Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@Ralizah Thanks! I like it quite a bit too. I wouldn’t have put 100 odd hours into it if I didn’t. Glad someone can understand where I’m coming from!

@RogerRoger Hey, cool, another GBA review!

The system was one of the first portables to offer enough hardware grunt that it could explore genres that had been underserved on previous Game Boy consoles, IMO. The primitive tech and displays of previous models didn't do much for action-adventure type games, but suddenly you could make much larger environments, more detailed sprites, etc.

Pity to hear the narrative elements and aspects of the gameplay are undercooked, though.

Appreciate the detail on its development, with this being the first TR game to be developed by another developer.

@mookysam Thanks!

Yeah, we both enjoyed Kirby quite a bit. He usually ends up losing interest in games pretty quickly, but we actually got through the Ultimate Cup Z Arena challenge together. I played on my own to find collectibles and whatnot, since he has little patience for me poking around in random corners of the level.

The 3DS Kirbys are fantastic. Probably the peak of the series for me, personally, and for a lot of funs who consider Planet Robobot to be something close to a platforming masterpiece. With that said, this modern 3D entry is really nice, and I definitely don't want to go backwards at this point.

Yeah, an open world approach probably wouldn't work well, but early footage heavily suggested something a little more sandbox-y, like Mario Odyssey. Instead, we got a very traditional Kirby platformer.

Although, like I said, when the results are this good, it's hard to be disappointed.

And yeah, I talon trotted all over the levels, since normal movement is a little slow for my liking, and you slide off surfaces easily. Unfortunately, that means long stretches of time listening to Kazooie's horrible bird grunting.

@RogerRoger As a Tomb Raider fan, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the lesser known The Prophecy. Never having owned a GameBoy, it’s a game which was completely foreign to me. Nevertheless, I just love the franchise, so seeing a mediocre Tomb Raider game is better than none at all! Actually you and Ness replaying some older classic TR games has piqued my interest in them. Perhaps if PS+ premium has some of these older titles included then it will sway me to subscribe. (Especially if they have trophies.). Alas, it looks like The Prophecy is likely stranded on GBA, which apparently isn’t a huge loss.

@RogerRoger That’s a really interesting piece on another retro game that I’m not familiar with. My days of playing 2D side scrollers is long gone, but I can’t think of any I played back in the day which had stealth mechanics. So perhaps it’s admirable that they made a reasonable attempt. But, as you say, part of stealth gameplay depends so much on environmental context, and the small 2D screen does sound like a limiting factor. But I guess the industry had to start somewhere. 😄

Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch)

Gameplay:

• Standard Golf - The first of the main modes is this traditional take on the game. Play on any of the games 11 courses (up from the 6 the game launched with) with up to 4 players (human or CPU) with various other optional adjustments (intensity of wind speed, use of special shots, number of holes played, etc.). Easily the best part of the game IMO, as there's something chill about a generally normal round of golf with just enough arcade zaniness added in.
  
• Speed Golf - The highly advertised new mode for the game. Same course selection & adjustable rules as the former mode, however in this variant everyone tees off at the same time & you have to run to your ball after each shot, adding just a smidge of that trademark Mario platforming to the proceedings, with total shot count & time spent both contributing to your final score. Really didn't play it much (beyond what you have to in the story mode) as I think the idea kind of runs counter to the vibe of golf.
• Battle Golf - Another new mode (and one I haven't tried) which is essentially Speed Golf on steroids. Playable on two different arena themed courses (which aren't playable elsewhere), it seems to have the same general rules as Speed Golf, however you can go after any hole on the course at any time, with a hole being removed from play once someone completes it, so the name of the game is to complete more holes than your competitors.
• Target Golf - A game play mode where you have to aim for the highest score by aiming for one of three different targets (you change teeing position after each round, and there are sometimes things to mix things up, like special balls or a 4th bonus target). It has Regular, Forest, & Volcano layouts (each being more difficult than the last). It seems to have been added in an update sometime after launch.
  
