Official Site: http://www.atlus.com/knights/
Source: Youtube Channel AtlusUSA
I had finally finished playing Knights in the Nightmare sometime last year. I played it off and on for three years and finally completed it. Sting Entertainment is known for making very unique games with all the mechanics and gameplay a bit more different from its usual genre and familiarity. Before Knights in the Nightmare, I have tried Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone. One resembles a turn-based RPG while the other was like a Tactics-RPG. Knights in the Nightmare, on the other hand, is a little harder to describe. It looks like a Tactics game, with Action-RPG elements, and some bullet-hell. The player takes the role of a wisp which can command soldiers throughout each map. The game is seemingly complicated where the tutorial takes up to 2-3 hours to complete; however, the actual game isn't too bad at all. The player commands each soldier in real-time to attack enemies throughout each map while collecting items, dodging enemy bullets, and switching between LAW/CHAOS phases. Overall, the graphics were beautiful and highly detailed, the music was pretty good, and the gameplay was between fun/satisfying and a little repetitive/boring. The story is just as convoluted as the game's mechanics. I commend Sting Entertainment for always innovating gaming genres and having a lot of content in their games, but it often times scare off most gamers with its overwhelming presence. With such ambitious design choices for Knights in the Nightmare, I've always wondered what Sting Entertainment was going to do next. They have made 3 new PSP games since then (not counting ports of their previous games) and so I guess they've been keeping busy. If you want complex and innovative RPGs, look for games developed by Sting Entertainment. I heard Baroque is an innovative Action-RPG, Rogue-like that some people liked. Many others didn't like it because of how unforgiving or confusing the game was. Guess I should check out more of their games too.
Showing posts with label Danmaku-Bullethell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Danmaku-Bullethell. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
VGCulture - Shoot 'em Ups on Steam
I have once again accumulated a decent amount of games to review. So instead of having a detailed review of each one, I'm going write a short article about the shoot-em-ups I've played and briefly reflect on them.
eXceed Complete Pack - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel Fiorion
eXceed Complete Pack is totally worth it for those who love bullet hell/Danmaku shoot-em-ups. Rather than just being upgrades from each other, each of the eXceed games are vastly different from each other in terms of game mechanics. The first eXceed is sadly not translated to English, but is still playable with classic insanity of bullets even on the easiest level. eXceed 2nd uses the polarity bullet mechanic that is most well known for in the shoot-em-up Ikaruga. eXceed 3rd plays much like Touhou with grazing bullet mechanics much like Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Castle of Shikigami 3). Side from beautiful visuals, the games have an incredible collection of music that plays throughout the levels. One of my favorites is the first half of the one that plays in the video above.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - $3.99
Geometry Wars is a great game to play when there isn't that much time for a break or if you want to play a short session for it. This Arena style arcade shooter is matched with tight controls, colorful visuals, and a motivating song that keeps the action going.
Sine Mora - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel DigitalRealityGames
The graphics and aesthetics in Sine Mora is breath-taking and absolutely beautiful. This 2D shooter with 3D graphics has a unique mechanic, challenging boss battles and all sorts of weapons and ships to use, but it's sadly a game I didn't enjoy entirely. Rather than having health or lives, the game runs on time. When the player gets hit, they lose a bit of time and running out of time meant game over. The way a player acquired stronger versions of their weapons is by picking up power-ups dropped by enemies. If the player is hurt in any kind of way, the power-up falls out of the player's ship and starts floating away. Here's where I had problems with the game. Without those power-ups, the player is really weak and useless and won't be able to defeat bosses in time without them. It makes sense to avoid getting hit, but there are a lot of moments where unexpected speeding danger hits the player. The power-ups float towards danger which causes the player to run into more things that eats up time just to get back time. But if you don't grab the power-ups, you run out of time trying to whittle down the bosses. Add this with unchangeable key bindings, unruly movement controls (too fast on keyboard and too slow on mouse) along with moving levels while getting shot from all 360 degrees and you find yourself being more frustrated with the game than enjoying it. It's sadly not a game I can't recommend. Great visuals and audio (music/sfx/interesting choice of having voice acting in Hungarian), but the game mechanics and controls were just awful for me.
Ether Vapor Remaster - $7.99
Holy cow is this game hard! Edelweiss is apparently known for making really difficult and challenging games. The game's life system works much like Gradius V for those who have played it. Essentially, the more you play the game, the more lives and shields you'll receive. This can be very discouraging for some players having to lose over and over and starting over from the very beginning of the game. The concept behind this game is like many older games where you try to learn and get better each time you restart the game. It's a dastardly way to extend a game's play length, but those that have the patience and time will find challenge and gratification when they get to the end of the game.
Really Big Sky - $5.99
Source: Youtube Channel bossbaddiegames
I think this game randomly generates levels every time. Each time I played it, the level changes. The player can keep improving their ship at the end of each playthrough. The visuals are super flashy and the audio makes for a explosive experience. There are a lot of modes to play but must be acquired by fulfilling certain conditions. It's a great distraction to sit down and relax to this game.
Scoregasm - $9.99
I have a hunch that this game is by the same developer as bullet candy as the concept is similar and the ship looks the same. Although significantly better in visuals, gameplay, and level design than Bullet Candy, I still got bored of the game fairly quickly. What I enjoyed most were the boss battles where it felt more like a bullet hell. With the rest of the levels, it just felt like a tight-spaced geometry wars in very short durations.
Titan Attacks! - $4.99
Source: Youtube Channel Puppygames001
An homage to old arcade games such as Galaga and Asteroids, Titan Attacks is essentially Space Invaders with power-ups. I've played quite a few flash games with the same concept and similar visual aesthetics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Titan Attacks is mildly entertaining, but starts getting boring after the player gets full on all the items. It wasn't a bad game, but don't expect too much out of it either.
eXceed Complete Pack - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel Fiorion
eXceed Complete Pack is totally worth it for those who love bullet hell/Danmaku shoot-em-ups. Rather than just being upgrades from each other, each of the eXceed games are vastly different from each other in terms of game mechanics. The first eXceed is sadly not translated to English, but is still playable with classic insanity of bullets even on the easiest level. eXceed 2nd uses the polarity bullet mechanic that is most well known for in the shoot-em-up Ikaruga. eXceed 3rd plays much like Touhou with grazing bullet mechanics much like Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Castle of Shikigami 3). Side from beautiful visuals, the games have an incredible collection of music that plays throughout the levels. One of my favorites is the first half of the one that plays in the video above.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - $3.99
Geometry Wars is a great game to play when there isn't that much time for a break or if you want to play a short session for it. This Arena style arcade shooter is matched with tight controls, colorful visuals, and a motivating song that keeps the action going.
