Game #1270: Strider(2014)

 As related to Aragorn as The Rings of Power is related to Middle Earth. 

 While I don't much care about the original, Strider 2 is one of my favorite games on the original PS1, and considering how much I like Metroidvanias I've always been somewhat interested in Strider for the HD consoles, however, it being download only made me forget about it... until I learned that it had a physical release in Japan that is fully translated, hence, here we are.

 Unlike the previous Arcade Games, this is a 2.5 D Metroidvania in which you are thrust into the enemy base, conveniently divided into about 10 areas, and allowed to explore... as far as your abilities allow. Strider's abilities start fairly basic, jump, slash and cling and climb walls, but you'll eventually unlock a second jump, a catapult move that works as a third jump, a charged attack, the ability to throw Kunai and different types of swords to open doors with! If you search hard enough, you can even find costumes, which even though they are simple recolors, they are really cool, you can even make Strider look like Warzard's Kenji!

 Combat is a bit lackluster, for starters, you can't use the DPAD for movement, and the analog stick doesn't feel very good for this kind of game, particularly considering how fast everything is. Pretty much every enemy drops health, and stages are peppered with health capsules, and there's a reason for that, enemies will shower you with bullets to the point that it's impossible not to take damage, that said, as long as you kill them quickly, you'll get back any lost health. It's a bit brutal at first, when your health bar is short, but if you find the Health Extensions you'll be OK.

 There are a few other tools to aid you, for instance, an energy gauge. As you explore through the game you'll earn abilities that use energy from this gauge, such as summoning an Eagle or a Wolf for an attack, or even better, the Satellites. The Satellites are incredibly overpowered, and will allow you to easily defeat every single boss in the game as long as you mash hard and fast, while learning most of their patterns. Landing hits without getting hit also fills a third gauge, that once full will make you faster and stronger for a little while.

 Then there are the Sword/Cypher variations that you'll also find through the game. There are four types, Reflective, Explosive, Ice and Boomerang. Each one has a different property, and you can also unlock enhancements of these for other moves, for example, Ice Kunai and Reflective Kunai, or add explosions to the catapult jump! One small issue... you'll find enemies sporting colored shields, and you can only break these shields with the appropriate Sword, fair enough, right? Well, you swap swords with the DPad, and when fighting enemies with different shield types swapping weapon type in the midst of battle feels very cumbersome.

 The exploration is alright, using Strider tools feels nice enough, and once you get the third jump/catapult vault it gets better(If you find the reflect ability for the catapult it's EVEN better), however, I always hate it when Metroidvanias don't have a decent Map system, and this is yet another example of an inefficient map. For starters, the map is divided into zones, that alone makes it unnecessarily tough to figure out how each zone connects with each other, since you can't be sure if the 'global map' shows two zones touching each other if you can make it from one to the other. The map also fails to properly convey the limits of each are, I remember at least one zone that looked as if it was incomplete, but there's an invisible border if you try to jump of the edge. The map also doesn't tell you where a zone ends, so you might think you are entering new areas... only to find out it was simply a zone's exit and you had been there before. Where the Panther pads and Eagle pads take you isn't shown on the map either, so you have to take the gamble. I liked the game enough as to want to get every collectible, but once I figured out that I'd have to chance my way through the maps I gave up on it. Oh! And they added two planes to certain areas who knows why, it only helps to confuse you further.

 Strider is alright, it was a fun time, but the whole map thing is unacceptable. In a game about exploration, making it easy for the player to plan their routes and what not is key for making backtracking fun. And while you can get used to the analog controls, it's suboptimal for this kind of game, really. Regardless, I don't want to end on a sour note considering the game is actually pretty decent, and slashing enemies to death was pretty dope.

 6.5

Game #1269: Dead or Alive 5+

 Here we go again, yet another version of Dead or Alive 5.

 Seems I really must like Dead or Alive 5, because this is like the fourth version of this game I have bought. Dead or Alive 5+ was the Vita port of the game, although not everything is a plus.

 For starters, 90% of the original game is in the cart, however, Tag Battles were removed completely... except on Story Mode. Which is curious, these fights run well, the loading times before aren't too bad either, so I'm not sure why they removed free tag battles. Everything else, all the survival courses, Time attack, Arcade Ladder, Free battles, the tutorial... all of them are here and accounted for. There's a new mode, Touch Fight, which is super dumb, it's in first person and you tap and flick the screen to damage your enemy. The tutorial mode was souped up, now offering a ton of different lessons on every single mechanic, as well as combo-challenges for each character.

 The gameplay is as fast and satisfying as the original release, DoA is truly a spectacle, with some fantastic animations and feedback for when you land your hits. It IS a button masher, but that's always been the appeal of the series. Well, that and.... boobs. Yeah, the fanservice is excessive, what can ya do? The game plays great, and this is the entry that introduced Mila to the franchise, so I won't complain too much. The graphics are very crisp, it really is a looker, and they even kept in how the fighters would get sweaty and dirty, doesn't look as good as it does on PS3 but it's a nice detail. The audio quality, when it comes to story mode at least, isn't so good, but it doesn't get in the way of the game, plus... that story mode is terrible.

 No, really, I remembered it being bad, but not just how incomprehensible it was. Characters randomly meet in random countries, they fight because some stupid reason, and then your character has travelled to another country and comes across another character.... it's really dumb.

 This port does have one BIG plus when compared to the original... everyone comes unlocked by default, including Alpha-152. Unlock Alpha-152 was just cruel, but here she is unlocked from the get-go. Costumes, however, must be unlocked.

 Dead or Alive 5+ is yet another fantastic port for the Vita. Runs very smoothly, retains pretty much everything from the original game, even if it's missing tag battles, and looks and plays really well. About the only thing it has going against it is that DoA 5 received two further updated... which is a moot point considering this is the only version available on Vita, and for what it is, it's a lot of fun.

 8.0

Game #1268: Wanted Weapons of Fate

  I'd want more licensed games like this, sure.

 Wanted was a fairly interesting, albeit unnecessarily vulgar comic book that spawned a movie I never watched, which in turn, spawned this game, Wanted: Weapons of Fate. It's a third-person shooter that follows its own story, I guess judging from the fact that Angelina Jolie isn't in the game, but quite clearly takes after the way the movie reimagined the world of Wanted.

 The game is a fairly standard cover-based third person shooter, there are no puzzles to solve, only enemies to kill. At most a puzzle in this game might be figuring out how to get closer to an enemy... by pushing a box as you use it as cover. There are some turret and sniping sections to add some variety, but they are nothing to write home about. Oh! There are also some rather fun ideas on the QTE craze of the era, as instead of pressing buttons, the game goes through brief moments of slowdown in which you must shoot down enemies, projectiles or both. The first time this happened it caught me by surprise, as I didn't know these segments were in the game, but I wound up enjoying them.

 While it starts off fairly by-the-book, y'know, blind-fire, moving from cover to cover, as you go through the game you unlock the Adrenaline mechanic. Adrenaline makes everything fun! Slowly unlocked as you through the game as well, you can use adrenaline to use any of two abilities: Curving shots, which lets you shoot bullets that travel in an arc, as well as to use a quick-shift, which slows down time as you move from cover to cover, allowing you to land some free shots. These two abilities are a blast, particularly the curve shots, and they are very simple and satisfying to pull off. What's better, as long as you kill stuff, you regain the adrenaline that you spent, allowing you to chain your abilities! It feels great.

 That said... as fun as the gameplay is.... it's rather barebones. It's a very short game, clocking in at about 4 hours give or take, and you only get two different guns: A Pistol(Dual pistols in the flashback stages) and dual automatic pistols, and you only get to swap between both at will during the final stage. It's kind of lame. There's not much in the way of enemy variety either, in the latter third of the game some enemies that you must mash Circle fast, while holding down a direction on the Analog Stick are introduced, but aside from that, it's mostly enemies with guns. Grenades if you are unlucky.

 Wanted: Weapons of Fate is alright. It does a lot of things really well, but there simply isn't enough game here to keep you busy for long. After a while, every environment starts blending together, and while the plot isn't too bad, the dialogue is as cringy as it was in the original comic book.

