It's been another long stretch without an update. So it's another entry playing catch up. Going all the way back to just after Mass Effect 3, I played The Baconing, which is the third game in the DeathSpank series. The Baconing was developed by Hothead Games and published by Valcon Games. The game has lost the DeathSpank naming scheme because the publisher of the first two titles in the series Electronic Arts owns the name and they're no longer publishing the series. The Baconing offers up the same experience as the previous two titles. It's an action RPG with a decidedly comic tone. I'm surprised how I still find the series as funny as I do. And that's probably why the series works for me. The gameplay is decent fun, but I'm there because I like the comic voice of the series. The end of The Baconing teases a fourth entry. If it shows up, I'll be there for the ride.
I followed The Baconing up with The GG Shinobi on the 3DS via the eShop. The GG Shinobi was initially developed and published by SEGA in April of 1991 for the Game Gear. The GG Shinobi is obviously short for The Game Gear Shinobi. The game was among the first wave of Game Gear titles that hit the eShop for the 3DS in March. Why would a twenty-one year old Game Gear game be worth playing? Because it's a true classic and easily one of the best games ever made. It's classic Shinobi. It's an action platformer where you're out to save your fellow ninja clansmen. Once you rescue a ninja they become playable. You can switch to them on the fly at any time. Each of the rescued ninja are a different color and they come with different ninja magic and abilities. There is a slight Metroidvania sense of using their different skills to access areas and power ups normally out of reach. There is also a slight MegaMan feel in using the right ninja for the job in the boss battles. The bosses range from really tough to simple based on which ninja you're attempting the battle with. The game has the standard Shinobi difficulty, especially in the final labyrinth like stage. The game looks and plays great all these years later. And the music from Yuzo Koshiro still sounds amazing.
I followed up The GG Shinobi with Silent Hill: Downpour. The game was developed by Vatra Games as was published by Konami Digital Entertainment. I played the Xbox 360 version of the game. The Silent Hill series has long been considered adrift. The original game was a true classic. The second appealed to a wider audience thanks to a strong story. The third game was a smart direct sequel to the original game. This is the point where Team Silent, the makers of the first three titles disbanded. The fourth game started out as another title and was then shoehorned into the Silent Hill universe midway through development. All of the titles that followed were outsourced by Konami and have wildly varying levels of quality. Silent Hill: Downpour tries pretty hard to give the player a great Silent Hill experience. It starts with an interesting concept and features of couple of rather good set pieces. They've introduced side quests that deliver more of the town's lore. The combat system is better than most previous titles but not as involved as that found in Silent Hill: Homecoming. Long time series composer Akira Yamaoka has been replaced with Daniel Licth. The new music is pretty good. Some of the tracks have a strong John Carpenter vibe to them, which is always a plus. They've also used licensed music in a rather interesting way. Let's just say there are some unique choices. I think some of the puzzles in the game are the best in the series. I enjoyed Downpour for what it is. It's probably the most Silent Hill feeling out of all the outsourced titles thus far. But it's still below The Room as far as overall quality is concerned.
I followed up Silent Hill: Downpour with Metroid. I've played Metroid a few times before but I wanted a refresher. Metroid was originally developed for the NES by Nintendo R&D 1 and published by Nintendo. I played the 3DS version. I don't think I would have had the patience to play Metroid via the NES original, but the 3DS version's save state system made it bearable. Metroid is the classic action game that hid power ups throughout a huge maze of a world. Finding these powers enabled you to venture further into new areas and advance through the game. The original Metroid was unforgiving. Especially in not providing any sort of in game map and respawning creatures based on screen movement. Both issues of memory constraints of the NES. It's a classic game but it's an unforgiving kick in the balls.
