Star fox has been remade and rebooted as much as Conker Live and Reloaded, but unlike that game, this game actually has heart put into this game with respect for those that has fallen. However, it has taken the original story and adds variations that is different from the past Star Fox games. So in the end, how dose this play out and how different is the game?
Well...
Positives
+ This game is very colorful! Almost smooth 60 FTP, great graphics, and great story
+ The story stays close to the N64 original, while safe, it has it's charm
+ Co-op controls makes the game fun to play with a friend, if one has any
+ New ship transformations unlocks to use in the game, the ones unused from Star Fox 2
+ New challenge mode which is an actual challenge
+ No quest in the game feels the same; Has great verity in each level
+ Game has great replay value because of the multible paths
Negatives- The game was originally designed as a rental since the Nintendo 64 Blockbuster days, making the game four to six hours long. Too short in today's modern games!
- The controls are glued to the game-pad, causing sore wrist for those not use to the controls.
- No real completion bonus, as most of the high scores are bragging rights
- No online play, which most modern games have in today's age
- The controls, like in splatoon, takes time to get use to, adding artificial difficulty where it shouldn't be there
- There just needs to be more options; There's an old saying that's being overused for a reason!
- Stealth missions in this game SUCKS because of bad controls
- Comes with a tower deference game, which should have been a game of it's own to lower it's cost
C+
As much as I want to support good games like this, this game still needs a patch or two. Because of it's short total gameplay, this is most likely a rental thanks to Star Fox's original design. Star Fox is still a fun arcade game, but players prefer the original StarFox 64 as its holds up as a classic. It also doesn't help as remaking the game twice in a row is very redundant when players take in consideration that StarFox 3DS was only made a few years ago. With all due respect to those who has fallen, it's a good game. However, personally recommend waiting until a price drop or a humble sale to grab this game. Until then, thanks for reading!
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Clock Tower Series: Where did it all go wrong?
Disclaimer: Please note that this is a retrospective piece originated for Valentine's day but due to delays, the project was put on hold. The research may not be 100% accurate, so please take the articular with a grain of salt. If you are easily triggered by sexism in games, this is your warning. Thanks, and good reading!
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The Clock Tower series; Where do I begin?
It started out as a exclusive japan only Super Nintendo game that's a point-and-click game. Why it didn't have a PC port is a good question since games since Windows OS was found during the 90's. While Maniac Manson, Uninvited and other point-and-click games where on the NES, Clock Tower predates quick click-action found like in today's action games like The Walking Dead telltale game to Until Dawn, as Clock tower has multiple endings depending on what the player dose within the game.
In Clock Tower 0: The first Fear, the player stars as Jennifer, a fifteen year old girl (which is the legal age in japan) who is on her way to being adopted by her new step father with her three friends, however, the caretaker for the girls went missing. While the girls grew cowardly to go out, Jennifer volunteers to look for her. Just when she reaches the hallway, the girls screamed and Jennifer goes back to check on them. To her horror, she finds them missing and then the game starts. Depending on who dies and which path Jennifer takes, there are endings from A-E, with A being the best and cannon ending. This ending system was later adopted by games like the Dead Rising series as a way to have multiple endings.
In the end, only Jennifer and Helen survive as Scissor-man. This antagonist who stalked and killed the other girls is actually based off a a Grimm tales about a monster who cut the thumbs of bad children who suck their own thumbs. Clearly, there must be something more going on about that. Apparently, the caretaker is actually scissor-man's mother who sent them there just to be his sacrifice. You also out-wit her and she meets her demise depending on your ending... or Jennifer dose if she fails the QTE. This game is Japan exclusive, but this just in there are repo game companies that can help players get the game legally.
After the PlayStation's launch, game companies where split-off between Nintendo, Sega, and Sony. As expected, Sony took off with most of the Japanese horror licenses like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and, of course, Clock Tower which was then re-released with a bonus added content within the game. Of course, the game was japan exclusive as well but not it's sequel Clock Tower 1, as it was the first game to hit the US/UK. (and yes, even the PS1 version been translated. so check that out.)
Clock Tower 1 takes place years after clock tower first fear, where Jennifer is being treated by a therapist while Hellen works as a reporter/writer for the local newspapers to help support Jennifer by researching the origins of clock tower. However, someone posing as scissor-man starts going on a killing spree, cutting and killing citizens within the city. This time, however, BOTH characters are playable with their own story and levels. While most of the gameplay stayed the same, it was now in playstation 3D graphics...which sadly made the game dated unlike first fear.
In the end, it ends up that there where more than one killer this time, as on Jennifer's end, it end up this one boy did the killings to be a yandero to her. Meanwhile, the physiologist of Jenifer lost control out of curiosity for the scissor-man's mind and how he lost himself like how players play the Genocide route on under-tale, as the mask and scissor-man's scissors possesses him. However, the boy Hellen met earlier ended up as scissor-man's twin brother. Jennifer/Hellen then take it upon themselves to seal the boy once in for all. While this was a happen ending for these two, this game suffered from "engrish" translation and voice acting, adding cheese to an already cheesy game. It also ended the original storyline made for the first two games, meaning the devs have to make a new one from scratch...w
...But before moving on to the next game, HUMAN entertainment was facing major debt as the Clock Tower games did not sell to well. This is where thing got awkward: The head developer Hifumi Kono made a porn game studio called Nude Maker just to survive around the 00's. This was caused by the spin-off of the Clock Tower called Ghost Head, or what the US called Clock Tower II. This later taunted the game developers as later installments are somewhat taunted the series with perversion later in Clock Tower 3 and Domento, also known as Haunting grounds.
Clock Tower II is one of the worst horror games on the Playstation One. While it dose start off like normal in the first chapter, things got very bad as this game is the Batman and Robin of horror games. Too many zombies that constantly spawn in almost every room! This adds a layer of annoyance like if players getting a call every five minutes from a jealous ex. There was also a new mechanic as the main character was possessed by a demon known as Bates, the only thing interesting in the game. Depending on who's in control at the time, different things happen and can even give one a different endings. However, switch is a pain as it's based on an emulate and misplacing it can be a pain and Bate's gun-play can be annoying as it's out-of-place, killing the horror gameplay the series is known for! This game was a flop commercially and critically, causing the devs to sell their rights to Capcom who handed it to the ex-devs of Sunsoft. The moral is if it's not broken, don't fix it.
