Archview #12: Strider 2

 Short 'n sweet.

 Strider 2 is one of the most action-packed games ever, rivaling the best Contra has to offer. It has you travelling from airship to airship, through the artic, battling a gravity defying machine or fighting over flying cars. This game is awesome. It's also over a little too soon.
 The game is very simple, you have a Slash button and a Jump button, go wreck havoc. The game is very fast paced, but the controls are very tight, you always feel in control. Imagine Sonic, but less watching and more playing, that's Strider 2, kinda.

 At the start you can choose from 1 out of 3 missions, and as you clear them you'll unlock 2 more. Each stage is incredibly action packed, but the game, as a whole, is very, very short. It's also quite hard on the default setting, but you get infinite continues. It's a very short game, no doubt about it, but it manages to cram so much fun into it's length that it's quite astounding, and it's highly replayable. Also, beating the game unlocks Hien, and while he is just a Hiryu headswap, his attack is quite different, providing a slightly different experience.
 The game looks good, it has flat sprites on 3D backgrounds. Both are very jaggy, but it doesn't get in the way of the game. Activating Boost also can take a toll on the frames per second, but it's not too annoying. The music is... you'll never hear it, you'll be stuck with Hiryu's "HA!"s everytime he swings Cipher, and you will be mashing that Square button.
 So yeah, it's a short game, but it's also very fun. It's highly recommendable, and it also comes with Strider 1, a much harder and much more punishing game(And despite what the hardcore fans may say, Strider 2 is much better.).
 It's an 8 out of 10.

Archview #11: Godzilla Destroy all Monsters Melee

 It grew on me...

  For starters, I know jack about Godzilla, I mean, I'm familliar with the franchise, I know what is a Mothra, I know that there is more than one Mecha-Godzilla, I know that the franchise involves aliens and humans as much as the kaijuu themselves(Well, maybe not as much). So I hope I don't mess up too badly as I fumble around the review.

 Godzilla: DAMM is a fighting game in which you take control of a "Kaijuu", a giant monster, and have to battle another giant monster. Battles take place in various cities, which can, and will, get destroyed as you fight. You have a Punch, a Kick and a "Limb" button, stringing them together you can get combos, and coupling them with the analog stick you get more moves. Punch+Kick is grab, and Punch+Limb unleashes the rage move, provided you are in Rage mode. There's also a Beam button, that can be charged to unleash... a beam attack.

 First complaint: Controls feel wonky. Yes, monsters react slowly to your button presses since they are supposed to be big and heavy... but they are still wonky. Also, if you are not exremely precise with the Grab or Rage move combination, you'll end up just punching the air. It happens a lot, and it's annoying. Another baffling mechanic is... Head rotation. By using the C-Stick you can rotate you monster's head, in order to better aim the beam attack(Since homing is also wonky). It's a really strange mechanic, and due to the camera angles, it never manages to become second nature.

 Monsters are caged with laser walls, touch them, and get knocked back while taking negligible damage. Throughout the stage, sometimes power ups will appear, they can be either Health restores, Energy restores(Energy recharges slowly, and it's used for beam attacks), Rage(This puts you in rage mode, allowing you to use the Rage attack AND goes through monster resistances) or... Mothra. Yes, Mothra, one of Godzilla's trademark enemies is a mere power-up. He flies by, zapping the enemy.

 Stages also have the military forces and alien spaceships, and both like to take their anger out on the Kaijuu. While they do little damage, occasionaly you'll get frozen by the ice beam, granting the enemy a free attack. Some buildings can also be picked up and thrown. Something I disliked, is that it's not immediately obvious what can be picked up, unless you get close to it and it flashes red.
 The game looks really good. While buildings are very simple, the monsters look really good, however the beam attacks look really puny. They sound puny, and the visual feedback looks as if the other monster simply got a weak push. Monster screams are quite fitting though. The music is barely noticeable, but it's better that way, it sounds way more epic to have all the little explotions and monster screams fill the enviroment.