I played Metroid to prepare for my first ever playing of Metroid II: Return of Samus. I avoided the GameBoy the first time around. So being able to go back and play the games I missed out on has been the best aspect of the Nintendo 3DS thus far. Metroid II: Return of Samus was originally developed Nintendo R&D 1 and published by Nintendo for the GameBoy in 1991. I found Metroid II to be a much better game than the original. The game helps curtail the excessive wandering around lost of the original game. The game better controls your movement throughout the game world. You need to kill all the Metroids in the game. You can't advance to a new area until you've killed all of the Metroids in your current area. It really keeps you moving forward through the game. I also like the large and detailed sprites. The music is surprisingly effective especially through headphones.
I followed up Metroid II: Return of Samus with Silent Hill HD Collection. Silent Hill HD Collection was developed by Hijinx Studios and was published by Konami Digital Entertainment. I played the Xbox 360 version. Silent Hill HD Collection contains Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 are classic games. You might assume that creating HD versions of the games for current generation systems wouldn't be too difficult a project. Apparently it is, judging from the results. This collection just looks downright poor in certain areas. They've butchered the fog effects of the originals revealing areas in the game that were never meant to be seen such as the edge of the game world. That's right. You can see where the world ends in Silent Hill 2. Even worse are the sound glitches. I can't understand how Konami thought it was okay to ship the game in this condition. Countless glitches. I would only suggest this collection to the most diehard Silent Hill fans and those that are fans of achievements. You're not going to find definitive versions of the games here. In fact you'll find inferior versions.
I technically split Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 via the collection around the next title in this entry. Fez was developed and published by Polytron for the Xbox 360. Fez is a deceptive platformer. On the surface Fez is sold as a platformer that has a clean 8-bit inspired graphics that allows you to rotate the game world to advance through the world. Fez isn't really being sold as a puzzle game and it probably should be. In fact I'd say the puzzles are the meat of the game. If you like solving puzzles then Fez might be your game. It features full on cryptology. You'll have to decipher a made up language to be able to complete most of the game's puzzles. As a platformer Fez is a cute little distraction at best. As a puzzle based platformer the game is so much more. I can't remember the last game that caused me to fill fifteen or so notebook pages with notes and scribbling. If you want to really have to stop and think in your platforming, then Fez is your game.
The Baconing -- 7.5
The GG Shinobi -- 9.5
Silent Hill: Downpour -- 7.5
Metroid -- 7
Metroid II: Return of Samus -- 9
Silent Hill HD Collection -- 5
Fez -- 8.5
I followed The Baconing up with The GG Shinobi on the 3DS via the eShop. The GG Shinobi was initially developed and published by SEGA in April of 1991 for the Game Gear. The GG Shinobi is obviously short for The Game Gear Shinobi. The game was among the first wave of Game Gear titles that hit the eShop for the 3DS in March. Why would a twenty-one year old Game Gear game be worth playing? Because it's a true classic and easily one of the best games ever made. It's classic Shinobi. It's an action platformer where you're out to save your fellow ninja clansmen. Once you rescue a ninja they become playable. You can switch to them on the fly at any time. Each of the rescued ninja are a different color and they come with different ninja magic and abilities. There is a slight Metroidvania sense of using their different skills to access areas and power ups normally out of reach. There is also a slight MegaMan feel in using the right ninja for the job in the boss battles. The bosses range from really tough to simple based on which ninja you're attempting the battle with. The game has the standard Shinobi difficulty, especially in the final labyrinth like stage. The game looks and plays great all these years later. And the music from Yuzo Koshiro still sounds amazing.
