Month Overview: September 2016

 Tally:
Borderlands - Triple Pack                                              10






 Yeah.... not a whole lot happened in September, so... yeah...

Game of September:

 Yeah.... It kinda was the default, and only, choice...

Review #349: Borderlands - Triple Pack

 Talk about bang for your buck!

 I've talked, and reviewed, about the Borderlands franchise numerous times already, and long story short, I love it. For the few who are not in the know, Bordelands games marry the first person shooter with the RPG genre to a fantastic result. You get to accept numerous quests and sidequests, traverse large environments, and loot chests for thousands of different randomly generated weapons, with different stats(Firepower, fire rate, accuracy, reload time, etc).

 Borderlands Triple Pack is a phenomenal package that includes all three games and their DLC, which translates into over a hundred hours worth of gameplay. The game comes divided in 2 discs: A gameplay disc, which is used to play any of the three games, and an Expansion Disc which includes all the DLC pieces. There's one complaint to be made here: Every single DLC piece has to be installed on its own. When it comes to Borderlands 1, which only has 4 DLC pieces, it's alright, but Borderlands 2's DLC is made up of almost 20 different installs. If you bough this package, you will, more probably than not, want to install every piece of DLC and not cherry-pick them, which makes having to install the DLCs piece by piece very annoying.

 As a huge fan of Borderlands 2, and a huge critic of digital-only media, I was pretty excited for this bundle... as we finally get all the missing DLC from Borderlands 2- GOTY edition! This means that you can finally reach level 70, and the five headhunter packs! The Headhunter Packs last about an hour each, which is alright, most missions and environments are fun to explore and tackle, and more Borderlands 2 content is always welcome. Always.

 Then there's Bordelands - The Pre-Sequel. It's... good, but it falls short of Borderlands 2 excellence. It's made all the more egregious due to the fact that it's basically Borderlands 2 in Space, the fact that it was born out of a DLC for Borderlands 2 shows very clearly. You get four new classes, plus two extra DLC classes, which have some rather interesting skill trees, heck, as a matter of fact, these characters are more distinct than the ones from Borderlands 1 and 2, so that's a plus. And as any of these characters you are to help Handsome Jack save Pandora.

 Taking place in Space means new moon-like gravity physics which... take a bit getting used to. To be honest, I didn't really like the new floaty feel to the game, it adds nothing to the combat as far as I was concerned, and most of the new environment have plenty of botomless pits, so valuable enemy drops tend to drop on them thanks to these new physics. However, I will admit that the new moon-jumps made traversing the environments much more fun. Depending on when you press the jump button after jumping the first time will produce different jumps, such as a high jump, a long jump or even initiate a slow decent. What can I say, jumping around and making my way through the environments with these new jumps was fun. There's also a new Butt-stomp(Holding Crouch after a high jump) that deals damage around your landing area, and you can equip items to add elemental damage to it.

 And, since it's set in Space, there's also a new gauge, an Oxygen gauge. And it's annoying! If the gauge hits 0 you'll start losing health constantly and lose access to your moon-jumps until you find an O2 source. To be fair, I never died due to a lack of oxygen, Oxygen sources are common and enemies love dropping O2 canisters... but just knowing that I had to keep O2 in mind was annoying. It's hard to explain why, but it did put a damper on my experience with the game. And that's my main issue with the game: The game is Borderlands 2 but with a new annoying gauge that I have to keep track of!

 As far as the story goes... I found the new NPCs to be annoying, particularly Jannis Springs, and the returning characters, Handsome Jack, Roland, Moxxi and Lilith lack the spark they had in Borderlands 2. THAT SAID, I did like the overall theme of the story: The bad guys aren't entirely bad, and the good guys aren't entirely good, it's an interesting premise, and they pulled it off very well. The Side-Quests were a bit boring as well, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but I wasn't having as much fun clearing them as I did whenever I found new tasks in Borderlands 2. Heck, the environments lack diversity, and after a while the Moon gets very samey and dull, not to mention the frequent botomless pits that plague these maps.

 Lastly, the game removed the Slak element, but introduces the Cryo element, which as you might've deduced already, means that you freeze enemies, or be frozen yourself, and frozen enemies become subject to Critical hits as well as the inability to move for a short while. Cryo I approve of, and it'd be nice to see it return in Borderlands 3. There's also a new type of weapon, Laser, which is interesting, but seeing how you can only equip four weapons at a time and there's already a surplus of weapon types... Let's just say that I get too familiar with them beyond what was necessary.

 While Borderlands - The Pre-sequel feels closer to Borderlands 2 than 1, I'm still sure that it's the weakest game in the franchise. All the new jumps make exploring much more fun than before, but it has the weakest environments and the duller missions. And I really, really could've done without the O2 gauge. Still, it is a Borderlands game, so it is a good game, but not as good as the others in the series.

