Indie Game Review: Off

Game: Off
Platform: PC
Developer: Mortis Ghost
Release Date: 2008

Off is an indie RPG released in 2008, that was made using rpgmaker2003. Alongside the RPG elements in the game, there's exploration of various environments, puzzles and a rich (if a little vague) storyline which leads to thoughts of what the true meaning behind the game is. The player controls The Batter, although it's made clear that the player is an entity of their own, and is not playing as The Batter but merely choosing his actions. As the plot is so vital to the game, I won't reveal anything major in this review.

The Batter starts in Zone 0, with the game premise being explained followed by a series of puzzles to gain access to the next part of the zone. There are 3 zones which need "purifying" by The Batter, each featuring a different element as their main focus and many cartoon like enemies which are fought in RPG style battles using normal attacks, "competence" moves and items. There are also items found and bought across the stages to improve the players stats, and that of their add-ons which fight alongside The Batter.

The battle system uses a time based turn system, where the player must wait for a meter to charge before attacking (as must the opponents). This makes the combat similar to turn based RPG's, although there are slightly different strategic options coming from this. Combat flows pretty well although every now and then you're stuck waiting for your attacks to recharge and hoping that the opponent doesn't attack inbetween. There's various status conditions that can affect battling parties, and The Batter and his add-ons can be levelled up to learn new attacks and gain more HP and CP.

Musically the game is very atmospheric, featuring some desolate soundscapes, jazz influenced battle music in places, as well as using layered whispers and more unnerving music later on in the game. Soundwise, important NPC's have their own soundclip when talked to, as well as battle sounds and other effects. These all add to the overall feel of the game and the immersive quality of the gameworld.

The environments are interesting to explore, and their meaning can be debated once the whole story is in context. Once all of the zones become purified, the game enters its second part; each zone can be explored again to gain a secret ending, or just to see the effects of purification before entering "The Room". I can't say a whole lot about the second part of the game without giving things away, but I will say that its heavily plot driven, featuring somewhat easier battles than the boss purification battles of each zone in the first part of the game (although this might have been due to overleveling on my part).

The character design in the game is interesting and its style, both graphically and in enemy design. The atmosphere can be somewhat unnerving sometimes both musically and with the appearance of gradually more disturbing enemies toward the end of the game. The plot is open to a lot of interpretation as not a lot of facts are given to the player, but it adds interest in having to figure out what's going on.

Overall Off makes for an interesting plot driven RPG game with a solid battle mechanic, engaging characters, enemies and storyline and plenty of room for working out what it all means, if anything. Simple both graphically and musically in a lot of places (although both have areas in which they are more detailed), the game's atmosphere draws you into the story, and experience. For this type of game, it has a fair bit of length and is enjoyable from start to finish, especially for RPG fans.

Rating: 80/100
Grade: B

Game Review: Super Crate Box

Game: Super Crate Box
Platform: PC
Developer: Vlambeer
Release Date: 11th May 2010

Super Crate Box is a fast paced shooter game for PC (although its also an app for iPhones etc.) where the aim is to collect crates with weapons in, which will replace your current weapon, whilst avoiding enemies raining down from above and patrolling across the level, or shooting them to get rid of them. If enemies reach the fires at the bottom of the screen, they become angry and move even faster. Playing as various pixel representations of characters (including an astronaut and a chicken), you're set a target number of crates to unlock the next goodies.

Unlockables include new levels (3 in total), weapons (13 in total), characters (14 in total), and game modes (3 in total). The real important category of unlocks here is the weapons. As the main of the game is collecting crates, which change your weapon when collected, you'll be seeing all of them in fairly equal quantities, once unlocked. The clever thing with this game mechanic is that you'll need to plan what you're going to do once you get each weapon, but you can't plan ahead since you don't know which weapon you're going to get.

The game's graphical and music style is 8-bit, simplistic and stylish. There's only 4 different types of enemy (6 if you count recolours), but the game's frantic pace and variety of weapons works well with the simplicity of the graphics and enemy types. Knowing which weapons are good at clearing the room helps to strategize across the 3 different levels, and any more variables may just offset the balance of quick decision making and fast paced action.

