Metal Storm
(Even more old school than usual.) And the usual is pretty old school. So what could be more old school than my usual menagerie of PS1, Saturn, and Capcom games? How about an NES game that nobody has ever heard of? If you haven't guessed already, the game in question is Metal Storm. Also, if you happen to be Metroid545, tear yourself away from the ecstasy this game created for you so that you can read of my opinion.Now I could start things with the plot, but what's the point? It's an NES game that isn't Dragon Warrior IV or Final Fantasy III, so what purpose would reading the manual serve :P? Instead, I'll get to the meat of the review: the gameplay. Like many other NES games, you jump around a space station, shooting (other) robots and jumping on platforms.
Sounds pretty standard so far, right? Well, there's one thing I have yet to mention: gravity switching gameplay. At any given moment, you can flip gravity and stand on the ceiling. There are certain things possible depending on what gravity you choose, like what platforms you can jump through or what barriers are activated. It's a very good idea, and what's more, Metal Storm actually pulls it off fantastically.
I found it pretty fun to switch to the ceiling to kill off whatever enemy came my way, and I found it a bit surreal that the levels loop vertically, usually enough that you appear on both the top and bottom of the screen simultaneously. Things only get better as the game goes on, as level design gets more creative. Innovations include platforms you can only jump to via a certain gravity....situation, a small room where enemies fly at you from all directions, and several instances where you have to flip gravity mid-air.
Speaking of which, boss battles also give off the spark of creativity, the last feature I described being an example. Each boss has their own distinct feel to them that makes each memorable and hard to pull off in other games. The only one that truly disappoints is the final boss, if you can call it that. You just shoot a few targets in a race against the clock, the clock giving you a large head start. Not surprisingly, the ending is insulting and mediocre.
Don't take a mediocre ending as the only flaw this game has; nay, there are...well, only two more, honestly. First, the weapons: you only get two of them throughout the game. One's a regular ping-pong-ball-launcher, and the other is a wide shot. Why would you ever choose the former? As soon as you get the wide shot, there's no reason to ever switch back.
Second, the music, while decent, often gets drowned out by the various sound effects. I know the NES was limited to a few sound channels (and apparently a triangle), but most games could play sound effects AND music without much trouble. However, like the other flaws, I don't fault the game much for it. Metal Storm more than makes up for it with an original concept that's done really, really well. So to end this review, I give Metal Storm the Cocoron Award for Outstanding Originality.
Interlude
Now then, this next video has two reasons for being here: I loved it, and it ties nicely into my next review.Mega Man 2 (the PS1 version I found)
(As if you didn't have enough hints by now.) Before I actually get into the review, let me dispel any notions created by the plodding, frustrated music: I like this game, alright? Check my rating. Here's a hint: it's the highest rated game of this blog. Why? Well, why not? It's f'ing Mega Man 2, what more could you want?Personally, I could want a bit more, but the game itself is pretty good. Some time after Wily had his ass handed to him, he decided to take up the hobby of world domination. Mega Man, Dr. Light's creepy speedo-wearing-small-child-robot-project, must stop Wily and his Robot Masters (and various other robots) in their conquests of the world.
All the bosses also demonstrate this creativity. Examples include the dragon (utterly kickass), Wood Man, Air Man (ergh), and Metal Man. Each one has some sort of specific pattern that you're supposed to figure out and exploit with your weapon at hand. At least most of them; I didn't notice much with Quick Man and maybe a few other bosses. But for those that did have noticeable patterns, they made up half the fun of the game: finding out when you could strike them in between shots, dodging said shots while doing so.
The other half? Getting weapons from your foes. As is the Mega Man custom, you gain your enemy's weapons in what seems to be some dark Celtic ritual of eating their hearts to gain their powers. Or something. Anyway, you then use whatever weapon you have on another boss in some chain of weakness that ties into the "strategy/pattern" thing I mentioned earlier. Howevecr, what I did seemed to be far from the truth. I just spammed the hell out of Metal Man's weapon for half the bosses and pretty much all the levels.
I know it may be considered cheap, but what other reasons are there? It doesn't take up much energy, you can aim anywhere, and it kills half the Robot Masters, Metal Man included. Yes, you read right: Metal Man is (suprisingly) weak to his own weapon. My guess is that it's part of some suicide plan. (The other bosses were Wood Man, Flash Man, and Bubble Man, all of which are perfectly understandable.)
So the weapon selection is horribly unbalanced. At least each weapon serves some kind of purpose, like the tornados for enemies above you, or Heat Man's weapon to make you feel like you're playing Mega Man 4. Each weapon is fun and easy to use, and you also get some platform boosty things that are also easy to use. Except for the third one, which flops around like a drowning fish.
Moving on, the game also gets high marks from a technical perspective, which is my way of saying, "it has good graphics and music." I don't need to mention the music, do I? It has so many classics, it would be redundant just listing eachandeverysongIloved. So let's move onto the graphics. For its time, Mega Man 2 looked fantastic. The sprites were detailed, stood out, and looked miles ahead of what the system was pushing out at the time. Throw in the distinctive art style that looks...well, weird in some places today (like those floating heads in Air Man's stage), and you have the perfect looking game, right? Almost. The only thing keeping it from reaching perfection in this regard is the sprite flicker. Yes, like many NES games, if there are too many sprites on screen at once, the system goes ape shit and makes everything semi-transparent. The odd thing is that I don't remember this in the NES version, even though the PS1 (the version I was playing, stupid) version should be able to handle more sprites on screen at once.
That flaw aside, Mega Man 2 can still hold its ground as a classic NES game (unlike some other system "classics"). The weapons are fun to use, the levels/bosses are memorable, and most of the faults I mentioned can be discounted by how great the game is. So I give Mega Man 2 the Best Video Game Rap Award. Or should I give it to the video I posted? Whatever, they both get it.
Log in to comment