MiloScat

[Review] Lego DC Super Villains (PS4)

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 12:00:54 +1100

It’s another Lego game! The latest one in this style, in fact.

As usual Cathy and I played this together over a period of time. It’s one of the superhero games (the fourth one under the DC banner), so there’s a fun selection of characters with wacky powers. The premise here is that it’s a game about the villains, which informs the plot and how the story mode plays out, but the free play roster is still stuffed with heroes, and bloated with duplicates (eg. Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Bizarro, Ultraman, etc.).

One of the key new features is the integration of the character creator. Lego games have always let you design your own in-game figure to play as from available parts, but the campaign here starts with that process, and your new OC takes centre stage in the plot (albeit voiceless). They get new powers over the levels, and end up being an extremely useful polymath, as well as increasing your attachment to them due to their prominence. I thought we’d both get equal chances to do this so I took the lead; sadly it’s just the one but Cathy made herself later with complementary powers in the usual creation suite. Our lead villain then was Flit, whose yellow-and-green colour scheme I picked randomly but it happened to line up perfectly with the parademons who showed up as part of the real antagonistic faction, giving her a built-in imagined backstory as a defector.

The plot involves villains teaming up (with lots of bickering of course), to stop the Crime Syndicate from Earth 3 who are posing as good guys. They turn out to be puppets of Darkseid, and the Justice League ends up joining forces with the villain group after being absent most of the story. They also get their own post-game mini-campaign. Joker (played this time by an audibly aging Mark Hamill reprising his role from Batman The Animated series, alongside Kevin Conroy as a Batman who does not match the tone of the game universe) is positioned by marketing as the main character but really Harley plays the protagonist role. Of course it’s all inconsequential to the real point of the game, which is flying around, smashing things, and collecting stuff, which is as good as ever.

A few nice improvements in this one: the character select screen’s ability filter, which highlights anyone with a specific skill. The minimap and hub menus are drawn on an in-game phone interface, a nice touch that ties in with the plot detail of Harley’s phone and one of the collectibles (vandalising hero portraits then taking a selfie), plus NPCs now text you after a quest with some follow-up gags. The hub subquests of finding various hidden objects, returning from Lego Marvel 2, are made much more achievable and worthwhile with the addition of written hints. As usual we had a few crashes and more minor bugs, but this was an enjoyable experience and, I think, one of the better Lego games.

[Review] Space Hunted (Wii U)

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 12:01:22 +1100

While I’m on the topic of NES-style Metroid-likes, here’s… a single-screen puzzle platformer?

Ultra Dolphin Revolution is a small team who thus far have focused on faux-8-bit action games released exclusively on Wii U, between 2016 and present(!). They’re big Nintendo fans, as you can tell from their name (taken from development codenames for Nintendo consoles), their frequent cosplay appearances at cons, and the references in this game. Of course there’s Metroid nods, the key art is based on the international boxart of Super Mario Bros., and the pickups resemble the Zapper and the NES Advantage.

The structure of the game too harkens back to 80s arcadey experiences. There’s 128 single-screen levels (although a good chunk of them are remixes of earlier stages) that can get demanding of timing and reaction, but with a nice puzzle feel of figuring out the correct order to do things… particularly the levels where your evil shadow mirrors your movements.

On each stage you have to pick up the joystick to create a portal to the next stage. Sometimes you’re timing jumps between moving platforms, or navigating some tight corridors between obstacles, or just blasting aliens in your way. There’s also the occasional warp to skip you ahead. Later on they heavily use the alien who’s able to fire at you from any angle through walls, and the difficulty of some stages can get a bit much… such that I opted against playing the sequel game that purportedly stacks on the challenge. This was at a satisfying level for me.

You have limited lives, but they only really matter for score chasing, as you’re able to start any level you’ve reached from the main menu, and it defaults to your last spot on a game over. So while it has the trappings of an early NES game, it’s a lot more forgiving. Also, it’s in widescreen. Also, it’s very cheap! It doesn’t really make use of the Wii U’s double screens, just mirroring the display on the Gamepad, but I was happy to get some more use out of the old faithful.

[Review] Metroid: Rogue Dawn (NES)

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 12:00:57 +1100

Hats off to this ambitious total conversion ROMhack!

This game was distributed as a patch to the original NES Metroid in 2017. Grimlock and team sought to create a new experience, a prequel to M1, with mostly new assets. It integrates many welcome changes to the original engine from earlier patches, such as saving, a minimap, and beam stacking, but goes beyond that with new abilities for M1 like the walljump, as well as all-new enemies, bosses, and areas to explore… not to mention adding slopes to a game that was originally so rigidly block-based!

The story is intriguing. Using the M1 manual backstory as its basis, you play as Dawn Aran, modified and raised by Ridley as a ruthless agent of the Space Pirates. The Pirate ship serves as a hub as you explore new regions of SR388 to find a Metroid specimen. This takes you through deep forests, submerged caves, Chozo ruins, a downed GF ship, and into a thriving Metroid hive, all dripping with atmosphere thanks to their stark colour schemes and occasionally animated backdrops. Dawn’s conscience will be tested, and the plot elements, though light, are well integrated.

The most arresting feature of this unofficial Metroid instalment is its use of graphic tiles (and negative space) to represent the game world. The heavy use of unique sprites and their clever arrangement gives the areas a realistic feel, be it the natural ecosystems or the constructed ship zones. The level design is also much more intricate and complex than in M1 despite being bound by the same limitations of alternating horizontal/vertical aligned rooms; it makes the repetitive, static screens of the original seem bland and unambitious in comparison. The one aspect in which this falls down is the two looping maze sequences, which break the map and rely on trial and error; I spent a while frustrated and lost in these, which are relatively early in the game.

The other clever use of graphics to work around Metroid’s limitations is the in-game text. Some screens will have dialogue or signs displayed in text simply overlaid on the screen. Like the ambient cutscenes of Half-Life 2 these don’t interrupt your actions, or are there to aid navigation, remind you of your objective, or just flesh out the world, it’s very cleverly done. There’s also a ton of secrets to find, from sequence-breaking early powerups to convenient recharge points, to hidden Metroids drawn out in object graphics or just silly Easter eggs!

