Saturday, November 12, 2022

Video Game Review #415: Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins

Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins
PSP




Nostalgia Factor:

Back in 2006 I was just a 24 year old kid. I spent a lot of time with my girlfriend Jessica, playing big name console releases such as Final Fantasy XII, Tomb Raider Legend, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I did not own a PSP, so I was not even aware that a brand new Ghosts 'n Goblins game with 3D graphics had been released.

In fact, I would never find out about this game's existence until just a few weeks ago, here in the year 2022. As soon as I heard about this game, I knew I had to play it. I've been waiting for a game like this to come out for as long as 3D graphics have been a thing. Little did I know, one has already been out for 16 years.

How would I feel about this brand new (to me) old game? That's what you're here to find out, isn't it? I'd hate to disappoint you, so why don't you go on and read my full thoughts?




Story:

Arthur.

Demons.

A princess.

A kidnapping.

Do I need to say more?




Gameplay:

My first impression of this game was that it was everything I could have ever asked for from a next-gen Ghosts 'n Goblins game. It kept the 2D side scrolling, which is good. I mean, I enjoyed Maximo, but it was never able to quite capture the feel of the classic series. This game, however, does. The controls, the stage design, the constantly spawning enemies, the weapons, the bosses, the power ups... based on first impressions alone this game came across as an awesome update to a classic title.

And then I really started to dive into it. Let's just say the game left me a bit underwhelmed in the end. And honestly, it's really hard to put my finger on what it is exactly that I don't like about the game.

The controls handle just like the classic 8 and 16-bit versions of the game. Arthur moves the same, he jumps the same, he throws his weapons the same. There are the usual staple of Ghosts 'n Goblins weapons to collect, with a ton of new weapons thrown in to keep things fresh - like a crossbow that fires flaming bolts, a whip made out of plant vines (?), and a metallic throwing projectile that homes in on your enemies. The usual staples like the lance, the dagger, and that freaking useless fire projectile all make an appearance in the game.

On the surface the difficulty is a bit more forgiving. You get more lives. Arthur can take two hits before losing his armor and going down to his undies. You can even collect armor upgrades that allow you to absorb more damage. When you die, you pick up where you died instead of having to start the entire stage over again, which is an absolute godsend. You can save your game. And of course there are unlimited continues.

All these extra features don't make the game any less difficult, however. This game throws EVERYTHING at you, right from the bat. You barely get a microsecond to breathe, as enemies are constantly swarming at you from all directions. I grew up on the NES game and Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the Sega Genesis, and I do not remember those games sending so much crap your way. They were slower and more deliberate and rewarded a patient gamer. This game, however, is absolute chaos. You are going to need every single one of those five lives. And if this game didn't let you pick up where you died, it would be virtually impossible to complete.

Everything in this game is out to kill you. If that wasn't bad enough, there are bottomless pits galore to fall down. A few stages revolve around jumping back and forth on floating platforms, and let me tell you these are a nightmare. If you get hit by an enemy, you get knocked back - just like in the older versions of the game. This was always one of the most annoying things to me, so I'm a little irritated they didn't fix it. I know, I know - they wanted this to be like a continuation of the older games. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

There are so many things that could have been done to make this game more accessible, like the ability to fire your weapon diagonally. I get wanting to be true to the original games, but come on. Evolve with the times. This game came out in 2006. The ability to fire diagonally was the very least thing they could have done.

Instead we get upgrades no one asked for, like the ability to double jump and use a shield. I guess double jumping is a good upgrade, but when you can't adjust your jump mid-air it makes Arthur wildly uncontrollable, and almost makes it harder to complete routine jumps.

In typical Ghosts 'n Goblins fashion, the game isn't over when you make it to the end of the game. No, no no. You have to go back to the beginning of the game and collect 22 gold rings that have been hidden throughout the game's stages. I had collected, like six of them on my first attempt. The thought of going back and scouring each stage to collect 16 more of them was NOT my idea of a good time, especially considering I wasn't even having any fun to begin with.

And then I find out that once you collect all 22 and make it to the end, you have to go back to the beginning of the game and collect 11 more! Ummmmmm: no. I said screw this. I'll look up the ending of the game on YouTube and call it a day.

Anyone who is a loyal reader of this blog should know that this is not typically the way I operate. I can count on one hand how many of my 415 reviews I've completed without actually finishing the game. Jet Force Gemini comes to mind, because it has a similarly annoying game mechanic. Honestly, I'm struggling to think of any others. I'm a stickler for actually completing a game before moving onto the next one. But sometimes there are exceptions. And this game is one of them.

