The Gamer's Quarter

dessgeega · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 2:19 am Post subject:

today i discovered that outrun 2006 has a first-person camera and that if you use that first person camera the irritating stick people and the ferrari license magically vanish! what's this voice saying "i want to go ahead"? maybe it's me! that line finally makes sense! unfortunately it's much harder to steer in this mode.

"are you going to give up?" are you going to shut up?

also star fox, which i bought from a certain alex savage (along with a copy of ogre battle!). i very nearly one-lifed path one of the game, but my ulterior motive for purchasing the cartridge was to test a certain rumor. as you may be aware, the star fox cartridge contains a graphics co-processor, the so-called "super fx chip", which enables the super snesicom to render the polygons that appear in star fox. it's the absence of this co-processor that prevents a snes back-up device (like my game doctor sf3) from running a rom of star fox (or, say, its unreleased sequel star fox 2) off a disk.

HOWEVER. the rumor goes that if you can provide that co-processor - by way of a super fx-carrying star fox cartridge plugged into the slot on top of the game doctor, it may be possible for device to run the rom using the chip on the cart. running star fox 2 on a console is my holy grail. will the rumor prove true? we shall see!
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dessgeega · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 2:24 am Post subject:

incidentally, my walkthrough video of star fox 2 seems to have turned up on google video.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 4:35 am Post subject:

So I went and finished Serious Sam 1.5 - Seriously Sexy Skyboxes, especially that last stage. Hubba hubba.
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Lestrade · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 9:07 pm Post subject:

Holy goddamn crap: I'm trying to enjoy Spider-Man 3 for the Xbox 360 and it's very hard to! I don't want to fight stupid thugs in loincloths; I want to fight Venom! I don't want to swing through sewers; I just want to get my black suit and be a bad ass!

Arrrgh, for making me endure far too much before I get to any decent content, Spider-Man 3 for the Xbox 360 earns the following

Rating:

2 out of 5 beers

For all of the above plus terrible graphics and godawful controls, Spider-Man 3 for the Wii gets:

Rating:

1 out of 5 beers

For letting me fight Venom within five levels, and for being hard as fuck, The Amazing Spider-Man for the Nintendo Game Boy deserves:

Rating:

5 out of 5 beers

Similarly, for letting me skip all the bullshit, and for giving me the first game to ever let me feel like Spider-Man (and for letting me fight Electro, the Lizard, Doc Ock and, yes, Venom), Spider-Man VS. The Kingpin for the Sega Genesis nets:

Rating:

5 out of 5 beers

Pijaibros · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject:

The continue scene alone told me that Spiderman vs The Kingpin is the best comic hero adaptation since Sunsoft's Batman

Lestrade · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 10:12 pm Post subject:

It's true! It's very true to the source material while providing a straightforward and very competent game that contains some unique and thematic twists (i.e. taking photos to earn money for web fluid; genius!).

To me, all movie tie-in games should be five- to ten-hour experiences at maximum. They should let you experience all the "good" parts of the movie, or something akin to them, and leave the rest on the floor. (If this can't be done through some genre or another, don't make the game!) In the case of SM3, one could assume that a player would want to:

• web-swing, wall-crawl and otherwise Spider-move around a city;
• partake in thrilling battles with the movie's main villains;
• experience the whole normal suit/symbiote dynamic

Spider-Man 3 does all these things, yes, but its problem is that it makes you do a hell of a lot between these moments—none of which, as a viewer coming fresh out of the movie, you really care about.

The menus in SM3 are complicated; there are move lists, city maps, progress/percentage counters, stats related to gangs and crime, and a whole lot more. All this is distracting, suffocating and, worst of all, unnecessary.

Do you, as a player, really care about fighting gang members? Do you care about stopping random crimes?

I think the game should have, really, two modes: a Story mode and a "sandbox" mode. Story mode would let you follow the plot of the movie (as terrible as it is) and ferry you from set-piece to set-piece. For me, as a movie-goer, this is what I want to dive into the moment I get home from the theatre. I want to fight the villains, do a bit of web-swinging, and get that good old-fashioned superhero feeling.

And then, sure, once I beat the five-hour Story mode, open up the "sandbox" mode; let me now explore New York, stop crimes, take silly photos for JJJ. There's nothing inherently wrong with that set-up, it's just that in the context of wanting to "play the movie," I don't want a 20-odd-hour investment. No, goddamn you, let me fight Venom the same evening I come home from the theatre or don't give me anything at all.

The notion of the black suit seems to be handled quite well in Spider-Man 3, but I don't know, because I'm stuck replaying the same freaking task of beating up a hokey collection of gang members for the 10th time. According to GameFAQs, I would have to invest many, many more hours into the game before I even got to this point.

So, yeah: I really like the box art, but am really let down by the game. Is the DS version any good? I bet that wouldn't take 20 hours to beat...

EDIT: Whoa, looks like I was right. This definitely seems more up my alley!

