1. Northern Journey (PC)(FPS)
2. Hatchpunk (PC)(FPS)
3. Might and Magic IX (PC)(RPG)
4. Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)(RTS)
5. Chasm: The Rift (PC)(FPS)
6. Real Heroes: Firefighter HD (PC)(FPS)
The Nintendo Wii had some interesting ideas for ways to use the Wiimote for first person gaming, and Real Heroes: Firefighter was an example. The game follows a new firefighter in Los Angeles who has to get on the job training during one of the worst droughts the state has ever seen. When it released, the Wiimote was used for aiming hose and extinguisher spray, cutting through walls with a saw, and prying open metal doors with the jaws of life. The built in speaker even worked as the game's radio, so you'd be playing while receiving orders in the palm of your hand.
With the HD updated release on PC, the novelty of control this way was removed for a more traditional WASD control approach, with mouselook taking over for much of the regular play, though specialty gear now requires some unusual choices that feel more like busywork to do.
But back to the basics: you are a new firefighter. Each level in the game is a different location where there is a fire or some other sort of emergency that Ladder 13 is called to. Perhaps it's helping pull people out of houses in the path of oncoming wildfire. Or maybe it's helping get survivors off a bridge damaged by a major earthquake. Skyscrapers, shopping malls, warehouses, museums, amusement parks, all make for interesting locales to battle raging infernos and save lives. Each area also feels unique, like the museum's planetarium catching fire, only to have the massive sun become a rolling inferno.
Yet once you have the swing of things, you know what you're doing, because there isn't exactly a lot of variance at the core philosophy. You have an axe, a Halligan bar, a fire extinguisher with limited capacity, and occasionally a firehose which has a couple of different spray styles. You fight fire by shooting it with the extinguisher or hose. While the hose can swap between a wide-spray for hitting lots of targets or a more focused stream with great range, it's water, so it can potentially damage certain objects you want to protect and doesn't work on wild electric charges. The extinguisher does, so when you see electricity crackling, know what to swap to. As for the fire, it spreads constantly, so battling it involves making sure you wear it down into manageable sections and constantly monitor where it has moved, including going back over areas you may have previously cleansed. Sometimes it's better simply to run and get away from it, as you lack the ability to put it down entirely.
While you are doing this, you are also rescuing survivors, occasionally solving puzzles or taking care of precious items, as well as finding hidden evidence tokens as to what caused the fire and an alternate skin for one of your items. Each level holds one of these special skins, so if you want to wield a medieval axe instead of your generic flathead axe, you're gonna have to find that skin in the corresponding level.
There is also a cast of regular characters that make up Ladder 13, and these are the folks who push the story along. They're not necessarily deep characters, fitting into stereotypes of the cocky hothead, the idiot rookie, the firm captain, and so forth, so don't expect them to break the mold or blow your mind. But every now and again, one of them will make a quip which is at least mildly entertaining. The game also shows famous quotes or important fire safety facts during loading screens, so at least you're getting an education.
Also, the game has a cel-shaded style that gives it a comic book flare. It makes things seem cartoonish, but with the jokes and attitudes and constant throwing yourself into the midst of the blaze, it suits the game well enough. Even on initial release, this game wasn't known for blowing anyone's mind visually.
It's a fun game. It's not mind blowing in any way, and odds are you may find the action repetitive, even as the game finds ways to throw curveballs at you. But at least it's a different approach to a genre that was heavily stuck on WWII and modern military conflicts at the time it was released. For that, it should be praised.
Games Beaten 2023
Re: Games Beaten 2023
1. Northern Journey (PC)(FPS)
2. Hatchpunk (PC)(FPS)
3. Might and Magic IX (PC)(RPG)
4. Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)(RTS)
5. Chasm: The Rift (PC)(FPS)
6. Real Heroes: Firefighter HD (PC)(FPS)
7. CULTIC (PC)(FPS)
8. Consortium (PC)(FPS)
CULTIC
DUSK gave me a fully 3D take on Blood a few years ago. I had a great time spinning shotguns and sticking sickles into robed demon worshippers. CULTIC, however, feels more like what Blood could have been if it were a little less masochistic and a little more focused on the cult and not the Build Engine obsession with movies and trying to make every environment ever. That, and less hitscan.