That's not to say the game has great replay value, its fun and somewhat addictive for a while until you get frustrated, or bored of the repetition. Gameplay boils down to alternating between crate runs (getting as many crates as possible in a short time) and clearing the room of enemies when a decent weapon turns up. The game's simplicity is it's selling point and its weakness, but at least its not attempting to dress itself up as something more grand, how often do we see fairly simple games attempting a long, pointless narrative?

The 3 levels that there are, are well designed and pose slightly different challenges to the player in terms of clearing the room of enemies and positioning themselves, although there could have been more levels in game, the same concept applies almost universally across levels so without a radical change in level design, more would add nothing. The music itself is energetic, to suit the game and goes well behind the scenes, the sound effects are inoffensive also.

The other unlockable modes feature tweaks to the gameplay, adding more enemies into the equation for a more difficult challenge. Practice makes perfect though, once you know how to use each weapon, these are decent additions to the game and play pretty well. All-in-all Super Crate Box isn't a video game epic, but something more akin to a well made flash game, with good gameplay mechanics and addictive challenges. Its simplicity both invites you to play and allows you to decide when you've had enough "collecting boxes and shooting stuff".

Rating: 63/100
Grade: C

PS2 Poker Games Triple Header: World Poker Tour, WSOP '05 and '08

Before I start this review I thought it'd be good to talk about what makes a good poker game, since of course the core gameplay is based around your own decision making and the results of it. The most important aspects of this kind of game is really about how well the AI plays, how nice things looks graphically, and how well it simulates actual poker. Of course there's no soundtrack or music in the main game, but sound effects can be just as important and will break the mood if done badly. So with this in mind, here's the games;

Game: World Poker Tour
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: 2K Sports
Release Date: 18th October 2005

World Poker Tour is the only game in this review to focus on the WPT rather than the more largely recognised World Series of Poker. Career mode in the game allows the player to play through satellites to go through to final tournaments, or if they have enough money to go ahead and buy their entry into the final tournament straight away. There's 100 people in each final tournament, and the computer eliminates 6.25% of the competition (or thereabouts) each hand, leading to a somewhat easy way to make it into the money in tournaments.

The player models aren't great visually with most of the faces looking strange, and the function to change the mood your player is showing a good idea, but not ultimately useful. AI players who aren't licensed pros are given pun based names (for example Mary Adalitlam and Liv Toregrethis) which cheapen the feel of the game somewhat, in addition to the "casinos" which look more like someone's living room, with more tables and chairs. The player voice clips make the players sound like bad losers when they fold and add virtually nothing to the realism.

The game's poker engine is pretty solid, the AI players are sometimes easy to read but on the whole play decently. The blinds in tournaments rise surprisingly quickly, probably to go alongside the fact that a fairly large percentage of players is eliminated each hand. As a result, the play doesn't feel true to actual tournaments, and is more of an arcade poker experience. A 100 person tournament might take up to 30 minutes to complete, but more due to the fact that the AI takes a while to decide what it'll do than anything.

Overall tournaments become a waiting game, trying to get 2 or 3 good hands to double up with to reach the final table than playing good poker. Its lacking visuals and voice acting make for frustratingly bland play, and as all tournaments in the season are the same size and variant of poker, there's virtually no variety. The game feels fairly unenjoyable both for those who play a lot of poker and those who don't.

Rating: 53/100
Grade: D

Game: World Series Of Poker
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Activision
Release Date: 31st August 2005

2005's Official World Series of Poker game features 26 events over its career seasons, with 6 variants of poker, and tournaments ranging in size from 49 players to 6660. Obviously this is a much richer calendar than World Poker Tour, and although many more variants of poker are available on WPT, they are not in the main career mode. There's also no satellite events to get into the series events which saves not only time but effort and luck, for the main events themselves.

The control system on this game is also superior to that of WPT, with a directional approach to decisions and then a confirmation press of the X button, as opposed to the scrolling control system which left much room for error. the player is also able to skip through hands, at their own pace if they wish to, whereas WPT had players selecting either to fold and view the entire remainder of the hand, or fold and skip to the end.

