Video Game Review #247: Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon

Sega Saturn

Nostalgia Factor:

This is kind of sad. I've now played through each and every game in my Sega Saturn library. After I finalize this post, I will officially have no more Sega Saturn games to review. I'm not an emulator person and I haven't seen any used Saturn games at the local replay stores in literally years. But if this is my last ever Sega Saturn review, it is a pretty darn good one to end on.

I first played Panzer Dragoon back in 1995. I had a demo disc for the Saturn that had a level of this game on it. I played that one level over and over again many times. I never did end up buying the actual game, but I did rent it and its sequel (Panzer Dragoon II Zwei) a few times. Outside of that, it has been literally over twenty years since I have played this game. My recent playthrough of Panzer Dragoon Orta made me want to return to this title to see how the two compared.

While Orta has the prettier graphics and a more varied playing style, I found that I actually enjoyed the old outdated original better. How could this happen? Let's explore.

Story:

    

There's really not much to see here. I've never been interested in the storyline of ANY Panzer Dragoon game, and this one is no exception. The game's plot is razor thin. You hop aboard a blue dragon who tells you that you have to stop another dragon (an evil one) from reaching a distant tower. So off you go, fighting through a bunch of levels until you face off with this dragon at the end of the game. The end.

While the plot may be a bit thin, the mysterious world of the game is what keeps things interesting. It's part apocalyptic ruin, part bleak future, part fantasy, part sci-fi. It is hard to explain, but for the most part it works. It doesn't make the story any better, but it at least adds a cool feeling of mystery to the game.

Gameplay:

This is a rail-shooter, similar to games like Star Fox or Solar Eclipse. You mainly control your dragon from a behind the back perspective. There is an aiming reticule that you use to shoot down enemies. Hold down the shoot button and you can lock on to multiple enemies at a time and launch a volley of homing missiles at them. If you've ever played Star Fox 64, you should have no problem understanding the mechanics of this game.

The thing that makes Panzer Dragoon unique (for its time) is its ability to rotate the camera 360 degrees in all directions. There is a radar on the top right-hand side of the screen that shows your enemies locations. If you notice enemies coming up behind you, you can turn the camera so it is pointing behind your dragon and then shoot these enemies down. Same thing if they appear on your side. The deeper into the game you get, the more enemies you are going to encounter - and they can come at you from all directions. Be prepared to rotate that camera around quite a bit! The action can be fast, frenzied, and very intense.

This is a pretty short game, as it contains only six stages, with a boss at the end of each of them. I've seen some reviewers say it took them about an hour and a half to beat the game. I didn't time my playthrough, but that sounds about right. It might have taken me a little longer. The game can be fairly difficult at times with all these enemies coming at you from every direction. Some of the bosses can be a bit challenging too.

Graphics:

For a game that is 25 years old I think it looks pretty good. Sure there is some of that classic Saturn pixelization, but I'm willing to overlook that. This game is a product of its time - and in 1995 this was cutting edge. 

The environments are varied, colorful, and fun. The enemy design is very unique as the creatures in this game lend an air of authenticity to its odd setting. I like the water effects as well as the shifting camera angles when you have to maneuver through tight tunnels. 

Everything is clear and easy to see. I never "lost" an enemy because I couldn't see it due to shitty graphics. Everything looks good! Dated, but good. No complaints in this department whatsoever.

Sound:

I really like this game's orchestral musical score. At first it seems a little bit out of place seeing as the world of the game is a bit dark and serious, but it grows on you after a while. The musical track for the first stage of the game is one of my favorite Saturn tracks of all time. It is just so purely iconic to me.

When the game slows down, the music slows down too. A lot of the little environmental touches regarding the game's music are very well done. The sound effects are great too. The shooting and blasting sounds fit the aesthetic of the game perfectly. The little whimpering sound your dragon makes when it gets hit makes me sad every time. 

Again: no complaints in this department whatsoever.

Here is the song from the first level that I love so much. Listen to it. Just listen to it!!! Beautiful.

Overall:

To be honest I was never a huge fan of either this game or its sequel when I was younger. I fully expected to play this game and be like: "meh." But that didn't happen. I had a really good time with this! It's fun, it's got a great musical score, it's challenging but not overly challenging, its graphics are super charming. And it really rings that nostalgia bell pretty hardcore.

While it is technically probably a much weaker game than Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox, I had a lot more fun with this than I did that game. It's short, it's to the point. It doesn't even try to give you a compelling story. It's just like: here you go - shoot stuff! And it works.

Although this is the last Saturn game I own, if I ever come across its sequel I will play and review the hell out of it. I remember it being a lot tougher than this game, but infinitely deeper and more beautiful at the same time. One game I have ALWAYS wanted to play, however, is Panzer Dragoon Saga - an RPG for the Sega Saturn that came out in 1998. I scoured every video game store looking for that game when I was a kid but I could never get my hands on a copy of it. Now when I look online I see it is available to buy for, like, over a thousand dollars. As much as I want to play the game (and I DESPERATELY want to play that game!) it is not worth that kind of money. If the video game gods are kind, I will somehow find a way to be able to play that game between now and the time I die. Please?

Anyway, this game was a blast. It's a shame the series never got the recognition it deserved. If you ever get the chance to play this game, and you're a fan of the genre, I would highly encourage you to check it out.

Final Score:

B+

All my other Saturn reviews for you to revel in:

Alien Trilogy

Bug!

