Archile's Grab-bag: Marching March Edition

 More packages got bundled together, which means... ANOTHER ENTRY IN THE GRAB BAG SERIES! These are always fun since I get to talk about games before even trying them out!

 Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel: I played this game a little bit when I was younger, and I think I liked it. I think. The game got the reputation of being a bit of a grind, so I'm a bit wary about it.

 Kya - Dark Lineage: I knew very little about the game, but something about it just appealed to me. It seems like an interesting and overlooked game/

 Nightmare Creatures II: I was gonna wait until Halloween, but I said screw it and just popped it into my PS2. The graphics are amazing, it doesn't look like a Ps1 game. It also seems jankier than its predecessor, but I remain carefully optimistic, the first Nightmare Creatures had promise, so maybe...

 Prince of Persia - The Fallen King: Geeze, the predecessor to the passable Forgotten Sands on the DS? And it looks even more childish. Can't say I'm looking forwards to this one.

 Art of Fighting Anthology: I wasn't planning on getting this game since they are easily emulated and I've never been the biggest fan of Art of Fighting, but the completionist bug in me bit me and... here we are.

 Tenchu - Stealth Assassins: The only Tenchu game I've ever played was Tenchu III, which was pretty good, and also Shinobido 2, featured on this blog, which I liked a lot. I've been meaning to give the entire series a whirl, starting with numero 1.

 Fatal Fury Battle Archive Volume 1: Same deal as with the Art of Fighting Anthology.

 Fatal Fury Battle Archive Volume 2: This one hurts me. While I'm not too big on Fatal Fury, I've a soft spot for Real Bout 2 Fatal Fury, featured on this disc, and I've always love the one-game wonder Rick Strout, introduced in said game. That said, the only reason I never bothered with this disc was the fact that Garou - Mark of the Wolves, one of my favorite fighting games ever, was missing. Seems I'll be having to import that one if I want to own a copy.

Now Playing: Prince of Persia(2008)

 Looks like mad cash.

Onto the reboot it is!

 Seriously, Forgotten Sands was a good looking game, but its predecessor, this game, looks SO good, Ubisoft clearly dumped a lot of money on this project. Textures are clean, character models look beautiful, vistas are gorgeous and clothes flow so nicely... it's quite a looker.

 A lot of people gave this game flak for streamlining the death process, but that wasn't the only thing that was simplified... Combat is now a fun, but simple, one-on-one duel. Every time. Controls are much simpler, no longer do you need to use R2 to run on walls, the Prince is smart enough to do it on his own. It's simpler, but it doesn't hurt the game. I haven't had the need for Elika's life saving abilities yet, but it sounds like it suppresses a lot of waiting when you die and need to be sent back to the previous checkpoint, so I'm alright with it.

 All in all, Prince of Persia(2008) seems like it's gonna be a great ne.

Review #534: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PS3)

 The forgotten Ubisoft IP.

Last time I get to see this cover. So long.

 Here we are, the final entry in the Sands of Time saga and the last Prince of Persia game released yet. Since Prince of Persia 2008 underperformed, sales-wise, it's back to the previous Prince, but since his story was already told... this game is set before Warrior Within.

 In this version of Forgotten Sands, the Prince visits his brother Malik, who is under siege. Shenanigans happens, and then an undead army, helmed by an evil fire Djinn, is unleashed. Only the Prince and his brother remain conscious, and aided by a Water Djinn, it's up to the Prince to stop this undead army, before his brother falls under the temptation of the new powers he acquired. Everything that you think will happen will happen, so the plot is very safe, predictable and a bit underwhelming... but it's acceptable on the whole. The Prince is rather charming and will muse to himself pretty frequently, since he has no-one accompanying him. Look, the fact that the Prince's tale was already told, and thus this game was sandwiched inside the trilogy should already tell you that you shouldn't be playing the game for its narrative.

Battles feature large amounts of enemies.

 Acrobatics and platforming work pretty much like they always had, wallrunning, wall jumping, vaulting and spinning on bars... it's all here. The only new move is the ability to wallrun upwards when landing on a wall from a jump. Buuut, as you play through the game you'll also earn new powers to use in acrobatics. L2 to freeze water in place, L1 to 'restore' broken debris into the environment and circle to fly onto a nearby enemy. The new abilities are pretty neat and make for some great platforming. That said, the last few obstacles in the game can be a bit nasty and you can confuse yourself with the shoulder buttons, since you also need to use R1 to rewind time, if you mess up, or R2 to wallrun. Needless to say, the last stages are slightly more of a hustle than fun.

 Combat has been overhauled, and now it's actually more fun than ever before. Square slashes, triangle kicks(In order to break guards) and circle dodges. Enemies are less annoying and no longer need particular moves in order to finally be put down, this time around the challenge comes in the form of the huge waves of enemies you'll face. Still, I enjoyed this approach, battles were rather fun and fast, while also being fairly simple and fair.