 Borderlands - Triple Pack is a no-brainer, two fantastic games and a good game for the price of one. Not to mention the fact that all these games together will keep you busy for a loooooooooong while.
 10 out of 10

Now Playing: Disgaea 2, Borderlands - The Pre-Sequel, Shin Megami Tensei IV

 Well, slow month I guess? So big-ish update:

 Disgaea 2 is boring. I dunno, maybe I've fallen of the Strategy-RPG bandwagon or sumthin', but I just can't get into the game. The characters are boring stereotypes, getting skills is a slog... I dunno. To think that Disgaea 1 was my favorite videogame for a while! But when I played through Disgaea 3 I could feel that the magic was gone. Ah well, I'm midway through chapter 4, I just want to get done with this game.

 Now we are cooking! Finally I got to go through everything Borderlands 2 had to offer. But that's not the main catch with this pack, it's The Pre-Sequel where it's at! And... I'm not liking it too much. It's Borderlands 2 + floaty physics, which I've never liked + having to keep track of the oxygen gauge. Also, I can't stand the new characters. Janis is annoying, the mayor was dull, I didn't need to see Moxxi's 'other side', etc. Yeah, it's a bit disappointing, but I wasn't expecting much out of it anyways.

 I'm a bit of a fan of the Shin Megami Tensei serie, and Nocturne, AKA Shin Megami Tensei III, was amazing, so I was expecting a lot out of SMT IV. It's too early to emit a a precise judgement, but I'm liking it, and it's challenging from the start to boot! That's the SMT I like! Although the penalty for dying seems a bit too forgiving, since you can cheat death with money. Regardless, demons can be proper jerks when it comes to joining your side.
 My only complaint with SMT IV would be the presentation, the 3DS can do so much better than static sprites for enemies, and the first-person perspective during battles is a bit boring. I could excuse it in Soul Hackers since it was an older game, but I kinda expected a bit more from a post-Nocturne game.

Month Overview: August 2016

 Tally:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mutants in Manhattan                  7.0
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Tournament Fighters(NES)          5.0
P.T.                                                                                                   4.0
Silent Hill                                  8.0
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Tournament Fighters(GEN)   1.0
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Tournament Fighters(SNES) 7.0
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)                  4.0
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - The Arcade Game          4.5


 Well, that was an uneventful Ninja Turtle Month! I played most of the games I set out to play, but time just went flying by and 'fore I knew it, August was over!


 Game of August:

 In hindsight, I might've been a tad too generous with Silent Hill 1. I mean, I love the game, but I'm pretty sure every subsequent game, at least Team Silent entries, completely blew this one out of the park. That said, I can appreciate the origins of some of the franchise's staples, like the flashlight and the open world-ish exploration of the town. There's a lot to like in Silent Hill 1, and it's impressive just how much it stood the test of time.

 Runner-up:

  Man, this game got so much undue flak! From people claiming that the hideously aged beat'em ups from Konami were better than this, to people not 'getting' the game. It's short, it's repetitive, but it's what someone should expect from a modern day beat'em up. The boss fights were absolutely frantic which made them oh so much fun to play, and the exploration was way more fun than it had any right to be. I also enjoyed being able to customize each turtle to fit different roles. Honestly, I got most of what I wanted from this game, and it's definitely one of the better TMNT games, not that that is saying much.

Review #348: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - The Arcade Game

 Turtle soup.

 Usually, Arcade Games had to be gimped in order to be ported to home consoles, even the SNES suffered from this, Final Fight's SNES port lost a character and a couple of levels, not to mention the mandatory graphical downgrade. Interestingly, TMNT's NES port actually features extra content not found in the arcade version, as well as a couple of tweaks that make it more than a simple port.

 The story and gameplay remain the same, Splinter and April have been kidnapped and you, as one of the four turtles, must treck through Manhattan in order to rescue them. You can punch, jump and jump-kick your way through the game, featuring very simple mechanics. But the first thing that you'll notice is that this time around attacks actually have some weight behind them, attacks feel more meaty and less floaty than on the Arcade version, which does make a rather noticeable difference on how the game feels. And this time around you can actually pick your character, so now I can actually choose to be Leonardo instead of being forced to play as Leonardo.

 While graphical fidelity has been lost, as expected, the game more than makes up for that in the form of a couple of new levels and new bosses. Every common enemy type made it in, and while they come in fewer numbers, they feel a bit tougher. If you are playing by yourself you will need to get good at the game, continues are limited, and losing all your lives means going back to the start of the level. To be honest, I think the game hasn't aged very well, and 'getting good' at it isn't very worth it.

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - The Arcade Game manages to be a slightly better game than the Arcade original thanks to the improved physics and the extra levels, but it's still a rather dull game that's best enjoyed by hardcore fans of the Turtles or beat'em up games.
 4.5 out of 10

Review #347: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)

 I still don't like it.

 Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games have carved themselves a spot in many a gamer's heart, so much so that it's not unusual to have people call them the 'TMNT videogames' golden age', since, apparently, these games were the best TMNT games ever made. Ever. Sadly, at least the first entry, is not.