Congo the Movie: The Lost City of Zinj

Fighters Megamix

Nights Into Dreams

Solar Eclipse

Sonic R

The Legend of Oasis

Virtua Cop 2

:(

Re-Review #10: Life Is Strange

Life Is Strange 

PlayStation 4

For my original review of this game click

<HERE!>

Well, here we go: my tenth re-review. When I first started this blog about six years ago I told myself that I was going to play through and review my entire game library and as soon as I finished a game I would not allow myself to play it again until I had played through EVERYTHING in my library. Well clearly I have strayed from that path as I have now replayed and rereviewed ten games in that timeframe. But if you think about it, ten games in the span of six years isn't that much. Comes out to a little less than two replays per year. Otherwise, I have been sticking pretty strong to my goal!

There are a few reasons I played this game again. The main reason being that I played Life is Strange: Before the Storm earlier in the year. Since that game is a prequel, it made me want to follow up and play this one again. I was really interested in its characters and I wanted to see how the two games flowed together as far as continuity and that kind of thing. The other reason being that I wanted to get this game's platinum trophy! I had missed so many trophies the last time through, I knew it was only a matter of time before I came back and scooped up all the ones I'd missed.

In my previous review of this game, I gave it the final score of a B. I praised the game's storyline and characters while I was critical of its gameplay, graphics, and confusing time travel plot holes. This time around though I found myself appreciating the game a bit more. There's still a little bit that doesn't make sense to me (is that a dream sequence towards the end of the last chapter or what the hell is going on?) but I found that it didn't wreck my enjoyment of the game.

I'm not going to recap this game's plot for you, as I already did that in my initial review. These re-reviews are meant to be quick. So what did I like more about the game this time around?

I felt a lot more of an emotional connection with the game's characters, and that made all the difference. I fell in love with Chloe during Life is Strange: Before the Storm. The first time I played this I had no idea who she was and I didn't really connect too much with her at all. But after playing the prequel and seeing her relationship with Rachel, and how she coped with the loss of her father really made me relate to her more as a character.

And even though we never actually meet Rachel as a character in this game, having played Before the Storm really helped me understand the depth of her relationship with Chloe, and this made the whole entire game hit a lot harder with me. The stakes felt so much higher. There is a heavy feeling in the air surrounding Rachel's disappearance that I experienced this time around that I did not feel on my previous playthrough.

Things felt more personal this time around. Once again, I didn't cry as I played, but that scene where Max goes back and saves Chloe's dad only for Chloe to wind up paralyzed and wanting to kill herself? Damn.

I've really come to love the Life is Strange series and its interesting complexities. This game is good. Its prequel is good. The characters are fantastic. If you are a fan of story-driven games you really can't go wrong here.

I have yet to play Life is Strange 2 yet, but playing this again has definitely moved it higher up onto my priority list. I can't wait to see what it has in store for me.

Final Score:

A-

All my previous re-reviews:

Castlevania (NES)

Contra (NES)

Game of Thrones: A Telltale Game Series (PS3)

Resident Evil 4 (GC)

Super Star Wars (SNES)

The Walking Dead Season One (PS3)

The Walking Dead Season Two (PS3)

The Walking Dead: Michonne (PS3)

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)

Video Game Review #246: Star Fox Assault

Star Fox: Assault

GameCube

Nostalgia Factor:

I feel like I'm finally starting to make a little progress working through my backlog of games. I've played through most of the big-time classics from my childhood - so now I am moving on to games that I've purchased in the last 10 to 20 years that I never got around to playing for some reason or another. My last review (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow) was such a game, and so is this one: Star Fox: Assault.

Even though I was a big fan of the Star Fox games for the SNES and the Nintendo 64, I never bothered to check this game out. I think I ended up buying it in the mid to early 2010s, but never played it because I'd heard it had received bad reviews. I finally played it here in 2020, 15 years after the game's initial release. Would I like it or would the bad reviews be right? Let's find out.

Story:

This game takes place after Star Fox Adventures, which took place after Star Fox 64. The universe is still feeling the aftereffects of Andross's defeat. An old threat has returned - the Aparoids, an insectoid creature that nearly destroyed everyone in the galaxy seventeen years ago. Some of Andross's old goons try to use these creatures to win the fight against Star Fox, but as expected it doesn't go well. The whole game basically consists of you (as Fox) fighting the Aparoids. An old foe you might remember from Star Fox 64 - Star Wolf - arrives to fight alongside you and your crew.

This game's story isn't too horribly deep or memorable. In fact, I think it may be the weakest of any of the Star Fox stories, which is a shame because you can tell it is really trying. I can't say I was into it. One little touch I do appreciate is how the lore of Star Fox Adventures is woven into this tale. It was fun seeing Krystal as a part of the crew, and unexpected seeing Tricky again. I can't deny that his cameo brought a smile to my face. I thought we'd seen the last of him!

Gameplay:

While I enjoyed this game's predecessor, Star Fox Adventures, it didn't feel like a true Star Fox title to me with its Zelda-inspired gameplay. I wanted to see how the Gamecube would handle a "classic" Star Fox Arwing flying title, but I didn't really get what I was looking for.

Things started out okay. The first level seemed like a good warmup. It looked like Star Fox, it felt like Star Fox. Then I moved on to the second level, which is where the game nearly lost me. Now, I knew coming into this that there would be levels where you get out of the Arwing and proceed on-foot. In fact, I was looking forward to these levels. If done right they could have added a lot to the Star Fox experience. But therein lies the problem:  they weren't done right.

The controls are never really explained. You're just dropped off into a battlefield and it's like: here you go! I figured out quickly that you can run, jump, shoot, and collect items. You walk around the open environment, blasting away at all the targets highlighted in red on the map. You can enter tanks to fly over walls, shoot down doors, and fight some of the tougher enemies. If the tank is destroyed you find yourself back on foot again. Don't worry, the tank will respawn almost immediately. But sometimes there are areas you have to enter on-foot because the tank won't fit. And that's about it: destroy all the targets, pass the stage. On to the next one.