• Golf Adventure - Probably the most substantial mode in the game, where you take your Mii on a journey from Rookie to Pro. Your adventure takes you through the six courses included at launch (each one has a cozy little hub world), where you can level up your Mii RPG style by completing rounds of golf (usually some variant of the "Speed" variety. Even the "Cross Country" golf that appears in one area never to be seen again which reviewers were confused by is clearly just training for "Battle Golf"), or by taking on optional target challenges in each area's training grounds (which could be quite brutal, IMO). There are even a few boss battles on display, which I actually quite enjoyed when they popped up. Kinda mixed on this one though, as I wasn't a huge fan of Speed Golf, which is what is mostly featured (I thought I was going to get a break in Wildweather Woods when one of the Toads said they don't play Speed Golf there due to it being so wet, but after the 3 hole practice round it was all Speed Golf anyway...).
  
  
  
  
• Otherwise there are a handful of Medals (achievements) to unlock (one for completing Golf Adventure, one for obtaining Birdie on every hole at least once, etc.), "Star" & "Super Star" club sets to unlock for each character by playing as them repeatedly (obtaining these is another Medal achievement), and of course most everything (aside from the story mode for obvious reasons) can be played online if you have NSO.

Audio/Visual:

• It's definitely a bit more of a B-grade game in this department (this ain't no Odyssey or MK8D), but still, it's clean cartoon styled graphics look generally nice. There is some texture pop in, but this is really only noticeable during wide panning overhead shots & I didn't really find it all that distracting.
• As I mentioned before there are 11 courses, two of which have "Amateur" & "Pro" variants, so arguably a total of 13 (plus the 2 Battle Golf arena courses, I guess), and these range from the relatively mundane (Beginner Course, Bonny Greens, Ridgerock Lake) to the Mario-rific (Bowser Highlands, New Donk City, All-Star Summit). My favorite has to be New Donk City as it's clear they just lifted it wholesale from Odyssey and puked a few greens all over the place (it clearly wasn't designed for golf, but that makes it all the more fun as it gets pretty creative with how you have to get the ball to it's destination, especially on it's "Pro" variant).
  
  
  
  
• Also, there are over 20 playable characters & while the generic baddies (Boo, Koopa Troopa, Chargin' Chuck, Ninji, etc.) don't get much of a glow up the series mains are dudded out in their finest golf attire, including Pauline (from the original Donkey Kong arcade game) after her reintroduction in Odyssey, which is pretty cute.
  
  

Conclusion:

• Again, it's a bit more of a B-grade offering, but I'm actually quite glad to have given it a shot. I wasn't a huge fan of Speed Golf, but the classic variant is still here & accounted for, and I enjoy that quite a bit.
  

@RogerRoger It's a pity to hear that GBA Batman game didn't turn out very well. An action game with a lot of tools on a system with a lack of buttons is never a great idea, unfortunately. It's interesting to hear about it being a pre-Arkham attempt at diversifying the gameplay style of the Dark Knight, but it sounds like the execution was rather poor at the end.

The small screen size of the GB consoles hurt a number of games. The lack of screen real estate, for example, is one of my few issues with the otherwise stellar original Shantae game on GBC, as you often couldn't get a good sense of where it was safe to jump in some of the game's giant environments.

Nice review.

@RR529 I remember being a bit baffled when I saw footage of Mario characters hoofing it on a golf course in a Direct, since, yeah, it doesn't seem like a great fit for golf. I've not heard great things about this title, but I'm glad you found enough enjoyable about it nonetheless, even if the speed golf thing ended up falling flat.

It's not a looker, but the cartoon-style employed in Mario games makes it where even the lower-budget ones are still easy on the eyes.

Any interest in that new Mario soccer game releasing next month?

