Review #595: Cold Fear

 As opposed to hot fear, which is sweaty and sticky.

 The sixth generation of videogame consoles had their very own before-and-after in the form of a tiny little game you might have heard about, Resident Evil 4. It changed third-person shooters forever, and Ubisoft was first in line to take a slice out of that pie.

 Cold Fear has you playing as discount Leon Kennedy, a guy so forgettable I don't even remember his name. As a matter of fact, there's very little in the way of set-up in the game, all you need to know is that your main character finds himself in a Russian Ship infested by zombie like creatures named Exocells. As with any other Survival Horror game worth its salt, a ton of the story is told via boring documents you can find laying around. That said, you won't be playing the game for it's story, and this is a very clear case of: It's the journey, not the destination, as the ending is about 15 seconds long and leaves more than a few plot threads hanging.

 Cold Fear is divided into two parts: The ship and the rig. The ship is the first part, it's a medium-sized zone filled with interconnected rooms, most which are locked in one way or another and as you advance through the game you'll be unlocking them, and, sometimes, losing access to others. Y'know, pretty much like any other Survival Horror game. The rig is pretty much the same thing, albeit on a slightly larger area, with even more rooms and threats to your life. Hopefully you've got a good memory, since there isn't a single in-game map to aid you, it's up to you to remember which door leads where... which is kinda nasty when rooms have multiple doors. What's worse, a lot of times you won't know where you have to go. You'll have a simple directive, like 'Get into the Radio Room', but no hint as to where it is... the most you'll get is your character saying out loud that 'This seems to be the wrong way' at times. Also, keep in mind that you're only allowed to save after completing objectives or before a new event, most of the time, you're allowed to save pretty frequently, but there's the occasional save-starved long stretch here and there.

 How you explore about is kinda weird, as the game has fixed camera angles... that mean nothing since holding L1 puts the camera over your shoulder so that you can aim in almost any direction. That said, a few angle-changes can be jarring, I feel they could've been better planned. As for the aiming, it works really well, aiming is easy and simple, just the way it's supposed to be. As a bonus, the game wants you to take your time and score headhshots: Not only do they bring down common enemies instantly(Otherwise you have walk up to them and smash their heads, lest they get up again) but it also gives you this delicious 'Pop' as the head goes boom. Over-the-shoulder aiming let's you move as you aim, Evil Within and Resident Evil 6 eat your hearts out. Basically, they nailed the shooting, it feels great and works great.

 As opposed to other Survival Horror games, there's not much focus on resource management, but rather, the game is more of an arcadey-version of Resident Evil. For instance, Health packs are limited, but you don't store them, instead, if you interact with one you'll use it on the spot. So don't go too trigger happy on the inspect button and save some of those for later. Weapons, of which there're about 8, have ammo caps, so feel free to go postal on your enemies. As a matter of fact, after you finish the Ship part of the game, you lose all your weapons and your stocked ammo. Use it or lose it. But, even if you do a poor job of managing your ammo and health, enemies seem to drop whatever you're hurting for the most. Low on shotgun ammo? You'll discover that enemies will start dropping more of it Low on health? A healthpack will pop up sooner or later.

 Honestly, I had a blast with the game. While the emphasis is more on the action, the game manages to have its spooky moments without sacrificing its faster pace. It's a fun game for someone that wants a game that doesn't require much thinking, but keeps survival horror tropes close to heart.
7.5 out of 10

Review #594: The Order 1886

 Which poses the question, are we humans the real monsters?

 The Order 1886 is a third-person shooter game that was posed to be one of Sony's first steps into delivering bonafide exclusive games to their new console. And, well, the game works better as a showpiece than as a game, but darn if it isn't engrossing.

 The game follows Sir Galahad, one of the many members of The Order, a group of men taking titles  named after the knights of the round table, who hunts monsters. That's the what they are trying to sell you. The truth is that most of the game is spent watching human drama unfold as you lay dozens upon dozens of human to waste. There're a very few werewolves here and there, as well as two vampires(That you don't get to fight, although one is killed in a cutscene) but the rest of the enemy cast are humans. As for the plot, it begins with Galahad escaping prison, as it seems like he betrayed the order... but we know better. 90% of the game is spent catching up to the prelude and then there's a cliffhanger ending that may very well never be expanded upon. I wouldn't say that the story was groundbreaking or noteworthy, but the game is a very cinematic affair and character design is brilliant, I swear to god, these are some of the most stylish characters ever put on a Blu-ray disc.