Clock Tower 3 will be the last of the spin-off games based on this series with mix results. While it did have a cult fallowing, this game was still a flop. For one, it was during a bad time when horror games began to fall off the radar thanks to the first-person shooter boom during the time. Another issue is that it was too campy and took the stalker-horror to the wrong direction. The developers did try to take it back to how the original clock tower worked, but in the game took a too anime feel to where it should have been an entity all alone.Why reboot scissor-man into twins?! It's like they took influences from bad horror movies at the time. This game took two steps forward only to fall onto it's face as it don't have the endings of the past-games.
Now for Domento, known in the west as Haunting Grounds? It's just way too lewd. I would talk about the game if it wasn't a controversial mess. After all, if the main protagonist was running for her life just to be impregnated just to reincarnate a the main antagonist. If that doesn't speak controversial game, then nothing will. It also doesn't help that the unlocks are lewd cosmetics that are based on the ending of the game. While this game dose have SOME mechanics such as a dog side-kick, it's not a good horror game as the character designs are too distracting. It also did help that the main focus at the time was Resident Evil 4, but at least that's a better action horror game that is highly recommended dispute how the game aged.
If you want to check the series out, the fan-translations of the first game is out on boot-leg on the SNES and the Playstation One. Maybe if the stars a placed properly in alinement, you can get them on the Playstation Store. The first two games are recommended to those who want to look at survival horror games of the past. Thankfully, there is a game in development called Night Cry done by the same original developers, so I do wish them luck on the project as Triple A gaming has not been the same since the gaming industry has been crippled in other countries.
...Just make sure Nude Maker take a cold shower, please...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Clock Tower series; Where do I begin?
It started out as a exclusive japan only Super Nintendo game that's a point-and-click game. Why it didn't have a PC port is a good question since games since Windows OS was found during the 90's. While Maniac Manson, Uninvited and other point-and-click games where on the NES, Clock Tower predates quick click-action found like in today's action games like The Walking Dead telltale game to Until Dawn, as Clock tower has multiple endings depending on what the player dose within the game.
In Clock Tower 0: The first Fear, the player stars as Jennifer, a fifteen year old girl (which is the legal age in japan) who is on her way to being adopted by her new step father with her three friends, however, the caretaker for the girls went missing. While the girls grew cowardly to go out, Jennifer volunteers to look for her. Just when she reaches the hallway, the girls screamed and Jennifer goes back to check on them. To her horror, she finds them missing and then the game starts. Depending on who dies and which path Jennifer takes, there are endings from A-E, with A being the best and cannon ending. This ending system was later adopted by games like the Dead Rising series as a way to have multiple endings.
In the end, only Jennifer and Helen survive as Scissor-man. This antagonist who stalked and killed the other girls is actually based off a a Grimm tales about a monster who cut the thumbs of bad children who suck their own thumbs. Clearly, there must be something more going on about that. Apparently, the caretaker is actually scissor-man's mother who sent them there just to be his sacrifice. You also out-wit her and she meets her demise depending on your ending... or Jennifer dose if she fails the QTE. This game is Japan exclusive, but this just in there are repo game companies that can help players get the game legally.
After the PlayStation's launch, game companies where split-off between Nintendo, Sega, and Sony. As expected, Sony took off with most of the Japanese horror licenses like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and, of course, Clock Tower which was then re-released with a bonus added content within the game. Of course, the game was japan exclusive as well but not it's sequel Clock Tower 1, as it was the first game to hit the US/UK. (and yes, even the PS1 version been translated. so check that out.)
Clock Tower 1 takes place years after clock tower first fear, where Jennifer is being treated by a therapist while Hellen works as a reporter/writer for the local newspapers to help support Jennifer by researching the origins of clock tower. However, someone posing as scissor-man starts going on a killing spree, cutting and killing citizens within the city. This time, however, BOTH characters are playable with their own story and levels. While most of the gameplay stayed the same, it was now in playstation 3D graphics...which sadly made the game dated unlike first fear.
In the end, it ends up that there where more than one killer this time, as on Jennifer's end, it end up this one boy did the killings to be a yandero to her. Meanwhile, the physiologist of Jenifer lost control out of curiosity for the scissor-man's mind and how he lost himself like how players play the Genocide route on under-tale, as the mask and scissor-man's scissors possesses him. However, the boy Hellen met earlier ended up as scissor-man's twin brother. Jennifer/Hellen then take it upon themselves to seal the boy once in for all. While this was a happen ending for these two, this game suffered from "engrish" translation and voice acting, adding cheese to an already cheesy game. It also ended the original storyline made for the first two games, meaning the devs have to make a new one from scratch...w
...But before moving on to the next game, HUMAN entertainment was facing major debt as the Clock Tower games did not sell to well. This is where thing got awkward: The head developer Hifumi Kono made a porn game studio called Nude Maker just to survive around the 00's. This was caused by the spin-off of the Clock Tower called Ghost Head, or what the US called Clock Tower II. This later taunted the game developers as later installments are somewhat taunted the series with perversion later in Clock Tower 3 and Domento, also known as Haunting grounds.
Clock Tower II is one of the worst horror games on the Playstation One. While it dose start off like normal in the first chapter, things got very bad as this game is the Batman and Robin of horror games. Too many zombies that constantly spawn in almost every room! This adds a layer of annoyance like if players getting a call every five minutes from a jealous ex. There was also a new mechanic as the main character was possessed by a demon known as Bates, the only thing interesting in the game. Depending on who's in control at the time, different things happen and can even give one a different endings. However, switch is a pain as it's based on an emulate and misplacing it can be a pain and Bate's gun-play can be annoying as it's out-of-place, killing the horror gameplay the series is known for! This game was a flop commercially and critically, causing the devs to sell their rights to Capcom who handed it to the ex-devs of Sunsoft. The moral is if it's not broken, don't fix it.
