Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@Ralizah Great write up.
I've never actually played Doom II.

Tatted with the original on PC, but after that it was PlayStation Doom and Final Doom.

I didn't play another Doom properly until Doom 2016.

Whenever I'm due for a break from Eternal, I'll be trying out Doom 64 as it came as the pre-order bonus. Always heard great things about it (less the N64 trident).

@RogerRoger I think people should play games however they feel comfortable. If that's with a Playstation controller, then that's the way you should play it. I'm just not big on aiming with sticks, despite my overall preference for controllers (which is why I like gyro aiming so much: mouse-like accuracy with the comfort of a controller for someone like me who is still a console gamer at heart).

Have you played more recent games in the series?

@KALofKRYPTON Thanks!

The N64 controller is a nightmare, imo. I still don't understand how people used it comfortably. It feels like it was designed to be held by a three handed alien, and the control stick is the stiffest thing ever.

@Ralizah For certain stuff (mostly first party) it works fine. Even the 8 way cutout for the stick is OK. But some stuff just doesn't translate well to it at all. (Look at me, sounding almost like a N64 fan )

@Ralizah, @RogerRoger, thanks for reading (that was probably my longest review to date, so I wouldn't hold it against anyone if they decided to skip it).

Good DOOM II review, btw. It's not a series I'm particularly keen on trying out, but it's interesting to learn about nonetheless.

Also, if you do decide to get Daemon X Machina, a train escort mission in the C-Rank around the middle of the game seems to be considered the game's make or break moment for a lot of people. I lucked out and cleared it with the train at 10% health left on my first try, but I can definitely see how it could be an irritating mission someone could get stuck on. Just as a heads up.

@Ralizah Nice writeup and I liked the focus on the different enemy types.

@RogerRoger Other than DOOM 3, which I played as a teen (and have mostly forgotten, aside from remembering how surprisingly scary it was at the time), and the demo for DOOM 2016, these games are my first exposure to the series.

While I've lost my appetite for gore and cruelty as I've gotten older, the newer DOOM games don't really bother me. The violence feels almost cartoonish, frankly.

That teaser for The Last of Us Part II, though, with the people getting beaten and killed? It felt like torture porn. I genuinely felt a bit nauseous afterward.

@RR529 Oh dear, the dreaded escort mission. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm hoping the game goes on sale eventually. Not something I want to pay full price for, but I'd happily part with $29.99 for it.

@Thrillho Thanks! It seemed only appropriate, seeing as how the huge extra number of enemies is the main point of differentiation between this and OG DOOM (well, and the level design, but as I said, that's not differentiating it in a good way).

I know most of these enemy types are in later DOOM games, so it seems to have left its mark on the series.

@Ralizah I know I've seen a few tweets from the main Playstation account along these lines;

@Thrillho What a difference technology makes!

Hopefully DOOM Eternal is fairly cheap later in the year when I'm ready to get to it. It looks superb.

@RogerRoger I'll re-evaluate the re-release with fresh eyes soon, but I've always been of the impression that DOOM 3 was a great horror-shooter that suffered from betrayed expectations. People went in expecting classic DOOM with its lightning-fast gameplay and metal attitude and instead got a somewhat slow-paced and atmospheric horror game.

Nice review there @RR529 for DaemonXMachina!

It's always really interesting to read about the Switch exclusives and PSVR games you play as I don't have either system myself! Keep up the good work and glad you enjoyed it! 😀

Sweet another @Ralizah DOOM review! Time to party!

...Club DOOM folks!

Huh... Is a Revenant not part of DOOM II's new set of demons?

Having only played DOOM on the PS1 I have no idea which demons were in what concerning the original release (I swear some of the demons here are actually put into the first/ultimate DOOM bit of the PS1 version just to confuse me even more lol)

Still a nice review Ralizah and a good choice with the focus on the added demons!

It'd be interesting to see what you'd think of the PS1 version of DOOM regarding it's levels and thier geometry due to the fact had to be scaled back a bit to make it run properly.

Though can you ever go back to playing on a controller now that you've tried it with a mouse?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy

WTF

It is. I wrote a whole thing about it. But it's not here. :/ Neither was the section about the Heavy Gunner.

Must have been some sort of flub when I posted it. My laptop has this nasty habit of liking to highlight and quickly delete large sections of text when the bottom of my hand brushes against the trackpad.

I fixed it now. Thanks for eyeing that.

Yeah, I'd be interested in trying it out someday. Especially seeing how much I'm enjoying the N64 version of DOOM (which, indeed, is just a brand new old-fashioned DOOM game, but not one made by id, which I find to be fascinating).

Yeah, I've gone back to my Switch Lite version and messed with sensitivities a bit. I've discovered it's a lot more manageable aiming with a stick if you turn the sensitivity down low, although, in the process, you lose the ability to whip around quickly, which is kind of important with DOOM. I hear the Switch version of DOOM 64 apparently added motion controls. I'm almost tempted to buy it again on that platform to see how they improve the console experience.

Oh you're welcome! I was just thinking it must've been part of the first one then and missed reading about them @Ralizah 😅

As I said I've only played the PS1 version and there's some stuff from the second DOOM actually in the first/Ultimate part of it (You can get the super shotgun apparently along with Hell Knights & Revenants?) so I wasn't honestly sure what's introduced in what...