In CULTIC, you play a detective who was investigating some kind of crazy cult, only to get discredited and then left for dead. What's a guy to do? Shrug your shoulders, grab whatever you can, and kill them all, of course! Sure, the law might take offense to what you're doing, but considering these guys have literal truckloads of corpses, I think any good legal defense team would go with a "blame the victim" approach to your trial. Plus, you can literally blast someone's head apart and then kill the next cultist by hurling a dislodged eyeball at them. The defense rests, bitch.
Yeah, you have some nasty options. Combat in CULTIC has a heft to it, where foes explode in blood spray, guns mostly feel powerful (and even the weak can be upgraded to be strong), and objects can be hefted and hurled at a moment's notice if you are low on ammo. You can beat someone to death with a teddy bear if you so choose. I chose. I definitely chose. Plus, you get dynamite and molotovs as well as explosive objects. It's like keeping some of the best of Blood's arsenal while trimming most of the masochistic fat, because in Blood, most of the weapons could and would hurt you. They can still hurt you in CULTIC, but you don't have to be quite so close to that screaming immolated guy running at you.
CULTIC also looks grimy. It has a lo-fi visual design with a lot of browns, blues, and rusty reds in it, where nothing looks clean. The sound effects are similar to the kind of thing you hear in Silent Hill too, so when you're scrambling over dumpsters or checking the ruined remains of a boat, you feel like you really need a bath. Considering the piles of meat and gore, the numerous bodies, the crypts and mines, mental asylums and homemade jails, CULTIC is not a nice place, but it's a great place to blast the crap out of some freaky things.
The kicker about all this is that the game also uses the world against you. It's not masochistic, sure, but it can just as easily pop you when you don't expect it. Maybe you didn't realize there was a jumping zombie coming through the treeline behind you, or that chair just started levitating because a telekinetic ghost has honed in on your progress. Or maybe that flesh monstrosity is just going to eat your face with its...everything. Seriously, I don't know what I'm looking at with some of these things, so I just put bullets into it until it stops moving.
And also, less hitscan...usually! Cultists that shoot at you telegraph what they're going to do, so you can go for cover! There is one hitscan enemy that I despised, but the game also provides damage markers, so you can more easily figure out where they are and end the bastard. Again, since it's already dead or something. I don't understand how all this cult stuff works.
If you want combat with chunk in a horrific setting and don't mind some dirt (or worse) underneath your fingernails, CULTIC is a great time. It's currently only one episode, but here's hoping for more soon.
Consortium
Consortium is tough to define as a narrow genre. It contains a first person view, and you do use firearms as a means of interacting with certain foes, though to claim it's just an FPS feels like a limitation on what the game is trying to do. I'll keep the FPS genre tag on it, but Adventure, Action, even to an extent RPG seem applicable. This is all because, as much as shooting plays a part, it's conversation that is the real star of the game.
In Consortium, you are playing a game within a game. You are an unknown entity from an alternate universe who uses a video game to tap into this world, where you take over the body of a man known as Bishop 6. He is one of the Bishops, the special operations wing of the titular Consortium, a global peacekeeping force with a leadership structure based on chess. The King and Queen run the group, Knights form the leaders of teams, while Rooks serve as their logistical and support officers. Pawns work in a variety of roles, but only the Bishop appears to operate in a combat capacity. That's why you get the guns, the armor, the VR training, and the hard jobs.
What's the hard job? Well, it's twofold. First, you awaken in Bishop 6's body to discover you're on an aircraft being harassed by a mercenary group. Second, there has been a murder, and you get tasked with investigating. Also, the ship has a glitch. Is it an accident? Sabotage? Are all these problems connected? And if so, why? To find out, you don't always shoot, you have to talk.
That's where the beauty of Consortium comes in. It's mostly via dialogue, but the game remembers the words you use and the actions you take. Mention that you go by a name, and people call you by it. Express distaste for a religion, and your opinion may result in obvious discomfort in others. Piss off someone, and it may radically alter whether you get boarded, take prisoners, kill everyone, and so on. It's also not just through dialogue; you have the option of killing or rendering foes unconscious, so if you do get into a firefight, you can take prisoners or terrify everyone by being a mass murderer. Yeah, you probably already figured out that I ended up with a crew that was very uncomfortable with my lethal tendencies.