Sine Mora - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel DigitalRealityGames
The graphics and aesthetics in Sine Mora is breath-taking and absolutely beautiful. This 2D shooter with 3D graphics has a unique mechanic, challenging boss battles and all sorts of weapons and ships to use, but it's sadly a game I didn't enjoy entirely. Rather than having health or lives, the game runs on time. When the player gets hit, they lose a bit of time and running out of time meant game over. The way a player acquired stronger versions of their weapons is by picking up power-ups dropped by enemies. If the player is hurt in any kind of way, the power-up falls out of the player's ship and starts floating away. Here's where I had problems with the game. Without those power-ups, the player is really weak and useless and won't be able to defeat bosses in time without them. It makes sense to avoid getting hit, but there are a lot of moments where unexpected speeding danger hits the player. The power-ups float towards danger which causes the player to run into more things that eats up time just to get back time. But if you don't grab the power-ups, you run out of time trying to whittle down the bosses. Add this with unchangeable key bindings, unruly movement controls (too fast on keyboard and too slow on mouse) along with moving levels while getting shot from all 360 degrees and you find yourself being more frustrated with the game than enjoying it. It's sadly not a game I can't recommend. Great visuals and audio (music/sfx/interesting choice of having voice acting in Hungarian), but the game mechanics and controls were just awful for me.
Ether Vapor Remaster - $7.99
Holy cow is this game hard! Edelweiss is apparently known for making really difficult and challenging games. The game's life system works much like Gradius V for those who have played it. Essentially, the more you play the game, the more lives and shields you'll receive. This can be very discouraging for some players having to lose over and over and starting over from the very beginning of the game. The concept behind this game is like many older games where you try to learn and get better each time you restart the game. It's a dastardly way to extend a game's play length, but those that have the patience and time will find challenge and gratification when they get to the end of the game.
Really Big Sky - $5.99
Source: Youtube Channel bossbaddiegames
I think this game randomly generates levels every time. Each time I played it, the level changes. The player can keep improving their ship at the end of each playthrough. The visuals are super flashy and the audio makes for a explosive experience. There are a lot of modes to play but must be acquired by fulfilling certain conditions. It's a great distraction to sit down and relax to this game.
Scoregasm - $9.99
I have a hunch that this game is by the same developer as bullet candy as the concept is similar and the ship looks the same. Although significantly better in visuals, gameplay, and level design than Bullet Candy, I still got bored of the game fairly quickly. What I enjoyed most were the boss battles where it felt more like a bullet hell. With the rest of the levels, it just felt like a tight-spaced geometry wars in very short durations.
Titan Attacks! - $4.99
Source: Youtube Channel Puppygames001
An homage to old arcade games such as Galaga and Asteroids, Titan Attacks is essentially Space Invaders with power-ups. I've played quite a few flash games with the same concept and similar visual aesthetics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Titan Attacks is mildly entertaining, but starts getting boring after the player gets full on all the items. It wasn't a bad game, but don't expect too much out of it either.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
GameLight Review - Realm of the Mad God
Official Site: http://www.realmofthemadgod.com/
Play on Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Wild_Shadow/realm-of-the-mad-god
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200210/
Source: Youtube Channel MMOHut
Developer: Wild Shadow Studios, Spry Fox
Publisher: Wild Shadow Studios
Platforms: PC
Release Date: June 20, 2011
Genre: MMO Danmaku-Bullet Hell Shooter
Pros:
-No need for registration, can use account of Kongregate or Steam to login for saved account
-Fast-paced, instant-action, easy to pick up and play
-Lots of content to extend its replay value
-Designed to continuously keep players involved and working together
-Challenging, provocative, and downright fun
Cons:
-The game was intended for browsers, so it doesn't run smoothly full screen
-Lag can be an issue in the harder parts of the game as the player loses control of their character
-Cooperating with other players can be great, but they can also steal the loot you fought for
-Perma-death sound unforgiving, and for some players this is a turn-off
-Needs to have a better method of keeping track of friends and finding each other
Realm of the Mad God has been in development as early as 2008 and was put in public beta in 2010 before being officially released in 2011. This is why it surprises me that I have never heard of it till just yesterday when it was released on Valve's Steam client as a free-to-play MMO. Upon watching some videos and looking at screen shots, I was already entranced by the simplicity and design of the game. It's a truly unique online game where it plays like a shooter in a fantasy MMORPG-like setting. Players don't have to worry about setting up parties, instances, gathering quests from NPCs or preparing a path for a skill tree to play on. Players simply just jump on, choose a dungeon and start fighting against hordes of enemies with other players with the capacity to have 85 player co-op in one dungeon. The game is designed so that players would inevitably work together, play carefully/on edge (perma-death is implemented, meaning you lose your character when it dies), and continue playing even after dying (gain currency through each death and unlocks new classes). It's definitely worth a try for ANYONE as it is free, very accessible, and doesn't take long to get the gist of the game. You won't even be wasting that much time as you can start playing immediately by playing on the official site or Kongregate (Steam version requires download, but only 36 MB) and the tutorial is at most 3-5 minutes (and can be skipped). The game still has a lot of room for growth: more items, dungeons, classes, enemies, and any additional mechanics they choose to add, and so it will still be a game that has a lot to offer after hours of playing.
