Thursday, May 18, 2023

Video Game Review #445: Thunder Heroes

Thunder Heroes
Arcade


Nostalgia Factor:

Today I went on a quick little jaunt to check out a game I had never heard of before: Thunder Heroes. It was recommended to me in a Facebook group about retro video games. Aside from the fact that this game is a beat 'em up that "looked cool" from the screenshots I had seen, I had no idea what to expect from it.

My very last review was for Streets of Rage 2, a game that many people consider to be one of the greatest beat 'em ups ever made. How would Thunder Heroes stack up? Time to find out!




Story:

I couldn't help but laugh at this game's storyline. Check out the screenshot below. This is literally ALL you get for the entire game. Intrigued? You should be!




Gameplay:

Despite the fact that this is only my 445th review, I feel like this is the 9000th beat 'em up I've played for this blog. I get tired of explaining how they work. If you've played one, you have played them all.

The game is a bit like Double Dragon or Streets of Rage. I feel as if more emphasis is placed on quick to hand combat rather than jump attacks and throws. You have standard punch and kick attacks. Usually if you land a punch on an enemy, you can just keep jamming the attack button to get them stuck in a long combo. One thing that makes this game unique is that you can pick up different colored orbs. These orbs represent magic attacks. Whether it is a simple one-time flame attack or a screen-clearing tornado summoning, these attacks are fun to use. And the game is very generous with the orbs you can pick up.

There are the usual beat 'em up tropes to be found here, like swords and pipes you can pick up to attack your enemies, and big pieces of ham that fill your health. Everything is very formulaic. You fight through a stage. You fight a boss character. You move onto the next stage. I believe there are six stages in total? I didn't count.

For an arcade game, Thunder Heroes is very, very easy. I didn't have to "put a quarter in" and use a continue until the fourth or fifth stage in the game. I started getting cocky and thinking how I could probably beat the game without even using a full dollar. But then the boss rush at the end of the game happens, and some of these fights are simple wars of attrition where you are going to die no matter what you do. But still, this game is very easy. I beat it in about a half hour. I didn't get out the stopwatch, but if I did - I bet it was even less than a half hour.

I have to say, despite this game's length and its ease, I still had a blast playing it. It is definitely one of the more interesting beat 'em ups I've played when it comes to its flat out strangeness. What other game can you fight wizards, Skeksis, alien babies, the Colossal Titan, creepy robots that slink around on all fours, and the Incredible Hulk, all while jamming out to LL Cool J music?

There is just something that is flat out fun about this game. It didn't even take two minutes for Thunder Heroes to win me over. As soon as I started playing this, I was like "alright, alright" and nodding my head. This isn't a game that is out to frustrate you or steal all your quarters. It is very easy to pick up and play. And it is quirky and weird enough to keep you interested. I am not sure how much longevity or replay value this game has in the long run, but for a one time playthrough this is an absolute blast.




Graphics:

This game looks very sharp. The 2D artwork is some of the best I've seen from a beat 'em up. It is very smooth and very detailed. I suppose it is not surprising, considering the title screen says that this came out in 2001. It's a late bloomer!

The quirky characters and stage design completely steal the show here. This is one of those games that words can't really do justice. You just have to play this and see some of the crazy shit they throw at you.




Sound:
  
I suppose if this game has a weak point, it's the sound. No sound effects stand out to me, and I played through this game twice. The stage music is fine, but completely uninspired. The only songs that stood out to me were the ones that sounded like LL Cool J was singing. I half expected to hear "Mama Said Knock You Out" before this game was over. I wish I did!




Overall:

This will be an interesting game for me to score. It is clearly no video game masterpiece. It's too short, it's too easy, and it didn't really leave any kind of footprint on the video gaming community. I myself will probably completely forget about this game over time. Give it a few months, and then ask me what I thought of Thunder Heroes? I'll probably reply: "What's Thunder Heroes?"

