Video Game Review #542: Wolverine

Wolverine

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nostalgia Factor:

I first played this game back in the 1990s, when I rented it from Blockbuster Video. I remember very little about the game, other than the fact that I liked it, and that I was able to beat the game. I seem to remember it being somewhat difficult. I also remember a water level driving me nuts. Other than that, I don't remember much of anything.

Recently, I happened to stumble upon an AVGN review of the game, where he trashed it and said it was terrible. Like I said, I don't remember much about the game, but I do not remember it being terrible. I told myself that I was going to return to Wolverine someday and see if the AVGN was full of shit or if he was right.

He was full of shit. Keep reading for my full thoughts.

Story:

There is probably a story somewhere in the game's manual, but I didn't have access to the manual when I fired this up. In-game, nothing is explained. You are just thrown right into a side scrolling action stage.

After you beat the first level, Sabretooth appears and taunts Wolverine. Then you play the second level. At the end of this level, he appears to taunt Wolverine again. This happens after every level in the game.

On the second to last level, you fight Magneto. On the last level, a few fellow X-Men show up for moral support. Then you have to defeat Sabretooth by punching him off a cliff. Your reward for beating the game? A still shot of Wolverine posing, followed by a screen that says: The End?

What. A. Story.

Gameplay:

For an LJN game, Wolverine handles pretty well. You can walk forward and back. You can duck. You can punch. You can jump. Wolverine can jump pretty high for a little guy. You can move around mid-air and adjust yourself with relative ease. The controls are pretty responsive, and I never found myself battling against them. That doesn't mean the gameplay is perfect, though. Wolverine's range of attack is very small. You often have to get right up in an enemy's grill in order to hit them with your melee attack. This often results in taking unnecessary damage that you never would have had to take if your range was just a teeny bit longer. This is especially annoying when fighting flying enemies. It is very hard to not take damage. Swimming can also be a touchy affair.

The basic point of the game is to simply make it from the start of the stage to the end. Point A to point B. You are constantly under attack from enemies, most of which are invisible and materialize when you get near them. This often results in taking some cheap damage. Other enemies are located in fixed positions. I was having some difficulty when I first started this up. I was taking a lot of damage and dying a lot. Then I remember something I had read on Reddit: treat this game like you are trying to speed run it. If you stop to fight every enemy in your path, you are going to have a rough time. But if you keep moving and keep pushing forward, often jumping over and evading your enemies, it makes the game much easier. And sure enough - it did.

There are nine stages in total. Most of them are pretty straightforward, although they do often feature branching paths you can take to get to the end. The only one that I struggled navigating was the underwater stage because it is very maze-like. The game is very tough, and you are going to find yourself dying quite often. You get three lives, with one continue. Use up all those lives, and you have to go back to the beginning of the entire game. I did manage to beat this as a kid, but all I can say now in my old age is thank god for save states.

I have to talk about the glaring problem with the game: Wolverine's claws! You don't use them by default. He just punches with his regular fists. You can press the select button to pop his claws out. They are a little longer than his normal attack, plus they deal out extra damage. Unfortunately, each time you press the attack button with your claws out, it drains your health. This game is so difficult, it basically makes the claws not worth using. You need every scrap of health you can get. Luckily, enemies go down pretty easily, and you never really need to use your claws.

The whole game can be beaten in about a half hour if you know what you are doing. I played through it twice for this review. The first time, when I was still learning the game, it took me over an hour to beat the game. My second attempt, when I knew what I was doing, was much faster. A half hour, give or take.

Graphics:

This game looks okay, I guess. I would not say it is ugly or anything, but it is very primitive looking. You can tell who the characters are, but just barely. It looks like a seven year old made them in MS Paint. The backgrounds are fairly dull and unexciting - although they do get better as you make it deeper into the game. I guess plain is the word I am looking for. The game is very plain. Doesn't look bad, just plain.

I do like the little Sabretooth teaser screens between stages. There's also a still shot of Wolverine at the end of the game that looks like it was pulled right from the comics. These look decent. But as far as the game itself, when you are actually playing? Very meh. It's a few steps below Mega Man, if that helps put some type of reference point on things.

Sound:

I've read a lot of praise for this game's music online. Some people even say it is the best thing about the game. I think it is okay. Again, it is not bad, but it is not what I'd call great, either. It's just kind of your typical NES crunchy, techno-ish music. It is fast and upbeat. I don't really know how else to describe it.

None of the songs were catchy enough to stick in my head. Even though I just finished playing through the game twice, I can't hum or bring to mind literally any of the game's music. I'll post a link to a YouTube playlist of this game's music and let you make up your mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueenCa5U_EI&list=PLEOQ0YA_1DWkHCtVe5GaSbPiUpofm6pIz

Overall:

Let me get this out of the way: this game does not suck. I had a pretty good time with it. It can be frustrating at times and there are a lot of annoying things about the game, like the invisible enemies and the way using your claws drains your health. I also wish you had unlimited continues, because for how tough this game is, three lives and one continue is not nearly enough. The game itself is fun, though.

I like the controls. I like the platforming. I like the quick decisions you always have to make. I even like how fighting versus running is a completely valid way to play this game. You have multiple ways to tackle things.

The game is also pretty short, and does not overstay its welcome. This is perfect for a quick game to blast through when you have an hour or two to sit down and play a retro game.

I have to give Wolverine an above average score. That's a no-brainer. But do I go with a C+ or a B-? That is the question. Ultimately, I feel like the quality of the game's visuals and the cheapness of the difficulty is going to hurt it a bit. I just can't see myself giving it something in the B range. It's close, but it doesn't quite earn it. Even though I had a relatively fun time with this, I can see why it is so divisive.