I have to give it to Grimlock and the team behind this. They took the clunky Metroid we know and gave it a total overhaul, a cool new story, and made something that feels fresh within the constraints of the NES. Aside from those damn mazes, there’s a lot to love here. Check it out!

[Review] AM2R (PC)

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 12:00:32 +1100

It’s high time I caught up with this fangame, it seems most people love it (except for Nintendo’s lawyers).

The big story around this fan-created remake of the Game Boy title Metroid 2 was its takedown mere hours after release. It’s not worth going into; suffice to say that I resent the stifling of community creativity in the name of corporate interests. Thankfully the game was finished and released, is still available, and has since had a number of further patches by the wider community to fix issues and add some planned and new features; plus its chief creator Milton “DoctorM64″ Guasti was hired to work on the Ori sequel (itself a Metroid-like), so it seems like a more or less happy ending. Oh and by the way, Mercury Steam’s Samus Returns is a pretty good game, although the two projects have quite different goals.

MSR goes further to reimagine and reinvent M2, breaking new ground with its mechanics. AM2R meanwhile is a model fan game, remixing the source in a familiar style and loading it with fan service along the way. What we have is very akin to Zero Mission, both in style and substance. In other words, perfectly in my sweet spot. It plays as smooth and looks even better with a larger screen size to show off the detailed pixel art (even larger with the post-launch 1.5 patch that added widescreen support!), adds a bunch of abilities missing from the original, a fantastic map, new bosses drawn from Fusion, and all-original areas and events.

And… well, I really liked it! What else can I say? It’s a Zero Mission for M2 but a bit more modern and advanced with a ton of conveniences and lots of toggles in the options menu. I loved the attempts to shake up the Metroid encounters, the surprises like exploring the GF ship filled with Alien references, the written logbook entries. Above all I just love the passion on display here, it’s faithful but with fun twists and just so well done. The state of the game is a testament to the fan community in general and Guasti in particular. Please keep creating!

[Review] Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls (iOS)

Sun, 24 Oct 2021 12:01:15 +1100

It was inevitable; they turned Castlevania into a free to play mobile game. But it’s not bad actually!

I was interested in this game since it was announced years ago. After a soft launch exclusive to Canada in 2019, it was soon discontinued, seemingly cancelled. In reality Konami must have done a deal with Apple to rework the game for the Apple Arcade service, and it resurfaced a month ago! It feels like some other F2P conversions to the platform; gacha system and various currencies intact, but clearly a stamina/energy system and the ability to pay real money were once there and have been ripped out. Also removed from the soft launch version was the multiplayer mode and with it larger, Harmony of Despair-type maps.

The game as it currently exists is a level-based experience like the Classicvanias of old, but with a core loop revolving around loot and upgrading your stats. There’s five characters to play as, fun choices all: Alucard (Symphony of the Night), Simon (Castlevania 1), young Maria (Rondo of Blood), Charlotte (Portrait of Ruin), and Shanoa (Order of Ecclesia). It’s a good mix from different eras who play differently; I favoured Maria as I did in Rondo itself for her small stature and nimble, bird-based attack pattern, but it was also fun playing as Shanoa again and using her magnet launch to zip around and get out-of-the-way treasures.

Being a crossover with seemingly low stakes seemed an uninteresting angle to me. I preferred how the similar Chinese-developed—and sadly cancelled—Moonlight Rhapsody had a robust cast of new characters to expand the series. But GoS does try harder than HoD at least with its framing story, set nebulously post-Dawn of Sorrow, and I came to appreciate the character-building conversations, especially the ones rewarded for completing optional levels.

In terms of content it’s a lot of rehashing, given the plot involves records of past events stored in magical tomes being tampered with (sort of like Dragonball’s Time Patrol). But again it’s a fair variety of different environments, even if the enemy types feel like an extension of the Rondo->Symphony->DS games->HD recycling. Everything is redone in cel-shaded 3D models, so they really could have broadened things out in this department. At time of writing there are four worlds each with fifteen levels and a boss; difficulty (ie. stat numbers) ramps up with each but the game provides you with enough resources to keep up pretty comfortably. There’s also side modes with different kinds of challenges to keep things fresh. I feared the game would be dumped as it was and left as such, but during my playtime it received an update with UI improvements and a themed event, which gives hope that new levels and the implicitly promised Soma roster expansion will come.

Since this is an Apple Arcade game, it supports play on all Apple devices. I swapped around a lot, from my phone for casual play at any time—navigating the many menus is much better with touch—to the Apple TV with a Dualshock 4—more precise in-game controls for serious gameplay—to a hybrid approach with an iPad on my lap, allowing for touch menus and gamepad for levels. They all worked pretty well!

I can see myself returning to this when it’s updated but as it is it’s a decent little package. I’m just glad it was finally widely released in some form or other. Not that I’m getting my hopes up for what this means for the series, but Konami was invested enough in this to get Ayami Kojima back for portraits and Michiru Yamane for music, two big names from the franchise’s history, which is encouraging. Either way we still have the Bloodstained games for “proper” game experiences as well… but this is pretty good too!

[Review] Nier Reincarnation (iOS)

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 12:01:06 +1100

My first Nier game, and I’m hooked!

My friend Gibbon got me to try this new mobile RPG as it launched, and I played it daily until now! It’s got all the usual trappings of these kind of free to play games, with an energy system, premium currency, tons of crafting materials, events, crossovers. Gameplay is simplistic and more about keeping your numbers up. But it’s wrapped up in an appealing package with some pretty engaging story and very stylish, clean, and consistent visual design.

It’s a Yoko Taro game like the other Nier and Drakengard titles. From what I know of them (not having played them yet myself), this seems to share many traits: desaturated colour schemes, themes of transhumanism, most of the characters being waifish, white-haired cyborg asassins with embarrassingly revealing outfits.

In this case, there’s a framing story about a young girl/insectoid monster being led around a vast stone ruin by a mysterious and deceptive but cute ghost-like creature. In trying to recover her memories/consume the dreams of humans, they enter other stories from across the ages, and observe the absurdly tragic lives of a series of characters, recruiting them for your team. These range from touching tales of lives ruined by war (90% of the cast), to infuriating debacles of a guy selfishly neglecting his family (Argo, he sucks).

My main team consisted of Gayle, the provincial provider forcibly converted into a part-mechanical killing machine; Akeha, matriarch of a house of assassins in feudal Japan; and Fio, the main character(?), who was forced into a social subclass and whose family fell apart, her only solace found in the world of dreams with an unlikely friend. Most of the settings of these tales are post-apocalyptic dystopias of one kind or another, and share themes of cruelty, war, the search for meaning, and having ridiculously terrible things happen constantly to the characters and seeing how they react. You can dig as deep as you want for the story content, with alternate skins, weapons, and events fleshing out backstories and sidestories of the cast, their contexts, and their intersections.

I don’t know how much I can say about the gameplay. There is a fair bit of depth to setting up and customising your team and navigating all the upgrade menus. The RPG battles set in their restricted 3D arenas look flashy but basically play themselves, although you have a little bit of interactivity with them. Like many of these games you can spend stamina to grind a bunch of quests automatically, but in this one you actually have to let them play out in real time even then, which requires a not insignificant time investment on the player’s part. I got used to setting this up then putting my phone down while I did something else; keep in mind this can be a big drain on the battery.

As far as free to play games go, this one was very generous. They throw premium currency and materials at you often, and the international launch had events coming thick and fast, to catch up to the six-month-old Japanese release. As of today we’ve reached parity on main story content, and had crossovers with Nier Replicant and Automata, as well as Drakengard 3. With a roadmap of more improvements and content to come, the game is still living and evolving, but it’s in a robust shape and worth checking out.

[Review] Minoria (PS4)

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 12:01:56 +1100

This follow-up to Momodora: Reverie under the Moonlight covers similar ground but drops the pixel art.

A fifth Momodora game in 3D was being developed by rdein and the team at Bombservice. After negative feedback, the project was sadly scrapped. Instead, we got Minoria, which ends up feeling very similar to Reverie despite moving from charming pixel graphics to a more flat painted/cel shaded style.

This style really works for the game, although some of the locations can feel a bit samey and dreary. Again it’s a full Metroidvania, with primarily sword-based combat. A range of equippable incenses act as limited-use ranged weapons and buffs. Mobility unlocks are merely a double jump and air dash, although they’re satisfying to use. Semilla is a mobile protagonist; dodge rolling is the fastest way of moving around the world and it feels good in and out of combat.

New to this game are blocks which can trigger a powerful parry attack, and the stun bar. Enemies all have one which builds up when they are attacked but much more when blocked. Their momentary stun when this is filled isn’t a huge deal in a fight but it adds a little depth. I mostly relied on dodging and Semilla’s ordinarily fast, powerful sword attacks. As before, defeating a boss without damage gives a bonus item… I took the challenge, and relished the rewards.

The setting of Minoria is touted as a departure from the existing Momodora games, but it’s effectively very similar to Reverie in concept; character designs share similar features; there’s even place names that are almost the same, and the occasional explicit back-reference. In this world, a militant, authoritarian church is fighting a faction of naturalist witches. You play as a battle nun and as you progress, the tragic pasts of you and your companion, as well as the kingdom as a whole, are doled out to make the conflict more ambiguous. Along the way there’s the occasional touching or surprising scene, and there’s a choice at the end but neither ending is a happy one.

Since Momodora V was cancelled, this stands in as a true and worthy successor. It doesn’t push the envelope or experiment with the structure as some instalments have done, and I personally preferred the pixel art look especially with its more expressive animations. But it’s still got a lot of the stuff I love about the series, especially as a direct sequel to Reverie. I look forward to what they do next… wait a mo, I see here that they’ve announced a final Momodora game with a return to pixel art! How exciting, well I’ll watch out for that!

[Review] Metroid Dread (NS)

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 12:07:07 +1100

Mercury Steam did a decent job with Samus Returns, but with Dread they’ve really come off the chain!

Samus Returns was a compelling reimagining of a Game Boy classic, but it was held back by two things: being a remake and thus limited with how much it could advance the story outside of embellishments, and by the technical scope of the 3DS with its low resolution and framerate. As with Mirror of Fate, the game was crying out for a more powerful system to show what MS could really do. And now with Dread, a full, proper sequel in the 2D lineage, they have!

Not that the Switch is particularly powerful, but it at least has more buttons by default and can run Dread at 60 FPS… most of the time. It looks gorgeous, it feels like every room has its own detailed, unique backdrop that helps to lay on the atmosphere that Metroid games are so known for. The action is smooth and fast-paced, the exploration delightfully intricate and satisfying. The new mechanics of MSR have been iterated on for the better, and the series has actually progressed the storyline for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Set a little after Fusion, Samus is investigating a possible loose end of extant X, the mutant parasitic shapeshifting blobs that she is uniquely able to deal with thanks to her Metroid DNA. Story hooks hidden in MSR rear their head with a villainous Chozo faction out to capture her, aided by reprogrammed Galactic Federation robots. And it goes from there, with a few big twists leading to a truly epic climax! It’s a very cool plot, and a good showing for Samus herself!

The Emmi robots are a well-publicised feature, including their own amiibo figure. They provide a tense, recurring stealth/chase mechanic reminiscent of a less scripted version of the SA-X encounters of Fusion: an overpowered enemy you can only hope to barely escape from at first. Although they can easily take you down, you gain techniques to evade them, and have a slim chance to escape their grasp with a—hrmm—quick time event (the implementation of the counter system is improved here but there are a couple of boss fights where a cutscene counter is mandatory). They are each cordoned off into specific map areas, which means large parts of each area are visually samey.

