#444 Capcom vs SNK Millennium Fight 2000

Posted: 9th April 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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1

416th played so far

Capcom vs. SNK - Millennium Fight 2000 1

Genre: Fighting
Platform: Dreamcast
Year of Release: 2000
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Some time ago (scary enough, two and a half years ago now) we got a Dreamcast and played a bunch of games from it in what we called Dreamfest. Since it has been a while, we need more Dreamcast games on our pile and we had the time, we decided to go back to it and have a (slightly smaller) Dreamfest 2.

Leading us off is a fighting game crossover. We recently looked at the SNK stable of fighters in King of Fighters ’94, while we’ve played a few of Capcom’s Street Fighter games by now. No foreign territory at some point, but will they mix?

Our Thoughts

Of course, the issue here is that I’m not as familiar with SNK’s fighters, making it difficult to judge that side of the equation – a necessity in crossovers. Although there is a choice between two playing styles, related to the charging of power bars, at my level I couldn’t detect many differences.

ย The game plays pretty well – it’s fairly straightforward to get a grip with the controls and the bouts go off as easily as they should. Even on our first playthrough we both did well – and that seemed surprising considering how little I tend to know about the genre.

One of the more interesting features comes in at character selection. The game is ostensibly a team-based fighter – multiple characters on each side, switching when one of them gets knocked out (no tag team options). To keep it balanced, acknowledging that not all characters are equal, each character has a point value assigned, from 1 to 4. When building a team, you get to spend four points – you could use the (initially locked) four star fighters on their own to overpower and hope it doesn’t backfire, or you could combine one and three, two and two, or come in with four one star fighters. It’s an interesting acknowledgement of the different tiers, and a good way to allow the mix of fighters to exist without having to compromise their fighting style or stats, instead adding some strategy into the mix (the order of fighters helps here as well, of course).

Final Thoughts

The game played, to me, like a straightforward fighter, nicely accessible, but with the nuances of the different franchises probably lost on me. It still doesn’t actually feel like a bad fighter to start with, I just had trouble connecting with – as is usually the case with me for fighters.

#224 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Posted: 5th April 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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415th played so far

Fate_of_Atlantis_artworkGenre: Adventure
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1992
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts

It has become clear, by now, that we enjoy Lucasarts’ adventures, from the gratuitously violent Sam and Max Hit the Road to the wonderful stories of Loom.

Having played many of their adventures myself, for some reason the Indiana Jones series never really appeared on my radar. I’m not really sure why – considering it’s their own property, the game should be good, and it’s as liked as any other game of theirs.

Our Thoughts

That was an incredibly interesting game. It takes a number of cues from other Lucasarts games of its era – aside from the graphics, there’s puzzle design and the odd sense of humour. There’s death in the game – not the cruel deaths of other games where you need to learn the puzzles, but death in this game is to represent the danger of the Indiana Jones franchise, the danger that comes with raiding tombs and facing plenty of enemies. Nothing unfair (or so it seems) although still tough in places.

All of that would just make it one of the pack, however, possibly one of the less funny Lucasarts games. The genius choice (for me at least) happens about a third of the game in. You get a choice of three paths – wits, fist or team. The game advices you on one based on your actions so far – showing how a lot of early puzzles don’t actually have loads of red herrings, instead having several solutions to, say, how to enter the backstage area of a theatre.

Added to that, the game keeps track of what you have done through sessions, with you scoring Indy points. To maximize them, you need to play through all paths, as well as exploring a number of other alternative solutions.

Replayability? I had to put in a save game at the choice so I could go back.

It’s not just about playtime though. The different options all flow naturally, and I noticed no obvious breaks where the different path were obvious – sure, there were clearly options missing that I thought were later puzzles, but it always made sense, it’s a complete story.

The story itself is incredibly engaging – following a lot of Indiana Jones beats, but focusing on the fate of Atlantis (no spoilers here) that the movies hadn’t covered before. The beats are pretty familiar, but they are put together in a fun way that work well. The amazing story, as much as the puzzles, are what drove us to keep going.

Perhaps my skipping it was unjustified – while the game only seems as long as Loom, which we found a bit short too, the different directions the plot can take multiple directions that adds a lot more variety to the game. I’ll need to revisit this at some point.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed playing this game – far more than I was expecting – and it’s a game I want to get back to (due to other circumstances, it ended up on the ‘play later’ pile).ย  The story makes sense, the characterization is good and the options to solve the scenario is amazing, something sorely missing from most adventure games with only the Quest for Glory series offering similar freedom that I know of in its adventure elements. Engaging for that reason alone.

#23 Galaga

Posted: 1st April 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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1

414th played so far

Galaga_flyerGenre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1981
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco/Midway

So it’s time for another one of our old shoot ’em ups, part of our constant catchup, as well as just going through these games in order.

We’ve covered its predecessor in the entertaining Galaxian, and from the bits we’ve seen this installment looks familiar.

Our Thoughts

I’ll be honest, it’s hard to spot the differences between Galaxian and Galaga sometimes, and it could well be that some of our experiences merged because of how similar they look and (to a lesser extent) play. And other than, I believe, the inital formation of the enemies, which now swoop in, instead of being in formation at the start. It allows for an early attack on them, although it means from the start you need to avoid enemies.

One of the changes we didn’t notice – probably because it was in other games – is that you can fire multiple shots at a time. They tended to come out clumped, removing teh advantage, but it makes the game a bit more playable and responsive. Other features, such as ships being able to be captured, are ones that we didn’t see because, well, we didn’t get far enough.

It’s a game that takes a lot from the previous games, and is so heavily imitated it’s mostly things we’ve seen in later games. It’s fun to play, and feels a bit more interesting than the previous game – and certainly a big step up from Space Invaders – but it’s difficult to see where the specific improvements are that made the game this special.

Final Thoughts

It’s probably unfair to judge the game like this, but even looking at Galaxian the step up doesn’t feel as major. The book spends a lot of time comparing the game to Space Invaders, but that ignores what came since. It’s a good game, sure, solid and fun, but the game doesn’t feel as unique as you’d expect for this list.

#697 Elite Beat Agents

Posted: 28th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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3

413th played so far

Elite_Beat_AgentsGenre: Music
Platform: DS
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: iNiS
Publisher: Nintendo

Rhythm games are usually pretty abstract, light on plot and focused on showing you your actions. You might get a vague storyline of being a DJ or a member of a band, with you ascending the charts and becoming famous, but it’s pretty flimsy. The graphics offer little more, showing you play in front of a crowd or showing clips of the song.

Today’s Elite Beat Agents describes itself with “The fate of the world depends on your touch-screen skills” and “Trouble? Call the Elite Beat Agents!” Higher stakes, then, although our question remains – how do you do so with music?

Our Thoughts

The titular agents – to remove that confusion first – somehow don’t remove your problems or solve it. No, they’re cheerleaders, dancing and cheering the heroes of mini-stories (from babysitters panicking to take care of kids to someone fighting off golems). It tells these stories through cutscenes between the actual rhythm game levels in a rather exciting comic book style – most of the game uses the imagery. One advantage of the DS here is (it turns out) that these can take place near-simultaneously – the top screen can be used for some storytelling (where your attention span allows it) while the bottom is reserved for the game and our agents.

The use of the touch screen seems to change the game (subtly) in a way that I don’t recall us seeing before. Rather obviously, the rhythm tapping doesn’t just consists of pressing or holding buttons at the right time, but instead tapping the right place at the right time, or sliding across the touch screen. The game announces these fairly far in advance, never making it that difficult, but it both makes the game feel different, and yet suitable at the same time. The default difficulty makes this fairly manageable, with higher ones obviously asking for more precision.