My problem with these stages is that they don't feel like Star Fox at all. Not only that, but they feel very generic and sloppily put together to me. You just walk around spamming the shoot button. I didn't even know you could change weapons since the game doesn't explain this LITERALLY EVER so the first several stages I walked around trying to fight off enemies with my generic default pea shooter weapon. When I eventually found out how to change weapons, I ended up with a sniper rifle and a machine in my arsenal, among other weapons. It still didn't make me enjoy these on the ground segments of the game. They just felt so horribly outdated and out of place. If this wasn't a Star Fox title I never would have even given this game a second look.

The saving grace of this game, however, is luckily the flying stages. I wish there were more of them. Instead, it is more of a 50/50 split between ground and flying missions. But like I said earlier, they look and feel like Star Fox. I mean, no these segments aren't as good as they are in Star Fox or Star Fox 64, but they are still entertaining. It was a delight seeing the Star Wolf group again and engaging in space duels with them. Some of the missions are pretty clever and fun and engaging. I had a good time with these stages.

But those ground stages... they really made this game a chore for me to play and I don't know if I can forgive them for that.

Graphics:

This game looks pretty good. Bright colors, clever environments, fun lighting effects, well-designed characters. It was a treat for me seeing the world of Star Fox brought to life with the power of the Nintendo GameCube. Seeing how far things have come since the very basic looking original Star Fox game is a fun thing for someone like me who grew up in that era of gaming.

Sound:

Star Fox 64's soundtrack brings me much joy, and it was fun for me to hear some of those tunes adapted and remixed for Star Fox: Assault. The game's original music didn't really do much for me, however. And the voice acting seems like it has gotten worse since Star Fox 64. I mean it technically has probably gotten a lot better, but there is just something about Star Fox 64's voice acting that worked whereas to me it didn't work here. The characters in the N64 version of the game had such memorable and distinct voices. This game? Not so much.

Overall:

I wanted to like this game, I really did. I was hopeful the bad reviews I'd read were wrong. But they weren't. I mean, this isn't necessarily a BAD game. Yeah I didn't like the on-foot stages but I wouldn't say they were unbearable or awful. They were tolerable, just not very fun. Nothing special whatsoever. The flying stages are fine but to me they were nothing too great either. I like that it feels and plays like classic Star Fox, but there's not a single iconic stage or moment in this game that rivaled anything seen in Star Fox 64. The flying stages are missing that game's heart, and it's missing it badly.

The combination of this game's weird story and its snooze-inducing dialogue and its barely fun ground stages and its mediocre flying stages and its inconsistent pace really kills it for me. Some parts of this game are good but the end result of everything together: no. I could not garner any excitement when playing this game whatsoever. It's such a middle of the pack game. I'd play two stages and get bored and turn it off and go do something else. It should have taken me a day or two to beat this game and it took me almost two weeks instead.

And like I said, I can't even say this game is bad either. It doesn't do anything extremely well, and it doesn't do anything extremely poorly either. It's just so... average. But it is so average in a way that makes it below average. If that makes any sense whatsoever. I don't know. And I really don't care.

Is this a good game?

Nah. Sorry, I can't recommend this one to you, even if you are a die-hard fan of the franchise.

Final Score:

D

If you liked this review, check out some of my others:

Star Fox 64

Star Fox Adventures

Solar Eclipse

Panzer Dragoon Orta

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Video Game Review #245: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

PlayStation 3

Nostalgia Factor:

I purchased this game years and years ago, telling myself I would get around to playing it "someday". I would say this had been sitting on my shelf for a good six or seven years before that mythical someday finally came. When I fired this game up, I was astonished to see that it was actually ten years old, having been released in 2010.

I knew nothing about this game, other than that I'd heard its gameplay was similar to God of War or Dante's Inferno. I like those games, so I was relatively optimistic I would like this one too.

So, would I? Let's find out.

Story:

It is going to be a struggle for me to explain this game's storyline to you. Let me just be upfront: I paid this game's story almost no attention whatsoever. Video games have a certain window of opportunity to get me invested in their stories, and this game lost my interest very, very early on. You are thrust into the action too quickly, and little to no details are given to you about the main character or the lore of the world. The whole game is just you moving from one action set piece to the next, battling demonic creatures and boss enemies. There are custscenes where the game's story is explained a bit more, but I found them to be a bit too fast moving - and with no background info on the character or the world of the game I just couldn't muster the energy to become interested in what was happening. Everything sounded like a bunch of gibberish to me.

My basic, BASIC interpretation of the game is that you play as one of the first, if not the very first Belmonts in existence. He is a member of some kind of ancient order dedicated to battling and destroying evil monsters (or something). His wife is killed and he makes it his mission to defeat all the bad guys so he can assemble some mask pieces that will bring her back to life. I don't freaking know. What I do remember is that - SPOILER ALERT! - the dude helping you out for most of the game is actually bad, and you have to defeat him at the end of the game.

Stay tuned after the credits as the game moves into the modern era with a big, shocking twist. I know this game has a sequel. Does it take place in the present day? Maybe someday if I ever play it I will find out.

Gameplay:

I already mentioned that this game has been compared to God of War, and from the moment I turned it on I could easily see why. Your whole moveset is very comparable to the PS2 and PS3 God of War titles. You move the same, you jump the same, you climb the same, you walk over wooden planks the same, you fight the same, your combos are the same, the QTEs are the same, the level of violence and gore is the same, even some of the puzzle elements are the same. So if you like God of War, I should see no reason why you wouldn't like this one.