Does it stack up with Mario, Sonic, Castlevania, Contra, and all the great classics of the 8 and 16-bit era? Not really. I am never going to be like "oh yeah, Wolverine, what an amazing game!!" In fact, now that I've played through it for my review, I am not sure if I will ever play it again. So yes, I liked it. Yes, it is a decent game. But ultimately it is forgettable in the long run. If you missed it growing up, you should not feel any rush to go back and give it a try. I would not discourage you from doing so, but by no means is this a must play game.

THE GRADE:

C+

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Video Game Review #541: Jurassic Park: The Game

Jurassic Park: The Game

PlayStation 3

Before playing:

I've played through this game once before in my life: back in May of 2014. That's over ten years ago, in case you are keeping track. Time sure does fly, doesn't it?

I am not sure what exactly drew me back to this game, other than my intense desire to review everything I can, coupled with the fact that this is a quick and relatively easy game to play through. Didn't take much to sell myself on the idea of returning to this game.

I don't remember much about it from my first playthrough, other than that I liked it. At the time, I vaguely remember expecting this game to suck, because of the reviews I had read. They were mostly negative. That just goes to show you: never trust other people's reviews.

My opinions are good, though. You can trust mine.

Story:

As this is a Telltale game, it is heavily reliant on its storyline to keep you playing. The game picks up after the events of the first Jurassic Park film. A mercenary named Nima has been sent to the island by the Biosyn Corporation after Dennis Nedry has failed to show up with the shaving cream can full of dinosaur DNA samples. Her job is to locate these samples and bring them to BioSyn before they thaw out and become completely ruined.

The game also tells the story of Dr Harding and his daughter Jess. After failing to evacuate, they are now stuck on this dangerous, dinosaur-infested island. They cross paths with Nima, who has been injured and knocked unconscious after a dilophosaurus attack. Additionally, a rescue team has been sent by InGen to look for survivors. This team, led by Billy Yoder, encounters this small group of survivors after their helicopter crashes on the island. The two groups must work together to find a way off the island.

Things take a turn later on, when the can of DNA samples is discovered. It becomes a battle between Yoder and Nima as to who is going to bring the can back and claim the reward. This sparks a battle between the survivors, with Yoder turning out to be the game's "bad guy." After Yoder is defeated, the survivors get on a boat and escape the island.

I'm glazing over a lot of the game's plot points, but that is pretty much it in a nutshell. You do encounter a doctor character at one point who assists in your escape, but she too becomes untrustworthy when she threatens the survivors in order to advance her own personal agenda. She does explain how she was able to lift the "lysine contingency" so that dinosaurs do not die if they are cut off from their supply of lysine. This helps explain the somewhat glaring plot hole regarding how the dinosaurs stay alive when they get off the island. So that's kind of cool.

Gameplay:

Telltale games are not known for having the strongest gameplay, and this game is the perfect example of that. Most of the action takes place through quick time events, conversation choices from a menu, or by examining things in the environment. You can't really control your character. You just move a cursor around and look at things.

There are some light puzzles in the game, like a puzzle where you use a switch to re-arrange the order of cars on a roller coaster. There's another puzzle where you have to use sounds to help herd a group of dinosaurs to a certain location. Basic stuff like that.

There is not much challenge here, but what challenge there is comes from the quick time events. I was pretty good at them (for the most part), but sometimes I would inexplicably fail and it would really tick me off. As far as I know, you can die an unlimited number of times, and you pick up relatively close to where you left off. I did not die too often, so I am not sure what happens if you die repeatedly in one area. Do you get a game over? Do you have to start the chapter over again? I don't know.

There are four chapters in total. I'd say each one is between one and two hours long, something like that. I didn't get out a timer or anything. But it moves by pretty quick. Once you've made it through all four chapters, the game is over. There's not much reason to replay, unless you really liked the game's storyline.

Unlike other Telltale games, the choices you make do not affect anything. There are no branching paths or multiple endings. That gives the game limited replayability. I played through it once back in 2014, and I played through it once here in 2024. I can't see myself returning to it again, anytime soon. Maybe 2034?

Graphics:

This game definitely looks its age. It's an early PS3 game and it shows. I also think it was one of Telltale's first efforts, so maybe they were still perfecting their craft. But yeah, a lot of the environments and character designs are lacking. Things look very plain most of the time. And there are a lot of little glitches here and there.

But I have to give credit where it is due. The game may not look perfect, but it does an admirable job at recreating the atmosphere of Jurassic Park. I loved seeing the Visitor Center and a few other locations from the film. Nedry's crashed car is another example. The game even does a good job introducing some new areas that feel right at home - like the roller coaster and the underwater observation room.

The dinosaurs in this game definitely look better than the humans. The humans themselves are a little uninspiring in their design. The dinosaurs, on the other hand, look great.

Sound:

This may be the first Jurassic Park game I've played that actually uses music from the movie. Lego Jurassic World probably does, but do any original games in the franchise? I don't remember the 8-bit, the 16-bit, the 32-bit games, or any PC Jurassic Park games using music from the movie. I have to say, the music really adds a lot. Gives it a feel of genuine authenticity. Can anything with the Jurassic Park soundtrack attached to it be bad?

Not only does the game have a great soundtrack, it uses sound effects from the movie as well. The classic T-Rex roar, the hoot of the dilophosaurus, and the raptor screech are all present and accounted for. The only criticism I have is of the voice acting. But it's not bad, and I can't be too critical of it considering how great everything else sounds.

