prfsnl_gmr wrote:Sarge wrote:the freeway with all the grenade tossers and ninja ladies and whatnot.
Atlanta?
Either that, or New Orleans, although I'd have expected more Cajuns.
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
66)
Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu67)
The New Ghostbusters II (NES, proto)
68)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSP, via
Dracula X Chronicles)
69)
Revenge of Shinobi70)
Shinobi III71)
Shadow Dancer72)
El Viento73)
Earnest EvansJust for you, Exhuminator! I needed an excuse to play through it, anyway. My impressions are probably less than charitable.
It is a Wolfteam game, so it plays really quickly, and has some neat effects. Some of the graphic design is good, but some just seems really bland, without much to really stand out from the backgrounds and whatnot. The anime scenes seem pretty cool, but I don't know that it's enough to save it.
No, my gripe is that some of the level design is... weird, to say the least. Other games have implemented some of these ideas, but they just feel sketchy here. I'm sure part of that is the controls. Annet feels pretty awesome to control, but the hit detection is actually pretty iffy for both whacking enemies and platforming. It just doesn't feel very solid, like it's all kinda duct-taped together. I like that you get these cool magic spells, and you really do have to use them effectively to get through. The last boss, for example, goes down pretty well with that explosive fireball shot. But that last area? Not cool. The little swarming flying dragon things are awful. You have to use that crowd-control shot, but even then, they're incessant. It's just not very fun with those little buggers draining at your life like mosquitoes.
Another interesting bit is that falling down a pit doesn't kill you. Actually, I think there's only one place in the game where you can. Of course, there's a reason for that, given that the rotating platform sequence is tricky, and you've only got one life or it's game over. A few continues, though... but I kinda save-stated a bit.
All in all, it's a quick action game that just feels like it needed a bit more time in the oven. I have to wonder if it's considered a cult classic because of the anime cutscenes more than anything, kinda like the
Valis games. Because really, those are solid but unspectacular games as well. And this one shines at times... it's just that the lows are pretty darn low.
I can probably elaborate a bit more if prodded, but I'm feeling a bit lazy and need to head home!
EDIT: Oh, good grief,
Earnest Evans feels broke as heck. What in the world? It's like ragdoll physics gone bad, in 2D!
EDIT 2: Okay, it's done. And
El Viento is an absolute classic compared to this. If you look up "reach exceeds grasp", this game's picture is next to it.
So this was clearly a game to test some really slick rotation effects. And it is impressive. Sadly, it also means the game is borderline unplayable. Your protagonist moves really strangely, mainly because he's a badly pieced together multi-segment sprite. And his whip flails around like Simon Belmont's in
Super Castlevania IV when you hold down the button... except it's your main attack here. You tend to get hung on stage geography, you often can't jump properly for that reason, and if you linger on an enemy or hazard, your health decreases at an alarming rate; there's no hit-invincibility here. And it's really crazy when you go flying ragdoll-style, not just when you die, but sometimes when you go rolling out of control. It's kinda ridiculous and funny.
Anyway, I liked the various locales, even if there wasn't much to explain everything along the way like in
El Viento. And there's some nice creativity here with the enemies and such... it's just the execution is so poor, it's a chore to play. I wouldn't recommend it as anything more than a curiosity, or if you're tracking down all of Wolfteam's games.