There are a few major differences worth highlighting. You earn light and dark magic as you play, and how you utilize this magic greatly affects your experience. Equip light magic in battle, and every blow you land fills your health gauge. Use dark magic in battle to have your attacks pack an extra large wallop. Strategically switching back and forth between these two magics is key to mastering this game's combat. You can also pick up items to use in combat along the way: throwing knives, fairies that distract your opponents, holy water grenades, and a dark crystal that summons a truly horrifying creature onto the field of battle to damage your enemies.

While some puzzle elements (like pushing blocks around, rearranging mirrors to reflect beams of light around the room, etc) are repeated - this game does have some relatively challenging puzzles that took me a while to figure out. It's not often a game stumps me, but I had to look online for help many, many times as I played.

While this game leans heavily on God of War for inspiration, a few of its boss battles lean on a separate old-school PS2 game as well: Shadow of the Colossus. As you make your way through the game's story you'll encounter some mammoth sized bosses that you have to climb to take down. You have to grab and hold on as the enemy tries to shake you off, and then take advantage when you can and approach the enemy's weak spot, a blue glowing symbol that you have to stab over and over again with your sword. Sound familiar? It's not even trying to pretend it isn't ripping Shadow of the Colossus off!

You gain experience points as you play, and you can use these points to learn new combos, moves, and attacks. An interesting thing about this game is that as you play you are going to encounter doors and obstacles that you cannot pass. You have to come back later on in the game after you've learned the proper move that you need in order to access the area you were trying to get into. I'll admit, I never bothered to come back and look for things I missed as that would have required me coming back and playing almost every single level over again to get everything: and I don't have time for that shit. If you are a super dedicated player, however, I can see that this might add a ton of replay value to the game for you.

Graphics:

This game looks FANTASTIC. I can't believe it is a 10 year old PS3 game. It looks better than some games I've played in recent memory (*cough cough Nier: Automata *cough cough). The vibrant color scheme, the detailed stages, the grotesque monsters that you fight, the giant cinematic boss battles: everything looks great. The human character models look really good too (although I personally think Gabriel looks like a douchey frat boy sometimes). The world of this game is very atmospheric. Even though I don't know much about this game's world, it is brought to life masterfully. The amount of detail poured into it is truly remarkable. My wife doesn't normally comment on the video games I play, but even she had to point out how much she loved the look of this game and how cool she thought its graphics to be.

Sound:

This game sounds really good too! Great musical score, great sound effects, just an overall highly cinematic quality to the game's sound. The voice acting is for the most part pretty decent. Any time you can get Patrick Stewart to lend his voice to a game is a major win for the developer. I do have a complaint though: I think they may have wasted Patrick's talents in this game. Too often it sounds like he is phoning it in and/or reading from a script. With the other characters this isn't as bad or as noticeable, but with an actor of Patrick's quality it becomes glaringly obvious. I've never been more disinterested in a Patrick Stewart role in my life. And I don't think he has either!

Overall:

This game surprised me in a good way. I expected a corny and generic God of War clone, but I got a lengthy, engaging, and quite fun title instead. I may even go as far as to say that I liked this more than any of the first three mainstream titles in the God of War series, although the first God of War holds sentimental value for me. It would be one thing if Lords of Shadow ripped those games off and didn't do it in a way that was fun or entertaining - but it does the complete opposite and actually improves upon the formula. Throw in some challenging puzzles and challenging combat sequences, and the game made me a big fan! So many games are way too easy these days. I liked the challenge that Lords of Shadow brought to the table. I was always wanting to push on and see what they had in store for me next.

The game is long, too. Since this is so similar to God of War I expected a ten hour story, if that. I am not sure how long this game ended up being, but with 13 chapters filled with stages that can be quite lengthy and challenging, I always got the impression that this was much longer than any God of War game I had played. If I had gone back and collected everything I missed, it would have added hours and hours of additional gameplay for my enjoyment as well. But I didn't do that. Maybe someday in the future if I ever come back to this?

So yeah, good game! I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. I've grown a little sick of the tried and true God of War formula in recent years, but this game takes what is so fun about those games and improves upon it in its own special way. It's long, it's challenging, it's beautiful to look at. If only it had a more interesting story, one that tied into "Castlevania as I know it" in literally ANY way, shape, or form. It's almost like it isn't even a Castlevania game at all, it was something new or original and last minute they changed the character's name to Belmont and slapped Castlevnia on the title screen to sell more copies. I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what happened, actually. But I'm not going to research it because I have bigger and better things to do.

Bottom line: this is a fun game and if you are at all interested in the hack and slash genre, I would check this out. If you are an old school Castlevania fan and you are expecting this to be like the old games, but moved into the 3D realm, you may come away disappointed. If so, just play the game. It may win you over after all.

Final Score:

B+

If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:

God of War

God of War II

God of War: Chains of Olympus

God of War III

Tomb Raider Legend

Video Game Review #244: Tekken 2

Tekken 2

PlayStation

Nostalgia Factor:

Growing up, I was never a huge Tekken fan. In the 16-bit era I enjoyed games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. When things shifted to 3D I became a fan of the Virtua Fighter series. Although I had heard Tekken was good, I was a big time Sega supporter and never really gave Tekken too much a shot out of sheer stubbornness and loyalty to the Sega brand.

The most I ever played Tekken was on a PlayStation demo disc where the game was featured. You could only choose from two fighters, and the disc only let you engage in a fight or two before saying "thanks for playing, now buy this game" and sending you back to the main menu. Even with these limited options, I still played this demo quite a bit, marveling at the game's CGI introduction and hoping that I could unlock hidden characters and battles if I played around with it enough. That never happened.