Graphically the players look better in this game than WPT, and the style of the WSOP broadcast show fits the game well, even if commentary can get a little repetitive. As with the other game, the majority of voice acting is poor, but AI player names are randomised from actual names and so the game can be taken more seriously. Off-table elimination in this game is handled more accurately in this game also, rather than a set percentage of people going out per hand, the number decreases with your hand play and almost halves when new players move across to your table in bulk. 

With 9 players per table, and a nicer casino backdrop (although it is just the one), WSOP 05 provides a nicer control system and all round AI in a good presentational style. The mathematics behind the elimination process ensure you can play tournament poker more accurately and the varied number of players at each event as well as the multiple forms of poker available in career mode give it the edge over WPT. There's a nicer player editor and achievement chip system in place too, in this game. 

Rating: 65/100

Grade: C

Game: World Series Of Poker 2008: Battle For The Bracelets
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Activision
Release Date: 25th September 2007

This installment of the WSOP series takes the realism to a new level, with interiors of many Vegas casinos, gameplay closer to that of real tournaments and actually having to press a button to look at your cards. The directional decision making system is kept in the game but the visual layout receives a change, as the main screen shows both the table as a whole and the player who the action is on.

Career mode features a choice of difficulty levels, which decide how many tournaments are open to the player to enter, at the beginning of the season. Assuming you choose Pro difficulty, there are 43 events on the season calendar, with even more variants of poker than the 2005 version, including HORSE and 6 handed tournament poker. Playerwise, the tournaments vary between 54 and 9720 players, bringing realism to the fore.

One of the main problems with gameplay is that due to the realism, tournaments progress very slowly and while this is true of real poker tournaments for the most part, sometimes the pace can feel too slow. Graphically however, the game is sharp and pro likenesses look good for the most part, the voice acting is better, and the AI plays pretty sharply with quite a lot of play types and clever moves up its sleeve.

Also included in the career mode are cash games and a "Beat the Brat" mode, on which players can challenge pros heads up. Overall this game is a lot closer to real poker than either of the others, it moves at a slower more realistic pace and maybe that's not a good thing. After all if you wanted to play poker for real, surely you'd go out and do so; most of the time I want more of a fast paced experience than this in a poker video game, but with so many other features this is certainly worth playing if you're looking for a realistic poker experience.

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Game Review: The Sniper 2

For the 50th game I'm going to review on this blog, I thought I'd treat you to something especially horrendous;

Game: The Sniper 2
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Best Media
Release Date: 5th March 2004

Introducing The Sniper 2, a budget title so bad that it's not even worth anywhere near the £14.99 launch price. As the title might suggest, the player takes the role of a Sniper, progressing through the levels by taking out mafia who are pursuing them and ridding the world of anyone deemed important enough to the loose plot to be a threat.

The game begins with a cutscene detailing events in "The Sniper" for Playstation, the previous installment in the series before moving onto the opening movie, with horrible voice acting as well as strange moments which don't quite make sense, including unexplained changes of clothing and references to events which we haven't witnessed. It's also far too long and features many bad half-jokes.

The first mission comprises of three (needlessly) seperate parts, where you have to pick off mafia members one by one, even though they can be seen on screen at the same time and could easily have been shot in sequence. A cutscene plays to indicate the fact they've moved, even though the player could've clearly seen that fact, had they done so inside of the mission. Once all three members have been shot, a terribly animated grenade is thrown at the protagonist's girlfriend, and then the credits roll.

The game isn't over however, the credits play at the end of every "chapter" (although really these should be single missions, as previously mentioned). The following missions aren't at all challenging, feature ridiculous situations such as criminal targets walking down the street in broad daylight, and are sandwiched between increasingly boring and long cutscenes. There are 10 stages in all, making for a short game, especially gameplaywise (most of the game is cutscenes which tell the story in the least straightforward way possible).

For a lot of the missions there's a choice of vantage point, or time of day although it's almost exactly the same point at a slightly different angle, or a slight difference in shading, rather than something which the player might care about deciding. There's no choice of gun or strategy for instance, a simple choice such as this might make the game more engaging. The sniping is made difficult by the fact you can't tell how far away you are from the target and so many a shot travels for longer than anticipated.

