| Doomstruck's Last 5 Game Reviews (view last 25) |
Stretch Panic
12-27-18 07:13 PM
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No, don't go, come back, it gets better
You may know this as "that one game where you pull on giant boobs" or "that game that doesn't explain anything" and I just need to say, look up the controls and just throw yourself into this game, because you need to give this game a serious chance. You may recognize the creators of this game, Treasure, who are responsible for such classics as Gunstar Heroes, Bangai-O, Mischief Makers, Ikaruga, and Sin & Punishment (both the N64 title and the sequel for the wii)
What you should expect to get is more of what treasure is good at, which is pushing the gameplay side of the system's capabilities and unique encounters. This comes in the form of a series of bosses you need to defeat one after another, using a scarf that resembles a long stretching arm with a creepy eye on it. Your scarf can pinch and pull any object or surface as if it was made of rubber, regardless of its actual material, which allows for a number of unique attack and movement options. The most obvious and basic function is attacking by pulling on an enemy and letting go, making the stretched surface snap painfully back into place. Past that, you can also rotate the right stick rapidly while attached to an enemy to pull yourself towards them and tackle them. Third, a movement option, if you do the same movement mentioned before while attached to an environmental surface (or press R3) you'll pull yourself past the point you're holding on to, allowing you to jump.
With this basic set of attacks, you'll face off against bosses who play less like reaction-based fights, and more like skill-based puzzles. Each boss has a unique gimmick that requires you to pay attention to their anatomy, their general shape, their colors, and their movements, and piece together how to hit them where it hurts. This comes in the form of the unique health bar each boss has. This health bar is a star, and it starts off empty, but as you damage them, it fills up in a circle, and there are 4 possible colors to f... Read the rest of this Review
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Sonic Adventure
11-03-18 04:10 PM
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I know this game isn't great, no I will not stop enjoying it
This game has not aged well, and I don't think I've really aged, so it's perfect for me! I understand fully that this game has like 50 different ways it could be torn apart, but I'm here for the .5 ways I can defend it, because I love this game and will die on a hill for it. I just love how this game handles and the general tone and aesthetic. It has the best middle ground between SA2's edge (which I still love) and original sonic's kid-friendly cartoon tone. It feels like the closest to... well, a sonic adventure. There's exploration, secrets, and puzzles, and everything comes together in a package that really makes each level feel like it's a part of a larger cohesive world in a way that no other sonic game has pulled off successfully.
Let's get the biggest hurdle out of the way, the game handles incredibly loosely. It's not a game you'll be used to right off the bat, but if you've seen hardcore players with this game, it's easy to see that there's more going on than just an awkwardly handling pile of glitches. It really does feel good to get a hang of the controls and learn to traverse levels with speed and grace. And even when you make it to Big's story, it's really not that bad, it controls fine, if you're even remotely good at fishing minigames, it'll be over in like a few minutes. Don't worry about it. You might even have a bit of fun!
Graphically......... it's a mixed bag. Sure, it has some low-quality models and weird animations, but almost every re-release of this game has its own issues added on to the pile, for every problem fixed in Director's Cut. The environments are easily the best aspect of this game's visuals, and a lot of them still evoke a sense of wonder and adventure in me, even as a slightly more jaded 20-something. There's a reasons you'll find people posting scenery gifs of this game, despite its low-fi visuals.
The soundtrack in this one ranges anywhere from okay to GODLIKE, with songs like Unknown from M.E., Red ... Read the rest of this Review
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Sonic R
11-03-18 02:13 PM
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I have actually completed this game and enjoyed it
Sonic R is a game that gets a bad rap, and rarely for the right reasons. It's definitely a flawed game, it's not the smoothest play, but there's plenty of charm and fun to be had here, especially if you're a diehard fan of this era of Sonic's aesthetics. When you hear most people complain about this game, let's be honest, they probably haven't played it and are just repeating whatever Jontron said about it, which was largely just jokes at the game's expense. Humor over substance, basically. What is actually wrong with this game is more to do with its handling and polish. The game controls awkwardly, the graphics range anywhere between charmingly retro to just plain bad, the content is lacking and requires specific goals to be completed on top of winning first place. The game is far from perfect, but I don't think it's devoid of value, like many internet funnymen claim.