I lost interest in fighting games somewhere around this time, and I never bothered to give the Tekken series another look until 2013 when I downloaded Tekken Revolution for the PS3 and played around with it for a couple weeks. The game was available for free on the PlayStation Store, otherwise I never would have given it a second look. I played just long enough to unlock all the game's trophies and then I deleted it from my hard drive forever.

I have not played another Tekken game since. I probably never would have returned to the series again if one of my coworkers didn't loan me their copy of Tekken 2 for the original PlayStation so I could review it for my blog. I figured why not? I am always appreciative when people give me games to review, so I accepted it and gave it a shot.

Not really being a big Tekken person growing up, I came into this with an open mind. But it is no big secret that fighting games are not one of my favorite genres. In fact, most fighting games I have reviewed for this blog have gotten terrible scores from me. Would Tekken 2 break the curse?

Story:

Without an instruction manual, it is really hard for me to tell you much about the story of this game because absolutely nothing is explained in-game. When you first fire up Tekken 2, there is a brief two-minute introduction video set to music where it shows a bunch of the fighters doing random things.

When you beat the game with any of the fighters, you get a quick 10 to 20 second long ending sequence for each of the fighters. But again, these don't tell you much about the story of the game. One character takes a motorcycle ride, but finds his path cut off by a rock slide. So he gets off his bike and punches the rocks away and smiles at the camera. Credits begin to roll. Another character gives a flower to a little girl, only to be destroyed by a satellite blast from outer space. Another character throws someone into a volcano. 

Do any of these endings explain anything? No.

Gameplay:

Forget about this game's storyline, and let's move on to more important things. Mainly: is it any fun to play? It is, actually. I had my doubts coming into this game, seeing as how much my opinion has soured on fighting games over the last several years. But I had a decent time playing this.

If you have played any fighting game ever, you should have a pretty good understanding of the game's basics. You're presented with a screen where you select your fighter. You can fight against a friend one-on-one, or you can play through a couple of different game modes. The main single player mode of this game is arcade mode, where you engage in a series of fights against the game's characters.

Once you've made your way through all your opponents, you fight against the game's final boss character: Devil. Who this Devil is, why you're fighting him, his relevance to the game's story... I have no idea. Like I said, I didn't have the game's instruction manual and literally nothing about the story is explained in-game. It is what it is.

Once you beat Devil, you watch your character's ending sequence, followed by the game's credits. Back to the title screen you go. A few other game modes include survival mode where you have to beat the whole game with one life bar (yeah no), time attack, and team battle. I passed on all of these game modes. Again, fighting games are just not my thing. Arcade mode was enough to suffice for me.

As far as Tekken 2's fighting mechanics, the game is pretty fun to play. Combat is less about fireballs and projectiles like other fighting games of its era and is instead more based on actual martial arts. The characters are diverse and have their own unique skillsets. What I like about this game is that all of its moves and button combinations can be found by hitting the pause menu. No more fumbling around, trying to luck into discovering each characters' move sets. It's all right there laid out for you.

Arcade mode can be completed in approximately 20 minutes or so depending on how good you are. My first playthrough took me a bit longer as I was still getting used to the game's controls. Subsequent playthroughs were a lot shorter. With each playthrough I noticed hidden characters being added to the character select menu. If this was 1996 and 14 year old me had rented Tekken 2 for the weekend, I am sure I would have kept playing until I unlocked them all, but that didn't happen here.

I played through the game about five or six times before I called it a wrap. Yet again, fighting games are not my thing and I had absolutely no interest in playing any of the other game modes or seeing all the endings. I can only do the same repetitive thing so many times before losing interest.

Graphics:

I grew up playing games that looked like this, so I have absolutely no problems with Tekken 2's graphics. I remember how cutting-edge this game was when it first came out. I still think it looks pretty good! It's not one of those games like the original Mortal Kombat that has aged so poorly to the point where it is almost unplayable. This game is very playable.

The characters looks good (if a bit blocky) and the scenery and backgrounds all are very colorful and fun to look at. Sure, this game probably looks awful by today's standards but I don't care about today's standards. I think this is a fine looking fighting game.

Sound:

This game sounds really good too. The music to the intro video is catchy and fun. Each stage's themes are very nice and perfectly fit what the game is trying to do. I have no complaints about the sound effects either. For a 90s fighting game, everything sounds exactly as it should, if not better. 

I guess my only gripe would be that there isn't really a memorable music track that sticks in your mind, nothing that you hear and instantly think: Tekken 2! To this day I still remember the music from Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat games that I have barely played in the last 20 years. I just played Tekken 2 a few days ago and I already can't remember most of its music. In another 30 days I won't remember any of it.

Overall:

I've said it many times already and I'll say it one more time for posterity's sake: fighting games are not my thing. I can't stress that enough. That said, I still had a relatively good time with Tekken 2. I didn't like this game so much that I would ever spend more than two or three hours with it, and in fact now that I'm done with the game I will probably never play it again. But considering my disdain for the genre, the fact that I didn't hate this game is quite impressive.

I realize that this game was revolutionary for its time. The graphics, the sound, the cutscenes, the presentation: all of it was top-notch for the 1990s. I would have loved this game as a kid and probably would have spent countless hours trying to unlock all the characters, while poring over the meaning of all their endings.

Present day Dan, however, doesn't have much use for this game. It's an interesting relic, and it is fun to play and look at just to see how far things have come. And the game does a lot of stuff right, too. The controls are nice, the characters and their styles are varied and diverse. The fact that the game doesn't hide each character's move list from you makes it easily much more accessible than most fighters of its era.