Overall:

Like most Telltale games, you will enjoy this if you like the source material. So, if you're a Jurassic Park fan, this is a must play. If you're not, you probably wouldn't care much about this.

Jurassic Park: The Game is not going to win anyone over with its fast, addicting gameplay. Instead, the game delivers a forward-moving narrative that tells a fun story taking place right after the first Jurassic Park movie. It introduces new characters and adds to the lore of the series. If that sounds like your kind of thing, I'd suggest you play this. It's like getting a movie or a TV series about what happens after the first Jurassic Park film. I would have loved that when I was a kid.

I'm a little torn on my final grade. I understand that the game isn't necessarily "fun" to play, but at the same time, I still found myself fairly addicted to it. I don't get much time to play games anymore, but when I do, I would spend a lot of it playing this. I wanted to see what would happen next, and where the story would take me. I'm a big Jurassic Park fan, having seen this movie and read the book dozens of times in my life. There was no way I was not going to like this.

I'm going to give it a solid score, but not anything too incredibly high. Like I said, I enjoyed this, but it was mainly because of the game's setting and storyline. It was not because of the gameplay, or because the game has any kind of depth to it whatsoever. Character choices have no impact and there are no branching paths or multiple endings. It's a very linear game that tells a story.

If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, by all means you should play this. If not, you won't be missing much if you skip this. Unless you're a Jurassic Park fan. Then you need to play this regardless.

THE GRADE:

B

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Video Game Review #540: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Before playing:

Although this game has been out for a long time now, I only first heard of it just last year. Shortly after Christmas, I saw the game for sale on the PlayStation Network for a dollar or two. I watched a quick video preview of the game, and immediately fell in love with how it looked just like a classic NES Castlevania game. I mean, it looks JUST like Castlevania. It's so blatant, it is like they did not even try to hide it.

I knew I had to check this game out, so I bought it. The game then proceeded to sit in my "purchased" folder for about ten months. To be honest, I think I forgot I had even bought the game. Well, I finally circled around to it and decided to jump in. How would I like it? Let's find out!

Story:

I understand that this is a prequel to the main events of the Bloodstained series. Unfortunately, I have never played anything else in the series, so I can't really tell you how this ties in. You control a character named Zangetsu. He is a demon slayer who just hates demons, and he sets out to destroy big daddy demon who is hiding out in his castle. As you fight your way through the game's stages, some of the demon boss characters revert to human form after you defeat them. You can either slay them, ignore them, or go against Zangetsu's principles and recruit them to your team.

The game has multiple endings depending on the route you choose to take. My first playthrough, I recruited all of the allies and got the good ending. The next playthrough, I decided to just save one ally. The next time I killed them all, etc. To be honest, the story is really not anything too amazing. If you swap out Zangetsu for Simon Belmont and the demon enemies for vampires, you have the OG Castelvania. Or maybe Castlevania III, which seems to be this game's main inspiration. But really, do we play these types of games for their storylines? I know I don't. While the story may not be anything special, it more than serves its purpose.

And who knows, maybe if/when I play the rest of the series, it will be clear to me just how this game ties into the other games. Maybe I am not giving it the credit it deserves, and I just don't realize it yet?

Gameplay:

This is essentially the fourth NES Castlevania game. To be honest with you, I enjoyed this game much more than Super Castlevania IV. I'm going to consider it the "real" Castlevania IV from now on. Okay, maybe not, but it carries the spirit of the original NES Castlevania games so incredibly well. I love it.

For those who have never played a Castlevania game before, this is a 2D side scrolling platformer. You have a character whose main attack is with a melee weapon. You knock down candles for special weapons and power ups. You make your way through each stage, navigating a linear path from point A to point B. Once you reach the end of the stage, you fight a boss character. Beat the boss, and you move onto the next stage.

What makes this game unique is the ability to use alternate characters. Clearly, this is inspired by Castlevania III. But I really like it. Each character has something unique about them. Your default character, Zangetsu, is very generic. He moves fast and strikes quickly with a sword. His jump height is medium. He's a decently well rounded character. Miriam, who you can recruit at the end of stage one, is my favorite character. She can jump the highest, and her melee attack covers a lot range. She can also slide underneath obstacles, which gives you the opportunity to take shortcuts through some of the stages. Alfred the wizard was the character I found to be the most useless. He is slow, can barely jump, and has a very small attack radius. You can use magic with him. I'm sure this magic serves some kind of big purpose, but to be honest I rarely used him - so I never figured it out. Gebel is essentially Alucard from Castlevania III. His main function is turning into a bat and accessing areas where other characters would never normally be able to access.

All these characters have independent health bars, so if you are running low on health, you can switch to another character. Find some health, and you can switch back to the injured character and pick it up. You want to keep as many characters alive as possible, because if they all die you lose a life. Run out of lives and you have to start an entire stage over again. Luckily, this game has save points and you never have to start the entire game over again. Because of this mechanic, it makes the game much harder to beat solo, without recruiting any enemies. Die once, and you lose a life. When you have allies in your party, you don't lose a life till they are all dead.

While the game is linear, each stage does have branching paths you can take to get to the end. This, combined with all the different endings, really gives the game a ton of replay value. I played through this game three times before I sat down for this review. If you know me, you know that is almost unheard of. I'll beat a game once (at the VERY MOST twice) before I review it. Three times? That's unprecedented.

And you know what? I want to go back and play some more. This game is that good.