Yet I can't deny that I had fun from the beginning of this game to the end. I enjoyed myself 100% of the way through this. From the gameplay, to the magic spells, to the wacky character design, to the trippy visuals, Thunder Heroes was a real treat to play through. I'm going to be kind to this game and give it a favorable review. Maybe someday if I read through my old reviews, I'll stumble upon this one and it will give me an excuse to play this all over again. 

If you've never heard of Thunder Heroes, check it out! I was pleasantly surprised. I think you'll be, too.



THE GRADE:
B




If you liked this review, check out some of my other beat 'em up reviews:


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Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Video Game Review #444: Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2
Sega Genesis


Nostalgia Factor:

The time has finally come. I've been hearing all about how Streets of Rage 2 is one of the greatest beat 'em ups of all time. I've been hearing all about how it's one of the best Genesis games of all time. I've been hearing so much hype for this game, which is over 30 years old, for the longest time.

Somehow I missed out on this game as a kid. I have played the original Streets of Rage, which was okay. But the sequel? This is my first time checking it out. Would I agree with all the hype or would I find that it is simply an okay game, just like the original? Time to find out.




Story:

The story is not the focal point of Streets of Rage 2. All you need to know is that the bad guy from the original game, Mr. X, is back. He takes his revenge on the good guys by kidnapping Adam (the black guy with the yellow shirt; I had to look it up!). The good guys gather some new friends and come after Mr. X to get their friend back. At the end of the game they reach Mr. X's hideout and beat him up and rescue Adam. The end.

I do have some questions about this game's story, as simple as it is. Why don't the good guys just take a bus or something right to Mr. X's hideout? What's with the detours at Disney World and the baseball stadium? Why do the enemies have such weird names? B.Signal? I work for a phone company. All I could think was "busy signal" every time I saw that name. WHY?




Gameplay:

All right, here we go. This is a beat 'em up, so really all that matters is if the game is fun or not. Throw out the story, the graphics, the sound. Is it fun? If not, none of those other things matter.

Well, I have good news for you: the game is fun. Streets of Rage 2 doesn't have the sterling reputation it does for no reason. You can choose from four different fighters: Max, Axel, Blaze, and Skate. On my first playthrough, I chose Blaze. She's the perfect character for my playstyle, which is fast and efficient. Get in, attack the enemy, retreat to safety. I played through the game a second time after I beat it, and this time I chose Axel. Axel seems a bit overpowered with his punch attack. I felt like I could just spam that over and over again and win almost every fight. I only played with Skate for a little bit. I remember this is the character that jumped out at me when I saw advertisements for this game as a kid. Unfortunately, he is tiny and his range sucks. I didn't play at all as Max, but I assume he is the slow strong guy.

This game handles like your typical beat 'em up. There's a 3D plane. You move up and down, fighting bad guys. You walk to the right to make your way through the levels. You destroy things like barrels and street cones to uncover hidden items, like money and health. And, in typical beat 'em up fashion, there are weapons you can pick up like pipes, knives, and swords. If you get hit too many times and lose your weapon, eventually you won't be able to pick it up again.

At the end of each stage there is a boss fight. There are even some mini boss fights in the middle of some stages. Unlike the original Streets of Rage, there is no screen-clearing emergency attack that you can unleash. Good news though: everything about this game is better than the original.

This game is the perfect combination of everything we know and love from the beat 'em up genre. You can spot the clear influence from games like Double Dragon, Final Fight, and the Ninja Turtles. It is so easy to pick up and play. The fighting is addictive. The action flows smoothly from set piece to set piece. Things start out relatively easy and you get sucked in. Towards the end of the game you'll be losing lives left and right.

I wouldn't say the game is overly challenging. The original game was quite tough. This one, I beat twice on my first and only attempts fairly easily. True, I cranked my starting lives up to five. And true, I did have to use a continue on my first playthrough. But in terms of challenge, this game is nothing compared to some other beat 'em ups I have played in recent memory, such as the TMNT games on the NES.

I can see why so many people like this game. As I said before, it is a combination of the best attributes of some of the biggest and best beat 'em ups out there. It works on nearly every level.