6.5

Game #1267: The Amazing Spider-man(3DS)

 The tridimensional Spider-man

 It's been a few years since I went over every different console Spider-man videogame, hasn't it? Well, for whatever reason I felt like taking a stab at The Amazing Spider-man on the Nintendo 3DS, a port of the PS3/X360 game of the same name. It's pretty much a direct port, albeit with one key different: The open-world was removed, so it's a linear take on the same game, which makes it feel like the older PS1 Spidey games.

 Well... it's not very good. Instead of an open world, we get a weird "Vigilante Mode" that feels like a mobile game, running on percentage for odds and an energy meter. There are no microtransactions in the game, but this feels so out of place, and it's the only way you can unlock one of Spidey's costumes.

 From what I can tell, the main story of the game is pretty much identical to the Console game, but now there's a mission map from which you can pick between random optional mini-missions, which take the place of random crime activity, as well as the story missions.  Loading times are a bit on the lengthy side, and so are some of the cutscenes, which kinda work against it in the handheld medium.

 The game feels as if it barely works. Combat is identical to the one in the console game, but now it feels janky. Some 'signature moves' take so long that they reset your combo-meter, which sucks since the combo meter increases your strength. The fighting just feels wonky. Plus, to dodge you have to press a button on the touch-screen. And how am I supposed to deal with the goo-spitting enemies? They love to stand on the green goo, which hurts you, and you can't pull them with your web, so what gives? They were a major annoyance, and I don't remember having issues like this with the original console version of the game.

 That said, when the combat works, it's actually fun, since it borrows from Batman Arkham, and when it's at its best, it's quite fun. Plus, even though the character models have been majorly simplified, some of the attack animations are still pretty dope.

 Then there's the exploration, in the small 3DS' screen, everything feels cramped. Once again, I never had any issue with the original game, but here I got lost multiple times, and many times I didn't know where to go. Not having a second analog stick sucks, since you use the DPAD to move the camera, making moving and exploring with the camera at the same time impossible. Crawling on the ceiling feels very awkward too. Too cramped, the camera isn't very useful, etc.

 Not to mention how glitchy it is. One time I fell through the ground, thankfully, I was able to web swing out of it. The camera sometimes bugs out during combat. For instance, one time while in the sewers, I couldn't turn the camera around until I entered and finished a fight, which was a major annoyance. Then there are also interactive spots in which you must hold down X , aim at them and let go, but sometimes the game won't register it. There's a mission in which you must create webbing between cables like this, once I reached the second set of cables... It wouldn't work, I thought I was skipping something, but after trying from a bunch of different angles and distances... it worked. The second fight against Rhino is a major offender, because the camera loves to glitch up to the ceiling, and you also have to create webbings on the fly, and most of the time the game won't register it.

 This game on this console just didn't sit right, nor did it work very well. I remember actually liking this game on PS3, but this version was terrible. No wonder they did something completely different for the sequel.

 2.5

Game #1266: Marvel Super Hero Squad - The Infinity Gauntlet

 The gauntlet of dullness.

 I was never, ever interested in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, however, the seller was selling it alongside the infinitely superior game Wet, so I wound up with this one too. I kinda wish I hadn't.

 The game is based off of a children's Marvel show, so of course, this is a dumb licensed game for children. I did some digging, and it turns out there was a Marvel Super Hero Squad game before, and this previous game actually had more characters than this one. Which is absolutely ridiculous considering Captain America is DLC. Mother truckin' Captain America is DLC, let that sink in. So we are already starting off on the wrong foot, the playable character roster is SMALLER than the one in the previous game, and about half of the roster is DLC.

 In short, the game is a linear beat'em up made up of 12 stages, on each stage you play as a different duo of pre-selected characters that play basically the same. Three hit combo, a charged attack and a ranged attack. Some characters have different skills, such as 'animal factor', but all this means is that they can interact with different elements in the environment. That sucks! This is a Marvel Super Heroes game, playing as my favorite characters should've been an imperative, instead, you are forced to play as a specific couple of characters. You can replay any stage in Free Play, but... you still can't pick the characters you take on each level. Lame.

