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Post by elchevalier on Jun 24, 2011 16:40:25 GMT -5
The first one to play this wins....wins, err. A free bus ride in acapulco, trust me, it's super fun.
Haven't played yet, i just can't shake the idea that Mikami is, once more, trying to appeal to the western audience with this. Doesn't look bad, but neither exciting.
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Post by ECM on Jun 24, 2011 17:06:48 GMT -5
He's gotta make his bucks, so he feels he's gotta appeal to the meathead gamer contingent. (Please note: I'm not saying he's doing this here because I don't know, but it's certainly something that Japanese developers seem to have on the brain.)
Plus, his studio got bought by a Western company recently, so he's kinda gonna have to keep doing that from this point forward.
Though I have to wonder if he realizes that trying to (somewhat) explicitly target a demographic is a really, really bad idea. Consider that he's created some of the most-loved franchises in gaming history and that should mean, in theory, that he's perfectly capable of creating games that appeal to a vast, vast swath of individuals, and not just this nebulous concept of the "Western gamer"1 that literally destroyed Keiji Inafune's mind.
All that said, though, I did like Vanquish--it kinda reminded me a little of PN 03. But I have to say I'm not at all interested in Shadows of the Damned, except thematically and, even then, it sounds exactly like Painkiller, which I liked, but I don't want to play that game again only "Now in 3rd Person!".
1 I think this sort of unicorn-chasing is going to be the end of the Japanese game developer as we know it as they seem to think "Western gamer" means "big, dumb and loud games=$$$".
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Post by Borsalio on Jun 24, 2011 18:04:12 GMT -5
I'm liking it so far, it's basically Dante's Inferno (the poem, not the game) meets Grindhouse.
The gameplay is closer to RE4 than Vanquish. Very linear so far, but fun and actually pretty humorous.
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Post by ECM on Jun 24, 2011 18:10:48 GMT -5
If it ends up being 'Resident Evil linear', then my interest is piqued; if it's on a rail, I'm probably not going to go out of my way to play it. (Which would be a shame, since, again, thematically it sounds right up my alley...but, man, that character art and gun are laaaaaame.)
Edit: I just realized that it's actually out now which means my plan to avoid knowing anything about games is working far better than I thought. You might say almost to a fault, because now I'm starting to sound like Justin.
Also: can you take some photos of Borsalio's bullet-ridden, hung from an overpass, corpse when he arrives in Aculpulco?
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Post by elchevalier on Jun 25, 2011 17:17:29 GMT -5
BTW, the main character of the game is suppose to be Mexican right? Then the guy already knows what hell looks like.
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Post by ECM on Jun 25, 2011 18:57:30 GMT -5
Well at least he's prepared, then:)
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Post by Borsalio on Jun 26, 2011 23:07:57 GMT -5
Yeah, he's Mexican...and voiced by a white guy.
Finished it this weekend. All in all, I enjoyed it. It really does feel like RE4 sometimes. It's linear in the same way that RE4 was: you're always heading forward, but there's the occasional side path here and there. Though Shadows's side paths are smaller, and it doesn't occasionally revisit areas like RE4 does.
The shooting is solid (it's RE4 with a dodge and an enemy stun), so the core gameplay is there. As is usual for Suda, they try some unusual things at one point (basically all of Chapter 4...I loved it, I've seen some internet grumbling that hated it). The atmosphere and worldbuilding is what stuck out the most, though. The game has some amazing looking areas, Yamaoka's music is incredible, Garcia and Johnson actually have some good buddy dialogue, and there's a lot of cool story bits (each boss is introduced with a storybook that Garcia or Johnson narrates, adding in their own comments here and there).
Downsides: it's nine hours long and has no replay value/postgame content other than difficulty levels and trophies. It's a UE3 game, so expect the usual issues there (having worked with UE3, it's kind of endearing). If you don't think dick jokes are funny, well...that's like 90% of the game right there.
If you're an RE4/5 or Vanquish fan, I'd say you should find a way to play it someday. Can't fault waiting for the price drop due to the low content though.
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Post by ECM on Jun 26, 2011 23:49:52 GMT -5
(Now) I'll probably consider getting it at some point, but probably not for a few weeks since time is not at a premium starting in...6 hours...ugh...*goes to bed*.
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Post by ECM on Jul 8, 2011 22:42:10 GMT -5
Yes, one might say there's an incongruity between the trivial and integral. (Not me, mind you, I don't go in for that sort of highfalutin language majiggers.)
So now I'm back on the fence! But at least I have, err, Enchanted Arms to keep me warm!
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Post by Borsalio on Jul 8, 2011 23:33:03 GMT -5
Weird, I never had any problems aiming when I was playing the game (and I know which boss fight you're talking about, too, I didn't see that problem). There is one of the weapons that is a bit hard to aim (The Teethgrinder), but that has more to do with the design of the weapon. The Boner (aka the pistol) never gave me a problem.
That being said, I have seen Garcia deliberately aim downward and not fire, but I think that's when you aim at things you're not allowed to shoot. Dunno why you'd be triggering that in a boss fight, though.
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Post by runinruder on Jul 17, 2011 1:48:23 GMT -5
Yeah, that sounds pretty tragic. It sucks to chase after some fool and expect some huge showdown only for the "climactic" battle to be a huge letdown. Kinda reminds me of the Drax fight in Dragon Slayer, except I guess there are two important differences: 1) Drax comes off as kinda lame from the outset anyway, and 2) It didn't really bring the game down at all. Curse, incidentally, is a very neat and underrated shooter.  |
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Post by Borsalio on Jul 17, 2011 10:41:02 GMT -5
Yeah, that's what I was referring to in my earlier post about Chapter 4 being unusual. I didn't mind it too much, but I do agree that the boss fight was a letdown, considering the buildup. I have to wonder if it was their intent all along, or maybe they went with that to get the game done on time? There's a few other parts of the game that scream unfinished (like Stinky Crow and the Lieutenant).
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Post by ECM on Jul 18, 2011 15:13:34 GMT -5
Well this bombed hardcore, so it'll be $30 (or less) before the year is out...which, coincidentally (?), is when I'll pick it up.
(Child of Eden also ate it, but that's hardly what one might describe as a surprise.)
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Post by ECM on Jul 18, 2011 17:59:32 GMT -5
Million-seller dreams? It only sold about 30K copies! That means they didn't even have high five-figure afternoon reveries!
And you paid $60 for BW?? Were you in Canada at the time? I'm pretty sure I paid ffity for that along w/ every other Genesis game that wasn't entitled Phantasy Star IV (clocking in at a cool $90 before tax) or Virtua Racing (which I wisely rented instead).
And, hell, if we're going to start up a list of games that were shittier (and cost more) than Shadows, well, we're probably going to be here for a while.
(Hell, didn't you buy Battle Monsters? That game cost $60 and it was millions of miles worse than Beast Wrestler.)
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Post by feilong80 on Jul 18, 2011 19:05:09 GMT -5
Well this bombed hardcore, so it'll be $30 (or less) before the year is out...which, coincidentally (?), is when I'll pick it up. (Child of Eden also ate it, but that's hardly what one might describe as a surprise.) Suda's great weakness: He can't make a product that sells anything, it seems. How long will hipsterism keep him going? He's like the Rich Kotite of game devs.* *I've been longing to use an obscure football reference, and that was my chance! |
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