Post here when you beat a game. I mean it! - Page 74

Brad Gallaway · 11-23-2006, 05:29 AM

man, nobody posted since me last time?

i finished Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins on PSP yesterday and did a review. ouch, i was majorly disappointed in it... i'll save the details, but this is one case where if the game had been friendlier, i would have gone for total 100%. as it was, i got the first ending (22 rings, for anybody who's played it) and left it at that. i'm sort of bummed. = /

Brad Gallaway · 12-03-2006, 02:37 AM

Wow, I’m replying to my own post again? Come on people, you got to finish your games!

I finished Chibi-Robo a day or two ago, and I was quite surprised at what a fun, creative, and sophisticated game it was. It was a lot longer than expected, and although it looks on its surface to be aimed squarely at children, a lot of the challenges and side quests can be extremely tricky to figure out.

I’m going to be including this one in a future Basement for sure, but I would strongly recommend any Cube fans out there pick this one up. It sort of reminds me of a bizarre mix of Morrowind and Clock Town from Majora’s Mask in some ways… it may not be for everybody, but I was quite surprised and extremely satisfied with it.

Total thumbs up.

MoriartyL · 12-03-2006, 03:25 AM

Yah, Chibi Robo is fantastic. It actually reminded me most of a soap opera (which just happened to be mostly about talking toys and animals and.. things), which is hardly standard content for a videogame. And I wish that this game were episodic.

Zanbatou · 12-03-2006, 09:44 AM

I just beat Cave Story/Doukutsu Monogatari. Twice. Two and a half times, actually. In one sitting. It took about ten hours. I really need to stop playing that game...

Though in my defense.. the second playthrough was to unlock a secret level and hidden ending that I'd never seen before. And it was totally worth it. :P

jwe8k · 12-05-2006, 01:21 AM

Zelda. Now I may return to my life.

Adelleda · 12-05-2006, 07:13 AM

Just beat hitman: contracts. Got silent Assasin on every level, its a pretty tough game.

Gene Park · 12-05-2006, 03:26 PM

My first post in the longest thread in GC history:

I beat Zelda, and I know what you mean about getting back to life. Unfortunately I've been on a game-buying frenzy, trying to buy up titles that may disappear since the "128-bit" generation is nearly over.

I beat Stubbs the Zombie. I know the game mechanics are simple enough to be boring, but I thought the game itself was short enough to keep it from being boring. The story itself is charming, and the satire is mildly clever and doesn't beat the player over the head. It seems more of an admiration to the 1950s era than anything else. Plus the soundtrack gets bonus points. I was a little turned off at the blue-ish greenish hue prevalent throughout the gameplay sections.

I also beat Doom 3. The game is a few levels too long for the amount of gimmickry in it, but the gimmick worked for me. It's a monumental achievement in atmosphere.

fishgills7 · 12-06-2006, 12:00 AM

I just beat Red Steel. It's a fun game, but really suffers from a lack of polish. There's glitches everywhere throughout the game - nothing so bad that they break the game, but the sheer number of them is distracting and annoying. I got stuck in one area of the game because an enemy that I had to kill in order to progress was clipped into an indestructible crate. The physics engine is also either non-descript or stupid. Bodies either fall to the ground or get stuck on shelves or tables twitching. At one point, the game effectively stymied itself by having an enemy ninja step out of my sword range... where he continued to stand unmoving for the next 10 minutes before I reset the game. The checkpoint save system will either save your progress... or it just won't, so stopping play in between levels is risky.

I've heard that there's also a glitch that makes the cursor jump around erratically, but I haven't encountered it except in cutscenes.

Most of the features that are intended to add to the basic shooting fall flat. You're instructed on how to knock over tables in the first level... then you never do it again throughout the rest of the game. The "respect" system is really just a point tally, and a rough gauge for how far you are in the game. As far as I can tell, its only purpose is to give you the illusion of earning new sword moves and guns when they're actually just distributed after every level. The sword fighting itself is paced and requires a degree of strategy. It can be amusing, but the transition between actual controller movements and onscreen slashes is awkward and nonrepresentative. The basic problem is, comboes require specific slashes, but moving the controller into position to perform the required movement will often be read as the slash itself. So if I'm trying to do a horizontal slash to start my combo, I need to make an angled downwards motion to get into position before the swing, which the game will usually read as the attack itself.

Those problems aside, the game is still built on a very playable core. The shooting is a lot of fun. While the aiming isn't immediately intuitive, you get the hang of it after a few levels. The primary difficulty is how turning is handled. Instead of constantly recentering the camera view to the position of the onscreen cursor, the game requires you to completely point the wiimote offscreen to begin turning, then move it back onscreen to stop. This makes it practically impossible to aim and turn at the same time. When enemies are far enough away, this isn't a problem at all, but close range enemies will require you to "lock on" with the A button so the camera will automatically track for you. If all this sounds complicated, it actually becomes natural halfway through the game.

