you definitely have to make sure you level up and beat a bunch of enemies or it’ll catch up to you at the worst possible time. You can’t let that happen or it’s all over. This game definitely surpassed my expectations and really ended up being a standout hit.

The general plot has the main character sailing the skies with his friend Lyria and the rest of the crew. They are still trying to get to the final island at the edge of the skies similar to what Luffy is doing on the waters but along the way they always end up helping people in different villages. Lyria is linked to the lead with their souls so if one dies then the other will too. So they both have to do their best to stay strong and throughout their adventures they have learned how to tame giant monsters and really fight as a team. Well their biggest threat is here now as a mysterious group wants to kidnap Lyria for nefarious purposes. This group is incredibly powerful…can they be stopped?

The game sort of starts you off right in the middle of the journey but even if you haven’t played the other games or watched the anime I would argue that it’s fairly new player friendly. You quickly get an understanding of the team dynamics and personalities and their goal is simple enough. Meanwhile you have the villains jumping in and getting in everyone’s way which makes enough sense. The game is stand alone enough for this to all be easy while still connecting to the overall plot by the end. So yeah there’s really a good story here all the way and Gran really has to work on getting stronger if he wants to keep on protecting Lyria.

You have a good amount of twists, betrayals, and hype moments scattered throughout the game. Another reason why I really enjoy RPGs is because in general they are long enough to get all of that content in. If a game is short then there’s only so much that you can do with the story after all. The character designs are on point and things even get rather high tier by the end. These characters are definitely not messing around.

The gameplay is a 3D action title where you go in and smash away at your enemies. You have 4 different special moves per character and you choose which ones you want to use from the menu. You learn so many different ones that it can be hard to decide on just 4. Additionally as you level up you can keep on adding to your character tree. There’s no way to power everything up and all of the characters share points so you can choose to put everything into one character and make him a beast in combat or you can keep it fairly equal and distribute the whole time. It’s really up to you. I went ahead and gave it all to Gran since I played as him the whole time. I figured I should give myself the best possible chance to win and I’d rather trust myself than the A.I.

I suppose you could make that same case in favor of powering up your partners since they’ll need the stats more than I might but in general I like being strong enough to take on the boss as needed. The gameplay mechanics aren’t all explained very well so there’s some stuff I learned rather late in the game. One is that you die for good when your team’s danger meter goes all the way up. I thought I just had to revive people before the meter went out but every death adds onto the total which is why sometimes it would seem like my team died for no reason. Also you can speed up your revival by smashing the control stick in each direction. So I highly recommend doing that because every minute seriously counts.

For what to power up on the tree, I just did that randomly. It’s probably better to have a plan but you get so many power ups that it just felt more efficient to be throwing them all around. I’d be pretty strong either way. There’s even more to the gameplay after all of this but have fun exploring it as you play. There’s so many different ways to tackle a level and you can keep on switching characters in your party which is cool. The game has some very occasional platforming which feels a bit out of place but it’s pleasant enough. Just know that you will be mainly focusing on the battles either way.

The sheer amount of content in the game is super impressive though. Aside from the story which is already really long, you have a ton of side quests, missions, post game content, character stories for every character, etc. Getting the platinum trophy for this game and clearing everything probably will take you at least 60 hours if not longer. They really went all out on this game and I appreciate it. No corners were cut and it’s clear that the developers put a lot of care into this one. The boss battles are spectacular and the whole thing is really a lot of fun.

The graphics are super good as you would expect. There are even a few battles mid cutscene which are always a lot of fun. Then you have the soundtrack which is pretty good as well. On the technical side the game definitely does not disappoint. When you are solid all across the board like that then there is really nothing that can stop you. This is a game that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon and definitely deserves a lot of praise. I’m really going to have to keep my eye out for more Granblue games when they come out now.

Overall, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is definitely an excellent game. It’s really got everything you could want here from great gameplay to a compelling story. It’s no small potatoes either how there is so much voice acting in the game. It always helps to make a game feel newer and this one feels like it’s got a bit of everything. Even 20 years from now, this game will still look and feel really good which is why it excels. The quality of life features are all intact and there are no real pain points here.