Graphics:

This is a very good looking game. It recreates the charm of NES Castlevania games perfectly. Not only that, but it improves upon the visuals in minor ways without breaking the "immersion" of playing an NES game. Little things, like rain effects, wind, and other atmospheric effects really keep things feeling fresh and new. The boss characters are a highlight of the game for me. Some of them are really big, and they are soooo well-designed. I loved seeing what they were going to throw at me next. 

Sound:

This may be a controversial opinion, but I actually do not like the music in this game. To me, it fails to recreate that classic Castlevania feel to things. The music is so pivotal in the Castlevania games. The graphics and the gameplay both succeed, but the music misses the mark. That's not to say the music is bad, it just doesn't fit the overall look and feel of the game. There are a few stages where it seems like it is trying to emulate that classic music, but even then it misses the mark. Most stages, the music is not Castlevania-like at all.

Oh well. This game does everything else so well, I am willing to give it a pass here.

Overall:

I had a blast with this game. Who would have thought that a game I bought for only one or two dollars would turn out to be so great? Like I said before, this would easily be right at home sitting next to the NES trilogy of Castlevania games. In fact, it's a better IV than IV is! 

Even though I've played through this game three times already, I still have the itch to play it some more. And I probably will. This is a retro-inspired game done right. Programmers, take notes!

I hear that this game has a direct sequel. And then there is the mainline Bloodstained series. I can't wait to check those games out. If this game is any indication, I am going to like them a lot.

If you are on the fence about this game, get off it. Especially if you like the old Castlevania games. I can't imagine disliking this game if you liked the others. It's fun, it's challenging (but easier than the OG Castlevania games), and it offers a lot of replay value. There's almost nothing to dislike about this game. I'm going to give it a very high score, but I'm going to shy away from an A+ because it is not a perfect game. It's not particularly original either. But that's really all I can say about the game that is bad.

Bottom line: play this game.

THE GRADE:

A

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Video Game Review #539: Bubble Witch 3 Saga

Bubble Witch 3 Saga

Mobile

Before playing:

I have had this game downloaded on my phone for about eight years now. Back in 2016, I had just started playing Bubble Witch 2. Coincidentally this game came out almost immediately after I started that one. I ended up liking this one a thousand times more than 2, which I found to be slower paced and bit on the dull side. I quickly kicked 2 to the curb. I've been playing this game exclusively ever since. Perfect for killing time while pooping and going on long car rides.

Having played this for eight years, I considered myself fully qualified to write a review for this game. So here we are. I'm reviewing it. I hope you enjoy.

Story:

There's not much of a story here. The game's theme does the heavy lifting. You're the Bubble Witch. You have to save ghosts and pop bubbles and fight Morgana the evil witch. Occasionally, the game will hold a special event, where you have to go through a graveyard, or something. Your character will talk to someone via the speech bubble for a few seconds. It's never anything I'd consider serious story.

Gameplay:

I've always enjoyed the way this game feels. It is fast and arcade-like. It really feels like you're lining up a shot, letting it go, and firing away. The point of the game is to line up a colored shot so that you are hitting two other connected color pieces of the same color. This eliminates them from the playing field. in most stages, you are starting at the bottom of the stage and working your way up, as you blast these colored pieces away.

Aside from the colored pieces, there are also special pieces, like a bolt that eliminates all horizontal pieces. Arrows rotate around the board, and are launched when you make contact with them. There are pieces that shoot out rockets and eliminate random pieces on the board. All kind of different little things to keep the game fun and engaging.

You'll also encounter white pieces, that turn the color of the pieces next to them that you eliminate. So you have to use these white pieces strategically. You want to chain together a long combination. It's hard to explain in writing. But if you've played this game, you know exactly what I am talking about.

There are a few different types of stages. In one type of stage, you simply have to eliminate every playing piece on the field. For another type of stage, you have to blast away pieces to raise a ghost up and out of the level exit at the top of the stage. For another type of stage, you have to eliminate all the colored owls.

As you play, you get special items, like an item that eliminates all of one color on the screen. Another one is like a bolt of lightning that blasts away all the pieces it touches, in a straight line. There's one that knocks out about six horizontal pieces. Another one that blasts away pieces like a grenade.

The game offers special events, where you can earn items. You can also explore areas on a new map, like a graveyard, and unlock hidden items. You can participate in challenges (like save 30 ghosts) that other players are also participating in. You can work together to get extra items. There's a dice rolling game. There have probably been so many more little games tossed in over the years that I have forgotten about. It's a game that is always evolving and always changing for the better.

It may be the game I am most addicted to at the moment. And I've been playing it for eight years. The fact that it still hasn't gotten old speaks wonders about it.

Graphics:

One of the appealing things about this game is its theme. I love the ghosts, owls, witches, cauldrons, bats, etc. The colors on the screen really pop. The characters are vibrant and cartoon like. It's a really good looking game.

Sound:

This game has great music. The sound effects are perfect. Everything fits the witch theme to a tee. Unfortunately, I have to say that I muted the game's music and sound effects years and years ago. I always play this while watching TV and doing other things... and I play this a lot! So it makes sense to have it muted at all times.

Overall:

This is a truly fantastic game. I know that people like to poop on mobile games, but if you are going to play one to pass the time, I can't think of a better game than this. It looks good, it sounds good, it's fun, it's addicting. The fact that this game has kept me glued for eight years is just wild - especially if you are familiar with me and my gaming habits. I don't linger on individual games for too long, and am often eager to move along so I can try the next big thing. But here I am. Playing this since 2016.

I think what might be the most impressive thing is the way the game continues to evolve. I'm sure if I went back and looked at what the game looked like in 2016, I almost wouldn't recognize it. It's been modernized and updated, and kept up with the times. The continually added new content is impressive. There are lots of ways to earn lives and items. It's just a super fun, super addictive game. I can't recommend it enough.

I feel this review may earn some scorn, because if you are someone who looks down on mobile games, you are going to think I'm giving this game a score that is too high. But if you are like me and you consider all games to be on equal ground, no matter the platform, you hopefully can see where I am coming from. I mean, I've been playing this for eight years and show no signs of stopping. What other game can I say that about?

THE GRADE:

A+

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Video Game Review #538: Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei

Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei

Sega Saturn

Before playing:

I first played Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei when I was about 15 years old. I had played the original Panzer Dragoon, and I only sort of liked it. Aside from Star Fox and Solar Eclipse, these types of rail shooters weren't really my thing. This game got much higher scores than the original Panzer Dragoon. I remember reading nothing but positive reviews in video game magazines. So of course I had to play it.

I rented this game from Blockbuster and came away unimpressed. To me, it was just more of the same, but with better graphics. Still, I continued to read about this game in various video game magazines. It was getting a lot of very positive feedback, often being brought up in the conversation of best Saturn games of all time. I rented the game a second time, thinking that surely I must have been missing something the first time around. Nope, still didn't like it.

So, I rented it twice and never bothered to even beat it one time. It was too difficult for me, and I just didn't have the patience for this kind of game back then. I moved onto bigger and better things, and I never returned to this game.

Until now, the year of our Lord, 2024; about 27 years since I last played the game. In that time span, I've played through the original game, the remake of the original game, and Panzer Dragoon Orta. It's always been my intention to play through all the Panzer Dragoon games before finally tackling Panzer Dragoon Saga, my personal Holy Grail of video games. I've been wanting to play that game for so long!

Anyway, I digress. Before I can play Panzer Dragoon Saga, I have to make it through this one first. So how did I like it, all these years later? Not to give too much away, but this may now be my favorite game in the series. Keep reading for the full deets. 

Story:

These Panzer Dragoon games never make any sense to me. From what I could gather here, the world of the game is a post apocalyptic future where biological weapons have decimated mankind. The remaining factions of humans are furiously digging to unearth ancient weaponry to take out their foes.

They never learn.

You play as a boy names Lundi. He lives in a small village. Unbeknownst to the people in the village, he has taken in and sheltered a baby dragon creature - which are forbidden within the village. One day, he is out riding the dragon, trying to see if it can fly - when his village is attacked and destroyed. It seems like a squadron of Imperial soldiers are chasing something, and the village got caught up in the battle.

The game consists of you and your dragon, flying through seven different stages and fighting hordes of enemies until you get to the end of the game, where you catch up to the mysterious object that destroyed your village. You fight it, only to discover an ancient dragon within it. You defeat the dragon, and lose consciousness, entering a trippy 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque sequence. You wake up and enter a cave, where you encounter a picture of your dragon drawn upon the wall. The game ends.

I don't understand what really happened. I am not sure what the point of the story or the moral of the story is. I am not sure if I am even supposed to feel anything one way or another. Like I said, these games never makes any sense to me. I got nothing out of it.

Gameplay:

This is what we call an on-rails shooter. You have limited control of the dragon you are riding. You are mainly just moving the cursor around on the screen and pressing the fire button. You can tap the button for rapid fire shots. You can hold it down to lock onto enemies and launch heat seeking shots at them. The lock on attack will quickly become your dominant form of attack.

Unlike other shooters such as Star Fox, you are not just looking directly in front of you as you fly through these levels. You can tap the shoulder buttons to rotate the camera. Enemies can attack you from the side and from behind you, so being able to rotate and react quickly is key to success at this game.

On the bottom of the screen you have a health meter and a meter that charges for your special attack. Charge this meter by shooting down enemies. When the meter is fully charged, you can unleash a powerful attack to all enemies on the screen. You also can't be hit while this attack, which lasts somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds, is underway.

The game is comprised of seven stages. Each stage ends with a boss fight, where you have to find a boss's weak point and exploit it. You also have to get good at dodging enemy attacks and shooting down their projectiles.

That's pretty much the entire game right there. It is very straightforward. It is pretty challenging, though. The first few stages I passed with relative ease, but I started running into problems around the forest stage. From then on out, you are pretty much trial and erroring your way through these stages. You almost never get it on your first attempt, but once you've played through it (sometimes multiple times) it becomes much more manageable on subsequent attempts. It's all about memorization and pattern recognition.

I finished the game in a little under two hours. It's definitely doable if you put your head down and just do it. I don't think I was quite as patient (or as skilled at this type of game) when I was younger, which is probably why I gave up on it after renting it two times.

Before I forget, one thing this game does differently from the original is that it offers branching paths. I don't think these choices make too much difference in the long run, but they do give some replay value to the game. 

Graphics:

This game was considered a real beauty back in the 1990s, but it clearly shows its age. The characters are very jagged and messy looking. The scenery flickers and has draw distance issues. Textures tend to look sloppy and overly pixelated. It's a very "Saturn" looking game. But it works.

The game just has a great vibe to it. It's very dark and brooding and atmospheric. I like the stage where the snow gently falls around you, or the stage where you are racing along, close to the ground in the forest. The battles are swooping and epic. The fight with the giant fish machine that jumps out of the water is epic. The water looks great in this game, for a Saturn title, by the way. Don't see that too often. If I had to compare the feel of the game to a more modern title that people know, it would be something like Shadow of the Colossus. Not exactly the same (this game has flying dragons and giant air battles), but there's just something about the mystery and magic surrounding you that feels the same.

Sound:

This game has a very grand, sweeping orchestral soundtrack. It really soars during battle and gets your blood pumping. It is also very serene during the game's quieter moments. As I've mentioned already, this game succeeds in its atmosphere, and the music and sound effects play a big role in that.

If I had to offer any criticism, it is that there are not any standout tracks to me like there were in the first game. Nothing that is going to go on any of my gaming music playlists. So this is a little bit of a disappointment in that regard.

Overall:

I had a pretty decent time with this game. I'm not gonna lie, I'm still not the world's biggest Panzer Dragoon fan, but I think this is probably the best game in the series so far. Better than the original and better than Orta. Even though I say it is better than the original, I am still going to give it the same review score, though. I just can't go any higher than a B+ for this game.

That said, I am glad I played this, and I think everyone should give the series a look. When I think back on the Sega Saturn, Panzer Dragoon is one of the first games to come to mind, and it is a shame that the Saturn was such a big flop and no one got to experience these games. As far as rail shooters go, this is a very good series that I think would impress a lot of people if they ever got to play it, because it is quite good. It's not my favorite genre of game, but I have to admit that it does what it does very well.

That's that! Now that I've played through all these Panzer Dragoon games, there is only one left for me: Panzer Dragoon Saga. Like I said earlier, this is like the Holy Grail of video games for me. I've been wanting to play it since it came out 26 years ago in 1998, but I've never been able to track the game down. This ends soon, by whatever means necessary.

THE GRADE:

B+

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Video Game Review #537: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon

PlayStation 3

Before playing:

I normally do not review DLC, but when it is essentially an entirely separate game like this (and not just an extension of the original game), I am willing to make an exception. 

I've been aware of this game for years and years now, and I've really been wanting to play it. The whole 80's action movie aesthetic really appealed to me. But I'm someone who plays things in order. I was not going to skip ahead and play this when I hadn't played the other games in the series yet. Well, I finally played through Far Cry 3 late in 2023. As soon as I finished up that game, I thought to myself: I can finally play Blood Dragon now!

Nearly a year has passed since I finished that game. What happened? I started playing other things and kind of forgot about it, to be honest with you. Well, the game popped back into my head again when I was looking through my collection for a new game to check out, and I finally decided to circle around and dive in. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon... how would I like it? Let's find out!

Story:

To be honest, I did not really care too much for this game's storyline. The game really tries to keep you invested, with its cutscenes before the game and between missions. But it just wasn't doing anything for me. Go here, shoot these people, rescue this hostage, take over this outpost, hack this. It doesn't help that the game just kind of throws you into this strange, unique world with little to no explanation of who these characters are, what this island is, or what the state of the world even is in this game.

From what I was able to gather, the plot is similar to Heart of Darkness? There is a bad guy on this island who has defected from the military, and is running genetic experiments on these giant dinosaur things, even ingesting their blood to give him special powers. The game starts with you dropped in via helicopter. You have to travel the island, shut down all his outposts, and defeat him.

There is other stuff going on, too. But like I said I didn't really care for it. Once I lose interest in a game's story, it is hard for me to get that interest back. I just kind of zone out during the cutscenes. I remember a sex scene, and a few other odd things happening in the cutscenes. But really, I was just here for the gameplay. I did not care about any of that.

Gameplay:

Here we go: the gameplay. The whole reason I am here to begin with. So how is it?

Well, if you have played a Far Cry game in the past, you should know what to expect here. It is a first person shooter. You can run, walk, crouch, and jump. You have a weapon wheel full of different weapons to pull up. There's a scope where you can highlight enemy targets. There are stealth elements, like crouching, hiding, and performing instant sneak kills. Picking people off with a bow from long distance is always the *chef's kiss* in video games, and it is here, too. 

There's an open world map full of things to collect, like VHS tapes and notes from the scientist. There are enemy outposts to take over. There are side missions to take on, like hunting animals and rescuing hostages. If you've played Far Cry 3, the gameplay is very similar. Only major difference is that this game is more forgiving in its difficulty. If you ignore stealth and run in, guns blazing, you aren't automatically screwed. In fact, this is often a perfectly valid approach. On the whole, this game feels like it focuses more on the shooting aspects and less on the stealth.

The element that makes this game unique: the dinosaurs. That's right, this game has dinosaurs. They act as a big, difficult opponent that you encounter in the open world. Early in the game, you want to avoid them. But you can use them to your advantage, luring them into enemy outposts and having them do your dirty work for you. Fighting them, avoiding them, and using them to your advantage is a giant part of this game - and part of what sets it apart from the other games in the series (aside from the 80s aesthetic, which we will get to shortly). 

The game is a blast to play, and it never gets old or repetitive. I found myself staying up waaaay too late at night playing this, trying to collect just one more tape or take over one more outpost. The decision between using stealth versus just charging in and fighting makes the game so much fun. The dinosauts are nice wrinkle, too.

The game is short, only six to ten hours in length, depending on how much you want to do. Personally, I completed the game to 100%. I was having so much fun with it, I didn't want to stop playing after the final credits rolled. I was kind of disappointed it was not longer.

Graphics:

As you can tell from the screenshots I posted, this game definitely has a specific vibe to it. Neon purple lights, glowing weapons, cyborg soldiers. Very, very 1980s. This may be a PS3 game, but I still think it looks pretty darn good. The whole atmosphere of the game just makes it so unique and easy to lose yourself in.

You are going to find lots of little Easter Eggs as you play, like pizza boxes in the sewer when you are trying to kill mutated turtle creatures. Small stuff like that which really adds to the charm of the game. I also enjoy the presentation of the cutscenes and how they are done with pixel art that reminds me of the 16-bit era. Big time Snatcher vibes.

Sound:

This game has some terrific music. Mainly you are going to be hearing a lot of 80s synth, reminiscent of the Stranger Things intro music, or something you'd hear in the movie Manhunter. You'll also hear some pretty intense battle themes, too. One of the songs used in this game sounds like the Terminator theme, and I am certain that this was not by accident.

The highlight of the game musically for me is during the helicopter introduction scene. Little Richard's Long Tall Sally plays during this action sequence, and it is freaking great. Really gets you pumped to play this game.

Voice acting is okay. The main character is voiced by Michael Biehn of Terminator and The Abyss game. I almost did not recognize his voice. He is so gruff and brooding sounding. I do enjoy all the one-liners, many of which are most definitely NOT politically correct. This game would get canceled if it came out today. And I freaking love it.

Anyway, here is a link to a playlist featuring some of the game's music, if you are interested in checking it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvTDKr4MSgc&list=PLu6_FOgZp3ehDEMebGB4uDbN5yMYOthnP

Overall:

This was a very enjoyable game for me. Short, but enjoyable. I had fun almost the whole way through, and encountered very few flaws that irritated me. I suppose one flaw is the same thing I noticed in the Far Cry 3 base game - my controller would often freak out during battle. My character would keep putting his goggles on or throwing rocks as I was trying to shoot enemies. I was like WHHHHHY???! I was not hitting these buttons. And this would only happen during battle. It is like the controller completely grew a mind of its own all of a sudden. And like I said, this happened to me with the base game, too. I've googled it online and only saw one person who had the same issue, and all the responses were: "it's your controller." But it happened to me too, and on two different controllers. Is it the game or my controllers? Hmm....

Aside from that, I find very little to gripe about. This was a fun little excursion. I don't think it was necessarily an amazing game or anything I am going to be remembering 20 years from now as an "all-time classic." But it was fun! And that's all that matters to me. Is it fun or not. And this game definitely was.

THE GRADE:

A-

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Video Game Review #536: Sonic Frontiers

Sonic Frontiers

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

I've been aware of Sonic Frontiers since it came out back in 2022. However, coming into this playthrough, my knowledge of the game was very limited. I knew it was an open world Sonic game, and I knew that the reviews of the game were very mixed. Sonic has lost a bit of its luster for me over the years, so I was never in any great hurry to play it. However, when I found out that my local library had a copy I could play through for free, I decided to jump on it and give it a chance.

Would Sonic return to its glory days, or would this be another disappointment in a long, frustrating line of disappointments? Let's hop in and find out.

Story:

This is a game that desperately tries to make you care about its story. Whether or not the game was successful is up to you and your attention span, plus - what you are expecting from a Sonic game. It didn't work for me. I quickly got wrapped up in solving puzzles, collecting items, and zipping around and exploring the big world of the game. In fact, whenever a story sequence would start up, I would get annoyed that they were interrupting the flow of the game. I did not skip any cutscenes, but I easily could have done so, and I would not have missed anything. I would have gotten pretty much the same experience out of this game that I would have otherwise.

In case you are someone who cares about the storyline, let me give you a brief synopsis of what is going on. Sonic, Robotnik, and all of Sonic's pals have landed in some kind of world that was once inhabited by an ancient group of beings. These beings have created a cyberspace area that they can explore the same as they would the outside world. Robotnik and Sonic's friends are stuck in this cyberspace area. Sonic is the only one walking around in the "real world", and he has to solve puzzles, explore, collect memory fragments, and find a way to save his pals and bring them back to the real world.

Robotnik, of course, is looking for a way to use this all to his advantage and take over cyberspace and use the technology to take over the universe. 

This is an extremely basic synopsis, and most of it might not even be accurate. Like I said, the storyline was secondary to me and I was not really paying attention to it. It is hard for me to recap it, because I just simply did not care enough to pay close attention.  I'll say what I've said in past game reviews whenever I am kind of half-assing it: "some reviewer I am."

Gameplay:

I was a little worried about how Sonic would translate to the open world format. Turns out, I had nothing to be apprehensive about. The game is split up into four major islands. Each island is essentially a "level", so this is not truly an open world. However, you can backtrack and return to any island at any time to grab anything you may have missed, so in a way it is.

The game starts on Kronos Island. Amy is trapped in cyberspace and you have to find memory pieces, which are little pink hearts located on the map, and bring them back to her. Each time you do this, it unlocks a little bit of the game's story. Be prepared to collect a lot of these things, as this is a major gameplay device on each of the four islands. These little collectibles can be found all over the place. Each island is littered with literally hundreds of little platforming challenge areas. They mainly consist of ramps, grind rails, floating platforms, and springs that launch you all over the place. Completing of these usually gives you a memory piece or two. As I said, these little areas are littered all over every single island in the game, so you should never have any trouble scrounging for memory pieces. You can collect them in other ways too, like by defeating enemies or by using your cycloop attack to dig up buried pieces.

Each island contains a set number of transporters, which take you to a traditional behind the back Sonic level, similar to something you'd see in Sonic Colors or a Sonic Adventure game. To open these up, however, you have to earn Gears to unlock the level. These gears can be found by defeating the mini bosses found on the open world map. Beat one of these levels and you earn a key, which you can use to unlock a Chaos Emerald from its podium (also hidden on the world map). These levels contain special challenges to complete, like earning an S-Rank or collecting all special red star icons in a stage. The more challenges you complete, the more keys you earn. Your ultimate goal is to earn enough keys to unlock each island's set of Chaos Emeralds. Once you collect them all, you can fight the island's boss character. Defeat the boss, and you move onto the next island. I found that each island took me several hours to complete.