 The game is pretty much your average modern-day third person shooter. You can hide behind cover, blindfire, aim from an over-the-shoulder camera, etc etc. You can carry two main weapons as well as grenades. The armament is comprised of basic rifles, shotguns and guns as well as a couple of 'Science' weapons developed by Tesla, the electric Arc-Gun and the fire-based Thermite Gun. The latter is pretty fun to use, as you shoot thermite and then set it on fire. You can make use of fire to just shoot thermite nearby and have it instantly catch on fire. All in all, while there's nothing groundbreaking here, what it does it does well. Sticking-in-and-out of cover works great and the controls never get in your way.

 Regenerative health is in, as is to be expected, but if you take too much damage you'll be downed. While downed, you can crawl to a safe space, and if you manage to avoid taking damage, you'll get one second wind. The game is not too hard, so even if you die the game will load your previous checkpoint very swiftly. Sir Galahad has one more ability, Blacklight. By killing dudes you'll fill a gauge on the bottom of the screen, pressing L1 will slow down time allowing you to pelt your enemies with bullets from your secondary gun.

 As with any other cinematic game there're plenty of QTEs, but they are not too horrible. Sadly, the game only has two boss fights, against Elder Werewolves and they are pretty much simple glorified QTEs. They looked amazing, but 'playing' those scenes felt lame. The game is pretty much a straight-line through to the end. There's very little exploration involved, and if you are so inclined, you'll only be rewarded with objects you can pick up and... examine in first person. They really wanted to show off their graphics, shame they forgot about adding reflections on mirrors!

 If the game has something going for it is how amazing the graphics are. Not only are the knights' uniforms brilliant, but every environment looks very realistic. While it doesn't run at 60 fps, the framerate is pretty stable, so it's a very smooth ride. There're some standout pieces, namely, invading the Zepellin and the sunset when you sneak into the docks.

 While it's not the gamiest game around, while it's story is nothing special and while its mechanics are as by-the-book as they can get... I can't lie, I had a fun time with the game. Gameplay is basic, but solid, and while the story won't arrest your attention, the environments will.There's something so appealing about these characters wearing victorian-era clothes and primed mustaches, slaying monsters and the such. That said, the game will be remembered for how good it looked rather than for what it brought to the table... but at least it will be remembered.
 7.0 out of 10

Review #593: GhostHunter

 At least it's got a Medievil reference.

 GhostHunter is often considered one of the PS2's forgotten gems, making it into quite a few Top 10 obscure or forgotten games. That's how I came around it. Curiosity piqued, season appropriate, it was time to give GhostHunter a look.

 Agent Steele and her partner, Lazarus Jones(Quite the name) are sent to inspect an abandoned highschool were murders were committed a few years ago. One thing leads to another and Lazarus unleashes hundreds of captured Ghosts into the world, the bigger, baddest of the bunch kidnapping Steele. Aided by Astral, a ghost that possessed him and grants him the ability to see ghosts, and by a Ghost-Hunting AI, Lazarus Jones sets out to rescue Steele and right his wrongs. The story is silly. It doesn't seem like so, and voice performances are on-point, but the game tries to maintain a weird balance between taking itself seriously and being silly, but I felt that the attempts at humor took away from what could've been a better script. It did get a few chuckles out of me once or twice though. If you're a fan of Medievil you're in for a treat, as one of Sir Dan Fortesque's descendants appears in the game and haphazardly helps Lazarus on his quest. That said, there's a weird subplot which shows the big-bad working for an even bigger bad, but it's never expanded upon... although I could take a gander at who said bigger bad was supposed to be.

 GhostHunter is a fairly linear third-person shooter. There're no secret weapons to find, hidden areas, hidden enemies, nothing. At most you'll find a few health and ammo pickups. Lazarus can equip a few weapons to deal with ghosts, some, like the rifle, sniper rifle and lasso run on ghost energy, while the shotgun and the grenade launcher run on regular ammo, there's also a gun with unlimited bullets. To be honest, I stuck with the rifle until I got the lasso, and why wouldn't you? The Sniper Rifle has its uses on the first stage and then you'll never need it again, and the shotgun has its uses against beefier enemies... until you get the lasso. The lasso is supposed to have high energy consumption as its drawback, but enemies drop so much of the stuff that you'll never run out. You are fighting ghosts, however, so they must be captured, this is done by throwing your 'grenade' at them. While you can't capture a ghost without hurting it first, sticking a grenade in one has many benefits: It distracts them, so you can get free shots at them(They also try to escape while it's in them, but at least they don't fight back... most of the time) but it also lets you see how much health they've got left.

