Shrooba's Corner of 100 Completions

[Shrooba]

Completion #63
Dragon Ball FighterZ - 5th September 2021
Completion time: 4 weeks, 10 hours


Retrospective:
Dragon Ball has always been a big part of what I was into growing up. It was a mixture of Portal, Half-Life, Sonic, Nintendo and DBZ to cap it off. Or at least, that's just at the top of my head! The each arc of DBZ had some great character moments, from the desperate act of Goku clinging onto Raditz so Piccolo could launch his special beam cannon, to Goku first turning into a Super Saiyan at the death of his best friend from the evil Frieza, there were a ton of stakes. The most iconic arc in DBZ in my eyes is probably the Android and Cell arc, beginning with Trunks' arrival. Goku was supposedly the only Super Saiyan, but then we see this mysterious young man we've never seen before turning into that godly form and slicing a returning Frieza like he was nothing, to Goku's son, Gohan, transforming into a Super Saiyan 2 to defeat the perfect android, Cell...
I'm probably rambling on a bit, I should probably get to explaining FighterZ and not a short synopsis of a DBZ arc! ? Point being, I love this show, and I've been reading up on Dragon Ball Super, an official continuation written by the series creator himself, with art by his apprentice, Toyotarou, who nails his artstyle! The show's been on hiatus for a long time, but after a few more arcs are finished being written, I'm certain production will begin. Hopefully the animation quality will be good! But anyway, in short, I love Dragon Ball, and let's see what this game has to offer!

History of the game’s development/music:
Dragon Ball games have always been far and few between; you'd have those iconic games like the Budokai series on PS2, to the infamous ones like DBZ: Sagas... also on the PS2! Each generation of PlayStation would see a mixed bag of Dragon Ball games, but the PS4 era is where things started getting together. With the Xenoverse series, Dragon Ball seemed to be stepping in the right direction again, and this culminated with 2018's Dragon Ball FighterZ, developed by Arc System Works, or ArcSys for short. Yep, the ones behind the ever-popular Guilty Gear series alongside a couple Persona fighting games, they've taken on the job of making a new DBZ game.

What sticks out with FighterZ is it's soul, as cliche as that sounds. What I'm getting at is that unlike other 3D instances of trying to capture the whole anime look and failing, ArcSys have incorporated a very unique style to replicate the traditional look of animation with 3D models. Similar to Disney and competitors in it's golden years, ArcSys have raised the bar with their animation because they evolve; with games like Xenoverse 2, seeing characters from an anime in a 3D cutscene with regular movements is good, but it lacks the soul of what it's deriving off of. ArcSys however went all out in encapsulating the spirit of watching the show.

So at this point, you're probably wondering, is FighterZ a 3D fighter? Nope, and that's the brilliance of their animation, it's a 2.5D fighter, but even when using 3D models, the animators of ArcSys have done it in such a way that they move and act exactly like you'd see as if it were the regular show and not a game.
Unlike traditional 3D animation that comprises of interpolating between each pose to give an overall smooth effect, the animators at ArcSys treated each frame as it's own pose without the interpolation. Essentially a compilation of key frames without the smoothing out. It's like intentionally hindering what makes 3D animation good in order to preserve what makes 2D animation good. It even goes beyond this, such as only animating certain parts of a character's body while omitting animation for other parts (eg a character would hold a single pose in their opening animation in a fight, and only their hair or mouth would move, replicating the anime style).

I could try to go on and on about this, but my words really don't do it justice! There's an incredible video that goes on to explaining it in much more depth, I definitely recommend checking it out:

Spoiler

 

 

And then next is the music, composed with a lot of variance between each character's themes by artists Toshiyuki Kishi, Hiromi Mizutani, Kenji Katoh and Reno. Since the game has one overall mini hub-world for you to traverse through to select the arcade, story mode, practice mode and so forth, the game is paced with a catchy and smooth rock melody, alongside the game's theme itself which is rife with guitar. You've got themes for ever-powerful characters such as Broly too, but one theme that especially sticks out to me is Hit's theme, a jazz piece with a guitar playing the bass notes, booming with saxophones, harmony, and a bombastic trumpet. What I love about this one is that Hit is an assassin, and pairing him with a jazz theme just reminds me so much of the crime and mystery genre in shows, like you'd just imagine him bustling through the streets like what he does is another regular job. Also I SWEAR I hear the lick at 1:13 of the track! ? It's a popular recurring short phrase in jazz.

Spoiler

 

Story:
Just a heads up, this story is one confusing mess. This is coming from a Kingdom Hearts fan that finds THIS story of all things confusing, so be prepared to say the least! ?

The story of FighterZ sees the return of the Red Ribbon Army, a force in the Dragon Ball Universe who created the Androids, machines and cyborgs alike built by the genius Dr. Gero to kill Goku. In the original DBZ arc, the pure-machine androids were killed, whilst Androids 17 and 18 were redeemed and led normal lives, even becoming key allies during the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super, with Android 17 playing a key role in helping save Universe 7, the universe of which the main story takes place.
But in FighterZ, the operations of the defunct army have reinitialized, and a mysterious woman, Android 21, alongside a revived Android 16 have summoned once defeated villains, Frieza, Cell, the Ginyu Force, and Nappa (Vegeta's former teammate).

As part of their plan to overwhelm all of the planet's fighters, the Red Ribbon Army releases a powerful "link system" that suppresses a power's fighter by aligning them with a wondering soul not adept to a person's body, thereby hindering their strength. Alongside this, the world is suddenly swarmed with evil clones of every character, although they're much weaker as they're simply imitations. Can't beat the real deal it seems! ?

The game has three arcs with 3 theoretical endings, but the main and true ending reveals that Android 21 has two halves to her-- her normal self, and a Majin half possessed with evil- by suppressing the power of Earth's greatest fighters and releasing clones, she had planned to turn them into candy to absorb their strength. This ability is pretty much that of Majin Buu, the final foe of DBZ, who's absorption ability led to an indescribable power.
Hopefully what I'm saying is making sense so far, I hope this isn't coming across as a physics lecture. ?

Anyway, whilst trying to suppress this evil half and it's desires to absorb power, Android 21 accidentally kills Android 16, and in a episode of grief she releases the other half. After the good and evil Android 21 get away from each other, they both plan to get stronger for a final showdown-- the good half by raising the link embedded in their souls, whilst the evil one continued to eat clones. The good half could very quickly become much stronger by absorbing others turned into candy, but as a sworn promise to not succumb to the methods of her evil counterpart, she hones the power of the soul linked with them to become much more adept fighters. In the end, the evil half is destroyed by a spirit bomb released by Goku, with the good half holding her down as a sacrifice.

And yeah... that's the story. Uh... yeah... you can kinda see that the story isn't the uh... "best" of the game, I guess! ? But that's pretty much it.

Gameplay:
The game, whilst comprising of 3D models for it's characters as aforementioned, is a 2.5D fighter. As such, I'd recommend playing with the D-Pad for more accurate movements, as whiffing certain moves can spell doom if you're a competitive player-- each second and each movement counts. Unlike a lot of other fighting games where it's usually 1 character vs 1 character, FighterZ sees a 3v3 formula where you can choose three characters as you oppose another person's three characters. The game has the ability to block all upcoming attacks from another player between alternated high and low attacks, and you need to predict what moves the opponent will execute and react defensively-- by using assists with the L1 trigger whilst initiating moves, a player can use an "assist" where if one of your other characters is alive, they can perform a quick move whilst your main character can still attack, and you can use this to mix up your opponent by confusing them with an onslaught of different attacks that vary both high and low, with them needed to alternate their guard stance to resist a potential combo.