Aesthetics
The first and most noticeable aspect of the game is the retro 8-bit pixel art style the game goes for. It's simple, very easy to distinguish between objects and differences in classes, and quite charming. Bullets and enemies are easily detectable on screen which is extremely important as players will come to understand when enemies and bullets start to move quicker and dangerously close. Although the inventory/equipment system is archaic and has a limited space, its intended design is impeccable. The game cannot be paused and action is constantly around the player in the battlefield. It's fairly easy to keep an eye on health, mana, and items as well as the map and the actual gameplay screen. The map can also be zoomed in or out using the buttons above it or by using the mouse scroll. The user-interface is well thought out and implemented into the game quite effectively. The game can also be played on full-screen; however, the game's frame rate and response rate drops dramatically around highly populated areas and can cause the player to lose control of their character or have very delayed responses. It might have something to do with resolution as my 17" laptop screen has a high resolution but causes everything to slow down in full screen. Using full screen on my 20" secondary monitor that has a low resolution ran a lot more smoother, though still a bit laggy at times. It would also be nice if the screen was pulled back a little as everything just comes out of nowhere and gives little time to respond to it. I understand it's part of the design to keep the tension high and the risk consistent, but it's so hard to see things sometimes. Although the graphics are two dimensional, the camera can actually be rotated and can be very useful in the battlefield.
Sound is an important aspect in the gameplay as the visuals can get overwhelming. Sound effects cue players of having "no mana", types of enemies near-by, and feedback on hits and damage. The music, unfortunately, doesn't take much precedence in gameplay. There's only one song loop that plays throughout the entire time you're playing the game and it gets really boring/annoying after a while. You can turn off the music and play your own music in the background (which is what I eventually did), but I generally try to play a game with its own music. It'd be nice if there were more songs that it could cycle through (like what Dungeons of Dredmor or Granado Esapada did). Placing consideration of the faults in optimal process speed in the visuals and lack of variety in music, the graphics and audio are sound and used effectively. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
Almost all the keys in the game are configurable which is good for anyone used to playing their games with a certain part of the keyboard or a certain way. The game is played like a top-down 360 degree shooter using WASD keys to move the characters and the mouse to aim and fire at enemies. If the player decides to enable camera rotation, they can use the Q and E keys to turn it at an angle they find comfortable. The special ability, by default, is set on the space bar and so any player who is used to the left-hand crab style/FPS style controls will feel comfortable. As mentioned in aesthetics, the user-interface is well designed and placed for the most effective use of the player's information without obscuring the screen with menus. The controls can go a bit haywire and incontrollable when there's a lot going on or if full screen is used on a high resolution monitor which is troublesome in dangerous dungeons. Buttons: 8/10
Concept & Content
The major points of the game's design is: to keep players constantly interacting with each other without having to create parties or guilds, having high risk - high rewards through its difficulty and harsh consequences, and being able to continually enjoying the games without any obstructions or slow downs. It's common in MMORPGs to have a ton of dialog, picking up quests everywhere and running around to talk to people. Then after grabbing a lot of quests, the player is then usually set out to fight and kill a certain number of enemies. Realm of the Mad God touches upon those aspects of "fantasy" and "RPG" in terms of growth, cooperative play and looting; however, they skip all the towns, dialogs, running to grabs quests and such and focused on its core "combat design" which plays much like a top-down action shooter combined with a danmaku/bullethell shooter. It's a very simple concept of killing waves of enemies and quests randomly generate to have the player fight strong boss monsters. The arcade like feeling makes it very easy to pick up and learn how to play and isn't too complicated so that even non-gamers would be able to play should they take the chance to try it out. The way it's set up, players can play anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours and have their character eventually die. The points they gathered then becomes the currency used for their next characters. Along the way, more classes will be unlocked for players to try out and play. Dungeons seem to appear by chance or through items. So much like an MMO, the world is consistently changing. Another design within the "cooperative" play with others players I find interesting (evil to some) is that players don't receive their own loot and so items go to whoever grabs it first. This reminds me of the old school arcade days where players work together (in a beat-em-up or top-down shooter like gauntlet) but can take food and gold from each other. That bit of competition reminds players that they need to be aware of their surroundings and that it's still every man for themselves. The main objective essentially for the player to survive as long as possible while fighting and looting more items. There are many aspects to the game that certainly aren't new (online game with pixel characters, top-down shooter, MMORPG experience in a short amount of time, etc.) but the combination they put together seems to blend well and offers a new innovation to online gaming. The one major draw back from the way it's set-up right now is that the player can touch upon all the game's content and unlock everything in a short amount of time. From then on, it's up to the player to keep the game interesting and find the draw from the randomly generated dungeons, enemies, loot, and events to stay entertained. There's also a cash shop (micro-transaction style business) where players can pay real money for in-game currency for certain items (but they're main cosmetic and does not alter the balance in gameplay between players). For the most part, the developers intended design has worked and has been continually updated for more content. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
This game is super fast-paced. A player can hit their max level of 20 in 30 minutes if they go straight to the more difficult areas. There isn't a long intro or a required grind so players can jump right in and play with everyone else. The beauty of this game is you can play for 5 minutes and still get something out of it or play for hours and still be entertained. For someone like me who's always busy and can't find the time to play for long durations (which is generally required for a lot of MMOs, especially RPGs), this game really does well with what I want in a online game. It starts up quickly, I get instant action and gratification, and offers a variety of content for me to stay interested and continue to play. I'm not sure how long this game will keep me entertained. I'll eventually unlock everything and have seen all the levels available, but so far it's doing a great job of bringing me back to it. Duration: 10/10