As much as the game’s plot might be a simple excuse plot for allowing the adventure, it is where a lot of the game’s charm lies. The method of cheering seems insane, as well as the emergencies these men in black get called out for. It’s well-written silliness though, self-aware enough to stay bearable and more than anything indulging in the oddness of its premise. The anime graphics here help, making the game feel a bit more ridiculous as well.

Marrying a silly plot to gameplay that works different enough from normal feels like a winning combination of sorts. Perhaps not the greatest, but certainly a decent game that would be worth getting back to later.

Final Thoughts

It’s bizarre, but with a good rhythm game setup that feels very playable, and easier to pick up than plastic instruments (or is that just me?). You just need to be ready to sit there, mouth open, wondering what’s going on. At least it tends to end up being amusing. It is a pity that the game was not able to (or choose not to) include the original songs and instead opted for covers. Most of them were fine but one or two felt a little off.

#709 Flow

Posted: 24th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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0

412th played so far

flow-game-screenshot-1Genre: Life Simulation
Platform: Internet
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Thatgamecompany
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

We have, as you may remember, been raving about the past two games by Thatgamecompany. Flower was a magical journey, using the simplest of controls to create an amazing world that was beautiful and at times still threatening (it made me cry). Journey was amazing, in creating a social game that could only be positive, telling a story through pictograms and environments (this also made me cry).

Flow is their first game, derived from a university project by the company’s founder Jenova Chen. Although the original was an internet flash game, we played the slightly expanded Playstation Network version. In this version there was a slight graphic improvement and the addition of another fish type.

Our Thoughts

Flower, looking at this now, is clearly a sequel to this game. Not in graphics or visible themes, but in the core of gameplay. As in that game, you take your basic form (here the start of a worm-like creature) and grow it slowly by gathering elements from the environment. Here, though, evolution comes in, as a lot of your more special and nice-looking bodyparts are taken by defeating other creatures floating around the endless sea. After ‘completing’ as the worm thing you can try out as a jellyfish (with a spin attack) and a fish (that is basically useless).

The way to progress is to dive deeper into the sea, where there are bigger creatures to defeat and more colourful bits to gather, with the goal to get to the lowest level and defeat a creature (whose form you can then take on).

The simple visual design, together with unique musical design inspired by your surroundings, makes for a unique integrated experience. The sound responds to the gameplay so fluently, growing with your creature. It’s something we found in Flower as well, but the simpler graphics enhance that feeling far more.

Final Thoughts

On the whole this game, like its name, just flows incredibly well (I hope that pun was not intended). Drifting from layer to layer, occasional moments of actions punctuating your creature’s growth. While the basic concept may have been used with more impressive graphics later in Flower, Flow‘s simplicity gives it its own contemplative, quiet angle. In the end, it’s a wonderful experience

#179 Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Posted: 20th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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411th played so far

speedball2Genre: Sports/Action
Platform: Amiga
Year of Release: 1990
Developer: The Bitmap Brothers
Publisher: Image Works

The Speedball series (two entries) is a sports game. Not, as the genre often implies, a sports game that is played on fields around the world right now, but instead a futuristic setup that works in a way only video games can really supply.

For that reason alone I approach it having a better feeling about it than would otherwise be the case.

Our Thoughts

There’s something interesting about these invented sports. There are elements that would never work in the real game – both because they’re difficult to track (such as walking over an area) or because it would be too silly or complicated for a game (a score multiplier if you throw the ball down slope, pinball-like).

The sport plays as a combination of rugby and ice hockey… with a generous helping of pinball mixed in, both in colourful flashing-light design and the bumpers, slopes and other point scoring mechanisms.

It’s what makes the game more entertaining. Because it doesn’t have the obscure controls to support minor aspects of play in the interest of simulation or rules that slowly grew over time, it’s easier to pick up and more straightforward to play. There’s a useful tutorial, which is needed to get the rules, but it actually feels like it prepares you enough.