 The shooting mechanics are fairly solid, albeit guns don't have much pizzazz to them, which makes shootouts lack a bit of excitement.  But you'll also have to solve puzzles, most are fairly easy... but time consuming. The Swamp, the second stage, is probably the worst part in the game, featuring annoying, unnecessary stealth sections in which you must hide from a pig-ghost so that it'll open doors for you. These are the worst bits in the game, so, luckily, once you make it past the swamp you'll be fine. As a matter of fact, the game seems to get better as you push forwards, with each stage being better though-out than the previous one. On another note, your mileage on level design might vary, but dammit if they aren't neat environments to look at. The final stage does leave a little to be desired, though.

 But I digressed, let's talk about Astral, the ghost that possessed Lazarus. Numerous times throughout your adventure you'll spot glowing circles on the ground. Pressing X will let you play as Astral. While the ghost-pig sections were the absolute worst part in the game, Astral puzzles come close second. Astral can fly, as well as earn a few abilities(Turn into flesh, manipulate debris, go through green portals(Only used once!!!), etc). The biggest problem is how slowly Astral moves around, you have to explore your surroundings in order to find what objects Astral can interact with and then how to interact with them. Lazarus has two aim modes, third person and first person, you exit these modes by pressing circle. Just like Lazarus, you can have a first person view by pressing square... but if you press circle you'll go back to Lazarus after a lengthy animation sequence. This is another annoyance with Astral, it's very easy to forget that cancelling out of powers or first person mode is done with Triangle, while playing as her, lest you want to suffer through the Astral/Lazarus sequence again. If this game had just been a simple third person shooter it would've fared much better, but as it stands, the numerous Astral sections really soured my experience.

 But don't let me get started on how the game almost became unwinnable. You can save the game at any point in the game, but it'll take you back to the last checkpoint you hit when you load it. You should keep more than one save, unlike me, not because of the glitch I'll talk about but because the savefile also save how much health you had left, which could possibly put you in an unwinnable scenario. Still, what happened to me was that, on the final stage, an AI partner you have to escort got stuck running back and forth in front of a door that was supposed to open but didn't. Restoring my file didn't get him out of the sequence. Luckily, by pushing against him I somehow managed to get him to clip through the door and onto the path he was supposed to be following. That said, I was ready to drop the game right then and there, and I wouldn't have minded.

 I understand that there's a cult following behind Ghosthunter, but I'm not buying what they're selling. The shooting sequences are alright and stages look great, but the puzzle elements bring down what could've been a more entertaining action game. The plot didn't help either, I don't mind the game not being scary and spooky, but the attempts at humor are lame and, once again, take away from what could've been an entertaining narrative.
 5.0 out of 10

Review #592: Van Helsing

 Devil May Hugh Jackmancry.

 Let me take you back to the year 2004. Devil May Cry had already been subject to two games, and Van Helsing, the movie, had just come out. The movie received poor reviews, but somehow, did quite well with audiences, me , personally, found it to be alright, but nothing special. Regardless, someone decided that Van Helsing could be a decent Devil May Cry clone, and thus, here we are. This shouldn't surprise you, someone thought that The Nightmare Before Christmas and Devil Macy Cry coul mix as well!

 The story is a decent retelling of the movie, while I haven't seen it again since 2004, I can remember most of the plot and the game does a good job at retelling it without sacrificing much to the necessary filler in order to pump out a playable version of the plot. I think that fans of the movie would be quite pleased with how the game adapted the plot. As for the story itself, you play as Van Helsing: Monster Hunter, who is sent to help a town from their Vampire troubles. As luck would have it, Dracula is to blame, so good ol' Van will have to deal with Vampires, Gargoyles, Zombies and even Werewolves.

 Melee and ranged weapons? Air juggles? Fixed camera angles? Lock-on button? Collecting orbs to purchase new moves and items? Searching for life-extending items? Devil Trigger? Check, check, check, check, check, check and check. This is a Devil May Cry clone through and through, although a low budget one. Triangle acts as your main melee attack button, while the square button shoots whichever projectile weapon you've equipped. You can lock onto enemies with the L1 button, allowing you to do things such as hold back when pressing the attack button in order to launch the enemy into the air. L1 is your 'Devil Trigger', or super mode, which makes your weapons somewhat stronger for a short while, although you have to find the super modes of your weapons first.