You see, the moment you get hit, you're a prime target for a long string of moves and what could potentially be a devastating combo depending on the skill of the player. By using the D-Pad alongside the X, Square, Circle and Triangle buttons, you can execute a wide range of varying moves. By unleashing certain moves, you can actually cause your opponent to smash against a wall on either the left or right, causing them to fling back at you whilst still in a vulnerable state, allowing you to essentially juggle them and continue your combo. As you're executing a combo, you've got even more tools at your disposal, such as a metered bar at the bottom of the screen that goes from numbers 0 to 7, allowing you to perform level 1 moves, and level 3 moves (with special level 2 and level 5 moves in such cases). Essentially, these are special moves unique to each character where a special animation plays with an attack that deals massive damage, and by using the L1/L2 trigger as you deal one of these moves, it can allow you to immediately transition into ANOTHER character which can also do a level 1/3 move. By chaining these together, you can do massive damage on your opponent. By also using your assists, you can prolong their vulnerable state where they can't move, and you can do some impressive stunts if you're good at fighting games.
However, all damage isn't final, as the yellow health bars at the top for each character can each recover a small portion marked in blue by transitioning to another character. In doing so, you can use R1 to rush into them and force another character back in, meaning they lose the opportunity to gain back precious health.

By constantly maintaining your defense, keeping the pressure with demanding combos, and playing strategically by switching between 3 characters on the fly, it offers an experience where you're always up and moving and planning what you'll do next, in accordance with what your opponent is doing.
And that's not even touching upon the Sparking feature which temporarily boosts your attack damage for a certain amount of time depending on how many characters you've got left, with more time being added the less you have. Doing combos with the Sparking ability allows for even MORE damage to be dealt, and it's a great way to make a comeback if you've only got one character left. Because of this, a match is never truly over until it's over.

I was going to do another section for the Set for Life trophy, but since I've already discussed that when I hit 5,000,000 zeni out of the 20,000,000, I think I've written enough! ?
And that's it for the review. Since trophies aren't the focus of a game, I won't let the grind get in the way of the score.
Whilst the story is a bit lacking, the gameplay is great and the animations in-game are incredible. ArcSys did an amazing job with this game, and if you're a DB fan, this is a great game to pick up.

Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Difficulty: 4/10 if boosted, 7 to 10/10 if not (depending on your skill in fighting games).

Edited September 10, 2021 by Shrooba

[Shrooba]

11 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

I’m really tempted to rent Miles Morales via GameFly. Can finish it within a couple days and return it, all on a trial subscription.

I can definitely understand. As for me, I got the game on sale, but I've definitely seen people voicing their concerns that Miles Morales would be nearly, if not as expensive as Spider-Man despite it being a shorter game, especially the PS5 version since I think all PS5 games thus far are more expensive. That is to say, it's not Insomniac's fault the game is short since they did work on a new Ratchet & Clank at the same time after all, but given the increasing prices of such games, renting it is actually a smart idea all things considered.

It actually takes me back to the time when renting games in general was a huge thing, especially for Blockbuster. I never rented games as a kid personally, but I've always seen people talking about the nostalgia they have on sick days having their parents rent a SNES/N64 with a game like Donkey Kong Country and those memories being synonymous with being sick. ? But it goes to show that renting does have it's merits even in 2021.

[AJ_Radio]

13 hours ago, Shrooba said:

It actually takes me back to the time when renting games in general was a huge thing, especially for Blockbuster. I never rented games as a kid personally, but I've always seen people talking about the nostalgia they have on sick days having their parents rent a SNES/N64 with a game like Donkey Kong Country and those memories being synonymous with being sick. But it goes to show that renting does have it's merits even in 2021.

Spoken like a true 90s kid. How old are you? I was one of the last kids in my generation to really experience that era of Blockbuster. 
 

God I miss those days. 

[Shrooba]

On 9/6/2021 at 8:49 AM, AJ_Radio said:

Spoken like a true 90s kid. How old are you? I was one of the last kids in my generation to really experience that era of Blockbuster. 
 

God I miss those days. 

You'll actually find this quite shocking to believe, but I wasn't around during the prime of Blockbuster! When I grew up, we never got the latest gadgets like the 360 until the 2010's, so for the first 10 years of my life my only experience with games was the classic Sonic games from the 90's via the Sonic Mega Collection, Super Mario 64 from Wii emulation, Colin McRae Rally on the PS1, and a PS2 for stuff like CTR Nitro-Kart.
I also had a DS, but I mainly played Mario Kart DS, having only played the DS Pokemon games much later in the 2010's.
Even when I eventually got a 360 in 2011, I was mainly gravitated towards Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, some other N64 gems I never got to play. One of my cousins also gave me his Game Boy Colour and I played a ton of Pokemon Yellow.
So for my first 10 years, those were the types of games that were ingrained in me.

I was quite behind with what was "modern" in gaming in the 2000's, so I garner a lot more nostalgia to more retro games simply because that was what I was exposed to. I suppose that doesn't make me a 90's kid, but I associate my memories with what was from that era since that was what I loved the most back then. It compelled me to see what others thought of 90's games online and a lot of them associate those sick days to renting games, and here in Australia I think we have, or had, Blockbuster and this other store called "Video Ezy", but due to how digital gaming and Netflix is becoming bigger and bigger, these store numbers have dwindled, especially ever since the pandemic.
Even though I never rented games as aforementioned, I do have similar memories; I've had several sick days where I got to be at my warm grandparent's house playing away at SM64 as my grandma would make her own chicken soup recipe as I went through Rainbow Ride trying to collect the rest of the stars. I've got a lot of fond times like that.

There's the big 2000's games like Halo: Combat Evolved, World of Warcraft etc, but I was either too young to play them or didn't have the tech to play them, so my main experience with gaming was older stuff, not to say I didn't at all play some 2000's games-- I did still have a PS2 after all. For instance, I do have some good times seeing my older cousins playing stuff like the PS2 GTA games and those aren't 90's games, so I did enjoy early 2000's stuff to an extent as well. I even look back fondly on Minecraft on the 360 a near-decade ago. But as a whole, games from the 90's + early 2000's are things that I cherish as part of my childhood. Since I grew up with some of the older stuff, I can understand why so many older people are gravitated to such games, and it's because that was my childhood as well. I adapted to that sort of culture simply since it's what shaped me.

Although, I did eventually get to play Half-Life 1 and 2 in 2015, and those were absolutely incredible. ?

Edited March 4 by Shrooba

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, Shrooba said:

snip

 

Interesting. What I find both interesting and sad, is that there are many people in your generation and age group who absolutely abhor the modern trends and things like social media in general. So far, your peers haven't exactly made great music. Generation Z isn't really off to a good start, I hope you guys can push through. 

