Review #199: Evolution Worlds

 A generic name for a forgettable game.

 Evolution Worlds is a Gamecube port of Evolution 1 and 2 on the Dreamcast. Two RPGs for the price of one sounds too good to be true, and it is. The game itself is rather dull, but even then, this 'compilation' has suffered from cuts, mostly on the Evolution 1 part of the game, making it the least ideal way to go through these games... or is it?

 The premise of the game, well, the first part, revolves around Mag Launcher, the last heir of the renowned Launcher family, a family of treasure hunters, tasked with taking care of the mysterious mute waif Linear by his father. In this world, there are weapons called 'CyFrames', which most party members use by the by, that come in many forms, Mag himself wears a gigantic robot arm on his shoulder. There's an ancient artifact known as "Evolutia", of  which many adventurers dream of finding, Mag included, but an army(where do they come from exactly?) eventually comes to Mag's town in search of leads. The second game is even worse, featuring a very underdeveloped and shallow villain. Evolution 1 certainly gets the raw deal here, as the 8 dungeons have been reduced to three, which also translates to longer cutscenes in order to convey more information. It doesn't work very well. Both stories are generic, predictable and dumb, trust me, you've seen these plots thousand of times before in animes or other games, but done much better. The dialogue is laughably bad, often times redundant and reiterative, with some fantastic logic thrown in the mix(' I don't want to hurt you!' so she's gonna destroy the world! MAKES SENSE.). The main cast doesn't get it much better, they are as underdeveloped as the supporting cast.

 The game mixes Rogue-Like dungeons with RPG-like battles, but these elements don't mix very well. Rogue-like games feature simple dungeon designs, usually randomized, with nothing else to do but walk around trying to find the stairs to the next floor. This holds true with Evolution, but while combat is very fast paced in rogue-likes, in Evolution touching an enemy means loading the turn-based combat arena, finish the turn-based battle, and then load the dungeon again. It gets boring fast. Dungeons have virtually no puzzles, there's the occasional hidden wall, and the very last dungeon introduces moving platforms and, for the first and last time in the game, poles that a character(That you get only moments before this last dungeon!) can grapple to and from. Oh, and the game doesn't tell you that he can even do it, so you have to figure out by yourself what the hell those poles mean, and that this character needs to be in the lead in order to use them. Fun. Another elements borrowed from Rogue-like games is the very limited inventory capacity, which makes you be more mindful about what to keep and what to throw, and trap tiles that can hurt you or heal you if you step on them. And you'd better have an extra 4 blocks of memory on your memory card, as 'Interim Saves', which means saving and quitting upon going up or down a floor in a dungeon, takes up a whole other file, unless you plan on going through 15 floors in one sitting, which is very boring.

 Combat is a fairly simple affair, firstly, there's 'party formation' on a 3x3 grid, characters on the front lines deal and receive more damage than the ones on the back, as expected. Battles pan out as any other turn based RPG, you have your basic attack, item, skill(Spells) and Defense, with the addition of 'Talents', which work just as spells, but instead of consuming FP, they have a time-based cool down. Defeating enemies rewards you with experience points, sometimes items, and TP. TP is used to learn new skills, what's more, you can learn them mid-battle, in which case you'll be able to use them for no FP cost on that one time! Money is earned by clearing dungeons or selling items.... but party members beside Linear and Gre will take money every time you clear a dungeon, with up to 80% of the prize money being taken away! Basically, money was needed to upgrade CyFrames, so I just wound up using Gre all the time. Hilariously, on both 'last dungeons'(What would be Evolution 1 and 2 last dungeons, respectively), the game takes away Linear, for plot reasons, which means you'll have to use at least one underleveled party member. Neat. It's not that big of a deal anyways, since they level up pretty quickly and the game isn't hard, but it's a hilarious curiosity.

 Graphics are very, very dated. They don't look very well, and the animation is nothing to write home about. That said, I do have a soft spot for this type of early-PS2 era graphics, so I kinda liked them, reminded me of Okage, but without the engrossing art style. Music is fairly decent, but ultimately forgettable. Voice acting.... is bad. At first I didn't much care for it, it didn't seem terrible, and for a cutesy game like this, it was alright.... but then the second game happened, and at the end of the game it tried taking itself too seriously, and repeating lines you've already heard before, but... they were delivered so poorly.

 Now then, I admit to not having played the games on the Dreamcast, but just as Evolution 1 was reduced to three dungeons, there's weapons and items missing from the Evolution 2 side of the game, but I doubt the extra dungeons and cutscenes from Evolution 1, or the extra weapons from 2 would've change my experience with the game. If anything, more dungeons would've made me tire of the game sooner, and dislike it even more. At the end of the day, Evolution Worlds is a very forgettable game, nothing is particularly broken about it, but it doesn't do the things it does very well. It's just another RPG, unremarkable at best and dull at worst.
 3.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Evolution Worlds

 Engaging man mode.... No interim-save run!

 So, yeah, I remember watching ads for these games on Xpert Gamer and EGM, and longing to play them... now's the time!

 Firstly, turns out it requires 4-8 blocks on the mem card to save your game... which kinda sucks, since I only had 4, which means no Interim Saves, and on the longer dungeons... it's gonna suck. That aside, I'm liking it. The graphic style reminds me a lot of Okage, which is always a plus, and everything is so goddarn cute. The gameplay is fairly interesting, it's a mixture of Rogue-like with RPG, which works surprisingly well.

 One thing I'm not fond of however, is that in order to get both games into this version... Evolution 1 got compressed into three dungeons, which translates into over 20 minute long cutscenes, which can drag. The plot is predictable, the voice acting is overdone(But it kinda works for this cutesy game), but I think the gameplay more than makes up for that.

 If you'll excuse me, I've a military base to raid.

Review #198: Lunar - Silver Star Harmony

 In your dreams, all things are real unless you dream they are not!

 I like the Lunar franchise as a whole, but my favorite entry is definitely Lunar 2. That doesn't seem to be the case with the developers, Lunar School? Never even got a PSOne remake. Lunar 2? Was remade once on the Saturn and PSOne. Lunar 1? It had a PSOne/Saturn remake, a GBA remake and now, finally, a PSP remake. Now then, the Lunar and Lunar 2 I'm familiar with are the PSOne versions, I loved Lunar 2 and went on to finish it more than a couple of times, while Lunar 1... I started it from scratch quite a number of times, but never got too far, it just never managed to get a firm grip on me, unlike Lunar 2. Which means, I will be comparing this remake to what little I remember about the first one.

 The story puts you in the role of Alex, a town boy who dreams of adventures alongside his talking,winged cat-pet named Nall. In particular, Alex worships Dyne, the old DragonMaster and one of the Four Heroes that saved the world in the past. In the world of Lunar they worship the Goddess Althena, giver of life and protector of the people. I could delve a bit deeper, but I would spoil some things... not that this remake cares. New to this port is a Prologue in which you get to play as the legendary 'Four Heroes' who banished the great evil that threatened Althena and the world.... and also gives away a couple of plot twists and devices. If this is the first time you go through the game, you probably won't mind, but as someone who played the older version.... I think the way the plot developed was better on the older version, plus, unlike the rest of the game, this prologue has a very cheesy dialogue, it was pretty bad. The rest of the game however, feels more in tune with Working Designs original translation, with less pop culture jokes, which is pretty alright. While the plot revolves around saving the world, as 99% of RPGs do, the central theme of the game, nay, the franchise is love, and it's kinda charming, without getting too corny, to this day.

 So, where to start.... The game is a fairly straightforward RPG, go from town to town, through dungeons, while battling baddies and bosses. Encounters can be seen as single enemies on the dungeons, touching them will engage in combat. The combat system has been slightly tweaked from the PSOne version. Just as before, formations are important, as some enemy attacks my go in straight lines or attack areas, so it's a good idea to keep your five characters spread out. You can still order them to move around by defending, but the 'battle grounds' are much smaller. The rest is pretty much the same, you have your normal attack, spells, items or even let the CPU order your characters around. There's a new feature in the form of limit-break like attacks; receiving damage will make a yellow gauge increase, fill it and it allows you to use a very powerful attack; these are pretty over powered, but they take a while to fill, so you don't get to abuse them much.

 One common complaint I've heard is that the game is easier. And it's true, it is easier... for the right reasons: They trimmed off the fat. Lunar and Lunar 2, as much as I liked them, required grinding, for money and for levels. You don't need to grind anymore, gaining money and experience points is much faster, and bosses aren't as cheap, dungeons have also been redesigned to be less maze-like, which is a good thing. Making a game hard because you need more levels is stupid, that's not a real challenge. That said... bosses used to have different animations while you picked your move, which were hints as to which attack they would use next, sometimes your only chance of survival was to use 'Defend' when the big attacks where gonna happen... not anymore. They kept the different animations on the bosses and enemies depending on how they were gonna attack, but the overall damage was decreased so much that you don't really need to defend... which is a shame, as every boss battle and encounter became very automatic, I just kept repeating the same strategies over and over and over again, forcing the player to defend or move aside to evade strong attacks would've added some variety and challenge to the battles.

 Another little thing that bothered me a little was the enemy AI. Y'see, you can see the encounters on the dungeons, and they are always the same enemies. The same group of enemies(Say... 6 fish-monsters) would ALWAYS act the same, every time I engaged the battle. Targeting the same exact party members, which made some fights play out in the same way over and over again. And while the game is rather easy, not once did I see the Game Over screen, sometimes enemies love to gang up on one of your party members.

 Lunar: Silver Star Harmony's presentation is stellar. Graphics have been redrawn from the ground up, and they look gorgeous. Animation is very smooth, and these characters had never looked so detailed before. Still, and I fully admit I'm probably blinded by nostalgia, I miss the old sprites, they were so small, cute and charming! So, yes, technically, these sprites are superior in every way, but the kid in me misses the old ones. Music... man, Lunar's OST is phenomenal, and every song is here, intact... no, remastered, now they sound even better. Two songs have been retranslated, sung by the same singer, and they sound pretty neat.... but I loved the older Opening so much, I didn't quite like this one as much... the other song(The one Luna sings in the boat) sounds much better though. There's new voice actors! And they are better in every way, not surprisingly as Working Designs had to work with friends or relatives... still, I felt as if there was less voice acting than on the PSOne? I might be wrong, but there were very few voiced scenes this time around.

 Quite probably, this is the best way to experience Lunar: Silver Star right now. With the older versions now been so expensive, this is the way to go. It helps that the entirety of the script was kept intact, although I could've done without the new prologue scene. They also got rid of all the mindless grinding that it required, which is always a plus. That said, people that experienced the older versions, like me, might find themselves longing them, but this one is, probably, the better game, just that the older one was so charming that it's hard to let go! For first timers, it's a no brainer, get the PSP remake and never look back.
 8.5 out of 10.

Archile's Grab Bag - Unconventional Confirmation Edition

 Now then, I don't normally do these for random packages, but seeing how I got a decent haul... why not?

 Pokemon Omega Ruby: I don't really need to say anything about this one I reckon.

 Megaman Anniversary Collection: I already talked about my history with the series, so there's no need for that, but hey, this one includes both Arcade fighters which were awesome. AWESOME.

 All Kamen Rider Generations 2: The first one wasn't anything special, but I liked it, and since I love Kamen Rider, I knew I had to have it. Why on the PSP? The DS version is upwards 50 bucks, I got this one for about 10.

 Custom Robo Arena: I been meaning to dabble in the series for a while new, and since I could get it for cheap... why not start with the DS version?

 Bit Trip Complete: Rhythm games are not my... jam, but for nine bucks I couldn't say no. I just couldn't, it wasn't physically possible for me to say no.

 Oh, and Megaman Sidescroller Marathon confirmed. I'm also gonna go through Zero and ZX again, because... WHY NOT?!(I really need to stop saying that.)

Archile's Grab Bag: Mega Package

 YEEEEEEEEEES New first package of the year.

 Evolution Worlds: FINALLY. Back in the day, I used to buy whichever gaming mags I could get my hands on, and during the PS2 era, ads for Evolution 1 and 2 would often pop up in Xpert Gamer and EGM, and I was always intrigued. But then again, I didn't have a Dreamcast, and I still don't(Which I hate! The Dreamcast seems like a console made FOR me.). Regardless, thanks to the Gamecube remake, I can finally try them out!.... Kinda, it seems it's not a very good port, Evolution 1 has been condensed into a cut scenes, and levels, bosses and items were cut. Oh well, at least I can try it out!