But now that I am done with this game, I am likely never going to play it again. And I won't miss it either. This doesn't mean I hate the game or that I dislike it. In fact, its final score is probably higher than it should be considering my thoughts on the genre as a whole. But I can't deny Tekken 2's impact on the fighting game genre, nor can I ignore how well-crafted of a game it is. I recognize that this is a really good fighting game, even though it is not necessarily my cup of tea.

Final Score:

B-

If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:

Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat II

Primal Rage

Fighters Megamix

Fighting Force

Video Game Review #243: Ecco: The Tides of Time

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Sega Genesis

Nostalgia Factor:

As a kid I was a big fan of the original Ecco the Dolphin. I don't know why, but I never ended up buying its sequel: Ecco: The Tides of Time. Instead, I only rented this game for one weekend. And what a weekend it was.

Right off the bat, this game drew me in. It wasn't just the improved graphics and the more forgiving gameplay - it was the game's story. Immediately you are thrown into the action in Ecco 2. Everything moves much faster. Time traveling dolphins from the future? You run into them in your first five minutes of playing.

Not only was the story great, the levels were more varied, and there was a lot more creativity in the design of some of these levels. I'll never forget my first time whipping through water tunnels above the ocean, or my first time aboard the alien ship, jumping out of the water and experimenting with the area's crazy gravity.

Growing up, I ALWAYS considered Ecco 2 to be the superior Ecco game. Because I never actually owned The Tides of Time, it wasn't until just recently that I actually had the chance to sit down and play Ecco 1 and 2 back to back.

Look at what I said in my review of the first Ecco, which I gave the final score of an A:

"The only reason I don’t give it an A+ is because I still have to play its sequel, and if memory serves me right I enjoyed the sequel much more than I did the original game. So as much as I love this game, I know that it can get even better. And for that I am really excited. I CAN’T WAIT to play it."

I posted this review a little over a month ago. Even then, I considered Tides of Time the superior game. And then I played Tides of Time. And you know what? I didn't like it as much as I did the first Ecco. In fact, it wasn't even really that close.

What happened? How could I have misjudged this game so much as a kid? How could my memory be so faulty? Read on and I shall explain.

Story:

When you sit down to play an Ecco the Dolphin game, it is important to know what you're getting into. Aliens, time travel, a dolphin destined to save the Earth. It probably sounds really horrible to the average person, but it really isn't as bad as it sounds. It is quite interesting actually.

Ecco 2 picks up where the first game left off. Ecco suddenly loses the powers granted to him by the Asterite, and quickly discovers that the Asterite has been killed. He is brought to the future by time traveling dolphins, where he learns that in this timeline the Asterite is still alive. Ecco is informed that when he used the time machine in the first game, he split the timeline in two - one where dolphins evolve and live in peace, and one where the Vortex Queen kills the Asterite and the Vortex take over Earth. 

Ecco goes back to save the Asterite by reassembling its pieces. His journeys take him from the ocean depths to the dark Vortex future, where the final pieces of the Asterite have been taken. Once reassembled, the Asterite gives Ecco his powers back, and Ecco leads his pod on an attack to destroy the Vortex once and for all.

You think the game is over here, but it is not. In fact, when I first played this as a kid I am not even sure I discovered the game's "real" ending. If you keep playing after the final credits roll, the Asterite tells Ecco that he must destroy the time machine to prevent any time splits from happening again.

Ecco returns to Atlantis and finds that the Vortex Queen is still alive. She uses the time machine to travel back to prehistoric times, but finds that she is no match for the creatures of that era. Forced to survive in such a harsh environment, the Vortex evolve into arthropod insects.

Rather than destroy the time machine, Ecco uses it to send himself... somewhere. The game never tells us where he went. Real responsible, Ecco! Just ignore the Asterite and leave the dangerous time machine there for someone else to fuck things up in the future. Good job! 

My theory: he returns to the "good" future to chase after some futuristic flying dolphin tail. I mean, can you blame him? Get it, Ecco!

Gameplay:

Basic gameplay is the same as it was in the first game, so if you are an Ecco veteran you should have no problem picking this one up and playing it.

There are some variations added to this game to diversify the gameplay. Most notable are the 3D stages where the camera changes to a behind the back view as you try to steer Ecco through some fast travel rings. While these stages are for the most part pretty easy, occasionally you'll encounter rings located above the water that are very hard to jump through. Additionally, you can use your sonar to kill enemies in front of you but you have to be careful as if you hit a ring with your sonar you destroy it and can not collect it anymore.

Ecco 2 also offers you the ability to morph into other animals as you progress through the game's story. You can change into a bird to fly over impassable cliffs. You can turn into jellyfish and sharks to navigate the harsh ocean wildlife. Towards the end of the game you can even morph into a school of fish as you make your way through the bowels of Atlantis. In a fun little twist, dolphins become your enemy when you morph into these sea creatures. What were once your allies you now find yourself running for your life from.

Aside from that, this is pretty much the Ecco you already know and love (or hate). You swim, you charge, you use your sonar, you push things around and you solve puzzles. The level variety introduces new gameplay elements like the ability to swim through above-ground water tunnels and to flop yourself around on dry land much easier than you could in the last game. Makes some of those tough jumps a lot more manageable.

There are a few things I didn't like about this game, but I'll save that for the end of my review, where I usually bitch about the game before I give it its final score. Why change the formula now?

Graphics:

I have to give credit where credit is due. I am very impressed with this game's visuals. For a Sega Genesis title from the early 90s, Ecco 2 looks phenomenal! 

There's so much color everywhere, and it pops pops pops. The art is great. The detail poured into the ocean and its creatures is top of the line. The animations are wonderful too. The people who made this game could have easily just kept the look of the original game and went with it. but they made things even purdier this time around.