As for the gunplay, it's the weaker part of the experience. Enemies don't really react to gunfire or register damage until they drop, so you can get mowed down despite unloading whole magazines into narrow doorways. I tried treating this more tactically at first and got my butt kicked before finally realizing that this was just going to be a slugfest with some bait and switch. Drop one foe, back off and heal, pop out somewhere else and drop another foe. I guess I shouldn't have made so many people mad. I also guess I should have expected the meat went into the conversations, and the gunplay would just be a pitiful side salad.
The story is also unfinished. The plan is for a trilogy (with the second game currently in Early Access on Steam), so a lot of plot threads are left open. Maybe you find a traitor aboard. Maybe you let the merc leader live. The information will ideally be ported over into the next game, but even then, the big questions will be left open. But it's a game within a game, and that's the more interesting part, because this "game" is emphasized as a world, where your choices are impacting lives. You may go back and try again, but you're actually hopping into a parallel universe at the point of divergence. Die and reload, it's another parallel divergence.
It makes Consortium into a strange experience, fantastic and only possible through gaming, but also clunky and not wholly satisfying. I thought it was ok, but I would prefer more satisfying combat.
2. Hatchpunk (PC)(FPS)
3. Might and Magic IX (PC)(RPG)
4. Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)(RTS)
5. Chasm: The Rift (PC)(FPS)
6. Real Heroes: Firefighter HD (PC)(FPS)
7. CULTIC (PC)(FPS)
8. Consortium (PC)(FPS)
CULTIC
DUSK gave me a fully 3D take on Blood a few years ago. I had a great time spinning shotguns and sticking sickles into robed demon worshippers. CULTIC, however, feels more like what Blood could have been if it were a little less masochistic and a little more focused on the cult and not the Build Engine obsession with movies and trying to make every environment ever. That, and less hitscan.
In CULTIC, you play a detective who was investigating some kind of crazy cult, only to get discredited and then left for dead. What's a guy to do? Shrug your shoulders, grab whatever you can, and kill them all, of course! Sure, the law might take offense to what you're doing, but considering these guys have literal truckloads of corpses, I think any good legal defense team would go with a "blame the victim" approach to your trial. Plus, you can literally blast someone's head apart and then kill the next cultist by hurling a dislodged eyeball at them. The defense rests, bitch.
Yeah, you have some nasty options. Combat in CULTIC has a heft to it, where foes explode in blood spray, guns mostly feel powerful (and even the weak can be upgraded to be strong), and objects can be hefted and hurled at a moment's notice if you are low on ammo. You can beat someone to death with a teddy bear if you so choose. I chose. I definitely chose. Plus, you get dynamite and molotovs as well as explosive objects. It's like keeping some of the best of Blood's arsenal while trimming most of the masochistic fat, because in Blood, most of the weapons could and would hurt you. They can still hurt you in CULTIC, but you don't have to be quite so close to that screaming immolated guy running at you.
CULTIC also looks grimy. It has a lo-fi visual design with a lot of browns, blues, and rusty reds in it, where nothing looks clean. The sound effects are similar to the kind of thing you hear in Silent Hill too, so when you're scrambling over dumpsters or checking the ruined remains of a boat, you feel like you really need a bath. Considering the piles of meat and gore, the numerous bodies, the crypts and mines, mental asylums and homemade jails, CULTIC is not a nice place, but it's a great place to blast the crap out of some freaky things.
The kicker about all this is that the game also uses the world against you. It's not masochistic, sure, but it can just as easily pop you when you don't expect it. Maybe you didn't realize there was a jumping zombie coming through the treeline behind you, or that chair just started levitating because a telekinetic ghost has honed in on your progress. Or maybe that flesh monstrosity is just going to eat your face with its...everything. Seriously, I don't know what I'm looking at with some of these things, so I just put bullets into it until it stops moving.
And also, less hitscan...usually! Cultists that shoot at you telegraph what they're going to do, so you can go for cover! There is one hitscan enemy that I despised, but the game also provides damage markers, so you can more easily figure out where they are and end the bastard. Again, since it's already dead or something. I don't understand how all this cult stuff works.
If you want combat with chunk in a horrific setting and don't mind some dirt (or worse) underneath your fingernails, CULTIC is a great time. It's currently only one episode, but here's hoping for more soon.