So, to wrap it up, on each island you need to:

1. Collect memory icons to bring to the trapped character in order to advance the story

2. Fight mini bosses on the game map to unlock gear collectibles

3. Use the gears to open up challenge stages

4. Complete the challenge stages to earn keys

5. Use the keys to unlock all of the stage's Chaos Emeralds

6. Fight the boss character once you have all the Chaos Emeralds

You need to have all the Emeralds and advance the story far enough on each island in order to move onto the next island.

Each island is also filled with optional challenges. These challenges are varied, and include things like jumping on a puzzle grid and moving around on it in order to turn off all its lights, running through a series of blue rings before the timer runs out, parrying a set number of enemy attacks in a row, and side stepping a certain number of enemy projectiles in a row. Completing these tasks earns you items like memory tokens, gears, as well as fruits you can use to upgrade your ring and speed capacity. They also reveal hidden sections of the map, one area at a time.

I feel like there is so much content crammed into this game. I haven't even mentioned how you collect EXP and can level up, the fishing minigame featuring Big the Cat (really), or the high score challenges - which I could never really figure out. The point is, there is a lot of stuff to do in this game. Even if I were to come back to the game after beating it, I could probably roam these islands for several more hours unlocking and finding things I missed the first time around.

Basic gameplay should be familiar to 3D Sonic fans. You can run in each direction. You jump. You hit the jump button in mid-air to launch yourself at enemies and springs. There's a wall jump move. Oddly, there seems to be no spin dash in this game, at least that I could discover. Occasionally when you are riding a grind rail or doing one of the memory challenges, the game will shift to a side scrolling perspective. This can be annoying because sometimes I will wander into these areas accidentally and then I struggle to break out of them. It is also very hard to land on grind rails sometimes. The game could have benefited from a Sly Cooper style lock on where you can land on things with precision. It is very hard to be precise in this game, given that you are traveling at high speed most of the time.

Minor control gripes aside, I had fun with this game. My only major qualm is how easy it can be to get lost at times. For example, let's say a marker on the map will show you that you need to get to an island in the distance in order to advance the story... but there is no way to get there. There is one specific level where I must have wandered around for about two hours before I finally figured it out. There was a grind rail in an area that made NO sense, that I needed to ride in order to make my way over a large chasm. Then I needed to jump on some more grind rails, and some more, and some more. Super irritating, and this happens quite often in this game. The game overall is pretty easy, and I don't need my hand to be held or anything, but I have to admit that this was quite frustrating.

Graphics:

The game looks pretty great... for the most part. I only throw in that last bit, because there are some open valleys that look quite plain and bland. You'd expect a Sonic game to be constantly full of color and energy, and that does not always come across here.

But I would just be nitpicking if I harped on that too much. The game looks good. Sonic is the perfect Sonic you'd envision in this kind of game, to his design, his colors, his moves, and his attitude. The supporting characters look great, too. The worlds are beautiful and full of moving things. I imagine this game must have been very difficult to design. 

This is easily one of the better looking Sonic games out there. It moves along at lightning speed and never loses a beat. I approve.

Sound:

The music of this game is absolutely one of its highlights. Not only is the original music great, but you can collect musical notes on the map that unlock classic Sonic songs, like the Sonic 3 intro music and the beach in Sonic Adventure. As you play, you unlock more and more. It was truly a treat to be able to play this game and rock along to some of my favorite Sonic songs of all time.

On the sound effect side of things, the classic Sonic ring collecting and jumping noises are back, and so is the iconic noise it makes when you take damage and lose all your rings. The voice acting was kind of a non factor for me, since I did not really care about the game's storyline. But I suppose it was okay.

Anyway, to hear some of my favorite songs, click the link to a small YouTube playlist I made. Maybe I'll start doing this for some of my reviews going forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTJtkEVL-7I&list=PL8Sdr_u0PmxgHkQHeCDZVzd1BDAIdYHhG

Overall:

I really enjoyed this game. It's very satisfying to finally have a fully realized 3D Sonic game that is not set on rails or linear in fashion. I've been wanting a free roaming Sonic game like this since Sonic Xtreme was teased for the Sega Saturn, and then canceled. What about Sonic Adventure, you may ask? To be honest, I was never really a huge fan of the series. In fact, I gave Sonic Adventure the low score of a D+ when I last played it. Honestly, that seems a bit low, but it kind of tracks with my memories of being unimpressed when I was a kid.

So what I'm saying is that this is the best Sonic game to come out in a while. Sure, Sonic Mania, Sonic Generations, and Sonic Colors were decent games. But not like this. Those other games did not leave much of an impression on me. I played through them. I forgot them. But this one is special.

I recommend this game, easily. There are a few things holding it back from getting a truly elite score. The controls can be janky. It's easy to get lost on the map. The camera is uncooperative at times. It also begins to feel repetitive once you figure out the formula of the game. I also couldn't help but compare it mentally to Super Mario Galaxy, which I recently played. That game was a lot more fun. But that doesn't mean I didn't like this, because I did.

Don't sleep on this game like I almost did. This is a surprisingly good title. Maybe not a truly elite Sonic game, but one of the best offerings we've seen in a long time. I hope to see Sega experiment more with open world Sonic games in the future.

THE GRADE:

B+

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