Apart from these intense encounters, the enemy roster is suitably monstrous and alien, and refreshingly is all new (outside of the returning Kraid, although his fight is pretty great). It’s nice not to have yet another Ridley gatecrash… oh wait, there’s also a recurring miniboss that’s a Mother Brain rehash but I’ll let that slide too. The new bosses are excellent fun, making good use of the new slide mechanic that serves to make Samus feel more agile than ever.

That’s a good summary of the game… it feels recognisably Metroid-ish, but amped up and smoother than it’s ever been. I cleared it in 9.5 hours (not counting restarts after death, etc) and got 100% items in 12.5, after some fiendish speed boost/shinespark puzzles. At this time, shortly after blasting through it, I’ll declare it my favourite Metroid game, and I’m confident it will hold that title for a good while to come. Thank you Mercury Steam!

[Review] Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (PS3)

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 12:01:59 +1100

Despite being generally maligned, I liked this a lot better than the first game! Spoilers and content warning for self-harm.

It’s no secret that this game had some difficulties. People who worked on the game have talked about a messy development cycle, an overbearing director, lack of support from Konami, and mass layoffs. The game itself can feel a bit disjointed or rushed at times, but on the whole the gameplay improvements, the new structure, and the setting won me over and I had a great time. Well, except for one thing I should mention up top.

About halfway or two thirds through my playthrough, I experienced a game-breaking glitch so bad I had to make a new save file. You see, I wasn’t sure how to trigger an autosave in the game as it’s easy to lose progress with a careless shutdown. So I pushed forward to the next plot-relevant area before backtracking to find optional stuff. When I eventually returned, none of the enemies had spawned in the new area, including one I needed to progress. I tried reverting to my last checkpoint in the menu, hoping that would jog the triggers; instead, the game locked immediately after I spawned and nothing could be done to advance. This is such a huge bug to happen after 12 hours of play that it speaks to the game’s troubled development, but it also just sucks as a user. I powered back to that point in 3 hours by turning down the difficulty, skipping cutscenes, and passing up collectibles, but it certainly put a cloud over the experience.

Luckily I overcame this and I had a better time than with LoS1 or Mirror of Fate. Gabriel/Dracula is at his most sympathetic, the combat has been tightened up with upgrade mechanics to incentivise trying out a broad variety of techniques, and traversal is more fun thanks to a more acrobatic protagonist with vampire powers. I got on better with the overall game flow too, as it’s now a more Metroidvania-esque thing in 3D, with maps! They also cut out most of the puzzles, which I don’t mind too much.

The open world is broken up by loading zones, masked by Star Fox Adventures-style busywork. It takes place in two distinct settings: one a near-future metropolis, built over the remains of Dracula’s ruined castle. It mixes modern trappings with gothic architecture and thus ends up feeling like Batman’s Gotham City, or at times the Warhammer 40K Imperium. The other is a dream version of Dracula’s castle, populated by embodied memories like a young version of his son, his dead wife, and his previous minions such as Japanese horror movie versions of the Gorgons.

The plot is a bit all over the place but basically involves the return of Satan 1000 years after his defeat in the last game. His demonic minions are using biochemical agents to turn people into ghouls, weapons to corrupt law enforcement, and false faith to mislead the populace and summon monsters. Zobek (with Patrick Stewart reprising his role) enlists a decrepit Dracula to stop them, regaining his powers along the way. You mostly get them from the dream castle, where the cursed blood, a representation of Dracula’s inner struggle with his dark nature, possesses creatures to try and stop him from abandoning his role as “Prince of Darkness”. As an excuse for exploring these settings the story works, it’s just handled a bit messily.

Along the way you meet some colourful characters, although many don’t stick around long and end up dying after a few minutes. The game can be abrupt about this, especially towards the end where a boss gauntlet rushes things to a conclusion. The DLC is an interquel where Alucard does some table setting for the events of the main game; in terms of plot it’s inconsequential but he’s fun to play as, there’s some new locations and enemies, and they bring back puzzles; I’d recommend it.

It’s worth noting an element that I found offputting: the game earns its R rating, not just with the copious volumes of goopy blood, the cigarette smoking, and I think one swear; the real actual thing that bothered me was the self-mutilation that Dracula does as a matter of course. To activate various mechanisms in the game world he has to give up some of his blood (they introduced this in the first game’s DLC, but here it just happens all the time without loss of health). Often this is accompanied by him tearing his own flesh or forcibly interacting with sharp objects. I get the purpose of this thematically, or maybe it’s just being edgy, but I often had to look away from the screen. There’s also a scripted scene early on where you’re forced to graphically slay and feed from a protesting family of innocents that Zobek has arranged for you to regain your vitality from your desiccated mummy-man state as seen in the first game’s epilogue scene. It’s unpleasant to say the least.

So aside from some issues, I had a great time here. The forced stealth sections and rat transformations are brief diversions, not game-ruining missteps. The story is not any more muddled than its direct predecessors. And they added a menu options to entirely disable QTEs! Apart from anything else about the game’s cool environments and smooth mechanics, this is a huge thumbs up from me and reason enough to recommend this one, although it’s hard to suggest it on its own given how much it references and builds on the other two games in the sub-series. Overall the three games are a fascinating and flawed but successful alternate take on Castlevania, and I’m glad I played them.

[Review] Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate (PS3)

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 12:01:06 +1000

I owe this game an apology. Spoilers ahead.

Ages ago, I wrote a review of sorts after playing the demo of this on 3DS. At the time I was just getting into the DS Castlevania games and relishing their impeccable pixel art and precision gameplay. Let’s just say I thought this didn’t measure up. But now, I’m playing it in its proper context and able to appreciate it for what it is: a translation of the cinematic style of Lords of Shadow, hybridised with some “classic” 2D exploration/search action/Metroidvania/whatever structure, and at that it’s quite successful!

Putting things on a 2D plane makes the combat and platforming more manageable and fun, for me. It streamlines your actions, and you don’t get overwhelmed in fights. And to compare it to the earlier pixel-based games of the series, the fights are fewer and more involved, especially when you add in the finishing moves, counters, and variants of LoS’s magic mechanics.