Graphically the game is pretty poor, the buildings and cars are blocky and the people are poorly detailed and   hard to differentiate from a distance, not exactly what you'd want in a sniper game. The music sounds like poorly composed elevator music, that someone recorded from a keyboard, on a shoestring budget (as I imagine they were). Sound effects are equally poor with a stomach rumble in a early cutscene sounding more like nothing I've ever heard in my life before.

This game is as bad as it sounds, what little gameplay there is looks terrible, plays terribly, isn't at all fun and isn't explained well at all by the hours of cutscenes which are poorly acted, scripted and voiced. It's hard to find or even identify your target and the controls and programming make it difficult to shoot them even when you do. There's no redeeming features to this game, its best feature is that its short, to save you from any further torture.

Rating: 6/100
Grade: F

Game Review: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!

Game: Warioware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!
Console: Nintendo Gamecube
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 3rd September 2004

The first game in the Warioware series which features many timed minigames in it's main gameplay mode, Warioware Inc. was first released for the Gameboy Advance in 2003. However, under express instruction of the CEO of Nintendo of Japan it was ported to Gamecube "as fast as possible" with new multiplayer modes on top of the same core gameplay. Although I have played both versions of the game, I feel the controls and advantage of using the television screen make the Gamecube version superior.

To progess through the game, the player must beat a set number of minigames before the boss stage of each of the 9 sets of games, each hosted by a different in-game character and sorted by theme. Once a set of minigames has been beaten once, its possible to go back and challenge for the highscore on that set of minigames, clearing as many levels as possible before running out of lives. As the minigames only last 4 seconds, action is fast paced and mistakes are swiftly punished.

Overall the selection of minigames is excellent with varied and well executed ideas as well as throwbacks to older Nintendo games, pop culture references and general Wario weirdness. Only the directional controls and the A button are needed to play, the variety is in beating the minigames with some requiring timing, and others requiring problem solving or a sharp eye to beat. An instruction to aid the player in knowing what to do flashes up quickly at the beginning of each minigame, but once you're used to them, it's not needed.

Graphically the game adopts a cartoon like style for menus, cutscenes and a lot of the minigames, although in a sense most feature their own graphical style depending on what needs doing, or what the theme of the game is. With 150+ minigames, it might seem somewhat overwhelming, but the gameplay is easy to pick up and rewarding as the player gets an instant answer as to whether or not they've succeeded.

The boss stages are also well varied and thought out, in relation to the theme of each set of minigames. The difficulty of the game is fairly low, especially once you've got the hang of most of the games, but it takes more practice to get highscores, or play the unlockable harder modes which are a reward for completing the game.Sudden Death mode sees the player take on the game with just one life, the hardcore mix has every game on a high speed setting and so on. This adds replay value to the game, as does the sheer amount of games to master.

Musically the game has some good themes and tunes although a lot of them are short due to the nature of gameplay. A lot of the in-game sounds are borrowed from Wario Land 4, and although a lot of them fit right in, this was somewhat lazy on Nintendo's part. Multiplayer modes that were added for the Gamecube version are fun on the whole, and an innovative new take on both competitive and team play, giving the game much more of a party feel, as the title indicates.

Overall this is a well put together fun collection of varied minigames, which features good multiplayer modes as well as single player gameplay. It's easy to pick up, but will take a while to master all of the minigames, especially on the harder modes, the emphasis is fully on fun and whackiness and the game succeeds in its style of semi-ridiculousness. Although there's a weak plot and it can get repetitive after a while, its an experience that begs to be had every once in a while, and is always fun and fresh upon revisiting.

Rating: 88/100
Grade: A

Game Review: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Rockstar
Release Date: 26th October 2004

I'm fairly confident most people will know what the Grand Theft Auto series of games are about, but for anyone who doesn't, essentially they're sandbox adventure games featuring a protagonist who is involved in increasing amounts of criminal activity for their own gain. The games feature missions which have to be completed to unlock different areas, and features and a story to go alongside these, however there's no time restrictions and the player can take missions whenever they wish.