Graphics:

This game looks really good, regardless of when it first came out. I noticed from the cover art that this game was released even before the video games rating system debuted. That is when I consider a game officially old. It looks like it could be an indie video game released today. It has that charming and warm feel to it that is timeless.

The graphics pop right off the screen. The pixel are is sharp and defined. The game's environments are fun, colorful, and diverse. As I made my way through each stage, one of the things I began to look forward to the most was seeing what each upcoming stage would have in store for me. The Disney themed level with the castle and the fireworks is especially appealing. And the baseball field with the elevator that goes down and down forever. Even the subtle, more normal areas like neon lit alleys and bars are just so fun to look at.




Sound:

I've heard a lot about how great this game's music is, but I have to be honest: I don't get what all the fuss is about. The music sounds good, sure. But I'm not seeing what makes it stand out over so many other great Genesis titles. The only song that really stuck with me was the first stage's music.

The sound effects are good. Gotta have satisfying punch and kick noises when playing through a beat 'em up, am I right?




Overall:

I'm glad I finally got to play the game that many consider to be one of the best games ever released for the Sega Genesis. Would it be in my personal top five? I don't know. Top ten? Maybe. Top fifteen? Most likely. So it is definitely a really good game. I hesitate to say it is overrated, because for all I know this could very well be the best beat 'em up for the Sega Genesis. It is certainly better than Hyperstone Heist and it is certainly better than its predecessor in the Streets of Rage series. But is it one of the greatest Genesis games of all time? I don't know, I haven't played every Genesis game.

I'll have to sit down and make a list of my favorite beat 'em ups to see where this one would rank. It would definitely be up there. I think if I would wipe away the nostalgic feelings I have for TMNT, X-Men, and the Simpsons, this game is objectively better. And I think it is probably not even close.

All in all... you know what? The critics are right with this one. I believe if I had grown up with Streets of Rage 2, I would be one of those people that sings it praises from the rooftops. Even being extremely, extremely late to the party, I still recognize how good this game is. It's an upper echelon beat 'em up. It is fun to play, it looks good, and it sounds good. I'm sure it is fun to play with a friend, too. I know I'll be playing this with my son when he is old enough to enjoy video games.

I feel I might be underselling this game a bit with its final score, but keep in mind that despite how much I like this game, beat 'em ups are still not my favorite genre, nor do they have the type of longevity or replay value I'm looking for. I will say that this game is better than the Super Nintendo's supposed best beat 'em up ever: Turtles in Time. To me, it is not even close. This game is not only far superior, it is one of the best of its genre to ever exist.


THE GRADE:
A-


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Monday, May 8, 2023

Video Game Review #443: DuckTales 2

DuckTales 2
Nintendo Entertainment System


Nostalgia Factor:

I'm a big fan of the original DuckTales for the NES. When I initially reviewed it almost two years ago, I had nothing but glowing things to say about the game. Read the review and tell me I didn't love that game!

I didn't even realize at the time that it had a sequel. This was something I discovered fairly recently. When I heard there was a second, very rare DuckTales game out there that I had never played before, I immediately knew I had to try it out. And here I am.

Would this game be as good as the original, or would I come away disappointed? Let's dive in, shall we?




Story:

Scrooge's nephews find a piece of a long lost treasure map while playing around in the basement of the mansion. Scrooge and Co. head off on an adventure to find the lost pieces of the map, while uncovering brand new treasures in the process.

There are five stages to pick from. It doesn't really matter what order you complete them in. If you finish them all without collecting all the map pieces, you are taken to the final stage, where Glomgold tries to steal everything you've earned throughout your playthrough. Defeat him, and the game ends. 

But what about the treasure?! If you want to find out what happens there, you have to play the game again. This time, make extra sure to collect all those map pieces as you make your way through each stage. Doing do unlocks the "real" game ending. There is a third ending as well for finishing the game with no money or no treasure, but I didn't bother going after that one.