 There are 11 Kaijuu, and one of the neatest things, is how each one feels very different from one another. Actually, Godzilla 2000 is a slightly different Godzilla 90s, and Mecha Gidorah is barely different from King Gidorah. However, those particular cases aside, each monster feel very different. For example, one of the has a spiked shell, hit it, and your monster will get stunned as he grabs his paw or foot  in pain. Another one can dive into the ground, and a couple of them can fly. One thing I disliked though, is the Blunt, Sharp and Beam resistances. Some monsters are particularily resilient to one type of attack, and weak to another. It's a bit annoying, but I guess it adds some un-needed depth.
 This game is a case of "It's better with friends", 'cause y'see, if you play single player, you can only play: Adventure mode(Where the AI is horribly cheap and the Military seems to target you exclusively, shame it's how you unlock everything), Versus(You versus 1 CPU) and Survival. However, if you have friends, you can play Melee, a 4 man free for all. You can also play Destruction, where you race to destroy the town before the other player. You also get the added bonus that human players won't own you like the CPUs.

 Godzilla: DAMM is not a bad game, but it's not for everyone. Godzilla fans will eat it right up, anyone else, tread carefully.
 It's a 6/10.

First Archimpressions: Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee

 No bueno.

 I got hyped. I did, I heard and read about this, supposedly, great GC Godzilla game, so I just had to try it... and it's no bueno. For starters, the controls are clunky, yes, it was done on purpose, since these are huge monsters, but they are still clunky. Physics are incredibly floaty, the jumps have no weight to them, and these are supposed to be heavy monsters, remember the clunky movement?.

 Another beef I have: Affinities. There seems to be different some kind of resistance system? Some monsters are strong againt blunt attacks, others agains sharp, and some against beams.... Basically, the balance is broken. Attacks also lack oomph. I had to cut back to 1-round fights since it was so boring. Visually, the attacks lack any sort of "ouch" factor, soundwise they seem puny, and the life bars take so much time to go down.... Specially maddening with the beam attacks.

 So, yeah, I'm not liking this game. At all. Hope I get done with it soon.

Archview #10: Alundra

 Finally got here, Review number 10!

 Alundra is an adventure game in the same vein as Zelda. Almost exactly like Zelda. Actually, it's a Zelda clone, and it doesn't even try to hide it, you've got puzzles, you've got elves, you've got bombs... however, there is one big, highly noticeable difference... Alundra is hard as balls, call it Zelda: Hard mode, if you will.
 The game puts you in the shoes of Alundra, the eponymous hero of the game, who suffers an accident and wounds up in the town of Inoa, where people gave up the ability to create in order to gain the ability to control their dreams. However, people begin having deadly nightmares, and it just so happens that Alundra comes from an ancient race of dreamwalkers, so guess who has to save the inhabitants of Inoa?.

  Surprisingly, the story takes some very dark turns later in the game, suffice to say, it doesn't shy away from killing defenceless kids. And this, being a game localized by the now defunct Workings Arts, has some pretty funny lines. The game is filled with humor, even in the darkest moments(For example, when a certain pothead dies, the game says "X has take the ultimate bad trip". They make light of every situation!).

 As for the game itself, it's pretty good. Controls are very simple, and are responsive, most of the time. Just like Zelda, there are some times in which you are going to return to the pause menu numerous times to switch items, but it doesn't get annoying... not that part, at least. The game is brutally hard, some of the puzzles are quite taxing, and worst of all, the game punishes you constantly. Rooms don't reset unless you exit them, which means on rooms that have 3 or more tasks to complete, fail even one of them, and you have to do all of them again, that barrel you just lost, is gone forever until you exit the room.