@RogerRoger GBA would have been so much more appealing if it had initially shipped with a backlit screen and two more buttons. It's a great platform, but I think Nintendo wasn't fully aware of how much more complex handheld games were going to become when they were designing it. Which probably helps to explain why it only had the handheld market to itself for a few years.

Technically, the NDS would have been a better host platform, with its wider screen and full set of buttons, but you just know the publisher would have felt compelled to needless hamstring it with touchscreen gimmickry.

@RogerRoger Blue Beetle, Firestorm, Boba Fettman, Black Canary! Do I get it for £16 now 😂

@RogerRoger
"Injustice 2 does Injustice justice".
Awesome just Awesome. Sometimes Rog your way with words astounds.
Thanks as ever for your thoughts. Similarly to you I tend to swerve fighting games as a genre but the DC licence was enough to draw me in. Played through the story mode with multiple characters on both 1&2, picked up easily obtainable trophies then called it a day without having to be demoralisingly trounced trying to be competitive in the online arenas.
I think my highlight was the multi-stage transitions, bashing opponents through walls/floors onto another part of the stage usually amused me... Also beating up Superman, I never really liked that goody two shoes.

@RogerRoger I should really grab the Vita version of Injustice 1, I played it through PS Now a couple years back and it’ll be interesting to see if it holds up on a handheld!

@RogerRoger Awesome review(s) and spot on with my own thoughts and experience. I think I probably spent a little more time with Injustice 2 than you did, but still agree on your analysis of its annoying RNG grindfest. I dabbled in the asymmetric online team mode (I forget what it’s called) and every day I checked how my band of heroes fared against the online competition while I slept, but this too became redundant and boring after a while. I was able to get a lot of the gear I wanted, but the incentive to deck out my favorite characters was not worth the effort in the end. But the actual fighting gameplay and the visual presentation (especially the second game) was really quite good and definitely worthwhile for fans of the DC Universe. Like you mention in your review, NetherRealm struck a nice balance to make the game approachable for us fans of the franchise who don’t usually play fighters.

I enjoyed revisiting my memories of the games through your wonderful reviews and I’m glad you got a modicum of enjoyment from your time with them.

@RogerRoger Yeah, it can be a struggle to discuss genres you're only passingly familiar with. My lack of interest in piercing beyond the surface of the fighting game genre is why I typically ignore those sorts of games, as I enjoy the cycle of mastery involved with really coming to grips with a game's mechanics.

The changes to Injustice 1 vs 2 are very telling in terms of how many major AAA developers have gone all in on freemium-style game design since eighth gen. Really tragic for fans of those games.

I think I tried Injustice 1 at one point when it first went to PS+, but couldn't really get into it, despite enjoying the DC Universe overall.

Nice set of reviews!

Resident Evil 4 (PS4) - Review

I just finished Resident Evil 4 on PS4 after 25 hours of playtime. That's crazy for me to write down. After so many years of not liking horror games and not having played any Resident Evil games, I never thought that I'd work my way up to the legendary fourth entry in this series and actually beat it. It's such a major accomplishment for me as a gamer and this game basically solidified my fondness for this franchise. I've played Resident Evil 0, 1 (both original and remake), 2 and 3 but RE4 is when the series hit its height. It's not an overreaction to say that this is the best game in the series (at least from what I've played so far).

First, the fact that the series finally entered into the third-person realm with an over-the-shoulder view truly changed how we perceived Resident Evil, horror games and just action titles in general. It gave the player more control and thus made the experience that more immersive. The added challenge that comes with actually aiming at enemies instead of letting the game lock-in to the closest one made the gameplay more challenging, intense and most importantly, more fun. After all, the fun gameplay is one of the reasons why we love Resident Evil so much and I can honestly say that this was the most fun I've had with a Resident Evil game.

That's not to say that Resident Evil 4 doesn't come with its own fair share of flaws. For starters, and this is one of the biggest issues I've felt during my playthrough, the game's length. As I mentioned earlier, it took me 25 hours to complete the game. Compare that to e.g. Resident Evil 3 which took me under 10 hours to beat. RE4 is simply too long. However, there's nothing wrong with the content of the game. The problem is that you're not given enough motivation to keep moving forward.