Clock Tower 3 will be the last of the spin-off games based on this series with mix results. While it did have a cult fallowing, this game was still a flop. For one, it was during a bad time when horror games began to fall off the radar thanks to the first-person shooter boom during the time. Another issue is that it was too campy and took the stalker-horror to the wrong direction. The developers did try to take it back to how the original clock tower worked, but in the game took a too anime feel to where it should have been an entity all alone.Why reboot scissor-man into twins?! It's like they took influences from bad horror movies at the time. This game took two steps forward only to fall onto it's face as it don't have the endings of the past-games.
Now for Domento, known in the west as Haunting Grounds? It's just way too lewd. I would talk about the game if it wasn't a controversial mess. After all, if the main protagonist was running for her life just to be impregnated just to reincarnate a the main antagonist. If that doesn't speak controversial game, then nothing will. It also doesn't help that the unlocks are lewd cosmetics that are based on the ending of the game. While this game dose have SOME mechanics such as a dog side-kick, it's not a good horror game as the character designs are too distracting. It also did help that the main focus at the time was Resident Evil 4, but at least that's a better action horror game that is highly recommended dispute how the game aged.
If you want to check the series out, the fan-translations of the first game is out on boot-leg on the SNES and the Playstation One. Maybe if the stars a placed properly in alinement, you can get them on the Playstation Store. The first two games are recommended to those who want to look at survival horror games of the past. Thankfully, there is a game in development called Night Cry done by the same original developers, so I do wish them luck on the project as Triple A gaming has not been the same since the gaming industry has been crippled in other countries.
...Just make sure Nude Maker take a cold shower, please...
Friday, April 8, 2016
Zelda: Twlight Princess HD; For those who missed out!
Well, this is one of my favorite Zelda games as it's actually a sequel to Majora's Mask. However, the Game-cube and Wii port has not aged well because of the aged graphics of the Nintendo Gamecube and the insanity that is the Wii's controls where one thing everyone wants to forget. Nintendo has also re-released Wind Waker HD and it ended up as a great port of a classic. However, can the same be said about Twilight Princess HD? The answer: Maybe, but only if one missed out.
Twilight Princess takes place after Majora's Mask, as country boy Link helps heard goats on the farmstead as an erran boy. While preparing to deliver a gift to Zelda, he gets ambushed and the children get kidnapped as well as Link's love interest who ISN'T Zelda. In fact, he dreamed of her in one sequence in the game. Link is one chick magnet, for better or worst. This was built as a different, dark Zelda game just as or even close to Majora's Mask. Personally, it may be close to Majora's Mask but it's not as dark because of the theme of duality. Majora's Mask is a based off Africa's designed metaphor about grief and death, so it will always be the darkest Zelda. I will not spoil more of the game from here on out, but link dose have this wolf forum which is known as Wolf Link.
Gameplay-wise, the mechanics did remain the same for both better and worst partly because many of the old glitches still exist as the game is not a remaster, that and the fact Nintendo themselves think glitches are fun. Sadly in this cases, they are what causes some issues which should have been ironed out. The worst case happens is the ice level as not only the evil that is slide puzzles happens, but a bug with the mid-boss, which is focused on distance combat, had that one bad screw up : He just would NOT attack! The problem was that the play would have to go up too close for it to attack for his weak spot to open up. The sad thing is the dungeons lay-outs has to be one of the best for Zelda games, but it gets messed up by small mistakes like this one. It's pure laziness in these respects.While they did add short-cuts like in Wind Waker HD, it it NOT a true game changer as these are optional and not noticeable in retrospects. Why was the Wii U game-pad made again?
While the gameplay dose stay in tact, sadly the frame rate dose drop from sixty frames to even choppy twenty or less in some busy areas! This is noticeable in areas like Farron Woods as this problem was NOT fix from the past ports of the game. There's also some areas in the game where they have a lot on monsters can also cause a lag as well, like being crammed in an elevator with sumos during a sporting event! Maybe getting this game as a digital download would fix this mess or adding an instal feature to help the load can fix this issue, but this is one fix that Nintendo really needs to work on.
Wolf Link is one of the main mechanics which is used to hunt Poes for their souls, get to areas that link cannot go to normally, dig up treasures, and using his new wolf skills to become a blood-hound, using it on key-story parts of the game. However, wolf link dose lose it's use to those who want to finish the game. There is a new Wolf Link's challenge which give you something that was really needed within the game: the biggest wallet since the way to get the other wallets suck. It is very challenging, as Wolf Link faces enemies that only link can easily accustom to. This would have been better if Wolf link have items and upgrades as well. It's not like he can use link's swords or shields as demonstrated, but with human link is much more useful that Wolf Link.
The world map may not be huge as OoT but it dose not have the long travels of the Wind Waker, as later on Wolf Link can teleport from warp points that opens up after beating up dark beast. While back tracking is very bad, as it is a flaw. It was because of the limitations of memory space for both the GameCube and the Wii Port, so this is why the game is shaped that way. The game will force ones to back-track into sections once visited, as Link is able to access places he wasn't able to go before...Which is dumb because he could have visited these areas but Link couldn't because the plot demands it!
In the end, this is a good Zelda game, but this game can easily date itself too easily because of it's flaws. For those who missed out and needs a game for the Wii U to help buy time for the next Zelda game, this is an option. However, those who played this game for either the GameCube or the Wii won't feel left out, even with the added social features. While it's it is FAR from a bad game, getting this game might not be for every Zelda fan. I personally had fun replaying the game, but prepare just in case your nastolga glasses start to crack, shatter, and explode. That tends to happen to some nerds....
Twilight Princess takes place after Majora's Mask, as country boy Link helps heard goats on the farmstead as an erran boy. While preparing to deliver a gift to Zelda, he gets ambushed and the children get kidnapped as well as Link's love interest who ISN'T Zelda. In fact, he dreamed of her in one sequence in the game. Link is one chick magnet, for better or worst. This was built as a different, dark Zelda game just as or even close to Majora's Mask. Personally, it may be close to Majora's Mask but it's not as dark because of the theme of duality. Majora's Mask is a based off Africa's designed metaphor about grief and death, so it will always be the darkest Zelda. I will not spoil more of the game from here on out, but link dose have this wolf forum which is known as Wolf Link.