 The worst aspect of the game is the jumping. The game has a dumbfounded focus on jumping. Jumping in this game is annoying, due to it's 2D with a 3D plane nature, gauging distances is hard, and some jumps need to be pixel-perfect. The worst part? The game is filled with jumping puzzles, all the way to the end. Some can get quite frustrating, since you might, actually, WILL, need to reset a lot of rooms that have jumping puzzles. It's quite surprising on the amount of jumping the game pretends you to do, and blemishes an otherwise great game.
 The game could've also used maps, it's easy to get lost in the main world of the game, at least until you learn the landscape. Most of the dungeons are small enough as not to need one, but the last dungeon can get quite confusing. Another annoyance comes from the health of enemies. Enemies take a lot of hits before going down, specially early in the game... and the bosses? Working Arts said that the in the Japanese version, bosses had even more health... hard to imagine. The latter bosses specially, will soak up a lot of damage before going down.

 The presentation is one of the game's best assets. It looks great, the sprite art is charming, and has a very distinct style, with their big feet. The music is fantastic, there are a lot of pieces, and they are all really, really good. The localization is top-notch, worthy of the Working Arts logo.
 The game is really good, but it's hard difficulty may turn off some people, nothing a guide can't help ease, however the jumping puzzles are an exercise in frustration, probably the one thing that kept this game from becoming a classic, instead of just a cult hit.
 It's a 7 out of 10

PSA

..... Really?
 I just finished Alundra. After the most impossibly complex and sanity-taxing dungeons ever. After a 3-boss gauntlet that anything but easy, all we get.... all we effing get is a long-a$$ anime-cutscene in which, no only does the girl leave Alundra, but it makes no sense. It mixes past adventures with stuff that happens in the presente.
 So, SO unsatisfying. I'm mad.
 Review coming shortly.

Archview #9: Dynasty Warriors 7

 So I don't need an HD TV for this one?(Ed's note: Dat neck)

 Ah, another Dynasty Warriors game, it's the same as the others.
1/10.
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...
..
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 Still here? Good. I'm one of the few that actually enjoy Dynasty Warriors, and one of the few that's willing to give each entry a chance. I'd mention "what's new", but seeing how the last DW game I played was 4, I don't really know, so I'll be looking at it as an stand alone game, which is how most games should be looked at, even if they are sequels.
 What is Dynasty Warriors? It's the evolution of the sidescrolling beat'em up, the kind that was popular back on the SNES days.You play as a general of your choosing, around 60 for this entry, and are to lay havok on thousands upon thousands of grunts(As a matter of fact, there's a trophy for slaying over 3000 enemies on a single stage.). The game is pretty easy to pick up and play, there's a jump button, a normal attack, a charge attack(I like to call it the "modifier", more on it later) and a Musou attack. Normal attacks can be strung together up to 5 times... but press the charge attack in between the string to perform a completely different move, depending on when you use it during the string. The Musou attack is the screen-clearing special attack that requires a certain gauge to be filled.

 The game takes place on big, open areas, filled with enemy soldiers, in which you must usually take care of a certain general to finish the mission, but it's encouraged to defeat as many officers(Stronger soldiers) as possible, since they drop various permanent power ups. There are a few missions that get a bit annoying, specially in the Story mode, in which you must protect an absolutely brain-dead ally as it makes it's way to a certain spot. They tend to get stuck, or choose to engage even when low on health, to say that they need constant baby sitting is an understatement. Enemy AI is a bit dumb too, but if they were to attack you constantly, you'd be dead in seconds, seeing how it's 200 or more vs 1(The allies deal negligible damage when you are close by, so don't rely on them). By the way, enemy archers are overpowered. They deal a ridiculous amount of damage, always attack from behind enemy lines, and if you jump, can stop you dead on your track.

 There are about 62 characters and 31 weapon styles... which means there are a lot of clones. You can have up to two different weapons equipped(And can be changed just by going to the pause menu, even during battle). Each character has different affinities with each weapon, from getting slow charge attacks to being able to get extra gimmicks with a weapon. However, each character has a single EX attack, unique to each general, with his special weapon. This hardly makes it unique, the only things that differentiates characters are the two Musou Attacks and the EX attack, otherwise most characters can be reduced to clones. Sword specialists are specially abundant, and every character is proficient with swords, so if you are stuck with a character whose best weapons you don't like and isn't proficient with better weapons, you can just fall back to the Sword.