Koyetay · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 1:04 am Post subject:

So I started playing Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii. It kind of really annoyed me first, but after playing as the wolf for a while, I'm starting to enjoy it.

I've already died once. It was, uh, well that little bird that runs the shop pecked me to death when I had trouble finding the cash box so I could pay him.

dessgeega · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:19 am Post subject:

that bird scene is the greatest thing in the game, as far as i'm concerned. it gave me such hope for the rest of the game (which was ultimately more or less squandered).

update on the star fox 2 project:

my sf doctor refuses to run the patched and translated rom, which fails its checksum. i want to try the original japanese roms, but that's unfortunately become hard to find. also, i think the coprocessor that would have been used in the star fox 2 cart is more advanced than the one in the original, which could mean that i'd need a yoshi's island cart, if even that. we'll see.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Lestrade · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:37 am Post subject:

Well, yeah, I suppose that would make more sense than what's there. I sort of cringe whenever I hear a game has "missions"; that usually translates into "boring fetch quests." If the game was about stopping crime and fighting villains, I would probably be happier with it. Make it a real sandbox game, and quit giving the player arbitrary tasks.

Also, there is something so jarring about having this incredibly realistic (or surrealistic, I suppose), authentic "Spider-Man Experience™" only to land on the street, walk into a spinning spider marker that's currently clipping halfway into a truck, and "Press X for [Mission Name]".

After watching footage of the DS game, that certainly seems to be more to my tastes. Hmm....

dessgeega · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:46 am Post subject:

hit all the outrun goals with my intermediate car (that last twist in jungle is vicious), so i'm probably going to move on to an intermediate b. i managed to reach stage 13 in continous mode, too. i appreciate how the car i've been using requires me to anticipate curves and to better learn the courses.

star fox mocks my attempts at the second and third courses. i was able to make it up to the nuts highway chase at the end of course 2, but the asteroid stage of course 3 overwhelmed me and i had to back off.
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

The Newmans have made their return to the Middle Ages via The Guild 2.

With two duels and my 50th birthday approaching, I quickly wooed a serf woman today and knocked her up. The kid has to live to be 12 before he can take over if I die, and that was okay until I was falsely accused and arrested. As I was being led away in chains, opting to not fight the guard, I started getting duel notices - apparently the game is confused and isn't aware that I'm not shooting at anyone.

The game crashed, either due to it being buggy or something not right with my new system (page fault in nonpage area - message), so I'm not sure what's going to happen. I believe I quicksaved a few minutes before that though. My herb shop has just recently been upgraded, allowing me to manufacture a liquid perfume for a very nice 700g; of course, it takes 5 minutes to make and I get 1, compared to the 3 per 1-2 minutes 50-80g powder perfume, so I need to break out the calculator and stopwatch to get some averages.

Once these matters are settled, I fully intend on saving up and arming around 5 thugs to bruise up the two noblewomen that insulted me. Or I might set their shops on fire. Or both.
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Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

With the price drop I picked up Gurumin for the PSP.

It's a damn good purchase if you already have a PSP. I have some minor complaints, and the first couple of levels are deceptively easy, but once the game gets rolling it becomes quite good.

I may write more soon.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Pijaibros · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:00 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

More Gurumin impressions
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Pijaibros · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:01 pm Post subject:

Any favorable comparison to Megaman Legends has me sold. I will go ahead and procure Gurumin this weekend!

Hopefully it's short enough to complete in time for Crush.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 5:44 am Post subject:

my new outrun car has a roof. bye stick-people! i still can't find the button to turn voices off, though.

so about unlocking cars in outrun 2006: there are really only four models (eight, if you include the "outrun" variations). every car in any single class has the same stats. there's no reason, as far as i can tell, to unlock more than one car in any class, unless you're a ferrari fetishist.

how's snes doom? i could use a decent console port of doom to hold me over until xboxes are sanely priced.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:29 am Post subject:

SNES DooM is terrible.
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I've been playing OutRun 2006 with a friend, which in my opinion makes the unlocking a much better experience. Rather than thinking about how it's holding us back from the content, it's more like a shared project we're working on. I don't think there's been an overarching goal other than "beat missions." We spent all the points on music anyway.

Also, somehow I didn't realize until just recently that the cars in each class were all the same. I don't get it! I'd always carefully scroll through all the available ones before each race too. I think it's because the stat bars disappear momentarily before the next car appears that confused me.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

Intentionally Wrong · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:31 am Post subject:

Crackdown's arsenal is bigger than necessary. The existing guns pretty much exhaust the possible combinations of range, power, clip size, and presence or absence of a scope. This may be why I lost interest in the game just five bosses short of the end.

Two nights ago, I purchased and downloaded the "Gettin' Busy" content pack, and used the new guns to finish the game. They're such a departure from the rest of the equipment that I spent the intervening time just thinking about how the game's dynamic changes with their addition.

