#770 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Posted: 3rd August 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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984th played so far

Genre: Action/First-Person Shooter
Platform: Wii
Year of Release: 2007
Developer: Retro Studios/Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

I’ve felt a bit ambivalent about Metroid Prime. Not because of the series itself, but because its Wii controls are quite bad and I’m glad that after having a short go at it, I switched to Gamecube controls for Metroid Prime 2 and had a lovely time in its large 3D worlds.

Metroid Prime 3 is Wii only and introduced the controls these other entries got in the port. I hope the world will stand up against it.

Our Thoughts

I can be honest, the Metroid Prime Wii controls don’t work any better because the game was made for it. Pointing at the edges of your screen to change your view, for example, really doesn’t work nicely, for example, and the sweeping motions and pointing means that my wrist couldn’t play the game for too long. It doesn’t help that the lock on doesn’t work properly a lot of the time, which is bad if you don’t get a proper way to look around either. It was all so awkward and unclear that I couldn’t stand it after a while.

What pushes that further is that the world of Metroid Prime 3 isn’t as interesting as the previous games. There are some interesting touches, but so much takes place in a powerplant at the start, rather than the desert old-mechanical world from the previous game that this series doesn’t work as well.

Final Thoughts

It feels bad to be brief as I end the Metroid franchise, but it feels like the third game in the series is a step backwards. The second game does it better, without causing RSI, and I just never really felt like I was playing something here that I really enjoyed.

#704 Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories

Posted: 31st July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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983rd played so far

Genre: Role-Playing
Platform: Playstation 2
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software

Having played it some time ago, I still have fond memories of the first Disgaea game. The story was insane and a bit meta, but is what mostly stuck with me while the mechanics mostly had their twist in the field effects.

The sequel seems to mostly build on teh first game rather than going different. From what I’ve seen, that should make for a good game, so we’ll see if they can get the story right again.

Our Thoughts

The core gameplay of Disgaea 2 stays the same: a tactical RPG that relies heavily on field effects, each level having its own effects and layout. It is, basically, a great and fun tactical RPG that hits all the familiar beats, but has some really quirky monsters and some real dopamine moments like countery-counter-counter-counter-counter attacks. It works, I think it’s been refined from the first game and it is really satisfactory to play.

Then there’s the story. The idea of playing the bad guy taking over the world, your progress partially dependent on how much power you had with the dark parliament, gets outdone here. As everyone in your village including your family has been turned into monster, you travel to find the demon lord who cursed everyone while you escort that lord’s daughter after you summoned her earlier to take out the demon lord. There’s a standard betrayal being planned of course, but also a demon hunter you fight several times who keeps making appearances for his reality show. The character and writing is amazing and are what make the game just as unique.

The game becomes incredibly grindy pretty soon as you’ll struggle to beat enemies, but the systems take care of that too. When I was beaten, it turned out to lead to its own ending. You can reset the game and start a new ‘cycle’, where you replay the same levels at a higher level and you can build your power that way. It’s a good alternative, but it would have been nicer to just get to the new content a bit sooner.

Final Thoughts

Most notable for me, Disgaea 2 has an insane story with wonderful characters, but aside from that it also provides a great tactical RPG with a lot of small mechanical touches and features that make it feel unique. And you can play as penguins. Always play as penguins.

#459 Sacrifice

Posted: 28th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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982nd played so far

Genre: Action/Strategy
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2000
Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment/MacPlay

My mind has always mixed Sacrifice with Sacred, an isometric RPG also set in a fantasy world. What it actually is, is another strategy game where you’re in the action, like with Battalion Wars and Herzog Zwei, but as said in quite a different setting. Having some magic to help push your character though feels like it should make the game that much more interesting.

Our Thoughts

Although the game plays like those previous games, it does have the advantage of offering keyboard support that gives you some extra control over what’s happening – I didn’t have to struggle quite as much commanding my units, although the limitations of limited groups still exist.

But while the controls in the missions work fine, if not great, it’s everything that surrounds them that really got my attention. During the game, you have the attention of five gods. For each round, you can pick between different missions for each of them. On the early rounds, that’s any of them, but as you make some of them angry they will also refuse to give you missions. You can balance this by going between them and sometimes completing or not completing side missions in the game. While it’s interesting to see the variety and larger number of options, since you can only choose a single mission in each of the five rounds, the pressure to keep your options open is a lot less.