 

I'm a true 90s kid, so I can gravitate towards stuff like Beavis & Butthead (one of the greatest shows mankind has ever made), Ren & Stimpy, Johnny Bravo, Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron, Seinfeld, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, because I LIVED thru it. I can tell you the stuff Mary Kate & Ashley were in, what Nickelodeon game shows were on, etc etc etc.

 

It's a shame you weren't around back then, because I tend to tell you younger folks, you missed out. I mean that literally. The 90s was a fucking good time for kids, and the 80s were as well, although I cannot claim first hand experience on that decade.

 

That's okay though. There is stuff from the 60s and 70s I love, especially music like Jimi Hendrix and actors like Bruce Lee. YouTube enables us to revisit those long ago memories and relics of the past, which I've been getting hooked on more since the pandemic has put my family in a very rough spot.

 

When I look at today's music acts, I just cover my head in shame. Most young people are doing the same, and for good reason.

[KindaSabbath]

9 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Spoken like a true 90s kid. How old are you? I was one of the last kids in my generation to really experience that era of Blockbuster. 
 

God I miss those days. 

 

90's kid checking in. At 32 years of age, I can say that the 90's were incredible. I'd go as far as to say, everything these days is all too accessible. Thus, every thing is taken for granted.

 

Blockbuster was how I experienced gaming's latest and greatest. That is, if I was lucky enough to get there before someone else did. It was almost part of my daily routine to head down to the local Blockbuster and see if the newer releases had been returned. This is how I found many lesser popular hidden gems, because you'd have to settle for what they had in before you'd get your hands on GTA Vice City for example. I was cool with that though. Finding kids in the playground at school who had the game, so you could hear first hand knowledge of the games (the Internet just wasn't quite there yet) was exciting. Anticipation always growing, until the day you finally got your own hands on a game, and you could be the one in the know who kids come flocking to for some good old first hand information. Good fucking times.

 

Infact, as amazing as it is to be in a position today, where I can buy any game I want, any form of media that I want - whenever I want to. I can't help but feel that a big part of the magic has been lost. 

 

My kids have Gamepass. My kids have a digital world and dad has a good job. It's my duty to make sure they don't take this shit for granted but at the same time, they'll never experience the magic of what it was to be a kid in the 90's. @Shrooba you're so lucky to be as young as you are and atleast have experienced a bit of what it was like!

[Shrooba]

26 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

Interesting. What I find both interesting and sad, is that there are many people in your generation and age group who absolutely abhor the modern trends and things like social media in general. So far, your peers haven't exactly made great music. Generation Z isn't really off to a good start, I hope you guys can push through. 

 

I'm a true 90s kid, so I can gravitate towards stuff like Beavis & Butthead (one of the greatest shows mankind has ever made), Ren & Stimpy, Johnny Bravo, Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron, Seinfeld, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, because I LIVED thru it. I can tell you the stuff Mary Kate & Ashley were in, what Nickelodeon game shows were on, etc etc etc.

 

It's a shame you weren't around back then, because I tend to tell you younger folks, you missed out. I mean that literally. The 90s was a fucking good time for kids, and the 80s were as well, although I cannot claim first hand experience on that decade.

 

That's okay though. There is stuff from the 60s and 70s I love, especially music like Jimi Hendrix and actors like Bruce Lee. YouTube enables us to revisit those long ago memories and relics of the past, which I've been getting hooked on more since the pandemic has put my family in a very rough spot.

 

When I look at today's music acts, I just cover my head in shame. Most young people are doing the same, and for good reason.

This is a big issue I have with social media today. The concept of social media is incredible, you can connect with family and friends all over the world, and things like Skype were awesome. But now it's filled with narcissistic people cashing in on the latest "challenges" and trends, and it's unfortunate that it's in large part due to the younger generations today. I see these people around the same age as me doing cringey nonsense online that I just can't understand how millions gravitate towards it. Granted, we all do stupid stuff, but I didn't intentionally do so and post it online for attempts at fame.

A lot of music today-- the mainstream stuff-- is incessantly corporate. There's horrible songs of each era for sure, but you compare the best of today's music to the best of even the 2000's, and you can tell the focus is the profit rather than art. Take rap for instance, you had artists back then like 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. who sung not for fame, but from the passion of their hearts, and their messages of growing up with what they had and the struggles they faced... and you just compare that to "artists" like Lil Pump's Gucci Gang. It's weird how despite younger generations pushing for more positive changes, it's this high-and-mighty music that's idealized. The irony of that is something I've found odd for quite some time now. To be fair, I assume that the young people pushing for change and the young people liking this terrible music are entirely separate groups, but then you've got people on Instagram using change as an excuse to put the focus on themselves rather than the topic they discuss at hand, so there is an overlap in some areas.
Of course though, there's always good and bad music in each generation, not everything today is terrible, but it seems a lot of the bad music gets more traction today than the bad music of yesteryear. For what it's worth, for each party I go to with my IRL friends, we always try to play Bohemian Rhapsody. The flame for the love of old music is still alive.

But on a more positive note, I remember watching shows like Johnny Bravo and Ren & Stimpy (I loved the slapstick of that show especially). There was also this other show, Rocko's Modern Life, which I adored a ton as a kid. Funnily enough, watching shows like that was another memory I have at my grandparent's house.
 

2 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

My kids have Gamepass. My kids have a digital world and dad has a good job. It's my duty to make sure they don't take this shit for granted but at the same time, they'll never experience the magic of what it was to be a kid in the 90's. @Shrooba you're so lucky to be as young as you are and atleast have experienced a bit of what it was like!

On the subject of Xbox, Microsoft released a compilation of old Rare games titled Rare Replay quite a while ago which is pretty cool. I'm pretty sure Half-Life 2 and it's respective episodes can actually be played on the Xbox One with backwards compatibility (definitely something Microsoft does better than Sony). And thanks, while I wasn't alive during that era and thus will never truly know what it was like, I'm happy to at least understand bits of the 90's culture due to living through it's aspects in the 2000's. Some of the best gaming memories I hold for sure!

[Shrooba]

Completion #3
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - 16th June 2019
Completion time: 1 day, 6 hours

Next up is Crash 2 for the N. Sane Trilogy! I was so enthralled by Monday’s discussion on the 90’s that I had completely forgotten to write a review! Sorry for the wait @KindaSabbath!

I did finish Sonic Colours: Ultimate, but due to the extended wait for this review, I decided to do this first, I’ll probably save Colours for next week sometime.
Since I’ve mainly tackled my retrospective on Crash in my Crash 1 review, alongside an overview of the composer of the trilogy and how the music was remastered by the Vicarious Visions audio team, the Crash 2 review will jump straight into to my thoughts on the story and gameplay!
 

Story:
If you’re new to the series and decide to start Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back first, you’ll be welcomed to a charming scene without context of Dr. Neo Cortex screaming his lungs off as he falls a trillion feet from the sky with an oddly detailed shot of his mouth... Upon landing and miraculously surviving, he remarks upon the beauty of crystals. If the dude wanted some gems, surely, he’d just visit a jewellery store or something… No seriously, Cortex MUST be loaded, how would he afford all his gadgets? I actually want to comment on this really quick; you’ve got these evil scientists like Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Dr. Wily, and now Dr. Neo Cortex… where do these guys get all their money? ? They're filled with evil, but they could always reconsider and become financial advisors with how well they handle money! But I digress.