Mission play usually involves making CJ (the player character) drive cars or less commonly boats, aeroplanes or trains, to a specified location to carry out events relevant to the plot. Also a feature in a lot of missions is the use of firearms and melee weapons, to eliminate other gang members or pursuing police. There's a good amount of variation on these concepts in the missions and the overall plot of the game isn't actually too contrived or ridiculous. The characters are interesting and sometimes genuinely entertaining as parodies.

There's a massive selection of vehicles in game, ranging from tractors to assault aircraft to mountain bikes. Although in their own categories, most of the vehicles handle fairly similarly with speed being the only real variable, its understandable with such a large collection of vehicles that there'll be some overlap. In general, the controls are simple and serve to give seamless transitions between falling off a motorbike and making off with a passerby's SUV.

Weapon-wise also there's an amazing amount of choice in each category, with assault rifles, automatic machine guns, pistols, remote explosives, rocket launchers, even spray paint and tear gas can be used to the player's advantage to neutralise any hostile threats. The missions make good use of the in-game weapons and  see that you get a decent turn with each.

A new feature of this game, in terms of the series is the player stats; eating in the various restaurants around town will add to your "fat" stat which is decreased by running and swimming, muscle is another area that can be improved with harder melee attacks the reward for doing so. The girlfriend system in game works with this, with each possible date requiring CJ to stay within certain stat boundaries to attract them. Other areas that can be levelled up include use of firearms, driving and flying skill. These give the player a greater sense of being able to shape the protagonist than in previous installments.

Alongside the main missions there are side missions which will see CJ delivering freight in 18 wheelers, being a parking valet, ambulance driver, fireman and bounty hunter. There are also races, and events to complete as well as driving, boating and flying license tests. The gameworld is pretty huge, featuring three distinct areas, each based on a real American city. Getting around the map is not only interesting but finding previously undiscovered places is a lot of fun also.

Graphically the game is pretty impressive for its time, there's a lot to render and for the most part it does a good job. Interiors are a little sparsely decorated, and there are a few graphical bugs that could be improved however these never really seriously impact upon gameplay. The only time I can personally remember cursing the game over a graphical problem was when it decided to render the tree my plane was about to hit just after I hit it, thus causing me an untimely death.

Musically, the game has licensed songs on its radio stations as well as original adverts and a talk radio channel and continuity announcers on the radio recorded specifically for the game. Most adverts are satirical and genuinely amusing, and there's a lot of good humour in the game, with names of companies (Cluckin' Bell, Juank Air, Brown Streak etc.) and locations having puns or parodying real companies or locations.

There's a wealth of other activities in game that I haven't yet touched upon, such as gambling in casinos, target practice at the gun ranges, buying clothes for CJ, or picking out his next hairstyle and tattoo, but it should already be obvious that the potential for fun with freeroaming and having as much fun as possible by taking your chances and doing anything that appeals to you is very high. With all the game features, areas, cars and weapons there's almost no end to the challenges one might set oneself.

Overall there's a lot of fun to be had from both missions and freeroaming in San Andreas, it's more rounded and full of features than previous installments, but just as light hearted and humourous. Perhaps some might find this game offensive with the large amount of profanity and violence featured, but that doesn't make it any better or worse of a game. There's not many bad features in game to pick apart, it's easy to outwit the AI with a little practice, and you do run out of activities eventually, but neither of those aspects stop this from being one of the best sandbox action adventure games out there, even today.

Rating: 93/100
Grade: A

Game Review: Donkey Kong Country

Game: Donkey Kong Country
Console: SNES
Developer: Rare
Release Date: 25th November 1994

Listen to the game OST as you read

Donkey Kong Country was the first game to feature Donkey Kong as a character outside of the arcade series featuring Jumpman, or Mario as he would later be called. Conceptually, the game is a fairly simple platformer where Donkey Kong, accompanied by his sidekick Diddy Kong collects bananas and avoids enemies to get through stages on his way to get back his stash of bananas from the final boss.

