Review #547: Tomb Raider Anniversary

 Double the bits, double the breast size.

Now with extra polygons.

 Tomb Raider was a great game, but let´s be honest here, even by the PS2 era´s standards it had aged a lot, requiring a more retro-taste to be enjoyed. But Crystal Dynamics had proven themselves with Tomb Raider Legends, and thus they were tasked with remaking the first game. The end result is surprisingly good, despite its flaws.

 The story is pretty much the same as it was on the first game, Lara is enticed into helping NATLA find some Atlantean relics, gets double-crossed and then finishes the job by herself. One thing I would have wanted from the original was a bit more story, and in Anniversary we get that. There are more cutscenes that flesh out Larson and Phillip, the first two bosses, and even Lara gets more time to showcase her personality. She is a bit more of an unwilling hero in this game, showing doubt when it comes to finishing off her enemies, but it kinda works considering how most enemies in this game were, and still are in the remake, animals.

Mummies don´t explode upon death this time around.

 Alright, first of all... this is not a 1:1 remake, almost everything has changed, kinda. You will recognize a ton of elements, stages, objects and the such, except that  they look gorgeous now, but most puzzles are entirely different. Take the gods´ keys level, where you have to visit various rooms named after gods, like Thor, and get four keys to open a door at the bottom. That is still here, even the electric-orb room is back... but the way you clear the puzzles is completely different, even if you have the same end goal of getting artifacts. Everything is familiar... but it is also different. Relying too much on your knowledge from the previous game might even bite you in the back, take the three-cogs puzzle near the beginning of the game... I spent hours fumbling about searching for the third cog, since in the original you needed to place all three cogs in order to operate the mechanism... but now you need to get two cogs, put them in place, navigate the newly operational machinery in order to finally get the final cog! I found the new puzzles to be, on the whole, fairer, more sensible and more fun... even if at a few times I was lost on where to go next.

 Combat is easily the game´s blandest mechanic. R1 shoots your infinite-ammo guns, L1 locks on an enemy, you can toggle first-person, static aiming with the right analog stick,  X jumps and circle dodges. There are ammo-consuming Shotgun, Uzis and Magnums but they are useless, or rather, unnecessary. Firstly, every single human boss is a simple QTE section. Remember Larrson and Phillip? QTEs. Remember when you had to get your equipment back from the three stooges? QTEs. Then there´re the beast bosses, like the giant T-Rex, in which case you shoot to enrage them, then dodge their incoming attack and use the ´dodge-and-shoot mechanic´ to cause damage. So, y´see, other guns only make the rage bar fill faster, not do more actual damage, which makes other weapons unnecessary.

 Combat is a bit bland, but it´s not too bad.

 Normal enemies are just as lame, you just shoot at them until they die or get enraged, in which case the ´dodge-and-shoot´ mechanic instantly kill them. It is basically a QTE, since when enraged enemies and bosses charge and you the screen gets a red tint, indicating that you must dodge with circle, and then, in slow motion, two crosshairs will slowly home in over the enemy, once they merge together and turn red you press R1 and BOOM, you just killed the enemy or caused damage to the boss. Optional weapons have silly ammo caps too, and there is a surplus of ammo encouraging their use, but you don´t need to.

 The platforming fares much better, and it did some thing a few months before Uncharted 1 hit the scene. The whole climbing over various ledges and jumping from ledge to ledge? Tomb Raider Anniversary did it first. It is not perfect though, in order to reach some ledges you have to press and hold X to perform a longer, higher jump, which is silly since there is not a single time you´ll want a shorter jump. It is just a way to kill you more often since you forgot to hold the X button. Some times Lara will even lose her balance upon reaching a ledge, so you have to press triangle in order to get her to get a grip before she falls to her death, which is dumb. Dropping off platforms in order to cling to the edge, seems to be a gamble at times, since sometimes she will refuse to grab on to the edge and just fall to her doom. Back to ripping on Uncharted, Anniversary had Lara using a rope to pull objects, swing on hooks and all that hooplah over 10 years before Uncharted 4 arrived. And it works great.

 At least QTEs are only used on a few boss battles

 The games deserves to be commended on all the extras it has. You can search for hidden artifacts, in order to unlock cheats, or find relics in order to unlock many costumes... which sadly can only be worn on replays and not an entire playthrough. The Croft Manor returns, and now it is its own entire level, with tons of puzzles that almost feels like a mini-metroidvania, as you find your guns and the rope in order to access new keys and objects. It is short, but very fun.