Apart from the overall gameplay style, the big design choice with this game is the odd divided structure. It takes place in three “acts” (plus a prologue as Gabriel). In each, you take control of a different character with their own set of utility and mobility powers to newly unlock… but some progression carries over, like health extensions and combat unlocks from experience points. Essentially it’s like three mini-Metroidvanias in a row.

This is a fine idea and lets them explore three slightly different gameplay styles. All have variations of offensive/defensive magic states and two unique subweapons, while their other skills have some overlap (they all still use a combat cross, for example). The other goal of this is to tell a generation-spanning story; great in theory, but needlessly obfuscated in practice.

It’s the order of things that baffles me. You first play Simon’s story, 57 years after the original game. Then you jump into a parallel story as Alucard (the coolest one thanks to his vampiric powers), finishing at the same point as the first act. Finally you’re booted 30 years into the past to play through a prequel story as Trevor up to his transformation into Alucard. It means the game builds up to an event that already happened where our hero loses, and you play the last third of the game as the character who is mechanically most like Gabriel and so the least interesting.

I guess this is to facilitate an abundance of twists and revelations, but I spoiled myself on this game’s story years ago and I don’t think it’s even told well in the game. As with LoS itself, the supposed themes aren’t delivered on satisfactorily, and the non-chronological storytelling just confuses things. There’s a mysterious “Lost Soul” character who through it all remains frustratingly vague and talk of destiny and such, but the actual narrative is straightforward unless you purposefully tell it out of order like the game does. I don’t know, it felt like a very misguided choice to me but maybe I’m too hung up on linearity.

Since the purpose of my playing this is to prepare for Metroid Dread, it was interesting to see ideas here that lead directly into Samus Returns and its upcoming successor, like the counter system or the Aeon abilities being similar to the magic toggles, as well as the general feel of these characters in 2D space. Maybe the bell escape sequence is similar to the Diggernaut chase? Anyway, I think a strength of MercurySteam’s CV work is the detailed environments that evoke a good sense of place, and I hope to see more of that in Dread.

A final note is that I played the HD version, an upgraded port of the 3DS original. It obviously looks and sounds better (although you can tell on both counts that this is still in essence a lower-budget handheld game), but also they apparently removed a lot of QTE demands from this remaster, for which I profusely thank them. The few times a cinematic setpiece did require them cheesed me off, but failing only sets you a few seconds back, none of the repeated boss phases here that LoS had. Also, I played on Easy mode for maximum checkpoints and map friendliness, and I don’t regret it.

New pixel art:...

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 18:48:00 +1000

New pixel art: Ewoks!

https://www.deviantart.com/miloscat/art/Star-Wars-Ewoks-892915494

[Review] Jill of the Jungle / Onesimus / Vinyl Goddess from Mars / Xargon (DOS)

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 12:00:53 +1000

I never played much DOS shareware but it’s still oddly nostalgic! Also, Jill is just a good game.

I’ve played all these on a stream before but when my pal Lifeforce picked Jill for the monthly retro game club, I relished the chance to try it again and play the related games more thoroughly. Jill may seem basic now but it’s well designed, varied, and has a ton of charm.

Hearing the digitised voice call out “YEAH” when you pick up a key, so cheesy. Transforming into a fish, a frog, or a metal-as-heck fiery bird, very cool. Navigating the caverns, wilderness, or castles, it’s good clean fun. Jill is a classic of its time, a bit experimental (each of the three episodes has a different approach to the hub between levels), and full of silly self-promotion for Tim Sweeney and Epic MegaGames, as they were called long before Gears of War and Fortnite.

As part of exploring the larger Jill universe, I then played Onesimus: A Quest for Freedom. Built on the Jill engine, I figured I was in for more Jill-style action; in fact, all of its levels are recycled from the three Jill episodes (apart from I think the intro, and the Jill 3-style top-down map screen). In all it’s more levels than any individual Jill episode, but in an effort to keep things more realistic they’ve cut the transformations and changed some of the enemies. For example, instead of a demon you’re now sometimes accosted by a shirtless bandit… although he still flies and shoots fireballs. There’s also still an “ice palace” level. It’s supposed to be an adaptation of the story of an escaped slave as told in the Bible’s book of Philemon, and there’s lots of text popups taken from the book, but they don’t really relate to the action. It’s at least got the novelty of being one of the rare Christian/Bible games that are actually good, but it’s not worth playing over Jill itself.

Six Pound Sledge Studios at one point pitched Epic on a sequel to Jill. Epic passed on it, but SPSS finished the game anyway and released it with a new skin. Vinyl Goddess from Mars (the title a play on the unrelated adventure game Leather Goddesses of Phobos) has a schlocky sci-fi theme, complete with a heavier focus on the exploitation aspect of its heroine (not that Jill was entirely innocent of this). I judge it as a decent follow-up to Jill, expanding on its weapon and keyhunt concepts while pouring on more combat, secrets, and collectibles. It’s a fun, action-packed take compared to Jill’s slightly more deliberate style, although the level designs are a bit too sprawling and it pushes the system a little far at times as the abundance of sprites cause slowdown. It’s got top-down map segments but like in Jill 3 itself they don’t add much to the experience, and there’s no transformations at all. Still, I had a good time but wouldn’t dream of setting the game any higher than Easy mode.

I finished up by trying Xargon (out of release order, oops). It was Epic’s own follow-up to Jill, albeit without Tim Sweeney. It’s very similar in structure to Jill (especially 3, as again there’s a top-down map) but with a bunch of new systems bolted on: weapon upgrades that make your default feel weak, a shop that unbalances the game design, and a greater focus on story that’s pretty unremarkable. The sci-fi/fantasy setting is fun… but it’s just not the classic Jill was. There’s a lot more clumsy combat, Malvineous Havershim despite having a cool name is a boring protagonist, and the more open level designs demand so much backtracking and aimless wandering for keys. The graphics are more detailed and colourful but this comes at a heavy cost, as the slowdown is even worse than Vinyl, and its sluggishness really hurts the playability. After the game unfortunately locked up for some reason near the end of the second episode (of three, as seems to be common shareware practice) I decided I’d rather not return to my earlier save point, and dropped it there.