The minigun is slow and powerful. I don't like it much, but it works, especially as attached to the dirt buggy.

The lobber is interesting. It's a kind of homing rocket launcher. The clip holds five projectiles, which can be fired in rapid succession; they arc out randomly, and then spin toward enemies. The explosions are very small, though, and weaker than usual: with three stars in explosives, a single rocket didn't do enough damage to kill a single gang member. However, it did set him on fire, and the subsequent damage finished him off. Shooting two or three rockets toward a cluster of enemies can pretty much demolish the group. The gun starts off with 100 shots, so it certainly feels more cost-effective than the existing explosive options. It's kind of fun to try to get the most efficient use out of it.

The final gun, the harpoon, is what pulled me back in and got me to finish. It can only hold three shots at a time, and it holds a maximum of 30 shots. It more than makes up for this in power: the harpoon will instantly kill any non-boss enemy in the game, regardless of their current or maximum health. This would make it perfect for taking out the lieutenants' various bodyguards, except for that small clip size. It also does a tiny amount of damage to bosses, so there's a bit of tension in the decision to carry it, let alone to pull it out. It does have a scope, though, so it's perfect when you've cleared out the surrounding areas and you're getting ready to approach the room the boss is in. You can zoom in, pick off the bodyguards, and switch to something else to fight the boss. The fact that it pins enemies to the walls is just a bonus, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway. I don't normally dwell on firearm efficiency in my videogames, but I guess the new guns had some kind of profound impact on me.

aerisdead · . Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 254 Location: Toronto, Canada

dhex · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:24 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dhex · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:28 am Post subject:

yeah i think that would go without saying.
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Lestrade · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:34 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:49 am Post subject:

Lestrade · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject:

I seriously love Doom 64. The day that's out for the VC is the day... uh... I guess the day I buy an N64 game for the VC?

Doom 64, remember, is a ground-up redesign. And god, those sound effects and that music... so, so good. I have the original giant-box release of PS1 Doom, which retains the creepy audio.

Lestrade · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject:

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

I have a bunch of stuff scanned and posted online - Next-Generation's first issue Virtua Fighter preview, Ultra Videogames' VF3 preview, etc. - but the quality is so-so. Have scanners improved much? My system then was too slow to scan anything too high; I might try hooking it back up and seeing if its highest settings are good enough.

Warhammer: Dawn of War continues to dominate my heart. I can see why people mention the universe inspiring Warcraft, though this feels like Relic was inspired a bit by Warcraft 2. Ah, bombarding a rally point before assaulting it with bulky space marines makes my heart melt.

In The Guild 2 I am having a rough go, about 20 enemies are constantly setting fire to shop and house. Despite the fact that I am now 60, with young Scott Newman and Hobbes Newman away continuing their educations, I'm having to resort to fighting them off myself.

My grandmother has been sick for 5 weeks now, with the latest round involving a stroke followed immediately by pneumonia. I've been playing games to distract myself, and The Guild 2's visuals and relaxing music has provided a good choice. I'm about to go trade in some stuff to try to get Titan's Quest for free, and I have Diablo 1 queued up at goozex - I'm in the mood for some light RPGing. I have Shining Force III in the Saturn, but the controller isn't long enough for me to play it comfortably. Oh, wireless, how you have spoiled me.
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Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

God of War 2, In easy mode. Loads of good (albeit gory) popcorn moments. Very well paced, slightly annoying puzzles where you know what you have to do, but take ages trying to find the bits you need (ie. movable statues).

I'm trying to play through it once before Raw Danger (ie. SOS Final Escape 2 or Disaster Report 2) comes out here in Britain. So I can part exchange it for a really good price.

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject:

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Yeah, RTS or strategy in general on-line tends to get old very quickly because you either learn the ways to exploit the engine or you lose. It sounds dickish; I don't really see much 'strategy' in these titles in the traditional sense.

Then again, I feel very similarly about the single-player in the Advance Wars series (or Wars series for the pedants).

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

[quote="dhex"]

dhex · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:03 pm Post subject:

yeah you totally can, but the combat is still annoying as far as the interface goes. it's a drag, maaaaaaaaan....
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Lestrade · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:07 pm Post subject:

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:46 pm Post subject:

lestrade, those scans are great. nintendo power's review opens with the webster's dictionary definition of doom! classy! "scareware supreme!"

pirates if it's alright i can get the snes game for four dollars so i think i'm gonna go ahead seeing as it's vital to my star fox 2 project anyways.
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dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:05 pm Post subject:

dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject:

hey is doom gba like good
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Crazy Bacon Lips · . Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 88 Location: Ol' Virginny

DHEX stop playing Ultima 7 and play Ultima Underworld. It's where all the quality's at.

Hey, now I have a heart and a half.

dongle · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 290

doom gba is ok. doom 2 gba is good.

DoomDS is better and DOOMPSP really kicks some ass.

dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject: