What I've been playing lately 03/06/2021
Apart from NG of course, that always stays in my while playing list. I have been going through my backlog trying to pick out games I either moved away from too soon or just straight up forgot I owned or played before. One thing I will get into later is that when you have played enough games it's quite bizarre to feel like you forgot playing it.
Streets of Rage 4
Actually was stunned to realise this game released over a year ago. I feel like it's almost impossible to have grown up in the SNES / Mega Drive era and not played the old Streets of Rage games. Between 3 games in 1, bundles and pack ins it felt like you could talk to anyone and they would have played one of these at some point.
I finished SoR4 when it came out and was originally intending to put quite a bit of time into it. The scoring and combo system is awesome and definitely scratches that fighting game itch that I've had over the last year or so. The characters are varied and look great, the enemies are fun to fight and even though it's not too hard once you figure out the basics the highest modes still keep you on your toes.
There is just something about chaining together huge combos in this game that is really satisfying. I can't quite pin point exactly what it is but everything just fuses together so well once you get into the rhythmn of the game. The soundtrack is also excellent, I have a huge bias towards old games music as they had to do a lot with so little, when you consider some older games aren't even 1MB in size their audio had to be very efficient. SoR4 obviously doesn't have this constraint but the music and sounds still give that old school vibe that takes me back to the days of just sitting on the carpet playing my Mega Drive for hours and hours on end.
While SoR4 is bound to give anyone like me a good trip down memory lane the game doesn't feel like some old, out dated beat em up. That genre is one that you really don't see much of these days and it's pretty amazing that SoR4 pulls of what it does. The mechanics are solid enough for this to be someones first foray into the genre and I could see anyone with an enjoyment for fighters have a great time here.
Getting the Platinum trophy for this was just a blast and I know I won't be stopping there. Seeing some of the prowess players have at this game makes me want to get much better. That's something that I do love about this era of gaming, you can level up so much faster now due to how much information you can get. Years ago I always used to swear off ever doing that, but that's when I had way more time on my hands and before the realisation of what my NG videos have done for others.
Matterfall
If there was ever an award for the best looking particle effects then Housemarque would just own it. There is something extremely clever about how they manage to make everything explode in a way that is so stimulating to that part of the brain that loves watching tons of little things interact yet doesn't distract from the gameplay at all.
This is a game that unfortunately fell victim to my PS4 crash of a couple of years back, I went to download my saves and the weren't there. That has lead to an obsessive level of manually backing up my saves to PSN ever since.
I'm not sure if this was the first side scroller from Housemarque but all the hallmarks of their style of twin stick is here for the most part. I have to go through and unlock everything again which is a pain but I'm still looking forward to getting to where I was before. This game really makes me want to get Returnal on PS5 but that's going to have to wait a little longer.
The dash into stun system oddly reminds me of the UT system in NG. When you dash you create an explosion that stuns enemies and if you kill them during this you get a much higher point bonus and your combo is fixed unless you take damage. It's a weird adjustment from their previous games as you normally have to keep pushing forward to keep your combo going but with the platforming and environmental requirements it makes sense.
The control system also took some getting used to again, that said it is very smartly designed so you never have to take your thumb off the stick for shooting. Something I remember a few games not doing even this game came out. Going back to this makes me very excited for Returnal but I hope Housemarque get the chance to really show what they can do in another genre. They have mechanics down like no other developer, they know how to make a game control well and feel great to play. I hope they can put that into something different next time. Granted Returnal could very well be that, I'll find out soon enough.
Super Meat Boy
This game is 11 years old, that genuinely took me by surprise. I mean I knew it wasn't recent but off the top of my head I would have said very late 360 era. I can only chalk that up to this being a game that came out when I was at university. They were a few from that time that I knew I wanted to get really into but just didn't have the time during that period to do so.
Now I could have sworn that I finished Super Meat Boy back then and definitely dabbled in the dark world levels too. Nothing too crazy but too much of it seems familiar for me to not have done so back then. For the life of me though there isn't any clear memory of playing it, which is weird as this was definitely a game that was the talk of the room during games design. I remember even using it in an assignment as an example of a precision based platformer. Just seems so weird to almost have forgotten a game entirely that I played.