 While the game is very easy, you will die a lot. It is easy because dying refills your entire life bar, so it is not weird to reach the final stage with over 70 healing items, and the checkpoints are very generous. What will kill you are the many jumps. You will die a ton of times while figuring out where to jump to next, figuring out if that was a length that Lara could jump or not, double checking if maybe you forgot to hold X and that is why she did not make it or even because the camera is not very good when clinging on ledges. Sometimes you will have to remember that there was a ledge or platform behind you, since you lose all 360 degrees of camera control when clinging. This also happens on a few columns, in which it´s impossible to turn the camera to the right angle for the jump. The game is fun, puzzles are entertaining, controls are smooth, movement is smooth so even though I died countless times, I was not getting frustrated... if only the loading times were not so lengthy. On their own, they´re OK, but taking into account just how easy it is to die... all the time you spend waiting for the stage to reload starts becoming increasingly annoying.

Combat is just spectacle to add spice to the adventure

 Tomb Raider is really good despite its shortcomings. It speaks volumes of its quality when you are willing to endure so many loading screens, brought upon from various deserved and undeserved deaths. Levels are large and fun to explore as you solve the many, many puzzles. Combat is lame, but it is far from being bad, and it helps add some action to the adventure, even though it is very clear that the focus is on the explorations.

 For my part, if I ever feel like revisiting Tomb Raider I will stick to this remake. The story is more polished, levels are better and the puzzles are more engaging. Being such a different game also makes it so that it does not replace the original game, but rather, stands beside it. This is not a replacement, but a modern take on an aging game. And it is a great one.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Tomb Raider Anniversary

 Moving sideways instead of onwards.

Lara is sporting more polygons than before, praise the gods.

 Well, I could've continued with Tomb Raider 2, but instead I'm skipping all the way into Crystal Design's second Tomb Raider game, the remake, since I feel I'll be able to better compare both games this way.

 I started the 'Lara's Home' mode, because that's always been the best mode, and was pleasantly surprised with how it was it's own fully fledged level, with puzzles and what not. I also played a bit of the first level.

 The game seems very good, although Lara seems a bit too loosey-goosey for my tastes. It's like playing Uncharted but with no traction. Lara's moveset is smaller, which is a good thing, as jump distances won't be so hard to judge.. I hope. Although the game seems rather fun, hopefully there'll be less animals to kill and more real threats.

Month Overview: March 2018

 Tally:
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(Wii) 8.5
Galactic Wrestling - Featuring Ultimate MUSCLE 8.0
Disaster Report 6.0
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PS3) 8.5
Grandia Xtreme 4.0
Prince of Persia(2008) 8.0
Nightmare Creatures II 3.0
Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End 9.0
Samurai Shodown Anthology 8.0
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road to Boruto 6.0
Ape Escape 2 9.0
The King of Fighters Collection - The Orochi Saga  8.0
The King of Fighters '99 8.5
The King of Fighters 00/01 9.0
The King of Fighters 02/03 8.5
Tomb Raider 6.5


 That's a ton of games, yo! Busy month was busy, but I managed to knock quite a few games out of my backlog. Many great games too, with the occasional stinker. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm was a personal disappointment, since it was one of the few games out of 'current-gen' that I really wanted to play, but it felt like a game developed by people that were tired of making Naruto games and just wanted to get it done and over with. I also cleared about 80% of the King of Fighters Saga, now I'm only missing XV. King of Fighters is great, yo!

 Runner-up:

 It was tough picking from both games, but at the end of the day, the game of March 2018 had better game design, even if I enjoyed both games immensely. Ape Escape 2 is quite a little gem, one of the quirkiest platformers out there, with tight controls and a great premise coupled with great level design and gameplay.

 Game of March 2018:

 Uncharted 4 may not be my favorite Uncharted game, but it's a close second. It's a technical masterpiece on a graphical level, and the gameplay is top-notch. Naughty Dog once again proved that they are on top of their game.

Review #546: Tomb Raider

 She's definitely too old for this crap.

Her breasts are not what's big in her... it's her head.

 Ah! Tomb Raider, a classic among action-adventure games that brought forwards videogame's first sex symbol and first recognizable female heroine. It was subject to rave reviews, but time has passed, and maybe this tomb is not worth raiding...

 Lara, raider extraordinaire gets tasked with retrieving an old artifact and thus Lara's international adventure begins. An adventure light on story elements, although they're there, in which Lara proceeds to uncover the secrets of a legendary city. It's a simple set-up that worked wonders at the time, although I think a bit more story would've helped. Still, for a game of its era, it's too be expected.

Stages are fairly complex and feature a lot of platforms and locked doors.

 Lara is a contradictory mixture of nimble and stiff. She's got all kinds of moves, even some that you don't even need to use or are taught how to do, like jumping, running jump, turn-around-roll, diving jump, grabbing jumps(To cling to a wall or crack), jumping backwards, dropping backwards while holding out her hands to cling onto something.... there're a lot of moves and there's a lot of platforming involved. When the platforming gets going, it's pretty good, but the game loves to place ambiguous lengths, that kill you if you fail the jump, and it gets a while before you get the hang of running jumps and simple jumps, since misjudging a distance my get you killed if you over-shoot it. Running jumps are particularly nasty, you need to walk until Lara hits the edge of the platform, then take a backstep and then, and only then, are you guaranteed that Lara will make the running jump correctly.