In reality, what’s happening in this scene is that it immediately follows upon Crash 1 after a fated battle between Crash and Cortex at the top of his blimp. Upon falling into a cave, he remarks upon these crystals as they contain a very enormous and illustrious power source; a power so forceful that it could fully power his Cortex Vortex, a mind-controlling machine that can turn everyone on the planet into his slaves, similar to what he used on Crash.

However, in order to gain enough crystals to power his device because he has no allies on the planet to assist him, he’s met with the ultimatum of garnering Crash’s help. Of course, Crash had already punted him to his untimely doom and would probably not be the most eager of chaps to give a hand, so Cortex uses the guise of charisma. Cortex is a very suave man you see, and he dons a new persona; a friendly scientist who’s turned over a new leaf, and can use the power of the crystals for good!
After a year of Cortex developing his Cortex Vortex, Crash is seen hanging out with his sister, Coco, who asks him to retrieve a battery for her computer. On his brief journey, he's teleported to a mysterious base with a bunch of warps that lead to different areas, and a hologram of Cortex that explains to Crash of the crystals.

This doesn’t come to fruition however, as his once-friend, Dr. Nitrus Brio, is tired of Cortex’s failed shenanigans, and tells Crash that if he instead collects gems, he can harness their power to put an end to Cortex’s evil. Of course, Brio doesn’t take any chances, and decides to send a reformed Ripper Roo, the Komodo Bros, and Tiny Tiger (who, in reality, isn’t actually tiny but is a muscled beast of a cat, the dude should seriously apply for the Olympics!) to stop Crash as he was still collecting crystals. They all fail however, and upon defeating Dr. N. Gin, Cortex’s new assistant, it’s become pretty apparent that perhaps Cortex isn’t such a nice guy after all, with the whole “give your crystals to us or we’ll kill you” scenario. With a realized goal, Crash sets out to collect the gems, and with Brio’s newly powered laser, they destroy Cortex’s base of operations and save the world!

Moral of the story: Gems are prettier than crystals. There, I said it. Come at me with your pitchforks and torches, I dare you. I’ve made my peace with it! ?
 

Gameplay:

Despite coming out a mere year after Crash 1 (although, I suppose 1–2-year development times were the norm back then such as Valve’s Half-Life and its respective expansions, Opposing Force and Blue Shift, released by Gearbox Software. Yup, that Gearbox; the guys who made the Borderlands series!) Crash 2 features a plethora of additional gameplay elements that change the way you approach levels. You’ve got a few different changes to Crash’s move set, such as the slide, body slam and Crash Dash. What’s interesting about the Crash Dash is that it was a move exclusive to Crash Warped, but the N. Sane Trilogy made it an ability that could be unlocked in Crash 2 as a quality-of-life alteration, and it’s an addition that makes going for the platinum relics a lot more fun! It’s a simple ability where you press R2 to, well, dash! ?

Interestingly, while using the Crash Dash is helpful for platinum relics, the slide is technically what gives Crash the most speed, but he comes to a quick halt after using it, killing any momentum you may have gained from it. However, if you chain the slide with jumps, you can halt the slide animation and keep your speed going. By chaining these together, you can reach some crazy speeds. Crash 2 also added the high jump as well, which conveniently enough can be executed after a slide since it’s mapped to the Circle button. So, in total, you’ve got several different levels of jumping to work with now: a short one with a quick tap of the X button, a longer one with a held press of the X button, and a high jump by holding X right after the Circle button (and potentially out of a slide). There’s also technically a fourth variant of the jump which can send you even higher; you start by performing a high jump, but then immediately use the Square button to spin (essentially sliding your thumb across the three buttons) and you can reach crazy distances. That’s four levels of jumping to utilize!

The greatest aspect of it, however, is that whilst it’s still a relatively simple move set, having to jump between slides also requires factoring in the geometry of each level; you need to time your slide-jumps between platforming, alongside upward slopes which slightly slow you as well, whilst juggling between the different levels of jumping. It’s the same philosophy of tackling Furi’s bosses; there’s not a whole lot of controls to work around, but this means you’ve got to master every aspect, and that’s the fun of Crash.

Speaking of level geometry, Crash 2 has added some new “death routes” into the fray; paths in levels that can only be traversed if you made it to that point without dying. It’s not entirely demanding as if you’ve reached a checkpoint after clearing a death route, you keep your progress. However, if you need to backtrack after a death route, you need to decide whether to hit a checkpoint crate to save your progress or hit it after backtracking and hitting any missing boxes; it’s a gamble, and it depends on if you like taking risks or not. It’s another cool element that adds a surprising number of choices and diversity to a rather simple level philosophy on paper, being that each area is just a bunch of hallways.

Crash 2 also added a jet pack for him! Who would have thought that our orange marsupial friend could ride a device that deals with thrust, mathematics, and physics? I know I wouldn’t be able to operate a jet pack, but Crash can! It’s only featured in 2 levels, Rock It and Pack Attack (Crash levels have some funny puns indeed!), but it offers a unique change of pace. Using the directional controls only change Crash trajectory, so to move forwards and backwards, you use the X and Circle buttons respectively. You’ll still need to use Square to perform spins as an offensive maneuver, but your directional moves do have a bit of delay, so you need to time your moves a moment in advance in accordance with upcoming obstacles. When going for the gold/plat relic, it adds a sort of auto-running feel as you pretty much need to be constantly moving forward to make it in time, and in these 2 levels alone you really must be quick with your reflexes. It’s a cool addition to the game and seeing Crash with those goofy googles is always fun to see. As the level name suggests, I guess Crash really does “rock it” after all! I will not apologize for this joke, the subject-matter pretty much demanded it. ?

The MOST IMPORTANT PART of Crash 2’s gameplay is of course… Polar! Polar is a friendly bear introduced in Crash 2 that escorts Crash through the tundra and terrain of snow, and it’s up to Crash to help steer him and keep each other safe from danger along the way! Like the slide-jumping philosophy, Polar can also offer a quick burst of speed with the Circle button, but there’s a cooldown period between each one. To counter this, you can also jump after the boost of speed to preserve the momentum gained, and you can immediately follow with another dash once you touch the ground again! So essentially, you can once again dash and jump to preserve speed! Alongside this, Polar runs on his own with you to steer him, similar to that of the jet pack controls. In that regard, Polar is sort of a mix between the regular Crash gameplay, and the jet pack gameplay! It’s a cool mix for a cool bear. And he’s not just cool because he literally is temperature-wise! ?

When I first played the Crash games, exploring new levels were daunting, but if you put in the practice, it’s very doable. With a cool story with twists and turns, Brio becoming a good guy, and an interesting prospect of Cortex potentially doing good as well (even though it was a ruse), it opens some awesome aspects to each character. Alongside some new changes to the gameplay while still keeping it simple, it maintains Crash 1’s “easy to learn, hard to master” philosophy.

Hardest Trophy:
A Helping Paw

Difficulty-wise, the “hardest” trophy would be for collecting all gold relics… but having to jump on our beloved and dependable buddy Polar TEN TIMES?! I feel bad for the poor guy… this is hands down the hardest trophy for the courage it would take to jump on a poor bear’s head once, let alone ten times…

Difficulty: 6/10
Enjoyment: 9/10

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Shrooba

[KindaSabbath]

Excellent write up buddy. I really appreciate the depth you dive into in your gameplay sections. I'm a gameplay whore through and through, so it's a joy to read! Keep up the good work!

