Now Playing: Power Rangers Super Legends - 15th Anniversary

 These collectibles...

 Lemme level with you, Gods Eater Burst is fantastic, I was playing it in tandem while I was studying. But I already finished God Eater(Difficulty 1-6) and am currently playing through Burst(Difficulty 8 to be precise). Thing is, I really want to upgrade my weapons, which means grinding, and I've been grinding the Sehkmet and Magma Gboro-Gboro for a while now... I grew a bit tired of it, I needed something else.

 To think that at one point in my life, I spoke highly of this game to a friend of mine, I might actually have compared it to Devil May Cry. Evidently, it had been a while since I had played DMC, else I wouldn't have lied like that. Anyways, the game is... acceptable. The combo system is alright, it's dead simple, but taking into account the fact that it's a kids' game... it's fine. That's as far as I'll excuse it though. Every character is a color swap of each other, which baffles the mind as to why they only included 20 characters in the game. THIS GAME IS SUPPOSED TO CELEBRATE POWER RANGER'S 15TH ANNIVERSARY, goddamn. It also skipped a ton of series. So we are missing characters, missing series, and every character plays exactly the same, with the same exact animations. What the hell? And what's up with the lack of Tommy? You know, Tommy Oliver, arguably the most iconic character in the Power Rangers franchise, the one with the most roles? And there's no 'Super Sentai didn't have Tommy!" excuse, this game was made in the West, for Western players. So where the hell is my Tommy Oliver? You mean to tell me that BILLY made it over Tommy? That there's no Turbo or Zeo Rangers? And need I remind you that every character plays exactly the same? ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ALTER THE TEXTURES. GODDAMN.

 And the cherry on top? Collectibles are devilishly hidden throughout the game. Just let me play as the color swap of my choice, dammit! Sometimes, collectibles are lost forever until you restart the whole level, and stages are pretty darn long. I can excuse this in games like Kirby, because Kirby is actually fun, and I feel rewarded for finding these secrets. I don't feel rewarded by finding every Ranger letter, all I get is a friggin' palette swap of the same character I've been playing since I started the game.

 It is an acceptable game, just a terrible, terrible Power Ranger's Anniversary Game.

Archile's Grab-bag: Evil Edition

  YES. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

 Threads of Fate: One of the first PS1 games I've ever played, it's a sort of successor to Brave Fencer Musashi. It was pretty fun.

 Power Rangers Super Legends - 15th Anniversary: It's no secret that I love Tokusatsu shows, no in small part thanks to Power Rangers invading my childhood. It's disappointing that no version of Tommy Oliver made it in, but I remember it being a pretty decent game.

 Maximo - Ghosts to Glory: Another of the first PS2 games I ever played, along Okage, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Dynasty Warriors 2. Back when video game news weren't so readily available, and I didn't know just what I was getting into. And that made it all the much better, the only thing I 'knew' about Maximo was the cover of the game, and the game itself was a blast, hard, but extremely fun.

 Resident Evil 2: I suck at Survival Horror games. The only  SH game I've ever finished was Silent Hill 4(foreshadowing...?). I also began Resident Evil 1 a couple of years ago but soon gave up. The classic Resident Evil game in which I made the most progress was Code Veronica. But I was always curious about Resident Evil 2, and I did say I was gonna play it, so.... Oh god.

 Einhander: I'm not a shoot'em up guy, but Einhander is a game I've been wanting to play even since I heard about it, but I never bought it for one reason or another. Ah well, it looks pretty decent.

 Red Faction II: I loved this game. Loved it. I have fond memories of the gatling rifle-thing actually, I think it was one of my favorite weapons in an FPS ever. It also had a fairly cheesy storyline, heh!

Review #206: Half-Life

 Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman.

 Half-Life 2 is an undeniable classic. Half-Life 1, while it didn't receive the highest of critical acclaims, was well received as well. My only experience with HL was, and still is, with the PS2 port, which I played shortly after it was released, Back when I finished it for the first time, I loved it, it was great and quite unlike the second one. It's time I go back to Black Mesa and find out just how well has the game aged.