 It's a bit more cumbersome, although the game was made with this precision in mind, since you've got tank controls, which don't get in the way of the platforming too much, but will annoy you during shootouts. Trying to pick up items can be a bit finicky too, since you need to be at just the right distance. Some of the jumps in the game are just evil, and the controls responsiveness can be debatable at times. Some of the traps are just nasty and you won't know they are there until you trigger them. It gets particularly bad when you learn that save crystals are placed at designated areas and are a one time use only. Their distribution is questionable as well, levels are very lengthy and you might come across a surplus of unnecessary savespots... or be forced to finish multiple tough sections back-to-back before being allowed to save again. The game starts off easy enough, but the last few levels are brutal.

The first stages are easy, just wait until you hit stage 6...

 Combat was a huge point of contention for me, firstly, most enemies are just plain, ol' boring animals. It feels more like a animal hunter than a tomb raider, and it doesn't help that enemies are bullet sponges that just charge at you. Lara automatically aims at the nearest animal, but dodging is pretty tough. I just relied on side jumps and back-jumps... which won't help you on some of the less spacious areas. Some of the combat scenarios are just unfair, so much so that you should exploit the AI by hiding somewhere they can't see you or reach you and shoot away. The few human enemies, who actually sport guns, are a bit tougher since they can shoot from afar, and since the dodging is so bland... it feels as if its luck if you'll get hit or not. Luckily you can find limited ammo for Uzis, Magnums and a Shotgun to even the odds, as well as collect medikits to heal yourself. Regardless, the combat won't be your main source of death, besides a few instances of not expecting to get ambushed in enclosed arenas without your guns out.

 The toughest enemy you'll face is, probably, the camera. Many a times it won't pick the best angles for your jumps, which kinda sucks. L1 can be used to look in first person, albeit Lara can't move in this mode, but it won't be of much help. It's not a terrible camera, but it's far from optimal.

For whatever reason, Lara's in-game model has no ponytail.

 Yeesh... Tomb Raider 1 hasn't aged very well. Regardless, as unfair, as clunky and as stiff as it could get... it can also be quite fun. Having so many moves at your disposal is quite amusing, and lent itself to some very exciting platforming segments for its era. I can appreciate what the game meant, but you have to make a few of concessions to enjoy it in this day and age.
 6.5 out of 10

Review #545: The King of Fighters 02/03

 The King tags into the battlefield.

 There's no stopping the King o' Fighters, and thus now we get the next two installments, 2002, being a 'dream match' just like '98 and 2003, the harbringer of the new Ash Saga. Both games are very different in mechanics, which makes it a rather interesting package. One harkens to the old KoF games, while the other one is a step into the future.

 First up is The King of Fighters 2002, a celebratory game of the NESTS saga, bundling up characters past and present, even dead characters return. Sadly, the roster is quite lacking. We get Yashiro, Shermie and Chris again, as well as a few old faces, but... it's missing characters like Ling and Jhun. How can you celebrate NESTS when you're missing some of its iconic characters? I was quite disappointed with the cast. For whatever reason they also did away with the neat Striker system, going back to the 3 on 3 team format, which once again, is a disappointment. There was no need to regress the series' evolution, specially considering that Striker fights were already 3 on 3, but with an added mechanic.

 Modes are: Team, Team VS Player, Single, Single VS Player, Practice and Challenge. Challenge is a set of Survival mode, 40 time challenges and Team and Single survival modes. In these modes you can unlock 4 bonus characters, but be warned, they are tough unlocks! All in all, 2002 is a disappointing celebration to what I feel is the best saga in the franchise. Further down the line a much better release, The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited March would be released that would get a much better character roster, so there's no need to bother with this one...

 ...if only it didn't come bundled with The King of Fighters 2003. The 3-on-3 battles return with a twist, now you can tag in-and-out with either partner in the midst of battle. It's a great addition, and something new to mark the introduction of the Ash Saga. We get fantastic new characters, like Ash(Fight me, he is my favorite charge character), Shen Woo, Duo Lon, Adelheid and also introduces great characters from Garou, like Tizoc and Gato. Terry gets his fantastic Garou redesign as well! There're a few neat things, like whoever character you picked first in the character select screen becomes the 'leader' and gains access to an exclusive 2-gauge super move.