My major gripe with the game is the trashy and offensive storyline and presentation. This isn't an issue that has been given much press in reviews, but the game makes a caricature of Japanese culture and embodies the Western Exotic Oriental Fantasy. Every single character in the game is a stereotype - your fiance is the Asian lotus blossom, your sword trainer is the aging honor-bound samurai, his daughter is the dragon lady, the main villain is a young impotent Japanese upstart who doesn't respect the vaguely defined "old ways" that you, the Western invader, are defending. Of course, all of them speak through thick fake Japanese accents. Halfway through the game, you're given a quest to save Geisha - of course, you'll have to contend with sexualized China dolls and make them submit. Then you go off and fight ninjas. It's like the game designers sat down and based a game around 80's "American ninja" movies. The whole idea of the game is the not-so-subtle Western appropriation of Japanese culture. You need to defend Japanese culture from the Japanese, because they don't respect it in the same way that an American does. Of course, at the very end of the game, the honorable samurai praises you for bringing the wisdom of peace to his troubled people. How? By killing hundreds of them.

All-in-all, I liked playing the game, it was an interesting novel experience that worked well. There was a distinct lack of polish which hurt the game overall, but didn't break it. If not for the subtle racism that permeates the game, I would recommend this to anyone who has a Wii and enjoys shooters.

Brad Gallaway · 12-06-2006, 12:16 AM

great writeup, Fishgills... thanks for the words. interesting stuff, indeed.

Sajon · 12-06-2006, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishgills7

My major gripe with the game is the trashy and offensive storyline and presentation. This isn't an issue that has been given much press in reviews, but the game makes a caricature of Japanese culture and embodies the Western Exotic Oriental Fantasy. Every single character in the game is a stereotype - your fiance is the Asian lotus blossom, your sword trainer is the aging honor-bound samurai, his daughter is the dragon lady, the main villain is a young impotent Japanese upstart who doesn't respect the vaguely defined "old ways" that you, the Western invader, are defending. Of course, all of them speak through thick fake Japanese accents. Halfway through the game, you're given a quest to save Geisha - of course, you'll have to contend with sexualized China dolls and make them submit. Then you go off and fight ninjas. It's like the game designers sat down and based a game around 80's "American ninja" movies. The whole idea of the game is the not-so-subtle Western appropriation of Japanese culture. You need to defend Japanese culture from the Japanese, because they don't respect it in the same way that an American does. Of course, at the very end of the game, the honorable samurai praises you for bringing the wisdom of peace to his troubled people. How? By killing hundreds of them.

This is the sort of commentary I'd like to see more in reviews. It's not academic but it makes an point about race and culture that is both intelligent and accessible.

-Matt

Sajon · 12-06-2006, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Brad

I would strongly recommend any Cube fans out there pick this one up. It sort of reminds me of a bizarre mix of Morrowind and Clock Town from Majora’s Mask in some ways… it may not be for everybody, but I was quite surprised and extremely satisfied with it.

Whoa. That got my attention. How is it like those games? Because the right combination of elements from both of those games would make Chibi-Robo a must play for me. (Hint: I like richly detailed, non-linear worlds like in Morrowind... only I like them with people and stuff in them I can care about like in Majora's Mask.)

-Matt

MoriartyL · 12-06-2006, 01:55 PM

Dunno about Morrowind, but it's easy to see the comparison to Majora's Mask. It revolves around a large cast of interesting and extremely quirky characters, each with a lengthy character arc involving some sort of personal problem which you (as Chibi) help them out with. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much heart was in these stories.

And it is a must-play.

Sajon · 12-06-2006, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Dunno about Morrowind, but it's easy to see the comparison to Majora's Mask. It revolves around a large cast of interesting and extremely quirky characters, each with a lengthy character arc involving some sort of personal problem which you (as Chibi) help them out with. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much heart was in these stories.

And it is a must-play.

Is it non-linear like Majora's Mask?

-Matt

MoriartyL · 12-06-2006, 03:12 PM

I don't remember Majora's Mask being nonlinear, but the stories here are all linear. They wouldn't make much sense otherwise, would they?

Sajon · 12-06-2006, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I don't remember Majora's Mask being nonlinear, but the stories here are all linear. They wouldn't make much sense otherwise, would they?

In Majora's Mask, you can do the stories in any order, parts of them intersect, you can do two at the same time, etc. Is this what Chibi-Robo is like, or is it just a bunch of isolated mini-quests?

-Matt