 Story mode is fantastic. Unlike previous entry, where each character would get a what-if-ish story mode, each Kingdom gets it's own story mode, and this time, it follows the Romance of the Three Kingdoms more closely. Voice acting is all over the place, some VAs, like Liu Bei's are amazing, but some of the others are decent at best. The soundtrack is fantastic, filled with the synthetic rock the series is known for, while having some excellent pieces, like the song that's played during "sad moments", proof of this, is scenes like Sun Jian's death, while the VAs try their hardest to ruin the scene, the music overcomes all, fitting the mood perfectly. Props to the Cut-scene director, they are incredible too, in spite of some of the VAs.
 The graphics are great, each general looks awesome, with pretty intricate armor designs. The same can't be said for the NPC generals and the common soldiers, housing less polygons than their peers, but they don't look too bad. The stages are a bit on the simple sad, and the props, like scarecrows or boxes can't be broken, which is a shame, but it's probably the cost of having so many soldiers on-screen at the same time. The FX are a bit on the bland side too, many of the sparks look quite bad, and are prone to clipping through the floor. Not a a huge deal, but it's noticeable, particularily on Sima Yi's EX move.



Besides Story-Mode, there's also Conquest mode. Sadly, for the first time in the series, as far as I know, Free Mode is absent, but Conquest mode is a better alternative... mostly. Conquest Mode provides over 100 different stages, of varying difficulty levels, and different goals. Escort Missions, conquering missions, dueling missions.... it all boils down to killing thousands of soldiers. One thing I like about the mode, is that it incorporates the What If stories from previous games into "Legendary Battles". Each general has a different set of Legendary Battles, they range from historically accurate to ridiculous, with Sima Shi being mad at Sima Zhao for eating his food.
 In both modes, you will amass gold, which is used to buy more weapons. This weapons come with built-in seals, that provides different bonuses. Defeat enough enemies with the weapon, and you'll master it, allowing you to use it's seal on different weapons. Each weapon has a different ammount of open slots, so you can customize your weapon to better suit your style. Grinding for stats is as slow as ever, with enemy general leaving +2, +4, +6, +8 or rarely and only on harder difficulties +16 strenght or defense power ups. Seeing how most generals start with 200-300 base stats, it's gonna take a while. There's also a relationship system with other generals, but it's a very shallow affair, and consists on taking them to you on battles for no rewards what so ever besides some dialogue lines.



 So, how do I feel about Dynasty Warriors 7? A game with untapped potential. Story mode is fantastic, graphics are great, for this type of game, but... characters feel replaceable with each other, they don't have enough differences between each other. Luckily, it seems DW 8 adresses it, since they made a different weapon for each character! And the few that share weapons, use them in very different ways, and the graphics look even better than now... oh yeah, I'm hyped. But enough about 8, this is seven.
 And DW 7 is a 7 out of 10.

Progress Report

 Oh boyo...

 Dynasty Warriors 7: Almost done with Conquest Mode, just a few more stages, and I'll review it. It's really good, and the most involved I've gotten in a non-spin off DW since 2. Near the end of April, I'll get DW 1 and start going from 1 to 7:Empires. Just hope I don't get burned out from all the repetitiveness. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

 Alundra: 20 hours in, just got inside Murgg woods, don't know how much longer 'till the end. Alundra is fantastic, but some of the puzzles are nerve-wrecking, and the platforming is a mess, the latter which is probably what kept it from becoming a classic.

 Megaman Starforce 2 Zerker X Ninja: Oh boy... My interest in this game is fading. Starforce 1 was almost, almost as good as I remembered it. This one is... dissapointing... I mean, it's more of the same, but the story is not as engaging as the first game. Gameplay-wise? It's better. Graphically? A little bit better... but the Skyline is such a tedious affair... I'm 10 hours in, and I can't wait to wrap this one up.