Goemon

Been playing Ginga Fukei Sapphire on the PC Engine. It’s a grail I’ve been after for a while, so when one popped up (uk seller) I jumped on it. Cost me a pretty penny but I really wanted it for the collection as the ultimate visually impressive PC Engine title. I’d read that the game was ‘too easy’ and ‘bland’…Don’t know where this came from but it’s anything but IMO! The first level alone is bursting with action. It’s taken me a good couple of hours just to figure it out because it throws so much at you. One thing that made me think about where the comments might have come from, was playing 2 player. I’m now a firm believer that shooters 2 player completely change the game. I used to play Aero Blasters with a friend back in the day and we used to crank the difficulty to hard, just for the challenge. Having played it recently I got no where near finishing it just on normal as some sections were super tough. This game has a 2 player mode too and I can imagine it’s much easier to deal with certain sections. 1 player though, I actually think it’s pretty brutal. As I mentioned stage 1 is absolutely loaded with action. The other thing is the fact that the story is about time travelling police, so each level is set in a different time period. This changes levels dramatically as you go from shooting space ships and and huge robot walkers to bats and dragons. I’m enjoying it so far but it is tough. I don’t see a 1CC happening but working with the default 3 continues, I think I stand a chance. I’ve managed to get to the last level twice so far but there’s still a lot of learning to be had. The biggest down side so far is some of the production/presentation is a bit off. The intro cutscene is full speech and music yet the intros to the levels have no speech or music and the end of level cutscenes have speech but no music. It’s just a bit inconsistent and slightly jarring.

Watching that leaked video, it actually made me slightly nervous. One of the amazing things about DS is how close you get to the world, you know it intimately. You ask a fan about the world and they can tell you exactly where things are, what enemies are there etc. etc. My fear is that large parts of this are pass though, and only there for having ‘a vast open world’. There’s nothing wrong with this per se but it does actually change the dynamic quite a lot. The idea of wandering around a giant world with randomly spawned patrols as a distraction until I get to the ‘next area’…I’m not sure sits right with me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it will be great but are we gonna lose that world intimacy and what kind of effect will that have on my enjoyment of the game?

Finished Verytex. Nice game, definitely doesn’t reach the lofty heights of other shooters on the system but it’s not bad. The 1st level and the 5th are probably the stand outs. The main areas of practice are the mid and end stage bosses, the levels themselves aren’t too bad and can be ploughed through with the spread weapon. The game takes you miles back when you die and getting back up to full power isn’t easy, so it’s pretty brutal in that respect. I used flash saves to practice sections before going for a full playthrough, if I didn’t use these the game would have taken much longer to finish. The last boss in particular appears brutal and a death puts you right back to the start of the stage! After a bit of practice I actually found a safe spot for the last boss, which is the first time in a long time I’ve found one of these. Definitely a B Tier game, it doesn’t really have anything that stands out to make it unique but still a decent game.

I think that the reputation is marred by the fact that it’s heavily based on Rondo of Blood but it isn’t as good. Couple that with the fact that it came out later, on a more powerful machine and there’s a lot of reasons to rag on it. While I’d consider it a weaker game than CV4 and RoB it’s still a Castlevania and has things to enjoy in there.

I’ve started on Verytex for the Megadrive. I was interested in playing this as it’s a game that is creeping up in price. I’ve seen them go for nearly £100, and while I am well aware that price doesn’t constitute quality it’s the slow rise that is making me think it is starting to get some kind of recognition. Have to say the first level has a lovely parallax scrolling section. It’s a vertical shooter so the layers go below you, which is really nice. Seems good so far, not sure it’s lofty heights of some shooters on the MD but I’m enjoying it at the minute.

No, I’ve never really sat down with it. TBH I’m slightly put off by the scenario, I don’t find the idea of playing as some type of bug shooting other bugs particularly compelling. When I think about it, that’s a terrible reason not to give it a shot. I’m buying into the idea of a creepy atmosphere though, it’s something I’ve not seen before. And I’m always up for dissecting an interesting power up system. I’ll keep an eye out for it. I don’t own it and I’m pretty much going through my collection like a giant backlog at the minute.

Just played and finished XDR (X Dazedly Ray) on the Megadrive Literally did it in one sitting. It’s interesting. When you play a shooter, you power yourself up and convince yourself that you’re impenetrable…Until something comes along and wipes you out. However, in this game you power yourself up and you pretty much are! Nothing in any on the levels really challenges you apart from a couple of points on stage 4. Outside of this it only really takes slight movements to deal with almost everything as it comes along. No need for positioning, no remembering setups, just sit in the middle of the screen and react. It’s not actually badly made, I think it’s just more the level design is somewhat lacking. Still, after playing the quality ‘B Tier’ game Whip Rush game I can safely say that this is a C Tier for sure. Definitely not up to standard, which is a bit disappointing as I had high hopes for another quality under the radar shooter.