 The game feels super janky. Movement feels as janky as it looks, and the feedback from your attacks doesn't feel satisfying at all. It's a mindless masher, and mashing buttons doesn't feel good. It doesn't help just how cheap everything feels, as if it was a mobile game ported to the PS3.

 Each character has three challenges, like finding X amount of something, or using that character to defeat X amount of an enemy type, and these challenges unlock costumes and maps for the Multiplayer minigame mode. Sounds neat, doesn't it? Well, the costumes can only be used in Challenge Mode, not in Story Mode. Seriously?

 Boring. Annoying. Plays like garbage, and has genius ideas such as charging for a character as intrinsical to the modern Marvel universe as is Captain America or not letting you pick which characters you want to play as. Turns out we found it, the definite bottom of the barrel.

 2.0

Game #1265: Snipperclips Plus - Cut it out, together!

 I hate papercuts!

 Right out of Horroctober, it's time for something more wholesome, something like Snipperclips Plus: Cut it out, Together! This is a very creative puzzle game in which you, and up to three other players, play as pieces of paper that can cut each other up, in order to turn each other into different shapes.

 The game offers 3 modes, World Mode, which is meant for 1-2 players, Party Mode, meant for 3-4 and Blitz Mode, for 3-4 players too. World Mode is the game's main mode, made up of 5 worlds with 15 puzzles each, and yes, that's a lot of puzzles. While it's meant to be played by two players, if you are by yourself you can press X to swap to the other character, and you can hold down L or R to keep it spinning while not under your control, what's more, whether you are crouching or stretching your legs, the character will remain in that position after you switch. Party Mode is meant for at least three players, as these puzzles involve 4 paper characters. It has its own set of puzzles, as and beating worlds in World Mode unlocks more puzzles. It's not as lengthy as world mode, but hey, it's got enough. The final mode, Blitz Mode, is made up of six multiplayer minigames. There's also Stamp Mode, which is just there to fool around and paint by stamping colors. 

 There's a lot of variety when it comes to the puzzles. The two most recurring puzzle types involve cutting around a purple paper, or cutting each other to fit inside an outline. Even though they repeat regularly among worlds, the shapes keep changing, so it always feels interesting. Then there's the rest of the levels... sometimes you might have to carry a ball and dunk it into a net, carry a pencil to a sharpener, or turn yourself into a shape that can operate a cog. Or maybe, cut a paper as to carry acid and defeat a virus. There's another one in which players have to turn themselves into stick-like shapes in order to raise a pillar from the ground by using the spikes on its two sides! There are a lot of creative puzzles, and even though there are 75 of them... I was left wanting even more. Finishing the game lets you replay various levels with each player having a different default shape than the standard bullet shape, just to make things harder.

 But I haven't even written about how the game is played! Basically, either 2 or 4 bullet-shaped paper characters are in play at all times, and you can make characters overlap each other, the overlapping is highlighted in green, and if you press A... you'll cut the overlap from the other player. The objective is to cut each other into the shapes that will best help you solve the puzzles. You can regenerate by holding down Y, and characters can rotate their bodies with L and R. It's very simple to understand, and there's so much you can do with so little!

 The worst part about the game is, probably, that some levels can be downright tedious if you are playing by yourself. Some things are just hard to accomplish without another player, and can make some challenges more challenging than they should be.

 I'm pretty sure that Snipperclips was one of the first games released on the Switch, and it holds up marvelously. It's really fun, and managed to do a lot with its premise. So much so, that I wish the game came with even more levels, 'cause there's more juice waiting to be squeezed out of this orange.

 7.5

Game #1264: The Thing

 Calling it a thing might be a bit disrespectful

 Despite my dislike for survival horror games back then, The Thing was one of the few I actually owned. I never got very far in it, though! This is sort of a sequel to the movie of the same name, about 10 years separated at that! It's quite faithful to the lore of the movie, so back in the day, it received quite a bit of praise. Not every aspect of the game held up, but it's still a pretty interesting game that did some very original things.