  Megaman X8: Only played a bit of it on the PC, it seemed alright.

 Megaman X7: I remember liking this one a whole lot when it was released, but it received mostly negative reviews. True, younger me probably couldn't tell a bad game from a good one, but I could tell that Megaman X5 wasn't nearly as good as X4, so...

 Megaman Network Transmission: Megaman Battle Network/Rockman.Exe is a series I always wanted to get into. I played the first game on the GBA a whole lot, but never dabbled in the multiple sequels. If only Capcom would release some kind of Battle Network collection on the 3DS.... regardless, I've been curious about this one for a while, as it seems it mixes Classic Megaman with the Battle Network mythos.

 Megaman X Command Mission: The only Megaman X game that I never even touched, yet, I've been mighty curious about it! Megaman. in an RPG? Do. Want.

 Megaman is a franchise I'm deeply enamored with. The first game I played was Rockman 3 on the Nes...knock off we used to own. I remember being the only one in the house that could beat it, and that I did over and over again. I loved Rockman 3. I skipped the SNES/Genesis generation, which means that X1 to X3 were lost to me, but come the N64/PS1 era, I stumbled upon Megaman X4 on PC(I was a Nintendo kid!) and boy, was it incredible. I loved this new 'Zero' character and his sword, I would eventually beat Megaman X4 with all four characters(X, Nova X, Zero, Black Zero), it was quite probably one of my favorite games at the time. Graphics were amazing, music was hypnotic and the gameplay was top notch. It helps that I was too young to notice just how bad the Voice Acting was! With the advent of the PS2, I was finally able to play Megaman 8, X5 and X6. I think I hate X5, but I remember spending a lot of time with it, collecting every single armor piece, fun times! as for X6, I can't remember much. It was at this time, more or less, that I was also able to try the old Megaman games and catch up. Needless to say, I love Megaman, and I've been itching to play all of them in order...

 Now then, I'm not the best when it comes to foreshadowing, but come Tuesday or Wednesday, Megaman Anthology might arrive to my doorstep. And I might do something once it gets here...

 Sidescrolling Megaman marathon confirmed.

Review #197: Super Mario 3D Land

 EVERYONE GETS TANOOKI TAILS!

 Everybody loves Mario, but if you don't... what's wrong with you? Now then, Super Mario 3D Land is an interesting game as it mixes many elements from both 2D and 3D Mario games into a fairly entertaining game.

 You know the story. You do. Peach has been kidnapped, Mario to the rescue. There really isn't much more to it than that. As for this adventure, it is a 3D Mario game, much like Mario 64, but there is no overworld, just a normal stage-select map with no branches or hidden routes. The '3D' on the title isn't just for show, this is one of the very few 3DS games that make the most out of the 3D feature, it's not a must, but it certainly makes for a more impressive game, and there are a couple of hidden rooms that abuse the perspective so that the 3D mode will allow you to see it 'correctly'.

 3D Land is like a gigantic love letter to the Mario series as a whole. If you've been following the plumber's adventures throughout the years, you will recognize a ton of stuff. Besides the Tanooki/Raccoon tale power-up, with the return of some enemies that haven't been seen for years, like Super Mario Bros 3's sub boss, nods to older games, like the castles where you must hit a button to destroy the bridge Bowser's standing on or having to jump on a flag pole(This time on a 3D plane!!), or even Yoshi's Cookies making an appearance as platforms! Needless to say, you will recognize a lot of stuff, which is not to say that there isn't new stuff. There's new enemies, new bosses and a new power up, not to mention the entirety of each level being completely new.