I just couldn't anymore. I had to move on. And I'm completely okay with that.




Graphics:

Visually, this game is great. It looks like a PS1 game. The world of Ghosts 'n Goblins is made for 3D. The characters, the enemies, the items, everything looks so cute and charming with polygonal graphics.

The stages really steal the show, with the lively backgrounds and the eye popping special effects. I'm a big fan. Too bad the game isn't any fun to play.




Sound:

Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins some really good music, but I don't think it is anywhere on the level of the 8 and 16-bit versions of the game. Those games have such iconic musical tracks. This game's music just comes across as a not-quite-as-good copycat.

The sound effects are decent. I really can't complain at all about how this game looks or sounds. They did a really good job delivering a new entry to the series that really captures the essence of the originals' presentation.

Again, I just wish it was more fun to play.




Overall:

I've already said it several times now, but I'll go ahead and say it again: I wish this game was more fun. It has all the trappings of a great game. It's a resurrection of a franchise I enjoy, complete with updated music, graphics, sound effects, and stage design. There are quality of life improvements, such as being able to save your game so you don't have to beat it all in one sitting. There are power ups and character upgrades galore. You can even equip your character with different shields and other items.

But what good is all that if the game isn't any fun? I really, really struggled with this one. It took me almost three weeks to trudge my way through this game - and even then I didn't complete it 100%. The game asks you to play through the whole thing multiple times in order to get the true ending, and I just don't have that in me. I'll keep my save file active in case I ever decide to come back, but I highly doubt that will ever happen.

Life is too short, and there are too many other great games out there that you could be playing. I cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone, even to fans of the classic series. I see that this game is fairly well-reviewed online, so I must not be seeing what everyone else is seeing. I won't say the game is a complete failure. It does do a lot of things the right way, which I'll try to reflect in my final grade. It's just not my cup of tea, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.



THE GRADE:
D+




40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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2006:
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins (the review you're reading)


Up next, we roll into 2007 and the PS3 era with my review of:
Heavenly Sword!


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


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Monday, October 31, 2022

Video Game Review #414: Gunstar Super Heroes

Gunstar Super Heroes
Game Boy Advance




Nostalgia Factor:

I have nothing to be nostalgic about with this review, for once in my life. I didn't own a Game Boy Advance growing up. I had never played a Gunstar Heroes game until earlier this year. Regarding the Game Boy Advance version of the game, this is the first time I'm even hearing about it. My only experience with the series so far is when I played the Genesis game about three months ago. I didn't really like it, much to my surprise.

Loyal readers of this blog know that I'm trying to play through at least one game from each year of my life, in order of the years of my life. Starting in 1982, I'm now up to 2005. I only decided to play this because I needed to play through a quick and easy game from 2005. I want to be done with this little side project of mine, so I am going to try to power my way through it until I hit 2022 as quickly as I possibly can.




Story:

I'm struggling here. I always try to write my reviews without having to actually research these games. I try to base things off of my own memory as much I possibly can. The problem with that? I have no idea what was happening with this game's story. I just finished it a few days ago and already I can barely remember anything.

I was able to gather that this game takes place even further into the future than the first Gunstar Heroes. There are powerful gems that everyone is trying to get. You fight the bad guys for control of the gems. A weak narrative pushes things forward, but the game seems to focus more on being goofy and funny than actually delivering a compelling narrative. Ultimately, the game's story doesn't really matter much since it is still fun to play otherwise. But it needs to be pointed out that there is absolutely nothing special happening here storywise.




Gameplay:

This premise of the game is very similar to that of its Genesis predecessor. You run. You jump. You shoot things. You collect items. You upgrade your weapons. You fight a boss. You move onto the next stage.

The biggest difference I noticed is that you no longer have the ability to combine weapons. You have three different weapon types you can toggle back and forth between. Determining which weapons are best suited for which enemies and being able to switch back and forth between them in the heat of battle is a big part of the game's strategy. It may seem like a lot of mindless running and jumping and shooting, but there's a little bit of surprising depth here.

I don't know what it is about this game versus the Genesis version of Gunstar Heroes, but I had a much more fun time with this game than I did the original. The gameplay seems a little bit more forgiving, especially when it comes to letting you pick up closer to where you die, when you inevitably kick the bucket too many times playing through this game.