Gameplay-wise, the mechanics did remain the same for both better and worst partly because many of the old glitches still exist as the game is not a remaster, that and the fact Nintendo themselves think glitches are fun. Sadly in this cases, they are what causes some issues which should have been ironed out. The worst case happens is the ice level as not only the evil that is slide puzzles happens, but a bug with the mid-boss, which is focused on distance combat, had that one bad screw up : He just would NOT attack! The problem was that the play would have to go up too close for it to attack for his weak spot to open up. The sad thing is the dungeons lay-outs has to be one of the best for Zelda games, but it gets messed up by small mistakes like this one. It's pure laziness in these respects.While they did add short-cuts like in Wind Waker HD, it it NOT a true game changer as these are optional and not noticeable in retrospects. Why was the Wii U game-pad made again?
While the gameplay dose stay in tact, sadly the frame rate dose drop from sixty frames to even choppy twenty or less in some busy areas! This is noticeable in areas like Farron Woods as this problem was NOT fix from the past ports of the game. There's also some areas in the game where they have a lot on monsters can also cause a lag as well, like being crammed in an elevator with sumos during a sporting event! Maybe getting this game as a digital download would fix this mess or adding an instal feature to help the load can fix this issue, but this is one fix that Nintendo really needs to work on.
Wolf Link is one of the main mechanics which is used to hunt Poes for their souls, get to areas that link cannot go to normally, dig up treasures, and using his new wolf skills to become a blood-hound, using it on key-story parts of the game. However, wolf link dose lose it's use to those who want to finish the game. There is a new Wolf Link's challenge which give you something that was really needed within the game: the biggest wallet since the way to get the other wallets suck. It is very challenging, as Wolf Link faces enemies that only link can easily accustom to. This would have been better if Wolf link have items and upgrades as well. It's not like he can use link's swords or shields as demonstrated, but with human link is much more useful that Wolf Link.
The world map may not be huge as OoT but it dose not have the long travels of the Wind Waker, as later on Wolf Link can teleport from warp points that opens up after beating up dark beast. While back tracking is very bad, as it is a flaw. It was because of the limitations of memory space for both the GameCube and the Wii Port, so this is why the game is shaped that way. The game will force ones to back-track into sections once visited, as Link is able to access places he wasn't able to go before...Which is dumb because he could have visited these areas but Link couldn't because the plot demands it!
In the end, this is a good Zelda game, but this game can easily date itself too easily because of it's flaws. For those who missed out and needs a game for the Wii U to help buy time for the next Zelda game, this is an option. However, those who played this game for either the GameCube or the Wii won't feel left out, even with the added social features. While it's it is FAR from a bad game, getting this game might not be for every Zelda fan. I personally had fun replaying the game, but prepare just in case your nastolga glasses start to crack, shatter, and explode. That tends to happen to some nerds....
Friday, January 22, 2016
Telltale games: The game! As in all of them.
Now that I am back from Christmas break, it's time to start the new years off by preparing for the new year: a brand-new audio chair, a gaming mouse, a few steam sale games, a future home to look forward to, and...The Sims 4. Whelp, time to review that later. As for now, there's a review that I have been putting off for quite sometime and that's how everything telltale has ever made.
First off, the story is a mixed bag within the telltale line up. While the games the company made where good, especially The Wolf Among us, the company should at least focus on one game at a time. However, the is biggest weakness of Telltale is that they try to multi-task. While it's good for normal games, episodic games tend to be rushed since they used the same system since Tales of Monkey Island in the last generation.
Fans and critics noticed this while season two of The Walking Dead, while it wasn't awful, it suffered from bad writing as most of the team was busy with The Wolf Among Us. When they pushed the finally of The Fables game, the ending didn't really have an impact because the focus was switched to The Walking Dead season two. While the story did get better in Season two, it didn't step up as much as the first. There was a similar issue with King of Thrones and Tales of Borderlands, as production where split-up there as well.
Since the company been using the same system, that means the animations are dated and stiff. While it's not as bland as Ubi-soft's Assassin's Creed series, telltale haven't updated their system since the Devil's Playhouse, the third season of the Sam and Max telltale game series. Of late, The Odd Gentlemen has stole the spotlight with their King's Quest reboot, as their animation is much more fluid than that of telltale's past and a few of their current games. Now would be the best time to use the spare time to update their systems, but knowing that the company is now working on a Batman licensed game, they probably wont have the time as they're finishing the mine-craft story series.
The biggest problem however is that the choices in their games of late have no real bearings or changes nothing big in the end. While adventure titles often have multiple endings, or in this case, have choices that impact the rest of the game, the choices in games didn't matter. For example, in the walking dead season one, the player has a choice to save one character or the other, knowing the character will help out down the line though different outcomes. However, that part of the story can easily be forgotten and has no real impact within the story and the characters are often killed off later within the series; so no matter what one dose, both the characters are boned and can never really be saved! This hurts replay value and makes the choices lob-sided as it really doesn't matter as life goes normally as nothing changes and everything stays the same.
Now how would they fix it? Get a new system while making future games. Tempt the companies involved to update to a new system because they would make a profit. To be perfectly honest, why did they remove the original point-and-click for the PC version? It was for the counsel ports of the games, yes, but most people prefer that timeless mechanic of the classic Point-and-click controls on our PCs. Even the remaster of Grim Fandango has that benefit of the new interface that still have the point-and-click system while still having the controller support that is not too intrusive. This reboot is a good example of good mixed controls.
While telltale in the past have developed good games in their resume of games, telltale games do need to step it up in the current age of adventure games. While not all their games are terrible, past games like Jurassic Park is an examples of how telltale games could fail in today's market. Their latest game with Tales of the borderlands has to be their recent decent game, so take a look into that game. Have a Happy New Year!
First off, the story is a mixed bag within the telltale line up. While the games the company made where good, especially The Wolf Among us, the company should at least focus on one game at a time. However, the is biggest weakness of Telltale is that they try to multi-task. While it's good for normal games, episodic games tend to be rushed since they used the same system since Tales of Monkey Island in the last generation.