 The game plays similarly to other 3D Mario games. This time around, Normal Mario has no melee attacks, so jumping and butt stomps are his only means of offense, but finding power ups, like the Tanooki Suit, Boomerang Flower or Fire Flower will grant Mario more offensive abilities, and in the case of the Tanooki Suit, hovering. The object of each level is to reach the Flagpole at the end, but each level also houses 3 hidden coins. 'Hidden' is a bit of an oversell, most of these are lying in plain sight, I managed to find every coin by myself. And that's just fine, as the game will, sometimes, force you to reach a Coin Quota in order to continue. I'm a bit of a completitionist, so coins were never an issue for me. Beating the game unlocks 8 'special' worlds... which are made up of 'remixed' stages from the 8 normal worlds. Honestly, they were different enough as not to get too repetitive, however...

 Collecting the three coins on each level or having 8 worlds made up of remixed stages could be seen as 'filler', but I felt it was alright. What's not alright is having to play the entire game again as Luigi in order to unlock the final level. Some levels appear up to three times thanks to the Special worlds, and then you have to play them, at least, 3 more times with Luigi? That's just padding. Which is rather disappointing considering that the bonus level is the most challenging level in the game, and one of the most fun. Challenging is a bit relative, I died very rarely in the game, not counting the last level, but it's not until you play with Luigi that you realize just how easy the game is. The Tanooki tail, the most common power up in the game, makes the game a breeze, allowing you to skip past some obstacles. Speaking of Power Ups, Nintendo should've implemented some kind of in-game store, as having to replay Stage 1 to get more Tanooki suits over and over and over and over again wasn't much fun. Being punished for being sloppy is fine, but there should've been an alternative way to get power ups, particularly when some of the coins require specific power ups, not always found on the stage in which the coin is hidden.

 The game lasts about 6 hours, if you collect every coin on the 8 initial worlds, doing the same for the other 8 bumped it up to 10, and then redoing the game as Luigi knocked it up to 12, and then I spent about another hour to beat the last level. Six hours was fine for a platformer game, and I really liked the 8 'special' worlds, even if they were just rehashed. The last level was a blast, and don't trust boards, spent over a hundred lives on this stage? Please, it's challenging, but it's no 'The Perfect Run'(That level was amazing!), I must've spent 15 lives at most.

 This is a Nintendo game, so it's no surprise that the presentation is nothing short of outstanding. Graphics are clear, colorful and extremely appealing. The lava looks particularly good, and being a Mario game, it'd better! The use of the 3D capabilities of the 3DS was worthy of praise, and while sometimes it does feel as if they throw too much stuff towards the screen, because 3D, it didn't get annoying. The musical is standard Nintendo fare, ton of classic tunes and a couple of new ones(Or maybe just songs that I hadn't heard before!), all in all, it's a great soundtrack.

 Super Mario 3D Land is a fantastic entry in the Mario franchise. It's fun to play, it's rather lengthy, with fun levels filled with both new and nostalgic elements that Mario fans will be delighted to find. I wouldn't call it a must-have, or a Mario essential, but it is a great game.
 8.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Luna Silver Star Harmony

 Not too shabby.

 I confess, I love the Lunar franchise. I also confess, I never finished Lunar Silver Star. Lunar 2 is one of my favorite PS1 RPGs, but for some reason Lunar 1 never had the same pull Lunar 2 had. I got as far as the people in Meribia getting turned to stone, which means I never got to see Alex become a Dragon Master.

 Anyways, so far I like it. I like the new voice acting, the sprites are amazing, the animation is gorgeous. That said, they lack the charm the PS1 sprites had, but no biggie. The combat received a noticeable overhaul, the arenas are smaller, and the 'multiple attacks' don't seem to work very well, which kinda sucks. A new addition are 'limit break'-like attacks, which I think could be a neat addition, I haven't really used them a whole lot, but I hope Alex gets a new one once he becomes a Dragon Master, as right now his Limit Break looks like Hiro's Sylvan Sword-thing! There's also a new prologue that adds nothing to the game, but spoils future plot twists, it wasn't needed, and the dialogue in these scenes was pretty cheesy, I might've cringed a bit.

 Regardless, it seems to be a pretty faithful port as far as the story and overall 'feel' of the game, the dialogue lacks some of Working Design's charm, but it seems to be in lieu of what they used to write. Speaking of charm, the opening song is sung by the same gal that did the PS1's song, but it has new lyrics! I... I prefer the old one, but it might be nostalgia speaking, as every word is pretty much engraved on my mind