Offensively Average, Worth a go for fans of the genre only.
I’m happy I got to play Chasm: The Rift. The fact this version is playable out of the box, includes all the content, and even comes with a DOSBOX version of the game, does help you get all the bang out of your buck for this one. As I mentioned it’s certainly a curious title, and you can see very early on why it was called a “Poor Mans Quake”, but the charm of the different levels and the character models do a lot to help carry it further than just being distinctly average. I wouldn’t recommend you jump onto Chasm: The Rift like it’s an essential purchase. It's something to soak up a few hours, without expecting something completely revolutionary. It's more of an rather irritating, yet charming title, with a little splash of something extra at times. Rifts may be a side effect of Quakes, but this one doesn’t leave any lasting damage.
Despite feeling like I've been knocking chunks out of The DioField Chronicle in much of my review, I did enjoy my time with the game quite a bit. My enjoyment mainly came from the fun combat hook. It's the poorly slapped-on exploration or the high fantasy by numbers storyline that lets it down. It feels like an experimental title for Square Enix. Should we get a sequel, if they put more of a budget into the outside of combat sections you'd have pure gold on your hands. Sadly, as it stands you've got poorly rendered PS2 silver dropping through your fingers with this one.
Megaman Battle & Fighters is a recommendation to Megafans who are curious how SNK handled the Megaman license, but I’d recommend waiting for a sale due to the lack of in-game English text.
Thymesia is a great idea, but it feels like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be its own thing or march to the beat of the Souls Drum. This hampers the product, alongside the loose feeling, lack of feedback in combat, and non-appearance of voice acting. In a post-Elden Ring world, we need to be looking at innovative and unique additions to a genre that has seemingly reached its apex. Sadly Thymesia seems to be solely carried by dated and constructive design, alongside an interesting theme.
It's hard to recommend Horgihugh and Friends when I had such high expectations dashed. It's not a bad game per se, but it's full of annoying cheap deaths and the visual department doesn't hit where it needs to. It certainly isn't my "go-to" cute 'em up, but there is certainly is worse on the market. Sorry, Horgi - you're not the best boy.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an interesting time capsule from an era that wasn't actually a long time ago but feels like forever. It's a fun 8-hour romp as long as you turn your mind off and expect a somewhat budget feeling PS2 era title. Visually and in its gameplay it has started to show its age. It's a shame that the 360/PS3 version didn't make the jump. I feel these stand up to today's standards a little better than its Frankenstein of a baby brother. It's not got the legacy of Jedi Knight and it's not in the same league as Jedi Fallen Order, but there is still a decent bit of budget fun that can be found here. If nothing else, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is still miles better than its rushed-out sequel!
When titles like Guilty Gear -Strive- and King of Fighters XV have set such high bars lately it's very difficult to accept anything less. While Phantom Breaker: Omnia has all the tools and look of the next big fighting game it doesn't quite have the feel. The lack of a playable tutorial certainly doesn't do it any favors either. I would imagine fans of the franchise will lap this title up and the crossover content could bring a few fresh eyes over, but as a fighting game in a genre that's made such a strong comeback over the last decade, it doesn't do much to differentiate from the cream of the crop or the more cult fighters such as Melty Blood or Arcana Heart.
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection is a fantastic little package that I imagine fans of the franchise would just lap up. The bonus features and care that have been put into the emulation are commendable. The quality of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier really cannot be understated as I fell in love with it almost instantly. When I started playing, I was joking to our dear chief here at NookGaming that the rest of the games could be naff and it would still score high. Little did I know that would partially be the case. I have no desire to play Valis II in any shape or form again anytime soon. Fortunately, Valis III seemed to fix some of the issues I had. The fact this collection is missing at least 1 major game and a Super-Deformed reimagining of Valis II is very hard to overlook. This married with a high asking price and the other issues raised, it may be a little too much to suggest picking this up outside of a sale.
River City Girls Zero is an awkward title. It's fun but it's also infuriating and relies on cheap tactics to see you through. At 3 hours tops for your first run, and with replayability being quite low on this title, it makes it a hard sell for anyone who isn't a die-hard citizen of the River City. If you are a fan of the franchise and go in knowing that this is just a classic title repurposed as a hype device for the upcoming River City Girls 2 then you should be fine.
MONARK is one of those games that had everything in place for it to be something special and unfortunately either a lack of experience or budget absolutely crucifies it. Uninspired gameplay and poor graphics spend their time battling an amazing narrative and well-crafted atmosphere. You can see where the influences came from and the presentation of the game has some great aspects. But when it comes to the actual video game section of MONARK, you find it’s just middle of the road.
I wanted to love Demon Turf and at its bone, there is a good title here. It just seems a little disjointed and awkward at points that make this little demon stumble. The asking price is more than fine for the game, and you get around 20 hours out of it. Just note that not all of it is gold, and has more padding than a push-up bra.
El Shaddai: Ascension of Metatron has always been a title I've enjoyed but often struggled to recommend. It's repetitive due to shallow combat and few and far between set pieces. Visually the game is untouchable, but in such a way it almost damages the game by trying to make such rich visuals with an experience that's otherwise average at every turn. It's not all bad, the game does what it sets out to do and provides a memorable and unique experience. It's just a pity that shallow gameplay and a lack of significant improvement in the PC version knock it down somewhat. I do think gamers who enjoy more cult classic titles will find enough to love here to justify a few nights of angel chasing.
Star Hunter DX is a fantastic middle-of-the-road Shmup. Curious omissions like no online leaderboards, score attack, or training modes aren't quite justified by the existence of an Achievement list. This is still a good time, but just a little minimalistic in more ways than the art style. Unfortunately, that makes it a tougher sell than it should be.
While Touhou Hyouibana ~ Antinomy of Common Flowers is a lot of fun, it does have a really short shelf life due to repetition creeping in. By the third or fourth story run, I felt like I’d already seen everything the game had to offer. With the focus on simple controls, matches tend to go the same way every time much like 3D Arena Brawlers, and this makes matches feel less free flow and more flow chart. The lack of an arcade tower also dampens the package as the story mode doesn’t allow you to choose individual characters and wants to focus on the narrative instead of the combat experience. Another aspect that makes the game feel cheap is the fact the developers never bothered to translate the special moves throughout the game. It’s the lack of little touches like that which put the game further down the genre list than it should be.
Fantastic for 8bit enthusiasts, those without the love might want to avoid
Great game but held back in animations and forced QTE sections
The uneven balance of difficulty rooted in its main gameplay causes this gem to be a little duller than I’d like.
A fantastic if not predictable game, a challenge for those that seek it
Fantastic Shmup that harkens back to the handheld 16bit era