Let me start with a talking point I rarely start with, which is the sound. If you're a sonic fan, you're probably used to hearing this repeated over and over and over, ad nauseam, but the soundtrack is honestly the best part of this game. It's really strange to me, then, that the first time I heard anyone talk about this game was someone complaining that the soundtrack sucked. Many times when I hear that argument made, it's from people who see sonic and expect "super rad 90s cool guy rock/techno." You know, somewhere between sonic adventure 1&2 and the originals. The thing about this soundtrack, though, is that it's just plain amazing. It's got a more smooth pop sound to it, with some of the catchiest and most uplifting vocals I've heard in a game of that era, if not of all time. I do not understand how a person can hear Can You Feel The Sunshine and not actually feel the sunshine.
Okay, actually gameplay. It...works. It doesn't excel at anything, really, it just kinda works, and I wish it worked better because I love the concept of on-foot sonic racing gameplay. I also hear peo... Read the rest of this Review
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Time Cruise
11-02-18 09:47 PM
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Big, Confusing, Extremely entertaining
Time cruise is a pinball game for the Turbografx 16, and it's one of the more unique ones, even outside of the system it belongs to. Imagine the open-ended nature of sonic spinball, except with better handling, amazing music, more varied gameplay, and more freedom. The only real drawback is that there's no real purpose, but that's par for the course with pinball, so it's all good.
The first thing that jumped out at me with Time Cruise was its strange and unique aesthetic for its table, wooden floors, brick walls, and holes in the wood floor that reveals wiring and flashing lights. You know, future stuff. You might think that this game's aesthetic would get old quick, and normally you'd be right, but the game also has its main gimmick. TIME TRAVEL. Which is actually just loading up various minigames which may or may not involve any amount of pinball playing, but the variety is nice. The time travel ranges anywhere from prehistoric times to the distant future, and on top of that you can have a "missed warp" which will send you to a surrealist world outside of time. The game doesn't explain that, I just think that makes the most sense, but you're here for pinball, not a story.
The gameplay is kind of a mixed bag, because the pinball physics itself isn't very intuitive. You'll find yourself at the start setting the ball up to smash it in the general direction of where you're aiming, only to end up nowhere even close. Getting past that, though, the board you're on is really wide, like 3 pinball tables wide and 2 tables tall (the center one being 3 tall, with an extra bottom section) The center table is the only one you can lose your ball in, the other 2 tables only sending the ball back to the center. Despite all this leeway, you'll actually find yourself losing balls at a normal pace compared to other difficult pinball games of that era. Getting to grips with this game's handling will mitigate that significantly though.
The time travel mechani... Read the rest of this Review
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Urban Yeti!
11-02-18 02:23 PM
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A perfect visual metaphor for a panic attack.
I will probably never beat this game unless paid to or I wanted to become a streamer and torture my viewers. This game is artfully awful. There's rarely a moment of this game that doesn't evoke a feeling of pain and nausea, and it's hilarious in how chaotic even just 3 seconds of gameplay can be. But let me actually describe what this game is.
Urban Yeti is almost a GTA clone on the gameboy advance, ALMOST, but it has some weird differences. The game is "open-world" but that doesn't actually matter because your progression is pretty much linear and exploration is never rewarded. Your goal? Keep following the sound of what might be a female yeti in heat calling for you, so you can mate. However, you live in a capitalist dystopia, and not even a Yeti can make it to the other end of a crowded city without paying tolls. You need to make your yeti do odd jobs and part time work in the form of mini-games to get the money required to progress, and the work is thankless, sensationally overwhelming, and requires interacting with rude and cruel people.
If you work a retail job, let me give a double un-recommendation. You've probably become used to the daily abuses of the industry, and are at a point of contentment with everything. Urban Yeti will pull the worst aspects of retail out into the open and force you to remember the pain you've become desensitized to. And then after you've broken down from having your mental armor unraveled, you then have to deal with just the worst and most frustrating top-down open world experience.