There are 33 stages and 7 boss battles to navigate on the way to completing this game, a fairly large amount by the generation's standards (Sonic the Hedgehog by contrast had 18 stages and 6 bosses). The game's difficulty can be a little unnerving at first, its not terribly hard but some stages require a bit of skill and memory to navigate There's a good amount of challenge, and the difficulty curve is almost perfect, making completion of stages rewarding and giving the player an incentive to keep trying on harder stages.

Graphically, the game was the first major game to have pre-rendered back grounds, behind the sprites. The game looks great because of this, way ahead of other games for the SNES, all the gameplay areas have interesting and visually pleasing backgrounds and objects. The game controls well, the player is able to swap between Diddy and Donkey Kong easily, the jump is responsive and there's the option to dash through parts of the stage. 

There's a lot of variation in level design, with overground, underwater, minecart and other special level types. This keeps the game interesting and challenging to play, throughout the stages and although some ideas are repeated at later stages, with slight twists, in a game with as many levels as this, it's expected that some parts will featured variations on ideas. One interesting level design in particular is one featuring stop and go signs, which when red stop enemies from moving. The level features fast moving enemies and buttons to change the signs, it takes a while to master but is one of the most fun levels in the game. 

Musically the game has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time, composed by David Wise. The level themes really amplify the ambiance of the scenery and area, and ties the game together where the different areas might feel somewhat unrelated to one another. There's a great variety of types of music also, from funky themes to relaxed underwater music. 

Overall this is a game that feels ahead of its time both graphically and in level design, with a great soundtrack and controls. The difficulty is fairly high but it gets easier with repeated tries and its a game that makes you want to play until you succeed. With hidden shortcuts and bonus levels to explore, as well as the fun main levels, its got a lot to offer, even today. 

Rating: 90/100

Grade: A

Worst of Master System Part 4: Transbot, Marble Madness and Super Tennis

Game: Transbot

Console: Sega Master System 

Developer: Sega

Release Date: 1986

Transbot is a space shooter for Master System where the player controls a spaceship and attempts to make it through two (yes, two) levels to the final boss. Don't be fooled into thinking that this is a short game, however; the first level is ridiculously long, taking about ten minutes to scroll across. The second level in comparison is only about five minutes long, and once you're there slaying the boss is fairly easy. One rather irritating thing about the game is that there is no ending. Instead of a congratulations or even any story at all, you're taken back to a more difficult version of the first level for the game to repeat infinitely. 

Graphically the game's pretty nice, a vibrantly coloured player sprite and interesting enemies keep the action from becoming tedious in the long first level, until the enemies have repeated so much that you wonder whether the level is ever going to end. Along the bottom of the screen, there's a van that drives by every now and then, which if shot provides you with a powerup to change your form. 

There are 6 different forms your ship can take, 3 of which are the ship, with different types of missiles, the other 3 see the ship taking different shapes, with a spread missile, a two-way shot and a laser wave. This gives good variety to the gameplay, and the music is decent, if a little repetitive. Once the player gets onto level 2 there's a few new enemies and a change of scenery but that's about it, really. 

Overall this game could have been much better with a greater number of shorter stages, more akin to Space Harrier. A proper ending would have also helped give a sense of completion and achievement to the ending. In the end the game feels like it's missing key features and thus not as fulfilling as it could be. 

Rating: 46/100

Grade: D

Game: Marble Madness
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1992

Marble Madness is a fairly simple game, for the Master System (amongst other consoles) in which the player controls a ball through a maze, to get to the end. There's 6 levels and whilst its not the most action packed game you'll ever play, it controls decently, and can give a little bit of fun for a while at least. Graphically the game is pretty basic, perhaps a by-product of being ported around to different consoles, but its not the most graphically intensive of concepts either.

The levels increase in difficulty to the point of near impossibility with the time limit spurring you on, the level designs are fairly challenging sometimes, but for the most part they're done well. Easily the best part of the game is the music, although its not exactly fitting, its nice to see the Master System sound chip being used well. Overall its a fun little game with good music and no more than that.