Overall 9/10

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

Virtua Fighter 2 Review

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Virtua Fighter always felt like the really bland knockoff version to the bigger fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken. When you think of big fighting game titles, odds are that Virtua Fighter won’t be one of them right? No disrespect there but that’s just how it is. It’s pretty fun to play one of the originals in the series through Genesis but it does reinforce that thought to me. The game’s not super colorful and Street Fighter was already more polished.

There isn’t any kind of story here so just pick a random character and go through Arcade mode to get the full experience. Basically you are fighting 9-10 opponents who all have their own ways of fighting. You have to take them all down and show them why you are the strongest fighter on the planet. If you don’t win….who will? I went with a fairly generic guy to play as because he seemed to be rather cocky and fortunately that was the case. It was fun to see him smirking the whole time and he had some fun win quotes.

Still the actual moveset was basically what you would expect from some average joe. A few kicks and punches but nothing out of the ordinary. I’m not saying he needed energy blasts or something but some kind of unique combos would have gone a long way to really having him break out compared to the other characters you know? That would have just made the most sense. Maybe his hair turns into electricity or he has an ultra aggressive fighting style.

As it is every match is fairly quick because the characters hit like a tank. There attacks deal so much damage that 2-3 full combos can have you down for the count. I was pretty surprised when I saw that the default timer for a match was 30 seconds but then after that it all made sense. You would never really need to go for the 60 seconds because one player would be down by then. As it is, I was barely able to cheese a small handful of matches in the last seconds when I was winning.

The A.I.’s difficulty level is really high here. Keep in mind that I was playing the default settings and I was getting absolutely clobbered at times. The enemy always seemed to know what the right move was and would not hesitate in launching it. It was a little suspicious at times but at the same time I know I am a super casual at this game so I shouldn’t expect to be getting big wins anyway. I can accept this for now and in the end I was eventually able to pull it off with some well timed rewinds. You just have to keep on trying over and over until eventually you get the big win that you were gunning for.

The graphics aren’t particularly impressive here. The game is surprisingly blocky so at times it feels more like a PS1 title. Additionally the soundtrack is basically nonexistent and having only 8 characters feels rather small. Some of this is a bit harsh on an old Genesis game to fix of course so it won’t lose many stars from that. At the end of the day what I’m really looking for here is how fun was the game and I would say that it delivers on that. I had a good time going through the levels and the final boss that’s an android of sorts was pretty interesting. I feel like there is probably some good lore that the series still needs to explore and that could really help it stand out at some point.

Overall, Virtua Fighter 2 is a fun game. In a world with Street Fighter and other fighting game titles there isn’t really much room for it but I do think the attempt was made. The game is certainly not a cash-in or anything like that. It actually does have smooth gameplay and the series lasted long enough to be on the PS3 but I just think it has yet to find a true gimmick that would put it over the edge. Naturally I would have liked to have had a story here too but maybe next time. So check this one out, there’s no real downside but I don’t think you will stick around for very long.

Overall 6/10

Altered Beast Review

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It’s time for the next Genesis title. This one’s really short but it’s still a good amount of fun. I feel like they went all out here as the levels that we do get have a lot of detail to them. The combat is pretty fun and every animal form has its own special abilities which also helps them to stand out. You really feel like you’re super powerful once you’re in the beast mode. It also at least does have a real plot in game which is always nice.

The game starts with a god resurrecting you from your grave and ordering you to save someone from Hades’ clutches. You start out as an ordinary joe but when you grab power ups, you get more and more buff until you turn into a monster. Then once you are a monster you have really great special abilities and have to defeat the boss of that level. There aren’t many levels and each one is fairly short. The real trick is getting to your monster form because if you don’t, then you are absolutely doomed. Your human form isn’t strong enough to defeat any of the bosses and your health is low in any form so that’s not an option.

My favorite monster form was one that could shoot a bunch of energy blasts. I’m not too good on greek mythology so I couldn’t really tell you which form was which to be honest though. They all sort of blend together even though they’re different but the fact that each one has different special abilities is cool. Even in a lot of modern titles that would not have been the case. This one went above and beyond and I definitely gotta respect that. It’s also a bit surreal seeing this random dude just going around punching a bunch of giant monsters you know?