Consortium
Consortium is tough to define as a narrow genre. It contains a first person view, and you do use firearms as a means of interacting with certain foes, though to claim it's just an FPS feels like a limitation on what the game is trying to do. I'll keep the FPS genre tag on it, but Adventure, Action, even to an extent RPG seem applicable. This is all because, as much as shooting plays a part, it's conversation that is the real star of the game.
In Consortium, you are playing a game within a game. You are an unknown entity from an alternate universe who uses a video game to tap into this world, where you take over the body of a man known as Bishop 6. He is one of the Bishops, the special operations wing of the titular Consortium, a global peacekeeping force with a leadership structure based on chess. The King and Queen run the group, Knights form the leaders of teams, while Rooks serve as their logistical and support officers. Pawns work in a variety of roles, but only the Bishop appears to operate in a combat capacity. That's why you get the guns, the armor, the VR training, and the hard jobs.
What's the hard job? Well, it's twofold. First, you awaken in Bishop 6's body to discover you're on an aircraft being harassed by a mercenary group. Second, there has been a murder, and you get tasked with investigating. Also, the ship has a glitch. Is it an accident? Sabotage? Are all these problems connected? And if so, why? To find out, you don't always shoot, you have to talk.
That's where the beauty of Consortium comes in. It's mostly via dialogue, but the game remembers the words you use and the actions you take. Mention that you go by a name, and people call you by it. Express distaste for a religion, and your opinion may result in obvious discomfort in others. Piss off someone, and it may radically alter whether you get boarded, take prisoners, kill everyone, and so on. It's also not just through dialogue; you have the option of killing or rendering foes unconscious, so if you do get into a firefight, you can take prisoners or terrify everyone by being a mass murderer. Yeah, you probably already figured out that I ended up with a crew that was very uncomfortable with my lethal tendencies.
As for the gunplay, it's the weaker part of the experience. Enemies don't really react to gunfire or register damage until they drop, so you can get mowed down despite unloading whole magazines into narrow doorways. I tried treating this more tactically at first and got my butt kicked before finally realizing that this was just going to be a slugfest with some bait and switch. Drop one foe, back off and heal, pop out somewhere else and drop another foe. I guess I shouldn't have made so many people mad. I also guess I should have expected the meat went into the conversations, and the gunplay would just be a pitiful side salad.
The story is also unfinished. The plan is for a trilogy (with the second game currently in Early Access on Steam), so a lot of plot threads are left open. Maybe you find a traitor aboard. Maybe you let the merc leader live. The information will ideally be ported over into the next game, but even then, the big questions will be left open. But it's a game within a game, and that's the more interesting part, because this "game" is emphasized as a world, where your choices are impacting lives. You may go back and try again, but you're actually hopping into a parallel universe at the point of divergence. Die and reload, it's another parallel divergence.
It makes Consortium into a strange experience, fantastic and only possible through gaming, but also clunky and not wholly satisfying. I thought it was ok, but I would prefer more satisfying combat.
Re: Games Beaten 2023
I think I beat Slender: The Eight GBC Pages, a fan made demake of the indie horror title Slender: The Eight Pages. I say THINK because after getting the last page
Fun fact: yours truly did a piece of cover art for it, for those that didn't know.
EDIT: A few nights ago I beat the Virtual Cabin mode on Friday the 13th: The Game for the Switch. I previously beat the mode on PS4.
I accidentally posted that beaten game on last year's topic.
Fun fact: yours truly did a piece of cover art for it, for those that didn't know.
EDIT: A few nights ago I beat the Virtual Cabin mode on Friday the 13th: The Game for the Switch. I previously beat the mode on PS4.
I accidentally posted that beaten game on last year's topic.
Re: Games Beaten 2023
Markies wrote:I beat World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck this afternoon!
I remember beating Castle many years ago, but I didn't own World as a kid, and so this remains unbeaten for me. Awhile back, I started going through this with my ex, but I don't know why we never progressed far. I think it's time to rectify that. Been playing Contra on the Genesis, so this will be a nice break from it.
From your review now, though, I wonder if replaying Castle isn't a better use of my time.