 

There is literally no way Tiny Tiger would pass any form of drug testing to compete at Olympic level. That dude is not natty.

Edited September 11, 2021 by KindaSabbath

[Shrooba]

On 11/09/2021 at 7:23 PM, KindaSabbath said:

Excellent write up buddy. I really appreciate the depth you dive into in your gameplay sections. I'm a gameplay whore through and through, so it's a joy to read! Keep up the good work!

 

There is literally no way Tiny Tiger would pass any form of drug testing to compete at Olympic level. That dude is not natty.

Tiny Tiger is definitely way too ripped-- I'm inclined to agree, his muscles are too good to be legit! ? When taking sequels into consideration, I always try to explain how the gameplay improves upon it's predecessor, and seeing how a series' form evolves over time is super interesting to me. After Crash stop being developed by Naughty Dog after they felt they did everything they could with Crash, the series saw a lot of changes like with Crash of the Titans, but the N. Sane Trilogy went back to the series' roots, and talking about Crash 3 will be a lot of fun as well! It introduced a lot of new gimmicks similar to Spyro 3, so it'll be a blast to discuss!

Speaking of gameplay, it's time for another one of Shrooba's MIND-BENDING, WORLD-SHATTERING AND GRAVITY-DEFYING updates! The greatest thing since sliced bread!!!

I've finished the story to Miles Morales! Thank you to everyone who put your input in the poll, I'm really glad I got to experience this game! It was bloody incredible and really moved me-- not a lot of games have made me feel this way. To top it off, the story isn't even as long as Spider-Man on the PS4, and yet it still made me feel moved. I want to talk about how this game made me feel, and the messages and inspiration it gave me, but considering the game is still fairly new, I'm not sure if delving deep into the story would be a good idea.

I just wanted to know if you guys would be fine with me explaining the story in my review, I really feel as though discussing things in-depth will help me show why I love the characters in this game so much. But at the same time, I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone who hasn't played the game yet.
I could put a spoiler warning in bold underlined text just to make sure, but I want to know if you all would be okay with that.
I can always try to tinker around and find a way to talk about it without going revealing things, but I wanted to hear what you guys think of how I should tackle it, since a lot of Miles' motivations are inspired by certain events.

I've still got to finish the rest of the trophies, and I'll be busy with Uni assignments next week so I might not have time to make a review for this game in quite a while (I don't think I'll have time to make my Crash 3 or Sonic Colours: Ultimate reviews next week either), so there's plenty of time for me to hear your thoughts on how I should approach the review, whether I should explain the story in-depth or try to go about it in a way that wouldn't reveal anything too big.

Anyway, take care everyone!

Edited September 12, 2021 by Shrooba

[DrBloodmoney]

On 12/09/2021 at 0:20 PM, Shrooba said:

I just wanted to know if you guys would be fine with me explaining the story in my review, I really feel as though discussing things in-depth will help me show why I love the characters in this game so much. But at the same time, I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone who hasn't played the game yet.
I could put a spoiler warning in bold underlined text just to make sure, but I want to know if you all would be okay with that.
I can always try to tinker around and find a way to talk about it without going revealing things, but I wanted to hear what you guys think of how I should tackle it, since a lot of Miles' motivations are inspired by certain events.

 

I think you're fine to have a spoiler-filled review at this point - especially in your checklist. As long as you mention in the first paragraph that there are spoilers ahead (and probably avoid having any spoilers in that first paragraph, so they don't appear in the snippet shown in people's forum activity feeds,) then that would be fine as far as I'd imagine.

 

Really, Morales has been out for a fair while now - I'd say for the first couple of weeks of a release - a month at most - the responsibility to avoid spoilers is on the writer, but subsequent to that - once a month or so has passed, and everyone has had ample time to have played it if they wanted to - the burden of responsibility shifts to the reader. 

At that point, the onus is on them to manage what information they seek out or avoid.

 

Sounds like you had a great time - looking forward to your post!

Edited September 15, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Arcesius]

On 9/12/2021 at 1:20 PM, Shrooba said:

I just wanted to know if you guys would be fine with me explaining the story in my review, I really feel as though discussing things in-depth will help me show why I love the characters in this game so much. But at the same time, I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone who hasn't played the game yet.

 

Hey, it's your review, and your checklist! If the story and characters had such a strong impact on you, then I think you definitely should write about that aspect of the game! Just put a spoiler warnin at the beginning of the review, at least that way people can choose to ignore that warning   

[AJ_Radio]

Been slacking on this thread. Tsk Tsk.

 

On 9/6/2021 at 2:15 AM, KindaSabbath said:

 

90's kid checking in. At 32 years of age, I can say that the 90's were incredible. I'd go as far as to say, everything these days is all too accessible. Thus, every thing is taken for granted.

 

Blockbuster was how I experienced gaming's latest and greatest. That is, if I was lucky enough to get there before someone else did. It was almost part of my daily routine to head down to the local Blockbuster and see if the newer releases had been returned. This is how I found many lesser popular hidden gems, because you'd have to settle for what they had in before you'd get your hands on GTA Vice City for example. I was cool with that though. Finding kids in the playground at school who had the game, so you could hear first hand knowledge of the games (the Internet just wasn't quite there yet) was exciting. Anticipation always growing, until the day you finally got your own hands on a game, and you could be the one in the know who kids come flocking to for some good old first hand information. Good fucking times.

 

Infact, as amazing as it is to be in a position today, where I can buy any game I want, any form of media that I want - whenever I want to. I can't help but feel that a big part of the magic has been lost. 

 

My kids have Gamepass. My kids have a digital world and dad has a good job. It's my duty to make sure they don't take this shit for granted but at the same time, they'll never experience the magic of what it was to be a kid in the 90's. @Shrooba you're so lucky to be as young as you are and atleast have experienced a bit of what it was like!

 

I have a butt load of stories regarding Blockbuster and video rental stores. Some of those stories are well in the 2000s, but I already saw the decline of Blockbuster around 2006 - 2008, during a part of my college years. Online retail was pushing them out, and Blockbuster just couldn't get up with the times. We had one lone Blockbuster in my local city that was running until 2014, when it finally folded and was replaced by Auto Zone, which is a car tool retail store.

 

I'm an uncle nowadays with a niece and nephew who live close to me, so like your own kids, I've had to do parental duties. I can guarantee your kids are taking the digital world for granted. It's sad, but it's utterly true. The kids in my family are doing the same.

 

They will never know what it was like coming home from school to tune to Johnny Bravo on Cartoon Network, back in the day when they had the Cartoon Cartoons block during the late afternoons. Or simply to see what contraption Steve Urkel did with his Urkel Machine on Family Matters. Waiting one week for a new episode of your favorite show to come out, something that kids today will never grasp.

 

On 9/6/2021 at 2:22 AM, Shrooba said:

This is a big issue I have with social media today. The concept of social media is incredible, you can connect with family and friends all over the world, and things like Skype were awesome. But now it's filled with narcissistic people cashing in on the latest "challenges" and trends, and it's unfortunate that it's in large part due to the younger generations today. I see these people around the same age as me doing cringey nonsense online that I just can't understand how millions gravitate towards it. Granted, we all do stupid stuff, but I didn't intentionally do so and post it online for attempts at fame.

