Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Gunstar Green]

Wow...You guys are harsh. Braid, Cave Story, Dust, Fez, and Shovel Knight are all really fun games. Of those, Braid is probably my least favorite, but it is still solid from a gameplay perspective. Fez, however, is pretty much perfect. (I haven't spent a lot if time with Super Meat Boy or Bastion yet; so I can't comment on those. They seem fun, though...)

I don't know if I count Dust in the retro bandwagon. It's what I wish more games would do instead of just settling with the chunky sprite look. The character design isn't great but it's a beautiful game.

[Erik_Twice]

I thought Cave Story was ok. I think I gave it a B or so when I reviewed it, my main beef with it was the repetition: You have to cross every single level twice and sometimes there are unfun fetch quests and the like. Still, it was fun enough that I reached the end, I just gave up on the true final boss because it was a matter of spamming rockets. Seems everyone had the same issue

Fez is very pretentious, but I find it cute. The main issue is that 95% of the game is traversing areas and while they are so polished that they never become boring, it's simply not exciting enough to be downright fun. But I liked it.

Shovel Knight is solid. It feels fun to play, the characters is well-made and the levels aren't bad at all. Like virtually all "retro-inspired" games, it suffers from overly basic patterns and the modern touches water it down significantly but it's a good platformer.

Freedom Planet is fantastic. Really great game, probably in the same league than many minor retro classics. Sure, it's never as tense and the level design gets narrower by the end but it also has more enemy variety and is much more polished than 20 year old games. I'm told the last level is awful, though.

I haven't played La Mulana because I've heard it's extremely hard. Even the guys at shmups system 11 complain about that.

Personally, I think that it's very hard for these indie games to match the quality of the classics because they often don't have the necessary experience and often things that could make the games better are no longer in vogue.

[ElkinFencer10]

I loved Dust, and I definitely wouldn't count it as a retro-styled game.

[Exhuminator]

I literally can't imagine what the game is like going through blind. There's so much shit you'd never know to do like / the better rocket pack / an unholy monster of a gun / seems like you're intended to do that, given how damn tough the final bosses are. I can't imagine not doing that.

So there you go. I played Cave Story with no fore-knowledge of any thing, so I missed those key upgrades. That explains things better now about the end game. I did not mess with the post-game gauntlet either, as by the time I made it that far I no longer cared.

I forget about La-Mulana! I played some of it when AGTP originally translated that one as well. I now own the graphically upgraded version via GOG, and I should try to beat that one. One of the XSEED translators (Tom) told me that the game is impossible to beat without a walkthrough, and it makes me really wanna try to do it outta spite.

I've never played Dust, only because I think the character designs are disgusting. The game's probably pretty good though, everyone seems to love it.

Hey I just remembered a recent indie platformer that I did beat and truly loved! It's:

https://www.gog.com/game/guacamelee_sup ... ip_edition

Now that was some solid stuff right there folks.

Racking my brain, I remember that all of these are supposed to be legit good:

Odallus: The Dark Call
Axiom Verge
Castle In The Darkness
Rex Rocket
Valdis Story: Abyssal City
SteamWorld Dig
Teslagrad
VVVVVV

I've played none of those to confirm for myself though.

[Ack]

Cave Story was ok. Nothing spectacular in my book, and if you're into achievements, the Steam version is bugged and impossible to complete because the dev didn't actually implement several of them. Considering how long it has been an issue, it's not likely to ever get fixed, so...yeah. That kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

As for Bastion, Fez, Braid, and Shovel Knight, I don't know I haven't played them.

La-Mulana is interesting and tough, though most folks I know are more into Spelunky.

I used to goof off in Gish but never really got into it.

Oh, I should also note that platformers have never been my thing, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[Tanooki]

La Mulana I've attempted a few times before on the old release, it's just cruel and I'd agree as nasty as it is Spelunky does basically the same and far better while still being a challenge but not sadist.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I loved Dust, and I definitely wouldn't count it as a retro-styled game.

I know...You guys were counting Bastion and Braid, however, and those have similar art direction. (Also, I agree. Dust is pretty great.)

SteamWorld Dig
Teslagrad
VVVVVV

These games are all very good and a lot of fun. I recommend each of them.

[Sarge]

Cave Story is cool. It's not perfect, but it's really good. It definitely benefited from being the work of one guy, at a time where the indie scene was pretty much zilch. Other games have obviously done what it did (and indeed, older games had as well), but it's so well assembled that it's hard to gripe. And it was free, to boot!

I need to get back to La-Mulana eventually. It's sooooo obtuse. I can imagine really digging this as a kid when I had more time to think about these things.

Dust is a game that starts kinda "okay", but keeps getting better. Seriously, give it a go, don't let the art style throw you off.

Guacamelee was indeed excellent. Some of those optional platforming challenges were brutal, though! But you need to do 'em for the best ending.

Odallus is solid, B-tier material. It never really amazed me, but it's a fun romp. It definitely recalls the 8-bit era, even if it reminds me more of a TG-16 game at times. (Oh, wait, that was 8-bit. ) It's a lot better than JoyMasher's first game, Oniken.

Castle In The Darkness was a lot of fun. I played it pretty obsessively at the end of last year. Very solid (and really fast) exploratory platformer.

I'm guessing I'm the only one here that's played Rex Rocket. I thought it was absolutely awesome. Totally worth the almost nothing I paid for it in that bundle. I like how it takes one of Cave Story's hooks, hovering while firing downward with the machine gun, and turns it into the central platforming conceit.

Valdis Story: Abyssal City was a very pretty game. It's also got some interesting combat, quite a bit deeper than the usual Metroidvania. So did Guacamelee, actually. It's not perfect, but again, I like my exploratory platformers.

SteamWorld Dig is quite good, if a bit short. It's a little more iterative than the rest, seeing you dig to get ore and whatnot to sell when you return to the surface, buy upgrades, and keep going. But you'll also find upgrades during your descent, and it gets really interesting the deeper you go. There is a bit of story here, after all.

I need to go through VVVVVV, I actually like the C64 aesthetic a lot, and the soundtrack is rockin'. Plus, I mean, it does the gravity inversion thing like Metal Storm does!

[prfsnl_gmr]

I need to go through VVVVVV, I actually like the C64 aesthetic a lot, and the soundtrack is rockin'. Plus, I mean, it does the gravity inversion thing like Metal Storm does!

I think that you'll like it. Some of the platforming required to "complete" the game is absolutely brutal, however.

Also...based on your recommendation, I am going to pick up Rex Rocket...for my iPad/iPhone. (I really, really wish the developer had proceeded with a Wii U port...)

[laurenhiya21]

Ah, I wish I could play more of Guacamelee... I was enjoying it until I got to the part where they introduce these different coloured shields which you need to destroy with different moves.

I think the moves were mapped to the same colours as a 360 controller (so to destroy a red shield you use the move on the red button) but I used a PS3 controller to play the game. This meant that I didn't really have a logical association that I could make between the moves and the shield colours, which led to lots of yelling and frustration.

Luckily this has been the only game so far where I've ran into this kind of problem, but it's still rather annoying