Charas-Project
Off-Topic => All of all! => Topic started by: Drace on October 21, 2008, 07:51:54 AM
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Spoiler alert. This thread may contain spoilers to various games. Do no read a post about a game you do not want information for.
This is the suggest a game thread in which you give the name of a game that ain't such a big hit and a small describtion as to why someone else should play this. Easy aye?
Well the game I am going to suggest is one I finished playing two days ago. Prey, a first person shooter I played on the XBox 360 but I think it has also been released on the PC and maybe the PS3.
Sure, Prey ain't the best game around. It has a lit of clichés and things that you have already seen in it, but I still loved the single player campaign all the way through. It doesn't take all that long though. A nice 8 till 10 hours, depending on your skill, and you'll have done it all. The story involves a native american of the Cherokee tribe named Tommy. He is in a bar with his grandfather and girlfriend when a news reports says that strange lights have been seen in the sky. They all get abducted and transported in a giant space ship named The Sphere. He breaks free and then it's a race to save your grandfather and girlfriend.
Even though this is a very lineair FPS and doesn't give an all that big a challenge, it is still a lot of fun. For one, all the weapons are of alien origins. That means that you'll see some nice weird as weapons along the way. The game also gives you the opportunity to let your spirit leave your body for solving puzzles. Not fully worked out, but still fun.
The best part of this game, however, are the levels and the 'portals'. Prey features the same kind of portals that were later also used on Portal in The Orange Box. They let you warp to different places and does the same for your enemies. But the levels in this game, the map designs, the entire feel to it. That is the best part. Sometimes you'll just be standing somewhere looking at how awesome it looks just because it actually does so. The entire game has a feel to it that you think you are actually inside some unknown flying object.
Overall, this game is worth checking out. Not a big of a challenge, but still fun to play.
Drace rates this 7.5 stars out of 10.
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Alright I can do this... These are all going to be for the PS2, though as that's the only console I've got that I still care anything about.
-Okami-
Okami's a pretty top notch game. It's an action-adventure, which reminds one a lot, and I mean a LOT, of any recent Zelda. The game takes place in feudal Japan, and you play as a wolf-god, who uses the powers you learn along the way to save the land from a big ol' monster and such... Cliche'ness and unoriginality aside, this game still seems to top out as a really good game.
It's got a pretty big load of mini-games and little extra things to do and collect. It's got side quests left and right and so many tiny little, barely noticable details. The gameplay is pretty fluid, and even though the game is ridiculously long it's kind of hard, for me at least, to get bored -- purely because of gameplay. It really is where the game stands out, next to it's graphics --
It's designed in cel-shading, which I've got a soft spot for, and the thick black lines, pasty overlays, and simply-drawn backgrounds give it an accurate Feudal drawing kind of style. Sumi-E or whatever they call it. And the characters are all sorts of funny looking unproportional cartoons, with humorous dialoge and... actually very UNjapanese nature.
But yeah, the game is really, really long, one of the longest I've played, and it's got tons of random **** to do, through out. From there, it's basically a zelda game, where you go from town to town, dungeon to dungeon, collecting new powers which allow you to go further, fighting bosses, and all the other action/rpg cliche goodies. But even with it's unoriginality, like I said before, it still stands out as incredibly original. [/contridiction]
I really wouldn't know how to convince a guy to play this game, but all I can say is that I played it once, loved it... waited a year or two and played it again and was able to have a whole nother experience... i'm sure you get that with most old school rpgs, but it's something special here.
08/10
-Shadow of the Colossus-
I don't know... you said games that aren't well known. Sometimes people say SotC is widespread as Hell, other times people say it's not at all. Either way, this game is fuuuuckin epic. It's definately not for everyone, but I think it's more because it's art more than entertainment. Whatever though. It's got a simple enough plot, and a pretty empty script altogether. You come to a giant-*** forbidden land where you have to tackle down 16 'colossi' in order to save your girlfriend or whatever. Sounds fascinating right? ... Well, it is.