 When you aren't fighting excessively large waves of enemies you'll be making your way from mission to mission. There's some small leeway for exploration, although the path forward is always clear to the player. Sometimes you'll have to clear fairly simple puzzles in order to progress. The game takes place throughout 12 missions, and I cleared it in about 3 hours. You can find 'Cheats' and Challenge Rooms to unlock even more 'Cheats', so there's definitely some replay value here, if you like the game that is.

 The game is fairly alright, however, it sadly fails in the same way Devil May Cry 2 did... Guns solve everything. For instance, there aren't many extra moves available for purchase, and they aren't very useful either. Not that it matters, since you only get two melee weapones(Tojo Blades and Scimitars) while you get about 6 different guns(Dual Pistols, Shotgun, Crossbow, Electric Gun, Minigun and the secret Rifle), clearly hinting at how you should be fighting. Getting close and personal is usually quite unsafe, while you have a useful dodge, most enemies have a ton of super armor on their moves, so your melee attacks won't stop their incoming attacks. To aid to this is the fact that there's a ton, and I do mean a TON of flying enemy types. Heck, using the launcher+Jump-follow-up melee attacks is fairly wonky, if you are gonna pop-up an enemy it's better to just shoot at them.

 And this is a problem, because this game wants to focus on combat, and if it was about pressing buttons and timing them, it'd be alright, but at the end of the day all you'll be doing is holding the square button, to shoot, while dodging incoming attacks. This is how you're supposed to beat the final two bosses, which is a bit lame. That said, for whatever reason, this game feels better than DMC 2. I think they added the right amount of audiovisual feedback from guns to make them sorta gratifying to use

 For as bland as the game can be, I think it's alright if you liked the movie. Van Helsing's character model looks exactly like Hugh Jackman, impressive for its era, even though most of the game's graphics are quite lacking, with stiff animations and jumpy performance(particularly the cutscenes). But, hey, they managed to make a very playable tie-in, and, if anything, I can admire their ambition in aping Devil May Cry.
 5.5 out of 10

Review #591: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - The Pumpkin King

 A nightmare befalls the Gameboy Advance.

 Let me mention a few things I love: Horror, Halloween, Metroidvanias and The Nightmare Before Christmas. This game is all of the above, so it's got to be good, right?....right?

 The game works as a prequel of sorts, chronicling Jack's first meeting with both Oogie Boogie and Sally. As for the plot, it's nothing special. Shock, Barrel and Lock do Oogie's bidding by causing mayhem for all the inhabitants of Halloween Town, and, of course, Jack Skellington will not allow it. Thus begins Jack's adventure, fixing the wrongs done in Oogie Boogie's name and, finally, rescuing Sally(Because of course) from Oogie Boogie himself.

 The game plays like any other Metroidvania: You explore medium-sized levels and will often come across obstacles that you won't be able to sort until you gain the appropriate skill. The game is unusually linear, when you have to backtrack the game will do it's darnedest to get you there, even if it means placing Arrow-signs on the way. You can, however, take off on your own, and try to collect secret collectibles that do nothing as well as shrunken heads that increase your maximum health.

 The A button jumps and B uses your selected item. You begin with Frog's breath, a close range weapon, and eventually get bats, Pumpkin bombs and Peppers. First problem: Some barriers REQUIRE using Pumping Bombs or Peppers... both items that can run out. That's right, while it never happened to me, it's possible to run out of peppers or bombs, requiring you to defeat enemies ad-naseam until more supplies drop. Both are also pretty situational in battle, the Pepper being nigh useless in combat against bosses.

 Nothing's particularly bad about the game, yet everything feels bland. It's also a fairly boring game, there are no good ways to fast-travel between zones, so going back to search for goodies with your newly acquired abilities isn't very compelling. And if you make backtracking boring you've failed on your Metroidvania design.

 It pains me to say so, but Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - The Pumpkin King  wasn't very fun for me. I think that even fans of the movie won't get much out of the game.
 4.5 out of 10

Review #590: RLH: Run Like Hell

 The Thing meets Alien.

 I bet you've never heard of this game. I found it by chance too, searching for a canceled N64 game I remembered reading about when I was younger(Turned out to be a "Survivor Day One", by Konami) and somehow I ended up learning about Run Like Hell. There's not much survival in this Survival Horror game(Infinite ammo, I finished the game with nearly 200 healing items to spare) but it's worth a look if you're into horror flicks.