The stage design is great too. You go more places in this game than you did in the first title, and the variety of the stages and their backgrounds is quite impressive. 

Sound:

The first Ecco delivered an amazing soundtrack and its sequel does not disappoint. As soon as the game loads up, you're introduced to one of my favorite tunes from the entire Ecco series and it sets the tone for this game immediately.

I won't lie and say that this game has as many memorable tracks as the first title, but its quality is still pretty impressive. I didn't notice many (if any) changes to the game's sound effects but that is a good thing in my opinion. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Overall:

There is a lot to love about this game. The music, the story, the graphics, the sound effects, the gameplay. It takes everything I liked about the first Ecco game and amplifies it tenfold. It is no wonder I liked this so much when I was a kid. So why don't I like it as much NOW?

Simple, the game is too easy. You heard me, too easy. The first Ecco the Dolphin is legendary in its difficulty, to the point where people bickered and complained about it. I think the makers of this game must have heard those complaints and dumbed down its sequel to make it more accessible to people who gave up on the first game. But I don't want easier! I want a challenge! Too many of these stages are laughably short and easy. There are stages I beat in one or two minutes, and that is not an exaggeration. I missed the dogged difficulty of the first game, and the feeling of relief and satisfaction that would wash over me when I'd make it through a particularly challenging level. That feeling is sorely missing from this game.

Sure there are some tough levels to be found here, but most of the challenges from these levels stem from unfair frustration rather than genuine difficulty. The Medusa stages? Ugh. The Moray Abyss? Ugh. Dealing with the unpredictable gravity situation aboard the Vortex vessel? Ugh. I'm all for a challenging game, but it is like they knew that this game was too easy so every once in a while they'd throw in an unfairly difficult stage just to make players curse and throw things.

Another complaint I have is the repetitive nature of some of the stages where you have to collect the Asterite parts. It would be one thing if you just had to collect a few pieces to bring him back to life, but you literally have to find EVERY missing Asterite orb, and the thing is freaking huge. It becomes a big grind that slows things to a halt in the middle of the game, and it is the reason it took me nearly two months to slog through this game after finishing the original Ecco in less than a week.

If you can overlook these shortcomings, you will find a very enjoyable and well-crafted Genesis game. Ecco 2 is beautiful to look at, and even though I haven't played it since I was a kid, it left a lasting impression on my life. I nitpicked a lot, maybe even too much about this game. I don't want you to give you the wrong impression. I DID enjoy Ecco 2... but the original was much better. 

I will admit, I was wrong. All hail Ecco 1.

  

Final Score:

B

If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:

Ecco the Dolphin

Sonic & Knuckles

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Crossroads of Time

Inside

Ninja Gaiden 2

Video Game Review #242: Nier: Automata

Nier: Automata

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

This is the first time I have played Nier: Automata, so I don’t really have any strong nostalgic feelings for this game.

I had never even heard of Nier until a friend of mine at work played it and said that it was really good. I looked the game up and saw that it had received generally favorable reviews, so I asked if she could loan it to me when I was done with a couple of other games I was playing. And that’s what happened.

Story:

There’s a lot to unpack here. I’m not sure I really understood everything that happened in this game, so I will give you a pretty basic recap of its events. Sue me if I don’t get everything 100% right.

It is the future, and Earth has been attacked by an alien race that uses machines as its form of attack. Humans have been driven from the planet and have been forced to take refuge on the moon. From the moon, they created a base in outer space known as the Bunker. They also created a fighting force of androids - the YoRHa - to take the planet back from the machines. The game begins in the middle of a massive battle. You control 2B, a YoRHa model launched from the Bunker. After winning the battle, 2B and her counterpart 9S head to the surface of the planet to work with the android resistance cells on the planet and investigate some strange happenings that have been taking place in the vicinity.

It is discovered that the machines that were once controlled by the aliens have started to gain their independence; building villages, having parades, running an amusement park, putting on plays, etc. A massive cave-in after another big battle reveals that the alien forces have been hiding underground while letting their machines do all the dirty work. Further investigation reveals that these aliens died off a long time ago, and the machines have been controlled by Adam and Eve, physical manifestations of the network. The main goal of the rest of the game becomes killing Adam and Eve and freeing the Earth from their oppressive control.

Before we continue, I should say that this game requires three separate playthroughs in order to get the full story. Remember in Resident Evil 2 when you play Leon and Claire A and B scenarios? It is sort of like that. The first playthrough of the game takes place from the perspective of 2B. The second playthrough shows events from the perspective of 9S. These playthroughs conclude with the destruction of Adam and Eve. A third playthrough reveals the aftermath of what happened after the first two playthroughs (which interweave to create one storyline) and gives a resolution to the conflict at the end. I don’t want to veer too much into spoiler territory here, but the third playthrough has two different endings. Unlock both of these endings and you get the “true” ending that wraps up the game once and for all.

That’s a lot to unpack, but it all makes sense in the end. As for the story itself… it veers into wild Kingdom Hearts-style nonsense from time to time, but for the most part I liked it. I wasn’t as drawn in as some people (who think the story is just AMAZING), but I still thought it was pretty decent. Being a fan of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Westworld, and other things that deal with the theme of sentient machines, however, I was not too blown away by it. Many of these themes I’ve seen dozens of times already.

Gameplay:

I have mixed feelings about Nier’s gameplay. I’ll start with the good.

The hack and slash fighting mechanics are pretty decent. Attacking, jumping, dodging, countering, attacking with your Pods – all this is very smooth and natural. As you make your way through this game’s three separate playthroughs, you will learn how to hack your enemies’ network and defeat them without having to lift a finger. The game often throws different styles of gameplay at you. The perspective might switch to a 2D perspective where all of a sudden it is like you are playing a platformer. More frequent are the bullet hell shooter segments of the game that play out like Asteroids or Galaga with a hint of Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon thrown into the mix. I thought these were quite fun.