Gameplay:

This game plays out almost exactly like the original DuckTales. The controls are identical, except this time you don't have to hold the down button while jumping to use the cane. Just jump and hit the action button and voila: you're bouncing on the cane. It is a small adjustment, but it makes the game much easier to handle.

There are a few other wrinkles thrown in as far as the gameplay goes. You can collect items that upgrade your character, like giving you the ability to break previously unbreakable blocks with your cane. This game allows you to play levels you've already beaten, so if you uncover a new ability you can revisit those old levels to see if you are able to find anything you might have missed.

The levels are short and full of secrets to collect. If you are trying to find everything in the game, none of them should take you more than 20 minutes to complete - although I did have to look online a few times because some of the treasure map pieces were evading me. The bosses in the game are relatively simple. Just bounce on them five times to defeat them. I'd go so far as to call them complete pushovers, to be honest with you.

If you are simply looking to make it through all the stages and beat the game as quickly as possible, you'll be done with this in under an hour. This game is not difficult in its base form. I know some people out there say that the first DuckTales is a hard game, but I thought it was fairly easy. This one is even easier. I haven't read any reviews for the game. I wonder if people think this one is hard, too? Well, it's not.

The game does have some replay value in the form of the treasure maps. Finding them is the most time-consuming part of the game. If it was 1993 and I had just gotten this game for Christmas, I probably would have spent a long time looking for these treasures and extending the lifespan of this easily-beaten game. But in 2023 you can find anything online. I didn't feel like spending too much time on this game, since I have so many other titles out there to play. So admittedly I did "cheat" from time to time.

Even without doing this, I think this game wouldn't have occupied my time for much more than a day or two. There's just not a whole lot you can do here. I know the first DuckTales game was short and simple too, but I still loved it and had a great time with the game. I don't know what it is about this one. I still like it, sure. But the magic just isn't there for me.




Graphics:

Graphically, this game is just as good as its predecessor. It might even look a smidge better. I like the rain effects on the pirate ship. There were a few other areas I passed through that had me nodding my head, like alright - this is cool.

That said, if the game does look better than the original, it is not by much. If DLC existed back in the early 90s, this could have easily just been a DLC patch for the first game.




Sound:

The classic DuckTales theme song makes its return once again. Unfortunately, you only hear it at the title screen and then never again. The in-game music is good. Really reminiscent of something you'd hear in a Mega Man game. But it seems to be lacking that extra special oomf that makes an 8-bit soundtrack stand out. I played through this game twice, but looking back - there is not a single musical track that I can remember. It all kind of blends together.




Overall:

I liked this game. It may seem from my comments like I didn't, but I really did. It handles well. The stages are creatively designed and full of secrets. There are some decent puzzles. If anything, the game makes you think a little bit more than the first one. 

There's just something about DuckTales 2 that just doesn't quite "do it" as much for me. It's a perfectly fine platforming game, but let's be real - in two weeks I am not going to be able to remember a darn thing about this game. There are some games that are absolute classics that stick with you forever, and others that, while they may be fun, don't. And this game definitely falls into that second category.

If this game is so similar to the first one, what was it that I didn't like? What makes it not as good? It is hard to say. I struggle to say it is a nostalgia or rose-tinted glasses thing. I only played the original DuckTales for the first time two years ago. It's not like I grew up with that game or anything. It's very hard for me to pinpoint the reasoning. This game just doesn't seem to have the same "magic" as the first.

If I had played this game first, and then the original DuckTales second, there's a chance I might come away saying this one is better. I don't know. All I can say is that my personal experience playing this game was worse than my experience playing through the first game. It seems kind of weak coming from my own mouth seeing as how I can't really pinpoint a reason why it isn't as good. It just isn't. That's my final answer, and you'll just have to accept it for what it is. Or better yet, play these games for yourself and see if you have the same impression I did. In fact, I encourage you to do so. These are good games that need to be played.