I followed up The GG Shinobi with Silent Hill: Downpour. The game was developed by Vatra Games as was published by Konami Digital Entertainment. I played the Xbox 360 version of the game. The Silent Hill series has long been considered adrift. The original game was a true classic. The second appealed to a wider audience thanks to a strong story. The third game was a smart direct sequel to the original game. This is the point where Team Silent, the makers of the first three titles disbanded. The fourth game started out as another title and was then shoehorned into the Silent Hill universe midway through development. All of the titles that followed were outsourced by Konami and have wildly varying levels of quality. Silent Hill: Downpour tries pretty hard to give the player a great Silent Hill experience. It starts with an interesting concept and features of couple of rather good set pieces. They've introduced side quests that deliver more of the town's lore. The combat system is better than most previous titles but not as involved as that found in Silent Hill: Homecoming. Long time series composer Akira Yamaoka has been replaced with Daniel Licth. The new music is pretty good. Some of the tracks have a strong John Carpenter vibe to them, which is always a plus. They've also used licensed music in a rather interesting way. Let's just say there are some unique choices. I think some of the puzzles in the game are the best in the series. I enjoyed Downpour for what it is. It's probably the most Silent Hill feeling out of all the outsourced titles thus far. But it's still below The Room as far as overall quality is concerned.
I followed up Silent Hill: Downpour with Metroid. I've played Metroid a few times before but I wanted a refresher. Metroid was originally developed for the NES by Nintendo R&D 1 and published by Nintendo. I played the 3DS version. I don't think I would have had the patience to play Metroid via the NES original, but the 3DS version's save state system made it bearable. Metroid is the classic action game that hid power ups throughout a huge maze of a world. Finding these powers enabled you to venture further into new areas and advance through the game. The original Metroid was unforgiving. Especially in not providing any sort of in game map and respawning creatures based on screen movement. Both issues of memory constraints of the NES. It's a classic game but it's an unforgiving kick in the balls.
I played Metroid to prepare for my first ever playing of Metroid II: Return of Samus. I avoided the GameBoy the first time around. So being able to go back and play the games I missed out on has been the best aspect of the Nintendo 3DS thus far. Metroid II: Return of Samus was originally developed Nintendo R&D 1 and published by Nintendo for the GameBoy in 1991. I found Metroid II to be a much better game than the original. The game helps curtail the excessive wandering around lost of the original game. The game better controls your movement throughout the game world. You need to kill all the Metroids in the game. You can't advance to a new area until you've killed all of the Metroids in your current area. It really keeps you moving forward through the game. I also like the large and detailed sprites. The music is surprisingly effective especially through headphones.
I followed up Metroid II: Return of Samus with Silent Hill HD Collection. Silent Hill HD Collection was developed by Hijinx Studios and was published by Konami Digital Entertainment. I played the Xbox 360 version. Silent Hill HD Collection contains Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 are classic games. You might assume that creating HD versions of the games for current generation systems wouldn't be too difficult a project. Apparently it is, judging from the results. This collection just looks downright poor in certain areas. They've butchered the fog effects of the originals revealing areas in the game that were never meant to be seen such as the edge of the game world. That's right. You can see where the world ends in Silent Hill 2. Even worse are the sound glitches. I can't understand how Konami thought it was okay to ship the game in this condition. Countless glitches. I would only suggest this collection to the most diehard Silent Hill fans and those that are fans of achievements. You're not going to find definitive versions of the games here. In fact you'll find inferior versions.
I technically split Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 via the collection around the next title in this entry. Fez was developed and published by Polytron for the Xbox 360. Fez is a deceptive platformer. On the surface Fez is sold as a platformer that has a clean 8-bit inspired graphics that allows you to rotate the game world to advance through the world. Fez isn't really being sold as a puzzle game and it probably should be. In fact I'd say the puzzles are the meat of the game. If you like solving puzzles then Fez might be your game. It features full on cryptology. You'll have to decipher a made up language to be able to complete most of the game's puzzles. As a platformer Fez is a cute little distraction at best. As a puzzle based platformer the game is so much more. I can't remember the last game that caused me to fill fifteen or so notebook pages with notes and scribbling. If you want to really have to stop and think in your platforming, then Fez is your game.
The Baconing -- 7.5
The GG Shinobi -- 9.5
Silent Hill: Downpour -- 7.5
Metroid -- 7
Metroid II: Return of Samus -- 9
Silent Hill HD Collection -- 5
Fez -- 8.5
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Wren.
-Nas
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