 The Modes are Tag, Tag VS Player, Team, Team VS Player, Single, Single VS Player, Practice and Survival. The King of Fighters 2003 was a top-notch addition to the series, although sadly the tag mechanics would get ditched in XII. Besides, as much as I enjoy 2003, the next game, XI, has a much better character roster, like seriously, where's Kula?, and perfected the Tag mechanics.

 All in all, The King of Fighters 02/03 is a neat package, although 2002 is a bit disappointing and 2003 would be surpassed by XI. Not a bad purchase at all, I mean it's friggin' The King of Fighters, but there're better alternatives to both games available.
 8.5 out of 10

Review #544: The King of Fighters '00/'01

 How many Kings of Fighters have we got already?

Should've just made original art. Meshing both artworks together made for an ugly result.

 Not as meat as the Orochi collection, this 2-disc monster includes KoF 2000 and 2001, the last game made by SNK as we knew them and the first one developed by Playmore. Back in the day these games were subject to poor reviews, mostly citing the ugly graphics, because paid reviewers always seemed to value graphics over substance.

 Both games offer the same modes: Team Arcade, Team VS Player, Single Arcade, Single VS Player, Practice and Party Mode, which is a Survival mode in which you recover health as you land hits, but also start to gradually lose health once a timer reaches zero. It's the bare minimum, but by this stage that's what we've come to expect from SNK. At least there're tons upon tons of playable characters.

Ralf and Terry won't ever miss a KoF.

 The King of Fighters 2000 is one of my favorite entries in the entire series. It plays pretty much exactly like '99, which means the Striker system that I liked so much, and it introduces a bunch of great new characters like Vanessa, Seth and Lee. But the main attractions are Strikers, whichever character gets stuck on the fourth position becomes the Striker, but this time around there're plenty of alternate strikers, mostly drawing from older SNK games or even unused character designs! The soundtrack in this game is glorious and it has ZERO load times. Thank the gods!

 The King of Fighters 2001 is not as good, but it's not bad either. Unpopular opinion, I actually adore the art for this game. This game concludes the NESTS saga that I liked so much, and it also brought changes to the Striker formula, now you can sacrifice playable characters in order to have a smaller energy gauge to fill as well as more than one striker. I guess that change is alright, although I didn't particularly care for it. On the other hand, Strikers now cost an energy bar to use, which I didn't like. At all. The new characters are relatively bland, Angel is one of the worst designs in the franchise, Maylee is forgettable, K9999... got retconned out of existence and Foxy is alright. No load times here either!

Some things never change. Like Chang's sprite.

 I guess you could say that both games are just more of the same, and I wouldn't blame you for it, but I've a lot of love for the NESTS saga and 2000 is easily one of the most polished and enjoyable games in the KoF franchise. The sad truth is that there's no real reason to own this version over an easily emulated rom, but if you want to own legit copies, this one is as good as having an arcade machine.
 9.0 out of 10

Review #543: The King of Fighters '99

 The King of Fighters gets awesome.

Meet K'. He defines badassery.

 As I previously claimed, King of Fighters '99 was the game that made a fan of the series, and getting to revisit that game again... well, now I remember why.

 Before starting out you should know that KoF '99 on the PS1 is a very skimpy offering. Team VS Player, Team Arcade, Single Arcade, Single VS, Practice and Survival are all you get, alongside an art gallery. That's it. I was also disappointed to find that there was no move-list while ingame, which hurts a lot. On the plus side '99 introduced class into the series, the new characters K', Maxima, Whip, Jhun... they are all great new additions that look incredible. Well, Bao is a stinker, but 1 out of 8ish is nothing. A few returning characters, like Kyo, Ralf and Clark got new duds and they look great too, '99 did a great job at making characters look fantastic. I'd argue that this game was the one that set the standard for what to expect out of new characters coming forward.

Kryzalid is not as bad as previous SNK bosses.

 Extra and Advance modes where done with, now it plays exclusively like 'Advance' but with a few tweaks. Teams are made up of four members now, the fourth member taking the 'Striker' function, a character you can summon to perform an attack and leave. You start with 3 stocks and get a new one every time you lose. Dodges, knock-back attack and all that hoopla remains the same, but why fix what ain't broken? This is the best King of Fighters has been yet, and we haven't even gotten into Tagging yet!

 As great as this game is, the PS1 version came with a huge drawback: Loading times. There're somewhat lengthy, albeit not too intrusive, loading screens before each round, understandably since characters change, and it's something you'll have to deal with if you want to enjoy The King of Fighters on PS1. In my opinion, it's not too bad, although the seamless play of the Arcade version makes it the superior choice.

Ralf and Clark finally get different clothes!

 The King of Fighters '99 is a top-notch fighting game, and it's a great addition to anyone's PS1 library. That said, this is not the game at its best, the loading times do put a bit of a dampener on gameplay, but I think it's something you can learn to live with.

 8.5 out of 10