A lot of music today-- the mainstream stuff-- is incessantly corporate. There's horrible songs of each era for sure, but you compare the best of today's music to the best of even the 2000's, and you can tell the focus is the profit rather than art. Take rap for instance, you had artists back then like 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. who sung not for fame, but from the passion of their hearts, and their messages of growing up with what they had and the struggles they faced... and you just compare that to "artists" like Lil Pump's Gucci Gang. It's weird how despite younger generations pushing for more positive changes, it's this high-and-mighty music that's idealized. The irony of that is something I've found odd for quite some time now. To be fair, I assume that the young people pushing for change and the young people liking this terrible music are entirely separate groups, but then you've got people on Instagram using change as an excuse to put the focus on themselves rather than the topic they discuss at hand, so there is an overlap in some areas.
Of course though, there's always good and bad music in each generation, not everything today is terrible, but it seems a lot of the bad music gets more traction today than the bad music of yesteryear. For what it's worth, for each party I go to with my IRL friends, we always try to play Bohemian Rhapsody. The flame for the love of old music is still alive.

But on a more positive note, I remember watching shows like Johnny Bravo and Ren & Stimpy (I loved the slapstick of that show especially). There was also this other show, Rocko's Modern Life, which I adored a ton as a kid. Funnily enough, watching shows like that was another memory I have at my grandparent's house.

 

I never participated in any internet challenge. We had the ice bucket challenge several years ago, but wouldn't of it had been just as effective if people didn't get dumped with cold water if they were trying to promote a cause? Real charity and non-profit organizations don't rely on stupid internet challenges to gain followers.

 

Funny that I made a status update a while back regarding stupid kids on TikTok. People on here were going "Let the kids have their fun". Yeah, because they can very much get seriously hurt doing those internet challenges. Eating tide pods that look like candy is completely stupid. Why? There is so much better you can do to get views and attention.

 

2Pac is one of my favorite music artists of all time. A fighter to the very end. He was tough, because he was the real deal. Grew up in a life of violence and despair. Tragic that both guys died so young. They were liked killed by rival gang members, but unfortunately we'll never know who actually did the murders.

 

Instagram is pretty intolerable now. People can argue the same for MySpace, but I definitely recall a lot more people who were real and honest. Definitely can't say that for Twitter or Instagram. TikTok of course is even worse.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody is definitely an old song, almost 50 years old in fact. But an all time classic.

 

Beavis & Butthead was my personal favorite. I was also into the western action cartoons. Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron. I'm very grateful I got to see those shows firsthand. Awesome shows for kids, and a lot of valuable life lessons to be had in them too.

[rjkclarke]

I'm sorry this is so long overdue!!

 

Fantastic review of Crash 2....... Not that I'm personally biased or anything as that's my favourite one.  ? It's a very very pure Crash Bandicoot experience. As much as I love Warped I think it has a little too many gimmicky levels. So I'll always prefer Crash 2 as a result of that.

 

You absolutely did it justice too - and it's fantastic to see someone getting across so passionately why the game was such a joy for them. I loved how in depth you went - with, a what is on the surface at least, a very simplistic control scheme. Going for the time trial relics, really makes you appreciate how well implemented and designed everything is. You have to learn how to get a handle on all of the small intricacies.

 

I'd never thought about Polar like that before - but I guess it's true you don't tend to get all that angry with them do you. Despite those levels being some of the more frustrating ones. Especially the dark one, that can be so brutal.

 

On the Miles Morales thing - do whatever you think is best for your review. If it'll help you to write as freely and passionately as possible, then mention spoilers. From personal experience - It definitely does put a little bit of a millstone around your neck when it comes to what you can and can't say if you're not mentioning spoilers. It does usually mean there's something you really desperately want to say, but don't feel like you can as a result. Definitely a double edged sword to avoiding them. So like Arc and Doc said, if it's something you feel really enhanced the experience for you, then absolutely talk about them. .

Edited September 18, 2021 by rjkclarke

[Shrooba]

Hey everyone! Apologies for the late reply, this last week has been pretty busy for me. I unfortunately don't have time to post another review for the near future, but I can't leave this supple fruit of a thread go dry, so let's uh... moisten the fruit I guess! ? But thanks for the feedback for my upcoming Miles Morales review guys, I'll make sure to have the entire story section be in a spoiler bracket!

Upon logging in, I've found myself to have 17 notifications, so it'll be quite a while to go through them all. Don't worry fellas, I'll be sure to check in on your checklists tomorrow! A soldier never leaves another man behind. ?

Anyway, I figured I'd give an update on the new additions to my backlog! Quite a few of them have been inspired by what others have been playing, and that's another great part of everyone's checklists; seeing people write reviews about games shows the passion they have with them, and that in turn motivates me to give some of them a try!

1. Hyper Light Drifter


I've seen @Arcesius feature this game on his profile's background for quite some time and I've looked into the game; the wave dashing reminds me a ton of Furi, another game that I absolutely love!
Apparently it's a tricky game, but if I could manage Furi then I'm fairly confident this shouldn't Kick my Ass™! ? I like to do a UR game every now and then, so I look forward to a good challenge!
When I eventually get to the game, you wouldn't mind if I ping you every now and then for tips, would you?

2. Final Fantasy X


Surprisingly enough, even though I've done every Kingdom Hearts game... I've never actually played a Final Fantasy, weird huh? ?
@rjkclarke, you've put a ton of Final Fantasy passion in your checklist, and I figured I'd place Final Fantasy X on my list! This seems to be a good first entry into the series, and it reminds me a ton of KH1, which is really cool! JRPG's can take quite a while to beat, so it'll be a while before I get to this one. I'll definitely get to this after my semester wraps up, which is by around November I think!

3. Okami HD


@Deadly_Ha_Ha I was checkin' out your profile again, and I couldn't help but notice you had Okami HD as your first game! I'd say we've got pretty similar tastes when it comes to games, and if this is the game that started your profile, I figured it'd have to be a good game! I checked out some gameplay of it and it looks pretty neat! The art style is unique for sure. What are your thoughts on the game?

4, 5, 6. Bioshock: The Collection - Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite


I first played Bioshock Infinite nearly a decade ago... and it Kicked My Ass™! ? Granted, this was one of my first FPS games, but after playing games like Titanfall 2 and Modern Warfare 2 on their hardest difficulties, alongside playing the Half-Life series since around 2015, I think I've got a solid understanding of the genre!

I wanted to get into this series partly because of @HoorayForTyler, you're a god at Bioshock man! Seeing people like you master these games just makes me so determined, I gotta go and play these!!! When I eventually start Bioshock 1 and 2, you wouldn't mind if I also ping you for some tips?

7. Psychonauts

Psychonauts is a neat platformer series, and I've never gotten into it before, so I thought it'd be cool to check this out at some point! I've forgotten to get the first game for a while, but after the recent release of Psychonauts 2 it reminded me to buy this and place it on the backlog! There's a ton of charm in this game, so it'll be awesome to get into it! ?