Started on Rastan on the Master System. The game has this level of B tier jank, but man is it compelling to play! Don’t know what is, possibly something to do with the variation in jump. You generally move like a slow assed barbarian but he has this high jump that sends him flying, and it can be done instantaneously when landing. It gives you a level of nimbleness that makes traversing the levels really fun. It seemed really tough at first. You only get 4-5 lives and health pickups are scarce. I was always getting to a boss with barely half a bar of health left and it would always cost me a life to beat them. I’m slowly figuring them out though and it’s super important to do as getting through a stage without using a life is essential. Some of the jank is real too. I’ve had some broken fights against the stage 2 boss. I’m talking like a him flying off screen, freezing, then respawning (with the old version still on the edge of the screen) and being completely invincible! Still, it’s well and truly sucked me in, and it’s on my mind to get back to. Edit: And finished it. Was stuck in my head so went back in. Actually managed the final stage the first time I did it, including the boss. TBH once you’re versed from traversing the earlier levels a number of times the later ones can’t really throw much else at you to mess you up. Also, I think it gets easier in the later stages because every time you start a new level you get a health boost but enemies don’t really change. Feel like the stage 6 boss should have been the final boss as it’s far more grandeur than the last boss. Still done and done. When I first started playing I thought there was no chance but the scope for learning and keeping yourself alive *cough* rinsing high jump, down strike *cough* was great. Really enjoyed it, jank n all.

There’s always space for more Metroid…

Whip Rush finished. Unfortunately I didn’t get the 1CC as I lost my pods on the stage 5 boss fight which makes the fight 10 times harder and I ended up burning though all my remaining lives. Starting a new credit though, I didn’t lose another life to the completion so I reckon I could have got it if I’d been safer in that fight. Still not a fan on the dynamic difficulty but learned to live with it and the stage 4 boss is a cheap tw4t! Outside of this though I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. My favourite part is using your pods abilities to deal with different situations. You can have them above and below you, in front and behind you and you can fire them out from these positions. Positioning is super important and it’s very satisfying to move your pods to the right position and dealing with what comes onscreen. I think this game got shot down back in the day (pun intended) and while you can see it’s an early MD game (the background of stage 2 is like 1 tree on repeat). I still think they produced a good game. I think part of the issue back in the day is that games were in direct competition, so if you had things like sub-par graphics then you got marked down. Playing them now, things like this are a lot more inconsequential so you can just learn to enjoy the game. Another game well worth a look.

Did this get posted? The story so far…

I haven’t played it enough to be sure but as I understand there is a sizeable random factor based on the materials that spawn during the siege. You get the right items at the right time and it’s a massive aide. The last siege I completed, I only did it because I got 2 magic drops during the final phase so I was able to use a miracle to kill off one of the impending hoards. If I didn’t get that, I would have failed. Same with health, you get a food drop just as your fort is taking damage and you can basically heal it straight back up. You don’t get that drop though, then your fort gets destroyed and you lose a major part of your defence. Like I say, I don’t know the game well enough yet to know if these drops can be controlled but if they can’t and it’s literally down to RnG that’s a chunky fuck you when attempting sieges, at least it is on harder difficulties (I’m currently playing on hard).

Yes, I think unfortunately the devs of this game have completely missed the point of the original. It was god sim lite, emphasis on the lite. You were never playing the original because you were into god sims. I like the idea that they tried to expand on the original but it’s completely lopsided. I’ve played the action sections for like 5 mins and I’ve spent 2 hours+ in sim mode. I just turned it off after eventually completing a siege (which took multiple attempts) only to watch a few cutscenes of story and be instantly put back into another siege! I really want to persist but I’m finding it a tough sell.

So after @spanky debrest’s gushing of Whiprush on the MD thread I moved on to Whiprush. It’s sparked a whole conversation in my head. I can see why you love it @spanky debrest there’s some nice bits where you need the correct weapon, positioning and a rare one; the correct speed, in order to deal with stuff. Unfortunately for me this game suffers from the dreaded dynamic difficulty, which I really don’t like. I actually find it quite jarring in this game as it will literally stop stuff on a dime. Like enemies fire bullets that kill you and then they just stop. The problem I have with this as that you can’t learn because it changes the situation instantly and the rest of the section is different. I also stumbled on your Thunderforce 3 rant @spanky debrest I know you don’t like this game and you talked about being constantly set up. What I find interesting is that you dislike TF3 for the set up but you accept it in Whiprush. I’ve been going insane playing Whiprush for constantly being set up, especially with the difficulty side of things. Not having a go @spanky debrest I actually found it interesting that you accepted it in one instance but not in another and I did the same…but the other way around. I love TF3 and accept all its setup but found Whiprush eye rolling because of it. I guess for all this waffle, it’s lead me to the fact that I can’t use things like setup, dynamic difficulty etc. as negatives. The game is what it is and you have to work with that. I’ve moved to flash saving Whiprush to try and learn sections as it will just take too long to do it legit.

The worst crime of all is that people will read this review and not buy the game because if it.