Review chainsaw massacre.

[elchevalier]

We will review a game following these guidelines:

*Pointing out at least 3 good things and 3 bad things of the game. They can be more, but with 3 of each is more than enough. If you don't find anything either good or wrong with the game there's no obligation to put it.
*Giving a final summary of the game, if it's worth your time or not. One line minimum, one paragraph max to keep it straight to the point. Of course, if you do feel the need to say more about the game feel free to do so.
*Be clear as to which version of a game with multiple ports you are reviewing.
*They will be games you played, if not to the very last part, at least a good portion of it. So no demos, no "i watched somebody else play it" or anything like that
*At the end we have to give two games for the next user to review them. Give the name and, if necessary, in which console it appear.
*Any console from any era, pc game or arcade only game enters.
*Debating any game in particular is also very much welcome.

I'll start of course:

Castlevania: Lamment of Innocence(PS2)

+Good music as usual
+Nice plataforming
+Good combat mechanics

-Long empty corridors, with backgrounds that repeat themselves over and over
-Aside from maybe some exceptions, there's really no reason to face most enemies. Once you cleared the room you might as well advance foward to the next one
-Not particulary challenging

Overall: Not a bad 3D game for the franchise, but clearly not the best it could be. I still prefer to play this than the latest god of war clone they made.

Next game: D2(Dreamcast) or Auto Modellista (PS2)

[runinruder]

I'd say you summed up Lament of Innocence really, really well. I don't remember how the platforming felt, but I agree with everything else you said for sure. I, too, enjoyed the combat mechanics. To me, the game came off as a stylistic 3D take on Castlevania with a Golden-Axe-type feel. I'd add cool boss fights to the list of positives.

I'd add a lack of intriguing ideas to the list of negatives. The game was a much more solid product than the N64 3D Castlevanias, but those titles did feature some really interesting stretches (hedge maze chase, avoiding enemies while carrying an explosive, etc.), while Lament went about most of its business in a very routine manner.

Also, there's just no getting around the fact that Lament is a Devil May Cry rip-off, and it's far inferior to DMC when it comes to combat and atmosphere. I actually didn't play DMC until after I'd beaten Lament; had I experienced DMC first, I don't think I'd have ended up thinking as "positively" of Lament as I do.

In the end, DMC was a keeper. Lament was not.

[elchevalier]

On the other hand, a Castlevania game is not suppose to be played like a DMC game. In the second the idea is to make fancy over-the-top flashy combos, in a Castlevania game the approach is more about killing your average enemy as fast as possible, and then moving on.

[runinruder]

Aug 7, 2011 18:18:28 GMT -5 elchevalier said:

On the other hand, a Castlevania game is not suppose to be played like a DMC game. In the second the idea is to make fancy over-the-top flashy combos, in a Castlevania game the approach is more about killing your average enemy as fast as possible, and then moving on.

That's true; however, by emulating DMC in so many ways but providing combat that's far less dynamic/exciting, Lament's developers delivered something that feels deja vu inducingly familiar but inferior in certain respects, practically setting the game up for negative comparisons.

Lament's combat strays from traditional Castlevania combat, anyway. It plays a lot more like Golden Axe than it does any of the 8- and 16-bit Castlevania titles. And while old titles forced players to carefully, methodically take out enemies like the axemen, Lament typically allows them to wail away on foes or simply, as you noted, run away from them.

Since Lament's designers insisted on having it take after DMC in aspect after aspect and strayed from the old combat template anyway, I can't turn a blind eye to the inferior fighting or let it off with a mere "it's not supposed to play that way" excuse.

(Again, I like Lament's combat mechanics. I don't find its brawling nearly as satisfying, interesting, or exciting as DMC's, however; and the comparison was brought on by the game itself, not by a whimsical desire on my part to compare two fighting systems.)

[elchevalier]

Yes, at the end, making good action oriented games in 3D is still hard. The first DMC paved the wave, but sadly not many other games knew how to follow it properly. LOI could have been a good blueprint for a future, and better, Castlevania games in 3D. Sadly Curse of Darkness went several steps beyond what LOi did. While i liked the "familiar" system, thus giving you an actual reason to fight enemies, the game not only has NO plataforming whatsoever, it has way more long repetitive corridors than LOI.

[kog3100edw]

Auto Modellista for PS2.

+ Interesting graphic style. Cel-shaded, but unusual in a non-chibi racing title.
+ Cool tracks, neat environments.
+ Tied in with mini-RC versions of some of the cars which were the most popular touge cars at the time.

- Really weird physics. Almost like it was a Ridge Racer game with severe on/off drift moments. A weird fit in a touge game where more deft drift controls would seem to be a requirement.
- Very small selection of cars with limited modification.
- Serious rubberband AI

I actually really wanted to like this game. And I do, but not for the reasons that one should like a racer. I like it because it is different and tries for a look and feel not at all common in the genre. And I DID manage to learn how to drive in it and complete all courses in the game. I just don't have good reasons for recommending it. It is just weird on all the levels that you normally need racing games to be predictable-- handling, modification effects, etc.

I don't need a racer to be Gran Turismo levels of tinkering. There's a place for simpler arcade racers. But Auto Modellista is an oddball, and not just because of how it looks.

[elchevalier]

You didn't put any game to be reviewed

[kog3100edw]

Ha. So I didn't.

Castlevania: Bloodlines

There's info about this out there, pro and con. I want to know what THIS board thinks about it, in the format ElChevalier described.