 In Half-Life you play as the scientist Gordon Freeman, who is in the center of an experiment gone wrong, which results in uninvited guests from planet Xen. At first Gordon must try to escape Black Mesa and survive the invaders, but pretty soon the Government gets involved: Nobody leaves Black Mesa, in an effort to erase the accident from history. The narrative is pretty simple, but for an FPS, it works. There's little in the way of character development, Gordon being a mute hero, but the beauty in the story is in how it's told, there are no cut-scenes in the game, instead, every dialogue and exposure is done in real time, as NPCs talk to Gordon. You are free to listen to them, run around while listening, or just leave them talking to a wall. Honestly, it's done a bit better in Half-Life 2, it's pretty easy to miss important dialogues in this game, still, it was done pretty well for it being their first attempt.

 As far as gameplay goes, while it's a first person shooter, it also has its fair amount of puzzles, beyond 'find the key to open the door', and platforming. Gordon comes equipped with a HEV suit, that greatly enhances his endurance capabilities, lets him run faster, eventually grants him a super jump, and protects him from the elements. Health is restored by finding medikits or medi-stations on the walls, and the HEV's energy, which only applies to the defense capabilities, is restored by finding energy cells or Energy Stations on the walls. This being an older FPS means that Gordon can carry an enormous arsenal of weapons, most are pretty by-the-numbers, y'know, your shotgun, rifle and pistol, but you'll also come around experimental weapons and a couple of alien weaponry. Regardless, as lethal as Gordon is, sometimes the best strategy is to run, if you want to survive Black Mesa, you'll have to learn when to fight and when to run.

 The puzzles are pretty interesting, most of these involve dropping Gordon on a rather open area, and then you have to activate stuff on different rooms in order to open up the way. As a matter of fact, there's many enemy encounters, not categorized as bosses, that are simply too tough for Gordon to handle by himself, so you'll have to use the environment to kill them. It's pretty fun. What's not so fun is the large amount of platforming in the game. Jumping in a first person shooter works as well as you would expect. To be fair, only a few of my deaths were due to platfoming, but many times it felt as if I just barely made the jump I needed, still, jumping in this game isn't very fun, and it certainly could've used less of it. Level design is pretty good, there's the occasional obtuse level in which it isn't immediately obvious where to go to, but it's the exception to the rule. I do like how it's one persistent world, it's not divided by stages, you are always moving forward without 'cut-aways' between levels.

 Back in the day, one of the most touted features was the interaction with NPCs. There's guards and scientists, the former aid you by shooting with their puny guns, while the scientists can heal you. I don't know if this was an issue in the PC version, but in this game, the default speed is sprinting, you can either sprint or walk, in order to run you have to push the analog stick slightly close to the plastic's border, so it's very cumbersome. Thing is, NPCs can't keep up with Gordon HEV's sprint, thus often falling behind, and eventually stop following you. They are not very useful, but it's annoying not being able to rely on them, well, they have a very bad pathfinding, so they may get stuck following you anyways.

 One thing to keep in mind, is that this game is from an era before console games employed autosaving. You'd better save often, particularly before platforming sections, but that's alright, you'll learn the hard way. And hey, look at the bright side, you can save anywhere at any time. A rather helpful feature is Quick Saving, which saves to the PS2's memory, which means the Save is good until you turn off the console, what makes this feature so good, is that reloading a Quick Save is pretty fast, allowing you to retry pretty quickly.  Aiming with the analog stick isn't as precise as aiming with a mouse, which is why the game allows you to lock on, by pressing circle while the reticule hovers over an enemy. It works well, and it does make up for the lack of mouse... but then again, this game allows you to use the PS2 Keyboard and Mouse, if it tickles your fancy!

 Exclusive to this port, well, at the time of its release anyways, is the Decay mode. It's a separate storyline that follows Dr. Gina Cross and Dr. Colette Green, who were in Black Mesa at the moment of the incident. As a matter of fact, their story runs parallel to Gordon's, while it doesn't further the story, it fleshens it a bit. This mode is made up of 10 different stages, and it's meant to be played by two players. You can play it by yourself, but it means switching characters constantly, the character you are not playing as will not move. Ever. They will fight back, often times wasting ammo, but they won't move an inch. Decay is a very fun mode, the puzzles are fairly fun, but playing it by your lonesome is very tedious. There's also a Deathmatch mode if you are so inclined. That said, multiplayer modes in this game have a very small issue.... the models for the guns are gone. You only get the HUD and the targeting-reticule, but no gun, which I felt was a joykill.