 Shredder and Krang, the most useless pair of villains to ever set foot on TV, kidnap Splinter and April O'Neal, so the turtles must rescue them. That's the story, and frankly, that's all this game needs. As a beat'em up and as an Arcade game, narrative is something that matter very little, what's really important is getting players bashing skulls as soon as possible. My first issue comes with the different turtles, all of them have slightly different attributes(Donnie is strong but slow, Mikey is fast, etc), but the only way to pick a turtle is to pick a side on the Arcade Cabinet. Most emulated versions will default you as Leonardo, since you'll more probably than not be Player 1, but there's bound to be a workaround. Regardless, it's annoying, most games of the era let you select a character from a menu, or switch characters upon respawning, so Konami's system is inexcusable.

 What really set this game apart from the rest was its four player gimmick back in the day. The problem is that this game isn't very fun if you are by yourself. There's two different actions: Jump and Attack, and that's all you'll ever do in the game. While enemies come equipped with different weapons, only the ones that wield a lance require a different approach to take down. Even bosses, once you find a way to exploit their AI, it's all over for them. There's no weapons to pick up to break the monotony, although you can interact with a very few objects that serve as projectiles every now and then. Every single beat'em up game is repetitive in nature, which is why one of the most important things is making the attacks feel crunchy, you want the player to feel rewarded when he lands blows. Sadly, TMNT, and most of Konami's beat'em ups, fail at this, movement is very floaty, attacks lack oomph, and while the game is rather pleasing to the eyes, the feedback from your attacks lacks weight. Basically, if you don't have other people to play the game with, and if they don't manage to remain invested in the game, you'd rather stay away from this game.

 Honestly, barring a few exceptions, I've never been much of a fan of Konami's beat'em ups, but if there's something worth praising, it's the use of the license. While I've made my views on the awful TMNT show from the 80s pretty clear, this game managed to capture its style perfectly. The turtles,  Splinter, April, Bebop, Rocksteady, Shredder, Krang, the Foot and the Mousers look exactly like they should. Even the stages look as backgrounds that could've been part of the show, heck, the sewers look just like they did in the series. Sadly, I don't think there're reasons to come back to this game for most people. There's better TMNT games on the PS2, on the DS and now even on current gen consoles. And, y'know, Battle Nexus on PS2 is alright and has a port of this very game.... But if what you are looking for is a TMNT beat'em up done right, there's Ubisoft's GBA game, which was fantastic.
 4.0 out of 10

Review #346: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Tournament Fighters(SNES)

 This was a nice surprise.

 Alright, so I suspected that this one was gonna be the best of the bunch, but not by a wide margin, and boy was I wrong! Not only is it better than the NES and Genesis versions, it's actually a very competent fighting game on its own right.

 The game offers 4 different modes, Story Mode, in which you take one of the four turtles through the different enemies on your quest to save Splinter and April, this mode actually features a few intermissions between stages which are a nice touch for a story mode. Tournament Mode is actually this game's Arcade Mode, you take any of the 10 available characters and beat up the rest, VS Player, which is pretty much self explanatory and Watch, in case you wanted to watch two CPUs go at it. It could've benefited from a practice mode, but that kinda wasn't the norm at the time, so it's easily forgiven.

 The game is played with four buttons, weak punch, weak kick and their strong variations. Each of the 10 playable characters, as well as the two secret bosses, play fairly different from each other, with different special moves and inputs. There's also an energy gauge that is constantly decreasing, but you can fill it up by staying on the offensive, whether your hits land or get blocked, they will add up to the gauge, and once filled you can press Strong Punch together with Strong Kick to use a desperation move that deals a ridiculous amount of damage, if it hits. All in all, the game is top notch as far as mechanics go, there's enough leeway to pull of simple combos, and not everything combos into everything, so button mashing isn't encouraged. It's certainly above most Street Fighter II clones of the era.

 The character roster is made up of all four turtles, Shredder, Rat King and Chrome Dome from the awful 1987 series, as well as Wingnut, War, Armaggon and Karai from the Archie comics, and as per usual, Konami also saw fit to introduce an original character, this time in the form of the skimpy-clad ninja Aska. It also bears mentioning that the game looks fantastic, while the stages are a bit dull, the character sprites are gorgeous and characters look badass, for lack of a better word. Take the turtles, while their looks and color scheme comes from the awful cartoon, they've been redesigned to look beefy and muscular, which works wonders and kinda reminded me from their Mirage counterparts.

 The Genesis version of Tournament Fighters was terrible. The NES version was good considering the console it was released on. But Tournament Fighters on the SNES is good, period. Most of my gripes with it can be attributed to its age: It lacks depth, the character roster is rather small, it lacks basic modes like Practice. Regardless, this game can be entertaining for both TMNT fans and fighting game aficionados, and I dare say that the game offers just the least amount of depth needed to be played at a competitive level, if you are so inclined.
 7.0 out of 10