When it comes to the story, having played with these systems a bit, the missions get to be quite different. The flavour of the missions – whether you research, protect or corrupt – comes through from the five gods, but since your path through the missions is fairly random, you don’t get storylines that feed through from mission to mission. For example, Stratos’ first mission involves the gods abandoning an area and investigate its collapse. It’s an interesting concept that feels like it could feed a branch of the storyline, but it doesn’t go anywhere after that because it has to stay open like that. The missions themselves don’t necessarily finish the story either, which makes it less satisfying.

Another part of the system that works is that your choices of mission build your powers. Your first set of units will change depending on the god you pick for the first mission, but stay with your character, and every subsequent mission adds a unit or spell. This means that each path lands you with a different powerset. I felt they didn’t always end up matching, but you certainly get something interesting out of it and optimizing to get the powerset you want feel like an interesting puzzle when replaying the game.

Final Thoughts

Aside from the at times slightly loose storyline – told in cutscenes in between the missions, but not carrying it through inside them – the way the game builds its powers is quite interesting. It feels like there’s a lot more strategy there that requires me to play a lot more to really grasp it. At the same time, it also makes for a neat extra difficulty mode – when I couldn’t get to grips with one mission, I could go to another and try again, even if that meant the introduction of some characters got messed up and went unexplained. It’s probably not a bad idea to play through each god’s storyline first if you really want to get what’s going on.

#950 Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Posted: 25th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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981st played so far

Genre: First-Person Shooter
Platform: PC/Playstation 3/Xbox 360
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: Starbreeze Studios
Publisher: Atari

I think I’ve discussed enough of this game series’ history in my review of Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (the series certainly loves its long titles). This, somehow, feels even more remarkable – not just a known and loved movie adaptation, but a loved sequel to that adaptation. Based on that love, I hope it holds up just as well – then it will do better than I suspect I’d feel about the movie.

Our Thoughts

I have to say that from my perspective, Assault on Dark Athena was the lesser game of the two. It feels like it takes a long time to really get you where you want to be. For an FPS, it takes ages for you to get your first weapon, your first ranged weapon is a tranquilizer gun, and for that whole section the game is incredibly stealth focused. While the game is decent at selling that infiltration angle, the general FPS set up means that it genuinely feels like it’s teasing it all out for a bit too long.

The first game did it similar, but while both games have an okay general justification, that game had a bunch more things going on to make it worth it, with its prison sequence, quest system and other touches that meant you weren’t going from stealth section to stealth section. Here, there aren’t such areas with more friendly AI characters – at least so far – and all those elements are removed in favour of more, bigger stealth sections. It feels the narrative suffers a bit, as the environmental story telling doesn’t build much on that either. It feels less alive and has less going on than the first game, when it’s those adventure elements that made the game really stand out.

Final Thoughts

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a decent stealth shooter – it’s fun to find your way around and when it gives you the right stealth opportunities, it works well even if waiting and retrying can be annoying. It does, however, lack the elements from the first game that really give it its personality, the lengthy adventure areas and side quests that add to the world. With that, the game feels less meaningful and, to me, becomes the lesser game in the series.

#929 Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Posted: 22nd July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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980th played so far

Genre: Action/Adventure
Platform: Nintendo DS/PSP/iPhone
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games

For the final Grand Theft Auto series we go to something atypical for the modern series – a handheld entry in the series that I’m sure will be compromise. The game has an overhead perspective rather than the 3D action/adventure set up the series has become known for, instead going back to the overhead perspective from the Grand Theft Auto original installments. It’s a change and I’m looking forward to seeing how this one holds up.

Our Thoughts

It’s tricky to get used to the top down perspective for this game. While the original games had the same perspective, it worked better there than it does here. The graphics for this game are obviously an upgrade over what was released 12 years earlier, but in this case that’s to its detriment. There are a lot more overhead elements – signs, bridges and so on – that keep blocking your view, and the graphics upgrade makes it harder to parse what’s where as well. It means that it takes some time to get used to what’s happening, and there are still plenty of times that you just don’t know what’s going on.

The controls get similarly awkward and that’s where you feel the other side of the problem – while this game is trying to imitate its console siblings, the hardware limitations get in the way and the small screen, handheld controls and limited processing power all work against it. The game becomes an exercise in frustration, and some of the missions requiring you to run over the city just get frustrating to try several times over as it feels like the game isn’t making any allowances for the differences here.

Final Thoughts

I played on the PSP and I have to wonder whether that makes a difference to my experience of the game, but I doubt the iPhone version would have fared much better. While a noble attempt to bring GTA to the handheld market, it’s missing out on some elements and can’t match up to what its previous games suggest.

#362 Shining Force III

Posted: 19th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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979th played so far

Genre: Role-Playing
Platform: Saturn
Year of Release: 1998
Developer: Camelot Software Planning
Publisher: Sega

It feels like I’ve been needing to get through a number of Saturn-only titles that never gained a port, so require quite a bit more effort on my part. I played Burning Rangers last week and I’m still staring at Panzer Dragoon Saga as another RPG I’ll play near the end. Today’s is the somewhat tactical RPG Shining Force III that I hope will get me something out of it as well. I’ve been enjoying the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics so far but, to be honest, I am a bit scared at how many of them I’ve left until the end. As they’re not quite as high up there as others, I have to hope they won’t turn me off at the final hurdle.

Our Thoughts

I have to admit that it’s rare that I see class warfare as a core part of a tactical RPG, especially one where it’s at the forefront from the first moments of the game. The central conflict, at least at this point, is one of the empire versus the republic, in a country that split itself through nobility versus middle class. It’s an interesting setting, one that I felt had some practical issues, but it felt like an interesting enough set up that I’d like to explore a lot further as it didn’t feel quite as stereotypical good guys versus bad. It’s similar to what we saw in Suikoden III on some level, but feeling even more internal. That is, of course, still undermined by a demon invasion, but I found the world building surprisingly effective. Like that game, this game also ended up with three overlapping storylines, but here they were released as three separate scenarios. Only the first was ever released outside Japan, though, so I don’t think I will ever see the full story.

Exploration is fine in the game, working as a standard RPG overworld although it’s a bit clunky to navigate – again, the Saturn’s gamepad isn’t quite suited to a 3D world. Then we get the battles, and although it got me a while to get there, it’s where it all ground to a halt. The battles are incredibly tough from the start – even with multiple attempts I couldn’t manage to clear it, and even looking at videos of people playing through it I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. The implication, from some things I saw, is that since restarting after death is easy, while you keep your gained XP and so onย  when you do, the best strategy is to grind that way. I don’t think it’s meant to be needed for the first battle, but it can be done. I didn’t quite make it, and that wall became too steep for me to climb over.

Final Thoughts

The difficulty of the first battle was really off putting, and I struggle to convince myself to want to give Shining Force III another go. I actually don’t really see what the selling point of the game here is, other than its three scenario set up. That feels like it’s lost on us anyway and in the end this feels like the game is too aggravating to really keep trying.

#814 Critter Crunch

Posted: 16th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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978th played so far

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: iPhone/Playstation 3
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Capybara Games
Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios/Starwave

At this point, a lot of block puzzles revolve as much around how you theme it as it does about the gameplay itself. While we’ve seen a bunch of variations on the theme, premium versions of the game take more time to defend why you’re doing this. For Critter Crunch, this appears to be a big fuzzy creature hungry for some set of bugs that we’re going to have to make happy.

Our Thoughts

The idea behind Critter Crunch is that groups of critters slowly move down from above. You need to feed smaller critters to larger critters in appropriate size increments, with them exploding once they eat two of the smaller ones.ย  It’s simple enough, but with a few different colours per size and those working together to create combos – creatures linked to the one that explodes with the same colour come along and they chain together from there. As it speeds up, it does get hectic, especially as you can sometimes run out of room to temporarily park your creatures as you try to set up bigger combos, more obnoxious when you figure out you can’t get rid of the bigger sizes without getting to and sacrificing smaller ones.

What really makes the game one you can enjoy for a long time is the amount of content. The regular levels build up putting in additional power-ups and hazards that develop slowly, while the number of columns can change a lot. Soon after, though, you also unlock various other puzzle levels – no new creatures, just destroy them all with what you have – and time-based challenge levels. There are a lot of them and I felt I had a good chance to get lost in them as I did so.

Final Thoughts

Critter Crunch is a block puzzle game where the presentation adds that bit of definition to the rules of the game, the absorption mechanic feeling clearly defined by the way they look – all pieces fit in the same square, but bigger ones do feel bulkier. There’s a lot of specific content in here beyond just playing the game, something that clearly pays off in keeping you occupied with the game.

#365 Burning Rangers

Posted: 13th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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977th played so far

Genre: Action
Platform: Saturn
Year of Release: 1998
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega

Less than fifty games left and the list still brings up some pretty unique concepts. I don’t think I’ve played another game here where you are a firefighter. Sure, SOS The Final Escape/Disaster Report had you deal with various hazards, but this focus feels far more specific.

Add to that that we have another Sega game by the Sonic Team, who have made some quite odd games that tried to push the boat out in places and I’m looking forward to something quite new and different.