Fun
I knew I had to try the game when I saw it appear on Steam. The first thing I noticed when starting up the game (besides how quickly it started up) was that I didn't need to make another account specifically for it just to play (something I dread doing now for every new online game). This saved me the time of creating a new account, going through registration, verifying my e-mail, activating the account and THEN finally getting to play it. Even if you don't play on Steam and on their official site, you can jump in as a guest and play right away to try out the game yourself. When I started the game, the game made sense right away (WASD to move, mouse to aim and shoot). I then configured it to run on full screen and really didn't like how unresponsive and choppy the frame rate became. I also didn't like the music after a while but remedied that by turning it off and playing my own music (something I generally don't like doing for games). While I was preparing to go into a dungeon, a kind player started a trade with me and gave me a strong weapon for my Wizard for free. I thanked him/her and went into my first dungeon. It wasn't a big deal at first. I killed a few enemies, walked around and watched what other players did, got the quest pointer asking me to kill a boss monster and fulfilled them. After about my 2nd boss monster, I was hooked to the game. It was fun killing things and leveling up. I was gaining more power, getting stronger, fighting more enemies, and finding better loot. I kept wanting to explore and I eventually ran into some players and we started following each other. At one point, there were 5-8 of us fighting hordes of enemies. It's very possible to reach 85 players cooperatively fighting enemies together, and that possibility interests me. When I decided to exit the game and finish for the day, I still felt like I wanted to play it. Just like now, I still want to play it. I think I genuinely like the game, a rare feeling to a lot of games I play nowadays. Fun: 9/10
Overall
Realm of the Mad God isn't without its faults, but its core game design is solid and has plenty of room for growth. The game is easy to get into while still being able to challenge players with unforgiving waves of enemies. There's a lot of content and random events to keep the game interesting. And like other online games, I think the community/players is what creates part of the experience within the game. Sometimes there will be groups who will work flawlessly with each other while other times there might be players following around taking all the loot but not doing any fighting. There's a lot of dynamics despite not having complex gameplay mechanics or in-depth leveling systems. It's a fun distraction from all the main games and can very well be treated as a main game to play depending on how involved a players becomes with the game in finding more loot or reaching the highest score. Overall: 8.8/10
Play on Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Wild_Shadow/realm-of-the-mad-god
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200210/
Source: Youtube Channel MMOHut
Developer: Wild Shadow Studios, Spry Fox
Publisher: Wild Shadow Studios
Platforms: PC
Release Date: June 20, 2011
Genre: MMO Danmaku-Bullet Hell Shooter
Pros:
-No need for registration, can use account of Kongregate or Steam to login for saved account
-Fast-paced, instant-action, easy to pick up and play
-Lots of content to extend its replay value
-Designed to continuously keep players involved and working together
-Challenging, provocative, and downright fun
Cons:
-The game was intended for browsers, so it doesn't run smoothly full screen
-Lag can be an issue in the harder parts of the game as the player loses control of their character
-Cooperating with other players can be great, but they can also steal the loot you fought for
-Perma-death sound unforgiving, and for some players this is a turn-off
-Needs to have a better method of keeping track of friends and finding each other
Realm of the Mad God has been in development as early as 2008 and was put in public beta in 2010 before being officially released in 2011. This is why it surprises me that I have never heard of it till just yesterday when it was released on Valve's Steam client as a free-to-play MMO. Upon watching some videos and looking at screen shots, I was already entranced by the simplicity and design of the game. It's a truly unique online game where it plays like a shooter in a fantasy MMORPG-like setting. Players don't have to worry about setting up parties, instances, gathering quests from NPCs or preparing a path for a skill tree to play on. Players simply just jump on, choose a dungeon and start fighting against hordes of enemies with other players with the capacity to have 85 player co-op in one dungeon. The game is designed so that players would inevitably work together, play carefully/on edge (perma-death is implemented, meaning you lose your character when it dies), and continue playing even after dying (gain currency through each death and unlocks new classes). It's definitely worth a try for ANYONE as it is free, very accessible, and doesn't take long to get the gist of the game. You won't even be wasting that much time as you can start playing immediately by playing on the official site or Kongregate (Steam version requires download, but only 36 MB) and the tutorial is at most 3-5 minutes (and can be skipped). The game still has a lot of room for growth: more items, dungeons, classes, enemies, and any additional mechanics they choose to add, and so it will still be a game that has a lot to offer after hours of playing.
Aesthetics
The first and most noticeable aspect of the game is the retro 8-bit pixel art style the game goes for. It's simple, very easy to distinguish between objects and differences in classes, and quite charming. Bullets and enemies are easily detectable on screen which is extremely important as players will come to understand when enemies and bullets start to move quicker and dangerously close. Although the inventory/equipment system is archaic and has a limited space, its intended design is impeccable. The game cannot be paused and action is constantly around the player in the battlefield. It's fairly easy to keep an eye on health, mana, and items as well as the map and the actual gameplay screen. The map can also be zoomed in or out using the buttons above it or by using the mouse scroll. The user-interface is well thought out and implemented into the game quite effectively. The game can also be played on full-screen; however, the game's frame rate and response rate drops dramatically around highly populated areas and can cause the player to lose control of their character or have very delayed responses. It might have something to do with resolution as my 17" laptop screen has a high resolution but causes everything to slow down in full screen. Using full screen on my 20" secondary monitor that has a low resolution ran a lot more smoother, though still a bit laggy at times. It would also be nice if the screen was pulled back a little as everything just comes out of nowhere and gives little time to respond to it. I understand it's part of the design to keep the tension high and the risk consistent, but it's so hard to see things sometimes. Although the graphics are two dimensional, the camera can actually be rotated and can be very useful in the battlefield.
