martiniii
Joined: January 2010
Posts: 2,116
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Post by martiniii on Jan 13, 2011 3:51:23 GMT
My interest in this game was piqued when I saw it was one of the few multi-disc USA games for the Saturn that I don't yet have. Everywhere I've searched on the net, though, the reviews bash it as a steaming turd of a game. Yet looking at videos, I can't see what's so bad about it. Doesn't look amazing, no, but I can't spy anything that would inspire such negative reactions. And unfortunately, none of the reviews I've read give a decent explanation of what makes the game bad. The IGN review of the Playstation version just keeps repeating the fact that it's on rails(what, you mean like Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon? ). Can anyone enlighten me?
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martiniii
Joined: January 2010
Posts: 2,116
Location:
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Post by martiniii on Mar 24, 2011 1:52:35 GMT
Ended up getting the game, mainly out of overwhelming curiosity. Now that I've played through a decent part of it, I have to say this is a pretty interesting title.
Basically, the concept is very, very good, and at many levels it's well executed too. In practice, though, the game is just too dang hard. I don't mean that it's too hard to be beatable, but that it's too hard for skillful playing to be effective. Exploiting the enemy predictability and plain old persistence seem to pay off better than quick thinking and quick hands. There's no sense of triumph when you come out victorious.
Not a game that I'd recommend at all, but it's an interesting play just for the ideas and presentation. I'm definitely writing a review of this one once I get through it.
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Post by Kibbles on Mar 24, 2011 6:02:54 GMT
Cool story bra
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martiniii
Joined: January 2010
Posts: 2,116
Location:
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Post by martiniii on Mar 24, 2011 21:54:00 GMT
Come again?
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Post by Stuart36 on Mar 24, 2011 22:08:28 GMT
how dare you write about a saturn game that doesn't have much info on the net in a saturn forum. what a dick!
anyway, i appreciate your comments. i look forward to seeing your review.
i understand what you mean with the difficulty. challenge is something that developers seem to struggle with, they usually either make it unfair or as you suggested, mundanely hard. i personally feel that balancing the difficulty is one of the most important aspects of a game, more so than graphics anyway, as it helps it stand the test of time, unlike the current amount of shiny-ness.
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Post by darkheart13 on Mar 24, 2011 22:09:34 GMT
You should review it, I've read a few of your reviews and enjoyed reading them so, yeah. As for the game I have never played nor seen it, I'm assuming that is due to the fact it wasn't released in PAL territory? But it looks decent I might check it out.
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mattfrie1
Saturn Player
Joined: March 2011
Posts: 78
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PSN: Retro_Gamer_64
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Post by mattfrie1 on Mar 27, 2011 22:53:07 GMT
I wish that someone would just write a decent FAQ on the Saturn version! As the box art says, it seems like the Saturn version is a Special Edition, and is different from other versions of the game. For example, the first level on the Saturn version consists of 3D models, while a video of the DOS version that I watched on Youtube seemed to have 2-D sprites and a completely different boss.
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martiniii
Joined: January 2010
Posts: 2,116
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Post by martiniii on Jul 28, 2011 2:12:25 GMT
After a long break, I've been playing this again and have managed to get as far as level 4. Surprisingly, unlike the previous three levels, level 4 is pretty well-balanced and quite fun.
Part of it's the layout... While playing level 2, it eventually occurred to me that I should take a look at the compass, and I quickly realized why mapping the level out is so confusing and difficult: The turns in the dungeon vary from 30 degrees to 330 degrees! Seriously, 330 degrees. Unless you're going up a level at the same time(like on a spiral staircase), that's not even physically possible!
Anyway, fortunately level 4 is more traditional dungeon crawling: every turn is 90 degrees. The battles aren't so tedious and luck-based, either. I'm glad I stuck it out with this game. It's still not great by any means, but it's enjoyable.
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