 You play as series newcomer Blake, who gets to explore the snow base that was infested with the thing. Throughout the game you'll be escorted by up to four NPCs that make up your Squad. To simulate the paranoia characters felt in the movie, anyone can turn into the thing. Or that's how it was sold, now that the game has been thoroughly dissected, the truth is... everyone but you is scripted to turn at some point, however, they could turn earlier if they spend too much time fighting The Thing. There are blood tests you can use to test your allies, or to test yourself to increase their Trust in you, but it's possible to test an ally, get a negative test, and then have them transform in the next room you enter because that's their scripted transforming point. That said, if a character dies before he reaches its scripted transformation part, you will still get a game over, for you see, certain squad member are needed to get through certain stages, so if they die... it's game over. Which feels unfair, since sometimes a squadmate will get killed and you won't get a game over for it, and there's no way to tell which ones the game considers 'necessary' for the stage and which ones it doesn't. Still, considering when the game released, I think they did their best at bringing one of the key elements of the movie into the game, as dynamically as they were able to at the time. 

 What didn't age so well was the whole squad thing. Every member has a different role, there are soldiers, which are good in combat, medics, that work as infinite health packs so you'd better do your best at keeping them alive, and mechanics, which can fix stuff you can't. You get very limited control over them, you can tell them to follow you or to stay, in the case of a mechanic, order him to fix something, but they won't listen to you if they don't trust you. They'll also attack anything in sight. In order to gain their trust you can give them ammo or even weapons, as well as test your blood in front of them. There are a few neat mechanics, such as them possibly freaking out, in which case you'd better get them out of the room or use an adrenaline shot on them.

 Not only are squad commands limited, the AI is a bit dumb. A few times my NPC allies were too dumb to get to where I was, and they LOVE to get in your line of fire, as a matter of fact, sometimes it feels as if they are purposely trying to get shot. It's that bad. And sometimes it's kinda weird, if you finish a stage but your allies are not close enough... you lose them, at least the ones that aren't necessary to progress. For instance, one stage ends with you escaping a timed bomb. I was so fast that the bomb caught two of my buddies during the cutscene(Which looked hilarious) while the third one looked at me. Next stage I start off alone. I looked a video online, and somebody started the very next stage with their allies in tow. It's kinda dumb.

 The thing is not an easy enemy to defeat. The small creatures sure are, but the big enemies need to be disposed of with fire. It's usually a good idea to have a teammate with a fire weapon to aid in that regard. The game, at least on PS2, relies on an Auto-fire... and it kinda sucks when it comes to fire weapons, as it is all to easy to get burned yourself. I think the issue is that the auto-aim goes low. You can also aim in first person, but you lose most mobility, making it cumbersome. Swapping weapons on the go can be a bit annoying too, when it comes to switching to a fiery weapon.

 There's another element to the game, the cold. Whenever you are outside you have to be quick, as if you stay in the cold for too long you'll start taking damage. And then, the second half of the game introduces human enemies. In the later parts it gets downright brutal, I ran out of medikits a few times and had to manage through the skin of my teeth. Heck, bosses seem impossible to take down without taking damage, and near the end of the game there's an escape sequence with stuff exploding all around you that feels unfair, with some stuff that is pretty much impossible to avoid.

 Midway through the game, there's this part that strips you of all your weapons and items. I was super mad, because I worked hard to save up as many medikits and grenades as I could, only to have everything taken from me. However, the next level was super interesting, because, for example, there's a medic carrying the only gun you'll see in a while, but you can't take it since he doesn't trust you, so you have to give him ammo. Now you can choose to take his gun, and hope he doesn't go insane and kill himself, or bring him with you. These area has a ton of doors and rooms you can operate, so now you have to lure in the big enemies, the ones you don't have fire to defeat with, and try to lock them inside these rooms! It's very unnerving.

 It's a bit clunky and it hasn't aged the best, but damn it if it doesn't have a lot of heart. There was a lot of love for the source material here, and the game is a pretty neat take on the survival horror genre. That said, what we've got here is a decent game, somewhat held back by many small issues.

 6.0