You got a horse, and some mystical sword and a bow, and you set off in this vast land, where you take down each unique beast in their own special manner. The gameplay and controls are incredible. you control this guy, and when you get used to the controls, it's so... realistically fluid. It's amazing how comfortable you can get while fighting, riding horseback, running around, jumping, climbing and so forth. It's very easy to completely become the character, in terms of movement. Also, as I said, riding the horse is practically perfect. It puts other games with horseback riding to shame. Seriously.
Also, this game is almost exclusively about exploring the land. The detail in all the little places all around is really great... there's abandoned civilizations, and deep caves, and some of the most amazing natural landscapes I've seen in game.
And even though there's only 16 guys to kill, with no towns, or anything else at all, they did an okay job at keeping you focussed. None of the colossi are ever anything like any of the previous. The differences between each battle are pretty decent.
And like I said before, this game is more art than entertainment. So if that doesn't sound good to you, really, stay away. But if you take appreciation in the little things, and love exploring crazy huge lands then you need this game.
09/10
I'll post more later or whatever. Also, what's up with the sudden love of reviewing random things, Drace?
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Suikoden II
What? Were you expecting something else coming from me? Moy? The self-assumed Suikoden fanboy? Not a chance.
At any rate, Suikoden II, for the PSX. What can I say about it? It's a pretty solid classic-style RPG. There's no fancy system for skill learning or anything like that, you've got attack, you've got magic, you've got turns to attack. Pretty classic, you can't go wrong with classic.
Now, I'll start with the bad things about it:
The translation.
Seriously, there's no Engrish like Suikoden Engrish. You'll be luck to find two sentences without a mistake, or without exclamation marks. Luca Blight, he's an awesome villain, and he loves exclamation marks. "I'm the king of Highland!!!!!!!!!!! Fear me, pigs!!!!!!!!!!!!" which is amusing, because it's like he shouts even when talking to himself. When character do not shout, they stay in silence for a long time. I mean like "Nanami......................................................................................" or even just "...........................................................................". Now, these things do not really affect the game, but I have some friends who gave up playing the game because of the grammar. At least it wasn't because of the graphics, which by the way brings us to the second bad thing about the game:
Graphics.
The game is in 2d. Sprites. And not "Walking, jumping, angry and sleeping" kind of sprites, just a walking sprite to each character, and when jumping the walking sprite gos a few pixels up, when running it seems to be tapdincing, etc. The battle animations are awesome, though, and much better than the Suikoden III, IV or V 3d battle animations, who just happen to be TOO fluid.
Now for the good things the game has:
Variety.
We're talking about 108 characters here, plus those who aren't main characters. Some of them have the dept and personality of a chair, granted, but there's good variety nonetheless. You've got Clive, the cliché-still-you-love-him misterious character with a gun and a dark hood. You've got Sid, who in any modern game would be a punk rocker, you've got Tuta, the boy(?) character with status so low that you'll just use him (?) in the first chapter anyway. And 105 more characters I won't talk in lenght here.
Story.
Awesome story, 'nuff said.
Music.
This is where the game really shines, all the songs are fully orchestrated and fit the situations perfectly. Like in the Phoenix Wright games, sometimes the same music has about three diferent versions to fit itself if the situation changes slightly three times. All in all, the game's music is awesome.
Score:
9.5/10
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I have not played Okami (I wish I had it), but I do double on Shadow of the Colussus.
I remember back in the day it was released, it wasn't really promoted here. Sure, a commercial here and there, but that was it. I can't remember that there were a lot of copies in stores. I did, however, find one I saw from time to time in the same store. Staring at me, every time. I decided to pick it up last summer as it was the only copy of this game in my entire town. The end result was a game that is so great it sucked me in completely. This game is so beautiful that I recommend it to everyone.