Get used to fighting large enemies.

 There's an experience gauge now, which is filled by defeating enemies or finding hidden sarcophagi, and every time you level up you get a skill point to spend on powerful elemental spells, used with the directional control pad, passive upgrades, like more health, more damage or more sand stocks, in order to use more spells or rewind time. It's a fun system that remains rewarding all the way to the end of the game.

 Sadly, the game's biggest detriment comes in the form of bugs. It's not unusual for the Prince to get stuck on thin air, thank god for the rewind ability! It happened more times than I would've liked, and the game even froze on me once. Controls can be weird, using levels can be a bit of a hassle until you understand that you turn them with UP and Down on the analog stick and not by pushing them in the direction you want to move it. Another issue was that sometimes when the camera move around automatically, the Prince wouldn't exactly react to the analogue stick just as you'd expect. It's a bit hard to explain without you experiencing it firsthand..

Rotating levers... the worst!

 The Forgotten Sands on the Playstation 3 is easily among the best games in the franchise yet. They finally got the combat right, platforming is as good as its always been and the Prince is as well written as it gets. It does have a few blemishes that keep it from being the classic that Sands of Time was, but this game is no slouch itself.
 8.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PS3)

 The final forgotten sands.

I've grown to despise this cover.

 Yes, I'm still playing Grandia Xtreme, it just so happens that the game is boring, so.... Forgotten Sands it is!

 I just played a bunch of it and I'm liking it a lot. It feels like it's missing the Prince's spark, like some of its charm is gone, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not liking Malik as a supporting character. Sword play is pretty good, I like the upgrade system and the platforming seems to be on par with what I'd expect out of the franchise... so, yeah, I'm enjoying the game.

Review #533: Disaster Report

 Call 911, this is a disaster!

Just let her go. She is gimping the Framerate!

 Disaster Report was a rarity at the time of its release, a survival game in which the only enemies were your thirst and the environment itself. Survival games are a dime a dozen this days, but Disaster Report still has a charm of its own.

 You play as Keith Helm, en route to Capital City, a newly built city that has the oddity of existing on a man-made Island. But life ain't fair, and the entire city comes crushing down, victim of numerous earthquakes. Now Keith must make his way to the rescue choppers, and join up with whoever is willing to lend a hand. The game has impossibly narmy voice acting, and eventually the story takes a turn for the ridiculous featuring conspiracies and what not. It's a weird game, so your mileage may vary on the story. While you play the entire game as Keith, I didn't feel like the story was as developed as it was in its sequel, Raw Danger!, nor did it offer as many possibilities and choices. That said, there're two slightly different routes depending on a choice you can make midway through the game, so there's some replayability factor in here.

Not as impressive as its sequel.

 The game is very simple, you must traverse the environment, collecting items and drinking water as not to die of thirst. It's not a survival game in the truest sense, water fountains are plentiful, and double as savespots, but while your thirst gauge drops pretty rapidly, you can take water bottles with you, which can be recharged, in order to restore your thirst. And if you die you'll be taken back to the nearest section, completely healed, so even carrying healing items becomes unnecessary. Keith has a very limited storage space on his backpack, and the game loves throwing at you items that you won't ever need or you won't be needing until much later in the game, and in which case they'll have a spare lying around nearby. Regardless, most of the game is pretty simple, and you just need to use certain item on a certain spot to proceed.

 ...which is not to say that Keith isn't in any danger. There'll be moments when you'll need to hold R1 to brace yourself for earthquakes, lest you take damage. There'll be action sequences in which you'll have to run away from fallen debris or even stealthily avoid gunmen. It's not the most exciting of games, but for the setting that it wants to convey... it's appropriate.

The thirst gauge isn't as bad as it seems, water is very plentiful in the game.

 The game is very rough around the edges, controls are particularly clunky and movement is very... stiff. What's really annoying is the camera, you can't rotate it and must settle with pressing L2 to place it behind Keith's back... which isn't allowed at times. It's quite disappointing, since more control would've helped immerse the player in this bleak, devastated city. That said, don't even let me get started on the framerate... it's bad, it's veeeeeeeeeeery bad. Most of the game will be played under 10FPS or maybe even less. It can make a few of the well placed slower-paced sections unbearable, since they are already slow to begin with, but the framerate makes them lose the impact they could've had.

 The best thing about Disaster Report is how it makes me appreciate its sequel so much more. Mind you, Disaster Report is a very decent game, a great concept but just a passable execution. Everything this game does, the sequel does even better. Except the framerate, that one's bad in both games.
 6.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Disaster Report

 Took some time, eh!

She reminds me of a certain celebrity...

