Sunday 7 July 2024

Short Game Reviews: July 2024

Naruto Clash of Ninja 2:

This is the better game than Clash of the Ninja 1, all though it's simpily better because it has more content than because the actual game is. As a whole, it's esstentially a DLC expansion to the first game, story mode is longer now where it's an hour rather than 20 minutes and you got the occasional mini game reminscent of Super Smash Bros where there is up to 4 characters, 1 of them you control and the rest are by the AI. There isn't much to say, the fighting is the same, the graphics are the same and there is more content.

If you want to start with the Clash of Ninja series, you might as well start here, it covers more of the Naruto story all though not really as faithfully as I would like for example, Sasuke is still wearing his blue clothes when you fight Gaara rather than his black ones that he did in the Chunin Exams. Seems like all the devs needed to do was a skin swap. That and the game ends with a fight between Naruto, Gaara and Kankuro which isn't how the Chunin Exams arc ended but the devs probably couldn't do a full on Naruto vs Gaara Kaiju battle from what I can tell.

Other than some difficulty spikes especially when you fight Neji and Gaara especially the latter(his "ultimate defense" definetly shines in this game), the story mode is doable.

Overall, not much to say on the game, if you really disliked how Clash of Ninja 1 lacked in content than this game could win you over, unless you hated the fighting mechanics in the original game. This about as "expansion sequel" as expansion sequel can get.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants: 

An arcade game based on a TMNT cartoon I'm not a big fan of? Sounds like something I wouldn't really enjoy but surprisingly I got some fun out of it. It's not a great or even a good game, it's a pretty average 2D beat em but thanks to the continue system that works like the PSN and XBLA version of X-Men the arcade game, I was able to get to the end since you are able to respawn as many times as you want with the lives system being a red herring, not sure if it's because I played on easy. I'd say thanks to this continue system, I found the game more accessible than the recently released Shredder's Revenge since that game, it's a level restart upon losing all your lives and coop is a must in order to get anywhere in that game.

The game is based described as a 2D beat em up with a 3D art style much like the show it's based on, the whole game is kind of a loose amalgamation of the first 4 seasons of the 2012 TMNT cartoon with Cyber Shredder being the final boss. It's also easy to tell it came out post S2 since Seth Green is voicing Leonardo. You have one basic attack button, a super attack, and a jump. Regular attacks, super attacks and power up attacks is what I was using actively especially power up moves which can level all the enemies in an area and same goes for the super moves, if it weren't for these attacks and the health pick ups after long waves, I would be dying a lot more. You can also complete the levels in any order you want untill you get to Shredder but it doesn't really make a difference.

My only big issues is the lack of an actual dodge button and while this is okay for against Foot Ninjas since they are upclose and don't have ranged weapons. Other problems start to persist like when there are Foot Ninjas running at you with spears and my least favorite enemy type, the Kraang. Those guys have guns that seem to be projectiles but there is no method to dodge out the way before the slow moving lasers can hit you and the best you can do is just be a tank. The worst enemies are by far the Kraang with the lightning gun and their attacks are much like the Crimson Guard soldiers in Jak 2 where their attacks are seem like projectile but are actually a well disguised hitscan attack, a lot of my deaths and health lost in this game as a whole was when fighting these guys since like much of the Kraang fights and this game as a whole since there is no dodge button, you just got to be a tank.

The game can also be completed in about an hour which is fine, if the game went on any longer, I would've gotten sick of it, the price point is kind of okay, at least it's not at full retail.

Overall, for a game I only bought and played because I was watching a TMNT cartoon I ultimately didn't enjoy that much, I had an okay time with it, I was expecting worse and I was expecting myself to drop it since I thought it had Shredder's Revenge's continue system but it didn't. If you like the show, you might possibly get more enjoyment out Wrath of the Mutants than I did.

Warhammer 40K Boltgun - Forges of Corruption:

It's more Warhammer 40K Bolt Gun, whole DLC is basically just some brand new levels and the price point is surprisingly reasonable with it being below $10. If you like the base game then the DLC is a steal at that price. You get some new levels, and some new weapons. The game also is more streamlined in some ways where the keys you need to find to progress being in the direct vincity of the player than looking too intensely for them or them being separated by large stretches of land.

My only big gripe with the DLC is that the first level is way too hard because your arsenal is too small at the start, there is a massive toad like enemy that takes a lot of damage and can rip your health bar to shreds within seconds, it was either lower to easy mode or play with accessiblity mode cheats on so I chose easy mode and the game never gets that challenging again, it was truly bizarre, the game is pretty mangeable when you start getting more weapons.

There is also the use of the dash jump this time around which can be pretty jarring since I never used it in the base game, without the knowledge, I was frustrated by some of the platforming but when I learned that you can do it by dashing than jumping, they got noticeably more tolerable.

Overall, just more Boltgun, solid DLC and reasonably priced too. If you ignore the opening level with the lack of powerful guns and tough enemies and waves then it's a good time.



No comments:

Post a Comment