I did not seek to play a bunch of run of the mill games in March but I managed to do that anyway. None of these games really make much of a impact. Doesn't mean I still didn't enjoy some of them. It's just that my thoughts were rather mixed on every one of them.
Unlike the previous N64 Goemon game this one is fully in the style of the SNES entries. Platforming through 2D environments makes up 90% of the game. At first I thought the platforming in this game was a bit to tight till I realized Goemon has a double jump that makes most of the jumps easy. Yet unlike the previous game where I did switch often I didn’t have much of a reason to switch other than if I wanted to make it harder on myself. Since this game can be quite hard sometimes thanks to the length of levels I tended to play as Goemon just to prevent deaths via bottomless pits.
Unlike the last game Impact plays a much more prominent role this time along with Ms Impact who is now used as a support unit during boss battles. Which show up every time after defeating the normal boss on foot at the end of each castle. The fights play out the same as before other than being able to switch between robots whenever. I would say they are a bit tougher compared to the battles in the previous game. The generally silliness of this series remains although it isn’t quite as effective this time. Sure the fact that a fart joke may save the day is quite dumb it’s hard to top the previous high point. I will say the fights were more fun since they challenged me a bit more. At the same time the length of some of the levels were way to long leading to more frustrating moments Overall a okay experience that doesn’t have any moments that make it really stand out.
Franchises transfering from 2D to 3D must be on my mind since this is the 2nd game that follows that them I’ve pulled out of my collection to play. Unlike Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon this is a direct translation that doesn’t change anything other than the one thing that makes Wario’s games unique. His ability to transform into different forms to solve puzzles. Without that it is just a fairly straightforward platformer with a few combat challenges that make use of Wario’s ability to pick up enemies. That doesn’t mean they didn’t make great use of the worlds he has to explore since each stage does have a gimmick like having to use the camera to see where Wario is via a mirror. Even the bosses require different uses of punches and throwing them to conquer them.
All of this is good yet it is very samey. The enemies may change each chapter but they are just the same 5 types morphed into a different look. Most of the mini challenges are quite forgettable and don’t require much of a effort till the end. I do think this game follows what Nintendo did with the franchise before this point. Yet without the more unique parts it loses the variety it had before. Turning a great game into one that is merely mediocre
I went into my playthrough of this expecting a bit more effort from the developers. Yet this feels like a quick and dirty port of a old game boy game. With the addition of the PS2 graphic overhaul they could have put a slight bit more effort into making a few old pointless design decisions that didn’t need to be strictly forced. In this case creating a 1 to 1 port lead to a few things that don’t quite work these days. For example putting the entire world into squares isn’t something they had to stick to this time. Or sticking to the same script that is a bit to vague on where I had to go next occasionally.
Some of the new elements didn’t mesh that well either but the most drastic issue was the simplicity of the boss fights. Other than a few fights that required me to wait for the enemy to fly down every boss came down to spinning around them till I won. If the story was compelling enough I could look past the ease at which I finished the game but it doesn’t do anything special. Unlikely hero must go and save a very special maiden from a evil dark lord. At least for me this game does not hold up at all.
I enjoyed reading Garfield comic strip collection books. Which lead to me picking up a few video game related to the original comic. The developers for this game wanted to get the art style right and they did a great job from that perspective. Yet the game is built entirely around getting hit on purpose at different points in most levels. Which is a weird way to make a action platformer. After I realized that it made the game a lot easier. Plus strangely the first few levels might be the toughest of the whole set haha. Overall a solid little platformer that doesn’t do anything to make it stand out from the many different ones that were out around this time.
This game is something else and is mostly thanks to Square’s mishandling of the project. Pushing the devs to focus on creating something that looked visually impressive didn’t do anything other than make the game look nice for a PS2 launch title. At some point this game was more of a standard beat em up but that changed into a game focused on a nonsensical story. If it didn’t interrupt the beat em up sections every 50 seconds for another cutscene it could have been a little bit better.
For a game that is all about time I certainly took some time to finally play through this game. The game follows the exploits of Jack Joice as he has to use his newfound time traveling powers to somehow fix the world that is heading toward its end. With some minor focus on choice since we also get to see the antigonics perspective as well and choose what he decides to do. Which mainly just layers some variations into what might happen since the story will play out the same way. It just means certain characters might be in different situations.
The gameplay is simple but efficient. Using the variety of time powers gives the game a focus on constantly moving since staying behind cover isn’t something I did that often at all. Was a enjoyable enough romp if a tad bit easy. The overall narrative had some cool twists that get revealed near the end that I enjoyed. Although I didn’t like the sequel bait they included near the end. Would have been just fine if it was a self contained story. Taken as a whole it is a solid third person shooter that had some ambition that didn’t really go anywhere sadly.
Another game that was originally picked up just by hearing it mentioned on a Bombcast quite a few years ago. The silly way it was possible to ram other cars using the right stick is just a dumb car move I can get behind. It keeps that charm throughout the seven hours it takes to see the credits. Although the story certainly doesn’t add any value at all. Pretty much feels like a forgettable action fest that introduces characters at such a fast pace that I could barely care to pay attention to the next generic bad guy that shows up. Making a mission based game like GTA can work but if all the mission givers are borning then it isn’t quite as fun.
At least the dumb car combat and some of the spectacle moments made the journey worth it. Hard to not have a good time when cars are constantly getting blown to bits while the occupants jump out without a scratch at all times. Plus it has just enough campy cutscenes that it gave me enough of a reason to not stop playing. It doesn’t hurt that the cars drive in a arcade like way that I love. Overall a okay game that has some fun car combat moments.