 Finally I got my hands on the Raw Danger's prequel, Disaster Report and... it's quite janky, as expected. For starters, I'm finding the focus on Keith mre interesting than a rotating cast, and I think i dig the Earthquake scenario a bit more than the flood.

 All in all, I've not much to say. The game is very similar to its sequel, which is both a good and a bad thing, since that makes it very quirky and unique... but also very dated and rough around its edges. Only time will tell if the story and setpieces make it better.

Review #532: Galactic Wrestling - Featuring Ultimate MUSCLE

 Weird doesn't come close to describing this game.

Kinniku Mantaro gets to be on the cover over his father! Hey, USA was fond of the OG's toys!

 You might've heard about MUSCLE, a 90's era miniature collection that people used to love.... well, they came from Kinnikuman, a manga and anime series from the late 80s. Galactic Wrestling is a Wrestling game I used to play when I was younger, when I knew very little about the series, and even so, I found it to be fantastic. Over 10 years later... the game is still just as good.

 Disappointingly, for a licensed game, there's no story mode, but there's a decent amount of modes to make up for it, as well as a few bonus intros between specific characters. There's VS(CPU or Player), which can be 1 on 1, 2 on 2, Tag-team and 3 or 4 man battle Royales. As for fancier modes, there's Survival, Mask Hunt, in which you play as Neptuneman and Big the Budo and try to finish off specific opponents with your Tag-Team ultimate to steal their masks, Team Battle and Tournaments. It's a decent selection, although it could've used a few more bells and whistles. There's a 48 character roster, but there's a handful of clones in there that could've easily passed as alternate costumes, and maybe they should had, as clones tend to be alternate forms or costumes that characters once wore in the series.

Bitter enemies in the MUSCLE toyline, buddies in the Kinnikuman franchise!

 Controls are fairly simple, tap X for combo attacks or hold X for a stronger attack, tap or press circle to perform different throws. triangle to jump, and then you can dive for a grab or aerial attack, and square to dash or block. If they try to grab you, you can deflect it with a punch, and you can deflect punches by guarding, easy peasy. As you deal and receive damage you'll ignite three different orbs under your health bar, and you can use them for super attacks. L1+X performs a level 1 melee super, L1+O is a level 2 super grab and L1+R1 is your cinematic super attack. The right analog stick is used to ask your tag team partner for support or tag in-and-out with him. There's also a green gauge that fills as you fight, once full you get Muscle P, which increases your power for a short while, and in a few cases, also grants you other benefits, like regeneration or even invulnerability.

 The gameplay is very fast and simple, anyone can just pick up the joystick and start having fun with the game. That said, the game could've used better balancing. Some characters, like Rogue Shogun, are simply too strong, his Muscle P invulnerability makes him an incredible powerhouse. Speaking of the characters, while having so many clones is a bit disappointing, I think the biggest letdown is that it's missing some classic characters, namely, the five fated princes. At least Kinnikuman Super Phoenix and Kinnikuman Zebra should've been here, in place of fodder like 'Vance McMadd' or 'Grandpa'.

Warsman's about to lose his mask.

 Unlocking characters could've been made a little easier. Mask Hunt is a great idea for a mode, and it's fun, if only you weren't depending on an AI buddy. It can be so aggravating when you're building up your energy orbs, and depleting your target's lifebar since you must finish them off with the tag-team super, only for your idiot AI buddy to decide to waste both of your energy orbs on the tag-team super... but on the other opponent. You'll probably end up killing your target before both of your gauges refill. For as much fun as I had in that mode, and I did, the CPU vexed me so much at times. There're about 4 characters tied to the toys, basically, as you play through the game you earn Medals which you can then spend on capsule machines. The problem is... you can get repeated figures and you need to collect them all in order to unlock everyone. Pro-tip: Unlock Rogue Shogun first, then play Tournament, 4 opponents, Hard difficulty(It's not hard, I promise) and change the rounds on the last match to 3, you'll be swimming in coins in no time. Regardless, it's annoying having to depend on luck in order to unlock everything.

 One of the game's biggest strengths, and the one that makes this game so memorable, is its very colorful cast of characters. The designs are simple, but very distinct and snappy, so you'll have fun trying everyone out. Super moves are quite a treat, even if they are missing the franchise's trademark brutality. This is not another boring wrestling game in which Random Man#4(Blue tights) fights Random dudebro #54(Yellow tights), oh no, this is a game in which a guy with a hole for a face creates a portal to outer space and sucks in a golden giant made out of bricks and then proceeds to pummel him while inside a pink distortion somewhere between time and space. This is a very weird game, and it's all the much better for it!

Shivano's one tough cookie.

 Galactic Wrestling is one of the most unique wrestling games out there thanks to its fantastic cast of characters. If you light wrestling games... nay, even if you like fighting games the game is worth a look, and trust me, you don't need to know anything about the manga or the show to appreciate its brilliant weirdness.
 8.0 out of 10