Anyway that aside, this game is still fantastic. I love how every time you think "oh no that won't work it's just crazy" you prove yourself wrong within the next 10 or 50 attempts. I feel like the game was made like that, the developers want you to see the easier way which takes longer and while doing that method you can't help but notice the things they placed there to push you towards getting that perfect run.
I remember when playing 10 Second Ninja last year the game it reminded me of the most was Super Meat Boy. The former has quite a few more things going on than in SMB and I do love that about it but I am really enjoying the simplicity of SMB in comparison. Everything is based around your movement. Your running and jumping has to be perfect to get those super fast finishes and it just never stops being addictive and satisfying when you pull it off.
Numerous times I have started playing and think to myself "ok just ten minutes on here" only to look at the clock over an hour later and still be playing. If I did play it all those years ago and my brain forgot then I don't really see it as a bad thing. It's like being able to play a game you love for the first time again.
That's it really, these three games will keep me busy for a while and I will almost certainly post something once the Master Collection drops next week. Until then take all and thanks for reading :)
Next on the list is Bully and GTA San Andreas I think.
Peace,
JTB.
Great article ! Streets of rage … never played 4, but it I think I played Streets of rage 2?
ReplyDeleteI know it might sound heretic, but I was more of a Final Fight fan back in the days
Thanks for writing your thoughts, and see you later today at the NG master ninja speed run premiere :)
Since you seem to have a functional Xbox 360 set up and really enjoy action games like NGB and DMC, I would suggest looking into two 2D action games (which I believe to be quite good. They are really satisfying and have interesting style elements). These are The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile.
ReplyDeleteMost people prefer Vampire Smile, but I think Dead Samurai has better gameplay and enemies. The movement system in the first game has more depth, and the enemies actually try somewhat to control and counter you, similar to NGB (though definitely not on the same level). In DS, you can cancel almost everything with a weapon switch, including rolls, move recovery frames, and some moves entirely (during startup frames). This reminds me of the Ninja Gaiden shuriken throws to reset combos and cancel your recovery frames somewhat. Rolling cancels things such as weapon swap animations. There is a double jump, and you can air roll horizontally and diagonally downwards (to get to the ground more quickly). Roll jumping also exists, and the distance travelled can be manipulated quite flexibly (there are special types of roll jumps with invincibility carried into parts of the jump too). You can run up walls and wall cling. Also OT's are here. 2D Gaiden Lite ftw!
Sorry for losing focus, if this is hard to read.
DeleteAlso, the OT's work more like glory kills, cause non glory kill delimbs aren't really a thing. One of my favorite things is to use wall bounce aerial strings to put the enemy into glory-killable state, switching to the shift blade, teleporting directly downwards towards the ground (shift blade is unique in Dead Samurai in that it is the only weapon that allows you to teleport and fly, it is also to most well rounded of the weapons. It is basically the True Dragon Sword of Dead Samurai), and immediately initiating a messy kill.
DeleteThat's another thing to mention. You can kill enemies pretty quickly with light attacks, but you have 2 main quick kill options - clean kill and messy kill. Messy kills are your typical glory kills. They are safer to initiate, as they have no startup, just get close and press the grab button (B). The clean kills are generally executed by hitting an enemy (who is in critical condition) with a heavy attack (Y). This can be more convenient if a large group of enemies is significantly damaged, as most heavy attacks have significant stopping power and sweep across a decent chunk of the screen (almost like a standard Dabi ET or Scythe UT [not the rotate Y]). However, the startup on a heavy attack means you need to stun enemies that can immediate threaten you and create enough space that you won't get stuffed out during startup. The reason there are these two options is because resupplying on health and magic mid-fight is only guaranteed when you finish an enemy according to a specific kill prompt which appears above their head once they reach critical condition. I like that the game forces you to alter between a close range offensive playstyle to a more defensive, keep-away playstyle on the fly (and from defensive to offensive, should the heavy attack put another enemy in messy-killable state - the goal changes to "get close and grab").
I did play the first Dishwasher and absolutely loved it. Man I forgot all about that game, thank you for reminding me. I am going to add that to my revist list for sure.
DeleteThat game flew under the radar for a lot of people back then which was a shame, I think there was a bit of 2D fatigue during that time but Dishwasher was one of the stand outs for me. Definitely need to play that soon.
Yeah for sure, figured you'd be into it =).
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