When you start the game, you're immediately told your main objectives: find the president's daughter, rescue her and escape. After roughly 5 hours of playtime, you've already achieved the first two objectives. Then you spend another 20 hours trying to escape. Unfortunately, that's not enough motivation for me to keep playing the game. The lack of short-term goals throughout the story is what brings down the experience and it's one of the reasons why I felt that it was too long. I wanted more stuff like: "Go to the village and locate this person who will help you find the president's daughter". Simply put, I just wanted the game to keep feeding me objectives throughout the playthrough so that I would constantly want to move forward. But I didn't get that at all.

It doesn't help either that the story takes a back seat. The game had the weakest story of any of the Resident Evil games that I've played so far. There was barely any mystery or suspense. The plot just didn't go anywhere interesting and it was clear to me that the focus was on the gameplay. And because of the game's length, the story is spread thin over the 25 hours of playtime. I mean, I still can't believe how many villains RE4 had just because they needed to fill out those 25 hours with stuff to do.

It's like the development team took all the ideas they could come up with and implemented them into this game, thus creating 25 hours of content. Because when you get to the second half of the game, each area you enter feels completely different from the previous one. It's like the development team thought: "What if we implemented this idea here, and this one there" and so on. It just felt so disjointed and that's also one of the reasons why the game felt longer than it needed to be.

Now I just want to make something clear, all of the content in RE4 is great. I never got the feeling that it was padding because it all felt original and refreshing. Some of it just didn't feel like it belonged here. Sure the ideas were great and the set-pieces were really fun, but some of them could've easily been omitted and it wouldn't have changed the experience. It's kinda hard for me to explain because these moments were great but unnecessary, which sounds contradicting. To put it in a different way: even if you have tons of great ideas, it doesn't mean that you should use all of them because you still need to make a cohesive game. At least in the case of Resident Evil.

So when you have this long game with barely any motivational factors, it kinda sours the experience. I'm sure back in the day, people probably loved that you would pay 60 bucks and get a long survival horror experience considering how short they were back then. But today, the campaign just overstays its welcome.

To bring this back to a positive note, I truly liked how much variety there was in this game (as I mentioned earlier, this will sound contradicting because even though the content is great, I didn't want all of it in the game since it didn't feel significant to the overall progression). There were so many different and awesome action set-pieces, which I didn't expect in a Resident Evil game. In fact, it was with this game that the series started to take a more action-oriented approach. And honestly, I didn't mind that at all. It just added more to the fun factor.

With that said, it's hard for me to say that this felt like a pure Resident Evil experience. More action, less puzzles to solve, more linearity in the level design, less horror, all these things make Resident Evil 4 feel less like a Resident Evil game and more like something else. It's certainly the best game in the series that I've played so far without a doubt, and a phenomenal game in general. But it just doesn't feel like a traditional Resident Evil game.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed my time with Resident Evil 4. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't getting annoyed by the game's length towards the end of my playthrough. But ultimately, it was an extremely fun game with lots of great moments. I'm so glad that I've finally got to play it and I'm looking forward to starting up the bonus content "Separate Ways" before I move on from this game.

@LtSarge Great balanced review there! I enjoyed reading about your experience and it has me excited to play the game soon. There a strong possibility we’ll play it in Game Club for October.

The extra length does have me a little concerned, I’ll admit. Although I understand that the longer runtime does not detract from great moment-to-moment gameplay, so hopefully it clicks with me. I’ve never been one to complain about a game being too short, even with the RE3 Remake.

It does make me wonder how the Remake for RE4 will be handled. It’s coming fairly soon, less than 6 months if we can believe the release window. With a base game this beloved, I hope the remake doesn’t detract from the spirit of the original. Capcom nailed the other remakes so far, so I have confidence they’ll find a good balance. And based on what you say, it might be that they trim down the game length a little.