It does still feature one of the annoyances still seen in FIFA 2010 – the game switches to the player nearest to the ball. It’s an annoying feature for two reasons – you lose control, first of all, while you might be setting something up. Second, it’s disorienting for a few moments – long enough for you to, at times, run the opposite away, far enough from the ball. It’s often enough annoying, and unpredictable enough to be frustrating.

There’s some team management in the league mode as well – as you play through, you gain money to upgrade your squad and replace players. It’s nothing too complicated – bars go up and you want it higher, but need to decide where you focus your efforts – but adds some gentle consistency between matches, more control than you might otherwise have.

Final Thoughts

This game shows how a sports game can be enhanced through video game additions. It has tighter controls than many we’ve played before while being easier to learn (despite it looking more complicated at first). The bumpers and holes give additional goals that mean you can get points over the other team in other ways than just scoring, which makes the game a lot more interesting and less… sporty focused.

#63 Tapper

Posted: 16th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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410th played so far

Tapper_coverGenre: Action
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1983
Developer: Marvin Glass and Associates
Publisher: Bally Midway

Commercial tie-in games always seem a bit weird. They often seem bad – existing games with the identifying marks filed off and a logo plastered in. There are probably plenty of them around (mostly as Flash games these days), while the association with movie and TV tie-ins often feel as bad.

Then again, there are some that are generally liked. Peter enjoys Cool Spot (I did not know it at the time, but this was a tie-in with 7up), loads of good racing games have the arguments about using realistic brands, and even Theme Park has some advertisements for a bank in it. Tapper heavily featuring the Budweiser brand (at least in its original incarnations) doesn’t feel entirely out of place in this list. It seems to be a decently memorable game anyway, with the advertising being appropriate, something to look at now. The younger generation would recognise it because of a cameo in Wreck-It-Ralph.

Our Thoughts

Luckily, the game doesn’t push the promotional part of it beyond some background graphics. Sure, it’s more than a background detail, but it doesn’t matter much. The game itself is good. It’s simple enough for an arcade game – one designed to be placed in pubs even – with a few decent mechanics that are easy to pick up and never overwhelm. Perfect, really, for someone who’s had a drink and look to try their skills.

Even sitting comfortably at home the game stays engaging. Initially the game seems simple – serve the drinks, get the customers out of the way and be quick enough. It gets more annoying when customers don’t just go away after serving, and start sending the glasses back to you, which you have to catch.

During a level, the game is fairly unforgiving – one customer waiting too long or one glass not caught means it’s over and you have to start again. The game isn’t fast or harsh enough that this happens too often, instead giving you plenty of time with each life – just not always enough to finish the level.

One thing that surprised me as a positive were the graphics. They are cartoony and bright, slightly more fun than you expect and more detailed than most contemporaries. It makes the game more enjoyable and higher quality – it feels like a lot of care has been put into the game, especially when in later levels the setting changes and the scenes look stranger.

Final Thoughts

It’s perhaps not a highly complex game, but Tapper offers a lot of replayability by slowly layering concepts. With the graphical style, there’s a drive to explore a bit further to see some extra character bits, which helps drive you on. Perhaps not always worth as many quarters, but these days there are plenty of ports to play the game without worrying about that.

#294 Chrono Trigger

Posted: 12th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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409th played so far

Chrono_Trigger_coverGenre: Role-Playing
Platform: SNES
Year of Release: 1995
Developer: Square
Publisher: Square

As a side quest while working on making it through this list, Peter has been working on creating an independent best-of list, combining the results of several best-of lists into a uniform result. This may or may not have led to something visible by the time you read this (it probably won’t if I’m being perfectly honest), but one of the results we’ve already noticed is that Chrono Trigger is, apparently, a top-10 game. It’s impressive considering how it was released on only two platforms, older ones at that, while other games have a number of platforms to them, and were released a lot more recently.