 You play as Nicholas, a human aboard a Space Station housing a few different species. After returning from an expedition he comes to find the whole station overrun by weird, fleshy aliens that have murdered everyone, including, maybe, his fiancee. The story throws every action/horror movie trope out there, everything you think will happen WILL happen and, even so, I found myself endeared with the cast of characters, even though I knew which ones would die I couldn't help but feel sad they bit the bullet. Word of the wise: Before starting the game you can skip the Tutorial section. Don't. It lasts 30 minutes, provides context and background to the setting and characters as well as having a few supplies and weapon enhancers spread throughout. The tutorial makes the whole of the game much better by fleshing out the story, one of the main focuses of the game. Seriously, there're a lot of cutscenes here!

 Your mileage may vary on this, but one of the game's strength lies on it's cheese. The dialogue is as cheesy as you'd expect out of a popcorn horror/action movie, and you can add to it its weird Computer-game like humor: Beverages called 'B.A.W.L.S.', female character models with ridiculously large breasts, etc. And you can add to this how bad and stilted character animations are. It's certainly around its edges, but dammit, it's bad in all the right ways.

 The brunt of the game has you exploring various areas of the infested ship, searching for key items or door-passwords in order to progress. In a hilarious turn of events, the game's best weapons are also the ones with infinite ammo: The Rifle, the Pulse Rifle and the Automatic Rifle. All the other weapons use ammo, like the shotgun, and they suck! Stick to your rifles and you'll be fine. Combat is a fairly simple affair: Hold R1 to aim at an enemy, and strafe around it while shooting at it. Occasionally you might need to sidestep around in order to avoid attacks.

 The game lasts about 8 hours, which is fine, although it would've been nice to be able to skip more cutscenes. The game is filled with them, it tried to be as cinematic as it could during the PS2 era, but not all of them can be skipped, and having to endure a long one before retrying a boss... is no fun. Although, to be fair, bosses only killed me because I was being stingy,  I did have a surplus of nearly 200 medkits after all! It's a simple, easy game that I think succeeds in doing what it wanted: Being a very cinematic, cheesy playable action/horror flick. Heck, the game throws all pretenses away when the action gets going, changing the music into a hard-rock tune with vocals.

 I'm gonna go the distance and call this one an obscure gem. It's not a great game, at least not in a traditional way, but I found it very, very entertaining. As sloppy as it can be, everything works well enough to compliment how campy the whole thing is, making the game something that's more than the sum of its parts.
 7.0 out of 10

Review #589: Nintendo 64 Memories: Flying Dragon

 Two games, one cart. Almost.

Part 1: The Flashback
 Easily one of my two most wanted games on the N64 ever. I think I only managed to rent it once, because the only place that had it up for rent was far away from home. Everything about this game piqued my interest, how it had two ways to play it(SD or virtual) and the character designs.
 Sadly, the game was incredibly hard to find, not once did I find it up for purchase. Luckily, that's all in the past, and finally, this game has reached my hands!

Part 2: Today
 Let's start with what makes the game so unique: You have both SD and Virtual Modes. Both modes play pretty much identical, but do have their own unique thingies. For starters, each mode has its own character roster, most characters are shared, some have widely different designs, others look the same(But in chibi/super deformed looks) and others are exclusive to either mode. Before starting each mode you can also customize the ruleset, turning attack-cancels on/off or even deactivating sidestepping. There's another mechanic, the Mind's Eye, which makes it so that repeatedly hitting an enemy on the same body part will eventually yield critical damage that can also be turned on or off, as well as turbo speed. Basically, there's a lot you can tune to your liking.

 Both modes offer an Arcade Ladder, a VS CPU Tournament, VS Player and a VS Player/group mode. There're a few hidden characters that can be unlocked by fulfilling certain conditions or using a password hidden behind the 'Treasure Box -> Status' menu of the SD mode.

 Virtual Mode was my favorite, featuring normal-looking characters. A and B are your punch and kick buttons, R guards, L sidesteps(If activated) and Down-C is a third attack button. There're command special moves, attack strings and even super moves that can be used once you fill your power gauge. The fighting is fast and fun, and I had a lot of fun stringing moves together.

 SD Mode is a bit simpler, A and B and normal attacks, while the Down-C button is used exclusively for special moves. There's also a Super move relegated to the Left-C button. What makes this mode so unique is that you can equip your character with items that you find and level up as you go through the VS CPU modes. Sadly, the framerate suffers a lot in this mode, and I'm not too big on the super deformed character proportions.

 I've no doubt in my mind that if I had owned this game when I was younger, it easily would've ranked on my favorite games on the system. Sadly, when you compare Flying Dragon against the fighting games you could find on its rival, the PS1, it falls short where it counts. It's still amongst the best fighters on the N64... not that that is saying much.

 7.5 out of 10