THE GRADE:
B-


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40 Years of Gaming: My Mop Up Duty Recap



It started on February 23rd, 2022. My 40th birthday was coming up in July, and this random idea popped into my head. Every gamer, no matter how hardcore they are, has a large number of games that they either missed out on or simply passed on playing for one reason or another when they were growing up. I'm no exception to that rule. I thought that a good way to discover some of these games, and to celebrate my 40th birthday, would be to go back and play a game (or multiple games) from each year I have been alive, from 1982 through 2022. These had to be games that I had NEVER played before.

While this is a great idea on paper, I had no idea how long and time consuming the process would be. Like I said, I started this in February of 2022. I thought I'd be done with this by the time my July birthday rolled around. Oh, you silly Dan, you. This projection would not even be close. Here we are in May of 2023 (MAY!) and I am finally just now wrapping this bad boy up. That's 15 months it took me to do this, if you are playing along at home.

Part of this is my own fault. I did stray from Mop Up Duty from time to time. You'll notice that I played through and reviewed games like Horizon Forbidden West, Resident Evil Village, Guardians of the Galaxy, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Quake Remastered, Alan Wake Remastered, Deep Fear, Live A Live, Landstalker, and many other games in conjunction with Mop Up Duty. If I had set those other games aside and solely focused on the task at hand, I could have likely finished Mop Up Duty a long time ago. But I didn't. 

If you've been following along, you'll see that as Mop Up Duty progressed, I started reviewing fewer and fewer games each calendar year. For example, for 1982 I played and reviewed three different games. By the time the 2000s rolled around, I was down to one or two games per calendar year. 2004 was the last year I reviewed two games. Everything after that, from 2005 through 2022, I only reviewed one. The reasoning for this is simple: games were a lot quicker and shorter in the 80s and 90s. Games like Pitfall and Satan's Hollow - you play them for an hour or two and then you are done with them. Games like Far Cry 2 and The Evil Within took me weeks to complete. It made sense that I'd cut down on the amount of games I played per calendar year - if only to speed things up a bit.

Now that I'm done, I'd like to go back and post some highlights and lowlights from this little project of mine. I'll start by saying that I played through a whopping 78 games for Mop Up Duty. 78 games I had never played before, from all different years of my life. That is a significant number. Chances are, I still would not have played most of these games if I didn't use Mop Up Duty as motivation. In total in my life, I've played through 969 video games (yes, I am keeping track!). 78 games is exactly 8% of that total. 8% of all the games I've played in all the 40 years of my life, and this number came within the last year and a half. I really hope this motivates anyone reading to play through their backlogs!

The five best games I discovered are as follows:

The Evil Within 2
Half-Life
Metroid: Zero Mission
Jet Grind Radio
The Adventures of Batman and Robin (SNES)

I haven't gone back and looked at any of my grades for these games, but just scanning over my list - these are the games that jump out at me as games that I just can't believe I missed out on growing up, and have joined the ranks of games that I would consider classics.

Five honorable mentions are:
Half-Life 2
The Evil Within
Bionic Commando
Axiom Verge
Bonk's Revenge

I'm sure there are other great games I played too (like Revenge of Shinobi), but I can't just give everything I played a shout out, can I?

When it comes to the five worst games I played during Mop Up Duty, they have to be:
Kool-Aid Man
Dragon's Lair (sorry!)
Frogger II: Threedeep
Black Panther
Blaster Master Boy

I'm not going to do honorable mentions for worst games, but you get my basic drift. There were a lot of clunkers I played through, particularly in the earlier years of gaming.

That said, this was really an amazing journey, seeing games in their infantile stages back in the early 80s, and how they've progressed throughout the years. Personally, I was born in the perfect year to follow the progression of video games from little beeps and bloops on the screen to full fledged cinematic masterpieces (at least visually speaking) such as the Callisto Protocol. Mop Up Duty is a perfect encapsulation of that. If I'm alive in another 40 years, I'm going to do this again, and that is a promise. 1982 to 2062. Why not?