Fans and critics noticed this while season two of The Walking Dead, while it wasn't awful, it suffered from bad writing as most of the team was busy with The Wolf Among Us. When they pushed the finally of The Fables game, the ending didn't really have an impact because the focus was switched to The Walking Dead season two. While the story did get better in Season two, it didn't step up as much as the first. There was a similar issue with King of Thrones and Tales of Borderlands, as production where split-up there as well.
Since the company been using the same system, that means the animations are dated and stiff. While it's not as bland as Ubi-soft's Assassin's Creed series, telltale haven't updated their system since the Devil's Playhouse, the third season of the Sam and Max telltale game series. Of late, The Odd Gentlemen has stole the spotlight with their King's Quest reboot, as their animation is much more fluid than that of telltale's past and a few of their current games. Now would be the best time to use the spare time to update their systems, but knowing that the company is now working on a Batman licensed game, they probably wont have the time as they're finishing the mine-craft story series.
The biggest problem however is that the choices in their games of late have no real bearings or changes nothing big in the end. While adventure titles often have multiple endings, or in this case, have choices that impact the rest of the game, the choices in games didn't matter. For example, in the walking dead season one, the player has a choice to save one character or the other, knowing the character will help out down the line though different outcomes. However, that part of the story can easily be forgotten and has no real impact within the story and the characters are often killed off later within the series; so no matter what one dose, both the characters are boned and can never really be saved! This hurts replay value and makes the choices lob-sided as it really doesn't matter as life goes normally as nothing changes and everything stays the same.
Now how would they fix it? Get a new system while making future games. Tempt the companies involved to update to a new system because they would make a profit. To be perfectly honest, why did they remove the original point-and-click for the PC version? It was for the counsel ports of the games, yes, but most people prefer that timeless mechanic of the classic Point-and-click controls on our PCs. Even the remaster of Grim Fandango has that benefit of the new interface that still have the point-and-click system while still having the controller support that is not too intrusive. This reboot is a good example of good mixed controls.
While telltale in the past have developed good games in their resume of games, telltale games do need to step it up in the current age of adventure games. While not all their games are terrible, past games like Jurassic Park is an examples of how telltale games could fail in today's market. Their latest game with Tales of the borderlands has to be their recent decent game, so take a look into that game. Have a Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Beastly Bash: Fallout 4: War Never Changes, but the places do
Just to prepare for Fallout 4, I replayed Fallout 3 though Fallout: a tale of two wastelands as the original game did not age well as the RPG elements, game crashes, game bugs that crashes the game or run, and out-dated mechanics. Thankfully, mods help extended the life of old games and adds more replay value. However, the system is still dated, meaning even modded the game still crashes occasionally as the games where made on a buggy engine.
The player stars as the vault dweller who was frozen in time just as the nukes landed just outside his home. He (or she, even tho the male is heavily advertised at the start of the game) wakes up two hundred years to a war-scared Boston harbor, which is now over-ran with raider, super mutants, and new enemies know as the synths, A cyborg race inspired by modern Science fiction novels. The player must find their lost child, as Shawn was kidnapped by the institute while murdering your better half! Oh, it's on!
Game-play wise, it's basically fallout next-gen as it was intended, but more streamlined so the shooting mechanics and SPECIAL attributes. I personally welcome the change, as it doesn't require the annoying number system while it prevents players to become over-powered early on. For example, in Fallout 3, I was able to be over-powered as stealth was broken as balls as the perks and the stealth-suits and Stealth-boys kill the difficulty of the game. While the Stealth-boy might return later as DLC, stealth-boys have been nerfed to the point that the player use them just to escape. However, skills like Gun-nut and Science have been boosted as they can be used to make adjustments to your weapons in crafting, making silencers to your shotgun to even using the skills to make your settlements.
Oh right, the settlements! When you start the game, you meet The Minute Men, the small army of the game. The players can optionally make settlements that has benefits such as running shops, farming food for those with iron stomachs, providing shelters and giving them jobs, and recruit settlements to join The Minute Men. While it is tatted on to the game, it dose help give experience bonus while it dose seem like a time-sink. They also provide reoccurring missions that can help level your characters, but that tends to lead to tedious grinding and you're better off doing other side quest, even though they can give you weapons on the side.
While on the field, the players can also face special enemies from rad-roaches to raiders that can drop a special weapon or special armor pieces that the player can mod later. However, they can be very annoying as they tend to mutate, a way to pad out a simple fight and making them into boss characters. Be prepared with at least one heavy weapon, as they tend to appear when you least expect it. Seems luck was heavily boosted in this game, as having your luck on one makes it challenging. Just beware the death-claws, as they're still the deadliest in the series!
However, while I personally didn't mind the changes, there are some flaws with this game that can break the experience. For one, they gutted the karma system for a like and dislike system with the fractions system. And yes, the Brotherhood is back but it's not the one from fallout 3 but instead from New Vegas. Which begs the question, where has all the cowboys gone? It differently reestablish the gray of war where no one is truly evil, but not everyone is good, but to those it means being evil is pointless. I don't mind as I'm not entirely a genocide player, especially since Under-Tale shows how scary that is! This game dose the "more is less" approach, which can either improve or hinder a game. Oh, and it doesn't shag-shame you for sleeping with everyone and takes the Saints Row 4 approach. Post-Apocalypse anyways.
Another problem that the conversation has been dubbed down thanks to the voice acting, which is another hit-or-miss problem with the game. Only four conversation choices which no matter which you choose doesn't really matter and lays no real impact. Sure, speech dose help getting more info or at least give you an alternative option, but there needs to be more. It also doesn't help that your partner's AI can be terrible for stealth gameplay, block doorways and hallways, and tend to get you shot more than often. Thankfully, there's perk for that called Lone Wanderer that boost the player while they're alone.
If this isn't the game for the players that are in mind, I would recommend getting Wasteland 2, as it is based off the original Fallout series, but if one want a first-person shooter that is fun, this is one's game. This game might be literately be Skyrim with guns, this game is at least better optimized than the previous games before it. It's more next-gen fallout, just better streamlined and miles-may-vary type of game. Try it before you bye, and if liked, get it and finish it. Otherwise, Wasteland 2!
The player stars as the vault dweller who was frozen in time just as the nukes landed just outside his home. He (or she, even tho the male is heavily advertised at the start of the game) wakes up two hundred years to a war-scared Boston harbor, which is now over-ran with raider, super mutants, and new enemies know as the synths, A cyborg race inspired by modern Science fiction novels. The player must find their lost child, as Shawn was kidnapped by the institute while murdering your better half! Oh, it's on!
Game-play wise, it's basically fallout next-gen as it was intended, but more streamlined so the shooting mechanics and SPECIAL attributes. I personally welcome the change, as it doesn't require the annoying number system while it prevents players to become over-powered early on. For example, in Fallout 3, I was able to be over-powered as stealth was broken as balls as the perks and the stealth-suits and Stealth-boys kill the difficulty of the game. While the Stealth-boy might return later as DLC, stealth-boys have been nerfed to the point that the player use them just to escape. However, skills like Gun-nut and Science have been boosted as they can be used to make adjustments to your weapons in crafting, making silencers to your shotgun to even using the skills to make your settlements.
Oh right, the settlements! When you start the game, you meet The Minute Men, the small army of the game. The players can optionally make settlements that has benefits such as running shops, farming food for those with iron stomachs, providing shelters and giving them jobs, and recruit settlements to join The Minute Men. While it is tatted on to the game, it dose help give experience bonus while it dose seem like a time-sink. They also provide reoccurring missions that can help level your characters, but that tends to lead to tedious grinding and you're better off doing other side quest, even though they can give you weapons on the side.
While on the field, the players can also face special enemies from rad-roaches to raiders that can drop a special weapon or special armor pieces that the player can mod later. However, they can be very annoying as they tend to mutate, a way to pad out a simple fight and making them into boss characters. Be prepared with at least one heavy weapon, as they tend to appear when you least expect it. Seems luck was heavily boosted in this game, as having your luck on one makes it challenging. Just beware the death-claws, as they're still the deadliest in the series!
However, while I personally didn't mind the changes, there are some flaws with this game that can break the experience. For one, they gutted the karma system for a like and dislike system with the fractions system. And yes, the Brotherhood is back but it's not the one from fallout 3 but instead from New Vegas. Which begs the question, where has all the cowboys gone? It differently reestablish the gray of war where no one is truly evil, but not everyone is good, but to those it means being evil is pointless. I don't mind as I'm not entirely a genocide player, especially since Under-Tale shows how scary that is! This game dose the "more is less" approach, which can either improve or hinder a game. Oh, and it doesn't shag-shame you for sleeping with everyone and takes the Saints Row 4 approach. Post-Apocalypse anyways.
Another problem that the conversation has been dubbed down thanks to the voice acting, which is another hit-or-miss problem with the game. Only four conversation choices which no matter which you choose doesn't really matter and lays no real impact. Sure, speech dose help getting more info or at least give you an alternative option, but there needs to be more. It also doesn't help that your partner's AI can be terrible for stealth gameplay, block doorways and hallways, and tend to get you shot more than often. Thankfully, there's perk for that called Lone Wanderer that boost the player while they're alone.
If this isn't the game for the players that are in mind, I would recommend getting Wasteland 2, as it is based off the original Fallout series, but if one want a first-person shooter that is fun, this is one's game. This game might be literately be Skyrim with guns, this game is at least better optimized than the previous games before it. It's more next-gen fallout, just better streamlined and miles-may-vary type of game. Try it before you bye, and if liked, get it and finish it. Otherwise, Wasteland 2!
Beastly Bash: WORST GAMES of 2015~!
These games reminds me that the game industry really needs a lobotomy when it comes to crappy main-line titles that have hit this year. As the rules goes, no easy targets, which means Mario Party 10 wont be on the list since I personally felt like they been garbage since the Nintendo Wii days. No, these games has to be made by the mad men behind the corporate commanders who only exist the milk the cash cows, or in this case, to oil out the whiles in the world. No offence to the good game devs that remember that fun's the main focus of the industry, it's just the Xbox launch really brings the evils running about. And now the worst games of 2015!~
1) Alone in the Dark: Illumination
Ever since the "re-imagination" of the series within the dying age that was the Xbox 360, Atari has really butcher the series that invented the survivor-horror series which Resident Evil sorta copied from if Sweet Home didn't existed. The game is a buggy, unfinished mess, as it tries to cash in on the franchise where Resident Evil 6 fails in comparison. However, we all know how that ended up. They might as well bury the game as it is like the ET buried within the Sahara desert.
2) Hatred
Trust me that using controversy just to sell a game is one thing, but trying to sell a repetitive third-person shooter is another. Pushing the controversy aside as it's a way to help boost their sells, the game gets really boring very fast. While some say that it's this generation of Postal, even postal is more colorful than Hatred, as Postal Dude's personality helps breaks the ice of the gameplay as his banter helps absorb the players. If I needed to kick a buch of balls, I'll stuck with Saints Row 2 and 4; Thank you very much!
3) Star Wars: Battle-Front
While the games are either bad on a Technic level or a moral level, this is so wrong on a personal level to those who love the Star Wars franchise. This is a cash-grab from your favorite game business villeins EA Games while Dice handles the gameplay. This is the same issue that have ran the Spider-man games to the ground as Dice has been worn down on the franchise. A ten Dollar pay-to-win weapon, no real single player, four maps, and a ton of DLC content on its way. On a personal note, I would rather recommend the new Star-Wars movie that is coming out this mouth. Seems EA is not EA without the worst company of the year reward. I hope you guys missed it since Ubisoft won that last year, because bugs and yearly tittles...