What it shows (based on what I know of it) is how solid the game experience is. Released when Square was at the top of its 2D fame (it was released around the same time as Final Fantasy VI, before the company moved into 3D gaming), it must have made an impression in terms of story and gameplay. It is up to us to confirm this, of course, and with its qualitiy, this is where we have to jump in and try the game.

Our Thoughts

There was a specific place in the narrative I wanted to get through on our blog playthrough, as I felt it would show off the concept to that point and show off the things the game pays attention to (for those who know the game: the court case). That was less than halfway through our actual play time.

Starting from a simple idea – the protagonist (Chrono) visiting a country fair – it builds up the danger slowly but suitably – moving into time travel first to save royalty, introducing the concepts of the past changing the future during it, then slowing moving to saving the past and present worlds. Even a number of New Game Plus concepts are explained by skipping parts of the game through time travel. The thematic links come back, building on what came before without ever feeling like the game is repeating itself.

So much of this is driven, initially, by the characters. There’s the plucky tomboy running away from responsibility, the smart inventor girl, and both are dismayed at one point because the robot sidekick seems destroyed for a short amount. What was more interesting, though, is how the silent protagonist gets defined. In the court case mentioned earlier, actions you take at the fair are judged and have an effect on the outcome. It also shows what sort of character Chrono is – how nice, how greedy and so on. You can argue, but the oddities of the main character’s behaviour are pointed out.

The world in the game has plenty of nooks and crannies with special events. Side quests, small cutscenes that give a bit of life to your random encounters and generally add life to the game. It leads to a world that rewards exploring and one where, after you get through the first stretch of the main story, there is a lot of optional content to pursue. It’s a joy to experience.

One of the nice changes compared to standard Square fare are those random encounters. They’re not as random or overwhelming as their usual Final Fantasy fare of the time, where you just get a screen wipe and end up in battle. Instead, they all take place on the same overworld map. You can always see them there and most of the time, with some deft maneuvering, can avoid them (if you don’t want the XP or spend the time). It feels a bit more real.

One advantage of this as well is how positioning matters. A number of your attacks have a ‘pattern’ and attack enemies in a line or a specific area. It requires you to make some tactical choices and often combine your characters’ abilities to attack specific areas. Beyond positioning (and timing when the enemies are in the right place) the battles play out as standard Final Fantasy ATB affairs. Even most of the stats are familiar, although separating XP (which bleeds to those not in the party) and tech points (giving you access to some magic, but only if the character is in the party) encourages some easy party rotation.

One thing that stood out positively is the XP curve. JRPGs tend to require quite a lot of grinding, often quite early on, requiring more than just immediate play to keep up with the enemies. For Chrono Trigger, though, we played through and felt like we were at the right level at every point. Sure, a new level started off a bit tougher, but it was easy to catch up and overtake that point. It made the game a lot more playable and fun.

The game is so large that I know we haven’t touched on everything yet, and we’ll get back to the game soon enough to play further. The game is good enough that it seems like something we should finish. It’s worth that top ten place.

Final Thoughts

This is a game that excels in so many places, it’s difficult to see where it stops. Chrono Trigger is probably the best example of the 2D JRPG, one that I love as we saw a long time ago with Super Mario RPG. The graphics here are beautifully and memorably executed, the mechanics work well without any unexpectedly big leaps of difficulty and with an amazingly engaging story and characters.

As said, this is high on any list covering the best games out there (without filters) and even now it shows, remaining as playable as ever, with some nice small improvements in the more recent DS release.

#188 Dr. Mario

Posted: 8th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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1

408th played so far

Dr._Mario_box_artGenre: Puzzle
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1990
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Sure, Mario has had many jobs through the years, but I suppose his employment as a doctor is probably more known to people through Super Smash Bros appearances than anyone who have played the game.