When I died and was forced to restart a particular level or area, I often found that I was able to use what I'd learned the first time through and make it onto the next stage. The fact that there are save points makes this whole game so much less daunting. You don't have to worry about playing the game from the beginning if you can't make it through it in one sitting.

I really enjoyed the changes to the game. I found this version of Gunstar Heroes to be so much more accessible than the first. I am probably the only person in the universe with this opinion, but I much prefer this game to the original, actually.




Graphics:

I have to tip my hat to the Game Boy Advance once again for delivering to me a very outstanding looking game. I've heard the system described as a "Super Nintendo II" in spirit, and I'm beginning to come around to that statement.

The characters and the settings of the game are bright and colorful. The sprite animation is beautiful. The effects are terrific. The world of the game is just bursting with life and energy. You can tell they had a lot of fun designing this one.

This title would have looked right at home on the Sega Genesis. In fact, this may be even a little better than Genesis quality. Growing up in the 16 bit era, it's crazy for me to think that a handheld system would someday be able to surpass a home console.




Sound:

I took note as I was playing this game that I was digging the music and the overall presentation of the game. But looking back on my time with it, nothing in particular stands out to me. No tunes to hum. No basic melodies come to mind. I remember nothing. And that's kind of a problem I had with the first Gunstar Heroes. It's got a good soundtrack, at least I think it does. But why can't I remember any of it?

Luckily, this doesn't mean much in my book.




Overall:

I'm pleasantly surprised with this game. Maybe it's because I came into this with such low expectations, anything above failing would have impressed me, But I don't think so. I legitimately had a really good time with this game, so much more so than the Genesis one.

Do I see myself coming back and playing this game in the next few years? How I answer this question is always important to me. And I would say yes. I had a good time with this game. It's fun and accessible. Not as frustrating as the first. And I enjoyed learning from my mistakes and doing better with each passing attempt.

I think this will be a fun two player game as well, and I can't wait to sit down with my son when he's old enough and fire this one up. 




THE GRADE:
B




40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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2005:
Gunstar Super Heroes (the review you're reading)


Next up we move onto 2006 with my review of:
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for the PSP!



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


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Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Video Game Review #413: Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2
Xbox




Nostalgia Factor:

Yes, this was my first time playing through Half-Life 2. I know, I know - I'm late to the party. I came into this game well aware of its reputation. Greatest first person shooter ever, greatest game of all time, etc. My expectations coming in were understandably high.

I recently played through the original Half-Life a couple of months ago, and I loved it. You can find a link to that review down towards the bottom of this post. I gave the game an A+ and said that it was quite possibly the best first person shooter I had ever played. This, coupled with the game's vaunted reputation, really had me stoked to dive into Half-Life 2.

Would the game live up to the hype, or would I come away disappointed? Read on for the full scoop.

(Fun fact: this game has been in my possession for a LONG time now. When I opened up the case to retrieve the disc, I found an autographed receipt from former Brewers player Prince Fielder and a different autographed receipt from former Bucks player Joe Alexander, both dated from late 2009 - when I worked at a gas station. These autographs have been sitting here in this game case for 13 years, completely forgotten about by me. Why it took me 13 years to get around to playing this game, given its reputation, I have no idea. Anyway, I am putting these autographed receipts back in the game box, so in another 13 years it can surprise someone else. Thus ends today's fun fact.)




Story:

When I first started playing this game, I was very confused by what was happening. Nothing is explained in the manual, and little is explained in-game. As I progressed, I was able to gather that yes I was playing as Gordon Freeman from the original Half-Life. Apparently many years had passed since the end of the first game. Alien creatures from another world (possibly related to the events of the original game) have taken over, and are using human soldiers to keep the population under lock and key. Remember the fenced-in neighborhoods and how oppressive the soldiers are towards Joel at the beginning of the original Last of Us game? That's how things are here. The Cylon occupation from Battlestar Galactica is another scenario that comes to mind.

Gordon is dropped off onto a train by the G-Man, who you should recognize if you played the original Half-Life. Gordon becomes a pawn of the underground resistance, being passed from one location to the next. You're constantly under attack by aliens and their human cohorts. You're constantly getting split up from your team, being forced to go ahead alone. As much as I wanted this game to have some kind of deep storyline, it really doesn't. The whole game seems to move from one set piece to one set piece, the action constantly propelling you forward. The game excels in its atmosphere and its world building - but the actual storyline itself I found somewhat weak. Half-Life 2 seems more about the experience than anything else.