So yeah, the action of the game is a lot of fun. The fighting, the hacking, the platforming, the shooting. I always had a good time when I was doing one of these things. Now we’ll get to the negative.

Much of Nier resembles open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Horizon Zero Dawn. You’ve got a big, open map. There are points of interest on the map. Some things you have to check out, others are completely optional. Some things you’ll just happen along as you play. All this is fine and dandy, until I realized that this game does nothing, and I mean literally NOTHING better than those other games I mentioned. There’s a lot of fetch quests. A lot of “can you deliver this message for me?” A lot of backtracking. The game is exceptionally dry and devoid of personality at times, so the appeal of finding these points of interest and completing these quests rapidly diminished for me. And by rapidly, I mean RAPIDLY. At least the worlds of Red Dead and Horizon Zero Dawn were filled with fun, colorful characters and missions. Everything is just so drab and lifeless here. There’s no joy in exploring this map and meeting the NPCs. None.

I’m not a graphics snob (we’ll get to the game’s graphics soon), but the gray, lifeless look of the world is really a downer, and it translates to the gameplay experience for me. I was often disconnected from the game. I wasn’t interested in its world. I lost all desire to unlock 100% of this game’s map. This is easily the most joyless open world game I have played. Normally I want to see, do, and experience everything. In Nier, I just wanted to complete the main storyline and get the game over with.

That sounds a bit harsh, and makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the game, but it is what it is. Like I said, I have mixed feelings about this title.

Graphics:

Nier: Automata easily looks like it could have been a PS3 game. Aside from some cool lighting/atmospheric effects, I was never too impressed by this game’s graphics. Everything is dull, lifeless, and gray. The city, the forest, the seaside, the underground caverns: it’s all so drab looking. The only visually exciting area in the whole game to me was the amusement park with the fireworks. Even that area, while cool, still isn’t too horribly impressive when compared with other games released in the last few years.

If I want to get really mean, I could even say that this looks like it could have been a PS2 game. Some areas of this game reminded me a lot of Shadow of the Colossus for PS2. Lots of grey, lots of dilapidated old buildings, lots of trees and vines. While Shadow of the Colossus had a cool, unique atmosphere to it, this game lacks even that. But still, things are a lot sharper and a lot more detailed here than they were in that game. So I won’t say that this looks as bad as a PS2 title. But it is close.

If I had to give props somewhere, it would be in the game’s epic battles. Some of the machines you fight are like Transformers times 1000. They’re huge! The scope of some of these battles are very grand, to say the least.

Also, although the characters that you play as look kind of dull and lifeless (like the game’s environment), I do have to give props to the makers of the game for giving the female androids such… interesting physiques. If I am going to be looking at someone’s backside the entire time I’m playing this game, at least they made the backsides nice to look at.

Sound:

I’d heard a lot about this game’s soundtrack coming into it. I must say that it is pretty good. Whether you’re digging around in an abandoned sector of the city, taking place in a massive scale battle, or exploring a machine village – all of the music fits the occasion perfectly. Expect to hear some nice orchestral tunes, some calming singing, some quiet and refrained melodies. The game does have a solid soundtrack, I’ll give it that. Is it spectacular, however? I don’t know. 

The sound effects and voice acting are equally as good. The dialogue can be a bit corny at times, but being a Kingdom Hearts/FF7 fan, I’m used to it. I’ve seen MUCH worse. As far as sound effects go, everything sounds great. Explosions, weapons firing, giant machines crashing to the ground, it all sound exactly as it should. No complaints here.

As far as production values go, Nier’s music and sound effects are much more well designed than its graphics.

Overall:

This game is hard for me to grade because as much as I’ve complained about it in this review, there was always something about it that had me coming back for more. Mainly, I wanted to see what was going to happen with the game’s story. I had heard that there were some major twists, turns, and jaw-dropping moments in this game. While I wouldn’t really go that far, it kept me entertained and offered a new spin on the old sentient machine story trope.

Many of the gameplay elements were a lot of fun, mainly the combat and the shooter segments. The open world aspect of this game, however, did not live up to expectations. I found myself skipping side quests and not exploring the map, just because I wanted to advance the game’s main storyline. Playing through this thing three times to get the full ending is a daunting process, and I quickly learned that none of these side quests were worth it in the long run. I couldn’t help but feel fatigued and a sense of “been there done that” while exploring the game’s map. Combat, as much as I liked it, started to get pretty repetitive too. You can only slash and shoot and hack so many enemies before it starts to wear out its welcome. Play through this game three times like you are supposed to, and you will likely find yourself with battle fatigue like I did. Often I would resort to the game’s hacking mechanic in order to bypass the battles, but even those get repetitive after a while.

I’m torn on how to assess this game. It does so much good, but so much bad at the same time. I’m going to let the good and the bad balance each other out and give this game a score that’s smack dab in the middle of everything: a C. I didn’t hate this game, I didn’t love it. It does good things, it does bad things. It has interesting story elements, it has boring characters and environments. I have a feeling this is a very polarizing game for most people – you either love it or hate it. I, however, could go either way. Would I recommend this to someone who has never played it before? Personally I would not, but the game has such a strong following that I can’t really dissuade you from playing it either. Maybe you would like it. You just have to play it yourself and make your own decision. Am I ever going to play it again? No.

 

Final Score:

C

If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Xenogears

God of War

Horizon Zero Dawn

Red Dead Redemption 2