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Godhand
This is yet another underrated game by the now-defunct Clover Studios (the same guys who made Okami) for PS2. This one is a straight-up 3D brawler clearly inspired by martial arts anime such as Fist of the North Star. You play an unlikely hero in a vaguely wild west kinda world who gets his arm chopped off by cannibalistic demons, and replaces it with the "Godhand" a sort of bio-weapon(?) which gives him a variety of superhuman combat skills.
And if the ludicrous premise isn't enough to hook you (it was for me), the gamelpay is great too. To begin with, you moves are entirely customizable, and you'll be continually collecting new techniques such as "Pimp Smack," "Drunken Fist," "Mule Kick," and "Yes-Man Kablaam!"
Also, there's a boss who looks like a demonic stripper who attacks you with what looks like Sailor Moon's wand and can turn you into a chihuahua.
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Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hands
Hideo Kojima is best known for Metal Gear Solid and Snatcher. His unloved entry to the GBA, Boktai, on the other hand, is more like Metal Gear: For Kids. The gameplay is like a watered-down MGS; the object is to get through the dungeons, find the Immortals, and purify them. The game is divided into about thirty-three dungeons. Twenty eight are 'Undead' dungeons--merely routes between the five-six-ish Immortal dungeons, where the Bosses hide. It's recommended to go through all of them, as not to miss any treasure, but you don't have to if you don't want to.
The gameplay is deeply linked with a controversial Solar Sensor. A lot of people gripe about it, as it means that you need to be in the sunlight for it to work, otherwise you'll run out of energy needed for attacks and such. There are plenty of ways to work around it, though: you can play in a sunny windowsill, for example. Boktai also has some temporary replacements for the sun, like the Rising Sun grenade or the Mr. Rainnot item.
As I mentioned, Sunlight is key. It plays into the story as being the source of power for your weapon, the Gun del Sol, as well as the sole weakness of the Immortals you fight. You can recharge the Solar Gun with sunlight, basically. The more sunlight hitting the sensor, the faster you charge. Sunlight affects other things, however, like several traps and environmental objects (puddles dry up in heavy sunlight, making it easier to sneak through areas unheard), while enemies are also affected by sunlight (in heavy light, some enemies will move slowly, while contact with sunlight outright kills others). The Solar Sensor never loses it's 'gimmicky' feel, but it's so well implemented into the actual game that it actually manages to become a little more than just a gimmick.
Like Metal Gear Solid, Boktai puts emphasis on stealthy movement. The game rates you on finishing a dungeon--the fewer enemies that contact you, the better score you'll get (reaping you better rewards). Combat is also fun; the Gun del Sol is heavily customizable, featuring different frames that change how it works. Some frames turn it into a laser-sword, others give it rapid-fire abilities, and others make it shoot swords. In other words, there is a frame for every occasion. By the way, if enemies see you, they'll go '!', like in Metal Gear Solid, only cuter.
Aside from enemies, Boktai features some smart puzzles. Some require the darnest of things, like turning the GBA upside-down to perform arithmetic, or manipulating enemies to attack in order for them to hit switches.
The storyline isn't as weird as MGS, thankfully. It's actually quite likable, even though it reads like a Saturday-Morning Cartoon. The characters are interesting as well, including the bosses.
Graphically, the game looks great...for a GBA game. It's a little hard to pay attention to the graphics, though; playing in the sunlight makes it hard to make out some things on the screen. When you actually manage to look at the details, though, you'll like what you see.
Overall, I feel like this is a game that didn't get the attention it deserved. Sure, the Solar Sensor was odd to work with, but once you got around that, it was a fun game, through and through, opening up the path for more fun games like Boktai: Solar Boy Django and Lunar Knights on the DS. Konami went and put a few easter eggs in it, too; while Solid Snake never shows up, we get Solar Gun frames named "Gradius" and "Beatmania". (On an unrelated note, Boktai 2 featured Solid Snake as an amnesiac named "???", as well as Raiden's Skull Suit as armor).
I give it 8/10.