I already talked about how the graphics are pretty good, so we can jump to the soundtrack now. That part’s a little more on the generic side but I’ve come to expect that as not many older games had stellar soundtracks. That would come in later but it’s also why some titles like Mario, Mega Man, and Sonic stood out. They surpassed the norms and got really creative. Still since this game surpassed expectations on the visuals and the gameplay I can give that a good pass. It may not have replay value but the initial playthrough is fun enough to carry you through.

There’s not a whole lot more to say to be honest here because the game is really straightforward and short. So once you know what the gameplay is, which is effectively a 2D platformer then you’re all set. There’s not much more to get into and you will know right away if you like the game or not. Who doesn’t like a good platformer though right? It can be a little unforgiving like with most Genesis titles of course but that’s par for the course.

I guess if there’s one thing I would change here it would be to make the character models a bit smaller. I get that the game wanted to show off just how strong the main character was but it also means that there isn’t a ton of room to dodge or move around. You’re always confined to an extent and I like having my freedom to run around and do what has to be done. In that way this game almost becomes more of a beat em up than a platformer at times.

Overall, Altered Beast is a good game. It could have been even better if it was longer since the overall experience is so short but either way with the Switch Online I would recommend checking this one out. There’s absolutely no downside after all and because it’s so short it’s not like it’s going to take all that much time out of your day right? There’s a ton of potential if they ever wanted to make a modern remake out of this one. In the meantime we’ll have to stick to this though.

Overall 6/10

Space Harrier II Review

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It’s time for a pretty pleasant game. It’s basically like a 3D auto runner you could say. You are always moving at a high speed and the levels go by quickly. It almost feels like RNG with how quickly the enemies attack but technically it is all skill based and you are testing your reaction times. I bet people had to try again a bunch of times before the end.

There’s not really much of a plot until the end to be honest but you have to stop powerful aliens and monsters with your sci-fi gun. What’s more hype than that right? You only have one gun so unlike the last few games this one isn’t very customizable. It’s fully arcade style in that sense as you just have to strike at the opponent enough times for him to go down rather than playing the long game. As it’s a 3D auto runner like I said before, you can only move up, down, left, and right. There are no other dimensions to the game and since you don’t control your speed that does mean you can focus all of your brainpower on blasting at the enemy.

What I found to be the best strategy was to constantly be flying in circles. It always made it very difficult for the enemies to land hits but sometimes it also meant that I would sort of fly into an attack. So you probably shouldn’t start spinning with reckless abandon unless you want to be reusing that rewind feature a lot. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that of course but it’s probably good to win as much as possible. Then there are also lots of buildings and other objects where if you bump into them then you lose as well. There is no health bar in this game, when you get hit you die. That’s all there is to it.

The graphics here definitely look really nice. You could tell that they want all out in this area and the color are striking. I was pretty impressed and in terms of pure visuals it is one of the better Genesis titles. The soundtrack is more on the standard side but it works well enough, I didn’t really have any issues there. In terms of length it’s around an hour or so which isn’t bad. Not one of the longest ones but it works well enough.

I also liked the various boss designs. The game was really creative with them. In a sense every boss does feel the same because the attacks are only different in terms of cosmetics. Either way you have to dodge them all so it doesn’t change much. It does go back to how this game in a sense is a very simple gameplay style because you move and blast. There are no other dimensions to this, no twists and turns. No new mechanics. And it works well for what it is but the one downside is the developers can’t really show off with the bosses.

The final level is crazy though as you have to fight every boss back to back and then the final boss. That’s a lot of time where you can’t afford to get hit and I don’t see how realistic it would be to complete that without taking a shot. Maybe there are extra lives you get or something else that I was missing. If not, my hat’s definitely off to whoever was able to beat this one back in the day. You really did have to be a complete pro gamer to tackle titles like this one.

Overall, Space Harrier II is a pretty fun title. It may not be the best sci-fi game but it will pass the time by. The length is fairly decent and the graphics are colorful. Considering that you can basically play it for free, you really can’t go wrong here. The sci-fi marathon has been a blast but now it’s going to be time to turn my attention to some of the other Genesis titles. We’ll see just how well they stack up next to these last few. If you have the Switch Online you should go ahead and play this one though. A fun way to turn your brain off and just have fun.

Overall 6/10

Alien Storm Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 5/10

Alien Soldier Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Hellboy: The Science of Evil Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10