Update on current games:

Just finished Miles Morales a couple days ago, and replaying the story was awesome. I'm also making good progress on F1 2021, I'm about halfway done with my two-player career that I'm doing with my IRL friend, and I've also got the wins necessary which could luckily be done in custom lobbies! Good thing your poles also count for single-player, otherwise this could have EASILY been another Gran Turismo Sport! ? @Destructor-8 I reckon you'll like this one, seeing as you've done quite a few of the other F1 titles!

I've also started Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands, an expansive open-world game! It's another game that my IRL buddies wanted me to check out, and I've had a blast playing it with them! It's a marathon game of sorts as there's a ton to do, so I'll likely have this done bit by bit as I do other games in the meantime.

But yeah, that's it for everything at the moment! I once again wanna say sorry for taking so long to say something here, and I absolutely will check out the other checklists I've fallen behind on! I'll probably hop to bed for now, but I'll get back to speed with your threads guys, I haven't forgotten!

 

[Deadly_Ha_Ha]

@Shrooba oh dude, Okami is the cream of the crop. It has thrived at the top of my list of best games since the PS2. It is a beautiful game aesthetically, and because it's so stylized I believe it holds up perfectly well to today's standards (within reason, keeping in mind its age). The music is wonderful, there is humor, there is sincerity, the game is a blast. People complain about the "voices" used for the characters but honestly it never really bothered me much. This wasn't the first time I got the plat, but when I started this account I knew for sure that this was going to be the first game I did to really get the account off to a great start. A highly recommended game to experience.

 

 

There's one of the best tracks in the game to sample

Edited September 24, 2021 by Deadly_Ha_Ha

[Arcesius]

2 hours ago, Shrooba said:

1. Hyper Light Drifter


I've seen @Arcesius feature this game on his profile's background for quite some time and I've looked into the game; the wave dashing reminds me a ton of Furi, another game that I absolutely love!
Apparently it's a tricky game, but if I could manage Furi then I'm fairly confident this shouldn't Kick my Ass!  I like to do a UR game every now and then, so I look forward to a good challenge!
When I eventually get to the game, you wouldn't mind if I ping you every now and then for tips, would you?

 

Hey there! And I see you brought nice additions to your backlog! ?

 

Hyper Light Drifter is an excellent game.. it was one of my first experiences with a totally obscure indie game, and will always be special to me! 

 

If you end up enjoying it, the team behind it, Heart Machine, is supposed to launch their second game ever this year: Solar Ash. I really am looking forward to seeing what this studio can put out after having enjoyed their very first game so damn much  

 

That being said, HLD is not necessarily a very challenging game, so don't go in expecting to be destroyed by it! And of course, tag me all you want! I will very gladly contribute to any discussion about this game ? I just hope you enjoy the game as much as I did when you get around to it! 

[Baker]

Excellent choices! 

FF X: Classic. This is probably the game I’ve spend most time on out of the hundreds of games I’ve played. I just love everything about this game. Especially maxing out the sphere grid. Removing all +1, +2 & +3 nodes and replace them with +4 nodes and fill the empty spaces. Getting all stats to 255. Collecting 100 of every item. Getting all overdrive modes for everyone. And once it was all done, start a new game and do it all over again. ?

 

Okami: This is my favorite game I’ve played on PS3. It starts of very slow. I think the first hour you’re only listening to jibberish as there is no actual language in this game. But this is also a masterpiece. That moment you give Kushi a ride to the Moon Cave with that awesome music in the background. ❤️

Hyper Light Drifter: Very good indie game indeed. I hope you won’t be searching forever for the final collectibles like I did. That kind of killed the fun I had with this game. I personally think it’s harder than Furi.

 

Enjoy!

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by Baker

[Destructor-8]

21 hours ago, Shrooba said:

Just finished Miles Morales a couple days ago, and replaying the story was awesome. I'm also making good progress on F1 2021, I'm about halfway done with my two-player career that I'm doing with my IRL friend, and I've also got the wins necessary which could luckily be done in custom lobbies! Good thing your poles also count for single-player, otherwise this could have EASILY been another Gran Turismo Sport! @Destructor-8 I reckon you'll like this one, seeing as you've done quite a few of the other F1 titles!

 

Nice lol. Yeah might get that one day in the future, great progress so far & also I'm liking these last few reviews that you did. It's a great read especially as you put in so much extra detail usually.

[HoorayForTyler]

23 hours ago, Shrooba said:

4, 5, 6. Bioshock: The Collection - Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite


I first played Bioshock Infinite nearly a decade ago... and it Kicked My Ass!  Granted, this was one of my first FPS games, but after playing games like Titanfall 2 and Modern Warfare 2 on their hardest difficulties, alongside playing the Half-Life series since around 2015, I think I've got a solid understanding of the genre!

I wanted to get into this series partly because of @HoorayForTyler, you're a god at Bioshock man! Seeing people like you master these games just makes me so determined, I gotta go and play these!!! When I eventually start Bioshock 1 and 2, you wouldn't mind if I also ping you for some tips?

7. Psychonauts

Psychonauts is a neat platformer series, and I've never gotten into it before, so I thought it'd be cool to check this out at some point! I've forgotten to get the first game for a while, but after the recent release of Psychonauts 2 it reminded me to buy this and place it on the backlog! There's a ton of charm in this game, so it'll be awesome to get into it!

I want to thank you for the kind words my friend! I hope you have tons of fun when you do get to them and really immerse yourself in the gameplay/atmosphere. Headphones are recommended if you want more of that experience. There is nothing quite like playing the BioShock games for the first time, and if you haven’t played 1 and 2 before, I would love to hear your thoughts on them after you complete them. ?

You are always more than welcome to message me on PSN or Discord about the game whenever you want if you have any questions! HoorayForTyler#2580

And it’s funny how you mention Psychonauts right below as I just bought Psychonauts the other day! I’m super excited to see what this game is all about as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Perhaps I’ll report back here once I play it and give my thoughts on it as well. I’ll be going in blind as I know hardly anything about the game. ?

 

[KindaSabbath]

Really nice additions to your collection and sure will compliment your trophy list nicely, once complete.

 

A couple I'll be tackling too. Very much looking forward to reading about your experiences with these ones! 

[Deadly_Ha_Ha]

7 hours ago, KindaSabbath said:

Really nice additions to your collection and sure will compliment your trophy list nicely, once complete.

 

A couple I'll be tackling too. Very much looking forward to reading about your experiences with these ones! 

You have a checklist too right? I need to take a look at it

[KindaSabbath]

3 minutes ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said:

You have a checklist too right? I need to take a look at it

 

Yeah dude... I ramble about games in there sometimes ? 

[Shrooba]

Thanks for the responses, guys! I've decided to add a new poll, featuring 5 games for now;
BioShock 1 Remastered, Hyper Light Drifter, Okami HD, Psychonauts, and The Spectrum Retreat!

Feel free to leave in a vote, and I'll end the poll once I finish F1 2021, which'll still take quite a while, so the poll will be up for at least a week. ?
 

On 25/09/2021 at 0:06 AM, Deadly_Ha_Ha said:

@Shrooba oh dude, Okami is the cream of the crop. It has thrived at the top of my list of best games since the PS2. It is a beautiful game aesthetically, and because it's so stylized I believe it holds up perfectly well to today's standards (within reason, keeping in mind its age). The music is wonderful, there is humor, there is sincerity, the game is a blast. People complain about the "voices" used for the characters but honestly it never really bothered me much. This wasn't the first time I got the plat, but when I started this account I knew for sure that this was going to be the first game I did to really get the account off to a great start. A highly recommended game to experience.