Re: Games Beaten 2023
1. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
2. River City Girls (Switch)
3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
When I was a kid, my sister ended up getting the first Donkey Kong Country game as a Christmas gift a year or two after its original release. We played that game a ton, passing the controller back and forth, taking turns after one of our characters died or we'd get stuck at a certain section and ask the other to give it a shot. Over the years, I became very familiar with the game and considered it to be one of my favorites on the console. We ended up getting DKC3 later on, which was also a Christmas gift, but we had totally missed out on DKC2. Up until recently, I had only played the game briefly and never really dove into it.
DKC2 keeps a lot of the same elements that made the first game a well renowned hit, but ratchets it up a notch. Donkey Kong himself is on the sidelines for this adventure, and the smaller, quicker Diddy Kong is the star with the newly introduced Dixie as his sidekick. Dixie has the ability to twirl her hair to help lengthen her jumps and hover a bit. This ability proves itself not only useful but a necessity to get through certain sections. DKC2 has more animal buddies as well, and more levels where you'll be playing solely as those characters, with the levels designed around those animals' special moves.
Which brings me to my next point, the level design here is very creative! Rare brought a lot of fun and unique gimmicks, making many of the levels unique and a change of pace from what we were used to seeing in this generation. The controls feel precise IMO, and they need to be, because the difficulty in DKC2 is taken up a step in comparison to the first game. Once you reach the second world, you will start to face levels that are quite a challenge. However, I didn't find the difficulty to be cheap, with practice and memorization of certain patterns and obstacles, players will be able to get through.
The graphics are on par with the first game's release with DKC2 featuring plenty of stunning backgrounds. I think the game looks really good for the SNES at the time. The music, while maybe not containing a track as iconic as the water level themes in the first DKC game, is also very well done and worthy of listening to outside of the game. I was very impressed by the "Stickerbush Symphony" track, and I think it might be one of my favorite pieces of music I've heard the hardware produce.
I think Rare really refined their formula for the series here and released an excellent game, probably one of the best platformers of the 16-bit generation. To be honest, the first game is still my favorite in the series due to the great memories of playing it with friends and family, but I think DKC2 takes everything enjoyable about the original title to another level. If you're a fan of the genre, do yourself a favor and check this game out!
2. River City Girls (Switch)
3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
When I was a kid, my sister ended up getting the first Donkey Kong Country game as a Christmas gift a year or two after its original release. We played that game a ton, passing the controller back and forth, taking turns after one of our characters died or we'd get stuck at a certain section and ask the other to give it a shot. Over the years, I became very familiar with the game and considered it to be one of my favorites on the console. We ended up getting DKC3 later on, which was also a Christmas gift, but we had totally missed out on DKC2. Up until recently, I had only played the game briefly and never really dove into it.
DKC2 keeps a lot of the same elements that made the first game a well renowned hit, but ratchets it up a notch. Donkey Kong himself is on the sidelines for this adventure, and the smaller, quicker Diddy Kong is the star with the newly introduced Dixie as his sidekick. Dixie has the ability to twirl her hair to help lengthen her jumps and hover a bit. This ability proves itself not only useful but a necessity to get through certain sections. DKC2 has more animal buddies as well, and more levels where you'll be playing solely as those characters, with the levels designed around those animals' special moves.
Which brings me to my next point, the level design here is very creative! Rare brought a lot of fun and unique gimmicks, making many of the levels unique and a change of pace from what we were used to seeing in this generation. The controls feel precise IMO, and they need to be, because the difficulty in DKC2 is taken up a step in comparison to the first game. Once you reach the second world, you will start to face levels that are quite a challenge. However, I didn't find the difficulty to be cheap, with practice and memorization of certain patterns and obstacles, players will be able to get through.
The graphics are on par with the first game's release with DKC2 featuring plenty of stunning backgrounds. I think the game looks really good for the SNES at the time. The music, while maybe not containing a track as iconic as the water level themes in the first DKC game, is also very well done and worthy of listening to outside of the game. I was very impressed by the "Stickerbush Symphony" track, and I think it might be one of my favorite pieces of music I've heard the hardware produce.
I think Rare really refined their formula for the series here and released an excellent game, probably one of the best platformers of the 16-bit generation. To be honest, the first game is still my favorite in the series due to the great memories of playing it with friends and family, but I think DKC2 takes everything enjoyable about the original title to another level. If you're a fan of the genre, do yourself a favor and check this game out!