Sound is an important aspect in the gameplay as the visuals can get overwhelming. Sound effects cue players of having "no mana", types of enemies near-by, and feedback on hits and damage. The music, unfortunately, doesn't take much precedence in gameplay. There's only one song loop that plays throughout the entire time you're playing the game and it gets really boring/annoying after a while. You can turn off the music and play your own music in the background (which is what I eventually did), but I generally try to play a game with its own music. It'd be nice if there were more songs that it could cycle through (like what Dungeons of Dredmor or Granado Esapada did). Placing consideration of the faults in optimal process speed in the visuals and lack of variety in music, the graphics and audio are sound and used effectively. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
Almost all the keys in the game are configurable which is good for anyone used to playing their games with a certain part of the keyboard or a certain way. The game is played like a top-down 360 degree shooter using WASD keys to move the characters and the mouse to aim and fire at enemies. If the player decides to enable camera rotation, they can use the Q and E keys to turn it at an angle they find comfortable. The special ability, by default, is set on the space bar and so any player who is used to the left-hand crab style/FPS style controls will feel comfortable. As mentioned in aesthetics, the user-interface is well designed and placed for the most effective use of the player's information without obscuring the screen with menus. The controls can go a bit haywire and incontrollable when there's a lot going on or if full screen is used on a high resolution monitor which is troublesome in dangerous dungeons. Buttons: 8/10
Concept & Content
The major points of the game's design is: to keep players constantly interacting with each other without having to create parties or guilds, having high risk - high rewards through its difficulty and harsh consequences, and being able to continually enjoying the games without any obstructions or slow downs. It's common in MMORPGs to have a ton of dialog, picking up quests everywhere and running around to talk to people. Then after grabbing a lot of quests, the player is then usually set out to fight and kill a certain number of enemies. Realm of the Mad God touches upon those aspects of "fantasy" and "RPG" in terms of growth, cooperative play and looting; however, they skip all the towns, dialogs, running to grabs quests and such and focused on its core "combat design" which plays much like a top-down action shooter combined with a danmaku/bullethell shooter. It's a very simple concept of killing waves of enemies and quests randomly generate to have the player fight strong boss monsters. The arcade like feeling makes it very easy to pick up and learn how to play and isn't too complicated so that even non-gamers would be able to play should they take the chance to try it out. The way it's set up, players can play anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours and have their character eventually die. The points they gathered then becomes the currency used for their next characters. Along the way, more classes will be unlocked for players to try out and play. Dungeons seem to appear by chance or through items. So much like an MMO, the world is consistently changing. Another design within the "cooperative" play with others players I find interesting (evil to some) is that players don't receive their own loot and so items go to whoever grabs it first. This reminds me of the old school arcade days where players work together (in a beat-em-up or top-down shooter like gauntlet) but can take food and gold from each other. That bit of competition reminds players that they need to be aware of their surroundings and that it's still every man for themselves. The main objective essentially for the player to survive as long as possible while fighting and looting more items. There are many aspects to the game that certainly aren't new (online game with pixel characters, top-down shooter, MMORPG experience in a short amount of time, etc.) but the combination they put together seems to blend well and offers a new innovation to online gaming. The one major draw back from the way it's set-up right now is that the player can touch upon all the game's content and unlock everything in a short amount of time. From then on, it's up to the player to keep the game interesting and find the draw from the randomly generated dungeons, enemies, loot, and events to stay entertained. There's also a cash shop (micro-transaction style business) where players can pay real money for in-game currency for certain items (but they're main cosmetic and does not alter the balance in gameplay between players). For the most part, the developers intended design has worked and has been continually updated for more content. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
This game is super fast-paced. A player can hit their max level of 20 in 30 minutes if they go straight to the more difficult areas. There isn't a long intro or a required grind so players can jump right in and play with everyone else. The beauty of this game is you can play for 5 minutes and still get something out of it or play for hours and still be entertained. For someone like me who's always busy and can't find the time to play for long durations (which is generally required for a lot of MMOs, especially RPGs), this game really does well with what I want in a online game. It starts up quickly, I get instant action and gratification, and offers a variety of content for me to stay interested and continue to play. I'm not sure how long this game will keep me entertained. I'll eventually unlock everything and have seen all the levels available, but so far it's doing a great job of bringing me back to it. Duration: 10/10
Fun
I knew I had to try the game when I saw it appear on Steam. The first thing I noticed when starting up the game (besides how quickly it started up) was that I didn't need to make another account specifically for it just to play (something I dread doing now for every new online game). This saved me the time of creating a new account, going through registration, verifying my e-mail, activating the account and THEN finally getting to play it. Even if you don't play on Steam and on their official site, you can jump in as a guest and play right away to try out the game yourself. When I started the game, the game made sense right away (WASD to move, mouse to aim and shoot). I then configured it to run on full screen and really didn't like how unresponsive and choppy the frame rate became. I also didn't like the music after a while but remedied that by turning it off and playing my own music (something I generally don't like doing for games). While I was preparing to go into a dungeon, a kind player started a trade with me and gave me a strong weapon for my Wizard for free. I thanked him/her and went into my first dungeon. It wasn't a big deal at first. I killed a few enemies, walked around and watched what other players did, got the quest pointer asking me to kill a boss monster and fulfilled them. After about my 2nd boss monster, I was hooked to the game. It was fun killing things and leveling up. I was gaining more power, getting stronger, fighting more enemies, and finding better loot. I kept wanting to explore and I eventually ran into some players and we started following each other. At one point, there were 5-8 of us fighting hordes of enemies. It's very possible to reach 85 players cooperatively fighting enemies together, and that possibility interests me. When I decided to exit the game and finish for the day, I still felt like I wanted to play it. Just like now, I still want to play it. I think I genuinely like the game, a rare feeling to a lot of games I play nowadays. Fun: 9/10
Overall
Realm of the Mad God isn't without its faults, but its core game design is solid and has plenty of room for growth. The game is easy to get into while still being able to challenge players with unforgiving waves of enemies. There's a lot of content and random events to keep the game interesting. And like other online games, I think the community/players is what creates part of the experience within the game. Sometimes there will be groups who will work flawlessly with each other while other times there might be players following around taking all the loot but not doing any fighting. There's a lot of dynamics despite not having complex gameplay mechanics or in-depth leveling systems. It's a fun distraction from all the main games and can very well be treated as a main game to play depending on how involved a players becomes with the game in finding more loot or reaching the highest score. Overall: 8.8/10
Thursday, December 22, 2011
GameLight Review - Gundemonium Collection
Official Site: http://gundemonium.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11712/
Source: Youtube Channel rockinandroid
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Publisher: Rockin' Android
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Shoot-em-Up (Bullet Hell)
Pros:
-All the original graphics, music, and voice acting is kept intact
-3 games for $10 ($5 during sales, like right now)
-Fast-paced, challenging, adrenaline pumping shooter action
-Gundeadligne (Gundemonium 2) is online capable for 2-player co-op action
Cons:
-Geared towards danmaku (Bullet Hell) players, noobs beware
-Story is confusing and ambiguous
-Each game is very short, about 30 mins if you successfully run through it without dying
-Hard to discern where the player's hitbox exactly is at when a flood of bullet is headed their way
It's been a while since I've played a shooter, and getting the Gundemonium Collection was a good choice in playing one again. Gundemonium 1 and 2 are horizontal shooters with very unique bullet patterns that the player has to weave through as well as utilizing several special abilities that make it unique (mana, bomb, switch directions). Hitogata Happa is a very unique vertical shooter in which activating a bomb requires the player to ram right into the enemy. All three games are very challenging and have their unique aspects which make replaying them fun. There's a lot of abilities to choose from, 4 difficulty levels with the easiest one still being quite the nail biter, and Gundemonium 2 allows you to play with a friend online. What I especially like in shooters are boss battles, and the boss battles in each of the three games have multiple forms and abilities which keep you on your toes. If you're a hardened bullet hell player, than I highly recommend getting the collection. If you happen to have played little to no bullet hell type shooters but still have interest in the game, then play it with patience and learn the bullet patterns as you will find satisfaction in overcoming the challenges you'll face in the game.
