Invincible Iron Man Review:
This is a pretty decent game but I feel like it could be more. I mainly checked it out because this was an Iron Man game based on the comics. This is basically a 2D shoot em up in the style of Contra and Metal Slug and the game does what it tries to do well enough. The enemy death animations and carnage that happens on screen looks nice with those GBA sprites. The game does look and feel fun to play and it does that job well enough.
However, what holds the game back is how much gets reused. The same enemies gets reused a lot but with a color swap and not much else, the game makes you fight Blizzard twice, and the game never really does a whole lot to deviate from, "shoot stuff then an occasional platforming challenge", it's all fine and functional but doesn't really stand out when the Iron Man skin gets removed.
Another thing I feel like could be better is that the game lacks a lot of combat options even stuff the games it borrows from has like Metal Slug. Metal Slug gives you a melee attack and more distinct and different weapon variety than this game does. It feels strange for a game called "Iron Man" and Tony being a guy who makes weapons, all he has is 2 forms of attack and can't even punch anyone.
Still, it's a decent enough short little romp.
Serious Sam Siberian Mayhem:
Its basically more Serious Sam 4 which is a good thing since I loved SS4. Cutscenes are still badly optimized and optimization overall isn't great but it has way less cutscenes than the base game so it didn't bother me that much.
If you loved SS4 at all, this is a must play then again you probably got it already.
War of the Monsters:
Not a bad game, it sort of feels like Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects in that it's an "arena" fighter with lots of open space, makeshift weapons, destructible enviroments, and an "energy meter" to do special attacks. I do think this game is better but what holds this game back overall is that the camera controls feel very awkward, I feel like if the game let you move the camera with the right stick and had lock on be a simple button press rather than holding L1 and R1, then the game would just feel better to play as a result.
The bosses can get pretty irritating at times but the forgiving checkpoint system where you respawn at each phase of the boss as well as having your 3 lives back after every game over as well really mitigated a lot of the potential frustration the game could've given me.
Honestly, I consider this game to be a solid hidden gem on the PS2.
Timesplitters 2:
Good game overall, a massive improvement over what Perfect Dark tried to do. The level design is much better, it has far more charm, and the various movie genre parodies were pretty funny and amusing. The guns feel amazing and satisying and the OST is one of the best in gaming.
Now, the big issues I have which I think a modern remaster can fix if done well is more checkpoints, more medkits throughout the levels, and better aiming controls can greatly improve the game. I can't play on any difficulty above easy due to the controls especially.
Still worth checking out, until there is a modern remaster, I say emulate the game and tinker with the controls in the in game options to have strafe on left stick and camera controls on right. And also when you set the camera controls on the right stick, go to the emulator controller settings and invert the controls on the right stick because you can't play TS2 with camera on right stick with the normal up and down. It's weird, so weird, but for me, easy mode plus this control option is the most enjoyable way to play as of now.
Super Mario Galaxy:
Definately one of my favorite games in the 3D Mario games, it's level design and how it messes around with gravity is pretty damn creative. Every level is iterating on what was done previously, and no gimmick gets used once. The only bad thing about the game is the motion control stuff but other than that, I really enjoy it.
Twisted Metal Head On:
This is a pretty good brainless fun kind of game to play casually. This and TM Black are tied for my favorite games in the series. The bosses are pretty bad but other than that it's pretty solid fun.
Donkey Kong Country 3:
Unpolular opinion: I prefer Donkey Kong Country 3 over 2. 3 just had way less bullshit moments and animal transformation crap for me. First one is still the best of the trilogy.
Yoshi's Story:
An N64 game I actually do like which is funny but that is because it's in 2D and not attempting to be 3D. Overall, the collecting aspect was kind of interesting and probably the only 2D platformer non metroidvania game to have an interesting take on collecting because it's not mandatory secret hunting but you have to look around and collect in order to progress. But it is rather short, like it is really short, I can picture people who bought back in the day not to find the game to be worth the price but it's a decent enough ride and worth playing for the short run time it lasts.
Boomerang X:
It's a cool game but it's way too fast paced for a controller. It's impressive how they made an fps with one weapon so engaging.
At the same time, I wished the game was in third person rather than first. It'd be easier to know where enemies are attacking me, easier to tell where my position is in the air, and split second landings would be easier to pull off.
Every time I am in the air, I always have to look where my character is in proportion to the ground, it's a game where your weapon is also your primary way of battlefield traversal and third person just makes it more clear where my character is when enemies are attacking me from all sides.
No comments:
Post a Comment