 Ah, the presentation... it hasn't aged well. Back in the day, the visuals were an upgrade over the PC version, but nowadays, it looks pretty bad. Animations are rigid and textures are muddy. The color palette is fairly subdued as well. Music is... alrightish, nothing memorable, but the main theme is rather good. Voice acting is... passable. There's nothing particularly outstanding or convincing, but it won't break immersion.

 Half-Life has fairly well were it matters. The presentation has seen better days, and the jumping is pretty annoying, but everything else works really well. It made some pretty nice tweaks on its way to the Console in order to make up for the lack of Keyboard and Joystick, and the Decay extra is great, when played with another person.
 8.5 out of 10.

Review #205: The Sims

 Back to the past!

 Who hasn't played The Sims? No, really, there's few games with such a wide audience as The Sims. It's been over 15 years since the release of the very first version of The Sims, and we are up to the fourth iteration of the series. After all this time, is it worth it to go back the game that started it all? And a console port at that? Nope, it's not.

 The premise of The Sims is to create a family of 1 to eight Sims and... play god. You can build them a house, and expand it at any time, then buy furniture, toys, electronics or decorations to make an abode that suits your fancy. You can let your Sims have free will, but you're always allowed to order them around, and they themselves can study, train or practice different activities such as cooking in order to better themselves, or even get promotions in their jobs! I really don't need to explain what is The Sims, but the point I wanted get at, is that there's no 'goal' in The Sims, there's no 'end' to the game, no objective... unless you play the PS2 version.

 Exclusive to this port is the Get a Life mode. It's a sort of goal-based story-mode, in which you start as a slob that lives at home with his mother, eventually moving into his Dream House. It's a great idea, and I appreciate having the mode, really, I like having objectives in my games! However... back in the Sims 2, keeping your Sim happy was kinda tedious, and keeping your Sim happy is a necessity if you plan on finishing this mode, as he or she will refuse to study or train if they aren't happy, and taking into account that they have to eat, sleep, socialize, have clean rooms, go to the bathroom and have fun.... it's pretty tedious, and you'll be doing progress every few minutes during hours of game time. It's not much fun, and sadly, it's a requirement to finish this mode in order to unlock the classic The Sims mode... or you could use a cheat. Definitely use the cheat and keep this mode as a curiosity or novelty for a rainy day. Or something.

 As far as the port goes, it's pretty decent. The interface is pretty clean and easy to navigate, even if finding objects to buy is a bit cumbersome. This version also lacks everything The Sims would eventually have through expansions, although it does have some content from House Party, it lacks a ton of furniture and other items. Another thing to keep in mind, is that the framerate can chug a bit from time to time, I found it better to simply hide all walls(By pressing circle, you can also make it so that they disappear if the cursor is over them, but this is what makes the framerate dip the most). So far, it sounds like a very inferior port, and it kinda is, if only it didn't have the two player mode.

 There's two ways to play in Multiplayer, either the Minigames or Classic. The Mini-games are unlocked as you advance through Get a Life, and they are pretty dull. For instance, there's one in which you compete with another player to socialize the most and then get money donations from them, the one with the most money when the time runs out wins. Yeah, they are pretty bland. But you can also play the classic mode with another player, and that's awesome. The screen gets divided diagonally, with each player having their own cursor. Sure, going into Buy Mode pauses the game for both players, but it's a small concession to make in order to play with another player! For some it might be just a novelty, but I thought it was genius. And it's pretty fun too!

 The graphics are certainly... not the best. Character models are simple, and the textures look pretty muddy. The music and sounds are... they exist, and they are there, but I didn't care much for them, although the Sims theme is pretty good Still, the presentation isn't The Sims best feature, and it never was, and for what the game is intended to be, the presentation is more than acceptable. The Joystick controls are fairly good, it's no mouse, but it gets the job done, and I'm pretty sure they did the best they could.

 So, is it worth it to go back? No, I don't think so. Yes, the Multiplayer Mode is a huge selling point for me, but the other day I found out that the PS2 port of The Sims 2 also features this Mode! Which makes it even harder to recommend to come back to this version of The Sims. It's still a good game, but sadly it has been outclassed by every other iteration of the series, so... skip this one.
 5.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Half-Life

 It's fun, has aged pretty well so far.

 So, here's the deal: Gods Eater is a blast, I'm close to the end of vanilla GE(Meaning, Diff 6 missions... but then there's the Difficulty 7-10 Burst missions...), but right now I have to farm Emperor Fangs from the big bad Vajra Emperor... and it's gonna take a while. So I need an interim game, and since I had to delete my Half-Life data a couple of months ago to make space in my memory card... Well, Mr Freeman, it's time to get reacquainted!