 

There's one of the best tracks in the game to sample

If that's just a small portion of the OST, then I can't wait! So much so, I've made it one of the 5 games in the poll-- I always think that music plays a large role in any game, especially in regards to setting the atmosphere; from the rich orchestral rhythm of Organization 13's theming in Kingdom Hearts, to the heart-pumping adrenaline of Furi's OST, it can capture many emotions. In this regard, from that track you've showed, it speaks to me of a vibrant adventure!
Okami has an amazing aesthetic as you said, it's like a fusion of Borderlands and Zelda: Wind Waker, which is really cool!
 

On 25/09/2021 at 2:12 AM, Arcesius said:

Hyper Light Drifter is an excellent game.. it was one of my first experiences with a totally obscure indie game, and will always be special to me! 

 

If you end up enjoying it, the team behind it, Heart Machine, is supposed to launch their second game ever this year: Solar Ash. I really am looking forward to seeing what this studio can put out after having enjoyed their very first game so damn much

Just had a look at Solar Ash, and it looks frickin' awesome! It's got the fluidity of a Sonic game, with the emphasis of timing in combat akin to Furi and even Shovel Knight in a sense. The art style is very simplistic yet beautiful! Skating around in the lush, open environments looks really fun and ties back to the fluidity which is a big component of the game's progression! The grappling feature looks really solid too. In a brief section of the gameplay I saw, I think there was even rail grinding! ? I'll have a keen eye on this one, thanks for introducing me to it!
 

 

On 25/09/2021 at 4:54 AM, Baker said:

Excellent choices! 

FF X: Classic. This is probably the game I’ve spend most time on out of the hundreds of games I’ve played. I just love everything about this game. Especially maxing out the sphere grid. Removing all +1, +2 & +3 nodes and replace them with +4 nodes and fill the empty spaces. Getting all stats to 255. Collecting 100 of every item. Getting all overdrive modes for everyone. And once it was all done, start a new game and do it all over again. ?

 

Okami: This is my favorite game I’ve played on PS3. It starts of very slow. I think the first hour you’re only listening to jibberish as there is no actual language in this game. But this is also a masterpiece. That moment you give Kushi a ride to the Moon Cave with that awesome music in the background. ❤️

Hyper Light Drifter: Very good indie game indeed. I hope you won’t be searching forever for the final collectibles like I did. That kind of killed the fun I had with this game. I personally think it’s harder than Furi.

 

Enjoy!

Thanks for the insight, Baker! Final Fantasy X is the kind of game I can definitely see as a reminiscent experience for sure. If it's one you've spent a ton of time on, then I look forward to playing it in the future! Improving stats and maxing out characters is one of the best parts about playing Persona 5, so it'll be cool to see that type of thing happen in FFX!

Okami is also another game that I look forward to! Funny you mentioned the music too, from what I've heard already it's brilliant stuff! Interested to see how it'll play out, but if it's got a gorgeous soundtrack to accompany it then I can only image how awesome it'll look and feel! Makes me curious to see how it'll all unfold.

Interesting to see you find Hyper Light Drifter harder than Furi! Makes me nervous, yet pumped for the challenge! Can't wait to play this too! If I'm gonna be nervous, then it's time for me to crush that feeling and improve!!! ?  I guess that's a big difference with single-player games and online games when it comes to difficulty; with single-player games, they'll always be there, and the only true obstacle is needing to improve. In that regard, it's definitely doable. Gonna be awesome giving this a go!

 

On 25/09/2021 at 9:16 PM, Destructor-8 said:

 

Nice lol. Yeah might get that one day in the future, great progress so far & also I'm liking these last few reviews that you did. It's a great read especially as you put in so much extra detail usually.

I'm glad you're liking my ramblings! ? Sorry my Miles Morales review has had quite a wait, I should have it posted within the next couple days since I've had some free time. Hopefully it'll turn out good, and thanks for sticking around!
 

On 25/09/2021 at 11:24 PM, HoorayForTyler said:

I want to thank you for the kind words my friend! I hope you have tons of fun when you do get to them and really immerse yourself in the gameplay/atmosphere. Headphones are recommended if you want more of that experience. There is nothing quite like playing the BioShock games for the first time, and if you haven’t played 1 and 2 before, I would love to hear your thoughts on them after you complete them. ?

You are always more than welcome to message me on PSN or Discord about the game whenever you want if you have any questions! HoorayForTyler#2580

And it’s funny how you mention Psychonauts right below as I just bought Psychonauts the other day! I’m super excited to see what this game is all about as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Perhaps I’ll report back here once I play it and give my thoughts on it as well. I’ll be going in blind as I know hardly anything about the game. ?

 

Yep, never played Bioshock 1 and 2 before! Those two are blind experiences for me, so I'll start with Bioshock 1! I'll definitely be using my headset!
The way I structure my review schedule is to do one every week in my completion order starting with Sonic Mania in 2019, and a review of a recently completed game in-between if I happen to finish anything in the meantime... or at least, that's how it's supposed to be! I've been getting pushed back by an onslaught of Uni assignments! ?

It is indeed pretty funny how we happened to get Psychonauts at the same time! Feel free to share your thoughts on the game. Since I'll be getting to it at one point, I'd love to hear other people's input on the game, especially since it seems to be a cool platformer!
 

 

On 26/09/2021 at 6:13 PM, KindaSabbath said:

Really nice additions to your collection and sure will compliment your trophy list nicely, once complete.

 

A couple I'll be tackling too. Very much looking forward to reading about your experiences with these ones! 

I must say, vice versa! ? If you're doing some of them too, then I also look forward to seeing your experiences! One of the best parts about each other's checklists; seeing people complete all these different games exposes me to new experiences as well. Definitely wouldn't have added a lot of these recent ones if it weren't for either the suggestions of people like DrBloodmoney who introduced me to The Spectrum Retreat, a great Portal-like game that I had never heard of despite being a Portal fan, or even games from other threads like the Final Fantasy series!

Take Thumper for instance! What are your thoughts on it? I've got a weird relationship with hard games; I always get a sense of nervousness going into them, yet I always feel motivated to play some of them at the same time? I've said this before, but I know on paper, all it takes to beat a game physically is two hands and a working controller, since that's what every person who's completed a hard game used, so on that level there's nothing that separates me from a person who CAN beat a hard game, but I guess it's more so the mental side of things; I just lack that confidence. Regardless of all that, there's some games I never would have expected myself to be able to 100%, yet I manage somehow... ? I guess I am capable, but I don't know it myself!

 

On 27/09/2021 at 1:29 AM, Deadly_Ha_Ha said:

You have a checklist too right? I need to take a look at it

Yep, Sabbath's got an awesome checklist! He's completed some incredible games so early on into his account. It's cool to see it all progress!


 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Shrooba

[DrBloodmoney]

Had to go Psychonauts - I played it back in the day, but have it in my backlog now, and with the sequel out there, I’d love to hear how someone experiencing it fresh in 2021 feels about it!