To be honest, though, I am a little glad Mop Up Duty is over. Sometimes I get the urge to play through a game (I'll use The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as an example) but the year won't align with where I am in Mop Up Duty - or it will be a game I've already played before. So even though I would really want to play the game, I'd pass on it to focus on Mop Up Duty. This could be a little restrictive at times, and I am glad this restriction can finally be lifted. Twilight Princess, here I come!

What's next for your favorite game reviewer named Dan? I do have something fun planned for when I reach 1000 total games played (as I said, I'm up to 969 now, so I am close). I am thinking as a love letter to gaming and my lifetime experience with video games, I will rank these 1000 games from least favorite to most favorite. It'll either be on this blog - or I am thinking of starting a podcast to do this. I guess we'll see. But I am really excited to reach that milestone in my life. It will be a huge project, but something I've been looking forward to for a long time.

In the meantime, I am going enjoy the bonds of Mop Up Duty being lifted from my shoulders, and I am going to play whatever the heck I want to play and review whatever the heck I want to review.

If you've been reading and following along with Mop Up Duty, I want to give you a thank you for giving me someone to share my gaming obsession with. If you're just hearing about Mop Up Duty now, I'm going to post links to each and every one of my Mop Up Duty reviews below. Check 'em out!



40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:



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Video Game Review #442: The Callisto Protocol

The Callisto Protocol
PlayStation 4




Nostalgia Factor:

This is it. Mop Up Duty wraps up with my review of 2022's The Callisto Protocol. That's 40 years of gaming officially in the books!

I knew relatively nothing about The Callisto Protocol coming into it. I knew that it was a spiritual successor to Dead Space, and I knew that it received mixed critical reviews. Other than that, I was completely in the dark when it came to this game.

Read on for my full impressions!




Story:

It's the distant future. You take control of Jacob, a space pilot who transports cargo back and forth between human colonies on Jupiter's moons. Jacob's craft is boarded by a terrorist group known as the Outer Way. His ship crashes on Callisto, where he is mistaken for one of the Outer Way and thrown in prison. Things quickly go downhill from here.

The prison colony is overrun by zombie-like creatures. Power systems go in and out. Everything is on the fritz. Jacob is released from his cell and goes on a mission to escape Callisto, where anything and everything is trying to kill him.

You meet other survivors along the way, including Dani, the leader of the Outer Way - and the reason you're in this mess to begin with. Jacob works with the other survivors in order to escape. Some of them die, and some of them make it. The game throws some interesting twists and turns at you as well. But I won't spoil them for you. As always, there is more going on than appears to meet the eye.

Honestly, this game's storyline was secondary for me. I wasn't that interested in it. I was more interested in exploring Callisto and soaking in the game's immersive environments. And fighting monsters, of course. This game does throw things like audio journals at you that give more depth to what is going on, but oddly you can't walk around when listening to them. You have to open your pause menu and sit there and listen to them. Odd design choice. I just completely stopped listening to them after a while, as they were too disruptive to the game's flow. So I am sure I missed out on a lot of important plot details. Oh well.




Gameplay:

There's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to this title's gameplay. Basic movement is easy enough. Walking around, running, exploring, climbing ladders, picking up items, etc. It's the combat that's a little unusual.

Unlike most games of this genre, it is mainly melee based as opposed to long range weapon based. You pick up long range weapons as the game goes on, sure, but for at least the first half of this game you're going to be spending most of your time swinging at enemies with a crowbar. It's not the attacking that is tough to pick up, it is the dodging. This game has a very specific dodge system in place where you have to hold down the opposite direction on the control stick from where the enemy is attacking. So if the enemy is swinging at you from the right, you want to hold left to dodge the attack. Enemies can swing at you pretty rapidly in this game, so going from left to right and right to left can be a little frantic at times. And this isn't a game where you can just forget about defense. If you don't master this mechanic, you won't make it far.