 The game has aged pretty well. The ally CPU is absolutely terrible, it loves getting stuck, in no small part due to the game defaulting to the 'Dash' speed, so unless you are incredibly precise with the analog stick to just maintain a run... they are gonna be left behind. There's also platforming. In a First Person Shooter. It feels pretty off, I only fell to my death once, but more than a couple of times I felt as I wouldn't make it. No bueno!!

 That said, the gameplay is pretty fun, it's hard to explain, but it feels good. It's a pretty basic game, from an era long gone by, but it feels good. Shooting is fun, exploring Black Mesa is fun.

 And after I'm done, I'll have to do a DECAY run, the PS2 exclusive(I don't remember if the Dreamcast had it as well, or if it had its own unique alternate mode) in which you play as two female scientists, with their own power suits! It's pretty alright, although it doesn't work very well with one player.

Now Playing: Gods Eater Burst

 Easy-mode Monster Hunter?

 So, when I first popped in the game, I expected a Monster Hunter clone. I wasn't ready for the anime. Let's say that the anime opening is as ANIMUUUU as it gets! And so is the character creator. This is both good and bad. The good? Like most post-apocalyptic anime media, it features a pretty cool setting, the monster design, so far, is pretty neat, and the weapons are fairly original... however, female characters are walking fan service pieces of meat. Because that's the only way Japan knows how to portray women. Ironically, the female avatars are pretty decent, it's the NPCs that look all kinds of ridiculous next to the fully clothed badass male characters.

 That aside, I'm diggin' the gameplay, it's like an easier Monster Hunter. Sure, the Vajra kicked my butt in the Cowboy Mission, but I'm pretty sure that if I had tried harder, I could've beaten him. I love the gameplay too, it feels like a more agile Monster Hunter, the dashing is more responsive, the 'stepping' covers more ground and there's jumping and double jumping, plus, the weapon attacks are much faster. I like it.

Review #204: Half-Minute Hero

 Time is money, yo!

 Half-Minute Hero is awesome. No, really. It's an affectionate parody of the RPG genre as a whole, parodying various Tropes and mechanics, condensing 30 hour games into 30 seconds. Kinda. It also contains a RTS(of sorts) sub-game, a shooter sub-game and a escort-mission sub-game. While it has that 30 second limit, there are ways to extend that limit, but stages last less than 5 minutes at most. It's a very interesting package, and makes the most of its gimmick without wearing it thin.

 The game takes place during 4 different centuries, beginning in Goddess Era 100 in which you play as Hero, who must defeat over 30 Evil Lords that have cast the Spell of Destruction that ends the world in 30 seconds. Hero gains the aid of the Goddess of Time, and together they travel together to stop the enemy that is teaching the Spell of Destruction to the Evil Lords. Goddess Era 200 has you playing as a beautiful Evil Lord, as he defeats the brainwashed humans and the one creating the tempering with the human minds. Goddess Era 300 stars a naive Princess that turns into a no-nonsense badass whenever she wields her crossbow, and must try to heal her father's illness. Lastly, there's Goddess Era 500, after two centuries of Darkness, it's up to the Knight and the Sage to resurrect the Hero and put an end to the darkness. The story is very tongue-in-cheek, as it makes fun of everything it can. There's a level that slowly turns into gameboy graphics, starring Evil Lord CATS who has 'set you up the bomb', if you know what they mean. Even at it's bleakest, the game is always trying to put a smile on the player's face, and it works, it's particularly effective if you enjoy RPGs and know what it's parodying, but even then, I think the humor would work on anyone.