Rating: 39/100
Grade: E

Game: Super Tennis
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Year: 1986

Super Tennis is possibly one of the worst game I've ever played. As the title would imply it's a tennis game, for the Master System. I'll start with the good features of the game; the graphics aren't terrible although I've seen much better, there's also a decent selection of options, upon start-up with choices of difficulty, doubles and singles and player type.

The outer edge of the court is a horrible greeny brown colour, and the only music in the game is a little tune that plays after each game. The hit detection is almost random, hitting the ball is based mostly on luck and even being able to serve is something that takes a fair amount of luck and practice. The players move slowly and its difficult to even get to the ball in some cases, making the game rather hard to enjoy.

On the whole although this is an early Master System game, the errors it makes are inexcusable, and make gameplay unrewarding and frustrating.

Rating: 10/100
Grade: F

Game Review: Shenmue (Minor Spoilers)

Game: Shenmue
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Sega AM2
Release Date: 7th November 2000

Shenmue is one of my all time favourite video games, I got the first disc along with my Dreamcast when I first got it. Little did I know that there are three game discs, and a fourth "passport" disc included in a full copy of Shenmue, until later. As you can imagine, any game which spans three discs is massive in proportion; at the time of its release, Shenmue held the record for the most expensive videogame ever produced, with a whopping $47 million spent on it.

You play as Ryo Hazuki, witnessing in the opening cutscene your father's death at the hands of a mysterious man called Lan Di. The game begins a few days later, as the player has to pick up the pieces and attempt to work out where Lan Di left for, where he is now and how to get revenge for Ryo's father's death. Using information given to you by friends, townsfolk and even gang members, you trace the story through, revealing new leads to help you in your quest.

Graphically the game is beautiful, both for its time, and even now it still has an undeniable charm in its detail and features. Ryo is able to purchase items from stores, go to a videogame arcade, listen to cassette tapes, collect gacha toys, and use vending machines in addition to other activities. There's so much to do that isn't even related to the plot of the game that it's easy to get caught up just living Ryo's daily life. Ryo can train his martial arts skills in the dojo next to his house as well as in any open area big enough, which can be useful in fights later on in the game.

Musically there's a large amount of themes and sound effects used in game, immersing the player even further into the game world. Each shop, bar and restaurant in town has its own background music, even just the sound of a motorcycle going down the street takes the player to Japan in 1986, when the game is set. The only fault I can find with the game's sound is that the dubbed voices can seem insincere at times, and the only game option for the PAL version is English so you're stuck with it.

As the plot advances, physical combat situations are met in one of two ways. First there's QTE's (quick timer events) where a buttons must be pressed within a certain time for Ryo to perform preset actions, for Ryo to win the fight/come out on top in the situation. The other combat element is Free Battle in which Ryo can use moves that he has learned and practiced in combat, via their button combinations. Both he and the opponents have health bars for this type of combat.

Used pretty sparingly, these combat situations move the plot along, where it seems like Ryo's information stream has come to a close. The main part of gameplay sees Ryo setting out everyday to collect more information, and gather leads as to the whereabouts of Lan Di. These take him from his hometown of Yamanose, to the Dockyards where he has to find a job and infiltrate the "Heavens" gang which is based there.

The game ends with Ryo setting off in search of Lan Di, further afield, but not before he's managed to have a 70 man fight at the dockyard, get fired, raise a kitten, play arcade games, collect capsule toys, play on his anachronistic Sega Saturn (its 1987 for goodness sake...), and live his life in the hopes of catching up to Lan Di. The story is continued into Shenmue II and its easy to think that nothing really happens in Shenmue. The atmosphere and way the story is presented is so immersive however, that you'll care about every little detail, right down to receiving a double of a particular capsule toy.

The pacing of Shenmue has been criticised somewhat, in that the game moves somewhat slowly (there are 4 minutes to an in-game hour), and the action is very sporadic, however the level of immersion and detail begs that you take the game slowly. The worst thing you could do with Shenmue is to rush through it, as there's so much you'd be missing. The real charm in this game is living Ryo's daily life in search of his father's killer, deciding whether to spend your last hundred yen on a game of Space Harrier or Hang On (both original arcade games are fully playable on here).