If you're planning on playing this game, please don't make the same mistake I did. When you defeat an enemy, STOMP ON ITS BODY. When you do, they drop a helpful item almost 100% of the time. I didn't realize that I should have been doing this, so I kept running out of health and ammunition as I played through this game. I was like "dang why did no one tell me this game was so hard!?" I definitely got put in some near no-win situations. It wasn't until I realized that you have to stomp on enemies to get extra items that the game started to become a lot more easy for me. This revelation came about 30 percent into the game. I can only imagine how much better I would have had it if I had realized this sooner.

The game itself is fairly linear and straightforward. There is no map, so I was a little lost at first, until I realized that the game indirectly guides you where you need to go. You can't backtrack to old areas, so you just kind of have to wander around until you get on the right path. The game will nudge you in the right direction. You will know where you back on track.

My biggest gripe about this game is the load time. When you die (and I died A LOT), it takes about a minute or two for the game to load your last checkpoint. There are some very tough areas to fight through, so this game is no walk in the park. Sitting through all those loading screens gets old after a while.

The game also makes some weird decisions with its checkpoints. They often put them before you upgrade your weapons or make purchases at the in-game kiosks. So if you die after spending time upgrading your equipment - guess what? The game will reload the checkpoint from before you did this, and you'll have to do it all over again. Same goes for picking up items too. Gotta go around and collect them all over again. Just like the loading times, this also gets old fast.

I've read some reviews that the game is too short, but I honestly feel the opposite. I expected to beat this in a couple of days based on what I was reading, but I ended up spending several weeks with the game. It starts to get to the point where it overstays its welcome. Well, in my opinion anyway. Maybe I accidentally made the game tougher and longer by not stomping on enemies the first 30 percent of my playthrough!

I do have to say I liked this game overall. I don't get the mixed reviews. If you like Dead Space, you should like this. Then again, I haven't played the original Dead Space since 2009, so maybe I'm not remembering things very well. It's definitely not as good as the Evil Within games - that is for sure. But it is still good.



Graphics:

This game truly looks great. The locales are stunning and immersive. The characters look fantastic. The high flying cutscenes are box office blockbuster quality. The game does suffer from slowdown and framerate issues from time to time. Usually I am not one to complain about such things, but it can be quite bad at times, particularly towards the beginning of the game. Some sections were so choppy they bordered on unplayable. The issue seems to clear up pretty quickly though. If you're a first time player and this happens to you, don't let it scare you off.




Sound:

This game sounds great too. It really is movie quality in its presentation.

I have to give the game props for creating such a dark and immersive world. The sound design plays right into that. Aside from a few jump scares, however, the game fails to consistently create a scary environment. Dark and ominous, sure. But I never felt any kind of dread or tension as I played. This is the least scary scary game I've played. I think that more chilling music and sound effects could have helped in that regard.




Overall:

Due to its mixed reviews, I came into The Callisto Protocol with relatively low expectations. I'm glad to say that this game exceeded those expectations. I had a fun time with this game. Sure, there is a learning curve. And sure, some minor things like loading times and inconveniently placed checkpoints are a detriment to the game's quality. But I still had a good time.

If you're into this type of game, I can easily recommend checking it out. It's not perfect, but it is a welcome addition to the genre and a game that I can say I am very glad to have played. It's not a perfect title by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly is nowhere near as bad as some people are making it out to be. If The Evil Within and the Resident Evil series have taught me anything, however, it is that games like these have the capability to be so much better. This one is simply good, but not great.



THE GRADE:
B-



And with that, Mop Up Duty has come to a close! I'm going to post an official "look back" on Mop Up Duty very, very soon. It was a fun, if somewhat exhausting ride. Still a real treat though to witness firsthand the rapid evolution of gaming throughout the years; from Satan's Hollow all the way through The Callisto Protocol. What a long way we've come, and what a long way still have in front of us. I can't wait to see where gaming takes us from here.



40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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2022:
The Callisto Protocol
(the review you're reading)



And that, as we say, is that. Mop Up Duty is now complete. For a complete recap of this little project of mine, click THIS link.



For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click


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