What this experience taught me is that extra bells and whistles are no substitute for good game design. Jill’s simplicity is its strength, and even within its limitations there was lots of room for iteration and experimentation to give you variety in gameplay. The attempts to follow it up in Vinyl and Xargon add a lot of “stuff” but end up feeling blander because you’re more often doing the same thing, and they go too far causing technical drawbacks to performance. This was a very instructive comparison to me, and for that reason they’re all worth trying out at least, but Jill is the keeper here (not that the other games shouldn’t be preserved, of course they should).

[Review] Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3)

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 12:00:50 +1000

Like God of War but with vampires. Spoilers ahead!

With Metroid Dread on the horizon, I thought I’d catch up developer Mercury Steam’s other works, especially as I also have fondness for the Castlevania series. Although I haven’t played God of War, apparently the Spanish studio’s first entry in this soft-reboot takes a lot of ideas from it.

What this translates to is linear-ish levels filled with button-mashy combat encounters, combined with lots of whip-enhanced clambering and some puzzles thrown in for good measure. Oh, and the Quick Time Events. Sigh. I think most of these modes of play work well, except for those damn QTEs. There’s nothing worse than having to redo a whole boss phase because you missed one button press in a cutscene or couldn’t mash fast enough. Three of the boss fights also liberally borrow from the Shadow of the Colossus notebook, but it’s a pale imitation at best.

Anyway, enough griping about that. I wanna talk about how this game looks. It looks good! There’s plenty of variety in the environments from spooky forests to spooky cathedrals and castles, to a spooky desolate wasteland. Maybe spooky is the wrong word for the actual feel and tone though… it’s more going for “epic”, Lord of the Rings style. So you get these memorable vistas of lofty gothic architecture or ancient ruins, and it feels like a momentous quest through a real world.

On that note, there’s some great worldbuilding here, and a bunch of namedrops and references to Castlevania lore, even though the game itself doesn’t try too hard to fit in the existing continuity. Which is fine with me! I think you can make it work if you squint a bit, anyway. The story also approaches some interesting themes… even if it drops the ball with the actual plot and character arcs. Patrick Stewart lends gravitas to the narration but it tells more than shows.

Gabriel Belmont is the hero of the day, and his story is very “prequels Anakin Skywalker”. It’s supposed to be about a tragic fall from grace, but ends up more like “he was tricked into being evil offscreen”. It also leans on fridging his wife to give him motivation, which sucks as a story beat. It’s bad. The eponymous Lords of Shadow are holy knights of yore who were also tricked (somehow), their dark halves becoming rulers of werewolves, vampires, and undead who now dominate Earth. Gabriel captures their dark power to try and resurrect his dead wife (sigh), and we’re told of his descent into madness, yet at the climax he has an earnest monologue about forgiveness and redemption based in surprisingly explicitly Christian philosophy (the series usually dances around this kind of stuff), while throttling Lucifer himself! Then in the epilogue he’s Dracula.

The DLC fills in the interim a bit, with some puzzle-heavy stages, a brief playable stint as the child vampire Laura, and a protracted QTE-filled boss fight. It’s about Gabriel absorbing more dark powers which makes him evil, I guess. They didn’t get Picard back to narrate these but Robert Carlyle (from The Full Monty, and the baddie in the third Brosnan James Bond film) does a good job as a soothing Scottish Belmont. These two packs are good additions to the main game to expand it a bit as epilogue chapters, but they don’t fix any of the underlying issues.

Not to harp on the issues too much. For the most part it’s a well-made game and I found it an enjoyable experience with some great setpieces and art design. Fans are divided as they often are but it seems to me from the outside to be the most ambitious and accomplished attempt at a 3D entry in the series… but it’s debatable of course.

[Review] Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (3DS)

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 12:00:50 +1000

Yeah I played another Lego game! I’ll keep this short.

I have always liked TT Fusion’s takes on the Lego games, for handhelds. They’re so charming and they still scratch that collectathon itch for me, plus I love seeing how they handle the same subject matter in a different way.

I picked this up because my friends in Rare fandom are talking about Pirates right now thanks to a crossover in Sea of Thieves (a game I don’t care for, but that’s neither here nor there). Plus I’m still interested in mermaid/undersea type games, and movie 4 of course has a prominent mermaid character. Imagine my disappointment when she’s not playable, and barely even present!

Compared to the console version which covered the movies in five levels each, this one does it in four. As a result, the plot has been truncated even further than usual, making it nigh-incomprehensible even if you have seen the movies. Syrena seems to have been a victim of these cuts (in fact, for some reason the whole fourth movie, save the intro and outro, is told through in-engine cutscenes rather than the usual crunched FMVs sourced from the main game… it’s odd).

So no mermaid for me, boo. As consolation, I suppose, they threw in loads of random Dutchman fishman crew members. They’re kind of like merfolk?? I spent most of my time playing as Blackbeard though, for his range of useful abilities. The abilities have been reshuffled a bit compared to the console game; the big thing here is sword levers, different types, they’re everywhere! And that’s all I have to say.

New pixel art: Donkey Kong and Friends!My biggest pixel art...

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 16:12:43 +1000

New pixel art: Donkey Kong and Friends!

My biggest pixel art ever, 100 Kongs and 213 of their best friends and enemies! This was a lot of fun to draw (and many long hours of work), and I’m very proud of it!

https://www.deviantart.com/miloscat/art/Donkey-Kong-and-Friends-891031806

[Review] Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3)

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 12:01:00 +1000

This dystopic reimagining of Journey to the West barely escapes the shadow of its influences.

The idea is sound: take one of the most popular and widely-adapted works of Asian literature and reframe it as a cyberpunk post-apocalyptic action video game! Unfortunately there were some stumbles along the way. There are bright spots too though.

The gameplay systems are decent, with satisfying if basic combat interspersed with scripted clambering sequences and some light environmental puzzling. Every now and then you also get to zip around on a hoverdisc. Despite being a relatively standard seventh-gen action game in this way, it avoids one of the pitfalls of this era by actually having colours other than brown and grey: the setting of a ruined wasteland being overtaken by nature means there’s lots of green and red vegetation, not to mention the lovely elevated windfarmer village later on. Even the junkyard area is full of colour!