Overall, Shenmue is a hard game to describe; the plot doesn't really hot up until Shenmue II, but it lays the foundations, there's a lot to do, in an immersive world which is beautifully modelled. The fighting system is nicely implemented, both moves and QTE's, and the control system works nicely. Musically the game has a great original soundtrack, and sound effects with the voice acting being the only minor complaint. The sense of immersion into this game is greater than any other game I've played, and although its paced slowly, it gives you a chance to enjoy all of the features.

Rating: 94/100
Grade: A

Series Review: Space Harrier (1 and 2)

Game: Space Harrier
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1986

Space Harrier is a third person shooter, originally an arcade game, it was scaled down to become a game for the Master System. Gameplay involves shooting anything and everything in your way, from enemies to projectiles to trees in the surreal landscape provided. You're constantly moving forwards as enemies come toward you from the background to the foreground, anything you don't shoot becomes something you have to dodge. Later levels also feature obstacles which must be dodged in addition to you shooting duties.

The game has 18 levels, of increasing difficulty, leading up to the final boss. There is a plot to why you've got to shoot absolutely everything in existance, but as with most 80's arcade games, the plot is based around the gameplay and not the other way around. There's a fair selection of enemies throughout the levels with somewhat varied bosses, a lot of them psychedelic and strange, with bright colours.

Graphically the game is strange, with detailed enemy sprites especially for the time, yet due to the hardware restrictions and scaling being an issue with enemies coming towards you, a lot of the time you can see a box around the enemy, or flicker when they overlap. This isn't to say that this problem makes the game unenjoyable, however perhaps Sega were a little overambitious with how many enemies they could fit onscreen at one time versus the processing power of the Master System.

Musically the game has a lot of different, catchy tracks which suit the game well. Personally I'd say the music is some of the best on Master System. The soundclips do not fare so well however, with the lowest quality I've possibly ever experienced. The game gets pretty difficult towards the end, speeding up and adding more and more enemies, its a good concept but the more complex it gets, the harder it is to tell what's going on.

Overall this is a fun game to play for the Master System, it responds well and is different to a lot of the games you'll find of the era. The fun crazily themed enemies and bosses are reminiscent of Fantasy Zone, another classic game for the console. The only real limitations to this game are the console's processing abilities itself, which do hold back the game a little sometimes. Its definitely worth a try, and will fit into any Master System collection.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Game: Space Harrier II
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 29th October 1988 (JP)

One of the original launch games for the Japanese Mega Drive, Space Harrier II was not based off an arcade game like its predecessor. The game features the same basic idea and controls; the player moves around the screen, dodging attacks from enemies scrolling toward them. The graphics have been improved for the Mega Drive and the game runs much more smoothly, in terms of processing.

The visuals are once again brightly coloured, featuring an array of strange enemies, of various shapes and sizes. The controls are as simple as ever, with any of the three buttons on the Mega Drive controller used to shoot, and the control pad to move around the screen. Space Harrier II feels somewhat easier than the first installment in the series, perhaps due to the smoothness of the processing, with a lot less graphical issues with multiple enemies onscreen.

Musically, the game has a lot of different tracks to offer, with a different theme for every boss battle and a couple of different level themes. Overall the quality is good, and the sound effects have also been vastly improved from the last game. With 13 stages, its a shorter game than the original, and the final stage is every boss, in sequence (somewhat a tradition in early Sega arcade games).

The player is also able to select any of the 12 levels preceding the final level to start on, from the level select screen, which saves the frustration of having to complete the game in one go, but the option is still there if you're up to it. Series-wise there was an installment inbetween the two games in this review called Space Harrier 3-D. Not only did it require Red/Cyan 3D glasses but it is also one of the hardest Master System games out there.

Overall this is a better game than the original Space Harrier, if only for the fact that the Mega Drive had better graphics, sound and processing than the Master System. Another factor that helped Space Harrier II is the fact that it was built for home console, unlike its predecessor which was a scaled down version of the arcade release. Its an enjoyable play with varied enemies and stages, which almost make up for the fact that the gameplay doesn't have much variation in itself.

Rating: 76/100
Grade: B