4) Tony Halk's Pro Skater 5
There's a reason Tony hawk dyed down after the skate-board craze after the play-station days. Back then, this series as well as Underground was very popular, that is until Underground 2 released with mixed reviews and the series went down from there. This game is a buggy piece of sadness, eating away what little was good about the franchise, as if there was anything else left. Ugly graphics, bad settings, and uninspired music and so many technique issues. While it's not Tony Hawk's Ride, this is not a skating game. At least Actionvision worked with Platinum games with Transformers, so check that out instead? Still, Actionvison ladies and gentlemen...
5) The Devil's Third
This is a game that everyone forgot, and personally, it's a good idea too as this was at the last E3 stream on Twitch.tv! As I watch the frame-rate chug during the demo last year, I knew that this would be on the worst games list to the point that Nintendo stopped advertising the train wreck of a game. How did they turn the action-combat bad here? Repetitive melee combat, cliches out from some bad action flick, bad visuals and sound effects, and in the end comes as underwhelming experience! There is online multiplayer, but that is the worst part of the game as it is full of micro-transactions! Pay-to-win by buying power-ups as it milks the whales of their money. At least they did fix the frame-rate issues? No, it's still a mess...
6) Cartoon Fighters
Really? Someone is trying to resell M.U.G.A.N. on green-light and the game wasn't originally his? What kind of scams are people running these day!? For those who don't know, Mugan is a free fighting game where programmers make their custom fighters and install it into the game to compete into other competitors. There has been some creative to lewd characters on that game, but now some scam-artist is trying to pass it off as a fighting game not made by him. I seen some cratice stuff mugan as dose as making A great DBZ fighting system that even the original Street fighter dev couldn't manage when they tried. However, this is not how you mugan! I would have got the dev himself release the game with a workshop feature to add-on fighters. perfect timing since of STeam Link was released this year, so I'm calling you out, MUGAN devs! Make THIS FTP game happen! Otherwise, screw green-light...
Well, this year have gone and passed. Year's revolutions where at least almost met and Christmas is coming soon! I'm going off for the rest of the year until January to prepare as the holidays can cause a man to go crazy at this time of year. Until then Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Years and at least have a designated driver when you head out with your family.
1) Alone in the Dark: Illumination
Ever since the "re-imagination" of the series within the dying age that was the Xbox 360, Atari has really butcher the series that invented the survivor-horror series which Resident Evil sorta copied from if Sweet Home didn't existed. The game is a buggy, unfinished mess, as it tries to cash in on the franchise where Resident Evil 6 fails in comparison. However, we all know how that ended up. They might as well bury the game as it is like the ET buried within the Sahara desert.
2) Hatred
Trust me that using controversy just to sell a game is one thing, but trying to sell a repetitive third-person shooter is another. Pushing the controversy aside as it's a way to help boost their sells, the game gets really boring very fast. While some say that it's this generation of Postal, even postal is more colorful than Hatred, as Postal Dude's personality helps breaks the ice of the gameplay as his banter helps absorb the players. If I needed to kick a buch of balls, I'll stuck with Saints Row 2 and 4; Thank you very much!
3) Star Wars: Battle-Front
While the games are either bad on a Technic level or a moral level, this is so wrong on a personal level to those who love the Star Wars franchise. This is a cash-grab from your favorite game business villeins EA Games while Dice handles the gameplay. This is the same issue that have ran the Spider-man games to the ground as Dice has been worn down on the franchise. A ten Dollar pay-to-win weapon, no real single player, four maps, and a ton of DLC content on its way. On a personal note, I would rather recommend the new Star-Wars movie that is coming out this mouth. Seems EA is not EA without the worst company of the year reward. I hope you guys missed it since Ubisoft won that last year, because bugs and yearly tittles...
4) Tony Halk's Pro Skater 5
There's a reason Tony hawk dyed down after the skate-board craze after the play-station days. Back then, this series as well as Underground was very popular, that is until Underground 2 released with mixed reviews and the series went down from there. This game is a buggy piece of sadness, eating away what little was good about the franchise, as if there was anything else left. Ugly graphics, bad settings, and uninspired music and so many technique issues. While it's not Tony Hawk's Ride, this is not a skating game. At least Actionvision worked with Platinum games with Transformers, so check that out instead? Still, Actionvison ladies and gentlemen...
5) The Devil's Third
This is a game that everyone forgot, and personally, it's a good idea too as this was at the last E3 stream on Twitch.tv! As I watch the frame-rate chug during the demo last year, I knew that this would be on the worst games list to the point that Nintendo stopped advertising the train wreck of a game. How did they turn the action-combat bad here? Repetitive melee combat, cliches out from some bad action flick, bad visuals and sound effects, and in the end comes as underwhelming experience! There is online multiplayer, but that is the worst part of the game as it is full of micro-transactions! Pay-to-win by buying power-ups as it milks the whales of their money. At least they did fix the frame-rate issues? No, it's still a mess...
6) Cartoon Fighters
Really? Someone is trying to resell M.U.G.A.N. on green-light and the game wasn't originally his? What kind of scams are people running these day!? For those who don't know, Mugan is a free fighting game where programmers make their custom fighters and install it into the game to compete into other competitors. There has been some creative to lewd characters on that game, but now some scam-artist is trying to pass it off as a fighting game not made by him. I seen some cratice stuff mugan as dose as making A great DBZ fighting system that even the original Street fighter dev couldn't manage when they tried. However, this is not how you mugan! I would have got the dev himself release the game with a workshop feature to add-on fighters. perfect timing since of STeam Link was released this year, so I'm calling you out, MUGAN devs! Make THIS FTP game happen! Otherwise, screw green-light...
Well, this year have gone and passed. Year's revolutions where at least almost met and Christmas is coming soon! I'm going off for the rest of the year until January to prepare as the holidays can cause a man to go crazy at this time of year. Until then Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Years and at least have a designated driver when you head out with your family.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Beastly Bash: Disappointing Games 2015
While this year had the biggest games that I've hit the digital shelfs, not counting the thousands of cheap green-light games, there has been some disappointing games that have came out this year. Some of these are on a personal level, but don't worry, none of these are shovelwere or easy targets, as that would be too easy as a choice. These are the disappointing games of 2015, plus at least one inde game!