The performances are also decent, even if the script is straightforward. Andy Serkis is heavily involved, lending motion capture expertise as well as playing the playable character Monkey, in this case a grouchy shirtless New Yorker thug. Basically Wolverine, but with a staff and “cloud” (the hoverdisc). He also plays the game’s villain, only revealed properly in the rushed epilogue, via live-action footage.

There’s only two other characters apart from the hosts of robotic enemies. Trip (Tripitaka) is the driving force of the plot, enslaving (title drop) Monkey with a gold headband, another element of the original tale. Her role in game was inspired by the dynamic in Ico with Yorda, although she’s more active and helpful here, and their tense relationship develops well, with Lindsey Shaw giving a sympathetic performance. Pigsy rounds out the cast as an eccentric, lecherous, and boorish mechanic, played ably by Richard Ridings no doubt drawing on his experience as Peppa Pig’s dad. He’s unlikable but I guess that’s the point?

As an adaptation of JttW, it’s very loose despite incorporating some of the main characters and important objects. It’s also worth noting that the cast is completely whitewashed. Ho hum. The setting is a lot of fun though, the ruined New York crawling with mechs providing some great setpieces at times. And the Wild Wild West-style climax in and around a giant mech crawling across the desert is cheesy as.

I wish the game’s technical performance could stand up to its art direction though. The frame rate is frankly garbo, frequently dropping low enough to be distracting. The twitchy and uncooperative camera doesn’t help either. It also doesn’t avoid overly detailed visuals and bloom lighting… in the sequences involving Monkey’s acrobatics, it can sometimes be hard to spot the next handhold as a result.

I also wasn’t able to access the DLC chapter, although since it revolves around Pigsy I wasn’t that interested. The in-game PSN link just failed on me, shrug. Without it the game feels fairly brief, at least in scope. I don’t mind a focused game though if it’s done well. This was done… OK. I think my favourite bit is the freeze-frames of Monkey’s snarling face when he deals the finishing blow to a robot baddy. Very dramatic.

[Review] Brütal Legend (PS3)

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 12:01:07 +1000

A strongly heavy metal-themed open world action adventure, with a mediocre RTS mode that drags it down a bit.

I think of Double Fine as an “adventure game“ company, thanks to the LucasArts legacy of founder Tim Schafer. Even their games that aren’t point-and-clicks still carry some of that identity, like the item mechanics in Psychonauts. In Brutal Legend it manifests in the strong story focus; it’s got lots of cutscenes, twists and revelations, and copious stunt-casting (Jack Black prominent as the lead character Eddie, and the supporting cast filled with cameos from metal icons like Ozzie Osborne and Lita Ford).

Aesthetically this is Heavy Metal: The Game (the music, not the magazine). Environments are filled with monuments of giant guitars, the landscape itself is made from giant speaker blocks or gleaming car parts, and the character designs evoke looks from across the subculture. Your enemies include glam rockers, goths, and for some reason heavily bondage-themed demons. This theming is a big strength of the game, and it’s also supported by a robust soundtrack of genre classics.

The gameplay is split disjointedly into two phases. The open world I found enjoyable to roam around; your cartoonish hot rod car controls nicely as you ramp off broken architecture, run down spiky demonic creatures, and navigate the surreal wastelands on your way between mindless sidequests or checklist items on the map. This involves combat too, with car armaments (carmaments?) and Eddie’s axe & guitar serving for melee and ranged attacks that can be upgraded and customised.

Your quest missions come in different flavours but the other main style (which also makes up the multiplayer) are these strategy battles. Eddie sprouts wings, plays guitar solos for buffs or other effects, and recruits and orders troops around in a pretty basic way. The fact that you’re still in direct control at all times gives it the slight feel of something like Overlord, while the game focusing on this feature to the detriment of its other modes of play reminded me more of Giants: Citizen Kabuto’s strategy segments. It’s… fine, with some neat ideas, but splits the focus of the game and, well, I just didn’t find these bits fun.

It certainly gives the game a unique edge to it, being a genre hybrid (even though the different modes aren’t integrated much). But I’d argue that the heavy metal theme is edge enough, and I might have preferred the game had it dropped the strategy stuff and developed the rest further. Oh well! Oh and by the way, if you’re playing the PS3 version like I did, I was warned not to update the game as the latest patch includes a game-breaking bug that would stop you progressing in the campaign after a certain point. Pretty sloppy.

[Comic] Zelda Gaiden: Quark and the Fairy Queen

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 15:05:24 +1000

Here’s a new scanlation of a quite obscure Legend of Zelda manga!

This 40-page one-shot was written and illustrated by Toshihiro Ono, perhaps best known for creating the Electric Tale of Pikachu/Dengeki Pikachu manga (check out my supplemental scanlation here), as well as an adaptation of the first Pokemon movie. It’s actually his first ever published work! It was printed in Shogakukan’s Bessatsu Corocoro Comic No.44, Feb 1992, to promote the release of A Link to the Past.

The “Gaiden” name denotes a sidestory, which in this case takes the form of an interquel or a small unseen chapter of the story. The protagonist (named Quark in this story but it’s really just Link) has been through LttP’s intro sequence but hasn’t got any pendants yet, and meets a grizzled warrior and an argumentative fairy in the woods who teach him a lesson and help him take down one of Agahnim’s underlings (the beetle-like Graviton, who is unique to this story), to save the life of the ailing fairy queen. It introduces the young hero at a time when he’s inexperienced and headstrong, and sets up the true beginning of his quest for the Master Sword.

While the story is relatively straightforward, Ono’s art is full of life and character. There’s action, humour, and some very nicely drawn scenes that build on the world and the tension of the story. It also introduces a thematically important apple motif… perhaps the orchard in Akira Himekawa’s LttP manga adaptation is a reference to this?