Spoiler alert, but at the end of the game you end up destroying the alien Citadel. Time freezes for Gordon as the G-Man comes to collect him. His mission is done, and is time to move his services onto the next highest bidder. So Gordon is some kind of superhuman killing machine that rich and powerful people are looking to hire? I have always wondered what makes Gordon so special. Is he some kind of genetic soldier? Is he a creation of the G-Man? What did he do before Black Mesa? I'm probably overthinking things.

It's a shame that this game has been out for so long now and we still have not gotten a Half-Life 3.




Gameplay:

At its core, Half-Life 2 shares a ton of similarities with the original game. The controls and the way you move Gordon are very familiar, as are the shooting mechanics. The only notable thing missing from the first game is the lack of lock-on ability, but I quickly learned to adapt without it.

The first Half-Life was a linear game that gave the illusion of a more open world, and Half-Life 2 follows in those footsteps - but this time around things are taken to a bigger extreme. The outside areas in this game are huge. You are often given things like boats and land vehicles to take you from place to place. You can explore everything and collect all there is to collect, or you can just go straight to your objective. I, for one, liked to check out everything.

While Half-Life 2 does give the illusion of a more open world than the original, it is all smoke and mirrors. This is a linear game. You can't tackle things in any order you want. There really isn't any significant backtracking. It's an open world game in the sense that Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is an open world game. Yes, there are some stages where you can explore and veer off the beaten path, but for the most part the game does its best to move you along on a linear path.

I hate to be "that guy", because I do like this game, but in my opinion Half-Life 2 was never able to truly capture the magic of the original Half-Life. The scope is bigger. The stakes are bigger. There are more enemies. There is more to explore. You have vehicles you can use. There's a cool gravity gun that lets you pick things up and fling them around. I mean, I can definitely see why people love this game so much. But bigger isn't always necessarily better. There were times when I was playing through this that I got bored. And that NEVER happened when I was playing through the original game.

Sometimes when I would stop playing, it would take me days to muster up the energy to turn this game on again. When I was playing through the first Half-Life, I couldn't get enough of it. I obsessively played it nonstop until I beat it. This one? Not so much.

I can't really put my finger on what rubbed me the wrong way with this game. Like I said, it handles a lot like the original Half-Life. Combat is a lot of fun. The controls are silky smooth. It's just missing that magical "it" factor that the first game had.

I like this game, yes. But is it as incredible as everyone says it is? I really don't think so. Makes me wonder, since this game is so highly praised, if this is more of a "me" problem than anything else. I can see that it is a good game, but something about it just wasn't doing it for me the way the first Half-Life was.




Graphics:

Even though this game is 18 years old at the time of this review, it's still pretty good looking. The environments are nice and detailed. They really nailed the feel of this grungy, post-apocalyptic world. I like seeing some of the big open areas too. It's much nicer than looking at hallways and laboratories all the time. The character and enemy models are much improved from the original game as well.

This game's atmosphere really carries it. If you have a way to play this in the dark with headphones on, do it. The story of this game may not bee too horribly engrossing, but its world building sure is.

If I had to offer one complaint, it is that there is often massive amounts of slowdown when there is a lot happening onscreen. I'm not usually one to complain, or even notice such things - but it is quite bad here, to the point where certain areas of the game started to border on unplayable. I was worried my Xbox was going to freeze on more than one occasion. That's not good. And it happens a lot.




Sound:

Nothing to complain about here. The voice acting is MUCH improved from the first game. I'm so glad they fixed it, as that was one of my biggest (and only) complaints about that game. The music is good and unobtrusive. Things tend to be quiet a lot in this game, which is good because it matches the desolate atmosphere of the game's world. As I said before, if you can find a way to play this in the dark with headphones on, that's probably the optimal way to experience this game.




Overall:

I know it seems like all I've been doing is whining about this game and saying how it isn't as good as the original Half-Life. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, however. It handles well, the action is fast paced, and the set pieces are impressive - as is the world building of the game.

Although this isn't an open world game, I like how they started to take things in that direction. Some of the large, explorable areas were pretty fun to check out. The addition of vehicles was a wise choice as well. And if I wasn't feeling the whole exploration thing? I'd just head right to where I was supposed to go.

I don't think this is as good as the first Half-Life, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of games aren't as good as the original Half-Life, and I still enjoy them just fine. This game falls into that category. This is a very good first person shooter, maybe even a great one. Don't come at me, but I also feel that it might be a tad overrated. Would Half-Life 2 be on my list of top ten games of all time? Not even close. I don't even know if it would make the top 100.