@LtSarge Great review! It's a shame that you thought that the game overstayed its welcome because its sheer replayability (particularly in incarnations subsequent to the original NGC release) is one of its main "claims to fame". I guess I should know!

@Th3solution Thanks mate!

Exactly, the game is still tons of fun to play and the content that's there is great. It's actually kinda crazy how much content they put into this game. Some people might love that, while others (like me) would've preferred a shorter experience.

Honestly, my hopes for the RE4 remake is that they cut out all unnecessary parts (even if they're good) and replace them with more fitting sections for a Resident Evil game. Less action, less linearity, more horror, more puzzles and so on. I've mentioned this in the RE thread but I am very confident that the remake will vastly improve upon the original because there are lots of things that can be changed for the better. Even the story can be improved with longer/better cutscenes and character interactions that help immerse you more in the plot. So I don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing if the remake deviated from the original in a lot of ways in order to make it more like a traditional Resident Evil game. For example, instead of having so many action set-pieces, I would love to spend more time in the village area, solving puzzles and experiencing more creepy environments. It's more important to have good and appropriate content for a game rather than good but unfitting content, if that makes any sense.

@LN78 Thank you!

Oh sure, I can definitely see myself replaying it over and over since it's such a fun game with lots of different options for combat. You can even play the game like a pure shooter if you use the submachine gun (which I didn't want to because I wanted to experience RE4 in the traditional RE way with handgun, shotgun and so on). You even unlock an infinite rocket launcher after beating the game, so I can imagine it would be tons of fun blowing all the enemies away.

But yeah, most Resident Evil games have great replay-value and that was because of how short they were so they wanted you to keep playing them to get the most bang for your buck. But in the case of RE4, you already got a meaty campaign and lots of replay-value, so it was basically the perfect game for people looking for a long game to play. Not to mention all the extra content that was added after the GameCube version, like Separate Ways and Mercenaries mode. It's absolutely insane, RE4 really gives you the most amount of bang for your buck of any Resident Evil game.

@LtSarge Oh, nice, your first time with Resi 4, eh?

It's very much a game I'm mixed on. The shooting and action are undeniably fun, but you're very right when you say it doesn't even feel much like a RE game. Even putting aside the dramatic changes to how the game feels when playing, it went a little too far in the B-movie action direction for my liking. The original trilogy and Code Veronica always did a fairly good job, IMO, of balancing camp with genuine scariness, and that balance is completely lost here.

But you also can't deny how influential this was to action games in general.

I'm just glad the remake reveal looks moodier. Maybe we'll get something that feels less out of line with the earlier games in the series tonally.

It's interesting hearing you mention how long the game is. I'd never had that impression before, but, looking up playtimes, while most are shorter than yours, they're still on the long side for this series.

@Ralizah Completely agree with you. The thing is though, I've never regarded Resident Evil as a scary series. There are plenty of other franchises much more frightening. Resident Evil leans more into creating a tense atmosphere and it does a splendid job of that. But then you play RE4 and it's not scary in the slightest. At least RE1 and RE2 had a couple of jumpscares. So yeah, RE4 remake is at least showing a lot of promise with its more moody look. Can't wait to see how it compares to the original.

@RogerRoger Thanks mate! Glad to hear that you're more keen to buy RE 4-6 now. I'm in the minority here in thinking like this, but I'm actually looking forward to playing RE 5 and 6. I've tempered my expectations after having played RE4 and accepted that they won't be traditional RE experiences, much less horror experiences. But what they will be is fun experiences with lots of RE characters and lore, and that I can get behind. That's one aspect I would've loved to have seen more of in RE4 in all honesty.

@LtSarge I would heartily recommend that you find someone to play through "RE5" with you in co-op mode. In single player it has the most aggravating "friendly" AI since Natalya in "GoldenEye" on the N64.