The manga is to be read in typical Japanese right-to-left style, but with the help once again of Horseypope I’ve translated the Japanese script into English. I scanned this myself after importing the magazine issue, and it was cleaned very ably by the amazing Zelda archivist Melora of History of Hyrule. As always, share and enjoy!

Read or download the manga here!

[Review] Steep (PS4)

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 12:00:48 +1000

I don’t have strong feelings about this game, but it was a chill time. Pretty cool. Ice. Temperatures below 273.15 K.

I have enjoyed snowboard games like Snowboard Kids DS, and Zelda: Twilight Princess, and extreme sports can make for good games. I remember Steep being heralded as a showcase of next-gen technology, albeit two years into the PS4′s life. It’s very impressive to have such a massive open world that you can zoom around so quickly, and the game looks quite nice.

Being in a perpetually snowbound landscape could get visually monotonous, but they do things like altering the lighting and time of day, and it does help checkpoint markers to stand out. The setting is the Alps, centred around Mont Blanc, and although I’m not sure how accurate it is to the real thing, it’s a stunning landscape densely packed with opportunities to do sick runs and tricks on your choice of conveyance.

Snowboarding is the main event, with skiing as an alternative. You can also do exciting glides on a wingsuit, or gain height with the fiddly paraglider or intense rocket wings. Walking is very slow but I guess that’s the point, and it’s easy to warp to events or points of interest. The DLC adds sleds and possibly more, as well as a ton of extra events; I didn’t invest in any of the large assortment on offer, as I’d had my fill from the base game.

I found it nice to get into the zone of boarding around. The events are varied, with races, trick score chases, daredevil stunts, etc. and even repeating tricky challenges was fun (to a point; I left maybe 10% of the hardest ones as they got too demanding for me). As you go you’re always discovering new hotspots and locations, and certain events are a bit more open-ended, about exploring or following another rider around. These were my favourite, and often were about emphasising the natural beauty of the place or the pure pursuit of personal thrills.

There’s another side to the game that I found obnoxious though. Steep leans into real-world extreme sports culture, with heavy product placement of Red Bull between sponsored events, cosmetics, and even your character drinking it before certain runs. NPC characters who speak to you in VO are often laddish bros or yuppie types. The clothing menus are full of sleek, name-brand outfits and gear. The game also annoyingly pushes its DLC really hard on the player, which only pushed me away.

There’s a choice of a few characters to play as (there’s fewer women than men, I noticed…), mostly differentiated by their voice lines as you’re usually buried under cold-weather layers. I chose RInko Kitano as her scruffy, grungy default outfit seemed to cut against the clean, corporate apparel that dominates the selection. Winning events drip feeds you new cosmetics but very few fit her aesthetic, sadly.

Even after clearing the base game to my satisfaction, the somewhat finicky controls remained a slight sticking point. Ground-based turning and mid-air spinning being bound to the same motion often tripped me up—literally—causing bailouts, and I never did get the hang of operating the map without resetting my position, which caused problems with orienteering events.

The other odd thing about playing Steep at this point in time is that it was at one stage a “living game” with timed events and rewards and such. The tabs remain in the menu but the service is no longer updating, which is a little sad. And the very first thing the game tells you on launch is that there’s a new Ubisoft extreme sports game you should check out instead. Good grief! Talk about a noxious first impression. Anyway, as a big winter sports playground, Steep is a nice time; there’s just some rocky patches along the way.

[Review] Star Wars Battlefront II (PS4)

Sat, 21 Aug 2021 12:03:49 +1000

Leaning into the “Wars” part of Star Wars, I found this an unsatisfying solo experience.

Yes, perhaps I didn’t play this game the intended way. I don’t have PS Plus, and I didn’t play any skirmishes, multiplayer or otherwise, aside from a brief plough through the arcade scenarios (they were… fine). I was here just for the single player campaign (it was… fine).

At least it has a campaign, unlike its predecessor. It’s pulling in a few different directions though: introducing you to game concepts, although some mechanics work differently to the multiplayer; giving you a thrilling if unbalanced 1st/3rd person shooter experience, with frequent diversions into vehicle and ship sections; telling a story, albeit tied up in the incoherent modern continuity and bogged down with character appearances.

There’s lots of different modifiers, gadgets, and weapon loadouts, so finding one that suited me or the situation took a while to settle into. Every mission gives you new abilities to come to grips with, on top of several functions related to your droid buddy (similar to Fallen Order’s BD but not as expressive). It didn’t help that at times the campaign felt balanced like a multiplayer battle, in terms of how quickly you can get shot down. The frequent ship missions too were a drag; less dangerous but more tedious, and for some reason flight control was on the right thumbstick!

As for the plot, I was pleased to see something rare for Star Wars: a woman of colour as the lead! (Shared only with Jedi Starfighter, I think.) Iden Versio is a cool addition to the overall story, as an elite Imperial operative who defects after seeing the Empire go too far. Although they dilute character development between her and her buddy Del, and saddle her with daddy issues to boot, a tired trope at best. She also gets an ignoble end in the free DLC epilogue campaign, although Del is worse off getting fridged early. Their wisecracking Duros friend Shriv is a fun companion in several missions at least.

We see the Empire’s crack team Inferno Squad at the battle of Endor, then the story continues up to the battle of Jakku with our leads carrying out, then working to subvert, Sheev’s nonsensical posthumous plots and schemes. Along the way there’s seemingly endless interruptions to play as Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, and even Kylo Ren, in some trying-too-hard attempts at fan service. I was trying to get invested in Iden’s story, thanks! The DLC then jumps you ahead to the typically narrow “concurrent with TFA” time period of sequel era spinoffs and introduces Iden’s daughter Zay as a supporting character, but it’s over quickly.

The banter between characters during missions is pretty enjoyable, which helped get me through the slog of slagging fools in the head endlessly. The brutal battles and grim murderfests are a big part of Star Wars to be sure, but they were never my favourite part. At least there are some redemptive themes and touching character moments at times, as well as the novelty of seeing well-rendered new places and events in the galaxy. I wanted more from this experience, but to be fair I was only sampling a small side dish of what’s supposed to be a long-term multiplayer standby. Oh well!