You have to get to wherever the arrow points to, and you have to make sure you don't get killed, but the cops are after you, people are getting in your way constantly, and the streets are too narrow to navigate comfortably, which is especially frustrating when you factor in the game's absurdly low field of vision. And the part of this game that makes it literally impossible to recommend as an enjoyable play is the sound desig... Read the rest of this Review
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.jpg "Rhythm Heaven Silver (English beta 8) - gba")
.jpg "Mother 3 (english translation) - gba")
.jpg "Mother 1 and 2 (english translation) - gba")
.jpg "King of Demons (english translation)")
.jpg "Dossun! Ganseki Battle (english translation)")
.jpg "Xak - The Art of Visual Stage (English translation)")
.jpg "Mr. Bloopy (prototype)")
.jpg "Star Fox 2 (Beta1 Translated)")
.jpg "Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (english translation)")
.jpg "Super Bonk 2 (english translation)")
.jpg "Dream Master (english translation) - nes")
.jpg "Fuzzical Fighter (English Translation) - nes")
.jpg "Palamedes 2 - Star Twinkles (english translation) - nes")
.jpg "Esper Bouken Tai (english translation) - nes")
.jpg "Tetris (tengen) - nes")
.jpg "Tetris (nintendo) - nes")
.jpg "Magical Doropie (english translation) - nes")
.jpg "Shadow Brain (English Translation) - nes")
.jpg "Cocoron (english translation) - nes")
.jpg "Hyaku no Sekai no Monogatari (english translation) - nes")
.jpg "Digital Devil Story - Megami Tensei (English Translation) - nes")
.jpg "Super Mario Frustration (forever) - nes")
.jpg "Mobile Phone-Beast: Telefang Power (English v110) - gbc")
.jpg "Arle's Adventure (English beta 3) - gbc")
.jpg "Wizardry (english translation) - gbc")
.jpg "Fighting Layer (Japan, FTL1+VER.A) - mame")
.jpg "Simpsons, The (4 Players World, set 1) - mame")
.jpg "Shinobi (set 6, System 16A, unprotected) - mame")
.jpg "Kollon (V2.04J) - mame")
.jpg "Chelnov - Atomic Runner (World) - mame")
.jpg "Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (USA 970904) - mame")
.jpg "Emeraldia (World) - mame")
.jpg "Tetris Plus 2 (World) - mame")
.jpg "Tech Romancer (Euro 980914) - mame")
.jpg "Samurai Shodown + Samurai Spirits (set 1) - mame")
.jpg "Zaxxon (set 1) - mame")
.jpg "Rad Mobile (World) - mame")
.jpg "1 on 1 Government (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Soul Edge Ver. II (World, SO4+VER.C) - mame")
.jpg "Time Scanner (set 2, System 16B) - mame")
.jpg "Super Street Fighter II Turbo (World 940223) - mame")
.jpg "Dead or Alive 2 (JPN, USA, EXP, KOR, AUS) - mame")
.jpg "Crystal Castles (joystick version) - mame")
.jpg "Crystal Castles (version 4) - mame")
.jpg "Killer Instinct (v1.5d) - mame")
.jpg "PuLiRuLa (World) - mame")
.jpg "Mega Man: The Power Battle (CPS1, USA 951006) - mame")
.jpg "Logic Pro 2 (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Ehrgeiz (US, EG3+VER.A) - mame")
.jpg "Pac-Land (World) - mame")
.jpg "Star Wars (rev 2) - mame")
.jpg "Cachat (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Dig Dug II (New Ver.) - mame")
.jpg "Monster Farm Jump (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Puzzle De Bowling (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Narc (rev 7.00) - mame")
.jpg "S.T.U.N. Runner (rev 6) - mame")
.jpg "SegaSonic The Hedgehog (Japan, rev. C) - mame")
.jpg "The Last Blade + Bakumatsu Roman - Gekka no Kenshi (set 1) - mame")
.jpg "Gee Bee (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Mach Breakers - Numan Athletics 2 (Japan) - mame")
.jpg "Joust (White+Green label) - mame")
.jpg "Mr. Driller (Japan, DRI1+VER.A2) - mame")
.jpg "Flip & Flop (Max-A-Flex) - mame")
.jpg "Pulseman (english translation) - gen")
.jpg "Resq (Beta) - gen")
.jpg "Booby Boys (english translation) - gb")
.jpg "Wizardry Gaiden 3 (english translation) - gb")
.jpg "For the Frog the Bell Tolls (English Translation) - gb")
![Driller[sharks]](../videogames/c64/thumbs/Driller[sharks].jpg "Driller[sharks] - c64")
.jpg "Madou Monogatari I (english translation) - gg")
.jpg "Virtua Hamster (prototype) - 32x")
.jpg "Dicing Knight. (English Translation) - wsc")
.jpg "Silviana (english translation) - fds")
.jpg "Silviana (english translation) - msx2")
.jpg "Ys - Ancient Ys Vanished Omen (english translation) - msx2")
.jpg "Metal Gear 1 (english translation) - msx2")