!) Armagrogg
This one is personal as I am a fan of Doug Tennaple's past works from Earthworm Jim to even it's spiritual successor Neverhood. The biggest problem of this game is that it lost it's core audience as much as Broken Age did, as it tried too hard to catch past audience as well as it's modern audience. Even after fixing many of the bugs, it feels like they didn't have the programing know-how and felt like the game is incomplete. While it tries to be for both type of gamers, the puzzles end up being mixed and even pissed of a major of backers for their refund. I'm sorry, Tennaple. I hope you'll forgive me.
2) Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Combat 9 was a great remake AND reboot that helped bring newcomers and old fans together to break skulls and pull of fatalities; even pulling off ideas that even Marvel vs Capcom fails to advance on. Sadly, Mortal Kombat X stepped all that down as many of the hit features are removed for Downloadable content. Want to play as Goro, who is ON THE DISK? Five bucks! There's a reason WB's marketing is getting a lot of slack for their business decisions. It also didn't help that they porked the PC port like they did with Mortal Kombat 9, which is a reason PC gamers hate High Voltage studios.
3) Mad Max (The game)
Sandbox, the sandbox game. No seriously, the game personally over-did the sandbox portion of the game to the point that it over-burdens the story part of the game. It wasn't a bad game, mind you, it just dose the sandbox too well to the point of being mundane. Graphics wise, it did the nicely programed MGSV magnifier to help the game run. However, as I would put it, there's too much sand, not enough box for me personally as an experience. It doesn't help that they are competing with games like Batman and Fallout 4, as even those game's mechanics where built around it's open world.
4) Halo 5
I personally gave up on the Halo series after three as I have moved away from the Xbox counsel gaming ever since the XBone has a disappointing release with the many things that gaming should never have invented. While the online portion is somewhat untouched from Halo 4, the story as absolute "Meh" at the best of times and bad at the worst of times. Personally, I wouldn't touch this game with an eight foot pole if it wasn't part of my job. Why did I make it part of my job? So I know what and what not to do when I make an inde-title. Running a series to the ground is one of them.
5) Battle Field: Hardlines
While most cop-based games that are usually third-person sand box games, shooters, or even point-and-click games, this game is merely a shooter dressed as a cop game. This game is so basic and out-of-logic that all the past shooter games blend in like a Martynne and you end up with a below-average experience. While games like Splatoon try it's best to mix up it's gameplay like how in hardline you could arrest perps, there was no reason to do so as it seems pointless as it just gives you lethal upgrades. There's a reason I don't review shooters anymore!
6) Evolve
I played this when it was in beta and as soon as I played it, I knew it would end to be a horrible running simulator. From the same dev teams as Left 4 Dead one and two, they tried to make a game just as fun. However, this ends up being the most repetitive game that I have ever played more than even most Zombie sandbox games that have hit the market that has hit the shelfs. Not only that, but they try to resell cosmetics and recolored guns that anyone than the art-team could do. It was a mess for both human and monster players and I'm not sure if the game is even still up as it was. The sad thing is that games like The Devil's Bluff did this idea better than the Tripple A devs of this game. Keep away from this game!
!) Armagrogg
This one is personal as I am a fan of Doug Tennaple's past works from Earthworm Jim to even it's spiritual successor Neverhood. The biggest problem of this game is that it lost it's core audience as much as Broken Age did, as it tried too hard to catch past audience as well as it's modern audience. Even after fixing many of the bugs, it feels like they didn't have the programing know-how and felt like the game is incomplete. While it tries to be for both type of gamers, the puzzles end up being mixed and even pissed of a major of backers for their refund. I'm sorry, Tennaple. I hope you'll forgive me.
2) Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Combat 9 was a great remake AND reboot that helped bring newcomers and old fans together to break skulls and pull of fatalities; even pulling off ideas that even Marvel vs Capcom fails to advance on. Sadly, Mortal Kombat X stepped all that down as many of the hit features are removed for Downloadable content. Want to play as Goro, who is ON THE DISK? Five bucks! There's a reason WB's marketing is getting a lot of slack for their business decisions. It also didn't help that they porked the PC port like they did with Mortal Kombat 9, which is a reason PC gamers hate High Voltage studios.
3) Mad Max (The game)
Sandbox, the sandbox game. No seriously, the game personally over-did the sandbox portion of the game to the point that it over-burdens the story part of the game. It wasn't a bad game, mind you, it just dose the sandbox too well to the point of being mundane. Graphics wise, it did the nicely programed MGSV magnifier to help the game run. However, as I would put it, there's too much sand, not enough box for me personally as an experience. It doesn't help that they are competing with games like Batman and Fallout 4, as even those game's mechanics where built around it's open world.
4) Halo 5
I personally gave up on the Halo series after three as I have moved away from the Xbox counsel gaming ever since the XBone has a disappointing release with the many things that gaming should never have invented. While the online portion is somewhat untouched from Halo 4, the story as absolute "Meh" at the best of times and bad at the worst of times. Personally, I wouldn't touch this game with an eight foot pole if it wasn't part of my job. Why did I make it part of my job? So I know what and what not to do when I make an inde-title. Running a series to the ground is one of them.
5) Battle Field: Hardlines
While most cop-based games that are usually third-person sand box games, shooters, or even point-and-click games, this game is merely a shooter dressed as a cop game. This game is so basic and out-of-logic that all the past shooter games blend in like a Martynne and you end up with a below-average experience. While games like Splatoon try it's best to mix up it's gameplay like how in hardline you could arrest perps, there was no reason to do so as it seems pointless as it just gives you lethal upgrades. There's a reason I don't review shooters anymore!
6) Evolve
I played this when it was in beta and as soon as I played it, I knew it would end to be a horrible running simulator. From the same dev teams as Left 4 Dead one and two, they tried to make a game just as fun. However, this ends up being the most repetitive game that I have ever played more than even most Zombie sandbox games that have hit the market that has hit the shelfs. Not only that, but they try to resell cosmetics and recolored guns that anyone than the art-team could do. It was a mess for both human and monster players and I'm not sure if the game is even still up as it was. The sad thing is that games like The Devil's Bluff did this idea better than the Tripple A devs of this game. Keep away from this game!
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