Lollipop Chainsaw
Looking at last week’s Roulette, I was pretty down on Lollipop Chainsaw. But less than a couple hours after I wrote about it, I couldn’t help but want to play more of it. I spent time grinding for medals to buy stat boosting items to take on the hard difficulty. I was told that the bosses are a ton of fun on hard, so why not?I made a slight mistake, I had a rough time getting through the first level, had about four continues, and that was before I died to the boss ten times. I finally learned the patterns and used them to kill the boss. Then I quit to the menu, and to my surprise, I was playing on Very Hard. This is a big deal for me. I’m not the type of person that will replay a game on a higher difficulty, so this was already out of my range. I decided to go with it, and now I’m cruising through the game on Very Hard. The gameplay is still bogus. I’m spamming her R. Mika style flying ass attack to decapitate zombies, any other way is just a chore. The minigames suck even more on hard. So why am I doing this?
The bosses are much better so far, they take some skill to beat now. There are new attacks and they are a lot more aggressive. I said last week that the boss battles are the best part of the game, and hard mode (or very hard mode) makes them even better. I think I’m going to try to take on No More Heroes on Bitter soon, maybe. (Realistic chances are slim, I’ll forget about it).
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War
Even though it sounds like a game Millhouse would covet, it’s from Koei. I played a lot of this a few years back, but started a new game because of my adoration of Joan of Arc (the character, not the real person) from Warriors Orochi 3.Now hold on, I know what your thinking. Dynasty Warriors gameplay set in France right? Actually, no. It’s pretty different. You are a mercenary that controls a group of soldiers, from swordsmen and pike users to archers and lancers. There is a complex rock-paper-scissors system to the types of units. Spears beat horsemen which beat archers, and so on. You start alone, but you can control any unit group you come across, so staying with your group is highly recommended. The battle system is one you would see in a PC rpg. You hold the button down and your group will keep attacking automatically. There are three special abilities each group has that have to recharge after each use. This way you have to make sure you have the advantage against the enemies you fight otherwise your group will be wiped out quickly. You have to conquer bases in most missions, but this is a slower paced game. You can’t just rush and kill the main guy to win.
The story is based on the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. You are a mercenary, and you can play on either side. The barkeep that gives out the missions even tells you to ignore boundaries and only focus on money. There are various special characters like one would expect in a Warriors game, but they are introduced sparsely. This is cool because each time someone of importance shows up in battle it is a big deal. It may be a bit of a turn off to some, since it takes a few battles before something happens, but spacing it out gives the big battles more impact. I’m having a lot of fun with it.
Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure
Sega isn’t a newcomer in the crazy rhythm game market. After taking on Samba monkeys and space reporters telling the story about a thief in Paris seems tame. I played the demo of Rhythm Thief (out now in the e-shop) and had an extremely fun half hour with it.There is nothing story wise about the demo, so I can’t talk about that, but the three minigames are fun. The first is a dancing minigame where you swipe the screen based on what your other two dancers do. The second game is a neat one where your character is running through a museum after hours. You have to tap a pose on the touch screen to match a statue so you aren’t seen. The third is a battle minigame where you have to push left on the control pad and A to punch knights.
The minigames were pretty easy, but they were functional, which is great. The full game has gyroscope controls for some of the stages and it would’ve been nice to see how those play. The music on the museum and battle games were catchy. Which shouldn’t be a surprise since it’s from the same musicians behind Space Channel 5. I have been waiting for this game for quite a while. This demo just got me even more excited.
Log in to comment