Even when playing Warioware today, we realised we had barely played it (this is because there is a minigame involving Dr Mario in the retro minigames section). Enough reason to bring it in today.

Our Thoughts

Dr. Mario is, when you look at it, not a very complicated game. Viruses are spread around the screen and you use pills falling from the skies to cure them, using colour-coded piles. It’s one of the many Tetris variants, which we’ve seen plenty of and will see more of, and this is (as so many of them) a very addictive one.

Because the game has a clear end of level condition (kill all the viruses) that allows you to move on, the levels feel more manageable than an infinite approach, with the randomization allowing for more interesting starting conditions. It escalates fairly rapidly, both in speed and number of viruses to deal with. What becomes the most interesting though as you get in further is how to get out of the difficult situations you get in – dealing with the messes of medicine that are of the wrong colour in the wrong place, and all of the ones you don’t need.

Agility plays a far larger role, as a badly placed block doesn’t just form part of a line, but all colours need to match as well. The controls are appropriately tight for it, making sure that you’re really left blaming yourself, not aiming it at the game.

All of this makes it more frustrating that the Mario branding feels… well, unnecessary. Other than a few static images, the plumber-turned-doctor plays no role in the game and all those bits could be replaced with anything. It feels very obviously a way to sell the game, rather than adding to the charm like the aforementioned Warioware games give.

Final Thoughts

This game is an entertainig puzzle, a decent predecessor showing what could happen with the block falling puzzles and how to move away from the Tetris formula. We’ll certainly pick it up again every once in a while – in fact, I’ve noticed Peter playing it again a couple of times (it is so very addictive). It might be a forgotten classic, almost part of the trivia “did you know Mario was a doctor?” set of things, but it’s good enough to be looked at occasionally. Perhaps something for a future Mario easter egg?

#547 WarioWare, Inc.: Mega MicroGames!

Posted: 4th March 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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2

407th played so far

52510_frontGenre: Action
Platform: Gameboy Advance
Year of Release: 2003
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

The first time we played a WarioWare game, it came with what would have been an accelerometer gimmick. A collection of minigames that rely on it.

It was the second part in the series, with today’s game being the first. A minigame collection with a thin narrative, themed around Wario and his friends.

Our Thoughts

It’s tough, really, to judge a collection of minigames. They’re all simple and quick, with graphical quality differing between them, but it never really mattering. Some are a bit odd, some don’t give you a whole lot of time to understand the objective, but they do tend to hold together well.

The game hits it right, simple games that can escalate in difficulty and put you under more pressure. It feels fun and fair and frustrating only after you’ve been going for a bit when the difficulty ramps up.

It’s the theming where the game really stands out and turns this into more than just a collection of random diversions. The first and last levels mix a bunch of different games, but in between especially the games tend to focus a bit more – some more action-based, but one that seemed mostly based on quizzes and word association, which felt different enough. The surrounding cutscenes and graphics also adapt, with the quiz based level having a strong space focus, including dancing rabbits with astronaut’s helmets on.

What probably works best is how much of the game is a pick up and go thing. I had a savegame on my 3DS copy of the game (through the ambassador program) which must date back a few years now, but when playing it I didn’t need much. I didn’t do as well on the higher levels straight away, but I simply didn’t get as overwhelmed as I could have been dropping into the middle of any other game, something that helps as much in keeping the game entertaining.

Final Thoughts

The Warioware games, by nature, aren’t going to provide you with a big overarching theme or memory. Instead, everything about it is so bite-sized that there are always fun parts, and any bits that you don’t get along with, minigames that don’t work for you or minor errors you make while playing just don’t matter. It’s good still to pick up, play and let go a few hours later, all that you really need for a commute or break from other work.

As good as this game is I would wager that WarioWare: Touched! is actually the better game (if only for the introduction of Ashley and her theme music). Still, this started off a good franchise, one that sadly appears to have run out of ideas if Game and Wario is anything to go by.

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