In the end, I can say that I am very glad I played this game and that I had fun with it. If I could only play one Half-Life game for the rest of my life, however, it is going to be the first one.




THE GRADE:
B+




40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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2004:
Half-Life 2 (the review you're reading)


2005:
Up next we're moving along with my review of
Gunstar Super Heroes for the Game Boy Advance!


And since I want to get the ball rolling on Mop Up Duty and get it completed before the end of the year, I am going to cut the amount of games that I play down to just one per calendar year. Hopefully that gets things sped up!



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

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Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Video Game Review #412: TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist

TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist
Sega Genesis


Nostalgia Factor:

I first played this game back in the early 90s. I was a big TMNT fan at the time, and normally I would buy every Turtles game that came out and add it to my collection. But not this time. I think I was turned off by how repetitive TMNT II and III were for the NES. I liked these games, sure, but once I beat them they didn't give me much of a reason to come back to them. My assumption was that Hyperstone Heist would be more of the same.

And it absolutely was. I rented this game from Blockbuster for a weekend, beat it, returned it, and have never come back to play it again - until now. Would my initial reaction to the game still hold true? Let's dive in.




Story:

We all know that these TMNT beat 'em ups aren't known for their deep storylines. The Hyperstone Heist is no exception. What it boils down to is that Shredder has gotten his hands on the titular Hyperstone. I think of the Hyperstone as being similar to an Infinity Stone from the Marvel movies. He uses this stone to shrink the Statue of Liberty and steal it. He then challenges the Turtles to come find him.

You know the drill. The Turtles then proceed to kick and punch their way through a series of levels until they find Shredder, defeat him, and put the threat of the Hyperstone to rest once and for all.




Gameplay:

I've played and reviewed four different TMNT beat 'em ups for this blog over the years, and I don't really know what there is to say about this game that hasn't been said already. You control one of the four ninja turtles. You have a jump and an attack button. You fight through stages full of Foot Soldiers, beating a boss character at the end of the stage. You pick up pizza to refill your health. Your points add up and give you extra lives to work with. At the end you beat Shredder and the game ends.

The Hyperstone Heist rigidly sticks to this formula. I guess an exception to the rule is that there is a "boss rush" stage where you fight all of the game's bosses before moving onto the final stage of the game.

As far as the gameplay itself goes, Hyperstone Heist is almost indistinguishable from the other TMNT beat 'em ups. You might notice subtle changes in the gameplay (for example, you can't throw enemies at the camera like you can in Turtles in Time), but for the most part if you've played one of these TMNT games you've played them all.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that this game shares a lot of set pieces with Turtles in Time (like the elevator fight, and the final Shredder boss battle). I wonder if this game was supposed to be a port of Turtles in Time, but they decided to change things to make it an original title during the production cycle.




Graphics:

The Hyperstone Heist is noticeably less vibrant than the Super Nintendo's Turtles in Time, or any of the arcade TMNT beat 'em ups for that matter. The characters have a slightly more pixelated edge to them. The colors are a bit muted. While you could say that the other TMNT games are like a cartoon come to life, I don't know if you can say the same here. Not that the game looks bad, but it has a very distinct "Genesis" look to its graphics.




Sound:

Just like with the graphics, Hyperstone Heist's music isn't quite up to snuff with the precedent set by the SNES and arcade TMNT games. The music is good, sure, but to me it doesn't quite capture that exciting and fun spirit of the cartoon. Don't get me wrong, the game has good music and sound effects. Just not as good as I know they can be.




Overall:

If you are a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and you like beat 'em ups, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't like this game. I know it seems like all I've been doing is saying how this isn't as good as other games in the TMNT series, but really you can't go wrong with this title. Especially if this was 1992 and the only console you owned was a Sega Genesis.

If I got a group of friends together and we decided to play through a bunch of old TMNT games, this wouldn't be the first game we'd pick. But it wouldn't be the last one either. This is a perfectly fun and competent TMNT game. It may not be my favorite in the series, but that certainly doesn't mean I don't like it. 

Am I going to come back to this game every few years to play through its single player mode? Probably not. In fact, I'm not certain I see a need to come back to this game at all, unless it is with friends. I know that isn't exactly a glowing endorsement, but when you've got a bunch of TMNT games and they all kinda do the same thing, it does make this one a bit redundant.

That said, it's still a fun game. Am I making sense here? I feel like I'm not making any sense. Hopefully you catch my drift. Good game, yes. Groundbreaking game, no.



THE GRADE:
B-



Check out the following links for some of my past TMNT reviews!

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