Aesthetics
The Gundemonium series is drawn in a cutesy animé style. All the sprites in the game are hand-drawn I believe and everything done in the original game was by one guy (Aeju Murasame I believe). There has been some concerns about the nudity of some of the enemy characters, but honestly you can really see them if you're shooting them (all the flashes of the white light from the bullets cover everything up). The interface in-game is very arcade-like with hearts on top to indicate lives and revolver chambers on the bottom to indicate the remaining bombs (for gundemonium). In the first two Gundemonium games (horizontal shooter), everything looks really big and up close, so there "seemingly" doesn't seem as much space to move around in. Hitogata Happa is played vertically and everything is drawn back (smaller) so a lot more enemies, bullets, and objects are moving about in the screen. One of the things I don't like is how it's difficult to distinguish where the pixel hit box on the player's character is at when trying to avoid a whole slew of bullets. The horizontal perspective is a bit odd and the sizes of the objects in the game makes it difficult to discern which ones can hurt the player. It takes a bit of getting used to, but making the hitbox a bit more obvious would help in the harder difficulty levels. The sound effects are effective and strong. Lots of destruction and power behind it which is a lot more important than most people think. The sound effects for bullet impact and destruction indicates contact and let's the player know that they're hitting their mark. There's a choice between playing with the original music and remixed versions. The remixed versions are actually really good and make it sound more modern. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
First and foremost, you can't play any of the games unless you have a USB controller of some sort. Or at least that's how it was like for me, I had to Alt+Ctrl+Del many times trying to move in the menu screen or even just to exit out. Luckily, I have a USB Arcade stick I use for my fighting games on PS3 and is compatible with the 3 gundemonium games. So after finding out I needed a USB controller to play the games, I started each of the 3 games up and tried them out (and eventually beat all of them). It's a bit confusing at first having to alternate between shooting, mana usage, bombs, switching directions, and rapid fire (all depending which game you play), but I eventually got used to it. The characters really affects how the game works as some are faster, some have no range, some require charging, etc. It might seem unfair at times when the character is too slow to dodge fast bullets or when they're to fast to weave through multiple bullets, but they can be adapted to and no longer become problems (for the most part). The controls are very responsive and you don't have to constantly mash the buttons for firing (except for Hitogata Happa). It's a bit more difficult to switch between regular movement and slow movement in Hitogata Happa as slowing down means an alternate attack by holding down the fire key. For the most part, the controls are tight and responsive, but Hitogata Happa has control schemes that make it a bit more difficulty to maneuver around. Buttons: 8/10
Concept and Content
Most of the changes are mainly translations for words, a remixed track, and possibly the inclusion of online play (I'm not sure if it was there before). Although it doesn't seem very much to add to the game, having it localized and compatible with steam, leaderboards, online play and being able to read everything really offers a lot to the player who wants to be able to fully appreciate the game to its fullest. The first game is played horizontally like Gradius but all the graphics are human, monsters, objects of sorts that's not "sci-fi". The first game has a total of 5 stages with mini-bosses and bosses. It's just like any other shooter where you keep going right and fight off all the enemies and beat the boss at the end. The unique twists are the bullet patterns, the abilities the characters use, and bomb-saving (using a bomb to counter-act losing a life). The 2nd game is similar except that the player can now change directions to face left to shoot enemies from behind. Hitogata Happa probably is the most unique. It's played vertically and uses "dolls" as the fighters. The keys are very simple: fire, hold to alternate fire and slow down, and switch which doll goes next after death. The goal is the same: get to the boss and defeat them to move to the next level. The hard part is that you can't die after time runs out at a boss battle or it's an automatic game over. And what the bosses are most susceptible to are the bombs. The bomb is actually the doll itself, and you have to successfully ram into an enemy in order for it to activate. If you get shot, it doesn't count and the explosion won't go off. Because you lose your doll, you'll get to make a lot with 12 max of each doll with 8 in total and 4 that can be unlocked (probably by finishing each difficulty level. The easiest one gave me a really hard time). So each of those 8-12 dolls can perform their own attacks and specials. This is why Hitogata Happa is so unique, but it's also frustrating. It might sound easy to ram your tiny character into a large boss, but remember that it's a bullet hell and you have to weave through several hundred pellets trying to kill you to get to the boss. And having 12 dolls of each one sounds like a lot to keep you alive, but the main problem is running out of time on the boss battles. There's also special mission modes for each of the games where the player can fulfill a task by playing a certain way. Like in Hitogata Happa, you can play solo mode where you only use one kind of doll to try to finish the entire game. I really like the level designs (the bullet patterns) of Gundemonium 1 and 2 and I like the bomb concept in Hitogata Happa as it changes the way the player approaches the situations of boss battles (you generally stay on the very bottom, but ramming means having to go up close). The story of each one is ambiguous and not entirely important, but a PDF with more information for each game is available on the official website if players are interested in the lore. So for a shooter made by one guy and localized by a team with remixed tracks and such, it's a pretty interesting one that's different, challenging, and enjoyable. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
I kind of wish Gundemonium 1 and 2 had a few extra levels and made it longer, but 5 level is a decent amount. Hitogata Happa has 6 levels and that was more than enough for me (I hated boring/difficult some of the boss battles were and had to restart countless times for running out of time). I can feel the progression of each level as it becomes harder to dodge bullets and the screen is filled with more enemies in the higher levels. I liked the pacing of the first two games more than Hitogata Happa, even though it's more unique of a shooter. I think what I really like about the games is the replay value. There's 4 levels of difficulty, a lot of characters to choose from, various modes and missions, and an online play for the 2nd game so a friend can suffer the torment of absolute chaos with you. I'll be replaying each one to try to finish the harder difficulty levels, try out the new characters and modes, and to play online. Duration: 9/10
Fun
My first impression was that it was hard, but only because I started at the hardest difficulty level to see how crazy the game can become. I liked how it was fast-paced, had a lot of action and required a lot of focus out of me. I like the challenge in shooters, and so Gundemonium is my type of game. I got through Gundemonium 1 and 2 fairly quickly (about 30 mins each), yet it still proved to be quite difficult during the boss battles. Hitogata Happy drove me nuts the first time I played it because I had no idea how to beat the first boss until I read on the PDF on the official website that you're supposed to ram right into it when the "flow" meter is full. The rest of the game was alright and it was fun experimenting with all the different dolls, but the last 2 levels proved to be very annoying with a lot of bosses that were difficult to beat because they required so many bombs to defeat and shooting them took too long and made me run out of time. I complained a lot about Hitogata Happa throughout this review and it's because I half loved it (the innovation, forcing the player to go to the top of the screen and also utilizing the different abilities of each doll) and half hated it (I can't get near anything without some pellet knocking my doll out and forcing me to fill up my flow gauge again). What I think I felt was a genuine kind of entertainment I once had with shooters from the retro days. The game was hard, but it was always possible. That excitement I feel of dodge and weaving through thousands of bullets each level was good and reminded me of the simple game play that made videogames fun. I didn't need a deep storyline or incredible 3D graphics to enhance the amount of fun I had. The game is pure and innovative, but it's also reaching out to a niche group of gamers so not everyone will have fun with the 3 games. Yes, it was frustrating but it felt good to complete each of those games. After I completed them, I wanted more of it. What's good is that it still had more to offer. Fun: 9/10
Overall
I bought the collection for $5 and enjoyed each one, even though there were times where I was groaning and complaining about losing at pivotal moments. Traditional shooters are rare nowadays, at least in the western market. I really hope that shooters are still made and brought over, and Gundemonium Collection was a good purchase that reminded me that these types of games are still really fun to play and shouldn't be abandoned by game developers. The art style is silly, cute and wild; the music is really exciting, the controls are great and offers all sorts of different play styles, and the concepts are different and possibly fresh for some gamers. Getting the game at $5 or even at its regular price of $10 would be a good investment if you're the type to enjoy hardcore/difficult games, shoot-em-ups, or want to try something new. I hope Rockin' Android translates and localize more games in the future. Overall: 8.6/10
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11712/
Source: Youtube Channel rockinandroid
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Publisher: Rockin' Android
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Shoot-em-Up (Bullet Hell)
Pros:
-All the original graphics, music, and voice acting is kept intact
-3 games for $10 ($5 during sales, like right now)
-Fast-paced, challenging, adrenaline pumping shooter action
-Gundeadligne (Gundemonium 2) is online capable for 2-player co-op action
Cons:
-Geared towards danmaku (Bullet Hell) players, noobs beware
-Story is confusing and ambiguous
-Each game is very short, about 30 mins if you successfully run through it without dying
-Hard to discern where the player's hitbox exactly is at when a flood of bullet is headed their way
It's been a while since I've played a shooter, and getting the Gundemonium Collection was a good choice in playing one again. Gundemonium 1 and 2 are horizontal shooters with very unique bullet patterns that the player has to weave through as well as utilizing several special abilities that make it unique (mana, bomb, switch directions). Hitogata Happa is a very unique vertical shooter in which activating a bomb requires the player to ram right into the enemy. All three games are very challenging and have their unique aspects which make replaying them fun. There's a lot of abilities to choose from, 4 difficulty levels with the easiest one still being quite the nail biter, and Gundemonium 2 allows you to play with a friend online. What I especially like in shooters are boss battles, and the boss battles in each of the three games have multiple forms and abilities which keep you on your toes. If you're a hardened bullet hell player, than I highly recommend getting the collection. If you happen to have played little to no bullet hell type shooters but still have interest in the game, then play it with patience and learn the bullet patterns as you will find satisfaction in overcoming the challenges you'll face in the game.
Aesthetics
The Gundemonium series is drawn in a cutesy animé style. All the sprites in the game are hand-drawn I believe and everything done in the original game was by one guy (Aeju Murasame I believe). There has been some concerns about the nudity of some of the enemy characters, but honestly you can really see them if you're shooting them (all the flashes of the white light from the bullets cover everything up). The interface in-game is very arcade-like with hearts on top to indicate lives and revolver chambers on the bottom to indicate the remaining bombs (for gundemonium). In the first two Gundemonium games (horizontal shooter), everything looks really big and up close, so there "seemingly" doesn't seem as much space to move around in. Hitogata Happa is played vertically and everything is drawn back (smaller) so a lot more enemies, bullets, and objects are moving about in the screen. One of the things I don't like is how it's difficult to distinguish where the pixel hit box on the player's character is at when trying to avoid a whole slew of bullets. The horizontal perspective is a bit odd and the sizes of the objects in the game makes it difficult to discern which ones can hurt the player. It takes a bit of getting used to, but making the hitbox a bit more obvious would help in the harder difficulty levels. The sound effects are effective and strong. Lots of destruction and power behind it which is a lot more important than most people think. The sound effects for bullet impact and destruction indicates contact and let's the player know that they're hitting their mark. There's a choice between playing with the original music and remixed versions. The remixed versions are actually really good and make it sound more modern. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
First and foremost, you can't play any of the games unless you have a USB controller of some sort. Or at least that's how it was like for me, I had to Alt+Ctrl+Del many times trying to move in the menu screen or even just to exit out. Luckily, I have a USB Arcade stick I use for my fighting games on PS3 and is compatible with the 3 gundemonium games. So after finding out I needed a USB controller to play the games, I started each of the 3 games up and tried them out (and eventually beat all of them). It's a bit confusing at first having to alternate between shooting, mana usage, bombs, switching directions, and rapid fire (all depending which game you play), but I eventually got used to it. The characters really affects how the game works as some are faster, some have no range, some require charging, etc. It might seem unfair at times when the character is too slow to dodge fast bullets or when they're to fast to weave through multiple bullets, but they can be adapted to and no longer become problems (for the most part). The controls are very responsive and you don't have to constantly mash the buttons for firing (except for Hitogata Happa). It's a bit more difficult to switch between regular movement and slow movement in Hitogata Happa as slowing down means an alternate attack by holding down the fire key. For the most part, the controls are tight and responsive, but Hitogata Happa has control schemes that make it a bit more difficulty to maneuver around. Buttons: 8/10