All I know is there's no Arch Vile in the PS1 version! But hey we got that Sweet "Club Doom" Secret Level 😂

Oh really? I just assumed it was another port with enhanced graphics or something... I look forward to reading your eventual review then!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Ah, I worded that really poorly. It is a remaster of an old game. I just found it interesting that it was a new DOOM game at the time that was designed like the classic games, but from an entirely different developer.

The enemy and weapon sprites are entirely different, too, and some of the familiar weapons feel different. I'm actually really fond of a lot of the changes I'm seeing.

Rhythm Paradise (also known as Rhythm Heaven in the US) for the Nintendo DS.

Rhythm Paradise is a collection of over 50 rhythm mini-games. It makes extensive use of the DS touch screen and stylus, requiring players to touch the screen and flick the stylus to the rhythm. Most of the mini-games are fairly simple to understand, but quite challenging to master. The game is also oozing in its charm and personality, and has quite a goofy feel to it.

Of the 50 or so rhythm games, there's around 25 unique concepts for the mini-games. The remaining games are either sequels that build on an existing game, or tricky remixes that combine elements from multiple previous mini-games. The games all feel fairly unique, and use a wide variety of fun and quirky concepts. There's games such as refuelling robots, a monkey fan club cheering on a singer, and a monk eating dumplings.

There's generally a practice section at the start of new mini-games to introduce the player to that particular game and to teach them how it works. Once the player has completed the practice (or skipped it), it's on to the main mini-game. Mini-games are usually fairly short, opting for smaller more intense challenges. At the end of a mini-game, the player then gets a "Superb", "OK" or "Try Again" ranking, along with some goofy flavour text on how well they did.

Despite its fun and goofy appearance, Rhythm Paradise is actually fairly challenging. While there are both audio and visual cues, a lot of the rhythm games will be very tricky unless the player listens carefully to the music and gets a good feel of the rhythm. Rhythm Paradise is fairly strict on its timings, and doesn't offer any leeway if the taps were slightly off the beat. To mitigate any frustrations by the difficulty, there is an option for skipping mini-games entirely if the player is struggling. The skipping option is fairly subtle and is done by a small exclamation mark in the level select screen. This can easily be ignored completely by players not wishing to skip.

Rhythm Paradise mainly uses the touch screen and stylus as the sole control method. It requires the DS to be held sideways, similar to holding a book or playing Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. There's options for both right-handed controls and left-handed controls. The exact controls vary depending on the rhythm game, but generally involve either tapping the screen, holding down on the screen, dragging the stylus across the screen, or flicking the screen with the stylus.

The flicking wasn't easy to get the hang of, and does seems a bit finicky. It did cause some frustration whenever I thought I flicked correctly but the game didn't seem to like it. My 3DS screen was already fairly badly scratched, but I do think the flicking may have contributed to a few new scratches. The developers presumably got some complaints about the flicking, as this was removed in the 3DS game Rhythm Paradise Megamix. Megamix instead lets the player choose between pressing buttons or tapping the touch screen without flicking.

Music is an important aspect of rhythm games, and Rhythm Paradise certainly delivers in this regard. There were no tracks in the game that I particularly disliked, but there are a lot of catchy tunes. There's plenty of variety in the songs, including pop, rock, techno sounding songs, and various others.

Overall, this game was a very enjoyable experience. My main issues were that the flicking controls took a lot of practice to get used to, and seemed finicky. The game also isn't always great at indicating exactly what the player did wrong. In some intense, fast-paced mini-games it can be hard to tell whether a wrong move was due to tapping too early or too late. But the game's charm along with its wonderful sense of fun when playing it more than makes up for its shortcomings.

@crimsontadpoles I love the concept of this series to death, but something about the timing of the notes in the minigames just throws me off. I also have a huge issue with flicking or directional motions in rhythm games (my biggest issue with certain notes in the otherwise excellent Theatrhythm Final Fantasy on 3DS, for example).

Good write-up!

Have you played Elite Beat Agents?

@crimsontadpoles Great review, I love those games and rhythm games are my bread and butter anyway. I swear I must have spent over 2000 hours on Theatrhythm @Ralizah 😂😂

@nessisonett I ditched my copy of the original when the generally superior Curtain Call came out. Despite being terrible at rhythm games, though, I had a good time with it.

@Ralizah Not yet. I only heard about Elite Beat Agents a couple of weeks ago when I unlocked their spirits in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and got curious about who they were. I love the concept though, so I'll likely get it at some point.

@nessisonett Thanks. I did rather enjoy the demo for Theatrhythm Curtain Call. It does look rather fun, but didn't really appeal to me since I've not played any Final Fantasy before.

@Ralizah Oh yeah true, I was referring to Curtain Call since it was basically the same game with more content. The DLC was brilliant too, with music from Chrono Trigger, TWEWY and Nier.

@nessisonett ...there's NieR DLC? I didn't know that. Probably overlooked it at the time.

I mainly wanted the Bravely Default DLC.

@crimsontadpoles EBA is so much fun. I love how much narrative and humor it integrated into the various songs throughout the game.

I liked it so much that I even played the Japanese version as well, which is like an entirely different game with its own unique song list.

@Ralizah Just the first Nier, I’d love another Theatrhythm with overall Squeenix cause the Dragon Quest one I imported was great too.