 Hero30: This is the game's centerpiece, it's the most in-depth and longest game. For instance, the other modes have 30 stages(or 'quests'), this one has alternate routes for a total of 50, there's even alternate endings! While the other modes would take, at most, an hour and a half to complete, Hero30 can easily take up, as a whole, more than 5 hours of your time. As Hero, you walk around an overworld, usually, filled with random encounters, which play out automatically with the hero running towards the enemies, dealing and taking damage, and winning a fight earns you XP and money. Towns may have equipment pieces on sale, as well as healing herbs or on-the-spot healing food. 30 seconds is too little time, most of the time, to grind for experience, get better equipment, solve the quest's puzzle and slay the Evil Lord, which is why the Goddess of Time will rewind time, for a small fee that increases as the more you use her services, if you find any of her statues in towns.
 You start each 'Quest' in level 1, a side effect of the Time Goddess using time in your favor to hasten the grind, but you keep the equipment you bought on previous quests. That said, you can't use equipment earned in later stages while replaying old ones. Each quest is more than just slaying monsters until you are strong enough to defeat the Boss, stages usually have some kind of issue or gimmick, there's a stage that has no monsters, for example, or another one in which you must find a hammer so that a bridge can be rebuilt. As previously mentioned, depending on what you do, you may open up alternate routes depending on how you finish a stage. All in all, it's extremely fun to play, it's very simple and requires little of the player, but it's very engaging. The only blemish on this game is an alternate stage that requires killing 108 Evil Bosses in order to play... which means grinding the stage you can beat the fastest, even if you go around each route, you'll only end up with 50+ bosses defeated on your first time through the game. A better alternative would've been requiring you to earn both titles in every stage, since these titles are virtually useless, and it would've been a good incentive to replay levels in different ways to earn them.

 Evil Lord30: This is the game I cared for the least. As the Beautiful Evil Lord, you must summon monsters to defeat humans. The game follows a rock-paper-scissors system when it comes to battles. This time around, the Goddess will take up all the money you're carrying in order to rewind time, so you can pay her as little as 10G. The thing is, whatever money you've got after finishing a level adds up, and it's then used to upgrade the Evil Lord, so you want to keep as much money as you can!
 The reason I didn't like it as much as the others, is that, while it is fast-paced as the others, it feels slower, mostly since you have to wait in order to summon the strongest monsters, which was a bit boring. It has the best soundtrack though!

 Princess30: This one is a blast. It's a bit of an on rail-shooter, as 30(notice a trend?) knights carry the arrow-shooting Princess to her goal, an item of sorts, and then back to the castle. The Princess has a 30 second curfew or her mother will shut the castle gates, so your objective is to have your knights go as fast as they can, while avoiding obstacles and killing enemies, since losing Knights means losing speed until other knights come and take their place. You can earn more time by walking over the Time Goddess' carpet, which will slowly spend your money for more seconds.

 Knight30: This one is a bit slow-paced, but it's fun. As the Knight, you have to protect the Sage so that he can cast the Spell of Destruction, which takes him 30 seconds, and destroy all enemies. The Knight is fairly incompetent, so while he can wield the weapons or objects throw on the ground, he can't kill the enemies, only dizzy them. Most of the time, your weapon will be your body, as you dash into enemies in order to slow them down. It's OK if you die, just walk your ghost back to the Sage, and he'll revive you!
 You can also carry the Sage in order to take it out of harm's way, or throw enemies into other enemies as well. Before each stage you are also allowed to take items with you to aid you in buying the Sage time.

 Hero300: Finishing the other four modes opens up Hero300. As it takes place in Goddess Era 500, the Time Godess is gone, so five minutes is all you get. This one is pretty exciting and fun, it's like an extended version of Hero30, with everything that made it so good in the first place.

 Hero3: There's no story to this one, the Time Goddess just felt like challenging you, so you only have 3 seconds to save the world. Naturally, the Time Goddess is available in this mode, not that it will help much. The hardest mode in the game, it unlocks the Music Player, but it's a fitting end to the game!

 Half-Minute Hero employs a pseudo 16-bit look, sprites definitely have as much, if not more, colors as most SNES games, but they aren't as detailed as, say, Final Fantasy IV sprites. It's also done on purpose to make fun of RPG character designs, just look at the official art(Which is unlockable in-game) and compare the intricate character designs with the simple sprites! Even then, the characters manage to be impossibly charming, and everything single piece of equipment is reflected on the Hero's sprite, which is pretty darn neat. The Soundtrack is a bit small, but it sounds pretty good, particularly the Evil Lord30 music, which features heavier-sounding tunes.

 Half-Minute Hero is a phenomenal game, and an excellent reason to own a PSP... or would've been. An updated re-remake is available on Steam, as well as its sequel, which was actually released on PSP too... only in Japan. Regardless, as a PSP game it's an excellent game that lends itself to playing on the go or during short breaks, and it brought me back to the 'Just one more stage' empty promises we all make ourselves when playing an addicting game.
 9.5 out of 10