Concept and Content
Most of the changes are mainly translations for words, a remixed track, and possibly the inclusion of online play (I'm not sure if it was there before). Although it doesn't seem very much to add to the game, having it localized and compatible with steam, leaderboards, online play and being able to read everything really offers a lot to the player who wants to be able to fully appreciate the game to its fullest. The first game is played horizontally like Gradius but all the graphics are human, monsters, objects of sorts that's not "sci-fi". The first game has a total of 5 stages with mini-bosses and bosses. It's just like any other shooter where you keep going right and fight off all the enemies and beat the boss at the end. The unique twists are the bullet patterns, the abilities the characters use, and bomb-saving (using a bomb to counter-act losing a life). The 2nd game is similar except that the player can now change directions to face left to shoot enemies from behind. Hitogata Happa probably is the most unique. It's played vertically and uses "dolls" as the fighters. The keys are very simple: fire, hold to alternate fire and slow down, and switch which doll goes next after death. The goal is the same: get to the boss and defeat them to move to the next level. The hard part is that you can't die after time runs out at a boss battle or it's an automatic game over. And what the bosses are most susceptible to are the bombs. The bomb is actually the doll itself, and you have to successfully ram into an enemy in order for it to activate. If you get shot, it doesn't count and the explosion won't go off. Because you lose your doll, you'll get to make a lot with 12 max of each doll with 8 in total and 4 that can be unlocked (probably by finishing each difficulty level. The easiest one gave me a really hard time). So each of those 8-12 dolls can perform their own attacks and specials. This is why Hitogata Happa is so unique, but it's also frustrating. It might sound easy to ram your tiny character into a large boss, but remember that it's a bullet hell and you have to weave through several hundred pellets trying to kill you to get to the boss. And having 12 dolls of each one sounds like a lot to keep you alive, but the main problem is running out of time on the boss battles. There's also special mission modes for each of the games where the player can fulfill a task by playing a certain way. Like in Hitogata Happa, you can play solo mode where you only use one kind of doll to try to finish the entire game. I really like the level designs (the bullet patterns) of Gundemonium 1 and 2 and I like the bomb concept in Hitogata Happa as it changes the way the player approaches the situations of boss battles (you generally stay on the very bottom, but ramming means having to go up close). The story of each one is ambiguous and not entirely important, but a PDF with more information for each game is available on the official website if players are interested in the lore. So for a shooter made by one guy and localized by a team with remixed tracks and such, it's a pretty interesting one that's different, challenging, and enjoyable. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
I kind of wish Gundemonium 1 and 2 had a few extra levels and made it longer, but 5 level is a decent amount. Hitogata Happa has 6 levels and that was more than enough for me (I hated boring/difficult some of the boss battles were and had to restart countless times for running out of time). I can feel the progression of each level as it becomes harder to dodge bullets and the screen is filled with more enemies in the higher levels. I liked the pacing of the first two games more than Hitogata Happa, even though it's more unique of a shooter. I think what I really like about the games is the replay value. There's 4 levels of difficulty, a lot of characters to choose from, various modes and missions, and an online play for the 2nd game so a friend can suffer the torment of absolute chaos with you. I'll be replaying each one to try to finish the harder difficulty levels, try out the new characters and modes, and to play online. Duration: 9/10
Fun
My first impression was that it was hard, but only because I started at the hardest difficulty level to see how crazy the game can become. I liked how it was fast-paced, had a lot of action and required a lot of focus out of me. I like the challenge in shooters, and so Gundemonium is my type of game. I got through Gundemonium 1 and 2 fairly quickly (about 30 mins each), yet it still proved to be quite difficult during the boss battles. Hitogata Happy drove me nuts the first time I played it because I had no idea how to beat the first boss until I read on the PDF on the official website that you're supposed to ram right into it when the "flow" meter is full. The rest of the game was alright and it was fun experimenting with all the different dolls, but the last 2 levels proved to be very annoying with a lot of bosses that were difficult to beat because they required so many bombs to defeat and shooting them took too long and made me run out of time. I complained a lot about Hitogata Happa throughout this review and it's because I half loved it (the innovation, forcing the player to go to the top of the screen and also utilizing the different abilities of each doll) and half hated it (I can't get near anything without some pellet knocking my doll out and forcing me to fill up my flow gauge again). What I think I felt was a genuine kind of entertainment I once had with shooters from the retro days. The game was hard, but it was always possible. That excitement I feel of dodge and weaving through thousands of bullets each level was good and reminded me of the simple game play that made videogames fun. I didn't need a deep storyline or incredible 3D graphics to enhance the amount of fun I had. The game is pure and innovative, but it's also reaching out to a niche group of gamers so not everyone will have fun with the 3 games. Yes, it was frustrating but it felt good to complete each of those games. After I completed them, I wanted more of it. What's good is that it still had more to offer. Fun: 9/10
Overall
I bought the collection for $5 and enjoyed each one, even though there were times where I was groaning and complaining about losing at pivotal moments. Traditional shooters are rare nowadays, at least in the western market. I really hope that shooters are still made and brought over, and Gundemonium Collection was a good purchase that reminded me that these types of games are still really fun to play and shouldn't be abandoned by game developers. The art style is silly, cute and wild; the music is really exciting, the controls are great and offers all sorts of different play styles, and the concepts are different and possibly fresh for some gamers. Getting the game at $5 or even at its regular price of $10 would be a good investment if you're the type to enjoy hardcore/difficult games, shoot-em-ups, or want to try something new. I hope Rockin' Android translates and localize more games in the future. Overall: 8.6/10
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