Last edited by Note on Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Games Beaten 2023
The theme song on this is leaps and bounds beyond the first game, but otherwise I do prefer the first game. Both are great games though.
The third game never hit like these two did, but I know it has its defenders.
Still, given the chance, I'd go back to the first one again and again. It's just that good, even without the title theme.
The third game never hit like these two did, but I know it has its defenders.
Still, given the chance, I'd go back to the first one again and again. It's just that good, even without the title theme.
Re: Games Beaten 2023
- Mega Man X3 Zero Project v4
- ZvTR
- 20230122_055357-Mega Man X 3ZP3 (U) copy.png (355.21 KiB) Viewed 177388 times
I beat Mega Man X3 Zero Project (v4.4) this week. I had played through most of vanilla X3 in the past, but never finished the game. I was very close to the end. But after I figured out how to patch the current version of the ROM hack, I decided to finally finish X3 with a full playthru.
- ZgetLC
- 20230122_070046-MMX3_ZPV4.4 copy.png (241.69 KiB) Viewed 177388 times
The Zero Project fixes a lot of the poor design decisions Vanilla X3 has. Zero is now fully playable. You can swap between X and Zero before stages and/or during a stage anytime you are not in a boss fight. You do not permanently lose access to Zero if he "dies". He can use boss weapons, he can collect items, even X's upgrade capsules for X, and can fight all bosses now. His Z-saber can be used to gain access to certain areas that would require a specific boss weapon, which speeds up getting collectables. He can double-jump by default. Aside from gaining health from Heart tanks and bosses weapons, Zero does not get more powerful as the game goes on, unlike X. By the end of the game, X is near God-like, especially if you get his Gold armor. Zero has +4 health than X, but he is bigger and not as maneuverable (no air dashes). What I was doing was using Zero during stages, then switching to X to beat bosses because he's faster, smaller, and uses half as much special weapon energy with upgrade.
The hack also replaces the password system with a save system which is very welcome.
- SaveScreen
- 20230124_160829-MMX3_ZPV4.4 copy.png (259.46 KiB) Viewed 177388 times
The Zero Project does make X3 easier than Vanilla X3, but it's less frustrating and much more fun. The hack takes arguably the weakest of the first four MMX games and makes it possibly the most fun out of all of them. I highly recommend MMX fans play this ROM hack. I would rank X3 ZP just behind X1 personally. It's that good.
- sigmaend
- 20230126_153412-MMX3_ZPV4.4 copy.png (147.89 KiB) Viewed 177388 times
I played this on my Mister, so it should also work on real hardware with a ROM cart. Hack can be found on https://www.romhacking.net/.
Last edited by Melek-Ric on Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Challenging my unit was both foolish and reckless! You are nothing more than my prey... one that is soon to be retired!"
Re: Games Beaten 2023
That X3 hack sounds pretty fun. I enjoy X1 and X4 but had always followed the conventional wisdom that X3 was something of a nothing burger as X games go. If that hack elevates X3 significantly then that could be a fun void to fill.
Dope Pope on a Rope
B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2023
o.pwuaioc wrote:Markies wrote:I beat World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck this afternoon!
I remember beating Castle many years ago, but I didn't own World as a kid, and so this remains unbeaten for me. Awhile back, I started going through this with my ex, but I don't know why we never progressed far. I think it's time to rectify that. Been playing Contra on the Genesis, so this will be a nice break from it.
From your review now, though, I wonder if replaying Castle isn't a better use of my time.
Castle of Illusion does not have Co-Op, but World of Illusion does. So, if you somebody else to play with, then you can go through World of Illusion with them.
I would say it's at least a play through as it only took me a few times. Play it once and then go back to Castle of Illusion.
Re: Games Beaten 2023
marurun wrote:That X3 hack sounds pretty fun. I enjoy X1 and X4 but had always followed the conventional wisdom that X3 was something of a nothing burger as X games go. If that hack elevates X3 significantly then that could be a fun void to fill.
I am unusual in that I prefer Vanilla X3 over X2. X3 has problems, but it does enough different to not feel so similar to X1 and X2. X1 is still my favorite overall. I like X3's levels and boss weapons much more than X2. And I like the Nightmare Police more than the X-Hunters. Bringing back
"Challenging my unit was both foolish and reckless! You are nothing more than my prey... one that is soon to be retired!"