Our Thoughts

For a large part, Burning Rangers is a pretty normal action game, with some prerequisite jumping areas. You’re spending some of that time putting fires out and rescuing civilians as you come across them. You’re spending a lot of time doing your collecting as well, with crystals being the most obvious requirement – you need some to rescue civilians and they’re your life force, obviously taking after the Sonic games.

It’s a decent formula, but I found myself get lost in it. There are no subtitles for the voice overs, but mission briefings are given in voice with quite a bit of noise. This doesn’t just happen in the briefings, though, but as you’re playing the mission the voice overs also direct you through the level. That made it hard to find out where to go, as I didn’t get the clues all the time anyway, but the game also doesn’t give you great tools to handle the verticality the game has. Since you’re playing on a joypad, the camera controls are pretty bad, and so it can be hard to see what’s going on.

Final Thoughts

Burning Rangers has an interesting concept that it carries quite nicely, with levels that feel appropriate to the setting. When it comes to playing it though, it doesn’t quite manage to pull off its ambition and loses something of its appeal along the way.

#323 Syndicate Wars

Posted: 10th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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976th played so far

Genre: Strategy
Platform: PC/Playstation 1
Year of Release: 1996
Developer: Bullfrog Productions
Publisher: Electronic Arts

For my final Bullfrog game – I’d forgotten I had one left – we return to the cyberpunk setting of Syndicate with Syndicate Wars, a sequel that leaps ahead to an even more corporate focused era. We end up with another isometric strategy game.

Our Thoughts

With a few years more of context, I look at the game differently. The game definitely improves on the first game, looking better, possibly being a bit more readable and easier to get into. In fact, real time play aside, there was a lot here to compare to X-Com as well – you’re spending your time between missions dealing with research and keeping various factions happy while picking that up during gameplay as well. On the other hand, the fact that you can pick multiple sides, of corporations, to get different missions and outcomes makes for a different feel to it. You’re not wondering why people would work against you while you’re saving the world, instead you’re just being opportunistic.

Even so, the game stays impenetrable in places. I managed to finish a bunch of missions, but the game’s own AI clearly did some of the work for me and I missed out on how things were fitting together several times that I didn’t do things properly. It’s, as we set with the first game, a consequence of its ago, but it’s also one of those things where a remake in this world would do incredibly well.

Final Thoughts

I think Syndicate Wars is a game I’d have more to say about twenty years ago. As time has moved on, however, this game hasn’t worked as well, and pushed it to a point where, although I can see the value of it, I also know that there are other games that now do this better. It was one of the pioneers in that sense, I suppose, but the sequel to it doesn’t feel as impressive now even though the 3D environments of the time would have been more amazing. Now, though, it’s fine enough, perhaps little more than that.

#652 GT Legends

Posted: 7th July 2021 by Jeroen in Games
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975th played so far

Genre: Racing
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2005
Developer: SimBin Studios
Publisher: 10tacle Studios/Atari

After fairly recently playing GTR 2, we now get to play the previous SimBin game – same system, different races, and so a lot of realistically timed races in their specific setting. It’s the last game in the realistic racing genre that I’ve only been trying for a year or two… but that’s how close to the end we are.

Our Thoughts

Looking at the list of games, it feels like Grand Prix Legends is almost closer to the setting of this game. While that game was set in the era the old cars belong to, GT Legends sets its races in the modern time in championships for older cars.

While the game is another accurate simulator, letting you skip practice but having a full length simulated race – aside, obviously, from having far shorter rounds with only about three laps at a time – you don’t immediately start with the full circuit, but instead do shorter laps and only have those unlocked for the earlier rounds. As you unlock more cups and challenges, the tracks unlock further as well. Not only does it make for easier challenges, it builds your knowledge of the track a bit more as well. The downside is that you can’t immediately play what you want, it would be nice to at least get some free practice on these tracks earlier. Even so, the shorter rounds are weirdly exhausting even now, so it felt good that I didn’t have to play them too often.

I also like a couple of the other changes to help build that realism, even though they probably add to the exhaustion. The game basically has no HUD by default, instead relying purely on the visible instrument panel and other in-universe features – most notably the pit lineside boards they hang out each round to pass on your position and such. They’re remarkably helpful in making the game more immersive.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to say whether I’ll actually play one of these racers again, as they’re quite exhausting and less accessible, but I appreciate GT Legends is out there. It shows what you can do with the genre and how, it feels, you can really create an immersive racing simulator. It’s worth trying and I’ve certainly still been enjoying it.

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